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The in-house journal of the John Lewis Partnership, known rather old-fashionedly as The Gazette, is a peculiarly British publication. Here, in their own weekly organ, `partners' can read about their company, advertise their second-hand cars and look out for a better-paid job.
To outsiders, The Gazette has its humorous moments. There's information about `small leathers', details of the Interbranch Bowls Tournament and percentage point increases for cushions, trimmings and curtain nets.
Julian Brind, the gentlemanly wine buying director at John Lewis's food and drink arm, Waitrose, is a keen reader of the journal. Every Friday he scans the results in the back of the magazine, comparing his performance with Fruit, Vegetables and Horticulture and other departments.
These days Brind is one happy director. His area of the John Lewis empire has been showing robust growth over the past year, partly as a result of winning the International Wine Challenge's supermarket of the year award.
Brind admits that when the news came through 12 months ago he nearly fell off his revolving chair. In the past, Waitrose didn't enter its wines for competitions, as the Partnership considered itself above such grubby, commercial matters.
As a consequence, they didn't expect to win awards.
It is only comparatively recently that Brind and his four-strong buying team have been allowed to talk to the Fourth Estate on the telephone. But things have certainly changed now. Not only does Brind talk to journalists, he also gives them regular drubbings on the squash court.
There's a self-confidence about Waitrose at the moment which is more than justified by the bottles on its shelves. Waitrose is the smallest of the major supermarket chains, with 112 branches confined almost exclusively to the south of England. But...