Continente and Pingo Doce (sweet drop) are two Portuguese supermarkets that between them have two thirds of the market. Last week’s national strike on 1 May to protest the general and widespread financial meltdown was seriously undermined when the owner of Pingo Doce unilaterally halved the prices of all products by 50%. Communists and other strikers abandoned the barricades in order to shop. The strike failed. What sweet capitalist irony and something the SA government might consider if they ever want to eTol again. Winemaker Anibal Coutinho and negociant Miguel Grijo of iVin (below) apply the Pingo Doce protocol to wine: buy a case of Astronaut Touriga Nacional and receive a case of Astronaut Pinotage for free.

Meanwhile, the future of Portuguese retail is clear in the names of shops: Casa China, Multi China, Happy China. The only thing missing are the Chinese themselves.