Funny thing about the multiples. Whatever they do, they don't stay in favour with Britain's fickle media for long. The week began with the Murdoch press making yet another pathetic attempt to give the kiss of life to the ailing Rip-off Britain campaign. Then, on Monday, the mighty Tesco and Asda were hailed as high street heroes as they fired a new salvo in the price war. Yet, 48 hours later, they were back in the dock as headlines accused them of forcing the Competition Commission to conclude they were operating complex monopolies which "may" give a raw deal to shoppers and farmers. All that despite the CC stressing that the remedies discussed in its latest missive were raised on an entirely hypothetical basis. But, then, why let the facts get in the way of a good story? Regular readers of the saga will know that for almost a year the CC has been probing Treasury and media-fired charges that we are being ripped off by high street profiteers. Yet its interim report declared there was only limited evidence of excessive profiteering; the prices trend was lower than in comparable Euro countries and most folk actually loved supermarkets anyway. Thus those conclusions alone suggested the inquiry should have been filed under "finished" while the CC team got on with looking at more controversial cases. But, no. Another letter fell into the multiples' in-trays this week detailing "possible remedies" to a series of issues about local monopolies. Asda, Tesco and co get their chance to discuss them with their inquisitors next month. But this latest chapter in the saga suggests the CC might be attempting to save face and stir up only the minimum of fuss. It seems strange for it to dwell on remedies before it has even identified the problems. Mind you, if any good has come out of this week's events, it's that the advertising teams at Tesco and Asda might as well be made redundant. Why spend cash advertising price cuts when you can get so much free tabloid and TV publicity simply by churning out press releases? Clive Beddall, Editor {{OPINION }}