Much of it is pointless, but that only adds to its charm: Fortnum & Mason hampers reviewed

Stop the clocks: Fortnum & Mason is still delivering hampers. I am not surprised, because this shop — or rather this myth disguised as a shop — sold condiments to the Empire, and it wouldn’t let a global pandemic thwart the consumption of those condiments. It was among the earliest fans of globalisation, which is now something I have to explain to my son.

He doesn’t understand globalisation, although he knows some dogs come from abroad. He does understand a Fortnum & Mason hamper though; he knows it is a consolation, although he wouldn’t call it that. As soon as the lockdown began, I ordered an Easter basket and an Easter egg.

However you may feel about the commercialisation of Christian holidays — and Easter is the one that matters — it is an objective truth that Easter eggs improved when Cadbury, and now Fortnum & Mason, got their hands on them.