Shelling out? Easter eggs in the UK are smaller but pricier this year
Chocolate eggs are looking smaller than ever this year and it is not just because Easter is still so far away.Many of the Easter eggs already out on supermarket shelves this month not only cost more, but have been reduced in size or weight as the price of cocoa has driven a new wave of shrinkflation.Maltesers is living up to its “the lighter way to enjoy chocolate” slogan with its XL egg rather less large this year at 194g in many shops, down from 231g in 2025, while the price charged by Tesco has risen by £1 to £7.The weight loss is largely down to there being one fewer mini pack of Maltesers inside the box, according to trade journal the Grocer, meaning the price per gram is up 39% to 3.6p.
A similar move with Cadbury’s Twirl eggs – which now include only two individually wrapped Twirl fingers rather than two full bars – means they have shrunk by 9,5% or 23g to 218g,However, the price in most shops has risen to £7 from £6 last year, leading to a price per gram increase of more than 28%,Four fewer eggs in a Mini Eggs family pack means the Cadbury’s treat is now 4% smaller at 256g compared with 270g a year ago, while the price has risen to £6,20 at Tesco for those without a loyalty card, compared with £4.
85 a year ago.That is equivalent to a 35% increase in price – although the same pack is priced at £5.50 at Sainsbury’s and Waitrose and £4.94 at Asda for those who wish to shop around.Lindt gold bunnies have held their ground at 200g for the largest option, but are now £8.
50 at most retailers (without a loyalty card), a £3 jump from their £5.50 price at Tesco a year ago.The cost of chocolate confectionery has increased sharply in the past few years as cocoa prices have soared after poor harvests in the main growing regions of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire over the past three years, amid extreme temperatures and unusual rainfall patterns driven by the climate crisis.With sugar, energy and labour costs also on the rise, manufacturers have turned to a variety of tactics, from making bars and biscuits smaller to reducing cocoa content in an effort to keep the prices paid by shoppers down.In October, McVitie’s reduced the amount of cocoa in the recipes of Club and Penguin bars so much they are now only “chocolate flavour”.
A spokesperson for the Maltesers owner Mars Wrigley’s UK and Ireland business said: “We understand the cost pressures that shoppers continue to face and always aim to absorb rising costs wherever possible,“However, ongoing pressures, driven in part by well-documented rises in the cost of cocoa, mean we have had to make carefully considered changes,Decisions around product size are not taken lightly, but they help to ensure shoppers can continue to enjoy their favourite Easter treats without any compromise on the quality or taste they expect from Mars,As with all our products, final pricing remains at the discretion of individual retailers,”A spokesperson for Cadbury’s owner Mondelēz International said retailers were free to set their own prices, adding: “We understand the economic pressures that consumers continue to face and any changes to our product sizes is a last resort for our business.
“However, as a food producer, we are continuing to experience significantly higher input costs across our supply chain, with ingredients such as cocoa and dairy, which are widely used in our products, costing far more than they have done previously.“Meanwhile, other costs like energy and transport, also remain high.This means that our products continue to be much more expensive to make and while we have absorbed these costs where possible, we still face considerable challenges.“As a result, we are having to make carefully considered changes to the recommended promotional price alongside small weight reductions to our Cadbury Twirl Easter Egg (218g), Cadbury Wispa Easter Egg (177g) and Cadbury Mini Egg bags (256g).”Lindt was approached for comment.
Tesco declined to comment,
Partly AI-generated folk-pop hit barred from Sweden’s official charts
A hit song has been excluded from Sweden’s official chart after it emerged the “artist” behind it was an AI creation.I Know, You’re Not Mine – or Jag Vet, Du Är Inte Min in Swedish – by a singer called Jacub has been a streaming success in Sweden, topping the Spotify rankings.However, the Swedish music trade body has excluded the song from the official chart after learning it was AI-generated.“Jacub’s track has been excluded from Sweden’s official chart, Sverigetopplistan, which is compiled by IFPI Sweden. While the song appears on Spotify’s own charts, it does not qualify for inclusion on the official chart under the current rules,” said an IFPI Sweden spokesperson
Prominent PR firm accused of commissioning favourable changes to Wikipedia pages
A high-profile PR company founded by Keir Starmer’s communications chief has been accused of commissioning changes to Wikipedia pages to make them more favourable towards clients.Portland Communications, founded by Tim Allan, has been linked to the so-called black hat edits, sometimes referred to as “Wikilaundering”. Several changes were made to Wikipedia pages by a network of editors, allegedly controlled by a contractor working on Portland’s behalf.According to an investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), Portland outsourced Wikipedia editing relating to some of its high-profile clients, including the state of Qatar.TBIJ said it had evidence of alleged Wikipedia edits made on behalf of Portland between 2016 and 2024
Sacked TikTok workers in UK launch legal action over ‘union busting’
TikTok moderators have accused the social media company of “oppressive and intimidating” union busting after it fired hundreds of workers in the UK, beginning the process just before they were due to vote on forming a union.The moderators wanted to establish a collective bargaining unit to protect themselves from the personal costs of checking extreme and violent content, and have claimed TikTok is guilty of unfair dismissal and breaching trade union laws.About 400 moderators in London were fired before Christmas in a process initiated a week before the vote was due to take place.TikTok, which has about 30m monthly users in Britain, strongly denies a legal claim that has been lodged with an employment tribunal on behalf of three former workers, describing it as “baseless”.It said the sackings were part of a global restructuring involving roles in the UK, and south and south-east Asia amid the increasing use of AI to automate the removal of posts that violate content rules, with 91% of transgressive content now removed automatically
TikTok to strengthen age-verification technology across EU
TikTok will begin to roll out new age-verification technology across the EU in the coming weeks, as calls grow for an Australia-style social media ban for under-16s in countries including the UK.ByteDance-owned TikTok, and other major platforms popular with young people such as YouTube, are coming under increasing pressure to better identify and remove accounts belonging to children.The system, which has been quietly piloted in the EU over the past year, analyses profile information, posted videos and behavioural signals to predict whether an account may be belong to a user under the age of 13.As well as analysing information the account holder provides about themselves, the technology looks at behaviour such as the videos a user publishes, and “other on-platform behaviour”.TikTok said accounts flagged by the system would be reviewed by specialist moderators rather than face an automatic ban, and may then be removed
X still allowing users to post sexualised images generated by Grok AI tool
X has continued to allow users to post highly sexualised videos of women in bikinis generated by its AI tool Grok, despite the company’s claim to have cracked down on misuse.The Guardian was able to create short videos of people stripping to bikinis from photographs of fully clothed, real women. It was also possible to post this adult content on to X’s public platform without any sign of it being moderated, meaning the clip could be viewed within seconds by anyone with an account.It appeared to offer a straightforward workaround to restrictions announced by Elon Musk’s social network this week. These had been welcomed by the prime minister, Keir Starmer, who had described the photographs generated by Grok as “disgusting” and “shameful”
AI will transform the ‘human job’ and enhance skills, says science minister
Advances in AI and robotics will transform human jobs, starting with roles in warehouses and factories, the UK science minister has said, as the government announced plans to reduce red tape for robot and defence tech companies.Patrick Vallance said technological progress was creating a “whole new area” for robots to work in. “What’s really changing now is the combination of AI and robotics. It is opening up a whole new area, particularly in the sorts of things like humanoid robotics. And that will increase productivity, it will change the human job,” he told the Guardian
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