Looking a gift horse down the throat

It has been great this week to get some free books with The Times but I’m afraid at the risk of looking a gift horse in the mouth a slight complaint has to be registered.

One of the problems is that the offers, which have been running now for three weeks Monday to Friday in the paper, are never advertised in places I see them and secondly you can only get the books in select venues – large Sainsburys, WH Smiths and M&S Food. It is all too ad hoc. As a result it is very easy not only to miss a book but upset your friends by mentioning how happy you are to have got one.