Currys slash prices on TVs, laptops and speakers! Amazon’s Thursday offers include 20 per cent off New Look plus Sony and Philips electronics! Morrisons is marking Black Friday with TEN DAYS of deals!

Those are just a few of the headlines on the seasonal shopping event that we’ve all gone mad for even though “Black Friday” has no logical reason to exist in a country that has no Thanksgiving holiday weekend as the US (where it originated) does.

By now we should also all have surely realised that many of the offers – perhaps including some of the ones referenced above, which were all culled from news websites – have to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled – leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: “Europe’s largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid £3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rue’s contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped £4m off of Flybe’s revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airline’s estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.

We should know they’re often not as good as they look. It’s often rather easy to find products that are the subject of unbeatable onetime-only Black Friday offers at Retailer A more cheaply at non-offer prices at Retailer B. But wouldn’t finding that out take some of the fun out of it?

The retailers know this. Their marketing departments are well aware that there’s no better way to get us opening our wallets than to make us thing we’re bagging a bargain.

This has actually been going on for years. It used to be known as the January sales, a properly British event. As the new year dawned the BBC would set up its cameras outside Harrods and Selfridges and then film the stampede that follow the opening of the doors. People would actually camp out overnight despite the usually grotty weather.

And every year there would be a parade of consumers anxious to be filmed with their new TVs, or their speakers, or whatever other Sony or Philips electronics they’d bought. Sometimes some poor fool would get trampled, and they’d still be smiling from ear to ear when interviewed in front of the camera with their shiny new toys.

Is it any wonder? Bagging a bargain produces a remarkably similar feeling to what you get from scoring a goal in football, or putting the ball through the hoop from distance in basketball, or lopping 10 or 15 seconds of your kilometre split when you go out for a run. Quite simply, it’s a rush.

And it affects everyone. Even The New York Times has been running pieces on how to spot the best deals and avoid the duds. I’ll lay odds that some of its journalists have sneakily been looking at Amazon during office hours too. With Donald Trump to deal with, who’d begrudge their indulging in some retail therapy?

It’s superbly adapted for the web too. I have to tip my hat to Amazon. Its lightning deals are a thing of evil marketing genius. They limit the amount of product available and display a status bar to show how many are left. Once you’ve got your heart’s desire in your shopping basket you have 15 minutes to buy or it’s gone. So you’re not going to search around the web to see if you can find it cheaper. And you’re not going to cancel the order if it is afterwards. Why would you look? That would spoil the fun.

The best of it is, I’m a business journalist of 20 years standing. I know all this stuff. Yet I’m still fool enough to fall for it all myself.

I’ve tried to be good and attempted to steer clear. This year, I will not be fooled, I say. But you know what, I’m bound to fail. Something is going to pop up in one of the ads while I’m researching a piece on the web. Maybe it will be a fancy box set of a classic album on vinyl. Maybe it will be a pair of miniature speakers for the turntable I’ve bought to play them. Or even just a natty Suicide Squad T-shirt. Thanks, cookies.

Is there a Black Fridays Anonymous? There ought to be. Can I join please?

At least I know that a lot more of this year’s deals will be worthwhile than they usually are. The fall in sterling has sharply increased the price of imported goods, but it hasn’t yet filtered through to the prices we’re paying in the shops. So enjoy the good times before Brexit kills then off.