The decline in the number of trading standards officers in Scotland puts consumer safety at risk, says Herald columnist Marissa MacWhirter

It was an otherwise typical day at The Barras when I heard it. “Get your Labubus! Ten pounds!” shouted a familiar voice. The voice of The Barras itself. It was the cigarettes-tobacco-Viagra man.

Labubus? Ten pounds? All of a sudden, I felt dizzy. Like I was being sucked down a whirlpool of liquid modernity. I let out a giddy laugh and turned to my partner. We chuckled. There was something so incongruous about the bootleg Barras man shouting ‘Labubu’ when my brain was expecting to hear ‘Viagra’.

For the uninitiated, a Labubu is a fluffy grinning monster character created by Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung in 2015 and licensed to Chinese toy retailer Pop Mart in 2019. In 2024, Lisa from the K-pop group Blackpink showed off her love for the furry little beasts to her 107 million Instagram followers and pandemonium erupted. Dua Lipa and Rihanna followed suit, clipping them on designer handbags and taking the fashion world by storm.

Demand soared. Pop Mart, the only official seller of the Labubu, chose to release the dolls in limited drops. Fights broke out at stores in the UK, prompting the retailer to pull the plush toys off the shelf for a few weeks. Resellers were rumoured to be charging upwards of £1,000 for ones that should have cost £18. Winning more than £5 on a........

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