You've got to love the Daily Mail.

Not the content, obviously, which is an appalling mix of crass hypocrisy, barely concealed xenophobia, self satisfied voyeurism masquerading as morality, and journalistic standards that long since passed through the both the gutter and the sewer and are now fast approaching bedrock.

No, what you've got to love about the Daily Mail is its chutzpah.

So, when it decides to run a huge splash on its front page about its new Banish the Bag campaign, it does not stop for a second to savour the irony evident in the fact that for years it was one of the strongest bastions of anti-environmental thinking in the mainstream media.

Nor does it display the slightest hesitation before claiming that the Marks & Spencers' decision to charge customers for plastic bags, which has been in the pipeline for months and was extensively trialled before the Mail had even begun to consider giving itself a green makeover, represents "a major breakthrough for the Daily Mail campaign".

Of course, you can say what you like about the Mail – and I often do – but the other thing you have to love about the paper is its unfalteringly accurate understanding of what its readers want.

The Mail is all about shifting units and has a long and ignoble history of changing its editorial line and erasing its previous positions as soon as it recognises it needs to adapt to its customers' changing world view.

In this light, the fact that it has decided that an attempt to Banish the Bag will resonate with readers says more about the increasingly green priorities of Middle England than any number of consumer attitude surveys.

If Daily Mail readers really are concerned about plastic bags and are even willing to forego a degree of convenience to tackle the problem then attitudes really are changing.

What's more, businesses will need to take note of this shift, because just as M&S will love the front page praise it has received today, no business will want to be singled out for criticism and accused of not responding to Mail readers' wishes.