Retail

Thursday

Kate Andrews

It’s make-or-break time for retailers – and the economy

Take a stroll through central London and you’ll be overwhelmed with Christmas cheer. The angels and fairy lights are draped above Piccadilly, the shop windows packed full of evergreen, holly and ornaments. Fortnum & Mason has been transformed into the most decadent Advent calendar imaginable, and Cartier’s building is wrapped up in a giant red bow. Similar festive displays can be spotted all across the UK: Cardiff Castle is now a winter wonderland, the Edinburgh Zoo has unveiled its Arctic adventure, and the Belfast Christmas lights were switched on by domino effect, one part of the city following another. But although the decorations may be displayed in all their glory,

Martin Vander Weyer Martin Vander Weyer

The Co-op Bank isn’t worthy of its name

We’ve heard a lot this week about infrastructure spending, and how much more will be needed if the UK is to achieve the ‘Green Industrial Revolution’ that the Prime Minister seems to have sketched on the back of a pizza box. We’ve also heard that the Chancellor is looking at ways to squeeze billions for Treasury coffers out of the private pension sector. What we haven’t heard so far is a plan to join those two pieces of the economic jigsaw — by encouraging pension managers to become committed investors in infrastructure projects. There are signs of a small shift in that direction among local authority pension funds, but at

Thursday

Lynn Barber

Why is buying a car such an ordeal?

Why is it so insanely difficult to buy a car? And especially if you are a woman? Part of the trouble is that car salesmen are a particularly unreconstructed breed of men who think ‘lady’ customers will be more interested in the size of the vanity mirror than the fuel consumption. But it’s not just that — it’s the fact that they treat the transaction with all the pomp and gravitas of applying for a half-million-pound mortgage. This started back in February when I left a party (remember those?), got into my Volkswagen and set off into St James’s. Somehow I pressed the accelerator instead of the brake and drove