How I miss the simple pleasures of browsing a sumptuous shop
If the high street is endangered, so too is browsing as I once cherished it
11 April 2021 • 8:17pm
If you go down to the shops today, among the exotic sights of our newly restored freedom, you might spot the elegant figure of the government adviser, Dame Helena Morrissey, who recently announced her intention to celebrate the reopening of the high street by nipping to M&S for some undies. For now, I am resisting the temptation to join Lady Morrissey among the balcony bras and matching Brazilian knickers. The back-to-back sales of lockdown mean that I have accumulated enough stuff to last until the end of time.
Jobs saved in Peacocks rescue deal
A buyout by a senior executive will save around 2,000 jobs at the collapsed fashion chain
6 April 2021 • 10:52am
Collapsed fashion chain Peacocks has been saved by a senior executive with backing from an international consortium, it has been announced.
Chief operating officer Steve Simpson will take over the business, saving 2,000 jobs and 200 stores, which he hopes to reopen once lockdown restrictions on non-essential retailers ease.
The chain was part of retail mogul Philip Day s Edinburgh Woollen Mill (EWM) fashion empire, which collapsed in November last year.
Mr Day was the biggest creditor of Peacocks and is owed money by the business he once owned.
‘Italian bank rejected £11,757 life insurance cheque’
Has a company treated you unfairly? Our consumer champion, Sally Hamilton, is here to help
6 April 2021 • 7:00am
Has a company treated you unfairly? Our consumer champion, Sally Hamilton, is here to help. For how to contact her click here.
Dear Sally,
I am Italian and live in the UK. My wife and I offer free advice and translating services to our compatriots for all sorts of everyday paperwork.
I’m writing to you about a good friend who went back home to Italy a few years ago but died in August 2019. His brother, also based in Italy, authorised me to deal with two life insurance policies his brother held in the UK with insurer Phoenix, which I did.
On some measures, the capital has been one of the biggest losers of the Covid crisis
5 April 2021 • 5:00am
A pedestrian walks across a deserted Millennium Bridge in London during Britain s third national lockdown
Credit: AFP
“Levelling up” seems a long time ago. Boris Johnson won his whopping election majority on a campaign to Get Brexit Done, then revitalise parts of the country that felt left behind by the prosperous capital.
Now new elections are on the way – the local and regional votes that were delayed by Covid in 2020.
So how is levelling up going?
Clearly it is difficult to spread any prosperity during the biggest recession in 300 years. The evidence indicates a levelling down has taken place instead.