Two sobering reports landed in my inbox at the end of last month. According to The Local Data Company, while the number of independent shops nudged up in 2012, during the second half slightly more closed down than opened - the first time this has happened for two years. ... Read entry

Having seen John Lewis' brilliant new Christmas television ad for the first time last week ("It made me cry," someone in the office said, but meaning in a good way), I found myself having a conversation with a few friends about both John Lewis and Waitrose. It speaks volumes that no one touched on prices, products, location...all we were interested in finding out was whether anyone had actually ever had a bad experience in a JLP store.... Read entry

And so it begins...weeks on end of high drama, of nerve-jangling apprehension and nail-biting tension, of displays of human endeavour and endurance taken to the limit, of dreams of glory and, perhaps ultimately, of bitter frustrations and disappointments.... Read entry