Robert Carruthers

@vbspurs @JakeAlex92 "I was raised not to bring anything to another person's home in the UK" Then you were badly brought up then. I was taught arriving empty-handed was rude.

@JakeAlex92 It's more and more common. I had mentioned that I was raised not to bring anything to another person's home in the UK. At some social levels, it was considered declassé. Like you're trying too hard to ingratiate yourself. But amongst friends, I think it's popular.

You know how Americans have potluck dinners? Everyone brings a casserole or something? I've been meaning to tell you that I love that about you guys. So warm and friendly. Brits don't do this. It's considered bad manners to bring food to a person's home. We are so unalike.

@vbspurs It really isn't considered bad manners to do this in the UK at all. What are you talking about?

@Archie_Saunders Original one in Old Compton Street was great. The cakes were amazing. Sad that it got blown up by private equity and lost its soul.

Omg do you guys remember Patisserie Valerie.

@GRIT0DESAUDADE Because it's not depressing?

7 of my 8 most streamed artists of the last three years are all british meanwhile beyoncé is the sole american representation what is it about that depressing island that produces insane music

why is the united kingdom so disproportionately good at producing incredible musicians

@GordonMcKeeMP We don't want a third runway at Heathrow. It would spread noise and pollution across huge swathes of west London, affecting millions. Heathrow is in the wrong place and needs relocating.

This is one reason why Britain feels poorer than it should

@julianHjessop +1.8% based on month-on-month comparisons with December. @ONS How many "seasonally adjusted" mince pies, turkeys and Christmas trees are sold in January? Vs Jan 2025, the growth rate (vol, ex fuel, unadjusted) was v strong (+6.2 %) and accelerating

A relatively good day for UK economic data, with the news on the public finances, retail sales, and the PMI survey all better than expected. But here are the main caveats... 1⃣ the budget surplus was boosted in January by the fact that people are having to pay a lot more tax, largely due to fiscal drag and higher tax rates rather than stronger economic activity. And in the case of CGT, some are choosing to pay more now because they fear taxes will be even higher in future... 2⃣ the 1.8% jump in retail sales in January probably says a lot more about the difficulty of adjusting the data for the variable timing of seasonal sales than it does about the underlying trend; it would not be a surprise to see a sharp correction in February... 3⃣ the second robust PMI in a row in February was arguably the best news, and is consistent with hopes of a stronger Q1 as Budget uncertainty eases; but the detail shows that employment remains weak and cost and price pressures are still strong, casting doubt on the sustainability of the rebound - especially if inflation does not fall as quickly as many now hope.

So setting aside the volatile and rather meaningless month on month comps of @ONS, it turns out that yes, there is a strengthening retail recovery going into 2026. Happy days! Spend on home going great guns. Massive online/non-store growth looks a bit 🤨 though

@SKen1962 @JamesMelville Food & drink costs for the sector up 38% in that time, so no profiteering by supermarkets.

@JamesMelville Be good to see the change in profits of the big supermarkets across the same time line, bet it’s a similar trend!

Food prices in the UK: We are being absolutely fleeced by the supermarkets.

@JamesMelville Cost of food & drink inputs up 38%. So where is the profiteering?

@Boredofwheels @ember__blue @essdeewickett And no self-respecting British person would talk about "Anglos"

@ember__blue @essdeewickett No but the person quoting the post with the picture in is British

In 2018 I was visiting friends in Texas, who lived 15 minutes from a coffee shop I took a liking to, so one day I decided to walk there. Three different drivers stopped me on the way to ask if my car had broken down and if I needed help. Lord forbid an Anglo takes a little walk.

@essdeewickett Sorry, what's an "Anglo"?

@BladeoftheS By running supermarkets at a massive loss, using taxpayers' money?

This is exactly what the Government should be doing, putting ripoff merchants out of business.

Zohran Mamdani is planning to open Government run Grocery Stores in New York that will sell goods at up to 25% less than the ripoff supermarkets. We should do the same in the UK.

@McFlavour7 @markfrancisio @BladeoftheS @grok Have you heard of *percentages*? Clearly not.

@markfrancisio @BladeoftheS @grok They make £3billion profit

@BladeoftheS This is clearly impossible. UK supermarkets have an operating profit margin of 3-5%, so where is the extra 20+% going to come from? Government supermarkets? I'll be interested to see how they perform.

@SophieMcDLaw Free, free, free. So-called "free" stuff costs money, lots of it. Where are you going to get all of the extra cash for that? Tax the rich/big busines and they'll leave the country, so it'll fall on the average taxpayer instead.

@transromano @LegoRacers2 Yeah, I mean who wouldn't hate this, eh?

@LegoRacers2 my cousin’s wife is from falmouth and let’s just say there’s a reason she moved to the states

Cornwall has over half a million people yet they're all dispersed across towns less than half the size of Terre Haute, Indiana. What's it like down there?

@thomasforth Ah yes, "turbo-Thatcherite" on vital infrastructure with effective local monopolies. What could possibly go wrong?

I wonder what would happen if we went turbo-Thatcherite on the railways (including the tube), full privatisation back to the earliest possible form. Obviously lots of "it depends" in thinking about. But if we made reasonable assumptions,... I wonder what would happen.

@kientan74 BRC surveys only its members AFAIK, covering 95 larger retailers. Then there is the question of sampling period, plus the fact that once you bake in a base effect from one sample, it will clearly skew the following year's figures

@RJCarruthers Robert, the ONS category numbers are (and have for the last 1-2 years been) so completely diametrically different from the BRC and other industry data, seasonally adjusted or not, that I am struggling to justify relying on them - how can they be so different?!

"Surprise" growth in December @ONS retail sales, you say? Er, no. Totally expected, more like. Adjusting for Black Friday bump to Nov, Dec was just more of the same: steady recovery. 🛋️🪑🛌 👗🥼👟 & online booming Fading 💄 effect indicates recession mode consumption over

Same pattern even unadjusted