Lagarde's Drift

M&S then and now is a store that is known for it's struggles to keep up with fashion and not be a pensioner clothing place. Not generalisable.

Not entirely sure about that. I don't think M&S clothes nor food are any good value or have any USP ccompared to other offerings and they are stuck in the middle, neither budget nor luxury. Also Lidl and Aldi are fierce competitors with nearly identical business models. They don't want to merge. But if they did, you can sure bet there will be another competitor in the market soon enough esp after they close all the Aldi/Lidl duplicate stores next to each other.

lol. Prezzo has been around for like decades and serves better than average italian food and wide. Not comparable to bottom tier like spoons food.

No you can't go wrong with it, unless you actually don't use bricks nor mortar.

Lol. yeah great tech, EGR failure in under 10k/2y. Maybe stretching engineering limits to get max mpg out of a 2l diesel wasn't such a good idea after all?

that;s what happens when food industry captures the regulatory body and politicians. we are lucky in that we have at least a bit of European influence in that there is some preference for fresh and whole food.

That much is true. You don't need to have a STEM background to understand it, just be intelligent and good at communicating and extracting the correct information from your geeks. I would point out that you have just highlighted a minority high flying community who are where they are because they have a relatively uncommon ability to gather and analyse unfamiliar data or issues. This is not normal for many people, including STEM experts having to translate stuff for non STEM to understand. Not that different from a literature or renaissance art professor trying to explain their area to someone who doesn't understand, imo.

it would surprise you in particular with young urban adults. but yes they can get a free id. It's just an extra step which disadvantages younger vs older which has been debated before in this thread. Edit: I think cost of obtaining driving licence nowadays in in the thousands and passport is like £100

Young adults with student ID but no passport and no driving licence?

Oh god. the beigeeeeeeee. My eyes! My heart! My arteries!

LMAOOO https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-68947834 Boris Johnson turned away from polling station after forgetting ID I really cannot guess whether he did that on purpose or not.

yes thank you for pointing this out. Turnout 18k compared to 32k in 2019 and the missing chunk are those Tory votes that collapsed to 3k from 16k. Reform also got 3k. This is a suicide pattern for Tories, as they have ignored liberal centrists conservatives in the centre so they'll all stay at home and only minority hardcore will vote for them and the loonies vote Reform.

I agree, I wonder what she is planning. Lords?

I think for sure he will hang-on till the latest possible moment in hope of a black swan helping him out. Even if it is just to cushion the blow of loss.

it's the same as supermarkets and everything else with essential spending but with discretionary element. Polarisation so people go cheaper or stay expensive but less often. Those in the middle are destroyed. That being said, a lot also rides on how companies are being run eg being debt idiots or signing stupid leases. But if overheads are managed well, then those who concentrate on quality should be able to ride out the storm but with culled numbers. Just reflection of UK society at large polarising in wealth.