Shein’s silence is farcical. It must answer fair questions if it wants a London listing | Nils Pratley

A picture


It is “not unusual” for UK-listed companies to carry legal risks around the world, Nikhil Rathi, the chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority, told the FT last month.The boss of the regulatory body that ultimately decides which companies can list their shares in London added: “What’s important is that they disclose it, the investors understand it and they can price that risk.”Rathi’s remarks were inevitably read as aimed at Shein, the Chinese-founded but Singapore-headquartered fast-fashion retailer whose possible listing in London has been a running story since the company filed preliminary paperwork seven months ago.That interpretation looked correct.Whereas US lawmakers bombarded Shein with hostile questions about its supply-chain practices in China to the point where the company abandoned hope of listing in New York, the early reception in the UK has been constructive.

Labour ministers, desperate to give the London stock market a shot in the arm, have sounded positive.And here was the FCA merely stressing the need for relevant disclosures to allow investors to make up their own minds.So, did Shein seize the opportunity when sending a representative to the Commons business and trade select committee this week to directly address allegations that it uses cotton produced in the Xinjiang region of China, which has been linked to Uyghur forced labour?Not a bit of it.It sent the general counsel for its European division, Yinan Zhu, who was clearly under instructions not to utter a word that could be interpreted as unpatriotic by any hypersensitive Chinese official tuning in from Beijing.Proceedings were farcical from the off.

“Do you source cotton from China?” asked the committee’s chair, Liam Byrne, which was a gentle opener since he was referring only to China as a whole rather than Xinjiang.And, given that Shein’s biggest manufacturing base by far is in China, the question cannot have been unexpected.But Zhu wouldn’t engage, pleading that such “detailed operational information” was beyond her remit.The most the committee could extract was an offer of a written reply at a later date.“The reluctance to answer basic questions has frankly bordered on contempt of the committee,” concluded Byrne, not unreasonably.

It is conceivable, of course, that Shein’s supply chain is clean, or as clean as those of any China-dependent retailer,Zhu obviously wouldn’t say Xinjiang cotton is banned, but the company has signed relevant statements of compliance to modern slavery acts in the US, UK and elsewhere,A generous interpretation would say that Shein is just terrified of uttering the word “Xinjiang” in case it enrages Chinese authorities, which regularly issue dire threats against western brands that say they boycott cotton from the region,But, come on, this approach to communication won’t wash,Shein is supposedly seeking a valuation of £50bn, which would get it into the FTSE 100 index and indirectly into the pension pots of millions of savers.

At some point, you have to be able to give straight answers to fair questions, as opposed to cooking up a bland form of words with the FCA in private for the purposes of a flotation prospectus,There are other reasons to be sceptical about a Shein IPO,The mooted valuation looks extreme for a business that barely talks about its financial performance,There is also the risk that the UK and EU rewrite rules that allow parcels worth less than £135 or €150 to avoid custom duty,But the main factor is the one demonstrated at Tuesday’s select committee meeting: why would anybody want to pay a premium price for a company that is so obviously fearful the Chinese government will wreck its business if it says a word out of line? The London IPO market is not in good shape, but Shein still doesn’t look like a solution.

A picture

Slice of summer: watermelon and nectarines among Australia’s best-value fruit and veg in January

Stone fruit and Victorian berries are at their affordable best, while Hass avocados are creeping up in priceAfter a run of wet summers that put a damper on summer crops, this year’s drier conditions means there’s little that’s off the table this month.Stone fruit is particularly cheap and sweet, says Graham Gee, senior buyer at the Happy Apple in Melbourne. “Peaches and nectarines … you can get for about $3 a kilo, with premium varieties a few dollars more,” he says.Take advantage of the glut by pickling your ripe peaches or using nectarines in desserts. Thomasina Miers’ nectarine and raspberry sourdough pudding is a seasonal play on bread-based pudding with crunch, chew and tang

A picture

How to make chips without potatoes | Kitchen aide

It’s hard to deny the allure of a big ol’ pile of hot, fat, crisp, salty chips, but with the festive season finally over, now is a time to ring the changes. And if that means swapping your spuds for another veg, so be it. For a good chip alternative, “any fibrous root vegetable that can hold its shape will fry up a treat”, says Alice Zaslavsky, author of Salad for Days, but you don’t necessarily have to fry them: “You can roast them, or you can cook them in an air fryer. As long as there’s enough oil and a high enough temperature, you’re good to go.”Sweet potatoes are the obvious alternative, but they have a higher moisture and sugar content, and have form for turning soggy or just plain burning

A picture

Rukmini Iyer’s quick and easy recipe for tamarind chickpeas with cavolo nero | Quick and easy

Tamarind chickpeas – a little sweet, a little sour – are my absolute favourite, and I never run out of ways to cook them. This version is simply boosted with chilli, cumin and sugar, so there’s no long list of spices, either. Fresh tomatoes and cavolo nero add plant points and interest, while pickled pink onions bring crunch and sharpness. If you want a quick, 30-minute curry, make this with jarred chickpeas; if you’re using tinned, cook them for longer and with more boiling water, because they need more time to soak up the flavours.Scoop this up with flatbreads or, even better, cooked-from-frozen Shana parathas

A picture

Rachel Roddy’s recipe for lentil and spinach soup | A kitchen in Rome

Once upon a time in Messina, there lived a boy named Nick who loved to swim. Or so begins the tale of Cola Pesce, told by many, including Italo Calvino in his book of Italian folktales. So great was his love that Nick spent his days and nights in the sea while his mother stood on the shore, pleading: “Oh, Nick, come out of the water, you are not a fish.” He didn’t listen, though, and every day he swam farther out while his desperate mum yelled across the water until it gave her a kink in her intestines. Then, one day, having screamed herself hoarse, she blurted out – as is so often the case in such circumstances – “Nick, may you turn into a fish

A picture

Notes on chocolate: the best dark choc for this dark time of year

January is a fine time to experiment with bars of 80% and overSo here we are. Through the other side. Despite my protestations that deep winter is not the time for deprivation, I have several friends on diets and attempted overhauls of their lives. Luckily, none have given up chocolate completely, but some of them are opting for the 80% and over.There is good reason for this: it’s got more health benefits and far less sugar, and if you don’t eat loads of sugar anyway a very high percentage chocolate tastes epic and actually quite sweet

A picture

Sunday with Paddy McGuinness: ‘I’m a double carb man’

The radio presenter talks about his meaty Sunday dinners, condiments, trimmings, being spoiled as a child and doing what he’s told as a dadSunday routine? I get up, do the kids’ breakfasts and leave about 9am to do my Radio 2 show. I get there at 10am, the show starts at 11am, so my Sunday doesn’t start properly until 1pm.What happens then? I’ll go straight online and order myself Sunday dinner. Beggars can’t be choosers, so I’ll take whatever meat they’ve got on offer.Trimmings? I’m a double carb man, so mash and roast potatoes, good veg, and a big old Yorkshire pudding absolutely obliterated by gravy