Boxing Day footfall down on UK high streets despite discounts

Fewer consumers have made the journey to high streets and shopping centres in search of Boxing Day discounts.Footfall across UK retailers was down 9.4% as of midday, compared with Boxing Day in 2023, according to data from MRI Software.“The decline in Boxing Day activity may reflect a shift in consumer behaviour, influenced by the ongoing cost of living crisis,” said the retail tech experts’ marketing and insights director, Jenni Matthews.As footfall levels jumped 18% on Christmas Eve this year, many shoppers may have also front-loaded their spending in a pre-gifting rush, Matthews said

The first quarter of 21st century wasn’t great for investors. The next needs an AI boost | Nils Pratley

The first quarter of the 21st century is almost up, assuming one regards 31 December 1999 to have been the last day of the last millennium (non-partying pedants insist the date actually fell on the final day of 2000). It is the cue for analysts at Deutsche Bank to remind investors how much can change in the course of 25 years, in this case from the days when Nokia phones and fax machines, rather than iPhones and Amazon, were everyday features of life.Here’s one jaw-dropper: back in sunny days of 1999, there was a live debate as to when the US would pay down its entire stock of government debt. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reckoned the glorious day would arrive sometime in 2013. In reality, borrowing headed in the other direction almost immediately – and the US debt-to-GDP ratio is now above 100%

There’s no reason for older people to fear smartphones | Letters

In wishing to ban smartphones, Tim Watson (nearly 94) throws the baby out with the bathwater (Letters, 20 December). Being of a certain age myself, I remember when nobody in my close family even had a landline.Smartphone use can become misuse but, used intelligently, the smartphone is one of the greatest modern inventions. With mine, I can call people on the other side of the world cheaply or even at no cost; I can use it as a satnav; I do not have to speak to everyone because I can simply send them a text; I can store important information and use any number of apps.I agree with banning smartphone use during school hours – and appropriate use and misuse should be part of education today because, of course, there are dangers

Older music has been getting a second life on TikTok, data shows

This was the year that gen Z had their “Brat summer”, or so we were led to believe.Inspired by the hit album by pop sensation Charli xcx, the trend was seen to embody all the messiness of modern youth: trashy, chaotic and bright green.But on the teenager’s social media platform of choice, TikTok, a more sepia music trend has been taking root.Despite having an endless amount of music to pair with their short, scrollable videos, TikTok users have been raiding the back catalogues of artists from yesteryear including Bronski Beat and Sade to soundtrack their posts.This year set a new high for use of old tracks on British TikTok posts, with tunes more than five years old accounting for 19 out of its 50 top tracks this year

Banbridge wins King George VI Chase while Constitution Hill takes Christmas Hurdle – as it happened

Well that was a great day’s racing highlighted not by the King George as is normally the case at Kempton on Boxing Day but the return of Constitution Hill in the Christmas Hurdle. The winner is the greatest hurdler we’ve seen since the peerless Istabraq and has the potential to become the greatest of all time and so it was a bit special to see him come back fit and fighting. One of the leaps on the far side was outstanding and he was always travelling well unlike his main opponent Lossiemouth. Let’s hope he gets to the Cheltenham festival for the Champion Hurdle and struts his stuff in March too. See you tomorrow for the Welsh Grand National and the clash between Sir Gino and Ballyburn at Kempton

The men’s Test cricket team of the year: from Atkinson to Jaiswal

Our special board of selectors announce the picks for the best men’s Test XI of the past 12 monthsGo fetch a cup of tea and your best arguments, it’s time for the Guardian’s 10th annual men’s Test XI of the Year. This year’s selection panel comprised Vic Marks, Ali Martin, Emma John, Rob Smyth, Jonathan Liew, Adam Collins, Geoff Lemon, Daniel Gallan, Tim de Lisle, Taha Hashim, Tanya Aldred, Jim Wallace, and myself, Andy Bull. It’s been an intriguing 12 months, in which every team was able to beat someone but no team was able to beat everyone, and at the end of it, eEveryone picked their own XI and, when we added up the votes, this is how it all came out (and yes, we were surprised so many Englishmen ended up in it, too) …114 matches, 1,312 runs at 52. Votes: 13 out of 13Over the course of England’s tour of India, Jaiswal established himself as one of the brightest batters of the next generation of Test cricketers, a point he proved when he ended the year by taking 161 off Australia in Perth. It wasn’t just the number of runs he scored, although they came by the hundred-weight, with back-to-back double centuries in Vizag and Rajkot, it was the irresistible ferocity of his batting