‘We have a lot more to do’: no pats on the back at M&S despite blockbuster year

“We have a plan but it’s a high wire act and we have got to keep both feet on the wire,” says Archie Norman, the chair of Marks & Spencer.M&S may have had a blockbuster year – its share price up 40% and gains in market share in both food and clothing – but the retail stalwart is not satisfied.Before the group’s festive trading statement this Thursday, Norman, who joined the company seven years ago and has helped engineer a revival many thought impossible, says: “We have a lot more to do. Four years of decent results and people may think job done, but in fact there is long way to go.”After significant changes in its food business, including the takeover distribution partner Gist, and a reworking of its womenswear, M&S is now revamping its beauty products and childrenswear, rebuilding its homewares ranges and rebooting its international arm as it reinvents the department store to take on rival John Lewis

Record number of electric cars were sold in UK during 2024

Carmakers sold a record number of electric cars in the UK last year, prompting environmental groups to urge the government to stick to tougher green targets even as the industry argues they are unsustainable.The number of new cars sold in the UK rose by 2.6% in 2024 to 1.95m, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) lobby group. Of those, 19

Football coaches could soon be calling on AI to scout the next superstar

Football coaches desperate to boost their team’s performance could soon find an answer in an artificial intelligence system aimed at conjuring the next superstar.A kind of sporting Aladdin’s lamp is within reach, technologists claim, which could allow managers to simply wish for a new player with the aggression of Erling Haaland or the poise of Jude Bellingham and for an AI to suggest the perfect prospect.A system that uses video and automated tracking to monitor the performances of nearly 180,000 mostly teenage footballers around the world underpins the services of Eyeball, a digital scouting company that already has relationships with more than a dozen Premier League clubs and other elite teams in Europe and North America.Using what it claims is the largest video database of global youth football – with players logged from 28 countries – the company says it can now determine which young players most fit the description of current or recent top stars as defined by one of eight archetypes. These include the ideal “box-to-box midfielder”, “modern No 9”, “playmaking No 10” and “inverted wing-back”

Meta is killing off its own AI-powered Instagram and Facebook profiles

Meta is deleting Facebook and Instagram profiles of AI characters the company created over a year ago after users rediscovered some of the profiles and engaged them in conversations, screenshots of which went viral.The company had first introduced these AI-powered profiles in September 2023 but killed off most of them by summer 2024. However, a few characters remained and garnered new interest after the Meta executive Connor Hayes told the Financial Times late last week that the company had plans to roll out more AI character profiles.“We expect these AIs to actually, over time, exist on our platforms, kind of in the same way that accounts do,” Hayes told the FT. The automated accounts posted AI-generated pictures to Instagram and answered messages from human users on Messenger

Luke Littler’s rise brings darts huge opportunities – and burning questions

You know what? I reckon this is the year Luke Littler could finally be ready for the Premier League. Obviously we all still want to wrap him up in cotton wool. Obviously we’re all still deeply concerned about how the attention and pressure could affect his game. But my bet – if the evidence of the last 12 months is any guide – is that he might just be able to handle it.Premier League champion, Grand Slam champion, a slew of victories across eight different countries in the Pro Tour, the European Tour and the World Series

Tomos Williams puts paid to Sale comeback as Gloucester hold on

These days, almost the worst thing a team can do in the Premiership is rack up an early lead, such is the likelihood of a stirring comeback. Sure enough, Gloucester ran rings around a leaden-footed Sale for half an hour; sure enough, Sale spent most of the rest of the match bulldozing away at Gloucester’s line.At times in the second half, it felt inevitable Sale would overturn the 22-3 deficit that faced them midway through the first, such was the inability of their hosts to gain a hold on the game that had been so firmly theirs. The referee, Jack Makepeace, was not a popular man, but Gloucester’s ­indiscipline yielded nearly 20 penalties for the visitors.Even after Max Llewellyn finished his second try, for a bonus point, in the 59th minute, giving Gloucester vital breathing space at the height of the siege, Sale kept coming