‘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

How to deal with Zoom calls in 2025: in smaller groups with static backgrounds

Whether it’s a social catch-up with colleagues, or assembling to set new year objectives, many of us will be reconnecting via Zoom, Teams or Google Meet come Monday morning. Yet while such platforms have revolutionised flexible and remote working in recent years, scientists are increasingly waking up to the negative toll they can take on people’s energy levels and self-esteem. So how can we forge a healthier relationship with videoconferencing in 2025?Relatively early during the pandemic, psychologists coined the phrase “Zoom fatigue” to describe the physical and psychological exhaustion that can come from spending extended periods on videoconferencing platforms such as Zoom. It was found that people who have more and longer meetings using the technology, or have more negative attitudes towards them, tend to feel more exhausted by them.Further studies have linked the use of the self view function, which allows you to control whether your video is displayed on your screen during a meeting, to greater levels of fatigue

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”

Ilona Maher’s Bristol bow expected to double record crowd for women’s side

Making a debut for a new club is a day every player will remember in their career but not everyone’s first game will be a landmark moment for an entire league and break a record before the player has even stepped on the pitch. That is the reality for Ilona Maher as the USA international prepares to play her first game for Bristol on Sunday as she starts from the bench against Gloucester-Hartpury in Premiership Women’s Rugby.Maher, who is the most followed rugby player on the planet with more than eight million followers across multiple social media platforms, signed for the club last month to become the league’s biggest signing. She has made the move to 15s rugby from sevens in a bid to make the USA squad for the Rugby World Cup, taking place in England later this year.The 28-year-old’s signing resulted in soaring ticket demand for the match against the defending champions, so much so that the fixture was moved from the side’s Shaftesbury Park to Bristol City’s Ashton Gate

Rishabh Pant blast rocks Australia on 15-wicket day to keep India’s hopes alive

When the fourth Australia-India Test at Melbourne finished with an hour to go on the final day, those who love the long game were sated. The experience was hearty and nutritious, like working your way through a large slice of dense and worthy rye bread. The first two days of the fifth Test in Sydney, by contrast, have been a pure sugar rush. Eleven wickets on day one were followed by 15 on day two, as the match careened towards a conclusion though a winner remains unclear.India all out 185 was the first-day story, but somehow that turned into a four-run lead