Retail sales rise in Great Britain as warm weather boosts clothing purchases
Back-to-school shopping and warm weather helped to boost retail sales last month, according to the latest official data.Total retail sales in Great Britain rose 0.5%, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, as parents prepared for the new school year and shoppers enjoyed a series of heatwave and the summer’s last bank holiday.The figure was slightly higher than the 0.4% increase that some analysts had forecast.
The ONS, which revised its estimate for July’s monthly sales growth down from 0.6% to 0.5%, also said that non-store retailing, primarily online shopping, increased in August.Clothing sales rose 1.3% month on month in August, boosted by the warm conditions, while there was a 1.
1% monthly increase in non-food stores sales – the total of department stores, household and other non-food stores.Food stores experienced a 0.5% rise as specialists, such as butchers and bakers, recovered from poor sales in July.“Retailers will be pleased to see that August figures have increased, continuing the momentum from July of summer shopping,” said Jim Rudall, a regional director at Mailchimp.“With summer holidays in full swing, August also brought the UK’s final bank holiday before December as consumers used the long weekend to prepare for the seasonal shift.
”However, the ONS said that across the three months to the end of August retail sales fell by 0.1% compared with the previous quarter.“Retail sales fell slightly across the latest three months though at a slower rate of decline than seen last month,” said Hannah Finselbach, a senior statistician at the ONS.“This was mainly due to a poor period for non-food stores, such as antiques dealers and auction houses as well as tech stores, with fuel sales also falling.These were only partially offset by increases from online and clothing shops.
”Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionRetailers are also concerned that the late November budget, in which there could be tax rises, could weigh on consumers in the crucial Christmas trading period.Earlier this month, the British Retail Consortium said the boost in spending on food and drink had been because of price rises as opposed to consumers buying more products.The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has said the budget will be held on 26 November, later than many had expected.
Temu’s UK operation doubles revenues and pre-tax profits
The UK operation of the Chinese online marketplace Temu doubled revenues and pre-tax profits last year, as British consumers snapped up products offered by the super-budget retailer.Temu UK reported revenues of $63.3m (£46.4m) last year, almost double the $32m in 2023, while pre-tax profits similarly surged from $2m to $3.9m, accounts show
Memes and nihilistic in-jokes: the online world of Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer
On the day that 22-year-old Tyler Robinson shot and the killed rightwing activist Charlie Kirk, prosecutors say, he texted his roommate to confess what he had done. While appearing to admit to the murder and describe how he was planning to retrieve his gun, he pivoted to mention why he had carved messages into the ammunition.“Remember how I was engraving bullets? The fuckin messages are mostly a big meme,” Robinson texted, according to authorities.Robinson’s shooting of Kirk has put the spotlight on the intersection of political violence and an increasingly nihilistic online world that promotes misinformation and extremism. It’s a confluence that raises fundamental questions about how internet culture influences both extremist attacks and how we understand them, at a time when some of the biggest online spaces are increasingly more divisive and less moderated
ChatGPT developing age-verification system to identify under-18 users after teen death
OpenAI will restrict how ChatGPT responds to a user it suspects is under 18, unless that user passes the company’s age estimation technology or provides ID, after legal action from the family of a 16-year-old who killed himself in April after months of conversations with the chatbot.OpenAI was prioritising “safety ahead of privacy and freedom for teens”, chief executive Sam Altman said in a blog post on Tuesday, stating “minors need significant protection”.The company said that the way ChatGPT responds to a 15-year-old should look different to the way it responds to an adult.Altman said OpenAI plans to build an age-prediction system to estimate age based on how people use ChatGPT, and if there is doubt, the system will default to the under-18 experience. He said some users “in some cases or countries” may also be asked to provide ID to verify their age
How memes, gaming and internet culture all relate to the Charlie Kirk shooting
Hello, and welcome to TechScape. Dara Kerr here, filling in for Blake Montgomery, who promises he’ll come back from vacation. Meanwhile, I’m looking at the memes, gaming and internet culture behind the shooting of Charlie Kirk.The bullet that killed conservative activist was inscribed with a message: “Notices bulge OwO whats this?” The online world quickly recognized the reference. It’s a phrase used in internet culture to troll people in online role-play communities, specifically furries (a subculture that cosplays as anthropomorphic animal characters)
How AI is undermining learning and teaching in universities | Letter
In discussing generative artificial intelligence (‘It’s going to be a life skill’: educators discuss the impact of AI on university education, 13 September) you appear to underestimate the challenges that large language model (LLM) tools such as ChatGPT present to higher education. The argument that mastering AI is a life skill that students need in preparation for the labour market is unconvincing. Our experience is that generative AI undermines teaching and learning, bypasses reflection and criticality, and deflects students from reading original material.Student misuse of generative AI is widespread. Claims that AI helps preparation or research is simply cover for students taking shortcuts that do not develop their learning skills
Top UK artists urge Starmer to protect their work on eve of Trump visit
Leading British artists including Mick Jagger, Kate Bush and Paul McCartney have urged Keir Starmer to stand up for creators’ human rights and protect their work ahead of a UK-US tech deal during Donald Trump’s visit.In a letter to the prime minister, they argued Labour had failed to defend artists’ basic rights by blocking attempts to force artificial intelligence firms to reveal what copyrighted material they have used in their systems.Senior figures in US tech are accompanying the US president on his state visit, where an announcement is expected on a UK-US tech pact covering areas including AI.Elton John, one of the letter’s signatories, said government proposals to let AI companies train their systems on copyright-protected work without permission “leaves the door wide open for an artist’s life work to be stolen”.“We will not accept this,” he added
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