’Tis the season for dubious TV adverts | Letters

The issues you highlighted in your editorial are real, but please don’t think that advertisers care about them (The Guardian view on the John Lewis Christmas ad: a modern story of fathers and sons, 7 November).This ad is a shameless attempt to make consumers think they are doing something worthwhile in buying overpriced gifts in a failing store that used to share its profits with staff but hasn’t paid them any bonus in the past few years.If anything, the relentless pressure of advertising (where the Christmas season starts earlier each year) only serves to pile more pressure on people who are struggling. The cynicism of these ads – pretending to care while desperately trying to trigger the Pavlovian Christmas shopping response – is truly depressing.Chris LinwardSalford Your editorial’s claim that the new John Lewis Christmas ad was “harking back to the 1990s” and evoked “a less complicated time to be a young man” would be news to anyone who remembers that time as the era of laddism and Loaded, and the underlying unease about men’s emotional lives as shown in novels such as Tim Lott’s White City Blue and Nick Hornby’s About a Boy

US markets struggle amid tech sell-off and economic uncertainty

Wall Street came under pressure on Thursday, enduring its worst day in a month as a sell-off of technology stocks intensified.After an extraordinary rally around hopes for artificial intelligence that propelled global stock markets to record highs, fears that tech firms are now overvalued loom large.Investors are also braced for the release of a batch of official data on the state of the US economy, amid heightened uncertainty over its strength during the federal government shutdown.The benchmark S&P 500 and the Dow Jones industrial average each closed down 1.7% in New York on Thursday, while the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite dropped 2

Thames Water tried to make MP pay its legal fees of up to £1,400 an hour

Thames Water argued that an MP should be forced to pay its hefty legal costs after he represented the interests of the British public in court, a move he described as “retaliation” for pushing for government control of the crisis-hit utility, the Guardian can reveal.The UK’s highest court this week rejected Thames Water’s arguments that the Liberal Democrat MP Charlie Maynard should pay legal fees as high as £1,400 per hour.Britain’s biggest water company has been on the verge of collapse for several years as it struggles under the weight of net debt of £17bn, built up over decades since privatisation. Thames Water’s effective owners have asked for 15 years of leniency from environmental fines from the government to try to recover.Maynard was granted unusual permission to represent the public interest in a court battle over an investor bailout for Thames Water

Pound falls and UK borrowing costs rise as Reeves ditches plans for income tax hike – as it happened

Time to recap…The pound has fallen and the price of UK government borrowing rose today as investors worry over how the Labour government plans to cover its fiscal shortfall in the upcoming budget.It was all in reaction to news that chancellor Rachel Reeves was backtracking on plans to hike income tax rates, in what would have resulted in breaking the party’s manifesto pledge.However, with just two weeks to go until the 26 November fiscal event, it has left investors scratching their heads over how the chancellor plans to raise funds in order to cover policies like increased defence spending or the likely scrapping of the two-child benefit cap.Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 not only suffered from those domestic jitters, but also global fears over an AI tech bubble, which continue to drag on US stocks on Wall Street.Investors are also worried that the Federal Reserve will hold off cutting interest rates in December, and the impact of delayed data on rate decisions, following the US government shutdown

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon to step down after more than a decade in role

Walmart’s CEO, Doug McMillon, will retire next year after more than a decade in charge of one of the world’s largest retailers.John Furner, the chain’s boss in the US, will succeed McMillion as the Bentonville, Arkansas-based grocery retailer’s global CEO after 31 January.Shares in Walmart fell about 3% during premarket trading.Walmart employs 2.1 million workers across the world, including about 1

‘Red cup rebellion’: striking Starbucks baristas urge customers to stay away

At a popular Starbucks in Brooklyn’s Clinton Hill, hundreds of people – including workers, union allies and community supporters – filled the sidewalks. In 40F (4.4C) weather, picketers held signs, marched, and chanted “What’s disgusting? Union-busting!” and “No contract, no coffee!”More than a thousand Starbucks workers across the US walked off the job on Thursday in over 40 cities, marking one of the largest coordinated actions yet by the rapidly growing union movement inside the world’s largest coffee chain.The strike, timed to coincide with the company’s lucrative “red cup day” festivities, is designed to pressure Starbucks back to the bargaining table after months of stalled contract negotiations.In Clinton Hill, many potential customers who stopped by for coffee were successfully deterred, choosing instead to support the strike