Ten days till Christmas, and the evidence (Woolworths’ collapse and Marks & Spencer’s “20 per cent off” sales notwithstanding) is UK retail sales are grim, but not critical. Retail Knowledge Bank, a consultancy, suggests shops are experiencing an earthquake of 6.5 on the Richter scale: solidly built chains remain standing, ones with feeble foundations are being swept away. That compares with the force nine quake – enough to smash everything – that threatened the banking system in October and may now face US automakers.

One problem in gauging the high street’s health is apparently contradictory data. The Office for National Statistics has reported retail sales volumes were flat or slightly positive, year on year, in recent months. Figures from the British Retail Consortium, the industry body, skewed towards large stores groups, have been slightly negative. That may reflect the vicious discounting by the biggest players.