Bargain hunters buy more but spend less on 'throwaway' fashion, report reveals

The downward trend for clothes expenditure over the past decade is not because we are buying less. Far from it – the Noughties saw a vast surge in consumption levels of clothing and footwear. It is because the items themselves are so much cheaper now than they were10 years ago.

DSGi sells one computer and one television every two seconds in UK at Christmas

Outlook What has happened to the discount grocers? A year ago, the rise of the likes of Aldi, Lidl and Netto seemed unstoppable, particularly in these troubled economic times. Yet the latest figures from TNS, the analysts, show that the discounters stood still or went backwards over the Christmas just gone.

The strength of Britain's high street over the festive period will be revealed this week when some of the country's biggest retailers including Tesco, Primark, Argos and others, report to the market.

Ever wished you could shuck off the burden of materialism? These three men did. Cue a conveyor belt of destruction, a bonfire for the ages and a jumble sale like no other.

Outlook Will Sir Stuart Rose be satisfied with the performance of his beloved Marks & Spencer during his final full calendar year at the helm? Announcing M&S's first increase in sales for two years yesterday will have been satisfying – and Sir Stuart seems to have steered the retailer through the recession relatively unscathed – yet the interest in when Marc Bolland is due to finally join the retailer must have been irritating.

Next, Topshop, Boots and WH Smith also interested in Westfield Stratford City site

The competition, in association with The Independent, the Clothes Show Live and the yougo website, has been running for the past month and the judges have selected a worthy winner they felt captured the imagination.

In our article, 'Primark faces new claims that it uses sweatshop labour', (4 December 2009), we stated that in 2005 Primark was named by 'Ethical Consumer' magazine as the least ethical clothing company.The magazine subsequently retracted this and stated that Primark was in the top 15 per cent of its table of rankings. The Independent is happy to set the record straight.

The flagship Primark store in London is thought to have enjoyed the best day's trading in the discount fashion retailer's 40-year history on Saturday, boosted by a traffic-free shopping day in the West End.

2006: War on Want report finds child labourers in Bangladesh making Primark clothes for 3p an hour. Allegations of beating and sexual harrassment are made. Primarkasks for details and says it will investigate<br/>2008: BBC's Panorama finds Primark using child labourers working gruelling hours in slum workshops and refugee camps. Primark blames third party suppliers and says itwill tighten controls on contractors

You already know what this sounds like. JLS, the they-seem-like-nice-boys losers (though probably, in the long run, winners) of the last X Factor, are being carefully slotted by LouisWalsh into a lucrative gap in the market.There hasn't been aBritish R&B boy band ofany note since MN8, andthe JLS project is beingpitched withmaximumsafety and minimum risk.Whichmeansvocoderintros, Primark-friendlymelodies and pained, fistclenchedover-emoting,facilitating the fantasythat JLS could be singingto you, yes you.

Fashion chain to open 11 outlets over the next year