The finance director of The Hut, which is backed by some of retail's biggest stars, has quit the online retailer abruptly after it ditched plans for a flotation this year.

Marc Bolland, the chief executive of Marks & Spencer, has reaffirmed its commitment to the UK high street at a turbulent time for the sector, as the April bank holidays helped it deliver a solid first quarter.

The high street stalwart Marks & Spencer handed its outgoing chairman Sir Stuart Rose a pay packet worth £8m last year, although the sum paled against the almost £14m spent on luring Marc Bolland to the group.

He looks strangely familiar

Thorntons, the chocolatier, has issued a profits warning for the third time in 10 months and indicated that it may have to close more than 200 stores over the next four years.

The appointment of the next chairman of the BBC Trust, the broadcaster's governing body, could see short-listed candidates taking part in an X Factor-style popularity contest before a panel of MPs. The two front-runners are Lord Patten, former Tory party chairman, and Sir Howard Davies, director of the London School of Economics.

Handbag queen Anya Hindmarch is one of many business celebrities offering up their brains for the Krug Mind Share auction at Sotheby's on 1 November to raise money for charities of their choice.

Sir Stuart Rose is to join a private-equity firm as an adviser in his first new role since he announced his departure from Marks & Spencer.

Insurance, eh. It's really a simple concept – you pay the company a premium, they cover your costs if the worst happens. What's made it look complex is a talent for obfuscation that is even now plumbing new depths. There was a real humdinger from Amlin, which does much of its business at Lloyd's of London, as it tried to explain why profits have been falling. "Downward rating pressures," it sniffs. In other words, premiums are getting cheaper. Surely a contender for this week's inexcusable jargon award. On a Monday.

Marks & Spencer is to boost its senior management team with the appointment of a multi-channel division director.

Crime has dropped to the lowest level for more than 30 years – so why do many of us feel unsafe? Although we think crime has fallen in our neighbourhood, two-thirds of us believe it has risen across the country as a whole. Could it be that anti-social behaviour, which rarely results in arrests or convictions, contributes to our feelings of unease? And is this worse than 10 years ago? Low-grade, threatening behaviour which may not get reported often blights the lives of people living in council flats and estates and there are numerous examples of mindless intimidation, where residents say they feel besieged, and claim the police don't do enough.

Nearly one in five shareholders refused to support the remuneration report of Marks & Spencer yesterday at its annual meeting, as they rebelled against the £15m its new chief executive Marc Bolland could earn this year.