Latest news with #MichaelMarks
The Irish Sun
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
‘Feels very elegant' cries Marks & Spencer fans over ‘flattering' summer dress – and it comes in two colours
IRISH shoppers are going wild for an 'elegant' midaxi dress in Marks and Spencer - and it boasts a 'flattering' fit. The Pure Cotton Halter Neck Midaxi Beach Dress has hit the shelves in stores across the country and is also available online. 4 A must-have summer dress has arrived in M&S 4 It's available in two colours The striking M&S designers said the dress is ideal for hot weather. They said: 'This pure cotton midaxi dress is a stylish choice for beach days. It's designed in a regular fit with a feminine halterneck that ties at the back. 'A cut-out on the bodice adds a flirty feel to the piece. M&S Collection: easy-to-wear wardrobe staples that combine classic and contemporary READ MORE ON FASHION Shoppers can choose from a hot tomato red or a classic black. Retailing at €54, the dress ranges in sizes 6 to 18. Size 6 and 8 are sold out in red and size 8 is sold out in black. MOST READ IN THE IRISH SUN The retailer styled the dress with flat sandals and a straw bucket bag. Shoppers took to the reviews to rate the summer dress. Shoppers run for summer's 'wow factor' denim jacket in M&S, it's set to go viral One person said: 'Love this dress, it looks so good on, enough style and fantastic look.' Another said: 'Beautiful and flattering, bought in red too. 'True to size. 5f 2 bought the 12. Not just to wear on the beach, I'd wear out on holiday in the evening too.' One fan shared: 'Beautiful dress. Fits to true size, can't wait for the warmer weather to come.' Another said: 'Absolutely gorgeous, so flattering but so comfortable too! Cant wait to wear this abroad.' While another added: 'Love the fit. Feels very elegant. Light cotton material perfect for summer days and nights.' Meanwhile, shoppers are in a frenzy over new wide leg The Colour Block Wide Leg Trousers have landed in stores across the country and are also available online. The wide-leg trousers have a thick stripe down the side and a small slit on the leg. Dunnes Stores chiefs said the pants have an elasticated waist for comfort. They said: 'These wide-leg trousers are designed for everyday wear. 4 Shoppers said the dress is 'absolutely gorgeous' 4 It's available online and in stores Credit: Getty HISTORY OF MARKS & SPENCER WHEN Michael Marks, an immigrant from the north of England, was able to obtain a stall in Leeds' Kirkgate Market in 1884, M&S was born. He used the catchphrase "Don't ask the price, it's a 'penny'" to build his career after arriving with little money and minimal command of English. His little booth selling basic home goods was rapidly booming because of this simple idea and his diligent work. Michael teamed up with Dewhirst wholesalers' cashier Tom Spencer to help his expanding firm. This collaboration gave rise to "Marks & Spencer" and its initial Penny Bazaar locations, which helped the company take shape as we know it today. More than 15,000 purchases were made on the first day of trading.
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Stop Funding Hate campaign group accused of amplifying ‘anti-Semites'
Left-wing activists who have been given money by a taxpayer-funded charity have been accused of amplifying anti-Semitic messages on social media. Followers of Stop Funding Hate, which runs campaigns against the Right-wing media, have used its Facebook page to post slurs about Marks & Spencer (M&S) supporting 'Nazis' and 'genocide'. Stop Funding Hate claims to challenge 'all forms of discrimination without exception', but MPs say it has failed to act when Jewish people are the target of hatred on its own social media account. The group has been targeting Marks & Spencer for advertising on GB News. Comments from third parties that have appeared on Stop Funding Hate's Facebook page in recent months have included 'M&S support Nazis', 'M&S are a company run by misogynistic fascists' and 'I refuse to shop at M&S because I object to my hard-earned money being used to support fascists'. Marks & Spencer, founded by Michael Marks, a Jewish immigrant, has been a favourite target of anti-Israel protesters, who object to the brand selling Israeli-sourced goods. Stop Funding Hate is encouraging people to sign a petition calling on M&S to stop advertising on GB News's radio station, which has been supported by people who have in the past used remarks such as 'Jew vermin' and other anti-Semitic hatred. Stop Funding Hate is run by Richard Wilson, a Jeremy Corbyn supporter who aims to 'defund' Right-leaning media outlets by running social media campaigns against companies that advertise with them. The campaign group has received £100,000 from a foundation that receives grants from the taxpayer, The Telegraph reported in January. It regularly retweets posts on X from people who say they are backing the anti-M&S petition. Some of those signatories of the petition have in the past posted vile anti-Semitic slurs. One of them has in the past described Israelis as 'Jew vermin' and said 'Israel is a Jewish terrorist state'. Another person whose support for the M&S petition was shared by Stop Funding Hate has previously said that 'Zionists are blood-hungry pigs', while others have described Israelis as Nazis and accused them of genocide. Another anti-Semitic slur post by someone whose support for the M&S petition has been retweeted by Stop Funding Hate says 'Jews run the world'. Having joined the UK commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day, Stop Funding Hate stated: 'It's shocking that 75 years on, anti-Semitism is so widespread on social media. It's vital that we stand together in calling for more action.' Jack Rankin, the Conservative MP for Windsor, said: 'Stop Funding Hate state that 'it's vital to speak out and oppose all forms of identity-based hate within our public discourse' while they themselves repeatedly platform and amplify vile anti-Semitic accounts across their own channels.' Mr Windsor, who has worked with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum to ensure the safe return of Israeli hostages of the Oct 7 attacks, added: 'The organisation's supposed raison d'etre is to censor. They pore over news channels and social media accounts hourly, yet when Jews are the target, they can't even deal with the hate espoused by their own supporters.' Richard Wilson, director of Stop Funding Hate, said: 'Stop Funding Hate has a proud record of opposing all forms of hate, including anti-Semitism. 'Most recently, we have been challenging GB News over its posting of a video on YouTube which aired dangerous anti-Semitic rhetoric, and we've been encouraging brands to exclude their advertising from the GB News YouTube channel in response to this. 'Stop Funding Hate would never knowingly amplify a social media account that was being used to spread hateful or otherwise problematic content. 'We will always take action to remove problematic comments posted on our Facebook page when we become aware of them. 'As with any organisation that has thousands of online interactions every year, there will sometimes be instances where an issue comes to light that we were previously unaware of.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
22-03-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Stop Funding Hate campaign group accused of amplifying ‘anti-Semites'
Left-wing activists who have been given money by a taxpayer-funded charity have been accused of amplifying anti-Semitic messages on social media. Followers of Stop Funding Hate, which runs campaigns against the Right-wing media, have used its Facebook page to post slurs about Marks & Spencer (M&S) supporting 'Nazis' and 'genocide'. Stop Funding Hate claims to challenge 'all forms of discrimination without exception', but MPs say it has failed to act when Jewish people are the target of hatred on its own social media account. The group has been targeting Marks & Spencer for advertising on GB News. Comments from third parties that have appeared on Stop Funding Hate's Facebook page in recent months have included 'M&S support Nazis', 'M&S are a company run by misogynistic fascists' and 'I refuse to shop at M&S because I object to my hard-earned money being used to support fascists'. Marks & Spencer, founded by Michael Marks, a Jewish immigrant, has been a favourite target of anti-Israel protesters, who object to the brand selling Israeli-sourced goods. Anti-Semitic slurs Stop Funding Hate is encouraging people to sign a petition calling on M&S to stop advertising on GB News's radio station, which has been supported by people who have in the past used remarks such as 'Jew vermin' and other anti-Semitic hatred. Stop Funding Hate is run by Richard Wilson, a Jeremy Corbyn supporter who aims to 'defund' Right-leaning media outlets by running social media campaigns against companies that advertise with them. The campaign group has received £100,000 from a foundation that receives grants from the taxpayer, The Telegraph reported in January. It regularly retweets posts on X from people who say they are backing the anti-M&S petition. Some of those signatories of the petition have in the past posted vile anti-Semitic slurs. One of them has in the past described Israelis as 'Jew vermin' and said 'Israel is a Jewish terrorist state'.
Telegraph
07-03-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Pound shops are vanishing from the high street
Poundworld, Poundland, Poundstretcher – where does Britain's pound-shop obsession end? If you opened up a pound-shop empire today what would you call it – Poundtown? Pound Kingdom? Thankfully, it seems unlikely there will be further additions to the utterly saturated discount concept after the owner of Poundland raised the 'for sale' sign over the 825-store chain. How fitting if it lived up to its name right until the bitter end and was sold for a pound. But even that may be wishful thinking. With Pepco, its owner, only just beginning to look at what it calls 'all strategic options', it's early days in terms of what precisely the chain's fate will be, but it is probably fair to say that everything will be downhill from here, and not just for this version of the tired bargain-basement model. After the collapse of Wilko, and two profit warnings at B&M, the discount boom is surely over, meaning a welcome retreat for a phenomenon that is responsible for dragging the UK's broken high street to new lows in many places. It is a trend that started to take shape more than 30 years ago, before exploding during the austerity years that followed the financial crash. Along with the pound stores came the bargain chains – B&M, Home Bargains and The Range – all of them peddling more or less the same cheap wares to hard-up shoppers, just under a different name. It is no coincidence that many resemble little more than glorified jumble sales at times. Poundland was the trailblazer, founded in 1990 by Steven Smith, a former West Midlands market trader. The entrepreneur spotted an opportunity to cash in on the proliferation of pound coins in circulation. Still, a reckoning for an industry that has created countless copycats with very little to differentiate one from the other feels long overdue. In fact, the UK high street might feel like a slightly cheerier place with fewer of these soulless stores jostling for space, providing of course something better can replace them – a big 'if' in ghost town Britain. No doubt such an assessment sounds harsh – short-sighted, even. There is clearly a place for any establishment that sells genuinely affordable goods, especially at a time when inflation has been tearing through the economy, pushing up the cost of literally everything to unthinkable levels. It's probably not an overstatement to say that bargain shopping has been a genuine lifeline for really hard-up families in recent years. But surely there's a limit to how many pound shops and discount dens we are willing to put up with. Variety retail, as it was once known, has always existed in some form of course. Readers of a certain age will no doubt remember Woolworths fondly, while retail historians may recall that Marks & Spencer has its roots in a concept that began as Penny Bazaar in Leeds in the late 1800s. Set up by Michael Marks, a Polish-Jewish migrant, its catchy slogan was 'Don't ask the price, it's a penny'. Marks teamed up with Tom Spencer, a cashier at a local warehouse, and by the turn of the century they had nearly 40 outlets. The credit crunch unleashed a spectacular budget boom. Out went Woolies, and in swept a new generation of discount kings, many setting up in shops vacated by one of the pioneers of affordable shopping. These were the heroes of the post-banking crash recession. Now it's gone too far. Expansion has been utterly relentless. In the same way that the UK high street has become a sea of Turkish barbers, vape shops, and overpriced coffee chains, Britain is drowning in cut-price produce. Some retail parks can house three or four of the nationwide chains within spitting distance of each other. The truth is there is very little, if anything, to distinguish Poundland from Poundstretcher. Ditto Home Bargains and B&M. The experience is pretty much identical, in the same way that only the true nerds would differentiate between an Aldi or a Lidl. This is shopping with all the joy and pizazz sucked out of it and reduced to the absolute basics – goods piled high and sold in vast quantities, and aisle upon aisle stuffed full of drab soft furnishings, plastic tat from the Far East, and for reasons destined to forever remain unknown, a disproportionate selection of bird food. As shopping experiences go, it is about as miserable as it is possible to conceive of short of buying some stolen bacon out of a sports holdall from a scary man in the corner of your local pub. And perhaps that's the point: there are lots of people that don't care for any theatre or about the way in which the shelves are presented – they just want decent products at rock-bottom prices. Yet part of the problem is that you get what you pay for, and while it's hard to get a packet of KitKats or a bottle of Dove shower gel wrong, far too much of what you can find in the aisles of the discounters is of obviously dubious quality that has helped fuel today's throwaway culture. Besides, the industry is the architect of its own demise, brought down by the same basic mistakes that are the undoing of so many businesses. Blaming retail's favourite bogeyman Rachel Reeves certainly won't cut it. Sure, the Treasury's tax raid will 'add further pressure to Poundland's cost base' as Pepco puts it – but the key word in that sentence is 'further'. Viable retailers will be able to weather the financial hit. The industry's reversal has been brought about primarily by greed. The entrepreneurs that led the way are long gone, having made their fortune by selling out to private equity or bigger corporations obsessed with planting flags wherever there's a gap to be filled. The few that are left are plotting their escape too. The window for cashing in may close sooner than they anticipated.
