Making sense of the past seven days
Say it quietly, but the retail market seems to be in relative equilibrium at the moment. Some retailers are doing well, some are doing badly, but most large players are approaching Christmas with a degree of confidence that if they do get the basics right, they will have a reasonable, if unspectacular, Christmas season.

But as ever, there are flies in the ointment. Unfortunately for fashion retailers, last weekend's cold snap wasn't sustained. And, while yesterday's rise in interest rates was widely seen as inevitable, it doesn't mean it was the right thing to do.

Consumer confidence remains fragile and it won't take much for consumers to rein in their spending if their mortgage bills start soaring. While price deflation is easing, there is a long way to go before we see significant inflation in shop prices. Once again, retailers are likely to be the victim of the very blunt instrument of interest rates.

One rise can probably be absorbed without making a real dent in the mood of consumers. The issue will be if, as predicted, the one rise turns into a series of them. That really would affect sales, so its important the retail industry makes its voice heard.

What a difference a week makes. Was it only seven days ago that Retail Week was reporting that the BRC's attempts to engineer an industry-wide support package to help the victims of the Farepak collapse had broken down?

Since then, after Sainsbury's chief executive Justin King started the ball rolling, retailers have been falling over themselves to pledge their support.

It's good news for the victims of the collapse, but has left the poor old BRC looking like the villains of the piece. The BRC plays a vital role in the industry, but it's a shame its members

sometimes undermine its efforts.