M&S Online Sale

The Marks and Spencer sale is online now. Save money on lingerie, summer dresses, home appliances and more.

The sale in on until the end of the month, with reductions throughout the range. Ladies can find deals on shoes, knitwear and other clothes - you can search by brand or item online. In menswear, prices have been cut on shirts, coats, socks, ties and suits. Kids don't miss out either with deals on clothing, nightwear and school uniforms.

Marks and Spencer have also been voted most trusted retailer recently in a survey by YouGov.

Wine lovers are not left out either. There is a wide range of wines at cut price including bin ends and some sparkling wines as well. Some offers are only available online such as a case of Villa Puccini Toscana 2005 for just £60, or 12 bottles of Saint Saturnin Réserve les Moulies Rosé 2008 for the low price of just £67. You can even join the wine club and be kept up to date with the latest offers.

YouGov Reveals M&S As Most Trusted Retailer

A recent survey by YouGov, commissioned by Baber Smith has revealed Marks and Spencer to be the Britain's most trusted retailer for the second year running.

The Insight survey, which explored consumer trust in the retail and financial sectors, found that 39% of people rated M&S as one of their top three most trusted retailers, with John Lewis 2nd (26%) and Boots 3rd (23%). Asda was the top supermarket, coming fourth with 20%, closely followed in fifth by Tesco (19%).

However, when trust is measured in relation to usage/market penetration, John Lewis tops the table with a 64% trust rating among its users, M&S is 2nd with 54% and Waitrose is third with 45%.

The top three factors in determining what makes a retailer trustworthy are 'good reputation', 'high quality products' and 'good value for money'. Lesser factors include 'good selection of products', 'ethical business practices', 'knowledgeable staff' and 'low prices'.

Rumour has it that there might be a big sale at M&S soon, so if you are thinking of buying a new 3 seater sofa or splash out on a summer dress, this might be a good time.


Sam Jordan, managing director, Baber Smith said: "What's interesting about these results is how quality products and value for money have grown in importance as the main reasons for trusting retailers.

"Consumers seemingly have a clear preference for retailers that offer acceptable quality at reasonable prices, rather than those that just offer rock-bottom prices. Striking this fine balance has clearly paid dividends for the likes of M&S, which once again comes out as the UK's most trusted retailer."

Charity Donations Drop

A survey has revealed that donations to charity have fallen by 10% during the first half of this year.

The survey, carried out by Investec Bank, found that 23% of people donated less than they did during this time last year with only 10% of people surveyed saying they donated more. The survey also found that 25% of people did not give any money to charity, whilst 48% gave up to £50.

Investec Bank estimates that donations to charity have dropped by 9.6% this year, a representative, Jack Jones, said "Our findings suggest that in this age of austerity, charities are suffering from falling donations as people have less money." Adding "On top of this, many of the cash accounts targeted at them are paying derisory rates of returns."

Its not really surprising that charities are continuing to struggle during the recession. If you are inclined to give to charity via a credit card, then its advisable to check out the best rates, just like anything else.

New Bras Boost Cleavage

The latest thing in designer lingerie has been unveiled by Marks & Spencer and Primark on the same day.

Its a bra designed to maximise your assets, both stores claim you can add two cup sizes to your cleavage. Primark also claim that theirs is as good as a boob job. The Primark bra is on sale for £6, whilst M&S are selling theirs for £20, it also features straps that can be crossed over at the back for even more cleavage enhancement.

These products follow the recent trend of women wanting to show off their assets rather than hiding them. In the not so distant past, minimiser bras were popular. These bras, as the name suggests, made your assets look smaller. Now, it has become more popular for ladies with curves to flaunt them, and rightly so I think.

Flower Shows to Diversify?

The Yorkshire Agricultural Society has renamed their annual show from The Flower Show to The Garden Show to take into account the latest trends for growing our own vegetables.

Princess Anne was this year's Royal visitor and was presented with a bouquet of flowers as she toured the show.

The main difference between the old Flower Show and the new Garden Show format is that there will be a lot more vegetables on show and advice related to allotments. The National Farmers Union also has a stand and will feature professional growers who will be on hand to give talks and answer questions.

It was felt that perhaps the traditional format of presenting flowers was getting outdated and producing show quality blooms was not realistic for the average gardener. There was also perhaps a shortage of advice readily at previous shows.

In preparation for the new-style tent, the Yorkshire Agricultural Society distributed grow boxes and vegetable seeds to a selection of Yorkshire schools and the best results will be displayed. TV gardener Christine Walken, from The One Show on BBC1, will choose a winner.

Despite the change in direction, one of the most sought after prizes on offer remains the Curzon-Howe-Herrick Bowl, for the best exhibit of roses.

Cat Underwear Burglar Unmasked

This is such a great story. A spate of thefts including socks, gloves and ladies underwear has been tracked down to a cat. Taken from Yahoo! News:-

Socks, gloves, ladies underwear -- almost anything left unattended was fair game for the thief, especially the knickers, and the rate of offending was getting worse.

But now the culprit has been unmasked as a kleptomaniac cat with a generous nature.

Eager to please his new owners, Peter and Birgitt Weismantel, 13-year-old Oscar had been bringing home presents to the family home in Portswood, Southampton.

"He started bringing socks home a few months ago and then gardening gloves which we tracked to our neighbour," his owner Peter Weismantel told the Southern Daily Echo newspaper.

"Then we had a situation in which he brought back young women's underwear," said Peter, 72.

"It began to escalate and I telephoned the police as people must have been missing clothes -- especially with women's underwear being taken."

The couple have been fostering Oscar from Southampton's Cats Protection charity since Christmas.

Since then he had also pinched builder's gloves, a knee-pad, a paint roller, rubber gloves, and 10 pairs of children's underpants.

On average he commits 10 robberies a day.

"He brings them back as presents," Birgitt told the Echo. "We can't give him back now as he makes such an effort with all these gifts. He's got a lovely personality and is a very loving cat.

"I think we fell in love with him before he started taking all these things," she added. "It was just so touching to see him come home every day with something for us."

Now the couple will adopt Oscar full time but they still have yet to devise a way to curb his criminal instincts.

"He's still doing it now," said Peter. "We are thinking of training him as Fagin!"

M&S Integrate Plus Sizes Into Women's Department

Plus size women may have been asking themselves lately where the dedicated Marks and Spencer range has gone. The answer is that its been integrated into all the other sizes on the shop floor.

There has been some concern about the disappearance of the plus size range from their website, their response was " I have had a look into this for you and I can confirm although we no longer have a plus size section we still carry clothing up to size 28. To locate this simply select any section from the women’s department for example Shirts & Blouses, and on the left hand side of the page there will be a narrow by size option. From there the page will then load all items available in the size you have chosen."

I think the integration of plus sizes into the normal range is a good thing. It gives you the feeling you are simply shopping for a stylish dress, available in a range of sizes. Whilst retailers such as Evans specialise in larger sizes - they do often start at 14 though, which is smaller than the allegedly 'average' size 16 I have been reading about.

British women's boobs have also been getting bigger. The average bra size is now 36D as opposed to 34B. If you think its because women are getting larger, then you'd also be mistaken. Smaller backs and larger cup sizes are more common than ever before, which means that there are more smaller women about with bigger boobs. Retailers have responded by stocking bigger bras. Marks and Spencer introduced the J cup in 2007, whilst Debenhams has recently started stocking a KK in its stores.

Women seem to be enjoying their new found curves. Now technology has moved on so that the larger bras look more feminine, the motto seems to be if you've got it, flaunt it.