In a way it's good not to be Christmas number one because people would see the record as a novelty.

After a month or so, the novelty began to wear off. So I, like, put up a poll to see who the next one should be about. There were about 12 people on my list. Chuck Norris wasn't there at all. But I got a lot of e-mails saying, 'Put on Chuck Norris, put on Chuck Norris.' So I did, and he won by a landslide.

I have been waiting for Sean to come back every week, it is like putting Christmas back.

They're trying to move people to their paid subscription sites. They are shutting down services for which people are not paying and getting a good bit of P.R. out of it.

There has been a belief that Christmas trading was strong. For now, however, it's purely anecdotal. We have no hard numbers to go on. We'll get those next week.

Christmas, in retailing terms, is coming later and later each year as consumers play chicken with the high street and delay their spending in the expectation of late price cuts as the big day draws nearer.