John Lewis’s chairman has now weighed in on Brexit, saying it is ‘unthinkable’ that Britain leaves the EU without a deal.
He made the comments at this morning’s media briefing, as he outlines the company’s plans to shut five Waitrose stores and boost investment.
Reuters has the details:
Britain is unprepared to leave the European Union without a deal and chaos would ensue were it to happen, the chairman of department store group John Lewis said on Wednesday.
“A no deal Brexit is in my view a pretty much unthinkable scenario,” Charlie Mayfield told reporters.
Looking further into the posted article, here’s some comments from managing editor of Money (UK). Lewis is having problems with online competition, not from Brexit.
Martin Lane, managing editor of money.co.uk, is alarmed that profits across JohnLewis’s business have all but evaporated so far this year.
__He says:
“It’s no surprise John Lewis have seen a fall in consumer demand, but to make close to no profit is worrying to say the least. John Lewis are struggling to soak up rising costs whilst improving their own infrastructure. The strategic move to close a few Waitrose stores is part of a wider plan to innovate rather than expand.
“With numerous high street retailers going into administration since Christmas, this news will surely have the John Lewis board members in crisis talks.
Lane believes that Waitrose are losing out to cheaper rivals, as consumers cut back.
John Lewis’s department stores face an even bigger nemesis - the internet.
With lack of wage growth and rising living costs it’s become evident that shoppers are tightening their purse strings and saving where they can. Cheaper supermarkets like Aldi and Lidl are growing in popularity which leaves Waitrose out in the cold. John Lewis on the other hand are battling an even bigger battle - the online retail market.
Absolutely true, retail is getting hammered, retail jobs are gets hammered, that’s why brexit now is a really bad idea.
Unemployment and lack of investment and reducing demand .
True, but retail getting hammered has nothing to do with Brexit.
Same thing is happening to retail in the U.S. The department stores are dead.
It has everything to do with old-style stores thinking that people will drive their cars to buy stuff. Some still do, obviously, but numbers are dropping.
The new generation (sub-40) is doing a very high portion of their shopping online.
Are you talking about the EU ? All we have to do is find out where these EU pots of Gold that BJ dreams about , are buried… My guess is that they will be buried under a Rainbow , along with the Billions that the EU have “lost”
The fragility of the EU is increasing," warns EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker. “The cracks are growing in size.”
What…Mr. President of the EU, Have you not been listening to Brian Jones? Everything is just fine, Pfft.
BBC…Pro EU , they must see there is NO problem of the EU falling apart, surely.
I think you need to write a letter BJ, these people are obviously wrong. You have proven, time and time again that there is no chance that the EU may be falling apart …Go get them BJ
perhaps from the migration’s big strain on the social expenses of the countries involved.
Plus, no assimilation whatsoever by the Muslim immigrants.
Look at Sweden. There are now quite a few no-go zones where even the police are afraid to enter and the inmates, errr immigrants, control the asylum.
To be honest I don’t see any short-term acceptable solution. Europe is facing now the consequences of terrible former African colony politics and robbing their continent regarding fishing and natural resources.
So what now, closing it off like Australia is doing it, which in my opinion is just inhuman.
As others mentioned here before the United States of Europe basically is a nice idea to bring stability and peace to the region.
But after the cold curtain fell, the extension to involve now up to 28 countries was simply too fast.
The Euro should have been limited for the stronger countries only, now it is too late.
The European central government with its partly silly rules (the curve of a banana as an example) and it’s financial scandals (Eu parlamentary salaries) gave the people the rest to be pissed off.
I see the European idea fading away and honestly the life was also bearable with borders
What you forget is lots of European countries had nothing substantial to do with Africa.
And that was a long time ago, they’ve been messing it up themselves for at least 50 years now.
It’s all economic due to population pressure and what they see on the internet or their relatives already in Europe telling them how great it is.
That article is amazing. Basically the TL;DR of it is:'No-go zones in Sweden don’t exist because no one ever officially labelled them No-go zones. Yes, in some suburbs like Rosengard there’s very high crime rate and grenade attacks against the police are common, BUT it hasn’t been officially labelled as a No-go zone".
Difficult to know as the Government have suppressed a lot of the Information. It is a mess.
Sweden has one of the highest levels of lethal gun violence in Europe, World Health Organisation data showed. It does not suit the “our policies are working” agenda, to investigate the effect of their immigration policies.
The Government is considering sending the Army into the “No- go” areas.
It is a shame to ignore the facts. This is just a sheer coincidence of course.
Immigration for emergency or asylum is fine. Most of this migration is purely for Economic reasons. They know this and are trying to deport the “illegals”, but they just vanish when questioned in Germany and Sweden …total mess and should have been more carefully thought out.
Even something as mainstream as Reuters now has to write about it, because it can’t be ignored anymore, especially with an election coming up:
About 400,000 people have sought asylum in the wealthy Scandinavian country of 10 million since 2012, and it took in 163,000 asylum seekers in 2015 alone. Some voters fear schools, hospitals and welfare services cannot cope, and Sweden’s reputation for tolerance and social equality is threatened.
How’d you like to live in Malmo?
In Malmo, where about 45 percent of the 330,000 inhabitants have an immigrant background, police say three or four gangs are operating. Swedish media say nine people have been shot dead in the city this year after 21 in the previous two year-period.
A 2017 police report into Sweden’s most deprived areas pointed to a heavily armed and ruthless criminal underclass.
Those who have not heard of Visegrad Group (of 4) should read up on its history and their present-day solidarity in the face of what’s happening inside the EU due to the open-door immigrant policy.
