IF you pay attention there are no surprises.

A few weeks ago my partner and I were walking along Princes Street in Edinburgh (down from the hole-in-the-high-street which was British Home Stores). The sign over House of Fraser was broken. It had been that way for a while. My partner said “So, they are in trouble as well”.

We’d been discussing the disastrous UK economy – despite what appears in the media and tumbles forth from the mouths of the Westminster munchkins. Simply adding together the disaster of decades of privatisation (asset stripping) and poor UK management, damage to Britain’s global reputation with everything from a buffoon foreign secretary and ninny Secretary of State for Defence and contradictory foreign policies to the outsourcing of local and national government (more public money down the private sewer) and now the unnecessary damage and chaos of Brexit and you have a sum with no sensible equation.

Today iconic store House of Fraser announced the closure of half of its stores with thousands of lost jobs.

Amanda Baker,

Saughton Gardens, Edinburgh.