we're talking about the brand boohoo.n manchester and founded in 2006. it's currently valued at around £4.2 billion — that's a billion pounds more than marks and spencer. its core brands include boohooman, pretty little thing and nasty gal. their target consumers are aged i6—a0, so if you are a mature shopper, you'll be forgiven for not recognising their stuff. but it's a company that is rapidly growing. it recently added dorothy perkins, karen millen and debenhams to its portfolio of online brands. the key to its success is staying on top of trends and offering access to those trends quickly. it's winning idea, but even harder than it sounds. ah, a post lockdown pleasure. hitting the high street again to try clothes on. there's been a huge uptick in footfall, but for how long? covid has caused shopping habits to change. the mass shift to online has provided a fatal blow to so many big brands. boohoo has been there to swoop in and snap some up. 25 million for dorothy perkins, burton and wallis, 55 million for debenhams. b

and boohoo has faced other reputational challenges.re affordable when it does come from larger manufacturing places. however, the things i'm wearing today are from independent brands so it reallyjust depends, try and have a good balance. but fast fashion is just easy. it's not something. i really think about. when probably i should. sustainability, the conditions- of the people making the clothes, probably not going to be great. that's something probably i should look into more, . but it does come down to cost as well. - and last month, the bbc reported the same items of clothing were being sold at different prices across boohoo brands. something they said was a genuine mistake. in the long term, investors, but most importantly, customers, will decide. ikea has launched its furniture buy—back and re—sale scheme in england, in an attempt to reduce the amount of products going to landfill. customers can earn up to £250 per returned item, which will be given to them in the form of a voucher to spend at the store. the initiative was origin

the new owner boohoo said the business will now run online—only. a number of them closed today.ur business correspondent emma simpson has been speaking to two workers who've been with the firm for more than 20 years each. it's the end of an era. it was a great place to work. totally lost its way, - totally lost its way, and this is the result of it. like many towns, debenhams was mansfield's last department store, a big corner of its shopping centre, and these are its final few hours. the end of a chapter forjulie and glenys, too. 75 years of service between them. i have to think about it and think, "god, it's been my whole life there," you know? like i say, i grew up there and i grew old there. i think it became like a family unit, yeah. they and their former colleagues like to remember the good times. janice was the store director's secretary. when the store was first opened in 1976, there was fitted kitchens, carpets. glenis has even reminded me that we used to sell greenhouses! in the '805, the early '805 onwards, when the mines, the industries, debenhams was the harrods of

however, boohoo really knows its customer base of young, fashion customers, and therefore their veryimpacted the way that it's young customers are shopping. but we have to be aware that consumer attitudes are changing, there is growing awareness of sustainability, of ethics, of workers' rights. this is gradually impacting businesses such as boohoo and they really are having to respond and change how they work. so, it will, we haven't seen an impact immediately, but it will over the longer term require them to change their model. thank ou. a seaside town injapan has raised eyebrows after it used funding from an emergency covid relief grant to build a giant statue of a squid. noto has had a very low number of coronavirus cases, but it has been impacted by the significant drop in tourists, and officials argue that the statue will help drum up more business. the government grant isn'tjust earmarked for covid relief, but some are criticizing the move at a time whenjapan is battling a third surge in coronavirus cases. now it's time for a look at the weather with carole. today we are lookin

the new owner boohoo said the business will now run online—only. a number of them closed today.. it was a great place to work. totally lost its way, - totally lost its way and this is the result of it. like many towns, debenhams was mansfield's department store, a big corner of a shopping centre, and these are its final few hours. the end of a chapter forjulie and glenys, too. 75 years of service between them. i have to think about it and think, god, it's been my whole life there, you know? like i say, i grew up there and i've grown old there stop i think it became like a family unit, yes. they and their former colleagues like to remember the good times. janice was the store director's secretary. when the store was first opened in 1976, there was fitted kitchens, carpets. glenys has even reminded me we used to sell greenhouses! in the early '805 onwards, when the mines, the industries, debenhams was the harrods of this area because of course the money was so affluent. it was so thriving - in the 705 and '805. tougher times now with the retail shake—out sweeping through britain's

however, the brand will continue to trade online after it was bought by fashion retailer boohoo. do so — after the us. the solar—powered rover is expected to collect rocks and scan the surface of the red planet over the next three months. for 264 hours, 50 drummers from across the world will play non—stop — to raise funds for mental health charities. among them will be famous names from coldplay and duran duran. mike liggins has been to meet some of those taking part. 77—year—old crissy lee in her back garden near colchester, still drumming, still loving every minute and keen to take part in the drumathon. crissy started drumming in a salvation army band at the age of four. in the �*60s, she was part of a band called the beat—chics who had a hit with skinny minnie. the beat—chics toured with the beatles, and today, more than 50 years on, crissy says drumming helps keep her young. i'm still quite strong, and jamming, you build up muscles. and in the head as well, i'm not really that age. i teach, i am with the kids all the time. stuart hardy has played in local essex bands for yea

the new owner boohoo said the business will now run online—only. a number of them closed today.each. it's the end of an era. it was a great place to work. totally lost its way, - totally lost its way, and this is the result of it.

however, the brand will continue to trade online after it was bought by fashion retailer boohoo.ceceft on the surface of mars. the rover has been circling the planet since february. the solar—powered rover will collect rocks and scan the surface of the red planet over the next three months. china's president xijinping has called the mission an "outstanding achievement." the band, the specials, sang that their home city was becoming "like a ghost town" back in 1981, but it's come a long way since then. today, coventry kicks off its reign as the uk city of culture. the year—long celebration of the city s arts, heritage and history was due to have begun injanuary, but everything was put on hold because of the pandemic. david sillito reports. it was meant to have been a non—stop year of art and culture, a city—wide party. but then came the pandemic. however, four and a half months on, things are finally happening in coventry. 0h, itjust feels so exciting to have got to this point. there's so much excitement about opening doors again. coventry has got so much history that people don't

however, the brand will continue to trade online after it was bought by fashion retailer boohoo.the role of northern ireland first minister. i think we are going to bring you the weather. here it is. hello, i don't think any of us can deny it's been an unusually cool may so far. if you're wondering where the warmth is this weekend — well, it can be found across southern parts of spain and portugal. temperatures above 30 degrees here. even warmer in finland than it is here in the uk, where temperatures are well down on where they should be for this stage in the month. and to go with that cool feel, there's more rain in the forecast. this afternoon and particularly tomorrow, some nasty thundery downpours can be expected for some of you. not for all. out there at the moment, we've got a zone of cloud, outbreaks of rain coming and going, stretching from east anglia, northern england into northern ireland. after the brief bit of brightness across wales and the south west through the start of the afternoon, we'll see some thundery showers develop here. in between them, temperatures cou

boohoo have bought into our nostalgia, but is it money well spent? that's the big question.h. but will our nostalgia for the brand translate into online sales? the final stores will close this weekend, and already lots of questions about what will fill the big, vacant stores. interestingly, bobby's in bournemouth will be reborn. from john lewis to fraser's, some people think there is still money to be made in department stores. are they right? i was looking at some of the archive, and they were selling mink fur in debenhams for a50 quid, a sign of the thames. then, not now. a lot of interesting stuff in the archives. —— sign of the times. thanks, ben. let's take a look at today's papers. most of the front pages focus on concerns about the rise in the number of cases of the india variant of coronavirus. the daily express says the vaccine roll—out could be accelerated to prevent it spreading further. the same story is leading on the times, but the paper also reports on doubt over holidays to portugal, with the portuguese government extending the so—called "state of public cala

the new owner boohoo said the business will now run online—only. a number of them closed today.centre, and these are its final few hours. the end of a chapter forjulie and glenys, too. 75 years of service between them. i have to think about it and think, god, it's been my whole life there, you know? like i say, i grew up there and i've grown old there stop i think it became like a family unit, yes. they and their former colleagues like to remember the good times. janice was the store director's secretary. when the store was first opened in 1976, there was fitted kitchens, carpets. glenys has even reminded me we used to sell greenhouses! in the early '80s onwards, when the mines, the industries, debenhams was the harrods of this area because of course the money was so affluent. it was so thriving i in the '70s and '80s. tougher times now with the retail shake—out sweeping through britain's high streets. it is like many other towns, it's exactly the same. and ijust hope the high street can be reinvented to get some sort of feeling back. those final few hours are going to be hard?

again, i'm not as interested in the political dynamics, the pressures that kevin mccarthy feels, boohoos belief system undergirds a current domestic violent extremism threat for all of us, the whole country, and we had a handful of elections speak out, gabriel sterling was one of them who was, someone's going to get shot. it was eerily prescient. i mean, the insurrection followed. and we have had election officials on this show who are worried about what's happening in arizona. it is a slow-motion radicalization project by gop cowards who as tim alberta says spent 48 hours telling the truth and then got smacked in the head by the political reality. but my question is, when does the security reality make more than liz cheney and mitt romney and adam kinzinger tell the truth? >> well, nicole, the cowardice is shameful, so what you have is most republicans right now in elected office would actually choose america losing its democracy over them losing their primary. that's where we are. and listen. the most important actors, all these republican politics should have more courage on their ow

the brand will continue to trade online after it was bought by fashion retailer boohoo.e uk. the ceremony in london, which includes a two—minute silence, reflects the moment on the 15th of may, 1921, when war veterans laid a wreath at the memorial on whitehall to symbolise their new unity as the british legion. china has succeeded in putting a spacecraft safely on mars, making it the second country to do so after the us. the solar—powered rover zhurong is expected to collect rocks and scan the surface of the red planet over the next three months. time to talk to mike to find out what is happening in sport. a big day? b, what is happening in sport. a big da ? �* ._ what is happening in sport. a big da ? �* , what is happening in sport. a big da? , ., ., day? a huge day. it could be one of the biggest in world sport. i was - the biggest in world sport. i was staggered to read this. peter had estimated that over the course of the 90 minutes, 1.1 billion tune in to follow the fa cup final, such as its prestige and fame around the world. —— fifa have estimated. this was in 20

the online fashion retailer, boohoo, has reported a 37%jump in earnings to more than £173 million forrganisers said not having covid cancellation insurance meant future festivals could be jeopardised. ikea has launched a furniture buy—back and re—sale scheme in england — in an attempt to reduce the amount of products that go to landfill. customers can earn up to £250 per item returned. the money will be given to them in the form of a voucher to spend at the store. the initiative was originally meant to start in november but was postponed due to lockdown. the swedish retailer says it wants to become "climate positive" by 2030. veterans unable to travel to normandy because of covid—19 travel restrictions are invited to mark the 77th anniversary of the d—day landings at an event in staffordshire for the unveiling of the british normandy memorial. the ceremony at the national memorial arboretum will be the first time the normandy veterans have been able to come together in numbers since the 75th anniversary, two years ago. with me is normandy veteran patron, george batts, and assistant di