Blitz spirit is something Sir Stuart Rose seems determined to display while economic bombs are falling all around, in a fashion that would have made the Queen Mother proud.

Marks and Spencer is saving money by deciding not to have a summer party, after last year putting on a bash with a green theme and living it up the year before when it celebrated at its new Paddington HQ with Twiggy and Erin O'Connor and white-clad waiters serving M&S snacks and bubbles.