Back in June, before Donald Trump orchestrated a tentative peace in the Middle East, he reacted with fury to Israel and Iran’s escalating exchange of missile and drone attacks, telling reporters “they don’t know what the f**k they’re doing.” Sometimes undiplomatic language has its place, even in high-stakes diplomacy.

I was reminded of this approach when reading a note from analysts at Shore Capital yesterday morning, sent out shortly after the latest poor retail figures were published. The City broker’s analysts, Clive Black and David Hughes, had clearly had........

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