John Lewis is admirable...but that alone won't save it

Compare and contrast: in the green corner (I'm basing this on the corporate colours), we have John Lewis, which says it is "making a conscious choice to forgo profit to provide support for partners and consumers".

- JAMES MOORE

There may not be a bonus paid to staff - who owns the business - this year but there will be a one-off £500 cost of living payment and free meals during the busiest period of the year.

In the orange/yellow corner there is Amazon. Workers at its Coventry warehouse are holding their first-ever strike ballot over what the GMB union has called an “insulting” 35p an hour pay offer. The union says they are angry over a rise that amounts to just 3 per cent when the UK rate of inflation is nearly 10 per cent.

Amazon is one of the biggest, most powerful, and most profitable companies in the world. It can afford to do better. And I believe it should. Based on that information, where would you rather shop?

The unpalatable truth is that many people are still choosing Amazon. Maybe it is out of habit. Maybe it is the prices, although Amazon is not always the cheapest. Membership of the group’s “Prime” subscription scheme makes consumers liable to stick around.

Like every other retailer in Britain, John Lewis has to try to compete with the behemoth on a profoundly unequal playing field. Amazon’s warehouses are sited where business rates are low. It is a multinational with the capacity to arrange itself to maximize its tax efficiency. Its corporation tax payments in the UK are reliable causes of controversy.