WHAT A DIFFERENCE a year makes. Cast your mind back to the start of 2022. The outlook seemed rosy. The talk was of the Roaring Twenties, the great reopening of retail, and getting back to normal. All the pent-up savings that had been done during the long months of Covid lockdown would power a burst of economic growth. There was optimism in the air. Inflation was no more than transitory, and when businesses reconnected with their global supply chains as the world re-opened, things would quickly settle down. The first signs that it wasn’t panning out that way were in...