UK retailers are set to enjoy a share of the GBP3bn expected to be spent by shoppers by the end of Cyber Monday. Following yesterday's Black Friday sale that saw an upsurge of online transactions, retailers participating in the event -- which includes Boots, ASOS and Waterstones -- will enjoy a total of a predicted GBP3.2bn that analysts expect will be splurged over the four-day event. Amazon reported its biggest sales day ever in the UK, with more than 7.4 million items being ordered on Friday.

The "Financial Times" and The "Guardian" are accused of conspiring to undermine the delivery company behind their premium subscription services and steal its business, in a High Court clash involving allegations of burglary and tyre slashing. The newspapers allegedly unlawfully worked together to shift their London delivery contracts from a company called 2 the Door to a new supplier that had poached a key employee, according to court documents obtained by "The Sunday Telegraph."

Aldi has revealed that its John Lewis Christmas ad spoof was off-the-cuff, with the "Man on the Moon" parody taking just ten days from script sign-off to airing on TV. Earlier this week, the discounter unveiled a humorous send-up of the touching John Lewis Christmas campaign. Like the original version, Aldi's spot featured a lonely, elderly gentleman stranded on the moon. But using his budget Aldi telescope, he spots that a gift from planet Earth is on its way, in the form of Aldi granny Jean Jones.

Britain's biggest media buyer said ad revenue this year will rise from 6% to 7%. Group M is now upbeat about next year after previously forecasting that growth would slow. It has hiked its forecast for 2016 from 5% to 7%, taking annual expenditure on advertising to GBP17 billion. Significantly, this would also make 2016 the fifth consecutive year that ad spend has outpaced GDP growth in the wider economy as Britain performs more strongly than every other leading developed country.

The surge is thanks to the unexpectedly strong performance of Spectre, the latest James Bond film, and a surge in children going to the movies. WPP's Group M, Britain's biggest media buyer, said in its latest forecast of the ad market: "Bond lifted annual revenue by 11% on its own, and the year has yet to round out with Star Wars." Children's box office is up 50% on the year, boosted by two big films from Disney's Pixar studio, Inside Out and Home.

You may already be sick of the name, but Black Friday has helped buoy declining newspaper advertising departments to the tune of nearly GBP5m, becoming by some distance the biggest weekday ad take of the year. Advertisers spent almost 80% more than on a typical Friday, with the "Sun," "Daily Mirror" and freesheet "Metro" the biggest winners. However, due to declining circulations across the market, this year's estimated GBP4.7m advertising haul is down on the last two years.

The news comes as The Health Select Committee launches its own report looking into childhood obesity today, which includes recommended actions the Government should take to fight the epidemic. This will be followed by The Petitions Committee debating sugar tax in Parliament alongside Jamie Oliver later in the day. David Cameron, meanwhile, is set to launch the Government’s Childhood Obesity Plan in early 2016. Action on Sugar wants to ban all types of marketing of unhealthy food and drink to children.

Surveying 2,000 UK consumers and 200 of the biggest brands, the research assessed brand success through the following three pillars: commercial influence; how a brand impacts purchasing habits; societal influence; its impact on society; audience influence; its ability to entertain audiences and create word-of0mouth buzz. Microsoft's winning score of 58.3 points is closely followed by TripAdvisor (54.7), Amazon (53.9) and Google (53.1).

Following a nosedive last month, British consumers' major purchase intent showed signs of recovery in November, according to GfK's latest UK Consumer Confidence Index. The major purchase intent score hit 9 In November, compared to just 7 in October. However, British consumers appear to be in a much more confident mood moving into the December's gifting period than they were 12 months ago, with the purchase intent score up 9 points from November 2014.

2015 is set to mark a paradigm shift in how British retailers mark the Black Friday retail holiday with Asda, Oasis and Primark already opting out as it becomes the domain of online sellers confident that a seamless experience over a longer trading period can avoid the in-store chaos of previous years. Overcrowded stores, low stock and even scuffles breaking out amongst shoppers dominated last year's coverage of the event, casting many retailers in an unseemly light.