This is LBC from Global, leading Britain's conversation with James O'Brien.

Oh, good morning. It's three minutes after ten, and you are listening to James O'Brien on LBC.

Just to give you an indication of how hard it is to do this job.

And the burdens I bear on your behalf every morning.

Front page of the Telegraph's business section this morning has this headline.

I won't sort of bore you with the finer detail.

Reopening fails to take off as shoppers show caution.

And the front page of the Guardian, meanwhile, as this head, high streets feel the rush as lockdown

curbs eased. I mean, how the heck are you supposed to work out in what direction the wind is blowing

when you have two headlines such as these. Many people

resisted the temptation to indulge in retail therapy yesterday, even as thousands of shops finally

opened after months of hibernation. Shoppers searched back to high streets across England and Wales

yesterday as fashion stores, toy shops, hairdressers and other non-essential retailers reopened their

doors for the first time in more than three months.

And weirdly, don't laugh.

But digging into the detail in the statistics, there is actually quite a strong case for both of these conclusions.

It's an odd one.

Not unlike there's some sort of slightly encouraging trade figures today.

If you compare trade with the EU February to January, it's fantastic news. If you compare trade with the EU February

to January, it's fantastic news. If you compare it February 2021 to February 2020, it is, well,

I say fantastic news. Things are not quite as bad as they were. They're certainly never going to be

better than they were. But if you compare it year on year, then it's sadly the same old story.

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