There is one subject our industry tends to talk about quietly, if at all. So here is the truth. The UK birth rate has fallen to its lowest level on record: 1.41 children per woman, down from around 1.9 fifteen years ago. Around 591,000 babies were born last year, compared with about 730,000 at the 2012 peak. That is roughly one in five fewer babies a year, in little more than a decade.

Some numbers caught my eye recently. The UK toy market grew last year for the first time in five years, reaching £3.9 billion (Circana). After a genuinely tough few years for brands and retailers alike, that is encouraging news. But the headline is not the real story.

Colour is the first thing anyone feels about a brand, long before they read a word. So when we evolved The Nest's identity this year with our wonderfully talented brand designer, Jill Zendera, we started at the heart of it: three colours, each chosen for what it means, not just how it looks.