I’ve just returned back from a few days’ mini-break in Spain – I left Malaga yesterday basking in glorious 20-degree sunshine and arrived back a few hours later to a cold and very damp UK, where spring has certainly not yet sprung. You have no idea how close I came to imitating that famous meme of Grandpa Simpson walking into a room, then turning straight round and walking out again.

In last week’s Blog, I suggested that I was struggling to identify a single tangible Brexit benefit after eight (long) years. Thankfully I have a very helpful (and engaged) bunch of readers, and later that day I received a call from someone who appears to have found one. After 18th August, the EU will apparently be banning the importation of all batteries containing lead – including the 6v and 12v batteries that are used in e-scooters, electric ride-ons and other toy ranges. However, I am told that the BTHA has looked into the matter and advised members that the regulations don’t apply to the UK market, as Brexit has allowed us to diverge from EU regulations in certain circumstances.

Having been away most of the week, I haven’t had time to dig too much further into the situation, so apologies if I have misconstrued anything important. Basically, my understanding is that the EU decision has been driven by wanting to adopt what they perceive as an environmentally friendly policy, and that it would mean lead batteries would need to be replaced by lithium ones. I gather that not everyone believes that lithium batteries are necessarily better for the environment (citation needed though) and, there is also some debate as to whether they are safer (the increase in the number of fires associated with lithium-powered scooters suggests there may be an issue if the batteries are not rigorously tested and verified and supplied by legitimate companies). However, what doesn’t appear to be in dispute is the fact that lithium batteries would be around 20% more expensive than their lead counterparts.

So, in theory, taking a different path to the EU will enable suppliers to offer cheaper products to UK customers. That said, will suppliers want to have two different ranges for the European market – one for the UK and one for the EU? And how will a retailer – such as, for example, Smyths or The Entertainer – which operates across both territories select ranges (especially if they plan to move stock between the two areas)?

There are definitely some grey areas here, but as far as some people are concerned, we may have finally found that rarest of rarities – a real-life Brexit benefit out in the wild, not just a nebulous concept like ‘sovereignty’. Now, whether the ability to charge £10 less for a scooter really balances up the 4% hit to the UK’s GDP or the £200m bill that has been estimated for food importers (and will undoubtedly be passed on to consumers) when the new post-Brexit importation checks are finally introduced, I will leave you to decide. Maybe if we can find a few more areas where regulatory divergence makes logical sense and is not just a case of watering down sensible safety measures, that debate will be more balanced.

Elsewhere this week, Hornby has welcomed the Frasers Group as a strategic shareholder, after the retailer took its total shareholding up to 8.9% of the company; the British Chamber of Commerce has estimated that up to half of UK businesses have been impacted by the effects of ongoing attacks in the Red Sea and The Entertainer has started its 33-week roll-out programme to Tesco stores, with the first batch of 23 stores in Scotland set to open this week. Now that’s a bit far for me to go to take a sneak peek at how they’re looking, but if there are any readers from the toy community who are based in Scotland and would like to report back on what they’ve seen, that would be very much appreciated. Like everyone else, I am fascinated to see how the product mix is shaping up.

Finally, the March issue of Toy World has been landing on desks this week, and it is now available to read online. The edition looks both back – at this year’s Toy Fair Season – and forward, as we start to showcase the wealth of new products that will shortly be hitting shelves. This month’s features focus on the Outdoor, Action Vehicles and Science & Nature categories, where there is plenty of inspiration for retailers looking to freshen up their offerings in these areas. There are also exclusive interviews with Playmobil and Playtime PR, who are celebrating their 50th and 10th anniversaries respectively – we always like to mark happy occasions.

The March edition is our third issue of 2024 – fourth if you include our standalone January Nuremberg supplement – meaning we have already published 700 pages of print content since the turn of the year (and yet I still see some numpties on LinkedIn claiming that print is dead…). And our next two issues are already looking pretty magnificent, even if I do say so myself – so if you have product in the (deep breath) Pre-School, Pocket Money & Collectibles, Games & Puzzles or Dolls categories, or if you supply a range of character licensed merchandise, or you are exhibiting at either the Toymaster Show or the Las Vegas Licensing Expo, do get in touch now to book your space in what I promise will be two extremely well-read and interesting publications.

And hopefully, by the time those issues are published, the weather here in the UK might start resembling Spain rather than Alaska.