Not much in Marc Bolland’s Marks & Spencer shop window

So you're slumped in a café on a rainy Wednesday, truly bored.

For the sake of entertainment — you'll try anything — you decide to scratch out a back-of-the-envelope guess at what genius plans Marc Bolland might have to revive Marks & Spencer. You adopt a terrible Dutch accent, at least for a minute.

Let us start first viv vat we vill not be doing (that's the Dutch bit nearly over). Vell, ze City is always suspicious of foreign adventures, especially by retailers, so let us instead bang on about making ze UK ze clear focus. Ve shall chuck some money at a vague expansion plan, that might at least help ze shares (ok, sorry).

Also, that whole Ocado thing doesn't seem to be working yet, so let's make a clear point of not offering a full internet food service. No one really thought you would, but let's pretend that's a point of principle based on powerful strategic thinking.

You need something that looks as if you aren't merely carrying on with your predecessor's plans (you've got a £15 million transfer fee to justify) so let's reverse one of Sir Stuart Rose's medium-sized ideas. You axe the number of non-M&S branded food lines from 400 to 100. It may work or not, but it is something to say.

Finally, let's talk up plans to make the in-house clothing labels more stylish, to become brands in their own right.

And zat vill 'ave to do.

It isn't that any of zese things are bad ideas, it's just that it's hard to see so far why Bolland is worth all that money.

Sales are heading up — something he can't take credit for — and Christmas is bound to be good, because it always is.

Perhaps there's more to the Bolland plan than meets the eye. It's hard to see how there could be less.

M&S staff denied a bonus last year because of a slump in profits can be forgiven for looking at the way forward set out by their new leader after months of silence, and muttering to themselves: is that it?