Not entirely on topic...

... but hey, I loved this article in the Times so much I have to blog it anyway. The journalists recounts an adventure down his local high street, supposedly a haven of small businesses - the repressed victims of Tesco and the like. After recounting the full series of traumatic events he endured, he goes on to comment:

My second objection is that complaints about high street homogeneity often come from a position of privilege and snobbery. Just take a look at who has been moaning most over the past year: the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, which persuaded Sir Terence Conran to lead a “Commission on Retail Conservation”, and His Highness, the eco-toff Zac Goldsmith, who recently launched a campaign to stop the “cloning” of high streets in Richmond. If you actually examine what they've said — which is difficult, as they're too posh to actually part their lips when they speak — their message boils down to this: we don't want to look like the rest of plebby Britain.

I can't help but feel there's an element of truth here somewhere...