http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13414374
Oh dear. Here we go again. Every time there was a problem the Mayor of Gotham City didn't understand, he sent for Batman. Whenever UK Prime Ministers find themselves in the same position they instantly want to send for a celebrity.
Following on from Jamie Oliver and school meals, Lloyd Grossman and hospital food, someone who has made a few programmes about shopping is now going to be asked their views on economic regeneration. While bringing experts into Government is a very laudable aim, we must remember that there is a division between people who might know what they are talking about and people who are good at communicating what they think. Grossman, for instance, knew a lot about food, but very little about the NHS and its budget. Give him a blank page and he would have come up with a wonderful menu for patients. However, work under the constraints of a very limited budget, overworked staff and kitchen personnel with a level 1 HND and you soon realise that the view from the Hampstead dinner party won't quite translate into wonderful changes at a hospital in Brentford.
Asking a celebrity to produce a report into failing High Streets is intended to do one thing and one thing only: grab headlines. The last 30 years have seen a steady decline in High Street shopping and there are many and varied reasons for this. The growth of car ownership has made alternatives easier, and the 'out of town' shopping areas have grown as a result. Even these have now been superseded by the almighty Trafford Centre, Cribbs Causeway, Metro Centre and others. The homogenisation of towns has led to a domination by big cities. Why go to a clothes shop in Burnley when you can take a trip into Manchester, visit the same shop and do a lot more besides? The growth of supermarkets has also had an extremely damaging effect, with the extension of what they sell being almost as dangerous as their domination of streets both high and low across the country. Look out for a Tesco Free School opening near you.
If we are to resuscitate the High Street, we need to change culture. The out of town centres are here to stay - that particular genie will not be revisiting the bottle in a hurry. If towns want an alternative to pound shops and Cancer Research outposts, then a sense of community needs to return. I'm not talking about David Cameron's 18th relaunch of The Big Society, whatever he may mean by it. I mean a cultural shift that looks for goods and services to be locally sourced. Cafes and restaurants buying their ingredients from the nearest source, not the cheapest. Furniture shops that are an outlet for local craftsmen and not trying to compete with DFS. Banks that talk to local businesses rather than setting everything against a set of de-humanised rules. Rather than making a sacrifice, businesses are protecting their own future, ensuring that more local people have jobs and income, so increasing the likelihood of having custom themselves.
We need to change too. We need to purchase as locally as possible. We can certainly balance this with Fair Trade, as a two pronged attack against multinational ordinariness. It does not need a pledge not to touch Tesco and the out of town giants. Just, perhaps, a little more thought. And not a celebrity in sight.
Oh dear. Here we go again. Every time there was a problem the Mayor of Gotham City didn't understand, he sent for Batman. Whenever UK Prime Ministers find themselves in the same position they instantly want to send for a celebrity.
Following on from Jamie Oliver and school meals, Lloyd Grossman and hospital food, someone who has made a few programmes about shopping is now going to be asked their views on economic regeneration. While bringing experts into Government is a very laudable aim, we must remember that there is a division between people who might know what they are talking about and people who are good at communicating what they think. Grossman, for instance, knew a lot about food, but very little about the NHS and its budget. Give him a blank page and he would have come up with a wonderful menu for patients. However, work under the constraints of a very limited budget, overworked staff and kitchen personnel with a level 1 HND and you soon realise that the view from the Hampstead dinner party won't quite translate into wonderful changes at a hospital in Brentford.
Asking a celebrity to produce a report into failing High Streets is intended to do one thing and one thing only: grab headlines. The last 30 years have seen a steady decline in High Street shopping and there are many and varied reasons for this. The growth of car ownership has made alternatives easier, and the 'out of town' shopping areas have grown as a result. Even these have now been superseded by the almighty Trafford Centre, Cribbs Causeway, Metro Centre and others. The homogenisation of towns has led to a domination by big cities. Why go to a clothes shop in Burnley when you can take a trip into Manchester, visit the same shop and do a lot more besides? The growth of supermarkets has also had an extremely damaging effect, with the extension of what they sell being almost as dangerous as their domination of streets both high and low across the country. Look out for a Tesco Free School opening near you.
If we are to resuscitate the High Street, we need to change culture. The out of town centres are here to stay - that particular genie will not be revisiting the bottle in a hurry. If towns want an alternative to pound shops and Cancer Research outposts, then a sense of community needs to return. I'm not talking about David Cameron's 18th relaunch of The Big Society, whatever he may mean by it. I mean a cultural shift that looks for goods and services to be locally sourced. Cafes and restaurants buying their ingredients from the nearest source, not the cheapest. Furniture shops that are an outlet for local craftsmen and not trying to compete with DFS. Banks that talk to local businesses rather than setting everything against a set of de-humanised rules. Rather than making a sacrifice, businesses are protecting their own future, ensuring that more local people have jobs and income, so increasing the likelihood of having custom themselves.
We need to change too. We need to purchase as locally as possible. We can certainly balance this with Fair Trade, as a two pronged attack against multinational ordinariness. It does not need a pledge not to touch Tesco and the out of town giants. Just, perhaps, a little more thought. And not a celebrity in sight.
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