wmoore

... it's just that it's being taken over by the big greedy corporates.

This is a pretty good and thought provoking read. It's a bit long but worth it. Makes you think about all those things you remember as a kid that either don't exist now or have been taken over and rebranded by a huge multi-national.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...70&ito=newsnow

Hutch

Mmmm - identikit high streets - the American disease - rampant throughout the world. Little shops can survive though, if the locals want it. My old town of Nailsworth is an island of independent shops floating in an ocean of chain stores. It has two proper old butchers, two proper old bakers, two real ironmongers, an independent opticians ... and many more. Yes, it has a Somerfields (though a small one) and a Tesco Express ... oh and a Threshers - but that's it. Any attempts at high street cloning are vigorously rebuffed. It can be done.

sonlymewalter

It's a good article however it's all well and good wanting the "sherbet and liquorice" lifestyle we all had as kids, but the UK and the world has changed. No matter how nice, quaint or sociably perfect, you can't run a corner shop on a global platform nor can you elect out of the scheme unless you want to become a third world economy. That's progress for you

Some progress has been for the better, some for the worse. You can't go back, you can only go forward.

Too much has changed for Britain to ever regain its identity or be "itself" again

Strangely enough, Australia is multi cultural yet feels more "British" than Britain. Even though not perfect, the Aussies have got more of the balance right

saveme

The last couple of months I've been doing all my shopping in the village. It's a bit dearer but at least I'm not in my car. I only really use the car to get to work and that's because the bus and train do not match up very well. I got by in Sydney without a car for nearly two decades although I was in Surry Hills rather than out in the 'burbs.

I fancy there was someone writing in The Daily Mail in 1978 be-moaning how things had changed since 'the good old days' and 'the Blitz spirit'. And in about 2038 there'll be someone harking back to 'the good old days' of 2008.