Shoppers are brainwashed into thinking that the giant out-of-town retailers decision to sell all that they do is still giving us choice. The 'habit' has become an 'addiction' ... or has it?
UK high street book retailers have found an innovative new way to fight back against online sellers and ebooks, according to an article in the Independent this weekend.
We have had some developments, a renewed focus on the area that may not have materialised had the riots started elsewhere. But people still harbour resentment - and perhaps we are lucky that the nation is being held aloft by the tide of the Olympics.
As someone who submitted evidence to the committee's inquiry, I'm glad they see both the need for a real strategy to tackle deprivation and the inadequacy of the government's response (in England, anyway: the Scots and Welsh are more enlightened).