Ann and I have spent an instructive couple of hours this afternoon pondering over plans for new commercial development in our town. Many of the people I spoke to were simply against it, pretty much on principle. I couldn't find it in me to agree with them, although I was not able to be in favour of the project as presented to us. There were points in favour, points against, I felt; by and large I felt unhappy about allowing in large retail companies that would take business out of the traditional town centre shops, but I'm bound to recognize too that in a changing world and an economic downturn some of those shops don't have a very secure future anyway. There isn't an option that says - "Do nothing, and everything will stay the same as its always used to be."
I was interviewed for the local paper, and I doubt very much whether they will make coherent sense of my comments. Certainly my argument that some change is good and needed but perhaps not precisely this change is unlikely to distil into the couple of brief sentences they require. Anyway, to be anything other than solidly opposed is probably regarded as dangerously subversive round here, so probably I should just wait here for the local lynch mob to arrive . . .
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