In this week's comments update, an opinion piece arguing against the homogenisation of shop signs on a northeast London high street started a debate among readers around aspirational politics and gentrification.
Past it: Owen Hatherley's recent article lamenting a council decision to replace old shop signage on Walthamstow High Street with sans-serif typeface led to a discussion about the suitability of future makeovers in other areas of the capital.
"The standardisation of fonts is one step too far but I think it generally looks lovely," opened a positive Dafydd Morgan.
"I'll bet there are more than one or two unfilled potholes in Walthamstow. Priorities"" asked one guest commenter, who felt the money could have been used for more pressing issues. But local reader Tom applauded the decision: "I live in this area and to be honest it's overwhelmingly supported here. For many shopkeepers, it's the chance to overhaul their shopfront without huge expenditure, it creates a lovely feel of cleanness and coherence."
Daniel Brown worried it might be the start of a new London trend: "Like the Barbican ? amazing as the documentation of a social experiment, but I certainly wouldn't want the whole city to look like that."
"I experienced a sense of unease when I first saw these shopfronts. It was like walking through some bizarre toy village. Everything about it felt wrong. It's a bit like Stepford Wives," wrote Anne, echoing ...