193 Responses to Start the Week 9th November 2026

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  1. MarkyMark says:
    November 10, 2026 at 5:14 pm

    Secretary of State foreword
    Saturday mornings were cold and wet more often than not. I’d follow my mam and nana down the brew to our local market, duffle coat buttoned, my warm gloves dangling from my sleeves on a string, the cobbles slick underfoot and the smell of hops from the brewery in my nostrils. My nana would have her trolley on wheels and we’d have our own rhythm, the same every week for our essentials: weigh and save broken biscuits, the butcher’s, the bakery, and if I was lucky, the sweet shop as reward for helping to carry the bags back home up the steep hill. It was never just a chore. It was part of our lives, and it’s where I learned what it meant to belong somewhere. Our place. Our town.

    I think of those Saturdays whenever I walk down a high street now. Today’s high streets have changed as our habits have but remain vital parts of our towns and cities. Our high streets are where we catch up with friends over a coffee and then bump into someone on the way home. It’s those small moments of joy that can give you real hope. But at the same time, when you see boarded up shops and rogue businesses, it’s hard not to be reminded of what once was. While the high streets of the past aren’t coming back, we have a chance to reimagine a better future for them.

    Our plan for hope on the high street is about putting them back under local control; properly managed by local leaders, who can drive the change their community wants to see. Every town and city centre is its own unique ecosystem shaped by where it is and who it’s for. It’s not going to work for us to try and fix everything from Westminster. Instead, we are backing councils, Mayors and communities with new powers and investment. A successful high street also depends on the people willing to invest their time, talent and ambition in it. That is why we must give independent traders and young entrepreneurs a real chance to thrive, combining affordable premises, accessible finance, practical mentoring and digital support with decisive action on the costs of doing business.

    This strategy has something for every part of the country. £210 million to transform derelict buildings into the new anchors of our high streets and create resilient community-owned businesses and institutions. Further business rates support for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses. A new ‘High Streets First’ principle to move government buildings into town centres. Powers to stop the spread of vape and gambling shops, a crackdown on organised crime, and properly embedded neighbourhood policing. Reforms to licensing that will support al fresco dining, café culture, and make high streets vibrant after the shops have closed. Exploring the potential of more homes on the high street. Ending rough sleeping.

    We believe that the job of this government is to support local leaders to build the high street their community wants. There are six pillars that must guide this partnership, and together they show what a successful high street looks like:

    Active leadership and management (reasons to have confidence)
    Strong businesses, anchors and amenities (reasons to visit)
    Vibrant culture, leisure and entertainment (reasons to get together)
    Easy access and connectivity (reasons to explore)
    Safe, clean and welcoming (reasons to return)
    A place to call home (reasons to move in)
    The state of our town and city centres says so much about us, who we are as a country, and whether we are on the right path. We need to get them booming again, so that people can see that our best days are ahead of us. I know that the causes of what’s gone wrong aren’t straightforward, and the solutions won’t be either. But I have every faith that the future can be so much brighter than anything before us, and together, we can bring back hope again.

    The Rt Hon Angela Rayner MP
    Secretary of State for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hope-on-the-high-street/hope-on-the-high-street

    ………………….

    “We’ve got too many chicken shops in our town centres (London), … We’ve got too many pawn brokers in our town centres (London 2015). We’ve got too many gambling shops in our town centres (London 2015). Elect me (Sadiq Khan) to be the London Mayor and we’ll sort all those three things out. {metro.co.uk aug2015}”
    http://metro.co.uk/2015/08/07/labour-mp-sadiq-khan-said-there-are-too-many-chicken-shops-at-chicken-cottage-awards-5331814/#ixzz4nAeOQ7jW

    “Here’s the beautiful thing … these are British products, selling Islamic Products, selling Halal Products (Halal – throat cut whilst conscious, slaughtered by Muslim only employee, incantation to animal from a Koran by Muslim only). That is niche and general, but it’s gone main stream. {Sadiq Khan – youtube Chicken Cottage Award Ceremony 2012}”

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  2. tomo says:
    November 10, 2026 at 5:18 pm

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  3. tomo says:
    November 10, 2026 at 5:21 pm

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