INTERNET v HIGH STREET?

It’s a well written tale that the Internet has caused huge problems for the High Street and has dehumanised shopping . But has it?

I know somebody who regularly lectures to business groups on the Internet as his company Cheapflights is a such a success story. Indeed my friend  has written a book called Net Profit in which he sets out the way others can follow his example.

My friend asked me,a keen reader when was the last time I went to bookshop and one of the assistants said “Did you enjoy The Third Man? If you did so,may I recommend Sarah Gainham ‘s ‘ Night Falls on. the City’ and you might enjoy Simon Mawer’s “the Glass Room” though set in Czechoslovakia.”

This is what happens all the time on Amazon.

Often I ignore these recommendations but I was recently researching for a pornography discussion on radio 4’s  the Moral Maze which took me into the realm of French sexually explicit films. I followed the recommendations of Amazon and the director Jacques Brissier. His films are so explicit that 2 actresses in them have brought proceedings against him for harassment. Indeed one of his films details this. I had not even heard of him till the recommendations came.

Where I live business rates are astronomic. The pace of any appeals is at the whim of the council , often taking 2 years . It seems to me this is is far greater matter for concern than the Internet and if the government is serious about protecting the High street than it can start by removing their onerous taxes on shops