[Sybarite]

I'm not convinced by the idea of funding bookshops – do we also, in the UK, want to fund independent food shops that stock good quality (often local) food but get pushed out of business by supermarkets? I don't think that that really deals with the problem.

It never fails to hit me, when I'm on the Continent, how supermarkets and chains have taken over cities and towns far less than in the UK. Barcelona is a good example. Of course supermarkets exist, but everywhere you walk, there are also lots of little bakeries, delis, cafes etc – never mind the four markets (including the divine La Boqueria) that I know are within easy reach of where I've stayed in the city.

Same goes for Paris and Berlin and Amsterdam. Yes, McDonalds exists – but not on ever street corner. What's happening in the UK is a rampant homogenisation of shopping areas, with such chains having the financial clout to buy up any leases/land etc, leaving small businesses (including bookshops) struggling. The end of the Net Book Agreement also meant that a lot of small bookshops in the UK were essentially unable to get the big titles to sell, because they were being undercut by the big chains and the supermarkets (many newsagents have gone out of business because of supermarkets too).

So I'd be interested to know how Paris, Barcelona etc manage to avoid a Starbucks on every corner and a McDonalds on every road and many local shops wiped out by vast supermarkets.

How does that happen? Is it legislation? Is it that – I think that this is the case in France – it's very difficult, in terms of the paperwork etc, to change the site of a business to a different sort of business. So, for example, McDonalds can't just buy any shop and convert it to sell their brand of crap.

Surely the way forward is to be friendly to small businesses – not just obsessed with the biggest businesses around?