I took a trip to Ikea yesterday in Bristol. 180 mile round trip. Why did I travel such a vast distance to buy products which have been made out of wood in Sweden, shipped to China and then brought back to the UK via a distribution centre probably in France or Germany? Well it’s cheap I suppose. And generally the stuff is cheap because it’s made in bulk and sold all around the world in bulk. Go to an Ikea in the US, Spain, Australia or Japan and they’ll all have the stupid sounding Swedish names. This is what I don’t like. I’ve been to probably half a dozen houses where people have exactly the same upstanding light in the lounge. I also have one (well two actually..) – everyone has the same mats (like the one in the Big Brother house) – and those triangular plastic lights are scattered across student digs nationwide. The homogeneity is a shame really, but as we know the economics of globalisation hold no enemies. On the positive side, it has made the British public more innovative with home furnishings so that can be no bad thing. We don’t want the floral sofas and curtains of the 70s again…