Are Bland Buildings Necessary?

I have come to the conclusion that the modern world is soulless.

Right: Rabbit hutches with little squares of grass. Can't we as a people aspire to provide better housing?

It's weird to start any piece of writing with a conclusion, but there you go. I don't see any point in beating about the bush.

Look at most buildings built since the 60s.

Our homes have become soulless boxes, rabbit hutches with their little patio and square of grass.

Our offices, factories and all too often our very work has become soulless. Neon stripped existences, clock-watching monotony.

Our shops have become branded monotony, soulless Tescos, Sainsburys, Marks & Spencers forcing the small artisan, local producer-seller and quirky local shop into penury.

Our public buildings, council offices, leisure centres and even our churches are bland, square blocks with safety doors and false ceilings.

Blluuuuuuuuuuuuuurggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh.

Where are the structures that scream of our heritage? That give us a glimpse of artisanship? That speak of local crafts and come from the local soil and rock? That -- pc brigade and commies look away -- give us a glimpse of heaven?

We have stately homes and grand churches and Cathedrals, the remnants of a bygone age, but why can't we have homes with character? With nooks and crannies? With odd shaped gardens? Why can't our offices and public buildings be stirring?

I know things were never rosy, and our forefathers lived in slums and worked as slave-labourers for the iron masters and factory-owners who built so many grand country estates; but in this age when working men stand idle, an age when people ache for property, for local produce, for green communities etc. - why can't politicians, local and national - have the vision to bring about communities, towns etc. that are imbued with culture, with vision, with SOUL.

I am not a toff. I have lived virtually my whole life in terraced communities, gone to comprehensive school, worked in the offices, warehouses etc. I so despise. The posh schools, country idylls and oak-lined offices of the political shyster class have not cosseted me, I am fully aware of what it's like to live, work, and exist in pretty much soulless structures.

I am sick of Communist grey granite monstrosities. I am bored of blandly carpeted neon-lit offices. I am depressed by housing estates that look like they were designed by Lego.

Let us bring about homes and communities imbued with the cultures, with the values, with the history, with the heritage of all the nations and regions that make up these islands.

Wishful thinking? Perhaps.

A dream? Of course.

But if we can't dream of what the future might be, then we will be sentenced to more monotony, more homogenisation, more bland conformity.

I'd rather push for what might be than blindly shuffle into a bland blanket of soulless structures surrounding us for generations to come.