There was a lot of worry about this with London during the pandemic, to the extent that the politicians seemed to be putting the interests of Pret a Manger (a s

There was a lot of worry about this with London during the pandemic, to the extent that the politicians seemed to be putting the interests of Pret a Manger (a sandwich chain) ahead of health measures. In the end it seemed likely that commercial landlords were a driver behind the politicians - if people no longer come to the city, who will rent my extremely expensive office space? British workers were made to feel like they were letting the country down, not coming in to the city, not spending money in city-centre shops, personally responsible for bankrupting business owners. Meanwhile my local sandwich bar and my local coffee shop were getting a bunch more trade. As were my local tradespeople, as I used what I saved on train travel to pay for work on the house. The effort to drag people back to workplaces was massively short-sighted in a country where politics and earnings are massively london-centric, where public transport is often straining to meet demand for commuters, and commuting by car jams roads and pumps out tons of unnecessary CO2. The hollowing out of big city centres should be considered a victory. Spread the wealth, cut unnecessary travel. And give commuting time back to families.