30 December

At the same time the public has been glued to years of reality cooking programs, home cooking has actually fallen off a cliff. The same has happened with things like gardening, where lifestyle homes and garden shows rate hugely at the same time as you’ve never seen a sorrier state of home gardens. Any walk through towns will show you that now. You’re more likely to see a car parked in a yard than see a plant or mowed lawn now. Another window into how our lives are driven by status. People love these reality shows because they feed their desire for imitative rivalry, team sports. At the same time home design has been completely sidetracked by ‘luxury’, ‘premium’ offerings, turning ordinary homes into imitations of 5-star hotel rooms. More status games.