Maybe Foyles are only interested in the new money in the area. Maybe they are only interested in the Olympics and what it can do for the area. Much like all successive governments.

I dare say even the present incumbents in power would be happy to sweep away the past, the history. Hence the Marathon route will avoid exposing how the shameful neglect of the area is still written large in towns like Aldgate, Bow, Stratford, Forest Gate, East Ham, Manor Park, Poplar, Limehouse, Hackney, Stoke Newington.

My ‘gut instinct’ is that the real people in these areas will continue to be the forgotten people. People who rarely are given the break they need. Foyles will need to be in the East End a few more decades to gain a real understanding of the area, so today’s decision from Charing Cross can maybe be understood.

It would have been great to have a signing in Stratford. For Ian, yes and for me as the publisher of Ian’s book. I was born in Forest Gate, schooled and lived in Stratford. Ian and I understand what it takes to make people notice you.

So thank you Foyles for your understanding and your instinct.

Waterstone’s has become Waterstones, the change is hardly perceptible but behind it there is a canny move by James Daunt to erase the past and Tim Waterstone to boot.

The bookseller rather confusingly is reverting to the original Baskerville typeface dispensing with the last rebrand which saw it adopt a lower case ‘w’ within the logo.  “Waterstones is an iconic brand deserving of a capital W,” said Mr Daunt, but obviously not an apostrophe.

The irony of course is for a major book chain to adopt a grammatically incorrect form of spelling of it’s (note the apostrophe) name. There is a real brouhaha stirring up in the world of apostrophe pedants but as rather correctly pointed out if MacDonald’s and Sainsbury’s can get it right why can’t Waterstone’s.

As I mentioned in the opening paragraph there is more to this than English grammar. Mr Daunt clearly want to stamp his own mark on the book chain. I can’t help but think though in this case he may have been misadvised. An apostrophe so it seems, is a simple thing in a complex world.