This ad for the revived Wispa is a great piece of entertainment, and I love the opening line ‘Ads looked like this.’ It’s self-referential without being smug or excluding the audience. This was a great excuse to go for a long-copy format and they’ve really pulled it off. The ad looks genuinely retro and it’s a really rewarding read. Take a look!

Along with the Frieze art fair and it’s illigitimate offspring, Tate has put London right back at the centre of the international art world over the course of just a few years. It hasn’t happened by chance – the Tate’s success is down to the way it has been run. That success looks set to continue with the dramatic Herzog & de Meuron extension planned for completion in 2012.

The broader context to this is Britain’s strength in the creative arts as a whole. Creativity is something we do well, and it should be recognised as one of the cornerstones of our economy. This huge vote of confidence and financial boost is well deserved. After all, the money could have gone towards a hospital, but it would be a bad hospital. I’m glad that the £50M has gone towards creating something that will be truly great.

I’ve used the very useful ‘what would Jesus do’ principle to check my thinking. In this case I’ve substituted Jesus for Jarvis Cocker and Peter André (one as an embodiment of the Paul Smith brand and the other as it’s polar opposite). Can you imagine Peter André on skis? No. Can you imagine Jarvis Cocker on a snowboard? No.

I used to walk past the Floral Street store on the way to work each morning to get inspired by the bizarre window displays. I’ve seen Paul Smith rumbling up the cobbles in his vintage Bristol en route to his attic studio. I think Paul Smith would ski. He would prefer the symmetry.

It’s rubbish. it’s one of those myths that’s spread over the years through lazy conversation, and we take it for granted. Maybe we did reach a low point in the ‘me’ era of the eighties, but things have changed and we’re communicating more than ever.

OK, so it’s taking different forms. Maybe we don’t know our neighbours as well as our grandparents did - communities are more fluid and we commute more. But the rise in social networks of all kinds has meant that we’re in new kinds of constantly evolving and overlapping communities. If we’ve got nothing in common with the people we meet we just keep moving. Communities build around shared interests or beliefs, and a stranger can become a ‘friend’ in an instant.

This has to rub off in everyday behaviour. As we gain confidence in talking to strangers look out for incidents in the real world. Last week I was walking along Crouch End High Street with my girlfriend and a guy stopped us, saying,

‘Have you seen my mate Abacus?’

‘No, sorry…’

He turned, as if to walk away.

‘You can never count on him.’