Anyone who knows me at all knows that I am a Starbucks junkie. In fact, if Nick Moraitis & I got together and threatened Starbucks with a joint boycott, we could probably get amazing discounts on our coffee. But the more time I spend here, the more I realise that this chain of stores (at least in London) needs to change if it is to retain it's customers. Although most customers don't spend that much time here; I find it a convenient place to spend a few hours working if needs be. But there's only so many times you can hear those Elton John tunes from the 1970s, or drink a wet Peppermint Latte before you get bored. And every single Starbucks bathroom is always in a really bad state.

Don't get me wrong, I'm making this observation as somebody who is interested in business & urban planning, and someone who spends too much money on this company. I am grateful that I have access to such trappings of a wealthy country. Starbucks, you claim to be the 'third place' between home & work, but if you want to do that properly you need to do MUCH more to make me & people like me happier.

I'm sitting in one of my favourite parts of Central London. Edgware Road is basically the epitome of the Arab diaspora present in the city. It is such a vibrant street, with many different ethnicities visible, but predominantly Arabs. I love this street for various reasons; one that different societies can live together in harmony, and two because I happen to be a fan of Arab culture (particularly the food). Edgware Road is always open, 7 days a week, usually until around 5am, which is great because London is a city which goes to sleep early (compared to other major cities).

Shame that the only place I can find to do some work is Starbucks!

There's definitely no connection with this stupidity and true Islam; and one of the great things about London (more than any other city) is that we don't just tolerate diversity but we celebrate it. Like Mayor Livingstone said, 'we represent the future of humanity and people like this are just trying to drag us backwards'. I'm currently in Croatia (left on the day the bombings happened) and can't wait to get back home to London on Monday. I don't know how it must feel to the expats living there (haven't really spoken to Nick, Alberto, Alex etc. since then) but as a true Londoner, it's starting to feel personal, although I'm sure we won't see the levels of emotional outpooring that we saw in the US etc.

It'll be interesting to see how we move forward from crisis mode through mourning to getting on with normal life. We recovered pretty quickly from previous IRA attacks, but I'm sure this will be different and will probably affect the liberalisms which we are comfortable with. I know I will think twice every time I get on a bus or tube train, but I certainly won't let terrorists stop me from living normally.

Luke

I feel like I've entered Wonderland, and I'm Alice. Here with Liliana & Tim waiting for some business cards at almost 3am sounded like fun when I dreamt the idea up but it's getting tedious! Lol, I'm thankful I have the opportunity to experience modern civilisation, can't wait to get out of here.

Luke

Thanks Geldof, but that sounds like utter crap to me. Seeing as Earth's population is around 6bn, and well over half of that live in utter poverty, I truly doubt that 5 6ths of the world's population are gathered around TVs, computers or radios to hear patronising westerners making loads of noise. Like the British Chancellor of the Exchequer said this evening, 'making poverty history won't happen in a week's work at Gleneagles, rather it will be a lifetime of hard work'. Well said.

While I think that the aims of Live 8 and MakePovertyHistory are great, I don't think that kind of hysteria helps starving Africans. And while it's good that stars are doing something positive to help pressing issues, I'm sick of being told by multi-millionaires which causes to donate my money to. I'm sure Live Aid was great too, but according to some it caused more trouble than good; lining the pockets of corrupt Governments etc. I am truly a supporter of ending true poverty once and for all in Africa and around the world, but rather than giving billions in aid into a black hole seemingly run by corrupt megalomaniacs, the world needs to find sustainable solutions to ending that poverty.

I may of course be wrong. And I would be really interested to see what people from Africa (and living there) think about the subject?

Luke