On London Extra: High street healing

It's been a week of competing remedies. Plus Sadiq senses EU mobility, new crime stats released, Bits of Joy and a theatrical night out on the Strand

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I like my London local high street and always have. I liked it even in the Nineties when estate agents deployed the euphemism "has potential" to describe the E5 neighbourhood it serves. I liked it even at the start of this century when it was dubbed "Britain's murder mile".

I like it now because of its dazzlingly cosmopolitan mini-market near my house, because of its health centre's lovely doctors, because of the born-and-raised local guy I take my Mac to when it falters, because of Pages of Hackney bookshop and because of its haphazard restaurants and cafés. It is a place of many memories: 41 years ago, before I lived a minute's walk from it as I do now, my eldest child was born at a maternity hospital that used to be there.

High streets matter to London's people, be they big and central or small and suburban. That is why many of them are a source of worry, as retail has shifted online, rents and other costs have gone up, boroughs have struggled to keep pavements clear and clean, and concerns about crime and antisocial behaviour have increased. With the worry has come much debate but less consensus about what should be done.

Three things this week have underlined the difficulties high streets face, the areas of agreement about ways forward and those where there is discord.