It was the first beautiful day of 2023 and everyone in the country was in a park, except for me. I was in Westfield’s west London outpost, in Shepherd’s Bush. I’m not allowed to write about the kids any more – I’ve had article eight of the Human Rights Act thrown at me – so let’s just say that two children belonging to someone else made me do it.
I hadn’t set foot in the place since 30 October 2008, when I covered its opening, which was newsworthy because it was the largest covered shopping centre in the UK. Boris Johnson had recently been elected as mayor of London; the country was yet to clock how tragic the consequences of that would be. He was at the opening, but I missed him because I ran into my school friend’s mum.
