There's a tendency to use Dictionary of Quotations-type bits of Shakespeare to fortify the authority of pronouncements. While Fletcher doesn't actually say "forsooth", there is a curiously dated feel about the style, with lazy locutions like "as we saw in the last chapter". If an argument had been crisply presented with economy and wit, those words would be redundant. Alas, they are not.It's so strange that a business which employs highly educated, very clever people - people like Winston Fletcher - to achieve haiku-like condensation by describing the advantages of an underwired bra in two words can produce such a flatulent account of itself as this. None of the disciplines of advertising - economy, wit, originality, relevance - seem to have been applied here.Lester Bookbinder once described the creative process in advertising as "turning crap into mediocrity". I think better art direction and better copywriting could have done that for this book.Stephen Bayley's book `Labour Camp' is published by Batsford.

I had been in Tehran for more than a week before I went out on my own. When I did, within minutes I was surrounded by a huge crowd of men and I found myself fielding questions that ranged from the standard "What do you think of the position of women in Iran?", to the unanswerable (by me, at least) "How do you think we should improve our economy?" and finally, "What do you think of Michael Owen?". I walked away feeling relieved that I had actually watched the England- Argentina match and seen that goal, when another man came running up behind me. "Tell me," he said, "was Princess Diana murdered or was it an accident?" By then I had been in the country long enough to know that it is best to answer all but the most innocuous questions as neutrally as possible. Iran under President Khatami is beginning to open up again, but it is still wise not to be too free with your opinions in public. Despite a certain wariness, Iranians are extremely hospitable people and are anxious to see that you have a good time in their country We had an interesting rather than a wild time in Tehran. I was hoping for a city full of the mysteries of the East, but one look at the hideous Azadi (Freedom) Monument, the first landmark you see after coming out of the airport, put paid to any such notions. In fact, Tehran is a modern, sprawling place which, as we soon discovered, divides physically and socially into the yuppie north and the poorer, more conservative, south.Most of the city's street trade goes on in the south, and a lot of that happens in the bazaar.

I was determined not to go home without a Persian carpet, and we weren't disappointed. It was definitely one of the noisiest and liveliest parts of this sober city: a maze of covered, crowded alleyways where you can buy a range of goods including pistachio nuts, pans and carpets.Our driver had promised to take us to his friend's shop, so we hurried through most of the carpet bazaar until we reached Mr Keshavarz's emporium, tucked beneath the main thoroughfare. His stock was heaped against all four walls; it had come from the deserts of Baluchistan in the east, and from the mountains around Tabriz in the north west of the country. I was just about to launch into a haggling session for a small Bokhara rug when Mr Keshavarz announced grandly that his prices were fixed; the economy is in the doldrums and carpets are an important source of foreign currency.Northern Tehran lies in the shadow of the Alborz mountains, although you can see their high, bare ridges only on a clear day. Social codes in this part of town aren't quite as strictly observed as they once were, and pizzerias and cafes where boys and girls can meet each other are beginning to spring up.We spent a good deal of time in Tehran's first cyber-cafe, which opened a few months ago. The Internet connection was quick, the proprietor, the English-speaking Mr Chizre, was friendly, and the cappuccinos made a welcome change from the sweet, weak black tea that we were offered everywhere else.The main road leads easily out of northern Tehran to the mountains and the Caspian Sea that lies beyond.