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@TheorySwine
Neck on chopping-block - I like The Shard. A city is judged on the quality of its architecture as much as anything else - how you define quality is the issue. High and mighty is usually reserved for nations other than ours. Maybe that's the problem though. 'We don't do things like that here'. Perhaps that's been heard too much. A new St. Paul's isn't going to appear any time soon.
Having said that, I don't want London to become a facsimile of New York. Too much is too much, and that's their identity rather than ours. Historically we don't go for massive structures here, but I'm more interested in what's happening on the ground once these things exist. It's better to judge a city by its character, which is the same as saying the inhabitants. A new building causes a shift in the regular pattern of life, but London has the ability to absorb far greater a shock to it than a new building. I'd like to see how it assimilates itself into its position as latest hot-ticket in town. Something will be along to replace it soon enough, then its worth can begin to settle.