English: Walking around the outside of Southwark Cathedral I searched for a spot where I could frame its central tower with the Shard.

The cathedral was built for the worship of God.

The Shard's church-like spire is higher than any cathedral. Visible for many miles it towers over every other building in our city. Just as great cathedrals once did.

The Shard seems to want to pierce the sky. Signifying - some people may say - the power and worship of money.

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§ On 19 November 2011 Dominic Bradbury wrote an article in The Daily Telegraph. He gave the view of its architect Renzo Piano, who saw it as a tapering spire. "The spire concept is, something disappears into the clouds – it belongs to our imaginations", he says. "It's also about – and this may be a bit poetic – breathing fresh air. You don't go up only to show muscle. You can do that if you are stupid, but if you are not then you go up and look for fresh air to breathe. You cannot do that by taking possession of the sky with a big, aggressive building."

Perhaps those words of Renzo Piano will haunt him. A big aggressive building trying to possess the London sky is exactly what it is.