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Yeah it's probably the ugliest skyscraper, and by some distance too I think!

There's a reason most tall buildings taper towards the top - it looks nice. This building fattens towards the top, and there's no aesthetic reason for this, it's purely about maximising floor space, to amplify the small plot of land the developer has. Nowadays it's not enough to maximise your floor space by building tall, now you must also fatten. A dangerous precedent?

The impact on the views of London are huge. I'm not talking about a few thousand people who see the London skyline from Primrose Hill. I'm talking about the millions who view it from the nearby bridges of Westminster, Golden Jubilee, Waterloo, Millenium, Blackfriars. From these positions the Walkie Talkie has a terrible impact on St Pauls and the collectivity of the rest of the skyline. A bulbous oblong, its jaringly isolated and out of kilter with the other skyscrapers. From the bridges, the Shard is quite out of the way on the right side but this building is slap bang in the middle of your view. The Shard may be taller but at least it's elegant with it. The Walkie Talkkie though is a teletubby tower, a childs mess of a building.

It's the impact on the river which most upsets me though. The building sits there, with its human visor face staring at the river. It's like the river has become a prop, a mere plaything, accosted for the purpose of entertaining this new mr eminence of a building. Urgh! It's so wrong its just embarassing to the public and to London's world image.