The prince is correct to criticise bad buildings. But they are bad because they are inept and ill-considered, not bad because they are new. The same principles of criticism apply to buildings as to literature: who wants pastiche and doggerel?

We must struggle to make things new. And sometimes Richard Rogers must try harder, but the past is what we build on, not where we go to hide. That is surely a proposition that no reasonably civilised person could deny? Perpetual historical reference is an insult to creativity. And creativity defines humanity. Please note that Prince Charles does not visit his future subjects in an 18th-century helicopter.