Canada’s WestJet airline doesn’t have a business class or premium economy, but it’s come up with another idea to give its passengers a bit more space, save on fuel consumption and avoid having to buy new planes for longer flights - charge people a bit extra to keep the middle seat vacant. According to Richard Bartrem, WestJet’s vice-president of corporate culture and communications, one motivation is to deal with the “question of real estate” when it comes to the armrest between seats.

I will confess, I didn’t realise this was such a problem but stranger business ideas have worked in the past, so I’ll happily eat my hat if this becomes a huge success.

I just spoke to a book publisher who gave an interesting insight into how the downturn is affecting their business. Because so many major book chains have made people redundant or laid them off, this pubilsher was having to factor in at least two extra weeks into their distribution schedules to getting titles on to shelves. There are all sorts of implications as a result of this - stock has to stay in the warehouse longer, it takes more time to start making money from them and so on.

Great analysis in today’s paper on how the Indian government is establishing commodity exchanges in rural towns to enable farmers to bypass the middlemen who have traditionally controlled the route from farm to market.

In August, we looked specifically at the role of middlemen in the mango market, with an article and a slideshow. In that case, big retailers, including Walmart, were trying to deal directly with farmers both to cut their own costs and, they say, to help farmers become more efficient with advice from agricultural experts (and, of course, to increase their profits).

Traditional forms of business are a real burden on economic development in India and are also complicated to dismantle. These functions have existed for centuries and the deeply embedded role of caste - middlemen often pressure farmers to sell to them on the basis of shared caste - make it hard to break out of this cycle, particularly in less well-educated rural areas.

An Indian sociologist who has studied and written extensively about caste - and also had a role advising a professional services firm in India - once told me that the best hope for breaking down the caste system and, thereby encouraging social and economic development, was urbanisation. The rural and agricultural economy is hugely influenced by caste because profession and social class are inextricably linked. In cities, the professor said, these ties are broken.

Business and social change can sometimes be a good thing.

If you haven’t seen it already, do check out “State of Play”, our excellent series of interviews with chief executives of some of the UK’s biggest companies.

Leaders so far: Francis Salway of Land Securities; Sir Martin Sorrell of WPP; Warren East, Arm Holdings; and Michael Smith of Mind Candy.

Tomorrow: Justin King of Sainsbury’s who has some interesting things to say on how consumer behaviour may well have changed for good as a result of the recession.

The new wave of luxury retailers - An interesting trend is emerging in fashion. A series of insiders - including The Sartorialist, Monocle’s Tyler Brûlé (a columnist for this newspaper) and property developer Nic Candy, of Candy and Candy - are using their social networks to become retailers.

In the case of The Sartorialist, it builds on this idea of collaboration which I referenced in a post earlier this week about Liberty and Hermes. It also hints a new form of luxury in the post-boom. Brûlé has talked about this but could this see a move away from the idea of mass luxury to a more community-based, social network version?

An interesting branding story on how Liberty and Hermes, two classic brands, have established a partnership that maintains the right messages for each.

I wrote a few days ago on the potential pitfalls of brand association, but this seems a great idea that is innovative, creative and stylish, qualities that are all key to the bottom line for each of these companies. What’s more, this is a collaboration that seems, from the outset, to make sense. It is substantive - it’s about more than one brand slapping its logo on another - and actually suggests someone thought about what each brand can do for the other.

A wonderfully honest quote from Sheryl Weinstein on her business decision to write a book about her alleged extramarital affair with Bernard Madoff:

I don’t have any art. I don’t have any jewelry. What I have to sell is my story

Fair enough.

(Hat tip: Time)

For more on Madoff, check out part one of our series on how he did it.

A few interesting stories I have seen in the past few days.

• John Moulton resigns from Alchemy Partners, the private equity group - many in the industry may not have liked that he was so outspoken but I actually think his ability to communicate openly did the industry a great service. Private equity has often been poorly understood for such and many in the wider public had little idea what it did. By having someone speak publicly about it, he humanised a big industry. But then, as a journalist, I suppose I would say that. NB: Do read his remarkably candid letter to investors.
• Ikea Beijing - more as theme park than store - My three-year old nephew loves Ikea. It’s his favourite place to hang out and eat (he loves the meatballs). Apparently, he’s not alone. At the company’s Beijing store, “thousands” go there for “fun” and, on occasion, even to catch a nap in one of the beds on display. (Hat tip: First Drafts, the blog for Prospect magazine)
• How Merkel’s attempt to save Opel went awry - interesting essay on the machinations behind Angela Merkel’s efforts to steer the sale of Opel. A tale of how domestic and international politics and business mix in troubled times - and why things don’t always go according to plan.
• Pedigree, the dog food maker, promotes dog adoption through a children’s book - Ad agency TBWA/London publishes a children’s book encouraging kids to be dog lovers. Aren’t there rules about marketing to children? And surely cute dogs do a better job of wanting kids to have them then a children’s book.
• The Washington Redskins sue a fan who goes bankrupt- Thought the headline was a bit sensationalist, but it is true that loyal sports fans always see themselves as more than mere consumers; they are part of a community which means they see their investment as more than financial (a topic I discussed in ‘Why Communities Matter’ a few weeks ago). In the era when sports is big business, is this a position that can be reconciled with reality? Or is it an illusion clubs are willing to encourage in order to keep fans on side?