On Wed, 24 Sep 2014 03:32:38 +0100, Johny B Good wrote:

Such "Downlighters" are the spawn of the Devil. Sometime in the past,
a **** of a "Lighting Designer" (no doubt calling himself a fashion
designer) in the employ of a lighting accessories manufacturer, decided
the mis appropriation of these lamps into a stylish table lamp in an
exercise of "Fashion over Function" would be a "Jolly good wheeze" and
set the ball rolling which eventually led to the concept of ceiling
downlighter luminaries we loathe today.

These spot lighting lamps did have a legitimate use to begin with
which was, essentially, to provide an unobtrusive source of spot
illumination in retail stores for such things as shop window and counter
displays of the "Goods on Show".

The lamp manufacturers were only too happy to supply the extra demand
opened up by this market demographic (basically pretentious gits with
more money than sense).

We should all go back to lovely flouro strip lights everywhere,
especially in the living room, eh?