Estuary English: Hybrid or Hype?

If any of you have read any British newspaper regularly or listened to British radio over the past two or three years, there is a good chance that you have come across the term Estuary English. There have been articles on this topic in The Times Educational Supplement, The Sunday Times, The Guardian to my knowledge. And there has even been a piece on it in The New York Times. There have been items on Estuary English on BBC Radio 4, the BBC World Service and the London Broadcasting Corporation.