  The paper deals with the controversial charge and spin self-organization
phenomena in the HTSC cuprates, of which neutron, X-ray, STM and ARPES
experiments give complementary, sometimes apparently contradictory glimpses.
The examination has been set in the context of the boson-fermion, negative-U
understanding of HTSC advocated over many years by the author. Stripe models
are developed which are 2q in nature and diagonal in form. For such a geometry
to be compatible with the data rests upon both the spin and charge arrays being
face-centred. Various special doping concentrations are closely looked at, in
particular p = 0.1836 or 9/49, which is associated with the maximization of the
superconducting condensation energy and the termination of the pseudogap
regime. The stripe models are dictated by real space organization of the holes,
whereas the dispersionless checkerboarding is interpreted in terms of
correlation driven collapse of normal Fermi surface behaviour and response
functions. The incommensurate spin diffraction below the resonance energy is
seen as in no way expressing spin-wave physics or Fermi surface nesting, but is
driven by charge and strain (Jahn-Teller) considerations, and it stands
virtually without dispersion. The apparent dispersion comes from the downward
dispersion of the resonance peak, and the growth of a further incoherent
commensurate peak ensuing from the falling level of charge stripe organization
under excitation.
