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Letters continued...
Dear N16
Stokey residents are just as keen as traders to see local shops thrive, but Rab MacWilliam’s extremist suggestion to Jules Pipe (Issue 30) that ‘rescinding all parking restrictions’ would give ‘traders a breathing space’ helps no-one. Traffic-choked, polluted streets with nowhere safe or pleasant for pedestrians are not the way to attract business, Rab.
Crispin Truman, Lavers Road, N16
Dear N16
I’m sick of the myopic attitude so many apparently intelligent people have when discussing the youth of today (see Lizzie’s letter, Issue 30).
Why is hip hop culture always cited as the main reason the younger generation are materialistic, egotistical, disrespectful and violent? These ills are pervasive in every area of popular culture, not just black music culture, and are largely perpetrated by wealthy, white, old people who decide what we watch at the cinema or on TV, what we read in our magazines and newspapers, and which artists get a record deal in the first place.
Moreover, poverty is still the main issue here. Middle-class kids listen to 50 Cent, wear hoodies and spout street slang but inevitably their ‘hoodie crew’ days are numbered when they go off to university, get a decent job and buy a nice three-bed terrace in, well, Stokey, if they do really well for themselves! The lives of ‘hoodie’ kids from poorer backgrounds generally don’t run as smoothly. And you can’t blame 50 Cent for that.
Aisling Colfer, N16
Dear N16
You may be aware that Stoke Newington was home to the naturalist James Shirley Hibberd (1825-1890). A friend of mine in the USA is at present writing a history of naturalists and has asked me to try to obtain some background information, and possibly a photograph, of Mr Hibberd. He may still have relatives in your area. J.S.Hibberd was buried in Abney Park Cemetry, South Boundary Road, location eK10. I would be very grateful for any help you can give in this matter.Regards,David Wood, Northampton, Daviduuuk@btinternet.com
Can anyone help this gentleman?
Dear N16
I always read the magazine and have a million raging comments about the same things, so it’s time to put them down on paper.
- I love the Controlled Parking Zone. There’s too much traffic on all of London’s roads, and especially those of Stoke Newington. You live in a city with a superb transport infrastructure (yes, with occasional minor annoyances), so you don’t need to drive a car. Sometimes, N16 really is the epitome of the curse of ‘me first’ thinking that is overrunning this country. Do what’s best for everyone, and leave the car at home when you go shopping. This is the area where you can’t move for organic leeks, wooden bicycles and (I’m glad to say) Green Party candidates who actually do alright in the elections. So, put your legs where your money is, and get on the buses or walk. Show the kids the scum like me who have already made that choice, and you’ll see they don’t need protecting from us behind windscreens. If you can’t be bothered, stop moaning and accept your place as those antisocials who should be inconvenienced and taxed to the skies.
- In case you’re thinking I’m a raging leftie, I also think Penny Rimbaud should wake up and realise it’s 2006. He’s one of those hard-left naifs who’d rather see dereliction and threatening men smoking weed in our public places than actual cultural activity. Would it please Penny if we all lived in the gutter as long as his beloved 70s institutions remained? A bit of subtlety, dear. Yes, Dalston Lane development, bad. Yes, Vortex eviction, bad (a fact N16 magazine seems to have conveniently forgotten now (Unfair, see back issues, Ed)). But, Gillett Square is actually a good thing in an area where there’s very few places to sit and have a nice quiet time. I bet it appalls him when he sees how much people like going into Peacocks too. Find the real things to moan about, Penny, you don’t need to oppose everything that’s new.
- Does anyone in N16 actually support Spurs and Arsenal? Always seems to me the fans who watch them play in Stokey’s pubs have been shipped in from the outer suburbs where their fans now live. More to the point, does anyone actually read those articles, months after they were relevant? Why not replace them with articles reflecting the area’s diverse football-supporting fans? I always see more Galatasary and Besiktas shirts around here.
- You’re far, far, far too obsessed with restaurants. It’s like a Sunday supplement once you get onto the middle of the mag.
- Who chooses your cover portraits? Stokey has a whole load of ‘personalities’ but you always forego them in favour of the most politically correct image. C’mon, go wild, show us those people we see on the street every day rather than those that’d win you a pat on the head from Jules and Ken.
Sorry to moan, I’ve got it out now, I’m okay.
Charlie Phillips, Gibson Gardens, N16
Dear N16
One Sunday, instead of vegetating in my flat in the heat of summer, I headed for Brick Lane in East London with a small trolley full of trinkets not long after sunrise. Viewing my surroundings, I laid my treasures on the ground on a nice piece of material.
Whilst practising my French with a young Algerian man who earned a living cleaning in the city, I discovered the delights of this wonderful charismatic market with a Huguenot history, Bangladeshi population, full of character and an easygoing ambience. A meek elderly gentleman opposite me, shabbily dressed, sporting a badge saying ‘Don’t Panic’ was selling old photos and his very own still life watercolours. An even older gentleman from Tasmania approached me with what seemed to be a well tied-up bundle of sticks and bestowed on me a wonderful varnished walking aid.
At 11.00, suddenly this leisurely and lovely atmosphere was broken by an aggressive market representative (with police back up) – ‘a jobsworth little Hitler’ telling every one to pack up, otherwise we would all be arrested! I was shocked at this unceremonious usurpation with no dignity, grace or favour.
I found out that ‘flypitching’ (a car boot sale without the car) pavement selling is illegal in Brick Lane, but it’s been happening for a long time, and I didn’t personally see what harm anyone, including myself, was doing.
It surely wouldn’t be that difficult to issue a daily ticket at a reasonable rate so that people didn’t have to feel criminalized. While children lawlessly get away with bicycle rage and our politicians play God in the Lebanon, how was one to read this minor injustice, get down on all fours like George Galloway (MP for Bethnal Green and Big Brother wannabe), plead innocence and lick their boots? I thought of Jewish people, after the Second World War, also native to the East End, who were forced to travel light and survive by carrying their world in their pocket.
But even so, in modern terms this did not constitute a Jesus in the temple kind of rage for trading on a Sunday. Isn’t it a sad reflection of this country which boasts multiculturalism, that the police have nothing better to do than evict people from the market for selling bric a brac. Perhaps they are still uneasily smarting over the wrongful killing of Jean C de Menzes and have to assert their authority on a vulnerable group of people trying to earn a crust on a Sunday? Or is the real tragedy, the breaking up of an ambience, a leisurely stroll, and the opportunity to connect, interact, and find a bargain in this care-worn, war-weary world?
Kate Somerville, N16
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