Nando’s Campaign Gets Ugly
A while back I touched a bit of a raw nerve when I argued that a group of local campaigners, determined to stop a Nando’s chicken restaurant opening on Stoke Newington Church Street, had an unspoken motive for their action:
The campaigners are trying to find reasons to stop people they despise from spending time in a street they’ve claimed for themselves.
It’s a motive that anti-Nando’s campaigners have denied, but far from being the only one who believes many of these people simply want to preserve (as far as possible) Church Street as a playground for a certain middle-class clique, David T over at Harry’s Place put the argument equally bluntly:
In fact, all sorts of people eat at Nandos. Rich, poor, gourmets, snackers. And I’ll be one of them.
I reckon that the horror that Nandos represents to the “latte sippers”, is that it will attract people like us to Church Street.
Anyway, someone out there is desperate to prove us right. Last night a commenter calling himself (or herself) Mr S.Hitchchicken left this comment:
IF YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO LIVE IN STOKE NEWINGTON THEN FUCK OFF SOMEWHERE ELSE - YOU CUNTS MAKE ME PUKE JUST LIKE THE NANDOS CHICKEN..WATCH OUT BEN COS WE’RE WATCHING YOU!
It was quickly followed by an email:
You’re not welcome in Hackney..go away and disappear
All of which rather goes to prove my point. The anti-Nando’s campaign is less about stopping a chain store from opening its doors, and more about keeping peasants out of a middle class ‘village’.
It just suggests I’m right when someone starts threatening me for exposing their pathetic prejudices.
Published on 28th June, 2008
The Filthy Amigoz cover The Smiths
Ms Baroque was happy in the haze of a drunken hour. Which led me to discover one of the oddest Smiths covers I’ve ever seen. It’s a trifle pedestrian, perhaps, but there’s something about men in ponchos, sombreros and false moustaches singing Morrissey’s stuff, don’t you think? You can even count them as a belated Elegantly Dressed Wednesday if you like.
Published on 26th June, 2008
Picture Nub
A wonderful new toy, discovered by Annie. The above is a word picture that was generated when I pasted in this strongly worded post. You can see the larger version here. It’s a fine way to hurl new light at words, and I’d say the version above got straight to the nub of the matter.
Published on 21st June, 2008
The Ladybird Book of The Policeman
I’m probably one of the last people to have seen this in one place or another, but it’s one of the funniest things I’ve read in ages. Highly recommended.
Published on 21st June, 2008
Elegantly D(ep)ressed Wednesday: Julia Hamari
|
Erbarme dich, mein Gott, |
Have mercy, my God, |
*sob*
Published on 18th June, 2008
Athlete, Strongman & Prize Winning Budgerigar Breeder
Having said that, in my opinion, a Recessive Pied with a full set of mask spots is a far more attractive Budgerigar than one with no spots at all – which is permitted by the BS standard. When the amount of melanin increases there is also a tendency for Recessive Pieds to have ‘grizzling’ on the fronts of their heads. This is NOT head flecking and used to be permitted by the show standards. However, under the present standards, ANY Budgerigar that shows dark markings on its head frontal must be faulted by judges.
None of these difficulties detracts from the pleasure I get from breeding and exhibiting Recessive Pieds. With Budgerigars – as in my sport – I will always strive for perfection.
Sometimes I’m so proud to be from Lincolnshire.
Really.
Published on 16th June, 2008
Luke Akehurst’s Sick Mind
I first met councillor Luke Akehurst the other week. We met for coffee in Leather Lane, and we spent a very pleasant hour talking about Hackney, its people and its politics. I enjoyed it. He seemed a nice guy.
I was astonished, then, to read this disgusting, sick, vile and idiotic statement on his blog:
Maybe instead of Labour fielding a candidate in Haltemprice & Howden we should find a Martin Bell type candidate - preferably a recently retired senior police officer, or a survivor or relative of a victim of a terrorist attack, to run under the following 5 word candidate description: “Independent - for detaining terrorism suspects”.
I can’t believe how repulsive and politically stupid Luke’s suggestion is. Nor am I alone. Nation of Shopkeepers sums up my feelings perfectly:
Did he really mean that? Did he really mean that they should dig out a mother of someone blown to bits by terrorists and plaster her face all over an obnoxious ‘dog whistle’, knuckle dragging authoritarian campaign? The answer, unfortunately for his children, is yes, he did.
So does Rachel, who survived the terrorist bombings in London.
I expect terrorists to attack our freedoms and our democracy by using fear and terror to hurt us. I was right there, seven feet away from a 19 year old suicide bomber in my carriage on 7/7 and lucky to escape with my life when he killed 26 fellow passengers.
I object vehemently to your assumption that victims of terrorism can be waved about to us as a bloodied figleaf to cover up a naked desire to be seen to be tough on terror for entirely politcal purposes, I object to being used as a political football, and if ‘for the victims’ is going to be invoked for this kind of liberty-trashing fearmongering, then this ‘victim’ (hate that word)is going to shout right back that those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither.
Akehurst, your opinions are disgraceful. You do not deserve to win the parliamentary seat you crave, and I hope the voters in Chatham Ward give you a good kicking when they next go to the polls. I am personally going to canvass against you and make sure every single voter knows what appalling views you hold.
Published on 15th June, 2008
Nando’s Revisited
This week’s Hackney Gazette quotes this blog post and reports me saying of the local drive to boycott Nando’s on Stoke Newington Church Street:
“The campaign isn’t about banishing chains - the street has enough of those… It’s not about protecting independent businesses - Nando’s isn’t in competition with them. It’s about keeping Church Steet exclusive, expensive, homogenous and middle class. And an area with a very high average house price.”
Naturally, this has infuriated some. But I was delighted to discover that, in the NO! to Nandos on Church Street group, I’m not far wrong. Try this for size:
Couldn’t be much clearer if he just wrote “Peasants Out”.
This is the same guy who said elsewhere that “You wouldn’t get a fantastic pub like the Shakespeare in Primrose Hill”.
Well, no. I suppose not. But he would get a fantastic little pub like the Shakespeare if he visited some of the others that seem to have the same format, and presumably belong to the same chain - the Approach in Bethnal Green; The Rosemary Branch in De Beauvoir/Hoxton; the Prince George in Dalston; The Royal Inn on the Park, Victoria Park; and so on.
So that’s nice and clear. Chains are fine in N16, as long as they’re the chains middle class people want.
Thankfully I’m not alone in thinking this pathetic.
Chicken wing, anyone?
Published on 13th June, 2008
Elegantly Dressed Wednesday: John Lee Hooker
Hooker’s first instrument was an inner tube nailed to a barn door.
Better still:
The septuagenarian Hooker, suave in a homburg, three-piece suit and sunglasses, became a familiar figure in advertisements, employed to endorse everything from jeans to heart pills. The commercial success of The Healer allowed him to record a series of albums in the 1990s, among them Mr Lucky and Boom, Boom, all of which sold well. In 1991, at 74, he became the oldest person to have a top five album in the British charts.
His new wealth allowed him to retire to San Francisco, where he would spend his afternoons crooning down the telephone to the young waitresses whose numbers he had picked up at breakfast.
An inspiration to us all.
Published on 11th June, 2008
Translation please?
I write and edit words for a living; but if any client sent me this, I’d ditch them:
This is your chance to contribute to the effective regeneration of major opportunity sites. You will mange [sic] the development control functions for major planning applications and appeals, ensuring the service facilitates high quality development solutions that address the issues of sustainable communities. The ability to engage with our diverse community and build positive and productive relationships to ensure high quality outcomes, and secure community benefits will be essential. In addition, you will have comprehensive knowledge of planning and regeneration gained through extensive planning management experience.
Apart from being unintelligible, there’s no spark of humanity in this at all. You’d never guess it was an advert to recruit someone with power over the environment in which we live and work.
Actually, I take that back. It’s all to easy to guess that it is.
Sadly, it’s an advert for one of the most difficult jobs in the world: Major Applications and Appeals Manager in Hackney’s new “Regeneration and Planning Division”.
Anyway, if you live locally, watch out. Pretty soon there’s going to be someone on £50k per year trying to “engage” with you. And remember - if they ask you to get into their “high quality outcome”, just say no and walk quickly away.
Published on 10th June, 2008