Things That I Won’t Miss About London
Sirens and police helicopters.
The struggle to engage with people in a meaningful and shared co-existence.
The tawdriness of the West End, the supposed showpiece of London.
Not knowing anything about North London.
The disguising of the traditional class structure, with crude wealth replacing the means of production.
Cycling along Park Lane.
Bulls******s.
The lack of respect for our shared surroundings. Fly tipping, spitting and urinating outside my house.
The price of general amenities around town, and the blatant belief that just because you are in central London, charging £2 plus for a cup of tea is somehow justifiable.
The restrictions of the river. The Thames IS London, and should be opened up for us all to enjoy and explore. Being unable to walk from East to West in your city, unrestricted, should be a right.
Self-styled creative types, with no evidence of creativity, but a passion for talking about themselves.
Falling asleep on the tube and waking up in the hellhole that is Morden.
The SW8 street drinkers, nutters and con artists.
The defining of the individual by their work status, and not by what skills they can add to the community.
The lack of integration of the transport network.
Fat, cockney plumbers.
The crap that builds up along London roads whenever it rains, ruining the inner workings of my bicycles.
People that SHOUT for no reason.
People that confuse car horns for front door bells.
Being stuck in traffic on a crowded bus, on a steamy hot afternoon.
The ugliness of the outer architecture.
The pockets of extreme poverty, with gated affluent dwellings within walking distance.
The realisation that politicians will never resolve the problem of the four towering chimney’s of Battersea.
The Ali G language, adopted by suburban Yoof.
Not knowing who I live next door to.
Incompetent local politicians, more concerned with their career than the genuine needs of the local community.
The Northern Line.
The 37 bus route.
Being told in Lambeth Life each fortnight how brilliant our local council is, by… our self-proclaimed brilliant local council.
Chicken wing shops and nail bars on every South London street corner.
Watching rubbish football teams.
Bike thief scum. Especially the little s**** that then sell on their loot around Brick Lane on a Sunday morning.
Trying to live the Love Me I’m a Liberal metropolitan lifestyle, but finding that my morals are being shifted further to the right by the behaviour of the very people around me I should be taking pity on.
The price of milk in my corner shop.
Local ice hockey and basketball being spoilt for me by petty, political in-fighting.
Junkyard neighbours.
Negativity from those around me.
The madness of SW8 meaning not being able to sleep with the windows open during the summer months.
The perpetual disgusting nature of the changing rooms at Brixton Rec.
The lottery of having to hire an electrician, plumber, or gas man, and not knowing about the quality of service when compared to the cost.
NOISE.
22/09/2010 at 9:30 am Permalink
Good luck Jason in your new rural retreat. I very much respect your principled position on a range of local and national political issues and think that you did the voters of Lambeth and Vauxhall a considerable service as a blogger and in your coverage of the recent general and local election.
I know that we started off on the wrong foot but after your interview with me and other Green Party candidates in Lambeth there was a strong mutual respect between us. I also think that you have consistently put the questions to Steve Reed and the New Labour (Next Labour?) cohort which they often find difficult to answer. Your coverage of dirty tricks campaigns in recent elections was also vitally important for the health of our local democracy.
I am still active in Green Party politics in Lambeth, although you will not be surprised to learn that I was recently re-elected to the international committee of the Green Party. My main campaigning at present is around the two issues of the cuts (I am on the Steering Committee of the Coaltion of Resistance) and the immoral and hugely expensive wars which all the main parties still support - where I am on the National Committee of Stop the War Coalition.
Must meet up for a drink sometime but wishing you all the best and hope that you will provide similar political reporting for the community where you are moving to.
Joseph Healy
Former Green Party Parliamentary Candidate for Vauxhall
22/09/2010 at 9:56 am Permalink
I agree with nearly all of that, although I’ve never been to Brixton Rec. Instead I joined a private gym so I can escape the local gun-toting yoofs in the swimming pool.
22/09/2010 at 11:06 am Permalink
Things I won’t miss about Jason Cobb:
- the holier than thou sanctimoniousness
- the whining about everything without coming up with solutions
- the running down of Lambeth as he scuttles of to Daily Mail land
22/09/2010 at 11:34 am Permalink
Ed Davie’s comment sums up so many London Labour Party representatives - such a sense of entitlement, so little sense of dignity, and an inability to listen, learn and engage.
22/09/2010 at 11:36 am Permalink
@Ed Davie - seeing as though you are the Nu Labour twonk who asked me “what mandate do you have to criticise elected Councillors,” please don’t give me a lecture about being sanctimoniousness. In return I won’t give you a pedantic lecture on the difference between of / off.
If your Third Way twaddle is the solution, what the jeepers is the question, Comrade?
Oh, and the Hoe is far from Daily Mail land.
22/09/2010 at 11:51 am Permalink
Bon voyage!
22/09/2010 at 11:58 am Permalink
Such a shame - I didn’t have Cllr Davie down as a complete cock when I interviewed him back in May. I shouldn’t have been so favourable to him at the time by not picking him up on his line about councillors being free from criticism.
22/09/2010 at 12:39 pm Permalink
Calling democratically elected people who work hard to make this borough (which you slag off as being full of ‘fat cockneys’ and anti-social ‘yoofs’) a better place people cocks and twonks is your idea of a sophisticated political argument is it?
Obviously you can dish it out but can’t take it at all. I hope your whites-only Olde English village is more up to your standards.
22/09/2010 at 12:51 pm Permalink
And suddenly I’m glad I’ll never have the chance to vote for Cllr Davie (wrong ward, before anyone asks).
I’ve not heard of him before now, but…wow. This is the sort of behaviour I expect from an internet troll, not an elected councillor.
22/09/2010 at 1:00 pm Permalink
Ed, I am shocked that you drag this to the sewer with your comment re a whites-only village. I find that offensive and clearly shows you have never been there. I don’t understand why you have chosen to introduce racial slurs into your argument. I am a strong supporter of Labour in Lambeth, hence my shock and surprise at your distasteful comment which I hope you will reconsider and retract?
22/09/2010 at 1:16 pm Permalink
Do you really work hard to make your borough a better place, Ed, or are you spending your day picking fights with local residents?
22/09/2010 at 1:18 pm Permalink
Ahhh, at this rate, I wonder if Cllr. Davie will become the next Brian Coleman?
I’m not entirely sure what he expects his comments to achieve, other than a letter to these chaps.
22/09/2010 at 1:25 pm Permalink
@Mark - I’m ahead of you. The formal complaint has already been registered.
22/09/2010 at 2:18 pm Permalink
Love a good ol’ public *facepalm*
22/09/2010 at 2:33 pm Permalink
I’ve enjoyed Jason’s blogs. Thank goodness someone has been commenting on local politicians and their sometimes less than savoury antics. It may not be pleasant being on the receiving end - but no need for local councillors to resort to snide remarks.
22/09/2010 at 3:58 pm Permalink
We too have had the ‘mandate’ chestnut thrown at us in the past but only by some parties wannabes. Which bit of lambeth is this councillor councilling in?
22/09/2010 at 4:09 pm Permalink
@lili When he’s not throwing around clumsy racist connotations, Cllr Davie represents Thornton ward.
08/10/2010 at 9:38 pm Permalink
The comment from Ed is not really that surprising when you consider one of his cohorts spent election week calling an alleged Tory voter a twat and defended it on the basis that it shows commitment to the cause. Delusional, as @optajoe might conclude.
08/10/2010 at 9:50 pm Permalink
Oh - and Jason, the Hamlet are up to 4th in the league so currently not so rubbish! *Shameless plug alert* And in the extremely unlikely event that you ever long for Champion Hill, we (http://therealfacup.co.uk/) are likely to be back down there soon.