I think the saddest comment isn't the one about Hackney, but her statement that "you don't walk anywhere you don't know". I'm sure people used to be able to walk in most parts of the UK after dark, whether they knew them or not.
(You may walk round Hackney at midnight, but presumably you know the area. Would you take a stroll in New Cross or Thamesmead at midnight ?)
I walked around New Cross at midnight not long before Christmas, but then I do know the area. I don't know Thamesmead and out of choice wouldn't try to get to know it on my own on foot after dark - but the same is true of any other unfamiliar urban area. What gets me about Smith's remarks is that she's reinforcing the myth that the streets are teeming with dangerous villains - the effect of which is to frighten people from going out, which actually makes the streets more dangerous. The best way to make city streets safe is to have them teeming with life. You might get your pocket picked in a crowded market but you're much less likely to be confronted by a mugger with a knife than you are in a deserted subway.
Walking around Hackney at night is, surely, the only way to dispatch with aforementioned Shoreditch Vampires. Seriously, the most dangerous people there are new ravers who come spilling out the Dolphin at 4am. Perils.
6 comments:
No -- 'we' don't all fucking do it.
'You' might, but not 'us'. That is, the majority of the population of this here isles who don't live in that shithole where you live.
Cockney vampires are also a big problem. They need dealing with.
Will, I don't live in London I fucking work and hang out afterwards. So Hackney is local. Relax.
I think the saddest comment isn't the one about Hackney, but her statement that "you don't walk anywhere you don't know". I'm sure people used to be able to walk in most parts of the UK after dark, whether they knew them or not.
(You may walk round Hackney at midnight, but presumably you know the area. Would you take a stroll in New Cross or Thamesmead at midnight ?)
I walked around New Cross at midnight not long before Christmas, but then I do know the area. I don't know Thamesmead and out of choice wouldn't try to get to know it on my own on foot after dark - but the same is true of any other unfamiliar urban area. What gets me about Smith's remarks is that she's reinforcing the myth that the streets are teeming with dangerous villains - the effect of which is to frighten people from going out, which actually makes the streets more dangerous. The best way to make city streets safe is to have them teeming with life. You might get your pocket picked in a crowded market but you're much less likely to be confronted by a mugger with a knife than you are in a deserted subway.
Walking around Hackney at night is, surely, the only way to dispatch with aforementioned Shoreditch Vampires. Seriously, the most dangerous people there are new ravers who come spilling out the Dolphin at 4am. Perils.
What is needed is more stakeholders -- that will take care of the cockney vampires.
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