Sir, – The “redevelopment” of Smithfield continues to provide a textbook example of how to make people’s lives worse, while earning fat salaries by pretending to make them better.
First, the centre of the square was dug up and redeveloped in a lingering torment designed solely to displace the ancient horse fair. Then the cute little galleries and art spaces that had sprung up organically in unused retail units were wiped out for not paying rent. Interesting and unusual graffiti has been painted over.
Most recently, at the bottom of the square, some kids started skateboarding in a small open space, jumping on and off granite benches. So, naturally, steel clamps have been attached to the benches to put a stop to that.
The message from the gold- plated bureaucrats who ruin this city is clear. It is better to sell drugs in Smithfield than horses, better to passively absorb global culture than create original art, and much better to take methadone in the many, well-supported clinics, than to play an innocent game in a public space.
Last week I accosted two small boys who were spitting repeatedly at a girl who was locking up a cafe for the night. They were doing it for “no reason”. The reason, of course, is that the kind of society you get, when you won’t let children play. – Yours, etc,