Steerforth, whom I mentioned in my last post, and who runs the wondeful blog, The Age Of Uncertainty, has posted a really interesting article. It’s not only about Lewes, but about the appeal (as well as comedy value) of middle class life – and, indeed, the sad truth that class can still be a life sentence in the UK…
He also posted this charming video:
I like the sound of Lewes more and more.
In his post Steerforth also raises two other very good points: Southwold and Hebden Bridge.
I shall hopefully be looking into them soon. Am thinking that Crouch End might be the best subject for next week, but I’m open to suggestions…
*Yes, that headline only works if you don’t know how to pronounce Lewes in the proper middle class way… but anyway…
I don’t think you have even scratched the surface of Crouch End, to be honest.
I forgot to mention that part of the reason for the defeat of the Haterose campaign was a rumour which went around implying that if Waitrose didn’t acquire the site, Poundland was hard on its heels. I think you can all guess who was the source of THAT. (Me, in part)
Education, as you can imagine, is a big issue in our neighbourhood. Our excellent primary school, named after a Romantic poet from nearby and more expensive Highgate, was built on the site of the old Hornsey Art College, famous for its sit-ins in the 60s. Some of the art students of that era stayed on in their bedsits, eventually acquiring the whole property, and are now retired in warmer climates on the vast equity from 40 years of rising property prices.
It’s the secondary schools that are the problem We are devoutly left-wing in Crouch End, so much so that we threw out the Tony Bliar-backed Labour MP two elections ago and replaced her with a LibDem. This hasn’t worked out quite as well as we anticipated, particularly as Jacinta and Jasper are both planning to do Oxbridge entrance.
The two state options are Hornsey School for Girls, which sounds so encouraging when you think of that marvellous letter in the Guardian from the pupils of Camden School for Girls, about their decision to bunk off to join the student protests. But it turns out that Hornsey School for Girls is populated by large frightening black girls from Finsbury Park with expensive weaves and small Muslim girls in hijabs, sent there by their protective parents so they can be removed from any proximity to the male sex. That leaves Highgate Wood which gets 32 per cent in the league tables and is an attractive option for ambitious parents from Tottenham whose local comp gets 6 per cent.
So that leaves private education or Exodus. Up the great mountainous incline to Muswell Hill which has the highest performing comprehensive in London and a catchment area currently measured at 4.3 inches.
They try to sneer down at us in Crouch End but in reality, we are sneering up at them. They only have a Sainsbury’s. We have a Waitrose.
I’ll add a little more. When the Haterose campaign was asked what they suggested should be in the closed-down Woolworths, they said, ‘Well, the council could turn it into an art gallery.’
Unfortunately, Crouch End’s three LibDem ward councillors carry little weight with overwhelmingly Labour Haringey Council. We’re severely disappointed that the Kurdish community of Wood Green continues to vote for Tony Bliar’s party, motivated no doubt by self-interest in connection with the Iraq war.
In all fairness to Highgate Wood, however (which isn’t in Highgate, unfortunately, if it were it wouldn’t have that Tottenham catchment area) it does have as one of its alumnae the publicist for Virago books. Oh and that woman from the X Files went to our primary school, as did Tariq Ali’s kids.