We've managed to get edition 24 of the Hampstead Village Voice off to the printers. No small feat, I can tell you. The cover of the this autumn's edition features Hampsteadites, Jon Moss (Culture Club) and Robert Powell (actor of numerous roles, not least Jesus of Nasarath) protesting against the ridiculous and un-called for 'parkification' of the Vale of Health on Hampstead Heath: the result of a most dubious dam building project on three [alleged] 'reservoirs' and eight, very small, ornamental ponds. We've seriously ripped into those responsible ie. the Government (DEFRA), City of London Corporation, The High Courts, Camden Council and the Atkins/AECOM consortium in this edition. The truth will out and, as the old saying goes, let's publish and be DAMMED!
There's also mention of the City of London Corporation's (CityCorp) new attempt to commercialise the Heath, namely its new Open Spaces Bill. We're going to have to look into this because, according to the CityCorp's website, this will result in "residential, commercial and other use" of park-keepers' lodges, toilets and other existing Heath buildings. And we can't have that! It's The Heath not a park and if CityCorp can't be trusted to look after it properly, they'd better sod off and hand it over to someone who can.
Meanwhile, having been a great help in raising awareness of the scandalous events surrounding the tenure of the dam project by civil engineering firm Atkins, our friends over at the Ham&High (as Jeremy Corbyn might put it) have now managed to cut our 6,000 strong petition to Tulip Siddiq MP and Elizabeth Truss in half. This they have achieved by mounting posters everywhere announcing only 3,000 Heath Lovers signed the petition. D'uH! So much for accurate reporting. If they had to get it so very wrong, couldn't they at least have printed 9,000?
Meanwhile, having been a great help in raising awareness of the scandalous events surrounding the tenure of the dam project by civil engineering firm Atkins, our friends over at the Ham&High (as Jeremy Corbyn might put it) have now managed to cut our 6,000 strong petition to Tulip Siddiq MP and Elizabeth Truss in half. This they have achieved by mounting posters everywhere announcing only 3,000 Heath Lovers signed the petition. D'uH! So much for accurate reporting. If they had to get it so very wrong, couldn't they at least have printed 9,000?
Viva Hampstonia and Toodle Pip!
Emmanuel Mustafa Goldstein
Editor-in-hot-pants.
