Dark tourism in London #TM2021

Firstly, the ‘oligarch tour’ was a hit in London’s excursions reviewing real estate owned by individuals with Unexplained Wealth Orders form UK courts. For example, Nursultan Nazarbaev a totalitarian ruler from Qasaqstan. ‘Shal Ket’ - traditional slogan of the opposition that translates as ‘Gerontocrat go away’. According to the data from Navalny Live YouTube channel, Nazarbaev’s family, who has tragically lost one of it's successors to suicide own a building on Baker Street, next to the famous Sherlock Holmes Museum.

Secondly, I recently watched a film by Patrick Keiller shot in 1994 entitled simply and succinctly ‘London’. The characters of the film were wandering on a stroll and encountered various philosophical questions on the road to Stoke Newington. Tripoto reminds me, not all who wander are lost. I recreated Keiller's journey with a crew of urban explorers. The area was famous for Defoe and Poe who lived here. An area guide is available in Stoke Newington Library. The title makes allusions to religious sects and is called ‘Dissent N16’, named after local postcode. It is written by people in love with London and contains very interesting details, ‘flamboyant Russians’ lived in the area for a long time, according to the guide. It is an interesting mention of the diaspora in a historic text.

So, we went to the abandoned St Mary’s Lodge and unexpectedly uncovered a controversy. More info to follow, however it has a strong connection with the most recent Happy Man Tree crisis. To recap, the Happy Man Tree was a 100 year old tree that fell victim to gentrification by a conglomerate developer.

Stoke Newington is a place that hasn’t got a tube station and similarly to Bristol’s Stokes Croft haven’t got big chain stores. The traffic has been limited (not only by the ULEZ). In the 70’s and 90’s the local community of activists saved East and West Reservoir, which now has a London Wildlife Trust eco hub founded by Sir David Attenborough. Prince William was one of the eco-volunteers in the East Reservoir.

Safe travels!

Den

p.s. sincere thanks for saving the reservoirs!!!