The Stoke Newington Sainsbury proposal

[Free Fall]

Good or bad idea.

http://www.hackneyhive.co.uk/index/2011/07/whos-kidding-who-over-stoke-newingtons-sainsburys-proposal/

[Ben]

How can Stokey Local claim that their campaign isn't just about protectng the affluent shops on Church Street when they didn't set up a similar campaign when Tesco and Sainsburys set up stores on the High St? Their campaign is about keeping less well-off people away from Church St so that they can indulge their rather creepy desire to live in some sort of quasi "village". The same can be said for the anti-Nandos campaign. The longer I live in Hackney the more I've gotten to dislike that crowd.

[Ben]

In their latest PR stunt they've decided to dress as zombies and co-opt the "famous dead" of Abney Cemetery to their cause;
"local people of all ages will dress up as Zombies as Abney Park Cemetery gives up its famous dead to say NO to Sainsbury’s."
"We’re sure that Daniel Defoe, Paul Foot, Mark Bolan, and Salvation Army founders William and Catherine Booth – who are buried in Abney Park Cemetery, which would be blighted by the new Sainsbury’s – would have been against this unwanted invasion of a thriving community of locally-owned businesses.
So don’t be surprised if you see some of Stoke Newington’s famous late residents rising from the dead to make their thoughts known too…".
What the hell...you may as well add their names to the petition then eh?
This has to be the most tasteless, insulting, arrogant piece of self-serving PR that I've ever come across.

[Ben]

Paul Foot (who is buried in Highgate) only died in 2004. I dread to think what his family and friends think of this.