The journalist and author Andy Beckett, currently a Guardian columnist, has lived in north-east London for 30 years, Stoke Newington, Islington and currently in Stoke Newington. I’ve lived in Tottenham since 1992, that being in a third Borough- Haringey- still very much part of North London.
His new book (The Searchers) focuses on five people Tony Benn, John McDonnell, Diane Abbott, Ken Livingstone and Jeremy Corbyn. I don’t know Livingstone, who comes from a slightly different political perspecive than myself, but I did know Benn and certainly do know the other three even if again our views don’t always coincide.
Read the book for more obviously but Beckett makes an interesting point about life in north-east London
‘These are places where interest in politics is unusually important. Election turnouts are high despite their predictable, Labour dominated, outcomes. Conversations in the pub often turn to politics. Protests are part of everyday life for well-off and poor residents alike’
Leave a Reply