UKC

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/29/go-ape-privatisation-c...

Ok, thi doesn't affect me in the slightest, so why has it made me so bloody angry?

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/29/go-ape-privatisation-c...


(yes, I'm angry about the causes, and reaction to, the flooding for all sorts of good professional and intellectual reasons, but for some reason this has properly pissed me off)

I'm sure go ape people read and maybe post here - any thoughts?

In reply to toad:


Because it's so palpably unjust I expect, and because we all tend to react that bit more strongly when it's children who're the victims of injustice.

"It is my great hope – temporarily infused as I am with the optimistic spirit that accompanies an imminent new year – that Go Ape goes bust in Battersea and that it acts as a catalyst for so much more. That people will not be able to view two classes of children at play, segregated at the entrance by their parents’ incomes, with equanimity. Without seeing the macro in the micro; without seeing the shape of things to come; without considering the true cost at which the purchase – on our children, on our land, on our souls – is made."

Oh, I *do* hope so. (But I fear not.)

In reply to toad:

Except its mostly not true. Go Ape pay the park to run their thing, the adventure playground still exists for free. A wider discussion about neoliberal economics siphoning off the value of the public commons is welcome, this histrionics is not.

D

In reply to toad:

Seem to be some conflicting comments;

In reply to toad:

Move along now, nothing to see here...

http://www.southlondon-today.co.uk/article.cfm?id=114902&headline=Prote...

In reply to toad:

Are you angry at the poor level of journalism/mis-representation of the situation or the content of the article. I never went to the old playground but was there at the new one yesterday with the daughter and her many cousins, age range 2-12. I was unaware of the history and we were all discussing what a great playground and park in general it was. The Go Ape stuff in the trees just seemed to add a sense of adventure to all the very good and comprehensive climbing frames, slides, swings, rope bridges etc. The actual Go Ape set up was very subtle, I've no idea where you'd actually pay/sign up to do it. The cafe may be seen as a little expensive but that seems to be the case with most cafes in the Capital. I like Lucy Mangan normally but this seems particularly poorly researched. The "suitable for 8-18" seems a bit of a stretch, a quick Google shows the sign said "8-16" and I assume for the older kids it just provided somewhere to have a fag/spliff without being seen....

In reply to toad:
Comments here and below the line made me read a bit more around this, she's more or less correct as I can tell, though there is a bit more of a gap between the loss of the original facility and the new one, but it is Lucy mangan's opinion in this piece, and I think the emotion is genuine.

I'm just starting to encounter the practicalities of this in notts - the local authority are waking up to their very limited obligations in respect of parks and open spaces, and private contractors are just not as effective or as good value for money in delivering parks management. But they are cheaper, which seems to amount to the same thing in some eyes.