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I'm sorry that my response to you below isn't 'impressive' enough for you. Must try harder! Again, you seem to be polarising the engagement here into absolute

I'm sorry that my response to you below isn't 'impressive' enough for you. Must try harder! Again, you seem to be polarising the engagement here into absolute terms - of course I wouldn't for a second agree with keeping "Kings Cross as a complete poohole just to keep a couple of clubs open", but the loss of those clubs and that culture surrounding it are to my mind indicative of a change in the city that inevitable as it is, is pervasive, permanent and in some ways saddening. I can't be right or wrong in this opinion, just different to your perspective and that's ok - neither of us need 'win' here.

foldr 7y ago
You're always going to lose something when a city changes. I'm just baffled that your overriding reaction to the changes in Kings Cross is sadness. I do actually think it's important to keep whining in check because it holds London back. The fact that people are even willing to pretend that they want the old Kings Cross back (lol) is indicative of how deeply ingrained the whining culture is.
- detritus 7y ago
  Can you point out where I said I want the old king's cross back, please? You seem to continually choose to interpret things in the most polarised terms that fit whatever narrative it is you wish to read. My stated concern here is in the density and pace of development - the change in what (I feel and believe) should be a more organically-grown locality, rather than some mass vision impressed upon the area.
  - foldr 7y ago
    "Liverpool Street, Kings Cross, Holloway - all places once warm and familiar to me are now cold, oppressive masses of dense, synthetic development." That seems like a broadly negative reaction to the changes. If you think the changes have been for the worse, then it seems fair to presume that you'd rather they hadn't happened. If you actually like the changes overall, then we are in agreement. As for organic change - well, Kings Cross had decades of opportunity to deshitify organically, and it didn't. How long do you wanna wait?
    - detritus 7y ago
      I don't like the changes overall, no. That's where I'm coming from. It is a broadly negative appraisal of these developments which are, to my mind, artificial in the extreme. But that doesn't mean I 'want the old kx back', it just means I wish it hadn't developed as so. The front end development of KX itself and St. Pancras is absolutely gorgeous. So too coal drop yard and the area around CSM. It's the density of high rise apartments around that is, to me, saddening. - ed and i mean 'saddening' in a perhaps melancholic whistful way - if it is inevitable and must be so, then so be it. doesn't mean i have to like it. and doesn't mean that my not liking it is in any way relevant.

foldr 7y ago

You're always going to lose something when a city changes. I'm just baffled that your overriding reaction to the changes in Kings Cross is sadness. I do actually think it's important to keep whining in check because it holds London back. The fact that people are even willing to pretend that they want the old Kings Cross back (lol) is indicative of how deeply ingrained the whining culture is.

detritus 7y ago
Can you point out where I said I want the old king's cross back, please? You seem to continually choose to interpret things in the most polarised terms that fit whatever narrative it is you wish to read. My stated concern here is in the density and pace of development - the change in what (I feel and believe) should be a more organically-grown locality, rather than some mass vision impressed upon the area.
- foldr 7y ago
  "Liverpool Street, Kings Cross, Holloway - all places once warm and familiar to me are now cold, oppressive masses of dense, synthetic development." That seems like a broadly negative reaction to the changes. If you think the changes have been for the worse, then it seems fair to presume that you'd rather they hadn't happened. If you actually like the changes overall, then we are in agreement. As for organic change - well, Kings Cross had decades of opportunity to deshitify organically, and it didn't. How long do you wanna wait?
  - detritus 7y ago
    I don't like the changes overall, no. That's where I'm coming from. It is a broadly negative appraisal of these developments which are, to my mind, artificial in the extreme. But that doesn't mean I 'want the old kx back', it just means I wish it hadn't developed as so. The front end development of KX itself and St. Pancras is absolutely gorgeous. So too coal drop yard and the area around CSM. It's the density of high rise apartments around that is, to me, saddening. - ed and i mean 'saddening' in a perhaps melancholic whistful way - if it is inevitable and must be so, then so be it. doesn't mean i have to like it. and doesn't mean that my not liking it is in any way relevant.