Humans have certain basic needs. Yeah yeah, we know about the food, the sleep, the sex… but occasionally, people also need a little bit of crazy in their life.

A chance to blow off steam, subvert some rules, kick back and temporarily loosen the rigid social structures that wall us in the rest of the time.

Experiencing these moments every now and then is essential to our greater wellbeing, even if we don’t ache for them quite as viscerally as we do with hunger, tiredness, or desire. However, the joy of cutting loose inevitably entails some messiness and risk (otherwise its therapeutic, subversive magic cannot be truly realised).

All of which brings us to London’s parks; increasingly the fierce and quite literal battleground for arguments over who gets to use them – and how – as we barrel towards summer 2025.

Camden’s sudden ruling that Waterlow Park can no longer host the wildly popular BBQing area that it has become a bit too renowned for is a case in point. The reason the park has built up a reputation as a weekly fiesta of al fresco grilling, booze-enthused socialising (and yes, polluting smoke, dumped coals/rubbish and the bushes used as toilets, too) is because it’s one of the only remaining places available to Londoners, with outright BBQ bans across many other Boroughs and open spaces.

Those not fortunate enough to have their own back garden have therefore gravitated in unsustainable numbers, bringing the chaos that tends to come hand in hand with such large scale, but all too rare revelry.

I have real sympathy with local activists, for whom the sheer volume of BBQers, particularly the more raucous ones, plus their billowing smoke, noise and detritus, can be a summer-long menace, dominating the supposedly beautiful public green space. But when calling for a ban, where are the suggested alternatives?

The aim simply seems to be to shut down the fun, as opposed to proposing a solution that works satisfactorily for everyone involved.

Over in Lambeth, multiple mobilised resident groups have crowdfunded a whopping £30k war chest to pay for a judicial review against their council granting permission for summer music festivals in Brockwell Park. They undoubtedly have genuine concerns about damage to the park, but there should surely be an equal consideration in any ruling for the thousands of people who happily do want to use the space for their essential dose of ‘cut loose’ fun, too.

Modern society is acutely risk averse and hyper-regulated, (which only makes the need to break free that much more acute). As I highlighted a couple of weeks back, this cautious impulse usually begins from a good place, but can easily contort into a NIMBY-style resistance at simply having to bear witness to other people enjoying ‘a lil’ crazy’ in their midst.

This week also saw the latest in the regular calls for a review of crowd safety at Notting Hill Carnival. Ostensibly a very good thing, but then you see it is being driven by failed Tory Mayoral candidate Susan Hall, who has previously been slammed for her ‘offensive views’ about the event, that come with a thin veneer of dog whistle racism.

Nobody wants to see a ‘mass casualty event’ in Notting Hill, but everything that Hall and the pearl clutchers get so wound up about - streets teaming with an organic, cauldron-like seething mass of humans, purposefully subverting the usual rule of the road with provocative dancing, hedonistic drinking and earth-trembling music - is THE WHOLE POINT.

The global tradition of Carnival actually permits us to get a lil’ bit crazy, to break the usual rules, but still within the socially agreed confines of the annual bank holiday bacchanal. Attempt to sanitise this already ringfenced social eruption too much and it simply won’t be fit for purpose.

As fearsome and objectional as it may feel to some, letting a park’s grass get mullered, or allowing a few streets to be rammed with sweaty bodies for a weekend of unbridled whine and grind filth, is also exactly what many others need in their lives.

If police, regulators and well-funded residents simply attempt to restrict, ban or water down the wilder moments when our society gathers to let off steam, that impulse doesn’t simply vanish. That’s not how energy works.

London needs more locations where people can party outdoors, grill their smelly food, behave loudly and proudly. Having these spaces and opportunities ultimately means less tension and happier humans. There might not be the same mobilised pressure groups or scheming politicians behind the cause, but there’s just as real a risk to denying people that fun.

A wildly successful BBQ area in a park or an annual festival or two are still incredibly controlled ways of letting people and places get a bit messy, in the grand scheme of things. When bans and closures are seen as the only remedy to localised problems, I suggest there should also be strict enforcement of a wholistic approach to increase our capacity for organised chaos elsewhere.

It’s a human need - and therefore a human right.

📊 This week’s one-click poll

Do let us know your alternative suggestions and thoughts in the comments, either when voting or via the online version of this newsletter…

Last week we asked the question: What's your favoured radical approach to revitalising our high streets?

More social gathering spaces, from toddlers breakfast clubs to bustling nightclubs
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 38% 

Focus on alternative eco retail, from charity superstores to urban farms
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ 25%

Ban Amazon, Ocado and similar websites, then subsidise the return of traditional shops! 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 37%

and some of your comments:

““Make high streets more pleasant by adding greenery, benches and space for pedestrians”

”“I would introduce harsher punishments and accelerated deportations for phone snatchers, wouldn't it be nice not to have to worry about theft and petty crime in Camden!”

“R u crazy insinuating u prefer phone theft!”

POP-UP EVENTS

🎛️ Street performers: the new breed of grassroots DJs mixing things up

A couple of weeks back, when I dialed in a bit of a sicknote, I had wanted to mention the surprise appearance of none other than chart-topping troubadour Ed Sheeran playing outside King’s Cross station earlier that week, to point out that the concourse is regularly home to more underground performances, which might not draw such a big in-person crowd, but are a bona fide sensation online.

At a time of much reported troubles for music venues, combined with the viral power of TikTok and a new post-pirate radio era DIY entrepreneurial spirit, all kinds of music careers are being built from street corners and assorted moving vehicles.

The champ is DJ AG, hailed by Time Out as their ‘Londoner of the Year 2024’, who is regularly to be found hosting top rappers, vocalists and guest appearances on his pop-up decks situated in front of the King’s Cross McDonalds.

Neatly demonstrating my earlier point about stifled party energy simply popping up elsewhere, at a time when we’ve seen youth clubs and night clubs either shuttered or becoming prohibitively pricy, the street is the recording studio, dancefloor and broadcast centre all at once.

🚗 Bass-driven open-top party van crew YoYo Ldn have caused roadblocks in various locations including Camden Town’s Buck St over recent years. Now they’ve just gone and successfully established themselves as Mas Arts, a CIC/not-for-profit company offering grant-funded DJ, MC, vocalist and other community-minded programmes, going legit while still tearing down a street corner or underpass near you this summer.

🛶 Breakout post-lockdown star SUAT made his name strapping turntables and a live streaming camera to himself to DJ his way through shopping centres and down high streets. He’s now moved on to absurdist challenges such as DJing while indoor skydiving, or kayaking down the River Wye last bank holiday weekend.

🚲 Another product of lockdown, Dom Whitting busts out drum & bass while riding his bike, leading huge crowds of other cyclists, skaters and a party entourage through the streets, from Bristol to Barcelona, recently even heading Down Under.

🚕 The Boys In The Taxi do their spinning from the back seat of a black cab, recently getting shut down for causing some curbside dancing outside Shoreditch Boxpark. Meanwhile MIAH has become know for playing off his Covent Garden balcony. And a whole range of coffee shops like Marylebone’s BLK CAB, pop-ups from The Coffee Gen and King’s Cross kiosk News & Coffee are all hosting DJs and parties while you pick up your flat white.

Did he actually say that?

🤳🏾Seems like, inevitably, a proportion of readers took my ‘defence’ of phone theft last week as a literal endorsement of the practice. Oh dear.

There were a fair few kneejerk unsubscribes to this list and outraged comments from people who clearly can’t have read the rest of the newsletter very closely. I’d suggest that, with AI fakery now generating provocative headlines left, right and centre, we all need to be more savvy and alert with our interpretation of what we’re reading.

Local media rightly remains one of the last trusted voices out there, something you should be able to rely on, but please let us have a bit of fun with our words and sentiment, too. Otherwise we’ll have joined the AI-driven blanding of culture by default 😱

❓3 QUESTIONS - STORIES YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED

🍴 Are the robots ruining your dinner?

🚫 Should we tax tourists in Camden?

🍺 Surge pricing on pints! Saviour or slayer of the pub?

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