THE CLEANSING OF HACKNEY: An exemplary tale of yuppie flats, jellied eels, bent local councillors and a man called Tony

摘要

How do I feel?' Tony Platia shrugs his shoulders in a very Sicilian way. 'How d'you think I feel? Look at what they done to my place. Thirty-one years of my life I put into this and they left me with nothing to show for it.' He touches my elbow and gestures at the street outside, unseen beyond the impromptu barricades that shore up what's left of Francesca's Cafe. 'This used to be a lovely community,' he says, intensely. 'When I come here it was old East End, real rag trade. It's all being killed, all the ordinary people pushed out. They're taking from the poor and giving to the rich. Look around you.' He touches my elbow again, shrugs his shoulders, and looks bleak.