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People power kills east London’s giant glowing bauble
IAN SINCLAIR tells the story of a small group of east London activists who took on and defeated a billion-dollar US corporation that wanted to build a giant sphere venue coated in gaudy LED lights
The US-based MSG group wanted to build one of their light-polluting sphere monstrosities, like the one shown here in Las Vegas, in the heart of east London [Harold Litwiler/ Creative Commons]

HERE is a good news story to inspire activists working for a better world in 2025.

Concluding last year, it is the story of a small group of campaigners defeating a multinational corporation that had the backing of the mayor of London and the British government.

The corporation in question is the US-based Madison Square Garden Entertainment Company (MSG), which announced in February 2018 that it wanted to build the MSG Sphere in Stratford, east London, on 4.7 acres of land they had purchased for a cool £72 million.

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