Had a fascinating conversation today with someone working with local boroughs on community cohesion, engagement and empowerment. It all sounds a bit fluffy but I'll try to explain, whilst not commiting too much to paper as not sure if the info is in the public domain.

Community cohesion is about people from different cultures getting on together. Where this goes wrong you have situations as seen a few years ago in Oldham, Bradford and Burnley.

UK experience, contrary to that of the US, is that more diverse areas have better community cohesion than those with a tighter mix. Also that your normal tangible factors such as jobs, amenities and housing don't necessarily improve things (or at least the council's that focus on socioeconomic factors are less successful).

We spoke about a number of boroughs which were considered to be deprived which scored fairly well on the scale, and one of the outer ones that was very poor (non South of the river). But the shining example was Lewisham, which surprised me as I don't tend to take a lot of notice when they send stuff though, and have even accused them of tokenism in the past. There was particular reference to LBLs approach with the yound and with schools (the latter is something I recognise)

Good to hear views including any official ones, and whether there is a reference to the community cohesion index for local authorities out there in cyberspace.

I'd love to get the LB of Bromley score, which I am sure would confirm my prejudices. For those of you in a panic about secondary schools this should be a big plus point for the Borough. Southwark aint bad either, despite their roads!

BD - Our little ray of sunshine

PS went to Lewisham's holocaust rememberence day a year and a it ago at the Theatre and it was a stunning incredably well thought out and delivered event

Dave,

Some reading for you:
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/

Ta-ra for now

One of the few threads that says something good about the area, but I only get one post and that was somebody who make Morrisey look liberal and have a profound respect for other ethnic groups. Of course I assume that HTG and Steven Morrisey are both joking.

Meanwhile it would be good if others can give their views about what it is like to live in a dynamic and broad community.

BD it is I am afraid pretty much like life, it is easier to moan about things than be positive on the nicer things.

That said, I noticed the post and it pleased me but didnt want to reply and give you a big head

You just don't get it, do you?

Neither do I

Suggest you have a good read of the blog above, and make a mental translation to the UK.

Tut tut HTG, you are not losing it are you?

No, but other people satirise your earnestness more skilfully than I could.

Perhaps you could return to your parallel universe and leave us unfortunates with SE post codes in peace.

Enough already

Enough already

Bravo, admin.

Both of our dear forum users in this dust-up obviously have something in them that needs to be heard. I?d be reluctant to see their, or anyone else?s, squabbling expulsed so that it becomes sniper fire from the sides. So, I propose that a new fourth section be created to allow our asinine personalities to be expressed. A space where we have permission to be more authentic. And also to be a bit more creative.

Maybe you have been wondering why, lately, our forum can sometimes be a touch pedestrian, when our neighbours on the East Dulwich Forum are often travelling in the fast lane with their volume of postings. I certainly have.

Could it be the structure, in part, that limits this site in activity? (And don?t think I haven?t noticed some of you from here descending from The Hill and popping up in the shadow lands of the East Dulwich Forum!)

This new section could well have benefits for you, admin. How would does this sound as a tool for you to use to ring-fence the bickering when it inevitably occurs? And a nice defence I would imagine, if things came to that, as users would clearly know what was lurking in this section. And that is silliness. Similar to the wonderful space on the East Dulwich Forum called "The Lounge". It?s simple-minded, it?s inane, it?s unreasonable and it?s fun. I need a bit of that in my ?Ground Hog Day? life. And it?s heavily used by them. (BTW, one of my favourite threads in "The Lounge" is Quiet room...)

I observe that the East Dulwich Forum Team (is it Mark?) send threads to "The Lounge" when they have evaluated them to be inappropriate for the other sections. Users sometimes remark that a thread has been ?Lounged? with raised eyebrows! And recently I've observed that, similarly, on your site that you have the functionality to slice and dice threads.

You may say that out of the current three sections on SE23.com Forum "Beyond SE23" is similar to what I?m proposing. But I've discerned since I joined that forum users use it for more practical purposes. Maybe it's because this section is location titled and hence focused. That is, topics that aren't SE23 might be SE22 for example. There is no doubt, I will confess, that out of the three sections this is closest to what I'm proposing. Though not quite.

admin, if you think this has merit and you?re looking for a title then may I be the first to propose one? I've played around with the fact that SE23.com has a tag line of "The community website for Forest
Hill and Honor Oak..." so maybe "The Clearing" or "The Jungle". I quite fancy "The Clearing" because of the double meaning for when things need to be aired. And when things take a turn for the worse, then duels were fought in an open area, were they not?

If my proposal meets with success, then maybe we could have nominations for a name and then a vote. Just in time to get our voting muscle stretched for the upcoming election for Mayor.

Interesting points Cellar Door, though I'd suggest that members would prefer not to see petty name-calling anywhere. Thankfully the above is a rare occurrence.

Indeed.

Thank you, admin, for taking the time to respond.

Fat chance, CD, you can't even use the word bloody on this forum.

'Beyond SE23' does have a range of different topics and was created for this reason (at my suggestion), but the discussion is only going to be as diverse as the threads people start and respond to. I would encourage people to start threads about any topic they think might be of interest and hopefully admin will take a relaxed attitude to discussions.

What you do notice occasionally on EDF is some fairly unpleasant and personal comments about people posting on the forum and I am pleased that Admin discourages this type of behaviour on this forum. In the early days of this forum similar problems occurred here and I would not like to see us return to that type of discussion.

Most people do manage to express themselves with various numbers of ***, we don't need to have language that some may find offensive all over the forum (I did once find I wasn't allowed to use the naughty word 'assess' but Admin fixed that). Disallowing bad language encourages more creative use of language, take it as a challenge!

It is nice to have a chance to discuss such issues on this forum, which for various reasons has not happened previously.

I've just been taking a look at the ED Forum - just makes me appreciate SE23,com even more! I know the quality of debate here is not always world class, but its way better than some of the pure drivel over there. And the format of the site is much clearer here - well done admin.

PS - and when will people realise the difference between a forum and a chat room?

maybe you could enlighten those who don't know the difference

Forest Hill! Forest Hill! Ra, Ra, Ra!!!

Anyone who would find a whole range of the words that this forum blanks out offensive deserves to be offended, in my view. Don't boast about richness of language while actively diminishing it.

maybe you could enlighten those who don't know the difference

forum = debate, expressing opinions for others to see. eg - "why oh why must children put up with adults in pubs?"

chat room = chat, as in
"I've got a new handbag"
"have you, what colour?"
"blue"
"cool"