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Brixton news, rumour and general chat - February 2015

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discobastard said:
A sweeping generalisation and not at all true. It depends on whether they are run by independent bodies or not. Agreed if you ask people to turn up at open public events then that's (at least in part) what you you'll get, but if you retain an agency to do it they'll go and, typically (if its being run right), find a representative cross section of the local population. They'll also likely give you a fair and balanced report of the findings, though what the client i.e. Council then does with those findings and what they choose to publish is, as was said elsewhere, down to them.
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It is absolutely true with people like Brixton Green, particularly when they employ resident-alienating buzzword language to describe their activities.
 
I think i was sitting next to Darcus Howe in the steam room of Brixton Rec sauna this evening but it was ummm very steamy, had a quick chat with "him" as part of a wider group existentialist thing was going on. It's bugging me now because i'm not sure if it was him or not. Some very good discussions though tonight on what was a busy evening in both rooms.
 
Brixton Road is very chaotic this evening from the Police Station down to M&S and i think Gresham Road is closed because of the road works.
 
discobastard said:
But nonetheless what you said is not true and you don't seem prepared to admit it. Just counter it with a completely different point backed up with subjectivity.
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So people who attend workshops and focus groups put together by the likes of Brixton Green aren't self selecting?
 
editor said:
So people who attend workshops and focus groups put together by the likes of Brixton Green aren't self selecting?
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That was not my point. If you reread your original post and my response you’ll see that you insinuated all workshops and focus groups are attended by self selecting individuals and that those involving Brixton Green were even more so. My point was that generally speaking, it depends upon how they are set up and run in terms of who attends and what the outcomes are. Your post seemed to suggest that all workshops and focus groups are therefore a ‘bad’ thing (though you may wish to clarify that). Brixton Green events may very well be self selecting and be poorly reported and actioned, though I can't comment on that. What would you like to see instead?

I’ve seen lots of examples of workshops and focus groups run by public and 3rd sector bodies that are most definitely *not* attended by self selecting individuals and through which some very positive (and inclusive) changes have been achieved. Done properly they can be very powerful, but it costs more money to get an independent body to do it and go out and find all these people and persuade them to come along. And many of these bodies don’t have, or don’t want to spend that money.

The self selection is also a bit of a red herring – yes, you want a wider perspective and so it’s about being as inclusive as possible and publicising these events as widely as you can. But at the same time you can’t hold workshops with 2,000 people and also you can’t force everybody to speak up with an opinion if they don’t feel confident in doing so/don’t *have* an opinion/don’t have time/can’t be arsed/genuinely don’t give a toss.

Mailouts and surveys may well get a wider response, but by their nature the quality and richness of responses is lost – and it’s also much easier to warp or skew the outcomes by bad questionnaire design and interpretation of the data (see *every* political party canvassing questionnaire that has every dropped through my letterbox, or that I have ever found in a hotel room that has been designed by somebody in the marketing department).

I’m not familiar with the particular issues that Brixton Green are trying to address but this might be a good forum to attempt to come up with a better solution and put it to them, rather than just slagging off the current arrangement. I’m sure the people with the right talents exist on here. You have a point, certainly, but you're chucking the baby out with the bathwater I think.
 
discobastard said:
That was not my point. If you reread your original post and my response you’ll see that you insinuated all workshops and focus groups are attended by self selecting individuals and that those involving Brixton Green were even more so. My point was that generally speaking, it depends upon how they are set up and run in terms of who attends and what the outcomes are.
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Well right there is the confusion. I'm not talking generally here. I'm specifically talking about what's been happening around the biggest developments in Brixton recently and my point absolutely stands for that. How many 'normal' people know what a 'sustainability workshop' is in relation to a street?

discobastard said:
I’m not familiar with the particular issues that Brixton Green are trying to address but this might be a good forum to attempt to come up with a better solution and put it to them, rather than just slagging off the current arrangement.
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Perhaps you missed the threads on Brixton Green here - some totalling hundreds of posts - but many posters tried very, very hard to engage Brixton Green to no avail. I've still no real idea what they actually do and I've sat on several meetings with them.
 
I find it utterly mystifying that so many able-bodied people, many young, will queue up to use Brixton Tube station, queueing right up to where the Ritzy is. Has the world gone mad? Also, Stockwell, Brixton, Clapham and the Oval were totally gridlocked with cars yesterday morning, about 8.30. All these solitary people in cars, looking miserable. Why don't people walk or cycle?

I was zooming down the empty sidestreets from Brixton Hill to Euston (45 mins max) and could see the traffic carnage on the main roads south of the river. I do wonder how people can put up with all that on a daily basis. I know I couldn't.
 
han said:
I find it utterly mystifying that so many able-bodied people, many young, will queue up to use Brixton Tube station, queueing right up to where the Ritzy is. Has the world gone mad? Also, Stockwell, Brixton, Clapham and the Oval were totally gridlocked with cars yesterday morning, about 8.30. All these solitary people in cars, looking miserable. Why don't people walk or cycle?

I was zooming down the empty sidestreets from Brixton Hill to Euston (45 mins max) and could see the traffic carnage on the main roads south of the river. I do wonder how people can put up with all that on a daily basis. I know I couldn't.
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Or run.
 
I've seen quite a few people scootering along the pavement to work as well recently. Including smart officey type women in heels! [emoji3]
 
Dexter Deadwood said:
I think i was sitting next to Darcus Howe in the steam room of Brixton Rec sauna this evening but it was ummm very steamy, had a quick chat with "him" as part of a wider group existentialist thing was going on. It's bugging me now because i'm not sure if it was him or not. Some very good discussions though tonight on what was a busy evening in both rooms.
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Surely you'd know by his voice. It's very distinctive. He does live in Brixton too eh?
 
han said:
I find it utterly mystifying that so many able-bodied people, many young, will queue up to use Brixton Tube station, queueing right up to where the Ritzy is. Has the world gone mad? Also, Stockwell, Brixton, Clapham and the Oval were totally gridlocked with cars yesterday morning, about 8.30. All these solitary people in cars, looking miserable. Why don't people walk or cycle?

I was zooming down the empty sidestreets from Brixton Hill to Euston (45 mins max) and could see the traffic carnage on the main roads south of the river. I do wonder how people can put up with all that on a daily basis. I know I couldn't.
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I'm put off by the buses, taxis, lorries who barge their way around, the cars driven by half asleep spatially retarded morons, and the aggressive cyclists. I'm much too fragile to mix in with that lot.
 
Maharani said:
Surely you'd know by his voice. It's very distinctive. He does live in Brixton too eh?
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I never thought about the voice other than to think he was very eloquent and convincing putting across his point regarding workshops where people take positive/negative positions and have to fight it out. He postulated that very few if any wanted to take the negative position and that he would have to take it and then even less people were willing to oppose.

I think he still lives in Brixton, whoever it was they were on very good form. There were some deep discussions going on last night.

I just focused on his eyes, focused on his eyes.........
 
Dexter Deadwood said:
I never thought about the voice other than to think he was very eloquent and convincing putting across his point regarding workshops where people take positive/negative positions and have to fight it out. He postulated that very few if any wanted to take the negative position and that he would have to take it and then even less people were willing to oppose.

I think he still lives in Brixton, whoever it was they were on very good form. There were some deep discussions going on last night.

I just focused on his eyes, focused on his eyes.........
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Through the mist! It's sounds almost heaven-like.
 
Maharani said:
Surely you'd know by his voice. It's very distinctive. He does live in Brixton too eh?
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He lives in Streatham Vale now. Used to live two doors down from us on the Brixton/Herne Hill borders. I used to be a fan, but not so much now after the stories I have heard from the neighbours (he moved shortly before we lived here, so more than ten years ago).
 
Does anyone know of anywhere that buys second hand catering equipment? Namely fridges...I thought there was one in Loughborough junction but I can't find it.
 
Ms T said:
He lives in Streatham Vale now. Used to live two doors down from us on the Brixton/Herne Hill borders. I used to be a fan, but not so much now after the stories I have heard from the neighbours (he moved shortly before we lived here, so more than ten years ago).
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pray, do tell...
 
Maharani said:
Does anyone know of anywhere that buys second hand catering equipment? Namely fridges...I thought there was one in Loughborough junction but I can't find it.
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You could try the ice cream van depot, they seem to have other catering equipment going in and out, presumably for hire. It's on Camberwell Station Road, a few doors down from the corner of Denmark Road.
 
ringo said:
You could try the ice cream van depot, they seem to have other catering equipment going in and out, presumably for hire. It's on Camberwell Station Road, a few doors down from the corner of Denmark Road.
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Great, thanks Ringo.
 
Dexter Deadwood said:
I never thought about the voice other than to think he was very eloquent and convincing putting across his point regarding workshops where people take positive/negative positions and have to fight it out. He postulated that very few if any wanted to take the negative position and that he would have to take it and then even less people were willing to oppose.

I think he still lives in Brixton, whoever it was they were on very good form. There were some deep discussions going on last night.

I just focused on his eyes, focused on his eyes.........
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Ask him if he's a coco shunter. If he doesn't know what that means then it's Darcus.
 
My experience of Darcus Howe in a workshop was he dominates rather than facilitates.

I once went to a multimedia event in a theatre called the Onion Shed in Lothian Road (this would be around 1990 I should think).

These ballet and drama students had prepared a work exploring the pleasures and difficulties of interracial relationships.

Darcus Howe was there to chair a panel discussion on the matter at the end of the performance. He relentlessly injected his own views on the difficulties and inappropriateness of such arrangements due to social, racial and class prejudices caused by political oppression etc meaning that such relationships were inevitably unwholesome.

I felt bit sad really because the creative work of the students was effectively demolished by Darcus. His co-panelists were unable to restrain his intellectual and emotional bombast.

Sure Darcus was entertaining as the Devil's Advocate. But I don't think I'd want to take personal problems to him!
 
han said:
I find it utterly mystifying that so many able-bodied people, many young, will queue up to use Brixton Tube station, queueing right up to where the Ritzy is.
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are you saying to get in the tube people queue from the Ritzy?
 
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