Connecting with other Londoners

Where and how do you connect with people from a different background to yourself, if at all?

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Social integration is about how we all live together as Londoners.

The discussion ran from 18 March 2018 - 18 June 2018

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Comments (65)

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Thanks everyone for sharing your views so far.

Some of you have mentioned particular places where you meet other people. What makes a place good for bringing people together? What is it about that space that makes it appealing to people from different backgrounds, and makes it possible to connect positively?

Talk London

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A Masjid is a place of worship where one can find and meet different nationalities, speaking different languages.
IA
http://www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk

Avatar for - Staghorn coral

I am a first generation immigrant my parents came from Europe, like many others seeking sanctuary from war. They had to change their surnames, adapt to many cultural and social attitudes not always welcoming or easy. They managed to make...

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I am a first generation immigrant my parents came from Europe, like many others seeking sanctuary from war. They had to change their surnames, adapt to many cultural and social attitudes not always welcoming or easy. They managed to make their lives here post naturalisation and prospered.
How did they manage? What help were they given beyond British Citizenship ? what incentive to cultural integration were they offered? i dont know. They paid their taxes and worked hard to make a good life for me and my sister.
Good schooling and education access to free medical health, freedom of speech and the right to liberty under the law. A home. A job.... It seems to me that throughout history humans have moved and settled driven by war persecution climate change etc if settlement acceptance integration and all the necessary contributors to a healthy cosmopolitan society are in place then social integration will happen.
Socially engineered strategies like this seem to offer a superficial view of integration. When people feel under threat for whatever reason history has shown us that societies dis integrate. Poverty crime poor housing mental and physical threats to wellbeing all impact on integration and community. People become paranoid envious greedy hostile to outsiders. The worst elements of human nature are unleashed.
The only social integration policies that will work are ones that address these fundemental problems.
Not wasted sticking plaster gestures like this.

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Dani, this is a good point. Clearly, City Hall is determined to ignored everybody's concerns about numbers coming here in recent years and blame it all on racism. That attitude won't win any votes for Labour. Nor will it do anything to...

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Dani, this is a good point. Clearly, City Hall is determined to ignored everybody's concerns about numbers coming here in recent years and blame it all on racism. That attitude won't win any votes for Labour. Nor will it do anything to reduce frustration and hostility. We are being sneered at and ignored. City Hall has become an anti-Brexit machine determined to overturn the will of the British people.

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Surest way to make friends: start going to church.

Also, volunteer (e.g. charity shop) and/or take up course(s) at local adult college.

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Surest way to make friends: start going to church.

Also, volunteer (e.g. charity shop) and/or take up course(s) at local adult college.

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I expect going to church is more helpful for Christians. 

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I expect going to church is more helpful for Christians. 

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Yes, livehere, that is true!  We do run a weekly coffee morning for over-60's, though.  Many of the regulars don't go to church.

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Yes, livehere, that is true!  We do run a weekly coffee morning for over-60's, though.  Many of the regulars don't go to church.

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People wanting to connect, try your local pub or your local independent cafe.

(Creepy men out there, a lady sitting on her own is not hoping to marry you.)

Avatar for - Vaquita

Just by being a Londoner and living this wonderful city. Schools, tube, shopping areas, libraries, bars and restaurants, public events....You can't avoid mixing and enjoying the richness that gives you living in such a widely multicultural...

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Just by being a Londoner and living this wonderful city. Schools, tube, shopping areas, libraries, bars and restaurants, public events....You can't avoid mixing and enjoying the richness that gives you living in such a widely multicultural city. Just stop the absolute nonsense of Brexit. Brexit will destroy London!

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I want to leave the EU. We need to leave NOW! Free movement is destroying our city. Everything is overcrowded and no one can afford anywhere to live.

I feel like a foreigner in my own country. Everywhere I go, I hear foreign languages all...

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I want to leave the EU. We need to leave NOW! Free movement is destroying our city. Everything is overcrowded and no one can afford anywhere to live.

I feel like a foreigner in my own country. Everywhere I go, I hear foreign languages all the time.

Two thirds of the flats in my building are occupied by recent immigrants. No wonder people can't find anywhere to live!

Whether you agree or disagree. We've had our vote and Leave won. Don't be so undemocratic as to try to cancel the will of the British people just because YOU disagree.

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Whilst I agree that you have an immigration problem in this country, I don't think that this is your main problem. Your main problem is the disintegration of the family unit and the loveless binge drinking environment that your children are...

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Whilst I agree that you have an immigration problem in this country, I don't think that this is your main problem. Your main problem is the disintegration of the family unit and the loveless binge drinking environment that your children are growing up in! NEVER in my life have I seen another country where people so seldom give their children a hug and a kiss like in this country and NEVER in my life have I seen another country where there are so many children from different fathers growing up in single parent households! Before you tackle the immigration problem (at least the immigrants LOVE their kids) you should first look at yourselves!

Why complain when it’s the British who first migrated into other lands enslaving those people? When it is a question on immigration, the feelings are so strong. I wonder why. Serves you right! Britain! When the British colonised the world, it was ok. But now when people from the former colonies and from other countries come to Britain, its not ok?

Look into history and then you can cry because what goes around comes around. Don't see why people have such a problem with mass immigration? It enriches our culture and boosts the economy! We have to stop looking at these people as immigrants and think of them as human beings. The immigrants are not to blame because they were invited and welcomed here by our successive government. We have quite large Spanish , French and Italian communities in Brighton and I believe it really enhances the place and adds to diversity of the City. Globalisation is here to stay. Britain colonised & some would say civilised half the world. It's called Karma. Not so long ago British people colonized Asia, living like kings while locals suffering to no end. At least, these migrants do not enslave the Britons, so stop whining please.
IA

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Avatar for - Monarch butterfly

With the new people moving into the luxury apartments making clear they do not want to connect with others on the community, it brings a disastrous change. Another way to connect with other in London is at various events; music, cinema...

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With the new people moving into the luxury apartments making clear they do not want to connect with others on the community, it brings a disastrous change. Another way to connect with other in London is at various events; music, cinema, dance and theatre. But I do have to be wary as many make it clear that I am not welcome in that space..so I approach wih caution.

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In a word = Sport.

Avatar for - Monarch butterfly

My local library was an important way of connecting on a community level until it closed. Even though its been reopened it looks like a storage space and not a community space. Other local venues for connecting have closed and become...

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My local library was an important way of connecting on a community level until it closed. Even though its been reopened it looks like a storage space and not a community space. Other local venues for connecting have closed and become luxury apartments. Or opened up for people that do not live in the area who throw up around the space and leave empty bottlea and leaflet. So its bus stops, on buses and tubes. In supermarket and clothing shops. These are fleeting connections though.

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Mine too. I used to take my granddaughter to a morning sessions. People fro. All over s the world were there and children all getting on together as well as mothers trying to chat in broken English. It was good. Stupid Narrow Council closed...

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Mine too. I used to take my granddaughter to a morning sessions. People fro. All over s the world were there and children all getting on together as well as mothers trying to chat in broken English. It was good. Stupid Narrow Council closed it.

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Mine too. I used to take my granddaughter to a morning sessions. People fro. All over s the world were there and children all getting on together as well as mothers trying to chat in broken English. It was good. Stupid Narrow Council closed...

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Mine too. I used to take my granddaughter to a morning sessions. People fro. All over s the world were there and children all getting on together as well as mothers trying to chat in broken English. It was good. Stupid Narrow Council closed it.

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Connect via tweets, tweeters who reply,retweet or like. UK Coffee Week inApril is the ideal opportunity to connect with anyone. Plan your sampling, even the finest brew is cheaper than a cocktail.

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Connect via tweets and tweeters who give a like, a retweet or reply. Uk Coffee Week is coming up. Plan your sampling. It’s a great leveller because even the finest bean is still cheaper than a cocktail.

Avatar for - Adelie penguin

Social dancing is one of the best ways to connect with people of different backgrounds in London. You can take classes in Partner dancing like Argentine tango, salsa, swing, ballroom, most classes accept solos and you rotate partners. Then...

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Social dancing is one of the best ways to connect with people of different backgrounds in London. You can take classes in Partner dancing like Argentine tango, salsa, swing, ballroom, most classes accept solos and you rotate partners. Then you can go to a social dance and lead or follow any partner. Dance communities are open and welcoming. People of all ages, nationalities and backgrounds just enjoy their shared interest in dance and very rarely does anyone ask me what job I do or where I come from etc.

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Are you ashamed of what you do or where you come from? People ask those questions to make conversation.

Avatar for - Adelie penguin

@AlisonPrice: no.

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@AlisonPrice: no.

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I don’t care about a persons colour, creed, sexuality or politics the only thing that matters is that we are on the same wavelength. You cannot like everyone. One thing that really annoys me is politicians or PC people pushing continually...

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I don’t care about a persons colour, creed, sexuality or politics the only thing that matters is that we are on the same wavelength. You cannot like everyone. One thing that really annoys me is politicians or PC people pushing continually their point of view and expecting everyone to agree with them. I had homosexual friends before it was legalised but I am getting fed up with rainbow, which is light refracted through water, being shoved at me. Jobs should be given on ability, not because you are a women, black, Muslim, Chinese ad infinitum. Teach new and old immigrants about our way of life in England, how to cross the road, say please and thank you and offer seats to older people on the tube, which Eastern Europeans are really good at.

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Learning to use a litter bin is a MUST for immigrants as well. Not a wall or a gutter and definitely not the pavement!

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Also, they need to learn to move to one side to let others pass, instead of charging right into people. Several times, they have walked BANG into me!

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Also, they need to learn to move to one side to let others pass, instead of charging right into people. Several times, they have walked BANG into me!

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Please do not blame all your problems on immigrants. There are more problems created by the native Brits than immigrants.

Fattest in Europe, Most drunk, Least active, Least productive (in work), Shortest stay in maternity wards, 70% of...

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Please do not blame all your problems on immigrants. There are more problems created by the native Brits than immigrants.

Fattest in Europe, Most drunk, Least active, Least productive (in work), Shortest stay in maternity wards, 70% of European card debt, Highest teen pregnancy, Worst literacy and math results, Highest domestic abuse, Highest abortion rate, Greatest inequality, Highest rents, UK school leavers 'the worst in Europe for essential skills'

These are the reason that there will never be an end to immigration.

There will never be an end to immigration, because of aging population and low birth rate. Without migration, European society and economy would bleed to death. There is no end to migration in the near future. The overall problem when dealing with immigration, is the need to first ascertain where these people have come from:- If they are from Commonwealth Countries (most likely not Australia, Canada, or New Zealand - there the immigration goes the other way), this can be seen as 200 years of imperialism coming back to bite us. If they are from Eastern Europe, this can be seen as 20 years of moronic EU policy coming back to bite us. If they come from the Middle East, this can be seen as 100 years of never ending scheming and meddling in that particular region coming back to bite us.

One in three Muslim students are living in fear of Islamophobicattacks or abuse on campus – and women who wear traditional garments are most concerned for their safety, a report has found.

More than half of Muslim students have been subjected to harassment or abuse online. A third say they’ve been victims of crime or abuse at their further education college or university.

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Avatar for - Vaquita

Connect at the bus stop, in a shop, on the train, waiting in line, for coffee, at a music venue, wherever we encounter each other ...