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Now the voice of the youth can be heard
• I APPLAUD the introduction of the Book of Grievances and hope that the voices of our young people will be properly heard (Shout out loud and clear, Janury 4).
In a society which uses our young for salacious televisual entertainment it is time we treated them and their views with respect, rather than abusing primetime television with images of small distressed children forced to sit on naughty chairs and endure confusing late in the day reprogramming behaviour.
We reward misbehaviour in dogs with ‘doggychocs’. Small children apparently are given the reward of seeing a comfortable chair as punitive.
Worse by far is the sight of damaged young people being sent off to deprivation in the desert in Boot Camp. It can never be the mark of a civilised society if as adults we lose communication with young people, and then send them off to earn the right to a bed and shelter and call it entertainment.
The Romans held this entertainment in an arena, we don’t even have to leave our cosy sitting rooms. People are probably so bored of hearing me say that the difficult behaviour of adolescents is a measure of how the structure of present and formative society fails them. But it is.
This Book of Grievances is a wonderful idea let us look at the results in 2008 and truthfully say there is positivity taking place.
CHRISTINE BRODY
Steeles Road, NW3
• The best way for any council to offer effective services to a community is by listening to that community.
With that in mind, I was pleased to read in the Camden New Journal that young people in Kentish Town are responding enthusiastically to the opportunity to give their views about life in Camden in the book of grievances.
I’m not sure whether ‘Book of Grievances’ is the most helpful title, but all the same we are very keen to hear young people’s views of services in the borough and how we can improve them.
Of course there already lots of ways young people have told us how they want the council to work for them and I am looking forward to hearing back from this group.
Children and young people can contact the council directly at anytime, to tell us what they think about the services we run for them. The easiest way for them is to log onto www.camden.gov.uk and click into the Young Camden section or contact the Youth and Connexions service on 020 7974 8051.
Looking to the future, this year will be a particularly exciting year for young people as we’ll be launching a new Youth Council so young people can play a central role in the way their borough is run.
We’ve already seen some great examples where young people played an important part in shaping council services. They helped us decide how Camden should look in five years as part of the wide-ranging consultation on Camden Together – Camden’s Community Strategy and had direct responsibility for handing out funding for youth projects with the Young Opportunities fund – as they know best what services they need.
Our young people are the decision makers of the future. It is vital we work together to make this a better borough for them and future generations.
CLLR JOHN BRYANT
Executive Member for Children
Camden Council
Town Hall
Judd Street, WC1
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