Regarding the recent comparisons of parts of Kentish Town likened to the Bronx. This was first coined at the public part of the last Haverstock Safer Neighbourhoods Panel meeting. Comparing Malden Road and its surrounds to the Bronx ought not just to be

Regarding the recent comparisons of parts of Kentish Town likened to the Bronx. This was first 'coined' at the public part of the last Haverstock Safer Neighbourhoods Panel meeting.

Comparing Malden Road and its surrounds to the Bronx ought not just to be perceived and accepted in a purely negative light. We have a very diverse community - there are many middle-class households living side by side with those which are very socially deprived.

Mixed up in the demography is a large proportion of very young people, who deserve a much better future and the ethnic mix is very redolent of the racial integration in New York. I myself, for example, am of German and Indian origin and my parents met in London in the 1950s.

Haverstock ward has educated two MPs - one a former and, the other, a rising star of Mr Brown's cabinet. Oona King and David Miliband both attended Haverstock Secondary School.

The ward is rich in its mix of creative people who live here and pass through here - people who work in the media and are involved in the arts. And what about all the other professional people who have chosen to to live here?

I think it is very important to remind people that anti-social behaviour is caused by all kinds of people - boys and girls, inhabitants of council housing and private accommodation. It is not just perpetrated by people living on housing estates and, unfortunately, is caused by people living in Haverstock ward of various ages, ethnicities, both genders, and various degrees of social deprivation and affluence. Malden Road has become a microcosm of late - reflecting the disparate society in which we live.

Some parents, professionals, politicians seem to have abrogated their responsibilities to their offspring and to their community. It can never be productive to think in terms of them and us and it would be far more conducive to community harmony if people tried to address that particular divide, rather than just apportion blame to one set of people.

We on the Haverstock Safer Neighbourhoods Panel would very much like to see more people attend the AGM which will be held in September, the date to be confirmed. And tonight for people interested in the future of this community, there is a hustings at St Silas Church Hall commencing at 7pm, open to people who live and work in Haverstock ward.

Yasmin Allen

Malden Road, NW5

Single mother, council tenant, Royal Free volunteer and co-vice chair of

Haverstock Safer Neighbourhoods Panel