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For over five years of producing Camdenist I’ve felt it valuable and important to hit a regular publication deadline, as the weekly newsletter has morphed from a rather basic ‘what’s on’ guide into something more personal and opinionated, egged on by the positive feedback from many of you readers.

So at 7.45am each and every Friday, including through the Christmas break - and every other holiday - it arrives. A rare beacon of consistency in an otherwise chaotic world, I hope.

The format keeps developing, of course, with the curated listings, videos, latest openings and other bits alongside the main feature, but this week those sections are on hold. A combination of blurred vision from an eye infection and the fact that I’m actually on holiday writing this mean that putting in the hours all that takes is a little beyond me at this point.

Normal service will be resumed next Friday, as there’s a lot lined up that I’m excited to share.

In the meantime, there was a particularly good response to last week’s lead story about ‘mindful moaning’ that came in via email and WhatsApp. It got me thinking about opening up the comments section on the website version of this email as an experiment.

At present, if you have something to say there’s only the weekly poll or reaching out to me direct. Having open comments has, at least in the Wordpress-based past, quickly descended into the moderation nightmare that the article was partially about.

Let’s see how it goes in the modern newsletter-not-social-media era, but if you have anything you’d like to say about Camdenist, Camden or the issues raised each week, there’s now an additional way to do it as part of the readership community (you need to log in, but it’s easy via a one-time email link and doesn’t involve setting anything up).

📊 This week’s one-click poll

Last week we asked the question: Have local councils and the police got it right when it comes to noise complaints?

Yes - without strong action the city would be crazy loud
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 8%

No - they are stifling music, culture and socialising. It's a disaster
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 64%

Maybe - it's a difficult balancing act but I think they manage it ok...most of the time
🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 28%

and some of your comments:

“At the moment the whip hand is with the shrill intolerant who would rather pick up a phone than engage. The Nuisance objective in the licensing act should be removed as there is already adequate protections for the public. Replace nuisance with public Health and bash deep discounting supermarkets something we can all coalesce round. London is noisy - get over it!!”

“Noise complaints for me mean the druggies screaming at 1,2,3,am in the street or down in the sheds ..the high street and locks fine as this is a cultural hub and I am out as much as anyone and proud of Camden’s heritage and its musical noise.”

“The silent majority rarely get heard, but if you’ve got hundreds of people enjoying a concert most nights of the week and that is curtailed by a grumpy neighbour I’d say the balance of power is flawed and needs resetting!!”

“Having never been to Brasil, I have no first-hand knowledge of this, but assume in countries where music and dancing is central to life that the experience of urban living is all about hearing music from the streets and clubs, and the idea of complaining about it would seem decidedly strange. Ive not heard of Rio’s carnival suffering because of angry locals forming a whatsapp group - perhaps we all need a bit more music and dancing in our lives, all around us….”

The Mayor can now step in

It was fantastic to see that - on the very day I published the article about the negative, outsized impact of over-zealous complainers - the government put forward new powers allowing Sadiq Khan to overturn council decisions that block late-night venue openings, al fresco dining and other anti-culture measures, making it easier for pubs, clubs, and all hospitality businesses to extend their opening hours.

It does feel like, albeit slowly, the outlook is finally improving for the capital’s beloved-but-beleaguered venues. Shame it had to reach such a perilous state of affairs to produce the change, but hardship always generates the best art, and that might now include support for the vital spaces from which it is nurtured.

Pro-culture local media

Another imperative for Camdenist has always been to take the opposite of the classic doom-laden local paper approach when it comes to showcasing life in the borough. Celebrating positives and supporting the good stuff is far more rewarding (and I hope, readable) than grumbling about how everything is rubbish.

I also feel it’s important for a community-focused title to be free for everyone to read, but that does raise the question of how it is funded. That’s a problem for all media these days, of course, and I hope the Camdenist model of partnerships with local businesses plus optional upgrades from supportive readers can prove itself.

Three ways you can support this newsletter (and only one requires money!):

🤝 Share Camdenist with a local business who might want to partner with us on the kind of mutually beneficial content campaigns we can produce together. Details are below. (As well as businesses, do share with any local who might like these updates to help grow the audience, which is important, too).

👆🏻 Click our ad network links each week (see 1440 below) as we get paid a small amount per click and it really just costs you the effort of lifting a mouse-finger!

💰 Consider a monthly or annual paid upgrade. I’ll be making the benefits more attractive over time, but you get the warm fuzzy feeling of knowing you are helping keep Camdenist free to access for everyone.

I’m off now to put some more drops in my eye and actually do some holiday things instead of more hours in front of the laptop. Thanks for reading all this, do leave a comment and see you next week.

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