15,000 and climbing

It took some 14 months for the blog to reach 10,000 pageviews, in mid-January this year. Barely six weeks later (in early March) and it seemed certain that the blog would hit its 15,000th pageview before the end of this evening. I was refreshing the page frequently, trying to catch that moment. The number of pageviews seemed stuck at 14,995 - then, with one click, suddenly it had leapt to 15,004!

While the statistical analysis software doesn't allow me to see where the visitor responsible precisely for the 15,000th pageview is in the world, I can tell that he, she (or they) visited from one of the following countries:

• China
• Germany
• Norway
• United Kingdom

Similarly, while I can't say exactly which blog entry received the 15,000th pageview, these are the four which were being read at the time:

• Equality & Diversity Forum: How to use the Equality Act 2010 (7 Jun 2010)
• Faiths Forum for the East Midlands AGM (22 Jun 2010)
• Faiths Forum for the Eat Midlands: funding ends (19 Jan 2011)
• Faiths Forum for the East Midlands: going, going ... (2 Feb 2011)
• Religion & media @ Interfaith Forum for Leicestershire (31 Jan 2011)

Do I detect a theme? Oh, and by the time I'd posted this entry, we were already up to 15,020!

FAITHS FORUM EAST MIDLANDS: GOING, GOING ... ...

To Loughborough this afternoon, for a meeting with Patricia Stoat, CEO of the Faiths Froum for the East Midlands and Athea Ghosma, FFEM's Development Officer (there they are, shivering outside their office in Moira Street, Loughborough).

Supporters of FFEM were disturbed to learn recently that its funding expires on 31 March - as is the case for every regional faiths forum throughout the country. As I walked to the meeting up from the train station, I tweeted,

In Loughborough, meeting CEO Faiths Forum for East Midlands. FFEM's funding ceases ntext month. More evidence of government vision #fail

FFEM has been in existence hardly more than a couple of years. Indeed, in common with a number of other sorts of organisations (such as REDP) the East Midlands was the last of the nine English regions to get one. In this short time it has already done some good work in creating a sense of collective identity for inter faith organisations across the region. But it was clear to all who took an interest that it had only begun to plant the seeds for more helpful and creative things to come. Now all that potential has been snuffed out. Or has it? Now read on ...

After being ushered into Patricia's office, I feel I have to begin by expressing my sadness, disappointment and anger at the decision about their funding. But as our conversation progresses, it start to dawn on me that perhaps FFEM isn't quite as dead and buried as it might at first seem. The office is closing at the end of February, giving them one month to pay all bills etc. And a very nice office it is too, refurbished and kitted out (modestly but befittingly) to allow them to do their job well. It seemed odd to me that it's slap bang in the middle of a housing estate, next door to a chippie - but that's more so because I'm used to such organisations being sited far from real life locations. So, come 1 April, FFEM won't have premises, paid staff or any funding. But it might not give up the ghost just then.

Although it's all up to the decision of their Board when it meets at the end of this week, there's the possibility of an afterlife for FFEM. Using the social media model, FFEM could continue as a hub of influence, collecting and collating information from the several inter faith bodies in the East Midlands, placing it in a central virtual location. Given my own interest and faith in social media, not to mention my frequent and regular (or, as some might say, "obsessive") practice of it, I can really see the point of this and could see immediately how it would work. Now if we can just get other inter faith folk in Derby, Kettering Lincoln, Northamption, Nottingham, Wellingborough etc blogging, facebooking and tweeting like I do ...

give with one hand ...

In the copy of Know Faith! (quarterly newsletter produced by Faiths Forum for the East Midlands) that I picked up this evening at County Hall, I read, with interest, the following text in relation to National Inter Faith Week 2010:

At national level, there was no multi faith event on the scale of last year's launch as the change in Government led to late confirmation of support for the Week and limited planning time. but the new Government expressed strong support for the Week and the Secretary of State for Communities, Eric Pickles, hosted a reception at Admiralty House for the Week. Members of the Regional Faith Forums were invited along with key officers of Inter Faith Groups in their regions as a gesture of appreciation.

Mr Pickles (photo above) has since removed all funding from these Regional Faith Forums across the country. Because of that decision, the work of these organisations has been thrown into confusion as they've had to make staff redundant, close premises and (in many cases) call a halt to their activities. There's a "gesture of appreciation" for you.

INTERFAITH FORUM FOR LEICESTERSHIRE: RELIGION & THE MEDIA

At County Hall, Glenfield (seat of Leicestershire County Council), for a meeting of the Interfaith Forum for Leicestershire. The topic this evening is "Religion and Media". I'm doing part of the presentation: one third of it, to be precise. First John Florance (BBC Radio Leicester) speaks on the topic in relation to broadcast media, then Nick Carter (Chair of Prospect Leicestershire and the Leicester Multicultural Advisory Group - LMAG) on print media. John (centre) and Nick (right) are in the photo above, with Resham Singh Sandhu, who chairs the meeting. I'm on last, speaking in relation to social media.

We have a good turnout (filling the Sparkenhoe Committee Room, with around 50 attendees) despite considerable competition this evening. Just a few doors away, top TV celebrity historian Michael Wood is giving a talk about his BBC series, The Story of England, which narrates the country's history through the story of Kibworth, a Leicestershire village that predates the Domesday Book. If I weren't in here speaking, I'd be in there listening to him!

Athea, from Faiths Forum for the East Midlands, brings the latest edition of their quarterly newsletter, Know Faith! issue 05, hot off the presses. It has good coverage of Inter Faith Week 2010, including our exhibition at Highcross and our feature in The Wave.

John Florance is Producer and Presenter of the Breakfast Show, on BBC Radio Leicester, Sunday mornings, 0600-0900. He gives a potted guide to the history of BBC Radio Leicester, including the birth of the BBC's Asian Network, which began in Leicester in the 1970s and still shares its premises. It's a statutory duty for local radio stations to have a programme on the topic of faith and ethics. John's show has a largely Christian audience, composed of older people up early to get to church. This doesn't stop the programme from carrying news and features about the diverse faith communities of Leicester. He lauds the good communication and positive relationship between the faith output and the newsroom. He is aware of the station's responsibility to promote good relations and better understanding among local faith communities. John also produces the "Thought for the Day" slot (he's asked me this evening if I would do a few of these - only 90 seconds long, thankfully!) He makes a few practical suggestions about getting heard on BBC Radio Leicester. Most importantly, tell him what's going on, rather than moan about it after it's over - and been missed. He also gives a few tips on how to write, submit and follow up on a good press release. He ends by acknowledging that those who genuinely know Leicester don't see it as a multicultural paradise - but one in which lively, courteous debate (some of which can - indeed should - be conducted on local radio) helps iron out the wrinkles among and between communities of differing background, practices and traditions in our city.

Nick Carter was editor of the Leicester Mercury for 16 years, having left the post two years ago in January 2009. During his tenure (says our Chair this evening), the paper covered faith community issues more sensitively and sympathetically than it does today. This evening he briefly considers how the place of faith in mainstream British society has changed radically, since he started as a junior reporter with an evening newspaper in Slough in 1975 (when religious news was made up of little more than church social events and traditional Christian festivals) and how the mainstream media has not kept pace with this change. He proposes that the media (especially local media) has a responsibility to dispel misinformation and lack of understanding. In this day and age, it's easier than ever for such opinion to find a platform, which makes the responsibility of "traditional" media all the more serious. The media as a whole has failed to understand the changing nature of religion, of communities and of their potential audience and customer base. They are now struggling to catch up - and for the most part, they have missed the boat as their audience has fragmented. Nick makes a plea for inclusion in the media of "soft news" - without setting the threshold too high, before faith issues are admitted into the mainstream as "hard news" when crises emerge. Without the background of "soft news" that would promote understanding and sympathetic coverage of faith and cultural issues. this is not as negative or pessimistic as it might first appear as he has a number of observations and suggestions for practical improvements.

My contribution is on social media, speaking about Leicester Council of Faiths' foray into Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, iPadio and - of course - blogging. I also give a puff to Amplified Leicester. I talk the audience through each of these (including my amusing anecdote about King Abdullah of Jordan reading my blog - unprovable either way, of course) and give a little live demo of a few in action. I come across like an enthusiastic twelve-year old at Show and Tell: "I've got a blog!" "We're on YouTube!" "Have you got as many facebooks fans as we have?" At the end of their presentations, John and Nick get a quarter of an hour of reflective, interesting questions; I get none. I think I've pummelled the audience into submission (but later this evening and early next morning, I get a lot of visitors to the blog).

I finish the evening here by recording half a dozen short video interviews with some of the attendees for our YouTube channel.

FAITHS FORUM EAST MIDLANDS: FUNDING ENDS

Word is going round today that funding for the Faiths Forum for the East Midlands (FFEM) will come to an end on 31 March. I'm sad to hear this. Not to put too fine a point on it, I think it a foolish and destructive decision by the Coalition government. This organisation has barely started its work, hardly begun to exploit the potential of its role. It has a small amount of money left to support local inter faith groups in the region and is in the process of disbursing this in the weeks that remain. FFEM has a seat on the 25-member Core Reference Group of the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP). This will leave a hole which we'll have to address promptly.

take a seat

To Loughborough this afternoon, to meet Patrica Stoat, Chief Executive Officer of the Faiths Forum for the East Midlands. We're meeting to discuss how to fill a vacant seat for religion and belief on the Core Reference Group of the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP). Each of the Protected Characteristics and related topic areas has its own particular criteria for membership. the one for religion and belief is as follows:

An inter-faith/multi-faith organisation or body with representation from a variety of faith/belief communities and not specifically identified with (or led by) one faith community.

Represented organisations should be actively involved (or willing and able to be involved) in promoting good relations

• between different communities identified with religion or belief

• between the general community identified with religion or belief and other communities of interest regarding issues of equality, diversity and human rights,

• between the wider community identified with religion or belief and society in general.

Pat and I spend a couple of hours considering who's around in the East Midlands and who might fit the bill. While we can't simply put our finger on one organisation who meets all the criteria, we come up with a proposal for filling that one remaining space that we'll put before the Core Partners at their next meeting, early September.

FAITHS FORUM EAST MIDLANDS AGM

To Loughborough University early this evening, for the Annual General Meeting of Faiths Forum for the East Midlands (FFEM). The meeting is being held in the university's Faith and Spirituality Centre - a facility I've not visited before. We're welcomed by Simon Harrison, Director of the Centre, which will become fully operational for students and staff at the university come the new term in September. Councillor Jill Vincent, Mayor of Charnwood, is the special guest.


I'm wearing two hats this evening: one for Leicester Council of Faiths, the other for the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP). Faiths Forum for the East Midlands is one of the few organisations focusing on one of the "protected characteristics" that has a remit to operate across the region. It's a natural partner for REDP and some of its personnel have given solid support at a number of REDP's Involvement Events in different parts of the East Midlands over recent months. CEO Patrica Stoat highlights FFEM's association with REDP when presenting her annual report. I was asked to write a short piece about REDP's work for inclusion in the latest edition of FFEM's newsletter, which is distributed to attendees this evening.


Leicester Council of Faiths is a constituent member of FFEM. Our former Chair, Resham Singh Sandhu, is a Trustee of FFEM, representing Leicester Council of Faiths. Our Coordinator, Ajay Aggarwal, is also a Trustee.


I get to chat with some members of the local congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (AKA Mormons). Their counterparts in Leicester wrote recently to our Council of Faiths, making initial enquiries about obtaining representation. I explain to them that while no decision has been made about their request at any recent meeting, the Council of Faiths is obliged, by the terms of our status as Host Organisation for Leicester Partnership on issues to do with religion, faith and belief, to establish good working relations with as many of the city's faith communities as possible. This doesn't mean that we're compelled to increase our membership, but it's against the spirit of our arrangement with the Local Strategic Partnership to allow anyone to feel left out.


Speaker this evening is Sandra Herbert on "Faith and the Media". Sandra has considerable knowledge and lengthy experience of this topic, having worked as a producer with BBC Radio Leicester and trained people from various faith backgrounds in media skills. lengthyShe gives a lively, amusing and inspiring presentation. She makes lovely jam too. Lots of people make jam, but this is none of your amateurish, kitchen table homemade stuff. Very professional, with some unusual combinations - her pear and chocolate one is my kids' favourite. The one she's showing off this evening is gooseberry and strawberry - just the one pot. I buy it from her.


In response to Sandra's presentation, I get a chance to plug Leicester Council of Faiths' foray into social media: Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and (of course) this blog.


It's an auspicious time to be discussing this topic as Channel 4 has just announced the introduction of a new daily religious slot entitled 4thought (can you see what they've done there?). This will to be broadcast immediately following their main news, just before eight o'clock. Channel 4's head of specialist factual, Ralph Lee, said contributors to the slot will be "as diverse as the views expressed". They will include members of minority religions, such as Bahá'í and Zoroastrianism.


Today's trivia: four people sharing a taxi from Loughborough to Leicester works out cheaper for each individual than buying a single on the train - even though Loughborough and Leicester are one stop apart and the train journey takes just ten minutes.

My friend Flickr

This afternoon, Athea Ghani, Development Officer with Faiths Forum for the East Midlands calls, asking if she can have some photos of our National Inter Faith Week exhibition in Highcross to put into their quarterly newsletter. She needs these promptly; I'm able to direct her to our photostream on Flickr, where she can have her pick of more than 30 photos. That's one practical benefit of doing things this new way, with an enhanced electronic presence. I'm sure more benefits will become evident soon. Earlier today, I found photos from the launch event for National Inter Faith Week hosted by the Interfaith Forum for Leicestershre at County Hall. I've added those to our photostream now. Here's a photo of Athea on the podium, addressing that launch event at County Hall. She's much too modest to put this in her newsletter, so I've put it on here instead.

But seriously folks ... Athea paid me an unexpected compliment at that event, by mentioning, during her talk, the training I deliver on behalf of Leicester Council of Faiths. So I'm glad to acknowledge that here and give a little back.

Read FFEM's newsletter with our National Inter Faith Week photos (on p. 5):
http://www.ffem.org.uk/FFEMNewsletterIssue2March2010

Find out more about the Faiths Forum for the East Midlands:
http://www.ffem.org.uk/

equal among equalities

To Loughborough this afternoon, for a meeting with Patricia Stoat, CEO of the Faiths Forum for the East Midlands. I'm there for about an hour-and-a-half during which Patricia and I focus on the role of FFEM in the context of broader equalities work; the potential for FFEM's association with the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP); the distinctive characteristics of the East Midlands (positive and negative); the relation between different kinds of equality; and those areas where faith or belief might be expeacted to clash with other "protected grounds" (e.g. sexual orientation, transgender).

INTER FAITH WEEK 2009: IT'S ALL OVER NOW

Here we are on Sunday 22 November, a day of hard-won ease and reflection (which is the decorous way of saying it's been a day of flaking out). Nevertheless, today offers me the chance to present a few interesting facts and figures to round off our exhibition in Highcross for National Inter Faith Week 2009 and to offer a well-deserved thanks to all those people who played their part in making this event a success.

There were 99 individual slots on the rota; we had volunteers for 98 of those slots before the week started - though that one last elusive slot (between 4 and 6 on Wednesday afternoon) seemed determined to remain unfilled.

We gave out freebies (leaflets, bookmark, keyring, sticker) only to people who stopped (or slowed down) long enough to show their interest in the display; by the end of the week, we'd given away around 900 leaflets to such people.

We had a total of 57 different people volunteering on the stall across the week (59 if you count my children helping put it up on the first day, but I volunteered them!) This, in itself, was a testimony to the unity and diversity in action, right in front of the people of Leicester.

Highcross management told us to expect up to 400,000 "footfalls" over the course of the week; there was no way to count this, but I'm willing to to take their word for it!

So, thanks to all those who helped put up the exhibition, helped take it down and helped keep it going at all times in between: Ros Adam, Imran Ali, Dana Bagshaw, Grace Ballentyne, Harry Ballentyne, Irshad Baqui, Michelle Benn, Denise Bergman, Sumaya Budkovska, Raheema Caratella, Clare Carr, Rohini Corfield, Minou Cortazzi, Judith Devons, Amanda Fitton, Hannah Fitton, Monica Glover, Zee Zee Heine, Derek Hood, Doreen Hood, Laura Horton, David Hurwich, Farida Ijaz, Humeyra Seylan Izhar, Angela Jagger, Penny Jones, Kirti Joshi, Susthama Kim, Gwyneth Little, Jan Macdonald, Scott Macdonald, Lizzie Maitland, Sheila Markham, Ramesh Mashru, Stephanie Maud, Barry Naylor, Tony Nelson, Jai Parmar, Surinder Sandhu, Maureen Sier, Noel Singh, Ian Snaith, Manjula Sood, Chris Starbuck, Sudana, Gursharan Thandi, Kaspalita Thompson, Narendra Waghela, Abdul Waheed, Elizabeth Wayne, Simon Williams, Liz Wilson, Arthur Winner, Barbara Winner, Teresa Wright. If I have missed anyone out, my apologies - I'll keep updating this until everyone who should be included is included. Thanks to the management people at Highcross (Michael Holland, Suzie Wood and Steve Farmer) who were generous and helpful beyond all expectation. Thanks to Mukesh Barot and Melanie Wright at East Midlands Ambulance Service for organising their contribution toward the cost of the display; to the Faiths Forum for the East Midlands for their financial contribution too; Jason King, Alistair Bell and their team at printing.com in Charles Street for speedy, efficient, sympathetic and creative service in getting the display and website ready on time; to Gloria Jean's Coffee, for providing a safe haven (even that one day when I managed to tip half a regular latte all over my hand!) Their iced Bakewell tart saved my day more than once. And last but not least, an enormous vote of thanks to Julie-Ann Heath. If it weren't for Julie-Ann and her powers of gentle persuasion - which she worked on me as much as on anyone else - none of this would have happened.

I thought of doing this blog, just to cover this week. Should I continue? I think I will, for a while at least ...

INTER FAITH WEEK 2009: LAUNCH EVENT AT COUNTY HALL

This evening is the official launch of National Inter Faith Week for the city and county at County Hall, Glenfield (seat of Leicestershire County Council). Since I stayed at Highcross for the change of shifts at 1800, I arrive at County Hall after most of the food and drink has gone. Thanks to Sugra Ahmed, for guiding me to some vegetarian items that were left. Thankfully there aren't many vegetarian Muslims here this evening.

This is a well supported meeting, in the Council Chamber, in the presence of the Leader of the County Council, Councillor Roger Wilson, the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Leicester (for the second time today) and the Bishop of Leicester. It’s chaired by the Venerable Paul Hackwood, Archdeacon of Loughborough and Chair of the Interfaith Forum for Leicestershire. There’s an interesting mix of speakers and topics: Islam Awareness Week; Faiths Forum for the East Midlands; an “inter-faith recipe book”; an extract from a panto staged by Loughborough Council of Faiths; the signing of an “Inter-Faith Charter” by faith community leaders and representatives. Resham Singh Sandhu (Vice-Chair of Leicestershire Inter-Faith Forum and former Chair of Leicester Council of Faiths) delivers a typically rousing closing address. The evening concludes with a solo musical performance by Naim Cortazzi. I find out later that this was the first time a guitar had ever been wielded in the Council Chamber at County Hall!

Noel Singh gets a well-deserved ovation for his work in co-ordinating the week’s events and for being directly involved in organising this evening. In his own presentation, introducing the County Council’s small grants for community cohesion work, he's clearly conscious of the schedule running over by almost half an hour; I’ve never heard him speak so fast!

The keynote speaker is Dr Maureen Sier, Interfaith Development Officer for the Scottish Government. Scotland has had its own annual National Inter Faith Week for several years (theirs starts next week) and Maureen was speaking about the Scottish experience, how it has developed over the years and what we might learn from it as we hold the first such week nationally in England. I’ve known Maureen for over 30 years and I’m glad she was able to come down from Glasgow to speak at this event. She’s given me a lot of encouragement and support in the two-and-a-half years I’ve been at Leicester Council of Faiths and has been something of a touchstone to me in this important work that I'm fortunate enough to be doing.