The Diversity of London town.

For some years 10 years I lived in a very small village in Kent. I had a delightful cottage on the bucolic private Penshurst estate, where I worked as a psychoanalyst in private practice. The cottage was bang in the middle of some 5,000 acres, walking to the village shop would take at least 20 minutes, so the round trip could take the best part of an hour. Needless-to-say it was exclusively a - white only place. Occasionally I would take the bus into Tunbridge Wells about 10 miles away. If we picked up another passenger - who was in anyway out of the ordinary - young, long haired and caring a guitar, there were looks of astonishment by my fellow travellers. So I read with great interest the article in The Guardian yesterday by Madeline Bunting - on that thorny issue of diversity. She quotes the sociologist Professor Robert Putnam on the - 'negative impact on social capital from diversity'. Evan Davis on the other hand in his stimulating two part programme on BBC Two - Mind the Gap: London v the Rest - celebrates this ethnic diversity of London for creativity. I wrote all about this last week in my blog - New place for the arts in the East End of London. The mayor of London Boris Johnson said diversity acts as a hub and brings an "explosion of innovation". And who can argue with Boris? I rest my case.