Never mind parallel lives. When we bought a copy of the LT on 11 December we thought we'd begun to inhabit a parallel universe.

On Saturday 9 December we recall being present in St George's Hall as two of the 100 voices invited to discuss issues of common concern, particularly around community cohesion.

We recall that the leader of the Council, Councillor Kate Hollern, and the new Chief Executive Mr Graham Burgess were given a hard time by some on at least two issues.

Firstly, the lateness of the debate around segregation when the council has frankly had years to address this.

Secondly, the legitimate charge that this is a clutching at straws' exercise due to its close proximity to council elections which may precipitate considerable political change, if the current polls are to be believed.

But your report air-brushed out these legitimate democratic concerns almost completely.

As, equally, you failed to give any assessment as to how representative the gathering may actually have been or, indeed, how the selection of people was made.

We are under no illusions as to why we were chosen.

The Borough must have felt it slightly preferable to have us inside the tent than outside of it.

But your job is surely not to be so un-objectively in cahoots with an exercise in which, inexplicably, there were almost no young people present from the white community.

Your job is to be much more objective, to report accurately what happens rather than to manipulate what is said to bring it in line with the Council's agenda.

You need to offer critique as well as the praise which is due, especially to Kate Hollern for her genuine desire to have a public conversation about these difficult issues.

The 100 voices initiative may not be the best way to have that conversation. It may not involve the right people.

As the editor of the LT, you must surely not give the impression, as you did on Monday, that you are the next guest editor of The Shuttle.

Anjum Anwar MBE, Lancashire Council of Mosques Canon Chris Chivers, Blackburn Cathedral Editor's Footnote: Our story was a fair and accurate report of the meeting. We did report that the council had been challenged for not acting sooner but most of the day was (rightly) devoted to the issue of social cohesion and our report reflected this. The idea of an open, democratic discussion on the subject of social cohesion is a good one. This newspaper believes that for the sake of Blackburn it should be given a chance to succeed. But we will be monitoring its progress closely and reporting on criticisms as they arise. This newspaper has been vociferous in its criticism of the council when a genuine need has arisen. That will continue to be our approach.