Wandsworth Council are planning to concrete over the grass area of the common in between the two railway lines so that they can build 10-12 five a side football pitches.

I’m all for the redevelopment of that area. The playground, youth centre and all weather football pitch are a disgrace. This part of the common desperately needs some investment and some tender loving care. But this is not what’s being proposed. The council are planning to evict the Steiner School, which leases common ground at the east end of the Common, and send in the JCBs to erect a massive floodlit network of astro turf pitches. This has only come to light because the school tried to renew their lease and were refused. Apparently, the council need a certain allocation of land to be counted as common ground. This heps them fulfil planning requirements. They get this by removing the school.

I’m mad keen on sport. I travel to Dulwich to play footy on a Thursday. It’d be nice to walk to the end of the road and play on the Common. And so I’d be all in favour if all that was being proposed was the upgrade of the shale all weather pitch. But the kind of complex that’s being proposed will effectively irrevocably change the nature of the common. The area is used throughout the year by groups, individuals and families for sport, walking and recreation. It’s also used by dogs, their owners and their walkers. And for the purposes of co-belligerency I’m prepared to lay aside my ungodly prejudice against the dog-loving poop-leaving population who seem unable or unwilling to keep an eye on our canine friends whilst they enjoy their doggy number twos! [That was more cathartic than I’d expected!] And now, if the council have their way, the common will be used almost exclusively by footballers. I’m not going to risk another rant. But the point is - do we really want another swathe of London’s green space replaced with a synthetic surface. Isn’t there an unused industrial estate they can use instead?

I don’t think this is something that we need to campaign on as a church. That’s not really our remit. Though because we love people and we care I’d encourage us to act as individuals. You’ll find more details here http://www.waldorf-swlondon.org/item.shtml?x=558590.

I made an executive decision a while ago. I ran it passed the ‘Chief of Staff’ and it got through on the nod. The consequences of which could be about to hit us.

We decided that our kids should never be under the impression that we lied to them or knowingly deceived them. Can you see where this is going? And so the Perkins party line has been something like ‘Father Christmas isn’t real but it’s fun to pretend’.

Two of our children are now beginning to interact with other people’s children. One of them is an enthusiastic debater. [He gets that from his Mother]. He’s become a zealous convert to the cause that children should not be misled. He’s got a point but this can’t end well. In my mind’s eye I can already imagine the ‘Vicar kills Christmas for kids’ headline in the local paper. And so we’ve had to explain that some Mummys and Daddys don’t tell their children that Father Christmas isn’t real. We trust that this means that at this Saturday’s Christmas fayre our eldest two aren’t to be found loitering outside Santa’ Grotto on an honourable but ill fated crusade to right the seasonal wrong. But the real issue will come when they ask why parents think it’s ok to lie to their children. They’re not there yet. And that’s a good thing, because we haven’t got the answer to that one.

In the words of Ferris Bueller’s Head Teacher, ‘Anyone?’