Climate Camp

Brockley Central wandered over to Blackheath yesterday to have a look at Climate Camp. Partly as we are about the thousandth blogger to have done so (Blackheath Bugle has some excellent coverage) and partly because some of the campers are currently naked in the reception of our office, we shan't dwell on what we thought about the content.

However, we did want to make a few quick points in light of some of the discussion about the use of the heath itself.

1. Mayor Bullock's comparison of the campers with football hooligans looks all the more regrettable once you've been up and had a look around - the camp is well organised and, with the exception of one or two small fires lit on the grass, it looks as though the heath will come out largely unscathed - particularly in comparison to the damage done several times a year by the grotty funfair that the Council allows.

2. Brockley Kate's point about the hypocrisy of championing Blackheath's status as common land, while throwing up perimeter fences is very well made. We understand why they've done it of course, but they should have created more than one entrance, so that people can cross the site.

3. Many of the tents had words to the effect of "no media" written on them, which makes their headline-grabbing stunts in various parts of the City all the more confused - unless they are only keen to engage the media on their own terms. Of course some coverage will be needlessly dismissive and some may be critical of their analysis of the problems and solutions, but that's democracy.