Whilst the meeting was fairly well structured, it never looked like being an open forum for considered debate. Minds were made up long before the meeting.

I was surprised by the demographics – mostly over 60 and well over 95% caucasian. People can’t help who they are, I’m just saying I presumed it would be more like the rest of SE23 than a leafy shire.

Reference to a future fight against a Horniman alcohol licence and a previous incident, a Jerk Chicken Festival received a healthy level of murmuring and tutting. Personally, I can’t think of anything better than a festival of jerk chicken.

The F’s barrister pleading for two minutes of (unscheduled) time for his client to put his side of the story was unnecessary. This probably backfired when Mr. F proceeded to pop up and say he considered ‘people chatting’ on the pavement to be a major nuisance.

The attitude of the TLERA committee can be diluted to one moment, when the advertising blurb from a 1930s brochure for the TLE was read out, saying how the area would be preserved in a magic bubble, safe from the modern world and all its troubles.

Nearly all missed the irony of the meeting taking place in a school.