I don't want my kids believing in Santa Claus, and you shouldn't either

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There's no harm in letting your children believe Santa's real, right? Wrong, says Jake Wallis Simons in the Telegraph.

Batting away accusations of Grinchery, Simons says "To me, the whole phenomenon seems bizarre: I cannot understand why people try to make their children believe what is not true, in an effort to create a synthetic innocence and wonder."

Isn't there enough magic in childhood already, he goes on to ask, without the need to perpetuate a grand falsehood of a man in Coca-Cola colours flying around on a sleigh to hand out presents?

And shouldn't parents make every effort to tell their children the truth?

Simons closes with this: "It is no exaggeration to suggest that in our secularised society, Father Christmas has become a replacement for God. Children pray to him in their letters, imploring him to forgive their misdemeanors of the year, and requesting favours in the form of presents...It is all very worldly, rather distasteful, and slightly sinister."

Our writer Andy West also dislikes Santa, but for different reasons, and a Santa Claus was criticised last week for claiming he wasn't real.

We'll be leaving out cookies and milk in the office, anyway.