A third of British MEPs employ family members on expenses

More than a third of British MEPs are paying their relatives hundreds of thousands of pounds. The families of MEPs are earning up to £40,000 a year to work as secretaries and researchers at a total annual cost to taxpayers of more than £700,000.

Campaigners called last night for all 78 British MEPs to stop employing relatives immediately to prevent any suspicion that public money was being misused. New Members of the European Parliament will be banned from hiring relatives, but those already employed can stay until 2014.

After the Westminster expenses scandal and less than a week before next Thursday’s European vote, the spotlight is now focusing on MEPs’ generous and largely unregulated expenses. MEPs were under pressure yesterday to publish receipts showing how they are spending their £3,800-a-month office allowances. Mats Persson, research director of Open Europe said: “It is not acceptable for any MEP to continue employing members of their family.”

Nigel Farage, the UKIP leader, pays his wife Kirsten up to £30,000 to work as his secretary. He boasted last week that he had received a “vast sum” in expenses and allowances since becoming an MEP in 1999. “I don’t know what the total amount is but, oh lor, it must be pushing £2 million.”

Tom Wise, ex UKIP now independent MEP for East of England, was charged last month with his researcher with false accounting and money laundering.

Another ex UKIP MEP Ashley Mote was jailed for benefit fraud!

Sixteen of the 27 Conservative MEPs have relatives working for them. Nirj Deva, MEP for South East England, pays his wife up to £40,000 a year.

Den Dover MEP was expelled from the Conservative party for paying about £750,000 in staff and office allowances to a family owned firm HP Holdings last year, thus directly benefiting his wife and daughter.

Giles Chichester MEP stood down as a the Tory leader in Europe after it emerged he had paid £400,000 for office services to a company of which he was a director. Mr Chichester was put in charge of ensuring integrity in Tory MEP expenses after it was disclosed that the MP Derek Conway had paid his son more than £40,000 as a Commons researcher while he was a student at Newcastle University. In his judgement of this case, the Secretary General of the European Parliamen said:

I can inform you that I have come to the conclusion that although your contract with that company constituted a potential case of conflict of interest, you have had no personal financial benefit from that contract, and that no conflict of interest has ever materialised.

He is once again a candidate on the SW MEP list even though he admitted to breaking European Parliament rules.


No one is suggesting that ordinary travel or office expenses are wrong, but with the climate of corruption the time for a cleanup of politics is now. Needless to say; the Green MEPs have never employed family members.

British MEPs that employ family members include:
Sir Robert Atkins C
Philip Bushill-Matthews C

Tarquin Fin-tim-lin-bin-whin-bim-lim-bus-stop-F'tang-F'tang-Olé-Biscuitbarrel (just kidding about this one)

Michael Cashman Labour
Richard Corbett Lab
Stephen Hughes Lab

Baroness Ludford Lib Dem
Diana Wallis Lib Dem
Graham Watson Lib Dem

Robert Kilroy-Silk Ind yet another ex UKIP MEP


Times

New Poll Good For Greens, Good For The Country

A new poll from Populus has Greens on a high, and with the current mood against the main parties this may continue. It may lead to an increase in the number of Green MEPs, reducing them from the tarnished 3 big parties and the pointless UKIP would be a good result for the country.

Party % of vote
Con 30%
UKIP 19%
Lab 16%
LibDem 12%
Green 10%
BNP 5%

And this without the massive spending displayed by the other parties, billboards and advertising don't always work.

Party Donations
Tories £ 5,514,300
Labour £ 2,904,996
Lib Dems £ 1,492,769
UKIP £ 462,949
Green £ 21,680

I can see who gives the best value, invest now.
hattip Jim Jay


Campaign group Open Europe rated the Green Party's leader Caroline Lucas as the joint best British MEP on accountability, transparency and reform.

* In 2005, three Labour MEPs voted against obliging MEPs to produce receipts for their travel expenses.
* Nirj Deva, Conservative MEP, used an official trip to Barbados to lobby on behalf of a plastic bag company!
* Labour MEP defends European Parliament’s ‘sign in, sod off’ culture: “At least you have to turn up to claim any allowance”!
* Near the bottom is pro Iraq war Lib Dem Baroness Nicholson, good riddance
* Wooden spoon to Conservative MEP David Sumberg who ranks last among all British MEPs, and 711th out of 785 of all MEPs.
* Gold star to the Greens, who of the political parties in the UK, showed the strongest performance.
* No stars to UKIP were the worst party.


UPDATE: eagle eyed readers noticed a typo in the poll numbers, confusing the polls mentioned on the link. My apologies.

Shell On Trial Over The Death Of Mr. Ken Saro-Wiwa

The trial of Shell, over its alleged complicity in the death of writer and campaigner Mr. Ken Saro-Wiwa, began yesterday. Lawyers from the company will today represent the oil giant in a New York court as it faces charges that it colluded in human rights abuses and torture in the Niger Delta which led to the hanging in 1995 of Ogoni campaigner and renowned poet, Saro-Wiwa.

The troubled fossil fuel behemoth had refused to comment on the court case ahead of the hearings, but the continued flaring of gas in the Niger Delta, a practice Saro-Wiwa challenged, had exposed the company to greater criticism from environmentalists.
Environmentalists group, Friends of the Earth, said in its latest report that Shell is becoming the most polluting company in the world.

In a newly compiled report titled: "Illegitimate Energy", Friends of the Earth and other groups claimed that Shell's Nigerian and Canadian operations portray the oil colossus as the most polluting oil company in the world. Part of the report says: "When Shell's total resources are taken into account, the amount of greenhouse gases emitted per barrel of oil equivalent produced will outstrip those of its nearest competitors."

The data shows that in the age of carbon reduction, Shell is fast heading in the opposite direction, massively increasing the carbon intensity of its production of oil and gas.

Though Shell admitted that it had a problem, it insisted that the amount of its carbon emission was exaggerated. The company's latest Sustainability Report says: "Our upstream energy intensity has risen by around 27 per cent since 2000 as fields' age and heavier and harder-to-reach oil is produced." However the company denied the sort of carbon estimates attributed to its Canadian operations, saying they were exaggerated and might largely be solved through the use of Carbon, Capture and Storage (CCS).

The case entitled Wiwa v. Royal Dutch Shell and Wiwa v Anderson concerns the November 10, 1995 hangings of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other members of the Movement of the Emancipation of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) known as "Ogoni Nine" and the shooting of a woman protesting the bulldozing of her farm by Shell in preparation for a pipeline project. After several years of litigation, Judge Kimba Wood ruled that the trial would he held this year.

The plaintiff's action was brought under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) and alleges violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act (RICO). The 219-year-old federal law, which dates back to 1789, allows foreigners to sue over alleged human rights abuses committed in their countries.

LINKS:
Not StupidGreenpeace
thisdayonline
NY Times
FoE
allafrica

Hope Not Hate

In a week, Britain will be going to the polls. If the BNP win a seat in the European Parliament they'll be catapulted from the fringes into the political mainstream and given access to unprecedented media coverage and state funding.

But we can stop this happening. We simply need to tell people the truth about the BNP and the threat that they pose.

You can join the facebook group

To do this, we've launched a new tool on the HOPE not hate
websitethat lets you find campaign events in your area. We're asking for two hours of your time. At present there are over 100 events across the country and in the coming weeks we'll be adding to this substantially - rolling out the largest ever campaign to stop the BNP.



There's nothing more powerful than having ordinary people going out into their communities, talking about the threat the BNP pose and how important voting is. That's why your help is so important - and how HOPE will defeat hate. But none of this will happen by chance. It will happen because good people across the country take a stand and act against hate. Will you give two hours to the campaign?

Last week Nick Griffin described immigration as a "bloodless genocide." He said that black and Asian Britons "don't exist." There are some things in life that are too big for us to stop and change. This isn't one of them. I'm offering you the chance to stop Nick Griffin - will you campaign with me? Sign up for your nearest event now.

Over the coming weeks, we're asking our supporters to donate two hours of their time. You'll be knocking on doors or helping to deliver anti-racist leaflets and newspapers. Together we'll contact the millions and millions of voters who will ultimately decide if the BNP win in June.

I've said from the beginning that our strength will ultimately come from our supporters. We don't have big financial backers. We don't have hundreds of paid staff. What we have is hope - and you.

Will you give two hours to stop the BNP? Sign up now:

Find out about events near you

* The BNP would kick out all those people who were not born in Britain. What if every other country in the world kicked out the Brits? A staggering 5.5 million people would be sent back here – far more than would leave our shores. This includes 800,000 from Spain, most of whom are pensioners.
* If non-white people were ordered out of Britain then the NHS would collapse overnight. 16% of nurses are from minority ethnic communities, as are 40% of new dentists and 58% of new doctors!
* The BNP would introduce apartheid into Britain. The BNP call for whites to be given first preference in housing, education and jobs. This is no different from apartheid South Africa, a racist regime which the BNP supported.
* Mixed-race relationships would be outlawed. The BNP constitution opposes any racial integration. Articles in BNP journals condemn mixed-race relationships as “mongrelising the white race”.
*The BNP’s answer to violent crime is to allow every household to have a gun. We kid you not. This barmy idea was in the BNP’s 2005 general election manifesto.

The Hope not Hate

See also; bristling badger,
earthpal,lancasteruaf,
and Peter Cranie

Coen Brothers Ad: 'clean coal' Is Greenwash

Award-Winning Filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen have an ad that is taking on the Coal Industry. Its part of a campaign by the Reality Coalition; a joint project of the Alliance for Climate Protection, League of Conservation Voters, Natural Resources Defense Council, National Wildlife Federation and Sierra Club. The Reality Campaign tells the truth about coal today – it isn't clean. They are challenging the coal industry to come clean.

See the ad here.



Clean coal is a term used widely by the coal industry to describe traditional coal energy generation outfitted with a variety of emissions-capturing technologies. As they don't yet exist, they are greenwash.

Efforts to develop coal capture-and-storage technology have been under way for years. The idea is to grab the greenhouse emissions and stuff them underground where they will — theoretically, anyway — do no harm. But little progress has yet been made.

The Reality Coalition promises a whole series of Coen brothers ads — which were designed and produced by Crispin Porter + Bogusky, the Boulder, Colo., agency behind the “Truth” anti-tobacco campaign.

It is unclear whether the ads are having the intended effect — that is, nudging the coal companies to more quickly develop carbon capture and storage — or merely convincing people that improving the greenhouse emissions of the coal industry is an impossibility.

“The only practical way to prevent CO2 levels from going far into the dangerous range, with disastrous effects for humanity and other inhabitants of the planet, is to phase out use of coal except at power plants where the CO2 is captured and sequestered." - NASA's Jim Hansen

Most types of coal station, the CCS requirement will only apply to 20-25% of each station's emissions - leaving the other 75-80% to pump into the atmosphere as usual. This is a bit like deciding to carry on smoking, but cutting the end off all of your cigarettes so you inhale less smoke. For every one tonne of carbon captured before 2020, three will be released into the atmosphere .

No commercial scale CCS plant exists anywhere in the world. What if, for whatever reason, it hasn't worked out according to plan by 2025? We will have built the new power stations into our national energy budget and closing them down will be impossible without massive disruption to the UK's energy supply.

As the executive director of Greenpeace, John Sauven, put it:“CCS technology is still fraught with uncertainties. If Miliband doesn't show the necessary leadership to completely rule out unabated coal, then all the evidence suggests that's what we'll get.”

Hattip channel 4 news and href="http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/26/the-coen-brothers-do-clean-coal/ ">greeninc

The brothers Joel and Ethan Coen make popular oddball films like “Fargo” and “The Big Lebowski.”

Conservatives In A Windy Muddle

The Conservative Party's renewable energy policy proposals would cripple the UK wind industry overnight. According to the British Wind Energy Association's (BWEA) director of programme strategy Chris Tomlinson, wind energy is required to help the UK meet energy-saving targets. The Conservatives' proposals are claimed to imply an end of support for onshore wind farms, with the report quoted as criticising the wind industry for making 25 per cent profits on its schemes.

Under the Conservative proposals, the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC), introduced by the Planning Act to accelerate permission for large infrastructure projects, would be abolished. ENA chief executive David Smith said: "ENA is concerned about the Conservative proposal to abolish the Infrastructure Planning Commission. This could place in peril the ability of network companies to deliver essential energy infrastructure in good time.

Rupert Read writes about the con in Conservative.

A significant number of Tory MPs and MEPs are in fact climate-change deniers. David Heathcoat-Amory MP and Mr Lilley MP had a go at the Stern review and the IPCC report; "The evidence in the Stern review relied heavily on the intergovernmental panel on climate change. I have read the bulk of both reports and I am aware of being in the presence of something similar to a secular religion with its articles of faith and its heretics.

Tory Grandee Lord Lawson of Blaby appeared in a sceptic documentary 'The Great Global Warming Swindle'.

A third of Tory MPs who responded to a survey on the environment questioned the existence of climate change and its link to human activity. Two-thirds said tackling climate change should not be a priority for local councils. 55 Conservative MPs replied, 10 said no, while eight that they didn't know. Some 80 of the 91 Labour MPs who responded said yes, together with 15 of the 17 Liberal Democrats.

Tony Juniper, ex head of Friends of the Earth, said the survey results were "disturbing". He said: "That a fifth of MPs say they either don't know or reject the science of climate change is a serious cause for alarm and suggests that many of them are seriously out of touch, because the science is very clear. For them to be making policy without a proper grasp of the science is a major oversight. David Cameron's emphasis on the environment has been one of the most important forces in green politics recently, but he has had some difficulty convincing some of his party that it is the right thing to do. This poll shows he has not won that battle yet."

yes2wind quote Chris Tomlinson "Wind energy is the only renewable source capable of meeting the looming energy gap by 2020 – ending support for onshore wind would make schemes uneconomic and effectively choke off investment overnight."

The Conservative Party in the country often opposes mid-sized wind power developments. Building a national policy on renewable energy has to bear in mind that local Conservative groups will usually fight against renewable energy developments in their areas.

The Conservative policy in Scotland want a for a moratorium on the building of new windfarms. Despite the potential benefit of local community owned wind farm developments; local communities should have the opportunity to generate their own environmentally friendly electricity from renewable sources; the Danish wind energy industry has an annual turnover of nearly £2 billion, employing 16,000 with 95% of the turnover coming from export sales, the Conservative policy is both bad for the environment and bad for business.

A single Conservative Party councillor (Adrian Gunson) was able to raise a strategic objection to a major wind farm off the North Norfolk coast that would provide the energy capacity of about one fifth of a nuclear power station. Councillor Andrew Boswell challenged this decision widely in the Press at the time - this has led to greater debate and awareness at County Hall when looking at wind applications.

Conservative MPs are "perfectly at liberty" to oppose windfarms in their constituencies, despite the party's leadership demanding a greater use of renewable energy. Shadow environment secretary Peter Ainsworth faced accusations in the Commons that his party could not be taken seriously on the environment when its MPs head up campaigns against turbines in their areas. Mr Ainsworth insisted: "Conservative members are perfectly at liberty to take a view about proposals in their own constituencies. It doesn't actually affect Conservative party policy."

If they are not careful the best symbol for their party would be a disconnected wind turbine to show that what is on offer is just empty spin. Mr Ainsworth insisted the problem of how local MPs respond to opposition to a wind farm more often affects the Tories and the Liberal Democrats. "Wind turbines tend to be put up in rural areas with hills and tend to be on the whole more represented by our parties than by the Labour party. It's absolutely essential that the wind energy industry is sensitive to landscape and does not put proposals in places where there is going to be a very clear impact on landscape or biodiversity or any other environmental issue. One of the arguments we have had with the way support for renewable (energy) is currently structured is that it has tended to put money in large onshore wind farms which are naturally controversial in the areas they are proposed. That is not helpful in the long-run to securing renewable energy in this country."

So forget about generating energy in the future, spoiling the view of a NIMBY means no renewables will be built by the Tories. It is often the case that the views they hold so precious have lines of pylons marching across the countryside, these they ignore. Yet wind turbines are far more attractive than pylons.

The trouble with Labour, the Lib Dems and the Conservatives; is that they respond to a political cycle of a less than 5 years. For them a sustainable policy is one that responds before the next election. So they have no interest in coping with more long term problems that effect future generations. Greens think about future generations with regard to every policy, and its one reason we don't do better in elections; if future generations could vote, we would win easily. So how to persuade voters now to think about the future? Comments would be welcome on this and every subject.

Politics Show on Sunday Debate; Nirv Deja and Farrage Loose It

There was a debate on the SE section of the Politics Show on Sunday, appropriaately in Legoland. Present were Peter Skinner (Lab), Sharon Bowles (LD) and Keith Taylor(Green). You can watch Nirj Deva(Con) and Nigel Farage(UKip) shouting and loosing all credibility.
(it starts about 40 minutes in).
Politics Show

Here are some highlights:
Skinner 40mins; a protest vote won't last for 5 years
Nirj 41mins; what's best for our country is to have a General Election
Farage 41m; disenchant with the major parties
Nirj 42; LETS HAVE A GENERAL ELECTION NOW (shouting)
Farage; lets debate on Europe,
Nirj 43; LETS HAVE A GENERAL ELECTION NOW
Farage; recall bad MPs
Nirj 43; LETS HAVE A GENERAL ELECTION NOW
Sharon; minor parties don't have expenses on their websites
Keith Taylor(the only non MEP), people in the streets are angry, we need to restore the trust that the major parties have lost, we have a positive vision (and expenses on our website)
Presenter Peter Henley (ignoring every other party policies) Why do the Greens want to spend £25 billion?
Keith; The Green New Deal will create a million jobs in the first year and reduce emissions
Skinner; Labour have invested in renewables far more than any other party
Keith; Is that before or after the wind turbine factory closed down
Nirj 46m; We're the greenest party, I'm walking around with a tree symbol
Sharon; We deal with cross border crime
Farage 49 ; BE HONEST, YOU ALL VOTED FOR OPEN BORDERS
Nirj; NO, WE HAVE OUR OWN IMMIGRATION POLICY
Farage 50m; STOP LYING
Skinner; DO NOTHING PARTY
Nirj; NO (UKIP) YOU DID NOTHING
Farage 50m; STOP LYING
Keith; UKIP is a wated vote, like a Dr treating the wrong illness, these parties are not doing enough for climate change
Sharon; We pushed through the climate change package that the green voted against, though I accept that they thought it didn't go far enough
Nirj; 52 DONT WATE YOUR VOTE....
Nirj; 53 'LETS HAVE A GENERAL ELECTION NOW'

------------------------------------------------------
As a matter of interest, here are the other parties record on climate change:
Labour,
LD,
UKIP,
Conservatives

Reading Community Carnival 2009

Events start from around 12:30 p.m. and will go on until 7:00 p.m. There will be stalls selling a variety of food and drink. I like the goat curry myself.


Last year celebrating in the rain


Carnival Route


For the last few years I've been taking videos;
2008
2007

and of course bloogging:
blog 2008
blog 2007

As you can see from the pictures, its rained the last two times. Lets hope for better weather today.


UPDATE;
As you can see, its been a lovely day in Reading.







Today the Reading Community Carnival comes to West Reading once again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIdtH71h818



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cfjtgd8GXV0

Greens In The Media

Normally you can go for weeks without hearing any Greens in the media, during elections things are a little different.

Caroline Lucas On 'Any Questions' Radio 4

Darren Johnson is due to be interviewed for BBC News Channel.


Green Euro-candidate Richard Mallender on the Politics Show about 34 mins in, with the excellent Richard Mallender calling for Green jobs about 38 mins in, and an academic saying the Greens might be in with a good chance.


Ricky Knight on the Politics Show ..about 35 minutes in..


However we've had UKIP on Question Time for the last 2 weeks, and no Greens.

The daily show on Moatgate/ Scamalot

An artists impression of Hoggs Moat

This is a satirical show from the USA, The daily show on Moatgate Scamalot expenses scandal.

In the news today, Nadine Dorries MP thinks that we should feel sorry for corrupt MPs, who are being tortured by these revelations; "it has started to resemble a McCarthy-style witchhunt". She also warned that "the relentless drip-drip of leaked claims was creating such an atmosphere of terror that there was a real risk of an MP committing suicide."

"People are seriously beginning to crack," Nadine Dorries told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. "The last day in Parliament this week was, I would say, completely unbearable. I have never been in an atmosphere or environment like it, when people walk around with terror in their eyes and people are genuinely concerned, asking, 'Have you seen so and so? Are they in their office? They've not been seen for days.'

The “systematic humiliation” of MPs is threatening Britain’s democracy, the Archbishop of Canterbury has warned. Dr Rowan Williams, says that the issues raised by the expenses scandal are grave and that urgent action is required. He adds: “But many will now be wondering whether the point has not been adequately made: the continuing systematic humiliation of politicians itself threatens to carry a heavy price in terms of our ability to salvage some confidence in our democracy.”

But I say bring it on, shine the light of publicity into the dark corners where corruption has gone on for decades. And rather than politicians of all parties having their snouts in the trough, its so far only the big three. UKIP and the BNP have already proved themselves even worse with plenty of scandals before, but other parties are proving more resilient to venality.

MEP Hustings SE Reading 21 May 09

The MEP Hustings in Reading yesterday were hosted by the Oxford World Development Movement OxWDM, Reading International Solidarity Centre (RISC) and is supported by: Oxford Friends of the Earth, Slough WDM, Christian Concern for One World, Reading Greenpeace, Oxfam & Trade Justice groups, and Bond. Chaired by John Madely, author, journalist and broadcaster.

Attending were; Sharon Bowles (Lib Dems 1st), Janet Keene (Lab 6th Bracknell ), Caroline Lucas(Green 1st) and Philip Vander Elst(UKIP 4th).
(The number refers to place on party list)
Nirj Deva (Conservative 3rd) didn't show up.

The Hustings started late as Janet was late, claiming to have had a bad journey.
Many attending came by bus from Oxford.

Though the hustings were open to all, most of the questions seemed to come from the OxWMD.

The first question was really tough, so I wasn't to surprised that most candidates didn't answer it, but as the evening progressed I was shocked at the low standards of most of the candidates. Most candidates supported fair trade, and the Green & LD signed the pledge to stop Europe's unfair trade deals.

LABOUR Janet Keane didn't mention a single Labour policy or show any understanding of the workings of parliament, but spoke from her heart about what she liked and disliked. She wouldn't sign the pledge, but had sent an email explaining her views to the organisers.

LD Sharon Bowles bragged that she understood insurance better than insurers, that she was a scientist whose father had built most of our nuclear power stations (calling one a Bowles hole), coming across as egotistical. She was a supporter of 'micro nuclear power'

UKIP Philip Vander Elst managed to annoy everyone with his belief in free trade not fair trade, his climate change scepticism and support of Israel. He managed to give several book references as sources, including not only title, author but publisher also. He talked about opposing Europe and African dictatorships.

GREEN Caroline Lucas was in a class of her own, she answered the questions, engaged with the audience and won the argument. Particularly useful was her first hand knowledge of trade negotiations with the like of Mandleson, and her background with Oxfam.

Now as a Green Party supporter, you would expect me to support the Green Candidate, but this was the view of those around me also. I expected more from the others, perhaps they are so shell shocked by the expense scandal that they couldn't cope.

Joanna Lumley says Vote Green, Ayo Joanna Lumley

How about this for a timely endorsement.

It is an endorsement likely to carry some considerable weight in these febrile times. The battle for Joanna Lumley’s political soul has been won by the Greens.

Fresh from her Gurkha victory over Gordon Brown, the actress has thrown her support in the European elections on June 4 behind Caroline Lucas, of the Green Party, who is one of the current MEPs for the South East region.

Lumley said: “Caroline is a tireless campaigner in the European Parliament, staunchly defending human rights and strongly promoting greater protection for animals. I urge you to cast a positive vote for a better future by voting Green in the European Elections.”

Both women have campaigned to end factory farming and protested against human rights abuses in Burma.

Gurkha Justice Campaign update from Joanna Lumley

Great news from the Gurkha Justice Campaign and Joanna Lumley


Joanna Lumley to Adrian


At midday today, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith made the announcement to the House of Commons that the Gurkha Justice Campaign have been fighting for for years. All ex-Gurkhas who have served more than 4 years in the British Army will have the right to settle in the UK if they wish.

After such a long fight, with huge ups and downs, this is a superb announcement.

We simply would not have won this fight without the massive, overwhelming support of all those who have supported our campaign. To the hundreds of thousands of people who have signed Gurkha Justice petitions, lobbied their MP, campaigned, attended rallies and marches - thank you so much to you all. This is your victory. It would not have happened without you.

The Government has now responded to that campaign after court cases, votes in Parliament, a huge media campaign and, most importantly, massive public support. I am delighted, and humbled, at what has been achieved by our remarkable team.

The whole campaign has been based on the belief that those who have fought and been prepared to die for our country should have the the right to live in our country. We owe them a debt of honour - a debt that will now be paid.

With warmest good wishes,

Joanna
www.gurkhajustice.org.uk

Newbury And Reading Today Campaigning

Newbury




Reading Palmer Park


Kings Meadow

Greens in the Berkshire News

Reading Evening Post Poll: European elections Who will you vote for on 4 June?
Vote Here
currently:
Conservative 33%
Green 16%
Labour 13%
Liberal Democrat 8%
UKIP 9%
Other 9%
None of them 12%

I don't think the sample is yet big enough to be accurate, but it does reflect how angry people are with the big parties.

A Good story also in
http://newburytoday.co.uk/News/Article.aspx?articleID=10085
newburytoday

Its been a great week for us in the National press;
guardian
independent
guardianweekly
socialistunity
Carolines Website
Carolines Blog

A few days ago there were some other polls:
A ComRes poll of European voting intentions,
Tories on 28 per cent,
Labour on 20
Lib Dems on 14,
Ukip were on 15,
the Greens on 11 and the
BNP on 4 per cent.

A YouGov poll, commissioned by the Green party and shows 34% of respondents said they would either definitely be voting Green or would consider voting Green. This is the highest percentage ever to indicate potential support for the Greens, according to YouGov

Euro Candidates And Parties Election 2009 June 4th

I've started getting some freepost leaflets, and I've been watching PEBs, so I thought I would do a round-up of the parties standing in the Euro Elections.

In alphabetical order the list starts with the BNP.

The BNP website (I wont give a link but bnpwatch is informative) starts by being negative about UKIP “cheerfully” announcing that (Farage) has taken “more than £2 million in expenses”. Their PEB features the valuable work done by their Cllrs (the ones not arrested presumably) in putting in a CCTV camera. They then attack CCTVs in Bins, a bit confused. Joanna Lumley blasted British National Party leaflet targeting a Gurkha killed in action. The SUN are camapigning against the BNP who they say campaign against a Gurkha soldier. The BNP claim its a fake.


The Christian Party is lead by Revd. George Hargreaves, who wrote and produced the single “So Macho” for Sinitta, stood for the Referendum Party in '97, then the Lib Dems, before finding the Christian Party. "An outrageous BNP election poster suggests that Jesus would vote for the British National Party. Indeed, the BNP has claimed that they are "the only political party which genuinely supports Britain's Christian heritage." Clearly, neither is the case. They demonstrate their sense of humour by saying the "CHRISTIAN PARTY CALLS FOR SHADOW LEADER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS TO BE SACKED FOR MURDEROUS CHRISTOPHOBIC COMMENT ON BBC ‘HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU’" Their PEB claim that as a vote against the BNP a vote for them counts 4 times more than a vote for Lab, Con LD or Green. Some creative maths perhaps. Christian website"Key Policies; A Christian Europe" so presumably they don't like Turkey, or Muslims

Conservatives website leads on dentistry, the PEB on sleaze. 'Vote for Change' (sounds like an OBAMA copycat). The PEB is about corruption, Cameron has a way to go to loose their current image as greedy rich men. Daniel Hannan their MEP became a star of youtube, showing how little Brown was attacked in the UK parliament.

English Democrats sound a bit like the BNP/UKIP "Putting England First". Their PEB also features how wonderful things are in Wales and Scotland at our expense; and rubbish, clearly a hot topic.

Jury Team politics without parties; their website attacks UKIP, Brown, Jacqui Smith & the party system.

Lib Dems PEB features Nick Clegg talking about top up fees, the website is quite negative, item 2 'British criminals would walk free under Tory plans'.

No2EU (Yes to Democracy) is a coalition of trade unionists, anti EU from the left. They want you to 'lend' them your vote (but don't ask for it back).

Libertas uch like everyone else here, they want to reform the EU. They claim 'Libertas is the first and only pan-European party' which I doubt. They say 'Conservative MEPs are three times more likely to employ their wives than other MEPs'
One of their main people has a double identity, David Craig

Socialist labour party has Arthur Scargill as a candidate...'The EU is a capitalist club'...the website has more about '84 than the present.

Green PartyA YouGov poll shows 34% "would consider" voting Green, great PEB about not being a 'beardy' party. Caroline Lucas comes across very well in the media, and has increased the profile as leader.

Labour has a very negative PEB, mentions Cameron throughout. The website is similar, and is a mess of colours. Celebrity endorsement; Lily Allen 'I’ll vote for you, Gordon Brown' (but not in the Euros?) Their MEP Peter Skinner used the word 'replace' when he meant recycle, we should replace him.

Peaceparty 'Breaking the Mould The Peace Party – Non-violence, Justice, Environment aims to break the mould of British, European and World politics.' By copying of the Green Party.

The Roman party Ave have no website, and just one candidate. Jean Louis Pascual, a bus driver in Reading who stands every election, no one can quite figure out why. He gets around 20 votes in council elections, and thinks that people should 'When in Rome Do as the Romans do'.

United Kingdom First 'UKF has been formed to be the voice for Britain's forgotten majority.' They seem to be against the EU, much like UKIP. 4 candidates in the SE.

UKIP Very brash website, they deny MP Spink represents them, the word independent is confusing. Their PEB is all about, guess what, leaving the EU. Their website features pictures of Chrchill and the Dalai Lama! They hope to gain from the sleaze of the main parties, they don't mention ex-MEPs; Ashley Mote (jailed for benefit fraud), Tom Wise (charges of false accounting and money laundering). They are being investigated by the Electoral Commission, which says that it is concerned that its most recent accounts were filed more than six months late. It is also investigating a series of "separate issues". One man, Alan Bown, a former bookmaker, has bankrolled Ukip with more than £1 million. Ukip's membership is falling. It currently has around 18,000 members, down from a peak of more than 26,000 two years ago.
ukipwatch is informative.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8040424.stm has a full list.

Our Honourble Members?

Our local paper today has the headline 'Our Honourble Members'; praising the towns two MPs for not claiming second homes. MP who live within, say, an hours commute from London should not need a second home.

But the headline rather ignores the standards and privileges committee report from 2006.

The Committee found Salter guilty of using pre-paid House of Commons’ envelopes to distribute unsolicited material and a failure to say it had been paid from his parliamentary allowance.

He had to pay it back, not unlike the current crop of MPs mired in sleaze.

Rob Wilson included party material with a report when it was delivered which carried a specific reference to the local party name 'Reading East Conservatives'.

Mr Wilson has apologised for the fact that a number of copies of the report were delivered along with copies of a Conservative Party survey with the parliamentary material not separated from the party material, as Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) guidance requires

There are more tales of Martin Salters deeds at ex Reading MP blog jane-griffiths-my-book.

I have written before about the standards of Salter before.

Greens In The News

The media don't normally have much time for small parties like the Greens, but during Election periods we get somewhat closer to balance. In the last few days there has been a refreshing focus on the Green Party in the national media. Its not always flattering, but at least they give us a chance.

Caroline Lucas Guardian interview; 'Caroline Lucas should be the luckiest woman in politics. More than 20 years ago she joined a minor, leftfield party: today its defining issue has become the biggest political issue in the world'

Caroline Lucas Indy interview 'the Greens are at last presenting a united front – and their leader might even become her party's first MP'

Two in five say they will refuse to vote or select one of the minor parties, such as the Greens or Ukip, rather than support the Tories, Labour or the Liberal Democrats, a ComRes poll shows. Andrew Hawkins, chief executive of ComRes, said: "I can't remember any time when the minor parties were at anything like this level."

A ComRes poll of European voting intentions, put the Tories on 28 per cent, Labour on 20 and the Lib Dems on 14. Ukip were on 15, the Greens on 11 and the BNP on 4 per cent.

A YouGov poll, commissioned by the Green party and published today shows 34% of respondents said they would either definitely be voting Green or would consider voting Green. This is the highest percentage ever to indicate potential support for the Greens, according to YouGov.

Protest Hydrus at west berks council tonight

I am going to the protest about project Hydrus tonight. Its in Calcott rg31 4xd. West berkshire council will determine the fate of millions of pounds and the safety of the region.

So tonight is a chance to tell cllrs what people think about nuclear weapons. They wete created for the WW2, then the cold war. Now proliferation of nuclear weapons is illegal so spending £3 million a day on AWE may be breaking the law.

The cllrs whp vote are LD ans Tories. Both parties are cutting vital services for the most vulnerable people, but not useless and dangerous nuclear weapons.

Cut nukes not services.

Appeal For Witnesses Climate Camp Kingsnorth

Hello from the 2009 Climate Camp Legal Team.


We've an important request about the Kingsnorth Camp: Can you help us identify these people? http://climatecamp.org.uk/node/580

PANORAMA is making a film about policing at Climate Camp events.

They really liked the footage from Kingsnorth last year, especially all the silly things the police confiscated, and want to use it on TV.
Did you or anyone you recognise take part in a film last year made by the legal team where you talked about the property the police had seized from you?
They also have some film of people being attacked by the police at K5 and the forced searches.

But . . . they need peoples consent before they can use the film. So we have to find them.

Can you all get in touch with all your friends, get them to look at this lot, and if one of them recognises themself, email us on legal [at]climatecamp.org.uk ASAP?

See http://climatecamp.org.uk/node/580 to view the images.

We'll need to know all of these:
WHICH picture number they are
contact phone and/or email
are they willing to let it be used?
are they willing to be interviewed? (need to supply a phone no if so)

Panorama particularly want to interview the children - we think they might be from a bicycle cinema - do you know whose they are?

All clues and guesses to legal[at]climatecamp.org.uk - we've found 19 of them so far, help us finish them off!
thanks!

the legal team
legal@climatecamp.org.uk

PS we now have a series of Legal Team pages on the main camp website with all sorts of other info on it. See the third blue tab down on the left of the front page at www.climatecamp.org.uk

Bath Road Reservoir Meeting Tonight 13 May 7.30pm Downshire Sq Church Hall

I wrote about the Bath Road Reservoir in Dec 07.


What's New?
PUBLIC MEETING Weds 13th May 7.30pm Downshire Sq Church Hall

Thames Water still intent on demolishing entire site and will be displaying plans on 14th & 16th May

I had heard that Thames Water were selling a nearby small reservoir in Bath Rd in West Reading a few years ago. It does seem odd that despite Thames Water being unable to provide enough water to existing properties at times, they want to reduce their reservoir capacity and increase the number of homes using water. Perhaps their desire for profit is a greater motivator than their remit to provide water for residents. Whose silly idea was it to privatise the water indusrty again? Oh yes, cheers Mrs Thatcher, and Blair and Brown for allowing this to continue.



When I heard about the plans for development first my reaction was to keep the wildlife haven, and get Thames Water to respond to customers not just maximise their profits buy selling their assets to the highest price. I also had the idea that if they no longer needed the water storage capacity they could do something really innovative and build some underground eco houses within the underground reservoir, and not touch the wildlife area at all.

Theres a great video at
and you can sign the petition at

savethebathroadreservoir
meeting flyer
petition

Big Brother Is Watching

Here is a list of the organisations that will be able to examine the data. How would you feel if the Royal Navy Police knocking at your door and said they had authorised themselves to search your house?

43 police forces in England & Wales
8 police forces in Scotland
Police Service of Northern Ireland
British Transport Police
Port of Liverpool Police
Port of Dover Police
Royal Military Police
Royal Air Force Police
Civil Nuclear Constabulary
Ministry of Defence Police
Royal Navy Police
Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs
Serious Organised Crime Agency
Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency
United Kingdom Border Agency.
The Prison Service

Approximately 474 local authorities throughout the UK.

Approximately 110 *other* public authorities, including
almost all government departments, and
Serious Fraud Office
Independent Police Complaints Commission
Charity Commission
Gambling Commission
Royal Mail.

Thanks to no2id
And the Orwellianly named
official-documents.gov.uk

Party Election Broadcast From The Green Party

As shown on TV last night, if you missed it, click here


Below is a video of Derek Wall speaking on the Green Party Bus on tour in,
Windsor.




There are move videos at
including
Jonathon Porritt and Tony Juniper say vote Green

Closing Wind Turbine Factory Petition

The UK has virtually no wind turbine production and that what we do have is shutting down. 600 jobs are going in Newport, Isle of Wight at Vestas who are the largest wind turbine manufacturer in the world.

"Closure of turbine factory takes the wind out of Britain's low-carbon sails"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/29/vestas-wind-turbines-environment

"Vestas to cut 600 jobs in Britain as wind turbine market is becalmed in Northern Europe"

Vestas, the Danish company that supplies 20 per cent of the global wind turbine market, said that it was cutting a total of 1,900 jobs in Denmark and at its blade manufacturing and research plant at Newport on the Isle of Wight. The company cited sluggish demand for turbines in the UK and elsewhere in Northern Europe, in contrast to booming wind energy sales in China and the United States.

The UK ranks close to the bottom of the European league table for the proportion of electricity generated from renewable energy, above only Luxembourg and Malta. Renewables supply about 5 per cent of UK electricity and 1.3 per cent of total energy.

timesonline



The Guardian article highlights the total mess that UK wind is in. We
are going to need those new, efficient, unabated coal powered stations.

Here is a petition set up by the Vestas employees.
petitions number10N


John

Green Party Bus On Tour - Vote Green For A Better Future

The Green Party Bus visits Windsor Castle


We turned a few heads yesterday as we visited Bracknell, Windsor and Wokingham. The Bus is freshly painted and attracts loads of attention. Its full of leaflets and campaigners, touring towns in the South East.

Derek Wall is number 3 on The South East Euro list

Ditch Trident Save Cash

The UK is facing its worst economic crisis in decades, and its having some strange side effects. We are seeing a further shift in attitudes regarding the estimated £76 billion being spent on Trident. Even Tories such as David Davis and James Arbuthnot are suggesting a policy rethink on the issue.

If Gordon Brown wants to live up to his disarmament rhetoric, then it's time to reopen the debate.


CND Chair Kate Hudson "David Davis has written, in the Financial Times, that it is time for the Tories to look at their own 'sacred cows'. Davis questioned the justification for the 'wholesale upgrade' of a system designed to retaliate after a full-scale Soviet attack when today's likeliest adversary would be a 'much smaller, less sophisticated state. Should not the costs reflect this?'

Brown’s key weakness is that he talks the disarmament talk, but won’t deal with Trident. Sooner or later he will have to realise this is a contradictory position. When the majority of the British people – including Tory politicians and senior military figures - have come to the view that Trident should be reconsidered – or even axed – then Gordon Brown should not be holding back."

David Cameron is considering abandoning the British Trident missile force, or going for a less expensive option, we learned last week. He has also indicated that he will undertake "a major strategic defence review once in office".Interviewed on Newsnight, the former armed forces minister Nicholas Soames suggested that the economic situation was not the whole reason. Part of the problem, he explained, was that "we are very much trapped in our nuclear doctrine in a cold war mentality".

Enen the Daily Mail says Scrap Trident 'And why not scrap the £6billion ID cards project, which will do nothing to help tackle terrorism or immigration, and – like nearly every other government IT project – almost certainly won’t work anyway?'

CND 0207 700 2393 or visit www.cnduk.org

Women's Centre Cycle Ride Fundraiser

You can join a sponsored cycle ride from Reading to Newbury.
Starting at the Women's Centre, Queens Road Reading.
The route follows the picaresque Kennet and Avon Canal tow path.
Men Women and Children welcome.

If you would like to get involved please email Helen.Biggerstaff AT ctc.org.uk (replace AT with @)
or call 0118 901 5713 mobile 07717575693


UK’s National Cyclists’ Organisation, CTC
Reading CTC

Car made made from carrots, powered by chocolate

The British-built ecoF3 racing car has a steering wheel made from carrots, a bodywork crafted from potatoes and a soya bean seat. It uses plant oil-based lubricants to grease its moving parts and boasts a biodiesel engine capable of running on chocolate extracts and vegetable oil.


It can reach 145mph and races in Formula 3. The car's bodywork was made by mixing vegetable fibres with resins and it its the first Formula 3 car built from eco-friendly materials. The ecoF3 is currently ineligible to compete in next season's championship because the engine's unusual fuel means it fails to meet regulations.

James Meredith, project manager of the WorldFirst team from Warwick University, in Coventry, West Mids, which designed and built the car, said the car breaks new ground. "It's been very exciting working on the project and important for our team to develop a working example of a truly green motor racing car. "The WorldFirst project expels the myth that performance needs to be compromised when developing the sustainable motor vehicles of the future."


Team WorldFirst also includes Dr Kerry Kirwan and Dr Steve Maggs. Their collaboration has achieved spectacular results paving the way for motor racing in the future. The WorldFirst car proves that the practical application of sustainable and renewable materials can spearhead the innovation needed in the “championing of green technology” by motor sport.

Green technology can often be viewed as being a bit old fashioned, contrary to this, the biggest environmental gains can come from simple, common sense means. In WorldFirst’s case these common sense developments have been applied in ingenious ways. Whilst road car manufacturers focus on adjusting their engine technology in order to adhere to new EU emission strategy, the WorldFirst team has striven to lead the way in engraining sustainability into every aspect of its car design. The end result demonstrates that green innovation can be exciting and be effectively utilised in cutting edge applications.

Now motor sport isn't green, but this is an interesting way to develop new technologies. We can't produce enough vegetable oil to replace diesel, but this will reduce emissions; along with more public transport and electric cars. Using waste oil for fuel is very green, at the moment much of it is thrown down the drains because people have to pay for it to be collected. Local authorities should be providing collection places, and helping to filter and process used (not waste) vegetable oil.

I've been driving on veg oil for 4 years, by converting my diesel car with dieselveg. Maximum allowable veg oil usage in Litres before having to register or pay fuel duty to UK Revenue & Customs is set at 2500 Litres Per Year.



Links:
telegraph
BBC news video
thegreencarwebsite

International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day 2009 is upon us

Yes it's today. International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day 2009 is upon us. It's really rather exciting! Nearly 1300 people are signed up which means thousands and thousands of sunflowers will be sown today, if they haven't been already (I couldn't resist and started a few weeks ago)... and don't worry, it's not to late to sow over the next few weeks in many places around the northern hemisphere.

Please take a photo of where you sow them, upload them to this event and let's stay in touch and share our sunflower's progress around the world.

Go go go! Sow sow sow!

Green Issues Communications; Anything But Green

The PR company Green Issues behind some horrible planning schemes have so many big party politicians working for them they should be called 'Grey Party leftovers'. Their schemes include; Thurrock Lakeside & a huge hotel 'Centennial Park' on green belt land in Elstree. They promote eco towns & urban regeneration *, telling large developers how to pretend to be green. It seems they use their political contacts to get close to local cllrs and persuade them to approve. And I thought the opposition parties were against the way Labour have used PR?

Their team includes -
Labour:
Kelly Edwards, Operations Director; Labour Party PPC in Hertsmere in May 2005 and wannabe Reading West currently,
Gabriel Abulafia, Director; ex assistant to David Blunkett and Stephen Byers.
James Garland, Director is an active member of the Labour Party.
Andrew Lester, Senior Account Manager; campaign manager for the Labour Party
Peter Elms, Account Executive
Rayman Bains, Account Executive
Katie Hill, Account Manager; has worked for The Labour Party for four years

Conservative:
Will Scawn, Senior Account Manager active member of the Conservative Party in London
Richard Royal, Senior Account Manager is a member of the Conservative Party Richard Halderthay, Senior Account Manager Richard election agent to over 100 Conservative Party election candidates
Andrew Johnson, Account Manager; is active in the Conservative Party
Antony Calvert, Account Manager; PPC Morley and Outwood constituency in West Yorkshire
Emma Webster, Account Manager; Conservative councillor in West Berkshire

Lib Dems;
Jon Whitehouse, Account Manager; has 10 years experience of working for the Liberal Democrats.

* Urban regeneration often involves the destruction of businesses, the demolition of priceless historic structures, the relocation of people, and compulsory purchase. Its popular with large developers but not with communities.

Brown And Out

Gordon Brown's proposals are in tatters, he's become a figure of fun. His YouTube performance has become a comic classic -- someone has even set it to techno music




"Completely and utterly ridiculous" That was how a sleep-deprived Gordon Brown reacted in Warsaw this morning to suggestions that his handling of the controversy over MPs' expenses had not been a total triumph.

Gordon Brown must quickly regain the political initiative after a week of serious setbacks, former Home Secretary David Blunkett has warned. Blunkett said Labour's leadership should have seen the Commons rebellion over Gurkha rights coming and must show more "old-fashioned nous". It must also show it can engage with the public on "grass-roots issues".

One cabinet minister privately considers the events of the past few days "Labour's worst week". Two unnamed senior cabinet ministers warned that Mr Brown has lost control of Labour MPs and the party is heading for as big a defeat as that suffered by John Major's Conservatives in 1997.

Shameful desperate last days.