Glastonbury June 2009

Another year, another wet Glastonbury. It showered and was very hot most days, which sometimes turned the site into a muddy field.

I enjoyed some of the acts, but mostly the campaigning areas. They included;
CND,
Green Economics Institute,
Oxfam campaign till you are blue in the face,
Water Aid
Greenpeace recreated Sipson village as part of their airplot campaign opposing Heathrow expansion,

Synchronised Swim with the CND campaigners.

Green TV has some great videos of events. And BBC4 are showing lots of the bands, and you get a much better view there than on site, particularly of the more popular acts, where there is mud, people pushing and shoving to get a better view, and talking.

My favourite moment was meeting Jonny Ball (think of a number) and encouraging him to attend Ben Goldacre Bad Science talk at the Green Forum.


The morning cleanup

CND

Iranian Elections 2009

How could the Iranian election be rigged? Learning from George Bush perhaps.
Private Eye explains

Since Ahmadinejad became president four years ago, some not so subtle shifts have taken place. Early in office he culled officials – ambassadors, provincial governors – and replaced them with his chums. And no one has been closer to the president than Mojtaba Samareh-Hashemi, a shady “senior adviser” who also served for a year in 2006-07 as deputy interior minister for political affairs, a post with overall responsibility for managing elections and appointing the representatives of the ministry for poll supervision.

Mr Samareh-Hashemi has known Ahmadinejad since 1976, and with his close relationship to both the Revolutionary Guards and the intelligence services, Mr Samareh-Hashemi had no difficulty finding recruits. Following his orders at the ministry since last year has been the interior minister Sadeq Mahsouli, whose own total impartiality is guaranteed by… a close friendship with the president that goes back to university days around 30 years ago.

Just to make sure everything was above board, Mr Samareh-Hashemi resigned as a “special adviser” when the presidential election began, and went to run Mr Ahmadinejad’s campaign headquarters instead.

The three candidates challenging Mr Ahmadinejad often found their representatives were not allowed into polling stations or the counting. Some places where Mir Hossein Mousavi was expected to do well ran short of ballot papers.


No wonder the "people’s" will was irresistible.

50th Time Gold Award

I gave blood for the 50th time! Its taken over 20 years, so I'm not sure if I will make 100. I got a badge and a pen though.

You can find your nearest place here.

You can see how low the national stock of blood is here.




Its not difficult, and you can save lives.

Expenses (Not) Revealed

So all is revealed at last. Except of course it isn't, as you can see above, much of it is blanked out. This particular page is from Martin Salter MP Communication allowance 07/08. What is revealed is he spent thousands with Public Impact, MD John Howarth; who was behind the failed one way IDR plan.

He also paid 1 years webhosting with email antivirus £225; but his website was down and rarely updated that year.

No one wants peoples personal or bank details to be revealed, but this is a joke.

For Cods Sake; Celebrity Campaign On Fish Depletion

The star of 'White Mischief' and 'Shattered' is proving she's still as brave as ever by posing with just a dead cod to cover her modesty in a shock new campaign. Greta is launching an initiative to help save the world's fish stocks.

Greta Scacchi was galvanised into action after seeing The End of the Line, a powerful documentary released last week. The film is based on a book about overfishing by journalist Charles Clover, and claims that within 40 years fish will become extinct. Such is the film's power that the sandwich chain Pret a Manger last week took tuna off the menu. The documentary says that industrial fishing is emptying the seas of fish, destroying the livelihoods of poor fishermen in places such as Africa and killing wildlife accidentally caught in the process.

It comes at a time when Pret A Manger have agreed to stop selling tuna to protect the endangered bluefin tuna, and top restaurant Nobu are advising diners that eating the fish maybe isn't the most eco-friendly choice. Campaigners say the species is closer to the brink of extinction than even the white rhino.

The film has been described as the equivalent of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth for fishing, and is being backed by a wide range of green groups including Greenpeace, WWF and the Wildlife Trusts, and retailers such as Waitrose.

The oceans absorb half of the carbon we produce, so if they go, the likelihood of us going greatly increases. The world's fish reserves have been declining since 1989, fishing fleets are 250% larger than the oceans can sustainably support, 80% of a trawler's catch will be chucked back into the sea, dead, so that quotas aren't exceeded -- quite often these trawlers destroy everything else on the seabed. Long-line fishing has depleted the albatross population by 40%.

A Japanese restaurant called Nobu serves the endangered bluefin tuna, it recently received a petition from the likes of Sienna Miller and Elle MacPherson. The restaurant argues that as it informs customers on the menu of the bluefin's endangered status, they are free to make up their own minds!

So what are the solutions? She says we should only eat fish approved by the Marine Stewardship Council (its website has a list of approved kinds), and the government must act now.

"At the moment they side with the fishermen instead of the fish, but if they carry on as they are there won't be anything for them to catch, and then they will all be out of jobs. "The state of the ocean has been peripheral to global warming, but that has to change. The effects of overfishing will be, I am afraid, ..catastrophic."

Links:
independent
dailymail
drparnassus
thelondonpaper
telegraph
guardian

Herbal Medicine In Reading

Herbal medicine is a complementary therapy that uses plants or plant extracts to treat illness. There are numerous herbal products available that claim to treat the symptoms of a wide range of problems, from depression to colds and flu.

I've been going to one at 31 Prospect Street, Caversham, Reading for a year, and it seems to be working. Anna Cannon will make you a lovely healthy herbal tea. Call her at 0118 946 4022.

Many well established medicines originally come from plants., morphine comes from poppies, aspirin comes from the bark of willow trees and digoxin (a drug used to treat heart failure) comes from foxgloves.

Traditional herbal medicine has been used in the UK for centuries and it remains popular today. Although it's classed as a complementary medicine in the UK, it's actually the most widely practised form of medicine across the world - 80 percent of the world's population are dependent on herbs for their health.

Traditional herbal medicine makes a diagnosis based on factors that are no longer used by conventional medicine. You will be prescribed a herbal mixture that is individual to you and based on your characteristics.

There are a number of other therapies that use plants as remedies:
aromatherapy
homeopathy
Ayurvedic medicine (which treats the mind and body together with herbal medicines, yoga, massage, diet and meditation)

The gold standard for pharmaceutical testing is repeated, large-scale, randomized, double-blind tests. Some plant products or pharmaceutical drugs derived from them are incorporated into medicine. To recoup the considerable costs of testing to the regulatory standards, the substances are patented and marketed by pharmaceutical companies.

Herbalists criticize mainstream studies on the grounds that they make insufficient use of historical usage, which has no relevance to the medical efficacy of a product's usage. They maintain that tradition can guide the selection of factors such as optimal dose, species, time of harvesting and target population.

Five billion people rely on traditional plant-based medicine as their primary form of health care.

http://hcd2.bupa.co.uk/fact_sheets/html/herbal_medicine.html
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/herbalmedicine.html
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/319/7216/1050

Bristol Lido - A Solar Hot Spot

In sharp contrast to Readings disintegrating Kings Meadow Pool, Bristol Lido, the oldest lido in the country, has been transformed into a model of energy efficiency following a two-year restoration.

The complex, including a 24-metre open-air swimming pool, now features Thermomax, one of the highest performing solar thermal collectors in the world, which generate up to 70 per cent of the lido's annual hot water needs. They are also responsible for simultaneously reducing energy bills as well as the overall carbon footprint of the
establishment.

As part of its commitment to sustainability, Bristol Lido specified 720 Kingspan Solar Thermomax HP200 vacuum tubes, which cover 80 square metres of the south-facing roof. Specifically designed and manufactured to operate in Northern European climates, they use vacuum tube technology to deliver an unrivalled transfer of solar energy into heat. They are up to 30 per cent more effective than traditional flat
plate panels and allow energy from the sun to be captured efficiently and effectively. The vacuum inside each tube not only provides perfect insulation, it also suppresses heat loss by protecting the system from outside influences, such as cold, wet and windy weather. The result is optimum performance levels all year round.

As well as refurbishing the swimming pool, the restored Victorian lido now has three brand new features including a restaurant, spa and poolside bar. Its newly installed solar vacuum tube systems were not the only energy efficient addition. The kitchen boasts an Italian wood-fired oven; ambient heat pumps create additional heat by
extracting and redistributing warm air from the restaurant, café and kitchen; and wall-to-ceiling glass doors reduce heat loss.

CND at RAF Fylingdales 13 June 09

CND March on RAF Fylingdales


Visitors to the picturesque and remote Fylingdales Moor in North Yorkshire are often surprised at the giant truncated pyramid that marks the whereabouts of the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) radar at RAF Fylingdales. Peace campaigners came to Yorkshire to protest as the use of weapons in space, and the role of RAF Fylingdales as a major component in US war fighting strategy.

The new interim Czech government has announced it will not attempt to ratify the treaties on a US radar base before October's general election. The previous conservative coalition government which had signed the treaties with the US had to resign after it lost a no-confidence vote in late March. Over two-thirds of Czechs oppose the radar and opinion polls show the Social Democrats, who also oppose the plans are in the lead.

And Czech campaigners were celebrating when the government announced it will remove the three-kilometre razor-wire fence at Brdy - the proposed site for the base. The fence was built in June 2008 after activists occupied the area in protest against the plans. The dismantling of the fence at Brdy sends a strong message to campaigners in Britain.

Protesters cross the North Yorkshire Moors National Park



CND protesters with the base in the background




Did someone break into the base and paint the CND logo onto it? Or just photoshop.


An Information and Safety Booklet given to contractors, new personnel and visitors to the Phased Array Radar (PAR) at RAF Fylingdales in North Yorkshire tells them to keep their mobile phones switched off to protect them from damage from RF power. The booklet also warns that there is a risk of induced RF power causing a spark between car and metal petrol cans and that remote car locking devices may not function. However, it doesn’t mention much about the risk to health of visitors or local residents. So I was glad not to get any closer than this.

cnd yorks
cnd UK

Fib Dems

This is from a 2007 Lib Dem newsletter, and shows just inaccurate they are, compare it to the results in the post below.

I just googled 'Fib Dem' and it said "Did you mean: lib dem"; says it all really.


Some other little Fibs that they have told recently;
LD Confused in Scotland
LD Hypocrisy
LD Leaflet Suttton
London LD Lies
Fib Dems
Norwich Fib Dems
Bromley Fibs has some great before and after footage of their pretending to clean a wall.
Welsh Fibs

Greens Celebrate Result in Park Ward

The Green votes in Park Ward, unfortunately this wasn't a council election.



Greens Celebrate Result in Park Ward.

Rob White the Park Ward candidate in 2010 said: "Thanks to everyone who voted Green. This was a really good local result, placing us in a great position for the next local and general elections."

Reading Greens were delighted with the results; in the Westminster constituency of East Reading we finished in second place ahead of Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
(UPDATE: this refers to the Results from RBC wards, the majority of the consituency)

At a ward level the Greens finished in first place in Park Ward with a majority of 361 votes, and came second place in Thames, Mapledurham and Caversham.

Bike Week Reading 13 June to 20 June

Saturday 13 June, Bike Event Prospect Park between 10am and 4pm
A Free Wheel will launch the beginning of Bike Week '09, where we are hoping that all cyclists, new and old, will gather at Palmer Park to cycle together the short distance to Prospect Park. If you would like to join us please get to Palmer Park Stadium car park at 9am. (Picture above is of a London free wheel 2008)



The Reading Cycle Festival at Prospect Park. 10:00 - 16:00. This event is a family occasion,where there will be lots of bikes to try out and other activities to take part in - see below:
Dr Bike
Facepainter
Cycle promotion stands
Sports try out
Family led rides


Sunday 14th
Reading CTC beginner off/on road ride. Meeting at the Fountain at Caversham Bridge at 10:00.
Reading Cycle Club beginner road ride - this is aimed at regular cyclists that aspire to joining a club.Meeting at Reading Market Place - 09:00


Monday 15th
Cycle for Health at Palmer Park. 11:30 to 13:00
Cycle relay race for businesses at Palmer Park Stadium. 17:15 to 18:15


Tuesday 16th
Led ride from Green Park with free lunch afterwards. Meeting at Green Park at 12:00.
Reading Cycle Club " Come and Try it" time trial. Starting at Aldermaston. For more information please see here.


Wednesday 17th
Everybody Active Cycling session for Adults with disabilities at Palmer Park from 10:00 to 11:30.
Accessible Cycle Club - cycling for families at Palmer Park Stadium from 17:15 to 18:15
Reading CTC beginner off road ride. Meeting at the Fountain at Caversham Bridge at 19:30.


Thursday 18th
Free Cyclists breakfast at the Hexagon. 08:30 to 09:30 (you must turn up on a bike!)


Friday 19th
Cycle for Health at Palmer Park 10:30 to 12:00


Saturday 20 June, Broad Street between 10am and 4pm
Cycle promotion stand


Sunday 21st
A family based led ride to Mapledurham and back with a picnic along the way. Young families with 'tag alongs' and trailers particularly welcome! The route will mainly be on quiet lanes and paths. Please bring your own picnic. Meeting at The Fountain near the south end of Caversham Bridge at 10am.
Reading CTC beginner off/on road ride. Meeting at the Fountain at Caversham Bridge at 10:00.
Reading Cycle Club beginner road ride. Meeting at Reading Market Place - 09:00- this is aimed at regular cyclists that aspire to joining a club.
All week FREE " My Ride" sessions at Palmer Park Stadium.



For more information please email Helen.Biggerstaff@ctc.org.uk or call 0118 901 5713

http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=5193
http://www.bikeweek.org.uk/event_search.php?pagemode=display&googleMap=y&event_id=596
http://www.readingctc.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=199
http://www.readingcyclecampaign.org.uk/forum/default.aspx?g=posts&t=8

The Age of Stupid at Reading Town Hall on Tuesday 30th June 2009, 6.45pm

The Age of Stupid is showing at Reading Town Hall on Tuesday 30th June 2009, 6.45pm

Tickets are available now on: http://www.readingarts.com/townhall/whatson/
call 9606060, or get them in person from Town Hall or Hexagon.

Info on the film is:
The Age of Stupid - Film Screening
At Reading Town Hall on Tuesday 30th June 2009, 6.45pm for a 7.15pm start
Director: Fanny Armstrong
Cast: Pete Postlethwaite
Synopsis: A man living alone in the devastated future world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn't we stop climate change when we had the chance?
Running time: 89 mins
There will be the opportunity to hear about local community environmental initiatives and sign Reading's climate change pledge at this event.
Tickets: £5.50 Concessions inc YRP: £4.50
Groups discounts available.

Demonstration at Fylingdales Saturday 13th June with CND

With significant opposition to US Missile Defence across Europe, the proposed bases in Poland and the Czech Republic may never be built. Around 70% of Czech citizens oppose the base and in Poland this stands at 53%.

Here in the UK we have Menwith Hill and Fylingdales involved in US Missile Defence.
Why was the U.S. so interested in developing the system at Fylingdales? RAF Fylingdales is one of the 3 stations in an American BMEWS chain linked across the North Atlantic. The other stations are in Greenland and Alaska, both components of the US Air Force based at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. In the last few years a gigantic pyramid has replaced the once familiar golf balls. The radar system has been significantly changed - a sign that the base still performs an important role in the ever-developing technology of the US Star Wars system.

Now is the time to show our opposition to US Missile Defence and the UK governments participation. Get active this month and join us at the national demonstration at Fylingdales radar base, near Pickering in North Yorkshire on Saturday 13th June, assembling at 12 noon.

Speakers include: Jana Glivicka (Ne Zakladnam), Fabian Hamilton (North East Leeds Labour MP), Martin Hemingway (Yorkshire Green MEP candidate), direct action activists Sylvia Boyes and Lindis Percy, Kate Hudson (CND Chair) and Yorkshire CND convenor Dave Webb.

Transport details to the demo:
Bradford, Leeds and York - Hannah on 01274 730795 or hannah@yorkshirecnd.org.uk
Sheffield - Kath on 0114 2967596 or kathcripps@blueyonder.co.uk
Liverpool and Merseyside - Merseyside CND on 0151 7026974 or mcnd@care4free.net
Manchester - Greater Manchester & District CND on 0161 2738283 or gmdcnd@gn.apc.org
For directions please see http://www.multimap.com/maps/?qs=fylingdales&countryCode=GB

Prebooked transport will be available from York Railway Station.

Any other enquiries please contact hannah@yorkshirecnd.org.uk or campaigns@cnduk.org
Join Yorkshire CND

CND UK

Oxford Road Revamp; this time remember the cyclists

A few years ago the council spent millions revamping the Oxford Road, but they forgot about cyclists. So a couple of years they put in a Cycle Path (see youtube video) that has become a local joke, its only a few yards long. It is featured in the book 'crap cycle lanes'.

But, wait for it, here we go again. 'Facilities for cyclists will be improved on Reading's Oxford Road. Up to £50,000 will be spent upgrading a Berkshire town centre road to ease traffic congestion there.' The revamp of Reading's Oxford Road is also aimed at creating "a more pleasant urban environment", a spokesman for the borough council said. It will link in with further long-term measures once the multi-million pound improvements to Reading Station and Cow Lane are complete, the spokesman added. Destroying an allotment because they wont consider local communities.

The work includes building kerbs and "upgrading cyclists facilities". As they are virtually non-existent currently it will need some upgrading. And they forgot to mention the Tesco they recently permitted to be built, despite a big petition against it, to replace our local hospital. So now we have lots of empty shops, a telling achievement of the Labour Council. Incidentally the other parties didn't object either, the Greens are in effect the only opposition on many issues.

This will be discussed at a council meeting on Tuesday.

BBC repeat RBC press release

Great Climate Changing Debate In Reading Tonight

Today Tuesday 9 June at 7 pm

Free admission

Free refreshments from 6 pm
at The Great Hall, University of Reading, London Road Campus, Reading RG1 5AQ

Chaired by
Professor Peter Liss, University of East Anglia

Experts
Professor John Sheperd FRS, Tyndall Centre, University of Southampton
Professor David Cope, Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology
Dr Alan Gadian, Senior Research Lecturer, University of Leeds
Dr Olivier Boucher, Head Climate, Chemistry and Ecosystems, Met Office Hadley Centre
David Santillo, Research Fellow in Bioscience, University of Exeter
Miriam Kennet CEO Green Economics Institute

About this event
Are you concerned about the future of our planet? You can have your say and listen to a top panel of experts debate how or even if we can halt or reverse damage created by greenhouse gases.

The protection of the environment is now firmly a mainstream consideration in all our lives. Previous Great Debates have addressed energy and environmental issues: the need for alternative energy sources, and minimisation of environmental impacts.

Engineers are currently examining geo-engineering as one of a number of ways to tackle climate change, There are five types of geo-engineering; ideas include removal of carbon dioxide from the earth's atmosphere with air-scrubbers, reflecting solar radiation back into space with space mirrors, artificial oceanic algal blooms to absorb carbon dioxide, mass re-forestation and artificial cloud cover.

What are the challenges of geo-engineering, and does the “law of unintended consequences” mean that we may do more harm than good?

This public debate, will bring together a leading panel of climate experts, focusing on geo-engineering and has been organised by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), the British Computer Society (BCS), the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) to highlight the urgency to act on climate change before it is too late.

Registration
Please register online.

Cost
Free of charge.

Programme
18.00 - refreshments and networking
19.00 - debate begins

Organiser
Organised by the IET Berkshire Network, IMechE, ICE, BCS & IChemE

http://www.theiet.org/local/uk/thames/berks/gccd.cfm

Lights Out Campaign, Rising Tide

I just wanted to let you know about the campaign and competition we have been running at Reading Rising Tide. We are trying to encourage the owners of business premises in Reading to do there bit for climate change by reducing their unnecessary over night lighting.

We are doing this by collecting photos of buildings blazing away at night and shaming the owners through publicising their wasteful energy practices. You may have seen the coverage in the Reading Evening Post on Friday 29th where our Climate Wardens confronted the Apex Plaza.

We are following this up by attempting to extract commitments from the owners of the premises identified to reduce there energy consumption and offering practical suggestions about how this can be achieved.

Every month we select a target based upon a selection of photos that have been submitted to us. The provider of the winning photo is given a prize and we visit the losing building to tell then to “turn there lights out”

There are a number of ways that you can help out the campaign.

Send us a photo @ reading@risingtide.org.uk
Suggest a possible target and one of our climate wardens will take the photo on your behalf.

We also need more climate wardens to take on more substantial roles. We meet at RISC on the second Monday of every month and you can contact us by e-mail as above or phone John: 078108222204

You can view and comment upon the photos we have already collected by visiting: http://www.flickr.com/photos/35410604@N04/sets/72157615695624788/

We see this campaign as a first step to encouraging businesses to take seriously their responsibility to combat climate change by reducing their energy consumption. We hope that you will be able to contribute to what we hope is a fun but significant campaign.

Regards

All at Reading Rising Tide

World Oceans Day, The End of The Line

Today is World Oceans Day - not yet as high profile a calendar event as Mothers' Day or Fathers' Day, yet equally worthy of celebration since the oceans are the source of all life on earth – home to most of the planet's species.

Millions of people depend on the oceans for their livelihood, their food, or both. It's estimated that the oceans absorb 30-50 percent of the carbon dioxide our fossil-fueled civilization emits. The oceans produce half of the oxygen we breathe. Quite literally, if the oceans die, our planet dies.

Yet we are fishing out our oceans, catching too much, and wasting much of what we catch. We use destructive fishing methods to scrape the sea-floor clean of centuries-old coral and other living things in search of a few premium species.

We send more and more boats out chasing fewer and fewer fish. We strip the fins from sharks.

And we ignore the warnings of scientists when they recommend that we cut back on fishing for bluefin tuna, cod and salmon.

The End of the Line The End of the Line is a new film released across the UK today for special World Oceans' Day premiere screenings, which tells the story of this relentless quest to catch fish at any cost, and points the finger at the politicians, corporations and chefs who are to blame. It's a stark wake-up call to those of us who blithely assume that there will always be 'plenty more fish in the sea'.

After seeing a preview a few days ago comedian Stephen Fry told his Twitter follwers "Staggered by brilliance of The End of the Line. PLEASE go & see it when it opens 50 screens nxt wk. Rarely felt so strongly about anything". Stephen's one of a large number of celebrities who are now demanding that the fashionable Nobu resteraunt chain take endangered bluefin tuna off its menus. Others include Ted Danson, Woody Harrelson, Sting, Charlize Theron, Stuart Townsend, Alicia Silverstone and Zac Goldsmith.

Here at Greenpeace we think this film is essential viewing, which is why we're proud to be supporting it. Watch the trailer and you'll see that this is more than just another film - it will change the way we think about the oceans. And please tell your friends - the more people who see it in the first few days, the more screenings it will get in cinemas in the weeks and months to come. Once you've seen it, I think you'll agree that this is a film that needs to be seen by as many people as possible.

So please celebrate World Oceans Day by going to see The End of The Line if you can. Check here for the list of participating cinemas - some have special guest Question and Answer sessions.

Help us spread the word about the film

If you use Facebook, Twitter, or other social networking sites, you can easily help us to get the word out by inviting your friends to take a look.

Thank you,

Willie Mackenzie, Greenpeace
Monday, June 8th, 2009

Euro Election Night in Reading

I just came back from the count in Reading, and saw some amazing results for the Greens.

Locally in Park Ward we were far ahead of the other parties, reflecting the large amount of work done, mostly by the candidate Rob White assisted by a strong support team.

The surprise was in places like Thames and Mapledurham, where we came in second!

This lead to another surprise, coming in 3rd place overall in Reading; ahead of the Lib Dems! They have 8 Cllrs, we have yet to win our first. If only we can keep these voters in the next election.

Nationally the results are still coming in, but it looks like we have more votes but remain on 2 MEPs.


Cllr Richard Willis said 'the big surprise of the night was the Greens claiming third place and pushing the Lib Dems into fourth place'

After The Reshuffle; Brown Cabinet Of Horror

P.M. 'two homes' Brown
* Deputy Baron 'two resignations' Mandleson still Minister of (Corruption)Industry
* Treasury still 'two homes' Darling
* Foreign still David 'Kashmir' Miliband
* Home is now 'future leader' Alan Johnson
* Health is now I've not read the report' Andy Burnham
* Glenys 'nepotism' Kinnock Minister for (window dressing) Europe
* Peter Hain is Minister for Incompetence
* Bob Ainsworth 'voted to keep their expense details secret' becomes defence secretary
* John Denham is Communities Secretary (he once resigned in protest over the Iraq war!) as Geoff Hoon who was Defence Secretary in the Iraq war departs.
* Yvette Cooper is expected to replace Mr Purnell as work and pensions secretary


After being snubbed for a promotion, Caroline Flint, the Europe Minister, delivered the most personal attack yet on the beleaguered Prime Minister, accusing him of using her as "female window dressing" and of operating a "two-tier Government"."It seems Caroline Flint is great friends with Communities Secretary Hazel Blears and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. She said “Several of the women attending Cabinet – myself included – have been treated by you as little more than female window dressing."

Geoff Hoon, John Hutton, Paul Murphy, Margaret Beckett and Tony McNulty have all quit the Government. They followed Jacqui Smith, Hazel Blears, Mr Purnell and Beverley Hughes out of the exit door.

Mr Brown was forced to retreat from his plan to sack Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, instead keeping him and Foreign Secretary David Miliband in their posts, promoting leadership rival Alan Johnson to the Home Office and effectively making Peter Mandelson deputy Prime Minister.

James Purnell quit as work and pensions secretary with a call for the PM to "stand aside" to prevent Labour defeat at the next election.

House Of Lords (unable to be questioned directly by MPs) are
Lord Adonis has been promoted to Transport Secretary.
Baroness Royall, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster,
Lord Malloch-Brown, a minister in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office,
Lord Drayson, the Business, Innovation and Skills Minister, and
Baroness Scotland, the Attorney General.

Breaking News
Baron Mandelson does not believe Gordon Brown can win a general election, according to leaked emails!

D Day For Brown 6th June

On top of every other disaster Brown is having, he has managed to mess up an important ceremony and anger the veterans.

Although Gordon Brown will be there, it is wrong that the French and American heads of state – Presidents Sarkozy and Obama — are attending but the Queen, the only head of state to have been involved in the war, is not.


Paris described the event as “primarily a Franco-American ceremony”, said that an invitation had been extended to the British Government and it was up to Mr Brown to decide who would attend.

“The Queen of England, as British head of state, is naturally welcome,” said a French government spokesman. “It’s not up to France to decide who will represent Britain.”

I'm no fan of monarchy, but she should be in France today. Prince Charles coming as an afterthought is no substitute.

Then we should make the Royal family pay the same tax that the rest of us do; talk about an expenses scandall. The palaces and gardens should be their for all of us, not those with the 'right' parents.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6411173.ece

Gordon Brown Toilet Petition

This is a campaign from www.wateraid.org/uk

Dear supporter,

I am writing to ask you to complete WaterAid's online petition to the UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, as a matter of urgency.

There is just one month to go until world leaders meet for the annual G8 summit, where many high level, global decisions are made.

The summit provides a key opportunity for world leaders to address the ongoing global water and sanitation crisis. Therefore it is crucial for us to build as much public pressure as possible ahead of this key influencing opportunity.

WaterAid is urging the UK Prime Minister to be a 'Sanitation Champion', by encouraging him to talk taps and toilets with other world leaders. Let's flood him with a unified call to urgently act to address the global water and sanitation crisis.

It's really simple to add your voice to the campaign and will take less than a minute. Simply follow the link below. Please also encourage your friends, family and work colleagues to sign the campaign too. Your actions really do make a difference, please forward this email.

Thank you for your ongoing support of WaterAid. Together we can help achieve lasting political change.

Sign the online petition at www.wateraid.org/champion

Barbara Frost
Chief Executive
WaterAid

Post Election Thoughts

What an election day that was. Nationally the news was about cabinet ministers resigning and how long desperate Gordon Brown can go on. Locally the press was much kinder to the Labour party with puff pieces about Reading Station and today asking the retiring MP to stay on (its nice to have friends)!

The polling booths opened at 7am, we had people sitting outside them in Park ward all day, normally every polling station has activists outside but on this day; no. There have also been very few posters from the other parties, some are saying its due to the expenses scandal. Others say that the big parties aren't taking the Euro Election seriously, or that they are having a stealthy campaign as they're scared of a brick through the window.

We had people canvassing, knocking on doors, leafleting and campaigning all day. We are lucky to have such a brilliant team, led by our target candidate Rob White who has been a tower of strength.

My role was to input data into spreadsheets, so I was stuck inside most of the day. Fortunately someone took over from me eventually so I could get some food, knocked on some doors, before getting back onto a computer. The polls closed at 10pm, it was a very long day, but it was it worth it.

Many of the voters were dissatisfied with the big three parties, and some are turning to the Greens. The big three parties seemed very quiet, perhaps embarrassed by the antics of their MPs expenses being revealed in the press. This is expected to result in a low turnout in some areas, it could reach a new low of 25%; though interest in politics has rarely been so high.

Lib Dems Confused about Voting Green

A Scottish Green Party used campaign signs from the 2007 Holyrood elections that carried the slogan "First Vote Green". Lib Dems claimed the posters in Lower Granton Road could mislead people into thinking they were meant to mark their ballot papers 1, 2, 3 rather than using a cross.

Edinburgh Greens spokesman Gavin Corbett, said it showed desperation on the part of the Lib Dems that they would "stoop to such trivia".

He said: "I cannot believe that anyone will see a general message on a lamppost and be directed to vote in one way rather than following instructions on a ballot paper. However, to avoid confusing any Lib Dem activists we have arranged for them to be taken down."

This compares to the LIb Dem leaflets that say "Only the Lib Dems can win here" when in Euro Elections every party has a chance.


[courtesy of Mingdacious Graphics] hattip Weggis

See also;
Tory thunderdragon
Ian Dale quoting Kerron Cross 'Every election is a “two-horse race” where “only we can win here”. The ubiquitous bar chart, which is not to scale. Where if no statistics actually support that “only a Lib Dem can win here” so “don’t waste your vote'
Labourlist
Lab Kerron Cross
Green
Fib Dems
Green ruperts read

Green Groups Slam UK Government's Severn Tidal Power Shortlist

Some of the UK's biggest green groups have slammed the Government's shortlist of tidal power projects being proposed for the Severn Estuary in the southwest as "seriously flawed". A report commissioned by environmental groups including the National Trust, RSPB and WWF, and carried out by Atkins, claims the Government is pushing large-scale schemes that will damage local wildlife at the expense of smaller-scale projects.

The Government's favourite scheme, the Cardiff-Weston barrage, which could meet up to 6% of the UK's electricity demand, would also permanently flood protected areas of the Estuary wetland. The coalition of environmental groups criticise the decision to include the larger barrage schemes while ruling out projects based on lagoon technology, which would be potentially much less damaging.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) counters that this technology is much further off commercial viability - but one that is nevertheless being supported by £500 million in research funds. However, the coalition maintains that the Government's report has "several serious shortcomings in the power calculations which bias the shortlisting process". They also claim that the Government is using out of date data. The environmental groups are now calling on the Government to scrap its current list and draw up a new one that gives a fair assessment of more innovative projects.

For further information:
www.rspb.org.uk/Images/Atkins_review_tcm9-216760.pdf http://severntidalpowerconsultation.decc.gov.uk/

Source Energy Efficiency News

Momentum - 'the big mo' in the polls

Its a phrase every party dreams of, do they have momentum, or 'the big mo'? The polls are always a bit variable, not very accurate. But during an election period suddenly instead of just the usual parties (Tory/Lab/LD) getting all the coverage, the Greens get some air time. And this can result in new interest in us and our policies.

Now during this election the news is all about expenses scandals, which have smeared all the big parties, and some of the smaller ones were already in the mire. That leaves the Greens as a option to more and more people.

So I've been watching our poll readings go up and up, and it may be that we have it, "The Big Mo". Momentum. Lots of it.

In the new poll, conducted by ComRes, the Greens have overtaken the Lib Dems for the first time since 1989. The poll suggests the Greens may be about to match their historic 1989 Euro-election vote of 15%.

If the poll proves accurate, the Greens will probably win new MEPs in many regions, and may even get a second seat in the South East, with Brighton councillor Keith Taylor joining party leader Caroline Lucas.


The new poll shows support for the different parties as follows:
Con 24%
Labour 22%
UKIP 17%
Green 15%
Lib Dem 14%
BNP 2%


In this one I've plotted all the parties, but its a bit unclear.

B Tory dark blue
C Lab orange
D LD yellow
E Green green
F UKIP red
G BNP light blue

Date of Poll Cons Lab Ld Green Ukip Bnp
18/05/09 39 . 23 . 19 . 4 . 6 . 5
23/05/09 30 . 24 . 18 . 9 . 10 . 1
29/05/09 30 . 16 . 12 . 10 . 19 . 5
30/05/09 40 . 18 . 18 . 6 . 7 . 4
30/05/09 29 . 17 . 20 . 11 . 10 . 5
01/06/09 40 . 18 . 18 . 6 . 7 . 4
02/06/09 24 . 22 . 14 . 15 . 17 . 2

Are Ukip a party of 'fascist nutters'

In the last Euro Election, 2004, Robert Kilroy-Silk was a large reason for UKIPs success. The media loved him, and he brought some wealthy backers that meant huge media coverage.

A few months after considerable electoral success; the TV presenter, Labour then UKIP politician dismissed some of his former colleagues in the UKIP as "bloody right-wing fascist nutters". Now when he said that he had just left the party, after failing to become its leader, so had some reason to dislike them. But this attack goes way beyond ordinary criticism.

Their election broadcast and adverts refer to Winston Churchill who said in 1946 in Zurich that: "We must build a kind of United States of Europe". If they had any knowledge of history they would be well aware that during the Second World War, Churchill sought a union of France and Britain for the duration of the war. And after the war he agreed that structures should be put in place to bring Europe closer together to avoid further conflict.

In WW2 the fascists stood against the rest of the world. On one side were Polish fighter pilots, French resistance, Gurkhas, thousands of Black and Asian people. Which side would UKIP have been on do you think?

Godfrey Bloom MEP said

Let me just say a little about the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA), which will guide us onto the target of how mistakes are made. The FSA in the United Kingdom has a rule book of half a million words. Nobody understands it – least of all the FSA.... Now it is going to be, it would appear, subsumed by some sort of EU overseer, consisting no doubt of ignorant bureaucrats, Scandinavian housewives, Bulgarian mafia and Romanian peg-makers.

UKIPwatch refer to them as a "party of 'racists, cranks and gadflys".

UKIP MEP Ashley Mote went to prison for benefit fraud; and that UKIP MEP Tom Wise is being prosecuted for money laundering. Even Nigel Farage has copped some serious flak after being caught admitting that he had taken £2m in expenses and couldn’t account for it. The eurosceptic Tory think-tank Open Europe has weighed in, including 6 U-kippers in its list of the 10 worst offending MEPs. Bloody hell, even the Sun is saying they’re a bunch of crooks.

Their Election Broadcast blames immigrants for traffic congestion and housing shortages; reminding many of extremism of the past.

2004 UKIP benefitted from some huge donations; most of the £1.2m - more than the Lib Dems received - came from Yorkshire businessman Paul Sykes' firm, which spent £715,000 on huge adverts.

Paul Sykes has since split from UKIP , The Yorkshire businessman, who contributed over half of Ukip's £2m fighting fund for the June 2004 European elections, said that the party had "blown it" by deciding to field candidates against Eurosceptic Tory MPs. So thats the end of that source of funds.

The other question is; what is the point of UKIP? They campaign on Britain leaving Europe, but despite huge numbers of votes and millions spend on advertising, this is no closer to happening. Even if they achieved the impossible and got 100% of the vote; would we leave the EU? No, they would still need to win seats in the Houses of Parliament. Have their 12 MEPs achieved anything, aside from getting on the gravy train.

There are other ways for people to express their desire for a vote for a referendum, including the Greens.