Landscape Portraitst By Stan Herd

Last weekend I blogged about images from Googlemaps.

I then found googlesightseeing, 'why bother seeing the world for real'! They have even listed stonehenge replicas.

Then I found an artist, Stan Herd, who makes huge portraits that can be seen from space.



Ibn Battuta Earthwork by Stan Herd

Obama Earthwork

http://www.inconcertwithnature.com/htm/archives.htm

Protect Marine Life In Australia, sign a petition

Protect Marine Life In Australia, sign a petition here


The Hon Julia Gillard MP
Prime Minister of Australia
Parliament House, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2600, Australia

Dear Prime Minister Gillard,

As someone concerned about the future of Australia's marine life, I write to ask you to protect a part of your country that makes it such a special place to visit.

Despite being one of the most significant marine environments in the world, stretching from the tropical seas of the north to the Antarctic ice-shelves of the south, less than 5% of Australia's marine environment is protected in marine sanctuaries.

Australians are known round the world for their strong connection to the ocean. With such rich and precious marine life, Australia - and the Rudd Government - has an opportunity to show global leadership as stewards of the sea.

Australia is internationally renowned for its beautiful white beaches, its high quality seafood, its unforgettable coastal holidays, and some of the best diving and water sports in the world. This is what it means to be Australian - no wonder people come in their millions from around the world to experience it.

I understand that your Government is currently considering the future of the globally significant waters off Australia's South West corner. There, up to 90% of the marine life is found nowhere else in the world, but less than 1% is protected in marine sanctuaries.

I ask you to support the creation of large marine sanctuaries in Australian waters, starting in the incredible South West marine region. These 'National Parks in the sea' would protect marine life, help replenish fish stocks, and secure Australia's global reputation as responsible stewards of the sea.

I look forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely

True Food Shop - Local Loaves for Lammas

Saturday the 31st of July 2010 from 10am-1pm at the shop, True Food is taking up the call from the Real Bread Campaign to celebrate Local Loaves for Lammas.

In bringing the ancient grain harvest festival of Lammas right up to date, True Food is joining Real Bread bakeries, traditional mills, farmers’ markets other local loaf lovers all around Britain. To mark the occasion, True Food is getting all floured up for the day, starting with a toast breakfast at 10:15am followed by a morning of bread demos a baking workshop (with bread to take home!) and finishing with a fun competition.

So please come along to the shop and enjoy a fun packed morning of all things bread related.

Wessex Equalities Trust Blog

I am now part of a group called the Wessex Equalities Trust.
The Wessex Equalities Trust aims to promote the Equalities Trust.

Inspired by The Spirit Level:why equality is better for everyone by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, a book published in March 2009.

Our members have a wide variety of interests, at the first meeting we discussed education, health, tax and politics.

We blog here.

So far we have written about critics of the spirit level, inequality wider than the 1030s, campaign update & Maximum wage.


Other regional Equalities Trust groups are:
Sheffield Equality Trust
Scotland Equality Group
London Equality Group

Dodgy Claims; Plastic Bags, Beef, Pigeon & Squirrel

A commenter on a post about Flying recently sent a link to an interesting article from 2007.

"Paper bags are worse for the environment than plastic because of the extra energy needed to manufacture and transport them, the Government says." It was the previous Government, but what a silly thing to say! People campaign against plastic bags because most are used once then discarded, wasting resources and polluting the environment. Paper bags can be composted by contrast. Better is to reuse the same bag, cloth bags last for a very long time.

"Research published in New Scientistlast month suggested that 1kg of meat cost the Earth 36kg in global warming gases. The figure was based on Japanese methods of industrial beef production." Beef is the most polluting of meat sources, so using it is the most extreme example.

Many people will be surprised that a UN report said Global meat production was responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions, which was slightly more than all of the world's cars, trains, and planes combined!

Interestingly while full lifecycle analysis was used to calculate the emissions for the meat sector, this wasn't the case for the transport sector, where only the fossil fuels burned by the vehicles was included, not the emissions resulting from manufacturing the vehicles. "This lopsided 'analysis' is a classical apples-and-oranges analogy that truly confused the issue," Frank Mitloehner said.

Meat requires much more fossil fuel to produce than vegetables and grains. How much more? About 200 times more for beef than for potatoes. The reason for this is simple: Cattle consume fourteen times more grain than they produce as meat. They're food factories in reverse. So it takes a lot more water, land, and of course, energy to produce that meat. We use absolutely horrific amounts of energy to grow grain to feed to cattle. In fact, over 80% of the grain grown in this country is eaten by livestock, not people.

Pierre Gerber, livestock officer at the FAO and one of the 2006 report's authors, admits that the comparison was flawed. "It's a weakness that we were aware of the issue when we used it," he says. "But it's not the point of the report.

You can do a lot for the planet simply by cutting back your overall meat intake—food writer Michael Pollan suggested that if Americans went meatless one night a week, it would be equivalent to taking "30 to 40 million cars off the road for a year." When you do decide to eat meat, though, you can make a difference by making more responsible selections.

Also many other types of meat are preferable, Pork is better, but Chicken and eggs come out very well. In past recessions people have looked for cheaper sources of meat, things like offal that are looked down on and discarded become delicasies. In hard times some turn to rabbit. Some say "eating pigeon is ‘green tech at its finest’, given that the birds live off our trash – we don’t have to spend money to feed them." The Guardian said "The ultimate ethical meal: a grey squirrel. It's low in fat, low in food miles and completely free range."

Elvis as a boy, growing up dirt poor in the American South during the Great Depression, ate Squirrels. Also rabbits, rats, possoms, crows, song birds, and anything else they could catch. These were traditional foods for the poor in the South. Eating rats or squirrels may not sound that appetising, but they are low fat, high protein foods; it is said rat tastes like musty chicken, squirrel tastes like a sweet game meat.

The River cottage are publishing a book on food from a hedgerow; bilberries, blackberries, cloudberries, common mallow, dandelions, hedge garlic, horseradish, pignuts, nettles, sloes, sweet chestnuts, water mint and wild cherries. Food For Free is a classic by Richard Mabey; over one hundred edible plants are featured together with recipes and other culinary information. There is also information on how to pick and when to pick and the regulations on picking which are very important.

Better for the enviroment and our health is to eat less meat, some suggest a meat free day. Meat free Monday has alliteration on its side.

The article I started with concludes 'an ideal diet would consist of cereals and pulses. “This is a route which virtually nobody, apart from a vegan, is going to follow,” Mr Goodall said. But there are other ways to reduce the carbon footprint. “Don’t buy anything from the supermarket,” Mr Goodall said, “or anything that’s travelled too far.”

Top Berkshire Blogs July 2010

I notice the blogger who normally posts these lists has stopped. So I had a go, not quite the same as before but its close.

Of course no ranking system will ever be definitive so we encourage all bloggers to participate and apply to add their blog to the Wikio directory - the more the merrier! If you've added your site or think there are any sites we may have missed don't forget to tell us about them in the comments so that they can be added too!

Not yet out of the woods has gone up +29 places. The armchair sports fan has gone up 26 places. Bucolic Frolics went up 38 places. Alex Kirke went up over 100 places, but hasnt blogged for over a month.


Wikio Listings for July 2010 (May is here for comparison)
1 (=) #32 Mark Rekons
2 (=) #40 John Redwoods Diary
3 (=) #97 Boulton & Co
4 (+1) #166 Liberal Burblings
5 (-1) #173 Left Outside
6 (=) #178 Bracknell Blog
7 (=) #204 Another Green World
8 (=) #275 The Salted Slug
9 (+1) #320 The Cartoon Church
10 (+1) #412 Richard Willis
11 (-2) #463 Reading List
12 (+6) #546 Babyrambles
13 (+6) #553 Church Times Blog
14 (-2) #613 Green Reading
15 (-2) #622 Reading Libdems
16 (-1) #675 Neville Hobson
17 (-3) #694 Was Was 'Ere
18 (-2) #793 Jane Is The One
19 (-2) #812 Rob Fisher
20 (-3) #843 Daisy's Campaign Diary
21 (-1) #868 Glenn Goodalls Blog
22 (+3) #915 Bloggy Blanc
23 (-1) #942 Richard Mckenzie
24 (-1)#1058 Green Gabbles
25 (+18) #1222 Ricky Duveen
26 (=) #1230 LPUK South East
27 (+29) #1264 NYOOTW
28 (=) #1315 Peter Henleys Hustings
29 (-2) #1326 Gareth Epps
30 (+4) #1358 Alvins Stuff
31 (-2) #1547 Clive Davis Confab
32 (- 8) #1687 gC02e
33 (-2) #1728 Seans Green Blog
34 (-4) #1869 Mr London Street
35 (-3) #1871 Want to be a free thinker, but still a nice person
36 (-3) #1909 Scaryduck
37 (-2) #2031 naws
38 (-1) #2090 The Flashing Blade
39 (new) # 2137 A muse inner me
40 (-1) #2233 Green Construction
41 (-1) #2244 Greening St Johns
42 (+26) #2342 The armchair sports fan
43 (-2) #2358 Berkshire Blog Review
44 (-2) #2395 Marketing By Permission
45 (-2) #2406 Cllr Dave Luckett
46 (=) #2519 Adrian Hollister
47 (+101) #2546 Alex Kirke
48 (+ 24) #2595 Creating reputations Morgan PR
49 (+ 38) #2609 Bucolic Frolics
50 (-3) #2642 Narrowboat Zulu Warrior
51 (-7) #2681 Reading Liberal Youth
52 (-4) #2816 The Thoughts Of Chairman Bill
53 (-4) #2854 Independent Jones
54 (-4) #2931 The Virtual Victorian
55 (-3) #2938 Caro Cat (cats blog)
56 (-3) #3056 Katesgrove LibDems
57 (-3) #3060 Reading List editors page
58 (-3) #3067 Last Django In Paris
59 (+15) #3082 The Sourceress
60 (-4) #3242 Cllr John Ennis
61 (-3) #3284 Reading Geek Night
62 (-3) #3433 Josh Harsant MYP
63 (-3) #3601 Puglia2010
64 (-3) #3612 Bag Lady
65 (-3) #3640 Gideon Mack – Orangutan
66 (+14) #3863 Sheabutter Cottage
67 (-4) #3874 Prue Bray
68 (-4) #3876 Berkeley Blog
69 (-4) #4037 Notes
70 (-3) #4068 Mysterious World Of Matt Blackall
71 (-2) #4331 Rachels Blog
72 (-2) #4477 Internet Psychology
73 (-2) #4643 The Wendy House
74 (+1) #5178 British Royal Wedding
75 (+2) #5264 Windsor Fire Station
76 (+2) #5490 DTT Memoirs
77 (+2) #5566 Through A Peep Hole
78 (+3) #5645 Grasp The Mettle
79 (+3) #5646 David Burbages Weblog
80 (+3) #5665 Thames Valley Mums Blog
81 (+5) #6360 106 Points and 99 Goals
82 #6756 diggestive the top five
83 (+6) #6971 The Red Rocket
84 (+6) #7132 Ramblings of a Pheasant Plucker
85 (+6)#7133 Berkshire Websites
86 (+7) #7134 Matthew Millen
87 (+7) #7135 Sophie Berkshire Escort
88 (+7) #7136 The age of Stupidity
89 (7) #7137 The Timber Yard
90 (+7) #7138 Clayhill Newbury
91 (+7) #7140 Prof Will Hughes
92 (+7) #7141 Treetops one day classes in Newbury
93 (+7) #7142 My Random Rants
94 (+7) #7143 hang-on
95 (+8) #7144 dot.green
96 (+7) #7145 Slouching towards Thatcham
97 (+7) #7146 Woz Writes
98 (+7) #7214 Beasleys Place
99 (+7) #7215 Phil Spray
100 (+7) #7216 Andy Peacock
101 (+9) #7217 Majic Photography
102 (+10) #7218 Reading Sikh Youth Association (RSYA)

The following have been deleted
Naz Sarkar
eastberkshiregreenparty (replaced by a website)
Right To Commonsense
Reading Roars
Open To Persuasion
The rise and rise of social media in UK retail
Slough town soapbox
http://www.thames-rail.co.uk/blog
Mishaps
Yasmin
Macbeth Insurance




A few more have been inactive since the election but I left them on for the moment.
Gareth Epps at number 20
Daisys Campaign Diary at 20


The rankings were worked out by butting the url into wikio

Update, added http://amuseinnerme.blogspot.com/ which shuffled the others down one.

Modern Google Maps Images

After blogging about how some ancient sites look on Googlemap image, I thought I would do the same with some modern ones.
Millenium Dome
Wembley Stadium
Lords Cricket Ground

Old Sarum Noise Pollution

Yesterday I went to see the beautiful old Sarum. Located on a hilltop north of Salisbury, Old Sarum is the site of the original city, showing evidence of habitation from 3000BC to 1219AD when the bishop relocated Salisbury Cathedral.


I was lucky enough to be there the same time as a tour, so I enjoyed that.
Unfortunately a couple of small planes kept flying round in cirles over the ancient monument, so it was rather difficult to hear.

You can see in the picture and video just how close they flew to us.

Millions of people are disturbed by aircraft nois and it will get worse

Aircraft Noise 71% had heard it
Traffic Noise 84% " "
Neighbour Noise 81% " "

Bothered, annoyed or disturbed by it:
Aircraft Noise 20% bothered to some extent
Traffic Noise 40% " " "
Neighbour Noise 37% " " "
Aircraft Noise 7% bothered moderately
Traffic Noise 22% " " "
Neighbour Noise 19% " " "

Aircraft Noise 2% very or extremely bothered
Traffic Noise 8% " " "
Neighbour Noise 2% " " "

• Figures from the 2001 National Noise Study carried out by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) for DEFRA – the most comprehensive study of recent years.

This survey is for flights carrying people from A to B, the annoying plane above appeared to be flying in circles.

Airportwatch recomend that complaints about noise, or of planes away from set flight paths, complain to the local airport management, in this case Old Sarum Airfield, about a mile away.

Send a copy to the DfT: aed@dft.gsi.gov.uk, airports@dft.gsi.gov.uk, Department for Transport, Great Minster House, 76 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DR
Please copy your letter to AirportWatch (info@airportwatch.org.uk). AirportWatch, 2nd Floor, Broken Wharf House, 2 Broken Wharf, London EC4V 3DT


One of the reasons I posted about google maps images yesterday was that I had just been to see Old Sarum. I was in the area as I had been to a meeting about the Equaualities trust, about which more will follow.

Will ConDem Increase Wind Turbines ?

Despite a history of not supporting wind, Energy Secretary Chris Huhne (Lib Dem) minister claimed to back new onshore and offshore wind power over nuclear today.

Mr Huhne, whose department is facing cuts of between 25% and 40%, said turbines were "incredibly competitive but not always popular among locals". Offshore sites had fewer planning issues and were "likely to be an important part" of energy independence.

There are currently shamefully few wind farms in the UK, around 250, with a further 12 offshore, a total of 2909 turbines. A further 27 onshore and five offshore wind farms are currently under construction while plans for another 468 wind farms have been announced. But with cuts of 25 to 40% who would describe this as a golden age of investment? And as Tory and LibDem councils and MPs have both turned down most turbine applications, who believes they will get behind renewable energy now?

"It's relatively cheap to put wind turbines in that shallow area," he said of a plan to use the shallow Dogger Bank to site off shore turbines. More expensive than on shore though, Huhne needs some lessons in economics.

Mr Huhne said the UK needed to become more independent in energy production to allow it to withstand "shocks from the outside world". "The lights will not go out on my watch," he said, despite his party turning down almost as many turbine sites as Cons and Lab. Actually we would be better off if many of the lights did go out, why have office lights (and computers) left on all night when they are not used. Doh.


The UK currently has 76 Giga Watts of generating capacity, but by 2020 Britain is said to need 120GW of capacity.

Almost a quarter—of electricity, 18 GW, generating capacity is due to close by 2020. Of this, 8.5 GW of coal-fired plants will close to meet EU requirements on pollution as will another 2.5 GW of oil-fired stations. A further 7 GW of nuclear power is scheduled to close by 2020, based on the published lifetimes of the plants. The impact of these closures on Britain's electricity generating capacity is shown in diagram below, which predicts power cuts in a couple of years.

In the meantime, demand for electricity may increase which will also have to be met by greater capacity. The dotted line shows a 20% margin over peak demand which is the current amount of spare capacity available to ensure there are no power cuts when power plants need to be turned off for maintenance and repairs. If this margin is to be maintained at around 20% then new power stations need to be built in good time to replace these closures and to meet increases in demand. On this basis, the Government has calculated that around 20-25 GW of new power stations will be needed by 2020.

Please note these projections have assumed that we will continue to be as wasteful of power as we are now. This has to change.

This is why Greens campaign for investment, insulate homes to stop wasting energy. Promote walking, cycling and public transport & save fuel. Cars are inefficient form of transport, very wasteful of fuel. We could improve ths by reducing the maximum speed to 60 mph on motorways. This would be a radical change and would need courage, our big three parties unfortunately have no such courage, which is why we are in such a mess.

Walking Converts to 228.1 MPG
Bicycling requires about half the energy of walking Converts to 630 MPG.
Car fuel efficiency varies, mostly from 30 to 40 mpg. A very small car like my Yaris gets close to 70 mpg, sports cars and 4x4 closer to 15 mpg.

Passenger airplanes around 49 passenger-miles per gallon in 1998.
Ships Cunard state the Queen Elizabeth 2 gets 16.7 passenger mpg

UK Freight train compared with road transport it is very efficient; if lorries did the same trip they would use 70% more fuel than a freight train.

Buses get around 231 passenger-mpg.

Now I know I am comparing electricity with petrol, but in the future electric cars will be more common so I think this will be fair. I should point out that comparing these differnt forms of transport are controversial, Rail and bus are generally required to serve 'off peak' and rural services, which by their nature have lower loads than city bus routes and inter city train lines.

Top Google Maps Images

I though it would be interesting to have a look at some favourite places on Google maps. So here are my top places, mostly Iron Age or neolithic sites. They don't build them like this anymore.

Giza, Cairo, Egypt

Stonehenge

Avebury

Uffington White Horse

And Old Sarum near Sailsbury

Peter Tatchell Challenges Coward Griffin Who Ran Away

A week after getting an honourary doctorate, Peter Tatchell is again making the news.

On the day Nick Griffin has been attemting to milk the Queens Garden Party invite, Peter turned up at Griffins press conference and challenged him. Rather than arguing, Griffin ran away!

Griffin is claiming he was banned because he is a racist, but actaully its him using it for political publicity that got him kicked out.

He was touring TV studios after a GMTV interview, furious royal aides banned the smug extremist - accusing him of blatantly politicising the social event.
Matthew Collins, of anti-BNP group Searchlight, declared: "Griffin has shown a complete lack of class in some of the comments about his invitation. He came across as the buffoon he really is."

See BBC footage of the ambush and a full transcript.

Mr Tatchell sneaked between the photographers pack and strode right up to Mr Griffin as he was showing off his Buckingham Palace Garden Party invitation, which was withdrawn by the Queen earlier today.

"As soon as he saw me he had a look of horror on his face" said Mr Tatchell.

"I asked Griffin: Isn't it about time you apologised to the British people for your party's long history of anti-Semitism, homophobia and attacks on the Muslim community???

"Griffin looked sheepish. He seemed stumped for an answer. I asked him again. Then he just ran off. What a coward.

"Griffin's minders shoved me down the stairs. It's proof that the BNP doesn't believe in free speech or in the public asking their leader awkward questions. It shows the kind of autocratic society the BNP would impose if they ever won power.

"For many years, the BNP has preached a totalitarian ideology of anti-Jewish, anti-black, anti-gay and anti-Muslim hatred. The party has a long and strident hatred of non-white immigrants and asylum seekers. It's racist views are an affront to democratic values.

"Behind Nick Griffin's silky words and smiles lurk his party's neo-fascist roots. The BNP is a threat to human rights and social solidarity" said Mr Tatchell.

Ian Tomlinson's Attacker Walks Free

Today we're told that the officer who attacked Ian Tomlinson won't face any charges. Not manslaughter, not ABH, not assault, nothing.

Jenny Jones, Green member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, said:
"This decision by the MPS won't please anyone. It won't satisfy the family, who don't have justice. It won't satisfy the officer, as he hasn't been officially cleared, just not prosecuted. And it won't satisfy the police as their reputation will be damaged yet again. "

"Time and again, the police appear to get away with serious assault or even manslaughter. From Blair Peach to Jean Charles de Menezes, they aren't being held to account for their crimes, and it's damaging to their public image."

"A trial for the officer would have tested the reputations of the medical experts involved. I am confident that a judge would come down on the right side of justice."


Watch the video here.


The partisan nature of the 'Independent' Police Complaints Commission, the way the police lied about what contact they'd had with Tomlinson, they lied about protesters trying to hinder gallant cops (when in fact protesters tried to help and cops refused to speak to ambulance services). They lied about Tomlinson dying of natural causes, they lied about there being no CCTV cameras.

It's the same treatment of smear and lies they gave the De Menezes case, and with a similar outcome. The officers who did it keep their jobs, those in charge saw a job well done, only the public were beaten and killed. It's the same closing ranks and protecting their position that we see far too often.

What would they need in order to prosecute? How much more evidence can there be of an offence, with witnesses and video footage? Yet the officer is free, and ready to be policing London once more.

The widow of a Ian Tomlonson has said her family "can't give up on justice". Julia Tomlinson said the Crown Prosecution Service's (CPS) decision was "a scandal".

The Metropolitan Police has expressed "regret" to Mr Tomlinson's family.

The CPS announced on Thursday it would not be bringing any prosecution, having looked at charging the officer with various offences including assault and manslaughter.

But Mrs Tomlinson said her family were not "going to walk away from this", adding: "What message would it send to the police if we do?

"We don't see how Ian can die moments after being assaulted by the police officer and he isn't made to face a jury."


Mr Tomlinson was a newspaper seller who was not involved in the protests about the summit. Video footage showed him being struck by a baton and then pushed to the ground. Although he moved on afterwards, he was then found collapsed on Cornhill, 100 metres away, he died shortly after.

If it had been Ian Tomlinson who had attacked a police officer from behind who then died later there would have been no question of him escaping prosecution. He'd have been behind bars long ago. What a disgraceful double standard.

"Who will guard the guards??" Who polices the police? No one.

Democracy Village Not Open To The Public

The excuse given by our freedom loving government for clearing protesters from Democracy Village wwas that it was prohibiting the wider public enjoying the Square.



Mayor of London Boris Johnson had accused the protesters of disrupting the business of parliament. A spokeswoman for Boris said the camp had caused ‘considerable damage to the site and had prevented its use by others, including lawful protesters’. As you can see now none but Brian can use it.
Guido,
twitter,
democracy village,
Metro,
Indymedia,
Jim Jepps

Honorary Doctorate for Peter Tatchell

Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell will receive an Honorary Doctorate for services to human rights, this Friday, 23 July.

The award from Sussex University will be made by the Chancellor, Sanjeev Bhaskar, at the graduation ceremony at Brighton Dome.

It is in recognition of Mr Tatchell’s 43 years of campaigning for human rights, democracy, global justice and LGBT freedom.

Commenting on his Hon D.Litt (Sussex), Mr Tatchell said:
“I was hesitant about accepting this honour. After all, my contribution to human rights is very modest. I am a long way from being a brave and effective campaigner. Many others are much more deserving than me.

“I would never agree to a royal honour but this award is different.

“My decision to accept was partly because the initiative for this honorary doctorate was a grassroots one, from the staff and students. I am honoured by their recognition of my human rights work.

“I accept this award in solidarity with the many heroic, inspirational activists who I support in countries like Uganda, Somaliland, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Baluchistan, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Western Sahara, Iraq, Palestine and West Papua.

“The message I will deliver in my acceptance speech is this: Be sceptical, question authority, be a rebel. All human progress is the result of far-sighted people challenging orthodoxy, tradition and powerful, vested interests. Don’t accept the world as it is. Dream about what the world could be – then help make it happen. In whatever field of endeavour you work, be a change-maker for the upliftment of humanity.

“I do my bit for social justice, but so do many others. Together, through our collective efforts, we are helping make a better world – a world more just and free. .

“My key political inspirations are Mohandas Gandhi, Sylvia Pankhurst, Martin Luther King and, to some extent, Malcolm X. I’ve adapted many of their ideas and methods to the contemporary struggle for human rights – and invented a few of my own.

“I began campaigning in my home town of Melbourne, Australia, in 1967, aged 15.

“My first campaign was against the death penalty, followed by campaigns in support of Aboriginal rights and in opposition to conscription and the Australian and US war against the people of Vietnam.

“In 1969, on realising that I was gay, the struggle for queer freedom became an increasing focus of my activism.

“After moving to London in 1971, I became an activist in the Gay Liberation Front, organising sit-ins at pubs that refused to serve ‘poofs’, and protests against police harassment and the medical classification of homosexuality as an illness.

“I was roughed up and evicted when I disrupted Professor Hans Eysenck’s 1972 lecture which advocated electric shock aversion therapy to ‘cure’ homosexuality.

“The following year, in East Berlin, I was arrested and interrogated by the secret police - the Stasi - after staging the first gay rights protest in a communist country,” said Peter Tatchell.

Read more about Peter Tatchell’s four decades of human rights campaigning here.

Islamophobia; Muslim Bus Drivers Slur

Last year a story was splashed over the papers about a Muslim bus driver locks passengers aboard as he stops to pray'.

It tuned out to be a hoax. The driver won £30,000 in damages from the Sun over a claim that he ordered passengers off his vehicle so that he could pray. He did pray on the bus, but he did so during his statutory rest break, as he is of course entitled to do. Not a single passenger was inconvenienced in any way.



Now we are told 'Muslim bus drivers refuse to let guide dogs on board'. LD Norman Baker yesterday weighed in saying bus and cab companies ae "within their rights to ask a passenger to leave if the dog was causing a nuisance, it was ‘much more questionable to be asked to remove a dog for religious reasons’."

Its not just questionable, if it happened at all it was plain wrong. There have been Muslim bus and cab drivers here for decades, yet this is a new story. It may turn out to be a fake. Ot it may be something that has happened once by a single bus driver. If its true that driver needs a strong reprimand, included in his job is carrying blind people and guide dogs. To imply that this is all bus and cab drivers is wrong, I hope they get fined again. You can complain here

In 2006, Muslim minicab driver Abdul Rasheed Majekodumni was fined £200 and ordered to pay £1,200 costs by magistrates in Marylebone, central London, after being prosecuted for failing to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act when he refused to take a blind passenger because her guide dog was ‘unclean’.

The extreme media such as the mail are pushing this story, implying its all Muslim drivers, as part of their Islamophobic agenda.

The PCC says 'All members of the press have a duty to maintain the highest professional standards.' This isnt.

The clause(s) I believe to have been breached
1 Accuracy
i) The Press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information, including pictures.

ii) A significant inaccuracy, misleading statement or distortion once recognised must be corrected, promptly and with due prominence, and - where appropriate - an apology published.


Hat tip Jane

Zero Carbon by 2030, ConDem Action Required

A report out the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) shows how the country could be zero carbon by 2030. The "visionary" report, Zero Carbon Britain 2030, would see all cars be electric or use biofuels, increased use of public transport and very occasional long-haul flights.

A mass insulation programme of homes and businesses would have to be undertaken to improve energy efficiency on a major scale in tandem with a significant expansion of renewable electricity and heat generation.

Offshore wind and wave energy would replace fossil fuels, with no reliance on new nuclear capacity.

The CAT report also outlines a transformation of the UK's land use, farming and diet. Land currently used for grazing cattle would be turned over to produce vegetables and grain for food and trees for biofuels and construction. The population, meanwhile, would have to reduce meat consumption.

Taking such measures could cut emissions by around 90%, with the remaining 10% offset by a major tree-planting 'carbon capture' effort.

The report is being backed by organisations including universities, the Met Office, as well as many other individuals including Sir John Houghton, former chair of the IPCC.

For more information, to buy the report or download it for free.



An independent assessment of the UK's infrastructure by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) reports that energy and transport networks are in poor condition.

The report grades each sector from A (fit for future) to E (not fit for purpose) on general condition, capacity, resilience and sustainability. The energy and transport sectors receive D grades, indicating an assessment of "at risk", which chair of the project steering group David Orr says is extremely concerning.

The energy sector is a particular cause for concern, says the report, facing as it does a massive challenge to ensure security of supply in future. The ICE highlights an urgent need to address the lack of spare capacity, warning that the system's maximum supply is very close to peak demand.

The Government must make decisions on renewable energy and nuclear capacity, as well as carbon capture and storage technology, within the next five years, to keep the lights on. The report also cautions that the country is too dependent on private car travel and calls for improvements to local transport networks to encourage a shift away from the car.

The ICE warns that the Coalition Government has very little time to act to secure sustainable and low-carbon energy and transport systems in the future. The report calls for a new funding mechanism, beyond the scope of the Green Investment Bank, to attract the necessarily high levels of private investment.

A replacement to the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) - an "efficient and democratically accountable" system - is also needed, supported by a clear strategic roadmap and led by a chief construction officer.

For further information go here

Zac Goldsmith In Trouble

The richest candidate at the last election is being accused of failing to properly account for his expenses. He had a rough time on channel 4 news, and failed to answer the questions. Instead he focused entirely on a red herring, was he asked to be part of the previos days programme.

Now despite him being a Tory, I defended Zac over the non dom affair; he did (eventually) get his affairs in order. But this time he has crossed the line.

Who believes that the thousands he spent on poster boards or jackets with his logo were only for the local eletion? No one. ConDem fail.

The interview with Jon Snow is here and the expenses return is here. Goldsmith refuses to answer Snow's questions and clearly has much to answer for.

Stuart Jeffrey

Goldsmith's claim that his garden boards were almost entirely used for local election campaigns is beyond bizarre and his defence that it is within the rules puts MPs right back where they were at the height of the expenses scandal last year.

Garden boards with large letters shouting 'Zac Goldsmith' and 'Vote Conservative' plus a picture of Zac are hardly backing a local election campaign. Spending £2800 on the boards and then putting a return in which says that just £262 relates to the general election campaign is simply wrong. Even if this is allowed within the rules somehow (and the suggestion from the Electoral Commission is that it is not), it is still cheating.

The spending limits are there for good reason - to stop millionairres buying themselves parliamentary seats. Zac Goldsmith is worth £200m.

Jim Jepps covers it here

in 13 minutes of interview he spends the almost entire time trying to skewer Jon Snow on some minor point of scheduling that no one cares about.

When he does get round to speaking about the issue in hand he utterly bungles it, and it's clear he knows he's on very dodgy ground. In my view he'd have been hard put to come across more like an aristocratic baddie even if he had a duelling scar and a henchman hovering just behind his right shoulder.

This is not the standard we expect from MPs. The elctoral comission site is here but it is hard to find any details.

I am still looking for information on local 'Common Sense' candidate who spent perhaps many tens of thousands on a van and a boat, both hand built to look like submarines. That he built them with his pals is no excuse, they need to be properly declared. As he did not win I expect most people will ignore this, but he got more votes than me and I want it clear that this is a result of him spending many times what I did on the campaign.

Let The Iroquois Lacrosse Team In

The UK has said it will refuse to allow a Native American lacrosse team to travel to the country using passports issued by the Iroquois Confederacy.

Officials told the team they would be granted a visa at immigration only with documents considered valid by the UK, including US or Canadian passports.

The team says using other passports would be an attack on their identity.

The Iroquois Confederacy of six Indian nations oversees tribal land that stretches from upstate New York into the Canadian province of Ontario.

The UK's decision not to accept the confederacy's travel documents came a day before the opening day at the Lacrosse World Championships in Manchester, during which the Iroquois team were due to play England.

The Iroquois helped invent lacrosse, as early as 1,000 years ago. Federation of International Lacrosse spokesman Ron Balls said in a statement on the championship website on Wednesday that the Iroquois team would forfeit their opening game if it did not arrive on time.

Support the campaign to let them play. I signed the petition and got this message.


Dear Adrian WIndisch,

Thank you for signing the "World Lacrosse Championships 2010 - absence of Iroquois" petition at iPetitions.com.
Your signature is valuable and makes a real difference. Please encourage others to sign the petition as well. Forward the text below to everyone who might be interested:

Hi,
I wanted to draw your attention to this important petition that I recently signed:
"World Lacrosse Championships 2010 - absence of Iroquois"
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/iroquoislacrosse/

I really think this is an important cause, and I'd like to encourage you to add your signature, too. It's free and takes just a few seconds of your time.

Thanks!

Derek covers it here
Jonathan Kent, a Green Party member from here in the South East of England has set up a facebook to support them, please join it here.
And Vowles here

Live Aid Memories

I have been watching the Live Aid doc on BBC4. What a shame it has taken so long to see this on TV.


It reminds me just how different the technology was then. It was before videos were common, my family didn't have one. We only had the one radio with a tape recorder, so I sat by that, putting in a new tape every 45 minutes for 16 hours on the 13th July 1985. Now 25 years later its enough easy to record TV or Radio for hours on end.

Funnily enough we lived near Wembley Stadium, I could see it from the window. That was in the days when the Stadium had the twin towers, long since knocked down, shame. The Stadium was one of the few parties that insisted on being paid on a day when everyone else was giving their time and services for the cause.

The documentary last night showed the criticism from the BME media that there were so few black performers. But rather than a conspiracy, it seems black singers had for their own reasons turned them down.

There was also a lot about arguemts on the day. Midge Ure was co organiser with Bob Geldof, but always seemed slighted. His then partner had a long list, but Bob was so stressed and busy it could easily not have been deliberate. Led Zeppelin performed with Phil Collins in Philadelphia, and they thought is was so bad they have resisted attempts to broadcast it since then. Huey Lewis and the News and Paul Simon both accepted requests to play the Philadelphia concert but later issued press statements stating they had chosen not to appear after all, citing disagreements with promoter Bill Graham.

Several bands had split up, or were going to, but reformed for this. Queen, the Who, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the original Black Sabbath with Ozzy Osbourne. It was the first performance of Paul McCartney after John Lenons death in 1980.

You can still donate to Band Aid Charitable Trust.

Urban Sustainability - The Urbal Fix

The Urbal Fix is about holistic urban sustainability

Click on the link to see a short film.

Conservative MP Tells People What To Wear

Against the traditions of tolerance that Britain is famous for, Tory MP Philip Hollobone wants a Nanny state that will tell us what we are allowed to wear.

He says he wants to Ban the burka as he likes to look at peoples faces. Many people are now ashamed that he is representing them in Parliament. Will he next want us all to wear suits? Must we all ask him what to wear every morning?

He said ''I think it's inappropriate to cover your face in public, whether it's a burka, a balaclava or anything else. We are never going to get along with having a fully integrated society if a substantial minority insist on concealing their identity from everyone else.''

Would he prefer women to wear false beards?

Mr Hollobone has previously described the burka as ''offensive'' and ''against the British way of life''. His comments have attracted criticism but also a ''great deal of support'' from a small numner if intolerant people, such Ukip and the Bnp supporters.

The MP said the British public like to smile and greet one another in the street but ''you simply can't have that degree of interaction with people if you can't see their face''. I hope he smiles at lots of people as he gets the tube in London, people will think he is a loon, and they won't be far wrong.

In circumstances where faces need to be shown, such as to check i.d. the law already covers this. I think he is making a play for the extremist vote, the right wing supporters of Ukip and the Bnp.

In May France took its first legislative step towards banning the full Islamic veil when parliament adopted a formal resolution describing the burka as an 'affront to French values'. The non-binding measure, approved by all mainstream parties, will be followed in July by a law that will outlaw Muslim women from wearing the burka, which covers the eyes with mesh, or the niqab, a full-body garment with eye slits.

The French have many famous values, which I wont need to remind people about.

France would be the second European country, after Belgium, to declare the full veil illegal in public places.

It’s been estimated barely 100 women in Belgium use the fully-veiled Niquab, so where is the problem? It’s more to do with party politics. And Islamophobia.


'What about a bridal veil? Or a facecloth! Or a baseball cap pulled low over eyes. Silly France.' Indeed what about men whith beards, or people wearing dark glasses. Or facial surgery, motorbike helmets and facepaint.

Facepaint Cartoon

Update; I had an email that said:

"the niqab is a tie on face covering and burka is the allover garment with a bit of mesh over the eyes/face. Not the other way round as stated in your blog.

I would not myself wish to wear either.

In my experience, I do not recollect meeting in Reading with anyone in a burka though I very very infrequently encounter a niqab. There are some around who wear, regularly or occasinally, a jilbab/abaya. And plenty of
hijab. And plenty who dress modestly but mostly do not cover their hair."

If the ConDems do bring in this rule, I can forsee protesters wearing face coverings. For those unwilling or unable to grow their own, you can find on ebay wigs like this.


Salma Yaqoob discusses this on the radio here and TV here

Media and Police Investistigated On Raoul Moat Hunt

I was going to blog about this earlier, but it seemed better to wait till it was over. Doc Richard has written very well on it here.

For over a week the media has been obsessed with this event; firstly a manhunt, then the human interest of the families involved and the effect on the community in Rothbury.

I think we need an inquiry looking into the police but also the media. Why did it take the police so long to find the man who had killed one person and tried to kill two others? Did they use heat imaging cameras to search?

But also what of the media, their reporting could have made the situation much worse. At the very least they got in the way of the police and behaved irresponsibly. As they admit:

Sky News @SkyScot on Twitter “Was listening to negotiations till armed cop found us. Crept up silently,first i knew was when i felt his breath on my cheek.”

Or this gem from Alex Thomson at Channel 4, via @MindInFlux “sorry lots of Bberry tweets in dark running thru peoples, gardens evading cops – some spelling may have gone astray”

Even Gazza got involved, here he is on the radion, sounding drunk. He claimed to know Raoul for years. Half a million people have listened to this.

“The media aren’t helping. You’ve got this constant round the clock rolling news. It’s like, you know, they’re working up to what could be a public execution in modern Britain of my little brother” said Moats brother.

It may be no coincidence that Raoul Moat’s rampage occurred so shortly after that of Derrek Bird. Charlie Brooker reports a forensic psychiatrist on Newswipe who argues that reporting on an event like this makes it more likely to be repeated. Hence my reluctance to blog about the subject.

Afghanistan - Time to go! Public Rally 26th July

Join the rally against the war.

Meeting at 7pm, Monday, 26th July
Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London, WC1R 4RL

Joe Glenton, jailed for refusing to fight in Afghanistan, speaks out against
the war alongside another ex-soldier.
With Caroline Lucas and other MP's.
More speakers TBA.

The war in Afghanistan is in crisis. The strategy is crumbling, with Obama's sacking of General McChrystal and an increasingly corrupt Karzai government.
The violence is intensifying with No clear goals and even fewer results.
ThousandS of Afghan civilians are dying every year and very little rebuilding is being done.

Despite the 77% of people being opposed to Britain's involvement in Afghanistan, this government continues to send troops to kill and die in a war that is being lost.

This war is wrong, this war has failed and it's Time To Go

Web: http://stopwar.org.uk


Politicians from the big parties say they respect the troops, I say respect them more by not putting them ion harms way for no reason. We are told that they are their for our safety, but there is no evidence for this. On the contrary, out being there as an occupying force would tend to generate opposition.

The situation is not unlike Vietnam. Ok its not a hot steamy jungle. The similarity is that Vietnam was not going to join the domino theory, they were fighting for there independence. They were pushed into an alliance with China in order to expel the French and then the USA. Similarly in Afghanistan, us being there will push them to join our 'enemies'.

The history of peace in Northern Ireland and South Africa should teach us to engage with people, talk to them, find out what motivates them. Shooting at people will convince them that we are the enemy.

So join the protest, Meeting at 7pm, Monday, 26th July
Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London, WC1R 4RL

Tabloid Homophobia And Xenophobia

In a new combination of hate, tabloids attack Gay immigrants. Its a dream story for the extreme right wing press; it combines homophobia and xenophobia.

As Refugee Action said: 'The Daily Star thinks their headline 'No room for gays' is acceptable in 21st century Britain. We think not.'

The Daily Express screams 'NOW ASYLUM IF YOU'RE GAY'.

Campaigners last night warned it could mean millions might try to claim they are gay to qualify for asylum in Britain. Supreme Court judge Lord Rodger said gay people’s right to live freely must be protected.

He said: “Just as male hetero­sexuals are free to enjoy themselves playing rugby, drinking beer and talking about girls with their mates, so male homosexuals are to be free to enjoy themselves going to Kylie concerts, drinking exotically-coloured cocktails and talking about boys with their straight female mates.”

The Daily Maid screams 'Gay asylum seekers win legal battle stay in Britain'. "Supreme Court Judge says homosexual asylum seekers should be allowed to stay because 'gays must be free to enjoy Kylie concerts and cocktails'."

They also quote Migrationwatch 'This could lead to a potentially massive expansion of asylum claims as it could apply to literally millions of people around the world.
'An applicant has now only to show that he - or she - is homosexual and intends to return and live openly in one of the many countries where it is illegal to be granted asylum in the UK.'

Migrationwatch is full of such imformation as 'England is already, with Holland, the most crowded country in Europe (except Malta)'. Thats like saying England is the most landlocked country except for those who are more landlocked. And it deliberately ignores Scotland and Wales, which are far less populous.

I prefer tabloid-watch, who have covered this here

Green Left are campaigning against this, 'Strike back against homophobic, racist tabloids'. 'We condemn the disgraceful homophobic comments in the Daily Star, Daily Mail and Daily Express which attack the recent Supreme Court decision to prevent the deportation of two gay asylum seekers back to Iran and Cameroon.'

Theres a protest in London on Thursday 15th July.

There is a facebook group here.

Other boggers have covered this:

When you need someone to slag off immigration and there's a deadline looming, who you gonna call? Philip Davies!

Conservative MP Philip Davies said: “It’s a dangerous game to play to go down this line because it’s quite feasible that this could offer an ideal line of defence for someone who wants to try to avoid being kicked out of the country, whether it is true or not that they are gay."

What should we have then? Gay tests? Or should we just send these refugees back to a life of misery and hatred, just in case someone might be pretending to be gay?

Greens win Brighton Council by-election, Congratulations Cllr Lizzie Dean

Lizzie Deane holds council seat with increased vote share

"I would like to thank the voters for putting their faith in me to represent them as a councillor.
"I look forward to representing the people of St Peter and North Laine.
"This result is a testament to the hard work of 14 years of Green councillor representation.
"Thank you to everyone who voted for me.
"I am honoured to have been elected to succeed Keith Taylor."

Result
GRN 1816 (56.8%) + 2.5%
LAB 880 (27.5%) + 4.3%
CON 365 (11.4%) - 0.7%
LD 103 (3.2%) - 4.9%
IND 32 (1%) NC


Great to see Lizzie Dean elected in the seat, which was Keith Taylor's before he moved on to become a Euro MP, with a massive majority.

Links
B&H Green Party, Derek, B&H Lab blog,

Who cares about forests? Message from Avaaz

I've just signed a petition urging EU to pass bold new laws to curb illegal timber trading.

Illegal-logging destroys forests and communities all over the world. As a major timber importer, new EU regulations could help undercut this black market and protect forests worldwide, unless powerful companies succeed in watering down the agreement. Let's push back with a roar of strong support for forests -- click to take action:

Read more about this important issue below.

Within days, the European Parliament could ban illegal timber from entering the EU market -- but powerful companies stand in the way.

Forests are the habitat and life source of many peoples and are essential in preventing climate change, but while there is high demand for timber, illegal logging thrives, killing species, and fuelling corruption and organized crime.

The European Council has just voted for harsh penalties and criminal sanctions for importers of timber harvested illegally in other countries. But now the Parliament has its say, and some MEPs from member states with large timber industries, are threatening to water down the crucial controls.

Let’s build a massive citizens’ outcry to get the European Parliament to end illegal timber imports and save our forests. The petition will be delivered to MEPS as they go into vote on the legislation on July 7th. We only have a few days! Sign the petition below and send it on to everyone:



20-40% of the global timber market is estimated to be illegal. That’s roughly 10-15 Billion Euros a year which is stolen and funnelled to criminal syndicates. The US has already approved strong laws against illegal timber -- but the EU is one of the world’s leading timber importers and as long as it does not ban the trade, it is directly responsible for around a 3 billion Euros share in this black market.

The social and environmental impacts of this industry are truly devastating and it is inciting money laundering, corruption and violence. Mismanaged deforestation drives global climate change and robs both indigenous peoples and animals, who rely on the forests, of crucial natural resources.

Last year the timber companies beat the ban, working with timber import countries to delay European legislation. But this year the Parliament has the chance to approve even stronger laws and some sectors of the timber industry as well as the Netherlands, UK, Denmark, Belgium and Spain have come out in favour of an outright ban.

Let’s not let the companies which fuel misery and destruction win again. Together, we can tackle illegal logging and protect our forests and their peoples. Sign the petition -- then spread the word:
With hope,
The Avaaz team

SOURCES:
See WWF’s report on Illegal logging and the EU -- click on the link to download the PDF version:

More on the Parliament vote:

South Africa World Cup Swine Flu

Just what you wanted to happen in a country in the midst of a world cup. A relative has just died after watching a game.

The country has no reserves of the vaccine for the deadly H1N1 (swine flu), but the soccer spectacle is during a critical window of infection. In 2009, the virus claimed almost 2 000 lives worldwide, and experts are warning that the next outbreak of the flu strain could be worse. The few stocks available will be prioritised for 2010 staff and a limited set of other categories, according to a Department of Health directive.

There are no H1N1 vaccine stocks in private healthcare services in the country.

Dr Frew Benson said the institute had advised all World Cup participating countries of the risks of the virus. "We have advised that those who come to SA should be vaccinated before they arrive.

The current number of flu cases are “low to moderate”, an official at the institute said in a statement. The influenza virus strains identified to date in South Africa are mainly the usual seasonal influenza B strain and influenza A.

The official noted that only one case of the H1N1 viral strain, also known as swine-flu, has been isolated so far. She said this is the strain which caused the flu pandemic in the first half of last year and is the predominant seasonal strain for the northern hemisphere winter. However, it is not very severe, nor does it show resistance to antiviral drugs. The statement said it is still too early to say which strain would be dominant in South Africa.

“While the vast majority of illness due to influenza is uncomplicated, certain at-risk groups have been identified who may develop complications,” she said.
She warned that pregnant women, people with chronic lung disease, heart disease, diabetes and those who are HIV-infected or have other causes of immune-suppression, as well as people over 65 are especially at risk. People in these groups should get vaccinated as soon as possible, she said since the vaccine takes up to 10 days to become effective.


Swine flu first broke out in Mexico in April 09, and has since spread to over 120 countries, infecting around 80 000 people, of whom at least 337 have died.

Reds Under The Beds

They showed the movie Reds (1981) last night, with Warren Beatty & Diane Keaton. 'A radical American journalist becomes involved with the Communist revolution in Russia and hopes to bring its spirit and idealism to the United States'.


This weekend the media is in a frenzy over the 'spy' Anna Chapman. Her ex seems to be making a fortune selling old pictures of her, along with detailed stories. What he is doing is appaling, perhaps that should be the story. The fact that Max Clifford is involved just makes it all seem less credible.

I think the popular image of a spy is a long way from the real thing, we all think of James Bond as the ultimate spy. He went everywhere using his real name, everyone knows who he is. Completely unlike any actual spies, but quite fun as a movie.

Actual spies are not famous or glamarous, don't get there pictues in the media, or featured on russian news tv. They blend into the background and pass unnoticed.

An ex MI5 agent claims this is all propaganda, a PR stunt by the FBI. The FBI has described Anna as a "highly trained intelligence operative".

The FBI has arrested 10 alleged Russian spies and claims to have broken up a "long term, deep cover" network of agents that spent years adopting American identities and gathering an array of intelligence, from information about nuclear weapons to the gold market and personnel changes at the CIA.

Some of the agents lived as married couples and had children who have grown up as Americans unaware that their parents are Russian. The FBI alleges that the accused spies were able to get close to a scientist working with "bunker-buster" nuclear bombs and a New York financier with powerful political ties. But the intercepts do not suggest they were successful at uncovering valuable information and some of the exchanges with Moscow appear almost laughable.

The arrests were made in Arlington, Virginia – close to the Pentagon and CIA headquarters – and in New York, Boston and New Jersey. One of the detained couples lives on the west coast, in Seattle. The justice department said one other alleged spy, who is accused of delivering payments to members of the ring, is still being sought.

Another alleged spy, named as Cynthia Murphy, built a relationship with a man described as a prominent New York-based financier active in politics. Moscow responded that he was a very interesting target because he might be able to provide information about foreign policy and discussions among the president's closest aides.

The man who called himself Juan Lazaro admitted on Thursday that he was using a false name, that he sent letters to the Russian intelligence service, that the Russian government paid for his house, and that although he loved his son, he would not violate loyalty to the "Service," even for his child.

Vicky Pelaez is the only defendant the government concedes lived under her own name, according to The New York Times. Neighbors said they knew Lazaro to be an economics professor at a college in New Jersey, and Pelaez to be a columnist for New York’s Spanish-language newspaper, El Diario La Presna. The couple has two sons: Waldomar Mariscal, 38 (Pelaez's son, Lazaro's stepson), and Juan Jose Lazaro, Jr., 17. Both sons told reporters shortly after the arrests that they didn't believe the allegations.

"This looks like an Alfred Hitchcock movie with all this stuff from the 1960s. This is preposterous," Mariscal said. Of the charges, he said, "They're all inflated little pieces in the mosaic of unbelievable things."

Each of the 10 has been charged with conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government. They face up to five years in prison if convicted although it is possible that more serious charges will be added.



Previous suspects were UB40. Agents were said to have bugged the homes of Ali and Robin Campbell and taped phone conversations between band members, fearing they were closet Communists.
"Bastards. Outrageous. What a total waste of money, eh? Tapping our phones for 15 years ..." said singer Ali, whose No 1 records include "Red, Red Wine".
"We did a bunch of benefits for the miners and Legalise Cannabis. We went to Russia. We sang pro riot songs. We were just smoking weed. Nobody could understand the lyrics anyway."

Robin, the group's guitarist and brother of Ali, said: "In the past, people have told us we were being watched and bugged. "Once, a squad of undercover policemen moved in over the road from us. But we're just a pop group - we aren't planning to invade Poland or overthrow the Government."

Ian Campbell, the musicians' father, who is a folk singer, said he believed that the band were targeted because of his own links to CND and support for the 1984 miners' strike.

The band wanted any tapes of their conversations handed over and even considered suing MI5 . He laughed off the unwanted attention: "Have you been in the [swimming] pool yet? Any bugs on top? I was an hour there this morning with my net."

'Your Freedom', Biggest Reform Since 1832 Turns into Squirrels Hotline

I was goint to write about the 'your freedom' government website, but Kevin Blowe already did it here, 'Your Freedom' - Cones Hotline For The 21st Century.

I was surprised to learn that this Government has taken down the No10 Petitions website. So much for listening to what people are saying. I suppose some of them referred to particular Labour policies but not all. Most of what Governments do are ongoing despite who is in charge.

Clegg announced to the world a few weeks ago that he would be the most reforming since 1832, now we find it about grey squirrels.

So an early fail from the ConDems.

Caroline Lucas Questions; Afghanistan, Energy...

I have been watching Prime Ministers Questions for years, but rarely is there such a good question. Its one of the Elephants in the room, the country is in an unwinnable war for no clear reason, yet its rarely mentioned. So top marks to Caroline for doing so on what I think is her first question at PMQs.

Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion, Green)

Homecoming parades for our very brave soldiers in Afghanistan are incredibly important, but so is an exit strategy from Afghanistan. Given the growing agreement that there is no military solution to the crisis there and that the head of the Army himself has said that we should start talking to the Taliban soon, would the Prime Minister not agree that we should start talking now, so that we can save more lives on all sides and bring our troops home?

And the response...
David Cameron (Prime Minister; Witney, Conservative)

May I first of all welcome the hon. Lady to the House? Winning her seat was an incredible achievement for her party, and I know that she will make a huge contribution during this Parliament.

We discussed Afghanistan at quite some length in the House yesterday. Of course there is no purely military solution; very few insurgencies are ended by purely military means. But I think it is important to continue with the strategy this year of the military surge, to put pressure on the Taliban-and, of course, there should be a political track. But as I said yesterday in the House, we have to recognise that there is a difference between the Taliban linked to al-Qaeda, who want to do so much harm not just in Afghanistan but across our continent as well, and those people who have been caught up in an insurgency for other reasons. Should there be reconciliation and reintegration? Yes, of course; there is, and we can go further. But I think that the things that the hon. Lady is talking about would not be advisable.

After this excellent start, I cant wait to see whats next.





Outside PMQs she has also been very busy in Parliament...

Bills Presented: Energy Efficiency (30 Jun 2010)
“I welcome the Minister's statement today, not least because I was getting a bit worried about the Government's commitment to this agenda. The Chancellor's Budget statement contained absolutely nothing about energy efficiency, and a mere 23 words on the proposal for a green investment bank. There was a little more detail in the Budget report on measures to bring forward a low-carbon economy, but that was still only six paragraphs out of a total of 121 pages. That gave us a bit of a sense of what the Government's priorities might be, and it shows that we still have a long way to go, in spite of the Minister's fine words.

Although the first of those paragraphs stated:

"Climate change is one of the most serious threats that the world faces",

I still do not see anything like the kind of urgency that we need if we are to avoid the worst of climate change. If I compare climate change to the kind of military threat with which we are more familiar, we need a response commensurate to the response that would be forthcoming if we were facing a military threat. We need that degree of single-mindedness and that level of resources.

The Committee on Climate Change reported today, and it is scathing about what it calls the "light-touch" regulation policies of the past decade. It made four recommendations that it says should be acted on within a year, including a new national programme for energy efficiency in buildings. The chief executive of the committee said:

"This is not going to happen from the bottom up. We need crunchy policies that provide strong incentives."

I am not sure that I know what crunchy policies are, but they are certainly not the late and voluntary measures that we have seen so far. We need urgent action now.

Let us take housing as an example. More than a quarter of the UK's CO2 emissions come from the energy that we use in our homes. If all the 6.1 million homes with uninsulated cavity walls installed cavity wall insulation, we could save 3.9 million tonnes of CO2 a year, and £690 million on energy bills. If everyone with a gas, oil or LPG boiler upgraded to a condensing boiler, the UK would save 6.7 million tonnes of CO2 a year and £1.3 billion in energy bills. If all the 13 million homes with insufficient loft insulation topped up to 270 mm, the UK could save nearly 3 million tonnes of CO2 a year and £560 million in energy bills. Those three measures alone could reduce the UK's emissions from the household sector by nearly 10%, so we need to see faster action.

As others have said, it is the existing housing stock that is the real challenge. New build homes will be required to meet a defined zero carbon standard by 2016, but at least 85% of the homes that will be in use in 2050 have already been built. Worryingly, there is no set of standards for existing homes to meet in order to achieve an 80 per cent reduction in emissions.

The Government have given sketchy outlines of some of their intentions. We have heard a little more about the green deal proposals, and I am grateful to the Minister for that. But I am not convinced that a market mechanism alone will be enough to generate the level of take-up that we need to achieve large scale energy efficiency improvements for the housing stock. Current proposals focus all their attention on the up-front capital costs, relying on this market-led solution, but they risk ignoring other barriers that need to be addressed, such as lack of consumer awareness, and particularly the belief that measures could cost much more than they actually will.

We need to ask ourselves how realistic the proposals are, particularly at a time of economic difficulty, and whether all the people whom we need to target will be willing to opt in. Many households that could pay for energy efficiency measures may not do so as long as those actions remain discretionary, and economically disadvantaged and fuel- poor households will need significant extra support beyond CERT to be able to act.

If the Government want mass take-up of energy efficiency measures, legislation must introduce mandatory standards for domestic heating and insulation in the form of an energy efficiency rating. The legislation could stipulate, for example, that by 2020, where technically feasible, all dwellings should reach an energy efficiency standard no lower than an E rating, as measured on the energy performance certificate scale. That requirement could apply to all landlords, social and private. Failure to comply would mean that the property could not be let, for example. The requirement would also have to be introduced in the owner-occupied sector, where failure to comply would mean that the property was not fit for sale.

It is on such a scale that the Government need to think. If they backed a major programme of public and private investment in energy efficiency and renewables, we could all reap big rewards. I have been part of a group calling for just such a green new deal for quite a long time before the Government adopted the green deal as their own branding. A serious investment in building new energy systems, including energy efficiency, combined heat and power, and renewables, for millions of homes and other buildings would amount to a £50 billion-plus programme per year.

That is what we need-a ground-breaking programme based on Government investment to create hundreds of thousands of jobs, to stabilise the economy and to reduce emissions. Those are the kind of measures that we need-particularly when we have one foot still in a recession-not the savage public spending cuts announced by the Government, which are likely to trigger a double-dip recession.

Even if the Government were not as ambitious as that, there are other measures that they could consider to achieve mandatory minimum energy efficiency standards. Able-to-pay households could have the necessary work funded through a mechanism such as the proposed green investment bank, while for low-income households work could be funded through a system of 100% grants on top of CERT expenditure. Those grants might also be funded through the green investment bank and accessed through local authorities, but the Government would be responsible for repayment.

We have not yet even been told whether the Government will retain the previous Administration's target of insulating every home in the UK, where technically possible, with cavity wall and loft insulation by 2015. That target did not go far enough or fast enough, but it was at least a welcome acceptance of the principle of setting standards affecting the energy efficiency of privately owned or rented homes. I would be grateful if the Minister would clarify the situation when he replies. According to the National Insulation Association, we still need to insulate another 15 million lofts and 9 million cavity walls by 2015. Are the Government still committed to achieving that? The previous Government never did produce a plan to deliver that target, and I know that green councillors working on large-scale, free, area-based insulation programmes are still waiting with bated breath for such a plan.

Perhaps part of the finance for a mass street-by-street insulation programme could be obtained if the Government followed the example of the German Government, who have implemented a windfall profit tax on the production of nuclear electricity. In the UK the tax could be levied, for example, on British Energy. Currently, assuming carbon prices of at least €10 per tonne, EDF, which owns British Energy, is receiving around £350 million a year in windfall profits from nuclear electricity production that would still be generated without any carbon price at all. That money is not being used to reduce carbon emissions, but is simply being swallowed up by the company. If instead a windfall tax were levied, the revenue could be used to pay for a whole raft of energy efficiency measures.

There is also a case for levying a windfall tax on the fossil fuel utilities, while we wait for the reform of the emissions trading scheme to come into effect in 2013. As hon. Members will know, at the moment carbon permits are given away, not auctioned, and that means that the fossil fuel companies, too, are receiving windfall profits.

I also hope that the Government will give proper consideration to both a stamp duty rebate and some form of equivalent grant for homes that do not reach the stamp duty threshold, so that we take maximum advantage of the house-moving process for incentivising costly and disruptive whole house retrofits.

The decent homes standard for social housing comes to an end this year, and it has been successful in improving the energy efficiency of such homes. However, this Administration, as far as I know, is offering no successor to the decent homes standard, although one was proposed by the previous Government in order to provide the framework for social housing providers to make long-term investment in energy efficiency. That hardly sits well with the Government's green claims-nor does the announcement that the previous Government's welcome proposal of a register of landlords is to be scrapped. That register would have provided an opportunity to make landlords in the private rented sector adhere to minimum energy efficiency standards, as well as other standards, for tenants. That sector has the highest proportion of dangerously cold homes, and often houses particularly vulnerable families, but it is not being addressed by any policy measures.

The Government's proposed green deal also, as far as I know, splits the incentive-in other words the landlord pays for the measures but the tenant receives the benefit via their energy bills-and that, again, could be a significant barrier to wholesale improvement to homes in the private rented sector, which in England number 3.1 million, nearly 15% of the housing stock.

The best approach to the private rented sector would make minimum standards mandatory and toughen those over time to make it illegal to rent out a property below a certain energy efficiency rating, with very few exceptions. That could start with properties in energy performance certificate bands F and G, and then tighten over a clear timetable. Information on the energy performance of the property through the EPC needs to be of a much higher quality. It needs to be better enforced, and given a higher profile for both landlords and tenants. The Energy Saving Trust and local authorities should have access to the information on EPCs so that action can be better targeted and co-ordinated. Primary legislation may well be needed to get the full potential out of those measures. There should also be financial incentives to support and encourage investment to the standard required by the minimum standards, including an extended landlord's energy-saving allowance, and a reduction in VAT on refurbishment.

Any Government who were serious about energy efficiency would have used their first Budget to reduce VAT to 5% on building repairs and on improvement work to existing buildings immediately, because that measure would have made it much easier for home owners to make energy-efficient repairs and improvements to their properties. That is a win-win agenda. The Government have said that they want to be the greenest Government, and I have said that, unfortunately, that is not a very ambitious target. None the less, if they do want to meet it, they will have to do a lot better..”

The reponse was
Charles Hendry (Minister of State (Renewable Energy), Energy and Climate Change; Wealden, Conservative)

Caroline Lucas made, although it was not her maiden speech, what I believe was her first speech on her own subject. I hope that we will hear from her on a regular basis. I want her to harry the Government and chase us to do better. I want her constantly to say, "Let's raise our aspirations to do the best we can". We are most determined to be the greenest Government there has ever been, but I want to know that we will be truly challenged by people who always want to raise the bar higher. We have to be objective and realistic about what we can achieve, but we should be absolutely clear that we welcome such contributions, and we encourage the hon. Lady in that respect.

Bills Presented: Energy Efficiency (30 Jun 2010)
Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion, Green)

I am in danger of repeating myself a lot, but given that it will take at least 10 or 15 years to get nuclear power up and running, if it is really the case-which I do not believe-that the lights will go off in 10 years, nuclear power simply will not help us. I find it ironic that this is supposed to be a debate about energy efficiency, yet the hon. Gentleman is spending his time talking about nuclear, wind and coal. Let us talk about energy efficiency. According to the previous Government's own figures, 40% of our existing energy could be saved using energy-efficiency measures alone.

David Morris (Morecambe and Lunesdale, Conservative)

I thank the hon. Lady for her comments, and they are good comments, but we are talking about energy efficiency. Nuclear power is very efficient; it has a low carbon footprint.

One subject that has not been addressed is how we in this country use energy. I use card meters in my domestic home. When I bought my house, an old gentleman had lived in it beforehand, and he used card meters so I carried on using them. When my family was growing up, I was one of those dads who was always saying, "Switch the lights off." Using card meters started to make us change our habits and how we used energy in our home. The Government might want to consider that. Perhaps we could top up through the internet as we might with a T-Mobile phone-excuse me for unintentionally plugging a particular company. We might usefully consider how we obtain our energy.

Bills Presented: Energy Efficiency (30 Jun 2010)
“I am sorry, but I cannot hear all this talk about nuclear power without feeling the urge to leap up-so I have leapt. Will the hon. Gentleman please list those nuclear power stations that have been built, first, on time, and secondly, to budget?”
Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion, Green)
"It would not take long."

Thomas Docherty (Dunfermline and West Fife, Labour)

I suspect that if the hon. Lady looked at the number of wind farms built on time and on budget she would find that that list would be about the same length as for nuclear power stations.

What a fool this chap is, that would be a very long list of wind farms

Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion, Green)
The Kirklees example is an excellent one, and Green councillors have been instrumental in that. They were rolling out free insulation-that was the difference; it was free. Where does the hon. Gentleman think that the money will come from for the Government to be able to roll out such a scheme? Does he agree that we ought to be considering mechanisms such as levying a windfall tax on the energy companies, given that they will be getting windfall profits from their involvement in the emissions trading scheme-at least until 2013? Should we not be using money like that to enable such a scheme to be rolled out to everybody rather than depending on people in poor households having to take out what looks like a loan?

Gregory Barker (Minister of State (Climate Change), Energy and Climate Change; Bexhill and Battle, Conservative)

First, I welcome the hon. Lady to the debate. I am sure that she will be a key-and welcome-feature of such debates for the rest of the Parliament. Of course, CERT is already a levy on the energy companies and we have a clear idea of where the money is coming from. She mentions that in Kirklees the scheme is free, and that is an important point. We simply cannot afford to give free insulation to the whole country, even though it worked extremely well in Kirklees. However, through legislation and opening up new markets with new regulation, we can ensure that there is no cost up front to every single householder. Unlike other pay-as-you-save schemes that were trialled by the former Government, there will be no reference to the credit score of the household. It will not be a personal loan, a green mortgage or a charge on the property.

What will happen is that the right interventions for that particular property will be delivered and the costs of those interventions will be rolled up in their entirety and repaid through the energy bill for that property over 25 years. If that owner moves away, the cost will simply transfer to the energy bill of the next occupant. If the occupant changes energy company, the cost will simply transfer to the new energy company. We will make sure, through legislation, that it is impossible for a new energy provider to come in and provide energy without taking on the costs associated with the green deal finance. There is a real golden rule.

Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion, Green)
I am grateful to the Minister for his support of the 10:10 campaign, which aims for 10% cuts in 2010. However, he will know that the campaign will not finish at the end of 2010 and that, if we are serious about tackling climate change, we need 10% cuts year on year thereafter. Can he make any statement now about what will happen at the end of 2010?

Gregory Barker (Minister of State (Climate Change), Energy and Climate Change; Bexhill and Battle, Conservative)

The hon. Lady is absolutely right. The important thing about our 10% cut is that it is a commitment made by the Prime Minister and it is being driven from the very top in government. She is absolutely right that 10% in one year is simply not enough, but it will be a terrific shock to the system in Whitehall and a great start. In the committee of which I am a member, and which is chaired by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, I have been very clear that it is only a starting point.

Achieving such reductions will get progressively more difficult, because behaviour change and the simple interventions that can be made at first cannot be repeated once they have been done. The task will require investment, but we are confident that most of that investment will pay for itself. The new models of investment-involving the energy services companies and the private sector, as well as enlightened and progressive facilities management contracts-mean that the cost of the infrastructure changes that will be needed will not necessarily fall on the public purse.

We are pushing very hard to draw in expertise from the private sector, and I am glad to say that that is largely being provided on a pro bono basis. We want to ensure that the Government, instead of being a national embarrassment, become a showcase for the best in British energy conservation. It is not at all impossible that, if we attach renewable energy sources to our estate, the public sector could one day become a net exporter of energy. Those are lofty ambitions and strategies but we will not superimpose arbitrary targets on them. There have been too many targets cluttering the landscape in the past. We know what we have to do, and the best thing that we can do is to get on and do it.

The potential benefits of energy efficiency are absolutely clear. This coalition Government are committed to making the UK a leader in energy efficiency, and to doing so with a completely new level of ambition and at a scale never before attempted. We are radically improving and refocusing existing policy measures, and we plan to bring forward completely new measures to deliver a real step change in ambition and delivery across both households and the business sector.

However, I would say this to the Opposition: there is much that unites us on this whole agenda, and we are building on the work begun by Joan Ruddock and her Front-Bench colleague, Emily Thornberry. The Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives supported the Climate Change Act 2008 in a constructive spirit, and I hope that we can forge a new consensus across the new House of Commons on energy efficiency and tackling fuel poverty. We should send a strong and united message to business and consumers alike that the time for action is now, and that we are united in laying out a new and clear framework for the long term.

I am glad to report that the new coalition has hit the ground running. We have a strong and ambitious green agenda, with energy efficiency at its very heart. The green deal will be at the centre of this Session's flagship Energy Bill, along with other measures to drive low-carbon transformation and build energy security. It is clear from the Chancellor's Budget, which committed to introducing a floor price for carbon, and yesterday's publication of the work of the green investment bank commission, that we are making real progress already. There is a great deal more to do, and time for action is short, but I know that, by focusing on energy efficiency at the very outset, we are starting in the right place.

There is more here.
She has so far been more productive than any number of MPs from other parties, long may this continue.