Green Reading

£59,640,000

2012-05-25T20:24:00.000+01:00

Thats the estimated cost of moving Reading council from the Civic Centre to Plaza West in Bridge Street. It may be cheaper than the alternative site they looked at on the Queens Walk, but is this the only option. A few years ago I wrote a letter to the paper suggesting a Green alternative. The Council say it has looked at refurbishment but I have how they achieved their estimate of £50 million for this. It may very well be cheaper and greener to refurbish than to demolish. In the event it does prove impossible to refurbish, there are empty buildings around Reading that may be a cheaper option. In these difficult times surely the Council should be looking at every option. The council report reveals a failure of maintenance that has helped lead them to this state.

Since the decision was taken to move to a new Civic HQ in September 2006, the Civic Offices maintenance regime has been scaled back to a basic level to maintain day-to-day operation and safety. This lack of planned investment in the maintenance of the building has led to further deterioration in its condition, increased risks, and has incurred significant costs in urgent health and safety repairs.

This is a chart showing cost savings, refurb against new build.

This is my blog from 2009 about my 2006 letter.

Reading Civic Centre Waste Of Money I wrote a letter to the local press in September 2006, saying the proposed Rebuild of the Civic Centre was a waste of money. The reasons the Labour Council gave for replacing it was that it was old, actually its far newer than most of Reading, Victorian houses were built to last. They also talked about the new one being greener, costing less to heat and cool. Actually knocking down a structurally sound building is not at all green. My suggestion was that they refurbish it to improve the insulation, as has been done on other buildings of a similar age. The big three 'Grey' Parties all agreed on this policy at the time. But now, in economically troubled times, people are looking to make savings. Particularly as its been revealed that plans and designs have already cost £3.7 million! I think its a good idea to change your mind when circumstances change, its a sign of intelligence. Of course its even better when you were right in the first place.

And this is the 2006 letter

Submitted by Adrian Windisch on 28 September 2006 - 1:01pm RBC say we have no money for collecting bins weekly but were finding £54 million to spend on a new Civic Centre! Does anyone believe that at around 30 years old it needs replacing? Have they sought everal quotes from different companies to refurbish it? I would advise them to contact Integer who have experience of converting a tower block with similar problems into a sustainable building; improving insulation and shading windows to reduce heating and cooling. See integer . They should look at different schemes and estimate the carbon cost as well as the financial costs involved. If the decision is taken to build another one can we ensure it is designed to last for at least a hundred years, with passive solar heating, cooling and levels of insulation far above the minimum levels set by current building regulations. Is this about a sustainable future or building a monument to some rather large egos. Adrian Windisch

He is once again Labour but the then 'Independant' Tony Jones then said no but the link is now broken.

Roof Madness

2012-05-18T22:44:00.001+01:00

You could not have made this up. Under Cameron missiles will be sited on roofs in London for the Olympics Talk about putting residents in danger Imagine if one of them went off, any number of people could be killed. Naturally residents are trying to stop this, but I suspect they hsve no chance At a time of financial hardship endlesd billions go on vanity projects like the Olympics with a huge security budget 5 billion is going on AWE though the cold war has been over for mamy years http://londonthenews.com/news/World/20120501/31728957/Are-Those-Missiles-on-My-Roof.htm

Green Leader

2012-05-14T12:59:00.001+01:00

Today Caroline Lucas announced she wasn't standing in the next leadership election. If you are used to other parties you might assume she was retiring from politics but Greens are not like this. Being leader helped raise Carolines profile and this aided her to become an MP. Also doubling our membership, increasing out number of Cllrs and helping us beat the LD in London. She will be hoping that being leader will help raise the profile of another Green who may also become an MP. There are many Greens who would be great MPs, from MEPs Jean Lambert and Kieth Taylor to London AM Darren Johnson and Jenny Jones who did so well in the Mayoral election. Also good candidates are deputy leader Adrain Ramsey, and MP candidates in the last GE who are already high profile like Tony Juniper and Jonathan Porrit. But of you are from the big old three partied things seem different. One Tory who* lost to Caroline recons we Greens want a return to 1920's Russia! I looked it up. "Disease had reached pandemic proportions, with 3,000,000 dying of typhus alone in 1920. Millions more were also killed by widespread starvation, wholesale massacres by both sides, and pogroms against Jews in Ukraine and southern Russia. By 1922, there were at least 7,000,000 street children in Russia as a result of nearly 10 years of devastation from the Great War and the civil war." Quite terrible but clearly nothing to do with Green policies. Privatise and destablise the NHS and maybe thats the path the Tories want. Only the wealthy will get decent health or education. * apparently Charlotte Gore used to say that Greens were like tge BNP! http://theredrock.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/who-is-no2av%E2%80%99s-charlotte-vere/

Petition To Include Transport In Emission Targets

2012-05-11T07:13:00.000+01:00

Tell the UK government that it can't pick and choose what to include in its carbon target! » http://www.thepetitionsite.com/m/927/984/423/ask-uk-to-include-aviation-and-shipping-in-carbon-targets/#next_action Planes and cargo boats consume vast quantities of fossil fuels, releasing equally large amounts of greenhouse gases. Excluding them from carbon targets is senseless. If a country doesn’t include such significant producers, its carbon target is rendered pretty meaningless. However, that is exactly the situation in the UK, which needs to decide this year whether to include aviation and shipping in its long-term carbon targets. Rather than watering down carbon targets with a handy get-out clause, the UK must be realistic. Carbon emissions don’t disappear just because you ignore them. For a carbon target to have an effect, it needs to include all sources. Don't let excuses interfere with action. Tell the UK to include aviation and shipping in its carbon targets. »

Olympic Debt

2012-05-10T12:10:00.001+01:00

We used to hear lots from the Tory LD coalition about how we dont want to be like Greece.

They had an Olympics that cost around £10 billion a few years ago. We have one a biy more expensive this year.

Greece has huge debt problems, in part due to the cost of the olympics.

Now we are a bigger wealthier country than Greece but why is Cameron saying he is cutting back on spending yet Olympics costs go up

Under Labour it went from 3 to 10 billion. Its not looling closer to 12 billion. All for a few weeks of sport

Time for a change

Queens Speech

2012-05-09T10:28:00.001+01:00

Watching the Queens speech this morning does make me question how much of a meritocracy we have in this country. And is austerity only for the poor, the rich get richer and the aristocrats keep their priveleges

How many castles, crowns and carriages can one person use. Time to sell them off I say. Nothing personal against the Queen but why does she get a job for life.

For example if we had an austerity Queens speech the gallery could be full of tourists raising money for the country. The Royals should pay proper tax as well, no more free rides.

After WW2 we had an austerity olympics, if the coalition were serious this one could be too. But under Camrron the bills for what he wants go up.

Instead we get a top down rworganisation of the NHS that no one voted for that will coat a fortune. Broken promises on everything including green issues

Time for a change

Third Place

2012-05-08T15:05:00.000+01:00

In London the Green Party came third, what an impressive result. In Reading we also came third, which is astounding. Winning our third Cllr in Park Ward; well done Jamie. Not quite that good in Wokingham but we stood more candidates than Labour, and Marjory had a good result in Shinfield South coming second. Particularly considering the spending from the bigger parties. I say this as someone who had loads of glossy expensive leaflets from the big parties, one a week from the Tories and LD. The Greens get almost all their money from members. It will be a while before party funding for this election is published, but I had a look at the figures from the 2010 General Election from the Electoral Comission website. Tory had 53% of the money, Labour 25%, LD 15%, Ukip 2%, Green Party were on 1%. So we were on a budget 1:15th of the LD. Lets see how seruously the media treat the Greens now.

One Million Climate Change Jobs

2012-05-08T08:45:00.001+01:00

Campaign Against Climate Change The Climate Jobs Caravan will be travelling round the country from the 12th to the 25th May. The full list of events is below and (most fully updated) here on the Campaign against Climate Change Trade Union Group website, on which there is also a list of local contacts here Helping solve the climate & economic crises Following the example of the Trans Africa Caravan of Hope, which carried the message of climate justice to the UN talks in Durban, the Campaign against Climate Change Trade Union Group is organising a Climate Jobs Caravan here in Britain. Based on the Million Climate Jobs report, produced with the assistance of the CWU, PCS, TSSA & UCU trade unions, the Caravan will highlight how creating climate jobs can help us tackle the twin crises of the economy and climate change. There is an inspiring 10 minute video that sets out what we can achieve. The Caravan will be touring simultaneously in the North and South of the UK. See below for dates. Contact details for each area and information about events as they are finalised can be found on our local groups page and on the Campaign against Climate Change Trade Union Group website. Alternatively contact: climatejobscaravan752@gmail.com or 07961 669650. map of routes Route 1 12 May – Edinburgh 13 May – Newcastle 14 May – Derby 15 May – Leeds 16 May – Stoke-on-Trent 18 May – Sheffield 19 May – Liverpool 20 May – Huddersfield 21 May – Bolton 22 May – Wigan 23 May – Blackpool 24 May – Lancaster 25 May – Manchester Route 2 12 May – London 13 May – Coventry 14 May – Cardiff 15 May – Birmingham 16 May – Cambridge 17 May – Norwich 18 May – Oxford 21 May – Southampton 22 May – Portsmouth 23 May – Brighton 24 May – Redhill 25 May – London Sign the One Million Climate Jobs petition here. http://www.climate-change-jobs.org/petition List of events For updates see http://www.climate-change-jobs.org/node/20 For a list of local contacts see http://www.climate-change-jobs.org/caravan Campaign against Climate Change www.campaigncc.org

Green Third Victory In Reading

2012-05-04T10:48:00.000+01:00

Congratulations to Cllr Jamie Whitham, another wonderful victory in Reading. Thats lots of hard work from the Green team. Nationally Labour have won from the Tories and LD, and outside Park Ward that was the picture in Reading. In Park the Greens have once again won from Labour. The LD are down to 4 seats, the lowest I have seen since I started following local politics in 2003. In Park Ward the Green share of the vote was 47%, up from 43% in 2011, 39% in 2010. Plotted on Graph below.

We await results in Wokingham, London, Scotland and the rest.

Vote Green Party Today 3rd May

2012-05-03T16:44:00.000+01:00

Today is your chance to make a difference, so use it. Vote Green Party today.

Water Shortages

2012-05-03T16:41:00.000+01:00

I submitted the following on behalf of the Green Party in 2006 to the Draft South East Plan Examination in Public (EiP). If only they had listened we would not be in this mess. The drought is part due to low rainfall but increased use and at the same time building/paving over the land reduces how much rain can flow in to the aquifer. So bad planning from the Tory/Lab/Lib Dem authorities. And the privatisation of water companies sure hasnt helped, they are after profit first, securing supplies for future generations is of less importance. Questions in italics, my (2006) response in normal text. Sub-matter 1E WATER Question 1E.1 Given that EA modelling shows that much of the region will be in deficit by 2025, what is the evidence that a twin track approach of demand management and investment will meet the water supply needs of the region (Policy NRM1)?As the south East is developing faster than the infrastructure can cope with, the current drought is just one symptom, policy NRM1 doesn’t address the cause. Our growth levels are unsustainable, and can’t continue. Government should rebalance our regional economies to spread development out across the regions, instead we are seeing the South East overheating, while areas of the North are stagnating. Also climate change is happening now and we can expect more extremes of weather, so the problems will get worse. Q1E.2 In terms of water efficiency, what else needs to be done at regional level to ensure that demand for water can be controlled and provided for? Is something more practical required in terms of monitoring and implementation?All new developments need to be built to the highest ecohomes standards, not just that in the inadequate Code for Sustainable Buildings. Ecohomes such as Bedzed (1), Hockerton (2) and the Brighton Earthship (3) should be our models and guides. Most of our current housing was built over 60 years ago, but it can be upgraded. The yellow house (4) is a good example of what can be done. There are ways to reduce water use. Firstly car parking areas should not be a sealed surface but made permeable, to increase groundwater recharge and reduce flooding. See SUDS, sustainable urban drainage systems (5). Drinking water doesn’t need to be flushed down the toilet, rainwater can be harvested for that, as well as being used on the garden. All toilets should have a low flush option, as is common in other countries. Low water use shower heads and taps are available from specialist outlets like the green building store (6), should replace all fittings. Water from showers and sinks can be diverted to gardens, no need to overload the sewage system. See the Centre for Alternative Technology (7) for more information. In homes with water meters people are more aware of their use of water, so all home should have them. Also as corporations are exempt from the hosepipe ban, they have little interest in reducing demand. But if they had an incentive, a lot could be done, for example, car wash water could be cleaned, and recycled and reused. Golf clubs could build a lake and pump their own water onto the green in the summer, no need to use potable water for this or many other business uses. I hope these ideas will lead to further research, I have provided some links below. Q1E.3 How far is the partnership approach adequate as a mechanism for clarifying and meeting future supply requirements (Policy NRM2)? I agree with FoE. The partnership approach is helpful in sharing information and enabling policy to be formulated. However the remit of the Water Companies to make money for shareholders and to seek least cost solutions for the most part, appears to severely limit the extent to which such an approach can go. Q1E.4 Have the cumulative effects of growth and the implications of providing additional water and waste treatment capacity been taken fully into account, including on river water quality (Policies NRM1 - 2)? If not, how should the policies be strengthened?See my answer to 1E1 above. Q1E.5 Has sufficient account been taken of flood risk assessment in setting the development framework for the region (Policy NRM3)?Development is still happening in flood plain areas, increasing the risk of flooding to other areas, and reducing groundwater recharge. This must stop. Further information is available from www.greenregister.org.uk lists green construction professionals and offers training courses www.aecb.net Association of Environmental Conscious Builders, Eco Houses – examples of best practice (1) BedZED http://www.bedzed.org.uk/ (2) Hockerton Housing Project www.hockerton.demon.co.uk (3) Brighton Earthship www.lowcarbon.co.uk (4) Yellow House http://theyellowhouse.org.uk/ (5) SUDS http://www.ciria.org/suds/background.htm (6) http://www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk/water.php Centre for Alternative Technology (7)www.cat.org.uk/information/catinfo.tmpl?command=search&db=catinfo.db&eqSKUdatarq=InfoSheet_Greywater&eqCURRENTdatarq=0 www.ecoconstruct.com/ www.constructionresources.com/ www.solartradeassociation.org.uk www.mysolar.com/ www.ecoflush.com www.ecoproducts.co.uk www.reuze.co.uk www.salvoweb.com www.lowimpact.org/ www.strawbale-building.co.uk www.ecobuildnetwork.org/ www.greenbuilder.com www.sustainablehousing.org.uk/links/links.html www.ecobusinesslinks.com/ Greenbooks, The Whole House Book: Pat Borer, Cindy Harris£35 1998, Ecohouse: a Design Guide Sue Roaf £24.99 The New Autonomous House: Design and Planning for Sustainability Brenda Vale, Robert Vale £20 The Real Green Building Book £2.50 from AECB. The Green Building Handbook Tom Woolley, Volumes 1 and 2: £50.00 Sustainable Housing Schemes in the UK Hockerton Housing Project. Adrian Windisch MSc. B. Eng (hons), South East Confederation of Green Parties

Hypocrisy

2012-05-01T11:17:00.001+01:00

Interesting to read the views of the Cllr the Tories wanted to get rid of Jamie Chowdhary at his website. He and Cllr Mark Ralph are now independents and both of them seem to be acting as a group on this site. I was curious to see if they had anything to say about the so called Labour racist dog whistle leaflet but could find nothing. In contrast Tories and Lib Dems appear to still be in alliance, they are the only ones in Reading politics saying this. While I agreed that the leaflet was dodgy, I dont think its actually racist. But as it says on my bolg, this is just my view, not any secret deal of several Green bloggers to support Labour as claimed by Gareth Epps. He says "though Green Party bloggers either through ignorance or allegiance to Labour have disgracefully defended this". His party is the one in coalition, what they get out if it remains unclear. Aside from probably electoral defeat, voters wont forget the broken promises. They hope people will thank them for the few good policies while blaming the Tories for the bad ones, but they are not to be taken for fools. Both are responsible, and will be held to account by voters. Another dodgy Lib Dem blogger meanwhile has admitted to Readings own version of the phone hacking scandall. He rigged a poll on the local newspaper so that the LD won it. Thats probably the only way the LD will win anything, but surely breaking the law is not the way to win. He offers to rig polls for other parties for cash. "If any other party would like to benefit, please send a large brown envelope stuffed with cash to muckspReading Towers." I hope the authorities prosecute, a term in prison may help him see the error of his ways. Perhaps he get kicked out of the Lib Dems once again. So to the Tory and Lib Dem bloggers making accusations about racist dog whistles, I ask a question. The Tory LibDem government has a policy that appears to be resulting in ethnic cleansing, where is your condemnation or refutation of that? Or is it only when other parties to dodgy things that they get morally indignant. Theres a word for this, hypocrisy. Time for a change, vote Green May 3rd.

Debt and other Tory Lib Dem Lies

2012-04-27T18:40:00.002+01:00

How many times have we heard the Tories (and LibDem supporters) claim that they are reducing our debt? Ten days ago Cameron said "In just the past year, we have cut over £10 billion off the deficit." Look at the graph and judge for yourself, it certainly seems to be increasing to me.

Year GDP Public Net Debt -total actual/estimate £ billion £ billion 2010 1453.62 759.50 a 2011 1526.5 909.20 e 2012 1602.8 1046.00 e As I have pointed out before, if you take away the money we leant to the banks its far smaller. "The headline figure is £456.33bn, down from £612.58bn in March 2010. The peak was a mighty £1.162 trillion. The total outstanding support is 31% of March's GDP". One good source for exposing this sort of political lie is channel four factcheck. Recent posts include: are eastern Europeans to blame for social housing shortages? Is the Prime Minister right that 24 million people will be better off by £6.50 thanks to the change in personal tax allowance thresholds? Actually families with children across the country woke up to the news that from tomorrow they’ll be an average of £511 worse off a year. The Tories also lied about fuel tanker drivers earning over £45,000, its actually around £35,000 !

Lives are being wrecked, "ethnic cleansing"

2012-04-26T18:06:00.001+01:00

Tenants in London are being evicted thanks to the Tory/LD policy capping rent. But its splitting families and not even saving money as people are in hotels! http://m.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/apr/24/london-landlords-housing-benefit-cap?cat=society&type=article

One landlord said"The social cost is immeasurable. Lives are being wrecked," he said. "I don't like ethnic cleansing, and that is what is happening."

He described the tenants he was in the process of evicting as "exclusively non-white".

"I don't think that it will save any money and I am very worried about the social implications. What is going to happen to the kids? We have tenants in the office crying, regularly," he said, asking not to be named.

"Secure home life is important. See where this ends up in four years. See what social issues you are going to have… We are asking for trouble."Most of his tenants come from Syria, Iraq, the Middle East.

Janet Townley said she had been forced to split up her family temporarily after being evicted from her home in East Acton on Monday. She was preparing to spend her second night with her husband, her 12-year-old daughter and her seven-year-old son in the Premier Inn in Hanger Lane. She had sent her three-year-old daughter and eight-year-old son, who has ADHD, to stay with her mother.

She had been receiving £450 a week in housing benefit for the four-bedroom house she lived in, but this was capped at £400 a week earlier this year under the new regulations. She was unable to make up the difference, fell into rental arrears, and bailiffs arrived to remove the family on Monday.

Because of her son's disability she has been told the council will try to find her something cheaper within the borough, but for the moment nothing suitable has been found and the hotel room has been booked until next week, costing Hammersmith and Fulham council about £69 a night for each of the two rooms.

"It's very difficult. There are no cooking facilities," she said, adding that she doesn't have much money to buy ready made meals because she has spent all her spare cash on paying for a removal van and for storage for her belongings until something is found for her."My three-year-old just says 'Mummy, I want to go home'. It's horrible."

Cabinet Reshuffle

2012-04-26T00:18:00.001+01:00

I have a suggestion for David Cameron. He has some very dodgy ministers, getting caught making mistakes and bringing his government into disrepute. Why not have a reshuffle, it has worked for his predecessors.

Jeremy Hunt must be looking for a new job at culture after the Sky fiasco, perhaps making tea.

Theresa May is having a terrible time as home secretary, getting her dates mixed up, making up stories about cats preventing people getting deported. Time for a change.

Perhaps swap May with Osbourne who has managed to make even Gordon Brown seem less bad. It would be easier for her to switch to a plan B.

Gove is messing up education, why not swap him with Landsley who has messed up health already.

Wat er Petition from Care2

2012-04-24T02:48:00.001+01:00

What a rainy week. But one week of rain does not make up for a dry winter or the lack of investment of water companies.

One reason that parts of England are suffering from the worst drought in 4 decades is climate change causing changes in rainfall patterns. But that's not the only reason--corporate greed and inefficiency is also a cause.

This negligence and misapplication of resources must not continue.

The private companies in charge of the water supply do not prioritise either preparation or efficiency. Profit comes first, providing a secure water supply a far second. For example, Thames Water lost hundreds of millions of litres of water a day in 2009/2010 because of unfixed leaks.

It isn't the companies who pay the price for this lax approach; it is British farmers, the public and our environment.

Water companies clearly can't be relied upon to regulate themselves. Tell the UK government to take action to safeguard one of the most basic human needs.

Stand Up to Put a Stop to the UK Droughts.

Take action link: http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/AGlDg/zmTN/DOEN

Audit The Banks

2012-04-22T20:54:00.003+01:00

Here is a good idea. Its a wonder it hasnt happened alteady.

The petition in full

A comprehensive audit of all banks and financial institutions that have received bailouts, or cash injections resulting from quantitative easing, since 2007 (including but not limited to Northern Rock, Lloyds TSB, HBOS, Bradford & Bingley, and RBS) -- A comprehensive audit of the Bank of England The following must be established:

1. What were the specific transactions that led in each case to an institution's failure, and which individuals were responsible for these transactions?

2. Full disclosure of the circumstances of every bailout and QE injection, including the role of government ministers and Bank of England staff, and precisely how the funds have been used within each institution

3. Which individuals are responsible for the continued failure of these institutions?

4. Where there is evidence of fraud or criminality what actions should be taken to bring the individuals involved to justice?

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/32574

Help spread this far and wide, by email, facebook, twitter, Blogs. Exposing the fradudulent debt is essential and as Iceland shows, a bank audit - however flawed or imperfect - is one way that this can be achieved. Sign the Government e-petition, if we get to 100,000 signatures before this time next year, we shall be eligible for a formal debate in parliament. http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/32574

Charity Status Eton Harrow

2012-04-20T14:05:00.004+01:00

David Cameron said "In certain instances individuals may be giving
money to charities and those charities don't in all cases do a great amount of charitable work."

I wonder how much charitable work is done be the likes of Eton, Harrow and Winchester, the poshest schools that for some reason have been given charitable status!

Though in this case he was referring to wealthy people setting up charities abroad into which they pay money, but which are then used to fund their own companies, or even leisure activities.

We're not all in this together
Its time for change
Vote Green May 3

Save The Bees With FoE Petition

2012-04-19T09:23:00.000+01:00

British bees do a huge amount for wildlife, our food supply and the economy.

And last week thousands of you did a huge amount for bees. 10,000 packets of bee-friendly seeds were snapped up in just 24 hours, creating many new habitats for bees across Britain.

Even if you missed out on the free seeds you can still take action to help bees by calling for a National Bee Action Plan to reverse their decline.

Please ask David Cameron to take action to save British bees.

Changes to town planning, farming and our use of pesticides could prevent even more bee species from becoming extinct. The Prime Minister needs a plan to make these changes now.

Sign the petition for a National Bee Action Plan today.

Bring Home The Troops

2012-04-18T16:31:00.000+01:00

How many more of our brave troops need to die in this endless, pointless war? Its been going for over 10 years, thats longer than WW1 and WW2 put together.

The UK death toll is said to be 408. For the families every loss in a tradjedy. And every wound has consequences, but this is rarely mentioned.

According to wilipedia "As of April 8, 2012, the British forces have suffered 408 fatalities and 1,875 wounded in action, another 3,759 have suffered from disease or non-battle injuries".

Caroline Lucas Green MP asked os Parliament if it was time for the war to end.
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2012-04-17a.151.9&s=speaker%3A24910#g152.4

Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion, Green)
The tragic events of Sunday afternoon in Kabul are yet more evidence that the idea of a transition to Afghan national forces is an objective that has been construed independently of any real long-term political solution—aid militarised, corruption endemic. Does the Foreign Secretary therefore accept that we should bring our brave troops home now, rather than waiting until yet more lives have been lost?

William Hague (Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs; Richmond (Yorks), Conservative)
No; one of the things we saw from the incident on Sunday was the increasing ability of Afghan security forces to deal with a major incident on their own. It was the Afghan forces that killed or captured all the insurgents concerned. Of course, they need time for that capability to be built up further, and we are giving them that time by having our troops engaged in Afghanistan—including in combat—up to the end of 2014. If we did not do that, those forces would not be ready for the full task, and we would be letting down the people of Afghanistan and the people who have done so much work over the last decade.

Naughty Boy George Osbourne

2012-04-17T17:16:00.000+01:00

While Osborne claims to find aggressive tax avoidance "morally repugnant", his budget gives the green light for big business to step up their tax dodging. Not all in this together then.

Caroline Lucas says:
The chancellor's unfair and regressive decision to cut the 50p top rate of tax may have stolen the headlines, but at the heart of the budget there is another tax giveaway to multinational companies. These are the proposals to change the tax rules covering "controlled foreign companies" (CFCs). By redrawing the scope of taxes on large UK companies' overseas subsidiaries, the proposed changes will make it far easier for multinationals to shift profits into tax havens.

http://m.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/16/tax-giveaway-multinationals-george-osborne?cat=commentisfree&type=article

guest post, Equal Marriage Petition

2012-04-15T10:36:00.001+01:00

Support Civil Marriage & Civil Partnership Equality! Every single person who joins strengthens our call for action. Please take a minute to share this link with everyone you know: http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Support_Gay_Marriage_in_the_UK/?tta

Tax Dodger MP Redwood

2012-04-13T20:17:00.005+01:00

Liberal Conspiracy reveals that local MP John Redwood makes a living facilitating tax dodging. http://liberalconspiracy.org/2012/04/12/no-wonder-john-redwood-wants-to-avoid-focus-on-tax-avoidance/

John Redwood has been arguing against forcing MP’s to disclose their tax affairs, now we know why.

“Surely there is some personal space?” Redwood pleads. “Do you want their medical records?” Furthermore, he is peeved at the bad press tax avoidance has been getting of late. “Maybe,” he suggests, “the people who are saving for the future are more virtuous because they won’t be a burden on the tax-payers when they retire.” Redwood has good reason to defend tax avoidance.

In the last financial year- leaving aside expenses- he topped up his MP’s salary with £187,796. The greater part of this he earned as Chairman of the Investment Committee of Evercore Pan-Asset Capital Management Ltd; a company he helped set up in 2007.

Evercore specialises in funds ‘domiciled
in tax efficient jurisdictions like Dublin or Luxembourg’, which enable investors to avoid UK taxes. The company boasts that it ‘looks after a number of successful individuals and families’ and the minimum investment for most of their products is £50,000.

Nice work John, representing the interests of the wealthiest at the cost of the rest of us.

Fine That Lost Supermarket Trolley

2012-04-13T10:17:00.002+01:00

What a victory for Green Party campaigners. We have been campaigning on this for years, see this picture from the local paper in Nov 2006.

It was great pulling that old trolley from the river 6 years ago, we took it round to the tesco entrance, dripping muddy water everywhere. They didnt look all that pleased to see it for some reason, unfortunately the cameraman said he wasnt alowed to take a picture of it as it was private property.

Reading council is to start fining supermarkets £15 for every dumped shopping trolley it recovers. Lets hope this will see some action, less pollution in the river.

The Newtown area, where trolleys have been found on the pavement, in the road and in rivers, is one location being targeted by the council.

The new charges are likely to come into force from July.

Councillor Rob White said: "Since fining trolley owners was raised a little while ago the situation has improved.

"I hope introducing this measure will be the final nail in the coffin for this blight."

Under the plans, the council would charge £15 for removal, £7.50 a week for storage, £15 for returns and £50 to dispose of a trolley.

Another Cllr Defects Tory Sinking Ship

2012-04-11T15:36:00.002+01:00

As Oscar Wilde might have said: "To lose one cllr Mr Wilson, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness. "

Or as Goldfinger might have said,“‘Mr Wilson, they have a saying in Chicago: ‘Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, the third time it’s enemy action.’”

Any more Cllr defections and the hapless looking MP will have to wake up and say something. Whatever is going on in the East Reading Conservatives it looks like its doing huge damage to the party.