Violent Thugs

Home secretary theresa May said that those arrested in the protesr March were "mindless thugs". Her words were matched by the shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper who criticised the "few hundred mindless idiots and thugs"

Most of those arrested had peacefully occupied a grocer. Where is the thuggish behavior? TV crews and captured many examples of violence, mostly masked people throwing paint. Only 11 of those people were arresred oddly.

The Green MP Caroline Lucas said "That the majority of those arrested and charged on Saturday were not violent thugs posing a risk to others but participants in a peaceful sit-down protest betrays a serious failure of judgement."

I question the judgement of May and Cooper for describing peaceful protesters as thugs. Especially as they both represent parties that gave bombed large numbers of civilians in the last few years.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/why-did-police-charge-only-11-rioters-over-the-anticuts-protests-2256729.html

Gandhi said "an unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so."

Green Waste Charge, better a carrot and stick

Reading Council have a strange new policy, charging residents more for being Green, even though they were saving the council money.

Those who want to dispose of garden waste but who have more than they can compost paid to have a green bin. While other residents who didn't bother simply threw it into the normal bin to be sent to landfill, which costs the council.

Now those Green minded residents will be charged £22.50 for the first green bin, plus £12.50 for each additional bin. Or £7.50 for the first green bag, plus £5.00 for each additional bag.

Those people being green and saving the council money should be rewarded not penalised. I would suggest they give the green bins away for free, and pick them up for free. Residents who throw away too much can be charged a small amount to pay for this.

I prefer a carrot and stick approach, reward good behavior and penalise the bad. I imagine this sort of approach will get some to call me authoritarian, hey ho. It will encourage people to do the right thing.

This odd policy has done one good thing so far, a Labour Cllr has started composting.

What happens to the green waste is another storey. Some residents would assume it goes to alotments, but when I helped run thre Oxford Road community garden I was told we couldn't have any.

Protest March Coverage

A Global Warming denier is calling for the murder of protesters, while the media is focusing on a few instances of violence.

Many thousands of people march peacefully, that is largely ignored. A right wing journalist calls for bombing the marchers, that is ignored. A small number of people throw some paint at a shop, that gets the medias attention.

There has only been one arrest by 3pm. The media report a carnival atmosphere.

Indymedia say "March 26 looks set to be the biggest street mobilisation in Britain since the anti-war march of 2003."

The Trades Union Congress says more than 500,000 to 250,000 people have joined the march, more than it had expected, but police are not estimating numbers.

BBC say the atmosphere is largely "good natured and friendly", with isolated scuffles in the West End.

Sky report the Met Police said there had been "two significant incidents of violence towards property and police away from the march". Light bulbs filled with ammonia and paint bombs were thrown in Oxford Street, police said.

Independent say representatives from Liberty will monitor policing both on the ground and from Metropolitan Police headquarters. The group UK Uncut is targeting banks and shops in Oxford Street and plans a "mass occupation of a top-secret target". Other activists are said to be planning to stop traffic with "flash mobs".

The Conservative MP Greg Hands said: "Mr Miliband and Mr Barber have a duty to ensure their march does not become a focus for disorder and law-breaking." While the bombs fall on innocents in Lybia.

The Telegraph talks about 'black bloc' anarchists.

Around 50 Gurkhas have joined the demonstration in support of legal aid.
Ragprasad Purja, 44, a Gurkha from Nepal who now lives in Morden, south London, said: "The Gurkhas have fought for this country for 200 years. The cuts to legal aid and benefits will affect many of us. We want to stop them."

Guardian says Hundreds of anti cuts and tax avoidance protesters closed down more than 13 shops on Oxford Street - with many more shutting their doors. Less than 0.25 percent of today's anti-cuts march is involved in the violence, which dominates the coverage.

They say every time the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, stepped out of doors it cost police £2m to protect him. He said:
"We cannot afford that any more - if you were to go on a national tour we'd be bankrupt."

Sounds Familiar

Hmm, where did I hear that before. Ah yes, the mantra of Thatcher, Blair, Brown and now Cameron. The rich get richer while the rest of us pay for it.

March today against cuts

Many friends today are marching in London against the Thatcheite cutting agenda. Unfortunately I cant join them, I became a dad yesterday and am in hospital with my family.

As you can see the hospital is also against the cuts.

Protest the cuts for a better big society


Others feel the same way.
Nora Pearce, midwife,

I'm going to be there to defend the NHS. I'll be with a very large group from Kingston hospital, where I work, and a couple of my grandchildren, and we'll all be carrying two flipping heavy banners.

We feel the NHS is under attack. Before the last election, Nick Clegg and David Cameron used Kingston hospital as a backdrop to say that the NHS would be safe in their hands. But now the government has said the NHS must have £20bn worth of efficiency savings, despite maintaining that no frontline staff will be cut. And at Kingston we have been told that over the next four years we will be losing nearly 500 staff - 20% of whom are nurses and doctors. Now, if that ain't frontline staff, then what is?

The hospital is saying that no services will be affected. Yeah, right. It is also saying there will be no redundancies. I half-believe that, because it could achieve staff reductions through people retiring. But it ain't about redundancies: it's about the service. You can't run a hospital without the staff. At Kingston, we have 22 consultants, and 214 nurses and midwives. They're not exactly sitting in the cupboard twiddling their thumbs.

So I hope the march will make the government seriously rethink these reforms. They just don't get the ethos of the health service. I don't know how to say this without sounding pious, but I've worked for the NHS for 30 years, and I don't work there for the pay. I work there out of public duty. People in the health service work much more than their hours. I couldn't tell you how many times I've gone without a break – how many times I've worked past the end of my shift when the people I was looking after needed me to stay.

The plan to sell off the blood transfusion service, which will be run by private companies for profit, is a perfect example of how the government doesn't get what the NHS is about: people don't give their blood for profit. If they bring in all these private companies, pity the poor sod who has got multiple health problems – the private sector won't want you. They won't want to do your hip operation if you're diabetic, epileptic and elderly, because it'll cost too much money.

The other thing that's upsetting us is our pensions. When they talk about the "gold-plated" NHS pension, I don't know what Mickey-Mouse world they're living in. I don't think a £5,000 pension is particularly gold-plated. A few people in the public sector get very good pensions, but the vast majority of us don't.

Meanwhile an idiot calls for bombing of protestors here

Surely the RAF could afford to divert one Typhoon from Libya for a humanitarian strike on Hyde Park?

They must be scared of us.

Big Society March Sat 26th

Some are calling it a TUC march on Saturday, orhers an anti cuts protest. Of course its both, but we are missing a trick here.

Its a Big Society March. The Big Society is what Cameron wants; all those volunteers whose good works do things that otherwise the Government would have to pay for.

These are the people that will be marching, those who believe in society. Unlike Thatcher who said it didnt exist. All come together to unite against Cameron.

Cameron may like the big society but we dont like his agenda, where the poor are paying for tax breaks for the wealthy.

So come along all you volunteers, you civil servants; teachers, fire fighters even the police. Together we are strong, unite against the cuts.

Vigil Against The Bombing Of Libya

Reading Peace Group and Reading Peaceworks are organising a protest vigil against the current bombing and military attacks on Libya.

Meet up between 1 - 2 pm on Sunday 27 March at the Queen Victoria
Statue in Friar Street.

Here are just a few reasons pacifists say no to military intervention in Libya:
* It's nothing to do with human rights - the UN Security Council is not interested in the brutal repression of democracy protesters in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Yemen.
* There are non-violent ways of supporting the Libyan democracy protesters which would be more effective than military force.
* Only one in three Britons supports military action in Libya
* The West cannot be an honest broker in Libya given its disastrous track record on Iraq
* The war is expected to cost at least $1 billion at a time when the global economy is in deep depression and public services are being cut here in the UK.