Being Part of the Change

On 8th April Nova Hreod School will host BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions

2011-03-18T17:33:00.002+03:30

On Friday 8 April Nova Hreod School in Swindon will be hosting a live broadcast of BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions? with Jonathan Dimbleby. The programme is broadcast following the news at 8.00pm.

Any Questions? gives the audience a chance to ask a question and influence the debate on national and international issues.

Three of the four Panel members have now been confirmed. Those confirmed so far are:

• Caroline Lucas, Green Party leader
• Claire Tyler, Chief Executive of Relate
• Benedict Brogan, Deputy Editor of the Daily Telegraph

Entry is by ticket only. Tickets are available on a first come, first served basis and can be obtained by contacting Helen Crawford, at Nova Hreod School on 01793 549106 or by email on h.crawford@novahreod.swindon.sch.uk.

Letter sent of to the Adver

2010-01-05T16:48:00.002+03:30

I've been up to my eyeballs in so many things for the last couple of moths so sorry for the lack of postings. It's not because I haven't been doing anything, it's the opposite, I've been doing so much I haven't had time to blog about it!

Anyway, there will be posts on Wi-Fi, Copenhagen and various other important topics soon but, in the mean time, this is a letter I've just sent to the Adver regarding the recent deluge of "it's not happening" or "it's not us" letters they have printed about climate change. Enjoy.

Given the recent spate of letters about climate change, I would like to add some factual answers to the questions posed.

Firstly, the "It's the sun" argument, solar activity has shown little to no long term trend since the 1950's. Consequently, any correlation between sun and climate ended in the 1970's when the modern global warming trend began. Various independent measurements of solar activity all confirm the sun has shown a slight cooling trend since 1978. As for "It’s cosmic rays", while the link between cosmic rays and cloud cover is yet to be confirmed, more importantly, there has been no correlation between cosmic rays and global temperatures over the last 30 years of global warming. I can’t remember who said “it’s the moon moving nearer to /further from the earth”. This is a new one to me and some what odd as the moon as been slowing, but steadily, moving away from the earth since we landed on it 1969 and started taking daily measurements. The moon has many huge effects on the earth, such as the tides, but doesn’t affect sea temperate.

Secondly, the "Climate's changed before", "It's just a natural cycle". "Greenland was green" and "It warmed before 1940 when CO2 was low” or "Animals and plants can adapt to global warming" arguments. A large number of ancient mass extinction events have been strongly linked to global climate change. Because current climate change is so rapid, the way species typically adapt (eg - migration) is, in most cases, simply not be possible. Global change is simply too pervasive and occurring too rapidly. Natural climate change in the past proves that climate is sensitive to an energy imbalance. If the planet accumulates heat, global temperatures will go up. Currently, CO2 is imposing an energy imbalance due to the enhanced greenhouse effect. Past climate change actually provides evidence for our climate's sensitivity to CO2. The 1500 year cycles, known as Dansgaard-Oeschger events, are localized to the northern hemisphere and accompanied with cooling in the southern hemisphere. In contrast, current global warming is occurring in both hemispheres and particularly throughout the world's oceans, indicating a significant energy imbalance. The Greenland ice sheet has existed for at least 400,000 years. There may have been regions of Greenland that were 'greener' than today but this was not a global phenomenon. Early 20th century warming was in large part due to rising solar activity and relatively quiet volcanic activity. However, both factors have played little to no part in the warming since 1975. Solar activity has been steady since the 50's. Volcanoes have been relatively frequent and if anything, have exerted a cooling effect..

As for questioning the scientific consensus that humans are causing global warming or reliability of climate models, 97% of climate scientists actively publishing climate papers endorse the consensus position and while there are uncertainties with climate models, they successfully reproduce the past and have made predictions that have been subsequently confirmed by observations. Direct observations find that CO2 is rising sharply due to human activity. Satellite measurements find less energy is escaping to space at CO2 absorption wavelengths. Ocean and surface temperature measurements find the planet is steadily accumulating heat.

The "Human CO2 is a only a tiny percentage of CO2 emissions and so we are too insignificant to affect the global climate” argument holds no weight. There is direct empirical evidence that human CO2 emissions are causing global warming. The CO2 that nature emits (from the ocean and vegetation) is balanced by natural absorptions (again by the ocean and vegetation). Therefore human emissions upset the natural balance, rising CO2 to levels not seen in at least 800,000 years. Humans are emitting 26 gigatonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. Humans are dramatically altering the composition of our climate.

Finally, the claim that "Global warming is good". The negative impacts of global warming on agriculture, health, economy and environment far outweigh any positives.

The Xander never forgets...

2009-07-17T20:00:00.002+04:30

Yesterday on the way home a little girl said "Hello Alexander" to Xander. He waved back and said hello. I asked him how he knew her, was she in his class? He said no and claimed he had never seen her before. I asked him how she knew his name, he suggested that she must had guessed it. I said "that would be unlikely it would have been a very good guess" he said "then she must be very clever". I suggested that maybe they had in fact met and she had remembered him but he had forgotten her. He stated this was impossible as he remembers everything as he is "The Xander". I suggested that this was not true, he got cross and ignored me.

Today, I got his class photo back. He is standing right next to the little girl!

P Meeting: 27th July 2008, Agenda

2009-07-15T16:54:00.000+04:30

Our next meeting will be 27th July 2008 at Central Community Centre, Emlyn Square from 7:30pm.

Agenda:

1) Welcome and refreshments, apologies and minutes (5 Minutes)
2) Stalls and events: Peace festival, Pride, Social event, Forest festival (5 Minutes)

3) Tresurers Report: Fundraising (15 Minutes)
4) Membership Secretary’s Report: Recruitment (15 Minutes)
5) Vision (local manifesto) (15 Minutes)
6) AOB (5 Minutes)

GREEN ACTION TO PROTECT IRANIAN BLOGGERS

2009-06-19T19:53:00.000+04:30

From the Green Group of Councillors, Brighton & Hove City Council

Green Cllr Ben Duncan has called on all UK bloggers to change the
location and time zone details of their blog and twitter accounts to
say they are based in Iran.

His action comes after an Iranian blogger contacted him asking for
help, stating that Iranian secret police are rounding up people
blogging and twittering about events in the country, using a list
detailing which accounts are registered in Iran and with this unique
time zone.

Ben, the Green Group of Cllrs Human Rights Spokesperson and Green
Parliamentary candidate for Brighton Kemptown said:

“If thousands of us around the world make these settings our own, the
hope is that the secret police will be overwhelmed and free blogging
and twittering will continue in Iran a while longer.

“Freedom of speech on the 'net - and for journalists in general - must
be preserved: it's only if people know what's going on that they can
make an informed decision, and no-one will know what's going on if the
police are arresting everyone who's trying to tell us!

“So please change these details, even if just for a day or two: it
takes less than a minute, costs nothing, and could prevent an innocent
'blogger from a night (or more...) in the cells, and help preserve the
free flow of information about political events both inside, and
beyond, Iran.”

ENDS

Notes for editors:

Tehran time is GMT + 3.30

For more information please contact Ben Duncan on 07824 266 953, or
see his blog at:

http://greenkemptownben.blogspot.com/2009/06/act-now-to-protect-iranian-political.html

Jenny Jones's Article on guardian.co.uk,

2009-06-16T17:26:00.001+04:30

There are many shades of Green.

The media should be talking about the Green party's range of interconnected policies, not accusing us of single-issue politics

It's disappointing to see someone of Leo Hickman's stature reinforcing old stereotypes. His assertion that the Greens are a "one-issue" party is plainly wrong and his reasoning – that "the clue's in the name" – doesn't entirely stack up.

Let's think about this for a moment. Suppose there was a party called... oh, I don't know, let's say Labour. By Leo Hickman's reasoning we would all assume it was a one-issue party that dealt only with employment issues. Its flagship policy would be Jobcentre Plus. It would have no policy on crime, because crime isn't work. It could have no policy on defence, health or public transport, except insofar as wages and contracts were concerned. Is that what we would assume about a party called Labour?

Possibly the Greens are asking for trouble because they have a flower as their logo. But then, so does Labour. And the Lib Dems have a startled chicken, but would anyone say this aptly symbolised the Liberal Democrats? (Ok, I concede that particular point).

It always was strange that people would describe the Greens as "single issue". You only ever had to look at our manifesto to see policies on everything that everyone else had policies on.

It's also a fundamental misrepresentation. The Green party – formerly the Ecology party – formerly People – has an ecological perspective. Ecology is about everything and how it all interconnects. How could anyone ever see everything and how it all interconnects as a single issue?

This is what's distinctive about the Green party: it is the original party of joined-up thinking. The other parties have traditionally seen issues as though they were separate things in separate boxes. So, for example, transport policy was only about moving people and goods from A to B. But ask a Green to invent a transport policy for you, and they wouldn't know how to be so narrow. A Green or ecological perspective will, by its very nature, think of the thing itself and how it interconnects with everything else. Hence transport and climate change; transport and social inclusion; transport and congestion and the resulting costs to businesses; transport and disruption of communities; the impacts of transport's noise and air pollution on health; transport and external costs; and so on. That's how you end up with a Green transport policy, as opposed to endless roadbuilding, airport expansions and the highest rail fares in Europe.

That the party that blazed new trails and pioneered joined-up thinking was caricatured as single issue, against all logic, against all evidence, is one of the big ironies of modern British politics.

Most of the time, most people get most of their information about politics from the mass media. It's a relief to see that the media have recently been giving more attention, for instance, to the Green party's economic policies. Indeed, one highly respected journalist in the Daily Telegraph last week congratulated the Green Party for being ahead of the economic curve with its Green New Deal. But the reappearance of the "one-issue Greens" myth in the Guardian, of all places, in the last few days shows that the falsehood still lives.

Whoever this falsehood serves, it doesn't serve the British voter. Democracy depends on good information. The media acknowledge their duty to tell the truth. I think there's one major task the UK media could undertake now, while British politics is in such a state of disarray that the British voter is clamouring for sweeping reforms. It's this: tell the British voter about the Green party. Not about its environment policy, but about its million-jobs manifesto. Its commitment to re-regulating the buses and doubling the number of them. Its policy for re-nationalising the railways and slashing rail fares. Its policy of rescuing the NHS from privatisation, restoring free dental care and dramatically improving maternity services.

These are good policies, and they're policies only the Green party is offering. They're popular policies, and the readers and viewers and listeners would like to hear about them. Telling the voters about all of this can only be a good thing for British democracy.

(http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/16/green-party-policies)

South West Results and reflections

2009-06-08T15:18:00.002+04:30

Conservative 468,742
UKIP 341,845
Liberal Democrat 255,253
GREEN 144,179
Labour 118,716
BNP 60,889
Pensioners 37,785
English Democrat 25,313
Christians 21,329
Mebyon Kernow 14,922
Socialist Labour 10,033
Misc 39,702 (6 other groups mostly around 7,000)

1st seat Conservative with 468,742
2nd seat UKIP with 341,845
3rd seat LD with 255,253
4th seat Conservative with 234,371
5th seat UKIP with 170,923
6th seat Conservative with 156,248

Greens 12,070 votes short of a seat

Spread across 49 parliamentary constituencies that is 247 votes short per constituency. Each constituency is about 60,000 electors, typically divided into 20 wards of about 3,000 for local elections. So in your ward we needed an extra 12 votes and probably 1,800 people in your ward didn't bother to vote.

Small consolation that we beat the current party of government into 5th place. We also increased our vote by more than enough to have won a seat last time when there were 7 seats in the SW. That's the price of EU enlargement.

Getting cross...

2009-06-08T14:30:00.000+04:30

Tory's:THE LOW CARBON ECONOMY SECURITY, STABILITY AND GREEN GROWTH Protecting Security Policy Green Paper:
"...whole streets will be retrofitted at the same time – building on the Warm Zones approach taken by Conservative-led Kirklees Council,"
Proposed and worked out by the Greens on Kirklees Council! Bloody cheek!!!!

Yesterday's Stall + New Poll

2009-05-31T14:47:00.003+04:30

We held a stall in Swindon town centre yesterday. It went very well
from 9am to 3:15pm, then the table broke and we had to call it a day. We
were almost out ofleaflets anyway so it made sense to stop then. I will chase up more leaflets from GPSWHQ so that we can continue our campaigns. We got a very. very positive response. It's looking good but we still need to win over the undecided
and make sure our supporters do actually go out and vote.

A Sunday Telegraph/ICm poll to be published tomorrow, when asking voting intentions for the EUROPEAN ELECTION next Thursday, (apparently even without prompting of
non-main party names) gives the following headline figures:

Con 29 (-1)
Lib Dem 20 (+2)
Lab 17 (-7)
Green 11 (+1)
UKIP 10 (nc)
BNP 5 (+4)

Up and coming Events for swindon Green Party

2009-05-29T17:37:00.001+04:30

Help is needed for all events, please e-mail me at jenni@:swindongreens.org.uk

Tomorrow (Saturday 30th May) 9am-6pm: Stall near Central Library. If you can help, even for a short time, please just turn up.

Sunday 31st May 2pm-8pm: Canvassing , location TBC (probably Parks), e-mail me if you can help.

Monday 1st June 8:30am-9:00am: Leafleting , Lethbridge School.
Monday 1st June 6pm-8:30pm: Canvassing around Walcot/Lawns..

Tuesday 2nd June, 9am: Leafleting at New college.
Tuesday 2nd June, 7pm: Green Drinks at the Savoy (see.www.swindongreens.org.uk for map)

Wednesday 3rd June, TBC: possible stall near Central Library.
Wednesday 3rd June, 2:30pm-3:15pm , Leafleting , Lethbridge School.
Wednesday 3rd June, 6pm-8pm: Canvassing location TBC (probably parks),

Thursday 4th June, 6pm-very late: Count at Oasis - read my twitter for updates (http://twitter.com/jennimiles)

Monday 15th - Friday 19th June, 11am-2pm: Stall for ENVIRONMENTAL WEEK at Swindon college.

Saturday 27th June, 10am-5pm: Stall at the Old Town Festival at The Lawns
Sunday 28th June, 10am-5pm Stall at the Old Town Festival at Town Gardens

Monday 29th June, 8pm, AGM at Central Community Centre, Emlyn Square.

Lastest Poll

2009-05-27T15:11:00.002+04:30

The Greens are set to take 9% (+3) of the total vote, while Ukip is on 10% (-6), leaving the BNP way behind on just 1% – considerably down on the 5% the far-right party achieved at the last European elections in 2004.

Message from SPARK:

2009-05-26T12:41:00.000+04:30

Dear all

Despite all our efforts, we have now received written confirmation from Swindon Borough Council that the Groundwell P&R will be mothballed from 31 May 2009, with the last service running on 30 May 2009.

Whilst this decision is extremely disappointing, Thamesdown Transport has confirmed that they will be running a new service, the Priory Vale Express, no12 , aimed at North Swindon commuters, from 1 June. The service will run from Oakhurst and Abbey Meads to Fleming Way via Cricklade Road with limited stops between 07.10 and 08.40 in the morning and 16.35 and 18.05 in the evening. However, please note that the Priory Vale service is being run as a 'trial' and the council has not confirmed how long the 'trial' period will be.

Finally Lindsay and I would like to thank everyone who has supported us in this campaign. We will now be taking a back seat over the summer and hope to pick up the campaign in October/November when the council will be setting budgets for 2010.

If anyone wishes to keep in touch with us, please continue to write to us at the SPARK email address ~(spark2009@hotmail.co.uk).

Best regards

Sara Spinks
On behalf of SPARK

Open letter to Deputy Council Leader Fionuala Foley,

2009-05-22T19:34:00.001+04:30

Ms Foley, I would like to state publicly how appalling your behaviour towards Shirley Burnham, the 61-year-old campaigner of Save Old Town Library was today. After the Princess Royal's visit, you publicly snarled rudely a suggestion that she had no right to protest at your council's indefensible cuts, glaring at her as if she was not fit to be walked on by you.

Shirley, who unlike you is not paid an allowance for the work she does for the community, had just stood patiently outside the library for hours while you and you colleges had a posh lunch with royalty inside. She was there attempting to provide future generations with a decent
library service and to promote life-long learning, community and culture.

You were there to promote yourself.

She is a hard working local campaigner who deserves the utmost respect and joins a long list of strong community-minded women including Jean Saunders (Coate Water), Martha Perry (Mechanics Institute), Marilyn Harrison (Animal rights), Emma Bushell (Human Rights, Poverty) and Deb Joffe (Climate change) to name just a few. These women represent Swindon, working for their community fighting injustice - unpaid and seldom thanked. They are an inspiration and their hard work and sprit should be praised.

You, with your rude and disrespectful behaviour should not. It is not just MPs who fiddled their expenses that the public are angry with. It is people like you that put people off politics. Shame on you.

You said "there is an opportunity for the Old Town community to take on the running of the library to solve the problem.", but this is what they pay you for. If you are not up to the job, then stand down. I can think of someone much better to take your place.

Jenni Miles

Chair, Swindon Green Party & Governor, Lethbridge Primary School.

Shockingly I'm a green!

2009-05-21T18:21:00.001+04:30

Your browser does not support iframes. Click &amp;lt;a&amp;gt;here&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; to continue.

MP's expenses

2009-05-20T20:51:00.002+04:30

I was asked a lot about what we would do about MP's expenses while campaigning today. So to clarify the situation from the Green Party's point of view:

The Green Party wants a thorough investigation to ascertain the full details of what has gone wrong, and in exactly what ways, so that the issue can be completely addressed. But our immediate proposals would be:
· MPs should not be allowed to make up the rules that govern their own expenses and communication. There should be an independent commission empowered to oversee and regulate.
· There should be comparison with civil servants in how these matters are handled.
· It should be a criminal offence to knowingly overclaim - just as it is a criminal offence to knowingly overclaim benefits.
· Accommodation: MPs should have their main home in or near their constituency. When MPs who don't live in London need to stay in London, the following criteria should be applied:

They should be paid a flat-rate overnight allowance.

The allowance would pay for hotel accommodation, but could instead be used for rent. (While many MPs have behaved outrageously, it's unreasonable to ask a good MP to live out of a suitcase).

The allowance should only be paid for the nights that the MP needs to be in the capital.

As a possible alternative to the above, we would ask the Kelly committee to consider the possibility of providing MPs who live outside London with apartments in London.

But this isn’t just about expenses. We have an unfair election system that practically guarantees a minority government – a government more people voted against than voted for. The whole system is dominated by three very similar parties. So instead of active public engagement with politics there is widespread apathy, cynicism and anger. Therefore we need a complete overhaul of British democracy – including a proportional elections system.

So now you know :)

Have been up to my eye-balls...

2009-05-19T18:51:00.003+04:30

in election stuff. There is still so much to do and less than 3 weeks to do it in. I've been off doorknocking (is that even a verb? I've not have enough sleep to know!) almost every night and have lots of Governors' stuff coming up too. I'm going over the plans for the eastern development. My eyes are going crossed. I wish Fabian (my 8 month old) would sleep at night, it would really help me get this all done.

Ricky Knight will be in Swindon tomorrow so more campaigning then. At least dave has taken the day off so I will not have to be doing it with the kids.

Euro Elections Register to vote

2009-05-07T13:57:00.000+04:30

Letter from me to the Adver:

2009-03-13T23:37:00.001+03:30

The debate over the future of the Royal Mail shows how resistant the Labour government is to new ideas when they are most needed.

Privatisation, in part or whole, is the old ideology which the banks have shown results in a false economy and a failed economy.
After all, private money and private management were intended to carry the risk of any enterprise, leaving public finance as an 'off-balance-sheet' device, unrecorded as actual public debt.
Following the collapse of the banking bubble, it is public money (tax-payers' money) which has to take on the risk and rescue the banking industry.
There are alternative and better ways if reforming Royal Mail to make it secure and accountable, and one of these is some form of mutualisation involving trust status and profit sharing for employees.
Let the co-operative ethos prevail with customers becoming shareholders in their local post office.
A return to mutualisation is one part of the Green New Deal, which calls for 'green energy, green transport, green agriculture and green waste management'.
This means a use of renewable and sustainable systems to rebuild the economy, providing real value and more jobs. That is the way we should go.

Getting to Zero

2009-03-12T05:37:00.001+03:30

Getting to Zero is the name of the play broadcast on 12th March, on Radio 4. It was a drama documentary with a panel of 3 experts - George Monbiot, Paul Allen and Peter Harper - who set an average (fictional) family the task of eliminating their carbon footprint in 3 weeks. I haven't had a chance to listen yet, but it sounds interesting.
The link is: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00j16kt for anyone that wishes to hear it too.

Letter from me to the Adver:

2009-03-11T17:35:00.000+03:30

It shouldn't be a surprise that sea-levels are rising faster than expected. The observable pattern with scientific reports is that they continually reveal that climate change is more serious than we thought previously.

What is astonishing, on the other hand, is that all three big political parties in the UK fail to adopt the right targets, fail to pursue the full package of policies necessary to meet even their inadequate targets, and continue to pursue some policies that go in exactly the wrong direction. This is another observable pattern.

There is still only one political party that has always had the right targets and the full range of policies needed to meet those targets in an economically viable and socially just manner. It’s a simple fact: if you want the right action taken on the climate crisis, you're going to have to elect more Greens.

And the next opportunity is of course the European election on 4 June. The EU has a huge role to play on the world stage, and the need for more Green MEPs has never been greater.

Standards for energy efficiency

2009-03-10T13:50:00.000+03:30

I just signed an urgent petition to European decision-makers urging them to adopt ambitious standards for energy efficiency in major electrical appliances like TVs, fridges and boilers.

This is important: strong rules will reduce the EU's contribution to climate change by driving manufacturers to produce a new-wave of efficient and clean products, while setting a strong benchmark for other producers around the world to follow.

The petition will be delivered to decision makers by global online advocacy group Avaaz.org in a joint event with Friends of the Earth Europe and Natuur en Milieu, on March 12th. I thought you might like to join me in taking this critical action, please click on the link or read the email below to learn more and to join our call:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/refrigerator_revolution/98.php

Lethbridge School Committee Meeting

2009-03-10T01:52:00.000+03:30

I have just returned from my second Staffing and Finance committee meeting. I've joined this now as finance is a key area of knowledge for me so I can, hopefully, be of use! We looked through some new polices and heard about some of the great courses our staff have been on recently. we are lucky to have such devoted staff!

Green Party Meeting: Monday 30 March 2009

2009-03-08T14:00:00.001+03:30

Next meeting: Monday 30 March 2009 from 8pm at Central Community Centre, Emlyn Square.

Refreshments and parking available. If you need a lift, please contact me and I will try my best to arrange this.

This will be a quick but important meeting with major decisions to make so please do come along if you can.

Agenda:

Agenda Item:	Duration (minutes)	Time (Finish)
1) Welcome, refreshments	2	08:02
1) Ricky Knight's Visit Feedback	5	08:07
2) By-elections Feedback	2	08:09
3) Leaflets for Parks	2	08:11
4) Regular Stall at Cavendish Square	2	08:13
5) Financial Issues (major, report to follow)	15	08:28
6) Priorities for Swindon Green Party for 2009:	20	08:48
Campaigns/Local Manifesto, Recruitment, Events (major, report to follow)
7) Facebook/Website	5	08:53
8) AOB	5	08:58

Solar pannels

2009-03-07T13:55:00.001+03:30

There is a planning application to allow solar panels to a house near Wroughton. Post comments if you wish here, click through the acceptance options, use application ref s/09/0169 and you can submit comments. The options are for posting objections, but you can put general comments and support the proposal, if you wish.

This is what I put:

I am very much in favour of the installation of Solar Panels as:
1) Solar energy is inexhaustible and has generally benign environmental impacts
2) Solar collectors could eliminate the need for energy transportation and distribution networks, thereby reducing waste.
3) Small-scale solar energy devices can be mass produced with great savings to the consumer
4) Certain solar technologies are suitable for use in small units and many are considered potentially less complex and hazardous than other energy supply technologies now in us

“Quantitative Easing” (printing money)

2009-03-06T18:04:00.000+03:30

On the 5th March, with its rate-cutting ammunition all but exhausted, the Bank of England pressed the button on a much more drastic policy, “quantitative easing” (printing money) in an effort to kick-start the economy.

In Japan the government sent money created in this way to citizens, who are likely to spend it and stimulate the economy directly. In UK the government buys the worthless assets of bankrupt financial institutions. Since UK plc is not in its entirety worth even a fraction of the debts that were incurred during the decade of asset bingeing this is a policy of despair that cannot work and will do nothing to help us avoid the looming Depression.

The Green Party has had a policy of Citizens' Income for about 30 years. As in Japan, this would be an ideal way to put more money into the economy, especially since the poorest would benefit most and are the most likely to spend rather than saving.

Money created by the public should be invested for the public good. What we are continuing to witness in our economy this week, on the other hand, is a massive transfer of wealth to those who least deserve it.

Letter from me in Adver:

2009-03-05T18:07:00.000+03:30

BRITAIN is falling far behind in launching a Green New Deal, despite Government promises to "lead the world". The most comprehensive study yet of "green stimuli", A Climate for Recovery published by the HSBC Bank, puts Britain near the bottom. China, for example, has devoted well over a hundred times as much money to recession-beating environmental measures, despite being castigated for failing to tackle its pollution.

Britain has, so far, devoted only $2.1bn to a green stimulus, less than a third of France's $7.2bn and less than a sixth of Germany's $13.8bn. China's spending, at $221.3bn, is more than 110 times that of the UK. In addition, only 6 per cent of Britain's stimulus packages is devoted to green measures such as energy efficiency, renewable sources and public transport. This is less than a third of the proportion given as a "benchmark" by the London School of Economics' Grantham Institute. It contrasts with 13 per cent in Germany, 21 per cent in France, 38 per cent in China and 81 per cent in South Korea.

The Green Party believes that politicians should stick to their policies and pledges. I urge your readers to vote for Green Candidate, Ricky Knight, in June's European Parliamentary elections.

JENNIFER MILES

Chairwoman, Swindon Green Party

Green Drinks

2009-03-04T02:08:00.001+03:30

Went to Green Drinks tonight, the next will be 7th April (see: www.swindongreens.org.uk for details)

Letter from me to the Adver:

2009-03-02T14:04:00.000+03:30

So Peter Mandelson has made his intentions clear. At a time when unemployment is sky rocketing he would like to put tens of thousands of postal workers' jobs at risk with a madcap scheme to part privatise the Royal Mail.

It's hardly surprising the Royal Mail is struggling to make money, and it's got little to do with the internet as any online shopper will vouch for. No wonder - when the Mail's chief competitor, the Dutch private monopoly TNT, has already been gifted the most profitable parts of Royal Mail's business. And no wonder - when for years, successive Tory and Labour governments have been creaming off profits and starving this still vital public service of investment to modernise its systems, pay decent wages to its hard working staff, or properly restructure.
Perhaps the Business Secretary would like to explain just how the current management team, which his government brought in, has run down what was one of the best postal services in the world. A cynic might say a deliberate ploy to pave the way for privatisation. We now have fewer post offices, Sunday service cut, and almost 15 years of idiotic schemes for "improvements."

Lethbridge School Governing Board Meeting

2009-02-05T21:05:00.004+03:30

I attended the full Governing Board meeting yesterday. There was a
wonderful presentation by our deputy head about the Rose Report. It sounds promising, but will require funding to be introduced
in full.
Again we talked about traffic issues at the school. There will
be an accident soon unless something changes. It's very hard to
convince people to walk in this kind of weather though. It's a shame that the
person in charge of helping school set up "walking bus" schemes and
alike has been made redundant by our forward thinking council!

Swindon Green Drinks

2009-02-04T19:35:00.003+03:30

I attended Swindon's first "Green Drinks" gathering last night. We had a turn-out of 12 despite the weather! There were very varied, interesting discussions. The next one will be on Tuesday 3rd March from 7pm at the Savoy Pub, Regents Circus. So pop along and say hello!

I was interviewed about the event and other "Green" topics by our friends at Community Radio this morning.

Euro 2009 Bonds

2009-02-03T19:45:00.000+03:30

Now available - applications for Euro 2009 Deposit Bonds.

There are only 500 of these available - a strictly limited edition, will be issued on a first come first served basis.

Avaiable in multiples of £10 - ideally for those who might be shy of giving money to a political party but would like to see a Green option on the ballot paper.

Successful applicants receive a personally signed bond certificate.

The must-have gift for Easter this year - an investment in your famil and the planet's futures !

E-mail me for details: jenni@swindongreens.org.uk

Pre-payment meters

2009-02-02T20:28:00.004+03:30

On 11th December 1990 John Major's government privatised what once were the area electricity boards. In the 18 years since then, neither the Conservative or Labour governments have acted to protect our poorest citizens from the surcharges applied to pre-payment meters.

Those with the smallest incomes whether they be benefits, pensions or minimum wage employment often have no choice but to use the pre-payment meter for their energy needs. It is an outrage that they also are faced with higher prices than those able to afford billed metering.

Energywatch found that pre-payment users could be paying up to £567, 42%, more a year than affluent customers using Internet tariffs. The Independent found that energy companies charge pre-payment users ten times more than the companies give back with their so-called social tariff schemes which are poorly publicised and difficult to access. National Energy Action calls these schemes random acts patronage. The LGA has found that the big six energy companies paid their shareholders an extra £257m in dividends in 2007, an increase of 19%, equivalent to £75 per household. We know the utilities can afford to change their billing.

It is a failure of conscience by the energy firms to have let this situation stand for so long. Clearly corporate social responsibility still has a long way to come. But it is a huge regulatory failure that the successive governments of John Major, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have not taken
action. Surely at some point in the past 18 years time could have been found to simply require that pricing per unit was the same regardless of the meter used? Perhaps they were too busy privatising other public services like the trains, parts of the NHS or now Royal Mail.

The National Housing Federation estimate that over a million people in fuel poverty would benefit from changes to pre-payment charges. We know change is not beyond the realm of possibility because within our United Kingdom solutions have been found: In Northern Ireland pre-pay customers actually receive a 2.5% discount and can top-up over the phone 24/7.

With, according to National Energy Action, 5.4 million households in fuel poverty and about 1,000 people a day being forcibly put onto pre-payment meters because of debt this is a growing crisis. For Ed Milliband to only threaten to take action against these companies is astonishing. The utilities have had 18 years in which to mend their ways, they don't need any more second chances. Immediate action is needed now, today, can't they see the snow!

London buses

2009-02-02T02:39:00.000+03:30

Why are London buses not running, the Nazis didn't manage that in the 194o's!

Empowering women workshop

2009-01-30T20:51:00.001+03:30

The Green Economics Insitute is running an Empowering women workshop and womens unequal pay and poverty on March 7th in Reading.
The line up includes several prominent green party women and also green Mps and Ministers and international women from countries such as india, pakistan and nigeria
as well as organic food and wine tasting and lady builder demonstrating building and oxfam and government statisticians, child poverty action group etc.
web link is www.greeneconomics.org.uk/papers/womensevent2009.doc.

Governors' Meeting

2009-01-29T20:34:00.001+03:30

I attended the Staffing and Finance committee meeting at Lethbridge School this evening. Very interesting, I shall probably end up on this one!

We are currently looking for a community governor, if you are interested in learning more drop me an e-mail: jenni@swindongreens.org.uk

"not rearing pigs"

2009-01-28T19:34:00.000+03:30

> Rt Hon David Miliband MP
> Secretary of State,
> Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA),
> Nobel House
> 17 Smith Square
> London SW1P 3JR
>
> 16 May 2007
>
> Dear Secretary of State,
>
> My friend, who is in farming at the moment, recently received a
> cheque for £3,000 from the Rural Payments Agency for not rearing
> pigs. I would now like to join the "not rearing pigs" business.
>
> In your opinion, what is the best kind of farm not to rear pigs on,
> and which is the best breed of pigs not to rear? I want to be sure I
> approach this endeavour in keeping with all government policies, as
> promoted by the EU under the Common Agricultural Policy.
>
> I would prefer not to rear bacon pigs, but if this is not the type
> you want not rearing, I will just as gladly not rear porkers. Are
> there any advantages in not rearing rare breeds such as Saddlebacks
> or Gloucester Old Spots, or are there too many people already not
> rearing these?
>
> As I see it, the hardest part of this programme will be keeping an
> accurate record of how many pigs I haven't reared. Are there any
> Government or Local Authority courses on this?
>
> My friend is very satisfied with this business. He has been rearing
> pigs for forty years or so, and the best he ever made on them was
> £1,422 in 1968. That is - until this year, when he received a cheque
> for not rearing any.
>
> If I get £3,000 for not rearing 50 pigs, will I get £6,000 for not
> rearing 100?
>
> I plan to operate on a small scale at first, holding myself down to
> about 4,000 pigs not raised, which will mean about £240,000 for the
> first year. As I become more expert in not rearing pigs, I plan to
> be more ambitious, perhaps increasing to, say, 40,000 pigs not
> reared in my second year, for which I should expect about £2.4
> million from your department. Incidentally, I wonder if I would be
> eligible to receive tradable carbon credits for all these pigs not
> producing harmful and polluting methane gases?
>
> Another point: These pigs that I plan not to rear will not eat 2,000
> tonnes of cereals. I understand that you also pay farmers for not
> growing crops. Will I qualify for payments for not growing cereals
> to not feed the pigs I don't rear?
>
> I am also considering the "not milking cows" business, so please
> send any information you have on that too. Please could you also
> include the current Defra advice on set aside fields? Can this be
> done on an e-commerce basis with virtual fields (of which I seem to
> have several thousand hectares)?
>
> In view of the above you will realise that I will be totally
> unemployed, and will therefore qualify for unemployment benefits.
>
> I shall of course be voting for your party at the next general
> election.
>
> Yours faithfully,

My complaint to the BBC regarding DEC appeal.

2009-01-26T16:26:00.002+03:30

My letter to the BBC
(copy if you wish, http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/complaints_stage1.shtml)
I wish to complain about your continuing refusal to broadcast the DEC's emergency appeal for Gaza. The fact that other channels including Channel 4, ITV and Channel 5 are showing the appeal tonight shows how isolated and extreme the BBC is on this issue. As of yesterday I believe you had received over 11,000 complaints. That figure is bound to be far higher by now, given how there is now virtually unanimous agreement across the full spectrum of opinion in Britain that you must reverse this disgraceful decision. I urge you to show this non-political, humanitarian appeal.

BBC Gaza DEC appeal scandal

2009-01-25T04:48:00.002+03:30

"The BBC says it cannot show the appeal [for the Palestinians] by the Disasters Emergency Committee because it does not want to compromise its commitment to impartiality" intones a BBC spin-droid.

But health minister Ben Bradshaw, a former BBC journalist, said it was 'an inexplicable decision' and that the reasons given were 'completely feeble'."
So even NuLabour can see that this decision was not good. Damn right. The reason given for exclusion was that it might show bias; but the exclusion itself is evidence of totally unacceptable bias.

You can act by making a complaint to the BBC,
phone: 03700 100 222
text: 03700 100 212
online http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/complaints_stage1.shtml

PS do not forget to donate to the DEC.

Swindon Climate Action Network's main concerns for 2009

2009-01-22T15:16:00.003+03:30

I attending a meeting yesterday about what SCAN's main concerns for 2009 should be. It was an interested meeting and made a nice change for me to chat with the already converted! I think sometimes the changes we want see can seem huge and scary, it's always good to meet with friends to remind ourselves just how possible these changes can be if we work together. Not to mention the freedom of the end results!

Tony Juniper

2009-01-21T15:58:00.003+03:30

Having just heard the Tony Juniper has been selected as PPC for the Green Party in Cambridge, I can't help but be very excited about it! He's campaigned on green issues for more than 25 years and as Campaigns Director and later Director of Friends of the Earth he led many successful initiatives on a wide range of issues. He's just what the Green Party needs right now!

I also also read today that Mark Ereira-Guyer, long standing St Edmundsbury councillor and current leader of the Labour group there, has resigned from the Labour Party in dismay at the Government decision to give the go-ahead to another runway at Heathrow, and has applied to join the Green Party. I'll confirm if/when I get the news.

SBC sustainability team and other cuts

2009-01-20T16:18:00.000+03:30

It would now appear that the scrapping of the SBC sustainability team has gone ahead, both employees have received their letters.To add to this blow I have heard that Thamesdown Transport is to cut routes and sack drivers, the Groundwell Park & Ride is to be 'mothballed' and that 2 or 3 Rangers and posts attached to Community Forest are gone some via non replacement. How on earth does our council plan to continue with the sweeping changes needed to make Swindon sustainable now?

Gaza

2009-01-19T19:41:00.003+03:30

Even with a cease-fire this situation is still far from solved. Barack Obama will take office tomorrow and it is important to send out the message that Gaza, as with many other problems George W. Bush has left him with, is an urgent and literally deadly serious matter. This may soon disappear from our TV screens but it will continue scaring the children of this region until a full agreement is reached. Northern Ireland has shown us that achieving peace is possible. Even though there are still many problems they are truly on a part to peace. We must gain faith from this example and I for one will continue to campaign on this issue in the hope that my children do not have to.

> DEMONSTRATION 24 JANUARY
> ISRAEL OUT OF GAZA NOW: LIFT THE BLOCKADE
> ASSEMBLE BBC BROADCASTING HOUSE
> PORTLAND PLACE, LONDON, W1A 1AA
> (NEAREST TUBE OXFORD CIRCUS)
> MARCH TO TRAFALGAR SQUARE
> For updates, go to: www.stopwar.org.uk

Swindon Green Party's New Site

2009-01-19T02:12:00.002+03:30

The new site is now online. Let me know what you think:
http://www.swindongreens.org.uk

Swindon Stop the War Protest about Gaza.

2009-01-18T02:06:00.000+03:30

I gave a short address at this protest on behalf of Swindon Green Party today. Kindly Simon Bridwell of SSTW filmed the event and it can now be seen on You Tube;
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wmyv8U5dD4A