Ban Foie Gras

It is very disappointing to see that in the 21st century the sale of Foie Gras is still legal in this country. Foie Gras is produced by the cruel practise of force feeding ducks and geese so that their livers are 10 times the normal size.

There is currently a petition on the No.10 website calling for this intolerably cruel practise to be made illegal. Please take a moment to visit and add your name at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/FoieGrasban/

There is a Facebook group you can join at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=logo#/group.php?gid=2233233470&ref=ts

Please also visit the Ban Fois Gras website at http://www.banfoiegras.org.uk/

Tony Benn on the BBC

Please forward this video on. Tony Benn takes full advantage of his interview with the BBC to continuously plug the DEC Gaza appeal.



Donate to the DEC Gaza appeal at www.dec.org.uk

Elvington airfield

I was very pleased to see that the Planning Inspectorate turned down the appeal from the owners of Elvington Airfield to have their application for hangars reconsidered. It was clear that the end-game was to have yet another regional airport and am glad that the environmental impact of the development was taken seriously and given more weighting than the supposed economic requirement for such a development.

Read the Press report

It is a shame such common sense has not prevailed over the move for a third runway at Heathrow. It is an affront to democracy to have not had a parliamentary vote over the development and I fully support John McDonnell's protest in the chamber.

What an ingenious idea

I was very pleased to hear in the news today that Greenpeace have purchased a piece of land in the middle of the proposed third runway.

You can sign up for a piece of the plot at http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/

Why do we need the Royals?

Once again a member of the Royal family has proved an embarrassment. It used to Princess Margaret and Prince Philip. Now we are getting the same shameless behaviour from Prince Harry.

After the ridiculous escapade with the Nazi uniform, we now find him guilty of racism and homophobia. St James's Palace claim he used the work "Paki" as a nickname, if this is true it is a shocking indictment on the armed forces for allowing such behaviour to go unchallenged.

This will undoubtedly not be the last time a member of the Royal family prove an embarrassment and we have to ask "Why do we need them?".

Defenders of the Royal family will argue that they only cost us £37 million a year. This however is a gross underestimate, with Republic UK estimating the real cost to be nearer £150 million.

If you are interested in learning more about Republic's Campaign for an Elected Head of State please visit http://www.republic.org.uk

Blair, Howard and Uribe to be awarded US Medal of Freedom

In the latest sickening move in Dubya's last days he has decided to award Tony Blair, ex-Australian PM John Howard and Colombian President and US stooge Alvaro Uribe the US medal of freedom.

Thankfully Howard and Blair are now gone and reviled in their own countries. Uribe is still in place presiding over a country where forced displacement has increased, extra-judicial executions have gone up, the numbers of political prisoners in Colombian jails has soared and more trade unionists are being murdered each year.

Sicko

I've just finished watching Michael Moore's Sicko. I was not sure whether a 2 hour film about the US health system would be of much interest to me, but in the end I found it fascinating and very moving.

It is shocking that one of the richest countries in the world will let its people get into terrific debt or be denied life saving treatment, because their insurance companies will try and weasel out of paying for treatment and the government won't cover the tab. Perhaps if it didn't spend so much on its defense budget it could afford a national health service which the populations of many western countries benefit from.