The US needs to stop foreign aid and arms exports to Israel

It was announced today by Hilary Clinton that Barak Obama had told Benjamin Netanyahu at their recent meeting that there should be a stop to all settlements. Hilary Clinton said "Not some settlements, not outposts, not natural growth exceptions,".

According to Israeli spokesperson Mark Regev Israel will continue to allow some settlement expansion.

The answer is simple. If the US is serious about getting Israel to halt settlement expanision it should stop foreign aid and arms exports.

Since the 1970s Israel has been the largest recipient of foreign aid from the US. A halt in this aid would seriouslly curtail Israel's expansion plans and military operations.

Letter published in local press

• THERE is a lot of disillusionment with the main three UK political parties at the moment as a result of MPs’ expenses being published. Such disillusionment is understandable, and the record is no better in the European Union.

Many of you will be thinking about voting for a different party this time round and I urge you to vote for the Green Party, who have a proven record campaigning for democracy and transparency.

The Open Europe think-tank recently produced a league table based on MEPs’ commitment to promoting transparency and reform in the European Union, which rated Green Party MEP Caroline Lucas, along with an SNP MEP and an independent MEP, at the top of the UK list and joint tenth across Europe’s 785 MEPs. The same table also placed UKIP’s Yorkshire and Humberside MEP at number 405 and close to the bottom of the list of UK MEPs.

There is a credible alternative at the European Elections. I urge you not to remain at home on June 4, but to go out and vote Green and help us increase our number of MEPs.

The alternative is to allow the usual three tired parties to get back in or to have the likes of UKIP or the BNP representing you in Europe.

http://www.thepress.co.uk/news/analysis/readersletters/4398345.Election_too_vital_to_ignore/

BNP quote Porritt and the OPT

The BNP are now using the environment as a cover for their anti-immigration stance.

The most recent edition of their disgusting rag Voice of Freedom has Jonathan Porritt pictured on the cover and using his statements to try and add respectability to their policies.

This has always been the danger when environmental groups start calling for tough measures on population and immigration.

It is important we distance ourselves from such thinking. And I hope when Mr Porritt finds out that he is being used by the BNP that he issues a statement strongly distancing himself from their policies.

The Wall

Last night Radio 4 broadcast 'Wall:An Essay by David Hare'. This was an excellent piece of work by playwright David Hare painting a vivid picture of how life currently is in Palestine.

It is available on iPlayer at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00kjb73/Wall_An_Essay_by_David_Hare

Of course, for balance Israeli historian Benny Morris was interviewed on The World Tonight later that evening.

(Picture taken from the Stop The Wall website)

Caroline Lucas tops the league for of UK MEP's promoting transparency and reform

Open Europe have produced league table of MEP's based on their commitment to promoting transparency and reform. Caroline along with an SNP and Independent MEP came the top of the UK list and joint 10th across Europe's 785 MEP's.

With such disillusion among voters at the moment, this is a positive story we can sell to the UK voters.

Boycott Eurovision tonight

Police in Moscow have started arresting participants of the Pride march, including Green Party human rights spokesperson Peter Tatchell.

The march had been banned by homophobic Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who according to Sky News has previously described homosexuality as "satanic".

This oppression of the gay community comes the same day as Moscow hosts the Eurovision Song Contest.

We should show our disgust at Russia's actions by boycotting the show tonight.

End the UK arms trade

This morning in the news there are reports of military actions in Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Both these countries are recipients of UK arms, for details visit the Campaign Against Arms Trade at http://www.caat.org.uk/publications/countries.php

These are just two of the countries with poor human rights records who are recipients of UK arms. Other countries include China, Colombia, Israel and Turkey.

Our government may occasionally may make mild criticism of some of the governments, but such actions are hipocritical when we continue to ship arms to these countries.

Joint union statement on HE job cuts

The following is from the UCU website:

The following statement has been signed by NUS, UCU, Unison, Unite, GMB and EIS.

'As representatives of both staff and students in higher education, we are deeply concerned at the announcement by the UCEA (the national body that negotiates on behalf of UK universities) that two-thirds of all universities are considering job cuts.

At a time when demand from students for access to higher education has never been greater we believe that any strategy of cutting jobs is deeply problematic.

The scale of redundancies in those institutions who have already announced cuts is substantial with both jobs and whole departments threatened. Cutting jobs could further raise staff:student ratios (which have already doubled in the last 15 years), and lead to larger seminar, class and lecture sizes; less contact time and an increased workload for those staff who remain. Any proposals to cut crucial support and academic related staff jobs without whom universities simply could not function will not be accepted by any union as a rationalisation for protecting such ratios. Cuts of any kind could have a devastating impact upon the quality of education experienced by current and future students.

Given UCEA has raised the spectre of mass redundancies across HE at national negotiations, there should be nothing in principle to stop the HE sector from coming together to provide reassurances on seeking to avoid job cuts rather than their current position- hiding behind claims of institutional autonomy.

We therefore believe that a partnership between unions and employers to reach a national agreement on job security is essential if we are to defend education.

We pledge to campaign together on defending education, reflecting the belief that our sector plays a critical role in mitigating the effects of the economic recession; creating the conditions for future prosperity and providing all in our communities with access to the opportunity to learn.'