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.

York Green Party statement on Gaza

Greens say: Gaza bombing must stop

Also, a protest arranged by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign will take place on Saturday January 3rd at 1pm in St Sampson's Square.

Greens have called for an immediate and unconditional stop to Israel's bombing of the Gaza strip, which has so far killed well over 300 people, around 10% of whom are believed to be children.

This is in response to rocket attacks on Israeli territory launched from the Gaza strip that have killed 4 people since the recent ceasefire broke down and 23 people in the last eight years.

Andy Chase, Green Parliamentary Candidate for York Central, said: "Rocket attacks from Gaza must cease, though the situation is complicated because many are carried out by militants who are not under the effective control of the Palestinian authorities. However, the Israeli offensive has killed over ten times as many people as all of these attacks in a matter of days. The international community must tell Israel that this is not acceptable. Policies of 'collective punishment' are the best way of creating more hatred and extremism."

He continued: "Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza strip in 2007, since when there have been terrifying increases in poverty in the territory. In recent months, this has become more severe as even essential supplies of food and medicine have experienced difficulties in getting through. Unemployment is at 45% and there are serious concerns about proper nutrition and food security for many people. The way to stop rocket attacks is by giving people in Gaza a viable economic and political future and ending the blockade forthwith."

Green Party leader and Member of the European Parliament, Caroline Lucas, said, "The Israeli action is clearly counterproductive to the prospects for peace. The population of Gaza is already suffering from the Israeli blockade, which has accelerated their decline into even greater hunger and poverty. Casualties among the civilian population only serve to make people more angry and sow the seeds for further violence."

Where do the contents of your ready meal come from?

Farming Today had an interesting story today. It is apparently legal for ready meal producers to label their product as British if it has been produced in Britain but the meat has been sourced elsewhere.

They looked at the case of a Chicken Tikka Masala produced by a famous supermarket chain. After some enquiries it became evident that the chicken was sourced from Thailand.

I imagine many of my readers on Green Feed are vegetarians, but for those of us who eat meat it is disturbing. Although there are valid concerns about the treatment of poultry in this country it is still of a higher standard than elsewhere in the world, which is why many people look for the British label when purchasing meat.

Out of interest I would appreciate people filling in the poll on my blog as I would be interested in how many of you are vegetarian/vegan.

Elvington Airfield

I today spoke at the Elvington Airfield Inquiry representing Heslington Parish Council. Here is what I said:

When Heslington Parish Council received the application for hangars on Elvington Airfield there was no supporting information relating to estimated flight and traffic movements or the environmental effect of such an application. We still remain opposed to the application for the erection of hangars for the following reasons.

Under Heslington's Village Design Statement we call for:

1. No further significant development of Elvington airfield should be consented to by the City Council, or even considered, without there first being in place a Masterplan or design
statement for the development of the airfield. This should set the airfield in its wider context and identify its longterm objectives so that it can be subjected to a public consultation
process.
2. This Masterplan should identify and anticipate all future development of the infrastructure of the site, together with anticipated growth of commercial, leisure and freight traffic over, say, the next 15 to 20 years, and provide full supporting economic, transport and environmental impact assessments.
3. It should undergo a full series of public consultations in accordance with Government policy guidance, which would include formal consultation with all impacted surrounding communities likely to be affected by the noise footprint and traffic growth, including Heslington.

These conditions have not been met. We do not have a clear idea what the intentions of Elvington Park are for future development of the airfield and what the environmental consequences of approval would mean.

We do not believe the road network on the east of York can cope with an increase in traffic which will no doubt be a result of extra traffic travelling to and from Elvington. We are already expecting extra demands on the road network from the University, Derwenthorpe and Germany Beck developments.

Elvington Park have proved to be an inconsiderate neighbour since taking over the site, which was backed up in court this June when they were ordered by York Crown Court to cease Formula One testing after years over excessive noise and an unwillingness to conform to the reasonable conditions set down by York City Council, showing total disregard for local residents concerns. We believe any expansion of air activities on the site will once again cause unreasonable disturbance to local residents in Heslington.

There is no evidence that refusal of the application will affect the commercial interests of the city. With airports already located in Humberside, Doncaster, Newcastle, Leeds/Bradford and Manchester the region is already more than amply served. This has been proved by the failure of Sheffield Airport, which despite being a much larger city than York could not continue as a going concern. York also already has a flying school at Rufforth.

In conclusion we do not feel there are any special circumstances which could justify the proposed development on Greenbelt land. A development which would inevitably have an intolerable effect on local life for the surrounding villages. And furthermore, due to the lack of information available at the time of application we feel the development has not faced adequate public scrutiny.

York Green Party also sent out the following press release:

York Greens have condemned the proposal to expand Elvington Airfield to accommodate up to 10,000 flights a year.

The Green Party's Heslington Spokesperson Andrew Collingwood will be among those people attending the public inquiry. He was quoted as saying:

"This expansion could be the thin end of the wedge leading to hugely increased air traffic in and out of the airport.

It will be an environmental disaster for York. It will pour traffic onto the road network in and around the South East of York, which is already unable to cope with all of the new developments at Germany Beck, Derwenthorpe and the University.

It seems incredible that with the possibility of the Arctic Ocean being ice-free during the summer within ten years, people can seriously contemplate a development that would drive a coach and horses through local carbon reduction targets. It's like sailing around in a ship trying to find an iceberg to crash into.

It will also be an economic disaster. The proposal will create a relatively small number of jobs that will be vulnerable every time there is another spike in oil prices. This is at the expense of noise pollution and traffic chaos that will blight the south east corner of the city and deter firms from locating there.

What we need are innovative, environmentally aware local businesses that will bring long-term jobs and prosperity to the city, not useless facilities that will be obsolete within twenty years."

No to Elvington Airport

A public inquiry has started today into a proposed development which will allow an old RAF airfield which is currently used for a around 800 flights a year the right to accept up to 10,000 flights a year. In other words turning it into a small airport.

If the proposed development gets the go ahead it will be disastrous for the environment and local residents. We do not need any more airports, we already have 3 in Yorkshire alone.

Neighboring parish councils Elvington and Heslington oppose the development, as do the city council. It is on Greenbelt land, which will require the owners to prove special circumstances to get permission. We can only hope that the inquiry rules that there are no special circumstances.

I'll keep you posted on the developments as they happen.

The curse of Blair still haunts us

Newsnight tonight dug out a classic gem from the Blair archive:

"Something is seriously awry when … the Financial Services Authority that was established to provide clear guidelines and rules for the financial services sector and to protect the consumer against the fraudulent, is seen as hugely inhibiting of efficient business by perfectly respectable companies - that have never defrauded anyone."

This is New Labour all over, and Brown is no better when it comes to cosying up to business. The FSA has been seen is lacking over the past few years, and it is clear Labour were not willing to give them teeth when it comes to financial regulation.

The full article can be found at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2918368/What-Blair-really-thinks-about-the-FSA.html

Also, we now find out that Blair may have misled parliament over the F1 tobacco advertising debacle http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7668112.stm

The working class who voted for Labour have been let down. They are Tory Light and it is clear they are only interested in maintaining the status quo with a sprinkling of neo liberal policies.

One benefit of the financial crisis

There was a lot of speculation on tonight's Newsnight about what government departments would suffer as a result of the financial salvage package. As Brown has promised to maintain the current level of funding on Health and Education it is likely that the defence budget will suffer.

The result of this is that we may see an early withdrawal from Iraq, and along with the US a reluctance to get involved in other military adventures.

Newsnight did suggest that Russia, China and Iran may get emboldened and take risks they would not usually contemplate. I personally feel this is doubtful as Russia and China are also affected by the financial crisis.

The country is in economic crisis, but at least it will clip the wings of our imperialist leaders.

The crisis explained

This excellent sketch by John Bird and John Fortune explains why we have arrived at the current crisis.

Unfortunately I doubt the current economic crisis will change the system, governments will just keep throwing tax payers money at the problem to defend capitalism.

Rothko

Got to see the Rothko exhibition at the weekend. It really is worth a visit, as he is one of those artists you cannot really appreciate unless you are looking at the original, as the work relies so much on textures and colours which are lost on prints of his works.

It did however remind me of this clip from L.A.Story

LA Story - emotionally erect