Meat Free Monday

I was quite interested to recently read about the Meat Free Monday initiative. It encourages people to give up meat for one day a week, which if significantly taken up will help seriously reduce CO2 emissions and reduce the amount of animals being raised for meat. I am a twice failed vegetarian but find the prospect of not eating meat once a week more than manageable. There are many more of us out there who have tried to give up meat for ethical reasons and failed who can probably manage this quite easily.

Find out more at www.supportmfm.org

Vestas factory under occupation

The following is from the Save Vestas blog:

http://savevestas.wordpress.com/

Workers have occupied the St Cross factory in Newport. This measure has been taken due to the consistent failure of Vestas Blades and the government to face up to their responsibilities in the necessary challenge of fighting climate change and maintaining jobs.

Due to management attempting to intimidate the workers who have been organising themselves in preparation for a fight, plans to move on the factory were accellerated and a team of workers have taken the plant at 7:45 this evening as a result.

Now more than ever Vestas workers need our support. The island does not have a history of workers taking control – this could be the first of many victories where workers take control of their industries and demand that the bosses put people before profit, the environment before opportunism.

It's only a ferry

I find it difficult to understand why there is so much controversy and outrage over the decision to run a ferry to the Isle of Lewis on a Sunday.

Religious leaders are claiming it is against the fourth commandment "remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy".

I ask this of those who oppose it on religious grounds:

- If your house is on fire on a Sunday would you expect the Fire Brigade to turn up?
- If you are ill on a Sunday would you expect a doctor to treat you?
- Do you listen to the radio or watch TV on a Sunday?
- Do you use electricity on a Sunday?

If you answer yes to these questions you are guilty of double standards, as the commandment does not discriminate against different types of work. And if some people should be allowed to work then it is hypocritical to condemn others.

Stop making futile gestures

Once again it is reported in the news that the governmenmt are to start tinkering around with the minutiae of House of Lords legislation, by allowing life peers to resign and removing the right to heredity peerages.

If the government is serious about electoral reform, it should carry out the only acceptable solution by emptying the House of Lords and making it into a fully elected second chamber, based on proportional representation. Only with these moves will we have a democratic legislative, rather than the farcical affair we have at the moment, with a chamber full of unelected, unaccountable peers.

Of course Labour will not do this. The status quo benefits both main parties with a selection of nodding dogs willing to approve most of the legislation passed to it.

Vote for your top 10 blogs

Email your ten favourite blogs (ranked from 1-10) to toptenblogs@totalpolitics.com

It's that time of year again, when Total Politics asks you to vote for your Top 10 favourite blogs. The votes will be compiled and included in the forthcoming book, the Total Politics Guide to Blogging 2009-10, which will be published in September. This year the poll is being promoted/sponsored by LabourList and LibDemVoice as well as our publisher Iain Dale's blog.

The rules are simple.

1. You must vote for your ten favourite blogs and ranks them from 1 (your favourite) to 10 (your tenth favourite).
2. Your votes must be ranked from 1 to 10. Any votes which do not have rankings will not be counted.
3. You MUST include ten blogs. If you include fewer than ten your vote will not count.
2. Email your vote to toptenblogs@totalpolitics.com
3. Only vote once.
4. Only blogs based in the UK, run by UK residents are eligible or based on UK politics are eligible.
5. Anonymous votes left in the comments will not count. You must give a name
6. All votes must be received by midnight on 31 July 2009. Any votes received after that date will not count.

If you have your own blog, please do encourage your readers to take part. Last year, more than 80 blogs did so. We hope this year it will be far more than that. BUT, DO NOT list ten blogs you think your readers should vote for. Any duplicate voting of this nature will be disallowed. If you do not wish for your blog to be voted for please email katy.scholes@totalpolitics.com. You will see a list of the blogs who have chosen not to be included in the comments shortly.

There are many ways of measuring a blog's popularity. Wikio and Technorati have complicated logarithms which measure the importance of incoming links and traffic. Google Analytics does it by measuring how many people visit. But our poll gives blog readers the opportunity to vote for the ones they like and visit most often. It's not scientific. It's impossible to achieve 100% balance and we don't pretend it's perfect.

The results of the poll will be published in the forthcoming book the TOTAL POLITICS GUIDE TO POLITICAL BLOGGING IN THE UK which will be published in mid September in association with APCO Worldwide.

So, go to it. Email us your Top Ten Favourite Blogs

toptenblogs@totalpolitics.com

No to Blair as EU president - Edward McMillian-Scott loses party whip

Blair

Europe minister Glenys Kinnock today confirmed that Tony Blair is the government's official candidate for EU president [See BBC News].

Not only should this man not be put into any public position, but should be tried in the international court for illegally taking us to war. To have this man as president of the EU would be an embarassment to Europe.

Edward McMillian-Scott

Tory MEP Edward McMillan-Scott has had the whip withdrawn after refusing to stand down in the election for vice-president in Strasbourg, competing against the offical candidate for the anti-federalist group. Although I have no time for the Conservative party I respect his decision not to support the new group containing right wing extremists and homophobes.

Afghanistan petition on No.10 website

The media has recently claimed that support for the conflict in Afghanistan has begun to grown.

I find it difficult to believe that more people are swallowing the lies coming out of Downing Street. The claims that staying in Afghanistan will make the UK safer and less likely to be a terrorist target are spurious and misleading.

It is precisely because of our actions in Iraq and Afghanistan that we have become a terrorist target. We must withdraw immediately and put an end to joining NATO and the US in their global conflicts. This is the only guaranteed way to protect the country.

Please consider signing the following petition on the No.10 website, to prove that we do not support the war and call for our troops to be brought home.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to bring the troops home from Afghanistan. Noting the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, and the destabilisation of Pakistan arising from the NATO military intervention in the region, and believing that only the Afghan people themselves can generate a political solution to their country’s problems, we therefore demand that the government commence the withdrawal of all British military forces from Afghanistan.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/STWCAfghanistan/

Make you mobile ex-directory

As you may have heard in the news there is a new service called 118800 which acts as a directory for mobile phone numbers.

In my opinion this service is an infringement of civil liberties as it is giving out phone numbers without the permission or registration of phone owner.

To go ex-directory go to http://www.118800.co.uk/. The service is down at the moment, presumably from the avalanche of requests from people to be removed.

Class snobbery over Afghanistan deaths

Today the news that Lt Col Rupert Thorneloe has died in Afghanistan has been given much coverage because he is the highest ranking officer to die since the Falkland conflict.

It is of course very sad that he has died in battle, but why should his death be treated any differently than the other 170 deaths of UK soldiers in Afghanistan since 2001. Each death in Afghanistan is a tragedy and another reason why we should leave now. We have been bogged down in there for nearly 8 years now, with no sign of an end to the conflict.

I urge Green party members to support the following motion at autumn conference:

C27 Afghanistan
Synopsis (edited) In 2006 the party passed a motion calling for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan and their replacement by UN forces within months (RPD06.1 The Middle East). However, no further policy details were listed.

Motion The war being conducted by the UK and NATO forces in Afghanistan is according to all informed military sources an unwinnable one. Furthermore, it has had the effect of destabilising the entire Afghanistan and Pakistan region, with the consequent danger of the collapse of the Pakistani state itself. It is taking the lives of countless UK troops and diverting resources at a time when the government should be concentrating resources into job creation, health and the educational sector among others. Furthermore, the government supported by NATO and backed by the military forces is widely discredited and corrupt and has lost the trust of the Afghan people. The continuation of the current military intervention increases the risk significantly of a terrorist attack on the UK and a massive increase in refugees fleeing from war and oppression

Since that time the war has escalated and claimed the lives of many more Afghan civilians, UK and other NATO troops, as well as those of civilians working for NGOs. There is now a need to reiterate this call as the war is now being stepped up by the new US administration and there is widely recognised to be a need for a new regional peace agreement, as without the co‐operation of the regional powers, any secure peace and administration will be impossible to secure in Afghanistan.

We therefore call upon GPEx and our elected representatives in the European Parliament to campaign for:

(1) An immediate withdrawal of all UK forces from Afghanistan.
(2) The withdrawal of all NATO forces from Afghanistan .
(3) An regional agreement with the powers bordering Afghanistan – Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, together with Russia and China, to hold a peace conference as soon as possible with the aim of establishing a new Afghan government which will have the support of all the Afghan people.
(4) Continued support from the EU, UN and other international bodies to support the rebuilding of Afghanistan and the provision of international aid.
(5) The protection all women and minorities in Afghanistan and the upholding of human rights to be an essential part of any peace agreement reached with the regional powers, the UN and the people of Afghanistan.
(6) The issue of Afghan refugees in neighbouring states and elsewhere, and their long term settlement and humanitarian support to be a central feature of any peace agreement.
(7) And to amend ROPS (Record of Policy Statements) accordingly.

Proposed by: Joseph Healy (**), Andrew Collingwood, Martin Deane, Noel Lynch and two others.

Keep it nationalised

I was not sad to see that National Express East Coast line had gone into public ownership. Apparently falling profits are due to a drop in passenger numbers. This does not surprise me, as I have traveled a lot less with them this year due to the lack of cheap advance tickets. Even if you book months in advance you can still end up paying £70 for a return from York to London, which is twice the price it used to cost me with GNER.

Now the line is in public ownership it should remain so and become a not for profit operation. If the government are serious about getting people onto public transport they should make it a lot more affordable than it currently is.

The 66p myth

The following is from Republic:

Help us smash the 66p myth - forward this to a friend!

The Buckingham Palace finance reports will be published on Monday - we need your help to challenge the royal spin. Please forward this email to a friend (you can use this simple form) and help spread the word.

Once again the royal PR machine will come up with an official cost, divide it by 60 million (that's every person in Britain, not just taxpayers) and tell us the monarchy costs just under 70p - the same as a loaf of bread or an iTunes download.

This is exceptionally dishonest. Dividing any cost by 60 million will make it seem small - but Republic has calculated that last year the monarchy cost British taxpayers in excess of £180 million.

That makes a royal 21 times more expensive than your MP!

Here's how that figure breaks down:

The Queen's civil list £12.7m
Parliamentary annuities (Prince Philip) £0.4m
Palaces and castles £15m
Travel £6.2m
Expenditure met by gov depts £4.9m
Security £100m
Duchy of Cornwall lost revenue £16m
Duchy of Lancaster lost revenue £13m
Costs to councils £10m
Unpaid tax £2m (?)
Travel and accomodation for Prince Charles £3m
Total £183.2m


There's more detailed information on our Royal Finances Campaign page.

You and I know that the royals will do everything they can to conceal the truth. That's why it's so important that you forward this email to a friend and help us spread the word.

MPs have been pilloried for their abuse of the Westminster expenses system. Now the BBC has revealed the expenses claims of its executives. Yet the royal finances, with the support of the Government, are still shrouded in secrecy.

While we continue to demand the abolition of the monarchy, we believe that for as long it remains the Palace must be fully transparent in the way it manages its funding and must be accountable to Parliament.

You can make a real difference by telling your friends.

Next steps in smashing the 66p myth

If you want to get more involved in our campaign to expose the true cost of the monarchy, there's lots you can do:

* Visit the Royal Finances Campaign page on our website.
* Join our Facebook page to keep up-to-date on developments.
* Use Twitter to spread the word (use the hashtag #royalfinances).
* Join Republic's Urgent Response Network and help strenghten our media presence.
* Make a donation to Republic's campaign fund.

Netanyahu supports a Palestinian state as long as it has none of the characteristics of a state

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will accept a Palestinian state as long as it is demilitarised. (See BBC News)

He wants it to have no army and no control of its airspace.

Can this be seen as a fair solution? To have one of the most militarised states in the world demand that its neighbour has no means of defending itself.

If the Palestinians ever achieve statehood they should recognize Israel's right to exist and ensure attacks are not made against Israel, but they should also be allowed to defend themselves from attack.

The unreported nuclear accident

Channel 4 news reported last night about a nuclear accident at Sizewell A which has been secret for the past two years, only recently coming to light after a freedom of information request.



Read more on the Channel 4 News website

LGBT Greens: Pride is about our Human Rights

NEWS FROM THE GREEN PARTY of England and Wales LGBT GROUP

http://www.lgbtgreens.org.uk/

LGBT Greens: Pride is about our Human Rights
Get to Doncaster Pride 16th August

For Immediate Release

11.6.9

Peter Davies, the newly-elected English Democrat mayor of Doncaster has threatened to cut cash from Doncaster ’s annual Pride event.

Mr Davies had been quoted by the BBC saying: "I have nothing whatsoever against gays and lesbians, what they do in their private lives is absolutely fine… I don't think councils should be spending money on them parading through town advertising their sexuality."[1]

But appearing on Radio Sheffield on Monday, it is not clear if Mr Davies can fulfil his manifesto. On an interview with BBC Sheffield Mr Davies admitted to not knowing the annual turnover of the event in Doncaster .[2]

Phelim Mac Cafferty, National Spokesperson for LGBTGreens stated:

“Peter Davies, the English Democrat mayor of Doncaster insists that Pride in Doncaster is some sort of sexuality advertisement. The language of his comments should worry everyone who campaigned against the Tories hated homophobic Section 28 with its insidious language prohibiting the ‘promotion of homosexuality’. The logical conclusion of his comments is twofold: it conforms to the lazy stereotype of gay men needing to promote their sexuality to lure willing ‘victims’, and that LGBT people shouldn’t be allowed to have a Pride parade at all.

“Pride events throughout Europe were born out of the LGBT community being repeatedly instructed to be ashamed of the un-christian paths they had ‘chosen’. Pride is now about the LGBT community’s right to be visible. Pride is an important part of our struggle to be given the rights of a human being. Of the 365 days of the year, yes one and even if it is just one of those days should be about the LGBT population of Doncaster.

“Only last week, police authorities announced that the reported number of homophobic hate crimes is on the increase. With the BNP in office for the Yorkshire and Humberside region in Brussels now is the time to state unequivocally: lgbt people deserve the right to dignity and the right to lives free from harassment. For every person who is not yet out, events like Pride help them understand that they are not alone and are an incredibly important part of being visible.

“The reassuring news at this time from Doncaster Pride is that the manifesto commitment from Peter Davies of cutting funding belongs to him and not Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council. As far as the Pride organisers in Doncaster are concerned, the council is still supportive of their Pride event.

Phelim concluded:

“Like Belfast Pride last year, it took Iris Robinson’s calls for the lgbt community to 'see a psychiatrist' that led to the best attended Pride in Belfast ’s history. I’d hate to think that it will only take a similar tactic to convince Mr Davies that the LGBT community of Doncaster deserve equality and respect.

“In the meantime LGBT Greens say: get to Doncaster for Pride on 16th August!”

ENDS


[1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/south_yorkshire/8086919.stm

[2] http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/toby

Not a good week to be from Yorkshire

If electing an English Democrat mayor on Thursday was not bad enough, we now have the racist BNP representing us in the European parliament. I am not going to make excuses for the people voting for them by saying they are disillusioned Labour voters, or protest voting. The people who vote in the BNP know exactly what they are and don't care. It is shameful that 9.8% of those who voted went for the BNP, that equates to over 3% of the Yorkshire electorate supporting racist policies.

What is more disappointing is that this election saw an increase in the Green vote of around 50% giving us a national share of 8.7% compared to the BNP's 6.5%. But despite this we have not seen an increase in MEP's. Green candidates and activists have put their all into campaigning over the past few months, and in some cases we have only narrowly lost out on sending some good candidates to the European parliament.

Let's hope that those who stayed at home on Thursday wake up with morning and feel as dismayed as we do and feel guilty for not voting. After all, fascism suceeds when good people do nothing.

This week I am ashamed to be a Yorkshireman.