The Refugee Crisis; the Stroud Coffee House Discussion

The dark, drizzly September evening didn’t put off around 100 supporters gathering in Stroud to answer a crucial question; what can we do about the refugee crisis?

On Wednesday 23^rd September people from Stroud crammed in to the Imperial Hotel for a discussion organised by Amnesty International mid-counties and Stroud District Green Party, to answer that important question;

·         What is already being done in Gloucestershire?

·         What are the needs?

·         What can we do here in Stroud?

·         How can we change the rhetoric from ‘keep out’ to ‘welcome’?

·          What should we be demanding of our MP and the government?

Imperial Hotel, Stroud, crammed with supporters

How have we ended up with so many people seeking safety?

The evening kicked off with a lively and interesting discussion from Judith Large, Honorary Fellow at the Centre for Conflict Analysis Resolution, University of Kent, about how we have come to the current situation in which half of the Syrian population has become displaced. The desperate situation began with what was initially a popular uprising in Syria but soon spun in to an international issue because of a dictator who refused to budge from power; President Bashar al-Assad.

One of the most heard about results of the conflict in Syria are the significant advances and abuses carried out by the so called ‘Islamic State’ or ISIS. Since 2013 ISIS have made strong advances in Syria and Iraq and none of us strangers to the news of the various atrocities that they have inflicted.

From the outset the US have supported the Syrian rebels opposing President Assad, initially with food and supplies but then moving on to training and arming them. From 2014 a US-led coalition, of which the UK is a part, has been carrying out airstrikes against ISIS.

Between the brutality of the Assad regime, the barbarity of ISIS and the bombardment by the US-led coalition, Syrian civilians, regular folk like you and me, have become terrified for their lives. More than four million people have packed up and left in fear for their safety.

The question Judith Large left for those gathered in Stroud to wonder was; is the use of force really the answer to a problem caused by a use of force?

Climate change

An interesting point raised from the floor was the impact of climate change on the current refugee crisis.

The worst drought to strike the country in modern times had gripped Syria in the years leading up to uprising in 2011. Researchers were able to draw one of the strongest links yet between climate change and human conflict;

“They cited studies that showed that the extreme dryness, combined with other factors, including misguided agricultural and water-use policies of the Syrian government, caused crop failures that led to the migration of as many as 1.5 million people from rural to urban areas. This in turn added to social stresses that eventually resulted in the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011.”

Our government is taking an embarrassingly inadequate approach to the refugee crisis in general, as I will go on to explain, but this adds yet another dynamic to that woeful response. The Conservatives have taken a full scale assault against the climate at an extraordinary pace, killing off many of the existing green policies in the UK.

Stroud MP, Neil Carmichael has demonstrated a real ignorance for the environment during his time in office, voting against many measures and in support of fracking; as covered in this blog previously.

Action in Gloucestershire and Stroud

The swell of action from the people of Stroud has been astounding. An article in the Guardian on 5^th September described how locals had offered to open up their homes to refugees. Stroud District Green Party played their part by writing an open letter calling for Stroud to take it’s fair share of refugees. The Stroud News and Journal reported how District councillors, John Marjoram and Martin Whiteside, County Councillor Sarah Lunnon, Stroud Town Mayor Kevin Cranston and Green MEP Molly Scott-Cato had used the letter to indicate that Stroud could take just 10 refugees to have a fair share of the 40,000 refugees which the EU will need to resettle over the next 2 years.

Some of the most impressive action locally has come from the facebook groups as Jeannie Etherton passionately explained to all of us assembled in Stroud on Wednesday. These groups have been very far from being ‘just a talking shop’ and have in fact been the main mechanism for local people to combine and coordinate their stunning efforts.

There are two main facebook groups that Jeannie discussed, the first being Stroud2Calais – Refugee Support which started as a group to get donations to ‘the Jungle’ in Calais but has moved to more widely supporting refugees entering Europe. They have now raised £2607 in one week to go to a fundraiser purchasing tents for refugees.

Jeannie explained how this group has joined up with the other incredible group Stroud Supporting Calais Refugees. Thanks to the overwhelming generosity of the kindly people of Stroud this group have collected an unimaginable amount of donations in to two large shipping containers to take to Calais; the collection has now ended because they simply cannot take any more donations.

Collecting the donations for these groups and raising the funds has taken an enormous amount of work and energy by local people volunteering their time and working tirelessly.

It is so terribly important that we do all that we can. Not only are the conditions in Calais ‘appalling’, as described by the charity Doctors of the World, but to make matters worse there have been reports that the French authorities have recently moved in with bulldozers and tear gas against the camp.

Judith Large 

Next to speak at the Coffee Discussion was Adele Owen from Gloucestershire Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers or GARAS. Adele explained that GARAS work with people seeking asylum in Gloucestershire and how recently their work has been thrown in to the forefront of the public’s consciousness because of the current crisis.

The government have proposed that they will take the embarrassingly low amount of just 20,000 refugees over 5 years and Adele explained how this represents only 0.2% of those people who have left Syria. However refugees are still coming from many other countries, including Afghanistan (the setting for a previous military intervention from the West that you might remember).

Furthermore the plan from David Cameron is to help only those refugees still in Syria and not any of the people currently on the move or already in the awful conditions in Calais. This plan is very ill thought out and will not, as Cameron has argued, encourage people to keep away from the EU.

In the discussion it was noted how the government, some media and other sources appear to deliberately blur the language used when referring to the current situation by interchangeably using the words ‘immigrant’, ‘asylum seeker’ and ‘refugee’. The discussion raised how Neil Carmichael MP has seemed intent on muddying the waters in this way whilst towing the government line that they are doing enough and will not do any more to help.

GARAS are now working with Gloucester City Council and the County Council to arrange the all important programme of response to the current situation. It is crucial to have structures in place with health, social services and education to ensure that the people who come out of the crisis to our county get the best support that we can give.

Not a single seat left.

What next?

Once refugees start arriving in Gloucestershire, and hopefully Stroud, Adele Owens said that the current groundswell of support will be crucial in assisting individuals and families to settle. Help will be needed to prepare and kit out houses with basics such as TV’s and simple home comforts. There will be a continued need for donations and for donations of appropriate food.

People settling afresh here will need locals to help them get familiar with the area, to help with learning English and support with accessing local amenities and services.

We need to keep the movement going. We need to keep our hearts open.

Adele’s message was that we are all human first.

Local Amnesty International members explained that it was crucial for as many people as possible to continue to put pressure on the government to take adequate action, particularly by writing to your MP. You can write to Neil Carmichael, MP for Stroud District, by writing to;

           Neil Carmichael MP

House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA

You can also contact him through his website http://www.neilcarmichael.co.uk/contact

It would also be very good if you could send copies of letters/emails that you send to the local press to help raise the profile of the crisis locally.

Talk to your neighbour

In my opinion one of the simplest and yet boldest suggestions made at the evening event in Stroud was made by a woman standing near me in the throng of the discussion. It is my regret that I did not have the chance to get her name, so if you know her, or you are her, please let me know if she would like to be credited properly.

This woman passionately explained that one of the most important things that we can all do is to speak to our neighbours. We can challenge attitudes that we meet that might be misguided or else discriminatory. There is a lot of misinformation out there, as with blurring of the terms of ‘immigrant’ and ‘asylum seeker’ for a political purpose. There is a lot of hate out there with certain groups looking to capitalise on people’s fears of immigration.

We can counteract this by putting an alternative message out there, by painting the picture of what is really happening and by cutting through the myths and confusion; that we can afford, in every sense of the word, to do more.

Talk to your neighbour. With compassion and with love, show everyone you can that the most important thing to do in light of the current crisis is to open your heart.

***

I note that I have not really credited people directly and have probably unfairly skimmed over individuals and groups who have done awesome work locally. I apologise for this but suffer from the limitations of writing inbetween the normal hustle and bustle of life; which for me includes a very energetic 15 month old! Please post about anyone you think has been important in the comments and include any links that are relevant

A simmering resistance, a building movement

What a couple of weeks it has been. Even by Tory standards the weather of late has been very Tory. First we had the budget designed to make poor people poorer and rich people richer. Then we had the attempt to repeal the fox hunting ban by the back door; fox hunting is a blood sport which is the reserve of deranged elitists. Finally we have had the announcement of legislation to permanently alter the way trade unions operate and set back workers rights by around 100 years.

In addition to this George Osborne decided to basically ignore the issue of climate change in his budget, gave greater fiscal support oil companies and sort to incentivise ‘fracking’ whilst at the same time hampering the green energy movement by absurdly removing the Climate Change Levy exemption from renewable electricity.

To get a flavour of what our own local Tory is fighting for on some of the points briefly mentioned above;

In our Stroud District -   Neil Carmichael MP has voted;

 against paying higher benefits for people unable to work through illness or disability,

in favour of bedroom tax,

against benefits rising to meet cost of living,

 in favour of a reduction in welfare spending,

against a scheme to create guaranteed jobs for young people who been long term unemployed,

against a tax on bankers bonuses

against a mansion tax

in favour of reducing corporation tax

Neil Carmichael MP has stated that he will vote in favour of fox hunting.

                                 Neil Carmichael MP has a poor voting record when it comes to the environment.

                                               

When I sit down to write these blogs I want to be positive and constructive. But I am, like many of you I am sure, finding it hard to be positive right now. My MP is essentially the very antithesis of what I believe in and my government even more so.

Every morning when I come down to my kitchen and make a cup of tea, I switch on the radio as my preferred method of getting the news as I get my baby ready for the day or get ready for work. Increasingly though I am finding that my finger hovers over the preset button for Radio 4 and is tending to tap the Planet Rock preset as I say to myself ‘do you know what? I just don’t want to know today’. Of course this could just be that I am getting fed up with the today programme!

Progressives must work together

Before the budget was announced I attended a meeting of Stroud Against the Cuts. Stroud Against the Cuts brings together progressive groups from across Stroud and Gloucestershire who, despite whatever other differences, are united in their opposition to austerity.

When the election result was announced in May Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavillion, said the following;

“…we must move forward today. While the campaign for electoral reform gathers momentum, those of us wanting to see a fairer, more compassionate and progressive politics must find new ways of working together, a new way to do politics – and put that in to practice now”

Caroline Lucas MP

This is the thing that gives me hope now; the simmering resistance that is turning in to a movement. It is a movement that questions this neoliberal austerity ideology and outright calls for something different, something more hopeful, something less damning.

It is no longer just a utopian fantasy but something eminent economists such Tim Jackson have put in to sound theory. We can create a world in which we redefine prosperity away from our ability to consume goods and amass economic wealth. We can redefine prosperity in terms of happiness, wellbeing and living within the means of this planet that we call home. We don’t have another one to fall back on after all.

The Labour Party

Following Osborne’s despicable budget it is time for the Labour Party to stand up and truly be the main opposition party. Not just opposition for the sake of it no; but because the very fabric of what makes our society great is at risk. Childhoods, retirements, working lives, already desperate lives are at risk.

I hope that the Labour Party will reach out and grasp the hand of Caroline Lucas, and will also stand up to the offer put forward by the 20 year SNP MP, Mhairi Black (youngest MP in 300 years) in her, already very famous, inspirational maiden speech;

“Now, yes we will have political differences, yes in other parliaments we may be opposing parties, but within this chamber we are not. No matter how much I may wish it, the SNP is not the sole opposition to this Government, but nor is the Labour party. It is together with all the parties on these benches that we must form an opposition, and in order to be affective we must oppose not abstain. So I reach out a genuine hand of friendship which I can only hope will be taken. Let us come together, let us be that opposition, let us be that signpost of a better society. Ultimately people are needing a voice, people are needing help, let’s give them it.”

Read the transcript here

See the speech in full here

It appears now that scores of Labour MPs are set to join Caroline Lucas in opposing the welfare cuts proposed by the Tories. It is shame that Labour MPs have to do this in defiance of the Labour leadership, but it their true opposition and defence of those who need it most is very welcome all the same.

Progressives must work together, form an opposition both locally and nationally and not allow this government to continue to ideologically dismantle all that makes our country great. The situation is already so very desperate and there has only been a Conservative majority government in power for 2 months. Imagine the horror of a Tory party unopposed for 5 years… if you dare.

Sign the pledge to Keep Glos NHS Public

The Daily Mirror said it all yesterday. Well a NEW PLEDGE for all of you to sign and pass on to friends, colleagues, neighbours and members of any other groups you are in: http://www.pledgebank.com/PledgeToKGNP

See my most recent blog here with links to the films I put together re the talk last week - also has link to Caroline Lucas' blog. Here is list of how MPs voted - you will see Neil Carmichael was happy to support the bill without even seeing the report on the risks:
http://www.goingtowork.org.uk/how-mps-voted-on-the-health-and-social-care-bill/

Burma sanctions are working; don't relax them now

Below is my letter to our MP. You can write to your MP from this website: www.writetothem.com

Dear Neil,

I am writing to ask you to sign two cross-party Early Day Motions (EDMs) about Burma. As you know there has been some good news in Burma in the past year, but as Aung San Suu Kyi has said, there is still a long way to go. Human rights abuses have actually increased in the past year, aid to some ethnic areas is still being blocked by the government, and there have been no legal or constitutional reforms which give recent changes a legal footing.

I am very concerned that the British government has not been taking a strong line to ensure EU sanctions are maintained. We still need the targeted economic sanctions that have already brought about changes - to remove them is to remove the incentive for the military backed government to make deeper and more fundamental changes.

EDM 2710 calls on the British government to ensure that all sanctions on Burma are not relaxed prematurely before all political prisoners are released, military attacks against ethnic minorities are ended, and there is real constitutional and legislative reform. The European Union has to renew sanctions at the end of April, and the British government has not been taking a strong line to ensure EU sanctions are maintained.

EDM 2719 calls on the British government to increase aid to the refugees and internally displaced people in ethnic states in Burma. Despite big increases in aid to Burma, DFID has not provided significant increased to help these people.

The people of Burma still need our support. Please do sign these Early Day Motions.

Yours sincerely, Philip Booth

New nukes to be built on false info

Oldbury - site of possible new nuclear build

Here is a copy of my email last week to the Environmental Audit Committee and Public Administration Select Committee plus Neil Carmichael MP. This really is shocking...

You may have heard of about the Report called 'Corruption of Governance' launched in the Houses of Commons on 31st January 2012.  I have now read this shocking easy to read report that shows that two of the National Policy Statements, EN-1 and EN-6, recommending a new generation of nuclear power stations and, approved by Parliament, are based on false information.

I am very concerned by the evidence outlined that suggests that the decision to support new nuclear power stations was made based on flawed and misleading information. The report also confirms, what many of us have suspected, that we do not need any more nuclear power stations 'to keep the lights on' - and that nuclear power is not the most cost effective form of electricity generation. 

That the National Policy Statements were used as planning guidance for Local Authorities is extremely worrying.  I am therefore writing to ask that your Committees to take up the recommendations of this report and investigate this issue.

Yours faithfully,

Philip Booth

Please anyone reading this also write to the Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, Ms Joan Walley MP and the Chair of the Public Administration Select Committee, Mr Bernard Jenkin MP, to ask that their Committees to investigate this issue because the decision to support new nuclear power stations has been made on the basis of false evidence, misrepresentation of evidence and omissions of evidence. Their emails are: walleyj(at)parliament.uk and bernard.jenkin.mp(at)parliament.uk 

Also download the latest excellent NuCLear News: http://www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk/nuclearnews/NuClearNewsNo37.pdf

Carmichael branded hypocrite

The Daily Telegraph, BBC and others covered the story this week of our MP Neil Carmichael who struck a deal with energy giant RWE npower to site a wind farm on his farmland in Northumberland (see Telegraph here). His opponents of the Northumberland plans have branded him a "hypocrite" because of his opposition to the Stinchcombe plan here in Stroud District.

Carmichael's project in Northumberland is proposed for Bavington Hill Head Farm, one of two tenanted farms owned by the MP in Northumberland. Carmichael is reckoned to make about £60,000 a year if it happens. Mr Carmichael's view is that the sites are very different. Having not seen the Northumberland site otherthan photos and plans it is hard to judge, but a brief look makes it hard to see why they are so different.

NHS: can it be saved?

Today the Tory government will try and force its Health and Social Care Bill through parliament. This bill dangerously opens up the NHS to privatisation, despite David Cameron’s claim to have ‘paused’. I am dismayed and disturbed by this Bill and the misinformation from the Government. I have already written several times to Neil Carmichael and yesterday emailed all the Lib Dem MPs. This Bill is taking risks that are wholly unnecessary and deeply damaging and furthermore goes directly against what Tories promised in opposition. For more information see www.keepournhspublic.org.uk and www.healthemergency.org.uk

Meanwhile there was a good turn out of Greens at the NHS public meeting last week amongst the 350 people there. I'm told there was a 'buoyant and heated debate' about lack of consultations and validity of proposals. A straw poll was carried out and only 6 people in the audience voted for a Social Enterprise model!!!! Where is the support for this Bill? See SNJ report here.  Radio Glos covered it extensively and Martin Horwood, Lib Dem Cheltenham MP has gone public seriously challenging the speed of setting up of this Social Enterprise.

Folk will remember that thousands of people paid towards the legal advice with the campaign group 38 degrees. Harrison Grant solicitors and the specialist barristers Stephen Cragg & Rebecca Haynes were engaged to give their independent legal advice on the implications of 2 aspects of the Health & Social Care Bill.  For some key findings click read more.

Save Our NHS - Stroud meeting

Wednesday 31st 7-7.30pm at the Subscription Rooms in Stroud there will be the 'Save our NHS' meeting that will include a UNISON speaker and our MP. It looks set to be very interesting. Meanwhile below is the text from our local Green Party leaflet that we have been handing out over the weekend.

In 2006 3,000 people marched to save Stroud Maternity Hospital but we lost other key services like Weavers Croft. It is vital that these changes do not go-ahead. Please join the meeting and voice any concerns.See copy of my latest email to our MP here.

What’s happening to the NHS?

The sell-off of the NHS started under the Thatcher era with cleaning, catering and portering. We got MRSA! It was continued under Blair with ‘outsourcing’ of clinical services, hospital building and management. It is now known that billions of pounds have been lost to the NHS through inefficient PFI (Private Finance Initiative) projects. Now under Cameron/Clegg the trickle has become a torrent with the NHS ‘reconfigured’ from the top down as a ‘service buyer’ rather than a ‘service provider’.

Privatisation pushes costs up….

Private companies earn money for their shareholders, directors and advertising to win more ‘customers’. The extra costs will come from your taxes. Private companies ‘cherry pick’ easier, more profitable treatment, leaving the complex or time consuming treatments of the elderly, obese or those with mental health needs to the public sector – a two-tier system is created.

Our NHS is efficient…..

A recent study showed our NHS to be the second most efficient in the world, far more efficient than the American system that Cameron is trying to copy.

You have seen what can happen….

The collapse of Southern Cross Care Homes shows what can happen when essential services are left to the private sector. They can be asset stripped and go bankrupt. The poor, young and old will be most vulnerable if the local hospital goes bust.

A broken promise….

The Conservatives promised before the election there wouldn’t be another top-down re-organisation of the NHS. We now have the largest top-down re-organisation of the health service since it was started in 1948. The re-organisation is due to cost at least £3billion and cause years of chaos. We need the NHS to be left to do what it does best – treat patients!

What’s proposed for Stroud?

It is proposed that our general hospital and nearly all other NHS services in Gloucestershire be taken out of NHS management and be managed by a so-called ‘Community Interest Company’.  3,000 staff currently working for the NHS would be transferred to this new company. These changes are being pushed through incredibly fast:

·      Why has there been practically no consultation with staff (as they are expected to run it)?
·      Why is there is no indication how ‘the community’ (you and me) will be able to exert our ‘interest’ in this company? How will there be accountability to patients?
·      Even if transferred staff keep their employment rights, what about any new staff employed by the company?
·      Will the company be able to be taken over or sold?
·      Why are these changes being proposed – what is wrong with the present service?

The Green Party believes the NHS should be:

·      Publicly owned and run for the benefit of patients, not shareholders – our health should not be treated as a market;
·      Free at the point of use – abolish existing charges for prescriptions, eye tests and dental treatment and ensure NHS chiropody is widely available;
·      Provide free social care to the elderly – if the Scots can do it so can we in England and Wales. This would cost about £3bn in 2011 – about the same as the current re-organisation! It would also create 120,000 jobs.
·      Accessible, local community health centres - providing a wide range of services, including out of hours care, and as an additional tier of healthcare rather than a replacement for your GP.
·      Focus more on preventing ill-health - including tackling unhealthy lifestyles and environmental pollution.
·      Patients should have choice, but not phoney choice – most of us simply want good treatment at our local hospital.
·     Treat patients with dignity – patients have both rights and responsibilities, they are not customers who can come and go.
·      We support social enterprise as an alternative to private enterprise – not as back door privatisation of public services.

Write to MP to stop privatisation of NHS

I am getting more and more uneasy about this health bill - it really is dire and a significant leap towards privatisation - there is no other way you can look at it. I like many local people have written to our MP re the NHS. Here is my latest email below.

Dear Mr Carmichael,

Thank you for your reply re the NHS. Despite what you note I urge you to vote against the health bill. It will lead to privatisation of the NHS. Even if this is not the intent, the health bill will lead to private sector companies taking over many services from the NHS, even after the commissioning and competition plans have been revised.

There remains a huge risk that the health bill will open up the NHS to the EU rules on competition. Private health providers have already stated that they will use these to force NHS services into competition. The Health bill does not protect NHS services it exposes them to further financial risk and many could close as a result.

The government has already announced that 1£bn worth of contracts will soon go outside the NHS. Yet we already know that the NHS is among the developed world's most efficient health systems according to the new report in the Journal  of the Royal Society of Medicine. The biggest shakeup of the NHS is happening at the same time as the biggest ever savings (£20bn), which are creating cuts in staffing right across the NHS. The health bill will add further pressure. The NHS needs stability not chaos.

Please reassure me that you will not support the health bill.

Yours sincerely, Philip Booth

You too can email Neil  Carmichael at: Or contact your MP here. See more re the campaign to save the NHS at: http://www.nhscampaign.org/ Click on NHS label below to see recent blogs re the NHS.

Superfast Broadband: a reliable connection would be a start

Over a year ago I called for better Broadband in the district - see here and here - since then Neil Carmichael and others have also made calls. Indeed for some years, people have been saying how dire our service is here. There have been news reports about improvements to the exchange in Painswick and hopes in Nailsworth.... a map highlighting rural broadband here shows 70% take up of broadband in Gloucestershire with only 35% with superfast availability.

Certainly we've not seen any of that superfast or even slightly fast here. Infact I still face a dodgy slow line that drops the connection every now and then.

The Guardian reported at the weekend that "High-speed internet access soon to include broadband-starved communities as government unveils £530m fund". This is to get us all to a minimum speed of 2Mbps within 4 years.  That would be more than double what I get now. If all goes to plan, 90% of homes will also be able to get even faster speeds of over 24Mbps. But can this money help reach the third or more households who have not access to the superfast broadband?


Broadband expert Ian Watt, quoted in The Guardian article, believes the government funds will only get broadband to three-quarters of homes. "It's more likely that high-speed broadband will be available to the centre of the village, for example to a school, library or post office. We don't see the subsidy being enough to get it to everyone."

So where to now? Well Neil Carmichael MP in a recent column in the press asked folk to email him re their broadband. Please do. I emailed some time ago - we'll have to see if it makes a difference.

Britain needs to support Ecuador's amazing offer

A couple of weeks ago I read that Britain is boasting of redeveloping Shetland oil fields - see Monbiot here when he exposes the hypocrisy of our Government. In sharp contrast Ecuador have been trying to do a great thing - you can read about it in a Johann Hari article in The Independent here. He writes: "We have the choice of burning all the oil left and hacking down all the remaining rainforests - or saving humanity."

You see Ecuador, the most biodiverse place on Earth is trying to protect it's rainforest from the massive pressure to cut them down. You see underneath that rainforest there are almost a billion barrels of untapped oil, containing 400 million tones of greenhouse gases. Ecuador's democratic government says that, if the rest of the world offers just half of what the oil is worth – $3.5bn – they will keep the rainforest standing and alive and working for us all. In a country where 38 per cent live in poverty and 13 per cent are on the brink of starvation, it's an incredibly generous offer.

As Hari writes: "No country with oil has ever considered leaving it in the ground because the consequences of digging it up are too disastrous. This is a startling attempt to reverse one of the greatest dysfunctions in the global economic system."

Ecuador first made this offer in 2006. So how has the world responded? Chile has offered $100,000. Spain has offered $1.4m. Germany initially offered $50m, then pulled out.

And Britain? Well I wrote to Neil Carmichael asking his views and got a letter with a letter from Charles Hendry, saying: "I enclose a copy of his letter which I know you will find disappointing but explains the Government position." Indeed I did. They say giving "financial compensation for keeping oil in the ground would set a dangerous precedent".

Dangerous precedent? How dangerous does the threat of climate change need to be? Keeping oil in the ground is one way we can actually save this planet and the people that live on it. Yet now the British government is actively championing the redevelopment in the Shetlands. So much for the greenest ever government....

Ask MP to say no to Murdoch on Wednesday

There's going to be a vote in Parliament this Wednesday on Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB power grab. I've just emailed Neil Carmichael MP asking him to vote no. The past weeks revelations are shocking even to those of us who didn't have a great opinion of Murdoch papers. Control of BSkyB would mean yet more power for Murdoch - how much he wants it is shown by the termination of the News of the World as a move to try and stem the criticisms.

I had just emailed Neil when I came across an email from a local campaigner who was urging the same and more. He wrote: "Like many millions of English Citizens you will have been disgusted by the revelations about the News of the World's abuse of power against ordinary citizens caught up in the media storm of the loss of a loved one. This is nothing new the gutter press has been in the last chance saloon since the Second World War and the time for root and branch reform and regulation cannot come a day too soon to protect and safeguards the rights and freedoms of individual citizens. There have been far to many inquiries and investigations and the time is now for decisive action.".

He went onto urge three things:

1) Be a responsible consumer  and in particular Don't buy the Sun, News of the World, Times and Sunday Times and cancel your Sky subscription.
2) Write to the Jeremy Darroch the Chief Executive of B Sky B  at Grant Way Isleworth,Middlesex TW7 5QD  urging British Sky Broadcasting to take active steps to oppose the take over by News International/ News Corporation and to remove directors associated with those companies from the Board of B Sky B.
3) Write to your MP urging him or her to request the Government to legislate on the basis of the 1992 Freedom and Responsibility of the Press Bill and also encourage Ofcom to remove B Sky B's broadcasting licences. Or as I note it's easy to email your MP with the 38 degrees campaign - it only takes less than 2 minutes: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/stand-up-to-murdoch

Not the 'greenest ever' government

A while back I wrote a letter to the press saying blue and yellow does not make green - see here - well the latest vote in the EU along with the launch of Energy National Policy statements by the Coalition only add fuel to that view. See my letter to press below but also take action re Energy Policy by sending an email to your MP here.

Dear Sir/Madam,

On Tuesday our Tory MEPs defied the government and voted against 30 per cent cut in emissions. 16 Conservatives voted against tougher action to cut carbon emissions only 2 supported it. The vote was lost by 9 votes. Every EU government, but Poland supported more ambitious climate action. Why have our MEPs let us down?

This is a significant failure to bring environmental and economic benefits to countries across Europe. Tackling climate change helps the economy and creates jobs. The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research indicates that a 30 per cent target could increase economic output by 0.6 per cent and create six million European jobs by 2020. Indeed many companies last month called for the 30% target, as being good for investment and likely to reduce EU oil and gas imports by euro 45.5 billion by 2020. Christian Aid, Oxfam, Greenpeace, WWF and Green Alliance had also all written to the Prime Minister supporting the cuts.

The Coalition even made a statement to support higher EU greenhouse gas emissions targets, but when it came to the crunch the Conservatives were not willing to commit. Meanwhile the Government has just published it's National Policy Statements on Energy and, without changes, these will lock us into a high carbon future. This is certainly not the 'greenest ever' government that we were promised.

As Christian Aid said: "It’s disappointing news, but the campaign continues."

Cllr Philip Booth, Stroud District councillor for Randwick, Whiteshill and Ruscombe ward (Green Party),

NHS: must make it to 64th birthday!

So it is now 63 years since the NHS was created. Only 20 MPs have so far pledged to protect the NHS. The moves to introduce competition are a serious mistake - the changes announced by the Government do not go far enough - see here previous comments. Indeed the main thrust of the moves to competition seem to be there with just a few word changes. You can email your MP from this campaign website here.  Please also consider emailing comments to the committee before 14th July: scrutiny@parliament.uk

Here are some of the Green Party's views on approach to health:

Service not a market: Successive governments have turned the NHS into a market with hospitals and other providers competing against each other. This is wrong and that health care should be a service, not a market. Just as Wales and Scotland have done, we would scrap the market approach to health care returning the focus to service and saving around £5 billion annually.

Local accountability: Local people have little say in their NHS. We need to make the NHS directly accountable to local government. If councillors acted against the interests of local people they can be voted out of office. We also need to ensure that local accountability does not mean a postcode lottery by introducing a requirement for core services and treatments to be provided.

Privatisation: We are opposed to the privatisation of health services.

Prescriptions and dentistry: We need to make these free (which would only cost the government about £3bn). They are essential aspects of health care and charging for them breaks the founding principle of the NHS that it should be free at point of need. Charges prevent some people accessing health care when they need it.

Prevention: more emphasis on prevention.

Up next is an adaptable letter from the NHS Support Federation which I think is a very good summary of issues relating to competition that could go to the Committee. Click on Read more to see.

EU climate vote: Tory shame

So Tory MEPs defied the government and voted against CO2 cuts. On Tuesday 16 Conservative Euro MPs voted against tougher action to cut carbon emissions. The vote was lost by 9 votes.

I blogged on this recently when I learnt that our own SW Tories incl Julie Girling were amongst those intending to defy the computer.

It’s seriously disappointing news indeed. The UK government has already backed a 30% target, and last week every EU government but Poland supported more ambitious climate action. When Giles Chichester Tory MEP replied saying he could not support the move, his email was really not clear. I wrote back saying: "I do not fully understand your position. Why are you not supporting your own leader’s policy which is part of the coalition agreement? 70 top businesses have already supported stiffer cuts that will ultimately help measures to drive green growth and create millions of new jobs in Europe's clean industries. Christian Aid, Oxfam, Greenpeace, WWF and Green Alliance have all written to the Prime Minister supporting 30 per cent cuts in European emissions by 2020. How can you not see the urgency and the need for the EU to lead by example?"

I had a reply from Martin Callanan MEP instead repeating what had been said earlier. In my view their arguments do not even begin to stack up and it is shameful that the Tory move has led to the failure to support this legislation. We need to be on a war footing in terms of climate change - see previous blog here.

At least Lib Dem Graham Watson supported the cut. In his email to me he wrote: "It is disappointing that my Conservative and UKIP colleagues in the South West appear to have chosen not to support the reduction. It is well known that there are climate change deniers within the ranks of their respective parties and it appears that they are beginning to get the upper hand on these issues. The Conservative MEPs have also come under criticism for not supporting their own leader’s policy, which is part of the coalition agreement."

NHS: government plans will still damage NHS

I wrote to the local press recently about my concerns regarding the NHS - see here and I also wrote to our MP here. Well I've now had a reply yesterday from Neil Carmichael - and I hugely welcome the significant changes made to the original plans by the Coalition - but I still have very significant concerns.

Yes it sounds like the role of the NHS regulator, "Monitor", will now have an overall focus on promoting the interests of patients not price competition as originally proposed - although the devil will be in the detail and even Lib Dems have warned that this may not be as it seems (see here). The problems of cherry-picking by private providers look set to remain. While yesterday at the BMA's annual conference doctors have rejected the Coalitions changes saying they will not protect the NHS. They have called for 'further big changes'.

It does seem, as Labour have claimed, that the government has a long term plan to break up the NHS and established a "full-scale market" - although it is a little strong coming from Labour who pushed the privatisation agenda in the NHS while they were in power.

Sponsored bike ride to challenge Fairford Air Tattoo

The possibility of Nailsworth Green, Kevin Lister, going to jail was noted here on this blog and his video about it is here. Indeed yesterday he relased a new video here which is also worth a look. Well there is no news on that yet - but I hear the sponsored bike ride to Fairford plans are going well. The Facebook site with details can be found here.

The ride is about raising money for charity but just by being there it is also challenging the enormous and hugely powerful military industrial complex. As one of the news items on it says: "The solution to climate change is fundamentally an issue about challenging the power structures in our global society – and those power structures stem from the military industry complex. Without tackling the military industrial complex and connecting it directly with the failure of climate change agreements, there will never be the progress that we desperately need."

The Green Party has long called for the cancellation of the Tattoo - click read more below to see letter to press in past. The Air Tattoo this year have started distributing their leaflets around local shops and businesses – they even have the A-10 and their intent is to be 'the loudest celebration on earth'. The A-10 is the only aircraft that carries depleted uranium bullets - capable of piercing armour - just sent to Libya.  As this blog has noted the depleted uranium leaves a deadly cloud of radioactive micro-particles - a powder which will cause damage to both environment and health for years. The uranium powder produced during impact and combustion of depleted uranium munitions can potentially contaminate wide areas around the impact sites leading to possible inhalation by human beings.  This is an abomination.

A Google search on the Air Tattoo is already showing a huge number of anti Air Tattoo web pages on the first and second search pages. I came across this excellent analysis of the trivial amount the Fairford Tattoo contribute to charity, see http://directactionstation.com/?p=3476.

The Tattoo, I understand, used to be advertised as raising money for charity but when you look at the amounts raised, it is, in my view, shocking indeed that they are so little. According to that analysis most goes to fund Air Cadets at university with only £14,000 going to disabled or injured service men. However the Charity Commission, which is part of the Civil Service run out of the government’s Cabinet Office has decided that promotion of armed forces recruitment is a charitable act!

Meanwhile I understand Kevin has not received answers to the issues raised in his letter to Neil Carmichael - see here.

Neil Carmichael MP is happy to add poison to our water

OK the headline is emotive but hexafluorosilic acid is a class 2 poison. In 2007 Neil Carmichael, Parliamentary candidate for Stroud, said: “My position is that much more research needs be undertaken and... I am sceptical about the effectiveness of consultation processes undertaken by SHAs.”

Indeed he gave the impression at a meeting that he was not in favour of water fluoridation - certainly not until more research was undertaken - a position taken by many. However in a letter (17/6/2010) to the Safe Water Campaign group, of which I am a founder member, he said: "In broad terms I am in favour of the fluoridisation of water. However I am very willing to discuss the matter with you......."


We have had a number of Safe Water Campaign meetings since then and having correspondence with Neil and the Minister - See here. I really am not clear why he seems to have shifted position unless it is because Anne Milton, the Minister, who is so pro-water fluoridation? It makes no sense ethically or in terms of teeth. The evidence just does not stand up - even the Government's own reports show that.

"No physician in his right senses would prescribe for a person he has never met, whose medical history he does not know, a substance which is intended to create bodily change, with the advice: 'Take as much as you like,to but you will take it for the rest of your life because some children suffer from tooth decay. ' It is a preposterous notion."

Dr Peter Mansfield,  a physician  and an advisory board member of the recent government review of fluoridation.

You can sign an e-petition against water fluoridation in Southampton here. 72% of consultation respondents were opposed to the plans but the Strategic Health Authority is going ahead anyway. You need to log onto their site to sign - there is also a paper version that has collected many signatures. If it happens there it will be all the easier to fluoridate Gloucestershire. See here blog re Southampton being used as guinea pigs. See here a leaflet I did some 6 years ago re water fluoridation.

Call for amendments to Energy Bill

I wrote to our MP Neil Carmichael a while back re the Energy Bill. Well I didn't get a great answer so I've written again - you can also send an email calling for him to support crucial amendments to the Energy Bill by clicking here for the Friends of the Earth campaign. Click read more to see my letter.

Blue and yellow does not make green

Here is my letter in response to Neil Carmichael's column this week in Stroud Life:

Photo:posh shop in London - go for growth/consumption even if it damages the environment seems to be the mssage from government

I write taking issue with Neil Carmichael's claims to be the 'greenest ever government' (18.05.11). Hardly an ambitious task. Jonathon Porritt, former head of the Sustainable Development Commission, has just carried out a Friends of the Earth-funded review of 77 key policies (i). He found there has been little or no progress in 55 policies with "the birds singing" for just six. He concludes we are "all in all, as close to a nightmare as one can imagine" with the government's chance of being the "greenest ever"  being  "vanishingly remote".

The government has tried to sell off our forests, cut investment in flood defences by 27%, delayed on the waste review and Water White Paper, abolished the Sustainable Development Commission, scrapped a planned rise in aviation tax, opened up our coast to deep water oil-drilling, failed to create a green investment bank with immediate borrowing powers, authorised hugely damaging "hydraulic fracturing" to search for natural gas, watered down schemes promoting small-scale renewable electricity and failed to curb the Treasury's fixation with economic growth, whether it damages the environment or not.

The fourth carbon budget is to be welcomed for it's targets, but the government's own independent advisors, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), describe it as the "absolute minimum" necessary. It is also seriously flawed on three crucial points; refusing to toughen up the existing targets for 2013-2023, adding a clause which will allow the Government to backtrack in 2014 and shunning the CCC's recommendation that the budget should be met through domestic action alone. Outsourcing our emission reduction responsibilities to other countries means weakening the drive to achieve more green technologies and industries in this country. Indeed the number of UK green jobs looks set to shrink not rise.

Sadly, in this case, blue and yellow does not make green.

Cllr Philip Booth, Stroud District councillor for Randwick, Whiteshill and Ruscombe ward (Green Party)
(i) Report downloadable at: http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/greenest_gvt_ever.pdf