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Showing posts from July, 2008

The runner-up spot: Green Party's historic achievement in Davis byelection!

The Green Party stood in Haltemprice and Howden on a clear platform of being 'to the left' of David Davis on freedom in general and on civil liberties in particular ( http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2008/06/civil-liberties-party-rights ). David Davis did all he could to marginalise and exclude us ( http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2008/07/election-davis-green-debate ). The media didn't help, painting the byelection as a freak show, because neither the LibDems nor Labour were standing while a huge field of also-rans were standing. And yet we have come through well. The Green Party last night scored our highest-ever percentage in a byelection (beating our previous high, back in our best-ever-yet year of 1989), and claimed an unprecedented second place (see the full result and a pertinent comment from our candidate, here): http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/3am-David-Davis-wins-Haltemprice.4276552.jp What does this mean in terms of the Gree...
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Save energy, save money

The Government's recently-stated commitment to a major expansion of renewable energy is welcome. Let's hope this time it is for real, and not just a re-announcement of previous pledges... Achieving 15% of total UK energy supply from renewables by 2020 - and 30% of electricity - would be a step toward the 'green revolution' that the Green Party has been advocating for decades. However, there is an equally large challenge which must be tackled at the same time, to avoid the progress in renewables being undermined: The UK needs to greatly improve efficiency to reduce demand across all sectors. This will ensure that the switch to renewables can deliver significant carbon reductions. Otherwise, gains in expanding renewables could be lost to increasing demand and reliance on fossil fuels will remain high. And that would mean more expensive food and fuel for all of us, forever… The Government has a poor track record on energy efficiency and has failed t...
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NEWS INTERNATIONAL THREATENS MEDIA LENS WITH LEGAL AND POLICE ACTION

http://www.medialens.org/alerts/index.php The latest MediaLens alert is very important. Do go to their site to read it in colour with links etc. . Or below: MEDIA ALERT: NEWS INTERNATIONAL THREATENS MEDIA LENS WITH LEGAL AND POLICE ACTIONOn June 28 and July 3, Media Lens received repeated threats of both legal and police action from Alastair Brett, legal manager of News International's Times Newspapers. Noam Chomsky described the threat, pithily, as "pretty sick." (Email, June 28, 2008) David Miller, professor of sociology at the University of Strathclyde and founder member of Spinwatch ( www.spinwatch.org ), commented: "The response from the Times is an absolutely outrageous attempt to bully and censor you. It is not - unfortunately - surprising though, as the Murdoch empire is determined to attempt to snuff out those voices which try to bear witness to the truths of our age. Those that unmask naked power will be targeted by the Murdoch empire and its hench people. ...
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GREENS ON COURSE TO GIVE DAVIS A SCARE

GREENS ON COURSE TO GIVE DAVIS A SCARE [This just out from the national party Press Office] The Greens are heading towards their best by-election result ever, beating the 6.1% in Vauxhall in 1989, and in the process giving David Davis and the Tories a scare in the Haltenprice and Howden by- election. The Greens are the main challenger to Davis, challenging his claim to be the defender of British civil liberties. Dr. Derek Wall, who is campaigning in the constituency today, said "David Davis may find that he will not have this election completely his own way. "Many voters find his illiberal stance on 28 days detention without charge, support for capital punishment and support for Section 28 just too much to swallow. The Greens' candidate Shan Oakes is the only option available to those voters. "There's more to civil liberties than one vote in Parliament; it's not okay for the government to lock you up for four weeks without even telling you what you...
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As detailed in my earlier post , I visited 'Camp Bling' Road Protest camp in Southend last weekend.  I had a fascinating day, discussing Peak Oil (in the photo above we are watching the remarkable film ' What a way to go ' - which I highly recommend), seeing how people live and work at the Camp, and finding out about how Southend people are helping Camp Bling to achieve a so-far quite-remarkable success in stopping this dreadful road project that threatens to devastate the lovely Priory Park (that I also saw during my visit). I highly recommend a visit to anyone interested in the future!
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Tory eco flip-flopS

[Letter sent to the DAILY MAIL]:   Dear Sir; As the oil price spirals upwards the Conservative Shadow Chancellor proposes (' Tories offer to 'share the pain' of fuel bills with variable duty' , Monday July 7th) that the government should effectively fix the price of Petrol and Diesel by lowering duty on these fuels when the market price is this high, thus seemingly insulating car drivers from any international price rise. The price of oil is rising because demand is rising, while oil production is not rising. If one reduces fuel duty when the price of oil rises, then one is in effect trying to hide from this underlying problem, of the finite supply of oil in the Earth. One is then blunting the 'price signal' that might actually reduce (that is already starting to reduce) the usage of oil; one is encouraging the guzzling of oil, at this time when its us...
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The Green Party Will Stand Against David Davis

After much internal democratic deliberation, my Party, the Green Party, has decided to stand against the Tories in the Haltemprice and Howden byelection. Our candidate is Shan Oakes , a local campaigner and local TV personality. Her – our -- central argument will be that Davis offers only the shadow of freedom: we offer the substance. And in particular, that it is ludicrous to posture as a defender of freedom – of habeas corpus -- while being quite happy to throw people into jail for 28 days without charge. In no other European country is this level of infringement upon liberty tolerated. In other words: we are throwing down the gauntlet to Davis on the very issue that he decided to fight on. I am grateful to Davis for giving the country the chance for this much needed debate over civil liberties: I express my gratitude at Our Kingdom . But what is happening now is that we are entering that debate properly, and outflanking Davis, arguing that his vision of [civil] liber...
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Lead Green Party Euro Candidate to visit 'Camp Bling'

  News From Essex Green Party   Thursday 3rd July 2008   Lead Green Party Euro Candidate to visit 'Camp Bling' Rupert Read, Lead candidate to become a Green MEP for Eastern Region in June 2009, and a Norwich City Councillor, is to visit Camp Bling, the long running road protest camp in Southend on Sunday 6th July (all afternoon). Camp Bling is one of the few long standing road protest camps in the country. It was set up to protect Priory Park and the many trees within it from being built over by a road scheme that it's founders believe is totally unecessary. The protesters believe that the park was left to Southend by a benefactor who stated that it should remain as a park. The protestors also seek to protect the archaeological site of a Saxon King burial that was found there. The burial is believed to date back to about 650 AD, and is rated as one of the most important archaelogical finds in England in the past 100 years....
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