Rupert's Read

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKFTtYx2OHc   Further to my earlier post and tweets...   This is genius!    

67 tweets in total this time... And I ate dinner (with a group of Green friends), during! [Read up from the bottom} My @GreenRupertRead debate tweets: 1. @07948480070 And while we're at it, why not abolish taxes on the rich altogether,so that they can hire even more 'help'?!.. Er.. #DebatePlus1 minute ago via TweetDeck in reply to 07948480070 2. @thomaslowe87 In other countries, e.g. most European countries, a far higher proportion are willing to rent. We need a culture shift on this2 minutes ago via TweetDeck in reply to thomaslowe87 3. Cameron won? - I'm a monkey's uncle: That Cameron is credited by most outlets with having won last night's debat... http://bit.ly/bJ9Gj1about 1 hour ago via twitterfeed 4. RT @Jo_Cox1: There are still so many unanswered questions from Tories: what cap on immigration? Why cut inheritance tax? business tax?about 11 hours ago via TweetDeck 5. RT @willself: You would think from the #leadersdebate that it is the norm to be anti-immig...

That Cameron is credited by most outlets with having won last night's debate – despite his vapidity, his utter failure to answer key questions put to him directly by Brown and Clegg (letalone his failure, admittedly shared by the other 2, to say where the savage cuts they are all tacitly planning are going to fall), and the repulsiveness of much of his agenda (his obvious bias toward the rich on issues such as inheritance, the pretty evident insincerity of his pro-poor soundbites – plus the general return of the nasty Party, in his rhetoric on immigration, welfare, etc.) – is a reflection of a combination of a corrupt media culture (large sections of the media have decided to twist and deceive as much as necessary to get Brown out and Cameron in), a failed format for the debates (no provision to insist upon answers to questions – and no presence for the smaller Parties, such as the Greens, who would really shake up the status quo), and a British public that now has s...

 It is very sad to see the LibDems continuing to mislead Norwich voters at every opportunity - in spite of the fact that their candidate claimed that he would run a 'Clean Campaign', following the Green Party's initiative of a Clean Campaign Pledge in Norwich South.  In their latest leaflet, the LibDems try their hardest to pull the wool over voters' eyes about what happened in last year's elections. They fail to point out that I (as the Green Party candidate) came within just 1% of winning a seat in the European Parliament, and was the runner-up - and that if it hadn't have been for LibDem lies about me being 'out of the race', I could very easily have been elected.  During the Norwich North byelection, they took some words of mine from THE TIMES and printed leaflets saying that those words proved that I was admitting that I could not win that byelection. In their latest leaflet in this election, they claim that I insisted during that c...

There's 1 week to go... The still-increasing prospect of a balanced ( aka 'hung') Parliament is good news for those of us who believe that it is high time that Britain recognised that it has multi-Party politics, and that British politicians need to work together, across Party lines, to secure a democratic mandate. However, it is distressing to see that the Party still managing to stay narrowly out in front in the national polls (the Conservative Party) is the Party most firmly committed to massive government cuts (rather than to what is obviously needed: investment in a 'Green New Deal') and to shrinking the state and to deregulation (when the gathering climate crisis - not to mention the last three years of unprecedented financial crisis - have demonstrated with absolute clarity the need for strong state action to prevent complete meltdown). It's time for   real   change. Sending Green Party MPs to Westminster, where they might play a crucial ro...

There's 16 Green posters up in my street; and 1 Labour one, 1 LibDem, and 1 Conservative. That's exactly how I like it. It shows that the other Parties are trying - and failing miserably.  ;-)

Scroll down for a superb letter from respected Labour activist Jane Roberts: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/27/lib-dem-strategy-tactical-voting   She writes: "I have considerable respect for a number of national Lib Dem politicians and Nick Clegg does indeed have a compelling, straightforward style of talking, so important now for any party leader. But what sticks in my craw is the notion that the Lib Dems represent a new and different type of politics. In local elections, Lib Dems have long been the most shameless, unscrupulous campaigners of any mainstream party. Let's not kid ourselves that the Lib Dems have the high moral ground." Jane Roberts, Former Labour Leader of Camden Council   Bang on the money.

Being interviewed by the BBC last week in Norwich South, while Adrian spoke at a public meeting.

A good detailed blogpost on the disastrous UKIP candidate for nearby Broadland constituency...: http://britishgeneralelection.blogspot.com/2010/04/ukip-broadland-candidate-stuart-agnew.html  

Well done Compass: http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/04/23/exclusive-compass-polls-members-on-hung-parliament-and-tactical-voting/  . Nevertheless, this news will be of marginal interest to British politics so long as Compass remains in effect a Labour faction, closed to other Parties. The really radical step would be to permit Greens, LibDems, Respectites, Scots Nats etc to join. Then we would be able to talk about a realignment of progressive politics in Britain

Useful information here:   THE GOVERNMENT'S LOW CARBON TRANSITION PLAN AND THE TRADE UNIONS' MILLION JOBS PLAN – WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?     http://cacctu.wordpress.com/2010/04/15/the-governments-low-carbon-transition-plan-and-the-trade-unions-million-jobs-plan-whats-the-difference/        

...Can we have a bit less bleating about the poor little LibDems, please? If they weren't by and large such filthy campaigners, they would deserve the sympathy they are currently getting. But they are. So they don't. (Unless and until they change their ways, and stop the misrepresentations that disfigure every single leaflet they put out.) I hope we get a hung Parliament. But it would be more likely, if there weren't more and more people fed up to the gills with the distorted graphs, '2 horse race' distortions and untruths, unpleasant personal attacks etc., that are most LibDem electioneers' stock in trade See for instance http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/election-2010/7617709/General-Election-2010-Nick-Clegg-uncovered.html . When challenged by Michael Crick, Nick Clegg defended the vicious attacks on me by the LibDems in Norwich North, last year. When he expresses contrition, then maybe I'll think about jumping on the Cleggmaniac bandwagon. No...

 I'm on [BBC TV] here talking about cleaning up politics, approx 17-20 minutes into this: http://bit.ly/13qrOe  From earlier today, when Adrian Ramsay and I visited Norwich's City College.  

My @GreenRupertRead tweets:   RT @ johannhari101 : Even I didn't think Cameron would be this bad. about 1 hour ago via mobile web RT @ richardpbacon : Sky's exterior lights / collapsing wall is the clear winner tonight. about 1 hour ago via mobile web RT @ thecraigwood : ""immigration was not a political issue in the past" - words of wisdom from the party of enoch powell" ... about 1 hour ago via mobile web RT @ Andrew_J_Taylor : Caroline Lucas' reaction to the #leadersdebate on ITV news at 10pm. about 1 hour ago via mobile web RT @ Flammenfisch : #leadersdebate And the results are in (for me anyway)! Clegg beats Brown on points, both hammer Cameron into atoms. about 1 hour ago via mobile web RT @ calbish : Quote of the night: "You can't deport 900,000 people - you don't know where they live." #LeadersDebate about 1 hour ago via mobile web RT @ GreenAmyK : God the #leadersdebate was tedious. I...

Isn't it extraordinary that, while the Precautionary Principle was rightly invoked to stop flights for a week because of the ashcloud... apparently it can't be invoked even to reduce flights (for a long long time) to save the atmosphere, the climate? [I owe this thought to my brilliant student and fellow Green Councillor, Ruth Makoff.]

Just a few images from the excellent philosophy conference I attended last week! With Kelley Jolley With Eugen Fischer With Fred Mosedale , John Powell and Don Levi

The Green Party Manifesto was launched late last week. The document was largely authored by my friend, leading political scientist Dr. Andy Dobson.   Here, on a day of blogging about global poverty, are some key excerpts from the Manifeto that concern relevant matters, on which this my Party is very strong and distinctive: The Green Manifesto promotes the concept of 'ecological debt', recognising that rich countries have already imposed billions of pounds worth of damage on poorer countries through their greenhouse gas emissions. The Greens propose that at least 1% of UK Gross National Product is spent on aid by 2011. This would be targeted for the poorest, not involve economic policy conditions, respect gender equality and not be diverted to equipping security forces. The Green Party would ensure that UK companies operating abroad adhere to environmental and human rights standards and would encourage countries with which the UK works to implement co...

This election is wide open now. Voters are more 'partisan-dealigned' than EVER before. It's a huge opportunity for ALL Parties that aren't the 'main two'. Clegg's stylish (if fairly substanceless) performance on Thursday night has made people reassess whether they have to vote Labservative. The LibDems will profit in many seats - and the SNP, Plaid, Greens, Respect, independents etc will profit in others.

http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/rupert-read/reflections-from-outside-parliament-political-class-and-crises-we-face  My latest on OPEN DEMOCRACY  

I spent yesterday serving as p.a. to Green Party Deputy Leader (and my fellow Norwich Councillor) Adrian Ramsay, in a series of interviews on College Green just outside the Houses of Parliament. Adrian spent the afternoon speaking live to Sky and the BBC, and doing pre-records with numerous other media outlets (from across the world), as the great and the good of politics-as-usual came and went, doing much the same: Peter Mandelson, Alan Duncan, Michael Howard, Ming Campbell, Ben Bradshaw, Ed Balls, David Miliband, Frank Dobson, etc etc. etc. . We spoke with Peter Kellner about our prospects of victory in Norwich South; we spent some time chewing the fat with Martin Bell (who I got along to Green Party Conference a couple of years ago); we had an off-the-record briefing with Iain Dale. The weather was nice, everyone was pleasant, the day went well. And the thing that strikes me as so peculiar about the whole thing is this: The beginning of the election campaign takes place in an atmosp...

http://www.politics.co.uk/blogs/rupert-s-read-$1322092.htm Not bad! :-)

With the election campaign officially ON, please take a minute to help the Green Party win its crucial first seat!: http://www.pledgebank.com/GreensWinNorwich

So, it appears that the man who beat me - by just 1% - last summer, to become MEP, may have done so through following in that finest of UKIP traditions - fraud: http://www.edp24.co.uk/content/edp24/news/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&tBrand=EDPOnline&tCategory=xDefault&itemid=NOED04%20Apr%202010%2018%3A33%3A42%3A210 This is a story I shall follow with great interest! ;-) This story has - unsurprisingly - gone national and international already, by the way. Here is the Sunday Times original expose: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7086827.ece Go three and a half minutes in. Agnew ADMITS to taking part in illegal activity. This is shameful and disgraceful. He should resign - but, more to the point, maybe UKIP wouldn't have got two MEPs elected AT ALL without the money that it appears from this story they have illicitly siphoned through non-transparent routes. There should be a byelection. UKIP should not be allowed to have these MEPs, w...