Rupert's Read

My article in the upcoming issue of 'The Occupied Times' . Please click the image to enlarge!

PASTON SIXTH FORM COLLEGE QUESTION TIME 2012: ARE WE ON THE RIGHT ROAD? Privatisation of the NHS, education cuts, fat cats, the economy, energy and the environment… Can we go on like this ? Friday 2nd March 12.15 - 13.30, The Theatre - ALL WELCOME

To hear me on the BBC Radio Norfolk discussing GM food, go 21 minutes in: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00nr0z6/Nick_Conrad_Would_you_be_happy_to_eat_GM_food/ I did this from a moving train! It wasn't the easiest call ever; but I think it turned out alright! Let me know what you think...

discussion with invited speaker Rupert Read Tuesday 28th February 2012 UEA Chaplaincy 7pm refreshments 7.30-9.00 pm talk and discussion Welcome to all who are interested in how our lives affect our environment, and the future of planet earth More information from m.mugford AT uea.ac.uk or the Chaplaincy

Me, on the BBC, on GM: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-17157306

Multi-signed letter on Syria, in the OBSERVER, calling on the British government to shutdown Assad's embassy: http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2012/feb/26/observer-letters-gang-girls-rape?newsfeed=true [Scroll down to the 2nd letter] :-)

This good and worth watching. An environmental management consultant has investigated the County Council's reasons for dismissing the West Norfolk incinerator referendum. By clicking on the following web link you can hear his conclusions: Click on www.fenscape.com to view the short presentation.

My 1st ever article in NEW INTERNATIONALIST :-) http://www.newint.org/blog/2012/02/23/left-support-for-syria/ [Do comment THERE, rather than here.]

Next week at UEA: a roundtable on the Euro crisis. It will be chaired by Dr. Marina Prentoulis (PSI), and will further include Shaun Hargreaves-Heap (ECO), Rupert Read (PHI) [=me] and Chris Hanretty (PSI). Wine and refreshments will be available. In: Arts 3.26. http://www.uea.ac.uk/psi/eventsnews/events/prentoulis-financial-crisis

Check out my blast against tacit opponents of the Arab Spring and tacit apologists for Assad, in OPEN DEMOCRACY: http://www.opendemocracy.net/rupert-read/syria-my-enemy%E2%80%99s-enemy-is-not-my-friend

This article is a disgrace: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/bahrain/9082771/Bahraini-police-clamp-down-on-revolt-anniversary-protests.html  . A senior British policeman is offering an apologia for the torturing police of tyrannical Bahrain, a police-state without democracy or any proper/fair rule of law. He explicitly calls the protesters, in a tyrannised and terrified tortured society, 'vandals'. His remarks shed a fascinating light on how close we are to having a police-state in Britain. Yates argues that the Bahraini police could learn BETTER how to crack down from Britain's (London's) police; he suggests that British police in a similar situation to the Bahraini police would behave in an even more extreme manner (i.e. would be more confrontational, aggressive). We should take heed of this...

Carne Ross has his finger on the pulse here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/feb/10/syria-not-iraq-wrong-intervene   What he said about Libya could be applied to Syria too: http://www.carneross.com/blog/2011/03/04/libya-ten-non-violent-options   I didn't fully agree with him on Libya, because there wasn't enough time for the measures he was proposing to work before Gaddafi would take Benghazi; but I think he is right on Syria, where there is in any case no short- or medium-term prospect for miltary intervention and (strange though it sounds to say it) less extreme urgency (the situation is more 'ongoing'; there isn't a full-blown 'civil war' yet as there already was in the case of the Libyan revolution). We should try all we can through diplomatic, economic etc. channels to give solidarity to the Syrian people who have risen up with unbelievable bravery against their oppressive 'leaders'. As for the 'Stop the War' ...

Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion) (Green): "Tunisia, the first Arab country to be liberated from a despot in the Arab spring, is expelling its Syrian ambassador and de-recognising the murderous and criminal Assad regime. The Syrian National Council has called on other countries to follow suit, so will the British Government be considering that?"   Mr Hague: "As I mentioned, I do not rule that out. If we were to do that, I would like us to act in concert with other nations. Therefore, what other nations do is a factor, and we will keep in close consultation with our European and Arab partners on this."   http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmtoday/cmdebate/c_03.htm#d2e1651

Good news here from my Party Leader: https://twitter.com/#!/CarolineLucas She asked the question. Unfortunately Hague was non-commital in reply. But he said he would like to work with other countries to achieve this. In other words: maybe several Arab / EU countries at once might shut down Syrian embassies?  :-) And this is quite the right thing to do. After all, Assad doesn't actually govern Syria any more. He merely terrorises parts of it.

Transcript of Rupert Read's talk on 'Guardians for Future Generations', at Parliament, at the report launch, 10 Jan. 2012     Rupert Read :   Let me start by offering thanks to everyone who has made today possible, including, of course, my colleagues in Green House and in the Alliance of Future Generations .     So, now I'm going to provide a fairly brief introduction to the report that I've written.   We'll then have a chance to discuss it.   I really want to just situate the report in relation to the reasons for it , primarily, and give you an idea of my thinking processes that led to it , and then I think you'll exactly see why I came up with the proposals that I did .     So: what is the problem that this proposal is designed to address?   Well, the first and simplest way of putting it is that we have to find some way of addressing the chronic short-termism of our political culture and of our economics. ...

Transcript of my London #Compass 'Progressive Alliance ' talk, Jan. 10 2012       Thanks, everyone, for coming—it's a pleasure to be here.     So, my report on 'guardians for future generations' been creating a bit of a stir.   By the way: If you want to get the report for free it's now available, for download, from the Greenhouse website, which is easy to find.   (If you Google Green House now, we come up first rather than greenhouse adverts, so that's good...)   One of the stirs has been in the Guardian.   The comments closed last night at 325 , so there's clearly a lively and interesting debate there.   So: what's it all about?     Well, I've got a proposal to end, or at least to seek to start to end, the chronic culture of short-termism that we have in our politics, in our electoral cycles, and in our business and economics—with business cycles and quarterly reports and even more short-te...

For the first time ever, an NHS hospital is being run by a private company, starting today. The hospital in question is Hinchingbrooke, in Cambridgeshire, here in the Eastern Region of England. It's just plain wrong to allow a private company to make profits out of people's ill-health. This is a new stage in the privatisation of the NHS; we are losing Britain's most-loved institution, right now. I have been to Hinchingbrooke and have stood with the workers and local people who have been campaigning for years to stop this NHS hospital from falling into private hands. Successive governments - first the so-called 'Labour' Party, and now the Conservative-LibDem Coalition - have done nothing to secure the future of Hinchingbrooke. Only the Green Party has stood up firmly for keeping our beloved NHS public. We now see the consequences of the Government's failure to help Hinchingbrooke: privatisation. Many more hospitals will now be privatised across ...

  Compass's 'Plan B: A good economy for a good society' event will take place on March 7th at 6.00pm, at the Unite the Union Building, 39 Thorpe Road, Norwich, NR1 1ES. The debate will focus on setting out a vision for an alternative economic direction, building upon the Compass report ' Plan B: A good economy for a good society'.  The event will include guest speakers Anna Coote , new economics foundation, Clive Lewis , Labour PPC for Norwich South, Prof Alan Finlayson, UEA, Dr Rupert Read , East of England Green Party Co-ordinator and Howard Reed , Co-editor of Plan B. The meeting will be chaired by Joe Cox (Compass). This event is open to the public. What is Plan B? Read the one page summary here> http://www.scribd.com/doc/ 71928938/Plan-B-What-is-it Download the full publication here > http:// compassonline.org.uk/ publications ...

The government's consultation [   http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/dft-20111212/  ] on the future of the A14 has just closed. The Green Party has submitted its innovative response and today is making this public  [See   below   for the full response, with details of the Green Party's   alternative transport strategy ].   Nobody can doubt that there are problems on the A14. The normal drive to work, slowed to a crawl on most days, the sitting in traffic jams waiting to get into Cambridge, the noise, and pollution, not to mention with all that traffic the amount of CO2 being released into the air. This is indeed a challenge that needs addressing. Which is why the Green Party has sent its proposals to Government on the A14 and what to do about it. At present the Governments' answer is to build more roads, with an extra lane proposed around Kettering. Will this make a difference to the congestion around the area? Or will it just make things wo...