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European Union to investigate Nuclear Subsidy to Hinkley Point - same considerations will apply to Sizewell

18 December 2013 The European Commission today opened its investigation into the plans of the British government to encourage the construction and operation of a new nuclear power plant by EDF Energy at Hinkley Point C in Somerset. Brussels wants to check that British plans to ensure predictable revenues for EDF over 35 years, despite the volatility of the electricity market, are not illegal under European Union's (EU) state aid rules. "We must look whether state aid is really needed and if so whether the level of state aid is appropriate," EU competition commissioner Joaquín Almunia told journalists. The state aid given to EDF "may reach up to £17 billion ($27.8 billion) depending on future electricity prices and the operator's actual capital costs," according to Brussels, which will investigate if the power plant could have been built by market forces alone. Under EU law, public support given to companies is accept...
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Mitigating the storms of our grandchildren

Congratulations to the planners and the emergency services for what seems to have been an exemplary operation to contain the huge storm surge all around our coast on 5 & 6 December. Now that we in East Anglia have survived this threat, it is time to start planning for the next time, and the time after that. . . With this surge following so hard on the heels of the terrible biggest-ever storm (with hurricane-force winds) in Scotland, it is clearer than ever that we are living in an age of extreme-weather events. We all know -- we all see, every month and every year now -- that our weather-patterns are not the same as they were; this is part of the effect of human-induced dangerous climate change. And our world-leading climate scientists here in East Anglia tell us that this climate chaos will be joined, over time, with an even more disturbing and systematic change: the gradual rise of sea-levels, as the polar ice-caps wilt und...
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I'm bringing Richard Falk to Norwich:

Tuesday December 3rd, 6pm   UN SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR, DR RICHARD FALK, AT UEA, event hosted by UEA Greens. Richard Falk - Palestine: the perspective of the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. 3 December at 18:00, for a prompt 18.15 start. Lecture Theatre 3, UEA. Chaired by Rupert Read, lead Green Party MEP-candidate in the European Elections, 2014. In 2008, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) appointed Falk to a six-year term as a United Nations Special Rapporteur on "the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967."   Very excited about this... Falk is a great man...  
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New 'guardians for future generations' piece...

Impressive new UEA blogsite: http://www.ueapolitics.org/2013/11/14/immodest-proposal-revolutionise-ailing-institution-guardians-future-generations/   Check it out! And do come to the 'Philosopher-Kings?' event with Baronness Jenny Jones and Richard Bacon MP, at UEA this evening! I'll be giving a reply to what they say...
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'Philosopher-Kings?' Parliament Week event: Jenny Jones and Richard Bacon

The role of Parliament and its relevance in British life will be explored at the University of East Anglia (UEA) this month as part of a new national democracy initiative. Parliament Week 2013, which takes place from November 15-21, aims to get people involved with parliamentary democracy in the UK and brings together organisations, schools and individuals in a week-long programme of events to engage, inform and inspire. Two events are being held at UEA, organised by the Schools of Law, Political, Social and International Studies, and Philosophy. On Friday November 15, a debate and discussion will ask Is Parliament Fit for Purpose? Richard Bacon, MP and Member of the Public Accounts Committee, and Baroness Jenny Jones, the first Green member of the House of the Lords, will join lawyers, political scientists and philosophers from UEA to explore the state of Parliament today. Organiser Dr Rupert Read, from the School of Philosophy, said: "We will ...
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NEW NATIONAL #GREENPARTY ROLES: FOR MOI AND FOR ADRIAN RAMSAY

The Green Party has announced its first full portfolio of spokespeople as it prepares for the 2014 European elections.   Two of the best-known Green Party activists in the Eastern region are among the appointees.   Dr Rupert Read, the former Norwich City Councillor who is now lead candidate for the Greens in the east of England at next year's European elections becomes the party's spokesperson on transport.   Adrian Ramsay, former deputy leader of the Green Party nationally and former Norwich City Councillor, who is now regional development manager for the Party here in the East, takes on the role of education spokesperson. Leader Natalie Bennett said: "We've got talented people providing a strong voice in every area of policy — with environment and social justice at the heart of everything we do. "As we gear towards gains at the European and local elections next year, our new spokespeople will be able to present the case as the G...
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Liberals: Nul seats

The Liberals, following their Coalition Government with the Conservatives, crash to their lowest number of votes for two generations, and lose every single one of their Parliamentary seats in the process. Meanwhile, the Greens do pretty well, achieving almost double the number of votes that the LIberals got.   Fantasy? Nope - this is reality: in Germany. This is what has just happened in the German General Election: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24197994   Does it carry any messages for the Liberals (and for the Greens - and for the voting public) in this country? Possibly. As the Liberals here lurch ever downward in the opinion polls ( http://petercranie.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/kick-out-legs-from-under-coalition.html  ), and as European Elections loom in which they may well finish behind the Green Party (as they did in last year's historic London Mayoral and Assembly elections http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_mayoral_elec...
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UK’s first Green MP 'welcomes' Labour to Brighton with digital billboard ad

UK's first Green MP welcomes Labour to Brighton with digital billboard ad Labour Party members attending their conference in Brighton this weekend, in the constituency of the UK's first Green MP, will be welcomed by a billboard making the case that it is Caroline Lucas who is offering the real opposition in parliament. The digital advert will be on display prominently on Queen's Road – one of Brighton's main thoroughfares.  The street is the main route down which Labour delegates and lobbyists who arrive by train will travel to reach the conference at the sea-front Metropole Hotel.* The ad starts with a check list, against a red backdrop, reading: "Saving the NHS, Fighting Austerity, Railways in Public Hands, Scrapping Trident."  As the screen turns green, the billboard says "Brought to you by the Green Party."   The final screen displays a photo of Caroline Lucas MP and reads: "Welcome to Brighton – Home of the True Op...
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NDR: Norwich Green Party consultation response.

Check out the Norwich Green Party response to the pre-application consultation on the NDR... This vital issue is still running and running! Important excellent work from Andrew Boswell et al, here:   Norwich Northern Distributor Road                                                                            20 th September 2013 Department of Environment, Transport and Development Norfolk County Council County Hall Martineau Lane Norwich NR1 2DH Dear ETD, Public Consultation July – September 2013 – NDR NSIP Pre-application Please find below the Consultation Response from Norwic...
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