Rupert's Read

The ERS helpfully commenting on the dodgy stitch-up debates format, that is excluding the Greens: Great to debate, but let's have a format that reflects our multi-party era Commenting on the broadcasters' proposal for three TV debates in the run up to the 2015 General Election [1], Katie Ghose , Chief Executive of the Electoral Reform Society , said: "It's great to see some momentum behind the idea of TV debates. At their best, TV debates can make political issues come alive for the electorate, and after the success of 2010 voters expect to get this opportunity to hear directly from party leaders. It would be hugely disappointing to go back to the old days of no TV debates. "But the format suggested by the broadcasters doesn't really reflect the fact that we are now firmly in a multi-party era. It's difficult to see how to justify the exclusion of smaller parties from the debates. And having a two-party duel between Labour and the Conservatives si...

GREENS NAME RUPERT READ AS CAMBRIDGE CANDIDATE Party Leader Natalie Bennett set for candidate news conference The Green Party tonight (Fri) named the academic, author and campaigner Rupert Read as its candidate in Cambridge for next year's General Election. There will be a first opportunity to question Dr Read on his new campaign when he appears at an introductory news conference at King's College on Monday (Oct 6th), introduced with a personal endorsement from Party Leader Natalie Bennett. The event will also reveal further high-profile endorsements for Dr Read's candidacy. Alongside his work as Reader in Philosophy at the University of East Anglia, Rupert Read is a former city councillor in Norwich, and already the Green Party's national spokesman on transport. He has been instrumental in helping to develop Green Party policy nationally. He said: "I love Cambridge: probably the most 'networked' and 'thinking' city in Britain. Camb...

Norwich Arts Centre on October 22nd, 8pm: Steve's new play on dangerous climate-change, which will be followed by a panel discussion: Dr Rupert Read - philosopher, environmental thinker and Green Party candidate Dr Veronika Sekules - artist and  Head of Education and Research at the Sainsburys Centre Jonathan Woolley - anthropologist currently working in the Broads. Do come along!

I lead off this event, on 22 Nov., in Oxford, at the brand new St Cross Centre for the History & Philosophy of Physics (HAPP) at the University of Oxford: 10.30 am WELCOME 10.45 am Dr Rupert Read - How to Admire Science and Despise Scientism: Wittgenstein's Contribution to the Great Challenge of His Time and Ours 11.30 am Professor Martin Kusch - Wittgenstein, Einstein, Metrology 12.15 pm Professor Carlo Penco - The Influence of Einstein on Wittgenstein's Thought Experiments 1 pm LUNCH BREAK 2 pm Dr Chon Tejedor - The Early Wittgenstein on Induction and the Principles of the Natural Sciences 2.45 pm Dr Richard Staley - Boltzmann, Mach and Wittgenstein's Vienna 3.30 pm TEA/COFFEE BREAK 4 pm Professor John Preston - Wittgenstein, Jeans and Eddington 4.45 pm Summary of the Day's Proceedings The key to this inaugural event is its role as an exemplar of the interdisciplinary approach of our new HAPP Centre to the chosen fields of interest (i.e. physics, philosophy and ...

Cambridge are hosting me for this talk, early next month - please do come and join me as I question the myths of "progress" and [economic] "growth"

My call for a #ConstitutionalConvention, published this morning in Europe: http://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/now-must-constitutional-convention-whole-uk/

My post-referendum piece this morn on OPEN DEMOCRACY'S OurKingdom project, a key venue for the discussion now underway: https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/rupert-read/constitutional-convention-now

Statement from the Electoral Reform Society Immediate release 09:45 19 th September 2014 Contact: Will Brett ( will.brett@electoral-reform.org.uk / 07979 696 265) Time to give all UK citizens a say Commenting on the need for a UK-wide Constitutional Convention in the wake of the Scottish independence referendum, Katie Ghose (Chief Executive of the Electoral Reform Society) said: "This referendum has demonstrated that when it comes to deciding the future of our country, people want to be asked. It would be a terrible waste if we do not build on that passion by ensuring everyone in the UK, and not just Scots, have a say in where power lies. "Now is not the time for top-down commands on our constitution, issued by political leaders in the immediate, frenzied aftermath of this momentous vote. The future shape of the country is too important to be rushed through Parliament without consulting the people. "We need a UK-wide, citizen-led Const...

See my new piece on OPEN DEMOCRACY on this, co-authored with Rebecca Johnson, my colleague in 'Compass Greens': https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/rebecca-johnson-rupert-read/after-scotland-decides-build-citizencentred-democracy-through

Come hear Donnie MacLurcan of the Post-Growth Alliance at an event chaired by myself just outside Norwich, the weekend after this one: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/what-comes-after-capitalism-tickets-12750798983  

And I'm the only one putting myself forward for it...: At 7pm on Mon. 15th September, Cambridge Green Party will have a 'hustings' meeting to grill its potential candidate for the Parliamentary seat, Dr. Rupert Read, who is a Reader in Philosophy at the University of East Anglia. Dr. Read is well-known to many Cambridge voters and to the media as the recent lead-candidate for the Green Party in the European Elections: Read came within 1% of being elected MEP. Now he hopes to stand in Cambridge, for MP. Cambridge was the Green Party's 3rd strongest result in the whole UK, after only Brighton Pavillion (where Caroline Lucas was elected as the Greens' first MP) and Norwich South, at the 2010 General Election. This May, the Green Party scored nearly 20% in both the European Elections and the Local Elections. And according to the Green Party's own national geodemographic database, Cambridge has the strongest potential of any seat in the enti...

Music to my ears, as national Transport Spokesperson for the Green Party; this is what we've been saying for months/years: "Our railways are now owned by companies that cost us more in public subsidy than British Rail ever did, inflict annual fare rises on us and then reward their shareholders with record profits. All Britain gets is the bill. Last week the ailing Network Rail was quietly renationalised along with its £34billion (34,000,000) debt. Just as perversely, the East Coast Mainline, which has been publicly owned since 2009 and just made a profit of £235 million, will be re-privatised again next year.   "Which is not to say that national interests are not being served - they're just other countries national interests...   "David Cameron refuses to exempt the NHS from the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, which critics warn will make it impossible for future governments ever to reverse these decisions. That would a...

Have a watch of me on the BBC talking about Green Party Conference, transport policy, etc:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B73KChI9p0RVVElMR3ZDeTRYaHc/edit?usp=sharing

Love me, love my blogs: I've been asked to put together a compilation of what I consider to be my best popularly-accessible articles of the last few years... Here it is! http://shiftinggrounds.org/2014/03/progress-beyond-the-growth-fetish/ http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/commentators/2397606/lets_build_a_postgrowth_economy_that_works_for_the_99.html http://www.theecologist.org/campaigning/2221766/renationalise_our_railways.html http://blog.talkingphilosophy.com/?p=7957 https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/rupert-read/climate-how-ukip-and-tory-right-will-defeat-themselves http://blog.talkingphilosophy.com/?p=6662 http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/13/emergencytalk http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/how-ecologism-is-the-true-heir-of-both-socialism-and-conservatism/ http://greenwordsworkshop.org/node/34 https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/rupert-read/greens-ukip-of-left https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/rupert-read/guardians-of...

My major piece on the financial crisis, politics and economics, reprinted from the _EUROPEAN REVIEW_: http://theoxfordphilosopher.com/2014/08/25/economist-kings/

My recent letter in the GUARDIAN, on Piketty, in case you missed it: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jul/31/constant-growth-make-most-poorer My line here is supported by this new report from the world-experts on the political economy of post-growth, Peter Victor and Tim Jackson: http://www.prosperitas.org.uk/SIGMA#.U-yiiqPCcug

Post-Piketty, this should be a no-brainer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-28459473

Check out my new ECOLOGIST magazine author page: http://www.theecologist.org/search.php?q=rupert+read&offset=0&submit=Go :-)   [My articles published in RESURGENCE however are not available here; and those printed in the print edition are not easily available anywhere online]

On political communications in the age of the limits to growth: http://www.greenhousethinktank.org/files/greenhouse/home/Post_growth_commonsense_inside.pdf Have a read!

I want to thank every single person who voted Green on May 22, here in the East. You have contributed to a movement that is growing, and will only continue to grow: for Green is the future, if there is to be a future at all. It is terrifying that a Party whose basis is victim-blaming and which denies the very reality of dangerous human-influenced climate chaos has done so well at these elections (and some of the Conservative Party here are no different, by the way). I blame the tiny handful of multi-millionaires who bankroll the Party that shall remain nameless, and the national media for giving them bucketloads of coverage while ignoring the rise of the Green Party in the opinion polls during the campaign. I hope that once people realise what the Party that shall remain nameless actually stands for they will turn away from it in disgust, and turn to the Green Party, which offers a positive alternative to the old, failed parties. As for me: I am ...

My new article: http://blog.talkingphilosophy.com/?p=7957

The Green Party is celebrating a strong set of local election results in Norwich. The party increased its majority in all five of the wards it was defending and also increased its city-wide vote to 30%, despite a strong challenge by Labour who were quoted as confident of taking two wards from the Greens. For the Norwich City Council area as a whole, Labour took 35% to the Greens' 30% but for the Norwich South Parliamentary constituency Greens are ahead by 35% to 34%. Three Green councillors were re-elected (Lesley Grahame in Thorpe Hamlet, Ash Haynes in Town Close and Simeon Jackson in Mancroft) and new Green councillors were elected in two wards: Tim Jones in Nelson and Sandra Bogelein in Wensum. Andrew Boswell, Leader of the Green Party City Councillors, said: "This is a fantastic set of results for the Green Party. Voter...

So pleased to have Craig Murray's backing, for a green vote: Craig, a former ambassador and human rights activist says: "So who should those of us living in England vote for tomorrow? I intend to vote Green – it seems to me that in England that is the best way to give a positive expression to the discontent with mainstream parties. I particularly hope that those who have the opportunity to vote for Rupert Read in the East of England will do so. Their support for renationalizing the railways would be enough for me, but actually I find myself in agreement with the large majority of their platform." See Craig's full article here: http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/05/vote-green-in-england/

See this letter in today's _Guardian_, that I'm proud to have co-signed: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/may/21/nigel-farage-ukip-bigoted-populism #VoteGreen today to express an unequivocal opposition to the values of UKIP, and to stand up for a positive alternative to neoliberalism.

So, Norfolk UKIP are now cosying up to Norfolk Conservatives to make a deal to gain control of the Council here... http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/politics/conservatives_to_discuss_deal_with_ukip_to_take_back_control_of_norfolk_county_council_1_3608604  This is hardly a surprise. UKIP are nothing other than the nasty (anti-renewables, climate-denying, anti-tax, anti-immigrant, etc) wing of the Conservative Party - many of them actually having been expelled by or defected from the Conservatives.  This is what the so-called 'anti-establishment' party intends doing - shoring up the very establishment party that got Norfolk into such a mess over the years (e.g. purveying the dreadful incinerator project). 

Former Labour MP Dr. Gibson has put his name to a letter in support of lead candidate Rupert Read. Other notable signatories include Sir Jonathon Porritt, former chair of the Sustainable Development Commission, the human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell and the journalist and author George Monbiot.  In the letter they urge readers, whichever Party they normally vote for and whichever they might vote for at the General Election next year, to consider voting Green this time. That's because the Euro elections are run on a proportional representation voting system which gives the Greens, as a smaller Party, a fairer chance of winning a seat.  The Greens already have MEPs representing the neighbouring constituencies of South-East and London.  Dr Read can join them with only an extra 1% more of the vote than he achieved at the last Euro election. He said: "I feel honoured to have this distinguished group behind me, but it's especially exciting to have the backing of ...

DAILY EXPRESS interview Green Party Leader!: http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/475832/Ukip-s-divisive-politics-are-driving-voters-to-Greens-says-party-leader-Natalie-Bennett  I was present at the Y armouth meeting mentioned here by Natalie. It was indeed disturbing to hear from experts at the front line in our Region of how migrants are suffering discrimination, right now, and of how it is tending to get worse...

Police have visited a Green Party blogger in Cambridgeshire after a UKIP councillor objected to his Tweets.   The Guardian reports that Michael Abberton was invited by the officers to remove criticism of UKIP from social media, though no offence had been committed.   Mr Abberton explained that his comments had already been retweeted and he no longer had control over them. The officers, who were reportedly polite and professional, were particularly concerned about the retweet of a faked poster giving 10 reasons to vote for Ukip, such as scrapping paid maternity leave and raising income tax for the poorest 88% of Britons.   The Green Party's lead candidate for the Euro elections in the east of England, Rupert Read, said:   "Criticism of UKIP is not only legitimate, it is essential! The real election battle now here in the East is between Greens and UKIP. It is very disturbing that the police got in the way of it - and very...

 I read the news today, oh great! :-) http://greenparty.org.uk/news/2014/05/13/icm-polling-green-vote-growing-as-liberal-democrats-wither/ The Green Party is polling (1) at 10% ahead of the May 22 European Elections, putting it firmly in fourth place and three percentage points ahead of the ailing Liberal Democrats (7%).   The Greens have surged four points since ICM's last poll and are within touching distance of meet their target of trebling their number of MEPs from two (Jean Lambert, London, and Keith Taylor, South-East) to six. Based on a national swing the latest poll would give the Greens 5 seats in England plus one in Scotland. The Lib Dems would have zero seats. Among 18-24 year-olds the Greens are the second most popular political party.   Natalie Bennett, Green Party Leader, said:   "The results of this poll chime with what I am hearing around the country. 
Former Lib Dem voters feel that the party no longe...

The latest ICM/Guardian poll http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/may/12/support-labour-drops-tories-lead-guardian-icm-poll?CMP=twt_gu makes some very encouraging reading for the Green Party:"ICM...asked...about voting intentions for nextweek's European elections. With only 37% of electors suggesting they arecertain to cast their ballot, such projections inescapably depend on fewerrespondents than those for Westminster."The Tories are up two on April, which puts them on 27%, and in a virtual dead heat with Ukip, which has bounced up four in the European stakes to stand at 26%. Labour sinks by 12 points on April, to 24%, with appreciable proportions of the party's 2010 votes moving to Ukip and the GREENS. "Together with Lib Dem defectors – Clegg's party languishes on 7% – this helps push the GREENS up four and into a clear fourth place, on 10%." Overall there has been a gradual upward movement in most polls (seelink, showing that we have momentum: ...

YouGov Poll: Greens at 8% and LDs at 9% - http://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/qbs0awpb2p/YouGov-EuroTrack-Results-May-2014-EU-Elections-voting-intention-140512.pdf.pdf If those figures switch around in the next week - if we go to 9 nationally, and them down to 8 - then I could be elected as your new MEP...

To mark #NationalChildrensDay! I have released a report on the crisis facing children and families in the UK and our policies to address it. We must take children’s rights seriously and the Greens are the only party doing so. Read my report here and find out about our policies for children and families .

Lord Lawson's 'Global Warming Policy Foundation' to split into two, following campaign by Green Party members   Lord Lawson's Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) is to split into two following a campaign led by Green Party members in the East of England to expose breaches of its charity status.  James Abbott, Essex Green Party County Councillor and former Science Spokesperson for the Green Party, provided the Charity Commission with regular reports on the activities of the GWPF.   The GWPF has enjoyed the status of an "educational charity", which brings tax advantages.   However research by Greens revealed that the output of the organisation via its website was almost entirely anti-Green, pro-fossil fuel and 'climate sceptic'. Not only that, but James Abbott revealed a repeating pattern of the GWPF taking published articles and papers from around the world and changing the titles to give them more of an ant...

Let’s reform #Europe so that it works for us! As an MEP, what would be my plans for the East? See my new video here >>>>> #VoteGreen2014

  There is too much rubbish in the British media about the EU. So I've penned this straightforward account of the Greens in the EU:   MEPs in the European parliament are usually members of national political parties and may also be members of transnational European parties. The UK's Green MEPs are members of the European Green Party. MEPs also join voting blocks or coalitions, known as parliamentary groups. MEPs from the Green Party of England and Wales (as well as MEPs from Plaid Cymru and the SNP) are members of the Greens/European Free Alliance. The group is largely made up of MEPs from the Green parties of various EU member states, as well as other parties with similar goals.   Greens/EFA is the forth-largest parliamentary group in Europe, with 58 MEPs sitting in the current parliament. It is larger than both the Tories' group (ECR), and the UK Independence Party's group (EFD).   The European Green Party candidates for Comm...

Hugh Kerr (Labour MEP for Essex West and Hertfordshire East 1994-99) commented this morning (on Facebook), on hearing the news about former MP Ian Gibson's endorsement of me for the European Elections ( http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/former_labour_mp_gives_his_backing_to_the_greens_in_the_east_1_3588157 ):  "Ian Gibson is a good man sacrificed by Labour because he was a critic of New Labour. As a former Labour MEP for the Eastern Region I also call for a vote for the Green Party in the Eastern Region . Feel free to use that."    

So, a letter from 30 Labour prospective parliamentary candidates calls on Ed Miliband to make public ownership of the railways a key part of Labour policy. After many years of being in government, sitting and watching the privatised rail monopolies rake in huge profits, is Labour about to do something? Or at least to "consider" doing something? The British public have been down this road before with Labour and they have been let down time and again. Caroline Lucas has a bill in the Commons right now calling for exactly this policy. This is a flagship Green party policy, central to our agenda. Labour is simply stumbling falteringly toward something that voters can already plump for in unadulterated form by voting Green. Rupert Read National Green party transport spokesperson Caroline Lucas MP Read it here: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/may/05/labour-rail-nationalisation

 Green Party lead MEP-candidate visits inspiring Yarmouth food bank. Pictured : Rupert Read presenting his report outside the Yarmouth food bank; Rupert Read discussing with food bank situation in Yarmouth with Ben Selfe, corps leader of the Yarmouth Salvation Army who run the food bank. Rupert Read visited the Salvation-Army-run food bank in Yarmouth yesterday, to mark the Norfolk launch of his Party's report on foodbanks in East Anglia. Commented Dr. Read: "It was really inspiring and heartening to meet the hard-working team at the Salvation Army food bank in Yarmouth this lunchtime. Being shown around, I could see clearly the complexity - and the importance - of the task confronting them. And they were executing that task, as far as I could see, with unfailing good humour and expertise. "In the longer term, we need also to do things that reduce the  need  of so many of our fellow human beings now for food banks. Solutions that I'm talking about in my r...

Check out my performance on the Sunday Politics on the iPlayer here while it is still available!: The BBC acknowledges that the Greens are closing in on a seat in Eastern Region!

Labour can't be trusted to bring the railways back into public ownership...     A letter from 30 Labour PPCs to the Observer has been prominently featured today and has earnt top billing on the BBC news and current affairs programmes this morning. The letter calls on Ed Miliband to make public ownership of the railways a key part of Labour policy going into the general election.   Rupert Read the Green Party spokesperson for Transport issued the following response:   "After many years of being in government, sitting and watching the privatised rail monopolies rake in huge profits, are Labour about to do something? Or at least "consider" doing something?   "The Labour Party might finally be starting to catch up with the Green Party, on this key issue   "The truth is that the British public have been down this road before with the Labour party and they have been let down time and again. You simply can'...

> YOUGOV: GREENS OUTPOLL LIB-DEMS IN EAST > > New polling has the Green > Party on track to both finish ahead of the Liberal Democrats nationally > and achieve the target of trebling the number of Greens in the European > Parliament from two to six. > > Polling prepared by YouGov Plc on behalf > of the Green Party (1), predicts the Green Party is on course to win 8% > of the vote (see polling attached). The poll was conducted between 30 > April and 1 May 2014. > > The Green Party, which currently has two MEPs > (Jean Lambert and Keith Taylor) are neck-and-neck with the Liberal > Democrats. Greens are ahead of the Lib Dems in four of the nine English > regions (the North-East, the North-West, Yorks and Humber and Eastern > Region) with both parties polling on 11% in London. > > IN THE EAST OF > ENGLAND, THE POLL SHOWS LIB-DEMS ON 6% WITH GREENS ON 7%. > > Natalie > Bennett, Green Party L...