Rupert's Read

My letter on GM, joint with @phil_hutchinson, in the Mail !   From: DM Lettersec Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2014 12:07 PM Subject: Daily Mail: Readers' letters   Thank you kindly for the letter that you sent to us,   your letter has been published in today's Daily Mail on the Readers' letters page.   Attached is a copy of readers' letters page with this letter included.   Your interest in the Daily Mail is greatly appreciated.   Kindest regards, Natasha     Natasha Warne Readers' Letters Editors Secretary Daily Mail Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London, W8 5TT www.dailymail.co.uk

  Join the Greens for QUESTION TIME   Join the Green Party for a discussion on local issues, focusing on:   Overdevelopment and Planning Policies   Saturday 8th February 2014 11.45 to 13.00   Greensward Academy, Hockley (Lifelong Learning Centre)*     Michael Hoy : District councillor for Hullbridge, and County councillor for Hockley and Hullbridge   Dr Rupert Read : Green lead candidate in this year's European election David Eagar : Retired government countryside planner     Michael and Rupert will outline the Green Party's views on planning and overdevelopment, giving a local, national and European perspective.   Then it's your turn for questions and comments! Michael and Rupert will also take questions on other topics.   * At front of school. P...

Is the Green Party a leftwing Party? Are we a protest Party? What do we believe in? Check out my latest article on OPEN DEMOCRACY: http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/rupert-read/greens-ukip-of-left

great article on the Brighton referendum from the LGC Editor:   Brighton: the battle for localism 23 January 2014  |  By  Emma Maier Brighton has a well established reputation for being 'alternative'. The city returned the country's first Green MP and the first green-led council, and it was among the first councils to reinstate the committee system. Now the minority administration is vying to become the first to put a council tax rise decision to the electorate. Whether by design or not, the party that has traditionally shunned leadership is at the forefront of a debate that has wide-ranging implications. This is a battle for localism – for the right and the ability of local councils to set local tax to fund local services according to the priorities of local people. It is a classic David and Goliath battle: the minority council, painted in the media as somewhat oddball, dares to take on the commonly h...

The Green Party will continue to support the anti-HS2-protesters in their ongoing battle. Following their legal victory in the Supreme Court today (22 January), the Government has vowed to "press ahead" with HS2. The Court dismissed accusations (1) by objectors that the Government was "cutting corners", by failing to carry out an environmental assessment and in breach of European environmental laws, so as to push the estimated £50 billion project through Parliament.   The campaigners now plan to take their case to the European Court . Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, said: "The issue considered by the judges was a narrow legal one and the political questions, of whether the environmental and financial costs of HS2 can be justified, are yet to be answered. "This case has focused on critically important environmental issues. But there's also an important question, which research has i...

THE EASTERN ENGLAND GREEN PARTY IS TO HOLD ITS FIRST MAJOR RALLY OF THE EURO ELECTION CAMPAIGN IN THE EAST OF ENGLAND ON SATURDAY WEEK (FEB 1ST).   Under Electoral Commission rules to regulate election spending, the campaign period starts officially tomorrow (Jan 23rd). The Greens are planning to kick off their campaigning in a big way just a week later.   Activists from all over the region will gather in Norwich for the rally and it will be one of the few occasions on which all seven candidates on the Green Party east region list for the proportional representation election will be on a platform together in one place.   The keynote speech will come from Rupert Read, the lead candidate, who came within 1% of winning a seat at the last Euro election. His speech will focus on the campaign priorities for the Greens, including supporting public transport and renewable energy here in the East. Dr Read said:   "People are increasingly ...

Why #Rennard really matters to LD activists:   http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/rupert-read/why-do-lib-dems-care-so-much-about-lord-rennard

Lead Green Party Candidate for the European Elections, Rupert Read, will be joining members of Epping Forest Green Party on Saturday 25th January, as they seek the views of people in Buckhurst Hill East. One main concern for locals in Loughton Way is people parking on grass verges. Rupert Read, age 47, said 'It is a great pleasure to join with Epping Forest Green Party members who, I know, are -- like me -- keen to preserve our green spaces, which make for a better living-environment for us all. I know they will be asking the residents of Loughton Way what they think should be done, and I will be joining with them in this. They and I are keen to show that we are a listening party who actively seek residents' views.' The Green Party came with 26 votes of getting a Councillor, Steven Neville, elected in Buckhurst Hill East in 2012 and did well here in the County Elections in 2013. Buckhurst East Candidate Steven Neville said 'We welcome Rupert...

I will be speaking at this: do come!: European Youth Question Time   Friday 7 February 2014   1-3pm, EPIC Studios, Norwich   Free to attend, all welcome!   The Politics department, SeaMedia, The Centre for Research in European Studies (CREST), see and the UEA students Union have teamed up to raise awareness for and create a bit of a buzz about the upcoming EU elections in May. As part of this campaign, they are organising this EU Youth Question Time event which is for (mainly young) people to come, meet and question current and prospective EU Candidates.   This event will be filmed and broadcast on our SeaMe.tv site .   The filming will be done by UEA Broadcast Journalism and Howest University College journalism students from Belgium!   As places are limited and filling up quickly, please register on Eventbrite - http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/european-youth-question-time-tickets-8813987875 ...

I've just learned something truly disturbing, even heartrending. UKIP Education spokesman, MEP Derek Clark, has just said this, on the record: We will still ban Al Gore's video for use in schools if I've got anything to do with it. I will not have much opposition within the party. It is, of course, not just this video which needs banning; all teaching of global warming being caused in any way by carbon dioxide emissions must also be banned http://www.indexoncensorship.org/2014/01/ukips-inconvenient-truth-platform/   This is truly shocking. A wake-up call: Ukip are not just a populist fringe group led by a charismatic joker; they are a dangerous threat to our children and our very future. Please share this news widely. UKIP want to BAN the teaching of climate science! They want to BAN our kids from learning about the greatest threat currently posed to our very survival, let alone our flourishing, as a species. This is a wake-...

Are Greens in line to win in Eastern in the Euros?: http://stevehynd.com/2014/01/16/the-east-of-england-will-they-elect-the-regions-first-green-mep/  Fascinating piece here about our Region by sympathetic observer Steve Hynd. Meanwhile: http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/01/labour-remain-ahead-european-election-poll-wholl-triumph-may  - The New Statesman suggests that Clegg may resign if, as a new poll suggests is possible, LibDems come behind Greens in May... now, wouldn't that be a result... The new Euro-poll shows Greens only 1% behind LibDems among those certain to vote this May...

Colchester Green Party takes its message to the residents of Colchester's Christ Church Ward Members and supporters of Colchester Green Party will be holding a Day of Action on Saturday 18th January, delivering copies of the Winter 2013/14 Essex Green View to the residents of Colchester's Christ Church ward. Produced by Eastern Green Party, the publication includes commentary and reports relating to various local and national issues. Items include: - Details of the Green Party's opposition to a number of countryside and greenbelt developments across parts of Essex - A call for wide-ranging reforms of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy - Commentary from Green Party Transport Spokesperson, Rupert Read on what should be done to tackle the increasing alienation of children within modern society. The Day of Action also coincides with a talk at Colchester firstsite entitled 'East Anglia on the Edge' given by Asher Minns...

So, it was the police, and not the Cabinet Minister, who were most at fault in relation to so-called 'Plebgate'. This brings to mind the case I made a few months back, about the malaise indicated -- in the police force in this country -- by such events. Have a read: http://rupertsread.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/undercover-police-dodginess-is-symptom.html The bottom line is: if policemen can do this kind of thing to a Cabinet Minister, imagine how the likes of you and I can suffer at their hands. That is what my post http://rupertsread.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/undercover-police-dodginess-is-symptom.html  concerns...

Having a sound Green outlook on animals is a central priority of mine.   The central ethos behind our policy in this connection, in the Green Party, is to call for nothing less than a complete re-framing of the way in which all of us relate to the animal world. No longer to be perceived as mere things that can be manipulated and mistreated as commodities in a mainly profit-orientated world, animals should rather be seen as sentient beings worthy of our respect. We all know that this is true of our own dogs and cats; it is just a question of extending that respect to animals who are exploited in factory-farms, in sport, etc. .   The Green Party is also very aware of how animal rights and human rights go hand in hand. The amount of land and water needed to sustain animals destined for slaughter is entirely disproportionate to that needed to grow vegetables. As resources begin to dwindle, and with land-use under great pressure, t...

GREENS OPPOSE THREAT TO ANCIENT WOODLAND   Ancient woodland in East Anglia could be sacrificed to building under proposals which open a new front in the battle to protect our environment. Environment Secretary Owen Paterson has suggested that developers could encroach upon ancient woodland if that was "offset" by the planting of new trees elsewhere. But this is about more than numbers. Ancient woodland, by definition, has been in existence since at least 1600. New planting could not replicate the rich biodiversity which has grown up over centuries in places such as Epping Forest and Hatfield Forest in Essex, Foxley Wood in Norfolk, Bradfield Woods in Suffolk, King's Wood in Bedfordshire, Brampton Wood in Cambridgeshire and Whippendell Wood in Hertfordshire. Tony Juniper, a former director of Friends of the Earth and Green Party Parliamentary candidate in Cambridge at the last election, commented, in the Independent newspaper: ...

500 say 'No' to Norfolk Care Cuts Members of Norwich  Green   Party   and anti-cuts campaigners will submit a petition of over 500 signatures to Norfolk County Council on Tuesday this week. The petition opposes proposed cuts by the Labour-led Council to personal budgets, care packages, and preventative services; and calls on the County Council to make social care a 'top priority'.   Labour-led Norfolk County Council is proposing £56m of cuts to social services. These cuts have caused concern to local charities: Age Concern is running a ' Cut Cake Not Care ' campaign against several of the proposals. Norwich Older Peoples' Forum expressed concerns that Adult Social Services could suffer similar problems to Childrens' Services at the County Council, which were severely cut in 2011 and were recently criticised by OFSTED. BUILD claimed that the proposed cuts would set back commu...

Keeping Quiet       By Pablo   Neruda   Now we will count to twelve and we will all keep still. This one time upon the earth, let's not speak any language, let's stop for one second, and not move our arms so much. It would be a delicious moment, without hurry, without locomotives, all of us would be together in a sudden uneasiness. The fishermen in the cold sea would do no harm to the whales and the peasant gathering salt would look at his torn hands. Those who prepare green wars, wars of gas, wars of fire, victories without survivors, would put on clean clothing and would walk alongside their brothers in the shade, without doing a thing. What I want shouldn't be confused with final inactivity: life alone is what matters, I want nothing to do with death. If we weren't unanimous about keeping our lives so much in motion, if we could do nothing for once, perhaps a great silence would interrupt this sadness, th...

Later in January, this winter's 'PHILOSOPHERS AT THE CINEMA' programme, under my curatorship, commences at Cinema City in Norwich. Do join us for this increasingly-popular series! Book, to be be safe: http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Cinema_City/News/item/Philosophers_At_The_Cinema_The_Double/

  Re-nationalise our railways! -   http://www.theecologist.org/campaigning/2221766/renationalise_our_railways.html   - Check out my recent piece in _The Ecologist_ on the New Year rail fares protests that I led in my capacity as national Green Party Transport Spokesman - and on (ahem) Dr. Who...

  If you haven't done so before, the New Year is a great to find out if, like many people, you are a Green without knowing it: http://voteforpolicies.org.uk/ Vote For Policies is a social enterprise which aims to get people thinking seriously about the policies of political parties (the clue's in the title!) rather than voting because of assumptions about what we stand for. The national survey results are amazing/encouraging, and it's possible to even see a breakdown for Norwich South, which is possibly even more heartening!   Do share this...