Marjory's Green Blog

Unbelievable

2012-01-16T17:08:00.003Z

I have been blown sideways by two pronouncments in the last few days:

Ed Balls said at the end of last week that if the Labour Party win the next election, they cannot gurantee to reverse any of the coalition's spending cuts. What, every single one of them? Even something so blatantly unfair and counterproductive as the ending of the EMA (education maintenance allowance), which enabled teenagers from poorer families to stay on at school after 16; even the once-size-fits-all cap on benefits of £500.00 per week, which will lead to hundreds of families having to uproot themsleves to live in cheaper areas, and to an increase in child poverty. It is absolutely clear now that the Labour party do not offer a real alternative to the Conservatives - for that vote Green. For further informed comment see these Guardian letters, headed by one from Caroline Lucas.
Michael Gove has proposed, in all seriousness, that the nation should buy the Queen a new Royal Yacht, to mark her Diamond Jubilee. WHAT? I could hardly believe it. At such a time, when the coalition of which he is part are making savage cuts and telling us (or rather lying to us) that we are all in this together, one of them has the stupidity to propose that we might all like to see our taxes spent on something so frivolous and unnecessary. (Though as an anti-Royalist, I must admit I woudln't be in favour even if times were good.) At least his colleagues are playing down the idea.

Privatisation, markets, choice: not the answers

2011-12-15T17:01:00.004Z

In the last 10 or 15 years or so, privatisation has become a mania, with no thought given as to whether it is logical or sensible for the service or organisation in question to be privatised. In fact the only thing that seems to matter is whether it is possible to make money out of it. Here are a few examples:

Gas and electricity: we used to get these from state-run utility companies, but now we have a choice between several suppliers. BUT they are all supplying the same thing, so what kind of choice is that? The faff of changing suppliers is quite enough to ensure that most people stay with one supplier. In the meantime the said suppliers rake in the profits.

Water: this makes even less sense. Clean water and sanitation are just basic requisites for a decent life, and the profit motive should play no part in policy making. At least up til now there has been no 'choice', but worryingly I heard on the radio the other day that the possibility of introducing choice is being considered.

Examinations: when I took my GCEs, a very long time ago, examinations were administered by not-for-profit regional examination boards run by universities or groups of universities. You automatically took the examinations of the board that covered the area where you lived. Now the schools can choose between half a dozen examinations organisations - AQA, Edexel and the like. So what happens? The exam companies compete to make their offering more attractive and this inevitably leads to a slipping of educational standards.

Public transport and the health services are two more obvious cases where privatisation benefits the investors, not the users.

Speed limits campaign update

2011-11-25T18:46:00.004Z

Today I went on the campaign trail with Keith Taylor, Green MEP for the South-East of England. The object of the campaign is to lower speed limits in the villages from 40 to 30 mph, and to 20 mph by the two schools in Shinfield. We started in Three Mile Cross, where we gathered signatures for the petition, which is available online at http://tinyurl.com/3gmzby4 .

Then we moved onto Shinfield, where we met the headteachers of the schools and talked to parents. Keith thought the proximity of the nursery department's entrance to the road traffic was one of the worst situations he had seen. Finally we went to Wokingham, where we had a constructive meeting with the Borough Council's member for highways, transport officers and local police chiefs. I am optimistic that there will be some movement on the 20 mph by the schools issue. It was great to have Keith visit Shinfield and Wokingham.

A walk with the Inspector

2011-11-10T19:42:00.002Z

I went on the site visit today with the Planning Inspector (and representatives from both sides - see below) charged with the unenviable task of coming up with a decision on the University of Reading's appeal against Wokingham Borough Council on non-determination of three major planning applications that affect Shinfield: 1350 homes plus infrastructure, an Eastern relief road and a SANG (suitable alternative natural greenspace), to draw people away from visiting the Thames Basin Special Protection Area.

It was of course impossible to tell what he was thinking. But he took care to ensure he understood the difference between the university's plans and the Council's plans as far as the extent of the development is concerned - and this is probably the most important issue to the existing residents.

Greens are not nimbys

2011-10-24T18:35:00.003+01:00

In response to the first Shinfield South Green newsletter issued last month, one resident sent an email accusing the Greens of being nimbys (not in my backyard) because we oppose the University of Reading's plans to build 1350 homes and associated infrastructure to the south west of Shinfield village. This is far from the truth.

Here is the text of my reply to him:

Thank you for your comments. We do not object to development in principle, and I should have made that clear in the newsletter. Wokingham Borough Council proposes that 750 homes are built in the area to the south west of Shinfield, and we feel this is a much sounder proposal. Shinfield is one of the four Strategic Development Locations identified in Wokingham's Core Strategy and therefore some development is inevitable, and it is better that it is controlled and has adequate infrastructure than spread around the borough here and there. We particularly welcome the opportunity to increase the provision of affordable homes and social housing in the borough.

West of Wokingham School gets the go-ahead

2011-10-10T20:47:00.003+01:00

Today it was announced that the Department for Education have approved the proposal to open a free secondary school in the West of Wokingham. Although I believe that free schools are not in principle a good idea ( because they are less democratic and result in the handing over of public funds to unaccountable groups etc), I welcome this excellent news for all the families in the villages of Shinfield, Three Mile Cross, Grazeley, Spencers Wood, Arborfield, Swallowfield, Risely and Farley Hill, where there has been no local secondary school since the closure of Ryeish Green. I congratulate the team of local parents for their hard work and dedication.

Speed limits in Shinfield South ward

2011-10-06T16:18:00.004+01:00

Reading and Wokingham Green Party have launched a campaign to get speed limits in Shinfield, Spencers Wood and Three Mile Cross lowered from 40 mph to 30 mph in general and to 20 mph around Shinfield Infant and Nursery School.

It cannot be right for the likes of Nine Mile Ride and Rushey Way to have 30 mph speed limits, while the residents of Shinfield South still have to put up with road traffic passing through the centres of Shinfield village, Spencers Wood and Three Mile Cross at 40 mph, causing noise and danger to residents.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents has highlighted the need to reduce speed limits: “The risk of a pedestrian who is hit by a car being killed increases slowly until impact speeds of around 30 mph. Above this speed, the risk increases rapidly, so that a pedestrian who is hit by a car travelling at between 30 mph and 40 mph is between 3.5 and 5.5 times more likely to be killed than if hit by a car travelling at below 30 mph.”

We believe that many residents want lower speed limits, and therefore we are starting a petition for a speed limit of 30 mph imposed generally throughout Shinfield, Spencers Wood and Three Mile Cross, with a 20 mph speed limit at School Green, to offer additional protection to children going to and from school.

Residents of the ward can sign the petition online at http://tinyurl.com/3gmzby4. We are also knocking on doors to gather signatures. So far we have collected around 70, with most people in favour and very few against or neutral.

The photograph shows traffic on Hyde End Road by the entrance to the school, taken about 9.00 am.

Fund-raising initiative

2011-09-21T11:06:00.002+01:00

In Reading and Wokingham Green Party we are currently running a matched giving campaign. The idea is that when someone donates a sum of money, one of our existing donors donates the same amount. Donate £20.00, and the local party gets £40.00. We really need funds right now, since we have expanded our activities to target three wards (Park and another in Reading, and Shinfield South in Wokingham), rather than the previous one.
The campaign runs from 1^st September 2011 to 30^th November 2011. The way it works is as follows:

You decide how much you want to give – any amount between £5.00 and £100.00 - then let me know.
I match your donation with a pledged donation from one of our existing donors, and let you know that I have found a match.
You make your donation.
When the money has arrived in our bank account, I inform the existing donor, and he or she donates the same amount.

Existing donors have pledged £375.00. This means that we could raise £750.00. A sum of this size would make a real difference

You can donate in any of the following ways

· Send a cheque payable to Reading Green Party to me at 19 Hyde End Road, Shinfield, Reading, RG2 9EP.

· Donate online at http://reading.greenparty.org.uk/localsites/reading.html

· Donate by telephone or internet banking to account number 20048696, sort code 16-58-10.

Clothes campaign has ended

2011-09-10T17:48:00.003+01:00

Just over a year ago, I gave up buying clothes, shoes and accessories for a year, to draw attention to the many ways in which the clothing industry is bad for the planet and exploits workers, especilaly those in developing countries.

Here's what I said at the time:

It takes 20,000 litres of water to produce one cotton T shirt. Water is a precious resource, and likely to become more precious as global warming takes its toll. In the meantime many people in the developing world don't have access to clean water
Conventionally grown cotton only occupies about 3% of global crop acreage, but it accounts for 25% of the pesticide use
Synthetic fibres are made from petrochemicals, which means another whole set of problems, from peak oil to the air pollution caused by their manufacture
Cheap clothes such as are sold by Primark and the supermarkets are so cheap because the people who make them, usually in the Third World, are paid very low wages and have poor working conditions

I did not find it too much of a hardship. The worst thing was my slippers - they are now threadbare and have holes in them. I have just ordered some new ones and am looking forward to receiving them.

The Green and commonsense view of the riots

2011-08-24T11:17:00.002+01:00

Read this measured and commonsense view of the riots by Caroline Lucas and Jenny Jones on the Guardian's website.

It is so important that we understand the underlying causes of the riots and work to alleviate them, rather than take punitive and unfair measures that will only cause further division and deepen inequality in our society.

We're down to one car

2011-08-15T18:08:00.003+01:00

Our ancient Renault 19 (manufactured 1993) finally gave up the ghost and was carted away to the knacker's yard the other day. We (husband and I) have been thinking for some time about whether or not to replace it. We finally decided to do the green and decent thing.

We haven't yet got used to the idea that we can no longer make separate trips at the same time by car. We will have to plan our activities more carefully, make more use of public transport, perhaps reduce the number of journeys we make.

We did at least do the green thing as far as getting maximum use of the car before scrapping it is concerned - it did over 146,000 miles.

Security clearance

2011-08-02T11:42:00.002+01:00

I am currently undergoing security vetting so that I can join the Local Liaison Committee of the Atomic Weapons Establishment, as the representative for Shinfield Parish Council. Amongst the other pieces of information that accompany the very long form, was the information that the level of vetting I was to undergo was Security Check.

So, in order to serve on this committee that meets four times a year in an undoubtedly very controlled environment, I undergo the same level of vetting that Andy Coulson underwent to become David Cameron's Director of Communications, in which role he had access to all kinds of significant or highly sensitive information.

It is extraordinary that he should have been allowed to take on the role with only the same level of security clearance as a member of Local Liaison Committee.

Counting butterflies

2011-07-27T20:41:00.003+01:00

I had great fun the other day taking part in the Big Butterfly Count, on the rough ground behind the British Legion club in Shinfield. I didn't see any unusual butterflies; in fact the results were pretty much the same as last year, when I counted butterflies in our garden: large whites, small whites and gatekeepers.

The count continues until 7th August so there'a still time for you to take part. You have to count butterflies, using a chart to identify them, for 15 minutes. It's not easy to identify them when the blighters won't stay still!

The best part was after the 15 minutes were up, when I was on my way home via a local footpath. I was still in butterfly mode so was looking out for them and trying to identify them. I saw another type of butterfly in the hedgerow, stopped and tried to decide what it was. I had just come to the conclusion that it was a speckled wood, when it daintily landed on my clipboard and stayed for a few seconds, so that I could be absolutely sure.

The sad thing is that whether the University of Reading gets its way with its planning appeals or not, that particular patch of land and much of my route home will be covered in new houses in a few years time.

The phone hacking scandal

2011-07-07T19:12:00.003+01:00

No doubt all and sundry are blogging on this subject, but it's one that I feel strongly about, so I think it's worth making a few points.

It's no good Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson and Rupert Murdoch denying any knowledge of what was going on. The culture of an organisation is set from the top, and it's clear that the culture at the News of World is that news (of the sort that tabloids publish) must be got by fair means or foul.

It should now be out of the question to give yet more control of the Brtish media to News International. Yet the culture secretary seems to be set on ignoring this clear evidence that the company is not a fit and proper company to have such control.

The police have been remarkably slow in properly investigating phone hacking evidence they have held for some time. It looks like something is rotten in this particular neck of the woods of Great Britain.

There are no words in which to express my detestation of the British tabloid press and all it stands for, as exemplified by the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone and others'. Their concentration on the lowest common denominator of public taste is largely responsible for the fact that large swathes of the Brtish public are completely detached from important issues like the way we are governed, climate change and sustainability, educational policies, equality, and many more.

Rubbish

2011-06-12T11:49:00.003+01:00

Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for Communities, has announced that everyone has a right to have a weekly household bin collection service. What planet does he think he's on? Up and down the country, councils of every political hue are moving away from weekly to fortnightly collections of general rubbish while maintaining or increasing the frequency of recycling collections. There are many sound reasons for this, but probably the most important is that fortnightly collections encourage recycling. For example, from mid 2012 Wokingham Council is moving to fortnightly general waste collections and weekly reycling collections, and also providing 80 free bin bags per household (you have to pay for any you use over the 80). It's not often that I agree with the actions of Wokingham Council, but on this I certainly do agree. It's really weird to see a Tory minister of state undermining the policies of Tory-led councils.

Talk of rights in this context is absurd. What about our duty to protect the environment and make maximum use of precious resources?

Pole Fitness classes at South Hill Park

2011-05-30T20:09:00.003+01:00

I was amazed when I turned up for choir practice last week at South Hill Park Arts Centre, Bracknell, to see a poster advertising pole fitness classes at the centre. No doubt you've heard of pole dancing being used as a basis for fitness classes. As far as I am concerned pole fitness is totally contaminated because of where it comes from - pole dancing, which is a form of sexual exploitation and objectification of women's bodies. I find it shocking that an arts centre funded by a local authority not to mention the Arts Council, can think it's alright to put on a course such as this. It is indicative of the extent to which pornography and the sex industry have been normalised.

I told the poor woman in the box office what I thought and she advised me to write to the marketing manager, which I am doing.

A by-election in Wokingham Borough

2011-05-25T11:19:00.002+01:00

Just two working days after the local elections were held on 5th May, Councillor Claire Stretton resigned from Wokingham Borough Council, because she had just been elected onto Windsor and Maidenhead Council. She moved from Wokingham to Maidenhead two years ago, but had stayed on as Wokingham Borough Councillor, having been advised that it was within the rules for her to do so. She was asked to stand as Conservative candidate in a Windsor and Maidenhead ward - a marginal ward, so she did not consider her chances of winning to be high. But she did win, so of course promptly resigned from WBC. So now we have to have a by-election in Remenham, Wargrave and Ruscombe.

She should have resigned before the local council elections, so that the by-election in her ward could have taken place at the same time as the local elections and the AV referendum. Now a separate by-election has to be held, no doubt costing several thousand pounds. In fact the rules should be changed, banning someone from standing if they are a councillor in another borough. There is also a case to be made that councillors should have to resign immediately when they cease to live in the borough concerned.

The problem with the word 'slut'

2011-05-22T12:07:00.002+01:00

Recently a Canadian policeman giving advice to women students about protecting themselves from rape and sexual assault said '... women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimised.' A great furore has arisen from this. Women in Canada have been going on 'slut walks' in cities and towns, dressed in very little, to reclaim the word 'slut' and to give out the message to men that 'No means no whatever a woman is wearing'. Women in other countries including the UK have been doing the same thing. While I commend these women for standing up for their autonomy, I don't believe you can reclaim a word like 'slut' and give it a positive meaning. 'Slut' is just one of an enormous raft of words that are used to denigrate women as sexual beings and to load all human sexual guilt onto them. So it's ironic that this policeman used such a word in this situation, since it's because of this continuing double standard, whereby women get all the blame for sex, that men rape and victimise women. Here's just a few more loaded words of abuse for women: 'baggage, tart, drab, trollop, whore, trull, slag, tramp, moll'. (See Germaine Greer's wonderful book The Female Eunuch for more.) Where are the equivalent nasty words for men who are sexually active with several partners or for money? There aren't any. The only ones I could think of are 'stud' and 'gigolo', but 'stud' carries admiring connotations, while 'gigolo' is really pretty neutral.

I find the words of the police officer offensive mainly because he used that word, thereby revealing that his attitude to women is far from healthy. If if he had simply advised the students not to display vast amounts of flesh when they go out, I would have been much more comfortable about it. All the same, I absolutely agree that men have to realise that no matter how a woman dresses, she has a perfect right to say no and be heeded.

Local election results

2011-05-08T15:45:00.003+01:00

What a great win for Melanie Eastwood in Park Ward! Her majority over the Conservative candidate was well over 300. Congratulations to her and all the people who helped. You can see her victory speech on the Get Reading website.

I was very pleased with my result in Shinfield South too - 507 and second place. The Conservative candidate defending his seat won 1286, while the Lib Dem trailed in third place with 284. I was hoping for two or three hundred, so it was a lovely surprise. Must have a lot to do with all the pressing concerns we residents of Shinfield have at the moment (development, schooling etc), none of which seem to be taken seriously by our current councillors. It would be interesting to find out how far I could go if we had a full campaign in Shinfield South.

Princess William

2011-05-01T10:45:00.002+01:00

It made my blood boil when I read that Kate Middleton's official title is now Princess William of Wales and not Princess Catherine. Isn't she a person in her own right? I have just this minute discovered that apparently this is because she was born a commoner, with no royal blood. Of course we've had this before with Princess Michael of Kent. If you accept for the sake of argument that royals are different and somehow higher than the rest of us (which I don't), this looks like a valid reason. But when you investigate more closely, it transpires that the rules are different for men and women. Princess Anne is the Princess Royal, but her husband is plain Timothy Laurence, not the Prince Royal or Prince Anne. So he gets to keep his identity. Isn't it time the royal family embraced equality? For a start, they could and should change the rules of succession.

Another thing that makes me cross is the term 'man and wife'. It should be banned. A woman is not a mere adjunct to her husband.

Rushy Mead wind turbines application turned down

2011-04-28T12:19:00.002+01:00

I heard this morning that at last night's WBC planning meeting the application to build five wind turbines at Rushy Mead was turned down unanimously. Apparently there was a clear steer against the application from the planning officers.

It seems unfair that whereas the following opposing groups and people all had three minutes each to speak: Arborfield PC, Shinfield PC, HARM, Hillside borough councillors, Shinfield South borough councillors, Arborfield borough councillor; those groups and individuals in favour of the application had to share three minutes. Not that more time would have made much difference.

It is a depressing though not unexpected result.

David Cameron's sexism

2011-04-28T12:00:00.002+01:00

David Cameron revealed himself in his true colours yesterday in the House of Commons, with his admonition to Angela Eagle to '"Calm down, dear". Not for the first time of course. In my view there are two aspects to this

He doesn't really rate women, and he actually dislikes strong women like Ms Eagle.

He is fundamentally weak - when he finds himself losing an argument, as he surely was here, he just resorts to bluster and childish retorts.

The reactions of male commentators on what happened are fascinating and indicative of age-old entrenched attitudes amongst many men. For example, here is the originator of the saying, Michael Winner: "It's just a jolly statement, a bit of fun...". Meanwhile Simon Hoggart agrees that it is patronising, but that that is the joke in the ad. Well I've always disliked that ad and I don't see the remark as a joke - it's not even funny.

Brilliant article in support of AV

2011-04-23T10:04:00.003+01:00

This article by Johann Hari is simply the best explaining and supporting AV that I have read. I defy current No-to-AV types with an ounce of intelligence and judgement not to change their mind after reading it. I love the comparison with The X Factor.

AV for local elections

2011-04-06T12:15:00.002+01:00

The Alternative Vote system is being voted on by referendum on 5th May. But the proposal to change the voting system only applies to parliamentary elections. What a an opportunity lost! Why are we not asking the same question about the voting system for local elections? It is just as likely that someone will get in with less than 50% of the votes cast. There is every bit as much of a 'jobs for life' culture in local government as there is in central government - possibly even more. (Admittedly the pay is lower.) There are a number of ineffective councillors in my local authority. Prospective councillors who belong to the dominant party round here (Tory) can just assume they will get in. I have personal experience of this, as recently the parish council to which I belong was visited by a local Tory candidate. He addressed the meeting, explaining how he hoped to build on the work of his predecessor. No mention of the election that must come first - because the result is a foregone conclusion.

Let's have a fairer system at local level too.

Arts funding cuts

2011-03-31T10:30:00.002+01:00

The coalition government has cut the funding it provides to the Arts Council England by 15%, and the Arts Council has had to decide how to pass on those cuts. Yesterday it announced its funding decisions for the forthcoming two years. All over the country arts organsiations have been waiting anxiously for these announcements, and as expected there are many sorely disappointed people this morning - more than 200 organisations have had all their funding removed.

One local target is South Hill Park Arts Centre, Bracknell, which will lose all its Arts Council funding from 2013 onwards, and wil receive much reduced funding in 2012-13. Who knows what effect this will have on arts provision to the people of Bracknell and surrounding areas? I have a personal interest, because I belong to a chamber choir that rehearses at South Hill Park.

Many people might think that cuts like these are unimportant compared to cuts to public services and welfare. But my view is that the arts play an essential part in human life. They help us connect and engage, to relax, to develop. They play a vital role in preserving mental health. The arts are for everybody - and everybody will be impoverished by these cuts.

Saving electricity

2011-03-22T11:00:00.003Z

I forgot to mention that the zero-carbon homes I visited last week had a handy device - a card that you slip into (or take out of) a slot by the front door when you leave or arrive. If you are going out, doing this switches off every electric appliance in the house apart from the fridge-freezer.

This put me in my mind of my parents' attitude to using electricity - especially my father, who came from Aberdeen. Whenever the house was empty or at night, no electricity was used at all - except for the fridge. This was partly down to the fact that we had far fewer electronic devices, for example, all our clocks were the wind-up variety, and we had no video recorders, DVD recorders, games machines, computers etc. But it was also due to their general frugal attitude. When we went on holiday, the house used no electricity at all, because they always used to empty the fridge, clean it out and switch it off. (When we came back a week later, we could tell which bits the cleaning had missed by the patches of mould!) The kitchen was lit by a neon tube and we were forbidden to switch the light on for a short visit to the kitchen such as to put the kettle on, because starting up the neon tube took a lot of power (according to my dad), so we had to rely on the feeble light from the hall.

At the time his attitude was pretty annoying, but now in these days of environmental awareness I think we should all treat electric power as a valuable resource and not squander it.

Zero carbon homes

2011-03-19T16:36:00.002Z

Yesterday I visited a small housing development in Slough, Greenwatt Way. The development of 8 houses and two flats is in fact not just zero carbon, but negative carbon, because it generates energy that is fed into the national grid. I was very impressed. The high level of energy efficiency is achieved though a combination of building methods - thick walls, triple glazing - and locally generated green energy - air source heat pump, ground source heat pump, and biomass boiler, all housed in a dedicated energy centre on site. There is also grey water recycling. The company with overall responsibility is Scottish and Southern Energy. They are using the project for research into domestic green energy production and usage. The homes are all tenanted, and so far the tenants are very satisfied.

The houses took just 18 months to be designed and built. They meet level 6 of the energy efficiency code for house construction - a level that will not become mandatory until 2016. I don't see any reason why all homes should not be built like this now. Admittedly they are more expensive to buy (and presumably to rent), but that cost will be offset by the much lower running costs.

A free school in Ryeish Green

2011-02-20T16:53:00.002Z

Parents of seconday-age children in the Shinfield area have got together and are working towards setting up a free school on the Ryeish Green school site. The Ryeish Green comprehensive secondary school was closed last July, following a decision taken in 2007 by Wokingham Borough Council, in response to falling numbers and poor results. This was not the right decision of course - it could have been turned around with the will and the right leadership.

Since that decision was taken, the secondary-age children of Shinfield, Three Mile Cross, Grazeley, Spencers Wood, Arborfield, Swallowfield, Risely and Farley Hill have had no local school - they have had to travel miles, either to Bulmershe Schoool in Woodley, or Emmbrook in Wokingham. They can't even get into the nearest school, Maiden Erlegh in Earley, since it's oversubscribed and the designated area includes East Reading as well as Earley. Our children have been done a real disservice, and there is no prospect of an early solution, since WBC's plan is to build a new secondary school as part of the large residential development planned for the Arborfield Garrison. However, this is unlikely to be open before 2014, and it depends on when the army vacate the site - still not known.

Given the circumstances I understand very well why these parents have decided to try to set up a free school. In principle the Green Party is opposed to free schools for the same reasons they are opposed to academies: (they reduce choice, they are less democratic, they hand over public finds to unaccountable groups etc) and I agree with this standpoint. But in this case my gut feeling is that as a local parish councillor I should support this initiative to give the children of the parish a local secondary education. More information is available on the group's website.

This is my first blog for nearly four months. I shall endeavour to blog frequently and regularly from this time forth.

Eating seasonally

2010-10-28T19:02:00.002+01:00

I have recently returned from a walking holiday in north-east Spain. We (myself and husband Chris) ate very well. It is obvious that the Spanish (or should I say Catalans) have not forgotten how to eat seasonally. We were in the mountains, in October, so there was plenty of game, chestnuts, mushrooms and local fruit and veg. We walked round the market in Barcelona, and did not see any madnessess such as asparagus flown in from Peru.

They also go in for 'nose to tail eating', ie, eating all the parts of an animal such as a pig, from head to tail. Chris had pig's trotters and chestnuts on the second night, and thought it was fine. By comparison in this country we throw away so much of an animal because people have become conditioned to only eating the best bits. I think that if you are going to eat dead animals (as I do) the least you can do is not waste any. This is bound up with respect for the life of the animal.

I found out at the other week from a food programme on TV that we export considerable quantities of chicken legs, because most people prefer chicken breasts. What a mad waste of energy!

I wonder how it is that we in the UK have lost touch with seasonality and local sourcing of our food - maybe becuase we have been importing food for such a long time, going back to the days of the British Empire.

Child benefit changes

2010-10-06T21:31:00.003+01:00

I think the changes in child benefit rules announced yesterday by the Tories are bad news for women. One of the most important things about child benefit is that it is a benefit paid to mothers. Even in his day and age there are plenty of women, especially mothers of young children, who are dependent on their menfolk for money. Child benefit puts money directly in the pockets of those who generally care for children, so by cutting it to those families where any one parent is on the 40% tax rate, the effect in most cases will be to reduce the income of the mothers for certain, with no guarantee that their menfolk will make up the difference.

Why don't the Tories realise that it would be so much fairer and simpler to have a general rise in income tax, say of 1%?

Tim Carroll RIP

2010-09-30T10:02:00.002+01:00

I was very sad to hear of the recent death from a heart attack of Tim Carroll at the age of just 51. Tim provided Reading Green Party with the use of space at his home in College Road as a committee room for Park Ward elections this year and in 2008. I ran the committee room on both occasions and I found Tim to be very friendly, hospitable and helpful. I particularly remember that this year he got stuck into the red wine and became progessively more expansive as the evening wore on, telling us that we were all wonderful and that we must all come back to his house for a party later on in the summer to celebrate (not that we knew then that Rob would win). Sadly the party was not to be.

There is a Facebook page for him here.

No more new clothes for a year

2010-09-02T20:38:00.002+01:00

I have committed to not buying any new clothes or shoes for a year, starting from yesterday. My motive is to draw attention to the many unsustainable elements of the clothing indutry and of our clothes-buying habits here in the Western world.

I'm not advocating that we don't wear clothes - just that we change our attitudes to them.

To begin with, the manufacture of clothing creates many problems for the environment:

It takes 20,000 litres of water to produce one cotton T shirt. Water is a precious resource, and likely to become more precious as global warming takes its toll. In the meantime many people in the developing world don't have access to clean water
Conventionally grown cotton only occupies about 3% of global crop acreage, but it accounts for 25% of the pesticide use
Synthetic fibres are made from petrochemicals, which means another whole set of problems, from peak oil to the air pollution caused by their manufacture
Cheap clothes such as are sold by Primark and the supermarkets are so cheap because the people who make them, usually in the Third World, are paid very low wages and have poor working conditions

Clothes are much cheaper than they used to be. So now many of us buy things then throw them away, perhaps after wearing them only a few times. Fashion plays its part in this of course. Often the clothes we throw away end up in land-fill and contribute to greenhouse gases.

We should get way from this mindset. We should buy fewer, better quality clothes, and wear them out before recycling them. We should buy organic, fair-trade cotton clothes. We should ask the clothes retailers about their buying policies and ensure they are ethical.

I will continue to blog about this topic throught my twelve months of no new clothes or shoes. I am already enjoying a certain sense of freedom in that I am now recycling all the clothes catalogues that I regularly receive without even opening them!

The temperature in M&S

2010-08-31T17:29:00.002+01:00

I quite often visit a local smallish M&S to buy food, as it's handy and I like the quality. I'm always really amazed and annoyed by how cold the whole store is. It hits you as you walk in. Their desire to enable their customers to see and easily choose from all the perishable goods on offer leads to this ridiculous situation where you need to don a jumper as you walk in. I use other supermarkets (though I buy a lot of my food elsewhere eg at farmers' markets and at a food coop), and none of the others keeps the temperature as low as M&S. And yet M&S are always trumpeting their green credentials - "there's no planet B".

All the supermarkets, of course, display their perishable goods in open cabinets, which is dreadfully wasteful of energy. But each food retailer is scared to take the step of putting doors on their fridges in case the customers shop elsewhere. See this Guardian article for more on this issue.

New kettle

2010-08-29T15:24:00.002+01:00

We (husband and I) have bought a new kettle. "So what?" you might ask. The noteworthy thing about this kettle is that it is highly energy-efficient. Apart from the ability to boil just the amount of water you need, it also heats the water to one of three temperatures - 85 degrees for herbal teas, 95 degrees for green tea and filter/cafetiere coffee, and 100 for black tea. We drink a lot of herbal tea, green tea and coffee, and hardly any black tea. So it's much better suited to our needs than a conventional kettle. Each increase of 1 degree in the temperature of the water takes more and more energy the closer it gets to 100%, so the energy savings are really impressive - up to 30% less energy. Your drinks taste better too.

When you switch it on it shows its progress by means of various displays, and these stay on for while after the correct temperature has been reached. This is a bit annoying, though I suppose one could switch it off at the wall at this point.

Still, its a very wise purchase and I think every home should have one!

Green spaces and over-population

2010-08-09T19:31:00.003+01:00

The Guardian has launched a laudable movement to preserve our green spaces. For details see www.guardian.co.uk/environment/series/piece-by-piece. The intention is to bring together groups working to save biodiversity from ill-conceived development. I am all in favour of this and am delighted that Caroline Spelman, the Conservative environment secretary, is backing the project.

But the one vital point that is screaming out to be made is that this country is over-populated, and the situation is forecast to get worse, meaning even more pressure to build on our precious green space. The population of the UK is currently 61 million and it is projected to pass 70 million in 2029 - the equivalent of adding a city the size of London. We need urgently to introduce policies to stabilise and reduce the population of the UK (and of the world).

Not only is over-population relevant to encroachment on our precious countryside, it is just as relevant to the need to reduce our carbon emissions. More people = more emissions, it's as simple as that.

Double-think on oil

2010-07-27T16:58:00.003+01:00

It is amazing how the US is so critical of BP over the Deep Water Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and its efforts to cap it, while remaining seemingly oblivious of the fact that its entire ecomomy is built on oil. If companies like BP did not continue to search for and extract the ever-dwindling oil reserves, the country would collapse (and most of the western world with it). It's like oil in tankers and cars where we can't see it but it's providing us with energy = good, oil in the sea and on beaches = bad.

Still at least this event seems to be raising awareness both of the importance of protecting the environment and of the need to be selective about where oil extraction is permitted.

What we need of course, is a planned switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

Capitalism

2010-06-17T17:45:00.002+01:00

On Saturday I went to see Michael Moore's film Capitalism: a Love Story. It was one of those cases where I thought "Yes, I know all that stuff, but I'm glad I saw it because it is very salutary to be reminded of the awfulness of capitalism". Some of the strands in the film, such as the plight of people ejected from their homes because of the actions of real estate companies and banks who care only about profit, were very affecting. We need private enterprise, but how do we stop the excesses of capitalism?

The only point where I parted company from Michael Moore was his final statement, that the alternative to capitalism is democracy. The alternative to capitalism is socialism. Democracy can lead to capitalism or socialism. The way to bring about socialism is to open the eyes of people everywhere to the dangers of rampant capitalism.

Capitalism is also always bad for the environment. Where the profit motive rules, the interests of the environment go to the wall - as evidenced by the over-exploitation of the world's fishing stocks. What will the capitalists do when the water, oil, food and water run out? Indeed, what will we all do?

The elections

2010-05-11T15:31:00.003+01:00

Thursday and Friday of last week were amazing. On Thursday I was up betimes and at an address in Park Ward by 7.00 am in order to run one of the committee rooms for our candidate, Rob White. Full day's hard work there. The thing we have to get our head round for next time is the ability to print out our knocking-up sheets in the right order. Finish 10.00 pm, go to drinks for helpers in pub and meet son, go home. Spend 2 or 3 hours watching general election results, then off to the Wokingham count with son and husband. Find they are still doing the verification. Here's a video of comments from candidates during the count. Once the counting begins it's obvious I've not done very well. John Redwood is returned with over 50% of the vote, despite having seven competitors. Here's a video of the announcement.

Home just in time to see the announcement of Caroline Lucas's win in Brighton Pavilion (hurray!), then to bed.

Up at noon, quick bite to eat then to the Reading Borough count. I'm in time to see Rob's heap of votes being counted, and it's obvious he's won (hurray!). In fact he wins by a massive 600 votes. Here's a video of Rob's speech .

Attempt to get to Rob's celebration drinks, but give up and go instead to the Wokingham Borough count. (Good thing they weren't on at the exactly the same time). Am very glad to have the company at various times of Wokingham candidates John and Adrian. Most of our results are average but in Shinfield South David Hogg and I poll 251 and 664 respectively. This high vote has something to do with the shortage of candidates - 2 Tory, two Green and 1 Lib Dem for two seats - but all the same, 664 is a very respectable result. I wonder how far we would go if we were to target Shinfield South.

Finally home at 5.30 to chill out.

A flower festival

2010-05-05T10:09:00.002+01:00

The C of E church in my village had a flower festival at the weekend. The theme was 'Save the Planet'. The following statement was on the leaflet describing the various floral items: 'This festival is a celebration and appreciation of life on earth. But it also gives a warning that the over use of fossil fuels and the subsequent over heating of the world are seriously upsetting the balance of nature abd could lead to fatal results. We all leave our carbon footprint but together the peoples of the earth can stop the devastation. We've been blessed with a wonderful world - let's keep it that way.'

The displays were varied and creative, ranging from an item on sea life to one on renewable energy with a mini wind turbine.

I think it's great that this group of churchgoers chose this theme for their festival. It just goes to show that there are plenty of people in all walks of life who grasp the significance of what we are doing to our environment.

Trip to Brighton

2010-05-05T10:02:00.002+01:00

On Friday I went to Brighton to help out in Caroline Lucas's campaign to become the UK's first green MP, in the Brighton Pavilion constituency. I worked hard on Friday afternoon and into the evening, on a stall then canvassing in a city centre area. On Saturday out again canvassing, this time in the suburbs. Very different reaction - plenty of Green voters in the city centre, far fewer in the suburbs. It was great to see Green Party hoardings up in the centre. Shared a car with Jonathan Porritt, who was also going canvassing! I was impressed by the level of organisation.

Reading and Wokingham Green Party candidates with Caroline Lucas

2010-04-28T16:22:00.003+01:00

.... not about to do a song and dance routine!

Wokingham Churches Hustings

2010-04-27T11:59:00.002+01:00

On Sunday evening I took part in Wokingham's Combined Churches General Election Hustings. There are eight candidates in Wokingham, and all were there except Top Cat Owen of the Monster Raving Loony party. The event was very well attended with an overflow in the foyer watching on a screen. We started with a minute's speech from each candidate. I had too much material and had to stop when my time was up. Then we went on to questions that had been chosen in advance - the candidates first saw them five minutes before the event started. The order in which we answered rotated, and I was very grateful for this on one particular question. After an interval we continued with questions from the floor. I was struck by the fact that national issues predominated.

I found the experience challenging but very worthwhile. My confidence increased as the evening went on. It was great to meet voters in person.

The candidates standing in Wokingham include two independents, and these are both Conservative in their views. So in effect we have three Conservative candidates in Wokingham! Very odd.

The flying public and that volcano in Iceland

2010-04-16T11:23:00.002+01:00

The eruption of the volcano Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland has grounded all flights in the UK and much of Europe. It is fascinating to observe the reactions of the flying public - quite a few are outraged and astonished that they should be prevented from flying by 'an act of God', and think that the authorities over-reacted. Well, obviously the eruption of a volcano isn't an act of God, because there is no God. It is simply a natural event like an earthquake or a tornado. And as for the authorities, I reckon they know best.

We should take this event as a salutary reminder of the fact that we are all dependent for everything on the natural world.

Wokingham Green and Lib Dem candidates sign clean campaign pledge

2010-04-15T14:59:00.008+01:00

Today Prue Bray the Lib Dem general election candidate for Wokingham and I signed the Clean Campaign Pledge. The text of the pledge is:
We, the undersigned, pledge in the Wokingham General Election campaign:
To show by our actions that politics need not be a dirty game, but can be a clean and positive activity, engaged in genuinely for the good of all.
To tell the truth about what we have achieved and stand for, and about what others have achieved and stand for.
To refrain from making personal attacks against, or misleading statements about, other candidates in written literature or verbally.
Not to mislead the public about who is doing well and about who is likely to win in these elections.
To make only honest and reasonable promises.
To fight a clean, positive and honest campaign around the issues that concern the people of Wokingham.
In particular, to be honest about public spending, and not to scaremonger in ways that may frighten the most vulnerable members of our society, such as children and elderly people.
To take money only from organisations and individuals whose motives in giving us money we do not have reason to suspect.

Legal aid for MPs accused of fiddling expenses

2010-04-13T09:46:00.002+01:00

I find it amazing and shocking that the three Labour MPs accused of expenses fraud, David Chaytor, Elliot Morley and Jim Devine, have been granted legal aid to defend themselves in court. Apparently means testing for legal aid is being rolled out across the UK, but won't reach Southwark Crown Court, where the cases are to be held, until the end of June. They have already tarnished their reputations by their actions - yet now they seem to be hell-bent on making things even worse for themselves, by expecting the people of the UK to subsidise their legal expenses. It's not as if they couldn't afford to pay, on their MPs' salaries.

It's also amazing that the three MPS intend to claim in their defence case that they are protected from prosecution by the ancient right of parliamentary privilege. Even if there is a case for this in the wording of that right, it's the spirit of the thing that matters. It's the same mentality that MPs adopted when they filled in their expenses claims 'The system permits this, so I'll do it, whether or not it is right'.

Fund raising

2010-04-12T11:32:00.002+01:00

Last night I sold my final election bond - to my son. That means I now have the £500 deposit I have to pay in order to stand as an MP.
However, there is still the £700 printing bill for my Freepost leaflet to cover. Please consider whether you can help with this, and if so get in touch or click the Donate button to the right.

An outsize ego

2010-04-09T18:21:00.002+01:00

John Redwood's opinion of himself is a bit inflated to say the least. In an election communication I have received from him recently he says 'We cannot have a Conservative government without a Conservative MP in Wokingham'. The gall of the man! Of course we could. Admittedly it is very unlikely that the Conservatives would win an overall majority but lose Wokingham, but it is possible.

One of his hobby-horses is his prescience about the financial crisis. He conveniently forgets to mention the fact that it was the Conserviatives who deregulated the banks in the first place, during Mrs Thatcher's reign. Both major parties have deferred to the financial sector and business sectors too much and for too long. The Green Party would bring some much-needed balance into the way the economy is run, putting people and the planet first.

Litter Part 2

2010-03-22T17:16:00.002Z

On Saturday I took part in Wokingham's community litter pick. Along with some local Girl Guides, their leaders, a couple from Three Mile Cross and a fellow parish councillor, I spent most of the afternoon collecting litter in the environs of Ryeish Green. My fellow councillor and I did the verges and ditches of a surprisingly small section of Hyde End Lane - we covered far less ground that we had expected, because there was just so much litter. I hadn't exactly been looking forward to the experience, but it was not too bad once we got started. It was weird how we both became determined to reach and collect even the most difficult-to-reach items. The two of us filled 2 black sacks (destined for landfill) and 1 orange sack (recycling) in a bit over 2 hours. It was obvious that a lot of the articles had been there for years. The other volunteers filled another 18 or 19 sacks.

Wokingham Borough Council supplied all the equipment - gloves, tabards or high-viz jackets, litter pickers. I found it ironic that the plastic tabards also went in the rubbish sacks. There we were collecting things that had been discarded, but the activity was itself leading to things being discarded. Thankfully the high-viz jackets were saved for another time.

Litter

2010-03-15T11:50:00.002Z

Yesterday I walked round my part of the parish delivering leaflets for the parish council, and as usual there was a tidal wave of litter in the ditches and on the verges. I was particularly shocked to see two places separated by 200 yards or so where CDs, CD cases and packaging littered the verge. Obviously someone speeding along in their car had decided that this was the right time and place to clear out their collection of in-car CDs, and had just tossed the unwanted items out of the car window.

How do we get people to realise that the Earth is a shared home for all for us, and to litter it is to foul everyone's nest? I would have extremely harsh penalties for littering. The problem is how to catch people doing it. Obviously we also need to educate our children that littering is wrong, and to set a good example to them at all times.

In the case of these CDs, perhaps someone else would have liked them. Certainly the CD cases could have been reused.

International Women's Day

2010-03-08T20:32:00.002Z

Today is International Women's Day - a day to reflect on the progress of women towards equality. Much has been achieved - but there is so much more to do. Here are just a few examples of the ways in which half the human race is still suffering from discrimination and unfair treatment: the precentage of women MPs is a miserable 20%; women's pay is 12.2% less than men (full-time workers), 70% of the world's poorest people are women; 64% of the world's illiterate population are women. 1500 women every day die during childbirth or of causes related to pregnancy and young girls are still being mutilated in their thousands in the name of a savage and partiarchal attitude to their sexuality. In the west, products that objectify women are sold to young girls. I have been a feminist for many many years and I will never cease to fight for equality for women. Long live feminism!

Reading Green Party Quiz and Music Night

2010-03-02T11:00:00.003Z

We had a great night last Thursday, raising money for Reading Green Party's campaign to win seats in the local and general elections.

Endangered primate species and palm oil

2010-02-23T10:29:00.000Z

About half of the world's 634 primate species are in danger of extinction. For example, there are fewer than 100 northern sportive lemurs left in Madagascar (what a wonderful name, they sound like jolly creatures). In many cases this is due to human greed in destroying habitats so that we can produce things we don't need, for example, palm oil. Palm oil is a very common ingredient in food and cleaning products. It is usually just called vegetable oil, and it is the cheapest vegetable oil to produce. Around 1 in 10 of the mass-produced foods on Britain's supermarket shelves contains palm oil. It's used in bread, biscuits, cereals, chocolate (including Cadbury's chocolate), cooking oil, cosmetics, crackers, crisps (including Walker's crisps), detergents, ice cream, margarine, soap, soup (including Heinz soups) and toothpaste. So if you don't want to contribute unwittingly to the extinction of our nearest relatives in the animal kingdom, read those labels. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/18/primates-extinction-red-list and http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/shoppers-thirst-for-palm-oil-threatens-to-wipe-out-orangutan-479290.html.

The case of Frances Inglis

2010-01-29T10:57:00.002Z

Frances Inglis is the woman who last week was sentenced to nine years for murdering her son, who had suffered brain damage as a result of falling out of an ambulance. She believed he would never recover and she gave him an overdose of heroin in the belief that she was doing what he would have wanted. She said in her defence that she did not see it as an act of murder but an act of love.

In my opinion she does not deserve to be punished so harshly. I believe this country tends to over-punish women who kill within the family and under-punish men who do the same.

I also believe we need a change in the law to allow judges wider scope in sentencing for murder. Even if this judge had wanted to pass a lighter sentence, he could not, once the verdict had been announced. Let us hope that she receives a more appropriate sentence at her appeal.

The Independent is in favour of the Greens

2010-01-11T12:21:00.000Z

Today's Independent includes a front-page article reporting on the Green Party's strong prospects for winning Brighton Pavilion at the General Election, and a leader article welcoming this, and saying that it is high time there was a genuinely Green voice at Westminster.

Click here and here to view on-line.

It's great to see a national daily backing the Green Party.

That tall building in Dubai

2010-01-05T10:00:00.000Z

As I'm sure you all know, the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world by some 320 metres, was inaugurated yesterday. It looks ridiculous to me - so much taller than any of the surroundng buildings. But the two things that most concern me about it are 1) Its environmental impact. I'm no expert on buildings and the environment but I'm sure building upwards is not a sensible option in the desert. Today's Guardian says that it uses 1m litres of clean water per day and the heat extracted from its cooling system will be enough to melt more than 10,000 tonnes of ice 2) The exploitation of the migrant workers from India etc who built it for meagre wages, living in poor accommodation well outside the city

First blog

2010-01-01T16:35:00.000Z

Today is a good day for starting new things, so I've decided to start a blog, which will mainly be about my involvement in all things Green - local Green Party activities, my personal quest for a greener lifestyle, and some stuff about my attempts to influence local decision-making as a parish councillor.

I have stood in the local elections for Shinfield South Ward three times, and although I was standing as a paper candidate (ie no campaigning), I took a respectable proportion of the votes cast in what is a staunchly Conservative area.

I am standing in the General Election due to be held sometime before 3rd June 2010 as the Green Party candidate for the Wokingham constituency. It's important that we raise the profile of the party by standing candidates in as many constituencies as possible, even though we don't have the resources to campaign in them all.