tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280271642024-03-13T17:21:33.015+00:00Sutton GreensAn unofficial blog for the Green Party in Carshalton & SuttonUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger86125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28027164.post-58672265597969542382020-06-21T10:30:00.002+01:002020-06-21T10:31:23.910+01:00Peter Hickson<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">PETER HICKSON 11/11/35 to 4/6/20</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Peter joined the Green party around 1986 while working as a postman at Sutton sorting </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">office, and with his late wife Jose was an active and committed stalwart of the local Sutton </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">party until shortly before his death.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Peter was a passionate advocate for justice and a thorn in the side of his local MP with his </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">frequent handwritten letters. He worked tirelessly to promote and support both local </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">causes and international campaigns and was never afraid of controversy. He attended </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">numerous demonstrations in London for the Palestinian cause. He was an active member</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">of the local Amnesty International group, for whom he wrote many (again handwritten!) </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">letters. In more recent years he focussed particularly on NHS privatisation and the KOSH </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">campaign to keep the local St Helier Hospital. The front of his house was usually adorned </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">with banners and displays of his current issues, so he really got his messages across to </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">his neighbours!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Peter was also a very talented man with a variety of creative interests, turning his hand to </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">vernacular architecture, pottery, painting and drawing - including a range of hard hitting </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">posters and displays for our campaigns - and, maybe less successfully, the violin! Just </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">before he died, the local adult education college in Sutton put on an exhibition of a range </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">of his work, as they felt it merited wider attention.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Peter’s house was like entering a library-cum-museum, a bit reminiscent of a William </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Morris house, whom he greatly admired: There were shelves and shelves of books on a </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">huge variety of subjects, many of them really heavy political tomes - which scared off any </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">lightweights around! (And let it be remembered that Peter couldn’t read until about the age </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">of 10 when he was evacuated during the war.) Then there were his paintings and artifices </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">all round the walls, his “barge painted” wooden kitchen cupboards, his doors with painted </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">figures – the list goes on!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">When Peter and Jose’s promising son, Shane, was tragically killed as a young man in a </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">road accident near where he lived in St Andrews, Peter responded by raising money to </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">plant trees in Scotland and made many lifelong friends and contacts with Shane’s friends </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">there.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Peter’s death comes less than a year after he lost his wife Jose who had been poorly for </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">some time. He was just beginning to pick up his life again, cycling regularly (he never </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">drove a car) and doing his gym exercises in the local parks when the news of his cancer</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">came through quite recently. We extend our very best wishes and warm support to his </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">surviving daughter Angie as she comes to terms with her great loss. In saying goodbye to </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Peter, the local Green Party is saying goodbye to a man of great stature, whom some of </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">us have been very privileged to know.</span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28027164.post-20649181204248385752014-08-28T18:37:00.002+01:002014-08-28T18:37:46.347+01:00Now public halls and the arts under threat from Sutton's LibDem council<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Sutton’s Liberal Democrat council present their latest proposed
cuts to local services (Guardian 29 August) as if it’s nothing to do with them.
Yet they have frozen council tax rates for years and their party in government
has enthusiastically slashed local government revenue support grants. At the
same time the government continues to allow legalised tax avoidance on an
industrial scale by multinational companies and rich individuals using offshore
scams and other legal laundering operations to pay next to nothing to the
exchequer. No wonder that soon we will have hardly any public services to show for
the money we do spend. Wallington Public Hall is the last such institution
remaining in the borough: ‘family silver’ (to quote Harold Macmillan) in the
shape of Sutton Public Hall was demolished and sold to developers thirty years
ago and we have a sterile (and usually empty) office block in exchange. That
hall was paid for by public subscription and it was a betrayal of our forbears
to sell it off. Furthermore, to suggest that we should close theatres and slash
arts spending one the basis that not everyone uses them is an astonishing
argument. Is the best vision of Sutton’s future that the LibDem regime can come
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28027164.post-82136697799176733652014-07-28T17:53:00.002+01:002014-07-28T17:53:43.275+01:00Fracking - Press statement from Green party28 July 2014
THE government’s presumption against fracking in designated areas, such as national parks, goes to show that the Coalition recognises that hydraulic fracking will harm the environment and presents significant risks.
The Green Party calls on the government to offer all communities the same protection from dirty and dangerous fracking and shift energy policy focus instead towards clean, renewable energy sources and energy conservation.
The latest bidding process for licenses to extract shale gas from large parts of the UK is under way (1). About half the UK is open to exploration, but tightened rules cover areas of outstanding beauty. The Green Party is the only mainstream political party fighting to stop fracking (2) being pushed through by a government which consistently puts corporate profit over people.
Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion, said:
“While the Government has signalled an intention to ensure some protective measures, we can have little confidence in promises of a robust regulatory framework.
“We know fracking can cause water contamination and shortages, as well as air and soil pollution. And this is an industry that’s made a catalogue of errors already. But legitimate concerns over its very real environmental and health risks are falling on deaf ears.
“By seeking to lock us ever-more firmly into fossil fuel dependence the Government is turning a blind eye to reason. It’s crystal clear that we need to be shifting to clean, renewable energy sources.
“We need a rapid shift to a zero carbon economy and that is not going to happen by pouring resources into establishing an entirely new fossil fuel industry.”
Natalie Bennett, Green Party leader, said:
"The announcement from the government this morning is further acknowledgement, forced from them by the passion of campaigners, that fracking would have a damaging impact on our countryside and environment.
"If fracking isn't appropriate in national parks or areas of outstanding natural beauty, then it isn't appropriate anywhere in Britain's crowded, precious landscape.
"More, this decision risks focusing any fracking that happens in Britain in disadvantaged, poorer areas - Lord Howell's so-called 'desolate North'.
Bennett concluded:
"It needs to be stated again that fracking is a damaging distraction from our need to focus on energy conservation and renewable energy generation. We need to be working out how to deal with the 'carbon bubble', not looking for more fossil fuels to add to the problem."
Fracking, a controversial technique for extracting fossil fuels, is widely opposed in countries where it takes place (3).
1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28513036
2 http://greenparty.org.uk/values/energy.html
3 http://www.lockthegate.org.auUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28027164.post-33417784793756762842014-07-24T10:16:00.003+01:002014-07-24T10:16:38.412+01:00Life Centre faces early death?Another Sutton Council financial banana skin could meet an early end soon as vanity project Sutton Life Centre, the geographically challenged albatross on the Sutton bypass faces up to huge losses. There is good coverage of this in the local Guardian at http://www.suttonguardian.co.uk/news/11361181.Crunch_time_looms_for_Sutton_Life_Centre/?ref=var_0 We propose a competition to come up with the best way that the money wasted on this centre might have been better spent on more mundane but important services like day care for the elderly, joined-up cycle routes or supporting a food waste collection service. Ho hum...
The Life Centre attracted controversy from day one when it emerged that the council signed up to a deal to pay Chelsea FC £60,000 to promote the centre in 2012, instead of using the opportunity to showcase local football clubs like Sutton United and Carshalton Athletic.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28027164.post-48319448715863690682014-07-12T20:07:00.002+01:002014-07-12T20:07:21.016+01:00Healthwatch Sutton- LibDem front or just naive?My letter to Sutton Healthwatch in the wake of their allowing Tom Brake to host the whole admin for this week's health meeting on his own web site, and control the questions to be asked!!
<i>"Why if you are independent (?) have you allowed yourselves to be hijacked by the Liberal Democrat party with regards to this week's meeting in Wallington? If you are the organisers and you are truly independent, all the procedures, advice and administration re the event should be done on YOUR web site NOT on that of a local party politician! You have simply allowed them to manipulate you for political gain and undermined any faith local people might have had in Sutton Healthwatch.
I also object to having to submit written questions in advance to Tom Brake. I would have no objection to submitting them to an properly independent panel of scrutiners in orderthat a good range of questions is achieved; but it's another own goal to allow the very people who might be criticised y many local people to vet the questions days in advance.
Yours in disgust, Bob Steel"</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28027164.post-73183937678928017582014-07-11T09:24:00.000+01:002014-07-11T09:24:22.000+01:00Less is more with Sutton's LibDemsCarshalton High street is awash with a sea of posters announcing the forthcoming closure of the recycling banks in the High Street. Coincidentally these appeared just days after the new council was elected.
"You spoke, we listened!" they proclaim. So the message is that Carshaltonians have been clamouring for recycling facilities to be shut down? I don't recall being consulted....? The official reason is apparently anti-social behaviour associated with the bins?! Very convenient, to have a tiny handful of moans about glass noise late at night as a pretext for putting further skids on Sutton Council's now abysmal rates of recycling. Just as well that Sutton's LibDem council is doing its best to build a huge incinerator, so at least our waste can be burnt instead. Good ol' LibDems, eh? They think of everything!
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shasha at Balcombe</td></tr>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Local Green visits Balcombe on day Green Party MP is arrested during peaceful protest.</b><br />
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Earlier today Sutton & Croydon Green Party leader, Shasha Khan, travelled to Balcombe in West Sussex to show support for residents in their stand against fracking.<br />
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Protests have been going on at Balcombe since fracking company Cuadrilla began exploratory drilling for shale oil there four weeks ago.<br />
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Fracking poses serious environmental risks, including air and soil pollution, and threatens already overstretched water resources. It makes a mockery of the UK’s efforts to tackle climate change.<br />
And it won’t even help bring energy prices down. It’s not just Greens saying that: everyone from <a href="http://liberalconspiracy.org/2013/08/12/banker-destroys-argument-for-shale-gas-in-a-short-letter/" target="_blank" title="FT letter">senior executives at Norddeutsche Landesbank</a>, <a href="http://about.bnef.com/press-releases/uk-shale-gas-no-get-out-of-jail-free-card/" target="_blank" title="Bloomberg">analysts at Bloomberg New Energy Finance</a> and even <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/cuadrilla-pr-man-admits-george-osbornes-shale-gas-revolution-wont-cut-energy-bills-8656246.html" target="_blank" title="Cuadrilla Independent article">Cuadrilla’s own PR people</a> say that the development of shale gas resources in the UK is unlikely to lead to a significant reduction in UK natural gas prices.<br />
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Although shale oil and gas exploration is at an early stage in the UK, a licence has already been granted in Sutton – so industrial sites could pop up in our borough, bringing a huge increase in heavy goods traffic as drilling materials, water, chemicals, waste and the extracted gas or oil are transported to and from the sites..<br />
These licences are to extract the gas or oil, they don’t specify the method to be used. In order to frack, the companies would need further specific permits. The Government is currently trying to make the permissions process easier for the companies to get permissions and harder for residents to oppose.<br />
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Commenting on his visit, Mr Khan said, “When the first modern incinerators were built in other parts of country, we would never have expected one such facility would receive planning approval on our doorstep. We cannot assume that it will never happen in Sutton given Northdown Energy Limited already has a license to frack here (1). I am particular concerned about toxic chemicals getting into our drinking water.”<br />
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Balcombe will be a test case for the entire South East, so it is important we do all we can to demonstrate our opposition and inform people about the risks of fracking, and the myths being perpetuated by the industry and its apologists in government.<br />
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The Greens are the only political party completely against any shale gas exploitation. We need to heed the warnings of other European countries, such as France, who have banned fracking entirely.<br />
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Earlier in the day, Green Party MP, Caroline Lucas, was arrested during a peaceful protest.<br />
Commenting on the arrest, Shasha continued, “ Greens back her brave stance against fracking. For once an MP has been arrested for the right reasons.”<br />
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Instead of continuing to chase ever more extreme forms of fossil fuel energy, we should be investing in energy conservation and renewable energy, creating an affordable, job-rich, energy-secure future.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28027164.post-40451012407677766352012-12-04T12:00:00.004+00:002012-12-04T12:00:42.072+00:00Joan Hartfield selected for Stonecot by election<br />
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Former Lib Dem councillor Joan Hartfield will be standing for the Green Party in this Thursday's by election.<br />
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More details on who's standing can be found here:<br />
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http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/10082928.Stonecot_byelection_candidates/Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28027164.post-60711910184184220962012-02-08T21:08:00.000+00:002012-02-08T21:13:19.358+00:00Lib Dems support attack on Welfare State<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Everyone knows that the main parties have little
understanding of environmental issues.
The Green Party therefore are the only party it seems with sensible
policies on this matter. What many do
not realise is that the Green’s may be the only party left that fights for
social justice.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s this frustration that led me to write in once more
to the local press to highlight the controversial welfare reforms passing
through parliament. </span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Dear
Editor</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I’ve become increasingly despondent about the lack
of sympathy my Lib Dem MP Tom Brake appears to have for people
poverty. Not only is he silent about the myths spread by his
government about people in poverty, he actively promotes the idea that we
shouldn’t “subsidise” people on housing benefit to stay in London.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">David Cameron says the polls so show the public are
on the government’s side. But would the public support these cuts if we
asked them a different question? </span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">For example – Should we cap housing benefit to poor
families in private rented accommodation so they end up leaving London as we
have not built enough affordable housing? Are we happy to put thousands of
children in B+Bs in deprived areas where their parents are less likely to work at a
larger cost to the taxpayer even though many were in work but paid so little
they we’re still reliant on benefits?</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Fortunately, The Lords are challenging the
Government because they look at the evidence. They realise that not only
will these cuts cost the taxpayer more not less, they understand the hardship
the likes of cancer patients or disabled children will face from the welfare
reforms. Croydon will be one of the hardest hit areas by the housing
benefit cap according to the government and I think our MPs need to tell the
truth about the damage that will be done to our community.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As has been the case in the past, Tom replied in the
press. Perhaps it’s because he is genuinely
concerned about what is happening to Londoners – or maybe the truth is that his
real worry is about losing some of those floating voters. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Disappointingly, but
rather predictably there was no response to my questions just the standard
reiteration of the extent of the problem this government faces whilst ignoring
the evidence that some of these reforms will actually cost the taxpayer. It's no wonder many of us believe that the Welfare Reform Bill is just part of the Tory ideology forced on us with the support of the Lib Dems .</span></div>Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06884127690853472487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28027164.post-59081203003582932522011-11-21T16:20:00.003+00:002011-11-21T16:26:15.680+00:00Appropriate technology comes to Sutton & Carshalton?If Sutton Council really wanted their green credentials to be taken at least a wee bit more seriously, then why oh why do they perist in buying those absurd leaf blowing machines which grown men use to blow piles of leaves around from one place to another whilst using lots of energy and making lots of noise? It must rank as one of the most iconic bits of crap technology we have produced for the coming age of energy scarcity.<br />However, help is at hand. I can reveal a couple of inventions which will do the job better, with zero energy consumption and a noise level of below ten decibels; and i share these with the Council. One is called a broom, and the other a springbok rake. Together with a couple of bits of old plywood and a mobile bin (the sort they got rid of years ago) - hey presto job done.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28027164.post-34269602982071574722011-11-14T14:53:00.004+00:002011-11-14T15:17:28.942+00:00Incinerator comes a step nearer as other parties play politics..Breaking news this week (November 9th) that the South London Waste Partnership is about to give the go-ahead for its preferred bidder, Viridor, to apply to build a waste recovery plant (Incinerator, to you and me) at Beddington Lane is bad news for the environment and for public health. However it’s no surprise as Greens have been warning about the likelihood of this for over two years now.<br />However, what I can't help but notice is this. Within the four boroughs covered by the South London Waste Partnership, this is how political parties measure up:<br /><br />We in the <span style="font-weight:bold;">Green party</span> have consistently opposed incineration. The devastating health, environmental and financial implications have all been well documented on other blogs such as http://croydongreens.blogspot.com/search/label/incinerator or http://insidecroydon.com/2011/07/07/cancer-risks-from-1bn-croydon-incinerator-warn-greens/ Moreover large facilities like this need a constant stream of waste and lengthy contracts, resulting in the burning of recoverable/reusable/recyclable materials<br />CROYDON: <span style="font-weight:bold;">Conservatives</span> control the council and support the SLWP. <span style="font-weight:bold;">Labour</span> are in opposition and oppose it. <br />SUTTON: <span style="font-weight:bold;">Liberal Democrats </span>control the council and support the SLWP. <span style="font-weight:bold;">Conservatives</span> are in opposition and oppose it.<br />MERTON: No Overall Control: <span style="font-weight:bold;">Labour</span> are the biggest party and support the SLWP. <span style="font-weight:bold;">Conservatives</span> are the smaller party and oppose it.<br />KINGSTON UPON THAMES: <span style="font-weight:bold;">Liberal Democrats</span> control the council and support the SLWP. <span style="font-weight:bold;">Conservatives</span> are in opposition and oppose it.<br /><br />Do you detect the usual lack of integrity here? The Liberal Democrats of course win the prize for the most intellectually dyslexic stance. Their national policy is allegedly against incinerators, but in the 2002 local elections the Lib Dems lost control of Sheffield council by arguing for a new incinerator, and gained control of Hull by campaigning against one! They currently support incinerator projects in Exeter, Plymouth and Barnstaple, and also in Essex, despite having proclaimed support for a zero waste strategy - which means no incineration. What a shambles!<br /><br />Why do all the Parties in control support the SLWP? <br /><br />Why do all the Parties in opposition oppose the SLWP?<br /><br />Are all those Parties the same?<br /><br />This is the text of a letter written to the local Guardian newspaper by Shasha khan, leader of the greens in Croydon, following the news this week:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">"Dear Editor,<br /> <br />I was interested to see Councillor Whitham, the leader of the Conservative opposition group on Sutton Council comment that he had “grave concerns” about an incinerator in Beddington, something Greens have been opposing for the last three years [Croydon Guardian, Nov 9th]. He is right to be worried about its impact. Might I suggest that he write to the Conservative council leader in Croydon, Mike Fisher who is in favour of such a facility. Similarly, could I ask the Labour opposition in Croydon, also against the Beddington incinerator, to contact the Labour leader on Merton Council, Councillor Stephen Alambritis, who is also in favour of the waste facility in Beddington. When principle is absent, one can only see a tangled web of hypocrisy".</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28027164.post-71694998541447244612010-10-27T22:53:00.008+01:002010-10-27T23:11:50.399+01:00Cuts in Croydon - council lobby videoDemonstrators lobbied the last council meeting. Greens were there in force.<br />The facts are that the Council is planning to cut upto <span style="font-weight: bold;">one third of its workforce</span> and to privatise many services. As many as <span style="font-weight: bold;">2000 jobs </span>could go as the Council tries to cut its budget by <span style="font-weight: bold;">£70 million</span> over the next few years.<br /><br /><object width="400" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/19OsyKROIPE?fs=1&hl=en_GB"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/19OsyKROIPE?fs=1&hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="400" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FrmjmcOQKuc?fs=1&hl=en_GB"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FrmjmcOQKuc?fs=1&hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="400" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/7lHOKILKb4w?fs=1&hl=en_GB"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7lHOKILKb4w?fs=1&hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="385"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28027164.post-88963274536351979812010-10-19T20:11:00.001+01:002010-10-19T20:14:29.926+01:00Lib Dems join in the attack on our freedoms and public servicesWith friends like the Liberal Democrats, our beleaguered public services, reeling from a miserable thirteen years under New Labour’s right wing economic agenda, need no enemies. Business secretary Vince Cable has announced plans to privatise up to 90 per cent of the Royal Mail, and has said he would happily see it bought up by foreign companies. Far from acting as a brake on the gung-ho free market capitalism of the Tories, LibDem members of the coalition are enthusiastically Con-Demming us to the further decimation of public services.<br />What’s interesting about the draconian cuts in the spending review, as George Monbiot points out in the Guardian (October 19th 2010) is not so much what is being axed as what isn’t. Public bodies whose purpose is to hold corporations to account are being swept away. Public bodies whose purpose is to help boost corporate profits, regardless of the consequences for people and the environment, have sailed through unharmed. Whether the LibDems are having the wool pulled over their eyes and are innocently unaware of the Tory agenda, or they are simply now revealed for the illiberal right wing party that many of us suspected they (or at least their leadership) are, we’ll have to see. But it follows a series of defeats for the leadership at their conference on the coalitions’s plans for so called ‘free schools’, which of course in no time will become semi privatised ‘academies’ with no democratic local control. This from a party that likes to tell us how keen they are on localism and accountability. Ha ha. But they were at it before the election too. Lib Dem peers Razzell and Clement Jones, back in March, ameded the lready illiberal Digital Economy Bill to allow site blocking for copyright infringement. Rushed through by the illiberal Labour Government this tawdry Act opens the door for the blocking of sites accused of copyright infringement, including sites like Youtube. Any site with user generated content could easily fall foul of provisions like this. And we all know who can afford the expensive lawsuits which attach to any conflicts, and who can’t. <br />Even the environment is under attack from LibDem members of the coalition: this week we have the bizarre spectacle of a Tory, Tim Yeo, chairman of parliament's cross-party energy and climate change pleading with a LibDem minister, Chris Huhne, the Climate Change Secretary, not to slim down commitments to sustainable technology. Huhne has said: "nothing was safe" in his department. <br />There's plenty more; it all adds up to a depressing picture of continuing whittling away of the public sphere, with the Tories set to get their way nearly everywhere supported by their junior partners, still too intoxicated by the scent of power to know how to use it properly.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28027164.post-611419372231289942010-04-26T20:48:00.001+01:002010-04-26T20:50:31.670+01:00Prominent trade unionist and former Labour candidate backs Greens<span style="font-weight:bold;">Geoff Martin, Labour's parliamentary candidate in Sutton and Cheam in 1992 and a leading campaigner in the fight to save services at St Helier Hospital today called on local voters to back Sutton's Green Candidate Peter Hickson. </span><br /><br /> Geoff Martin, who lives in Sutton and who was expelled by the Labour Party last year, said: "Voters sick and tired of the spin and sleaze of the main Parties have a real choice in Sutton and Cheam and I would urge them to vote for the Green candidate Peter Hickson and give the political elite a real kick up the backside.<br /><br /> "The Greens oppose privatisation of services like the NHS and support workers rights and decent pay and pensions. I would call on all trade unionists and socialists in Sutton to make a positive decision and give Peter Hickson and the Green Party your vote. The Labour Party in this area is dead in the water and traditional Labour voters who feel badly let down by 13 years of Blair and Brown have a real alternative in Peter Hickson and the Greens. My advice is don't stay at home getting angry on May 6th - get down the polling station and vote for Peter."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28027164.post-78101091330108904132010-04-22T16:54:00.002+01:002010-04-22T17:10:08.032+01:00On clean campaigning..We really would love to believe that Nick Clegg and the LibDems are serious about wanting to 'clean up politics'. <br />But we can't. <br />Take the sordid episodes from the Norwich by-election last year, where our candidate Dr Rupert Read, himself an ex Lib-Dem, got the full tratement from his old friends. Oner leaflet put out by LibDems had a banner headline: "Residents shocked by Green Party candidate's terror views", and went on "Little is known about Rupert Read, but one thing is certain, local people have taken against his extreme views." <br />Dr Read, said the flyer, believed that "Britain simply had the terrorist attacks on 7 July coming to us". One safely anonymous "local resident" was then quoted as saying: "What planet is he on?" Another, equally shy, "Norwich resident" opined: "I can't believe that anyone could think that."<br /><br />The voters of Norwich would have been right not to believe it, since it was a wholesale distortion of something Dr Read had written, four years earlier, equating terrorism with acts such as the Iraq war, but very clearly condemning both and calling for an "ethic of non-violence", as practised by Martin Luther King and Gandhi.<br /><br />Dr Read, a philosophy lecturer, said: "The whole Liberal Democrat campaign was sickening. I look now at Nick Clegg promising to clean up politics and I remember that he was specifically asked to criticise his party's tactics in Norwich, and he refused."<br />Dr Read was also the victim of bogus Green party leaflets, produced by the LibDems in Green and in Green party style, urging voters to vote LibDem!<br />"People were telling me on the doorstep: 'I got your leaflet telling me to vote Lib Dem, so that's what I'm doing'," says Dr Read. "Anyone who's in politics knows that the Liberal Democrats are the dirtiest in their campaigning techniques, and I'm saying that as a former Lib Dem. It's one of the reasons I left."<br /><br />In York, the Tory website was hacked into and redirected to the local Lib Dem one; in Cornwall, a Lib Dem candidate distributed flyers calling his opponent a "greasy-haired tw*t"; in Liverpool, a Lib Dem councillor was caught stuffing letterboxes with leaflets supposedly from a fringe party which smeared his Labour rival as a "lap-dancer". In Liverpool they have even accused the Green Party of wanting to limit the number of children people have!<br /><br />Lest we think these merely local excesses, it may be worth quoting from an official Liberal Democrat election manual, Effective Opposition, obtained by The Daily Telegraph, published by the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors in 2002 and still in use, judging by the techniques seen around the country. On page 21, it instructs Lib Dems to "be wicked, act shamelessly, stir endlessly". Page 23 advises: "Don't be afraid to exaggerate. For example, responses to surveys and petitions are always 'massive'. If a council is doing something badly, public expressions are always of 'outrage'." Page 4 advises: "Positive campaigning will NOT be enough to win." <br />if this sort of stuff is clean, what is dirty?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28027164.post-32574512825994074702010-04-16T16:24:00.002+01:002010-04-16T16:26:27.623+01:00Sutton Green local election candidates<a href="http://www.beerhound.co.uk/candidates.htm">Follow this link</a> for information about our local candidates for May 6thUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28027164.post-16276482627881026792010-04-16T16:18:00.003+01:002010-04-16T16:23:40.452+01:00Party election broadcast onlineWatch the Green party broadcast <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHLfzPFsz5c&feature=player_embedded#!">here</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28027164.post-30017780004673732462009-06-12T19:51:00.002+01:002009-06-12T19:56:20.977+01:00I'm Tom, fly me - to Brussels!?Another shameful sequel to the grubby LibDem Euro leaflet saga- one of our supporters was telephoned on polling day by the enthusiastic LibDem knocking up brigade: "Would you like a lift to the polls to vote for Tom Brake?" <br />A supreme irony that this is the party that would have us believe they are in favour, altruistically, of fair votes. When a PR election comes up, they pretend it's first past the post. <br />I suggest Inspector Knacker reads up the book of electoral law.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28027164.post-18071601898637775392009-06-12T19:02:00.006+01:002009-06-12T19:58:57.888+01:00Indecent, dishonest, cynical ...and legal?!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://adrianshort.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/brake-greens-cannot-win-400x169.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 169px;" src="http://adrianshort.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/brake-greens-cannot-win-400x169.png" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Greens (and everyone else) condemn LibDems Euro leaflet lies</span><br />Those of us used to the ludicrous graphics routinely employed by the LibDems (and imitated equally amateurishly by Labour where they exist) cannot have been that surprised by the 'two horse race' version that was trotted out prior to the recent European elctions. there's a full discussion of the tawdry tactics on local blogger Adrian Short's excellent blog (http://adrianshort.co.uk/). <br /><br />Mr Short reports, quoting from Paul Burstow's leaflet first:<br />“It’s so close here” declares the headline. “Elections in Sutton and Cheam are always a close finish between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives.” To the side is a big bar chart showing the LibDems with 47%, Conservatives on 41% and Labour with just 12%. “Here in Sutton and Cheam, elections are between the LibDems and the Conservatives”, a callout box reminds us.<br />What the leaflet doesn’t say is that the electoral system for the European Parliament is totally different and there’s no need for anyone to vote tactically no matter which party they support.<br />The leaflet from Tom Brake, LibDem MP for Carshalton and Wallington, takes the same trick to even more sordid depths.“This election is going to be a tight contest and every vote will make a difference… With Labour out of the race in Sutton, more and more people are backing the Liberal Democrats to win.”<br /><br />Did you see what they did there? “Labour out of the race in Sutton”? It’s not a Sutton race, it’s a London race, and in that London race Labour are still in a stronger position than the LibDems even despite the floundering government in Westminster.<br /><br />And what does it mean that “people are backing the Liberal Democrats to win”? This isn’t a winner-takes-all election like we have for Westminster. All the three big parties are likely to get at least one Euro MP out of eight in London and it’s very likely that smaller parties like the Greens and UKIP won’t come away empty-handed. The Greens get the same treatment. “The Greens have no chance of winning in Sutton”, the leaflet says. Well, in the last Euro election in 2004 the Greens picked up 8% of the London vote, giving them a single Euro MP just like the LibDems. <br />Bob Steel, chair of Sutton Greens, commented in the Sutton Guardian:</span>"The LibDems’ leaflet is a shamefaced attempt to con Green voters into considering a “tactical” vote for another party even though they have no need to do so. The leaflets are deceitful and patronising. They will only further corrode trust in politicians, already at an all-time low....Lib Dems apparently have such a low view of their European performance that they devote 90 per cent of their leaflet to trying to dupe voters they are electing Tom Brake to deal with local issues like recycling. In fact, in the Euro election, every vote really does count. <br /><br /><br />Mr Short says: "I contacted the Lib Dems about my concerns shortly after writing my article on 15 May and the only response I have had was one from Sarah Ludford MEP (London region) saying that she finds no grounds for complaint. The Lib Dems have had ample opportunity to clarify, correct, withdraw or even substantially defend these leaflets but it would seem that they are entirely unwilling to discuss them seriously. While that is their right, the conclusion I draw from that is that the Lib Dems don’t want to defend their leaflets because they’re indefensible".<br />Mr Short reported the Lib Dems’ leaflets to the police as he suspected they may have broken electoral law. However, the police have decided not to take any action- no surprises there, they are probably too busy updating their files on Climate camp protestors and other dangerous elements.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28027164.post-50948582605810628962009-01-19T23:35:00.001+00:002009-01-19T23:35:39.703+00:00HEATHROW: OFF THE SCALE OF INSANITY?There are three simple but compelling reasons why the government’s go-ahead for another runway at Heathrow is utterly insane:-<br />First is of course that even if you believe in ever-expanding airport capacity Heathrow is about the very last place any rational person would seek to put an airport today. The shocking road congestion and appalling noise levels for large numbers of local people who have to endure the misery of non-stop and ever increasing flights is too high a price to pay. Remember that London is the busiest by far of world, let alone EU air destinations: In 2007, a combined total of 139 million passengers used the five London airports. That compares with 88 million who used all Paris airports, London’s closest European rival. <br />Secondly, the government may not have noticed but we face a global catastrophe due to climate change which is happening now. Whilst Daily Telegraph leader writers, David Bellamy and other idiots who have sold their soles to the denial lobby may cry wolf, glaciers disintegrate around us and all the scientific evidence points to accelerating and irreversible change in a very short time scale. The Times recently claimed that “the jobs outweigh the climate danger”! If this is the view of supposedly intelligent commentators, then God help us. <br />As if this weren’t cogent enough, there is ‘Peak Oil’. The consensus in the industry is that global oil output will decline in the next decade. The Society of British Aerospace Companies concludes that there is currently no commercially available alternative to kerosene on the horizon. It also finds that liquids produced from gas or coal have CO2 emission problems, and liquids produced from biomass are a very long way off from either commercial production or a resolution of land-use issues. So even if this lunacy does go ahead, it seems likely that a third runway would be no more than a huge white elephant.<br /><br />So let’s be honest about this: Heathrow is a monumentally stupid decision from a government which is increasingly bereft of any vision, courage or morality. Moreover, greenwash fudges from the Tories and LibDems who suggest that the cuddly alternative is ‘sustainable’ expansion elsewhere be it on Romney Marsh, the Thames estuary or Stansted, are almost equally bankrupt. It’s profoundly worrying that so many decision makers appear willing to close their eyes to the parlous stare we are in globally, in favour of perceived short term economic gain.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28027164.post-74284745580636459182008-12-09T18:34:00.003+00:002008-12-09T18:38:46.509+00:00New Nation speaks to Sutton Green Stan Prokop<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzZRkp2mqHHZep6o0mfZgHyOI27lLw3fPbQlaQsMhNo38rsmRYtSYhytp9jKtkP_WQAKoMtyykSQCxcuglAQ-yqU0UQlwTO8J0tbWDRvZ8YOhIYQl90wby2jh8Uttz7RRM1GRcJg/s1600-h/12-09-2008+06%3B30%3B11PM.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277860829033457010" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 238px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzZRkp2mqHHZep6o0mfZgHyOI27lLw3fPbQlaQsMhNo38rsmRYtSYhytp9jKtkP_WQAKoMtyykSQCxcuglAQ-yqU0UQlwTO8J0tbWDRvZ8YOhIYQl90wby2jh8Uttz7RRM1GRcJg/s320/12-09-2008+06%3B30%3B11PM.JPG" border="0" /></a>Green Party supporter Paul Macey and local party member Dr Stan Prokop interviewed in New Nation.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28027164.post-70220472039747830232008-12-06T19:41:00.001+00:002008-12-06T19:41:48.529+00:00Climate Change March 2008<a href="http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2008-12-05-ClimateMarch.html">Approaching Parliament Square</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3qrm48LjqnzVL3QE6Ua0e_Ld42-XLgMHJzHWdy6OJpE-kLzstBk5zaQ436DpgIC608skqzMlqsxVFZIgQRqeR09eDbv1UKhY3exEE6zl2OQBaPscUjHCvqBzF3hrgQ_dras-rVg/s1600-h/green.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 258px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3qrm48LjqnzVL3QE6Ua0e_Ld42-XLgMHJzHWdy6OJpE-kLzstBk5zaQ436DpgIC608skqzMlqsxVFZIgQRqeR09eDbv1UKhY3exEE6zl2OQBaPscUjHCvqBzF3hrgQ_dras-rVg/s400/green.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5276763474499853890" /></a><br /><br />Earlier in the day, reaching the end of the pre-march bike ride.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9u5YYTV1prQ&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9u5YYTV1prQ&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />--------------------------------------------------<br />Tags <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/greenparty" rel="tag">greenparty</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28027164.post-22659330613866064632008-12-03T00:17:00.000+00:002008-12-03T00:18:05.001+00:00Sympathy for the devil?Among all the furore about the arrest of Damian Green, I was gobsmacked that Radio 4 chose to interview, of all people, Michael Howard, one of the most intolerant Home Secretaries ever and architect of the so-called Criminal Justice Act. To hear his sanctimonious whingeing was entertaining and the thought did cross my mind that perhaps someone Machiavellian in the Beeb had brought him on to satisfy their sense of irony. Anyway if (s)he did it went right over Howard's head. Outrageous as the arrest was, and in particular the use of the notorious anti-terror cops, it's been happening to the rest of us for some time, for example the arrest of Maya Evans three years ago after reciting the names of British soldiers killed in Iraq outside the gates of Downing Street.<br />And then there is the Tory threat of a vote of no confidence in the speaker. Anyone with a brain might have deduced that Gorbals Mick was not fit for the office long before now. Remember that last year Martin spent £20,000 of taxpayers' money on libel firm Carter-Fuck to represent him following articles querying his conduct. Martin also exempted his wife, Mary, from security checks in the Palace of Westminster, where they live, and for trying to block details of MPs' £5m-a-year travel expenses being published under the Freedom of Information Act. It suited the Tories to back him then, so who are they kidding now when they try to present themselves as defenders of democracy??Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28027164.post-68389027699515790252008-11-20T19:39:00.000+00:002008-11-20T19:40:16.439+00:00National Climate MarchSaturday December 6th 2008<br /><br />March on Parliament to demand that the government acts on climate now !<br />Part of a Global Day of Action - see www.globalclimatecampaign.org<br />- last year 70+ countries were involved !<br /><br />The march this year goes to Parliament Square to demand that the government act now on climate. The march will now start at Grosvenor Square (5 mins from Speakers Corner, Hyde Park - Bond Street or Marble Arch tube. Apologies for any confusion over starting point see more here) - assemble 12 noon. Full schedule here<br /><br />Speakers will include Nick Clegg (leader Liberal Democrat Party), Caroline Lucas (leader, Green party), Michael Meacher (ex-Environment Minister) and George Monbiot (Honorary President, Campaign against Climate Change).<br /><br />The march will be preceeded by a climate protest bike ride starting from Lincoln's Inn Fields at 10.30 am: <br /><br /><a href="http://www.campaigncc.org/index.shtml">see more here. </a><br /><br />--------------------------------------------------<br />Tags <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/sutton" rel="tag">sutton</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/greenparty" rel="tag">greenparty</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28027164.post-3066529244302758202008-09-15T11:42:00.002+01:002008-09-15T11:48:01.219+01:00A welcome U-turn on garden wasteSo the LibDem council has finally capitulated over the garden waste collection. If they weren't prepared to listen to a wide spectrum of local opinion including the Greens, they had their minds concentrated by the high-profile condemnation by their own local MPs who are keenly aware thet they are in the firing line at the next election. A bit more listening to local groups and individuals before rushing into future mistakes, and showing a bit more humiltiy, would be welcome. That said, we applaud the decision to reintroduce the collections although we hope that this will go hand in hand with vigorous attempts to encourage those who can compost to do so.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0