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GNN ISSUE 13: 16-September-2005 |
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A free monthly email newsletter that provides green news and views so that together we can create a better world.
Bumper edition - August and September news
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QUOTES OF THE MONTH
"The answer to terrorism is justice, not more terrorism. London and Washington must also stop practising the terrorism of the powerful—invasion, occupation, and indirect terrorism via oppressive states. We should recognise that in much of the world the U.S. is regarded as a leading terrorist state, and with good reason." Noam Chomsky (Chomsky, 9/11, Seven Stories, 2001, p. 23)
"Government is like feijao (beans). You have to apply pressure for it to cook."
Popular Brazilian phrase.
"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors".
Plato
"If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito."
Anon
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FEATURE: KATRINA: NOT A 'NATURAL' DISASTER
1. DEMOCRACY IN BRITAIN?
2. NUCLEAR UPDATES: OLDBURY CLOSED AGAIN
3. CLIMATE CHANGE: PETROL PRICES, NORWAYS' GLACIERS, FOOD MILES, 4X4s, UK EMISSIONS & MORE
4. WAR AND PEACE: IRAQ, IRA, LONDON BOMBINGS AND MORE
5. TRADE, AID AND ECONOMICS: 'BRA WARS', NIGER AND MORE
6. RIGHTS: ID CARDS PETITION AND KOREA
7. ANOTHER STEP TOWARDS PRIVATISATION OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE LIBRARIES
8. PUBLIC SERVICES: STUDENT GRANTS, BYERS POLICY RIGHT AND CONCERN OVER FIRE CONTROL COMPUTERS
9. FOOD: GM SUPERWEEDS IN GLOS AND TESCO IN DURSLEY
10. OTHER GLOS GREEN NEWS
11. GREEN PARTY NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
NEXT COFFEE HOUSE GATHERING: THE END OF OIL?
AND FINALLY...ASBO MADNESS
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FEATURE: KATRINA: NOT A 'NATURAL' DISASTER
The devastation of Hurricane Katrina cannot be described as just an unfortunate 'natural' disaster. Leading scientists have long warned that climate change will create more violent storms and other weather extremes (i). President Bushs' refusal to address climate change and focus on non-oil based energy perpetuates conditions that make these situations more likely and more deadly.
This catastophe has been compounded by Government policies that include: channelling rivers, allowing developers to destroy wetlands, increasing developments in New Orleans despite the city being below sea-level and surrounded on three sides by water (ii), abysmal disaster planning (iii) and cutting budgets to fortify levees in order to send engineers to Iraq and cut taxes for the rich (iv).
How many more signs do we need before we all start to take climate change seriously? Blair is also failing us miserably; some talk but no action. Britain will miss it's own CO2 targets and is now on course to miss the wholly inadequate Kyoto targets(v).
Sustainable energy and cutting greenhouse gasses are not just ideals - they are serious strategies for our own survival.
Martin Whiteside, Stroud District Green Party
Read notes at:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=731&Itemid=2
In the news:
- Business As Usual - free-market policies must take the blame:
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=72&ItemID=8655
- Greens call for enquiry:
http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2150
- Warming world blamed for more strong hurricanes
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8002
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1. DEMOCRACY IN BRITAIN?
- Gloucestershire Greens organised a discussion entitled: Is Britain a democracy? Mary Southcott, from the Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform, 'Make Votes Count' campaign and the Electoral Reform Society joined the Greens' Janet Bailey in leading a very lively discussion with calls for a better voting system. Read more at:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=715&Itemid=70
- Greens condemn shift of power from Gloucestershire to SW Regional Assembly
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=732&Itemid=71
In the news:
- Greens joined The Electoral Reform Society and Charter 88 in a discussion on the future of the electoral system. Green Party London Assembly Member Jenny Jones stated: "This year's general election allowed a government to be formed with 55 per cent of the seats from just 36 per cent of the vote - the lowest share of the vote that has ever elected a government. It will be impossible to tackle the widespread apathy that much of the electorate feels, unless we first address the major problems within the electoral system. "
http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2157
- The tax avoidance industry has a veto on what services the government can provide
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1562650,00.html
- Was the seizure of Indymedia's servers in London unlawful or did the UK government collude?
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2004/oct/04uk-usa-indymedia.htm
- The 1911 Parliament Act, which limited the powers of the House of Lords for the first time, received Royal Assent on 10 August 94 years ago today. It was most recently used last year to force through legislation banning fox hunting. Yet when it was first introduced it was only intended as an interim measure prior to the House of Lords being replaced by a democratic Second Chamber: "...it is intended to substitute for the House of Lords as it at present exists a Second Chamber constituted on a popular instead of hereditary basis, but such substitution cannot be immediately brought into operation." Nearly 100 years later, this has yet to happen. See:
http://www.new-politics.com/blog/index.php?p=133
http://www.charter88.org.uk
http://electhelords.org.uk/articles/186.html
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2. NUCLEAR UPDATES
- BBC, Lib Dems and Tories all mistaken over nuclear CO2 emissions:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=707&Itemid=71
In the news:
- Decommissioning the UK's ageing nuclear power stations will cost billions of pounds more than originally expected. In its first report, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority estimates that £56bn will have to be spent cleaning up 20 sites.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4140636.stm
- Nuclear R&D spend "outrageous". Renewable energy is the way forward
http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2116
- UK nuclear industry in turmoil after closure of vital plant: Sellafield radioactive leak to cost £300m in lost revenue this year alone. In the meantime it is costing millions more to make the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (Thorp) safe (Guardian 13/06/05)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/nuclear/article/0,2763,1505005,00.html
- CND calls on the British Government to come clean on its role in Israeli nuclear proliferation
www.cnduk.org
- Belarus: Prisoner of Conscience Professor Yury Bandazhevsky is free
www.nearinternational.org/alerts/russia2220050812en.php?type=email
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3. CLIMATE CHANGE: PETROL PRICES, NORWAYS' GLACIERS, FOOD MILES, 4X4s, UK EMISSIONS & MORE
- Norwegian glaciers retreating
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=742&Itemid=2
- Petrol prices and peak oil
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=737&Itemid=2
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=736&Itemid=2
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=736&Itemid=71
- Government are still not tackling £9bn hidden costs of transport. Food "miles" have risen by a huge 15% over the past 10 years and are still rising. A new report by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs shows this will have a significant impact on climate change, traffic congestion, accidents and pollution.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=714&Itemid=70
- New report shows failure to reduce road transport for commercial and personal use
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=718&Itemid=70
- On-going debate in local press re 4x4s:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=696&Itemid=71
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=708&Itemid=71
- Blair lacks political courage over climate change:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=706&Itemid=71
- US climate change plan is not the answer:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=716&Itemid=71
- Government figures show that UK emissions of carbon dioxide for the first five months of this year are almost two per cent higher than last year. If the trend continues, the UK's contribution to climate change for 2005 could be the worst since 1992 - the year the UK signed the Climate Change Convention at the Rio Earth summit and pledged to combat global warming.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=725&Itemid=70
- British Airways greenwash
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=738&Itemid=2
In the news:
- Global warming 'past the point of no return'
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article312997.ece
- Airport expansion is bad for economy:
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/airport_expansion_is_bad_f_03082005.html
- Pension funds must consider climate risk:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2005/08/07/cnpens07.xml
- Earth ‘losing fight against global warming’
http://www.sundayherald.com/51146
- Warming hits 'tipping point'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1546797,00.html?gusrc=rss
- Loss of soil carbon 'will speed global warming'
http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050905/full/050905-8.html
- Jailing of Irish villagers - named the Bogoni after the Ogoni people who fought Shell in Nigeria - sparks anger as farmers defy Shell in Battle of the Bog - Support swells for opponents of gas pipeline imprisoned for contempt of court:
http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2096
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1530695,00.html
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=152
- Council tax should be cut by between £50 and £90 for people who make their homes more energy efficient:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4676811.stm
- One in six countries facing food shortage:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1517746,00.html
- Renewable energy going to waste: a look at biomass
http://www.guardian.co.uk/renewable/Story/0,2763,1544487,00.html?gusrc=rss
- Windfall tax on oil companies called for to tackle climate change:
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/windfall_tax_on_oil_compan_26072005.html
- Carbon dioxide emissions rise despite climate change pledge
http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,12374,1540614,00.html
- Climate change: Awaking the sleeping giants - about 1000 people have been killed in Mumbai and surrounding areas of western India in the worst monsoon rains ever recorded in the area, peaking at 94 centimetres (37 inches) of rainfall on Tuesday alone.
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7768
- Research at Oxford shows how renewables can plug Britain's energy gap and puts them ahead of nuclear (Guardian)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/opinion/story/0,,1481539,00.html
- The Archbishop of Canterbury launched a wide-ranging attack on the media, accusing journalists of distorting debate and contributing to a climate of national cynicism:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1507507,00.html
- U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement: roughly 300 mayors nationwide in the US have signed up to agree to meet or beat Kyoto Protocol targets for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. Although non-binding the 'bandwagon' is still noteworthy, and send a powerful message to Bush that America wants action on global warming.
http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2005/06/15/little-nickels/index.html?source=weekly
- Micro generation has massive potential here in the UK: solar panels or even a wind turbine on your roof? The government has launched a consultation on boosting micro generation and one MP is tabling a private members bill pushing home-made power.
http://www.channel4.com/news/special-reports/special-reports-storypage.jsp?id=261¶sStartAt=1
http://www.micropower.co.uk/
http://encraft.co.uk
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4. WAR AND PEACE: IRAQ, IRA, LONDON BOMBINGS AND MORE
- 800 still dying each month in Iraq:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=723&Itemid=71
- On Saturday 6th August 2005 along with millions around the World, Stroud Peace Group held a Remembrance Gathering for the 140,000 people who died, as a result of the World's first weapon of mass destruction which was dropped on Hiroshima 60 years ago.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=712&Itemid=70
- IRA statement welcomed
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=720&Itemid=70
- London bombings link to Iraq;
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=698&Itemid=71
- Green alarm at Stop and search based on racial identity
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=724&Itemid=70
In the news:
- Lest We Forget - These Were 'Blair's Bombs' - John Pilger:
http://www.ukwatch.net/article/742
- The London bombings - Britain’s blood price- an excellent in depth look:
http://www.david-morrison.org.uk/counter-terrorism/why-london-was-attacked.htm
- Our troops are part of the problem. Heavy-handed occupation is not a solution to the Iraqi insurgency. Read Robin Cook:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1528954,00.html
- They just never meant very much to us: London bombings and Iraq - an important look at the medias role in presenting suffering:
http://www.medialens.org/cogitations/050725_they_just_never_meant.php
- More information comes to light re war in Iraq: The Downing Street memo, which contains the ill-making admission that "the intelligence and facts were being fixed" to match Bush's fantasies, is sufficient basis for a hearing toward impeachment of the Chief Executive. But to that we must add the other evidence and secret memos and documents still hidden from the American public. See: 'Palast for Conyers'
http://www.gregpalast.com/
- Iraq: US lied to Britain over use of napalm. The MK77 bombs, an evolution of the napalm used in Vietnam and Korea, carry kerosene-based jet fuel and polystyrene so that, like napalm, the gel sticks to structures and to its victims. The bombs lack stabilising fins, making them far from precise.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=647397
And The Telegraph
- Paul Rogers asks whether Israel and the US will attack Iran
http://www.opendemocracy.net/conflict/iran_2765.jsp
- Replace US troops in Afghanistan says Green Party of Canada
http://greenparty.ca/index.php?module=announce&ANN_id=49&ANN_user_op=view
- Foreign Office diplomat speaks out and resigns: It took Carne Ross almost a decade to realise the full extent of the mistakes the Foreign Office made in the Balkans. His lack of faith in British policy in the Middle East manifested itself far more quickly. Ross said: "I think sanctions [against Iraq] were wrong and they harmed the wrong people. They did immeasurable damage to the Iraqi civilian population. We were conscious of that damage, but we did too little to address it. We said we were trying to address it, but frankly it wasn't enough and I'm not proud of my own role in that because I was a vigorous defender of British policy in the security council. We would not have treated a European or American people in that way." On WMD he said: "It was an agonised experience because I knew that the evidence they were presenting for WMD was totally implausible. I'd read the intelligence on WMD for four and a half years, and there's no way that it could sustain the case that the government was presenting. All of my colleagues knew that, too. The 45-minute stuff was ridiculous. I felt that war should be the last alternative, and emphatically it was not in this case. There was a very good alternative to war that was never properly pursued, which was to close down Saddam's sources of illegal revenue." He holds up his present preoccupation, the refugees of the western Sahara, as a test case for his new approach. "If you look at these people suffering in a refugee camp in the middle of the desert, most British people would think that was wrong and that something should be done. Yet British policy is to do nothing because British interests dictate that fairly minuscule trade with Morocco is more important. At the UN I used to perform these calculations myself and send telegrams saying we had no interest in supporting the Saharawi cause. At the Foreign Office you are taught to think that trade and market share and security are the most important things, and that human suffering is not important if it's nothing to do with Britain. I disagree with that analysis. The best way to a safer and more peaceful world is through alleviating suffering. Simplicity is the only thing that works in a complex world." (Guardian 20/06/05)
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foreignaffairs/story/0,11538,1510369,00.html
www.independentdiplomat.com
- Stopping Bin Laden:
http://www.ukwatch.net/article/839
- Donald Rumsfeld has broken a taboo, says Paul Rogers: the United States military cannot win in Iraq.
http://www.opendemocracy.net/conflict/strategy_2606.jsp
- Sweden: Greens force government to suspend unmanned fighter project
http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=1582&date=20050610
- Cold war, take two: US v China will soon be the dominant fault line of global politics
(Guardian 18/06/05)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1509166,00.html
- On August 1st sections of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act came into force (SchNEWS 497). This Act amends previous harassment and trespass legislation as well as banning all "unauthorized" protests within about half a mile around Parliament without advance permission from the police. The sections of the act which limit protest were specifically aimed at Brian Haw who has been protesting against British policy on Iraq since 2nd June 2001, but it seems that the government have well and truly cocked up. High Court judges agreed with Brian's lawyers that the law does not apply to Brian because police authorization is only necessary for demonstrations that 'start' after 1 August and since his protest started before then, he's exempt! So the law specifically designed to 'deal' with him does not apply! People have been openly defying this law and on 1st August, the day the law came into force, 200 people demonstrated in Parliament Square and there were five arrests; then on 7th August, over 100 people protested, with another five arrests.
- US plan B to end Second World War with chemical weapons
http://www.opendemocracy.net/conflict/chemicalweapons_2727.jsp
- Brilliant painting the Israel / Palestine Wall by Bristol graffiti artist Banksy
http://whateveritisimagainstit.blogspot.com/2005/08/banksy-in-holy-land.html
- The lineup of geopolitical forces is changing. Russia and China, once bitter enemies, are now combining their military and economic forces against the US. A new era is beginning in the Pacific and Central Asia.
- Darfur as a Resource War - the role oil is playing in teh conflict
http://www.alternet.org/story/24471/
Check out www.parliamentprotest.org.uk or www.parliament-square.org.uk
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5. TRADE, AID AND ECONOMICS: 'BRA WARS', NIGER AND MORE
- Greens now only party that seriously advocates distribution of wealth:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=699&Itemid=71
- It is reported that 3.5 million people including roughly 1 million children are facing death right now in Niger, Africa. Why is aid so late?
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=709&Itemid=70
- "G8: We roared, they whispered" - Glos Green party report on G8:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=690&Itemid=72
And letter:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=700&Itemid=71
- Bra wars and China
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=733&Itemid=71
In the news:
- Lib Dems and Geldof have failed progressives, say Greens
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/green/story/0,9061,1566457,00.html
- The Gleneagles aid package may have hit the right notes with Bob Geldof. But others are not so sure:
http://society.guardian.co.uk/societyguardian/story/0,,1526782,00.html
See also Monbiot: 'By hailing the failure of this summer's G8 summit as a success, Bob Geldof has betrayed the poor of Africa'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,1563360,00.html
The G8 plan to save Africa comes with conditions that make it little more than an extortion racket. The conditions amount to saying: "We will give you a trickle of money if you give us the crown jewels."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,1505927,00.html
Far from challenging the G8’s role in Africa’s poverty, Geldof and Bono are legitimising its power:
http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2005/06/21/bards-of-the-powerful-/
- CAFTA is one of numerous treaties tying developing countries to neoliberal reform, helping globalising corporations secure their dominance over concepts like humanism, social justice, democractic principles or action. Company bosses are now celebrating being one step nearer to their dream, the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Read more at: www.stopcafta.org
- Africa is a rich continent made poor by rapacious western corporations. G8 leaders must be forced to deliver justice - Naomi Klein (Guardian 10/06/05)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1503526,00.html
- Niger:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1544099,00.html?gusrc=rss
- President Chevez’s intends to answer Venezuela’s popular demand for land reform
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4721961.stm
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=45&ItemID=8637
- China: cheap exports are flooding world textiles markets after the industry was liberalized with the abolition of quotas earlier this year, causing job losses across the EU and the imminent collapse of the largest sector in several developing world economies, according to a new Green party report. The Philippines, for example, has just ruled its minimum wage will no longer apply to its textiles sector. China's continued failure to protect workers from exploitative pay, long hours and industrial accidents keeps costs low. Dr Lucas says: "The EU must recognise the textiles crisis is a wake-up call to the true costs of free trade, and that a trading system based on high social and environmental standards, with quotas where necessary, is both fairer and more sustainable for workers in both the North and the South.”
http://www.carolinelucasmep.org.uk/framesets/latest_news.html
- Tanzania: £273,000 from the UK Aid budget was taken out to produce public relations materials, including a pop video to persuade a sceptical Tanzanian public of the merits of privatisation. This week, the Tanzanian Government has had enough and kicked out Biwater, the UK water company, for doing 'sweet nothing for the last two years of its 10 year contract'. WDM's, Peter Hardstaff said: "This is yet another example of water privatisation failing to deliver clean water to poor communities. Rich country governments and the IMF and World Bank must abandon their support for this disastrous policy. It is a scandal that the UK aid budget, money that should go to reduce poverty, was used to push water privatisation in Tanzania." Biwater's involvement in contract is covered by the UK Export Credit Guarantee Department so the UK taxpayer could end up footing the bill for this disastrous policy. See: 'Eau No!'
http://www.anitaroddick.com/topicdetails.php?topicid=47
- Bolivia: Latin America's poorest country because its people have been force-fed the neoliberal reform agenda for such a long time. With a history of over two hundred coups or revolutions since independence in 1825, the Bolivian people are, once again, protesting. Read SchNEWS at:
www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news502.htm
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6. RIGHTS: ID CARDS PETITION AND KOREA
- Sign petition; say No to ID cards:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=592&Itemid=62
- Greens have condemned human rights abuses in the South Korean judicial system after the far eastern nation announced plans to release 6.5 million prisoners in a mass amnesty.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=726&Itemid=70
In the news:
- ID cards 'neither safe nor appropriate' - LSE report (Guardian 27/06/05): ten potential pitfalls in the government's plans for national identity cards were highlighted today in a damning report.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,11026,1515716,00.html
- The Chancellor has told allies of his fears about the mounting bill for the scheme, currently standing between £6bn and nearly £20bn.
http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=1740852005
- British Computer Society Concern Over ID cards. The BCS voiced its concerns before the election and is making them known again now that the scheme is back on the agenda. 'Our primary concerns focus on the lack of objectives,' says external relations director Mike Rodd.
http://www.bcs.org/ebulletin/050810/idcards/
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7. ANOTHER STEP TOWARDS PRIVATISATION OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE LIBRARIES
- Greens have been angered by news that the Government plans for a national agency to be set up to run libraries, largely replacing current control by 149 local authorities. "The most radical change since public libraries were established in the 19th century." See:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=719&Itemid=70
Two weeks before this Greens supported the launch of a petition calling for return of community notice boards and concern over possible future privatisation:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=702&Itemid=70
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8. PUBLIC SERVICES: STUDENT GRANTS, BYERS POLICY RIGHT AND CONCERN OVER FIRE CONTROL COMPUTERS
- Glos Green Party criticised the government's findings that only 28% of students will be eligible for a full grant under the new system, in place from September 2006.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=695&Itemid=70
- Stephen Byers may have not told the truth to his parliamentary colleagues, but Glos Greens say his policy of ending Railtrack was right. Those in the dock should also be the Tory politicians and the Railtrack managers who were far more culpable because they created the mess in the first place.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=710&Itemid=70
- Green concern over new fire control rooms. Following news that seventy Whitehall computer projects have received secret "red warnings" that they will fail to deliver unless immediate action is taken, the Green party are urging a rethink on the regional fire control centres and the proposed multi-million pound computer system that they claim will be necessary.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=713&Itemid=70
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9. FOOD: GM SUPERWEEDS IN GLOS AND TESCO IN DURSLEY
- Superweeds in Gloucestershire. Modified genes from crops in a GM crop trial, that also took place in sites in Gloucestershire, have transferred into local wild plants, creating a form of herbicide-resistant 'superweed'.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=703&Itemid=70
- Cam Coop take over by Tesco - 'Council naive':
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=697&Itemid=71
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=694&Itemid=71
- Greens against Tesco in Cinderford - "We need Tesco like a hole in the head"
In the news:
- Pressure groups release first international register of contamination mishaps as governments meet to discuss problem (Guardian 01/06/05)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/science/story/0,12996,1496283,00.html
- Decision, during holidays, to import GM maize is a political error
http://www.greens-efa.org/en/press/detail.php?id=2650&lg=en
- New website campaigning against Tesco's monopoly: Tescos have nearly 30% of the grocery market in the UK. Growing evidence indicates that Tesco's success is partly based on trading practices that are having serious consequences for suppliers, farmers, overseas workers, local shops and the environment. Tescopoly is supported by many organisations. See: www.tescopoly.org
- New Zealand: Greens propose soft drink levy
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3373592a11,00.html
- Chains Are Taking Over Britain, Survey Finds More than 40 percent of British towns have been so overrun by chain stores that they have become "clone towns," according to a new report from the New Economics Foundation. The results of the survey are alarming, but the report is far from hopeless, offering more than a dozen detailed strategies for reversing the trends.
http://www.newrules.org/retail/news_slug.php?slugid=299
- Stacy Mitchell delivered the nef alternative mansion house speech 2005, Will Wal-Mart Eat Britain? at the Foreign Press Association in London
http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/z_sys_PublicationDetail.aspx?pid=211
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10. OTHER GLOS GREEN NEWS
- Conference Greens - John Marjoram back from Lancaster
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=735&Itemid=70
Carolines excellent speach
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=734&Itemid=70
- 'Better streets for Stroud' - a radical new approach to road danger reduction:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=705&Itemid=71
Over 250 children injured on County roads - need new approach:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=693&Itemid=71
Bibury scheme to be applauded:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=701&Itemid=71
- Green Party Councillors condemn ‘undemocratic’ decision by planning inspector to allow 12 meter phone mast at the approach to Stroud Town
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=729&Itemid=70
- Comment re Railtrack cutting trees
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=730&Itemid=70
- Icelandic dam action update:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=717&Itemid=70
- Real nappies are best
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=721&Itemid=70
- Write to MEPs re harmful chemicals:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=722&Itemid=71
- Reaction to Robin Cooks death
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=727&Itemid=70
- News that animal protesters have been waging a violent though effective campaign against those companies who test on animals in Britain has today sparked further calls from Greens to end animal testing.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=728&Itemid=70
- Recycling in Glos
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=740&Itemid=2
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11. GREEN PARTY NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
- Scotland: Greens ready to play role of power broker
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=1817962005
- Australia: Historic four Greens Senators
http://bobbrown.org.au/600_media_sub.php?deptItemID=1738
- USA: Showdown in the Green Party
http://www.socialistworker.org/2005-2/552/552_02_GreenParty.shtml
USA Greens' Green Pages - Summer 2005
http://gp.org/greenpages/
- Vanuatu: Lini under pressure from the Greens: reshuffle on cards
http://www.news.vu/en/news/politics/050829-Vanuatu-Lini-under-pressure.shtml
- Germany: Is Joschka's Green Party finished?
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=52&story_id=23424
- Download 'EuroGreens' bi-monthly newsletter - August 2005' - In this issue: forthcoming elections, EU referendum in Luxembourg, Katrina:
http://europeangreens.org/news/update/august2005.pdf
- For more news visit: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/green-press-review/
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NEXT COFFEE HOUSE GATHERING: THE END OF OIL?
Is Peak Oil the greatest threat to our lifestyle as we know it? The most likely cause of a future (and final?) war? The solution to global warming? Join us for an evening of lively discussion on the frightening implications of Peak Oil. Complete with introductory speakers, coffee and cake!
Friday 23rd September 7.30 at Star Anise in Stroud.
Read more about Peak oil:
- Even BP publicly call for action on Peak Oil!
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/08/320684.html
- Controversial US thinker Jeremy Rifkin told the EU on Monday that the world will witness the end of the oil era in the present generation's lifetime: "Let's hope and pray that we don't peak in the next two to three years, or we are going to be in trouble like we have never been before in human history."
http://euobserver.com/?aid=19851&rk=1
Read more about the previous coffee house discussions at:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=606&Itemid=96
Details of other Gloucestershire Green party meetings can be got from John Marjoram on 01453 751189
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AND FINALLY...ASBO MADNESS
A Staffordshire 'boy' has been threatened with an Anti-Social Behaviour Order - and he hasn't even been born yet. Julie Brown, from Burton-on-Trent, was told her son had annoyed neighbours driving around on his motor scooter. She has already named her baby Dominic, but he is not due until September - and she has the hospital scan to prove it.
Julie said "I was angry because nobody came and checked and the letter was sent despite the fact we don't have a son yet, let alone one who causes trouble riding around on a scooter." A council spokesman said: "The letter appears to be an unfortunate mistake and we will be sending a written apology to the couple."
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GNN has grown out of a Green news service first established on 13th November 2001. To contribute to this news service (or to subscribe or unsubscribe) - contact the editor, Philip Booth on 01453 755451
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