A free monthly newsletter that provides green news and views from the Gloucestershire Green party so that together we can create a better world.

 
1. QUOTES OF THE MONTH
2. EDITOR’S COMMENT
3. GREENS PUBLISH DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE OF UK GOVERNMENT OVER TORTURE
4. TSUNAMI ONE YEAR ON – CONSUMERS/SUPERMARKETS PARTLY TO BLAME
5. TOXIC: BHOPAL 21 YEARS ON – SIGN ONLINE PETITION
6. ENERGY CRISIS, CLIMATE CHANGE REALITY CHECK AND NUCLEAR POWER ON OUR DOORSTEPS AND EMPTYING OUR POCKETS
7.  PARTY POLITICS – ELECTION REFORM PLUS CAMERON IS NO GREEN
8. WTO, EU AND ARISTIDE FILM
9. WAR AND PEACE: IMPEACHMENT, IRAQ AND SAUDI ARMS DEAL FOR GLOS BUSINESS
10.  GREENS PROTEST AT CHELTENHAM HOMES TO BE DEMOLISHED
11. STROUD STUFF: SEWAGE, CHRISTMAS MESSAGE AND THAT SIGN
12. RIGHTS AND HEALTH: PROSTITUTION, PENSIONS AND ONLINE NHS PETITION

NEXT COFFEE HOUSE GATHERING - AWAITING NEW VENUE

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1. QUOTES OF THE MONTH

 "Every hour the world spends more than £100 million on soldiers, weapons and ammunition.18 days of military expenditure would provide clean water, eradicate illiteracy and provide immunisation for every child in the developing world."
Green Futures magazine

“Only to the white man was nature a 'wilderness'.”
Luther Standing Bear, Oglala Sioux Chief
 
“If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito!”
The Dalai Lama.
 
“Above all else, we need a reaffirmation of political commitment at the highest levels to reducing the dangers that arise both from existing nuclear weapons and from further proliferation.”
Kofi Annan

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2. EDITOR’S COMMENT

Over 400 letters and news releases from 2005 are now on the website and 2006 is well under way with 18 items already - again we have the challenge of getting our voices heard and our message across. I hope the quote from the Dalai Lama will inspire us all to sink our teeth in to the fleshy parts of our opponents, as our campaigns progress this year (in a non-violent way, of course).
 
This month we published documentary evidence of the UK governments complicity in torture on our web site (link below in section 3), whilst our letter writers have pummelled the paper reading public this month on subjects as diverse as nuclear power and milk subsidies.
 
As you probably noticed, the format of the GNN was changed in the last issue. The international and national news items which would previously have been listed are under a new section, 'Green Issues' on our website. Go to http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php The links are listed in the left hand side bar, conveniently categorised into topics for easy access. The web site is getting better all the time and is well worth a browse if you haven’t done so lately.

New links include: Clinton's speech, the WTO circus, latest on Camelford, Pilger on 'Freedom', fish stocks and population growth.
 
We are striving to improve this newsletter all the time. If you have any comments, suggestions or complaints, wishes or not, then please email me. kateynixon@yahoo.co.uk
 
Katey
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3. GREENS PUBLISH DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE OF UK GOVERNMENT OVER TORTURE

We took a small risk joining other websites in publishing this evidence. Craig Murray's site went down after he put the letters on the site and so did several other sites. This could be coincidence, the main thing is that the information is now in the public domain - something sadly our local papers seem less than interested in so far.

Press Release by Philip Booth, accompanied by documentary evidence, and more links.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=965&Itemid=70
Craig Murray thanks all who published torture evidence
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=968&Itemid=2
 
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4. TSUNAMI ONE YEAR ON –CONSUMERS/SUPERMARKETS PARTLY TO BLAME

Shrimping industry devastated mangroves which caused the Tsunami to be much worse than it otherwise would have been. Martin Whiteside wrote to the supermarkets asking them if they’d changed their policies:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=957&Itemid=70

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5. TOXIC: BHOPAL 21 YEARS ON – SIGN ONLINE PETITION

21 years ago this month was one of the worst industrial disasters in history - the 1984 Union Carbide chemical plant accident in Bhopal, India with a current death toll of  20,000 plus over half a million injured. A 40-ton heavier-than-air cloud of lethal methyl isocynate swept through the town, and the since then the abandoned plant has never been cleaned up. Greens are calling on people to add their names to an online petition.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=932&Itemid=70
 
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6. ENERGY CRISIS, CLIMATE CHANGE REALITY CHECK AND NUCLEAR POWER ON OUR DOORSTEPS AND EMPTYING OUR POCKETS

- Gas Shortages Imminent – In The Wake Of The News About Gas Supplies In The Ukraine, Greens Blame Government For Lack Of Planning Re Fuel Shortages. And we have one of the worst records for fuel poverty in Europe already:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=967&Itemid=2

- Globalising respect: Dave Cockcroft's excellent letter in The Guardian:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=983&Itemid=2

- Gloucester airport: expansions alone will lead to an increase in emissions that will wipe out local authorities attempts to tackle climate change:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=956&Itemid=2

- Climate change: call for a reality check:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=955&Itemid=2

- Citizen columnist in fantasy world over climate change:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=964&Itemid=2

- Nuclear power makes no sense. This last month we again have flooded local papers with a series of letters and news releases re nuclear. We have also submitted a second report re decommissioning.  Nuclear could cost as much as £1000 for every adult and child in the UK
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=969&Itemid=2

Our response to the second inquiry and anger at BNFL miss-information over waste. The latest information shows that if we build ten new power stations it would increase the amount of high level nuclear waste five times over the amount currently due to be dealt with. Yet BNFL had claimed they would produce a mere ten per cent extra waste. This led a Government committee to say the waste issue couldn't be used as an argument to hold back new nuclear build.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=980&Itemid=2

A shocking new report from Greenpeace confirms fears that existing and new nuclear power stations are and will be terrorist targets - plus the International Atomic Energy Agency has said that a terrorist attack is now inevitable.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=988&Itemid=2

Keith Taylor, principal speaker of the Green Party, suggests a way ahead for a future that will ensure clean, green energy:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=978&Itemid=2

The Natural Environment Research Council has announced plans for the closure of four world-class research centres in Swindon, Oxford, Dorset and Scotland. Staff and scientists will be reduced from 600 to 400. Glos Greens submit comments to consultation process
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=979&Itemid=115
 
Letters include:

- Response to claims that people of Glos want nuclear reactors
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=927&Itemid=71
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=936&Itemid=70

- Why not save energy instead of nuclear?
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=949&Itemid=70
 
- Nuclear power stations: safe as oil depots?
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=959&Itemid=71

- Responding to a former H & S officer from Berkeley:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=986&Itemid=2

- Bryan Meloy writes to Dhanda on energy, nuclear and Trident:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=949&Itemid=70

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7.  PARTY POLITICS – ELECTION REFORM PLUS CAMERON IS NO GREEN

Labour and Tories each spent approximately £18 million on elections, compared to 4 million (Lib Dems) and £160,000 (Greens). “We need parties to be elected because they have the policies people want, not because they have the most money to spend of getting elected…” say Green Councillor Martin Whiteside
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=942&Itemid=70
 
Cameron’s performance on the Today program was lacking. Tories are only proposing voluntary codes for industry. Only by addressing the way we measure progress and shifting from the blind pursuit of ever-more economic growth to policies aimed at increasing social wellbeing will we make Britain a ‘better’ and more sustainable place to live. Greens remain the only 'Green' party."
 http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=973&Itemid=2
 
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8. WTO, EU AND ARISTIDE FILM
 
- Europe fails WTO campaigners:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=943&Itemid=70
 
- The elected President of the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation was twice removed from office with the complicity of the international community. “ARISTIDE and the Endless Revolution” is a feature documentary that explores through investigative lenses the events that led to the removal of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the democratically elected President of Haiti.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=951&Itemid=70
 
- Milk subsidy outrage:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=952&Itemid=2

- EU Ban on live export subsidies: a written declaration co-sponsored by green MEP becomes law - Subsidies to farmers to export live cattle are banned:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=970&Itemid=2

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9. WAR AND PEACE: IMPEACHMENT, IRAQ AND SAUDI ARMS DEAL FOR GLOS BUSINESSES

- General Sir Michael Rose, one of our most senior Army officers and former commander in Bosnia, has now called for Blair to be impeached over Iraq (i). Many questions remain unanswered and I am disturbed that our MP, David Drew fails to think likewise.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=984&Itemid=2

- Iran: fears it will be new Iraq:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=954&Itemid=2

- Saudi Arabia's £6 billion purchase of a fleet of Eurofighter aircraft is good news for BAe and Gloucestershire businesses like Darchem Engineering, Messier Dowty and Smiths Aerospace - but a blatant breach of UK arms control rules as it ignores regulations on regional stability, human rights and military spending . It makes no sense to sell arms to one of the most repressive regimes in the world.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=977&Itemid=2

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10.  GREENS PROTEST AT CHELTENHAM HOMES TO BE DEMOLISHED

 Keith Bessant is heading a protest against the move to demolish homes in St Paul’s Cheltenham. The council is instituting a quick fix and it is the wrong one.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=974&Itemid=2
 
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11. STROUD STUFF: SEWAGE, CHRISTMAS MESSAGE AND THAT SIGN

- 8 incidents of raw sewage in Ruscombe brook in 2 months: cattle and children at risk:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=938&Itemid=70

 - We should emulate the spirit of forgiveness that can be found amongst veterans in our thoughts and deeds…
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=944&Itemid=70

- And Stroud councillors not responsible for sign:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=941&Itemid=2

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12. RIGHTS AND HEALTH: PROSTITUTION, PENSIONS AND ONLINE NHS PETITION

- Thank you to The Citizen for highlighting doctors like Andrew Seymour who are critical of new policies that compelled them to offer private sector treatment to patients (4/01/06). This is not about patient choice but private companies making a fast buck out of our illnesses (ii).
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=972&Itemid=2
Sign online petition at:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=818&Itemid=62

-Letters to The Citizen on 2nd January claim homosexual partnerships are "moral corruption", prostitution is "a heinous crime",  and that immigrants are to blame for crime.
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=971&Itemid=2

- Citizen editor writes for Greens on pensions??
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=960&Itemid=2

- Unjust care costs hit elderly:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=987&Itemid=115

- Standish demonstration:  write to Secretary of State for Health
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=838&Itemid=62

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NEXT COFFEE HOUSE GATHERING - AWAITING NEW VENUE

Does science have all the answers?
Planned for Friday 27th January between 7.30 and 9.30pm - usually at Star Anise Arts Cafe but watch website for details: new venue being sought as double booking.

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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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, Katey Nixon on 01452 540276
E-mail: <kateynixon@yahoo.co.uk> or Philip Booth on  press@glosgreenparty.org.uk