Caroline Lucas urges voters to go Green on May 5th

19 April 2011

Caroline Lucas MP stars in a new hard hitting political broadcast which asks viewers to trust the Green Party and put the politics of principle first.

In a speech to a live comedy club audience, Lucas warns that what is happening in Britain is ‘no laughing matter’ – and highlights the importance of electing politicians that we can trust.

The party’s first MP acknowledges the widespread cynicism that surrounds all political parties, but says that Greens standing in the local elections are committed to protecting the most vulnerable in society from the savagery of the Government’s spending cuts and will put the interests of the many before those of the privileged few.

Greens in local government have produced alternative budgets showing that savings can be made without cutting vital public services.

In Brighton, for example, Greens helped persuade the ruling Tory administration to drop plans to rip out a cycle path at a cost of over £1million.

In Oxford, Leader of the Green Group, Cllr David Williams put forward a costed budget which would have reversed some of Labour’s spending cuts. Greens wanted to cut the number of senior council officers and take back their recent 23% pay increase.

Lancaster Green Party’s local manifesto puts forward its vision for a fairer, greener society and explains in detail what Lancaster Green Councillors have done for their city. Local Cllr Andrew Kay says, “We will not stand by and watch the rich get richer, while ordinary people lose their jobs and the services they depend upon.”

In Norwich, where the Green Party is the second largest group on the Council, Greens have invested in renewable energy, spoken out against the crippling cuts and lobbied Government to deal with the financial difficulties in a fairer way.

Norwich’s Adrian Ramsay, Deputy Leader of the Green Party said: “A Robin Hood Tax of 0.05% on banks’ financial transactions, for example, could raise £20bn a year, more than the £18bn cut to welfare which includes housing benefits, disability benefits, child benefit and tax credits for the most deprived.

“Tax evasion and tax avoidance currently result in a national loss of almost £100bn. Collecting these sums would make our financial systems fairer and reduce the estimated UK deficit of £149bn in 2010/11.”

Over 1600 Green candidates are standing across the country. In Norwich and Brighton, Greens could take over the running of the Council.

In Bristol, the Greens may go from 1 councillor to 3 councillors, and the council may pass from Lib Dem control to NOC, leading to far greater leverage for Green councillors there.

In addition to Southville (where there is one Green councillor and a former councillor running this year), there are 5 seats in Bristol where the Greens are currently placing 2^nd (Ashley, Cabot, Cotham, Redland, Bishopston).

Reading, Bristol, South Hams and Reigate and Banstead are good prospects for the Greens attaining Group status. The party is also hoping to take its first seats on South Kesteven, Lewes and Bath councils. Greens have at least one candidate for 214 of the 281 Councils with elections.

The new Green Party local election broadcast can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BKo_NlwZOQ

When does a media source lose it’s independence?

Hard question to answer?

It always worried me when the Salford Star tried to get funding from the Council,i felt that if it did it’s teeth would be pulled. It failed but any one who reads it will see it keeps it’s honest approach and it shy s away from showing any political bias.

Perhaps others should remember that?

A team of Labour councillors have managed to come up with a plan which saves Ordsall library from re-locating!!!.

Funny we have just been to the May day protest at Bexley square and the Tusk people say it’s their pressure that as forced the issue. So who is telling the truth? i think i will go with Tusk, Labour do little unless put under pressure by the Public and seats ate at risk.

Well i never thought i would smile at the death of any one.

Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the attacks of September 11 and the man who ever since has remained an elusive, shadowy presence at the centre of perhaps the world’s greatest manhunt, has been killed by special forces troops at a compound two hours outside of Islamabad.

I remember the day the two towers collapsed and the death of so many innocent men and women,something i will never forget,I only hope this mans death brings some feeling of retribution to the people who suffered on that day those who were left.

This made me laugh.

Salford’s environment chief has reacted with fury to Tory plans to sell off allotments.

The plan – leaked in this mornings newspapers – would see an end to the historic right of people to have allotments.

Cllr Joe Murphy, Salford Council’s lead member for the environment, said: “Allotments are very popular and we have waiting lists.

“We want to identify new sites for allotments and somehow find the resources to bring them into use.

“They are good for the environment, good for health, and bring people together which is what I thought the ‘Big Society’ was about.

“We will fight against the Tory plan to get rid of allotments in the same we fought off their plans to sell off our forests.

“This is a bizarre plan from a Government which said it wanted to be the greenest ever!”

One more propaganda piece from Salfords New Labour

The fun part is no one reads it on the Labour web site so they use their new out let Salford Online…

Salford have no Green Policies untill the uproar by Local residents they were putting up the cost of these sites. It’s may and You will see every thing come out and end May the 6th

This amazed me i found it while reading back copies of a newspaper on the net

The entire print run of a highly critical and embarrassing account of Britain’s role in southern Afghanistan has been bought and pulped by the Ministry of Defence at a cost of more than £150,000.

A new edition, with some 50 words taken out, will be published this week despite continued opposition from within the ministry, officials said on Monday.

Dead Men Risen: The Welsh Guards and the Real Story of Britain’s War in Afghanistan, by Toby Harnden, says Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, the most senior soldier killed in war since the Falklands, lacked adequate equipment – including anti-IED protection – and sufficient manpower to do the job his soldiers were asked to do.

Thorneloe, a family friend of the author and commander of 1st Welsh Guards, was killed on 1 July 2009. The book draws from memos he sent to his commanders, including criticism of the British strategy.

The Guardian has obtained a copy of the book, which includes accounts of how civilians were killed by British forces. It describes a farmer being killed by a Javelin missile at night, how seven civilians, including six children, were killed by a 500lb bomb – an incident described by the Guardian from classified US material passed to WikiLeaks – and how eight civilians, including five children, were killed by a 500lb bomb fired by a French Mirage plane called in by British troops.

The book describes how in the summer of 2009 a British officer was mentoring Afghan troops who captured a six-man Taliban IED team. He later asked an Afghan sergeant major to see the prisoners so they could be tested for explosive residue, and charged, and processed.

The Afghan soldiers described how three of the prisoners were strangled to death as the others watched. The soldiers said the remaining three were shot in both kneecaps and ordered to crawl back to their villages to tell people what would happen to them if they laid IEDs.

British military police are understood to have carried out an inquiry into the incident but concluded there was insufficient evidence to take the matter further.

Harnden said the British officer, Major Rob Gallimore, had backed up the description of the incident involving the captured Afghans.

An MoD spokesman said: “The MoD has bought the entire first print run of the book. This action was taken because at a late stage the text of the book was found to contain information that could damage national security and put at risk the lives of members of the armed forces.”

He added: “Faced with the stark choice between compromising the security of members of the armed forces and their families and making payment to the publisher for amendments to a book which had already been printed, MoD had little option but to negotiate a settlement.”