Green revolution

20/05/2011 | By Rhiannon Bury

The Green Party this month won an historic victory to take control of its first council. Here, in an exclusive interview with Rhiannon Bury, Brighton & Hove’s new leader Bill Randall reveals his plans

All things being well Bill Randall will create a little bit of history today.

The long-time housing activist is set to write his name into the record books by becoming the first ever Green leader of a UK council, after the party won 23 of 54 seats in Brighton & Hove’s local elections two weeks ago.

As Inside Housing went to press it was still ‘squeaky bum time’ as the party awaited confirmation of Mr Randall’s leadership – but only an unexpected last minute bid by Labour or Conservative councillors to form a minority coalition administration with another party could derail the Green celebrations.

Mr Randall is in a confident but reflective mood when Inside Housing meets him in the shade of a Brighton pub on a gloriously sunny day shortly after news of his leadership broke.

‘It’s been a long process,’ he says of his new status. ‘The first Green Party councillor [in Brighton] was elected in 1996, we had six in 2003 and 12 in 2007. Then Caroline Lucas was elected last year as the first Green MP.’

With an MP and now the town hall, Brighton is truly the nation’s Green power base. So – barring a last minute disaster – what will the country’s first Green council mean for housing and what will Mr Randall bring to the mix Read the full Story by following the link below

http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/sustainability/green-revolution/6514987.article

Bahrain visit: Cameron embraces tyranny

As President Obama tells the Middle East to embrace democracy, the Prime Minister welcomes Bahrain’s Crown Prince to Britain In Bahrain, it was another day of violence and repression as the Saudi-backed Al-Khalifa dynasty continued to clamp down on protesters demanding a better life for the repressed Shia majority.

But in Downing Street, David Cameron exchanged a warm handshake with Bahrain’s Crown Prince, Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa. While other Arab tyrants feel the full force of British disapproval, Sheikh Salmas here on a mission to repair the damaged reputation of his dynasty. His visit prompted an outcry from politicians and civil rights campaigners.

Source the Independent

Look after growth, and the deficit will look after itself.

Stagnation decay all words i could use to describe my views of the British economy. What future do we have for the long term jobless tarred with the stigma by this Government of work shy. I looked at the vacancies that appeared this week, unless you fancy selling burgers or windows there seems little chance for people today to have any dreams or aspirations.I think this week in the local council saw the real civic leadership nil and void and nationally we see the so called coalition squabbling daily. With more cuts to come in Salford  i worry that the cupboard is bare Mr Merry will have nothing left to play with and the only real alternative will be job losses. The Council runs on a shoe string borrowing is at an all time high and without the financial juggling of it’s treasurer i dread to think what the next three years will bring. I think if any one looked closely at the jobs created within Salford there are very few,i would class us in reality a commuter town, a base for people to run between Manchester.Mr Merry will of course quote peel quays or Peel City  But i would ask one question would i be wrong in saying that the same thing will happen in media city as his councillors said about the court in swinton. Jobs will be created Cleaners  ushers and manual help? not real jobs… If we don’t create growth we create nil tax receipts services shrink people don’t spend and the economy shrinks recovery will be something that will take years.if we look after the pennies the pounds will come.My thought of the day.