Farage say there is no racism in party two weeks after former NF man elected to Kent County Council on a UKIP ticket

Farage is quoted on the BBC: "We are a non-racist, non-sectarian party and unlike every other party in British politics we actually forbid people who have been on extreme left or right-wing extremes from joining our party".

So why did he appoint Martyn Heale as his election agent for the 2005 general election and then allow Heale to stand and be elected to Kent County Council? Does he think that the National Front are not on the far right?

UKIP have admitted that Heale was a former senior member of the National Front, a story that was exposed two weeks ago in the Kent Messenger.

Not only is Farage wrong about his party, he is deliberately trying to mislead the public but then should we expect anything less from them?

HSBC: Stop destroying rainforests

HSBC: Stop destroying rainforests. Sign the 38 Degrees petition.

Greens on 6%

An Ipsos Mori poll out yesterday has put the Green Party on 6% just 4% behind the Lib Dems and way ahead of them in the 18 to 34 age bracket. This is the highest I have seen us in a national poll but it is clear that our polling has been climbing steadily over the past 5 years. Long may it continue

Homelessness in Maidstone

It is very clear that 'official' homelessness statistic are pretty flawed but they probably do tell a bit of a story. The story in Maidstone is that we have a problem, that the problem is growing, that Maidstone has the second highest level of homelessness in Kent and that the local council is failing people.

The Kent Messenger is reporting again about the numbers of people living in tents in and around town, this time in a local cemetery but we know that Cuckoo Woods also has an encampment. The council's response: to start thinking about a new housing strategy that reduces the number of affordable homes being built and increases the number of executive homes.

We need a council that is prepared to meet the homelessness challenge head on. That means:

• identifying places of safety for people
• focusing on new homes on those in need
• providing support for those who are suffering under the benefits decimation of the Lib Dems and Tories
• helping people into work
• not evicting people who can't afford the bedroom tax

Time for the council to wake up and help people.

This is how badly Maidstone is doing on homelessness. The figures are the 'official' figures per 1000 homes - clearly the real figure is much higher:

Ashford	0.84
Maidstone	0.69
Medway UA	0.60
Thanet	0.52
Dartford	0.51
Gravesham	0.43
Dover	0.35
Canterbury	0.31
Swale	0.29
Shepway	0.26
Tunbridge Wells	0.21
Sevenoaks	0.21
Tonbridge and Malling	0.16

No Drive Thru McDonalds in Fant

I was pleased to read that McDonalds plan for a drive through restaurant on the site of the old Renault garage on the Broadway has been rejected. Although I have warmed to McD's a little over recent months (which was difficult from my starting point), we don't need a McDonalds there - the traffic implications would be awful.

What we really need in the town is a good sized theatre and the Renault garage site would be a good spot to put it on.

400 reasons to put fire in the Green belly

Yesterday, for the first time in three million years, CO2 levels reached 400 parts per million. Just 30 years
ago when I was at school we were taught that CO2 was 0.03% of the atmosphere - now kids are taught a figure a third higher.

We all know the reason for the rise: burning fossil fuels - and we all know the consequences: catastrophic climate change.

Yet the media still talk in riddles. The BBC cast doubt yet again on the science this evening. The public seem to want to vote for a party that denies that climate change is man made and wants to stop renewable energy being available, a move that would scupper any chance of stopping runaway climate change while plunging the country into darkness in a few short years.

Let's use 400ppm as a wake up call. Let's get out there and take the political fight to every level of election, to every level of government and to every doorstep in the country. This is fight that we cannot afford to lose and one that our children and grandchildren cannot afford for us to lose.

It is time to put fire in our bellies to take the heat out of the air.

A21: road widening vs ancient woodland

This is from the Woodland Trust - please help the campaign.

The Highways Agency has resurrected plans to widen a stretch of the A21 between Tonbridge and Pembury in Kent. If these plans go ahead they will result in the direct loss of 9 hectares of irreplaceable ancient woodland.
Anyone who has visited the area will know that there are traffic issues and solutions need to be found. However this scheme will have a substantial negative impact on the local environment whilst in all likelihood only being a short term fix for the problem.