80p a drink as violence escalates

The front page of the Kent Messenger tells how violence has escalated in Maidstone since the introduction of cheap alcohol promotions at some of the nightclubs.

Maidstone has around 14,000 clubbers at the weekend (compared to its 95,000 population), and while the level of trouble has been relatively low in the past it seems that cheap alcohol is fueling problems. I suspect there is also a more general feeling of anxiety which is a factor, with the economic and housing squeeze, which is exacerbating both the mood and the willingness to drink more.

We need to find answers to these issues and building communities and a strong localised economy are key. Maidstone suffers with its sense of community as a commuter town, bringing work closer to home helps build that sense of identity and build a shared sense of responsibility. Drowning our sorrows is not the answer.

Palestine Solidarity in Maidstone

Amazingly, just up the road from me was a large Palestine Flag hanging across the front of a house and a campaign trailer sat outside.

I've lived here for seven years and there has been so little of this sort of political activity, and this is such a welcome sight.

Coupled with the recent NO2ID campaign kicking off here and Maidstone Friends of the Earth getting some new blood, there is hope!

Under 18's LGBT night in Maidstone

"Britain's first organised under-18s night for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people is being held in Maidstone."

This is a surprise first. Just three years ago Hazel Dawe (chair of Kent Green Party) was speaking at a protest outside County Hall to get Kent County Council to lift its own version of the Section 28 ban on Kent schools. This was lifted last year (possibly in 2006).

Maidstone gets libertarian!

Shame its in a pub, but never the less it's welcome news.

20mph outside schools spurned by KCC

Kent County Council lack imagination and political will. There should be a blanket 20mph speed limit across all urban areas, not just outside schools.

The fact that no children were killed outside schools during the last 10 years is good to hear, but reinforces the need for a blanket urban speed limit of 20mph.

29 children still died while being pedestrians in the last 10 years, this is 29 too many. Urban speeds need to fall dramatically, there is no need to do 30mph in town.

Personal letter from the Lib Dems

Just received a 'personal' (i.e. mail merged) letter from Peter Carroll (LibDem prospective parliamentary candidate for Maidstone) asking for my vote and telling me that he is fighting to stop hospital cuts, wants more people prosecuted for crime and criticising local councils for being wasteful. Sorry Pete, but strangely enough I've decided to vote for someone else instead... oh, by the way the LibDems have been more or less running Maidstone Borough Council for the last 20 years (except for the last few months), are your 'wasteful' comments directed at your collegues? I assume that he is writing to all voters in the constituency (65,000) - at 30p each, about £20,000 - political parties are not given a level playing field in this country, another affront to democracy, but hey ho it's just one more nail in the coffin?

Meanwhile Helen Grant, Tory ppc has been offered the chair of Maidstone Museum. Helen's only connection with the town (as far as I know) is that she will be a parliamentary candidate, and while she stands a good chance of being the MP here, this is an overtly political appointment. It smacks of all the usual Tory distaste for local people.

To ensure balance, this was pointed out by James Grieve and Ben Six and is a poignant reminder of one of the many reasons why I got into politics:



Finally, the Kingsnorth Six go on trial on Monday in Maidstone. Just as the film above and the recent climate camp showed, the right to protest and the right to free speech have been quashed. I shall probably be arrested for blogging soon...

Obscene photos

These don't even look real, I assume they are.

The message that these houses give reinforces the need to social justice to be at the heart of the Green message. While huge profits are raked in at the expense of both people and the environment, the world will not make the leap to sustainability.

Ghandi said there is enough for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed.

Morality of politicians screw Georgians

I don't blog much on foreign affairs but this superb letter by Rupert Read (lead Green Party Euro candidate for Eastern Region) needs to be shown around. Our 'business as usual' politicians put tyrants into power in other countries and then when things go wrong they complain. The letter speaks for itself...

From the New Statesman:

With reference to your cover story on Russia and Georgia ("Superpower swoop", 18 August), it is as hilarious as it is pitiful to hear architects and avid backers of the illegal 2003 attack on Iraq (such as George W Bush and David Miliband) giving Russia stern lectures about respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia.

The deeper issue here, however, is that the US and the UK are reaping the whirlwind of a long period of craven backing for Putin's Russia. Just as Saddam Hussein was our creature, backed by us for years with military, economic and diplomatic help, so Vladimir Putin could never have risen to the heights of power - and tyranny - that he now has without the strong backing of Bush, Blair et al.

Our governments have pretended for the past 15 years that Russia is a democracy - while the opposition, independent businesses and the media were disempowered and murdered. Our governments have warmly welcomed Russia into their exclusive club, the G8.

What Russia is now doing is sickening, but it is not surprising. And our leaders have no moral authority to stand up to it.

Councillor Rupert Read

Norwich

Engagement at its best?

Being the sad 'wonk' that I am, I try to read all the minutes and briefings from Maidstone Borough Council that I can. I found this fascinating statement from Cllr Richard Ash (Tory councillor for Bearsted - the village which will surrounded by KIG or houses) in a cabinet briefing:

"I have met with Alison Broom (Director of Operations) and David Edwards (Director of Change and Support Services), together with Alasdair Robertson (Business Manager, Operations) and Neil Harris (Democratic Services) by way of a briefing document."

How can you meet with someone by way of a briefing document? Drop them an email, perhaps? Does the definition of meeting only kick in when you have had a reply to your email?

He has made a start on decisions and it's good to see him hit the ground running: "My two decisions so far have been to give permission for one room in Maidstone House to be given over to a Members Library and this Friday (13 June) the Complaints Department will close down early as they move over the weekend.". Fantastic, radical stuff...

Mind you, things are no better over the hill in Medway. Their councillor who "spearheaded a 'root and branch' reform of the council's housing department" (screwed up) their social housing has kept his cabinet position bizarrely. Thanks for Save-Kent this story.

Non Violent Direct Mail - more on democracy

Received a letter from Unlock Democracy yesterday asking for help in delivering leaflets to local people in Maidstone. This is a great organisation, campaigning for

• Fair, Open and Honest Elections
• Rights, Freedoms and a Written Constitution
• Stronger Parliament and Accountable Government
• Bringing Power Closer to the People
• A Culture of Informed Political Interest and Responsibility

It appears that the leaflet will be on electoral reform, something that we are particularly keen on... getting people engaged with politics is essential, too many people could not give a damn about voting, politics and do not trust politicians - and who can blame them when we have a system that forces a choice between tweedledum and tweedledee.

Our disgusting lack of democracy and representation in this country is surely at the root of much of the malaise in bother voter engagement and in the direction and attitude of government. Labour are in power with the majority of MPs after just 22% of the electorate voted for them - a year 7 pupil could unpick the absurdity of this.

Like a self fulfilling prophecy, people feel disengaged with our current system and campaigning against it is low on their agenda. I posted a comment a few months ago about the Tory aim to hold every seat in Kent. Based on recent polls, and the lack of proportional representation, this is possible and would mean that the percentage of voters in Kent who do not have a MP of their persuasion will rise from 22% in 2005 to 54% in 2010. 54% of people are likely to vote against the Tories yet they could win all 17 seats. Although not down to Mugabe's standards it is still impressive.

NO2ID kicks off in Maidstone

Attended the inaugural meeting of Maidstone NO2ID last night, a great meeting with about seven people plus the regional coordinator. It is great to see a campaign group in Maidstone that is not focussing on a NIMBY issue (not that I have any problem with locally focussed campaigns, just that other campaigns seem very light on the ground here). The timing is interesting with the home office losing another data stick with 84,000 confidential records on it yesterday.

A lot of good ideas about street stalls and how to engage with the public were discussed, although I did get rather heated after the hearing about what a wonderful champion of civil liberties David Davis is (check out his stance on the death penalty, LGBT issues, 28 day detention etc.).

Of course the Tories are full of ordinary people like him, championing our rights. Ordinary people like Boris Johnson, the 8 greats grandson of George II. Personally, I find it very difficult to relate to these Old-Etonians. I grew upmostly in the Medway Towns (with about 3 years in Maidstone). The people in Medway are great, down to earth, dealing with the same issues that we all deal with. I certainly didn't grow up knowing anyone from a privilidged background. (Hmm... classist rant now over).

CCTV and Tory intolerance

Alan Duncan has hit out at Brian Haw and the anti-war protest: 'The anti-war protest outside Parliament is a "vulgar and pointless display" which should be permanently moved' as reported in politics.co.uk. The legitimacy of rightful protest has taken a battering this month with Kingsnorth and now this outburst by this senior Tory. Perhaps he could get the antiwar protest to disperse if the Tories win the next general election, by getting his new government to withdraw troups from Iraq, Afganistan etc. and to ensure that we don't get involved in any more illegal wars.

Elsewhere CCTV has hit the news again. 10% of schools have CCTV in the toliets according to teachers. I seem to recall that two schools in Maidstone have done this. This surely is one of the most appalling uses of CCTV possible - we already have the highest ratio of cameras to people in the world (1 to 13). We are filmed and monitored almost constantly as we move around outside, especially in towns. They have replaced our duty to look out for each other, replaced the community cohesion that used to give a feeling of security. We have to reverse the trend.

On a similar vein, the NO2ID campaign kicks off in Maidstone on Thursday. If you are free, join us at The Muggleton at 6.30.

A Green New Deal

I need to plug this fantastic paper published by the New Economics Foundation. A Green New Deal is an impressive view of the crunches that are hitting the world and sets out what we can do about it.

From their website: "The global economy is facing a ‘triple crunch’: a combination of a credit-fuelled financial crisis, accelerating climate change and soaring energy prices underpinned by encroaching peak oil. It is increasingly clear that these three overlapping events threaten to develop into a perfect storm, the like of which has not been seen since the Great Depression, with potentially devastating consequences."

The credit crunch hit us all last year, with the ensuing economic downturn. The political spin on the effects is as expected "it will be over by Christmas" etc. although they seem to be getting a bit more wobbly as time goes on. They might be right if it weren't for the energy crunch that is driving inflation up. Fuel and food are far higher than this time last year, and people are feeling it with inflation at 4.4% in July.

The climate crunch is slower to feel, Al Gore's analogy of 'how to boil a frog' is all too true. The effects are being felt: 150,000 deaths each year due to climate change; environmental refugees arriving in the UK; today's reports from the Indy on rapid coastal erosion - and a further interesting piece with welcome comments by Lord Smith the new head of the Environment Agency; and jellyfish invasions around the coast. The climate crunch might be less obvious to individuals but it is starting to get noticed here.

The energy crunch, peak oil, peak gas, peak coal etc, has had a stark effect over the past 12 months. Fuel prices soared in the spring (£1.40 for a litre of diesel) and seem to have abated as the economic downturn bites. The volatility of oil prices must not be underestimated and the high prices are driven by consumption and demand which has lowered a little in the past few months. The economics of oil mean that uneconomic supplies become viable as prices rise increasing the volatility further. Gas supplies are particularly fragile in the UK and while we have some coal left the speed at which all the ancient stored sunlight is being used up means that we need renewables more urgently than ever before.

Green Bloggers Poll gets it soooo wrong

Jim at The Daily (Maybe) has put me at number 10 on his list of top green bloggers. Firstly, I want to make it clear that no money changed hands... that said, I have no idea how he could put me above some of my favourite blogs and I can't believe that he didn't list Throbgoblins at all. Throbgoblins is simply the funniest take on green issues that I have found - please visit their site!

Anyway Jim is keen on democracy and has set up a poll to select the reader's choice for best green blog. I've already voted for myself and increased my vote to one. I don't need any more votes so please have a look at the list and vote for someone else.

This is the list and below is the voting thingummy:

1	Two Doctors
2	Bean Sprouts
3	Green Girls Global
4	Kitchen Witch
5	Ruscombe Green
6	Peter Tatchell
7	Barkingside 21
8	Earthpal
9	Greenpeace UK
10	Stuart's Big Green Spot
11	Flesh is grass
12	Gaian Economics
13	Johnny Void
14	Coventry Green Party
15	Jenny Jones
16	Philobiblon
17	Ecostreet
18	Hippy Shopper
19	Transition Culture
20	Alice in Blogland

Greens have a key role to play in combating the BNP

Great pieces from Caroline and the Observer today (see below). The key message is for activists to get out and talk to the electorate. The only way we can move forward is to engage, listen and persuade; to get our message across and become visible and known.

We have had very little BNP activitiy in Maidstone, fortunately, and long may this continue. And when we talk about how to keep our place as the fourth party nationally - in Maidstone the race is between Labour and Green for third place.

This is from Caroline:

Greens have a key role to play in combating the BNP, says Lucas

Caroline Lucas, who is standing to be the Green Party's first leader in September, today issued a stark warning that only the Green Party has the answers to combat the BNP.

She was adding to a growing national debate, lead by the Observer, highlighting that Britain needs the Greens to be the growing force in politics, not the BNP.

She said:

“The rise of the BNP has been rapid. In the absence of political hope, voters have turned to them as a political protest. Every council seat gained, together with the recent London Assembly seat they have won, have been targeted towards promoting their leader, Nick Griffin, to a position of power.

“Britain has faced down the rise of the far right in tough economic times before, and it must do so again.

“It’s time for people to come off the sidelines and re-engage the British public with politics they can believe in.

“Unlike Labour, Greens will never pander to racism and prejudice – but we will work for a better future for everyone, wherever they live.

“Our Councillors are constantly striving to tackle unemployment, poverty and poor housing, the very things that create the bitterness and sense of abandonment that the BNP attempts to exploit.

“Green Councillors work hard on the ground, and never take their wards for granted, as so many other councillors do.

“The Green Party is playing its part in promoting positive, progressive politics wherever we can. We urge anyone who wants to take racism and prejudice out of politics to join us and work for a better future, for everyone.”

Contact:

Matt Hanley 07766 592126

Notes:

Caroline Lucas MEP is standing against Ashley Gunstock to be elected as the Green Party’s first ever Leader. The vote will be counted on Saturday 5 September at Conference in London. For more information, visit:

http://www.carolinelucas.org.uk/

http://www.greenparty.org.uk/leadership-elections

The Observer today outlines why the Greens must beat the BNP

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/17/greenpolitics.thefarright

Police hold Green for 5 hours, a personal account

On the back of some obnoxious comments in the press today about the climate camp protesters, I thought I would share an email from Matt Wootton, a Green Party member in Lancaster, about his treatment by Kent Police:

From Matt:

I just wanted to share some of the political perspectives I gained through being arrested, handcuffed and put in a police cell for just a few hours at the climate camp at the weekend http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/3504 "Police hold Green activist for five hours for possession of Vitamin C."

Obviously my arrest was not a usual occurrence, for me or for the police. As Derek Wall said at the weekend: "This is another example of how over-the-top the policing of this event has been. This shows that the priority of the police is not to protect the public but to suppress legitimate protest."

But I pity anybody that's in that sort of cell for more than a few hours. It was a windowless, concrete, plain white cell. It had a bed - well - a platform with a sort of plastic-covered thin hard foam mattress, a metal toilet, and a sink inset into the wall. The only good thing about it was the acoustic, but after a couple of hours I had run out of slightly melancholy a cappella folk songs to sing (a sign of the times is that I stopped myself from singing in any foreign language in case I was overhead and it started a line of enquiry about my right to remain in the UK or something ridiculous).

There was a "sink" of sorts (like you get on a Virgin train), inset into the wall, that you could just about get our hands into, not anything else. It spurted out hot water that was - I suppose - drinkable, but not exactly what you'd call drinking water. There was a metal toilet without a seat, but no toilet roll. There was a "bed" (and an equally hard pillow); I loved it because I have a bad back, but not to everybody's tastes... There was no blanket of course. Everybody is tacitly treated as a suicide risk, hence no blanket, no toilet roll, no towel, plastic fork at meal times.....

After I was released I heard of a tale at the camp of a 14 year old boy who had been arrested and kept in his cell with no clothes at all, apparently because he was deemed a "suicide risk" (maybe he answered affirmatively to the question I was (I'm sure routinely) asked by the custody officer: "Have you ever self-harmed?"). Taking his clothes away is, I'm fairly sure, a contravention of the code of practice that detentions operate under. The most ridiculous aspect of this is that I can't think of anything more likely to make a 14-year old WANT to commit suicide than being arrested (probably for the first time in his young life) on possibly a spurious charge, stripped naked, and put in a cell without any proper drinking water, anything
to drink out of, and a metal toilet bowl where you're obliged to wipe your ass with your hand. (Thankfully I didn't need to go...). This kind of treatment makes it pretty clear to me why people in this country - rightly or wrongly - consider the police to be "bastards".

When people are on remand (i.e. charged but not yet brought to trial) I take it they are kept in better conditions than a police holding cell...? I'm not an expert on this so I would be grateful for anybody's input if you know.

It certainly puts the 42 days detention debate in a different light: if it possible to spend up to 42 days WITHOUT charge and it is just an "ordinary" police cell that one is being kept in, then I have every sympathy for whatever "barmy" LibDem it was (was it Norman Baker?) who called for televisions to be provided for those in detention. Of course television should be provided. Why? Because if we are to take the maxim "innocent until proven guilty" at face value, then police holding cells need to actually be more like secure
waiting rooms than punishment rooms. This sounds terribly wet, but it isn't, because until you are charged you are waiting for the police to make a case just that you MIGHT be guilty. At the moment it seems that the police's maxim might as well be "punishment begins at the front door to the police station", when in fact "punishment" (if such a thing is warranted at all, which is a different debate) should and must in my opinion only be meted out AFTER sentencing has occurred, not long before.

Apart from anything else, the kind of psychological effect on one's mental wellbeing that sensory deprivation starts to have on a detainee is obvious and completely unwarranted. The police should not be damaging (even temporarily) the psychological health of (potentially) innocent people, or preferably anyone for that matter.

I spent two periods of an hour at a stretch in the cell and each time - in the absence of natural light, human company, my phone, entertainment or a clock, that hour felt like 30 minutes (time flies when you're having fun). If a few hours in and out of a cell has that much of a disorientating effect on me, I hate to think what it would do to someone after a day, three days, a fortnight. Nobody deserves to be disorientated to that degree; it's bordering on cruel and usual punishment, although it does have one effect that the police probably like: it makes you feel powerless. This, I would suggest, is not a healthy thing in itself, and has implications for the exercise of an individual's rights in the face of a will more powerful than their own.

Enough of the cell: my very brief experience of a British police station generally has shown me that the police are all too eager (perhaps unintentionally yet casually) to abuse their discretion: in my case for example by not allowing me a phone call to tell my girlfriend when I was likely to get out (and indeed, more than once claiming they were "too busy" (they didn't look that busy to me)). This privilege was denied despite being clearly granted in paragraph 5.6 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) Code of Practice C, which of course has been scrutinised by Parliament. After telling me that him granting me a phone call was "at his discretion" the custody officer's mouth nearly dropped into his plastic cup of coffee when I answered him by saying that surely Annex B paragraphs 1 and 2 did not apply in this instance... The police are so used to having power that the operate on this discretion, rather than on the rules, in my limited experience.

On the whole, I have to say the police were fairly reasonable. The custody officer in particular was an intelligent and witty man, who even expressed privately that he thought campaigning against the government's Climate Change policy was a "good cause" that he supported.

But the level of "customer service" stills leaves a lot to be desired. Even when I was released without charge and allowed to return straight away to the camp, there was not an apology as such. And my innocent wallet was retained, and I was obliged to pay a taxi cab £17 to take me back to the camp (where I was promptly searched again..!!). Many people would scoff at the idea that the police should be providing customer service. But if innocent people are actually to be treated as if they are indeed innocent, we still have a long way to go.

Another issue of course is the fingerprinting and the DNA swabs that we taken from me and put on the national police database. If we are to complain about abuse of personal data, surely this is the sort of thing we need to take up our time with: this is taken completely by force, and unlike the protection afforded me by the Data Protection Act I have no right to ask the police to delete my details. I am not alone in being added to the database: only last week an unrelated headline in the local Cumbrian newspaper The Westmorland Gazette ran: "HUNDREDS of children and dozens of pensioners have had their DNA recorded in South Lakeland and stored in a national database. Cumbria Police, operating in South Lakeland, have taken DNA samples from 872 children aged 15-years-old and younger, including 18 aged ten years or younger – a revelation described by one Kendal councillor as “truly horrific”. " http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/3581858.DNA_stored_on_police_data_base/

People don't trust the police in this country, and the lack of civility in police custody reinforces an idea that the police are indeed a "paramilitary" sort of operation, and that while in their care you should expect different standards of service than you should expect of the rest of the British state. Surely that link of public trust needs to be restored - all but the most idealised Green society will make use of a police force. And surely we need a police force that DOES provide 21st century levels of customer service, one that can truly demonstrate that it takes the maxim "innocent until proven guilty" seriously, and can inspire respect instead of resentment...?

Matt Wootton - Green Party

Was Monbiot right?

Monbiot set greens alight with his recent comment: "I have now reached the point at which I no longer care whether or not the answer is nuclear." He repeated this on Newsnight to a gloating Malcolm Wicks who accused Monbiot of being a slow learner. Monbiot qualified his statement on Newsnight with a series of ifs: not paid for by tax payers, safe storage and decomissioning sorted out etc. He states that he wants carbon replaced with anything and replaced quickly. Monbiot's blog goes on to mention recent reports that show that our current electricity supply can be fully replaced by a range of renewables.

So has George sold out? Has he backed nuclear?

Firstly, the qualifying statement that taxpayers should not pay: as no insurance companies will underwrite nuclear at present (and certainly not on a 250,000 year policy), the only logical assumption is that governments (taxpayers) will pay. If the company pays in the short term, these costs are pushed on to consumers (taxpayers) anyway. Head they win tails we lose. This all conspires to prevent nuclear being affordable...

Secondly, safe storage and decommissioning: having to store spent nuclear fuel for 250,000 until it is safe is a bit difficult. Humans have been around for maybe 100,000 years. A guarentee that storing anything like nuclear fuel for that time period is plainly nonsense. Guaranteeing it for 20 years is almost impossible.

These are just two of the arguments that the green movement has continually used against nuclear power. You could easily suggest that all greens would be happy with nuclear if all the problems were eliminated.

I don't think Monbiot was being that radical... and I don't think he was backing nuclear.

What is very sad was that Monbiot didn't rip Wicks to shreds with his slow learner quip.

Kingsnorth Closed...

Great photo from Indymedia.

We need a strategy...

Defra's chief adviser says: we need strategy to adapt to potential catastrophic increase

Gordon Brown says: stop these protesters at any cost, we must keep Kingsnorth pumping out CO2. How about arresting them for have Vitamin C (Green Party's Matt Wooton) or stopping their food getting into the camp? Oh, but don't upset the fuel protesters on the Medway tomorrow.

There has been a couple of comments added to the Indymedia pages saying that the residents of Hoo are want coal burning to continue to keep them in work. It is important to remember that taken out of context this is true. Put into context, where we need a workforce to provide renewable energy - a workforce that is alive and has not been killed off by climate change, the comments become a knee jerk reaction against change. One thing is for certain, change is coming.

My brother-in-law, Jeffrey Gash, grew up in the caravan park in Hoo and worked at Grain power station for many years. His childhood home stands no chance against climate change and is just a few feet about sea level. I spoke to him last night to ask for his reaction to screwing the planet to prevent having to change jobs... 'ridiculous' is the one printable answer I got from him. The real problem is the billions who live in regions that will sink as sea levels rise, can we really hang on to outdated jobs in the face of disaster?

Proportionality

Spot the difference:

1. A 6 day protest that brings the country to a standstill, puts essential services into emergency measures, closes down energy supply, but results in a very low police presences, few arrests (I could only find one report of one person being arrested).

2. Eight years later in Kent when 80 lorries drove slowly to London protesting at the cost of fuel, disrupting traffic, attracted the presence of two police cars.

3. Peace activists camping in Kingsnorth on a legitimate protest before direct action to highlight the madness of a power station that will emit more CO2 than Ghana. Highlighting catastrophic climate change that will kill billions, consign our children to a life of misery and struggle. Attracts thousand of police who have been ordered to intimidate and bully legitimate protesters.

Bizarre. Who said politicians were there to serve the people? Perhaps Norman Baker should propose that MPs swear allegiance to Shell / Exxon / BP rather than the Queen.

Good luck for the direct action!

Just discovered that there is a fuel protest on the River Medway tomorrow. I bet that the 80 boats due to take part are allowed to without intimidation by the police.

NO2ID in Maidstone

NO2ID are launching a Maidstone group. Having been a big fan of NO2ID, this is great news. Please try to get along!

Maidstone has just one of two interrogation centres in Kent (the other is in Dover). According to No2ID:

"From 2007 onwards when people as young as 16 apply for their first adult passport, they will* have to attend their nearest interrogation centre. There they will be subject to background checks, questioning to test their story against official records, photographs, and, before long, fingerprinting. Registration on the national ID database(s) - the 'National Identity Register' or NIR - will follow."

Stuart

Thu, 21st Aug 2008 — Maidstone NO2ID - Inaugural meeting

Maidsone NO2ID group will be having its first meeting at:

Place: Muggleton Inn, 8-9 High Street, Maidstone, ME14 1HJ

Time: Thursday 21 August, 6.30pm

All welcome. Please bring a friend.

Further details: Adrienne Margolis on maidstone@no2id.net

If you're unable to attend, but are interested in the activity of the group, please join the Maidstone mailing list on:

http://lists.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id.maidstone

Police paid £3 million to intimidate protesters?

Apparently Gordon Brown's sunk £3 million into disrupting peaceful protest, trying to bully climate campers and distrupting Hoo, near Rochester. The police presence at the camp is phenomenal and a ridiculous waste of money, time and carbon. One of the people at the camp told me the police effort was claimed, by them, to be carbon neutral. Apparently smoking doesn't cause cancer anymore either.

The intimidation is endemic and all the more reason for people to go along to show that we won't be put off by them. The night time disturbances are probably the best example of political policing, my friend, Trish told me that they started playing Wagner from the helicopter at 2am Wednesday morning. Forget stop and search / obstruction / charges by riot police - I utterly fail to understand what grounds the police have to be able to play Ride of the Valkyries at 2am. Mind you the choice of music says it all. They are preventing the food delivery vehicle from entering the site and there was a steady stream of food being wheelbarrowed onto the site, subject to stop and search each time (the police just love searching greens???).

Anyway a round up of the news from the camp. The Kent Messenger continued its great coverage today, Trish Marchant, who stood in Boxley Ward, gets a good mention and the paper devoted a whole page to the camp. Caroline Lucas has written to the 'Gold Commander' to complain about the appalling behaviour of the police. Hazel Dawe, chair of Kent Greens has written to Mike Fuller on similar grounds. Hazel has also spoken out about about 'Checkpoint Charlie'. Having spent an hour and a half there this afternoon, I think the description is apt.

All this stupidity by the police and Gordon Brown just resolves us to campaign more.

One thing that the police keep repeating is 'health and safety'. I passed a number of people talking on their mobile phones while driving as I cycled to Kingsnorth, but I couldn't see the police arresting them. As for 'health and safety' - how can the devastation that climate change will bring match H&S concerns?

Finally, impressive stuff from Lego Land, they have built their own powerstation complete with direct action protest.


Checkpoint Charlie:

Tomorrow is the day of action at Kingsnorth. It will need to be very well planned - but should be interesting.

LibDems show they grey credentials

Letter to the Kent Mesenger:

Dear Editor,

For the last few years the Liberal Democrats have been trying to convince Maidstone that they are green, however their selection of a high profile fuel tax protester, Peter Carroll, as parliamentary candidate shows their real colour - grey.

Reducing tax on petrol and diesel would be disastrous for the planet and the benefits would be very short lived. Fuel prices are set to continue to rise in the future and in little time any short term savings would disappear. What is required is rapid investment in alternatives to cars as the main form of transport and a localisation of the economy so that we don't transport goods thousands of miles but produce them locally wherever possible.

These two initiatives would save people money, reduce pollution and create jobs - all much needed in a time of recession and climate change, but if government were to give way and reduce tax on fuel the investment for these initiatives would be very hard to find. I also doubt that Mr Carroll, as a haulage boss, would be keen on reducing the need for long distance freight - turkeys don't usually vote for Christmas.

Clearly local Lib Dems are targeting a populist vote rather than trying to convince people to vote for principled policies made with a positive future in mind.

Stuart Jeffery
Green Party parliamentary candidate for Maidstone and the Weald

Assualt with a deadly crayon

More coverage of Kingsnorth.

It looks like the police found a knife, chain and a padlock in woodland somewhere near Hoo and are claiming that climate protesters put them there - this from the beeb. Perhaps if I break into my neighbour's shed I'll find a knife, padlock and chain - could I claim that the police put them there? The best find was a knife block... chefs around the country should panic - I recon that this is the evidence that we need to get Gordon Ramsey locked up. And forget the knives, that block is a leathal missile, better than any stone that might be found laying about in a field. the 1400 police that it took to find them are 'very very worried' about the 150 protesters that might use them.

Firstly, the 150 protesters would have never have managed to find the knives - it took almost ten times as many police to dicover them. Secondly there are just five knives... that would be one between 30 and make the protesters less tooled up than much of London appears to be on a Saturday night???

The MP for Rochester is having a go at the police too. I hope he is doing more than just speaking out - he should be talking directly to the Chief Constable.

Asst Chief Constable Gary Beautridge said: "There is no justification whatsoever for having these weapons." - Well bloody well put them back then! If they belong to you why did you but them in the first place, if they don't belong to you why did you steal them from some poor resident of Hoo?

My biggest concern is for the weapons stolen from the camp by the police. The board game was clearly planned to be played and the crayons were likely to cause a mess in the hands of children.

Good to see the police upholding press freedoms yesterday: "Media were today strictly banned from entering the conflict zone where a standoff between police and protestors continued today.

Finally, This letter went from Hazel Dawe, Chair of Kent Green Party to the police yesterday. If you have been as disgusted with the actions of the police as we have, then write and tell them too.

The following open letter was sent today to Mike Fuller, Chief Constable of Kent in protest at the heavy handed policing at Kingsnorth. It has also been circulated to media outlets.

TO: Mike Fuller, Chief Constable, Kent Police

FROM: Dr Hazel Dawe, Chair, KENT GREEN PARTY

5th August 2008

27 Audley Avenue, Tonbridge, Kent TN9 1XF - 01732 355185


Dear Mike Fuller,

FREEDOM TO PROTEST OR FREEDOM TO POLLUTE?

I am concerned at reports I am receiving from Green Party members at the Climate Camp near Kingsnorth power station of heavy handed policing. As Chief Constable of Kent I am assuming that you are in overall control of this operation despite the fact that apparently police from at least 24 forces across the country are involved. Please note that our MEP, Caroline Lucas, has already complained to Kent Police about the theft of utterly innocuous items from the Camp. Since when did children's crayons become an offensive weapon or various items for making the site sanitary become an issue for the police?

I note that the 1485 police officers deployed in this operation outnumbered those at the Camp by about 5 to 1 On Sunday 3rd August. This is a serious waste of taxpayers' money. I also note that a Green Party London Assembly member, Jenny Jones, was obliged to complain about the 6 to 1 level of policing at the previous Climate Camp, at Heathrow last year. We object to the over-policing of a peaceful demonstration including a constant helicopter presence as illegitimate and an unjustifiable use of public funds.

One Green Party member reports feeling disgusted and upset by the police tactics being used. I am amazed and alarmed that people are being searched at one check point and handed a 'ticket' which confirms they have been searched and this 'ticket'; is then being demanded at the gate to the Camp. This was not the case at the Heathrow Climate Camp which I attended in 2007. A single search at the gate was all that was deemed necessary. This would appear to be in breach of the right to freedom of association and freedom of peaceful assembly - rights which are guaranteed by Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights to which this country is a signatory. Please can you explain the logic behind this overly bureaucratic and apparently intimidatory tactic?

I am informed that another Green Party member - from Kent - has been assaulted by the police. He was part of a human chain which engaged in passive resistance when a large number of police attempted to enter the site of the Climate Camp without permission. I am told that the protestors did not engage in violence themselves but simply joined hands to protect the privacy of the camp itself.  In turn this Green Party member was pushed by a police officer. Another Green Party member was knocked over.

Police officers have claimed that they are anticipating trouble at the site. What I have been told indicates that the behaviour of certain police officers at the site is calculated to intimidate some members of the camp and to incite others. This is shameful and well below the customary standards of policing in this County.  

I do hope that you, as Chief Constable  of Kent, will take steps to ensure that the behaviour of the officers acting within your area remains within acceptable operational guidelines i.e. that the right of citizens of this country to peaceful protest is upheld by officers and not hindered and that no violence is instigated by police officers. At present, this is clearly not the case. Instead, a return to the unacceptable practices of the Miners' Strike of 1984-85 is being enacted: practices which led to long term damage to relations between the public and the police in mining communities. I have urged those affected at the Camp to review your actions through the Police Complaints Commission, as the behaviour of police in Kent at Kingsnorth is wholly unacceptable. I expect to receive your assurances immediately that no further antagonistic or aggressive behaviour on the part of the Police will occur.

Yours faithfully,

Dr Hazel Dawe, Chair,
KENT GREEN PARTY

Disgraceful police actions at Kingsnorth

The actions by the police at Kingsnorth are truly appalling. Watching the footage of police in riot gear storming the camp yesterday left me extremely angry. Their attempt to justify a raid on the site for 'health and safety' reasons because a van was blocking an entrance is pathetic. They have smashed windows, towed away vehicles and attacked protesters in the name of 'health and safety' - surely this is vandalism, theft and assult?

The Chair of Kent Green Party will be writing an open letter to Michael Fuller about the behaviour and Jenny Jones (Green Party Assembly Member for teh London Assembly) will be raising this with the Met.

In the news, Caroline Lucas has condemned the actions in the Guardian, Derek Eagle appears at the front of the climate march photo and Maidstone Greens get a mention too.

Check out No New Coal and Indymedia too. One of the police dropped their policing manual produced by the "National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit". Treating a legitimate peaceful protest focusing on the biggest challenge that mankind has ever faced as extremist is dreadful and is a clear example of political policing.

Climate Action Kingsnorth

The climate action started this weekend with great media coverage and positive support from the public. On Saturday I met with one of the Climate Caravans and UKWIN to lay a wreath at Allington Incinerator, highlighting the health concerns of incineration.

Other Maidstone Greens attended the march to Kingsnorth on Sunday, with speakers including Caroline Lucas. By all accounts the march went well and the climate camp is now in full swing. The police presence throughout the weekend was evident. The police have been criticised for being heavy handed and raiding the camp taking dangerous and subversive items such as toilet rolls, soap, disabled access ramps and so on. The number of police that have been deployed is extraordinary and a waste of taxpayer's money. They really ought to focus on catching criminals rather than denying disabled people the right to protest - isn't there a law against that?

More pictures here.

Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Maidstone

According to the Kent Messenger yesterday, the Lib Dems have selected a candidate for the Maidstone and the Weald constituency - a boss of a haulage company, Peter Carroll. Not sure what it says for their alleged green credentials, why would they put a campaigner for the road lobby forward.

So the current line up:

Lib Dem: Peter Carroll, a haulage company boss and road lobby campaigner who has campaigned to get the fuel duty cut.
Tories: Helen Grant, a solicitor who couldn't make up her mind whether she is Labour or Conservative
Labour: Rav Seethrum, a GP who supports New Labour's approach to health care.
Green Party: Stuart Jeffery, me!

We need to move rapidly away from our dependence on cars and long distance transportation of goods if we are to limit our carbon emissions. Campaigning for more roads and cheaper diesel is not green.

Quentin Wilson

Letter in last week's Kent on Sunday:

Dear Editor,

We can expect Quentin Wilson (KoS 13th July) to back the road lobby, but I was surprised to read that he has absolutely no insight into the bigger picture.

Fuel prices have rise sharply due to global demand for oil outstripping supply for the first time. Despite interesting claims by oil companies and oil producing countries, supply of oil is essentially fixed. For basic geological reasons oil cannot be extracted any more quickly, i.e. supply is at its maximum. Demand, however, continues to grow globally.

Getting rid of fuel tax would ease the burden for us in the short term and but it will increase consumption and demand further simply pushing prices higher. In no time at all we will be back where we started but this time with no tax revenue to make the drastic structural changes to address our transportation and fuel crises.

There should be fairer access to fuel and there needs to be radical changes to the way we live our lives (perhaps a start is an assumption that local is good when it comes to schools, work and shops), but radical change will need money. Sadly, none of the three main parties have real plans that would address the scale of the challenge of peak oil.

The country needs to be investing heavily in reducing our dependency on oil and this can't be done alongside cutting fuel tax. Investing in reducing our fossil fuel dependency will also ensure that our economy does not get too battered.

Reducing fuel taxes is a sure-fire way to economic disaster.

Stuart Jeffery
Green Party parliamentary candidate for Maidstone and the Weald

KENT COUNTY COUNCIL SUPPORTS THE MUGABE REGIME

This went out from Kent Green Party last week, meant to put this on my blog then!

Kent Green Party has slammed Kent County Council's financial support for Robert Mugabe's despotic regime after the latest share holdings were made available. KCC have tens of millions of pounds in shares in companies that have significant involvement with the Zimbabwean government(2). Earlier this year the council's branch of the Unison trade union called for an ethical investment policy, a call which has been ignored. Stuart Jeffery, Campaigns Officer for Kent Green Party (1) observes:

"The Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe has been condemned by all four major parties in the UK, yet we have an utterly bizarre situation where Kent County Councillors refuse to consider the effect of their inaction. Councillors should be called to account for their part in supporting unethical investments in the face of almost universal condemnation.

"David Cameron has called for his party to examine their morals when it comes to investing(3), yet both Tory and Liberal Democrat county councillors on our County Council are prepared to maintain investments with our money in the main six companies that have been shown to be propping up Robert Mugabe. This is simply disgraceful.

"Earlier this year, the council's branch of Unison called for an ethical investment policy for Kent County Council, a call that the Greens backed, yet Kent County Council seem to think it is perfectly reasonable to support both despots and arms companies which sell to dictatorships."

Ends c 236 words

Notes:

1. Stuart Jeffery is also Green Party Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Maidstone and the Weald.
2. KCC’s Share values in companies heavily investing in Zimbabwe:
Anglo American £23.2m
Standard Chartered £15.6m
Barclays £12.9m
Shell £28.0m
Rio Tinto £8.0m
BP £21.8m
Total £109.5m
3. Cameron's views: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7479634.stm>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7479634.stm

Kingsnorth Climate Camp

Busy week for green non-violent direct action in Kent...

Tomorrow sees the start of the climate camp in Kingsnorth with an opening march from Rochester to the camp site (although campers started arriving a few says ago to set up the site). Caroline Lucas will be speaking at the start of the march.

Going back even further, a number of 'caravans' started winding their way to Kingsnorth last week. One of these is stopping at incinerator sites to highlight the madness of this way of dealing with waste. Today they are visiting Maidstone, firstly in the town centre to hand out leaflets and then on to Allington to lay a wreath to highlight the health concerns with incineration. They will be joined by Neil Pitcairn of UKWIN and have invited Maidstone Greens along to.

The climate camp itself has already begun to suffer from unfair police intervention. The organisers spent a great deal of time talking to the police (and local residents) when organising the camp to iron out concerns, yet actions taken by the police in the last few days are bizarre.

There are reports that they have entered the site and removed ropes and bicycle locks from bicycles, claiming that these could be used to disrupt the power station! This is a camp attended by lots of people on bicycles...

The protest itself is against EONs plans to build the first coal fired power station since 1974 in the UK. EON claim that the carbon from the coal will be captured using an unproven technology called 'carbon capture and storage'. Notably the power station will emit more CO2 than Ghana... When people talk of the need for other countries to make cuts to, it is worth remembering that!

But the new power station and the new nuclear plant will keep the lights on in the UK. But at what cost? A 250,000 year legacy of nuclear waste and climate change that will kill billions.

Keep the lights on? My mother used to shout at me to 'turn the bloody light off and close the door'. Great advice for reducing our prolific energy consumption.

Windy times

Excellent letter from Wendy Lewis, local Green Party member in Maidstone, published in yesterday's Kent Messenger:

Dear Editor,

Bill Hyde's comments on wind power not being available for long periods (Without wind power for days on end - Letters 25th July) are completely inaccurate. Wind power is at its most abundant during the winter months and according to Oxford University, low wind speeds affecting more than 90% of the country occur for about one hour every five years.

The UK has the greatest resource in Europe for producing electricity from wind and we have a duty to future generations to ensure that the infrastructure is in place as soon as possible. It is also essential to ensure that wind is not the only renewable source of energy, we must harness wave, tide, solar and geo-thermal too, to ensure there is resilience against any fluctuation and to ensure that we have enough energy for the future.

However the greatest weapon in tackling both future energy needs and climate change is a reduction in consumption. Mr Hyde talks about keeping the lights on whereas I was always taught to turn them off when they weren't needed.

What we do not need is a world polluted for 250,000 years by spent nuclear fuel or a world devastated by climate change. We owe it to future generations to rely on renewable energy only, after all everything else will run out eventually!

Yours sincerely

Wendy Lewis

Maidstone Green Party