Widdy Watch

Our magnificent Tory MP, Ann Widdecombe, has shown her true colours this month in the commons.

Widely reported was her vote for people to be held without charge for 42 days in the name of freedom and justice. What a wonderful idea, held without knowing the reason by a country that has no terrorist problem to speak of, certainly far less than the 80's and 90's. The really strange thing is that there was little press coverage locally...

Two days earlier, Widdecombe had voted against the climate change bill. Her stance on what the UK should do about emissions is utterly immoral - i.e. nothing. In a letter to me she stated that the UK should not make any cuts as there was no point until the world acted as a whole. That's what we need, great leadership...

So because of our politician's dislike of humanity, we are served by someone who votes against freedom in the UK and against the UK showing leadership in the most urgent crisis the world has ever seen. Remember, this year it is predicted that ships will be able to sail right to the North Pole for the first time ever.

Finally, the Independent reports on the MPs with investments in Zimbabwe. I need to check the state of Kent County Council's investments but they certainly has £70m invested in companies that are proping up Mugabe's regime. The Conservatives... why?

This is a summary from They Work For You:

How Ann Widdecombe voted on key issues since 2001:

• Voted strongly against a transparent Parliament. votes, speeches
• Voted moderately against introducing a smoking ban. votes, speeches
• Voted a mixture of for and against introducing ID cards. votes, speeches
• Voted moderately against introducing foundation hospitals. votes, speeches
• Voted strongly against introducing student top-up fees. votes, speeches
• Voted moderately against Labour's anti-terrorism laws. votes, speeches
• Voted very strongly for the Iraq war. votes, speeches
• Voted very strongly for an investigation into the Iraq war. votes, speeches
• Voted very strongly for replacing Trident. votes, speeches
• Voted very strongly for the hunting ban. votes, speeches
• Voted very strongly against equal gay rights. votes, speeches

And this is a useful record from the Guardian.

Henley, Haltemprice and Howden

Greens third in Henley yesterday, an excellent result - well done Mark. Labour are so off the radar and deservedly so given the appallingly bad last eleven years. Here in Maidstone the last of the Labour councillors defected to the LibDems last month, leaving just three groups on the council. I do, however, fail to understand how Labour can be crashing and burning while the Tories are becoming more popular when both parties have the same policies and same attitudes.

The LibDems are stuck in the doldrums having backed Davis and therefore the Tories this month. I expect they are claiming that they are trying to force a split in the party... The Greens are the only major party to be contesting the seat in H&H and are exposing the hypocrisy of a man who claims that locking people up for 4 weeks without charge is fine but 6 is not. He also claims its fine to inflict the death penalty and gay people should not have equal rights to straight folk. Civil liberties at its worst.

Best wishes to Shan, our excellent candidate.

Blog Nation - Liberal Conspiracy Summit

My Green Health Service blog got me an invite to Blog Nation at the Guardian on Wednesday. I must say I felt completely overwhelmed by the high class of bloggers there I recall: Boris Watch, Bloggerheads,the f word, plenty of green bloggers (JimJay, Jim Killock, Sian Berry, Natalie Bennett)

Of the two panels, the one that opened my eyes the most was the feminist panel, I was particularly impressed with Cath Elliot from CIF and Holly from the f word. The discussions on feminism as a core political stance was powerful and too often overlooked by the typical white male blogger. For example, how poverty affects women much more than men. The discussion on comments to women bloggers was useful and I think the conclusion was that the comments are as ascerbic whether you are male or female.

A big thanks to Sunny at Liberal Conspiracy for the invite.

Greens oppose David Davis

Shan Oakes is to stand against David Davis in the Haltemprice and Howden by-election! It looks like Shan will be the only real opposition to Davis with Labour and LibDems not standing.

The Greens are not, of course, in favour of the 42 day rule. We are standing because of Davis's hypocritical record on civil liberties. Davis has confused civil liberties with neo-liberalism, civil freedoms with market freedoms.

The Greens are the only true party of civil liberties and now have the chance to show Davis and other conservatives the true meaning of the term.

Who is Mayor of London?

Having listened to Boris Johnson may a complete idiot of himself on the Today programme last week over denying that a key document (referred to in a report that he had commissioned) actually existed, I have been reading with horror two very well written and insightful blogs: 'The Tory Troll' and 'Boris Watch'.

I must admit that I had succumbed to the conspiracy theory that the buffoon image was just an act and the Johnson was a shrewd operator underneath, but it appears that I was wrong. Recent events have shown that Johnson is not running London and is completely unaware of the decisions being made. In the last week, for example:

The Rise festival has been scrapped by the Mayor and replaced with an apolitical music event. Rise was the largest anti racist festival of its kind in Europe. Johnson however then goes on to know nothing about the festival being scrapped or even what the festival was for in the first place - so who made the decision?

Then we have the debacle of the funding of the Olympics and the publically available and potentially most important document relating to overspends. Johnson denies that it exists, makes claims that go against the agreement in the document, and then in a press release back tracks.

Finally, the sacking of 5 senior women seems to have been announced in the press before the decision had be made.

Johnson is the best example of what is wrong with the Tories, Labour and the Lib Dems. They are funded by big business and wealthy individuals and then they dance to the tune of their masters. This is what turns people of politics, politicians who serve their paymasters not the electorate.

David Davis champion of unilateral civil liberties

It is sickening to hear the spin about David Davis and his liberal credentials. He has now started courting favour with Liberty and Shami Chakrabarti, I hope that she sees right through him...

He may have had an epiphany but I doubt it. His record against gay rights, his strong support for the illegal and immoral war in Iraq, his support of the death penalty, as well as his backing the 28 day detention rule makes him a true blue "hang 'em and flog 'em" Tory.Any civil liberty instincts probably apply unilaterally.

This is from the excellent They Work For You site:

Voting record (from PublicWhip)

How David Davis voted on key issues since 2001:

• Has never voted on a transparent Parliament. votes, speeches
• Voted a mixture of for and against introducing a smoking ban. votes, speeches
• Voted very strongly against introducing ID cards. votes, speeches
• Voted strongly against introducing foundation hospitals. votes, speeches
• Voted strongly against introducing student top-up fees. votes, speeches
• Voted moderately against Labour's anti-terrorism laws. votes, speeches
• Voted very strongly for the Iraq war. votes, speeches
• Voted strongly for an investigation into the Iraq war. votes, speeches
• Has never voted on replacing Trident. votes, speeches
• Voted strongly against the hunting ban. votes, speeches
• Voted moderately against equal gay rights. votes, speeches

International Journal of Cuban Studies

The International Journal of Cuban Studies has been launched this evening: http://www.cubastudiesjournal.org/.

Useful insights into Cuban society and how it could benefit the West. There is a particularly useful and well written piece on health care in Cuba...

Ethical Investments Four

Kent Green Party is concerned that Kent County Council does not have an ethical investment policy. It continues to have massive share holdings in arms selling, tobacco and oil production. Kent Green Party is maintaining a petition on line until KCC cleans up its act, which can be found here.

Ben Watson, of Fair Pensions, addressed a Kent Green Party meeting in Wye on 14th June. He said:

“There is no reason why environmental, social and corporate governance concerns should not be paramount in the practice of responsible investment. Ethical investment is showing the same or better returns on investment in relation to unethical investments. Forcing companies to disclose their carbon emissions and take action to reduce them is a very important part of the fight against climate change.”

Stuart Jeffery, Campaigns Officer for Kent Green Party adds:
“Whether we are concerned about human rights, or health, or climate change, responsible investment can help build a more ethical and sustainable mixed economy. KCC’s pension funds are a key place to start and our County Council has no excuses for supporting arms sales to dictatorships, propping up tobacco companies or supporting oil companies which contribute significantly to climate change. Kent Green Party will continue to campaign on this issue until KCC investments are cleaned up.”

Widdy promotes fear

So David Davis resigns in a stunt to challenge the 42 day terror bill, a bill backed by Maidstone's MP Ann Widdecombe. Widdy seems to have jumped firmly on fear mongering bandwagon that has exemplified New Labour. Repeatedly we are told that terrorists are everywhere and we shouldn't trust anyone - your neighbour is about to blow you up and eat your children.

As we enter society's most testing time ever, the combined challenge of peak oil and climate change, we need to foster community spirit, trust and liberty. We will simply enter barbarism if we do not work together and trust each other, yet what does Widdy do, she back the policy of promoting terror and fear.

David Davis is not libertarian he is neo-liberal. He is against gay rights, for the death penalty and so on, and Greens should use his ill-conceived stunt to highlight his hypocrisy.

Census Alert

Last two days to sign the e-petition against Lockheed Martin running the 2011 census!

The decision on whether arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin will be the main contractor for the 2011 Census is about to be made by the Office of National Statistics, and the online petition on the Downing Street website is due to finish on 15th June.

The petition is now in the top 40 petitions on the site and, to get even higher up the list, it needs to get as many new signatures as possible by the time it expires.

Sign here

The petition calls on the Prime Minister to:

"stop the involvement of arms company Lockheed Martin in the 2011 Census for England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, because this company's history of working in American military intelligence will undermine public confidence in the Census process."

carbon quotas & peak oil

With the number of children and pensioners in poverty rising, the incredibly high levels of personal debt in Maidstone and the rapidly rising energy costs, urgent solutions are needed to protect vulnerable people from fuel poverty. Capping demand for oil by issuing tradeable carbon quotas would help stabilise prices, provide low energy users with an income and make sure that energy is shared fairly.

The world facing the twin crises of climate change and soaring fuel prices and we need a fair and just method of reducing our use of fossil fuels, ensuring enough for all while keeping prices low enough. Simply allowing the price of energy to soar will mean that people on low incomes will suffer.

Capping and reducing the UK's demand for energy will help to stabalise prices, begin to wean us off our oil dependency and reduce our carbon emissions. The only way to reduce our consumption of fossil fuels and carbon emissions fairly is through personal tradeable carbon quotas. These will provide security for the poor and ensure equal access to energy for all.

Tradeable Carbon Quotas would help prevent fuel poverty and climate change

Maidstone Greens have called for carbon rationing to prevent fuel poverty in the face of rapidly rising oil prices. Capping demand for oil with personal tradeable carbon rations would help stem the rapidly rising fuel prices. Recent figures have shown that the number of elderly and children in poverty has increased in the past 12 months and average debt is almost £10,000 in Maidstone; these people will find it increasingly difficult to cope with the energy costs.

Stuart Jeffery, Green Party prospective parliamentary candidate for Maidstone and the Weald: "With the number of children and pensioners in poverty rising, the incredibly high levels of personal debt in Maidstone and the rapidly rising energy costs, urgent solutions are needed to protect vulnerable people from fuel poverty. Capping demand for oil by issuing tradeable carbon quotas would help stabilise prices, provide low energy users with an income and make sure that energy is shared fairly.

"The world facing the twin crises of climate change and soaring fuel prices and we need a fair and just method of reducing our use of fossil fuels, ensuring enough for all while keeping prices low enough. Simply allowing the price of energy to soar will mean that people on low incomes will suffer.

Capping and reducing the UK's demand for energy will help to stabalise prices, begin to wean us off our oil dependency and reduce our carbon emissions. The only way to reduce our consumption of fossil fuels and carbon emissions fairly is through personal tradeable carbon quotas. These will provide security for the poor and ensure equal access to energy for all.

Ends.
Average personal debt, exclusing mortgages, is just under £10,000 in Maidstone (Alliance & Leicester Borrowing Monitor) http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jun/10/welfare.economy1?gusrc=rss&feed=society http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jun/10/welfare.economy?gusrc=rss&feed=society

Kent's Failing Schools

Ed Balls needs to be replaced with an academy.

He has found that 33 schools in Kent are failing because 70% of their pupils get less than 5 GCSE. Kent has the highest number of any authority in the country and Ed Balls wants to replace these schools with academies. Interestingly a third of the countries academies are failing too.

What he seems to have missed is that Kent selects the kids that have higher academic abilities and puts them into grammar schools. It then puts those who have other talents into secondary schools and these are then labeled as failing due to the kid not being quite as good with the academic subjects.

Once they have been shown to fail, the teachers are sacked, the school privatised and the kids stigmatised. Hmmm... I sense a problem.

Scrap the selective system now! Abolish the academies now! Return schools to local people, local communities and local accountability.

Esso admit oil shortage!

Cameron's bid to paint Kent blue

Local papers are full of David Cameron's visit to Kent and the Tory targeting of Labour held seats here. His intention is to have all 17 Kent seats in Tory hands.

While it is clear that the Tories are gaining ground on the back of Brown's incompetencies, there are two issues which worry me.

Firstly, acknowledging that a week in politics is a long time and therefore 20 years is not just a generation but a millenium, people seem to have forgotten what the Tories stand for and are capable of. Our planet is in need to progressive, radical politics that move us away from greed and environmental destruction, not further towards it.

Secondly, 17 Tory MPs in Kent and no representation for the majority of Kent who are not Tory is not a hallmark of democracy. In the last general election Labour assumed total power after just 22% of the electorate voted Labour. I'll have to work out some numbers for the number and percentage of unrepresented people if the Tories pull off their plan. People forget that there is another way and shrug their shoulders saying, that's the system.

It doesn't have to be this way - proportional representation works and is much fairer. Labour even promised us it in their 1997 and 2001 manifestos. See the Make Votes Count campaign and Electoral Reform Society for more details.

A short lull

Crude oil prices seemed to plateau for a couple of weeks following the previous high of $135, until yesterday when the biggest jump ever saw prices rise to £139. There seem to be three factors affecting this, with the underlying driver being Peak Oil (the maximum rate of extraction has been reached and will slowly decline while demand gets higher). Speculation is reported pushing prices even higher and swings in the value of the dollar don't help either.

Oil-Price.net provide useful monitoring of the price.


All this is hitting motorists, shopper and the poor hardest. What we need is not quick fix tax cuts on fuel but rapid investments in alternatives. Below are letters in the Kent On Sunday and the Kent Messenger this week from me.

Dear Editor,

The disastrous effects of the government's failure to prepare for the long expected rising fuel prices as the world hits peak oil production along with its failure to reduce our oil consumption in the face of catastrophic climate change is now being felt by motorists and hauliers.

Even so, reducing the fuel tax would be the wrong thing to do and these high prices must be used to spur the rapid change to a lower carbon economy that is the only long term solution for a sustainable society.

The tax that should be reduced is the Vehicle Excise Duty - Road Tax. This regressive tax helps no one and punishes the poor more than the wealthy. Taxes should be aimed at the rich, who can afford them, and the polluters to change behaviour. Road Tax does neither.

Stuart Jeffery
Green Party Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Maidstone and the Weald

Dear Editor,

It is utterly negligent of government to have ignored the predictions of the current oil shock that has been foreseen for many years. The cost of fuel has been driven up by supply no longer being able to keep up with demand - a geological phenomenon predicted in the 1950's.

While there is a very good case for scraping Road Tax - it is regressive and pointless - we should not reduce tax on fuel. We need to use the crisis to push society rapidly towards reducing our oil dependency - a low carbon society. we need investment in public transport, facilities for cyclists, more local jobs and local food production.

As our oil shock happens, we must protect the vulnerable, and strengthen our communities. Without community we will descend into chaos. Cuba survived and flourished after a similar oil shock in the 1990's. We can do the same but it requires strong leadership and strong communities. This is a time to pull together and redesign how we live our lives.

Stuart Jeffery
Maidstone Green Party

Lock up the children - they are criminals?

This week we learnt that the government want to crack down on under age drinking. I approve of wanting to reduce drinking at all ages, especially with younger people, but the government wants to introduce legislation which will criminalise under age drinkers for regular possession of alcohol.

Children, arguably the most vulnerable people in society and who are subject to the most discrimination, who are becoming addicted to alcohol, feeling dispossessed, are lacking good roll models and are suffering with the fragmentation of communities and families, should not be turned into criminals. Surely, anyone with a half a brain cell should understand this.

But this government are easily the UK's most right wing government in modern times, and have managed to out Tory the Tories. Not an easy feat. Stuff the kids says Labour...

Post Offices and Pilger

It has been a few months now since Maidstone's two post office closures. I see that the shop in South Park which house the PO is still open, but the Hardy St store closed completely after 130 years. Predictably Hardy St Store will be turned into flats.

Labour, who have backed the closures almost completely with only 20 Labour MPs voting against them, have been wiped off the face of Maidstone Borough Council. Hardly a surprise. What is more frustrating is that people are turning to the Tories. I know a week is a long time in politics so 11 years must be an eternity and they are certianly to the political left of Labour, but their rise bodes badly for the country.

Jumping on bandwagons is easy politics, but when pushed their credentials remain solidly pro big business, pro infinite expansion, anti-social justice and environmentally damaging. Eric Pickles' performance was a joke on Question Time this week, with no clear idea what to do about the oil shock, let alone any semblance of greenness that Cameron promissed. It appears that Cameron is throwing out just about every green policy that is put forward. Leopard / spots / unchanging...

Back to post offices: John Pilger's excellent piece in the New Statesman a few weeks ago tells it all for me:

This is an excert from the article, now on Pilger's web site:

The whole wilful destruction is a new Labour classic and shows why, in a nutshell, even the ever faithful have turned on them. Having already closed 6,000 post offices since it came to power in 1997, more than any other government, it issues press releases saying it wants to "help the Post Office modernise, restore profitability... invest in new products and look at innovative ways to deliver services". We know what this means. It was left to a member of the Scottish Parliament, Fergus Ewing, to say it: "Senior management are preparing the ground for a huge sell-off of the postal service."

The "S-word" is subsidy. While new Labour is happy to subsidise Crozier's fortune, a failed bank, colonial bloodbaths in Iraq and Afghanistan and a culpably useless Trident nuclear weapon system costing up to £20bn, it refuses to subsidise a true public service that costs, in relative terms, peanuts.

On 19 March, just 20 Labour MPs voted against the government on a motion calling for a delay in closure of post offices.