After events like Friday night in Paris there are always a few different
kinds of response around. These points apply in general whenever there is a
similar tragedy, but I'll use Paris as an example to discuss them.
The first, which can generally be ignored, is the idiot response, where
idiots use horrific events to back up their stupid, bigoted viewpoints.
They'll say things like 'Proves Islam is a violent religion'. There are well
over a billion followers of Islam in the world. If they were all homicidal the
world would be a hell of a lot more violent than it is.
They'll justify persecuting and attacking Muslims. However, these attacks
are not just against Westerners, but everyone that disagrees with the
terrorists' world view, including the vast majority of Muslims. That's why they
also attack Muslims and countries in the Middle East and Africa.
All religions have been used to justify violence and murder. There's even a
militant wing of Buddhism, for goodness sake! How does that work?
Oh, and the Donald Trumps of this world who are using this to argue against
gun control, who think that any member of the public with a gun would have
stopped this, just fuck off. If good guys with guns solved everything, America
wouldn't lose more lives every year to gun crime than Europe has in decades to
terrorism. If guns made the world safer, America would be the safest, most
peaceful place on earth.
They blame migrants, ignoring the fact that these are the people that the
migrants are trying to get away from. In their war torn homelands they face
this terror every day, that's why they risk everything to cross into and
through Europe.
Then there are those who think that other events are more worthy of the
Western world's grief.
They'll say, 'Sure, it's sad, but where were your tears for
Nigeria/Turkey/Tunisia/Kenya/Lebanon?'
The further away, the better, but this is not the time for one-upmanship.
There is no need to be a 'sympathy hipster', trying to prove that you cared
about a tragedy before everyone else, that you prefer the old massacres in smaller countries.
France is closer, geographically, culturally and politically, to us. Many of
us have walked through the streets of Paris. This makes the events more
relatable to most people in the West than the events in Beirut. We are human, we are
flawed.
Of course, it's not helped by the 24 hours news channels repeating the same
few details over and over for hours, not daring to look away and report on
anything else for even a minute, lest they miss out on being the first to
reveal some new tiny morsel of information. If they spent less time focussing on one
story and instead gave more attention to more stories, the quality of both the
reporting and the public's knowledge would be much better.
So yes, by all means bring attention to events that have been overlooked,
but there is no reason that people can't care about more than one group of
people at once.
It seems every bad thing in the world now results in a #PrayFor...
If praying ever did any good, there would be no need for the hash tags in
the first place. The majority of problems in the world involve people's
imaginary friends. The sooner they grow out of them, the better. Gods can't
save us, only our own humanity can.
There will be calls for changes in security policy, but we cannot defend
freedom by losing freedom. So don't close the borders, don't give up your right
to privacy. Go out next Friday night and meet friends, make new ones, live,
laugh and love.
Sunday 15 November 2015
Wednesday 6 May 2015
Final election round up: Smash the system in their stupid faces.
So, it's almost time. Not that it's going to really end for a while as the leader's of the main parties have stubbornly refused to accept that it's going to be a hung parliament and have been busy drawing 'red lines' all over the place, insulting all the others leaders & Scotland, meaning that a formal coalition is very unlikely, and even getting enough MPs to back a government will be tricky.
In the final weeks candidates have been doing and saying stupid things, leading to them being suspended. Yet they will still appear on the ballots. For example, the Lib Dem candidate challenging Jeremy Hunt has been suspended, meaning the NHA party (http://nhap.org/candidates/) could have a chance to cause an upset, but people will still be able to vote for him despite it really being a wasted vote. It's against the law to even tell people at the polling station that he's no longer standing, the ballot papers can't be altered.
FPTP obviously doesn't work anymore. When the views of 20% of the population are likely to be represented in parliament by 3 or 4 MPs, something has to change. Might as well make have an elected House of Lords while we're at it. Hell, why not get rid of Lordships and the like altogether, this is 2015 after all.
But we're stuck with it tomorrow, so vote for what you believe in, even if it's a lost cause. The closer we've got, the more people (Russell Brand, Owen Jones, etc) have started to say that you should vote for the party you'd rather protest against. Since when did we actively vote for what we want to protest against? Nonsense. Plus, if a sizeable chunk of votes move away from the smaller parties to Labour, it'll make it harder to force change as Labour will be able to point at the results and say 'If people really wanted change, why didn't they vote for it?' Read Armando Iannucci's excellent article: here. Then go read everything else he's written in the last few weeks, most of it is brilliant.
The Tories have been desperately trying to convince the country that a government with the backing of most MPs will be illegitimate unless it's theirs. Just plain bullshit. If you have the backing of a majority of MPs, you get to govern. It's how the system works.
There will be major cuts to welfare whoever is in charge, thanks to Labour voting through the Tory bill that legally limits the spending (http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/may/05/revealed-coalition-plans-to-slash-welfare-for-sick-poor-young-and-disabled). The Tories haven't worked out where they'll make their cuts yet, but ask us to look at their track record of finding things to cut and trust that they'll be able to do it. I do trust their record. I trust that they'll screw over the most vunerable again. Read The Austerity Delusion by Paul Krugman
Labour keep talking about being best for 'hard working people'. What about those who can't work? The sick, the young, the old? Don't you care about them anymore?
Everyone seems to think that millions more apprentices are the answer to everything.Working for a year at £2.73 an hour doesn't sound like an answer to much to me. They will 'encourage' employers to pay a living wage, instead of just making the minimum wage the minimum that you can actually live on. £8/hour minimum wage by 2019 or 2020(depending on party)? The current living wage is £7.85, so £8 in 4 or 5 more years of rising living costs is just not good enough.
No surprise that the rental market is so screwed up when you realise that almost 1 in 4 MPs make money from it (http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/may/06/number-of-mps-who-earn-from-renting-out-property-rises-by-a-third) Some are even renting out homes that were part subsidised by parliamentary expenses. I think I can see where to make an easy budget cut.
The one issue that affects all others is the environment, and it's been completely ignored. UKIP deny climate change, the 'greenest government ever' favours fracking over renewables and Labour just don't seem to give enough of a shit to commit to anything. More reading: here, George Monbiot article: here
Tomorrow, go vote. Vote for what you believe in. And then prepare to fight for those beliefs over the next 5 years because trying to change everything once every 5 years isn't enough, the pressure needs to be constant. Smash the system in their stupid faces.
In the final weeks candidates have been doing and saying stupid things, leading to them being suspended. Yet they will still appear on the ballots. For example, the Lib Dem candidate challenging Jeremy Hunt has been suspended, meaning the NHA party (http://nhap.org/candidates/) could have a chance to cause an upset, but people will still be able to vote for him despite it really being a wasted vote. It's against the law to even tell people at the polling station that he's no longer standing, the ballot papers can't be altered.
FPTP obviously doesn't work anymore. When the views of 20% of the population are likely to be represented in parliament by 3 or 4 MPs, something has to change. Might as well make have an elected House of Lords while we're at it. Hell, why not get rid of Lordships and the like altogether, this is 2015 after all.
But we're stuck with it tomorrow, so vote for what you believe in, even if it's a lost cause. The closer we've got, the more people (Russell Brand, Owen Jones, etc) have started to say that you should vote for the party you'd rather protest against. Since when did we actively vote for what we want to protest against? Nonsense. Plus, if a sizeable chunk of votes move away from the smaller parties to Labour, it'll make it harder to force change as Labour will be able to point at the results and say 'If people really wanted change, why didn't they vote for it?' Read Armando Iannucci's excellent article: here. Then go read everything else he's written in the last few weeks, most of it is brilliant.
The Tories have been desperately trying to convince the country that a government with the backing of most MPs will be illegitimate unless it's theirs. Just plain bullshit. If you have the backing of a majority of MPs, you get to govern. It's how the system works.
There will be major cuts to welfare whoever is in charge, thanks to Labour voting through the Tory bill that legally limits the spending (http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/may/05/revealed-coalition-plans-to-slash-welfare-for-sick-poor-young-and-disabled). The Tories haven't worked out where they'll make their cuts yet, but ask us to look at their track record of finding things to cut and trust that they'll be able to do it. I do trust their record. I trust that they'll screw over the most vunerable again. Read The Austerity Delusion by Paul Krugman
Labour keep talking about being best for 'hard working people'. What about those who can't work? The sick, the young, the old? Don't you care about them anymore?
Everyone seems to think that millions more apprentices are the answer to everything.Working for a year at £2.73 an hour doesn't sound like an answer to much to me. They will 'encourage' employers to pay a living wage, instead of just making the minimum wage the minimum that you can actually live on. £8/hour minimum wage by 2019 or 2020(depending on party)? The current living wage is £7.85, so £8 in 4 or 5 more years of rising living costs is just not good enough.
No surprise that the rental market is so screwed up when you realise that almost 1 in 4 MPs make money from it (http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/may/06/number-of-mps-who-earn-from-renting-out-property-rises-by-a-third) Some are even renting out homes that were part subsidised by parliamentary expenses. I think I can see where to make an easy budget cut.
The one issue that affects all others is the environment, and it's been completely ignored. UKIP deny climate change, the 'greenest government ever' favours fracking over renewables and Labour just don't seem to give enough of a shit to commit to anything. More reading: here, George Monbiot article: here
Tomorrow, go vote. Vote for what you believe in. And then prepare to fight for those beliefs over the next 5 years because trying to change everything once every 5 years isn't enough, the pressure needs to be constant. Smash the system in their stupid faces.
Monday 27 April 2015
Why I'm voting for the Green Party: I don't want a 'Better Plan', I want a good plan
- Because I don't want a 'Better Plan', I want a good plan, a plan for the Common Good.
- Because I believe in a Living Wage. People working full time on the minimum wage should earn enough to support themselves and their family.
- Because I believe in having a fair, humane, common sense approach to immigration.
- Because nuclear weapons have no place in civilised society.
- Because education shouldn't cost a life time of debt and should be accessible at any stage of life.
- Because big investments in renewable energy are needed if we are to still have any hope of preventing the worst of climate change.
- Because when I've had surgery and chemotherapy, I've known that my health has been the priority, not profit. 5% profit is 5% too much, when it comes to keeping people alive there should be no place for the profit motive.
- Because public services should be in public hands, not making huge profits while providing bad service and taking government subsidies. Public transport should be affordable and easy.
- Because I want a fair rental market. No excessive, unjustifiable fees, no worrying about where you're going to live every 6 months, no uncontrollable rents.
- Because I don't want the return of fox hunting, or more badger culls that go against all evidence.
- Because fracking is just plain bad.
- Because I don't want to vote for a party that I disagree with slightly less than another party. I want to vote for something I can believe in.
- Because everyone should pay their fair share of tax.
- Because they are not bankrolled by corporations, unions, millionaires and billionaires. Which means they don't put the needs of the wealthy before the needs of the many.
- Because no one else mentions climate change, and if we don't get serious about climate change now, no other policies will matter in the future.
Wednesday 22 April 2015
Immigration: Mongrel and proud
I have been an immigrant and I'm about to marry an immigrant, so I am unashamedly in favour of immigration. While the main parties keep trying to prove that they will be tougher on immigration than anyone else, I can tell you that being an immigrant is already more than tough enough, and instead of just looking at numbers and statistics, how about remembering that immigrants are people, with families and feelings.
I am one of the many millions of UK citizens that have taken advantage to the freedom of movement within the EU. One thing the 'immigration debate' often forgets is that it goes both ways. Imagine you or someone you're close to migrated and they faced the same over the top, hostile press and politics that have taken over the UK. Leaving behind family and friends, missing out major events, living without an established support network is hard enough as it is.
Current Visa rules destroy families for no good reason. Don't fall in love with a foreigner unless you want years of unfair bureaucracy. To bring your husband or wife to the country you have to earn above £18,600 a year. Even if your partner has a better paying job, they won't take that into account. This is supposedly the salary you need in order to support a dependent. Yet it is almost 50% more than someone working full time for minimum wage earns. Surely the minimum wage should provide enough to support a life?
As for 'they took our jobs!', bullshit. Speaking from experience I can tell you that elsewhere, as in the UK, low paid, zero hour, shitty jobs are overwhelmingly done by immigrants. The few natives who give it a go rarely last long. On the other end of the scale are highly qualified people, enriching their chosen destination with knowledge and skills that are needed.
They put pressure on the NHS? Very few people come here solely for treatment. The vast majority of 'health tourists' are actually people living, working and paying tax here. Now, thanks to the hysteria created by UKIP, migrants from outside the EEA will have to pay a 'health surcharge' on top of the stupidly high Visa fee. For non-students this is £200 a year, giving them access to the NHS. So when my soon to be wife applies for her next Visa, she'll have to pay an extra £500 to continue to use the NHS, even though in a year and a half she'll have paid more NI than I have in my entire life. Absolutely ridiculous. Not to mention the thousands of doctors and nurses that have migrated here who will now have to pay for the very service they provide!
Immigration drives wages down? No, greedy bastards drive wages down. Hundreds of firms are caught paying below the minimum wage each year. Why hundreds, year after year? Because the fines they receive are so pathetic that it's worth the risk. The government could raise the minimum wage to a living wage, but would rather just leave it up to the companies. Increasing the minimum wage to a living wage would greatly raise the quality of life of millions of people, reduce the benefits bill by billions (more working people currently receive benefits than ever before, because employers know that they can keep wages low and the government will top them up) and bring in more tax.
Housing shortage? The major causes are landlords building up huge portfolios, charging sky high rents, and buildings being allowed to be left abandoned for years. Limit rents, limit the number of properties than one landlord can own, take back abandoned buildings and redevelop them for social housing and the shortage would be a lot shorter.
Some would have you believe that everything from traffic jams to climate change is caused by immigrants, but it is uncaring governments, putting money before people and the environment that is the true danger to society.
Immigration brings new ideas, skills, thinking, food, art and love. This country has seen wave after wave of immigration throughout history, from the Vikings to the Romans, make it what it is today. We are mongrels. We should be proud of that.
Extra reading:
As migrants we leave home in search of a future, but we lose the past - Gary Younge
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/24/migrants-leave-home-future-past-borders?CMP=share_btn_tw
Britain’s criminally stupid attitudes to race and immigration are beyond parody - Frankie Boyle
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/20/britain-criminally-stupid-race-immigration?CMP=share_btn_tw
Minimum wage: 37 firms named for failing to pay rate
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30822565
I am one of the many millions of UK citizens that have taken advantage to the freedom of movement within the EU. One thing the 'immigration debate' often forgets is that it goes both ways. Imagine you or someone you're close to migrated and they faced the same over the top, hostile press and politics that have taken over the UK. Leaving behind family and friends, missing out major events, living without an established support network is hard enough as it is.
Current Visa rules destroy families for no good reason. Don't fall in love with a foreigner unless you want years of unfair bureaucracy. To bring your husband or wife to the country you have to earn above £18,600 a year. Even if your partner has a better paying job, they won't take that into account. This is supposedly the salary you need in order to support a dependent. Yet it is almost 50% more than someone working full time for minimum wage earns. Surely the minimum wage should provide enough to support a life?
As for 'they took our jobs!', bullshit. Speaking from experience I can tell you that elsewhere, as in the UK, low paid, zero hour, shitty jobs are overwhelmingly done by immigrants. The few natives who give it a go rarely last long. On the other end of the scale are highly qualified people, enriching their chosen destination with knowledge and skills that are needed.
They put pressure on the NHS? Very few people come here solely for treatment. The vast majority of 'health tourists' are actually people living, working and paying tax here. Now, thanks to the hysteria created by UKIP, migrants from outside the EEA will have to pay a 'health surcharge' on top of the stupidly high Visa fee. For non-students this is £200 a year, giving them access to the NHS. So when my soon to be wife applies for her next Visa, she'll have to pay an extra £500 to continue to use the NHS, even though in a year and a half she'll have paid more NI than I have in my entire life. Absolutely ridiculous. Not to mention the thousands of doctors and nurses that have migrated here who will now have to pay for the very service they provide!
Immigration drives wages down? No, greedy bastards drive wages down. Hundreds of firms are caught paying below the minimum wage each year. Why hundreds, year after year? Because the fines they receive are so pathetic that it's worth the risk. The government could raise the minimum wage to a living wage, but would rather just leave it up to the companies. Increasing the minimum wage to a living wage would greatly raise the quality of life of millions of people, reduce the benefits bill by billions (more working people currently receive benefits than ever before, because employers know that they can keep wages low and the government will top them up) and bring in more tax.
Housing shortage? The major causes are landlords building up huge portfolios, charging sky high rents, and buildings being allowed to be left abandoned for years. Limit rents, limit the number of properties than one landlord can own, take back abandoned buildings and redevelop them for social housing and the shortage would be a lot shorter.
Some would have you believe that everything from traffic jams to climate change is caused by immigrants, but it is uncaring governments, putting money before people and the environment that is the true danger to society.
Immigration brings new ideas, skills, thinking, food, art and love. This country has seen wave after wave of immigration throughout history, from the Vikings to the Romans, make it what it is today. We are mongrels. We should be proud of that.
Extra reading:
As migrants we leave home in search of a future, but we lose the past - Gary Younge
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/24/migrants-leave-home-future-past-borders?CMP=share_btn_tw
Britain’s criminally stupid attitudes to race and immigration are beyond parody - Frankie Boyle
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/20/britain-criminally-stupid-race-immigration?CMP=share_btn_tw
Minimum wage: 37 firms named for failing to pay rate
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30822565
Monday 20 April 2015
More Reasons to Vote
Following on from http://truthbeauty-freedomlove.blogspot.com/2015/04/reasons-to-vote.html
Midnight is the deadline to register, tomorrow is the deadline to get a postal vote - https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote and send your friends and family to the link too!
8. Think your vote will make no difference? Voting for independents and smaller parties helps get them to 5% of the vote, saving their £500 deposit, making it much easier for them to build up support in the future. It might take a while to make a difference, but it's a start.
9. Think you'll be busy or forget on the day? Get a postal vote, pop it the next post box you walk past, easy.
10. Last time there were more non-voters than supporters of any of the parties. Those millions of votes could change things.
11. Politics will happen to you, whether you vote or not, so try to control it.
12. If you're part of a demographic with low voting rates, politicians think it's safe to ignore your needs.
13. Safe seats are only safe because people accept it. Get out, vote for what you believe in and no seat will be truly safe.
Midnight is the deadline to register, tomorrow is the deadline to get a postal vote - https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote and send your friends and family to the link too!
8. Think your vote will make no difference? Voting for independents and smaller parties helps get them to 5% of the vote, saving their £500 deposit, making it much easier for them to build up support in the future. It might take a while to make a difference, but it's a start.
9. Think you'll be busy or forget on the day? Get a postal vote, pop it the next post box you walk past, easy.
10. Last time there were more non-voters than supporters of any of the parties. Those millions of votes could change things.
11. Politics will happen to you, whether you vote or not, so try to control it.
12. If you're part of a demographic with low voting rates, politicians think it's safe to ignore your needs.
13. Safe seats are only safe because people accept it. Get out, vote for what you believe in and no seat will be truly safe.
Saturday 4 April 2015
Easter weekend reading
There's so little going on this weekend that the media has resorted to making up 4th-hand accounts of conversations. Here's some articles actually worth reading:
Opinion:
Politics was once about beliefs and society. Now it’s a worship of money - Armando Iannucci
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/08/armando-iannucci-money-at-heart-of-politics-general-election-2015?CMP=share_btn_fb
If parties are funded by big business instead of average people, who are they going to act in the interests of? (Not a problem the Green Party has..)
It’s a great time to push for change in politics - Armando Iannucci
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/18/2015-general-election-enough-fatalism-push-for-change?CMP=share_btn_tw
'...now is the best time in a generation to go out and vote. With such a fragmented system on offer, nothing is inevitable....
No politician voted into office is going to take the number of people who didn’t vote into account; what they will do is heed the number who voted, but not for them, if that number is overwhelming.
This time round, the day after the election, party leaders are going to look at the numbers – how many voted and how many didn’t vote for them. If both those figures breach certain tipping points then, irrespective of the number of seats won, and regardless of the make-up of the new House of Commons, the political agenda will have changed utterly.'
I didn’t leave the Labour party – it left me - Jack Monroe
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/19/leave-labour-party-green-party
'In fact, I had quietly left some weeks beforehand, and run away to look for the living wage, the social housing, the repurposing of abandoned buildings, free education and the NHS. I had left the Labour party to find the values that I thought that it once stood for, and I found them, in the Greens.
Like greeting old friends, I embraced the importance placed on a national health service, on public transport, on sustainable energy, on fair pay for fair work. Here you were, all the time.'
Enough of the dry politics of numbers. We need to discuss values and vision -Will Hutton
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/22/britains-economic-recovery-end-obsession-with-debt-reduction?CMP=share_btn_fb
'Britain’s national debt is comfortably affordable today – even moderate, by historical standards. To present it as economic enemy number one is just wrong.'
Local news:
Library of Birmingham cuts weekend opening to six hours
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-32146016?SThisFB&fb_ref=Default
Spend almost £200m on building the biggest public library in Europe and less than 2 years later run out of money to run it, meaning halving of opening hours and staff. How has this been allowed to happen?
News:
Lords accuse Tories of ‘burying’ review that cleared EU of interference
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/28/lords-accuse-tories-burying-eu-powers-review?CMP=share_btn_fb
Government spend millions on investigating how far Brussels' powers really go into British life. Find out that they're not a problem. Try to hide the evidence.
The rise of DIY dentistry: Britons doing their own fillings to avoid NHS bill
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/apr/03/rise-of-diy-dentistry-britons-doing-own-fillings-to-avoid-nhs-bill?CMP=share_btn_tw
There's still NHS dentists around?
Costa Rica goes 75 days powering itself using only renewable energy
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/costa-rica-goes-75-days-powering-itself-using-only-renewable-energy-10126127.html
Proof of what's possible if you put the effort in.
France decrees new rooftops must be covered in plants or solar panels
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/20/france-decrees-new-rooftops-must-be-covered-in-plants-or-solar-panels?CMP=share_btn_fb
A fellow European country doing something sensible while we sit around in denial? Yep, sounds about right. Go France!
Virgin Care among firms with lucrative NHS deals and a tax haven status
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/mar/21/ow-lucrative--deals-go-to-firms-that-use-tax-havens?CMP=share_btn_fb
The biggest privatisation in NHS history: why we had to blow the whistle - Kate Godfrey
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/16/nhs-privatisation-biggest-history-staffordshire-cancer?CMP=share_btn_fb
Just depressing. And why the Tories must be stopped and Labour kept a very close eye on. Screw 5%, there should be no profit made from cancer or end-of-life care.
Nigel Farage would axe 'much of' race discrimination law
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31846453?fb_ref=Default
UKIP - not racist, they just want the option...
Opinion:
Politics was once about beliefs and society. Now it’s a worship of money - Armando Iannucci
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/08/armando-iannucci-money-at-heart-of-politics-general-election-2015?CMP=share_btn_fb
If parties are funded by big business instead of average people, who are they going to act in the interests of? (Not a problem the Green Party has..)
It’s a great time to push for change in politics - Armando Iannucci
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/18/2015-general-election-enough-fatalism-push-for-change?CMP=share_btn_tw
'...now is the best time in a generation to go out and vote. With such a fragmented system on offer, nothing is inevitable....
No politician voted into office is going to take the number of people who didn’t vote into account; what they will do is heed the number who voted, but not for them, if that number is overwhelming.
This time round, the day after the election, party leaders are going to look at the numbers – how many voted and how many didn’t vote for them. If both those figures breach certain tipping points then, irrespective of the number of seats won, and regardless of the make-up of the new House of Commons, the political agenda will have changed utterly.'
I didn’t leave the Labour party – it left me - Jack Monroe
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/19/leave-labour-party-green-party
'In fact, I had quietly left some weeks beforehand, and run away to look for the living wage, the social housing, the repurposing of abandoned buildings, free education and the NHS. I had left the Labour party to find the values that I thought that it once stood for, and I found them, in the Greens.
Like greeting old friends, I embraced the importance placed on a national health service, on public transport, on sustainable energy, on fair pay for fair work. Here you were, all the time.'
Enough of the dry politics of numbers. We need to discuss values and vision -Will Hutton
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/22/britains-economic-recovery-end-obsession-with-debt-reduction?CMP=share_btn_fb
'Britain’s national debt is comfortably affordable today – even moderate, by historical standards. To present it as economic enemy number one is just wrong.'
Library of Birmingham cuts weekend opening to six hours
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-32146016?SThisFB&fb_ref=Default
Spend almost £200m on building the biggest public library in Europe and less than 2 years later run out of money to run it, meaning halving of opening hours and staff. How has this been allowed to happen?
News:
Lords accuse Tories of ‘burying’ review that cleared EU of interference
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/28/lords-accuse-tories-burying-eu-powers-review?CMP=share_btn_fb
Government spend millions on investigating how far Brussels' powers really go into British life. Find out that they're not a problem. Try to hide the evidence.
The rise of DIY dentistry: Britons doing their own fillings to avoid NHS bill
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/apr/03/rise-of-diy-dentistry-britons-doing-own-fillings-to-avoid-nhs-bill?CMP=share_btn_tw
There's still NHS dentists around?
Costa Rica goes 75 days powering itself using only renewable energy
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/costa-rica-goes-75-days-powering-itself-using-only-renewable-energy-10126127.html
Proof of what's possible if you put the effort in.
France decrees new rooftops must be covered in plants or solar panels
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/20/france-decrees-new-rooftops-must-be-covered-in-plants-or-solar-panels?CMP=share_btn_fb
A fellow European country doing something sensible while we sit around in denial? Yep, sounds about right. Go France!
Virgin Care among firms with lucrative NHS deals and a tax haven status
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/mar/21/ow-lucrative--deals-go-to-firms-that-use-tax-havens?CMP=share_btn_fb
The biggest privatisation in NHS history: why we had to blow the whistle - Kate Godfrey
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/16/nhs-privatisation-biggest-history-staffordshire-cancer?CMP=share_btn_fb
Just depressing. And why the Tories must be stopped and Labour kept a very close eye on. Screw 5%, there should be no profit made from cancer or end-of-life care.
Nigel Farage would axe 'much of' race discrimination law
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31846453?fb_ref=Default
UKIP - not racist, they just want the option...
Friday 3 April 2015
Reasons to Vote
1. You actually believe in one of the candidates.
2. If not the candidate, at least the party.
3. To decrease UKIP's share of the vote.
4. Election day is a Thursday. You really have plans for a Thursday?
5. Nothing will change if you don't vote for change. OK, probably nothing will anyway, but at least try.
6. You really like putting Xs in boxes.
7. Most places will also have local council elections. Got issues with rubbish collections, traffic, parking, local services? Then these are your chance to do something about it.
Not got a polling card yet? Then you might not be registered, make sure: https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote
2. If not the candidate, at least the party.
3. To decrease UKIP's share of the vote.
4. Election day is a Thursday. You really have plans for a Thursday?
5. Nothing will change if you don't vote for change. OK, probably nothing will anyway, but at least try.
6. You really like putting Xs in boxes.
7. Most places will also have local council elections. Got issues with rubbish collections, traffic, parking, local services? Then these are your chance to do something about it.
Not got a polling card yet? Then you might not be registered, make sure: https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote
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