When i consider the realities of the last year and what is likley to happen in the coming year its very difficult to find any reason to laugh. However, having been compared with Woody Allen on many occasions, i think he owes me at least one usable joke. so here goes, "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans"  I know its an old one but in truth I am no spring chicken myself and There is definitely a element of tragi-comedy in my own life and if you can still laugh when you are as old as God, maybe there is hope for all of us. I have always imagined that God is also a Radio Four listener so he may also enjoy one of Les Dawsons  finest bon mots which reappeared during

 one of my bluer moments in the countdown to Christmas  According to Les, he still remembers when the Archers only had an allotment.

Not so funny however was the spectacle of Clarkson and his assistant buffoons trying to race the Mumbai train to deliver packed lunches. to workers in the city.  I promise you that these three stooges are about as entertaining as  a trio of sun baked Kerbside quiches.  Each week they become less funny and more insulting, this time trying to get their so called band on an already overcrowded commuter train. If i had  been the guard, i would have cheefully thrown the bastards off at the first stop. A waste of time, space and fuel not to mention the TV license,

FLUORIDE, THE NEVER ENDING STORY

This week, an Official in France has warned against  their breast implants.  Poly Implant Prothese made by a defunct company in France is known to leak cancer-causing silicon, Health Ministry says.  Dubai: The Ministry of Health yesterday advised doctors and hospitals against using silicon breast implants made by a French company which reportedly leak and cause cancer.

A senior official said the advice is a precautionary measure since the implants are not available in the UAE as they are not registered with the Ministry. But he said the advice is if they have been imported here "through other means". This is believed to refer to industrial silicon products not subject to the high quality standards normally required for medical products and thus avoiding meeting the high quality standards.  This may remind followers of the pro fluoride shenanigins that the allegedly "safe and effective " monosodium fluoride, used in toothpastes and other dental products that this is very different from the toxic waste which supposedly helps prevent tooth decay when its added to drinking water supplies.  this is a fine example of the dangers which can  result from failure to maintain standards when corners are cut to save money. How fortunate we are that in the UK, we never cut corners like this and risk peoples health.  So obviously, it can't happen here.

BBC LOCAL RADIO ALREADY RUINED BY ROSS AND BRAND

After Kelly affair, it became fairly clear that Tony B Liar was axious to get even with the BBC, especially its news services with the result that news services even in Local Radio was savagely cut.  My spies told me that more than a third of news staff were given the boot, even in local radio where there had been little coverage of B Liars exploits, especially coverage of the demonstrations agains the Iraq war,  I was always until then, ready to defend the impartiality of BBC news coverage with a clear conscience but under the cover of the cuts regime this is not so easy.

Since the corrupt Bankers ran off with our money causing a huge crisis and then the British government paid the bankers debts by using our money again the excuse of necessary cuts has been used to reduce staff in virtually  all our public services, including NHS, Councils, and even the BBC. This has resulted in cuts of 30% or so in jobs and never more unfairly that following the Ross and Brand debacle.  This was a major network scandal caused by infantile dickheads on huge salaries who thought it was clever or funny (neither of course) to resort to a tirade of  personalised insults and obscenities because neither the miscreants or their inane programs contained enought wit or intelligence content to excuse any such excursion. This gave the governors and the government appointees the only excuse they needed to make swingeing cuts in content and freedom which in turn affected the BBC Local radio stations very unfairly .  They had not only done no wrong in the first place, they were virtually free to run as many contributors and broadcasters were operating for free or just expensens and then    suddenly found that they needed to employ BBC producers who were staff members to check and sign off local radio programs in case they dared say shit, or fuck or that the BBC locally and nationally were run by psycophants and incompetent .   |Or as veteren and respected broadcaster put it in a cautionary letter to me in a previous contrtemps with Bush House  "Good luck with  your campaign Brian, but i must warn you that you are battling dickheads"  How right he was even then and all the more so now.  

Now such things are common knowledge especially to the poor bastards who live in the Middle East who still have to talk  with him and his ilk.

CONSERVATIONISTS AND THE LOCAL SYCAMORE - MAPLE TREES

4th December 2011

CONSERVATIONISTS AND THE SYCAMORE - MAPLE TREES

This tree, as much as any other, has been a big source of debate which has tended to split the opinion of conservationists. Some hate it and others defend it with great vigour. I count myself amongst the latter The trees are found widely in Europe and Asia and in our case migrated from Europe to Britain at the end of the Middle Ages. They can grow widely in most parts of the UK but they really came into their own when Dutch Elm Disease spread by the bark beetle destriyed virtually all our Native Elms.

Many individual and neighborhood planting schemes were undertaken, especially during the "Plant a Tree in 73" and "Plant some more in 74 " national campaigns and proved very successful at filling in the voids left by the millions of lost Elms. Our own particular trees are a part of this campaign promoted by Pendle Council. It is a fact that the dense crown can slow or even stop ground flora from thriving and the soil under the canopy tends to be dry and bare but in the case of the Trees in Duke Street, the ground is often water logged during wet weather therefore its drying properties are fairly beneficial rather than troublesome. A sixty food specimen is a very efficient pump and can lift a hundred gallons or more of water per hour from roots to crown. Without the Duke Street trees the green strip could quickly become a quagmire due to lack of proper drainage. Some conservationsts point out that sycamore can alter the structure and thus the eco-system, particularly of birch and alder woods, should it invade such woodland. They insist that the sycamore should be eradicated from semi-natural woodland.

On the plus side the flowers are an important source of nectar for bees and other insects. Aphids are also numerous on the foliage of sycamore thus providing an important food source for birds, particularly when they have chicks to feed. I have also observed long trails of ants which capture the aphids and keep them as a source of food. The seeds are eaten by woodmice especially when other sources of food are in short supply. Many assert that the Sycamore is just a Weed but this is far from the case. Its true that it does seed and spread readily in the right conditions and grows quickly from a sapling. It has been realised that 150 creatures are associated with the tree either for food or in some other connection. Sycamores are robust and can tolerate environments which soon polish off less adaptable species. Consequently they are used extensively as park land and town trees,.

LOCAL HISTORY OF THIS LAND

I moved here in 1980 and observed that the land occupied by the sycamores was little more than wasteland. There was a thick cover of dead brambles and weeds, so thick that grass and plants were not able to penetrate it and grow. Helped by some neighbours we cleared and burned the dead cover. This revealed the ground beneth to be in a very poor state, dozens of bags of dumped waste was collected and removed but this also reveal dumped paint, broken glass, oil, scrap metal, asbestos and old plastic sheeting. This covering was so thick that it was impossible to dig without mechanical help. One of the older residents said that some soil had been brought from the old Tannery site at Ball Grove.We removed some of the more serioius contamination and covered the rest witl whatever soil and turf we could find from the allotments and gardens. We had hoped that the site could be used for growing fruit and veg but in view of the obvious and less obvious contamination, this plan was abandoned and it was decided to simply encourage more grass and turf with wild flowers which would serve as an amenity for the houses on Duke Street.

REMEDIAL ACTION FOR TREES

Of the six sycamores which had been planted, one had already died and another one was clearly destined for the same fate. we pruned and shaped the remaining trees with some degree of success as the trees grew more foliage. Since then they have been pruned twice more and together with other neighbours a hedgerow of thorns and silver birch and beech has been planted. The sycamores have not grown to any great height but are much bushier with the exception of the sycamore at the field end which appears diseased although further pruning may help restore it to some semblence of health. Of the two other sycamores height could be reduced by lowering the crown and further pruning which would allow more light for ground planting. and infil. Having made it this far it would seem unnecessary to cut down or dig up the remaining trees, pollarding is not recommended as this is a cruel and ugly fate for any tree. Even if they are left alone completely, they are unlikely to grow to any great height due to the thin soil cover and previous pruning.

When we arrived in this village most of the gardens had been abandoned due to the uncertain fate of the M65 Motorway but as we have planted and cultivated we have noted a dramatic increase in numbers and diversity of wild birds including song birds and sparrows which have been placed on the RSPB Red List due to rapid decline of numbers. By providing tree and shrub habitat we are continuing this process. We now have regular visitors and residents of specis such as Jays, Wood Pidgeon, Redpoll, Nuthatch, Tree Creeper, flocks of Long Tail Tits, and even Greater Spotted Woodpecker and bats . In terms of habitat and biodiversity, this can only be described as a success and one which we hope to continue to develope. In terms that council officers might understand it is my recommendation that we " Do Minimum," ie, lowering of crown height, prune straggly and diseased branches, and infill with other shrubs and ground cover. I personally applied for Conservation status for this area and all that i am suggessting is that we continue with this process.

The Japanes Maple is now suffering a spreading disease in the UK due to Climate Changebut this is just the tip of the iceberg.  Imported plants have brought diseases that threaten to kill millions of British trees Our obsession with gardening has opened the door to exotic species that bring deadly pathogens and pests.  A bacterial infection called acute oak decline threatens mature oaks in Britain.

In the  south of england Horse chestnuts were being attacked by a bleeding a rust-coloured liquid down its bark last week. As it dried, it left a black, tar-like stain several feet long. Two streets away, another horse chestnut had prematurely shed its leaves in July. A fungal pathogen known as bleeding canker was killing the first tree from the inside, while the horse chestnut leaf miner moth was destroying the second. Neither tree will survive the winter. Plant pathogens are on the rise globally and Britain is susceptible because of our increasingly warm, wet winters and the globalisation of trade, which has enabled us to fuel our love of gardens by importing millions of exotic plants, many of which can arrive diseased



Plant pathogens are on the rise globally and Britain is susceptible because of our increasingly warm, wet winters and the globalisation of trade, which has enabled us to fuel our love of gardens by importing millions of exotic plants, many of which can arrive diseased.



"We now have six to eight organisms in the British Isles that are a real concern. In the 1960s and 70s it was Dutch elm disease, which killed 30m trees; in the 1990s it was a new Phytophthora which devastated alders along river banks. But in the last 10 years we have had as many new diseases as we had in the previous 40 or 50 years," said Joan Webber, principal pathologist at Forest Research, the Forestry Commission's research arm.


More than 3m larches have had to be felled in the last three years to try to stop the spread of an airborne disease called Phytophthora ramorum. Meanwhile, hundreds of cases of a bacterial infection, acute oak decline, have been recorded in mature oaks; a disease called red band needle blight is affecting many conifers; and beeches and ash trees have all come under sustained attack by exotic pests, fungi and diseases. Most are confined to one species of tree, but they can potentially jump species into others.


Tony Kirkham, head of the arboretum at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, which has 14,000 trees and has seen many attacked in the last few years, said some of the most serious threats came from the oak processionary moth. These have been seen in Britain before but were first found breeding in 2005 along a stretch of the A40 and in Kew and East Sheen, west London. The caterpillars can cause serious defoliation of oak trees, and weaken the trees to the point that they are prone to other diseases. "This is serious stuff. It will change the landscape of the British Isles if it is not checked.

"It's a very challenging time for anyone who manages trees. Bleeding canker is spreading right across southern England, and is now moving north quickly, as far as Wales and York. Wherever you go in southern England, horse chestnuts are struggling," Even tens of thousands of beautiful Larches are now being felled to try to stem a disease which in only a year has spread from the South West of England, through Wales, and reached Lancashire only last month. All this will have a devastating on the appearance and the ecology of the UK. We must not 0take great care with all the trees we cherish, even the most humble.

FRIENDS OF THE EARTH in PENDLE

EXTRACTS FROM THE FRIENDS OF THE EARTH FLUORIDE NEWSLETTER

D. Mail 29.11.11 “MONEY DOWN THE DRAIN”

A new study by Waterwise - a group that campaigns against water waste - shows that some modern showers waste so much water, their owners would be better off soaking in the bath. According to the study a typical Briton uses 150 litres or 33 gallons of fresh water every day.
LOOS: Nearly 33% of drinking water piped into our homes is used for flushing toilets – 2 billion litres of water every day. Yet it is all treated & chlorinated to make it safe to drink.
BATHS & SINKS: 21% of household water goes on bathing, washing & teeth cleaning.
POWER SHOWERS: 12% of UK water goes on showering.
WASHING CLOTHES: 15% of water is used by washing machines.
WASHING DISHES: 8% of water goes on washing dishes.
GARDENS: 7% of water is used for watering gardens & filling padding pools etc.
DRINKING: Waterwise estimate that much less than 4% of water is used for drinking if waiting for the tap to run cold, over-filling kettles & boiling pans without lids are taken into account.


A great deal of water is used to produce food, clothes, paper, household goods, electricity & cars. This is known as ‘embedded’ or ‘virtual’ water because it’s used to create something else. It takes 170 litres of fresh water to make 1 pint of beer. A cotton T-shirt takes around 4,000 litres of water to make. It takes 2,400 litres of water to produce the animal feed & sustain the cattle needed for just 1 hamburger!

My comment: This shows the folly of fluoridating the whole water supply.)


Ann


BRIAN JACKSON  WRITES.... 

I compile a regular Fluoride Newsletter for Friends of the Earth which is taken from sources Worldwide as well as here in the UK. If you wish to subscribe (its free and you dont have to be members of FoE . Just follow these instructions......
List address: fluoride@foe.co.uk
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DO SOMETHING DAY !

On Radio Fours  Today News Program this morning one of their roving reporters went out to find a small but well organised tented Protest in the Leeds City Campus. Generally, passersby were sympathetic to the cause of greater equality and wealth distribution which anyone in his right mind will tell you is well overdue.  Not so good however when they drove forty minutes away to Skipton.  Here, There were no tents  and those stopped or assembled in the street were more than prepared with their excuses for doing nothing, or nowt and of course the usual platitudes from  the usual bunch of soft conservatives were more concerned in covering their own arses than actually doing anything.

One fella who managed a commericial radio station clearly wasn't going to say anything in any way censorious about the  current system of gross inequality and even this was daring compared with the old councillor who was more concerned about people taking up space on the pavement for some reason.  Perhaps he would be willing to criticise those in the main market street of Skipton who had the temerity to set up market stalls and peddle their wares.....(Surely some mistake Ed!)  Another geyser with a long memory was clearly much more concerned with the War of the Roses and very unhappy that the Lancastrians had given the Yorkists a sound thrashing. Presumably the Yorkists had sat by their fires and said, things like,  "Looks like Rain," or "don't be Daft, even a Lancastrian would not come to Skipton in weather like this." Wrong again old fella, and it can happen again, This time of course it wont be quite the same.  This time it wont be a pikestaff, it will be more likely a mortgage foreclosure on nicely printed headed notepaper. A slower death than at the hands of the Lancastrians maybe but the end result probably is the same.

So much for political awareness hereabouts, its not that the Conservative  Yorkists were not brave enough or capable enough of putting up a good fight they just got used to hoping and then assuming that everything would be all right eventually.  After years of this, it was easy to fail to recognise the sound of marching feet and in towns like Skipton they are quickly overrun by the greedy buggers with more to lose. Sadly, in Sheep Street, Skipton, the Sheep don't look up at least not untill its too late.

A couple of people stopped me and pointed out that few people if any had   done anything about Buy Nothing Day.  Sad but true i suspect and those that actually had done something, delayed their Saturday Shop, or just taken the dog for a walk etc were hardly likely to stand up and make a fuss like the nomark who claimed to manage the local commercial radio station.  His job is to advertise anything that comes his way and to confess he was not doing this even for one day, would be more than enough for the powers that be to give him his marching orders. Imagine if McDonalds took a day off from selling Burgers.???  Its the symbolic value thats the important thing in this action. We all waste and spend far to much, throw away loads of food just because we are the lucky 2 Billion whilss the rest of the world population exist on crumbs or dont exist at all.   Sooner or later famine on a large scale will finish us off with this kind of attitude, but it doesnt have to be this way, Any day can be a buy nothing day... a day on which you do something really useful.

PM CAMORON IN A BUBBLE

Now that the big banks and the building societys especially in the USA have plunged us all into a financial slump which may last for many years our coalition Government is as one might expect, looking for scapegoats, or worse still, like Emperor Nero,  fiddling whilst Rome Burns. The Jobless totals are soon likely to beat all records and the rate of inflation also continues to rise. Clearly, rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic did not work so now they are repainting them, a stratagem which promises continued failure.

Stuck here in Blighty, we can only look on in amazement as Cameron, tours the Antipodes bringing joy to Royalists by tinkering with the law of accession. Ok up to a point, but this kind of thing could have and should have been done years ago, not now.               

WHY I VOTED NO !

In the 1970s we had a referendum in this country.  It was about Joining the Common Market and was quite simple,  Did we want to join the Common Market?  Yes or No?? We were given an opportunity to decide our countrys future by Harold Wilson but we did know that there was a list of differences between the Common Market which was a very useful trading partnership and the EU which was more than a hop skip and a jump in the general direction of Federilisation. Including surrendering our countries decision making over laws, finances etc.  The British people voted YES to the Common Market and ever since have been waiting for the chance to vote NO to a Federal Europe.

Having been of a suspicious nature almost since birth, I Voted No to even the Common Market because i already knew that politicians, whatever party they belong to, and no matter what they say right now, are always likely to change their minds if it should affect the Party Power Base or their individual futures. And often with disasterous results. Who would have thought that a Labour Government would take us into several wars.  A Common Market which was all about peace and harmony and trade, certainly! But wars,   no no no. Untill after waiting for  many years of Thatherism, along came Tony Blair  aka.  Tony B Liar who was prepared to stop at nothing in order to do the bidding of W Bush. Even, if it meant falsifying evidence and even when it meant murdering Sadam Hussein. Its not just the Russians that have show trials.

When it came to monetry Union we would already be exchanging Euros had not our own  Governments incompetence intervened. That little jaunt into the unknown cost the UK many billions when he had to hurriedly extricate ourselves. So where are we now?  Well it would seem that not content with having to pay for our own stupidity we now have to pay for the incompetence of the Federal Reserve in the USA and of course for the follow on problems of Greece,  Ireland and probably Italy and Spain.....  there may be even more before this mess is sorted out and even the new deal hammered out by the 27 last night is no guarantee of success in the mid to longer term.


I thought it was pretty rich of the US Gov telling the EU that we had better get a move on and sort all this before any more damage was done.  They should have told that to Freddy Mac and Fanny Mae. Its no use turning round and saying that it was the greed of small house purchasers just because the Freddy and Fanny et all was handing out suicidally priced mortgages to people they knew could never pay. But.  such is the Alice in Wonderland nature of the financial markets, Banks etc.

Leak of liquid waste at Dounreay Nuclear Power Station in Caithness

The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency is currently investigating a leak on the site of the former Dounreay Nuclear Power Station in Caithness Although the power station is decommissioned and is currently being demolished it is demonstrating just how dangerous nuclear sites can be and just how difficult cleaning up contaminated sites can be.  

Radioactive liquid effluent is understood to have leaked inside a treatment facility.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) said the leak was minor and did not get outside the plant. Its quite a small plant when compared with modern installations but  there can   still be dangers it it leaks out and people are exposed.  I remember several years back when the site was first being decomissioned, they had disposed of waste rather hurriedly by chucking it down a mineshaft. 

Although it was not at that time supposed to be high level waste and was apparently gloves and protective clothing and other litter, but they had sealed and capped the dump and as organic stuff rotted down, gas pressure built up and eventually an explosion blew the top off it. It was one of the first examples which demonstrated that disposing of nuclear waste was neither practical nor safe and consequently very expensive.

Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) said that nobody was put at risk by the incident but SEPA has launched an investigation. Dounreay is currently undergoing a £2.6bn decommissioning process but a lot more will need to be spent before the site can be in any way described as safe.

DISPATCHES ON CHANNEL FOUR SHOW HOW RACHMAN IS BACK.

Jon Snow and the dispatches team showed on Channel 4 TV how the slum private landlords are back. As they say on their websight...

"The housing charity Shelter estimates that there is a shortage of a million homes in the UK. Britain today has a housing crisis on a level with that at the end of the Second World War but is building fewer homes than at any time since the First World War.

We were told by a number of housing officers that local authorities dare not inspect many establishments for fear that they will have to re-house those inside.

This is yet another problem that can be laid at the door of Margaret Thatcher.  She actually ring-fenced housing which mean that Councils could not aquire social housing or build any new council houses as this was what she called Municipilisation. At the same site she set of a council house buying spree by promoting the idea that "Everyone should own their own home and should have the right to buy their council Houses. So thats how we ended up with yet another and greater shortage of affordable houses.

The recession has speeded up this process and there is nowhere near enough social housing to take up the slack. I have been fortunate myself but i do have first hand experience of just how bad it can get. In the Mid 70s me and my partner were rudely woken when a literal torrent of rainwater poured through an unknown hole in the roof at a grotty little house in Salford... Since demolished and redeveloped. The landlord was only available you knew his address and literally followed him home to get any repairs done. The Mice were totally tame and used to come out to play in broad daylight. A terrible stink in the bathroom was tracked a rat which had under the bathroom floor boards. The electric wiring was dreadful and dangerous and this actually electrocuted our cat. We needed to slam the front door because it was badly fitted and one day as we shut the door, the entire rear window frame, wood glass and plaster jut fell out onto the floor. Probably this had been loosened by constatn traffic vibration from the heavily conjested A 57 main road but it had never been fettled or repaird and our only luck was that no one was sat by the back window or they might have been maimed or even killed.

 which  was the kind of place a friend of mine from  Bradford Yorkshire referred to as a typical Fuckin Ratter. I couldnt wait to get out of that place

I searched west and north Manchester and found a wonderful detached house with a nice wooded garden and a landlord called Mr Robinson who was surely an angel. The flat was an entire ground floor with huge picture windows lookin out over the Church at the front and patio and hidden garden at the back with french windows. The rent was actully lower than the dump we had left and the landlord would turn up to mend a burst or anything that  needed attention almost  as soon as you put the phone down. We even had  a nice dry cellar which  we painted and turned into a band practice room. This was the hottest summer of the Twentieth century.... 1976 and that room was a good place to sit and read to avoid the heat.

For the last 30 years i have stayed at my current address. I and others found some housing in reasonable condition but under a threat from the Clutches of the Department of Transport and the Lancashire County Council  who planned to demolish lot of houses to make way for the dreaded M65 motorway which was rumoured to be running from Preston to Hull on the East coast. The County Council compulsoraly purchased the houses in this village and moved in low rent tenants as a temporary measure so I and others moved in, formed a Friends of the Earth group in Pendle and fought the M65 to a standstill. A housing association took charge because Pendle Council had been prevented from acquiring them due to Thatchers legislation and after a slow start gradually undertook repairs although we had to shame them to force them to start this work.

The Housing association were not without sin however.  Social housing is supposed to be reserved for people who cannot afford to buy but our housing association made quite a prophet which mysteriously disappeard by puttin up individual properties in the village for sale on the open market when existing tenants moved on. The original buying price for these properties was as little as £4000 at what was known as demolition value. but the housing association was selling them off instead of moving in new tenants and for as much as £120K, a considerable prophet which then suddenly appeard to vanish.

One day the truth will out no doubt but the latter half of the 20th Century seemed to be repleat with scams and illegal rake offs so I suppose they were no worse than a bunch of MPs, Bankers, Journalists or Police Officers. Now of course those "Caring" (surely some mistake) Tories propose to make squatting in domestic properties, a criminal offence.  Thats going to do a lot of good for the homeless isnt it.?  At the risk of sounding like a trot i can only say that someone once said,  "Property is Theft. and i feel i must agree.

FRIENDS OF THE EARTH, FLUORIDE NEWSLETTER, 4TH SEPTEMBER 2011Sunday

FRIENDS OF THE EARTH, FLUORIDE NEWSLETTER, 4TH SEPTEMBER 2011Sunday, 4 

 

　
A New Sense of Urgency .... HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE BILL
PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE NEXT WEEK.

After very many years of active and detailed campaigning against fluoridation, there have recently been some slight signs of commonsense and improvement particularly in the USA where many towns are rejecting and pulling out of fluoridating their water supplies. In addition the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) has reduced the ・recommended・ maximum levels for fluoride in water supplies. I would go much further than this and agree with Dr Griffin Cole, a dentist in Austin, Texas, who said in response, "I still don't think it's enough, honestly, I don't think there should be fluoride in the water at all. As a veteran FoE water and toxics campaigner, I strongly believe that fluoride in all its forms and combinations, should be kept well clear of the food chain for humans and animals. I make little distinction between the so-called "naturally occuring" fluoride or the even worse industrial waste so beloved of water companies. Fluoride is in our food and drink both accidentally and on purpose and is now coming at us from all directions such as water, milk, salt, processed foods etc. Indeed if this muck can eat its way through glass should not its most avid proponents amongst private dentists and the usual suspects at the Department of Health spend some quality time on the couch of Mr Sigmund Freud?"
The latest UK Government fluoride proposals are rapidly becoming what could be called a 'Hard Hat' area. The USA spear-headed and promoted fluoride in the USA and across the world and the UK Gov., as usual, has eagerly supported the idea in the UK. Some great ideas have come from the USA, but, sadly this is not one of them. Perhaps it's now well past the time for the UK Gov. to call a complete halt to all future plans to fluoridate in the UK and call a halt to existing schemes in the West Midlands and the North East. There is no point in arguing the toss with them over the hotly disputed science and medical qualities and values. Even a cursory look at fluoride leads us to rule it out as a useful medical product and bearing in mind the Precautionary Principle, take much greater care with all other industrial and technological uses of this stuff. We could go on rearranging the deck-chairs on the Titanic for ever-and-a-day but this is a total waste of time. Governments don't actually make many useful decisions: they are usually made by high-ranking and apparently quasi-immortal civil servants who are not democratically elected but who are merely appointed, and once appointed seem to become eternal. Even Margaret Thatcher occasionally said something sensible and, in particular, once remarked that ・advisers advise and ministers decide.・ Many civil servants, however, seem to think that they should make the decisions as well. In a situation where MPs and Ministers think they are elected to rule rather than to serve by representing the views and opinions of the electorate, it's about time that Civil Servants in the Department of Health realised that they dwell much further down the food chain.
Clearly they need to be made to remember that the unelected members of our government possess even fewer privileges than their political bosses and can be called on to give testimony to 'M'learned friends'. It is only then that proper expert scientific and medical opinion can be placed before the Courts so that a well-informed verdict and policy can be determined. The tiny number of scientifically trained MPs can be counted on one or two fingers so it's not surprising that our scientific discourse has fallen on deaf ears. The fact is they just don't understand the importance or significance of this evidence, and in some cases, may simply not even care. The Department of Health's civil servants listen only to their favourite and trusted lobbyists and advise Ministers accordingly. No wonder the NHS is such an unhappy place nowadays;
Dame Sally Davies, the Government's leading advisor, has just now criticised medical staff in the NHS, calling them "selfish・ because many of the staff had not taken her advice to get the swine flu jab. Perhaps this is because they, like many others, had little faith in the judgement of the said Dame and probably like me, they would rather listen to the advice of medical professionals whom they could trust rather than to the advice of politicians and their appointees, no matter how elevated they may be. When the recommended medication may be full of fluoride or mercury, perhaps this is not so surprising.
The time for legal challenges may now be drawing closer. It has dawned on many that despite the scientific and medical tennis and attempts to reinvent the wheel over facts and figures of fluoride and its effects, the only figures that ultimately matter are the number of votes received for the various MPs and their parties. This is just one of the reasons why many of us are eager for voting reform and voted for change in the referendum which the main political parties spent so much time and money on destroying. We need a far more representative lower house which is truly representative and not stuffed with the usual 'yes men' and cronies.
Now you can read underneath just how dishonest and clannish the politicians really are. Before the last election, as many of you know, MPs and leaders of all the parties were lobbied and polled by FoE Members, This included Clegg, Cameron, Brown et al. They assured us that there would be no compulsion over fluoride against public wishes. Suddenly we learn that once the new Health and Social Care Bill becomes an Act after a hurried debate next week, the parachuting in of fluoride henchmen from the PCTs and SHAs will ensure that unwilling anti-fluoridation Councils will toe the Department of Health line. The most galling part of this is that the cost of this exercise in the further erosion of democracy will be paid for by all of us, via our Council Tax. As this tax cannot be increased, if Cameron is to be believed, some other Council services will have to be axed to pay for it. The cost of this is believed to run into hundreds of millions of pounds. In short, as per usual, Undemocratic, Unethical, Unacceptable and Illegal. No wonder, as one comic remarked, ... "nappies and politicians should be changed frequently.".... and for the same reason.
Brian Jackson
Pendle Friends of the Earth
Fluoride Campaign
01282 860985PS.
Dont give up act now. Phone your MP at his constituency office or buy calling the House of Commons on 0207-219 3000. Ask the switchboard for your MPs office and either talk to him or her or their assistant and if they are not in the office, Leave a message on their ansafone with your number and contact details and ask them to call you back. Remember they do work for you if you force their hand.
You can also call your local councillors especially those on the exec commitee or scrutiny committee, Explain the urgency of recent developments and remind them that they are likly to be sidelined by the Government and have to further cut services to make up even greater Council Tax cuts. You can also remind your councillors that unlike water companies, they may not be insurable against damage or accidents caused by fluoridation. You should also advise your local press and media about the local implications of the New Government Home and Social Care Bill.
Finally there is a guide to making more effective Press Releases for your group or organisation. The template shown is of course for Friends of the Earth but the tips shown apply to anyone trying to make an easy to read Press Release. You can find the information at this link.... http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/how_tos/cyw_64_press_release.pdf

Brian Jackson
Pendle FoE
01282-860985
FROM JONATHAN EYRE

LEEDS FRIENDS OF THE EARTH

Dear Greg Mulholland MP

Greg, thank you for the letter you wrote to Yorkshire Water on my behalf regarding Fluoridation of the regions drinking water.

Things have therefore gone up a notch, and NEXT week Parliament will be debating a bill 'The Health and Social Care Bill' which effectively change everything, putting a Government hack in all Councils to secure fluoridation of all our drinking water with the demise of the Strategic Health Authorities!

Doug Cross of United Kingdom Councils Against Fluoridation (UKCAF)

http://www.ukcaf.org/index.html has worked very hard reading the 460 pages of the Bill before working on his professional assessment which is attached to this email.

I advise you and your team to read this attachment through as a matter of urgency. The apparent changes to how Fluoridation will be rolled out is worrying and of grave importance.

As I am sure you are aware, any medical treatment should only be given with consent, should be appropriate for the individual and for their underlying health condition and should have a set limit on the dosage they receive. Dilution of Fluoride compounds into drinking water allow individuals to receive varying amounts of the toxic substance depending on the amount of water they drink, and their size and age and with NO reference to their underlying health condition!

Fluoridation is an attack on all Individuals rights and their health status!

I would hope that you will oppose the sections in the Health Bill next week that relate to Fluoridation of the Public water supply, and perhaps could also ask some questions about this to the Government Ministers, such as

・E 'why is Fluoridation put into this Health bill, it seems out of place here being the only medical intervention covered in considerable operational detail'

・E 'will the Government extend the protection of prosecution extended to all water companies (in the 2003 Water Act) to all Council's, as this would seem to place Councillors under legal threat of encouraging the medication of the public with a non-registered medical drug (Fluoride) and against their will'

・E 'what cost is estimated for the forced medication of public drinking water by the Government, and will the Government meet this cost fully to all Councils?'

・E 'will local authorises be entitled to increase council tax to pay for this medication of the public practise above any Government set tax threshold, if not how will authorities afford to pay for this?

　

　

FROM LIZ VAUGHAN AT UKCAF

URGENT

The issue of water fluoridation included in the 'Health and Social Care Bill due to be debated in the House of Commons on Sept 6th and 7th as soon as Parliament returns hence the urgent nature of this email.We have studied this Bill very carefully and its implications for councils. Please circulate to your councillors and officials as soon as possible.

1 We are advising councils to seek a Judical Review about the incompatibility of fluoridation provisions in the Bill with European and English law on medicines, food and protection of human rights

2. The Bill will force councils to employ the NHS Directors of public health, who are all known advocates of fluoridation. These will be required to force councils to implement Government public health policies regardless of public opposition.

3. Fluoridation always causes substantial damage to children. Councils will be required to repay the cost of fluoridation projects to the Secretary of State from their own income, meaning that the public will be paying for the privilage of poisoning their children

4. We have checked with the head of local government insurance at Zurich and this cannot come under normal council insurance and would be seen as an uninsursable 'foreseeable risk'.

. .

We have contacted the LGA to ensure that councils are protected from excessive or unlawful government policies they need to consider urgently the implications of this Bill both for member councils and the wider public for whom they are responsible.

We have had a long and successful experience of working with councils on fluoridation issues What we think people should do besides protest to their local councillor and make sure their MP is very aware of their opinions and feelings before Tuesday Sept 6th.is to also ensure their local media are aware that this is happening next week. Doug has worked very hard reading the 460 pages of the Bill before working on his professional assessment which is attached to this email.

If you have a website please put all of this on your site so everyone is aware that the fluoride pushers and their trade union the BDA have managed to convince Government of the need to fluoridate.

Yours sincerely,

Cllr Liz Vaughan UKCAF.

　

URGENT

The issue of water fluoridation included in the 'Health and Social Care Bill due to be debated in the House of Commons on Sept 6th and 7th as soon as Parliament returns hence the urgent nature of this email.We have studied this Bill very carefully and its implications for councils. Please circulate to your councillors and officials as soon as possible.

1 We are advising councils to seek a Judical Review about the incompatibility of fluoridation provisions in the Bill with European and English law on medicines, food and protection of human rights

2. The Bill will force councils to employ the NHS Directors of public health, who are all known advocates of fluoridation. These will be required to force councils to implement Government public health policies regardless of public opposition.

3. Fluoridation always causes substantial damage to children. Councils will be required to repay the cost of fluoridation projects to the Secretary of State from their own income, meaning that the public will be paying for the privilage of poisoning their children

4. We have checked with the head of local government insurance at Zurich and this cannot come under normal council insurance and would be seen as an uninsursable 'foreseeable risk'.

. .

We have contacted the LGA to ensure that councils are protected from excessive or unlawful government policies they need to consider urgently the implications of this Bill both for member councils and the wider public for whom they are responsible.

We have had a long and successful experience of working with councils on fluoridation issues What we think people should do besides protest to their local councillor and make sure their MP is very aware of their opinions and feelings before Tuesday Sept 6th.is to also ensure their local media are aware that this is happening next week. Doug has worked very hard reading the 460 pages of the Bill before working on his professional assessment which is attached to this email.

If you have a website please put all of this on your site so everyone is aware that the fluoride pushers and their trade union the BDA have managed to convince Government of the need to fluoridate.

Yours sincerely,

Cllr Liz Vaughan UKCAF.

　
From:
"Joy Warren" <wmaf@live.co.uk>Add sender to Contacts
To:
"Brian Jackson" <brianjackson77@btinternet.com>

A really useful database - right-hand pane

http://www.epa.gov/ncct/toxcast/files/summit/48P%20Mundy%20TDAS.pdf

Joy
FOI REQUEST FROM JOY WARREN
1a. Is the DH aware of the database maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the US: HYPERLINK "http://www.epa.gov/ncct/toxcast/files/summit/48P%20Mundy%20TDAS.pdf" http://www.epa.gov/ncct/toxcast/files/summit/48P%20Mundy%20TDAS.pdf

Fluoride is listed as a developmental neurotoxin in the middle column of the right-hand-pane.
1b. What steps have been taken to add fluoride to similar databases in the UK?
1c. If no steps have been taken, why not?
2a. Is the DH aware of the ARCPOH statistics received by the Australian Government relating to dental decay in Australia collected during 2003 which shows that fluoridated Australian children experience a delay in tooth eruption due to the presence of fluoride in their water and food? Fluoride-induced delayed eruption of teeth has been supported by research by Komarek et al. in 2005. (A Bayesian analysis of multivariate doubly-interval-censored dental data. Biostatistics (2005), 6, 1, pp. 145–155 doi: 10.1093/biostatistics/kxh023 )
2b. If the DH is aware of these statistics and Komarek’s research, please explain why the DH has chosen to ignore the serious implications of fluoride causing a delay in children’s dental development.
2c. Since fluoride is a developmental neurotoxin, please also explain why the DH has failed to realise that delayed eruption of teeth also means disruption to other physical development.
3a. Is the DH aware that the Centers for Disease Control in the US has recommended that the concentration of fluoride in public drinking water be reduced to 0.7ppm?
3b. If the DH is aware, what steps has the DH taken to follow suite?
3c. If no steps have been taken, why not?
4a. Is the DH aware that the reason why the CDC has recommended a reduction in concentration of fluoride is because more than 40% of people born after water fluoridation began in the US have dental fluorosis. Instead of regarding dental fluorosis as being a cosmetic issue, the US Government Department has noted that dental fluorosis is undesirable and has accordingly recommended a reduction in the concentration of fluoride. Likewise, The Republic of Ireland and Hong Kong have reduced the concentration of fluoride.
4b. Why has the DH not told the Secretary of State that a downward variation in fluoride concentration is advisable?
5a. Why has the DH refused to acknowledge research (mainly from China) which points to a reduction in intelligence in communities where drinking water contains natural calcium fluoride? (Note that the Newcastle University research (Maguire et al (2005). Bioavailability of Fluoride in Drinking Water: A Human Experimental Study, J. Dent RES 2005:84; 989) showed that both artificial and natural fluoride are equally bio-available.)
5b. Even if the DH dismisses the validity of Chinese research, please explain why the DH has failed to apply the Precautionary Principle.
6a. Fluoride crosses the placenta so that the unborn child is poisoned with a developmental neurotoxin. Please explain why the DH recommends that pregnant women refrain from alcohol and cigarettes prior to and during pregnancy but has failed to advise them to refrain from drinking and eating fluoride.
I look forward to receiving a full reply and hope that you will observe the statutory 20 working days condition.

UK Against Fluoridation: Southampton fluoride meeting with Prof ...
Southampton fluoride meeting with Prof Connett. A public talk and question time with one of the world's leading experts on fluoridation Professor Paul Connett ...
ukagainstfluoride.blogspot.com/.../southampton-fluoride-meet...

KIDS IN THE WILD AND MISSING LEADERSHIP

No one can seriously say that stealing from and torching businesses is really excusable but it must also be said that the majority of recent rioting was down to a lot of young people who come from privation and dont come from a Janet and John background in a nice middle class area, even despite the occasional anomaly from a good backgroundd which the media like to feature.

For a few moments lets look at the lack of leadership for these kids and some of the recent role models. First we have corrupt well paid reporters and journos who were quite prepared to hand dosh to equally corrupt police officers.for tips and rumours, to add to the factoids which they had already hacked from private cell phone messaage  boxes. Once again we are confronted by the poacher-gamekeeper dual roles beloved by people in leading positions. Its truly criminal to hack phones and even more criminal to bribe coppers for private gossip and info. Worst of all as an example of criminal hipocrisy is that there were high flying rozzers willing to enter into into these mutally satisfying arrangements. And if this was not enough right at the top were the fine examples of law and order in the Houses of Parliament. These fine and upstanding crooks were fiddling expenses claims out of the public purse.

And... lets not forget the crooked and greedy activity of leading bankers etc who have literally brought many people to levels of privation . Off course this is white collar crime and therfore not nearly as serious as blue collar crime irrespective of the collossal sums involved and all the more galling to ordinary honest folk that these same crooks aka bankers are actually getting bonuses and rewards for their outrageous activities. It is people like these scumbags who have acted as fine icons  of our modern society for rather too many poorly educated kids from sordid backgrounds about as far from a Janet and John book as they can get and with little if any future.

Fukushima a disaster waiting to happen, just like Sellerfield.

Well just as we thought the money wasted on Thorpe chicken has come home to roost. A scheme that required and depended on ships and trains full of nuclear waste travelling between Japan and Cumbria was never going to be sane let alone profitable. The only person who wanted this kind of thing was the insane old bag known as Margaret Thatcher and her equally insane cohorts at British Nuclear Fools. The scheme and site in Cumbria has never been anything but intrinsically dangerous and certainly not viable but it was just the kind of thing one might expect from a pair of nutters like Reagan and Thatcher.

This dreadful duo are the people who brought us the Starwars plan which couldnt be made to work or be afforded and of course the the Big Bang in the Stock Exchange, part funded by a consortium apparently headed by the Dirty Digger (Murdoch) and other luminaries such as Robert Maxwell aka the Bouncing Czech. The original idea seemed to require the closing down of what remained of British manufacturingindustry and the ramping up of the banking and money markets sector of which Britain was so proud. It never seemed to the practitioners in reagonomics that there was anything wrong in abandoning all pretense of making things we might sell abroad.  Instead, the banks and markets were deregulated and allowed to operate an automatic business based on the 80s loadsamoney principle.  Litte wonder is it that both the nukes business and the doshateria melted down and at about the same time.

Now, both the UK and the USA which it emulates so brazenly are presiding over economies which are up to their ears in debt and surrounded by the smouldering rubble of their earlier exploits.

THE DAILY DIGGER

BBC Radio Four tells me today that Rupert (Dirty Digger) Murdoch is at a meeting of moguls in the US with people including the billionaire owner of Facebook, whatever that is.

Whatever happened to PC Ned Strangelove (aka The Bent Copper) the police correspondent of Private Eye fame. ? Perhaps Chief Superintendant Knacker of the Yard Knacker would like to comment

If Andy Coulson of News of the World Phone Hacking and Prime Ministers advisor fame, reports to the Police or is arrested later today as expected, should we not ask if the officers dealing with this are the same ones, who were apparently on the take from Journos for information or will this issue disappear in the smoke. I think we should be told.

The BBC just now referred to the News of the World as part of the nations furniture. My suggestion is of a comode

NUCLEAR NEWS FROM CUMBRIA

NUCLEAR NEWS FROM CUMBRIA

Fw: LAKE DISTRICT NUCLEAR DUMP - 'TRUMP CARD' IN BID FOR SELLAFIELD REACTOR

Thursday, 26 May, 2011 21:29

From:

"Liz Vaughan" View contact details

To:

"Brian Jackson"

#yiv1423151351 .yiv1423151351hmmessage P { PADDING-RIGHT:0px;PADDING-LEFT:0px;PADDING-BOTTOM:0px;MARGIN:0px;PADDING-TOP:0px;} #yiv1423151351 .yiv1423151351hmmessage { FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:Tahoma;}

----- Original Message -----

From: jean mcsorley

To: mcsorley

Sent: Monday, May 16, 2011 2:37 PM

Subject: LAKE DISTRICT NUCLEAR DUMP - 'TRUMP CARD' IN BID FOR SELLAFIELD REACTOR

LAKE DISTRICT NUCLEAR DUMP - 'TRUMP CARD' IN BID FOR SELLAFIELD REACTOR

16 May 2011

Evidence leaked to Greenpeace and released under the Freedom of Information Act shows local nuclear consultation on nuclear waste disposal is a sham and pro-nuclear lobbyists know Sellafield is not a suitable location for a new reactor.

In January 2012, the three councils - Cumbria County Council and Copeland and Allerdale Borough Councils will decide whether to proceed to the preliminary siting process for a radioactive waste dump in West Cumbria to take all the UK 's legacy and new build wastes and spent fuel.[1]

The documents reveal that the three Councils which have made an 'expression of interest' in West Cumbria hosting a national nuclear dump secretly view hosting the dump as a 'trump card' in getting new reactors at Sellafield.[2]

They also show that the nuclear champions are aware that electricity from new reactors at Sellafield will not be used in Cumbria requiring large pylons around the Lake District National Park to transmit the electricity to other parts of the country. That information was withheld from the public, as well as details about problems with the Sellafield site geology and that existing radioactive contamination in the sea off Sellafield could pose problems in cooling a new reactor.

The people of West Cumbria have a right to expect the highest standards of openness and transparency from those seeking to dispose of dangerous radioactive materials into their region. Instead, Greenpeace had to force local councils to release information in the public interest through Freedom of Information requests and threats of complaint over non-compliance with information legislation.

Greenpeace said today:

'The Councils, and others who initiated these meetings, seem to view West Cumbria and the Lake District as their private fiefdom to be offered up for nuclear waste dumping. Their blind pursuit of nuclear jobs will cost jobs and income in the tourism, food and drink and agricultural sectors dearly.'

'These minutes expose the cynical machinations behind the Managing Radioactive Waste Safely stakeholder engagement programme. Claims about openly discussing nuclear waste disposal with the people of Cumbria are nothing more than a sham based on a hidden agenda. The discussions on disposal should now be halted. The Councils should not be allowed to take any further steps on this matter until there is full disclosure and examination of all the documents concerning new build and wastes from all parties involved.'

The documents also reveal the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) was heavily involved in the closed door meetings, yet it is not meant to actively promote nuclear power. The NDA will be the developer and operator of a national nuclear dump, but it role in these behind scenes meetings raises questions about conflict of interest.

Notes for editors:

What the documents say:

Minutes and presentations at meetings from January 2008 to February 2010 reveal[3]:

l The pro-nuclear lobby knows that Cumbria can't use all the electricity from new Sellafield reactors: ' Cumbria is in the wrong place' in terms of electricity demand (one 'solution' mentioned in the minutes is to get a major energy user to move to Cumbria ). (15/1/08 - page 2)

l Information was withheld from the public regarding the scale of the impact of massive 50 metre pylons around the Lake District National Park - to connect new reactors to the national grid. (19/3/09 - page 56)

l the geology of land around Sellafield is problematic and would add significantly to reactor construction costs (15/1/08 page 2 minutes and slide 19, page 7, of presentation).

l Plutonium contamination in the sea - from Sellafield's reprocessing discharges - could cause problems for cooling new reactors: there is 1/3rd tonne of plutonium in a mudbank offshore where the reactor cooling water would be extracted (13/8/09, page 11)

l the link between new build at Sellafield and using the UK 's plutonium stockpile as a fuel in reactors on site 'is an artificial construct' (11/6/08 page 28)

l the NDA would be asked to make land available at Sellafield at a 'favourable commercial rate' (slide 4, page 11 presentation)

l the name of any new build site would have to be changed to distance it from Sellafield and to avoid 'reputational damage' (3/9/08 p 41 and slide 8 page 13 presentation)

What the documents are:

118 pages of minutes of meetings of pro-nuclear interested parties from January 2008-February 2010 released under Freedom of Information by Copeland - April 2011.

The minutes can be found here: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/document/building-case-nuclear-new-build-sellafield

The meetings involved - at different times - councillors and officials from the NDA, Cumbria, Copeland and Allerdale Councils, Cumbria Vision, West Lakes Renaissance, Sellafield unions, the North West Development Agency, Invest in Cumbria. Sellafield Ltd, Mercury Stone (Marketing company) AMEC (nuclear service company, Furness Enterprise, as well as a representative of Jamie Reed, Copeland MP and John Hetherington an independent consultant.

Leaked: two presentations (shown 15/1/08) for West Lakes Renaissance (an urban regeneration company) written by the nuclear services company AMEC.

l Meeting the Energy Challenge Assessing the Business Case for Nuclear New Build at Sellafield Stage 3 - First set of slides - 26 slides over 9 pages. Dated 10/01/2008,

l Meeting the Energy Challenge: Influencing Strategy to Attract New Build to Sellafield Stage 4 - second set of slides - 10 slides over 4 pages. Date 10/01/2008

l All slides with West Lakes Renaissance and AMEC header

The slides can be found here: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/document/amec-stages-3-and-4-energy-coast-deal


Documents released by West Lakes Renaissance - 3 papers

1. Influencing Strategy and Implementation Plan (undated)

2. Pre-approval for expenditure and brief - WLR 05/7/2007

3. Copy of summary for Energy Coast Master Plan

How we got the documents

After a series of FOI requests to the NDA on David Hayes (then Special Projects Manager) we were told (1 February 2008) that they had:

'not found any paper work associated with these meetings, I understand that one of them was informal, there was no paperwork and it was not minuted. The other meeting did have papers, but they are not held by the NDA i.e. David Hayes didn’t keep anything.' Yet in early 2008 we had been mailed copies of slides from a presentation at a meeting of 15th January 2008 at which, we were informed, David Hayes of the NDA was present. The minutes confirm this.

In February 2008 we emailed WLR to ask for information regarding its work on new build at Sellafield (see above for reply received). In its email on releasing information, WLR said that as a limited company it was not under any obligation for respond to FoI requests. Despite further letters, challenging this, it has refused to answer any more queries.

In December 2010 we emailed both Cumbria County Council and Copeland Borough Council requesting copies of: 'all emails, memos, minutes of meetings or powerpoint presentations involving Copeland officials or councilors and representatives of Britain's Energy Coast West Cumbria, along with records of any relevant discussions (formal or informal)on this matter between the two organisations.

It took four months and the threat of a complaint over non-compliance with Freedom of Information legislation (from 7th December 2010 until 5th April 2011) before Copeland responded to the FOI request which resulted in the minutes been sent.

Despite an exact same email to Cumbria CC (sent 7/12/2010) and again on 2/2/2011 (and an email of complaint (26/3/2011 that it is potentially in breach of FOI legislation) Cumbria has yet to respond to the request.

Contact

Niall Sookoo, Greenpeace media office, 07 711 156 881

Jean McSorley, Consultant, Nuclear Campaign, 07 801 212 959

A NO VOTE FOR AV WILL BE A DEFEAT FOR DEMOCRACY IN THE UK

I have for many years supported reform of our voting system in this country. The majority of countries in the EC vote using PR and i do not see any damage to the European electoral system.  I do however see a much more democratic and responsive system which embraces a much wider range of views and opinions than i see here in the UK.  

Was Osama Bin Laden responsible for the Twin Towers attacks. ?

No one can blame the American people for wanting the capture and punishment of the man (men) behind the attacks upon the Twin Towers in New York or the Pentagon in Washington DC but, was he guilty?  I heard him deny it in the media on a number of occasions which seems strangely out of tune with the Al Quaida organisation which was always proud of its attacks on the American imperialists and their puppets.

There have always been  conspiracy theories about the 911 attacks and the way that Bin Laden was allegely dispatched.  In the aftermath of 911 the USA under neocon leadership was ever eager to lash out at anyone who was either a terrorist or even someone who acted or looked like one and this has not won the USA many friends. The timing of the 911 attacks themselves suggested a good deal of inside knowledge about simultaneus War Games and exercises, not just in the USA but also in the UK during the 7/7 attacks in London.

Although Sadam Hussein was clearly no friend of Osama or Al Quaida and no proof existed to even susggest this, the USA were quick to attack and overrun Iraq and insist upon Sadams capture and kangaroo trial. Many lies were told and circulated and sexed up to support this illegal action. Similarly the Taliban were treated as obvious cohorts of Al Quaida and evidence to implicate was either falsified or at best exaggerated. Anyway i am surely not alone in asking these questions below is the cutting from todays UK Guardian Newspaper carrying an Item from Robert Burns (AP Washington)

"Knowing there would be disbelievers, the U.S. says it used convincing means to confirm Osama bin Laden's identity during and after the firefight that killed him. But the mystique that surrounded the terrorist chieftain in life is persisting in death.

Was it really him? How do we know? Where are the pictures?

Already, those questions are spreading in Pakistan and surely beyond. In the absence of photos and with his body given up to the sea, many people don't believe bin Laden — the Great Emir to some, the fabled escape artist of the Tora Bora mountains to foe and friend alike — is really dead.

U.S. officials are balancing that skepticism with the sensitivities that might be inflamed by showing images they say they have of the dead al-Qaida leader and video of his burial at sea. Still, it appeared likely that photographic evidence would be produced.

"We are going to do everything we can to make sure that nobody has any basis to try to deny that we got Osama bin Laden," John Brennan, President Barack Obama's counterterrorism adviser, said Monday. He said the U.S. will "share what we can because we want to make sure that not only the American people but the world understand exactly what happened." Lets all hope they are right. It seems to be getting very popular to kill leaders without trial or witnesses rather than do anything in the public nowadays. This is another threat to real justice.

KELVIN McFRENZY

I watched with some dismay as Kelvin McKensie raved and yelled on Question Time. Of course for many years he was Rupie (Dirty Digger) Murdochs henchman and worked for the well known Toilet Paper aka, the Sun. He has plenty of bluster and lots of opinions all of them stupid, out-dated and clearly dictated to him by other meddling right wing buffoons. (see Dirty Digger)

He loves Nuke power of course. so i think we should ask him when we can start disposing of dangerous nuclear waste in his garden. Its only radio-active shit and keeping all the shit in one place makes sense although Kelvin lacks sense and knows only subservience to his financial puppet masters. What can i say about such an ass-hole other than "Kelvin, shut the fuck up and give us all a rest."

FRIENDS OF THE EARTH - WARMER HOMES CAMPAIGN

Warm Homes

Millions of vulnerable people in Britain live in cold homes that make them ill and cost a fortune to heat.

Spending time in a cold, damp house can make heart disease, strokes and flu more likely. And there's an increased risk of illness and death among older people, young children and those with a disability.

Homes with shoddy insulation and inefficient boilers don't just harm people's health and leak heat.

The wasted energy means tonnes of climate-changing emissions are needlessly pumped into the atmosphere. More than a quarter of the UK's carbon emissions come from heating our homes and water.

Making our homes energy efficient is one of the cheapest and quickest ways to slash CO2 and help avoid dangerous climate change.

And a nationwide overhaul of our homes would:

• Protect people's health.
• Save families money on fuel bills.
• Create tens of thousands of jobs.
• Save the NHS millions of pounds.

Sounds like a good idea? It is. But it won't happen by itself.

What we're doing

Friends of the Earth's Warm Homes campaign is calling for the coldest two thirds of British homes to be improved.

We need to cut emissions from heat-leaking houses by 42 per cent this decade, to meet our legal targets for tackling climate change.

And tenants need special protection. Houses rented from a private landlord or through a letting agency are the most likely to be the worst insulated.

We're calling for the Government to:

• Set a minimum energy-efficiency standard for private rented homes.
• From 2016 make it illegal to let the worst homes until they're improved.
• Ensure all houses are brought up to scratch by 2020.
• Support landlords and homeowners to make improvements.
• Ensure people know what it costs to heat a home before moving in.

The Government will introduce a new energy law in 2011.

Please join Friends of the Earth's campaign for the Energy Bill to warm our homes, not the planet.

COMIC RELIEF... DONT MAKE ME LAUGH

Actually there is little chance of me laughing at anything on comic relief. Perhaps it should be re-titled Relieve me of these comics. At least that would sound more promising. Especially at a time when large areas of Japan were apparently disappearing beneath the waves and three nuclear reactor were leaking and of course not to mention thousands being injured and killed in Libya.

Meanwhile whilst your not laughing, nurses, doctors, policemen, firemen, teachers, lecturers and of course broadcasters are all being sacked to help plug the the deficit caused by ever more greedy wankers (surely bankers. Ed)

One of the cheapest shots is probably the axing of BBC Local Radio programs which is where the BBC is irreplaceable. We don't want formulaic, cheapo radio five pap or Clear Channel style pop radio with a rotating diet of the same dozen records 24/7 and inane DJs with verbal diarrhea. nor do we want shedloads of money wasted on lo-fi digital radio.

Its fine to do stunts for charity but the cost to us all and to the environment should be factored in before they decide to let a bunch of Z List numpties scramble up Kilimanjaro with a couple of film crews. heedless of carbon footprints.

And finally, most of the so called comedy is both lamentable and sad. Instead why not stop this sanitising of the news, by showing the bodies and the missing limbs and the true horror of war and natural disasters. We can take it. and in fact true suffering shown on TV is much more likely to make me reach into my pocket for somethig to give to "charadee" than are mindless pop songs and ever more teenagers shaking their bits.

Closing the BBC local radio stations and replacing it with Five Live is like replacing a bar of soap with a fresh turd.

BRITAIN AND THE USA CANNOT WAIT TO SEND THE MILITARY INTO LIBYA

No one can really deny that Gadafi is fairly obviously off his trolly. "my people love me" he told the BBC on TV. I heard him say it. I also heard him raving on about how the people in the streets were not protesting against him and any that were did so because Al Kaida (sic) had paid them to riot and had even supplied people psychedelic drugs. Somehow i dont think this is true.

Having said this i also heard people in the streets saying that not only did they want to rid themselves of Gadafi and his regime but that they wanted to do this themselves and did not want the West to intervene. A brief look at the mess the west made in Iraq and are currently making in Afghanistan, this should not surprise us. Ghandi once said "its the right of India to misrule itself as it sees fit" and this applies to most other sovereign nations.

Another good reason for not getting involved is that we really dont have the militarly hardware or manpower to get involved in yet another ill advise expedition into oblivion and shame. We have more than enough of such conflicts over the last twenty years and for all these reasons we should keep our big noses out of it. If people need aid or protection then fine but it must be genuinely requested and not made up by stupid lying dickheads like Tony Blair or the Bush Baby. and especially we should avoid the gutter press and the warmongering scum that live there like the Dirty Digger and the Red Top press who will say anything at the behest of their puppet masters to foment widespread violence as an excuse for foolish intervention with inadeuate forces.

BIG SOCIETY OR LITTLE ISLAND ?

It seems sad to me that we now have to destroy our air force by now sacking hundreds of pilots which cost more than a £1M each just to train. Of course we wont be sacking any pilots who might be required for their work in Afghanistan which for some reason must continue at all costs. Surely it must be time to get out of Afghanistan. Its just another unwinnable war which costs billions to persue yet at the same time we leave ourselves open to lots of attacks and danger elsewhere. So the future looks like a 3rd or 4th rate country on a tiny, defenceless, overcrowded island with no friends and no role in the world. Well done coilition government.

Now we have three Tory parties for the price of one do we. All of them determined it seeems to close down the country and hit out at soft targets such as the disabled and unemployed, all of them bullied and frightened into going after jobs they cannot really perform at a time when there are ever fewer jobs.

BBC -- HOW DRUGS DONT WORK - CANNABIS

I could hardly believe my ears when i watched the above program on the I Player. I had not heard such an out of date bunch of shite about cannabis for at least 15 years. It seemed to be fixatated on THC and Skunkweed and how dangerous this stuff could be. Well Really. All drugs, and for that matter, all repettive behaviour carries with it dangers both physical and psychological but to single out THC in this infantile way does not do the BBC any credit and paints a sorry picture of drugs research into the bargain.

At the last count ther3e were supposedly 421 chemcials in cannabis, 420 of which are not THC. several of which were found to be useful or potentially useful in the treatment of a number of physical and mental ailments. Surely the BBC program could have found a little time for some of these. And before you way, what do you know about all this i must point out that i worked with my Local MP in the 90s on the issues of cannabis pharmaceuticals and decriminilisation. In the course of this i prepared evidence for the House of Lords Select Committee and even discussed it with the Police Foundation.

Another issue which i find genuinely offensive is the failure of this type of programming to differentiate between use and abuse. There is a long distance which seperates the person who smokes a joint from the person of smokes cannabis in joints, pipes, bongs, etc etc from dawn till dusk. If we apply this kind of misguided logic to much of human activity we find we are surrounded by comparatively few abusers of cannabis but these are certainly well exceeded by sugar addicts and abusers, chocaholics, alcoholics, nicotine addicts, and i havent even begun to consider all those who regularly use and abuse prescription drugs such as aspirin, paracetamol, etc etc.