Whatever happened to Mayor Boris’ green promises?
When Mayor Boris Johnson addressed the Environment Agency in November 2008, it seemed he had converted to “the religion of climate change”, and put his indifference to environmental action behind him. So has he delivered?
Unfortunately the Mayor is a politician who likes to hype one or two catchy ideas. One first appeared in the long list of promises made in that speech – to spend £100m in his four-year term helping households to install insulation. The second is the target he then set – to insulate 200,000 homes by 2012.
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Disability activists mob ATOS ‘poverty pimps’
On Monday, the Second National Day of Protest Against Benefit Cuts took place with events targeting ‘poverty pimps’ like Atos Origin and A4e.
Over 100 disabled protesters and claimants gathered at Triton Square, London where a noisy mob made their way to the front doors of Atos’ shiny corporate headquarters despite the best efforts of police to stop them.
Police formed a line protecting Atos whilst chants rang out of ‘Atos Kills’. Many people spoke out of their often heart-rending experiences at the hands of Atos’ medical testing which has repeatedly stripped sickness and disability benefits from the most vulnerable.
Picture by Pete Riches. More from the protest here
Anti-poverty and disability protest groups were well represented including Disabled People Against Cuts, Welfare Action Hackney, London Coalition Against Poverty, Mad Pride and many more. Also present were members of PCS Union’s Euston branch who work in Euston Tower which overlooked the protest and who expressed solidarity with claimants.
Over the top as ever, the police briefly kettled the protesters. After some time however people were able to leave if they agreed to be escorted from Triton Square.
Protests also happened around the country. Atos testing centres were leafleted in Nottingham, Archway and Glasgow. The protest outside Atos’ Scotland offices, reportedly in the middle of nowhere, still drew around 40 people and an equal number of police who surrounded the building and once again protected the poverty pimps.
Atos Scotland’s offices were forced to close for the day.
Benefit claimants have vowed to be back with a third National Day of Action to be announced soon.
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Report taken from ‘National Protest Against Benefit Cuts‘ blog. This is an edited down version.
Irish upgrade Palestinian status; will UK follow?
Ireland is upgrading its diplomatic relations with the Palestinian territories in recognition of progress being made by the Palestinian Authority, officials told the press yesterday.
In the dying days of the current government, it was confirmed after a Cabinet meeting yesterday that the Palestinian diplomatic representation will now be known as the Palestinian “mission,” instead of the previous Palestinian “delegation.”
The move stops short of granting full diplomatic privileges and immunities, but is still a step forward. Similar moves have been announced in recent months by Spain, France and Portugal.
The British government is still holding out, though the Ha’aretz reports that the UK, Sweden, Belgium, Finland, Germany and Denmark are expected to follow.
Naturally the Israeli government accused the Irish of being biased, saying:
We are not surprised by this move in light of the Ireland’s longstanding slanted policy with regards to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
On Monday, Peru announced it had officially recognised the Palestinian state, joining Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia, Ecuador and Guyana.
Labour finally gets ready to embrace community organising
The Guardian’s Allegra Stratton reports this morning that David and Ed Miliband are planning to create a “10,000-strong army of community organisers”.
Based on the Movement4Change model that David Miliband unveiled during his Labour leadership bid, it will be affiliated to the Labour party as a socialist society and “provide training for local parties and members to bring about change in communities.”
This is excellent news for the party.
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Weathermen hit back at Osborne blaming snow
The British Weather Services have today sent out a press release disputing the chancellor George Osborne’s claim that snow was to blame for the worsening GDP figures.
The press release states:
British Weather Services hold a daily historic database of UK weather for over 250 UK and Irish weather stations. The database provides details on all aspects of weather, from air temperature and wind speeds through to snow depths and sunshine.
Senior Risk Meteorologist Jim Dale says, “For every drop of rain or flake of snow, for every fall and rise in temperature there is a commensurate rise and fall in the demand and supply of the UK’s good and services. It’s our job to provide to companies big and small the very telling figures that link the weather numbers with what actually went on re performance.”
There is no doubt that the very severe conditions of late November and December would have impacted on UK plc – but there are two sides to every story, Jim explains. “Where there is a weather loser there tends to be a weather winner on the opposite end of the fence, so construction and high street shops may have had it bad for example, but retailers selling cold weather items such as winter clothing, motor factors and comfort foods would have done well out of the ice and snow, not to mention warm and inviting indoor shopping centres, many of which boasted record footfall figures during the period.
Indeed, recent financial reports from some of our biggest companies indicate a mixed pattern of returns, precisely what we would expect to see during a lengthy period of extreme weather”.
British Weather Services also point out that weather can only be partially responsible for the GDP fall, given that October and most of November “were reasonably benign weather-wise”.
How embarrassing for Osborne.
The strategy of cuts is now completely undermined
The quickest of quick thoughts on today’s announcement.
- The -0.5% number is horrible, even with the snow it suggests a lackluster performance in Q4 with no momentum going into the cuts.
- The full year figure of 1.7% has missed the OBR’s 2010 forecast of 1.8%, made only 8 weeks ago. Suspect 2011 and 2012 will now be revised down.
- Manufacturing is doing well but it only employs 2.5m people, not enough to generate growth and jobs for whole economy.
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Watch: Denier James Delingpole admits he can’t do science
From last night’s Horizon programme.
James Delingpole: “It’s not my job to sit down and read peer-reviewed papers, because I simply do not have the time; I don’t have the expertise.”
He then goes on to say about his work: “I am an interpreter of interpretations”
What a ludicrous joke this man is, the biggest global warming denier in the UK.
via @leohickman
Old and female and better off dead…?
This is another post about people I’ve talked to as I travel round the UK talking to those dealing with public sector cuts:
There are times when I wonder if being an old woman without money will be as funny as all that. It seems likely that I’ll find out first-hand in the near-ish future. Right now, I get to watch.
I’m in a room in Gateshead with about 15 older women at a Personal Growth – Take Individual Steps session (known as PG Tips here at the Tyneside women’s health centre).
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The free market and political establishment is betraying us
contribution by Ben Beach
General strikes and unrest have engulfed tens of millions, from Algeria and Iran, Tunisia and Egypt, Greece and France to Spain and Portugal. Here, the biggest student movement in decades has occupied scores of universities, organised massive demonstrations and precipitated national acts of civil disobedience.
All of these movements have a common theme – nothing less than the fundamental remaking of society.
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Libdems poll lower than UKIP amongst youth
In a YouGov poll on Sunday, the Libdem share of the vote amongst 18 – 24 year olds went as low as 7%.
That is roughly around the national average, but much lower than the share Libdems were polling with them closer to the election.
In the same poll and in the same demographic, UKIP poll at 8%. Ouch!
This may be margin of error of course, but still worth noting.
(hat-tip Dominyk Fraser from here)
Naturally, UKIP are excited.
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