Yorkshire and the Humber Greens Blog

Nuclear Power - sure its safe!!

2011-03-16T06:00:00.001-07:00

So Japan currently has 4 nuclear reactors that have exploded a bit after the earthquake and one of them is sort of on fire spewing radiation out - but it is OK becasue it is only going over the sea!!... so thats fine then !!! :>

Well as a long term campaigner against nuclear power I must say that surely we cannot now go ahead with nuclear power in this country after this?

I think that these damaged reactors tell us one thing (and we knew it already).. ACCIDENTS WILL HAPPEN.

No matter what you are designing you have to accept that accidents will happen in the future. Whether it is a toaster, a toothbrush or a nuclear power station. Maybe we don't get large earthquakes in England but there are many natural disasters that could occur... floods, heatwaves and fires, cold spells, landslides, storms etc. etc. (and we know that these are going to get more frequent and severe as climate change starts to take more effect) to say nothing of the man made disasters we might inflict.

There are several ways of making electricity...
(1) Fossil fuel coal and gas power stations - the worst that can happen if these are badly damaged is a massive fire. Possible loss of life and a bit of pollution I suppose.
(2) Renewables, such as wind turbines - if the worst happens and these are damaged they could fall over and I suppose bits could fly off and maybe hit somebody, or more likely.. a sheep. Not really much scope for major damage
(3) Nuclear power - the worst that can happen if these are badly damaged is a thermonuclear explosion, likely to kill hundreds of thousands instantly and many more with the radiation over the next 20,000 years. The next most bad thing is radiation leaks that might just give radiation sickness to many, many humans or animals across the world depending on which way the wind blows. Apparently the radiation round the damaged reactor in Japan is now only as bad as going for an X-ray! Well last time I was in hospital the doctors and nurses left the room and wore lead aprons when doing x-rays. It is OK to be exposed once for a second but not over any length of time!

So given that we have established that ACCIDENTS WILL HAPPEN.. it looks pretty irresponsible to build nuclear power doesn't it? Even if it does make a lot of money for some people. Or am I missing something?

I have dug out a song by George Faux today called "please don't drink the rain" about Chernobyl... looks like we are there again folks. Lets hope we learn this time........

No flights today, madam !!

2010-04-16T13:08:00.000-07:00

Is it only me that is jolly glad to see that air flights in the UK have ceased because of this volcanic dust from Iceland?

I reckon it is the planet fighting back at last !! Good old Planet Earth !! It has finally woken up Gia and decided to stop all the climate change from air travel. Of course if this theory is correct then we can now expect other natural phenomenon to occur to stop our rampant CO2 emissions.

So if you see swarms of bees bursting the tyres of 4x4 s or earthquakes that disrupt the gas mains to properties with old G rated boilers then you will know I am right. Lets hope not though as in a war between Earth and Man I know who is going to win!

Michael Jackson

Green Party Candidate - East Yorkshire Constituency

Tories elitist education ideas will fail

2010-01-19T04:43:00.000-08:00

The Greens take issue with the Tories’ elitist approach to teaching and learning. The Tories, typically, assume that a good teacher is a commodity – they can be ‘made’ and ‘bought’. The Greens have a different view. We would say that a good teacher is someone who really likes and can communicate with children, and this quality is not measured by academic means. A good teacher is not necessarily someone who is ‘academic’. The Tory assumption that more pay will attract ‘the best’ teachers is also absurd, but, again, it’s what we have come to expect from the Tories. A really committed teacher is unlikely to be ‘bought’.

What the Tories, and the other ‘grey’ parties fail to understand, is that the whole concept of ‘education’ needs a massive overhaul. It’s not ‘bad’ or ‘good’ teachers that are the issue, but the neoliberal assumptions underpinning the education system. The Greens advocate education which develops the whole child: learning to be, to do, to know and to live together (UNESCO), rather than the ‘jumping through hoops’ style of education which we have all become used to and which causes such havoc.

Shan Oakes

Ice and no action from council

2010-01-10T16:05:00.001-08:00

Shan Oakes writes:

I sent this letter to the Beverley Guardian today....

East Riding residents say the icy roads and pavements are a disgrace. Driffield, for example, has been even worse than Beverley. I've spoken to officers of East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) and they say they treat 38% of the road network on a precautionary basis and an additional 12% on a ‘responsive’ basis, but little or no funding is allocated for cul-de-sacs or pavements. Meanwhile the injuries are mounting - along with all their pain, cost and inconvenience. A&E in Hull has had ‘unprecedented’ numbers of injuries and has been forced to send people on elsewhere for surgery.

The ice issue is yet another example of ERYC’s poor record in deciding on sensible and humane priorities. ERYC seems to have priorities other than residents' welfare and safety - or surely there would be plans in place for emergency situations such as this? It should be a priority to enable people to get out of their houses. There's job potential too. Plenty of people would have been pleased with some seasonal paid work clearing smaller footpaths. Maybe there is a lack of ‘special vehicles’, or maybe health and safety regulation is being allowed to get in the way of common sense? Whatever the reason, there’s no excuse for leaving residents trapped at home or risking serious injury by going out. It’s the Council’s job to sort this.

But it’s a political decision - and ERYC is Tory-dominated. Do we want to see more neglect of public service and cost-cutting in the future? It’s ironic in this context that Graham Stuart (Tory MP for Beverley and Holderness) talks of care of those who are ‘elderly, frail or lonely’ – the very people who have been frozen into their homes. Green politicians, whether on local councils, in Westminster, or in Europe, prioritise safety and welfare. For example, there are 7 Green City Councillors in Oxford, where ‘all the main roads and pavements are gritted’ (quoted from your article last week).

Let’s have more sense and fairness instead of hidebound political thinking in pursuit of ‘targets’…and empty rhetoric.

Sincerely, Shan Oakes Green Party Parliamentary Candidate for Haltemprice and Howden

York to Gaza win airport battle of wills!

2010-01-05T03:08:00.001-08:00

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Ask Egyptian Embassy to let them through on 020 7499 3304. Or email - eg.emb_london@mfa.gov.eg

05 JAN 2010

The York to Gaza group, part of the Viva Palestina convoy, arrived yesterday at Al-Arish just hours away from breaking the siege of Gaza.

157 Viva Palestina convoy members' passports were taken away at Al-Arish airport by the Egyptian authorities. The Egyptians also removed the passport's of British MP George Galloway and convoy leader Kevin Ovenden.

All passports were stamped in but also given an exit stamp. The Egyptian authorities wanted the 157 convoy members to drive on to Gaza last night and leave the other 400 Viva Palestina volunteers still to fly in to Al-Arish from an airport in Syria.

The Egyptian authorities announced that the further 400 volunteers would not be allowed in so convoy members began a sit down protest, refusing to move or leave without their convoy comrades.

Later all passports were returned and the exit stamps were removed. A battle won! Convoy members then scouted for hotels for the night to return today to meet the other convoy members before picking up their vehicles and heading for the final destination: Gaza!

The Viva Palestina Convoy calls on all people of goodwill to make protests to Egyptian embassies to let the convoy though.

Adapted from York to Gaza blog.

The best source for information is Twitter. See -

Twitter: garethn/viva-palestina - which can be seen here even if you are not a Twitter member. Also see -

Twitter: viva_palestina

readingpsc

Has the election campaign started but they haven't told anyone?

2010-01-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

The Green Party's Mike Jackson wonders if they're not telling us something.

How fascinating to hear David Cameron launch his election campaign yesterday with a claim that the Conservatives stand for "change". He's only doing this because it worked for Obama when the truth is that there will be no real change at all.

I suspect that the type of change Cameron is talking about is "launching initiatives" and "renaming and re-branding our services". In my experience this means nothing and amounts to no more than a costly exercise in renaming things, issuing leaflets and changing the letter-headed stationery of government departments without addressing the real problems at the core of government and society.

It seems to me that politicians are all the same and all as bad as each other. They regard politics as a game where the only aim is to get voted back in next time and stay on the gravy train.
Instead of having policies based on what is the right thing to do they employ focus groups to see what would happen to their popularity if they say something, then say whatever their PR people tell them will go down best with the voters.

The Green Party is different of course (thank goodness). They actually stand for something. The Greens have policies based on the ideas of fighting for fairness and treating people and the planet with respect. This would lead to a fantastic future, for example, by creating a million green new jobs if the Green Party got into power.

We can only hope that this message gets out to the voters in the elections this year. Otherwise we may lose more of our money to the failed banking system and more of our freedoms to the state as it continues to regulate our lives.

Mike Jackson
Parish Councillor
Parliamentary candidate, East Yorkshire
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Polar Bear Rap in Beverley

2009-12-13T13:45:00.000-08:00

Susan the polar bear performs her climate rap with friends from Beverley. Meanwhile the discussions in Copenhagen continue with everyone hoping for a Real Deal.

Martin Deane: I don't want to see 300 dead

2009-12-02T03:46:00.000-08:00

Martin Deane on Viking FM and KCFM on more troops to Afghanistan: I don't want to be at Hull memorial for 300 dead #gpew

Yorkshire and the Humber Green Party

Oh. My. Word.

2009-11-30T15:15:00.001-08:00

12,800 years ago there was a mini ice-age. New data shows that the change took place over the course of a few months, or a year or two at most. (sciencedaily.com)

YH Website

Lighting the way

2009-11-09T08:47:00.001-08:00

Finding ways of addressing the energy use of streetlighting has been an ongoing theme of the Kirklees Green Councillors over the last ten years. It is a huge issue and represents a significant proportion of the Councils carbon emissions. Early experiments were off grid solar streetlights on Malvern Rise, Primrose Hill. They worked, but they would... ( more )

It’s your vote. Use it to vote for a Referendum on Europe

2009-11-09T04:57:00.000-08:00

So now all three English Westminster Parties have broken their promise to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats promised a referendum in the 2005 General Election manifestos, but were quick to renege on that promise once that election was over.

David Cameron made a "cast-iron guarantee" to the public in 2007 on behalf of the Tory party, that he would hold a referendum on the treaty. Today he has broken this promise ( more )

Biking in Copenhagen

2009-11-09T04:55:00.000-08:00

We got a call in Copenhagen last month from Peter Levy's team, asking for an interview on BBC Radio Humberside to talk about fining people who put the wrong stuff in their trash. So we went to the Copenhagen city department which looks after recycling to see what happens... ( more )

Green Euro campaign - the last few days

2009-11-09T04:49:00.000-08:00

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The "Caroline Cheque" symbolises the MILLION jobs the Green Party plans in green industries.

( more )