The Blog of Adrian Hollister

How conned the people of Newbury and West Berkshire must feel. At every opportunity the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats go back on their election pledges. The EMA allowance was brought up several times in the hustings, with both parties pledging to invest more in education and keep education open to all. But how times change. Under the pretence that this is paying off our nations debts, both parties are intent on selling the future of our knowledge economy to pay for tax benefits for the super rich (1).

The Green Party have been clear all along – education must be open to all. Adrian Hollister from the Green Party in Newbury said, “The scrapping of the EMA is a clear attempt by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat government to exclude education, through financial burden, to poorer members of our society. Their obsession with reducing the national debt whilst conceding tax benefits to the super rich (1) demonstrates that their agenda is not a genuine attempt to help every member of our society.

The Green Party will continue to oppose their strategy and will continue to fight for a fair and inclusive society. Is is not too far a stretch of the imagination to see that if the Tory and Lib Dem's are allowed to continue their big business and super rich agenda, education and healthcare will only be available to those with enough disposable income to pay for it. The poor will once again be excluded and social mobility eradicated. This throw back to the Victorian era must not be allowed to happen.”


1. Tax cuts for the super rich include ways of avoiding paying inheritance tax http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/consult_age_75_annuity_responses.pdf

Posted by Adrian Hollister

The planned incinerator plant near the M4 north of Newbury has rightly raised eyebrows from the locals in West Berkshire. The idea is to put the incinerator in an old quarry and ship vast quantities of waste to the plant to be burnt. It generates some net new electricity, but also stock piles vast quantities of nasty toxic chemicals and puts a whole bunch more into the air. Local residents of the downlands in West Berkshire are right to be concerned. The downlands are one of the last unspoilt parts of our country, with the legendary Ridgeway running through it's heart. The downlands supports farms with some of the highest animal welfare standards, studs, business and houses with a well knitted community. What Grundon are proposing directly attacks at the heart of the community here.

I am sure I will write more about this subject here, but for the moment here is a quick quote:

"Why anyone would want to pollute West Berkshire with additional CO2, toxins and ash is beyond me - the residents of Chieveley and the downlands area of north Berkshire have my complete support rejecting
this idea.

The re-branding of incineration of waste to environmentally friendly power production is a misnomer - Greens worldwide oppose incineration because rather than eliminate waste it encourages waste production and in the process creates dangerous, health threatening toxic by-products, which then have to be dumped. It's also an inefficient method of producing energy. A hierarchy of techniques with reduction, reuse and recycling is inherently more preferable to burial or incineration.

We must as a society reduce the amount of waste we produce and aim for a 'zero-waste' strategy (as has been successfully implemented in parts of (Canada and Australia). Good waste prevention and minimization would eliminate the need for this facility.

Adrian Hollister. "

If you would like to contact me on this or any other issue, please call-in, phone, or use the 'Contact Me' in the left side bar.

Posted by Adrian Hollister

How can you claim to be looking to save every penny and pay back the UK debt pile, if you are giving bankers - the cause of our recent recession - license to print money in large bonus' for it's staff? The Conservative/Lib Dem clear "big business/rich people" agenda is seeping through so that even the most die hard Times/Daily Mail reader can see. There was an opportunity here to push the excessive bonus tax for another year, it would help repay our debts and curb unsustainable targets. The banks were clearly happy to pay it and the staff were clearly happy to still have a job (and some bonus). Even easier, the Green Party way forward is simple to administer and monitor - cap state owned bankers bonus levels at £25K with a view to phase them out asap.

Old comment from Adrian Hollister - compensation always drives behaviour. If we are setting targets for people with big payouts attached to them, they are generally going to do all they can to achieve the targets to get the payouts. If you have to pay bonus monies, set the targets to be fair, ethical, and sustainable.

Posted by Adrian Hollister

There should an obligation on landlords to do the best they can for their tenants and the community in which the tenants live - at least their should be and at the very least there should be a moral obligation. I may be optimistic here though - the Tories and their Liberal Democrat partners in crime are doing their very best to change us into as selfish and self centred a society as mad Maggie did many years ago.

I've been speaking to people throughout the West Berkshire downlands about rental properties and the big divide between those properties provided by the housing association and private landlords. In my quick poll of people it seem that housing association has a much higher quality of rental properties - certainly in terms of environmental and tenant welfare issues. I've not yet spoken to a tenant in a housing association house that thinks their buildings are in need of an environmental upgrade. I know solar hot water feature highly in my wish list, but this would only create a bigger gap between the housing associations and private landlords.

The worst off seem to be those that cannot get a housing association house. The quality of housing stock from private landlords does seem to be terrible.

For example, whilst most now have double glazing, it's only because the old single glazing was so beyond repair it just had to be repaired to keep the property occupied. I've yet to find any private tenant that thinks their private landlord has or even would consider upgrading insulation levels to meet the minimum modern standards.

Another common example discussed is that none of these private landlords are concerned about water quality in the home, with many 60's/70's/80's properties taking drinking water still from the water tank in the loft (and as I understand this can be a great source of nasty bacteria).

So what am I suggesting? I think that the standards of the housing association should be applied to all private rental properties. There should be parity in their quality. I also think that all new and tenanted homes should be provided with a solar hot water system. Simple things like this would improve the quality of life for many of the people in our community and ensure that we continue to strive to have the best quality of life with the least impact on our environment.

For reference, you can find the Sovereign Housing strategy here.

Posted by Adrian Hollister

One thing I remember from a kid was hearing the rain at night and the wind whistling through the edges of the windows. It was somewhat exciting, almost imparting it's energy to my enthusiasm. With the advent of double glazing though not only do we not get ice on the inside of the windows (how exciting that was as a kid) but we seem to have lost the nightly sound show. But this is not all bad though, at least we are warm at night and the noise of traffic has gone away. If I ever get around to designing and building my own home I am going to have a room or two that deliberately allows the sound of the rain to come through.

Posted by Adrian Hollister

Christmas has come and gone and give or take we have been good with our recycling. We've not used anything we haven't needed to use and we have reused everything we can (amazing how present boxes can be turned into play kitchens, dens and a whole bunch of other things for the kids). This year I also separated the different types of waste when presents were opened - largely wrapping paper, cardboard and plastic bits.

The bit we failed on this year is the food. Whilst the dogs did their best to consume anything meaty, smelly or windy (why do my dogs love brussel sprouts?); we are missing the chickens. They did an excellent job of consuming all of the bread, veg, rice, pasta, and to be honest just about anything passed their way; and, of course, there is only so much you can give the wild birds without attracting hoards of mice, rats and other nasties into your garden.

So for the first time in ages we are actually putting food waste into the bin. Next on the shopping list must be some more chickens.

Posted by Adrian Hollister

I wonder if any West Berkshire villages will be upgraded to BT Infinity? Broadband speeds in the rural areas of West Berkshire are terrible, often 2Mb or less, and none of the exchanges have anything other than basic 'up to 8Mb' type service. If BT need a priority for the upgrades it should not be those in towns, but those in rural not spots or slow spot. Anyway, you can check to see if we have been part of the upgrade from this site http://www.racetoinfinity.bt.com.

(update 7th Jan 2011 - no West Berkshire exchange made it into the top few)

Posted by Adrian Hollister