Entries by Adrian Hollister

Just had the annual chimney sweeping done. A chap call Mr G North from Headington in Oxford came out with a camera and checked out the whole flu for us as well. He did a great job and was nice chap too. So if you want a propa chimney sweep and inspection contact him on 01865 522 523.

With the 'it's better to reuse' mentality - I've been trying to keep my old 13 year old Landy on the road. This month it's been drinking water and producing vast quantities of white smoke (well steam) out the back. Most likely the head gasket, so whipping the head off and replacing is the way to go. On route I found a couple of cracks in the head just under the glow plug, I'm no mechanic but I'm guessing that this is not normal...



Click on picture for a better view. Gonna fit a few gasket etc to see if it sorts the problem, if not I guess I need to look for a recon head Continue reading "Cracks in my 300TDI Cylinder ... »

From the Green Party Web site I found this article.. "New road casualty figures from the Department of Transport show that 20 mph limits in towns and cities are urgently needed, the Green Party Deputy Leader said today.

Adrian Ramsay was commenting on figures released today for road casualties in 2007 by the Department for Transport.
These figures show that pedestrian casualties are much higher for areas with high levels of deprivation, many of which are urban areas with low levels of car ownership.

The new statistics, analysed by deprivation score, show that the number of pedestrians killed or injured on the roads rises from 21 casualties per 100,000 people in the least deprived areas to 70 casualties per 100,000 people in the most deprived areas – more than a threefold increase for the poorest neighbourhoods.

A key policy of the Greens is to make 20 mph the default speed limit on residential roads in urban areas to reduce the number of deaths and injuries.

Adrian says: "Today's figures show that this is a social justice issue as well as a safety and environmental issue. It is shocking that the number of pedestrians killed or injured is so much higher for the most deprived areas."

“Greens across the UK are campaigning for 20 mph to be the default limit in built-up areas and Green Councillors putting forward these proposals to many local authorities.

“With a default 20 mph speed limit, fewer road humps are needed than with limited ‘home zones’, and it is easier to communicate the message that 20mph is the appropriate speed on residential roads where children and people of all ages need to be able to walk about safely.

“Lower speed limits don’t just create safer streets for everyone, they also mean better air quality and lower carbon emissions as they encourage more people to walk and cycle."

In May this year, after becoming the official opposition on Norwich City Council, Norwich Green Party succeeded in getting agreement from the Norwich Highways Agency Committee to introduce a 20mph limit across unclassified residential roads in the city. The Highways Committee has now agreed to introduce the first phase of this scheme by the end of this financial year.

Green Council groups in Lewisham, Hackney, Camden, Leicester and on many other councils across the country are also pushing for the measure, and a city-wide 20 mph speed limit was a key policy in the Greens’ London election campaign in May.

The city of Graz in Austria has half the rate of road deaths compared with similar cities in the UK, thanks to a speed limit on almost all roads of 30 kph (19 mph). When the new speed limit was introduced in 1992, there was a sharp decline of 24% in serious injuries on the roads. Collisions involving pedestrians fell 17% over ten years."

I was on the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue service stand at the Newbury show this year as a volunteer Fire Fighter. What a great team of people they are and haven't had such as good chat and laugh on 'official' business for a long time. I'll write up a better blog entry once my voice recovers from a long day of talking and chatting!

You can find their web site here.

Given the recent news that pollution in Newbury is at dangerous levels the Green Party calls for a low emission zone for our West Berkshire towns and communities. The zone would be based upon the model used in London to discourage the most polluting heavy vehicles from using the zones by imposing a pollution road toll. By using a zoned approach the large vehicles will be prevented from diverting to minor roads and residential areas.

Current West Berks Council thinking diverts HGV's to/from Basingstoke, via the Tothill roundabout, on a circuitous route five miles longer. This will only marginally reduce pollution around the town, but will increase the fuel used and carbon emissions in general.

The money made from the toll must be invested back into the local communities via the local Parish Council's.

Adrian Hollister from the Green Party said, "I was shocked but not surprised that it took Newbury Weekly News to reveal the pollution problems in Newbury. I was even more shocked to find Geoff Findlay (Conservative, Cold Ash) the environmental spokesman for West Berks Council is advocating driving faster as the solution to the problem. Not only have the Council withheld the health risks from the general public (who could have taken steps to avoid the areas) but their own environment spokesman seems to know nothing about the causes of pollution.

Given the health risks that our residents are exposed to and with no sensible suggestions from West Berks Council the Green Party call for West Berkshire Council to act promptly and implement a low emission zone similar to that used in London. This would see the most polluting vehicles discouraged from using our towns and areas of population."


"We will try to devise ways of reducing traffic through there, or speeding the traffic up" - way to go Geoff - faster must be less pollution right? Have you any idea about the environment? Have you any idea how vehicles generate pollution? Why are you in your role as Environment spokesman for West Berks Council?

Not sure how many of you have been to a farmers market, but the one in Newbury has to be one of the better ones. On the first Sunday of each month they hold the market. Parking is free and it's a minute walk from the train and bus stations. We did a little bit of leafleting and a whole lot of chatting to people there. Some of the most teasing stalls included some English wines and some stunning bacon rolls. We ended up with a bag more than full from there, with veg, some wonderfully tasty bacon and other treats. The disappointment was a cake from the cake stall - it had no taste and was of poor quality. This was outweighed by some hedgehog bread rolls for the girls - great idea and tasty too.

So after some wonderful bangers and mash, my recommendation from this months Farmers market are the bacon and sausages from Stark House Farm in Headley. They can be contacted on 01635 268 205.

There is a petition to halt the deportation of one of the founding members of Burma Political Forum. Min Hein has been an active member of the democratic movement for Burma in the UK during the time that he has been here.

We are asking the Home Office to halt the deportation process so that all the relevant and up to date information can be considered for his asylum application. It has been documented that the deportees who are known to the military regime are intimidated and detained and worse still, tortured. There is a high likelihood that Min Hein would be known to the regime.

Please take one minute to sign this petition and confirm your signature...

http://www.petitiononline.com/minhein8/petition.html

Thanks all.

With a little bit more work we could extend this to the surrounding areas... check out the article though in the Newbury Today web site.

I couldn't help but giggle at this cartoon from Schnews. "GAME, OSSETIA, MATCH - Georgia, the West-friendly state in the Caucuses, is invaded by Russia. The geo-politics of the oil-rich former Soviet states is not the walk-over which US and Western think it is, as Russia re-asserts it's position in the area.."

I can't help thinking - where is our local MP here? He's paid lip service by issuing a few press releases, but why hasn't he spoken to the Living Rainforest and told them how to go about getting funding? He has a big enough office and large enough staff can't they help here? Perhaps he is far too worried about his precious DESO (just about the only thing he has spoken on in Parliament)... so very disappointing.


Wonderful revolutionary project could fail at last hurdle.

Must the Low Carbon project return €1.2 million to Brussels?

Plans to construct Europe’s ‘greenest glasshouse’ at the Living Rainforest, an eco-centre which educates the young and older in Berkshire are on the verge of collapse. £950,000 will be claimed back by Brussels if the final funding is not secured urgently.

The Living Rainforest is a sustainability charity which welcomes and educates in the most experiential and exciting way children from schools all over the country. Visiting adults also enthuse about it.

LRF has raised over £1.8 million of EC funding to showcase what the low-carbon commercial glasshouse of the future could look like.

What is a low-carbon commercial glasshouse?
Instead of relying on greenhouse-gas-polluting fossil fuels for heat, the design uses the glasshouse itself to collect excess heat from the sun, and stores this energy underground for use in winter.

This revolutionary technology can be used to heat buildings and grow ‘protected crops’ like tomatoes and lettuce year-round in a climate-neutral way.

“This is a golden opportunity for the UK to play a leading role on low carbon technologies which stand to benefit both the planet and the UK Horticultural industry” says local MEP Caroline Lucas.
”It would be a tragedy to simply let this EU money slip through our hands after so much funding has already been secured – the project would in effect be killed.”

LRF sponsors have raised significant funding but the charity needs to raise a further €1 million (£830,000). The Government needs to support the final stages of the project however, despite warm words from Phil Woolas the junior minister at Defra, further financial commitment to the project remains out in the cold.

Karl Hansen, director at The Living Rainforest said
“Like many science centres, we support the work of the Government with very little funding from the public purse. We educate schoolchildren about the world’s threatened ecosystems, and about ways to reduce our ecological footprint at home and abroad. We do so without relying on government handouts.”

Many hundreds of school children of all ages visit the LRF weekly and experience the delights of blue morph butterflies, Geldi monkeys’ 40 different calls, the sculptural water dragon often to be seen perched up high over the pond, and countless beautiful animals and plants, in humid high temperatures which reflect the rainforest’s. Tour guides thread their way through the forest, enabling the children and teenagers to identify cocoa plants and think about the healthy properties of dark chocolate, to look out over the luxuriant banana plants and highest leaves. Young children talk excitedly and sadly of the death of Steve Coogan when they spot the piranhas, and love the fluttering blue morph giant butterflies and spying the poisonous bejeweled little frogs.

Hanson adds, “Major innovation projects like this cannot succeed without reasonable backing from Government and other sources.
The horticulture industry is keenly interested in the lessons to be learnt from the project. Ironically it is feeling the pinch of rising energy prices and is unable to fund this work”.

He continues “despite the obvious advantages and solid financial support from Brussels, the project is now at risk and so we need clear, realistic support from the Government to ensure that this wonderful demonstration project goes ahead”.

With very few weeks left to secure the support required, the Living Rainforest is faced with the alternative of returning €1,200,000 to Brussels. This lack of funding at the eleventh hour, of a project which leads the way forward seems genuinely to be madness.

What great weather we have been having, nice long warm and hot days and the occasional overnight shower. All the plants seem to have boomed in the past few weeks leaving fields filling with crops and some wonderful downland walks.

Discussing the situation in the middle east, Adrian Hollister comments: "It disgusts me that Americans not only back the Israel ethnic cleansing of other lands and the horrors that brings to families broken by mass deportation and disappearances; but that they are yet again planning to attack another 'oil' nation. Why do we in the UK let them get away with it?"

Barak Obama on You Tube