Adrian Hollister's UK Blog - Political

Green Party call for a Low Emission Zone for West Berks towns

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:54:00 +0200

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.

We need a low emission zone in Newbury

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."

Geoff Findlays environmental madness

"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?

Petition To Stop Deportation Of Burmese Campaigner

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 21:55:00 +0200

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.

Project may fail at the Living Rainforest

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:39:00 +0200

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.

American Empire supports ethnic cleansing and more bombing raids

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:48:54 +0200

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

10th June - West Berkshire Green Party Meeting - Newbury

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 20:48:04 +0200

Hi all, just a reminder that there the next meeting is on the 10th of June in Newbury. All are welcome so please feel free to message me if you need an invite and the directions. Plan is to start at about 19:30 and finish as usual (when we finish!). Hope to see you all there.

M4 Reading madness by Reading Council

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Thu, 15 May 2008 08:56:00 +0200

I wonder when or if Reading Council are going to realise that building more roads only facilitates a growth in traffic? There latest barmy plans are to increase the size and throughput of Junction 11 on the M4. Of course what will happen (as has happened everywhere else they have done this) is all about people... people don't drive there because it's busy - we use other routes and other methods of transport. That's a good thing - the less convenient cars are, the less likely we are to use them 'because we can'*.

So, if the bottleneck goes away, people will start to choose to drive there again - because they can, it's easy right? So in a few years time we are right back to where we started... a very busy junction and a reason for Reading to go back to the drawing board and add more and more roads.

Iterestingly the BBC have an article on just this subject. You can find it here.

and you can also find some information on the Reading Council web site here.

*So why is Adrian Hollister so much against the use of cars? Well I'm not. But we do have a problem. Culturally we seem to think that they can be used for any and every trip - we have no environmental conscience about their use.. car's pollute - they produce noise, they produce heat, they produce toxic gases, they take up our space and are often made the center of our lives and social status by marketing people. A car is just a car people - it's just a method of transport - forget the marketing people they are conning you. OK rant over!

Poor Maintenance cuts Great Shefford in half

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:39:00 +0200

Swan Bridge (A338 in Great Shefford) is likely to remain closed until mid May 2008. It's been a little difficult for residents to get good information from West Berks Council about it, but it now appears that erosion has undermined the bridges foundations. The bridge is roughly half way through the idyllic West Berks village of Great Shefford shutting the road but not the foot bridge. There are long road detours in place for cars.

The whole area has been subject to significant flooding over the years and maintenance of local streams and water ways has always been very poor. The area is famed to outsiders for the constant flooding on the A338 through the whole village. For locals though the A338 is famed for fast drivers, big lorries and near misses.

This village suffers from the incompetence and bickering of the various Tory and Lib Dem councils running West Berkshire. Neither have actually invested in environmental and social issues, they just do as little as possible all of the time and Great Shefford has taken seen it's fair share of this. The bridge is just an indication of this - if the water management had been sorted out years ago we would not be in the position today.

As a start West Berkshire council need to step up to the mark and:

1. enforce speed limits and give the residence the option to introduce a 20 mph zone through the bulk of their community, especially near the school, shop and community halls.

2. drainage ways and water ways must be maintained to capture run off water and where possible to allow water to collect and soak away.

3. passage through the village on the main road must be with full respect to the residence of the village. People, bicycles and buses should have priority over cars.

4. localisation of power distribution using West Berks abundant wind power and our hydroelectric potential

5. promote our local businesses and farms. We are used to buying produce from Devon, why not promote the best of West Berks produce, products and services?

STOP RECYCLING - West Berks can't cope with it !?

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 10:31:00 +0200

Staggering this county - West Berks Council continue to amaze me. I've worked hard here to get my main waste bin into a position of being about half full weekly with the rest doing to recycle or compost. My two small baskets for tins and bottles overflow. I have a nice can and tin crusher that puts everything to a much smaller size but with cat food, dog food, human food the odd drinks can and a few glass bottles I can easily exceed two of these small bins. West Berks won't take anything that's not in the bins, so the options are clear: compact it more or get more bins. Simple?

a. Compact the waste. Packing the bins tightly seems to push the weight too high and they don't collect them - really they just leave them at the side of the road! So this is not actually an option as it makes the problem worse.

b. Get more bins. West Berks told me that they were not going to let people have more than two bins for recycling. I was told to keep it for next week's collection or take it to my local recycling facility (which is not local it's 30 mins drive away!). The lady on the phone from West Berks Council was clearly unimpressed that my main household waste had gone down and my recycling had gone up. Clearly I don't quite fit the West Berks Council's stereotype of an average citizen.

So are they suggesting I stockpile recycling until it's viable to fill a car to the brim to take it to the recycling center or are they suggesting that I just put recyclable materials in my general purpose bin and let it head to landfill?

Clearly here West Berkshire Council are just green washing... i.e. they are doing as little as they can get away with whilst still appearing to have a green tinge.

CND Aldermaston 2008 Protest

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 11:46:00 +0100

I would strongly encourage all to attend the Aldermaston 2008 Protest 12 noon Easter Monday 24th March at Atomic Weapons Establishment in Aldermaston. You can find more details in the link below.

CND Aldermaston Protest 2008

Adrian Hollister and Caroline Lucas at Aldermaston 2008

New Cinema Construction - yet another West Berks Council Cock-up?

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 09:48:00 +0100

My heart goes out to the business directly around the new site of the Cinema. The roads are closed with signs deterring people and cars. The businesses in these areas seem empty - certainly compared to usual. I was in the Empire Cafe the other day - perhaps one of the best examples of how a business can work in a sustainable way with the local community. They bake bread using locally produced flour and have that traditional happy-to-see-you face on when you walk through the door (they are in Cheap Street in Newbury if you've ever in the area - well worth a visit).

Anyway, the Empire Cafe like many of the other businesses in the area are suffering from the lack of thought and indecision by West Berks Council who just seem paralysed by the bickering between the Tories and Lib Dems. The constructor must be laughing at this paralysis as they have managed to wriggle out of anything that would help these businesses to keep going during the construction phase.

I'm amazed by the way that West Berks Council seems to treat people and businesses as things to be managed. Have they forgotten that they are there to support our people, our businesses and our society? In my humble opinion, they are there to make our lives, our life and our society better; they are there to promote growth and sustainability; and they are there to go out of their way to help and support us. Perhaps one day the Green Party will take over this council and things can change for the better.

In the mean time, I would recommend visiting Empire Cafe in Newbury and while you are there look at the other fine shops, barbers, estate agents in the area.

The Downgrading RAF Welford Security

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 09:31:00 +0100

The recent gossip around the security status of RAF Welford (see the various Newbury Weekly News stories as they have been following it) has only re-enforced my views that these American bases must be moved out of the UK. Our American occupation only seems to increase the threat to our country and force us to spend more time, money and resources on the military, intelligence and police forces - something that has turned us into one of the most monitored, censored, and controlled societies in the world. Don't get me wrong here, I don't doubt that we need all three, but all seem to be bloated by the American problem extending well past our original and realistic need, and well beyond the actual needs of our society.

Green Fair in Oxford Town Hall

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 21:28:00 +0100

The Newbury Green Party held a stall at the Green Fair in Oxford today. It was great fun and especially good to meet so many like minded people. The place was packed and an example of what we should be doing in Newbury and Hungerford.

Of special note to me was the 20 is plenty campaign (called 'Life Begins at 20') being run in Oxfordshire. I would be very keen to see the residential streets being returned to the residents by allowing voting to introduce lower speed limits in their area. You can find out more about their scheme here.

Wall condemns Oxford Union Debating Society invite to Nick Griffin and David Irving

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 22:42:09 +0100

"'No platform' is not an attack on free speech. Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party (BNP) and David Irving - jailed for denying the Holocaust - have been invited by the Oxford union debating society to speak at a free speech event on Monday night. Dr. Derek Wall has condemned the invite. Derek said: "Every time a fascist is given an audience, hate crimes against ethnic minorities and the LGBT community rise. "While free speech is important, it does not mean that the Union has a right to give space to far right speakers. No platform is not an attack on free speech, it is saying that institutions don't have to give space to people with abhorrent views."

The LGBT group within the Green Party have also commented on this issue, please see: www.lgbtgreens.org.uk "

I agree, this is a step too far by the Oxford Union.

Tories turn down Wind Turbine in West Berks

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 23:44:00 +0100

Surprise surprise, the Tories and Lib Dems voted with their parties and in objection to one another for yet another issue. This time they are turning down a wind turbine in the downlands area near Membury. The area is famed for it's thick motorway fog, service station and huge telecommunication tower but actually the area has stunning outstanding natural beauty. The tories voted to turn down permission for it to be built, partly as they were worried that are rare Red Kite's may fly into the turbine. Of course they are much more likely to be fried on the telecomms tower or mown down by the American helicopters flying into RAF Welford at what seems like 10 feet above the trees and as close to the occupied natives as possible.

How can anybody think that the Tories are in any way green? they are far too busy bickering with the lib dems to worry about our society, our environment and our future; and our good ole Tory MP Richard Benyon is just far too worried about the Defence Export Services Organisation (it's just about the only thing is speaks and campaigns upon).

Madness. I would like to see a quick and non-political planning process for alternative energies and sustainable developments in our region.

Newbury Green Party Meeting

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 14:58:47 +0200

It's been a while since there has been a Newbury area Green Party meeting, so I would like to kick a little green gathering off for the 23rd of November, 8pm in the Friends Meeting house in Newbury. If you are interested in helping, attending, presenting or would just like to know more please drop me an email.

104 votes for the Green Party

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Fri, 04 May 2007 13:01:15 +0200

Well the votes are in and I got 104 vote! Hoorah, not a bad start! Many thanks to all those that voted Green this time around, and many thanks for all those that I spoke to whilst walking around our villages. I'm sure I was the only real candidate walking all the streets as no one I had spoken to had seen tory old boy. Anyway, My daughters enjoyed walking with me and met some great kids (and some rather cute pets). Thanks to those that wanted to chat, it was very good to hear your points of views. It does annoy me though that all that opinion, interest and innovative ideas are lost on our tory old boy who isn't even listening.

You can see the results here.

But for a summary, here we go:

Tory Old Boy (George Chandler) 826 votes.
Protest against the Tory but just about as Tory party (Paul Walter) 160 votes.
Vote environment, vote society party (Adrian Hollister) 104 votes.
No chance, but it was fun party (Yogi Johnson) 77 votes.
With a chap called Spoilt Ballots gaining just 5 votes

That's 1172 votes this time around. About hundred or so extra voters this time around - come to mention it, it's just about the number of votes I had. The majority of people still don't vote. Perhaps they don't vote because the Tory/Lib dem combo just isn't right for them. Image how many more would have voted if they knew there was a choice and were inspired to go out there and vote. Next time I'll have more time to prepare, so watch out Tory Boy - your marketing budget won't save you.

Green Party Links

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Tue, 01 May 2007 23:52:51 +0200

For those looking for more information on the green party in the UK please try one of the following links:

Green Party Web Site
Reading Green Party Web Site (contains West Berks and Newbury areas)
For Adrian Hollister's details and other local members please look here.

Bonkers Bus 'Service'

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 23:54:50 +0200

I should have been off to Newbury on the bus today. The bus is best described as a well patched ford transit and seems to arrive when it can at just about any time it wants to. It's very infuriating. I turned up a risky 10 mins before it was due to depart, but meeting people already waiting made me feel a little more comfortable. We all waited and 15 mins after it's scheduled departure time we all gave up. We were pretty much gossiped out anyway.

This is not unusual though. People here are used to it. Totally crazy though.

Grumpy Sunday

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 21:13:00 +0200

It’s Sunday, it’s early, and I’m already annoyed. Not because the kids woke me up at 7am or because the dog is eating my work shoes, but because of my trip to our local recycling facilities in the pub car park. Yet again they are full.

This is of course a good thing - full recycling bin’s show our commitment to recycling. The grumpy bit is the sign saying ‘if this bin is full please take your recycling home’. It seems that they don’t collect extra recycling and only replace the bins to schedule (not when they are full). What utter madness.

I also learn that the recycling all over the downlands are provided by local Parish Council's and often by the local pub. They are not funded by West Berks. When will West Berks learn?

West Berks District Council Elections - 3rd May 2007

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 16:41:00 +0200

The West Berks District Council election is being held on the 3rd of May 2007. Standing this time around are four candidates standing for the Downlands Ward which are (in alphabetical order):

George Chandler (Tory Old Boy/Toff)
Adrian Hollister (Green Party - see right - hoorah etc)
Yogi Johnston (Labour hopeful)
Paul Walter (Lib Dem wannabe)

Clearly I know who I’ll be voting for here. Seriously though, it’s the best turn out for the green party in the district council elections in west berks, and it’s about time too. The tory’s and lib dem’s seem to have allowed local government to stagnate as they fight it out for the middle ground. It would be good to see a real positive policy change to support the people in west berks and to provide them with affordable, environmentally sound and socially beneficial services and facilities.

Turn out for local elections (and general elections) seems to be a problem these days. George Chandler (tory old boy) spoke to me the other day about how good the turn out was in our area. Of course he is nursing his 1 in 4 people voted for him ‘majority’. How embarrassing it must be for him to say he represent’s only 25% or so of the downlands community. These old boy’s need to realise that one in four people voting for you (just about what he got last time around) is not a vote of confidence, but a vote showing the lack of confidence in the governance of the main parties, their lack of vision, commitment to the community, and ability to deliver. Tis about time for a real change.

Picture thanks to Tim from look photo.

Trident

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 07:44:00 +0100

I can’t quite believe that we as a country have voted via our elected representatives for more Nuclear weapons. The weapons are useless against the types of warfare that we are seeing at the moment and you can just see that we are going to continue to be a puppet of the dying American empire. Bush says push the button, so go on Blair, he clearly knows what he is doing.

I don’t see that holding any nuclear weapons offers us any type of security - if anything we become a threat. My vote is to drop the nuclear arms, spend the money on an independent and environmentally appropriate energy, reuse and recycling systems.

Re-cycle, it’s about re-use and repair isnt it?

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 15:18:00 +0100

Computer went bang today. Very annoying. My fault completely as I do so like to take things apart and put them back together again. It seems that when putting the PSU back together again (please don’t take yours apart) I forgot to put some insulation back in and one of the circuit board’s touched the side of the case. Bang - and the power supply was gone (as they say in the adverts).

A few more components seem to have gone to a better place with the PSU and stopped working completely or just mostly.

I phoned the most computer literate person I know and he laughed. Laughed a lot. Then he gave me a few links to computer sites selling new power supplies. “It’s not worth repairing”. I phone a computer shop near to us and the guy had the same story - bin it and buy another one.

Having completely destroyed the power supply and with no real option but to buy a new one, I decided to take it apart again. There in the PSU was a blown fuse. There were a few nice scorch marks and some serious black carbon type marks on the PSU case.

IMHO computer components usually release their soul (ok smoke) when they die leaving a strange smell (is there an electrical heaven?) and a few burnt out/popped chips. PSU’s are a little more basic. Big things, connected in big ways with big chips. They are generally designed to handle massive load (though I’m guessing not a massive short). Anyway, this PSU looked and smelled ok.

You can clearly tell here that I’m no electrician, more a faith healer to the electronic world. But I had a good feeling about this little PSU, so I set about looking for another fuse to replace the blown one. A screwdriver, 15 mins and the local tip were all that was needed to get a nice selection of fuses.

I’m sure you can guess where this is going by now. With the fuse replaced the power supply sprang back into life. It did make me think though about the volume of stuff that I put into the recycle bin without thought to their re-use or repair and reuse value.

The Green Party have a good summary… “Reduce, Reuse, and then Recycle.”

Brown Box Retail over the web

nospam@example.com (Adrian Hollister) — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 12:01:00 +0100

It never fails to impress me when I see a manufacturer who marks all packaging with recycle marks, and (and here is the bit where most fail) make it very easy to recycle the packaging. Ikea is an example of how it should be done: easily marked materials; different types of materials are not mixed up in a jumble of sticky glue; and the packaging is minimal.

I have an entire room in the house dedicated to the packaging provided with the items I’ve procured during the renovation along with all the materials we have ripped out and cannot reuse. I’m guessing that 50% of the pile is very easily recyclable - its easy to take apart and to stack in common piles (cardboard, plastics, metals, wood etc). The rest is recyclable, but it is difficult to do.

The nightmare is the legacy items left in the place when we moved in and some newer items we have bought to make the house livable. Most of the furniture has been passed on to places that recycle/repair the items for community reuse; some items have been burnt (as they was crawling - literally); and the rest is in the room.

I’m going through them now and the bit that annoyed me the most was a spatula. Yea I know, a lot of people have a love/hate thing for spatula’s, but in this case its the packaging. We bought it over the web and for all I care I’ve eaten the product marketing and now just want the product. Instead of a simple brown box, or similar, it comes to me in full retail packaging - plastic cover, card backing, lots of printing, a few stickers and those damn nasty wire ties used to keep them in the box. What a waste of resources, both theirs and mine (stripping each item of the packaging apart for recycling). Why don’t manufacturer’s have an ‘OEM’ style option for internet orders where retail packaging doesn’t apply? If nothing else wouldn’t mind saving a little bit of the cost associated with this packaging.