Due to the terrible weather conditions and treacherous roads, especially in the evenings, I have taken the decision to cancel the meeting scheduled for tomorrow night.

The scheduled meetings for the first half of 2011, following the third Thursday pattern, will be:

• January 20th
• February 17th (AGM)
• March 17th
• April 21st
• May 19th
• June 16th

Don’t forget to put the Green Party Conference in your diary too – The Angel Hotel, Cardiff
Friday 25th – Monday 28th February

N.B. Early Bird Conference discount: Fees for bookings made before 7th February 2011 are 25% lower than fees on the door!

May I take this opportunity to wish you all an enjoyable festive season and thank you for your support in getting Bridgend Green Party back on its feet.

Warm regards,

Andy

Join now (it doesn’t cost a penny) and help campaign on the issues close to our hearts.

Each year, Avaaz sets overall priorities through all-member polls (See 2010 poll results here), and campaign ideas are polled and tested weekly to 10,000-member random samplesand only initiatives that find a strong response are taken to scale. Campaigns that do reach the full membership are then super-charged by, often, hundreds of thousands of Avaaz members taking part within days or even hours.

Take Climate Change as an example.Since Avaaz’s first climate campaign kicked off in 2007, Avaaz has delivered millions of climate petition signatures to key leaders including the environment ministers of all the G8 countries and leaders in Brazil, Germany and Japan.

Giant postcards inviting world leaders to attend the climate summit were handed over to the British Prime Minister and other delegations at the 2009 G8 summit in L’Aquila. And there were extraordinary scenes in Copenhagen as youth from around the world staged a sit-in to deliver a Avaaz petition — reading out loud the names of 15 million people who had signed demanding a fair, ambitious and binding climate deal.

January’s meeting, on Thursday 20th, is well placed to have a look at the final agenda for Conference, as it is not issued until that week.

It is too easy for people that voted for Blair, and the Tories who supported his warmongering, to claim they were deceived. It is even more inexcusable for the warmongers themselves to claim the same thing. Since when did this become an acceptable excuse for murder, theft, vandalism and the vast litany of other crimes committed in our names?

The video is available here http://www.johnpilger.com/videos/the-war-you-dont-see-trailer

I have ordered a copy and you can borrow from me.
It also raises other issues we should be thinking about, such as the role of the media and the possible impact of video games on modern warfare.

The impact of modern warfare on civilian populations is appalling

% of total casualties that were civilians

• Word War 1 = 10%
• World War 2 = 50%
• Vietnam War = 70%
• Iraq War = 90%

Any student or young person who applies to join the Green Party before 1 January 2011 will pay no subscription for the coming year.

Green Party leader Caroline Lucas MP said today:

I want students and young people to know there is a political party that still cares about their future, and that will keep fighting for a fairer future and will not give up on doing the right thing.

We have to keep fighting, because we cant leave the future of our country and our planet to people who want to run things primarily in the interests of big business and the wealthiest people.

Politics is important and its time to reclaim it. I want to extend the warmest possible welcome to all new members, but not least to students and young people who are having such a difficult time at the hands of the other political parties.

Greens want a society which values mobility and inclusiveness

Caroline, who was elected as Britains first Green MP in this years general election and who has stood strongly by the Green Partys policy of universal free education said last night after the tuition fees vote:

This is a dark day for the future of higher education in this country. The huge hikes in tuition fees, together with the scrapping of Educational Maintenance Allowance and proposed cuts in college funding, amount to nothing less than a Government assault on our young people and an attack on the principles of universal education. Many people may be priced out of going to university as a result of todays vote and those who do go are likely to be saddled with massive debt. This is unacceptable for a society which values social mobility and inclusiveness.

Further information

1. Students and young people can join the Green Party free here.

2. Students can normally join the Green Party for £5, as opposed to the standard membership rate of £31. Many people, however, pay higher membership fees to help the party fund its campaigns. Donations are always welcome, as the Green Party receives no financial backing from unions or big businesses as Labour and the Conservatives do, but gets the bulk of its income from members and ordinary supporters.

The Green Party announced from its conference in Birmingham last September that the party would join the Yes campaign.

Many proponents of electoral reform have expressed doubts about supporting AV (the Additional Vote system), on the grounds that AV is not a proportional voting system and therefore its introduction would not be a thorough reform and may actually prolong the wait for a properly proportional system.

But Green Party conference agreed to take a firm line in favour of AV in the referendum, as an initial step in the right direction and to demonstrate an “appetite for change”.

The party’s deputy leader Adrian Ramsay commented: “We want everyone who favours electoral reform to put their full weight behind the Yes campaign.”

“A Yes vote would bring a step in the right direction and demonstrate an appetite for change. Greens and others who want a fair, inclusive proportional way of voting will then continue to campaign for further reform.”

Personally, I am not totally convinced that this is the best strategy. What do you think? (Please use the comments facility)

Andy

Green Party leader and Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas has been awarded the Red Hot Woman of the Year Award in the ethical/Eco category by Red magazine in association with Calvin Klein.

The Red Hot Women of the Year Awards, which were held last night, aim to celebrate the success of women in all fields of work.

Sam Baker, judge and editor-in-chief of Red magazine, which is the UK’s highest-selling glossy monthly for 30-something women, said:

“Caroline has devoted her life to environmental issues and this year achieved something that nobody thought possible – and did it in a landmark way.”

Katharine Viner, also on the judging panel and deputy editor of The Guardian, said:

“Caroline did something incredibly groundbreaking this year and made a real breakthrough in the area of green politics.”

Judges for the awards also included Elisabeth Murdoch, CEO of TV production company Shine Limited, entrepreneur and Channel 4 board member Martha Lane Fox, and Karen Brady, a TV broadcaster who was also the first female managing director of a top English football club.

On receiving the award, Caroline Lucas said:

“I am delighted to receive this award from Red magazine – and feel honoured to have had my work and that of the Green Party recognised in this way.”

See earlier posting about travel arrangements if you would like to join me there.

Andy

I was very pleased that I got there too. The evening was in a cosy venue at Sustainable Wales HQ in John Street.
There were about 20 paying (£3) customers, and there would not have been room for many more!

Nonetheless, the evening was extremely enjoyable. ‘Stainless’ Steve Garrett, guitar playing singer songwriter, accompanied by a highly talented violinist, was the ‘headline act’, and great entertainment. Local writer John Barnie read a few extracts from his latest book, a collection of essays on things that have worried him over the last 10 years. This provoked very lively debate on issues like terrorism, the oil industry and religion. Those that know me well will appreciate how much I relish these topics! (These topics and much more feature in my own collection of essays which should be published in 2011).

All this was accompanied by Fair Trade wine and other beverages and stimulating conversation. In particular, I enjoyed talking to ‘Stainless’ Steve about his day job as the director of Farmers’ Markets in Cardiff. He runs one in Riverside every Sunday apparently. He is going to pass on his handbook for setting up such markets and I will be canvassing views on whether we should look into helping promote a regular Farmers’ Market in Bridgend.

Let me know your thoughts.

Andy