Just for clarity – UK Methane is the same tiny band of speculators that are behind Coastal Oil & Gas – they are both based in the same small un-manned office on Bridgend Industrial Estate.

We will be leaving Bridgend at 5.30pm

BEDROOM TAX U-TURN: HUGE WIN FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE, BUT NOW EXEMPT
DISABLED PEOPLE FROM THIS CRUEL AND COUNTERPRODUCTIVE MEASURE, SAYS
GREEN MP

Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion, led the Opposition Day debate
on the Government’s bedroom tax policy in February together with MPs
from Plaid Cymru and SNP.

Responding to Iain Duncan Smith’s announcement today, she said:

“The eleventh hour decision to exempt foster carers and families with
children in the armed forces from the new bedroom tax is a huge win for
social justice – and a clear sign that the Government is beginning to
recognise just how flawed and unfair this policy is.

“However, ministers should now go further and exempt disabled people
too in order to protect the most vulnerable from losing their homes to
this cruel and counterproductive measure.”

Links:

Keith Ross’ speech at the Anti-Fascist Rally in Swansea on Saturday 9 March

The instigators of today’s event set the theme as Pride.

So I thought I would just share a few of the things that Im proud of with you.

I’m proud that Swansea is a City of Sanctuary, in recognition of all the hard work that has gone on in this city over the years to make it a place of welcome and safety for all.

I’m particularly proud of my personal role in making that happen.

I’m proud of Swansea City Football Club winners of the Capital One Cup captained by Ashley Williams; goals scored by Nathan Dyer and Jonathan De Guzman.

I’m proud to be British.

I’m proud to live in a country that, despite the best efforts of government and certain sections of our media, is still renowned the world over as a place that offers a welcome and safety to people from beyond our borders.

I’m proud to number among my friends and neighbours people from many countries; people of all faiths and of none; some of them here in the crowd today.

This is 21st century Britain. Multi-Ethnic; Multi-Cultural; Multi-Faith.

We’ve had immigration in this country since way before the English arrived. That’s the way we want it, and that’s the way its going to stay.

This is our country. This is how it is.

If you don’t like it tough. Crawl back down whatever hole you came out of and learn to deal with it. And don’t come back onto our streets until you have.

Swansea – City of Sanctuary – Fascists not welcome.

Well said Keith!! They are not welcome in Bridgend either!

The artists of Artists Against Fracking worked together to create this music video for “Don’t Frack My Mother,” Sean Lennon’s very own anti-fracking anthem.

Recognise anyone in the video?

Here’s a list of all the artists who appear in it:

• Adrian Grenier
• Alexa Chung
• Ben Lee
• Carrie Fisher
• Daniel Pinchbeck
• Devendra Banhart
• Fred Armisen
• Ione Skye
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt
• Josh Fox
• Liv Tyler
• Lindsey Wixson
• Maggie Gyllenhaal
• Mark Ronson
• Melissa Auf Der Maur
• Michael Skolnik
• Natasha Lyonne
• Penn Badgley
• Reggie Watts
• Sean Lennon
• Susan Sarandon
• Yoko Ono
• Zoë Kravitz

And band members from:

• Au Revoir Simone
• Black Lips
• Cibo Matto
• The Citizens Band
• The Like
• The Strokes
• Wilco
• Wild Belle

“Bridgend County Together is the new partnership plan for Bridgend County written by the Local Service Board (LSB). Bridgend County Together is out to public consultation from 7th January to 31st March 2013. The plan is for everyone who lives, works or studies in the county. It is important that you tell us what you think of the draft plan before it is finalised in April 2013. We want to make sure that the plan covers the issues that matter to you and that is why we need your views.”

http://www.bridgend.gov.uk/surveys/sipp_2013-8/en/sipp_2013_18.htm

“Who would have imagined that Unite would be holding a snap election for General Secretary so soon after the last one? Who would have guessed Len McCluskey would be seeking to renew a mandate after only 2 years in office and with 3 more years still to go?

So who did demand this election? Especially at a time when the union should be concentrating all its resources on fighting the cuts to services, pensions, jobs and attacks on members and their families livelihoods.

Was it the thousands of Branch Secretaries? No!

Was it the hundreds of Unite committee chairs? No!

Was it the tens of thousands of workplace reps? No!

Whatever good Unite has done over the last 2 years has now been tainted, and what is happening is wrong. This election has been called on a flawed premise, its being fast tracked, its an election tailor made to suit one member above all others – 1.5 million others, and that far from seeking to renew a mandate it is an affront to democracy.”

As a member of Unite, I am a big fan of some of the things that McCluskey has helped achieve – especially the Community Membership scheme that has helped give a much needed additional voice to those out of work in particular http://www.unitetheunion.org/growing-our-union/communitymembership/

However, this snap election just 2 years into a 5 year term is a cynical ploy to re-inforce McCluskey’s status as the figurehead of the union. His support for New Labour also rankles. He has overseen £6 million of member’s money being handed over to Labour with next to nothing back in return. This has got to stop.

Fortunately, there is a candidate that we can trust to address this issue; a passionate supporter of the our campaign to create 1 million ‘Green’ jobs; and a candidate who is not in it for self-aggrandisement and the six-figure salary.

That candidate is JERRY HICKS – who will live the life of the members he would represent, on an average members wage not a six figure salary.

I would therefore urge all Green Party members in UNITE to look out for ballot papers in the next few days and VOTE FOR JERRY HICKS

Responsible department: Cabinet Office

We, the undersigned, acknowledge that recent polling indicates a majority of the British public would like to see the Green Party represented in the general election television debates. We therefore feel it is right and in keeping with the democratic principles this country upholds that a representative of the Green Party be invited to take part, broadening the debate and presenting the electorate with a greater political spectrum with which to engage.

The Green Party polled third in the London mayoral elections, has an MP, MEPs and 141councillors. It is a viable party to which many people are looking for a fresh approach to politics. We therefore ask that the Green Party be represented in the general election television debates.

Sign this petition

A massive public outcry just forced the government to pause plans to privatise the NHS. But Jeremy Hunt is now rewriting the regulation that will determine whether the NHS survives. Sign the petition to Jeremy Hunt to stop the NHS free-market free-for-all:

They lied to us! The government said its NHS bill wouldn’t lead to privatisation, but wants to allow profit-hungry companies to carve up key parts of our precious health service.

Opening all NHS contracts to private companies could pave the way for asset-stripping of our health facilities. The public fuss temporarily shelved these rules this week, and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is now drafting new guidelines to table in Parliament any day. Let’s hold his feet to the fire to ensure that doctors — not giant corporations — decide patients’ care.

Jeremy Hunt has a track record of chummy relations with corporate lobbyists, but we showed him our power when we got him to postpone, then ditch Rupert Murdoch’s massive BSkyB deal. Time is very short: let’s now build a massive petition to save the NHS, and circulate this email widely to friends and colleagues:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_the_nhs_selloff_pet/?bqsmtbb&v=22760

When the deeply unpopular NHS reforms were passed last year, ministers claimed they would empower doctors to choose the best treatments, and local people to decide how their hospitals were run. Government Minister Lord Howe promised “Clinicians will be free to commission services in the way they consider best. We intend to make it clear that commissioners will have a full range of options and that they will be under no legal obligation to create new markets.”

Many in government seem determined to privatise the NHS by the back door. Representatives of the 40 billion per year private health industry have been crawling all over Westminster to get a slice of the NHS. But we can save our cherished National Health Service, harnessing the outrage over this attempted secret sell-off to make the government write new rules which let GPs do what they think is best for patients and make sure that Monitor, the new health regulator, interprets these rules right.

Jeremy Hunt has shown he can’t be trusted to do right by our NHS unless we force him to do so. We’ve got the government on the run — now let’s force them to stop the big NHS sell-off before it’s too late:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_the_nhs_selloff_pet/?bqsmtbb&v=22760

Our national health service, with free and universal access and amazing dedicated staff, is the envy of the world, a source of pride and security for Britons and inspiring model to emerging democracies across the globe. Let’s keep it that way.

In hope and determination,

Meredith, Mary, Will, Ari, Wen, Ricken and the whole of the Avaaz team

MORE INFORMATION

Government announces ‘humiliating u-turn’ on competition regulations in NHS (Independent)
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/government-announces-humiliating-uturn-on-competition-regulations-in-nhs-8521622.html

NHS competition rules to be changed (BBC)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21672962

NHS Tories’ hidden privatisation plan revealed (Mirror)
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/nhs-tories-hidden-privatisation-plan-1729681

‘Scrap NHS competition rules’ say 1,000 in letter to Telegraph (The Telegraph)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9901194/Scrap-NHS-competition-rules-say-1000-in-letter-to-Telegraph.html

Support the Avaaz Community!
We’re entirely funded by donations and receive no money from governments or corporations. Our dedicated team ensures even the smallest contributions go a long way.

All the signs are very encouraging that we may be able to get a pilot scheme at least set up in Bettws. Given the success in other parts of the country, we are hoping that Bettws may be seen as a trial for the whole of the Bridgend County. We have already had people from Porthcawl and Brackla wanting to know more.

See the campaign website for more information.

http://www.20splentyforbettws.moonfruit.com/#

Being Green…

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment.

The woman apologized and explained, “We didn’t have this green thing back in my earlier days.”

The young clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment f
Or future generations.”

She was right — our generation didn’t have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were truly recycled.

But we didn’t have the green thing back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks. This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.

But too bad we didn’t do the green thing back then.

We walked up stairs, because we didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn’t have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby’s diapers because we didn’t have the throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts — wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that young lady is right; we didn’t have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house — not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she’s right; we didn’t have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn’t have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn’t have the green thing back then?