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Please refrain from posting articles not directly related to Bristol or the South West.
 Crash writes: This summer, developers, airports and the government will be taking advantage of your holidays by sneaking through a nightmare vision of economic growth and environmental disaster through a series of short-lived 'consultations'. Massive expansion at Bristol airport, tens of thousands of new houses and the mother of all South West roadbuilding programmes are on the drawing board. Experience of fighting road, airport and housing schemes across the country have shown that it's far easier to kill off deranged plans for the carve up of our towns and countryside early on, rather than waiting for the builders to arrive. Some examples of what we're up against: Full Article + article summary below...Aviation: Bristol Airport's masterplan is due to be published very soon. In it they propose a doubling of passengers on current levels. The airport already produces more CO2 emissions than all of Bristol's traffic – by 2030 it will be producing 8% of all the South West's emissions. A report by a senior economics professor showed that Bristol Airport drains millions of pounds from the South West economy and damages tourism. Roads: You can't build a major airport without major roads. Once again, the taxpayer is likely to be asked to pour millions into road schemes to support car travel to the expanding airport. The recently published Greater Bristol Strategic Transport Study, published by engineering consultants Atkins (experts in winning motorway widening contracts ) proposes widening of the M4 and M5 as well as construction of a South Bristol Ring Road. Houses: The Regional Spatial Strategy for the South West was published for 'consultation' recently, with a closing date at the end of August ... It proposes 92,500 new houses for the Greater Bristol Area in the next 20 years. Unsurprisingly perhaps, its emphasis is on "reducing the impact" of climate change, rather than achieving absolute reductions in emissions. Planning for Disaster | Related Events: More Flights, more Floods (6th July) | N.Somerset's solution to climate change: fly more, insulate your mind (8th July) | Action on Transport (29th July) | See The Bristol Indymedia Calendar For More Events | Recent News: Subvertising on Church Road | Local rail group meets Executive Member for Transport | Camp for climate action info | Commuters call on Council to invest in local rail | Also Of Interest: New SouthWest Web Portal is up and running! | New Report: Supermarkets DO NOT Mean Prosperity | New Supermarket on Gloucester Road | Contribute An Article
 Bristol Indymedia has a tradition of running film nights at the cube cinema - a mantle we inherited from the radical filmmaking collective, icontact video. Over these last few years we have shown a huge number of films - from local shorts to international features such as Forth World War, Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism, Peak Oil: The Party's Over, Green With a Vengeance, The Battle of Algiers and Cathy Come Home. This month we are going to take a look back in anger (as well as joy, humor, surprise and interest) at some of the best films we have shown. Join us as we dip in and out of the archive! Full article| Bristol Indymedia Film Night - A Retrospective | Venue: Cube Cinema: Dove St South (off Kings Square), Bristol |
 The Bristle Editors write: With 'the lads on tour' at the moment in more ways than one, Bristle thought it was a good time to show that dealings with other societies don’t have to be done down the barrel of a gun, or with an inflatable bomber in your hand. The issue 22 special is all about International Solidarity, and gives space to local groups to tell you in their own words WHAT they do, and WHY they do it. Columbia Solidarity Campaign, Kiptik, Bristol Links with Nicaragua, Easton Cowgirls and Cowboys, Euskalinfo, International Prisoner Solidarity, Bristol Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Find out why these good people give precious time and effort to make a positive difference, and find out how you can make a difference too! If you like Bristle, come and get involved! We always need fresh & eager, committed long-term, volunteers for our collective. If you can write, read, edit, take photos, draw, sell, or even do DTP, we wanna hear from you. Professional experience not needed...as you may have gathered. We meet bi-weekly on Sundays at 5.30pm. Contact us at editors@bristle.org.uk for details or check the Bristol Indymedia calendar. Full Article. | Bristle 22: Bristol is NOT a part of England! It's Part of the World | www.bristle.org.uk | Other Football Related Links: Lions give Coca-Cola the red card! (War on Want) | Red card to sex trade trafficking during World Cup (Amnesty) | Because they love football? Balls. | Contribute An Article
 Anarchist606 writes: I have watched the arguments rage back and forth about the Ashton Court Festival and the sponsorship of the event, the ticket prices and new things like the VIP passes. Ashton Court is an event beloved by much of the city, so it's not surprising to see passion aroused by the event. The argument of the festival organizers about costs is;"This year we reluctantly took the decision to put up our basic admission price to £9. This was because we have been hit with two unavoidable cost increases: Firstly, the controversial new Licensing Act has increased our licence fee from about £1,000 to £16,000. Second, new security industry regulations (known as SIA) have added about £45,000 to our costs. In addition, inflation in the industry is running ahead of normal price inflation, and the overall cost of putting on the event this year is going to be in the region of £600,000. Because we are a totally independent organisation we have to find all the money ourselves." OK – Lets take this apart a little. While the figures seems pretty massive, the sponsorship, including Orange, only generates 22% of the income. Compare this to the report by FilmBUZZ on film festivals where the sponsorship generated is on average greater than the 59% Ashton Court plans to take from tickets; "Festivals make the bulk of their income from corporate cash sponsorships. With a mean of nearly $100,000 annually per festival, the average total corporate sponsorship cash commitment is more than $40,000 higher than ticket sale proceeds, the second highest revenue source." For a minority cost of the event, Orange has managed to re-brand the name of the event and its decor in their image. Looking at some of the festivals cited by FilmBUZZ, despite a higher proportion of the costs being shouldered, the events are not renamed as part of the sponsorship. In short, I think Orange as getting a bargain and Ashton Court has sold itself cheap. Now consider the Brighton Festival – the level of sponsorship is is proportionally fairly similar to that of Ashton Court (£799,721 ticket sales vs. £416,924 sponsorship) – also not renamed by its sponsors – now this festival, unlike Ashton Court, does get council funding... Full Article | Has Ashton Court Lost its Way? | www.ashtoncourtfestival.com | www.adbusters.org | Prior Discussion: 30th May 2006 | Prior Discussion: 29th July 2003 | Also See: St. Pauls Festival! 1st July 2006. F**k The New Licensing Laws! Get Your Sound Systems Ready! | Bristol Indymedia - Nearly As Many Hits As Evening Post - Publish Your News! | Contribute An Article
 It would appear the day began with protest as one reader reported seeing a banner over the M32, the gateway into Bristol from London. Truth Monkey, who posted images of the visit, wrote; No photos of Tony, he was obviously smuggled in through the kitchen window round the back. Good turnout for the protestos and and NO 2 ID Cards campaign. They certinsnly made their presnce felt, 'Troops out of Iraq, Blair out of Bristol', The queue of specially slected delegates waiting outside looked a tad bemused by it all. Strong police presence (70 or 80?) around the Will Memeorial Building. .. Full articleThe Grim Reaper wrote: Tony Blair snuck into Bristol today for a 2 day visit, under a heavy cloak of secrecy amidst an OTT security operation. His meetings on Thursday & Friday are with hand-picked audiences under the illusion of ‘lets talk’, mainly about crime. His last visit, some two & a half years ago, where he turned up at Barton Hill Settlement, was under the banner ‘The Big Consultation’, otherwise known as The Big Con. Once again he will go to great lengths to avoid contact with reality, otherwise known as random normal members of the public, just in case…Full article | Tony Blair 'welcomed' to Bristol | Blair - crimes & context | Just seen this | Go Home Bliar | Fascist Warmonger Blair coming to Bristol 23 June (+comments) | Blair coming to Bristol, 23rd June! | Don't Mention The War | www.impeachblair.org | wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Blair | A Letter to the Prime Minister | Contribute An Article
Tesco made £70 profit every second last year
 Updated (22th June) - New link added in comments: How to oppose a supermarketplanning application (Friends of the Earth PDF file) Update (20th June) B.O.G.O.F.S, are a new group opposing the development of any further supermarkets along/near the Gloucester road. Meeting this Wednesday (21st June) 7.30pm at the Art shop/studio (next to Bobby's shop) on Derby Rd, St Andrews, to discuss what can be done to contest the latest proposed development. 'Tesco reported pre-tax profits of more than £2bn. Even though each employee generates an average of £95,000 worth of sales each year, no spare cash is left to pay workers during their tea breaks. Whilst the eight men who run Tesco earned £26m between them last year (2005 figures), Tesco have fought tooth and nail against the minimum wage. A 16 year old worker on such a rate would have to work for over 90 years to earn Sir Terry’s £3m annual salary ... Luckily for Tesco, competition laws classify convenience stores as a separate sector to supermarkets. Monopolies (includes 2006 figures) used to be recognised and prevented when a company controlled 25% of the market, but with their Metro stores, Tesco controls over one third of the country’s grocery business.' Gloucester Road resident writes: On a site tucked behind the existing Somerfield there are plans for a new "food store for Bishopston", as the PR company who is promoting the development call it. The food store is in fact a planned Tescos with 180 car parking spaces. In additon the the recently opened Tesco express and Sainsburys local a little further down the road, the new supermarket would inevitably put great pressure on local food stores and other businesses that have served the local community so well for many years (not to mention the increased traffic congestion!). Full Article
 | New Supermarket on Gloucester Road (+comments) | Recent Actions & Articles: shepton mallet evicted... | shepton mallet still going | day of action at shepton mallet | Shepton Mallet Eviction Alert | Tree Protest Camp established at Shepton Mallet, Somerset. People needed | Also See: www.tescopoly.org.uk | Tescopoly - 'Schnews' Article | Joanna Blythman interview, author: 'The Shocking Power of British Supermarkets' | www.bogofs.org | How to oppose a supermarketplanning application(a Friends of the Earth PDF file) | Contribute An Article
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Cat Hobbs writes: Commuters, backed by community groups, are calling on Bristol City Council to invest in a half hourly service on the Severn Beach line. Email your councillor if you think our local railways are a priority service that needs money! (Currently the Council spends nothing on local rail.) 
Elinor Milne writes: Members of the Resource Pool discovered yesterday that the council has broken its promise not to sell the building until August to give the group time to formulate a business plan. They have been marketing it widely to the commercial sector and the final dealine for proposals for its use is June 23rd. We are writing a proposal to submit by this date, but we also need to protest the fact that the council has chosen to sell the building straight away without even making this known to the group...PLEASE HELP US DO THIS BY CONTACTING YOUR COUNCILLORS!!! 
