Edinburgh Diary Dates

If you know of other funky lefty things going on in Edinburgh let me know and I'll add them.

• Saturday 5th March

The big society revenue and customs joins community groups in Edinburgh to protest against the proposed closure of two nursery schools (High School Yards nursery and Princess Elizabeth nursery).
11.30am - Edinburgh City Council Chambers, Cockburn St.
Then moving on to some of our favourite banks.
Courtesy of Edinburgh Uncut

Demonstrate at the Scottish Lib Dem conference
Perth Concert Hall (not Edinburgh)
Assemble 11am

• Sunday 6th March

Anarchist film festival
From noon to 11 pm
Teviot bar, Bristo Square
£4 entry

• Tuesday 15th March

Mark Steel's in Town
Queens Hall, 85-89 Clerk St
EH8 9JG
0131 668 2019 for tickets

Bernado's Political Book Sale
45 Clerk St. EH8 9JQ
6.30 - 8.30 pm

• Friday 25th March

David Rovics with Fiona Keenan and David Ferrard
Bannermans, 212 Cowgate, EH1 1NQ
Admission £8

Edinburgh Diary Dates

A few things coming up that I spotted, feel free to add more events in the comments if I've missed off any important ones.

• Tomorrow, Tuesday.

Rally to support the people of the Middle East
Called by the Stop the War Coalition
The Mound Princes Street. 5.30 pm

• Thursday, 24th Feb

March on Universities Scotland against plans to charge students £12K
Bristo Square 12 noon

• Saturday 5th March

Demonstrate at the Scottish Lib Dem conference
Perth Concert Hall (not Edinburgh)
Assemble 11am

Also Edinburgh Uncut have their next action

• Sunday 6th March

Anarchist film festival
From noon to 11 pm
Teviot bar, Bristo Square
£4 entry

• Tuesday 15th March

Mark Steel's in Town
Queens Hall, 85-89 Clerk St
EH8 9JG
0131 668 2019 for tickets

• Friday 25th March

David Rovics with Fiona Keenan and David Ferrard
Bannermans, 212 Cowgate, EH1 1NQ
Admission £8

Diary Dates for the New Year

Feel free to let me know any London or national events that seem to be missing from the list. I'm pretty sure they'll be crucial things missing;

Saturday, January 8th - 9am start (Central London)
Netroots conference
A one day event to help network and inspire progressive activists working on the web.

Monday, January 10th (online)
CiF mass trespass
Bringing sanity to the Guardian's troll nest.

Friday, January 14th - 1pm (Bank of England)
Dance against the cuts
UKUncut are boogeying against austerity.

Wednesday, January 26th - 7pm (Housman's, Camden)
Ecology and anarchism
Brian Morris discusses his new book on the theme.

Saturday, January 29th · 12 noon start (Ilford)
Protest to save Maternity and A&E facility at King George Hospital, Details

Saturday, March 5th - 10am start (Shoreditch)
6 billion ways free anti-capitalist conference, Details

Saturday, March 26th - (London)
TUC March for an economic alternative, Details

Climate March this Saturday

This Saturday (December the 4th) is the national climate march, so I thought I'd better highlight it! Here's the details;

Timetable:

10.30 am Protest Bike ride assembles at Lincoln's Inn Fields - to join the main protest at Hyde Park later. See here for further details and route map.

11.00 am Climate Service at the Church of the Annunciation, Bryanston Street, W1H 7AH organised by Christian Ecology Link, see here.

12.00 noon Assemble on North Carriage Drive (just west of Speaker's Corner), Hyde Park (Marble Arch tube)

12.00 - 1.00 pm Help us spell out a message for Zero Carbon by 2030 - with hundreds of people in a photo taken from above in Hyde Park. Get there by 12 noon prompt to ensure your place in the photo and to give us time to get the best photo!

Zero Carbon March to Parliament
via Park Lane, Hyde Park Corner, Piccadilly, Piccadilly Circus, Lower Regent Street, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall.

2.30 pm: Climate Emergency Rally outside Parliament. Speakers to include Caroline Lucas MP (leader, Green Party), John McDonnell MP (Labour), Michael Meacher MP (Labour), Andy Atkins (Director, Friends of the Earth), Maria Souviron (Bolivian ambassador), Paul Allen (Centre for Alternative Technology, zerocarbonBritain2030 report), Tony Kearns (assistant Gen Sec Communication Workers Union), Ben Brangwyn (co-founder Transition Towns), John Stewart (chair, AirportWatch), Sophie Allain ( Ratcliffe 20, Climate Camp).

Tea, coffee, soup etc. will be served by the Brixton Tea Party.

5.00 pm: Afterparty at The Enterprise Pub, Red Lion Street, Holborn. See here for more details.

Download the flier/poster for the event here.

Communique from Lewisham HQ

General Sue Luxton at Green Ladywell writes;

"You may by now have heard that Tim Shand, one of the new Labour councillors elected in May to serve Ladywell has chosen to take up a job offer in South Africa and resigned as a councillor, which means there will be a by-election. We don't know the date yet, but are assuming it will be on or around 4th November.

"While it's annoying that someone who was only elected in May, has resigned and triggered a by-election, at a cost to local taxpayers in excess of £10k, it does of course present an opportunity for Ladywell Greens to regain one of the seats we lost back in May! I am looking forward to getting back out campaigning over the next few weeks to try and get a Green candidate, who is trully committed to Ladywell ward elected.

"Our candidate selection meeting is taking place this Thursday, and we will announce on here shortly after who our candidate is. I know we have at least two excellent people who plan to put their name forward. I'm not standing myself this time - I'm rather enjoying the extra time I have now I'm not a councillor.

"I think we have a very strong chance of winning this seat back, and making sure Ladywell has a strong green voice standing up for it again, looking for alternatives to cuts to services, campaigning to keep our childrens' centres and libraries open, but we'll need your help.

"Here's how you can help:

• By-elections cost money! Help us run an effective campaign by making a donation to our campaign fund today.
  
• Put up a 'Vote Green' window poster for us. E-mail me your contact details and we'll get one over to you once the election date is declared.
  
• Can you help us deliver our election address to your street, or could you convince some of your neighbours to go out and vote Green? Again, e-mail us and let us know what you would like to do.
  
• Have you got questions/suggestions on our campaign, what you think our priorities should be? Again, get in touch.
  
• Join us! We're a small party, but a growing one. We can do so much more and be so much more representative of the local community, if more of our supporters join us.

"Thank you!"

As I live in the ward I'm very keen on the Greens retaking the seat from a Labour team who, at the last ward assembly a few weeks ago, seemed very keen to point out that they would do nothing to fight the cuts and felt the choice was simply whether we should cut services for the young or the old.

No thanks.

We'll be fighting to defend public services and protect the most vulnerable from the impact of the cuts. I'm looking forward to getting back from my break in order to help us fight and win this council seat for the Greens. Come along, it'll be fun!

Conference highlights

This Friday sees the start of the Green Party's Birmingham conference and it looks set to be the largest in living memory with a record number of pre-bookings on top of our surging membership since the election.

I thought I'd highlight a few of the fringes and events that are going on that particularly interest me.

* Friday at 7pm in the New Lecture Theatre Afghanistan: What now?

I'm looking forward to hearing our new MEP Keith Taylor speak as well as Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, and Jonathan Goodhand from Afghan Aid.

* Friday night 8pm in "the bar" there will an informal bloggers' meet up. Come and chat to us, a good chance to ask basic questions or just have a rant about what you think bloggers should be doing.

* Saturday 3pm in the New Lecture Theatre there will be the first ever official Green World hosted fringe on electoral reform.

I'll be chairing a debate on what stance the Green Party should take on the probable referendum next year. We'll have a speaker from Unlock Democracy for a yes vote and a green stalwart for the no's.

* Saturday 6pm in the main hall there's a panel on public sector cuts with the excellent Salma Yaqoob of Respect, Billy Hayes the General Secretary of CWU and Adrian Ramsay.

* Sunday 12 noon in Lecture Room 2 I'll be attending, as a birthday treat, Sex workers speak on the need for complete decriminalisation of all aspects of prostitution.

I'm really proud that the party takes its policies on sex workers directly from what workers in those industries want, by actually speaking to them rather than just about them. It would be a great shame if we were to adopt the paternalistic and reactionary liberalism on this issue that others would like us to.

* On Monday at 1 pm, in Lecture Room 1, there will will be a science working group fringe on science funding policy.

We have a really impressive line up of speakers with Imran Khan - Director of Campaign for Science and Engineering, Frank Swain - Science Writer and Journalist and Stuart Parkinson - Executive Director of Scientists for Global Responsibility. I think this is going to be a cracker!

Diary Dates

I've fallen out of the habit of doing lefty, Londony, activisty diary dates - which is a shame. I'm not promising to get back into it properly, but if you'd like to advertise an important left field event leave a comment and I'll try to try.

Organising for the Coalition of Resistance
Tonight, 2nd Sept: 6.30 pm
ULU - head for Malet St entrance

Demonstration action deportations of Roma from France
Saturday, 4th Sept: 1 pm to 2.30 pm
French Embassy,58, Knightsbridge, London.

Protest to demand action on global poverty
18th September: 1 pm
London
Old Palace Yard, outside Westminster

People are asked to bring drums, bells, whistles, pots and pans to make a noise for the Millenium Development Goals. The mobilisation will take place just two days before world leaders meet at the UN Millennium Development Goals Review Summit.
Called by Global Call to Action against Poverty and the UN Millennium Campaign.

Green Party, London Fed AGM
Sunday 26th September: 10am-4m.
Seven Dials Club
42 Earlham St, Covent Garden.
Obviously you need to be a party member to come - worth the membership fee on its own!

Joking for Justice (WMD)
October 7th: 7.30 pm onwards
Dingwalls, (Lock 17), Middle Yard, Camden Lock, NW1 8AB

Lineup: Tony Law, Andrew O'Neill, Liam Mullone, Francesca Martinez, Kent Valentine, Hils Barker, Markus Birdman, Matt Kirshen, Charlie Talbot.
Entry fee £15

National Demonstration: troops out of Afghanistan
November 20th, 12 noon
London, (details)
Full assembly details, etc. do not appear to have been finalised.

Coalition of Resistance: National conference
November 27th, 10 am until 5pm
Camden Centre, Bidborough St, London. Details.

Manchester Convention of the Left 24-25 Sept

Just thought I'd flag up an event in late September in Manchester. The Convention of the Left is an initiative that's been going on for a little while now bringing together people on the left and trying to facilitate a bit of conversation between the often fractious and warring left factions.

Rightly it has quite modest aims. It does not set itself up as a new coalition or party of the left, but simply tries to get people in a room with each other and being nice to each other. That's a good place to start I think.

This September will see some speakers like Ian Angus on ‘Climate & Capitalism’, Gregor Gall (strong lefty on industrial relations), John McDonnell MP and Matt Wrack (General Secretary of the Firefighters' Union). However the main session will be an open forum on building alliances against the cuts. Seems sensible and well worth attending.

Visit the website at conventionoftheleft.org for more details. Download the flier here. (Reminded by Liam)

Three quick reminders

First, don't forget you still have a few days to vote in the Total Politics Awards. It's not to be taken too seriously but it's always good to see progressive, lefty, green types do well compared to the buggers of the right. Sorry, that should be bloggers of the right, the buggers.

You need to vote for at least five blogs (or should that be four other blogs?) so if you lack inspiration as to who else to vote for you can check out my list of Green blogs here, and my short list of lefty blogs in the right hand column which includes the likes of AVPS, F-Word, Third Estate, HarpyMarx and Dave's Part - who would all be worth a punt as well.

The second reminder is for Green Party members who I'd like to remind that the GPEx (Green Party Executive) nominations are still open and are, currently, massively skewed towards London residents.

I personally believe it is very important that these elections are all contested so that the party actually gets a choice as to who sits on the executive rather than simply getting lumbered with whoever has a big enough head to put themselves forwards... or to put it another way I think the executive should be decided by more than just who is capable of filling in a form.

I certainly will be voting for most of the seven people who've put their names in the hat so far, it's not their fault others have not put themselves forward - but it's very unhealthy that the party will have so little say over our exec. which essentially eliminates one of the largest mechanisms we have for holding the exec. to account.

It can't be right that the national chair, for example, is an uncontested position when we're in such a new period for the party. Do let me know if you need help or advise about these elections.

Lastly, it was announced today that the police officer who struck Ian Tomlinson from behind,leaving him dead, is to face disciplinary charges for his actions. No one could accuse the Met of rushing into that decision could they?

I mean most employers would probably be irresponsible and immediately discipline a member of staff who assaulted and killed someone while on duty - but the Met is more considered when it comes to this sort of thing and no one should assume that this announcement is in anyway connected to the outrage at the CPS's decision that a jury will not be allowed to judge whether this was murder.

This Friday, the 30th July, there is a lunchtime protest outside the Office of Department of Public Prosecution (Rose Court, 2 Southwark Bridge, SE1 9HS). It starts at noon and it would be a very good thing if we could ensure the DPP is not allowed to forget the public's disgust at their decision.

You may also wish to donate to The Ian Tomlinson Family Campaign. Incidentally this piece by Unity on Liberal Conspiracy is a must read when assessing the gross injustice of the DPP's decision.

What's going on (naked edition)

Why don't people just keep their clothes on for heaven's sake. Oh well.

If you're at a loose end you might want to take your loose ends on the World Naked Bike Ride which meets at 3pm Saturday 12th June by the Achilles Statue in Hyde Park, which is near Hyde Park Corner tube.

You don't need to be naked to go, but it only seems polite.

If all this peace and love is not to your liking you might like to take part in giving the master race a piece of your mind. The UAF and others are organising against the racist EDL marching through Tower Hamlets. This Sunday (13th) at 7pm there is a rally at London Muslim Centre, 46 Whitechapel Road, London E1 1JX and then next week on Sunday 20 June, Assemble 11am, Stepney Green Park, march to Altab Ali Park, Whitechapel.

Then there's the question of the health service, you might like to go to the Keep Our NHS Public AGM, Saturday 12th June 10 for 11am, Somers Town Community Centre, Ossulston St, NW1; Link

Sadly, at the same time is the COMPASS "A New Hope" Annual conference which has a range of blinding speakers at it. Saturday 12th June, Institute of Education, lots of speakers including Caroline Lucas, Hilary Wainwright, Paul Mason, loads more.

If sitting in stuffy rooms is your thing then there are even more conferences the week after. The pick of these would be the Morning Star Conference, Saturday 19th June from 10am Bob Crow, George Galloway and co. Congress House.

Alternatively you might like to assist the democratisation of this backward little island with the good people from Take Back Parliament. On Sunday 13th June at 2pm there will be a democracy picnic and flower laying. Victoria Tower Gardens, Adjacent to Parliament, London, SW1A 0AA

Thinking further ahead on Saturday 10th July at 2 p.m. there will be a protest against nuclear waste being transported through London. Victoria Park, Cadogan Gate entrance, Cadogan Terrace, E9. Nearest station Hackney Wick, March to Stratford Station.

Events coming up

Feel free to let me know of any events I've missed. I tend to go for national or London because that's where I live...

• DEFEND WHITTINGTON HOSPITAL COALITION MEETING

Monday 24 May 7pm, Whittington Community Centre, Yerbury Rd, N19. Nr Archway Tube

• Solidarity with the Greek Protests
  

Wednesday 26th May 7pm, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London, WC1. Speakers.

• Camden Green Fair
  

Sunday 6th June from Midday until 7pm; Details

• Dreamers of a New Day – Women Who Invented the Twentieth Century

Thu 10 Jun, 6.30pm Bookmarks talk,with author Sheila Rowbotham WC1B 3QE link

• Keep Our NHS Public AGM

Saturday 12th June 10 for 11am, Somers Town Community Centre, Ossulston St, NW1; Link

• COMPASS "A New Hope" Annual conference
  

Saturday 12th June, Institute of Education, lots of speakers including Caroline Lucas, Hilary Wainwright, Paul Mason, loads more Link

• Morning Star Conference
  

Saturday 19th June from 10am Bob Crow, George Galloway and co. Congress House link

• Lewisham People's Day
  

Saturday 10th July Mountsfield Park, Catford music, cool things, stalls link

• Green Party Conference
  

Friday 10th September to Monday 13th in Birmingham; Details

Events coming up (mainly London)

I'm going to try to get back into a weekly events round-up as currently my previous regular features have gone completely out the window.

• RIGHT TO WORK EMERGENCY CONFERENCE

Saturday 22 May 11am Friends Meeting House Euston Road NW1. Further info

• DEFEND WHITTINGTON HOSPITAL COALITION MEETING

Monday 24 May 7pm, Whittington Community Centre, Yerbury Rd, N19. Nr Archway Tube

• SOLIDARITY WITH THE GREEK PROTESTS

Wednesday 26th May 7pm, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London, WC1. Speakers.

• CAMDEN GREEN FAIR

Sunday 6th June from Midday until 7pm; Details

• KEEP OUR NHS PUBLIC AGM

Saturday 12 June 10 for 11am, Somers Town Community Centre, Ossulston St, NW1; Link

• GREEN PARTY CONFERENCE

Friday 10th September to Monday 13th in Birmingham; Details

Feel free to let me know about things I've missed, I'm sure there's plenty more going on out there.

Weekending: on the right day and everything

Let me take you on a tour of the blogland, or at least a very limited part of it.

• Reuben at the ever excellent Third Estate takes a look at the egos of independent candidates.
• If Berlusconi ends up with the most women in his cabinet I'm going to be annoyed.
• AVPS points to homeopathies surprising allies.
• Molly asks how green was Marx.
• Modernity looks to the skies.
  
• If you're a London student you may want to support Clare Solomon in her bid to become ULU NUS President.
• Sue is very happy that Lewisham Green Party have opened their new HQ.
  
• I want to wish James, the foremost Scottish Green blogger, luck in his Parliamentary election battle.
  

A couple of events coming up in London, both north and south;

• This Saturday 6th March: Feminism today with Nina Power and Lindsey German at Housmans Bookshop, near Kings Cross, from 5pm.
  
• This Sunday 7th March: Lewisham Peace and Justice event. Right on discussions, food, music, films including a chat from me about climate change. From 4 pm.
  

Spotted this at Suitably Despairing and thought I'd pass it on;

Pieces of skin trump pieces of paper

The invasion of Iraq was wrong, whether or not it was illegal. The fact that the UN refused to endorse the war with a second, clearer, resolution was an inconvenience to those who were determined to destroy the country and one they retrospectively decided was no barrier as the first resolution that they had previously thought inadequate did in fact give them carte blanche to obliterate hundreds of thousands of lives.

By refusing to pass the second resolution the UN made it clear they did not endorse the war that we all knew was, by this time, inevitable. However, even if they had passed that resolution it would not have made the suffering any the less acute, nor the injustice any less bald.

Tony Blair is giving evidence to the inquiry tomorrow (Friday) and the Stop the War Coalition is organising a welcome party for him starting at 8 am.

Assemble at:

Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre, Broad
Sanctuary, Westminster, London SW1P 3EE

Check out the website for their timetable of events although I'd recommend getting there early as the Metropolitan Police's idea of the right to peaceful protest and ours is not entirely contiguous.

Sadly this inquiry will bring no real reassessment of our foreign policy priorities from the government, opposition or the press, even as the Afghan 'President' cheerfully informs the world that he expects UK forces to stay in the country for another fifteen years.

This particular lie, that bit of spin, this specific distortion of the truth become the day to day fodder of a media that seems oblivious to the wider logic that set us on the course to war not on any given day but over decades. In my opinion we should be challenging the global imbalance of power and wealth in a system built on profit over need.

Weekending

Hope you're having a good week. Let's take a very quick peek at some bits and bobs just gone by.

Blogs;

• Earwicga very nice design
  
• Awkward family photos which is a set of... well you'll see
  
• Brainsquawks is fun
  
• Grey Matter - newsletter for Newcastle
• Housmans have started selling lefty books on-line.
  

Posts;

• Could we have meat without harming animals?
• Lancaster Unity looks at events with the far right in Nottingham.
• Snitch?
• Asked to take minutes? Try this excuse.
  

Diary Dates;

• Sat 12th Dec. Green Party London Fed Winter Party free - donations welcome.
  
• Weds 16th Dec. Feeding the 5,000 who ever said there's no such thing as a free lunch.
• Sat 13th March 2010 Campaign Against Climate Change Trade Union Conference

Continuing my theme of musical mix matches we have these people dancing the Charleston... to Daft Punk;



Only topped by Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger sung a cappella!

Weekending: 29th November

It's time for the regular weekend hit and miscellaneous.

Blogs and sites;

• Steve Durrant looks an interesting lefty.
• Best blog name? The audacity of Pope.
• Just came across Vote Wise. Probably something council candidates might want to utilise.
  
• I'm rather enjoying Letters from a Tory at the moment. Sorry everyone.
• Fold school! Yes, you too can make furniture out of cardboard.
  

A small selection of articles;

• Cathryn Symons discusses water energy that doesn't bother the fish.
  
• Not really a diary is worried about the expenses of local politicians.
• Hugh Orde says keep politics out of policing.
• Kate Hudson on CND's soviet funding.
• How racist is Barking? From Lancaster Unity.
  

Updates on previous articles;

• After writing my piece on Men's Societies Dave and Zetkin.net have both written pieces in general agreement and Reuben takes issue with me. enjoy.
• I asked Ben, a serving prisoner, what he thought of the recent prison officers' strikes. This is what he said.
  

Diary Dates;

• Tues 1st December Candlelit vigil for Ian Tomlinson
  
• Sat 5th December National Climate March.
• Sat 12th December Green Party London Fed Winter Party free - donations welcome.
  
• Sat 13th March 2010 Campaign Against Climate Change Trade Union Conference

I've just discovered why the web was invented - and here it is;


Welcome to the internet.

Weekending: 22nd November

Yo, brothers and sisters. Check these out!

Blogs;

• Green supremo Jon Nott has forged an eclectica.
• Then there's a daisy through concrete.
• My kinda lefty: Mellow Fellow.
  
• Fit Watch - not a weight watchers' site.
• Labour lefty Peter Kenyon
• Very simple site. Battle of Green Britain.
  

Posts and articles;

• Can I just say this post from Harry Hutton is bloody marvellous.
• Liam calls on Irish mercenaries to get out of Bolivia.
• The FT reports of imminent sanctions against Iran.
• This piece on experiments in democracy in Iceland is exciting.
• Exploding immigration myths from Claude.
  
• Bea Campbell on turning red to green in CiF.

Quote of the week (here);

"As a nation, we need to prepare for a highly sexualised, electric Swindon – a Swindon with desires and needs, a vast, androgynous, super-intelligent being, splayed over Wiltshire."

Diary dates;

• Tues 24th November Westminster Skeptics Science Activism in the New Media
• Sat 28th November Hands off the People of Iran AGM
• Sat 28th November Reclaim power: pushing for climate justice at SOAS
  
• Sat 5th December National Climate March.
• Sat 12th December Green Party London Fed Winter Party free - donations welcome.
  
• Sat 13th March 2010 Campaign Against Climate Change Trade Union Conference
  

Our video of the week is one of Madame Hodge debating fascist MEP Andrew Brons. As she's got the task of facing off the strongest BNP challenge at the election we might as well see what she's made of;

Weekending

Welcome to the weekending. What did we spot this week?

Blogs;

• Apparently Old Punks never die.
• Son of Schism-Schasm.
  

Posts and articles;

• Carnival of Socialism is up at Harpy Marx.
  
• Aiden Baker looks at alternatives to Amazon.
• Peter Tatchell in the News Statesmen looks at democratic reform.
• Daniel Hoffman-Gill has a great post on Poland and immigration.
  
• The FT reports that Obama has ruled out a Copenhagen treaty.
• Peter Cranie notes the latest poll.
• Jon Rogers looks at what's happening in UNISON.
  
• We're in Afghanistan to get rid of the Taliban. Or failing that put them in government.
• Respect had their conference yesterday Ger Francis (via Derek Wall) and Liam react.
  
• The Ecologist looks at how we get community investment in green projects.
• Nick Griffin to contest Barking seat.
  
• Congratulations Alan Gorman, new Green town councillor in Totnes.
  

Diary dates;

• Sat 21st November People's Charter National Conference, in Camden.
• Tues 24th November Westminster Skeptics Science Activism in the New Media
• Sat 28th November Hands off the People of Iran AGM
  
• Sat 5th December National Climate March.

What happens when you cross the irresistible beats of Ska with Christian rockers? Watch this video to find out. Fans of either discipline may require a stiff drink on hand;

Weekending: 8th Novemeber

It's weekending time again;

Blogs;

• New Green blog Eco-DIY
• And another Pat Cleary's blog
• And another Greening Kirklees
• And yet another! Green Bill
  
• Good lefty People's Republic of Hove
  

Posts and articles;

• Peter Tatchell defends himself against the smears
• Matt Selwood on how London gets its food.
• Jenny Jones argues we should give Londoners a say in policing.
  
• The New Scientist on Sea Monsters.
• Criminalise bankers not prostitutes (Jess Hurd)
  
• Kucinich explains why he voted against health care reform.
• An ethical tourism company drops carbon offsetting.
  
• I enjoyed Chris Harman's article reassessing GDP in Socialist Review. Although I'd put this in this week's crop before I heard the news of his death I've decided against taking it out.
• Good piece on why belief in climate is not the same as religious faith.
  
• I was in the morning Star twice this week (one article held over from the week before). Once on feminism and the other on drugs. Letters in response here and here.
  

Diary dates;

• Weds 11th November CEDAW a convention on international women's rights.
  
• Sat 21st November People's Charter National Conference, in Camden.
• Sat 28th November Hands off the People of Iran AGM
  
• Sat 5th December National Climate March.
• Have I missed off your event? Let me know.

Youtube of the week, Beatrix Campbell launches her Parliamentary campaign as a Green Party candidate;



P.S. I filmed this. It was both the first time I've put a video on Youtube (with all the little gizmo's) and the first time I'd been introduced to Ms Campbell. I don't know what I was expecting, but she was really, really lovely.

Weekending: November

A quick round-up of what's caught my eye on the web. Feel free to chip in down in the comments.

Blogs (some pinched from Phil, ta);

• The friendly lefty is a new lefty blogger. Excellent.
• Roots and resilience is a lefty into crime, human rights and migration.
  
• 21st Century Manifesto has that good nerdy attraction to statistics I like in a lefty.
• Another Communist Party blogger is one from the plough.
  
• Lansbury Lido is "politics from a democratic socialist and a christian socialist view".
• Also the Personal Accountability Log.
  

Posts and articles;

• Wonderful Carnival of Socialism Halloween special - yeah!
  
• An Indymedia FAQ on the postal strike.
• Doc Richard reports on the suppression of the Green Party in Rwanda
• Stephen Gray on why GM crops will not feed the world
  
• I don't link to Harry's Place often but their post on defend Peter Tatchell is well worth highlighting.
• Salman is rightly proud of his interview with Nick Clegg, although Clegg doesn't actually say much as far as I can see. That's not Salman's fault i hasten to point out!
  
• You elect a Green Left government in Iceland and what happens? McDonalds pulls out. It could happen here you know...
• Vile article in the Times on animal testing for botox.
• I never laugh at stories like this where an ambulance driver left a patient locked in his ambulance for five hours because he forgot about him. That would be cruel.
  
• Two Doctors looks at Scottish polls.
• Update on previous story: North Kelvin Community Meadow wins a prize.
  

Diary;

• Weds 11th November CEDAW a convention on international women's rights.
  
• Sat 21st November People's Charter National Conference, in Camden.
• Sat 28th November Hands off the People of Iran AGM
  
• Sat 5th December National Climate March.
• Have I missed off your event? Let me know.

This is wonderful, Lady Lewisham tells it like it is;