Flooding on Beverley Westwood, East Yorkshire

More flooding in Beverley late December,  despite the  installation of the new  expensive water tanks 'downstream' of this shot.  Springs could be seen bubbling up just behind me - which I'd never seen there before.

...Mrs Scrooge

...a retrospective shot: small demonstration of reusing cards -squeezed in between the (very inadequate) rubbish bin and a lampost in Beverley's Christmas Fair.  I was challenged by the fair organisers and assured them I wasn't selling anything - in fact I was giving away fudge - and non-consumerist ideas!

Trees and politics

HEYwoods should be helping to warn the wider public of growing ecological problems - and the implications for humanity.  Unfortunately many people don't want to know and/or think it won't affect them personally ('not in my lifetime' they so often say).   However - it is the the duty of local (and national) government to try to inform and educate.

I feel we should not underplay the seriousness of  ash dieback  - because it's just one more symptom of a planetary disease.  Trees are the most visible lungs of the planet, and I feel it's no coincidence that many  tree species around the world are now diseased and succumbing to the increasingly disastrous effects of the activities of our species.  It's  been a love-hate relationship between humanity and trees -  in the ancient past we lived amongst them,  and then we venerated them.  We are healed by their presence and we copy their shapes in our architecture (cf  the columns and vaulting of our cathedrals) ,  but as our numbers and technology increased we began to decimate them  for building and burning, and simply making space and light  for crops, animals and buildings.  Our life spans are so short compared with trees that we fail to see the long term view - and they are unable to explain to us (Tolkein makes this point through the Ents in The Lord of the Rings!)

No wonder green activists are often called 'tree huggers' - trees symbolise the much bigger picture that the green movement tries to make everyone aware of.

In terms of what should be done locally: yes we need urgently to plant trees,  aiming for diversity and resilience as well as use... permaculture in fact.  We also need to educate, because the underlying problem is rampant 'growth' -based politics  which - on a finite planet  - is working to annihilate not only trees but all of us. 

So I would suggest that we start to plan for the creation of a woodland park as a permaculture show-case  (alongside all the other planting which is necessary).  This would be highly appropriate for Hull and East Riding  - not least to increase its tourism 'product' !

best wishes to all for 2013

Shan Oakes

Hull and  East Riding Green Party

Beverley & East Riding Friends of the Earth

Cobblers to the Council!

East Riding Council is threatening the imminent removal of the historic setts (cobblestones) in the market place....so...the message today was Save Our Setts and ....Cobblers to the Council! This was just the first of a list of other important issues to be dealt with.

I spoke with MP Graham Stuart at the end and asked him what the Tory Government does about errant Tory councils like this one... 'surely you're not proud of the way they carry on?' I asked.  He replied that it's democracy - people vote for them....!

School cancels Christmas

Bah Humbug!

The cancellation of Christmas by the Oasis Academy at Nunsthorpe, near Grimsby (in N-E Yorks according to today's Metro!)  says it all about the madness of the current approach to education.   The primary school says  they have to 'raise standards'  before reintroducing music and drama productions because they came bottom of a league table for  English and Maths.  An angry parent renamed the school  'the Scrooge Academy' .

A head teacher who had turned round a London school through music and the arts was outraged. The fact that schools have now reached the stage of  bizarre decisions like this is an indication of the depth of the crisis in education. School governors and heads have bought in to the myths of Gradgrind methods because they are lacking wise leadership from government.  Dickens' ‘Hard Times’ has morphed from being a satire to becoming a text book.  Talking of Dickens, the  UK government should be put through Scrooge’s nightmare experience in ‘A Christmas Carol’…..they need a dose of those ghosts warning against a preoccupation with cash boxes, ledgers and exploiting the workers.  Then they might – just possibly – realise the error of their ways.

The North East Lincs 'academy' may be an oasis from Christmas, but the UK government's approach to education (and society) is now an oasis from humanity and good sense.
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Surely by now people should know the Greens are NOT a one-policy party!

My reply to a comment on the Yorkshire Post site:  Thanks for your reply, Circe, but please check out the Greens' comprehensive manifesto (on website) and you will see it is definitely not a one policy party! ... It's not surprising that people don't realise it, because the media concentrates on the old parties,  and the FPTP system conspires against change.
Green policy has been built up since the 70s by Conference.  The Green Party is actually growing steadily,  and when policies are set out for people to choose (without labelling them) most people choose green policies.
Green policy re NHS is to stop the rampant privatisation and fund it properly (savings from no new Trident, fairer taxation etc) - please see the Party website.
Re Europe: I agree there is a lot wrong with it at present, but there are so many issues which do not respect borders, that Greens believe that states must work together.  The Green Group is a strong force in Europe, working to make Europe democratic, honour subsidiarity, and support the welfare of people and planet instead of corporations. The Greens believe we have to work within Europe but not towards a superstate.  If we are outside, Europe will carry on without us - and get worse, taking us with it.

Beverley Town Meeting 7 Dec 2012

Beverley spoke!  Feathers were spat....

A packed Toll Gavel Methodist Church was full of (about 400) seething Beverlonians!   Sandy Patience for the Civic Society introduced the issues - East Riding  of Yorkshire Council  proposals to:  replace the setts/cobbles in Saturday Market;  demolish Longcroft School for housing; build more housing in the north and south of the town;  allow more retail on the Grovehill site. 

The Mayor chaired, and speaker after speaker asked why ERYC behaves in the arrogant way it does. Why were the Council leader and chief exec not present?  Why does the council do whatever it wants without consulting? Why do they want to destroy the historic fabric of the town rather than improve council housing?  Why is there no Beverley Councillor on the Cabinet?   Why did ERYC set targets for new houses in Beverley which far exceed (proportionately) anywhere else in the country? 

Resolutions were : to retain the granite setts (and the character of the Market Place);  to leave Longcroft School on its current site; to reduce the housing targets for the town as a whole; to prohibit supermarkets on Grovehill.  Other points were to take infrastructure implications of more building (re flooding) to the Ombudsman....and to get the MP to ask why there is no VAT on  newbuild when there is  VAT on renovation.

Friends of the Earth and the Green Party pointed out that land is no longer in production, and must be prioritised for food and not for building.