Letter sent to The Observer

Dear Editor,


Andrew Rawnsley is correct in stating that Tony Blair is a satellite of George Bush. His open mic exchange with the American president confirms this country’s status on the world scene. Poodle Blair simply kneels to the needs and wishes of George Bush. By the same token, the vast majority of Labour MP’s kneel to the needs and wishes of Tony Blair. One can conclude that here in the UK we live in a Bushocracy: government of the people, by the people, for the Bush.

Yours sincerely

Shasha Khan
Treasurer of the Sutton and Croydon Green Party


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Tags croydon, greenparty

CROYDON GREEN RAISES RHINO AWARENESS

Croydon Green Party member Andrew Lindsay has put a lot of legwork into saving rhinos recently. He’s just finished a round England ‘Rhino-ride’ to publicise the dire situation of these endangered species.

Below is brief account of his efforts:
“We rescued four scrapped mountain bikes from the local tip and set about welding these together and creating the frame this impressive head.
It was incredible. The original frame was too narrow and she wallowed horribly on the road camber steering heavily for the kerb. The day before setting off we set about cutting and widening the whole frame by 20 inches to make it more stable and were finally finished late in the evening.”
We set off on June 1st to get to London Zoo for ‘Rhino Mayday’, that’s the annual meeting of all the heads of rhino conservation in the UK. Cycling along busy Oxford Street was fantastic, amazing reactions from Japanese tourists hanging out of bus windows trying to get a better picture. Capital Radio did a phone in; ‘Call us if you’ve seen the Rhinocycle and win £10’ all afternoon, although none of the money went to charity and they never interviewed us.”
Tragically, at the meeting we learned that the Western or Cameroon Black Rhino was declared extinct as of earlier THIS YEAR, Northern White Rhino (a sub species of the relatively healthy population of Southern White Rhinos) found only in Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) numbers are down to just FOUR and Javan and Sumatran Rhinos are in a similarly desperate situation.
When the meeting was over we looked for Cindy, our lady rider, only to find a text saying she’d gone home – for personal reasons. We soldiered on, myself, Adam Naiff and Sam Prior, both aged 18 from Brighton and the following day got ourselves escorted off the A10 by the police. It was a fair cop; when we weren’t causing a three mile tail back cars were whizzing past us at 80mph and if we’d been hit they’d never have found all the pieces.
Top wildlife conservationist, Ian Redmond OBE, joined us on the third day (see photo) as we hit some serious hills and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. A wheel broke just outside Cambridge and at that very moment we were passed by a cycle repair expert called Robin. Robin, or Mad Dog as he’s known to his mates for his strong Green views, repaired the wheel at his workshop and then escorted us to his home for a BBQ that evening.
We were rejoined by Cindy and carried on until one of the crew had a mini break down after a particularly hard day. After some healthy encouragement he got back on and, brave man, gave 100% effort for the rest of the trip. I was so impressed by all the crew!
‘Bridget’ as we called her, was a lot heavier than I’d anticipated and we were a lot less fit then we thought! On the last day before the bridge – our hardest, covering almost 60 miles - we had 2 wheel collapses and the left hand trailer buggy wheel bearings broke up, all having to be repaired. We made up a 20 metre banner with ‘www.savetherhino.org’ plus their logo and on Friday, June 9th when we crossed the Humber Bridge, we strung it over the railings for an hour before being made to take it down by security. While that was going on we did a live radio interview with BBC radio Humberside.”
On the whole it was an extremely positive experience. We so determined to draw attention to the desperate plight of the rhino that we plan to take the Rhinocycle as far as Edinburgh next year.”



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Tags croydon, greenparty, rhino, cycling, endangered species, savetherhino

One Million Europeans Against Nuclear Power

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Tags nuclear, europeans

Nuclear power letter sent to local papers.

Dear Editor,


Energy Minister and MP for Croydon North, Malcolm Wicks, has recently been on television and radio defending the conclusions of the Energy Review. I use the word defending because, as opinion polls show, the government is not reflecting the views of the people.

The decision to go ahead with a new wave of nuclear power stations will have massive implications for the whole country. There is no need for nuclear power to be tabled as a solution to our looming energy crisis. The UK’s vast renewable resources combined with simple energy saving methods provide a safer and cleaner alternative.It is baffling why an option that costs more, has huge complications in terms of waste disposal, could easily be the target of a terrorist attack, emits carbon dioxide in the production process and whose core mineral, uranium, is in ever diminishing supply, is being pursued.

I sincerely hope that future generations do not passage back to this point in time to find it was a Croydon MP, that took this country down an ill-fated nuclear road.

Yours sincerely


Shasha Khan
Croydon Green Party
Windmill Road
Croydon


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Tags croydon, greenparty

Moazzam Begg speaks in Croydon

On July 10th, a couple of members of the local party went along to hear Moazzam Begg speaking at the Alkhair Educational and Cultural Centre. The event was organised by Croydon Amnesty Group. Mr Begg spoke about what Guantanamo Bay was like from the inside. He was one of nine British citizens held by the USA without charge. Prompted by his observation that there very few Muslims attending, I asked Mr Begg why this was the case? He replied that fear was a key reason.

No doubt, recent events in Forest Gate have left Muslims feeling more vulnerable. By attending such meetings, followers of Islam probably feel that their status changes from moderate to radical.



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Tags croydon, greenparty

Green Party rising in the polls

The latest Sunday Telegraph poll (9/7/06) show the Green Party Nationally up another 1% after the by-elections. The Green Party has been rising steadily from 2% earlier in the year, 4% after the Locals and now 5%.

With local election results at around 10%, including the seats with no candidate, that rate of rise could put us on around 12% overall, and well over 20% in Norwood and central Croydon.

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Tags croydon, greenparty, polls

Ethical investing letter sent to local newspaper

Reference: http://www.croydonguardian.co.uk/news/localnews/display.var.818176.0.ethical_investing_goes_up_in_smoke_at_council.php
Edited letter as it appeared in the Croydon Guardian
http://www.croydonguardian.co.uk/views/croyletters/display.var.837460.0.where_tories_stand_on_ethics.php

-07.07.06

Dear Editor,

The Conservative council’s decision to invest in tobacco companies to maximise returns for its pension funds is, I am afraid, par for the course for a Tory administration. The pensions sub-committee apparently acted on recommendations from advisers. If the remit of a financial adviser is to ensure a secure return on ones investment, then of course tobacco companies will be suggested. The thinking process is similar to those idiots who justify the purchase of 4X4 vehicles for urban use, because they are supposedly safer. The fact that you are greatly increasing the levels of harmful greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, than if you were driving a saloon car, literally flows out the electric window. Both are examples of the ‘I am alright Jack’ mentality.

However, the council should take into account three considerations when reaching its decision. Firstly, the performance of ethical funds show respectable growth in comparison – indeed the future top performers are likely to be renewable energy providers. Secondly, a series of further compensation claims may well effect the share price of tobacco companies. Finally, it is socially irresponsible for a council to invest in an industry that is associated with the deaths of 100,000 people in the UK every year?

If anyone was unsure what the morals and ethics were of this Conservative council, then this example should confirm all our apprehensions.

Yours sincerely


Shasha Khan
Croydon Green Party

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Tags croydon, greenparty

July Sutton and Croydon Meeting

The next meeting of the Sutton and Croydon Green Party will be on Tuesday 11th July at 8pm at the Centre for Environmental Initiatives Carshalton, map here.

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Tags croydon, greenparty

Greens raise nuclear influence concerns

Friday's protest went very well. Thanks to Dave and Martyn for their efforts on the day. Needless to say we caused a stir. Shopkeepers came out to see why passing cars had slowed down and a number of locals stopped to ask questions. Below is a link to the press release relating to the event.

http://croydongreens.blogspot.com/2006/06/energy-review.html
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Tags croydon, greenparty

Bring back the North End vehicle barriers

North End, Croydon town centre's only pedestrianised area has become open to motor vehicles with the removal of the barries at both ends. Once again, drivers are free to drive down this crowded shopping centre on a Saturday afternoon. This Saturday, at about 2pm, with the French market blocking much of the area the stallholders vans were being driven in from both ends of the street.

It seems all this chaos was caused by a decision to clear the area in advance of the world cup football match.





I have written to my local councillors, who's ward includes North End, asking for the return of the vehicle barriers.
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Tags croydon, greenparty, fairfield