I was walking home (16:40, 6/2/13) from the 8th Day along Stretford Road, when I bumped into Nigel Murphy (Labour councillor for Hulme and the Environment). He told me he was waiting for a bus into town because he had been walking all day, then asked how were things with me. I mentioned they were not very good, (there are lots of things like Birley Fields and the lack of action by the council on climate change), especially with things like Alexandria Park. He mentioned people should read what it is really about and not listen to the protesters who are exaggerating the number of trees being felled. I said I had read the aborculturist’s report and that mature (maybe originally planted by the Victorians) were being felled when they were in good condition. I asked about the old green houses, they were not be restored, so how is this restoring the park to it former glory. Nigel replied that he remembered the greenhouses from a kid and walking in the park. And that the park was unsafe to walk in at night, and that this work was to make it safe. It was to make this park fit for today. If that is the case, then surely they have obtained funds falsely from the National Heritage Fund? The National Heritage Fund is about support the restoration of heritage assets and clearly this is not the council’s intention. Those who agreed to the council’s proposals seemed to of forgotten previous projects by the council, such as Piccadilly Gardens. Is that fit for today, what was done to Piccadilly Gardens? Alexandra Park Trees
Why does our media support our arrogant politicians, rather than doing some in depth investigations into an event like Skywalker. Is the media there to investigate and report om matters of importance to the public at large? Or are they just mouth-pieces for the ruling elite, ‘newspeak’?
A little while ago, I wrote two posts analysing the ‘Plebgate’ CCTV footage and showing that the spin put on it by Michael Crick of Channel 4’s Dispatches programme was not consistent with a proper viewing of the video evidence.
Monday night’s further Dispatches programme on Channel 4 was much-trailed and would supposedly ‘reveal’ a conspiracy against former Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell. ‘Surely,’ I thought, ‘if they’re making a new programme about it they must have some further evidence and probably some additional video’. So I was waiting for the programme with substantial interest.
Well, it wasn’t worth the wait. As far as I could see, the show presented nothing new and substantive that actually bears on the issue of whether Mr Mitchell called the officers at the gate ‘plebs’ or used the other phrases such as ‘we run this f***ing country, not you’. There were interviews with people…
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A report that truly reflects the true nature of bio-fuels. They are not renewable and they are not sustainable. They are an excuse for the affulent to continue with their excessively consumptive wasteful lifestyles.
Why Climate Scientists Have Consistently UNDERestimated Key Global Warming Impacts | ThinkProgress
Some of have suggested things will be worse than that suggested, such as the total breakdown of the Gulf Stream, plunging the UK into another Ice Age. Kevin Anderson of the University of Manchester’s Tyndall Centre, spoke at a breakfast at the Rylands Library and spoke at Manchester’s Town Hall on the urgency of reducing our carbon emissions to prevent catastrophic climate change. Which I mention in an earlier post and that to me, the councillors, especially Richard Leese, the leader, did not appear that interested in.
It is also mentioned in this months Manchester Climate Monthly. There is a new research paper recently published that suggests scientist have consistently under-estimated the effects of climate change. And that things are a lot worse than it was ever thought. Though I feel, it is doubtful our politicians will change their attitudes and policies. No doubt, believing they will be okay because they are rich. They may soon find out, they ARE in it with US, and that they cannot eat or drink money: Why Climate Scientists Have Consistently UNDERestimated Key Global Warming Impacts | ThinkProgress.
Manchester City Council’s continuing Ecocide.
With a film crew from BBC Northwest Tonight, around 80 local people of all ages and backgrounds who had gathered to protest against the tree felling, peacefully entered the felling site and succeeded in bringing tree felling works to a halt.
Sadly, all 50 of the healthy Sycamore trees that made up the avenue along Claremont Road have now been cut down. But hundreds more trees are under threat.
The picture below shows how this avenue looked just a few days ago. Many of those present were very upset about the devastation.
BBC Northwest Tonight are featuring the story this evening on BBC 1 at 6.30pm.
Some of those present have this evening set up camp to continue their protest. We wish them the best of luck.
Kevin Anderson talk told of the urgency of taking action and that very little had been done so far. This is what the Green Party should be shouting about from the roof tops, but instead the stay quite because they are afraid of scaring the voters. One of the things the author of the article left out, was the fact that it is the affluent who need to be making the sacrifices and not the poor.
Climate scientist Kevin Anderson talks to Manchester’s full council about turning climate rhetoric into reality, steady state and why it’s too late in the day to be pinning our hopes on technologies
Weds Jan 30: Kevin Anderson, professor of energy and climate change at Manchester University, was invited to give a 30 minute presentation to Manchester’s full council meeting today. The great hall was packed out with 90+ councillors and over 35 members of the public. Here’s what happened next…
As usual, Professor Kevin Anderson delivered a no-nonsense presentation about what the science is telling us about climate change – that it’s coming faster and harder than even scientists thought – and what we are doing to stop it (very little basically). In fact, we are producing more carbon every year. Anderson kicked off by saying that whilst a 2 degree rise in global temperature was seen as acceptable twenty…
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Manchester City Council (Labour run) does not care about the residents, the environment, or biodiversity. They think, changing the landscape of Manchester, whilst benefiting their business partners will somehow propel them to the same status as Whitworth, Joules, Turin, Pugin and many other famous Victorians.
Unfortunately 2 hedgehogs were found dead in the park yesterday by dog walkers near the depot.
There are a lot of vehicles going in and out the depot, and with all the works going on hedgehogs are likely to be disturbed out of hibernation. As we have just been reminded by the recent PTES report, hedgehogs are in serious decline in the UK and of course they are a GM Biodiversity Action Plan species. We have them in the park and instead of protecting them, their habitats are being destroyed and their lives endangered under these renovation plans.
The council has legal duties under Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996 and NERC Act 2006. We’re not suggesting at this stage that these recent deaths are the result of acts of intentional cruelty but the contractors are displaying a distinct lack of care, both in their actions on the ground and in their…
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The UK’s Government response, delay, delay then fudge it.
Democratic Manchester City Council!
Manchester City Council continue to show, that they are overwhelmingly not acting in the residents best interests, once again ignoring it’s electorate. It has almost total control of the council and acts as a dictatorship. This is to ensure that Bernstein and Leese build their ivory towers, ensuring the City of Manchester, is all fur-coat and no knickers: Mersey Valley warden service facing the axe.
Two must-read articles about Alexandra Park, where the chainsaws are moving in… (See our previous editorial on the subject here).
From the Hulme Green Party, “Alex Park protesters take to trees to stop “Felling Vandalism”
Manchester Green Party Chair Deyika Nzeribe commented “The campaign group has done everything right. They got over 2000 signatures asking for the plans to be reconsidered, they got local experts to show how the councils plans to be altered to preserve trees and they have been in dialogue with both the Council and funders the Lottery every step of the way. They have been completely ignored.
To draw a parallel, last week Manchester City Council made a great show of how unfair the cuts to local budgets were and how the government were ignoring them. The council are acting in exactly the same way as the government to this local issue.”
From Nadine…
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For a bit of light-entertainment (it is not really funny) here is someone’s interpretation of Cameron’s nonsense rantings, worse Blair’s (the war-criminal) ever was. It is funny how the right and left in this country both vilify the EU, even if it were not for the EU, we would have USA labour relations and certainty no environmental protection.
TV’s news comedy show, Mock the Week, has a semi-regular and very funny segment involving Hugh Dennis and one of the other panelists. In this segment, the other panelist will read lines from a senior political figure while Hugh Dennis delivers his interpretation of what the politician really means.
I had the same feeling this morning as I watched David Cameron’s much-trailed speech on the EU. BBC News showed the speech in full, and afterward commentators made much of the obvious and very unsurprising points of the speech, namely that the speech was Cameron’s (rather desperate) attempt to defuse the threat from UKIP and his own backbenchers and to persuade europhobic voters to support him in the next general election by dangling the promise of an ‘in/out’ referendum in 2017.
Some also highlighted the obvious fact that by cravenly giving a 2017 date for the referendum, he was condemning…
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