Do you believe them?

BBC NEWS Northern Ireland Army begins dismantling its posts

Yesterday we got the news that the IRA were going to move to solely peaceful means to continue their "struggle". Today we get the news that the British Army have already started dismantling their security posts and bases.

For me this begs some questions.

Is it not rather fast for the army to start dismantling them, less than twenty four hours after the announcement? Was this a negotiated decision and were the British Government more involved in the IRA decision than it appears on the surface?

Why now, at the beginning of Summer when London is totally preoccupied with the bombing attrocities? Have the realities of the current terrorist attacks driven home to the IRA that they risk being categorised as part of the mentality that drives Al Qaeda and its sympathisers?

Do you believe them? This is, I believe , the third announcement by the IRA that they will hand over the weapons.

So where does this go next? Is Ian Paisley really going to become First Minister. I must admit that when I remember back twenty years I cnnot perceive that many believed we would reacha point where the Reverend would lead a devolved Northern Ireland Government.

Phone mast victory for residents

At last, despite all the odds the redients around the proposed phone mast in Chiltern Drive can claim victory.

I have had many postings on this subject:

August 17th 2004
February 2005
Press Release

The weight of opinion against this phone mast has made the phone company decide not to proceed with the erection of the mast. They state:

"Following our comprehensive pre application consultation procedure you are obviously aware that Hutchison 3G were looking at a proposal on the Chiltern Drive in Berrylands in Surbiton. We have looked at many options both technical and geographical to find a solution to this very difficult area for us.

I have received many letters, emails and telephone calls regarding this proposal which has obviously raised concern. As we stated this was only a pre application consultation process and we had not applied for planning permission, despite the rumour mill to the contrary.

Our current position is that we are not going to proceed with this site at this time. We still have a requirement for coverage in this area and will need to look at a solution sometime in the future. We have decided to place all progress on hold."

Clearly they leave the door slightly ajar with their final sentence and we must remain vigilant to them finding another site, still, it proves they can be stopped. If only the Lib Dems had not granted the planning applicatioon over the Raeburn Avenue site we might have had time to fight it and stop it. I gather the Lib Dem Cllrs for Alexandra Ward were there this morning with the phone company measuring the current strength of radio waves before it is installed shortly.

Teachers vote to re-open grammars

News report from BBC

Hurrah! Finally we are reversing the nonsense of the comprehensive system. I failed the 11+. We keep hearing how it is wrong to brand children "failures" at age 11 and it is complete twaddle. It did not harm me and I got a good education.

The fact is that I believe it is a very talented teacher that has the skills to teach an all ability class, even trying it must be tiring. It is surely fairer on all that we allow teachers more flexibility and allow those of both high and low abilities the opportunity to develop with their academic peers rather than struggling to keep up with the brightest or dragging the brightest down to the average.

Having said this I also believe that children should be receiving a mix of vocational (skills) and academic education from the age of 11. By the time they reach 14 they can then take informed decisions about whether they want to follow an academic path or a skills based vocational route.

Ken Livingstone's hypocrisy on terrorism

Melanie Phillips's Articles: Weasel words on terror

On Tuesday at a full council meeting we stood in silence for a while and the leaders of the political parties spoke to commiserate and thanks who gave service and comfort. I gather that ambulances from New malden attended central London on the 7th July. I did however say that I was disturbed by the Mayor for London and his actions. One minute Ken speaks, close to tears, and condemns the atrocities and the next he is inviting the clerics who preach that terrorist actions are good for meetings at City Hall. He has done this in the past and he will do it in the future.

I am not a fan of Melanie Phillip's but I think this is a good article on this difficult issue. She ends by saying:

"Terrorism can only be defeated if the country displays an unambiguous solidarity against all such deliberate slaughter of the innocents, wherever it takes place, and rejects the moral inversion expressed in the weasely justifications of the terrrorists' motives. The mayor has an urgent case to answer."

Phone mast update

Regular readers wil know we are under threat from two new phone masts in Berrylands.

The most recent news is that the mast the Lib Dem Councillors forced through on Raeburn Avenue is to be installed shortly. They are apparently awaiting parts!

The mast in Chiltern Drive they have still not decided on. They are "..still in the investigation process and have not finalised a decision. Currently we are looking at our network and trying to see how we can perform with the optimum quality with the minimum of infrastructure. At this stage we are still investigating." This coule be good news but let's not get too excited.

I will keep in contact with what they decide.

Statesman or Skatesman

I though that these were very amusing. They come from a website called "Statesman or Skatesman."

A new style of environmentalism

This is an interesting site from the USA that argues that the traditional forms of environmental activism can be marked only by their lack of progress. When you think that environmentalism has been around as long as it has and that some of the big organisations, such as Greenpeace, are mammoth multi million pound organisations that do nothing to touch or engage the ordinary citizen, then you can see where they are going.

There are then those organisations that struggle to be heard in Kington, such as Friends of the Earth, because their voice is drowned out by the power and money of other organisations.

Maybe it is time for equality of opportunity in environmentalism?

This site is an alternative view. Do not necessarily agree with all of this but it is an interesting alternative prospectus.

Surrey Comet: News: Local News

Surrey Comet: News: Local News

This is an excellent story of what can be done when the public, private and voluntary sector works together. The Save the World club are to be congratulated on a magnificent project. I have done some professional work on this and you can see the videos on the club at the Social Enterprise at Schools website - you will need sound.

Kingston Recycling rate is still falling

Surrey Comet
Sometimes I hate being wrong but I equally hate being right. Controlling waste in Kingston and increasing recycling is a serious concern. Yet the latest figures on recycing show that the recylcing rate is still falling, despite introducing Borough wide recycling. I am going to avoid the politics of this because this is too important an issue, but the fact is that whilst all our surrounding neighbours are getting closer to the 35% target by 2006 Kingston has yet to get above 20%.

So what is the answer? We made some proposals last year, as reported in the Surrey Comet, but a real consensus now needs to be built around the best way forward as doing what we are doing is clearly not enough.

Changemakers reception

Changemakers

This afternoon I attended a fascinating reception in Westminster for a remarkable organisation that is empowering young people to think for themselves and take responsibility for themselves and turn themselves into future leaders.

Most appropriate was a presentation by a young muslim who was running youth projects to challenge the role of leadership in the lives on young muslims and how we could prevent the growth of terrorists. It was easy to see the connection when you hear that in fact those responsible for the London bombs were ordinary British people leading lives as teachers and working in their father's fish and chip shop. It makes you think even harder.

G8

Well what was that all about?

Am I being cynical here or did we know what was going to happen in the summit before it happened.

There seemed to be three key requests from the Make Poverty History campaign. (Incidentally the MPH campaign has been tremendously successful at putting this item on the agenda)

1. Write of debt
2. Increase aid
3. Create Fairer trade

I admit that I am personally not convinced about the arguments around item 3 because I am not sure what it really means. Fairer to whom? I am all for getting rid of trade barriers but as the recent row over sugar subsidies show it could lead to third world farmers being poorer. I think this is too simplistic. I could argue that the real problem is there has never been 'free' trade to allow countries to export. I also remember in India how they needed export tariffs to prevent every piece of produce being exported to earn dollars, and leaving nothing for the domestic market.

So anyway, we knew they were going to write off more debt (but not all of it), we knew they would increase aid (just not sure where it would go) and we knew they would not do anything about 'fair' trade because it is all too complicated. I also now gather that the communique they sign had been written even before they set foot on Gleneagles soil. So what was the fuss about?

On climate change I have to say that whilst I do not agree with Bush on a lot of what he says about this issue I have to agree with him that it is a pointless exercise negotiating this type of thing without China being present. Putting your home industry into decline when in fact all that happens is that China grows and pumps out more CFC's than you did originally seems a pointless exercise.

I sometimes wonder whether this type of debate represents a very great failure amogst our supra national authorities; the UN, EU etc etc.

7/7

They warned us it would happen. Did anyone believe it would be as horrific as it was? I was due at a meeting in Westminster at 11.00am and left home to the radio telling me there had been power surges on the underground system. As I got on the train at Surbiton I heard that a bus "may" have blown up. It was unconfirmed at that time but I still hesitated to get on the train. As I sat down I heard it confirmed on the radio that indeed a bus had been destroyed. I had a very nervous journey (non-stop) to Waterloo. You cannot help looking around you and thinking whether it was not the time for an over ground train in the South of London to be a target.

It became clear that I was not going to get to Westminster for a meeting and to be honest I did not think there was much to be achieved on a day like that.

I got the next train out of London and came back to Surbiton.

It is interesting how much the international press have commented on the British stoicism. How we did not panic etc!! But yet, as the papers have made clear, we are a multi racial, multi ethnic society and I find it curious that a diverse community such as ours did not panic. I suppose some of that stoicism is just shock and the inevitable belief that we cannot believe this is happening to a London we all know and a transport system on which we all travel.

But is there also a general weariness for a country that has been subject to the horrors of terrorism for very much longer than the US. I remember the day my second child was born. I turned on the evening news to find that the NI peace process had broken down and a bomb exploded in Docklands. That was in February 2006. Throughout all the Irish troubles we just got on with life. Not that we were not fearful but that we understood that like travelling in aircraft the likelihood of dying through terrorism on the streets of London is very low. I accept that 9/11 marked a new style of mass terrorism, the horrors of which I hope never descend on London, but I do believe we must see terrorism for what it is; an attempt to disrupt and punish through inflicting death that the terrorists would welcome for themselves. It is almost impossible to stop the effects of this type of fanaticism.

There are those who argue that we need to solve the causes of terrorism. I believe those that say this misunderstand what terrorism is about. Has peace allowed the IRA to hand over their weapons? Islamic terrorism, if that is what it is, is based on faith, religious doctrine and principle. You cannot win an argument against these things. Like others I hope that the use of Islam as a cover for terrorism will be seen to be what it is; a gross abuse of those who follow this ancient faith. I have seen nothing but kindness and a desire to help their fellow man amongst the many Muslims I have met in Kingston.

Let us pray that this is the last we see of these horrors; sadly I expect not.

This picture is doing the rounds at the moment. I must admit it would have been fascinating to have been at Gleaneagles just to hear the discussions between Blair and Chirac after the war of words that has been going on for some weeks now.