Do you know about this march?

I think it’s so exciting! Empowering. For me, it also shows that there’s hope. That people are willing to be honest, open and transparent about what they want and don’t want. All too often there seems to be an increasing pattern, a culture of not being transparent. This is a refreshing change!

So why are we marching?

• Eliminating the deficit in just four years is a savage timetable that does not give economic growth the opportunity to raise the nation’s tax take. Indeed the deep cuts promised will depress the economy making deeper cuts necessary to meet this timetable.
• Raising four pounds through cuts for every pound raised through tax – and doing most of this through a rise in VAT that hits the poor and those on middle income the most – is deeply unfair. The recession was made in the finance sector, yet banks and those now enjoying gigantic bonuses once again, are not being asked to make a fair contribution.

Yet none of these policies were put to the British people at the election, indeed we were told that there was no need for cuts in front-line services.

People round the country are already campaigning against these deep, rapid cuts. Students have shown their opposition to cuts, the ends of EMAs and increases in fees. Parents and teachers have opposed cuts in school building. School sport, libraries and public woodlands all now have strong defenders. Few towns now don’t have their own campaign group.

The TUC’s March for the Alternative has two key aims.

1. First we want to give a national voice to all those affected by the cuts. This will be a huge event that in its breadth and support shows just how much opposition there is to the government’s programme. It will bring together public service workers and those who depend on good public services. Those involved in national campaigns, and those defending what is special in their own community.
2. Second we want to show that people reject the argument that there is no alternative. Of course the recession did damage to our economy. But these deep rapid cuts are not the best way to solve our problems, and may well make them worse.

That is why it is the March for the Alternative – an alternative in which rich individuals and big companies have to pay all their tax, that the banks pay a Robin Hood tax and on in which we strain every sinew to create jobs and boost the sustainable economic growth that will generate the prosperity which is the only long term way to close the deficit and reduce the nation’s debt.

Read here about why others are marching in their own words!

In our Waste Group committee meetings we’ve been talking about these thick rubber bands that have been turning up all over the place!

It may sound little but when you live in a fairly clean area, seeing these rubber bands all over the place is unsightly! Then of course, you have the issue of injustice. Individuals can be fined for dropping litter but a giant like Royal Mail can let their staff continue to do it and get away with it? Also, who will clear them up?

Well….there seems to be a lot of people who are unhappy with it because the Keep Britain Tidy campaign got loads of bands sent in to them! Over 1000 bands were sent to them in one week!

So I’ve written to Keep Britain Tidy and Royal Mail.

Mick Oliver who is the Chair of the Waste Group has written to Royal Mail after I copied him in to my communication with them. Here’s what he wrote: -

Dear Kirsty,

Heena Modi and I share an interest in wishing for Harrow to be free of red rubber band litter, and she has copied me in on her emails to you.

Over the last week I have gathered 60g (2oz) of red rubber band litter at the junction of Alton Ave., Stanmore with The Highway. Alton Ave. is a small suburban cul de sac – I picked up my sample in 2 pickings. In no way can these have been dropped accidentally – they have obviously been discarded deliberately.

I have been in separate contact with Royal Mail in the past and was disappointed at the outcome, which led me to publicise my contacts in Harrow Agenda 21 “In Contact” – this article is given below. We are also supporting Keep Britain Tidy’s campaign – can I refer you to www.keepbritaintidy.org/News/Default.aspx?newsID=309 ?

Regards

Mick Oliver

Chair, HA21 Waste & Recycling Group

Royal Mail rubber band litter

In less responsible times a cross-country run could take the form of a paper-chase, when a leader scattered paper as he ran, and everyone else followed his trail. These days have gone – almost! Now you can follow your postman by following the trail of red rubber bands he scatters.

The Waste and Recycling group find this objectionable for the following reasons:

We are aware of the Waste hierarchy Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and fully support it. This is a hierarchy, in order of merit. All products have to be manufactured, which uses both energy and the raw materials the product is made from. By reusing items we avoid using energy and raw materials – sustainability, for our benefit and future generations.

It is litter, which is already a big enough problem.

Fast food litter is a larger problem, but fast food litter is left by the fast food companies’ customers – rubber band litter is left by Royal Mail’s employees as they carry out their normal duties, a situation Royal Mail have a chance of controlling.

Litter is an offence, and single items of litter like cigarette ends, Wotsits and pastry from a sausage roll have resulted in prosecutions, with fines between £50 and £80 – Royal Mail are not considering this possibility.

You can often find as many as 10 rubber bands discarded in the same place (where the postman parks his car?). Single rubber bands could be dropped by accident – 10 in one place can only be discarded deliberately.

Harrow’s practice with autumn leaf fall is to compost it – this becomes more difficult if it is contaminated.

We have been in correspondence with Royal Mail. Royal Mail are an organisation with green credentials – their Christmas mailing to all their customers had 4 separate statements on green issues, and they have a Director responsible for Sustainability. We were disappointed with their replies, which did not address the fundamental issue on sustainability, and which we found unconvincing for the following reasons. They:

• promised that they would alert their local delivery office, to minimise the bands they dropped in the Chair’s street (fool the agitator and keep him quiet, never mind the wider issue of nationwide waste and litter)
• stated that the bands were made from natural rubber (using a buzz word that they hoped we would welcome, hence would keep us quiet. Whether rubber bands are made from natural or synthetic rubber, they are compounded with many other materials – rubber items are pretty artificial, whichever rubber is used.)
• stated that the bands are biodegradable (using another buzz word in the hope that this would satisfy us. Rubber items in the air and sunlight could deteriorate by embrittling and losing their elasticity – they will remain around as litter, and this photochemical action can hardly be described as “biodegradable”. We are surrounded by long-lasting rubber items such as tyres and erasers – surely Royal Mail are aware of these and that their claim is fatuous?)

Our correspondence with Royal Mail is now closed, but we thought it would interest readers of “In Contact”.

Check out these photos of rubber bands all over just one road in Harrow.

Check out a video about bands in Pinner here.

Any thoughts anyone?

We’ll end up paying more for our air fares with this new system. The background to it and how it has changed since is described below: - 

Back in November 2008, in the last budget, the chancellor declared that the cost of Airline Passenger Duty (APD) would increase in November 2009 and then again in 2010.

APD is one of the charges that is currently included in the taxes you pay on a ticket and amounts to approximately £40.00 per person when traveling to the Caribbean.

Unfortunately, with the intended change, the Government has divided the world up into four geographical bands based on capital cities, which means that passengers will pay higher rates to visit all of the Caribbean islands compared to anywhere in the US, even though most of the US is further away. For example Los Angeles and Hawaii are almost double the distance from the UK than Barbados but the APD will be less than when travelling to the Caribbean.

This cannot be fair! 

This is an important issue for everybody who travels to the Caribbean as the intention of the Chancellor is to increase the tax by £10.00 per passenger next year and then by a further whopping £25.00 per passenger the year after!!

We’re urging all of our customers, the airlines and our industry partners to support us to stop the changes being made to Air Passenger Duty which penalise destinations which rely on British tourism for the wellbeing of their economies and in particular, YOU our customers.   

In the first instance we would urge you to join our campaign by signing an industry petition to the Prime Minister which can be found by clicking on the following link.

The link to Number 10 is:   http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/APDtax/

 

 

 

 

I recently had a free home assessment to see how ‘green’ my home is. I was really pleased with the results but you too can get a free assessment! How does that happen? What’s the catch? No catch! No forms! It’s really easy.

So here’s how it all happened. I went to the Climate Change Fair in Pinner and found out about these free assessments. So I signed up, I was called, we arranged a suitable time for the assessment, the assessor came over and I had the results within a week.

Here’s the blurb from the Green Homes Concierge: -

Harrow Council have generously made funds available to provide a number of free home assessments to leading green residents within the Borough – in recognition of the important contribution that you are making towards environmental issues in the borough.

Green Homes Concierge is a service for London homeowners to help them improve the energy efficiency of their homes and reduce their carbon footprints, and fuel bills. The service is subsidised by the London Development Agency, and usually costs £199.

For more information see www.greenhomesconcierge.co.uk

The first step is a visit from an expert Home Energy Advisor (HEA), who conducts a thorough assessment of your property.  Next, you will receive a report recommending improvements that are tailored to match your home and personal priorities, such as:

·       Insulation for lofts, walls, cavity walls
·       Draughtproofing
·       Windows
·       Heating Systems
·       Renewables

For the next twelve months, you can then call or email us for guidance on the best suppliers, prices and products, and the practicalities of obtaining grants.

If you would like to take advantage of this offer please send:

-          Your name
-          Address
-          Contact telephone number (and best time to call, Monday to Friday, 9am to 8pm)
-          Where you found us – please quote heenamodi.com

To William@greenhomesconcierge.co.uk or call me direct on 0207 479 2762

The free assessments are being offered on a first come first served basis. Recipients must be homeowners living in the borough of Harrow.

Martina McSwiggan
Account Manager
Green Homes Concierge Service
Tel:  0207 479 2727
Fax: 0845 020 0410
www.greenhomesconcierge.co.uk

Green Homes Concierge

Harrow Council

This is the message that appears on the site explaining what the issue is.

To:  Symingtons

Sosmix, made by Direct Foods was one of the first veggie sausage foods. Since at least the early 1980s it’s enabled people to barbecue, fry, bake or grill great tasting burgers and sausages. It tastes incredible and made a massive difference to veggies in the days before Linda McCartney sausages and the like.

Direct Foods have been bought out by Symingtons who have renamed Sosmix ‘Meat Free Sausage Mix’ – and added cow’s milk! Now thousands of vegans and dairy allergic people will have to forgo the wonderful experience that was Sosmix.

We know Sosmix can be made vegan as it was for years by Direct Foods – and these days there are more vegans that ever before. We call on Symingtons to revert to the wonderful old recipe and MAKE SOSMIX VEGAN AGAIN!

Sincerely,

Sagar sent me the info below. After reading it I thought that perhaps more of us could chip in and encourage innocentdrinks produce vegan products. So here’s the info….

Innocent released their new veg pots today!

“Veg pots are quick and healthy meals made from great tasting vegetables and pulses. Our smoothies have always made it nice and easy for people to get a bit more fruit into their diets, so we’re now doing the same for veg.

Each veg pot provides three portions of veg, is a great source of fibre, are low fat and low in salt. They come in four filling recipes, moroccan squash tagine, tuscan bean stew, pea & broccoli rice, and thai coconut curry. All of which are available in Waitrose up and down
the land (in the chilled bit, near the fresh soup). “

Sagar wrote: -

I thought that it would be the solution to getting vegan food on the go. A quick, nutritious and vegan snack that would be available everywhere – not just health food shops…

Unfortunately – I was immediately disappointed. For some reason, they have put fish sauce in the thai coconut curry, honey in the tagine, and creme fraiche in teh tusacan bean stew and pea and broccoli rice.

I am really disppointed that they have started to use non-vegetarian items and that they have not released a vegan product and I decided to write them a quick e-mail to ask them to release a vegan product in the near future, and posted a message explaining my disappointment on
their blog.

If anyone would like to see a vegan ready meal reaching the shelves of many supermarkets and shops soon – I would suggest getting in contact with them to ask them to launch a vegan product.

If anyone is intersted in doing this, their email address is: -
hellp@innocentdrinks.co.uk,

and you can post a message here

I guess it may be a while wait before vegan ready meals start becoming easily available on the go…. I guess clives will have to do for now.

Take care all,

Sagar K Shah
(Veganomics)

National Anti Fur March and Rally
Saturday 27th September 2008, London.
Meet 12noon at Belgrave Square, SW1

See www.caft.org.uk or contact: -

london@caft.org.uk

Nearest tube is Knightsbridge (Victoria and Hyde Park Corner are not far either). Apparently Harrods is now the only department store in the UK still selling real fur torn from the bodies of living beings.