The Magickal Year by Diana Ferguson

The Magickal Year by Diana Ferguson provides a historical context for pagan belief and examines our changing spirituality in conjuction with our relationships to the natural world.

#ThisIsACoup - Angela, suck our balls

In 4 bite-sized chunks (15 mins each approx) comes #ThisIsACoup, a four-part documentary series telling the story of how the European Union destroyed the first radical left government in modern history.

Netflix is not as bad as I thought

Various Democracy Now! headlines from 2105:

• NBC, Netflix Shelve Bill Cosby Projects as Rape Claims Resurface: Several major media corporations have canceled projects with the entertainer and comedian Bill Cosby over new claims of rape dating back more than 40 years. November 20, 2014 

• Netflix CEO Backs Net Neutrality After Comcast Deal: The CEO of Netflix is defending net neutrality — the principle of open and equal Internet access. March 24, 2014

• Netflix to Pay Comcast for Faster Access in Potential Threat to Net Neutrality: The video-streaming site Netflix has agreed to pay Comcast for faster and more direct access to its subscribers. The deal comes just 10 days after Comcast agreed to buy Time Warner. February 24, 2014

Other news
One Reason For Netflix's Success - It Treats Employees Like Grownups
huffingtonpost 27feb2015

The newest and perhaps biggest threat to broadcast TV comes from streaming services like Stan, Presto, Quickflix and the US giant Netflix which has signed up 57 million customers around the world and plans to spend $3 billion this year on content.

Paris Agreement

Based on report by Alliance for Green Socialism’s Mike Davies on #ParisAgreement our leaders seem to have committed to a limit of 1.5 to 2 degrees C, but not to action to achieve it. See decision II, para 17: 

“Notes with concern that the estimated aggregate greenhouse gas emission levels in 2025 and 2030 resulting from the intended nationally determined contributions do not fall within least-cost 2 ˚C scenarios but rather lead to a projected level of 55 gigatonnes in 2030, and also notes that much greater emission reduction efforts will be required than those associated with the intended nationally determined contributions in order to hold the increase in the global average temperature to below 2 ˚C above pre-industrial levels by reducing emissions to 40 gigatonnes or to 1.5 ˚C above pre-industrial levels by reducing to a level to be identified in the special report referred to in paragraph 21 below;”

ethical board games

Christmas shopping for ethical board games? (aka social impact games)

1. Paul Lamond - You Be the Judge
2. Really Nasty Bankers Game - Board Game 
3. Rollet £67 - fast ricochet game for 2 to 4 players - aim is to roll steel balls down your chute and knock the wooden ball into your opponents goal - from ethicalshop.org
4. Cyberpeace - online training courses based on the ideas of Johan Galtung, the Norwegian sociologist who founded peace and conflict studies. The Medical Peacework training courses, which were developed with support from the EU’s Leonardo da Vinci Fund, were launched in the UK in 2012. Each of the seven courses covers a different topic, from war and weapons, health and human rights, to refugees, discrimination and problems at work. Each of the 21 chapters consists of textbook lessons, standardized questions and problem-based e-learning cases.
5. ‘Fighter, not Killer’ app for Apple and Android smartphones, launched May 2015, by Swiss group ‘Geneva Call’ to educate armed groups on the humanitarian laws of war.
6. People Power, in which you play a leader of a popular movement - International Centre for Nonviolent Conflict, 2010 - see peoplepowergame.com
7. World Peace Game, invented 1978 by teacher John Hunter. TED talk about the game has over 1.2m views. A hands-on political simulation for 10-year-olds, the game is normally played by 25–35 players for six to 12 weeks. There is no commercial version of the game, but John Hunter does tour the world hosting shorter game sessions.

Malaya: UK tried to exterminate communists in 1950s

Malaya - Web of Deceit Chapter 16

Bradwell nuclear power station

Some resources

• Bradwell nuclear power station operator fined £250,000 for radioactive leaks into the ground over a 14-year period. 17 February 2009
• Bradwell nuclear power station hit by fire 21 January 2011
• The Essex bid to the Government for devolution includes reference (in positive terms) for a new  nuclear power station at Bradwell...
• Greens Oppose New Nuclear Power Stations (Green View 2014)
• Nuclear power - a dangerous distraction from green economy on eastern.greenparty.org.uk
• Dungeness nuclear power station quietly taken offline for five months over fears of Fukushima-style flood disaster

Survey of local politicians' responses to new nuclear power station at Bradwell

In April 2015 at the beginning of the Election Campaign, the Blackwater Against New Nuclear Group (BANNG) wrote to all the Conservative, Green, Labour, Liberal Democrat and UKIP Prospective Parliamentary Candidates whose constituencies are affected by the Bradwell nuclear sites.

Candidates were asked to declare their opposition to: any proposals for new nuclear power stations and radioactive waste storage at Bradwell; the prospect of Bradwell becoming a regional nuclear waste storage site; and the continuing discharges of radioactive substances into the Blackwater estuary as a result of dissolved fuel element debris (FED).

Positive responses supporting BANNG’s opposition to the three key issues were received from the Green Party candidates for the five constituencies: Chris Southall (Clacton), Mark Goacher (Colchester), Chris Flossman (Harwich & North Essex), Robert Graves (Maldon), James Abbott (Witham).

Positive responses were also received from Bernard Jenkin (Conservative, Harwich & North Essex), Edward Carlsson-Browne (Harwich & North Essex), Mark Hughes (UKIP, Harwich & North Essex) and Tim Young (Labour, Clacton).

Peter Edwards (Labour, Maldon) has expressed reservations about new nuclear development at Bradwell.

Priti Patel (Conservative, Witham) gave BANNG’s Manifestoes and Briefing Notes to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and asked it to respond. The response did not tell BANNG anything the group did not already know. Ms. Patel was told this and was asked to give her own views but has not done so.

No response has been received from:

• Clacton Consituency: Giles Watling (Conservative), David Grace (Lib.Dem.), Douglas Carswell (UKIP)
• Colchester Constituency: Will Quince (Conservative), Jordan Newell (Labour), Sir Bob Russell (Lib.Dem.), John Pitts (UKIP)
• Harwich & North Essex: Dominic Graham (Lib.Dem.)
• Maldon Constituency: John Whittingdale (Conservative), Zoe O’Connell (Lib.Dem.), Beverley Acevedo (UKIP)
• Witham Constituency: John Clarke (Labour), Josephine Hayes (Lib.Dem.), Garry Cockrill (UKIP)

Those responding positively gave comments to BANNG.

• Bernard Jenkin said: ‘I am against any new nuclear build at Bradwell….’…. ‘I remain concerned that the oscillating tides in the estuary are not enough to ensure that there is not a build up of sediment associated with the discharge of FED.’ …. ‘I am not at all happy with the idea that radioactive waste should be transported to Bradwell for storage or burial.’.
• Edward Carlsson-Browne wrote: ‘I don't think that the deals the government has struck to build nuclear power stations make economic sense and even if they did I don't think Bradwell would be a suitable site….’. ‘I'm opposed to the discharge of radioactive material into the Blackwater estuary and I don't think Bradwell is a suitable site for the storage of nuclear waste materials, not least because there's still no safe way of disposing of it.’.
• Mark Hughes commented: ‘I do oppose further development at Bradwell’. …. ‘I do not support the storage of spent fuel at Bradwell due to the population in and around the Blackwater and neighbouring areas.’.
• Tim Young said: ‘I sign up to the three bullet points as requested. I am against any new nuclear power station or waste storage site at Bradwell and oppose discharges into the Blackwater estuary.’.
• James Abbott reflected the views of the Essex Greens, saying: ‘We have no hesitation in supporting all of your manifesto pledges.’ …. ‘Essex Greens have also long advocated the safe decommissioning of Bradwell and no new nuclear facilities of any kind on site’.
• While expressing concern about the job opportunities for people living in the Maldon constituency, Peter Edwards believes ‘safety has to come first when considering any plan for Bradwell.’. …. ‘The risk of flooding and the demand for cooling water for a more powerful reactor present considerable hurdles to a new development.’…. ‘I do not want to rush into a new nuclear development at Blackwater.’

Professor Andy Blowers, Chair of BANNG, said: ‘BANNG is pleased with the positive responses it has received supporting opposition to new nuclear development and spent fuel storage at Bradwell. Moreover, these responses come from across the political spectrum. We have not received any responses supporting new nuclear power at Bradwell. We are naturally disappointed that fourteen of the twenty-five candidates invited did not respond on an issue which, over several years, has been of considerable concern to their potential constituents.’

BANNG's letter

On 31 March 2015 BANNG wrote to all prospective parliamentary candidates in the constituencies affected by Bradwell – Clacton, Colchester, Harwich and North Essex, Maldon and Witham - as follows:

Dear Candidate,

The possibility of new nuclear development with radioactive waste stores at Bradwell is an issue of considerable public interest and concern.

Since 2008 the Blackwater Against New Nuclear Group (BANNG) has raised public awareness, responded to Government consultations on a wide range of issues and held discussions with local MPs, local councils, the Bradwell site operators, the Environment Agency and many other organisations. On the basis of the evidence we have gathered, including a face-to-face petition signed by 10,000 people, we know that the prospect of new nuclear reactors and storage of spent fuel at Bradwell is overwhelmingly opposed by people living around the Blackwater and neighbouring areas.

Now that the General Election campaign has been launched, WE ARE CALLING ON ALL CANDIDATES IN AFFECTED CONSTITUENCIES:

• to declare their opposition to any proposals for new nuclear power stations and radioactive waste storage at Bradwell(on the grounds of potential threats to safety, security, environmental protection and public health affecting the present and future generations);
• to declare their opposition to the continuing discharges ofradioactive substances into the Blackwater estuary; 
• to declare their opposition to the prospect of Bradwell becoming a regional nuclear waste storage site.

Attached you will find a Briefing Document covering these specific areas of concern.

We have also provided three separate brief Manifestoes highlighting the key areas.

We would urge you to use the documents provided to promote these concerns and to prevent degradation and danger to the Blackwater on behalf of those constituents you hope to represent.

We should appreciate your comments and an indication that you will make opposition to new build at Bradwell and radioactive discharges into the Blackwater estuary important planks of your campaign for election.

We look forward to hearing from you. Please reply to me by e-mail at: varrieblowers@yahoo.com

Yours sincerely,

Varrie Blowers, Secretary and Media Relations Officer,
Blackwater Against New Nuclear Group (BANNG)