2013-05-18T19:41:19-04:00 Adrian Ramsay http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=adrian-ramsay Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Adrian Ramsay Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1517538 2012-05-15T19:00:00-04:00 2012-07-15T05:12:09-04:00

Adrian Ramsay http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adrian-ramsay/
It is clear to me from travelling around the country and speaking to voters ahead of these elections that people are looking for an authentic, honest alternative to the big three parties.

Millions of people are feeling the impact of the coalition government's austerity policies. With unemployment rising, crucial services being cut and a growing gap between rich and poor, we need a dramatic change of course to put our economy on a stable footing for the future. But Labour doesn't have a credible alternative. Not only does Labour have a record of privatising public services and failing to properly regulate the financial sector but Ed Balls and Ed Miliband have made clear that Labour would not reverse this government's cuts to public services.

The Green Party offers a clear alternative. Nationally, Caroline Lucas has proposed legislation to clamp down on corporate tax avoidance and generate billions of pounds per year to help protect public services. She is also pressing the government to sign up to an EU-wide Robin Hood tax on currency speculation between the big banks. And the Green Party remains the only party arguing that spending billions of pounds on renewing Trident - a nuclear weapons system designed for the cold war - is an outrageous use of public money when social care services for the elderly and youth services are being cut around the country.

At regional and local level, the Green Party put forward practical policies that will help people on low incomes and create a healthy environment. In London, Mayoral Candidate Jenny Jones proposed policies to make housing more affordable, such as the refurbishment of a million homes (to reduce fuel bills) and action to give private tenants more security and more stable rents. London Green Party candidates also promoted the Living Wage and reduced fares on public transport. And Londoners responded positively to these practical policies, with the Green Party overtaking the Lib Dems to finish third in the elections for Mayor and the London Assembly.

Our key policies for local councils also included action on affordable housing and affordable public transport. Around the country Green councillors have a track record of proposing practical policies on home insulation, public transport, the Living Wage and protecting green spaces. And Green councillors also have a track record of being strong advocates for their communities, working hard all year round and engaging residents in local decision-making.

Where Green parties make the breakthrough at local level, they nearly always hold their seats and then gain ground at subsequent elections. Where people see Green councillors in action, they like it and want more. And this year was no exception.

We successfully defended nearly all our seats that were up for election this year, many with increased majorities. In several areas, including my home city of Norwich, Labour mounted aggressive attacks against us. They believed that the national swing from the government parties to Labour would enable them to win seats from the Green Party - but voters chose to continue having active Green Councillors representing their area. We also gained new seats in Reading, Reigate and Kirklees and made strong advances in the West Midlands, with two defences and a gain in Solihull and breakthroughs onto Worcester, Nuneaton and Dudley councils for the first time.

The Green Party made some important advances at these elections. Our priority now is to show voters in more parts of the country the distinctive approach that elected Greens offer.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1469860 2012-05-02T03:37:42-04:00 2012-07-01T05:12:24-04:00

Adrian Ramsay http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adrian-ramsay/
It doesn't have to be this way. In all this doom and gloom, we need some hope of a radical change in today's broken policies to give us some good news: more money in our wallets, less wastage of resources and higher living standards created by a sustainable economy that pays living wages.

So how do we do this? We need immediate investment in measures to bring the UK's creaking infrastructure up to 21st century standards. These measures will create more business opportunities and help combat unemployment.

We would build more affordable housing, bring 300,000 long-term empty private sector houses back into use and renovate Britain's 37,000 empty council homes to help cut housing waiting lists. These measures will increase the numbers of jobs in the recession-hit construction industry, drive down excessive rents and re-use existing buildings rather than opening green field sites to housing development.

We are committed to investing in public transport to make it a cheaper and more accessible option for all by diverting money away from huge, costly road projects. We want to see investment in renewable energy and home insulation to reduce long-term fuel costs and create warmer as well as cheaper homes. This measure will increase the availability of skilled technical jobs. The introduction of a living wage (a higher level of minimum wage) would help us tackle poverty and ensure that people have enough money to make ends meet. The living wage is making a big difference to the lives of thousands of Londoners since Green Party London Assembly Members first proposed it a few years ago.

David Cameron says you can't borrow your way out of a debt crisis but this government is currently borrowing more than ever. The truth is that cuts to services are making the economic situation worse, particularly because of increased unemployment. What we really need is to invest in our future and ensure we have the infrastructure we need for the 21st century. That will keep people's bills down and mean we have a healthy environment and a more stable economy based more around meeting our everyday needs and with less reliance on the financial sector.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1378488 2012-03-25T19:00:00-04:00 2012-05-25T05:12:02-04:00

Adrian Ramsay http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adrian-ramsay/ Pedigree Dogs Exposed. I was at a loss to understand why Crufts ignored so many of the physical problems inflicted on the dogs in the name of a 'pure breed'. Three years on and Jemima Harrison, producer of the original, has returned with a follow up about what has been changed in three years. In turns out very little.

Pressure has meant that Crufts has relaxed some of its rulings about standards of appearance but the fundamental issue on breeding has yet to be tackled.

Dogs are being bred, and often repeatedly inbred, with known major health conditions and deformities. The animals with the greatest genetic purity are being used for breeding because the traits of specific breeds are then exaggerated - but it is often these traits that cause horrific suffering.

Whilst the Kennel Club claims no legislative power, there is a lot more it can be doing to protect the health of future dogs.

Firstly, it has the power to change the rules of entry at Crufts. The largest dog show in the world, any changes here are likely to resonate loudly within the dog show community. Ensuring health is judged alongside beauty will encourage dog breeders to consider the actual wellbeing of the animal rather. Easing its standards and allowing dogs of mixed-pedigree would also be a major step forward as a mixed gene pool makes for healthier dogs. These dogs are currently left for the secondary 'fun dog event' Discover Dogs.

Secondly, the breeders' scheme has long been in need of overhaul. With the stamp of the Kennel Club backing breeders up and down the country people may be led to believe they are getting a dog of good health and welfare. However the system is self-accredited allowing poor breeding standards and practises to prevail in the name of the Kennel Club's Accredited Breeder Scheme.

This year, health checks by independent vets at Crufts passed only nine of 15 high profile breeds. Although the 40% which failed, including pekinese and bulldog, were not given their best of breed awards, Crufts views the failure of the dogs to pass veterinarian medicals is a private matter.

The Green Party is fighting for the health of these animals to be taken seriously. As Professor Gerhard Oechtering explained in The Guardian recently dogs need their noses for heat control and without this their health and welfare drops massively.

In the case of pugs, the extreme short nose and flat face seen as desirable for the breed may their restrict breathing to such an extent that if the dog becomes excited, the airways can become sufficiently blocked by the soft palate that they pass out. Also inbreeding the dogs to produce screw tails, which the Kennel Club specifies "should be curled as tightly as possible over the hip" and "a double curl is highly desirable", can cause pain or paralysis and conditions such as spina bifida [2].

Diseases are becoming more prevalent and life-spans are dropping. It has become a grotesque business that will get worse with time for as long as these breeding practises not only continue but are celebrated.

The change should be made within the industry itself but the government must also step in and ensure the welfare of man's best friend is secured by the law. The Green Party has long supported the steps that Jemima Harrison calls for in her documentary: a new independent regulatory body for dog breeding funded by new registration scheme for all dogs and a joined up strategy for tackling stray dogs, dangerous dogs and puppy farms.

The Kennel Club proudly states on its logo "Making a Difference for Dogs" and its time it lived up to that motto by making a real difference to the health and wellbeing of the animals we hold so close to our heart.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.1115015 2011-11-27T18:00:00-05:00 2012-01-27T05:12:02-05:00

Adrian Ramsay http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adrian-ramsay/
So far the news ahead of the Durban conference has been depressing. Global recession is taking precedence and many of the industrialised countries are reluctant to commit to the financial programmes necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

We have been told that a positive and substantial outcome is unlikely, but Greens believe it is essential that a package is negotiated that allows a global agreement to be forthcoming for the post-2012, second commitment period.

From 28 November to 9 December this year, the global community will converge in Durban for yet another round of negotiations to work out a deal to stabilise the climate system and assure vulnerable communities of a promising future.

Many of the world's poorest countries will be first to face the severity of climate change leading to ecological devastation and thousands of environmental refugees.

The challenges at Durban are to secure the future of the Kyoto protocol and to have a political commitment to the continuance of a second commitment period under Kyoto. For all of its difficulties, it is the one tool that we have that is a legal tool that has mandatory binding targets and that is why it is so important that we have to make sure that there is some way of that going forward.

It's the wealthy countries that have contributed most of the greenhouse gas emissions and they are absolutely in a position to help the poorer countries. Most poorer countries have not even reached the levels of CO2 emissions that climate scientists say is causing climate change. A contraction and convergence model, whereby the rich industrialised countries drastically reduce their greenhouse gas emissions allowing the poorer countries to stabilise theirs is the model preferred by the Green Party.

Of course many will feel that asking politicians to safeguard our world is like asking wolves to guard lambs but sadly there is little alternative. Time is running out. We must hammer home to them the importance of people before profit.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.1084832 2011-11-09T18:00:00-05:00 2012-01-09T05:12:02-05:00

Adrian Ramsay http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adrian-ramsay/
So why the fuss? Solar panels or photovoltaic panels use the energy emitted in solar rays and convert it to electricity. This way of sourcing energy is not only environmentally friendly but also a secure way of meeting our energy needs and keeping prices down in the future.

The UK is a long way behind other European countries in terms of the proportion of our energy that is produced from clean, renewable sources - even though we are blessed with huge potential from wind, wave and solar power.

Since the solar feed-in tariffs (FIT) were introduced in April 2010 we have started to catch up. Organisations and individuals have seen that they will be able to get a financial return on the investment they put into solar installations and this has given the UK solar industry the kick-start it needs. There have been some 100,000 solar installations, the creation of more than 25,000 jobs and almost 4,000 new businesses.

But the government plans to cut FIT payments from 43p per Kwh to just 21p - a move which will dramatically undermine the progress we have been making. And furthermore the date when the new rate is brought in has been moved from 6 April 2012 to 12 December 2011 - earlier than the deadline for its own consultation on the issue!

Not only does this further undermine the credibility of government consultations but it is putting many solar businesses at risk whilst forcing other organisations and households that have been planning solar installations to think again. Thousands of solar panels will be delivered to businesses gone bust. Thanks to the lack of notice of the change, residents who have bought into the scheme but not yet had their panels installed are now being hung out to dry by the government. Many customers have cancelled orders concerned that they wouldn't be able to meet 12 December deadline.

At a time when the UK is being held to ransom by the big energy companies and dwindling fossil fuel reserves thrusting 5 million into fuel poverty, I am unable to understand the logic of the government's decision. The solar industry was expecting a review of the FIT rate, but not one that cut it by halve and not one that came in four months earlier than planned.

As a country we urgently need to be investing in measures that will create a secure energy supply for the future and tackle fuel poverty. This means a nationwide programme to insulate people's homes and investment in clean, renewable energy. This is a far more efficient use of taxpayers' money than the huge government subsidies needed for new nuclear power stations. But sadly this government is taking us in the wrong direction and seems to have completely given up on its pledge to be the 'greenest government ever'.

As always it is those on the lowest incomes who will suffer the most. This cut will jeopardise free solar schemes for people unable to afford the upfront costs of solar panels and is forcing councils to review schemes to install solar panels for council tenants and on other council buildings - schemes which, under the current FIT rate, were enabling local councils to generate a profit that can be invested in services that are under threat from government cuts.

By investing in renewable technologies, not only does the government help combat climate change and create jobs but it gives councils a further incentive to help the fuel poor and increase local authority revenue. It seems perverse that the solar industry should be so dramatically punished for doing well at a time when financial institutions are being rewarded for failure. This topsy turvy mentality appears to be the hallmark of this government. ]]>