This morning I have written to all of the councillors on Cumbria County Council’s Development Control and Regulation Committee. The committee is due to meet this Friday 2 October at 9am to consider West Cumbria Mining’s proposal to develop a new metallurgical coal mine in Whitehaven. I am imploring them to reject this proposal.
Category: Politics
An open letter to Trudy Harrison MP
Dear Trudy,
Just a couple of months ago I was looking forward to meeting you to discuss working together on environmental matters in Copeland. Our meeting was postponed due to the pandemic. Regrettably, I am writing to inform you we no longer need to reschedule.
Uncooperative crusties for life
At the beginning of last week I was in London taking part in Extinction Rebellion’s October demonstration. Here are a few of my photos from the action, alongside a column that I have written for a couple of the local papers in Cumbria.
Keswick Climate Strike
Today, supported by my company, I attended the Climate Strike in Keswick, organised by pupils at the Keswick School who are members of the UK Student Climate Network. This formed part of a Global Climate Strike that has been coordinated by 350.org and FridaysForFuture. It has been such an inspiring day, and I wanted to get the photos that I had taken posted as soon as possible.
Have we passed peak Farage?
The narrative at the moment has been one of Nigel Farage in ascendancy, leading his plucky band of Faragistas in a Brexit revolt against the “metropolitan liberal elite”. Much coverage has been given to his rallies, and one could easily assume that the masses are flocking to him.
Andrew Neil rubbishes scientific consensus in first minutes of This Week
This week, I managed to get no further than one minute and 25 seconds into this week’s episode of This Week (is that enough “this weeks”?), before Andrew Neil had me back on the BBC’s complaints site.
I wrote to my MP to ask her to support my views in a parliamentary debate, her response was to tell me I was wrong and she didn’t even attend the debate
(Update: It turns out she also didn’t bother to actually write a letter to me either, see the bottom of the post.)
For a multitude of reasons, I support proportional representation (PR) systems of voting. The UK currently operates a first-past-the-post (FPTP) system of voting. This means that almost every Government in power in the UK rules without the majority of the country’s support (in fact, far from it).
Green Party election broadcast
Although the Greens have become known for their irreverent take on party broadcasts (see last year’s one at the primary school, or the boy band the year before), this year’s local election broadcast is altogether more sombre and hard-hitting:
A Green perspective on the Copeland by-election, and a rallying cry for a better electoral system
Last Thursday, history was made as the Conservatives took the Copeland parliamentary seat from the Labour Party. The seat had been held by Labour for 82 years, and it’s the first time a governing party has won a seat from the opposition in a by-election since 1982. And as the Conservatives have been proudly touting, it’s the first time a comparable by-election win has occurred for well over a century. While undoubtedly a seismic event, a closer inspection of the numbers, and of the events that took place during the by-election campaign, reveals a host of curiosities.
Copeland by-election: opposing nuclear power, and voting Green, is the only rational choice
Originally published by The Ecologist on 17 February 2017.
The media, and every other candidate in next week’s Copeland by-election, have fallen prey to the nuclear industry’s mighty PR machine by backing the planned Moorside nuclear mega-project just next to the Sellafield site.
Trying to set the story straight is an uphill struggle, and can at times be maddening. But it’s worth the fight.
Jack Lenox 