Those of you who have read my last blog will be aware that I recently came under attack from the police during the G20 demos and witnessed several violent assaults on protesters by the London Met (and the six other forces who had been drafted in to support them).

Many of you will have read the reports about Ian Tomlinson, the man who tragically died during the G20 demos and also seen the video of one of the officers who assaulted him prior to his death, who has subsequently been suspended from duty.

Regular readers of my blog will be aware of my increasing concerns about the UK's descent into a police state.

Some of you reading this may even be police officers.

This blog is for you.

Now you may not expect what I am going to say next but . . . the police are people too . . . they have rights, both as human beings and as workers.

Let me explain . . .

Whenever I have attended demonstrations or direct actions in the past there are always a few protesters who just want to cause trouble and there are individual police officers who throw their weight around and get a little too baton happy. While I may not agree with this on either side, I accept it as an unfortunate side effect of what otherwise can be very positive actions.

What I saw at the G20 demos however wasn't a couple of officers throwing their weight around, it was entire groups of officers carrying out ordered attacks. They were following orders from above. The one officer who hit Ian Tomlinson has been scapegoated and looks like losing his job basically for doing as he was told. That was one of many assaults which took place that day, and any one of those officers could have suffered the same result.

Let me give you a situation. You are a police officer. You are faced with a group of a few thousand people. The vast majority are peaceful and engaging in lawful activity, however a couple of people are attempting in some way to cause trouble. How do you respond to this ?

Let us assume this situation is a football match.

You are given instructions to pen the entire group in for hours with no access to food water or toilets. Push people in as tight as you can, using heavy force and denying medical attention to those who have head injuries from baton attacks. Refuse to let anyone leave, regardless of whether they are passers by, journalists, mothers needing to get to their children or people in need of medical attention etc.

Would you think this was proportional and justified ? Would you question this ? Or would you simply follow the orders you were given ? What reaction do you think this would provoke ? Do you think that the situation may escalate due to the fear and anger of the previously peaceful and law abiding group ?

Now lets take exactly the same situation, but rather than being a football match, it is a demonstration.

Does your opinion change ? Should it change ? Have you ever actually thought about this ?

How do you feel ? What if your teenage daughter was in that group (one of the law abiding peaceful majority) ?

How would you feel if you blindly followed orders, then as a result loose your job for doing as you were told ? How would you feel if you followed orders then as a result someone died ?

Now it's just a suggestion, but here are my thoughts and my appeal to any police officers reading this. If you are given instructions which you feel are disproportional, unlawful, immoral or for some other reason you object to. Question them. Speak to your police association. Speak to your colleagues. Speak to your superiors. Stand up and be counted. I guarantee you will not be the only one to feel that way. You are not part of the Borg. You are individuals with rights as human beings and as workers.

Just think about it. I have posed several questions, you need to come up with your own answers.

On Wednesday night of this week (1^st April 2009) I was chased for almost two miles through the streets of London in genuine fear for my life by a group of armed men with dogs.

I didn't call the police. Why? Because it was the police who were chasing us.

Our crime? Exercising our legal and democratic right to protest.

Most of you will be aware that the G20 summit took place in London this week. And we turned out in our thousands to make our voices heard about the decisions we think they should be making.

We are currently facing two crises; one financial and one environmental. Now the casual observer may be wondering what they have to do with each other, but they have the same solution.

A fiscal stimulus is required to kick start the economy and bring us out of recession. Basically this means the government needs to spend money on stuff, it doesn't really matter what. To tackle climate change we need to increase environmental projects, e.g. renewable energy, public transport improvements etc. This requires spending money on it. So 2 + 2 = ? You get the idea, invest in green projects and we are on our way to a solution to both crises.

So that was why we were there, because let's face it, our world leaders have never been strong on simple logic, mainly due to the distraction of one thing:

That's right . . . money. Well as far as I'm concerned, there's no point in being rich if you have no planet left to live on, so these guys need to take a look at their priorities.

So Wednesday morning tens of thousands of us descended upon the city to voice our proposed solutions. On the way to the demo we passed several newstands with headlines reading “Protests Turn To Violence”, “Riots in the City” etc. This was before the demos had started ! Nice to know our media can see into the future . . . either that or they knew what story they wanted and were determined to get it.

On arrival the crowd were in good spirits, there was music, colourful banners, children and general festivities. The event was peaceful and with no sign of any trouble. That was until the police waded in. Crowds of people were penned in from all side and pushed into each other. I was within the cordon that ended up being pushed away from the Bank of England and towards RBS (The Royal Bank of Scotland) on Threadneedle Street. A number of people were hit with batons to chants of “Shame on You” at the police and we were held in this cordon unable to leave for a couple of hours. During this time the majority of the crowd remained peaceful. Held their hand in the air, turned their back on police and even attempted to sit down, which was difficult given how tightly packed in we had been pushed. However about 3 or 4 teenagers responded to this by smashing RBS's windows. Guess what appeared in every paper the following day ? That's right RBS windows smashed and no mention of the police actions leading up to that.

After managing to get out of the police cordon we headed away from the area to Trafalgar Square where another demo was taking place. There were a similar number of people there, from the same organisations and friendship groups, but next to no police. And that's right – no trouble. The rally took place, people waved their banners, listened to the speakers and then peacefully left when it was over.

We then decided to head down to the Climate Camp on our way home which had been set up at the Climate Exchange. Having spoken to people throughout the day who had been there we had been encouraged to come down and see how lovely the peace camp was and to join them for tea and cake.

When we arrived however it was a different story. The police had surrounded the camp and were not letting anyone in or out. More police were arriving by the minute and it wasn't looking good so we stayed to show our support for the people trapped inside and to keep an eye on what was happening.

The police were obviously gearing up for something and by around midnight we heard the arrival of the police dogs. The riot police lined up in front of us and marched forward. There were shouts amoungst the crowd for everyone to sit down to show that we were not threatening and not give them any excuse for confrontation. The police then proceeded to start kicking people who were sat on the floor in the head. The dogs were released and the whole group of us was chased from the Climate Exchange as far as Kingsland Road which is almost two miles away, with anyone who couldn't run fast enough feeling the wrong end of a batton.

When they eventually stopped chasing us some of us who remained (some people had managed to escape down side streets) decided to turn back and find out what had happened at the camp as they had obviously wanted us out of the way for a reason. By the time we returned there was no camp left.

The following is what I found out the following day from friends who had been inside the camp.

Once the group outside the camp had been chased away (the group I was with), the riot police moved into the camp assaulting people. A friend of mine who is a very slightly built 19 year old girl was sat on the floor drinking tea and a riot cop pinned her to the floor with his shield shouting “Get Up, Get Up”. Her response to this was “I'd love to get up of this piss-ridden floor but your pinning me to it. He lifted his shield enough for her to half sit up before knocking her back to the ground. She is covered in heavy bruising. Similar and more violent attacks were happening across the camp. The protestors were starting to be allowed to leave however under a number of conditions. They had to give their name and address (which is not a legal requirement if you are not arrested). They had to be searched, without being given stop and search receipts (which is a legal requirement) and anyone who had cameras was made to delete their pictures and video in front of an officer or had their camera confiscated.

Now if as the police claim, their actions were proportional and legal, why did they have to wait until nightfall when the last of the press had left, chase away all witnesses and confiscate all evidence ?

I have been on serveral protests, direct actions and camps over the past decade. There are usually a couple of protestors who just want a fight, but I would not judge the majority of peaceful protests by these few people. Equally there are usually a couple of police officers who like to throw their weight around a bit too much, but I would not judge the rest of the police on this.

However what I witnessed at the G20 demos was organised, ordered, violent attacks by police on peaceful activists. This needs to be documented. It needs to be made clear that it is not acceptable. The police need to know that they are not themselves beyond the law. And the senior officers who gave the orders need to lose their jobs.

This was day one of the G20 demos. I shall write a further blog on what happened on Day 2 later on but for now shall leave you with some further reading and viewing:-

UK 'Kettling' tactic sparks anger – Al Jazeera

http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/the2009g20londonsummit/2009/04/200943142224511944.html

Climate Camp in The City – Some Great Pictures

http://www.ameliasmagazine.com/amelias_blog/2009/04/climate_camp_in_the_city.php

Baton Charges and Kettling: Police's G20 Crowd Control Tactics Under Fire

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/260405.html

G20 Campaigners Claim Brutal Police Attack

http://www.fairhome.co.uk/2009/04/03/police-brutally-attack-peaceful-climate-campaigners/

Unprovoked brutality: police at anti-G20 protests

http://london.indymedia.org.uk/articles/1036

The protestors are the ones we should listen to at this summit

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-the-protesters-are-the-ones-we-should-listen-to-at-this-summit-1661047.html

Kettling is potty – Now when even the right wing rag that is The Mirror sides with the protesters over the police, something is definitely wrong

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/04/04/kettling-is-potty-115875-21252259/

G20: Questions need to be asked about kettling

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/apr/02/g20-protest-kettling

We need to make 'kettling' an issue

http://www.nextleft.org/2009/04/we-need-to-make-kettling-issue.html

The politics of 'kettling'

http://harpymarx.wordpress.com/2009/04/03/the-politics-of-kettling/

Kettling – A Counter-Productive Police Technique

http://community.livejournal.com/theyorkshergob/242444.html

Witness Statement: Death at G20

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=69024871691&ref=mf

Concern over G20 Police Tactics

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7981932.stm

A right to protest? Police Tactics are about Repression not Public Order

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article6031426.ece

Video: Protestors let ambulance through – Police block its path

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f0S6PPLI8Q

Video: Police using dogs on protestors

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5794DZu8iG0

Video: Police Drag man across floor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=873jyGj2KEg

Video: When we all sat down before being attacked – I'm in there somewhere

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6-U2FKd1q0

Video: More heavy handed policing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBNxIOfW5F4

Video: More assaults caught by Sky News

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FbEwmOHZeo

Video: Yet more attacks while protesters hold their hands in air and chant this is not a riot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t244-zEENSs

Well I thought it was about time I had a rant and I've been storing this one up for a while.

As you will have probably realised I take a keen interest in current affairs. I like to know what is going on in the world around me. However the more I do this, the more p*ssed off I get, everytime I open a newspaper or turn on the radio, I can feel my blood boiling before I reach the end of the first sentence. We all know that the mainstream media is often biased and that some newspapers are about as reliable a news source as Grimm fairy tales but it still gets to me. So here are the stories which have wound me up recently.

Baby P

The past couple of weeks you will have no doubt read the stories of Baby P, the tragic story or the young child who was severely abused and brutally murdered and you may, like myself, know the names of the parents through the series of text messages, facebook groups, websites etc. which have passed these details up and down the country. Now there are a few things that have got to me about this story. Obviously the details of what happened to this boy are horrendously upsetting as is the loss of any human life. However people seem to ignore the fact that the names of the parents have not been published in order to try and protect the remaining four siblings. There are also stories of local people refusing to pay their council tax because of the failures of the social services and supporting agencies, because clearly what they need just now is even less funding. The other thing that always bothers me about such stories is how we can have national upset of the highly publicised death of one child yet the millions of children dying every day throughout the world seem to go unnoticed. Thousands of innocent children and families have died in Iraq due to our war for oil (sorry The War Against Terror), thousands more have died through poverty in countries we continue to keep in debt, more still die in sweatshops and other brutal regimes. Yet these children remain faceless, nameless and forgotten.

Ross / Brand

But hey at least the important issues are being discussed in parliament. In the past couple of weeks we have heard ministers commenting on Laura White's exit from X Factor and Gordon Browns statement regarding the Ross / Brand affair. That's right, I woke up last week, turned on Radio 4 and heard the prime minister discussing Russell Brand – I had to pinch myself to check that I actually had woken up. Yes dominating the headlines we have had the tragic story of a young girl being traumatised by Russell Brand leaving a message on her grandfather's answerphone claimed he had f*cked her. The young girl, Georgina Baillie, was so traumatised that she had to take time off from performing with the Satanic Sluts, only of course after signing a deal with the devil, sorry Max Clifford, and then admitting that yes she did sleep with Brand after all. OK – so it's a mildly interesting story if you're reading heat magazine – but Radio 4, the independent, discussions in the houses of parliament . . . good to see that serious journalism we know and love.

The War Against Terror

And don;t forget we are still living in dangerous times according to our media. OK so it's not exactly new news but it's still in the papers every day. Yes anyone with a slight tan is likely to blow us up, the terror threat is high, the number of arrests for terrorism offences continues to grow (ok so they're pretty much all for Climate Change and Anti War activists but we'll gloss over that bit) and don't forget those anti terror laws come in handy for the councils checking the contents of your wheelie bin.

Yes we should all be afraid, despite the fact the more people die each year from diy related incidents than as a result of terrorism, but I don't see a war against Ikea any time soon. But lets keep that climate of fear going, every news report I hear or read would have me believe that I will be stabbed or blown up or some other awful fate. They don't mention that I am more afraid that if I open my front door the bailiffs will nip in thanks to the government making it easier for the banks to increase repossessions rather than helping anyone out during the credit crunch despite the fact that my share of what we have bailed the banks out by would have paid off half of my mortgage.

Credit Crunch

Which leads me nicely to another issue taking up more than it's fair share of column inches. The Credit Crunch. While we have bailed out the banks to the tune of billions of pounds, repossessions are on the rise and still no help is forthcoming to help people who are suffering the effects of this. I read one story last week about measures being introduced to allow lenders to automatically reposess a property as soon as two payments are missed. Cheers Gordon.

Well it's late and I'm in a ranting mood – in case you hadn't noticed so I'm going to go to bed. Hope everyone is well and I will be back with more rants soon . . .

Thanks again to everyone who voted, well done to everyone who took part and congratulations to winner Deonne.

For anyone who wants to attend the final it will be taking place at the Nightingale Club in Birmingham on 14th November.

Well I haven't been blogging for a while so I thought I'd give you a bit of an update as to what I have been upto for the past few months.

As many of you will know I was one of the organisers of the first ever LBGT Pride Event in Sheffield this year which was an amazing success (see www.southyorkshirepride.co.uk ).

After 18 months of planning and more hard work than we had ever thought we finally kept our fingers crossed for sunshine as 4,500 people turned up to celebrate the diversity of the wonderful people of Sheffield.

I took a break from running around like a crazy woman organising the main stage to do some performance poetry in the womens tent which was an amazing if somewhat terrifying experience.

Overall it was a fantastic experience and worth every second of the work we put into it. We even picked up an award for it which was a pleasant surprise.

After Pride I have been appreciating having the return of something resembling a life and some free time.

I went to Manchester Pride to enjoy an event from the other side.

I had a random trip to the hospital when my dentist managed to drop a drill bit down my throat . . .

I have been spending some quality time with my family and my beautiful baby niece Millie who has just turned one.

And I got the latest addition to my growing collection of body art courteousy of Dawnii ( http://www.myspace.com/dawnii13 )

I've got a new job which start in January which has just managed to save me from being credit crunched into reposession and I am a student again having finally started my youth work qualification.

Overall life has been good if a little busy. I have been taking the advice of the words of Le Tigre and getting off the internet and living life outside this box.

I'm still thinking and getting generally worked up about the injustices in the world and the sheer incompetences of our government but I will save that for another blog. Fear not more political rantings will be coming to a blog near you soon . . .

As many of you will know I am currently working with the South Yorkshire Pride commitee to put on the first ever LGBT pride event in Sheffield. (http://www.southyorkshirepride.co.uk)

I was asked at a fundraiser we held this week why we need to hold pride events. The reason that this question interested me is because it didn't come from someone who was heterosexual or homophobic or in any way questioning or unsure of the gay community. The question in fact was posed by one of the staff at a gay bar I attended before the fundraiser. As an active member of the community and a regular on Sheffield's gay scene he explained that he has no problem whatsoever with a big gay festival in fact as a bit of a party animal himself he is fully supportive of any such event. His query was specifically with the term "Pride". His view is that you can be proud of an achievement; passing your driving test, winning a race etc, but being gay is just something that you are, not something that you have achieved. So while he is completely out, open and happy with his sexuality, he questioned whether it is really something that he would consider himself to be proud about.

There are two points in my response to this. Firstly I am proud. I am proud to be a member of a community who over many years have campaigned for equality and human rights, who have achieved changes in laws and attitudes and prejudices within society as a whole. I am proud to live my life in an open and honest way and to be who I am despite the prejudices and discrimination which still exist. In a world where many prejudices still exist, racism, sexism etc homophobia is different. It is virtually impossible to hide the fact of being black or female, however you can hide being gay. You can feel ashamed of your sexuality and/or choose to remain closetted The process of coming out for many people is a major event in their life and one I believe is fully justified of feeling proud of.

Secondly I feel that pride events still serve a major purpose. In a world where 7-12% of the population are Lesbian, Gay or Bisexual depending on the statistical source (we don't need to argue over exact figures, needless to say there are a lot of us) the LGBT community is massively under represented. Sheffield is the fourth largest city in the UK outside of London and the largest city in the UK to have never held a pride event. Pride events are still an important tool in the campaign for complete equality. Homophobia still exists. People are still abused, attacked and killed on a daily basis across the world. We still don't have full partnership rights and can't get married (civil partnerships are different to a marriage). Sexual health provision for gay women is virtually non existent. Homophobic bullying in schools is still happening on a maasive scale. Incitement to hatred on grounds of religion is illegal but incitement to hatred on grounds of sexuality isn't. The list goes on. We have made massive advances over the years since the UK's first gay pride march in 1972 but we still have a long way to go in achieving equality. Pride events are a massive tool in this, in gaining visability, acceptance and continuing campaigning. It is also a fantastic way to bring together a massive community of people which includes people of all genders, ages, religions, ethicities etc to celebrate the diversity of their community, their achievments and their pride.

If you would like to find out more or get involved with South Yorkshire Pride, please email southyorkshirepride@hotmail.co.uk

My role on the pride commitee is organising the main stage so if you have any queries about that specifically then please feel free to contact me.

If you would like to help in a practical way by donating some cash to the event, please go to the website http://www.southyorkshirepride.co.uk click on funding on the left hand side and you will see a paypal link. South Yorkshire Pride is a not for profit community event which is being funded by various fundraiser events, donations and some wonderful people who are working for free to support the event. All donations however small will be greatfully received.

Well, it has been done many times before so no points for originality with this post.

But here is your chance to ask me anything you want.

Post your question in the comments section and I will answer them all . . .

NB. Although I had originally put this in the Blogging category, I have changed it to News and Politics as that seems to be more representative of the questions being asked.

I recently finished reading a book, Xamon's Song which has given me some food for thought.

The story focuses on two young soldiers, disallusioned musicians who have joined the service for new experience, to get them out of their personal situations. They are immediately deployed to the other side of the world where they quickly discover that their bosses and government have not been truthful about the events taking place in the country, the reason for the army being there or anything else. They meet with a human rights activist who is trying to uncover the corruption and are torn between following orders and honouring the commitment they made when they signed up or following their own morals and beliefs and trying to discover the truth. This raised a number of issues for me given the recent controvosercial warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan amoungst others.

As I am sure you are all aware I am highly opposed to war.

Why do we kill people who kill people to prove that killing people is wrong ?

But does that mean that I am against the soldiers ? Not necesarily.

Firstly in real life, as in the book. I do not believe that the government / MOD / senior army officials ever tell the total truth (and often nowhere near) so people who join the forces often do so based on incomplete and inaccurate information. Once they are recruited and deployed, it is not just as simple as quitting if you don't like it in fact in the US the maximum penalty for desertion during wartime is death.

There are many reasons people join the army, there are certainly some who are just violent people who in other circustances would be police, nightclub bouncers, football hooligans etc and the army gives them a "legal" cover to exercise their violent tendancies. However there are many people who join for all sorts of other reasons, they want to get fit, have a career, learn a trade etc and depending on when they joined and what position they hold, may believe that them actually getting sent to war would be very unlikely.

From the moment you join hwoever the human rights abuses start and not just for the civilian war victims. You have more than likely been lied to, you have major implications should you go awol, even if you are not generally opposed to all war, you may diagree with certain conflicts but you don't have the option to pick and choose which wars you fight in not to mention the severe effect on the mental health of those in service.

It's not always black and white, many of the most effected victims of war are those wearing the uniform. I may oppose war, but I support people.

You can find out more about the book here: http://www.myspace.com/xamonsong

Thats right it's the planets sale of the century, everything must go. Act now because we're running out of oil, water, food . . .

If you have opened up a paper or switched on the news in the past year, the world looks like a pretty bleak place. The message, we're fucked.

Now we have had similar messages and campaigns for years, some of you will be old enough to remember the environmental campaigns and protests in the 60's which took place before I was even born. We've heard about the hole in the ozone layer, the greenhouse effect, global warming, and climate change over the decades. So what has changed ?

In the 60's environmental campaigners were acting to preserve the planet for future generations with the knowledge that their generation had little to worry about for themselves, and thus they were for the most part ignored. Now things are different. I am 26 years old and potentially have another 60+ years of life on this earth. In that time we do have do worry. If we continue to consume at our current rate, the world is going to be a very different place (and not for the better) in 20 years let alone 60.

On Wednesday of this week oil hit the record $100 a barrel for the first time. Admittedly this was done by one individual who immediately sold the consignment for $99.40, clearly doing this as a publicity stunt paying $600 for the right to say he was the first person to buy $100+ oil. However, a new record was then set in New York on thursday at $100.09 a barrel with warning of prices rising as high as $110.

These stories have brought the issue of peak oil back into the headlines. The basic issue is that we are currently highly dependant on fossil fuels which are a finite resouce. There are various reports and projections of when we will hit a peak with oil reserves. Personally however I see this as an almost irrelevant point. We can spend our time arguing about when it is going to happen but the fact is that if we are relying mainly on a finite resource, whether demand is going to exceed supply in 5 years or 50 years, at some point it IS going to run out (get a dictionary and look up the word FINITE) and we obviously have a major issue to address. With the expected worlds population in 2030 to be double that of 1980, we are rapidly approching crisis point by the day.

So what do we do ? We need to find alternatives. One currently popular alternative is biofuel. On face value this seems to be a great alternative. Biofuel is a clean renewable energy which is relatively cheap and easy to produce. It doesn't require any major new technology and can be produced quickly. However millions of acres of land are now being used to produce biodiesel and ethanol. Governments are encouranging these crops in an attempt to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and increase energy supplies, however in doing so they are reducing food supplies.

So from Peak Oil, we also have to deal with Peak Food. Most foods are derived directly from grain or animals that eat grain, and shockingly, the worlds grain reserves will all but have disappeared by this years harvest. These grain reserves are intended to protect us from a poor harvest and it was normally considered safe if these reserves amounted to 120 days supply. Over the last few years reserves have been slowly used up as each harvest did not quite meet demand until by harvest 2007 they only amounted to a dangerous 47 days supply. By 2008 harvest we will really be scraping the bottom of the barrel and need a big harvest to get us out of trouble. If it's a bad world harvest, there simply will not be enough food to go around, and with almost no reserves to help out, panic buying, speculation and hoarding will prevail, making a bad situation much worse, emptying the supermarket shelves.

So biodiesel may help the peak oil problem, but in turn it fuels the peak food issues. There is a compromise. We use a massive amount of potential biofuel already. If we had an organised method of collection we could reuse cooking oil for fuel supplies. Starting with the largest food production factories, to chip shops, restaurants, to having a domestic collection of waste oil, similar to our current general watse and glass / paper / can recycling schemes we could collect and reuse a massive amount of biofuel without the need for massive additional crops.

However, used chip fat alone will not save the planet, if only it was that easy.

While we're talking about chips, our diet is another way we can help out. I am vegan, but it vegetarianism was more common. agriculture would be automatically sustainable. Vegetables and grains need much less land and water than animals, so it wouldn't be necessary to destroy rain forests or irrigate arid land, or create deserts with over pasturing. Perhaps just enough animals could be raised to satisfy the ovo-lacto vegetarians, and those few people who haven't quite made the vegetarian transition, but even they would consume far less meat, for the sake of their health. The extra land that was freed up through the reduction in cattle rearing would then be able to be used for growing grain and/or biofuels.

There are a range of other renewable resources that we need to be taking advantage of including wind and wave power. One major resource that we are massively underusing is solar power. If each new building automatically had solar panels on the roof and we gradually installed solar panels on all existing buildings we could be nearly self sufficient in power supply. No land would be needed to grow solar panels and it is a technogy we have already developed. The cost of this would be relatively minor in the overal cost of construction and would be cancelled out by the reduction in fuel bills.

This is such a simple solution that is raises the question why we are not already doing this. Why are "eco developments" so rare ? The answer is that if we moved towards being self sufficient British Gas, Powergen, NPower and all of the other power supply companies would be out of business, and in a capitalist society we value money more than anything else.

So I leave you with the following thought:

"Only when the last tree has died and
The last river has been poisoned and
The last fish has been caught,
Will we realise that
We cannot eat money"