St Therese of Lisieux

I write this sat in the Chapter House of York Minster at half midnight, have spent an hour watching and praying a few meters from the relics of St Therese. Aware that I’m somewhat beyond my own comfort zone, the whole thing is a learning experience. But if this event is about reconcilliation, then one thing is for certain: it cannot ‘work’ without give and take from both sides.

Taking Justice to Heart

Sorry for the silence during last week. I have a fair bit to write about, so this should be matched with a full compliment of posts this week, even if this is currently 27 hours late. The week culminated in a very successful demonstration on Campus here in York to end the University’s investment in the arms trade. The passion of many of the students involved was stunning, and their ability to mix political argument with real emotional engagement was inspiring.

Who invited you?

York University is going through exciting times at the moment with the establishment of “Disarm”, a group focused on getting arms companies and the military off campus, and now a Palestine Solidarity Society. With Disarm its been heartening to see so many students come to meetings, upto 60 in fact, from so many backgrounds: Socialists, Anarchists, People and Planet and Amnesty members, Labour Students and more. Unfortunately, last weeks meeting was somewhat interrupted by someone trying to fiddle the agenda.

My Christmas Letter

And so it is, a few days later than planned, that I sit down to write a Christmas Letter to you all. I haven’t received many this year, but I shall be finding the time to read the ones I did, and those my parents have received, over the next couple of days. Holding down a full time job, even with so-called “social hours” can get pretty unsociable it seems!

Before I get into the long details of the year, and half of you (metaphorically!) stop reading, I’d like to wish you and those around you a very Happy, Peaceful Christmas and New Year; hope to those of you who are down, and continued joy to those who are on the up. More than ever I appreciate the very many people who keep me going, keep me sane, and keep reminding me that humanity, despite its ability to do great evil, is still capable, and often already doing, many great things.

Happy Christmas!

Hurray for Cycle City York

After a decade of underinvestment in which York has sunk in cycling league tables, with investment per capita below London, and cycling uptake only moving at a snail’s pace, we’re finally getting an injection of cash to get us pedaling again. So to celebrate, I took a ride through the center of town at about midday on Sunday. Erm, yeah, don’t think we’re meant to do that…

New Beginnings

Easter is meant to be a time of New Beginnings. For some, its a chance to newly begin stuffing themselves full of chocolate after a month and a half of abstinence. For others, its time to plant stuff in the gardens, as the summer nears. But after some months of absence, I feel now is about the time I should get writing this blog again.

The Government is also cracking down on cyclists

Turns out that its not just Virgin who are being ridiculously petty at the expense of cyclists. The government are about to authorise an update of the Green Cross Code. The Green Cross Code is supposed to be the guide to safe road use, and is technically enforceable under the highways act.

However, they’re changing the section on cycling, which used to state that a cyclist could ride in the centre of the inside lane if they felt more comfortable doing so. Instead, they want us to cycle within the cycle lane where provided, or presumably as close to the curb as possible where one isn’t. This is proven to lead to more road deaths amongst cyclists, and simply isn’t safe. Please sign this petition to the Prime Minister as part of various attempts to prevent this new Code being authorised.

Election Results: York now in

I’ve spent most of the day at the York Count and the following is worth noting:

Lib Dems 18, Labour 17, Conservatives 8, Green 2.

Greens have no changes, though lots of major gains, moving second in Clifton Ward and Hull Road Ward with little/no work.   Labour took Holgate, though not without a recount on the one Lib Dem who would have been a fresh councillor.  Susan Galloway beat her husband Steve (former leader) by 1 vote (he’ll be cooking dinner tonight, perhaps?).  Respect did fairly well in Clifton.

The big story is the Tory gain of 8 seats.  They now have a sizeable number.  This means that the old coalition of Labour and Tory will almost certainly form a council government. One Tory even won a seat which he won’t be able to take up; he stood as a paper candidate in the North of the City and made a stun-win.  The BNP polled well in Acomb (520) and Haxby (620), which is worrying, though others fell flat on their faces.

So a Lab/Con council, with Lib Dems close behind, and the Greens with all to play for.  The BNP were neither victorious nor vanquished.  The real story appears to be the Tory one.  Bad, but not the end of the world.

Monday Action: Continue Opposing the BNP

See also the Monday Action page.

Well done to anyone and everyone who’s managed to do something towards my super-popular (like over 100 visits not from StumbleUpon) anti-BNP Monday Action.  But the election is still to happen and far more needs to be done.  The following is a list of stuff you can do in York, but this is generally a reminder to spend some of the next 10 days putting just a bit of effort into ensuring the BNP don’t continue to divide our societies.

Creating the media for ourselves…

The aim of this is to share cool ideas for what to do, not the geekish how to do it stuff. Just so you know.

York IndyMedia, one of the websites I work with has just had a major overhaul, and I’m pretty pleased with what’s been achieved. Now the good people of York will get their locally-written news in a nicer, neater format. Its led to some new questions getting asked about how we take the website forward, and what the site is for…