Faslane 365 Big Blockade Carnival

I received an update on the Faslane 365 campaign today. This is the year long protest against Trident nuclear submarines at their base on the Clyde, as well as govermment plans to replace them with more nuclear weapons.

Since October last year an amazing 879 people have been arrested, including myself and many others from Wales. The end of this year of civil disobedience is being celebrated on 1st October with a big blockade carnival.

In the meantime the daily protest goes on. There will be a teachers’ blockade on 1st and 2nd August, Grannies for Peace on 23rd and 24th August as well as many others. For more details contact info@faslane365.org.

We have held two Welsh days at Faslane and the support was incredible. I’m sure there’ll be many more campaigners from Wales going up to Scotland for 1st October. I know I’ll be there.

For Wales see Navarra

The proposed One Wales coalition has proved a great deal of debate in Wales. It’s interesting to see that we’re not the only ones faced with such difficult decisions.

I am working this week in the city of Pamplona, in the Navarra region of the Basque Country, addressing a European Parliament seminar on renewable energy. But here too there is intense debate about the shape of the next government of Navarra. Following elections at the end of May a coalition between Spanish Socialists and Basque Nationalists is the likely outcome. No party has a majority and a coalition government is necessary. Ring any bells?

And the parallels don’t end there.

Different traditions in all of the parties concerned have agonised about how to take the matter forward. The Basque nationalists combined have 12 seats, the Spanish Socialists also have 12, and combined with smaller coalition partners they have 26 seats – and a majority of one seat in the Navarra parliament.

For many Basque parties, a coalition with the conservatives was unimaginable. But many feel they could find a way forward with the Spanish socialists on a common policy programme.

The decision is imminent and may be announced as soon as tomorrow.

They have also followed events in Wales with great interest, for obvious reasons.

Now that the Plaid-Labour coalition discussions are well advanced and following much discussion and thought, I have decided to give the proposal my support. My first preference was to be a strong opposition with a “New Zealand style” agreement with the minority government.

But events have moved on. I believe that on the basis of the radical One Wales programme we can make a real difference to peoples´ lives in Wales and open up many possibilities for the future of our nation. It is an agreement on an Assembly level only, of course. It will mean changes for us as politicians in the two parties but having talked to many of my European Parliament colleagues in similar coalitions I believe we can make it a success.

I will support this agreement positively and enthusiastically.

Disabled Access to Live Music

An interesting website was pointed out to me this week in the form of www.attitudeiseverything.org.uk. Their campaign is a simple one - to improve access to live music for the disabled, through developing venues’ facilities so that they can cater sufficiently for each person according to his or her needs.

It’s a campaign very worthy of support. Through cooperating with the music industry - promoters and venues in particular - they have made some impressive improvements in making music more accessible for disabled people. Quite disappointingly, the only venue in Wales to have signed up to the organisation’s ‘Charter of Best Practice’ is Cardiff’s CIA, but I hope that more venues and promoters will choose to take part in this campaign to ensure that disabled people can enjoy the experience of live music as much as everyone else.