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John Harris voyages to the seaside seat where Caroline Lucas could become Britain's first Green MPJohn HarrisJohn DomokosNatalie HanmanCaroline Lucas

When Boris Johnson was campaigning for the post of London Mayor he said he was going to take personal charge of crime and policing as it was a top priority. Not halfway through his term and he's stepping down from chairing the Metropolitan Police Authority, his fellow Conservative Kit Malthouse will take over the role.

Over on the Guardian Environment Blog, MangoJuice agrees :

that the globe is warming at a rate not seen in human history
that the polluting effect of the industrialised nations is the majority cause.
that it is grossly negligent and criminal not to harness all the free energy the sun, the wind and sea provide.

But MangoJuice is annoyed with the way some people go on about it

I really really really didn't want to write a blog that had 'Copenhagen' and 'failure' in the title. I've not written a word about it so far, in the hope that my cynicism might be proven unfounded - that the world's governments might, for once, throw off the shackles of an insane economic system and actually listen to the scientific evidence that is being screamed into their ears.

It seems it was not to be. Below, I append the first eleven days of summary analysis from Greenpeace UK, along with my own thoughts on Day 12 - today....

Where I live, in Stroud, a delightful town of white stone cottages that nestles into the Cotswold hills and is shortly to be twinned with Rivendell, we are distantly aware that we may not see the world through exactly the same sort of lenses as other people. It isn't exactly the land that time forgot, more likely the place where we remember what times were like before selfish individualism was the dominant ideology, and try to recreate those times.

I was astounded and appalled by Monday’s announcement from the Conservatives that they planned to merge council chief executives with directly elected Mayors.
The Guardian:
Twelve cities across the country would hold referendums to get rid of their council chief executives and hand over the powers to an “executive mayor”, who would take over the role of hiring and firing staff, determining council operations, and directing spending, as well as offering political leadership.