Vox Polis

Watch Cameron clean the dishes promise to clean up politics with the usual cries of “we need small government, fewer MPs, to save money, more porridge for the masses etc” on his new blog - webcameron.

The spin doctors have gone with the “keeping it real” breakfast complete with screaming kids.

I bet the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 are really scared by Cameron news!

Updated!-  Looks like everyone wants a bit of WebCameron.  The servers have been crashing all weekend.

Sainsbury’s have announced that they will be introducing new carrier bags made with 30% recycled material. The change of material will apparently result in them consuming 6500 tonnes less plastic per year.

In light of Tesco’s recent attempts to buff up their green credentials Sainsbury’s announcement does smack a little of bandwagon jumping but it’s a change for the better either way. It should however be pointed out that recycling material does have energy costs of it’s own and the environmental damage caused by discarded plastic bags remains a problem. I would have preferred to see a two pronged approach of using biodegradable material and strong incentives encouraging customers to reuse their bags. Tesco have adopted this policy (biodegradable bags will be introduced at their stores this month) although it’s unclear at this time how effective their use of reward points to encourage reuse has been.

Via Hippyshopper. More at the BBC.

Out-Law.com Radio has an interview with the leader of the Swedish Pirate Party. Although they failed to gain a single seat in the recent Swedish elections (or even get their deposit back) they manage to put a politician’s spin on are optimistic about the future of the Pirate movement. The leader of the Swedish party Rick Falvinge talks about a proposal to unite all the Pirate Parties in Europe and form an EU Pirate Party. They’re trying to appeal beyond the campaign on copyright reform and concentrate on civil liberties - something that may appeal to people across Europe.

Smaller parties have been more successful in EU elections than in their own country’s elections, especially if they have take a eurosceptic line. This is partially due to low turnouts - just look at UKIP and the Green’s recent successes.

I just hope that this leads to a British Pirate Party.

It’d be fair to say that we’re a little fond of beer at Vox Polis so there was much excitement at the news that the Good Pub Guide are celebrating their 25th anniversary tomorrow (not next week as we previously suggested). Admittedly the birthday of a guidebook isn’t terribly exciting but the fact that they’re celebrating with beer available at 1980s prices is big news - John Prescott big. Some of the Vox Polis team should be at or around the Olde Mitre in Holborn drinking Adnams for 62p. A full list of pubs taking part can be found here (or possibly at the Good Pub Guide website when it’s working).

Between now and then how about doing some of the following to put yourself in the mood:

• Watch all 13 minutes of the Thriller video.
• Get an artificial heart.
• Wonder how many times Israel can go to war with Lebanon.
• Invade the Falklands.

Last week’s talk like a Pirate day has convinced me that it would be a good idea to keep an eye on all those meaningful weekly campaigns that take place throughout the year. Many of them completely pass me by, but this (hopefully) weekly guide will help us all to keep tracks on them.

In case you missed it, last week was European mobility week, where more of the taxpayer’s euros went on a campaign to encourage us all to use sustainable mobility. The week culminated in Car Free Day. Incidentally, it was also Welcome To Walking Week- a well timed Rambler’s Association annual festival - see you could have supported two campaigns in one week by giving up the car and walking.

This week it’s the start of British Food Fortnight and the European Day of Languages - so you can eat British beef whilst talking in a French accent.

Next week is by far the best one - 1982 beer price week - beer for 62p!! I thought I’d mention it now whilst I’m still sober.

The Indie has a quiz which shows how Blairite Camaroonian you are. Like any good quiz, you either have to be a card carrying Communist or a EU hating, backward looking UKIPian to not be classed as a Camoroonian. Just like real life!

Updated! - Interestingly it seems that the Indie are using Camoroonian, where clearly it should be Cameronian! (as Jonny pointed out).  I stupidly decided to follow the Indie in a sheep like manner.  Strong words will be had!

So let me get this right. Network rail has spent £8 billion to upgrade the West Coast mainline; Virgin Trains has spent £600 million on new trains, and all we do is shave 20 minutes off the record set 25 years ago!- That’s £430 million per minute.

So over £19 million per mile has been spent on this upgrade. In comparison, a high speed network like the TGV costs approximately £10 million per mile. A TGV would get you from London to Glasgow in about 2 hours 40 mins. So that’s a considerable improvement in time at half the costs.

An interesting coincidence that Richard Branson has decided to announce his intention to donate all the profits from his Virgin Atlantic airline to help tackle climate change on the day that the state of California decides to sue car manufacturers. Clearly Branson knows that airlines, the fastest growing cause of climate change, would be next to receive attention from the expanding “let states sue the ass off big business” culture (well everyone else is suing why not states too).

Don’t forget that you can fly non-stop from Heathrow-LA on Virgin airlines.- think of the damage he’s causing to California.

Its also interesting that Branson has alot to gain from this move against car manufacturers. Branson owns Virgin fuels, that turns corn into biofuels - an alternative to petrol for cars, and has just invested in a Californian based company Cilion. Clearly a success for this law suit (although highly unlikely) would be a boost for his company, as car manufacturers look for alternatives to oil. To top it all off, Branson happens to be a friend of cigar chomping Arnie, the Governor of California.

Clearly Virgin is now doing its bit for the PR campaign on climate change. But we’ll have to wait and see how successful his pledges really are.

It’s Talk Like a Pirate Day and there’s lots of pirate movements that need your support - support them or I’ll make you walk the plank - arrrh!

On Sunday the Swedish Pirate party (campaigning on copyright reform not better rights for pirates) only managed about 0.62% (not even enough to get state funding). Clearly they didnt give away enough pirate hats.

But the pirate political movement is spreading, with new outposts being set up in Germany and Austria - Hopefully they’ll have more luck finding treasure than the Swedes!

And this week, Iain Dale has revealed that there are in fact some people reading Vox Polis where Pirate DogPatch contributes - Arrh…Subscribe to this blog or I’ll give you the black spot.

What a surprise! John Reid’s given into populism and fear and announced that the UK is going to restrict access to Bulgarians and Romanians. He said in a speech to the Police Sperintendents Association that immigration from the two member states would have to be “carefully managed”.

Even though the Observer reports that Tony Blair was seemingly convinced by business supporters of Roland Rudd’s Business for New Europe (BNE) group to let them in.

Its good to see that Daily Mail-ism and xenophobia win once again!