Goodness gracious. I’ve just got back from the Observer 2009 Ethical Awards, clutching in my somewhat bewildered hands the award for Grassroots Campaigner of the Year! Really not something I expected, I thought the other two contenders (John Stewart, HACAN, anti Heathrow third runway campaigner) and Georgina Downs (pesticide action campaigner) had much more chance than me. Anyway, event itself was in the terribly grand Kensington Roof Gardens in London, (oak trees and flamingoes on top of a hotel… no raised beds though), and was packed with the great, the good and the gorgeous of London… , felt terribly out of place.
Am heads down at the moment editing the ‘Can Totnes Feed Itself’ paper I hope to post here soon. In the meantime, here is a wonderful quote which is quite a sign of the times, spotted in the Independent on Sunday, from Paula Reed, fashion journalist for Grazia Magazine;
“We are living in extraordinary times: 2008 is likely to be seen by our children as a watershed moment – the end of a glittering party, when we consumed, celebrated and indulged ourselves like we were guests at a table groaning with good things that would never end. Circumstances demand we become wiser now”.
I was in the beautiful city of Bath on Saturday, and saw a guy busking with a sort of 19th century American karaoke machine. In a mastery of technology akin to putting a man on the moon, I actually managed to film it with my phone and put it on YouTube for your viewing delight. I had never seen one of these before, it is quite brilliant….
Beyond Westminster’s bankrupted practices, a new idealism is emerging: Progressive politics will take root from the rubble of a Labour defeat. The Transition movement is giving us a glimpse now. Madeleine Bunting. The Observer. Sunday 31 May 2009
Here is a fascinating piece from yesterday’s Observer, about Transition in the context of what is happening to politics in the UK. Very interesting, and it is refreshing to read something by someone who has really done their homework about Transition.
“Something remarkable has happened. Politics has become entirely unpredictable. Suddenly all manner of political reform is back on the table, a new urgency has been infused into tired debates about political disengagement and apathy, and radical reforms are being proposed to reinvigorate the hollowing out of political institutions.
How might our response to peak oil and climate change look more like a party than a protest march? This site explores the emerging transition model in its many manifestations
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Goodness gracious. I’ve just got back from the Observer 2009 Ethical Awards, clutching in my somewhat bewildered hands the award for Grassroots Campaigner of the Year! Really not something I expected, I thought the other two contenders (John Stewart, HACAN, anti Heathrow third runway campaigner) and Georgina Downs (pesticide action campaigner) had much more chance than me. Anyway, event itself was in the terribly grand Kensington Roof Gardens in London, (oak trees and flamingoes on top of a hotel… no raised beds though), and was packed with the great, the good and the gorgeous of London… , felt terribly out of place. 
