#THRILLS

 

# Panic

Luke Jennings

(John Murray, 2023)

 

Jaleesa, Kai, Dani, and Ilya are super fans of cult TV sci-fi show City of Night. Living in different countries, the challenges they face and the online friendship that give them strength. Out of the blue, they get the chance to travel to America to meet the show's star Alice Temple. Their idol has troubles of her own and within hours of meeting for the first time in real life, the four friends are on the run, pursued by the police, the Russian mob, and a sinister right wing militia.

 

As the author of the cult Killing Eve trilogy, Luke Jennings knows a thing or two about writing high concept thrillers. He also has a tough act to follow, something he does here with a handy turn of speed.

 

The action comes thick and fast and is rooted deep in the cultural conflicts going on in the US and beyond. Using a cult TV show as the frame for a novel that, judging by the loose ends left enticingly hanging, could become one itself is a neat touch.

 

Jennings does more than just tell a ripping yarn. What he has delivered is a story about friendship and the importance of being true to yourself that is powerfully topical.

This could have come out as either mealy mouthed and cynical, or worth and didactic. In his hands, it is neither, instead, it is hopeful and life-affirming.

 

Luke Jennings might just have another cult hit on his hands. About which, using the text speak of the title all this reviewer can say is #goodjob #bringonthesequel.

 

Shots, March 2023

 

Greens warn UK government is going into the COP 15 summit empty handed without plans for a Rights of Nature Act.

 

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsey has warned that environment secretary Therese Coffey will be going into a key UN summit on biodiversity ‘empty handed because the government has failed to put forward plans to give legal protection to nature.

The UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) will take place in the Canadian city of Montreal between the 7^th and 19^th of December. It brings together scientific experts and representatives of governments to agree a set of global goals to reverse nature loss [1].

Adrian Ramsey said that the environment secretary would be “attending the UN biodiversity summit empty handed, despite the UK being one of the most nature depleted countries in the world [2].

He added that there was “little confidence” in the government “meeting its target to halt the decline in species by 2030”.

Ahead of the COP 15 summit the government has faced criticism for failing to meet even its own unambitious targets in areas such as protecting threatened habitats.

Speaking to the Guardian Elliot Chapman-Jones, head of public affairs at the Wildlife Trusts said, “we are losing nature at a faster rate than at any time in our history”, yet the government’s “culture of delay” meant they were missing their targets [3].

Adding that “Current plans will mean even less wildlife in 20 years’ time than the much-depleted state that we have now. A truly ‘world leading’ target must aim to leave the next generation with more nature – not less.”

The Green Party are calling for the introduction of a Rights of Nature Act enforced by an independent Commission for Nature.

This will, Adrian Ramsey said provide “legal protection for wildlife and habitats in England and Wales”, it would also put the regeneration of nature “at the heart of all policy considerations”.

Announcing the policy in October last year Green Party spokesperson on the Natural World Jonathan Elmer said “We face an ecological emergency which threatens the survival of all life on the planet including our own. The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world with about half of its biodiversity lost” [4].

Going on to say that a “bold approach” was needed to “challenge the government and other parties to go further in addressing the tragic depletion of nature and wildlife and creating a thriving natural environment for the future.”  

Issuing this fresh call to action Adrian Ramsey said “the pace that we are losing nature continues to accelerate and there is no sign of a reversal in this trend. We face an ecological emergency which poses real threats to human society - to food and water supplies, to clean air, to our ability to adapt to a warming world”.

Adding that “If the UK government wants to demonstrate a genuine commitment to halting and reversing species decline, and avoid arriving at future biodiversity summits empty handed, it will show leadership by introducing a Rights of Nature Act.”

[1] https://www.unep.org/un-biodiversity-conference-cop-15

[2] https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2022/12/07/greens-call-to-extend-legal-protections-for-wildlife/?link_id=0&can_id=8bc5e413fe5b14a23ca14eb06da17776&source=email-green-party-morning-briefing-tuesday-6-december&email_referrer=email_1759856&email_subject=green-party-morning-briefing-wednesday-7-december

[3] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/28/tories-embarrassingly-poor-nature-targets-2030-labour-says

[4] https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2021/10/23/green-party-backs-a-rights-of-nature-act-to-give-nature-legal-rights/

 

North Staffs Greens back COP27 protest.

 

Members of North Staffs Green Party will join activists from trades unions and environmental groups at a protest in Hanley this Saturday.

The protest has been organized by North Staffordshire Climate Coalition; a campaign group founded in the run up to last year’s COP26 summit held in Glasgow.

The coalition brings together trades unions, environmental groups and groups campaigning on issues of social justice to call for urgent global action on climate change.

A spokesperson for North Staffs Green Party said, “climate change is the defining issue of our time, and it is important that we demand action because the government under Rishi Sunak and his two predecessors this year has not stepped up to its responsibilities”.

Adding that “the situation is rapidly approaching a point where we will not be able to turn things around and will hand on a world that has been irreparably damaged to future generations”.

Despite holding the presidency of COP26 the UK government has been criticised for failing to meet the obligations it signed up to in Glasgow and prime minister Rishi Sunak initially refused to travel to Egypt, only changing his mind following pressure from environmental groups and MPs, including some from his own party.

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsey said, “since last year in Glasgow the UK government has gone in completely the wrong direction by introducing new North Sea oil and gas licences, continued to roll out airport and road expansion and will not even rule out the opening of a new coal mine in Cumbria” [3].

The COP27 summit takes place in the Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt and is organised by the United Nations to build on the ‘outcomes of COP26 to deliver action on an array of issues critical to tackling the climate emergency – from urgently reducing greenhouse gas emissions, building resilience, and adapting to the inevitable impacts of climate change, to delivering on the commitments to finance climate action in developing countries’ [1].

In his opening address to the summit UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the planet was “on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator”, and that the COP27 meeting was possibly the last chance to develop a workable plan to prevent climate disaster [2].

 North Staffordshire Climate Coalition has issued statement outlining three demands, these are for governments around the world to take urgent action on climate change, for local authorities including Stoke-on-Trent City Council to honour the commitments they made when they declared a climate emergency in 2019, and for an end to attempts by the Egyptian government to use hosting the summit to cover up human rights abuses.

The protest event in Hanley will take place from midday on Saturday 12^th November at the bus station located on Litchfield Street, ST1 3EA.

Further details can be found on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/430403929255929

 

[1] https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/cop27

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/07/cop27-climate-summit-un-secretary-general-antonio-guterres?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other&link_id=4&can_id=8bc5e413fe5b14a23ca14eb06da17776&source=email-green-party-morning-briefing-monday-7-november&email_referrer=email_1733043&email_subject=green-party-morning-briefing-tuesday-8-november

[3] https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2022/11/04/greens-condemn-uk-government-for-failing-to-honour-cop-commitment-to-update-climate-targets/?link_id=0&can_id=8bc5e413fe5b14a23ca14eb06da17776&source=email-green-party-morning-briefing-friday-4-november&email_referrer=email_1731328&email_subject=green-party-morning-briefing-monday-7-november

 

 

 

Tory chaos means the country does not have even the pretence of a viable government says Green co-leader.

 

Responding to the resignation of Liz Truss after 45 days in office, making hers the shortest tenure of any British prime minister Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer has reiterated calls for a general election.

In a statement made outside Downing Street on Thursday the outgoing prime minister said she recognized that she was unable to “deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party [1]”.

This triggered a streamlined leadership contest which will be completed by 28^th October at the latest, and my end sooner.

Responding to the resignation Carla Denyer said the “chaos” surrounding the Conservative Party had “spiralled beyond any pretence that the country has a viable government” [2].

Adding that it was “reckless for the Tories to claim that they can replace Liz Truss with any leader capable of commanding authority, nationally or internationally”.

Following the resignation three candidates emerged as front runners to gain the 100 signatures from MPs needed to enter the ballot, former chancellor Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt and former prime minister Boris Johnson.

Johnson pulled out of the race late on Sunday evening, despite claiming to have the backing of 102 MPs and being, by his own estimation, “best placed to deliver a Conservative victory in 2024” [3].

He had though, he said, after “reaching out” to the two candidates he had “sadly come to the conclusion that this would simply not be the right thing to do. You can't govern effectively unless you have a united party in parliament”.

At the time of writing Penny Mordaunt was still seeking the required number of signatures and one of her backers, former cabinet minister Andrea Leadsome told the BBC there was “absolutely no chance of her standing down” [4].

However, with just 26 MPs publicly willing to back her compared to the 180 who have come out for Rishi Sunak her chances of entering a second round of voting look slim.

Whoever wins the race to be the next prime minister would, Carla Denyer said, impose “austerity 2.0” on the country, meaning “more cuts to vital public services and more suffering for people across the country”.

They would, she went on to say, be doing so without a mandate, making it impossible for them to govern effectively.

A general election is needed, she said, so that “people can vote for the policies they want to see that will turn this mess around” and be given “their chance to decide on the country’s future.”

 

 

 

 

[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-63332037

[2] https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2022/10/20/greens-call-for-general-election-after-truss-resigns-as-prime-minister/?link_id=0&can_id=8bc5e413fe5b14a23ca14eb06da17776&source=email-green-party-morning-briefing-thursday-20-october&email_referrer=email_1710650&email_subject=green-party-morning-briefing-friday-21-october

[3] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-63368973

[4] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-63370359

 

The Tories are the Anti-Renewables Coalition says Green Party co-leader.

 

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsey has described the Conservative government as the ‘anti-renewables coalition’ as ministers prepare plans to ban solar panels from most of England’s farmland.

Environment secretary Ranil Jayawardena is understood to oppose solar panels being installed on agricultural land on the grounds that it impedes food production. A report published in the Guardian claims he has instructed officials to use rules governing how land is classified for planning purposes to declare large areas unsuitable for solar farms [1].

Adrian Ramsey said the ban, if implemented, made it “clear that the Tories and their fossil fuel friends have turned into the anti-renewables coalition” [2], adding that “Research has also shown that solar energy generation and food production can co-exist well together, arranged in certain formations, solar panels have been found to boost agricultural production by helping with shading and water conservation during heatwaves, for example”.

In her keynote speech to the Conservative Party conference prime minister Liz Truss listed “Labour, the Lib Dems and the SNP, the militant unions, the vested interests dressed up as think-tanks, the talking heads, the Brexit deniers, and Extinction Rebellion” as members of an “anti-growth coalition” determined to hold the UK back [4].

There are currently 500 solar farms in the UK, providing 28% of the country’s renewable energy. More solar panels were in stalled in 2021 than in the previous 5 years, the amount of energy produced by solar is expected to increase by 500% by 2030 [3].

Dustin Benton, policy advisor at think tank Green Alliance told the Guardian that the UK “desperately needs to expand renewables” to meet the challenges posed by climate change and soaring gas and electricity costs.

This point was also made by Adrian Ramsey, who said “Solar panels can be deployed extremely quickly and offer some of the cheapest electricity, helping to tackle both the cost-of-living crisis and the climate emergency”.

 

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/10/ministers-hope-to-ban-solar-projects-from-most-english-farms?link_id=1&can_id=8bc5e413fe5b14a23ca14eb06da17776&source=email-green-party-morning-briefing-monday-10-october&email_referrer=email_1697070&email_subject=green-party-morning-briefing-tuesday-11-october

[2] https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2022/10/10/solar-farm-ban-shows-tories-are-anti-renewables-coalition-say-greens/?link_id=3&can_id=8bc5e413fe5b14a23ca14eb06da17776&source=email-green-party-morning-briefing-monday-10-october&email_referrer=email_1697070&email_subject=green-party-morning-briefing-tuesday-11-october

[3] https://housegrail.com/solar-energy-statistics-uk/

[4] https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/liz-truss-attacks-anti-growth-coalition-as-tory-conference-ends_uk_633d67ade4b0e376dbfca2c6

 

 

 

New Green Deputy Leader pledges to speak up for those who feel unseen, unheard, and unrepresented.

 

In his first speech as deputy leader of the Green Party Zack Polanski said there can be no environmental justice without racial, social, and economic justice too.

Speaking at the party conference in Harrogate Polanski said that in the UK of 2022 too many people felt “unseen, unheard, and unrepresented”, adding that the Greens will be the party to “take their worries and needs and speak truth to power” [1].

He highlighted the importance of diversity, representation, and electoral reform in delivering a fairer and more inclusive society.

He said that representation and diversity were both “massively important”, and that he wants to use the platform provided by the deputy leader’s role to “speak with rather than for” those communities who don’t feel they have a voice in politics [2].

Key to doing so is, he said, reforming the UK’s “broken voting system”, which leaves many people and communities outside the decision-making process. A problem that can only be solved through the introduction of proportional representation.

This would encourage the development of “grown up collaborations” that “work in people’s interests”, and he called on Labour leader Keir Starmer to “listen” to his members who blocked a vote in favour of putting introducing PR into party policy by unions and grassroots members.

The party conference saw delegates back motions aimed at promoting social justice, these included introducing a £15 an hour minimum wage and backing stronger trades union rights.

Work, Employment and Social Security spokesperson Professor Catherine Rowlett said the current minimum wage had been eroded by “inflation and the cost-of-living crisis” creating “dire levels of in work poverty” [3].

Raising the minimum wage to £15 an hour would, she said, be part of creating a “new social contract” where “a basic standard of living isn’t a luxury”.

Matthew Hull of the Green Party Trades Union Group successfully proposed a motion backing a ‘positive charter of workers and union rights’, saying it will protest the “fundamental right to organise and strike” [4].

Too many people, Zack Polanski said, feel unrepresented when major decisions are made about their lives and communities a fair society is one “that includes everyone”, adding that “in the Green Party, representing people is our priority”.

[1] https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2022/10/01/deputy-leader-autumn-conference-speech-2022/?link_id=8&can_id=8bc5e413fe5b14a23ca14eb06da17776&source=email-green-party-morning-briefing-friday-30-september&email_referrer=email_1687585&email_subject=green-party-morning-briefing-monday-3-october

[2] https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2022/10/01/no-environmental-justice-without-social-justice/

[3] https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2022/10/02/greens-back-%C2%A315-an-hour-minimum-wage-and-declare-support-for-trade-union-campaigns-on-pay/

[4] https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2022/10/01/greens-back-positive-charter-of-worker-and-trade-union-rights/

 

 

 

 

Liz Truss will be a disaster for the for the UK and the climate warns Green Party co-leader.

 

The Green Party has warned that the new administration led by Liz Truss could further fuel problems around climate change and inequality.

Truss won the leadership of the Conservative Party following a sometimes-bruising internal election campaign initiated by the resignation of Boris Johnson in July, beating rival Rishi Sunak to gain 57% of the votes cast by party members [1].

Her plans for helping families struggling to make ends meet as the cost-of-living crisis continues are focused on a £30 billion package of tax cuts, including to green levies on energy bills.

Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer described reported plans by the incoming prime minister to encourage oil and gas companies to extract more fossil fuels from the North Sea and plans to cut the green levy as “reckless” and demonstrated that Liz Truss was “making an ideological choice to curry favour with friends and Tory Party donors in the oil and gas industry” [2].

Adding that “Burning more fossil fuels will simply speed up climate breakdown, giving us more extreme heat, floods, storms and food shortages in the UK and across the world”.

The Greens are calling for the new prime minister to act on the immediate impact of the cost-of-living crisis by lowering the energy price cap to where it was in October 2021, launching a nationwide home insulation programme and investing in renewable energy.

This, she said, “will provide the immediate action needed to help people right now, as well as looking ahead to ensure costs and emissions are kept to a minimum in the years to come”.

Despite having won over Conservative Party members, Truss has, so far failed to convince the public she is on their side over the energy crisis and the rising cost of living.

A YouGov poll reported by the Independent found that 67% of all voters and 54% of Tory voters expressed doubts about her plans to help those struggling to make ends meet, only 14% thought she would be an improvement on Boris Johnson [3].

Speaking about the process by which Liz Truss was elected, in which only members of the Conservative Party had a vote (0.1%of the electorate) Carla Denyer having our most senior politician chosen “by such a small and unrepresentative group of people, is a disaster for the UK and the climate”.

Carla Denyer said that “immediate action” was needed to help individuals and families who are going to struggle this winter and that there was also a need to “look ahead to ensure costs and emissions are kept to a minimum in years to come”.

She added that “We can invest in a cleaner, greener, more affordable future, but doing so was a “political choice”, and that the Greens urged “Liz Truss to take a path that helps create a fairer society while tackling the climate crisis.”

 

 

[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-62795383?link_id=9&can_id=8bc5e413fe5b14a23ca14eb06da17776&source=email-green-party-morning-briefing-friday-2-september&email_referrer=email_1655008&email_subject=green-party-morning-briefing-monday-6-september

[2] https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2022/09/05/liz-truss-as-prime-minister-is-disaster-for-the-uk-and-the-climate/?link_id=2&can_id=8bc5e413fe5b14a23ca14eb06da17776&source=email-green-party-morning-briefing-friday-2-september&email_referrer=email_1655008&email_subject=green-party-morning-briefing-monday-6-september

[3] https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/uk-news/liz-truss-cost-of-living-b2161059.html