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There is a “Plan B” … and it needs our attention.

If you disagree with the severity of any of the “Spending Cuts” then there is a Plan B that is worth investigating. You may not yet realise how much you disagree with the planned cuts.

We are being asked to give up libraries, NHS facilities, care for the elderly, care for the young, care for the disabled, essential services are being cut…funding for almost every worthwhile cause has been cut or is to be withdrawn, students are being asked to get into a huge amount of debt in order to be able to afford the privilege of studying, we were even being told we had to give up our forests… …

The only people that seem to have escaped the effects of this global shake up, strangely enough, are the banks. Barclay’s Chief Executive, Bob Diamond stated that the period of "remorse and apology" for banks was over and to prove the point they are back to paying out annual bonuses to themselves that would take 75% of the world’s population 600 or more years to earn.

Something doesn’t sound quite right with this equation.

Politicians and tax campaigners have been stunned by the (forced) admission this week by Barclays Bank that in 2009 it only paid !% tax – just £113m in UK corporation tax in a year when it rang up a record £11.6bn of profits.

The current rate of corporation tax in the UK is 28%

Most of the bank’s taxes are avoided through loopholes in the system… Barclays admitted it has 30 subsidiary companies in the Isle of Man, 38 in Jersey and 181 in the Cayman Islands, so there is no shortage of ways in which money can be siphoned out of the system.

Max Lawson, of the Robin Hood Tax Campaign, said: "This is proof that banks live in a parallel universe to the rest of us, paying billions in bonuses and unhampered by the inconvenience of paying tax.

"If banks paid their fair share we could avoid the worst of the cuts and help those hit hardest by the financial crisis they did nothing to cause."

On Tuesday – when Barclays announced 2010 profits of £6.1bn and a 23% rise in average pay in its investment banking arm, Barclays Capital – the tax campaigners turned a London branch of the bank into a library

The banks are holding us to ransom, threatening to leave us high and dry if we so much as slap them across the wrist… and what are they actually providing us with?

Plan B is explained in a video that gives good food for thought, especially in the light of the latest Banking scandal…

People Power: English Forests Saved… for now

A call for celebration. The campaign to stop the government from selling off the English forests has surprised the coalition with its depth of support and they have announced that the program has been scrapped.

Some of the responses from campaigners are below, and as is pointed out “the government is still allowed to sell-off 15% of forest and woodland every 4 years…. if you thin about it, that could be 45% after 12 years!”

Below are some of the responses to the success of the campaign on the 38degrees Facebook page

Eileen Nicholson:  A large percentage of woodland workers have already been given their notice.

The next thing is, the ‘powers that would be’ will say the woodland aren’t being mantained well enough and will us that as an excuse to take over. Are there any woodland workers out there prepared to share their story with us?  Horse’s mouth and al…

David Clarke:  I don’t think they believe they got it wrong… this was just to test the water and we must not be complacent as the government is still allowed to sell-off 15% of forest and woodland every 4 years…. if you think about it, that could be 45% after 12 years!

Vanessa Mordin:  Not so fast with all the congratulations!!! There are changes due with the planning laws which will make it possible for local authorities to allow woodland to be built on. Please go to the Woodland Trust website for more information and sign up to that campaign.

Victoria Taylor:  Knew they would find a way to do it……together we have to stop them. They are using a psychological method that they used when they were trying to close the coal mines, tell the miners that they were going to close 8 pits, debate it and then only close 3…..the miners thought they were victorious, but really the government had only ever intended to close 3 pits. This is the same kind of psychological warfare that they are using with our woodlands.

Neil Hughes:  What fantastic news. This policy, as in the case of the NHS reforms and cuts in welfare services, was driven by pure ideological hatred of either public or common (despite the big society rhetoric) alternatives to private property.

It’s exactly the same struggle as is being waged by indigenous groups in the Amazon rain…forest against state attempts to undermine their collective property rights and privatise their land. Thanks to 38 degrees for organising the campaign and congratulations on its success. Looking forward to the next one!!!!

Mickey Modern:  This is the way the UK Britain should be run. By the people for the people! After the fuss has died down, shouldn’t 38 Degree appoint a ‘green’ Lawyer to go through any new Government ruling on this issue?

Dean Bromley:  The problem is this doesn’t stop governments selling our forests and woods they will just sell them off bit by bit as they have been doing for many years, before we know it in 10-20 years time we will find out they have sold them all off behind our backs, what we need to do is make sure they cannot sell any more forest…

Flangela Pangela:   If you want evidence of what our forests would be turned into, if they were leased out or sold off to private companies, take a look at Parkhurst Forest on the Isle of Wight. This ancient forest HAS been leased out to European logging firm “Euroforest” and it is being unsympathetically ripped up at an alarming rate.

Where once there was dense forest, there is now torn up waste land. I understand it is the commercially grown pine that is being logged, but there is a lot of damage to the native trees and the rate at which the forest is disappearing is worrying. I have also seen no evidence of replanting.

The Isle of Wight is well known as one of the last havens for red squirrels in Britain and Parkhurst forest was the largest habitat they had. It is so upsetting to see this happening here on our beloved Isle, but it is heartening to hear that people’s voices have put a stop to this happening elsewhere.

Emily Parry:   I don’t trust any of them – not one bit. I feel almost ashamed I voted at all, as I voted LibDem, but I also feel ashamed that I voted at all, as all of them have been involved in this except perhaps the greens or a few independents.

How dare they even think of this sell off of forests?! I looked at the stakeholders list – there were housing developers on it. It was disgraceful – the stakeholders should not have included them, because the forest should have at least have been assured legal protection against having housing put over them!

Can anyone tell me – is there a way to have a “vote of no confidence” in our current political system?

Julia Neesham:  Overwhelmed with a sense of being part of this monumental movement towards protecting our environment, power to the people and trees!!!!

Shane Beaver:  Proof that people out there really do care about the environment of the UK, and are determined to do something about. Another defeat for greed! That can’t be bad!

Patricia Rutt:   So pleased, we helped plant a wood in our village for the Millenium and it is looking lovely now so great. Our MP was all for the sell off ( tory ) and is now sending out emails saying how pleased he is we have won, how hypocypical. Have signed the coast guard petition, lets get that one going and remember folks they …are going to try and bring fox hunting back !! Please keep an eye on that one. We are now going out of our way to look for any just causes that we can sign for.

David Clarke:  I don’t understand why they have to waste millions on feasibility studies BEFORE they’ve actually asked the public what they think….

Joanna Newbold:  FANTASTIC…..hip hip hooray to everyone who stuck up for their rights.People Power does work and so does the support of M.P’s fighting for the same cause. Thank you 38 Degrees team, your efforts and attention have been tireless. Inspiring outcome BUT we must make sure the Government does not blind side this decision and be vigilant, as a National Team we know we can make it work, it has up till now!

Kathleen Basiewicz:  People power emerges, what is next for us to conquer

Julia Neesham:  Overwhelmed with a sense of being part of this monumental movement towards protecting our environment, power to the people and trees!!!!

Andy Plummer:  Was becoming very cynical about trying to object to things that seem beyond our control. This result has gone part way to reinstate belief in POWER TO THE PEOPLE. Good old Wolfie 🙂

Peter Wallace: It’s great to feel heard! Long may it continue! Thanks 38 degrees for making it possible……….

Sylvia Barham:  great!!! about time we the people had our say.

Ed Hooper :  Well done everyone it would seem that people power can make a difference. Now can we please have our country back?

Joanna Newbold:  Too damn right..it’s time we let our combined voices/thoughts heard..fed up with being a ‘sheep’ herded round and penned up. Time to make a change and put right the massive wrong in our system.

Helen George:  How fantastic that we actually got somewhere with the government! This was the only time I have ever written to my MP about anything so I am thrilled that it worked. Thanks for bringing such an important campaign to my and everyone else’s attention. I think without your campaign, this proposal could very well have slipped under the radar. God forbid!

Evelyn Corney:  Forests can never be rightfully “owned” – instead, we all share a joint responsibility to keep them and preserve them so that everyone can enjoy them! Thank God that sanity prevailed on this occasion.

Anne Bell:  Like it I love it. I didn’t spend Sundays with Brownies and Guides planting trees to have someone tell me I can’t stand next to them. a wonderfully well done everyone who bothered to speak out.

Jake Rigby:  internet = real democracy

Ronnie McInnes:  Superb news – I’m based in Scotland but was dead opposed to this happening anywhere in UK. I also used 38 Degrees great pages to get access to my local MP to find out why he had abstained. More than a week later I’m still waiting for his promised return call… Guess who’s vote he and his LIBDEM party will be losing at next election 🙂

Mary Woodfield:  Absolutely brilliant news. I feel really proud to have been part of the campaign. Congratulations 38 degrees.

Ray Riley:  Just a thought, when people in previous governments got things as wrong as this they resigned. Usually stating it was the honourable thing to do. Does this ramshackle ConDem bunch of miscreants know anything about honour or decency or fairnes or ……

Wendi Jarrett:  Seriously excellent news. We the people CAN make our voices heard. all over the world ORDINARY PEOPLE are STANDING UP AND SPEAKING OUT… and democratically changing things. Excellent … Walk good x

Krystyna Boswell:   So delighted over the success of the forest campaign. In dark times it is hard to imagine we, the people, can have an effect on government policy. But we did. Next battle…..

Extinct Animals of the 20th Century

Things we don’t have to be proud of as humans…

Don’t always believe people if they tell you big business or commercial interests won’t harm the environment or wildlife, they just might not be right. And next time you consider buying items not sourced from environmentally friendly sources, maybe give it a second thought and vote for a better world with your purchasing power.

The Atlantic Forests – Brazil

Once stretching 330 million acres, an area twice the size of Texas, the Atlantic Forest of Brazil is one of the world’s most extraordinary forests. And yet today, after hundreds of years of deforestation, only seven percent of this biological treasure remains.

Home to jaguars, tamarins and hundreds of bird species found nowhere else on Earth, the Atlantic Forest also provides important economic and health benefits to surrounding communities and cities, including the mega-cities of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

This video is from the Nature Conservancy who work on projects across the world for nature conservation. See more detail on their website: www.nature.org