Greenpeace’s 40th birthday

Greenpeace is 40 next month.  To celebrate I’ve uploaded some images from our occupation of the Stena Dee oil rig in 1997 to the Guardians Flickr group called ‘birth of a green movement’. Check out some hairy moments and fantastic beards!

I predict a riot, I predict a riot

As the Kaiser Chiefs song famously proclaims ‘I predict a riot, I predict a riot’.  Exactly a decade ago I was head of campaigns at the Commission for Racial Equality during the race riots in northern towns. What I learnt from that episode is that when young people live segregated lives, are unemployed, have no hope and mistrust the police, you can predict a riot.

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45 conservation groups sign BBC Wildlife Fund letter

Following my article on why Lord Patten must save the BBC Wildlife Fund, 45 conservation groups have today written to Lord Patten and the Guardian newspaper in support of the fund. They include the RSPB, Greenpeace, the Campaign to Protect Rural England and the Worldwide Fund for Nature. This level of support is unprecedented and I can only hope Lord Patten now reverses this short sighted and wrong decision. An accompanying article also appeared in todays Guardian and the number of signatures on the petition now stands at nearly 7000.

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Please sign petition to save BBC Wildlife Fund

I have written an article for the Guardian about the decision of the BBC Executive Board to close the BBC Wildlife Fund. The fund supports over 87 conservation projects both in the UK and abroad ranging from the cuckoo to the Ethiopian wolf (pictured). Please sign the petition to Lord Patten, the BBC chairman, urging him to save it. The full article follows.

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