Launching Labour's environment pledge card.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: David Miliband <info@reply-new.labour.org.uk> Date: 17-Apr-2007 14:29
Subject: Launching Labour's environment pledge card
To: "tjeyaranjan@gmail.com"























Today I launched Labour's new climate change pledge card, which sets out how the Labour Government working in partnership with councils, energy companies and the Energy Saving Trust will help households take simple steps to cut energy bills by up to £300 per year and reduce emissions of carbon dioxide.
The pledge card highlights five examples of actions that households can take and five ways the Labour Government will support individual action:
Five things you can do:
• Turn your thermostat down 1 oC• Turn appliances off when not in use• Replace your light bulbs with energy saving ones• Do your washing at a lower temperature• Get a home energy check
Five things your Labour government will do to help you:
• Home insulation programmes• Free electricity monitors• Phase out energy inefficient light bulbs• Higher product standards and labelling• Home energy ratings
Every part of society has a role to play in tackling climate change. Individuals are responsible for over 40 per cent of the UK 's carbon dioxide emissions through energy use in homes and personal transport, but I believe that people want to do their bit, and need information and support. That's why we are highlighting some of the simple steps that households can take to cut their energy bills and carbon dioxide emissions and some of the ways that the Government will help, working in partnership with councils and energy companies.
I'm proud of the work that Labour is doing domestically and internationally, in central and Local Government to combat climate change. I hope you'll join with me in doing your bit reduce emissions at home and encourage your family and friends to do the same.
Yours,
David Miliband
Labour's Secretary of State for the Environment

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31st Memorial day of my Mother in Law.

Mrs Banumathy Rajalingam

My Father-in-law and our entire family invite you for a meal in memory of my Mother-in-law
on Saturday the 28th April 2007 at 11:30 am
at
WILLIAM TORBITT PRIMARY SCHOOL
EASTERN AVENUE
NEWBURY PARK
ILFORD
ESSEX IG2 7SS

For direction

http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?client=public&search_result=&db=pc&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;keepicon=true〈=&pc=IG27SS&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;advanced=&client=public&addr2=&quicksearch=IG2%207SS&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;addr3=&addr1=

Local election campaign launch briefing

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Tony Blair <tony.blair@reply-new.labour.org.uk>
Date: 03-Apr-2007 12:16
Subject: Local election campaign launch briefing
To: "tjeyaranjan@gmail.com" <tjeyaranjan@gmail.com >

I've had the huge privilege of leading Labour into every campaign for 12 years. Over the years our party has worked successfully to make Britain fairer and more prosperous, we have also changed the electoral battleground. But what's not changed is my enthusiasm for getting our achievements and plans for the future across.

These elections see Labour in local government campaigning on a record in which we can take real pride. Our councils lead the way in value for money. We have improved services while delivering lower increases on average than Tory or Lib Dem councils and a lower average level of council tax.

Labour councils and councillors are in the lead, too, in tackling crime and anti-social behaviour in our towns and cities. They have been supported by a Labour Government which has delivered record numbers of police and given communities the new powers needed to get tough with the louts who make life misery for their neighbours. Labour councils have shown how these powers can help transform communities. In contrast, the Tories and Lib-Dems opposed them in parliament and have been reluctant to use them where they control the councils. Labour puts the rights of the decent majority before those of the mindless minority.

Colleagues in town halls have also made impressive progress in protecting and improving the local environment. They have used the new powers given to them by the Labour government to tackle graffiti, noise pollution and abandoned cars - again all opposed by the Tories.

Labour in Government and in councils up and down the land have worked together to improve education for our children. There's been record and sustained investment in our schools which we pledged to continue in the Budget last month. There are 36,000 more teachers in the classroom, new or refurbished schools in every community and the best ever exam results.

The progress in our health service has been just as impressive. There are 32,000 more doctors and 85,000 more nurses than in 1997. Thanks to their hard work, waiting times and waiting lists have been slashed. Where once patients routinely waited over 18 months just on in-patient lists for an operation, we are on course to guarantee no one waits more than 18 weeks from GP to operating theatre by the end of next year. Improved cancer and coronary care has saved tens of thousands of lives.

It's a record in which we all can take pride. We have made communities more secure, wealthier, fairer and, I hope, happier. What the public wants to know is that we have the determination, the policies and the ambition to keep improving their lives. They are looking for optimism and hope from Labour. We should give it to them. We are a party who has achieved so much and have even more to do.

With best wishes

Tony Blair MP

Leader of the Labour party

P.S. To read our campaign briefing which sets out Labour's case in these local elections

click here.

War, Peace and Governance in Sri Lanka: Overview and Trends 2006 by Centre for Policy Alternatives

Governance

Introduction

Several developments in 2006 raised serious concerns about the Government's commitment to principles of good governance and the rule of law. The crisis of democratic governance through the course of 2006 was highlighted by the failure to re-constitute the Constitutional Council and other 17th Amendment-mandated independent commissions. In addition to this, the crisis of democratic governance and rule of law in the country was further evident by the increasingly overt politicization of the judiciary and, particularly, the Supreme Court, the re-invocation of draconian legislations which

challenged human rights in the country, the attacks against NGOs and INGOs as well as passage of legislation signifying the lack of accountability and transparency in the law-making process. These, in turn, had implications for the peace process, the protection of human rights and the growing culture of impunity witnessed during the year.

Conclusion

The cumulative effect of the cavalier disregard for the Constitution, the consequent politicization of key democratic institutions, the continuing politicization of the judiciary – in most constitutional democracies, the last refuge against an authoritarian Government and an ineffective legislature – the concerted attacks on civil society and voices of dissent, and the growing culture of impunity raises serious concerns about the protection of basic norms of Constitutionalism and democracy in 2007.

The weak and fractured opposition and the rise in the influence of the armed forces as they inflict military defeats on the LTTE, introduce two additional factors that could also contribute to the shrinking of democratic space for alternative opinions and dissent. Concerned citizens and the international actors who attach importance to principles of democracy and good governance should address these disturbing trends and recognize the linkages between the concerns of governance and

human rights and the pursuit of peace.

http://www.cpalanka.org/research_papers/War_Peace_Governance.pdf