Reading Gay Bishop Issue 7

Welcome to this sizzling edition of Gay Bishop. Phew
What A Scorcher! (Oh come on, we are the only ones not
saying it). Not content with filling our irresistible
gazette with photographic images of those lovely young
girls going shopping whilst their husbands play
football, we bring to you this month a startling
account of some airport-based capers; a charming
article about the state of the air we breath and the
exciting details of the visit of a most distinguished
dignitary. Not necessarily in that order. The order
is:

Mayors for Peace
In the hot House
Axe the Airports

Holy Trouble Making
Who are this Gay Bishop Lot Anyway


Mayors For Peace

With the “international community” muttering darkly
about the urgent need to prevent North Korea and Iran
from developing nuclear weapons, it’s an opportune
moment to remember that only one nation has ever used
nuclear weapons against another in an act of war.
Step forward please the USA, which in August 1945
nuked the civilian populations of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki in order to bring freedom and democracy to
Japan.

Next month Reading will be hosting a very special
international visit from the Mayor of Hiroshima – the
Japanese city where the first atom bomb ever built was
dropped, killing over 100,000 people. Dr Tadatoshi
Akiba is visiting Europe as part of an international
‘Mayors for Peace’ delegation, and on Sunday 2nd July
he will travel to Reading and speak at the gates of
the AWE Aldermaston nuclear weapons factory to demand
an end to the construction of nuclear weapons.

Everyone is welcomed to get involved in the day’s
events, and a full programme of activities has been
arranged. Mayor Akiba will be arriving at Reading
Civic Centre at noon for a reception with the Mayor of
Reading, and will be welcomed by peace campaigners
with flags and banners. Shortly afterwards a critical
mass group of cyclists will set off from the Civic
Centre for AWE Aldermaston.

At 2.30 pm a coach for non-cyclists will leave Reading
for AWE
Aldermaston (the departure point is still to be
confirmed, but probably Reading Station. Places will
be free, but please telephone Reading Peace Group to
book your place in advance).

At 3.30 pm Mayor Akiba will deliver a letter to AWE
Aldermaston and speak on nuclear weapons abolition,
and there will be a pause for silent reflection to
commemorate those who died at Hiroshima and from all
other acts of war.

At 5.00 pm Mayor Akiba and Kate Hudson, Chair of CND,
will speak at a public meeting at Friends Meeting
House, Church Street (off London
Street), followed by tea and biscuits.

For more information please contact Reading Peace
Group on 0118 958
8281.

In the Hot House

A recent report by Best Foot Forward looking at
household CO2 emissions found that Readings homes
produced the highest amount of 23 selected cities
(although Reading is not actually a city). The report
explained that the difference in emission levels was
due to “a variety of factors including the age and
type of housing stock, quality of heating system,
ownership of appliances, occupancy levels, fuel mix
and habits of the occupants” but gave no further
comparative information. Emission's from the domestic
sector contribute to approximately 30% of UK C02
emissions.
Ironically considering that it was British Gas that
commissioned the report 63.5% of the emissions from
Reading homes result from the use of Gas, electricity
accounted for 34% with oil and gas accounting for the
remaining 2.5%. As Gas is primarily used for heating
and cooking it reasonable to assume most of this
energy was consumed through heating our homes.
A buildings energy efficiency can be measured by the
Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) which gives it a
rating of 0-100 with 0 being least efficient.
Nationally almost 2 million homes have an SAP below
30, a change of the national housing stock to an SAP
of 70 could reduce CO2 emissions by 34.5 %.
A report by the Environmental Change Institute looks
at how looks at how emission's from households can be
reduced to 40% of 1996 levels. It predicts that 87% of
the current housing stock will still be standing in
2050 and thus improving energy efficiency of the
existing housing stock will require large scale
refurbishment.
Reading Borough Council’s housing strategy found that
the private sector was poorest performing with 10% of
homes having an SAP rating below 30. This is hardly
surprising considering that there is no economic
incentive for landlords to carry out potentially
expensive work to improve the energy efficiency of the
house.
Reading Borough Councils Landlord accreditation scheme
makes no reference to the energy efficiency of the
home. Similarly the Housing Act 2004 that came into
force in April 2006 puts no demand on landlords to
supply energy efficient housing. One of the
recommendations made by Environmental Change Institute
was that a “system of regulation for the rented sector
be adopted to compel landlords to meet minimum
efficiency standards”.
According to the World Health Organization 150,000
people die a year from climate change and that figure
is likely to increase, CO2 is the most important
greenhouse gasses driving climate change.

AXE the Airports
Whilst the nation firmly gripped its collective St
George’s flag and nervously awaited the kick off of
the England match on 10th June, groups of activists
and local residents across the country and beyond
descended on a number of Britain’s airports in order
to voice their opposition to the ever creeping
tentacles of airport expansion, including at Bristol
and Heathrow.
On this day of aviation action across Europe, Gay
Bishop visited Southampton Airport as this was the
focus of the launch of a new campaign: AXE – Against
eXpansion at Eastleigh, Eastleigh being the town next
to Airport that will be affected by BAA expansion
plans. About 70 protestors turned up, some of whom
were local and others were supporters from around the
Hampshire area and members of environmental interest
groups.
Armed with banners, placards and cardboard aeroplanes
protestors stood outside the airport for about two
hours, handed leaflets to interested members of the
public and were filmed and photographed by local
media. It was a peaceful demonstration overseen by
Hampshire’s finest who were up for a peaceful day
themselves, but allowed a small delegation to go up to
the airport terminal for a short and uneventful
handover of a letter introducing AXE and its demands.
AXE, a coalition of environmental and residents’
groups, is demanding that: ‘BAA (British Airport
Authority) ends plans to expand the airport, have no
increase in flight numbers, does not plan to extend
the runway in the future and does not build a new link
road to the airport’.
Speaking to some of the local activists a range of
concerns arose from noise, more roads needing to be
built and an increase in traffic to the airport. Other
concerns were the increase in Carbon emissions from
the increase in airport traffic. According to Mark
Lynas writing in The New Statesman: “ [Worldwide]
Aviation is the fastest-growing source of
greenhouse-gas emissions, already accounting for eight
million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year….”
The day passed peacefully and more action is expected.
AXE is pledging that they will “Campaign to ensure
they [BAA] take environmental issues, noise, damage to
residents properties and the quality of life of those
affected by the airport seriously.”
For further information and updates visit:
www.southamptonaxe.org.uk

Holy Trouble Making!

*Friends of Earth are hosting a meeting on Climate
Change Is the government doing enough? Speakers
include Martin Salter and Richard Benyon. Hexagon
Thursday 29th June
Debate begins at 8p.m. Stalls & info from 7.30p.m.
*Screening of "The revolution will not be televised".
The story of the 2002 kidnapping of President Hugo
Chavez of Venezuela.Thursday 29th June 7.30pm.RISC
35-39 London Street,Meeting Room 3
*Berkshire Climate Movement The mischievous animals of
Berkshire Climate Movement are out and about at Tesco
Wokingham to campaign against deforestation. 1st July
2006 – Meet at RISC 10:30 if you wanna go
*Visit of Mayor Akiba of Hiroshima – 2nd July 2006.
All detail above

So just who are this Gay Bishop lot anyway?
Gay Bishop is produced on a voluntary basis by an open
collective of local people and activists who want to
shine the spotlight on the news stories that local
politicians would prefer stayed hidden - and get to
the roots of the ones they gloss over! Our roots are
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