Change in London has been overwhelmingly led by developers supported by politicans.  So much so that Londoners no longer feel our city is our own nor our home. Many can simply no longer afford to be here, threatening our families, communities and services.  Now that we have a new Mayor we need to get the message across that that needs to change and we as citizens need to be in the driving seat.  Just Space have produced a newspaper calling for ongoing effective community participation in the…

Mauritian lawyer, political activist and friend Jean Claude Bibi was interviewed by the l'express on this subject in 2012.  It's a clear statement of the difference between law and justice and demonstrates that the struggle for justice is indeed international. JCB is referring to the Mauritian system.  It should be remembered that legal aid has been cut savagely by the UK Government.  It would be good if someone could blog about…

For anyone looking for tips on how to repair things like ripped pockets, broken bra underwires and detached belt loops, WRAP have new webpages:http://loveyourclothes.org.uk/care-repair 

Could save money and favourite clothes.

Subversion, sabotage and spying: Political policing and state racism in the UK

This was the title of the extraordinary conference I attended at South Bank Uni in early April. Over 2 days speaker after speaker spoke about appalling cases of racism, subversion, dishonesty, criminality and violence by the…

It was wonderful to find my old friend Inonotus dryadeus (also known as Oak Bracket) back in Clissold on Monday. Calling a bracket fungus a friend may seem a bit weird but having not seen this amber beauty for 8 years it was joyous to rediscover it on the same veteran plum tree where it fruited in 2008. Surely knowing an organism as beautiful as this for 8…

I Tweeted (@treeruss) the above photo to advertise yesterday's bee walk and it happens to feature the first bee we saw.  This is a male Hairy Yellow-Face bee Hylaeus hylinatus. It's tiny, less than 6mm! Yesterday's male was a bit dozy, presumably due to the cold weather. It soon warmed up in the glass tube I used to show if to the assembled bee…