"What do older people want?"

The Green Party is inviting contributions from a range of expert speakers on policy proposals to help older people at their conference taking place this weekend in Hove Town Hall.

The debate on Saturday afternoon will include guest speakers from Age Concern and Help the Aged and from Brighton and Hove's Older People's Council, and will be exploring what must be done to address pensioner poverty, social care and transport needs ahead of the forthcoming General Election.

Jean Lambert, the Green MEP for London, who is a Member of the European Parliament's cross-party group on Ageing, will be leading the session. She said:

"I am delighted to welcome expert speakers to Hove to discuss what must be done to ensure a decent pension for all older people, as well as improve access to social, health, transport and other services that could make a real improvement to the lives of older people."

"Far too many pensioners are living in poverty and isolation, unable to access basic care and social networks. The Green Party is committed to improving older people's lives and that's why we're opening this debate which will help inform our policies."

John Barry from Brighton and Hove's Older People's Council will be joining the panel to discuss the role of the organisation in bringing the voice and concerns of older people to local decision-making forums. He said:

"The job of the Older People's Council (OPC) is to make sure that older people in Brighton & Hove are treated with respect and dignity, that they receive the services and support they need and have access to opportunities to lead a fulfilling life. We listen to older people in the city and will be taking their views to the Green Party conference."

Patrick South, Head of Public Affairs at Age Concern and Help the Aged, and Debora Price, an academic from the Institute of Gerontology at Kings College London, will also be appearing on the panel.

Jean Lambert MEP added:

"We have invited a range of experienced speakers to this public meeting and I hope that Brighton and Hove residents will also come along to listen and share their views."

The public meeting will take place on Saturday 5th September at 4pm in the Council Chamber of Hove Town Hall. Everyone is welcome to attend.

LEADING MEDICAL EXPERT TO JOIN BINbinge drinking, conference, GE DRINKING DEBATE

YWCA is delighted to announce that Professor Ian Gilmore, President of the Royal College of Physicians, has agreed to be the keynote speaker at their ‘Women Finding Solutions to Binge Drinking’ conference.

“We are really excited that Professor Gilmore has agreed to speak” says Sarah Payne, Chief Executive YWCA.

“He is known to be passionate about tackling the problems of excessive drinking and the expertise he will share with delegates will be invaluable”.

Professor Gilmore joins an authoritative group of morning speakers including Sara Thornton, the Chief Constable of Thames Valley; Chris Sorek, Chief Executive of Drinkaware and Don Shenker, Chief Executive of Alcohol Concern.

The afternoon workgroups will be chaired by Emma Reynolds from Tesco; Wulf Livingston from the British Association of Social Workers; Helga Swidenbank from Bronzefield Prison and Olivia Bailey from the National Union of Students.

Professor Gilmore is an outspoken critic of the increase in binge drinking among young women and the serious health risks associated with it, such as chronic liver disease and unwanted pregnancies.

Accepting the invitation to be keynote speaker, Professor Gilmore said: “I am pleased to be given the opportunity to really explore what messages young women might be more receptive to so that we can turn this tide of alcohol related health harm. Alcohol is our favourite drug, and it is distressing to see young women pressured into misusing it.”

Over 600 organisations have been contacted. They cover a wide range of involvement around the issue and are not just those normally associated with finding solutions to alcohol abuse. Those invited include for example parenting and grand-parenting organisations, organisations that provide alternative activities to drinking and those concerned about the health of the unborn baby.

“This conference is quite different to other conferences on alcohol abuse” says Sarah, “Not only have we attracted speakers across the spectrum of alcohol use/abuse but we are also hoping that up to 10 per cent of the audience will be young women who use our services and have their own opinions on the issue.

With such a wide range of interested parties this conference will, I am sure, encourage alternative thinking on the issue and offer innovative solutions to tackle one of the most complex social and health problems we face today.”

The conference will be held on Wednesday, 21^st October 2009 at Central Hall, Westminster, London. Further details are available on www.YWCA.org.uk

YWCA is looking for more women to attend its conference on binge drinking.

“Although our conference is for both men and women we hope that lots of women will attend” says Sarah Payne, Chief Executive of YWCA. “We want to hear what women think about the problems of binge drinking.”

The conference, ‘Women Finding Solutions to Binge Drinking’ is to be held on the 21^st October 2009 at Central Methodist Hall, Westminster, London. The cost to delegates is £90 and includes coffees and lunch.

“We see more and more media coverage on the problems of binge drinking and especially young women who binge drink” says Sarah. “It is a problem but it is also important to know that there are less women drinking now than 10 years ago. The problem is that those who drink are drinking more. We need to find out why.”

The charity, which works with disadvantaged young women across England and Wales, is concerned that teenagers who drink excessively are being exposed to risky situations. These may lead to unwanted pregnancies, anti-social behaviour, injury, assault and death.

“We have been planning this conference for some time now. But the recent tragic deaths in Newquay have made us all realise the urgency of the problem. Young people will always want to experiment with alcohol but what we need to do is to find a safe way for them to do so. They also need to know that drinking to excess is not necessary for having a good time.”

A unique feature of the conference will be that about 10 per cent of the audience will be young women. They will be there to voice their opinions and experiences. YWCA is also currently carrying out research into why young women binge drink and how well they understand the risks .The results of this never carried out before research will be presented at the conference.

Speakers include representatives from the Police, the alcohol and retail industry, the NUS and the Prison Service. Representatives from over 400 organisations associated with the problem have been invited to attend as delegates.

YWCA LAUNCHES BINGE DRINKING CONFERENCE

In a bid to tackle the reasons for binge drinking amongst teenagers, YWCA is holding a unique conference this autumn. They plan not only to invite professionals involved in the issue but also young women to explore solutions to the problem.

The charity, which works with disadvantaged young women across England and Wales , is concerned that teenagers who drink excessively are being exposed to risky situations. These may lead to unwanted pregnancies, anti-social behaviour, injury, assault and death.

“We believe that no one person or organisation has the solution and so we hope that by bringing together so many interested parties, including concerned members of the public, we will be able to provide effective solutions.” says Sarah Payne, Chief Executive YWCA.

“We have been planning this conference for some time now. But the recent tragic deaths in Newquay have made us all realise the urgency of the problem. Young people will always want to experiment with alcohol but what we need to do is to find a safe way for them to do so. They also need to know that drinking to excess is not necessary for having a good time.”

A unique feature of the conference will be that about 10 per cent of the audience will be young women. They will be there to voice their opinions and experiences. YWCA is also currently carrying out research into why young women binge drink and how well they understand the risks .The results of this never carried out before research will be presented at the conference.

Speakers include representatives from the Police, the alcohol and retail industry, the NUS and the Prison Service. Representatives from over 400 organisations associated with the problem have been invited to attend as delegates.

“We hope that by bringing together so many interested parties, including young women, we will be able to explore all angles of the problem and be think through some effective solutions which will then be taken forward to Ministers.” says Sarah Payne.

The conference will be held at Central Hall, Westminster , London on Wednesday 21^st October 2009. Booking a place and further information can be obtained at www.ywca.org.uk.

Cameron promises more local powers

David Cameron promised to decentralise power in a speech to the Local Government Association Conference, but, in return, asked for help in getting more for less.

He stressed that “thriving local government” was at the heart of his vision for the country and called for “new ideas, new activism and a new dynamism” at local level.

He pledged that a Conservative Government would devolve power “downwards and outwards” and spelt out the areas where local government would gain more control:

“All those layers of bureaucracy that are a straitjacket on everything you do - the process targets, the Comprehensive Area Assessments, the regional strategies and plans - we’re going to scrap them and let you get on with the job.”

“All that ring-fencing that makes you budget with one hand behind your back - we’re going to phase it out to allow for real local discretion on spending. All those quangos, like the Standards Board, that has just become a forum for pointless and vexatious complaints - we will scrap them.”

David asked delegates to “find even more savings, innovate and help bring us through this debt crisis”.

And he stressed the importance of making local government spending transparent:

“In the post-bureaucratic age we can get citizens involved in the whole debate about what is spent, excite our politics and improve our administration. We must do it.”

"We Must Stop The BNP"

At the Green Party conference in Blackpool today, top North West candidate Peter Cranie urged the Green Party to redouble its efforts to push the far-right BNP out of this June's Euro-election race.

Liverpool-based Peter Cranie is the candidate set to thwart the electoral dream of BNP leader Nick Griffin. In regional list elections, the big three parties usually take most of the seats, and the highest-polling candidate from a smaller party the last seat. In the North West - where the far right seeks to build on the fears and insecurities of the recession - the race for the last seat will almost certainly be between the Greens and the BNP.

In his opening speech to conference, Peter Cranie spoke passionately about the need to support migrants living in Britain against a political party "that doesn't even allow Black British or Asian British people to join it."

He described the complete failure of Britain's handful of BNP councillors who, having use "the politics of hate" to win votes from desperate, disaffected people, had never done anything in office to help anybody, but had simply abused Britain's electoral system "to peddle the politics of hate."

Later today, when party leader Caroline Lucas MEP gave her keynote speech, she said: "I know of no-one more passionately committed to social justice than Peter Cranie."

Green conference to consider "zero-carbon by 2030" option

In a week when Britain's media has been reported yet more dire warnings of climate catastrophe and looming energy shortages, the Green Party's spring conference is to consider a motion calling for a zero-carbon economy by 2030.

Proposers of the motion will argue that Britain needs a wake-up call, as scientists' warnings get louder and more urgent.

A strong lobby of delegates at the Balackpool conference will argue that a zero-carbon target is achievable by 2030, provided the country's economy is put on something like a war footing, starting very soon.

They will cite studies such as the Centre for Alternative Technology's Zero Carbon Britain report, which spells out in considerable detail one set of policies to achieve the ambitious target.

The motion will be heard on Saturday, following party leader Caroline Lucas's speech in which she will say Gordon Brown's so-called Green New Deal is hopelessly inadequate.

The zero-carbon motion, which is expected to achieve a strong degree of support, envisages both massive use of existing technology and the urgent need for further technological developments:

"There should ... be a target of a minimum of 10% emissions reductions year on year for the first ten years, by which time emissions would have declined by 65%.

"By then, safe and effective mechanisms for reducing greenhouse has gas concentrations should have been developed, and percentage targets should be replaced by numerical ones to complete the reduction to zero."

Green conference to consider radical policies for women in business

At the Green Party's spring conference in Blackpool, party leader Dr Caroline Lucas MEP will propose a motion on workplace equality.

The motion will note that women working fulltime in the UK are paid 17% less than men. And according to the Equality and Human Rights Commission's "Sex and Power 2008" survey, the percentage of female directors has stalled at 11%, and fallen in a number of categories.

To help tackle this, the new Green policy would require:

* Medium and large companies to undertake equal pay audits that compare the earnings of their employees, and to take action to redress inequalities.
* Legal changes to make it much easier for women to take equal pay cases to court, and to allow women to take such cases as a group, with the support of their unions.
* Significant funding to be put into encouraging girls and women to consider a broader range of careers.
* The law to follow Norway's in requiring that companies listed on the Stock Exchange have 40% of their board members being female within five years of the date of the passing of the legislation.

A separate motion intended to improve women's rights in the UK would ensure major improvements in NHS pre- and post-natal care, including a full range of birth options and the right to a single midwide throughout.

Other motions on women's issues will include:

* A motion to help combat domestic abuse, starting with "respect" training in schools.
* A motion to extend the right to asylum for women and girls, to include asylum for those who would be forced to undergo forced marriage or genital mutilation were they denied asylum.

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Go On...Give Us a Punt...You've Got Nothing to Loose!

Liberal Democrat leader tells his party conference that it will be a long, slow climb out of recession but his party offers hope for the future. Nick Clegg laid the blame for Britain's economic crisis and political malaise squarely at the door of both Labour and the Conservatives, in his keynote speech to the party spring conference in Harrogate:

"A never-ending cycle of red-blue, blue-red government has got us into this mess - it is never going to get us out."

He said now was the time to try something new:

"Now is the time to think big. If you want better, choose different. Choose the Liberal Democrats."

Nick made a stinging attack on the Labour Government for having let people down:

"Labour is like a spent match. There's nothing left. You remember how hopeful people felt in 1997? Remember the promise of a better future? Don't you feel the disappointment? An economy in tatters. A country more unequal than before. An illegal war, our government implicated in torture and rendition. Our environment poisoned. Our privacy invaded, our freedom curtailed. If you believe, like I do, in progress. If you feel let down by Labour, and see that the Conservatives will never be a party of change. Turn to the Liberal Democrats. We carry the torch of progress now."

Much of the speech was devoted to the state of the economy and what the Liberal Democrats would do to turn things round:

"At least 3 million unemployed by the end of the year. That's devastating. Let me be clear. We will do everything possible to help. Everything to protect jobs, keeping viable businesses going. Everything to make sure being made redundant does not mean you lose everything. And everything to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, to get people back out to work as soon as possible."

Nick told conference that the government has borrowed twelve and a half billion pounds to finance this year's VAT giveaway:

"That money alone could have created nearly 100,000 new jobs. And laid the foundations, quite literally, for a new green economy."

Nick said the party should be proud of their progressive policies and enduring liberal values:

"Let us say it loud and clear. We are the only party who will put money into people's pockets with fair tax cuts. The only party to offer universal childcare and smaller classes in our primary schools. The only party who would use Gordon Brown's wasted billions to create thousands of jobs today by investing in homes, hospitals, schools and public transport to build the green economy of tomorrow. The only party that will rebuild the jobs, homes and hopes this recession has destroyed."