Tim Yeo MP, Chairman of the cross-party Environmental Audit Committee and former Shadow Minister of Agriculture, writes about limitation of current policies on biofuels.
Earlier this year the Environmental Audit Committee looked at biofuels, to try to untangle conflicting reports about their usefulness in lowering greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, and to investigate concerns that their production might cause environmental damage.
We found that although certain biofuels, such as bioethanol, can indeed help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, many could have serious environmental impacts and might even lead to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions overall.
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Steve Norris, TRG Patron and former Conservative Candidate for Mayor of London writes for the TRG about what he thinks the Conservative Mayoral Candidate in 2008 should campaign on.
Even a stopped clock’s right twice a day so perhaps it is inevitable that even this government occasionally gets something right. That was the case when the incoming administration decided there ought to be an elected body responsible for strategic issues in London, and that the best mechanism to deliver those strategies was an elected Mayor. Before too many Conservative hackles rise, let me explain.
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Camila Batmanghelidjh, Director of Kids Company, highlights the long-term effects of abuse and neglect.
Adult survivors of childhood abuse and neglect are often told not to live in the past, to get over it. It’s easier said than done because the past is intrinsically living in them, it’s inescapable and it colours much of their perceptions. It is this legacy which demands our urgent action to stop child abuse….
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Sir Malcolm Rifkind KCMG QC MP, a patron of the TRG, responds to Tony Blair’s recent article for the Economist.
As he comes to the end of his time in office, Tony Blair has felt the understandable urge to defend his foreign policy record. In an article in the Economist entitled ‘What I’ve learned’, Blair attempts to justify his decision-making. Regretfully, he does not appear to have learnt very much. As usual, his analysis of the threats and challenges that we face is broadly correct. It has been in his proposals for action that he has fallen down, with terrible consequences for both the UK and the wider world.
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Ann Furedi, of BPAS (the British Pregnancy Advisory Service), discusses why Ann Winterton’s Ten Minute Rule Bill should be opposed.
The last 8 months have seen three Conservative ten minute rule Bills seeking to limit the provisions of the Abortion Act 1967. The latest, from Ann Winterton would compel all women requesting abortion to receive counselling and further information about the effects of abortion, and introduce a seven day cooling off period before a doctor is permitted to give the woman treatment. This intended legislation may sound reasonable on the face of it, but – whether members agree or disagree with legal abortion - this Bill should be opposed, as unnecessary and disingenuous.
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Benedict Rogers, Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission, asks a difficult question
Zimbabwe, Sudan, Burma, North Korea – these are just four of the human rights and humanitarian disasters in the world today. And where is the United Nations, the organisation whose very Charter exists to promote and protect human rights and basic freedoms? What has happened to the Universal Declaration, that wonderful document signed by most countries in the world to declare that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”?
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In the latest of our new series “By Invitation”, Jonathon Cox of the Refugee Council discusses some of the key issues in the debate on immigration control.
This week, the House of Commons will debate the UK Borders Bill – the Government’s latest attempt (there have been five since 1997) to convince the public that it is tough on asylum and immigration.
Soon after coming into post last year, Immigration Minister Liam Byrne MP explained that a Guardian opinion poll had reported that only 4% of the public believed that the Government had immigration under control – “my job is to double that figure!” he joked.
Except maybe it wasn’t a joke.
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