Ellee Seymour

How can anyone argue against the heartfelt case of Inuit leader Aqqaluk Lynge, pleading for an end to the expansion of Stansted Airport to help save villages and hunting grounds across the Arctic?

A public inquiry was launched today to boost passenger numbers by another 10 million a year to 35 million. The plan had been rejected by the local authority on grounds of climate change, believed to be the first time reason this was cited.

This case is really going to test the commitment of our government to promote climate change and work on solutions. The countryside surroundings stunning Stansted and there is no doubt that this expansion will  have a detrimental impact on the local community and environment. I know because it is my local airport.

And these protesters in a letter published in today’s Times note that it is ironic that the inquiry has started just days after the end of National Noise Week! 

But back to the Inuits. Just imagine if our villages and habitat was at further risk of destruction because of climate change, that homes were going to be lost, what would we do? 

This is what Aqqaluk (pic) says, who is head of Greenland’s indigenous population:

“When I was a boy in north Greenland, the sea ice formed in November. Now we don’t see it for months after that. All our certainties are being changed by global warming, from the location of hunting grounds to the loss of our homes to the rising sea.

“This is caused by pollution from the South. There is now a connection between our backyard and your backyard and we would like to you to question some points of your lifestyle such as flying and creating more emissions.

“That is why Stansted is important. Getting on a plane in England for a cheap holiday is felt here on the ice today and for you tomorrow. We are not even 160,000 people but global warming is not just threatened polar bears and melting ice. It is about our right to a viable existence.”

It was a stroke of genius to invite the Inuit leader to the inquiry, which he will attend in person at the end of July. In written evidence to the Stansted inquiry Aqqaluk, who was asked to appear by the Stop Stansted Expansion group, details how one Inuit village in Alaska has already lost 10 homes to the encroaching sea, which has moved 300ft inland since 2000. Engineers predict all 600 houses face being swallowed by 2050.

What would we do if we were in their shoes? Who is listening to Aqqaluk from his home in the Arctic? Who can fail to listen to him now?

Best selling crime writer Patricia Cornwell is suing another author for libel claiming his internet smear campaign is destroying her reputation and has stifled her creative flow.

Lots of bloggers may sail close to the wind, but are  hopefully aware of the laws regarding online defamation. However, it seems Leslie R Sachs has repeatedly overstepped the mark.

The whole case is very bizarre, and like Rachel from North London, Cornwell’s life has been made a misery by her cyber bully.

Cornwell wants a judge to prevent Sachs from writing about her on the internet. Sachs did not appear in a recent court hearing, claiming that he was living in Europe. He calls himself a refugee who fears for his life because of Cornwell’s alleged hatred and power.

Cornwell also claims that she fears for her safety because of Sachs’ writings, which call her “a Jew-hater,” “a neo-Nazi,” and “a felon.” She said Sachs’ behavior has damaged her reputation, threatened her ability to research, and stifled her creative process.

Their conflict began after Sachs accused Cornwall of copying his book The Virginia Ghost Murders, a paperback published in 1998. Sachs began writing to publishers, placing stickers on his own book, and using the Web to criticize Cornwell after she published The Last Precinct two years later.

So the forthcoming Conservative Women’s Organisation’s forum on cyber bullying is very well timed. I would like to see a legal expert  join their panel of speakers, Tim Loughton, Shadow Minister for Children; Louise Burfitt-Dons, an expert on bullying; and Niki Molnar, web designer. The forum is being held on Tuesday, 26 June and is open to anyone interested - men too, and you don’t  have to be a committed Conservative either. Contact Elaine Hall for further info on Elaine.Hall@Conservatives.com

What’s so awful about this is the sheer helplessness when defamatory comments are being spread this way. A person’s good reputation is priceless. It has happened to me to a much lesser degree and I felt devastated, hoping nobody would believe a word of those spiteful and vindictive lies.

At the end of the day, it is the law and court action that must be enforced rigorously to stop these most intensive and distressing cases of cyber bullying.

Kevin Hicks was 16 when he popped out to buy some eggs from the local  shops one bitterly cold evening. He never returned home. That was in March 1986 - 21 years ago. He is now aged 37; the age progression pic shows him at 33.

It is the ordinariness of the situations leading up to many disappearances that I find so harrowing. Kevin had earlier enjoyed a Sunday lunch with his family and even helped his dad wash up afterwards at their home in  Addiscombe, Croydon. He later popped out to buy the eggs which he needed for a school exam the next day.

His disappearance has been featured on Crimewatch and extensive police searches have failed to come up with any leads. Every Christmas, Kevin’s father hopes that his son will return. He has never given up hope of being reunited.

Tragically, Kevin’s mother died of a brain tumour at the age of 42 in October 1994, having just made a television appeal for news about her son. Derek still lives in the house Kevin grew up in after his wife asked him never to move away.

In memory of those who are still missing.