Ellee Seymour

Robert Sturdy MEP tried his best to ensure that new laws banning the use of mercury in new barometers did not go through. But unfortunately, common sense did not prevail. The ban will also apply to thermometers and blood pressure gauges.

If there was any real concern that the miniscule amounts of mercury were harmful to health and the environment, then Robert would have been the first to say. He was Shadow Rapporteur on the Trade Committees report on Mercury and knows this subject thoroughly.

“Mercury in barometers is miniscule and only accounts for 0.2% of the 300 tonnes used in the industry. This bureaucratic ban marks a very uncertain future for the companies who specialise in the repairs and maintenance of these traditional instruments going back 400 years, it is an area the UK has proudly lead.”

He will be speaking about this on local radio following our press release today objecting to the ban. It means that pictures like the one above could become a memory in the not too distant future.

I would love to go on a trip like this to the USA for political bloggers. I thought it was all so interesting that I have published the article in full. If ConservativeHome need a female blogger to help advise during the trip to Australia, I could check my diary…..

Bloggers behind two of the UK’s most popular political websites are to travel to the US to learn successful campaigning and fundraising strategies from their American counterparts.

Mark Hanson, PR consultant and strategist for the LabourHome website, is travelling to the US in mid-August to meet bloggers, campaign groups and politicians who have had much broader success in mobilising voters and raising funds than their UK counterparts.

Sam Coates, (pic) a blogger for ConservativeHome.com, is also set to travel to the US to meet with bloggers and politicians based in Washington.

“Being in opposition forces you to innovate,” Mr Coates said.

“So in the US, libertarians are very big on the internet and in the UK, it explains why LabourHome hasn’t taken off.”

In September, the ConservativeHome team is due to advise the Australian prime minister, John Howard, on his new media campaign for the country’s forthcoming general election.

LabourHome is a collaborative group political blog. The site is independent of the Labour Party but influential in informing MPs and campaign groups about online tools and campaign platforms.

Mr Hanson is thought to be looking to US websites such as media monitoring organisation mediamatters.org, political marketing think tank the New Politics Institute and the political blog MyDD, whose founder, Jerome Armstrong, was a consultant on Howard Dean’s Democratic presidential campaign in 2004.

He said liberal blogging was extremely active in the US but had still not matured in the UK. He put the UK’s political blog culture at two or three years behind the US.

Politicians’ attempts to use new social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter have been much derided for being superficial, and for not meaningfully engaging with users.

“Many politicians just don’t grasp the technology, and are worried about losing control of what they say. They need to think ‘who is it I’m trying to reach?’,” Mr Hanson said.

He added that it was not enough to have a profile on a networking site that is not maintained.

He cited Liberal Democrat MP Steve Webb, who is using Facebook to talk to 18-21 year-olds, helping to inform party policy, as an example of how to use networking sites.

LabourHome is exploring how US campaign sites have used publicly-editable pages called wikis, feedback systems and targeted email communication.

US sites such as MoveOn.org have also initiated small-scale online fundraising, and successfully matched volunteers with localised duties during a campaign, such as reporting voter turnout or publishing photos.

LabourHome is working with Labour Party deputy leadership candidate Hilary Benn MP to run online discussions with his constituents using Skype, the internet telephony service.

You would probably imagine that New York City with its dense 8.2 million population and towering apartment blocks would struggle to cope with recycling. So how does it compare to London and its 7.6 million residents?

Sharon Fisher, a Recycling Coordinator, says the state is averaging around 32%. In London, figures published last year showed our capital city had a recycling rate of 17.7% - almost half of New York - and way behind the national average of 22.9% for 2004/05.

Sharon works in the town of Bethlehem, in Albany County, with a population of 31,304. They have an astonishing recycling rate of 52%. This is what they do.

They collect glass, plastic bottles, tin cans, milk and juice cartons commingled - all together. They have a separate collection for newspapers, magazines, school and office paper and cardboard. They also collect books, batteries and electronic items, hazardous waste, yard waste and various other smaller items. These are collected once a week. As far as I know, all our recyclables in the UK are collected once a fortnight.

Their residual waste collection is also made once a week. Obviously we need to ask why they can do this in New York successfully, but we can’t manage it here, no wonder there is so much public opposition to fortnightly waste collections because common sense tells us that it can be done. I forgot to ask how residents pay for these collections, I will ask Sharon and update you on this. They obviously do not have a punitive system, else it would not be so successful.

New York is also being innovative and trialling the use of recycling bins in public places. And its Mayor Mike Bloomberg made certain that residents heard the right messages, unlike the dumbing down of our national recycling promotion currently being held which fails to emphasise the key points he is making. This is what he said:

“This program has great potential - but its success completely depends on the people walking through these areas. Garbage that’s placed in the wrong receptacle can spoil an entire batch of recyclables - which would make this effort a waste of time and money. So please take care to use garbage cans for garbage, and recycling bins for recyclables.

“Our long-term goal is, by the year 2015, to be recycling 70% of all the residential and commercial waste that can be recycled. This is a very ambitious goal - and much, much more than any other big city in our nation is achieving - but we are going to give it our best shot. Every day there are opportunities for all of us to step up our recycling. And if we all just do a little bit more, it can make a big difference.”

New York’s success is particularly amazing because in 2002, it stopped recycling plastic and glass because of a severe budget crisis, and didn’t resume the glass collections until 2004. I hope Minister Miliband takes this all in during his visit to America this week.

Sharon believes that education by far is the most valuable way to get the message across and said their Donating Reusable brochure introduced in 1996 has been extremely helpful and is appreciated by residents.

“Our residents are very conscious of the environment and prefer to recycle rather than have solid waste facilities such as landfills and incinerators in their neighborhood. They are always calling and asking how to recycle that one more item they may have.”

As the Americans would say, that’s awesome!!!

My son James is filming again today, we had a 5am start so he could get to the studio in Stoke Newington, which is recording a new BBC series of Love Soup.

He has his first speaking part too in a professional role. He will be filmed coming out of the cinema with another lad when they see the film’s leading lady in the foyer and brashly ask her to autograph their chests. Only I have no idea who she is, I will update you when I know.

James’ excellent drama group, The Young Actors’ Company, staged the most brilliant performance of Under Milk Wood last weekend, it was so creative. However, James is not keen on his next role in their local production, The Little Red Shoes, when he has to play an angel (there’s always a first time). He is very much a boys’ boy and it will most likely not be added to the theatrical CV.

Update: James is back and the leading actresses’ identity is still something of a mystery, all I know is that it is Amelia. Geoff’s advice to James is that next time a woman writes on his tummy, he should at least get her name and phone number!

Two-year-old Trenton Duckett disappeared from his cot where he was sleeping at home in Leesburg, Florida last August. His 21-year-old mother Melinda committed suicide two weeks later, apparently following a TV interview with Nancy Grace, a controversial former prosecutor.

Officials said there was not enough evidence to lead to his mother and nine months later, the trail has gone cold, with no substantial leads.

Team Trenton had been set up, and included the child’s father Joshua. They created several web sites for Trenton, a hotline and offered a $20,000 reward. The campaign included a “billboard on wheels” — a truck carrying a double-sided billboard with Trenton’s picture, which was parked at busy intersections..

In memory of those who are still missing.