WESSEX
Dorset, Hampshire and Isle of Wight
Tel: 01962 852122
AUTUMN 1998
NLP LOCAL NEWS
Media
Press coverage in the Wessex region through the middle of 98 has been excellent. This includes William Treend in the Portsmouth News; Rosemary Barry on Radio Wey Valley, Winchester Extra and Eastleigh Extra; and Mark Griffiths on Radio Gold, Dorset Evening Echo and the Dorchester Guardian.
Much of the media coverage in Wessex has been on the NLP's campaign to ban genetically engineered food. Nonetheless, the highlight of the season was Weymouth's Graham Scriven's appearance in the Dorset Evening Echo with a call to Dorset businesses to fund a permanent group of Yogic Flyers in Northern Ireland in order to 'bring the troubles to a peaceful end once and for all'.
Under the headline 'Back meditators to bring Ulster peace' the article appeared following Graham's attendance at a special gathering of TM meditators and Yogic Flyers organised by the Natural Law Party during the Northern Ireland Assembly elections at the end of June, which passed by exceptionally peacefully as a result . As reported in the Echo, however, tension has once again returned to Ulster with the dispersal of the meditators from the province. This deterioration in the atmosphere in Northern Ireland clearly highlights the need for a permanent coherence creating group of Yogic Flyers in the province.
(Click here to see Dorset Evening Echo article)
Peace initiative
The Wessex Natural Law Party was represented at the NLP peace initiative in Northern Ireland during the Assembly elections by both Tom Griffiths-Jones and Graham Scriven. Both found it a unique and profoundly inspiring experience (for more details see section on Northern Ireland below).
Genetic Engineering Campaign
The Natural Law Party has been operating a global campaign to ban genetically engineered food for over two years now. However, much to everyone's satisfaction, the summer of 98 has proved to be the point when the British public were finally woken up to the dangerous and underhand way in which large corporate businesses are going about changing the fundamental molecular structure of our food.
As a result of this change in public awareness people are now actively contacting the Natural Law Party for more information, whereas previously we were having to make most of the approaches. Even Monsanto (the American company most heavily promoting genetically modified food ) has been putting the NLP's web site details in its own controversial adverts as a source of opinion on the subject different to its own!
The NLP's influence in the developing debate is illustrated by the fact that Iceland Food's decision to ban genetically modified ingredients in its own brand products was as a result of a letter writing campaign (confirmed in a national newspaper) to the company organised by the Natural Law Party. Earlier in the year the Wessex Natural Law Party set up a GM internet news service to the media and other interested bodies including the BBC, Farming News, Farmers Weekly, Farmer's Guardian, Farming Online, LEAF and the Country Landowners Association.
Other local GM activities have included a presentation to the Wessex Healthy Living Foundation in Bournemouth which resulted in an excellent in depth article in the Dorset Evening Echo entitled 'Muddying the Gene Pool'. It was followed by a response article the following week entitled 'There's no GM grain gain for UK farmers' featuring the Dorset farming community who echoed many of the concerns expressed by the NLP.
('Muddying the Gene Pool' Dorset Evening Echo article)
We expect pubic debate to intensify on this subject over the winter period as the government decides whether or not to allow the first commercial GM crops to be grown in 1999. (If you would like to participate in our campaign please contact us.) In the meantime Rosemary Barry has written to the Leader of Hampshire County Council, Freddie Emery-Wallis, asking for the Council to declare Hampshire the first 'GMO Free Zone' county in the country. She has presented a seven point plan to achieve this and eagerly awaits a response!
(Seven point action plan presented to Hampshire County Council to create GMO Free Zone)
STOP PRESS!! The UK NLP Environment Spokesman has been invited by Dorset Genetics Network to speak at two public meetings on genetic engineering in Dorset in September. These will be in Dorchester Tues 15th (venue to be announced), and Bridport Town Hall Wed 16th, 7.00pm.
For further details contact Sam Brown of Dorset Genetics Network, tel: 01297 489822. PUBLIC and PRESS welcome.
(For more information on the dangers of
genetically engineered foods click here)
Architecture and Town and Country Planning
Engineer and NLP national spokesman on Housing and National Planning, John Renwick, is coming to Dorset in November (dates to be confirmed) at the invitation of the Wessex Natural Law Party to promote the party's programmes on Architecture and Planning in accordance with Natural Law. His programme will include talks in Bournemouth and Dorchester, as well as a visit to the Prince of Wales' new innovative development at Poundbury.
(Architecture and Planning in accordance with Natural Law)
New Wessex Web Site
The Wessex Natural Law Party now has a new upgraded web site at http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex . Please change your bookmarks.
NLP GLOBAL NEWS
5th International Convention of Natural Law Parties
The Natural Law Party is now established in over 70 countries and representatives from many of these were present at this year's International Convention at Bonn held in July. Among these the chairman of the recently inaugurated Natural Law Party of Scotland, George Stidolph, gave his maiden speech to the convention. He reported considerable success with the media including a programme on the Natural Law Party to be made and broadcast this year by Scottish Television, and another programme which will follow a candidate's activities throughout the elections for the new Scottish parliament next May.
Dr John Hagelin, 1996 NLP US presidential candidate, also introduced his
new book 'Manual For A Perfect Government'
which is a simple guide to the policies of the Natural Law Party across the globe. It is
an extremely useful reference which is being sent to politicians of all colours across the
globe including all heads of government.
A particular highlight of the convention was an address by the new Prime Minister of Netherlands Antilles, Mrs Susan Römer, who has the special distinction of also being a Yogic Flyer. Although Netherlands Antilles is one of the smallest countries in the world delegates were impressed by Mrs Römer's enlightened approach to government. She reminded the convention that: 'It does not matter who administers the government, what matters is that they have the best knowledge'. Mrs Römer is currently endeavouring to implement many of the programmes that the Natural Law Party promotes.
Northern Ireland
The most remarkable success of the Natural Law Party in the UK this year was the profound effect it was able to create in order to ensure that the June elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly passed peacefully. This was achieved by bringing in over 100 Yogic Flyers from across the UK and elsewhere to create a coherent atmosphere. As anticipated the effect was immediate and concrete. The day before the election one of the province's major newspapers observed: 'Northern Ireland's voters go to the polls tomorrow after an election campaign that has been astonishingly quiet, given the history shaping significance of the event. Historians may well decide that the quietness itself was significant.' The day after the elections the Sunday Times drew attention to the presence of the Yogic Flyers in the province and the claim by the Natural Law Party that they were responsible for the unusually calm and peaceful atmosphere.
During the elections leaders of the NLP had meetings with senior members of other parties on both sides of the 30 year conflict to explain their unique solution to the 'troubles'. This dialogue is continuing and has taken on special importance now that tensions have returned to Ulster following the departure of the Yogic Flyers. The NLP is endeavouring to obtain cross party support for the establishment of a permanent group of Yogic Flyers in the province and is also appealing to businesses to provide the necessary funding.
(NLP Northern Ireland Home Page)
New Zealand and Australia
During July Natural Law Party representatives met with Australian and New Zealand Health Ministers and their advisors to brief them on key issues of food safety and preventive approaches to health care. As a result the Council of New Zealand and Australian Health Ministers backed away from their original intention to allow genetically altered foods to be sold without labelling and announced on 29 July that they will require mandatory labelling of some genetically altered foods and will investigate concerns further before taking a decision on labelling all GE foods later in the year. Representatives of the two Health Ministers contacted the Natural Law Party to say that Natural Law Party briefings had been very influential in the decision making process.
As a result of a Natural Law Party request for more public debate, a New Zealand Member of Parliament organised a debate at Parliament House in Wellington on 6 August on the safety of genetically engineered foods. A Natural Law Party representative was the keynote invited speaker at the debate. The debate was an example of Natural Law Party policies at work. It was attended by some senior politicians from the ruling coalition and all other parties in parliament were also represented. The MPs had come to listen to what the Natural Law Party had to say on the issue and took careful notes. At the conclusion, the Chairperson thanked the Natural Law Party for educating MPs on the issue and noted that the cross party debate was an example of the type of all-party co-operation that the Natural Law Party advocates.
(NLP New Zealand Home page)
(NLP Australia Home page)
USA
Sixty Members of Congress and staff members attended the forum of the Congressional Prevention Coalition moderated by Dr. John Hagelin, NLP 1996 Presidential candidate. The forum was entitled 'Stress Prevention: Its Impact on Health and Medical Savings' and featured presentations by Dr. Harold Bloomfield, best-selling author and internationally renowned psychiatrist, who is also the Natural Law Party's 1998 candidate for Governor of California; Dr.Norman Anderson, Associate Director of the NIH; Dr. Lee Lipsenthal, Medical Director of Dean Ornish's Preventive Medicine Research Center; and Dr. Robert Schneider, Medical Director of the Center for Health and Aging Studies at Maharishi University of Management, who has conducted multiple NIH-funded studies on the effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness, of Transcendental Meditation in treating hypertension and heart disease.
The Coalition's Congressional sponsors were so excited by both the turnout and the response from those present that they immediately asked Dr. Hagelin to organize more caucuses. Future Congressional forums are now being planned on genetic engineering, effective crime prevention, and 'Primary Prevention - Changing the Paradigm' a forum designed to shift the way in which the Congressional Budget Office 'scores' programs for cost-effectiveness, a process which currently emphasizes short-term expenditures over long-term savings.
(Congressional
Prevention Committee)
(NLP USA Home Page)
Denmark
The Natural Law Party in Denmark is hosting a major international
conference on genetic engineering in Copenhagen, November 23 and 24. The conference,
entitled 'Genetechnology - Outdated by
Science?', is being organised in conjunction with a Danish trade
union. The conference will feature eminent GE scientists from around the globe including
Dr Michael Antoniou, UK, Dr John Fagan of the United States, and Dr Jaan Suurküla, MD, Sweden, Chairman of Physicians and
Scientists Against Genetically Engineered Food.
Politicians from a number of parties have been invited to speak at the conference,
including Mark Griffiths of the Wessex Natural Law Party. Environmental groups and farming
organisations will also be presenting papers. Registration for the conference can be made
via the Danish NLP web site http://www.naturlovspartiet.dk , or e-mail:
naturlovspartiet@naturlovspartiet.dk. Fax: +45 75 53 25 26 or ordinary letter: Gl.
Kongevej 9, 6000 Kolding.
UK
This year's UK NLP party conference is being held 24/25 October, Skelmersdale, Lancashire. Included in the programme will a big genetics event. The principal focus of the weekend, however, will be preparations for next year's European Elections.