By Trevor Evans, Chairman, Harpenden UNA NEWS AND COMMENTJune 2009EU election meeting
Our last meeting was a new venture for Harpenden UNA, an election forum addressed by candidates in the forthcoming European elections. Unfortunately the Conservatives were not able to supply a candidate for this meeting but it was good to hear from Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green candidates about what they would do about fair trade, the environment and Turkish membership. There were inevitably some questions about expenses, but the candidates expressed the wish that this should not be the issue that dominates our voting decisions. The issues being dealt with by the European Parliament are far more important than that.
How to feed the 9 billion
The government chief scientist Professor John Beddington has recently warned that we are heading for a global resource crisis (including food) in 2030. It seems to me that this is one of the most serious issues we face. It is closely related to that of global warming and just as life threatening. Harpenden Branch has drawn attention to these issues several times in recent years, at our Annual conference. We are very lucky that Professor Ian Crute has agreed to speak about the potential global food crisis, at our next meeting.
