Greenbelt

Whilst the other marchers were rallying with Lemar in Birmingham, I went with Chira to speak at the Greenbelt festival near Cheltenham. Greenbelt is an odd place; it claims to inspire activists and campaigning, yet is sponsored by a government ministry, the Department for International Development.

At the same time as our 'Meet the Cut the Carbon marchers' session, Douglas Alexander MP, Secretary of State for International Development, was speaking elsewhere on the site. Having done our usual climate change talk, we decided to arrange a little protest march of our own. Fourty people joined us as we marched past the Douglas Alexander talk and interrupted him with a rendition of "What shall we do with the carbon emissions?"

Douglas Alexander's previous job was at the Department for Transport where he was implementing the government's airport and road expansion policies. He needs every reminder he can get to cut the carbon.

Later in the day there was meant to be a panel debate on climate change. Unfortunately Douglas Alexander pulled-out of taking part, as did any other representative from the government.

The government is happy to sponsor festivals to push their propoganda, but it is unwilling to take part in real debates about government policies. Another nail in the coffin of our so-called democratic political system.