Kew Gardens

After more than 4 years it's easy for those who campaign against this Coalition's cuts to become disheartened or just plain overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task facing them. And compared to the life-or-death impact of cuts to social welfare or the NHS it is sometimes difficult to find time or energy for what can sometimes be viewed as less urgent issues. 

This is why I was so keen to invite a speaker from the Save Kew campaign to address members of the London Green party ahead of our monthly meeting last night. We were very lucky to have Julie Flanagan, a negotiations officer with the Prospect trade union, along to give an informative talk about the cuts Kew faces and the impact they could have.

Julie gave a good background to the work of Kew and the nature of the cuts it faces. I thought she was particularly strong on:

- the importance of the science work undertaken at Kew and its links to climate change, medical advances and even forensic science

- why Kew should not be moved to a self-funding model, we need its scientists to work on scientific breakthroughs not on raising money from grant-making bodies or other organisations

The Green party members at the meeting obviously agreed with Julie because most of their questions / comments were about how to help with the campaign. As chair and a founding member of the Green Party Trade Union group it was gratifying to so much common ground between party members and a trade union speaker! 

I'm sure many who were not at the meeting would also like to help. You can do so by:

(1) Signing the petition:

https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/globally-important-conservation-and-science-under-threat-at-royal-botanic-gardens-kew-due-to-uk-government-cuts-5m-deficit-will-lead-to-loss-of-over-120-posts?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=54978&alert_id=cvLdThlNWp_OqbAqDnaWS

(2) Liking the campaign on facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-Kew-Cuts/531269593644979

(3) Following on twitter

https://twitter.com/KewCuts

I will update on further developments as they occur.