London Marathon 2009

St Georges Day Cake

Naughty Innocent

Today Innocent announced that it was getting a new investor - Coca Cola. The following is a copy of the email I sent (in a similar style to the banter Innocent use)...


Naughty Innocent‏

From:	Roz Lyn (rozpost@hotmail.com)
Sent:	07 April 2009 11:45:42
To:	richardr@innocentdrinks.co.uk

Hi there,

Hope you are having a lovely day and that this doesn’t spoil it too much. You are, all in all, pretty good people and have some really great ideas and a truly ‘innocent’ ethos and I thought we were all going on a journey of discovery together to see how far we could go with such dreams of building a better world from the inside out…and then the big bad wolf showed up at the door... and you let him in.

Seriously…what happened? Don’t you know that Coca-Cola sell carbonated sugary drinks that aren’t really good for you? I realise you are innocent but surely not naïve enough to think that this won’t have a detrimental effect on your reputation…people might start thinking that you’re not really nice people after all and that you don’t want the world to be a better place and that you are really only interested in money.

I really, really, really, really like Innocent and so many others do too and because of this I was really really, really, really upset to see what looks like just another one of those businesses starting off with high ideals and dreams that ends up, as usual, just selling out. I know you say you hope to influence Coca-Cola…but sadly they obviously have already influenced you too much. I’m not big on Bible literature but 30 pieces of silver do come to mind when I see 30 million.

So just in case you don’t know - here is some info that might help you see why I am so upset with you and why you now have to sit on the naughty step…

In 2001, a lawsuit was filed in the US against Coca-Cola by the International Labor Rights Fund (www.laborrights.org) and the United Steelworkers union on behalf of SINALTRAINAL — the major union representing Coca-Cola workers in Colombia — several of its members and the survivors of Isidro Gil, one of its murdered officers (www.sinaltrainal.org/). The lawsuit charges that Coca-Cola’s bottlers in Colombia “contracted with or otherwise directed paramilitary security forces that utilized extreme violence and murdered, tortured, unlawfully detained or otherwise silenced trade union leaders.” The seriousness of the situation is best summed up by a SINALTRAINAL officer, who stated: “If we lose the fight against Coca-Cola, we will first lose our union, next our jobs and then our lives.” (http://www.killercoke.org)

Other naughtiness by Coke include:

• Overexploitation and Pollution of Water Sources in India (www.indiaresource.org),

Mexico (www.ciepac.org), Ghana and elsewhere (www.polarisinstitute.org) and in general (http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0307-30.htm)

• Benefiting from Hazardous Child Labour in Sugar Cane Fields in El Salvador as

documented by Human Rights Watch (www.hrw.org)

• Aggressive Marketing to Children of Nutritionally Worthless and Damaging Products

(www.commercialexploitation.org and www.schoolpouringrights.com/)

• Anti-worker Policies in Turkey, Indonesia and Latin America

(www.studentsagainstsweatshops.org and www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/)

• Giving executives hundreds of millions of dollars in stock options and bonuses

while laying off thousands of employees

• History of Racial Discrimination

• Fraudulent Business Practices

• Tax avoidance and corporate welfare scheme

And because of all this I and many others like me boycott Coca Cola and their products…and now because you are their new friend I have to be a good parent and tell you that this new friend is not good for you and I am worried about what trouble they will get you into. So until I work it out or you do – you will have to remain on the naughty step until I decide whether you will end up like Coca-Cola – grounded.

Other than that – hope you have a lovely day and remember that although we are disappointed in you – we still love you and the naughty step and grounding is for your own good.

Love and goodness

Roz x

London Pillow Fight at Elephant & Castle

World Pillow Fight Day 2009

On this day at 3.03, in front of the Michael Faraday Memorial at Elephant and Castle, dust rose and the stuffing was knocked out of pillows!

The peaceful solution to conflict - the pillow. Proven in battle to cause fewer combatant casualties, no collateral damage and higher incidence of outbreaks of smiling and laughter.

Song 'Cry' written and performed by Patsy O'Brien

G20 Peaceful Protests April 1st & 2nd

11am on April 1st...

Protesters gathered outside the American Embassy in Grovesnor Square...

...to march to Trafalgar Square

...for Peace, Love and Freedom and to show we care...

You can't really say 'I Love You' with a nuke!

When you have read the hand written sign read the guy's T Shirt behind it!

Yes we can all live in Love , Peace and Freedom...

...just have to work at it a bit - its not rocket science. Einstein said he wasn't smarter than the rest - he just stayed with the problem longer - we just have to do the same

...like 84 year old Tony Benn speaking once more in Trafalgar Square!

April 2nd at the Excel Centre Protests were just as peaceful.

The flags indicate the tone of the event
(but maybe they are just for hiding the long sticks to be used later as weapons)

This monk came to both protests
(but maybe the stick could be used as a weapon)

And this guy - well you never know -
under that chilled out and peace-lovin exterior
he could really be a not very chilled out and peace-lovin kind of guy

This was a very tense moment at the G20 Protests at Excel...'would the Police Officer get to finish his Haribo in peace?' was the question on everyone's minds...the other police officers were there to make sure he did!

The only dangers at this protest were of people looking too cool...

or of splinters from banner poles...

or skin rashes and alergies from non-hypoalerginic paints...

...or of course heatstroke but thank goodness for the English Spring Weather!