Current projects

Reheat Britain

An idea so brilliant they absolutely had to do it! This campaign was inspired by Mick Williams, a plumbers merchant from Hampshire, whose Downing Street petition for a boiler scrappage scheme caught my eye in summer 2009. A few Twitter messages later and I was his official campaign manager.

Joined by Gary Dunion (my former boss in the GP press office) on PR, slogan and logo duties, we put together a campaign website and gathered an impressive list of high profile supporters lobbying for the cause, including major UK boiler manufacturers, the Federation of Small Businesses' London region, former Friends of the Earth chief Tony Juniper, and MPs from all parties.

Victory for the campaign came just a few months later with the Pre-Budget Report in December 2009. Householders will be able to claim £400 off the cost of a new boiler early in 2010.

We are Futureproof

An expansion/evolution of the 4x4 campaign. Thankfully the Chelsea Tractors are on the way out but cars, and things in general still aren't as clever, clean or cool as they should be. With the new group, we'll be carrying on the good work aimed at car advertising, promoting clean car technology and generally campaigning for better stuff.

Visit the new website and watch our video. Full bells and whistles coming soon...

Fair Pay Network

I became a patron of the network after my work on living wages as part of the campaign for the London elections. Groups like London Citizens, the Fawcett Society, unions and various MPs and politicians have got together to highlght low pay across the UK and campaign for fair wages for everyone.

There's a great initiative going on at the moment around premiership football clubs. Visit their site for lots of info and resources.

Green Engage Communications

I'm an Associate advisor to this excellent project looking at ways to communicate green messages more effectively to the wider public, recognising that the Dad's Army 'we're all doomed' approach is doomed to failure with the majority of people.

The insightful 'Paint the Town Green' report, published in 2006 is well worth a read by anyone involved in environmental campaigning work.

Progressive London

I'm backing their Fare Deal campaign to stop above-inflation fare rise on public transport - only necessary because Boris Johnson has cancelled the £25 congestion charge for gas guzzlers which would have brought in enough money to keep fares low.

The last thing we need in London is higher costs for public transport users while car drivers get a bonus. The majority of Londoners, especially on lower incomes, don't even have a car, so it's a tax on the good and the poor - nice one Boris!

Some stuff I did earlier:

Alliance Against Urban 4x4s

The original and best campaign against urban tanks, chelsea tractors, etc etc. More than 250,000 fake parking tickets were sent out to supporters across the country, for placing under the windscreen wipers of offending vehicles. We succeeded in gaining a huge amount of attention for the issue, changed social attitudes to gas-guzzlers and persuaded Ken Livingstone to introduce a higher congestion charge for the most polluting vehicles... then Boris cancelled it.

Still, thanks to rising fuel prices, people have started to shun urban 4x4s in bigger numbers than ever before. Sales have fallen through the floor, and you can't give them away on the second-hand market, so we've mainly wound up the campaign to focus on measures to promote cleaner cars, via We are Futureproof instead.

Observer Ethical Awards

After the 4x4 campaign was nominated for an award in 2006, I became an 'expert' judge for the 2007 and 2008 awards, which was a huge amount of fun, especially as you get to look at the details of tons of great campaigns and ethical individuals doing inspiring work. I also got to meet a range of 'celeb' judges, including Colin Firth - and Peter Duncan!

Census Alert

The Green press office was alerted to the fact that Lockheed Martin were in the running to collect data for the 2011 Census in the UK and just had to do something.

Our online petition ended up 23rd on the list of most-signed on the Number 10 website, and the Treasury Select Committee took up the case, asking for legal assurances that no way would our data get anywhere near the USA, where the Patriot Act would mean handing it over to US intelligence. Lockheed has the contract now, so still watch out for more when census time comes around in a couple of years.

Kings Cross Railwaylands

The largest urban brownfield site in the UK, north of Kings Cross and St Pancras stations, is in my borough of Camden, and the battle over plans to redevelop it took up my attention for several years. With Camden Greens and the fantastic community campaigners at the Kings Cross Railwaylands Group, we worked hard to try to get more affordable housing and better transport and environmental measures put in, with some success.

The plans that were eventually approved by Camden Council, the Mayor and the Secretary of State were very far from perfect, but we'll be keeping an eye on the development as it proceeds.

Support the current campaign for better pedestrian access to the redeveloped Kings Cross Station here.

Other things I like:

Some links to other campaigns I've had contact with, and taken action with, in no particular order...

Open Rights Group - my other half Jim Killock runs this excellent campaign group, fighting for our online rights
London Citizens - inspirational campaigning for living wages in the capital
Campaign for Better Transport - formerly Transport 2000 and thoroughly brilliant
World Fair Trade Day 2009
HACAN - against Heathrow Expansion
Mundo Cars - cross-Europe campaign for fuel-efficient cars
Advertise CO2 - getting CO2 emissions included on car adverts
Camden CAN - active citizens in Camden
English Collective of Prostitutes - supporting decriminalisation and better safety for sex workers
Because I am a girl - Plan International's campaign to stop the systematic bad treatment of girls around the world.

And some good, green and ethical companies, for good measure:

Unpackaged - a local shop that rewards you for bringing your own packaging
The Duke of Cambridge - London's only certified organic pub, with excellent food
Lush - cutting waste and packaging and helping good causes
Genersys - putting solar water heating on the map
ECO shop - very green, very lovely, very Chiswick, with an eco-consultancy in the basement
Good Energy - where I get my juice
Natural Collection - the friendliest online eco-shop stocking low energy lightbulbs of every type imaginable