Andy Rowell

As war rages in Iraq, and oil and gasoline prices rise, the impotence of the US oil boom is exposed.

It has all the ingredients for an international blockbuster novel: The stunning setting of Africa’s oldest National park, home to half of all the species on the African continent, including one if its most endangered and iconic animals, the Mountain Gorilla.

The clock is ticking. Within the next ten days, the Canadian federal government is expected to announce its final decision on the controversial Northern Gateway pipeline, which will transport toxic tar sands from Alberta via British Colombia to the Pacific Coast.

For anyone concerned about the rising spate of crude by rail accidents across North America, the derailment and explosion last July of a crude by rail train in downtown Lac Megantic, Quebec, which killed 47 local residents, has become something of a cause célèbre.

After one of the most aggressive and disingenuous lobbying campaigns in recent years, Canada has won “big concessions” in its fight against the landmark European climate legislation, called the Fuel Quality Directive (FQD)

Roger Helmer who is standing to become the first ever MP for the United Kingdom Independence Party is a long-standing climate denier with deep ties to leading climate sceptic organisations in the US, such as ALEC, the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Heartland Institute.