Alan's Green Thoughts

Well, ladies and gentlemen, the turbulent year that was 2013 is almost at an end. It has sadly been a year mostly of instability and despair-but also a year of moving on. It has seen the deaths of three great heroes of our time-Hugo Chavez, Seamus Heaney and Nelson Mandela-and also the death of Britain's greatest modern villain,Margaret Thatcher. It has seen Euroscepticism rise significantly,particularly in Britain. It has shown us that five years on from the financial crisis, the threats get worse and worse-but this year has shown the potential definitely exists for us to fight against them. It has seen so much, to summarise. My next update will be in the new year of 2014. Best wishes, Alan.    

Well, it is now the Winter Solstice, aka the shortest day of the calendar year, and thus almost the end of the year. This year, I must say, has been rather turbulent. I thus wish to send this Christmas message to my blog's readers: When enjoying the festive season, please also respect the environment and our well-being whilst you do so.  For a few examples, remember to buy gifts and cards that will last rather than items that will generally end up getting junked. And if you wish to buy chocolate for a gift, perhaps to someone you love, please make sure it is fairtrade and thus please do not be tempted to buy those Quality Street, Roses etc. gift boxes. And also, if you need to wrap gifts, please do so responsibly and find wrapping paper you can recycle. On another note, seasons' greetings to you all :) Best wishes, Alan.    

Readers, the results from yesterday's local by-elections featuring Green candidates are as follows, in case you missed them: Bolton, Harper Green: Lab 744 (51.3%), Con 325 (22.4%), UKIP 252 (17.4%), Green 60 (4.1%), Lib Dem 53 (3.7%). West Sussex (county), Haywards Heath East: Con 649 (35.5%), UKIP 576 (31.5%), Lab 346 (19%), Lib Dem 201 (11%), Green 55 (3%) Mid Sussex (district),  Haywards Heath Frankland: Con 414 (45.6%), UKIP 269 (29.6%), Lab 103 (11.3%), Lib Dem 91 (10%), Green 31 (3.4%). Highland Council, Black Isle (1st preference votes): Ind Barclay 1342 (32.8%), Ind Fraser 633 (15.5%), SNP 594 (14.5%), Lib Dem 489 (12%), Green 362 (8.8%), Ind Phillips 304 (7.4%), Lab 194 (4.7%), Con 175 (4.3%). Mrs. Barclay (the widow of Cllr. Bill Barclay, whose death caused this by-election), was elected. I am at least glad we Greens increased our vote share in Black Isle, the most interesting of these contests-the Highlands are not exactly renowned for Green strength but conve...

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to say how thankful I am that the three members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot-wrongly jailed on charges of 'hooliganism' not so long ago when they were just protesting against Vladimir Putin's authoritarian regime-and also the 'Greenpeace 30' (30 Greenpeace activists detained for blocking a Gazprom ship searching for oil in the Arctic Ocean, which for everyone's sake needs to be protected from oil and/or natural gas exploration) will be released following an amnesty from Russia. But it is clear that the Putin government must improve significantly on the human rights front in Russia, especially with regards to freedom of expression, free and fair elections, and LGBT rights. These human rights should be respected in all nations across the world, from culture to culture. Russia needs to also deal with the significant levels of inequality caused largely by the actions of its infamous oligarchs. I hope, over the next year, fol...

Ladies and gentlemen, the media in Britain has given significant reports on two recent deaths. One is of Dr. Abbas Khan, who went into the bombarded city of Aleppo, Syria to practice field medicine but was captured by Syrian troops loyal to Bashar Al-Assad and later found dead in his cell-likely at the hands of his captors. The other death is of Ronnie Biggs, infamous for his participation in the 1963 Great Train Robbery, his escape and subsequent evasion of capture for 35 years. In relation to these two deaths, what I should say is this: Dr. Khan deserves to be remembered and mourned. He went into the job of field medic in Syria despite the brutal civil war Syria is undergoing, and the near-suicidal risk he took into trying to save the lives of people caught in the crossfire between rebels and Syrian government forces. There are few doctors anywhere who would risk this, even those more passionate about saving lives and keeping people healthy than most. The world should be thankful f...

Ladies and gentlemen, there has been much talk about those who are leaving the SWP rapidly and in droves, including Ian Birchall, biographer of SWP founder Tony Cliff. Some speculate whether this will result in the SWP's final demise, after its long and mostly parasitic existence. The SWP is something the progressive elements of Britain can really do without; one protest group even destroyed an unmanned SWP stall down near Sussex University; I myself am quite tired of the SWP gatecrashing demonstrations and marches. As I have said before, the SWP are not real socialists and contribute nothing useful to the British left. The newest socialist alliance, Left Unity, has wisely not let the SWP itself inside but rather those members who have renounced the SWP; the exodus is largely because of the Comrade Delta scandal. I am glad for those people who have left and renounced the SWP, and I hope that as many of them as possible will come and join the Green Party (as long as they respect...

Readers, you may have heard before about the fact that we humans, like all other living things, are dependent on our environment. This is one of the main reasons we must protect our environment, respect it, and try to avoid buying products that are linked to environmental damage, either directly or indirectly. We also need to know that much of what is bad for the environment-pollution, 'fast food', soil degradation-is also bad for our health as well. Excessive pollution over the decades-via emissions from coal, from petrol, from diesel, from other harmful gases-has proven itself to be a factor in increasing rates of cancer, infertility, developmental delay and other health problems in much of the world, especially in densely-populated areas.  The proliferation of fast food in developed (and to a lesser extent, developing) nations has been linked to rising rates of obesity and diabetes, which contribute to higher rates of death from heart problems in these societies. Fast ...

Ladies and gentlemen, in my honest opinion, the decision of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and his People's Party government not to allow a referendum on Catalan independence shows yet more of his contempt for the freedom and democratic rights of the people of the various regions of Spain-as he has already shown in his willingness to impose crippling Troika-led austerity and his call for a ban on unauthorised demonstrations outside the Spanish Congress. Polls show that consistently over half of the people of Catalonia would vote for Catalan independence, and due to the economic crisis' significant effects on Catalonia this proportion is increasing.  Mr. Rajoy's arguments that 'an independent Catalonia would be forced to exit the EU' and that 'Catalans should not follow Scotland's example' reveal much about his authoritarian rule of Spain and his unwillingness to recognise that international finance was responsible for this economic crisis. The ...

Ladies and gentlemen, I apologise for not updating my blog yesterday, but I have been very busy recently with Christmas-time arrangements and short-term financial trouble. I am thankful to all those leaders who flew over to South Africa to pay tribute to Nelson Mandela-although Enda Kenny, the Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) accidentally referred to him as 'Nadiba' when Mr. Mandela's nickname was 'Madiba'. Oops! Quite a few old, former Conservative MPs like Terry Dicks are still unrepentant about their views of Mr. Mandela whilst former Conservative PM Sir John Major correctly states that Margaret Thatcher's government was incorrect to oppose sanctions against South Africa-which in any case should have been imposed earlier under Labour in the 1970s under Harold Wilson and latterly James Callaghan, given that the Soweto riots and the notorious death of Steve Biko happened in the 1970s. In other news, those protestors have successfully pressured Thai Prime ...

Ladies and gentlemen, I thank those of you who paid online tributes or other tributes to Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the first black President of South Africa and an all-round hero in the struggle for human rights, who sadly died on 5 December this year. I know that his legacy, his courage, his perserverance against South Africa's despicable apartheid regime, and his ability to forgive will be remembered for many generations to come. I thank the Green Party once again for paying tribute to his hard work. I must say,however, that it is a pity that since Thabo Mbeki (who was later succeeded by Jacob Zuma, current President of South Africa) took over from Nelson Mandela, that the ANC has neglected some of its fighting legacy in some ways, which partly explains why there is still grave levels of inequality in South Africa, as well as high rates of HIV/AIDS infection (although to be fair, many other nations are also affected by this problem), and also corruption within much of the ...

The results from local UK by-elections involving Green candidates are as follows: Glasgow, Shettleston:  Lab 2025 (53.5%), SNP 1086 (28.7%), Con 224 (5.9%), UKIP 129 (3.4%), TUSC 68 (1.8%), Lib Dem 53 (1.4%), No Bedroom Tax 50 (1.3%), Green 41 (1.1%), Socialist 35 (0.9%), Christian 34 (0.9%), Britannica 31 (0.8%), SDA 6 (0.2%) Liverpool, Riverside: Lab 1055 (70.9%), Green 144 (9.7%), UKIP 119 (8.0%),  Lib Dem 64 (4.3%), TUSC 49 (3.3%), Con 39 (2.6%), English Democrats 9 (0.6%), Cooney (Ind) 7, Goudie (Ind) 1 (0.1%) Manchester, Ancoats & Clayton: Lab 965 (57.5%), Liberal 219 (13.1%), UKIP 138 (8.2%), Green 106 (6.3%), Con 75 (4.5%), Pirate 72 (4.3%), BNP 46 (2.7%), Lib Dem 31 (1.8%), TUSC 17 (1.0%), Comm League 9 (0.5%). Nuneaton and Bedworth, Arbury: Con 395 (40.4%), Lab 369 (37.7%), UKIP 109 (11.1%), Green 56 (5.7%), BNP 35 (3.6%), TUSC 8 (0.8%), English Democrats 6 (0.6%). Although these by-elections were remarkably interesting in the choice of candidates, the ...

Readers, in recent news, the Guardian's editor, Alan Rushbridger, was questioned by ConDem MPs about his exposure of whistleblowing hero Edward Snowden's relevations of how the NSA and GCHQ spied on us without us ever knowing it. He was deemed unpatriotic and was told he endangered national security. It has become increasingly clear, with hindsight, that 'national security' has largely just been used to justify human rights abuses and other abuses of power by elites from across the world, and that many real patriots throughout history, who actually cared about their nation rather than just pretending to, promoted democracy, freedom and transparency, and a fairer nation, which is the message Mr. Rushbridger is rightly trying to bring across, rather than despair, division and hate as the pro-corporate right-wing media under Rupert Murdoch and Viscount Rothermere always do. Speaking of patriotism, the ConDem government which has been in power these last 3 years has bee...

Ladies and gentlemen, it has been revealed tonight on Channel Four news, in the Independent and elsewhere that PISA tests British children of GCSE age only overall scored 26th in mathematics, 23rd in reading and 20th in science out of 65 nations which PISA tests occurred in-no better than 4 years ago. Not surprisingly, ConDem Education Secretary Michael Gove tried to spin this to say that education policies under Labour had failed, forgetting to mention that 3 of the past 4 years have been spent under the ConDems. Labour's education reforms have not turned out well in some areas,yes, but the ConDems' proposed 'reforms' to education will actually cause standards to slip even further-especially with the increased academisation Mr. Gove wants. Differences in educational culture, and also social culture, account for much of the more signifcant  differences between nations-and especially us and East Asian nations, whose cultures often place a particularly high value on e...

Ladies and gentlemen, for the past few days or so there have been significant and now violent clashes between pro-EU protestors in Ukraine and pro-Russian opponents. One side wishes to embrace the EU and potential economic growth, the other wishes to stay allied to Russia as Ukraine has done since it gained independence from the former USSR in 1991, along with many other ex-Soviet republics. Ukraine, being the largest nation entirely within Europe at 604,000 square kilometres (2 1/2 times the size of the United Kingdom) and with a population of 45 million as of 2013, could potentially exert much influence in Europe in some years' time (if just because of these factors). Ukraine does not need either Russia or the EU, in my honest opinion. Russia under Vladimir Putin is exerting uncomfortable levels of influence over nations close to it that should be self-determining, and Russia itself is pretty undemocratic due to frequent and widespread election fraud, as well as infrequent ...

Readers, Left Unity, whose members hope to bring the various 'hard left' parties of the UK together to fight as one united force, hosted its founding conference at the Royal London Hotel yesterday. Some of you may have already watched its founding video live-what did you think? I am not sure what will come of Left Unity, but it may finally break the cycle that left-wing alliances in Britain have suffered under for many years. By not including the leech-like cult known as the Socialist Workers' Party, Left Unity might at least achieve something useful, somewhere. I do of course remain a loyal Green Party member, but in my opinion it might potentially be worth the while of some local Green Parties to work with some Left Unity members in order to achieve a common goal of removing the ConDems from power and preventing Labour's return, and thus finally move the UK away from the neoliberal consensus. We shall have to wait and see,though. Alan.

Ladies and gentlemen, more local by-election results featuring Green candidates have come in-just two yesterday,though. Lambeth, Vassall: Labour 1319 (59.8%), Lib Dem 468 (21.2%), Con 153 (6.9%), Green 113 (5.1%), UKIP 87 (3.9%), TUSC 44 (2.0%), SPGB 22 (1.0%). St. Helens, Billinge & Seneley Green: Labour 936 (50.7%), UKIP 442 (24.0%), Con 248 (13.4%), Green 94 (5.1%) , BNP 73 (4.0%), Lib Dem 52 (2.8%). With the Liberal Democrats in serious decline locally as well as nationally, Labour is asserting considerable dominance in areas like Lambeth which have never had any real Conservative support-which even there is being damaged by UKIP which generally performs poorly in London. In the St. Helens local by-election, Labour's vote share decreased significantly when UKIP came onto the scene- it is clear in local by-elections in the North of England that UKIP can damage both Labour and Conservative votes alike (Conservative votes even more so). At least we Greens held our own ...

Readers, it has recently emerged that the couple arrested for enslaving women for many years in a small house in South London were key members of a Maoist cult called the 'Workers Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought' which only existed for a few years in the 1970s. Police raided its premises in 1978, and the group went underground and effectively ceased to exist. This Maoist cult does not tell British people (whatever Tariq Ali and the Guardian say) all about the far-left (which include more than just Maoists!); it just tells us what many seasoned socialists already know-Maoism would never in a democratic context expand beyond cult status. British Communist Party leader Robert Griffiths is right to denounce this Maoist cult as 'more of psychiatric interest than political interest, which had nothing to do with mainstream left-wing politics of the day'. The same could be said of most Maoist cults, in my honest opinion. Maoism was only ever implemented by ...

Readers, the results of the four Canadian by-elections, held yesterday at the height of the Senate scandal, which is characteristic of Stephen Harper's right-wing, authoritarian-leaning, neoliberal administration,  are now in. Toronto Centre's by-election, with 11 candidates, was the most interesting of these four, and for some period in the past (before the infamous 1993 Canadian election, where the then Progressive Conservative government went from a majority to losing almost all representation in the Canadian House of Commons) was a Conservative-Liberal marginal. This was the only one of the four by-elections where the social democratic New Democratic Party (NDP)'s vote increased-this time at the expense of the Conservatives rather than the Liberals,from which it took a lot of votes at the last Canadian federal election in 2011. The Conservatives here retained third place but their vote share fell to 8.7%-their worst ever share in this seat (which they held in the 19...

Readers, I am pleased to report that socialist Michele Bachelet is likely to be re-elected as President of Chile after a break, given some of the damage Sebastian Pineira has done in his short tenure. The main problem is that while Mrs. Bachelet's socialist alliance did win a majority of seats in the Chilean Chamber of Deputies, it did not gain the two-thirds majority needed to implement major changes to the Pinochet-constructed constitution of Chile, which enforces basically a neoliberal system in many areas. At least the raising of taxes on the wealthy will mean some progress. The systems implemented in the Chilean constitution, including the 'binomial system' (which makes it practically impossible for any party other than the two largest to get representation) are almost as bad as the European Union's current constitutional system, where only the unelected and unaccountable European Commission can initiate legislation despite the requiring of the European Parliame...

In case you are a Green who is also interested in seeing how Green parties across the globe are doing, I would like to inform you about four Canadian federal by-elections that will take place tomorrow, and Canada's Green Party has candidates in all four of these: They will take place in the ridings (Canadian term for constituencies) of:  Bourassa, Quebec (nominally safe Liberal seat) Provencher, Manitoba (nominally safe Conservative seat) Toronto Centre, Ontario (nominally safe Liberal seat, this by-election features 11 candidates, unusual by Canadian standards) Brandon-Souris, Manitoba (nominally safe Conservative seat) I wish all the Canadian Greens taking part tomorrow the best of luck. Alan.

Readers of my blog, we are this point only one year away from the Scottish Independence Referendum of 2014. And in other news, First Minister for Wales Carwyn Jones is on the cusp of winning important tax powers for the Welsh Assembly, which unfairly has less power for Wales than the Scottish Parliament has for Scotland. One thing I have noticed about many strong SNP areas is that they previously had a strong Conservative presence (and the Scottish Conservative vote in SNP-held seats is often quite high compared to the urban areas of Scotland, where Conservative support is very poor indeed). Whereas in Wales, many strong areas for Plaid Cymru have or had a strong Liberal presence, which was replaced by Labour as the Liberals declined in the 1950s and 1960s. This brings me onto the 'Northern Irish paradox', derived from the fact that Northern Irish seats are divided along unionist/nationalist lines, with some strongly unionist, some strongly nationalist, and others in the ma...

Here are some more local by-election results involving Green candidates, this time from 21/11/2013: Kirklees, Golcar: Lib Dem 1591 (47.6%), Lab 901 (27.0%), UKIP 450 (13.5%), Green 210 (6.3%) , Con 189 (5.7%). Rugby, Kilmorton: Con 400 (33.0%), Lab 339 (28.0%), UKIP 231 (19.1%), Lib Dem 221 (18.2%), Green 21 (1.7%). Scarborough, Eastfield: Lab 310 (48.8%), UKIP 175 (27.6%), Ind G 97 (15.3%), Con 32 (5.0%), Green 11 (1.7%), Ind M 10 (1.6%). The gain in Kirklees by the Lib Dems from Labour was quite a shock-what was going on there? With regards to Scarborough, this seat was actually Lib Dem held, but the Lib Dem selected to defend that seat withdrew for personal reasons, which have not been disclosed clearly. It is worth remembering that despite UKIP's fall in the polls, it still somehow gets many protest votes in local by-elections, as shown here. In other news, today marks the 50th anniversary of the infamous assassination of US President John Kennedy by Lee Harvey Os...

First of all, Owen Jones is right to put Northern Conservative Bernard Ingham straight: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/bernard-ingham-says-northerners-who-loathe-the-tories-are-demented-perhaps-i-can-put-him-straight-8952552.html It is also clear that the Conservatives in the North of England, and also Scotland and much of Wales, deserved to enter their long decline, which is being exacerbated further by UKIP, as local and Westminster by-election results from the North of England show. The infamous poll tax was first introduced to Scotland before it was introduced to England and Wales, and that is one of the major factors in the decline of the Scottish Conservative vote. The Hillsborough disaster of 1989, and the collusion of the police (generally respected by Conservative voters to a good degree) and the pro-Conservative Sun newspaper in covering up evidence started a terminal decline in the Liverpudlian Conservative vote. Now, this time around, the Conservatives ...

Today, ladies and gentlemen, the infamous Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, claimed that the super-rich were a 'put-upon minority' and compared their treatment to that given to 'travellers and homeless people' in his speech. Boris is completely wrong- the super-rich may be a small minority, but they are not put-upon. The criticism levelled against the deeds of the rich and super-rich is ,in any case, well-deserved. The reckless actions of the super-rich (especially the bankers) are what caused the economic crisis of 2008 in the first place, and yet they still refuse to admit fault and in fact want to get even richer whilst the rest of us suffer for no good reason at all. As with regards to his ridiculous notion that the super-rich should get knighthoods and/or other honours-not only should wealth alone not be a mark of honour, but also, the honours system should be scrapped anyway, as it is unnecessary, wasteful, divisive, and undemocratic. It is no surprise that reno...

As a member of Amnesty International, I am a strong supporter of human rights and action on human rights and against such things as capital punishment, torture, detention without trial, the arms trade, forced evictions, and unjustifiable discrimination. Nearly one year ago today, an almost-certainly innocent man in the USA, Preston Hughes III, was executed, aged 46, in the US state of Texas (which has executed over 500 people in just over 30 years), for a 1988 murder even though the evidence generally points away from him, as the Skeptical Juror pointed out on his blog numerous times.  Sad stories of wrongful executions like those of Mr. Hughes are well known in the USA and elsewhere. The USA may be notorious for this but as the case of Hakamada Iwao,77, of Japan-the world's longest serving death row inmate-shows, the fundamental problems with capital punishment, in addition to the risk of executing an innocent person, are not just confined to the USA. Many states that practice...

Yesterday, I was confirmed by my students' union, Hertfordshire Students Union, that I have been elected to represent them at the next National Union of Students Conference in 2014. This time, I only just got through, though, in a close fight between 7 opponents, despite my previous good record of representing my union, and making sure it has a voice within NUS. This brings me onto the importance of democracy in human society-and why dictatorships always fail, eventually. Before civilisation as we knew it, human tribes had to cooperate with each other, and thus take decisions consensively, in order just to survive, to gather food, and to help ensure continuity. If the chief of a tribe had acted dictatorially, that tribe (or at least the chief) would have undoubtedly not survived long. It is also clear that whilst democratic societies have flourished, or at least survived, countless dictatorships have fallen and failed-even if in some cases after centuries. Most humans are...

The results from local by-elections of 15/11/13 featuring Green candidates are as follows: Allerdale, Seaton: Lab 464 (40.0%), UKIP 426 (36.7%), Con 133 (11.5%), Green 108 (9.3%), Lib Dem 30 (2.6%). Bournemouth, Winton East: Con 503 (41.8%), Lab 215 (17.9%), UKIP 212 (17.6%), Lib Dem 191 (15.9%), Green 48 (4.0%), Independent 34 (2.8%). Stoke-on Trent, Baddeley, Milton and Norton: City Ind 861 (32.3%), Con 504 (18.9%), Lab 444 (16.6%), UKIP 333 (12.5%), Ind E 313 (11.7%), BNP 79 (3.0%), Green 50 (1.9%), Lib Dem 32 (1.2%), Ind D 27 (0.9%), TUSC 25 (0.9%). The Allerdale seat had previously been occupied by an Independent, whose death precipitated the by-election. Surprisingly in this part of Cumbria, no Independent candidate came forward. Even though UKIP's poll ratings are sinking slowly, they came pretty close to Labour here. I am at least glad we held up well here, given that the Lib Dems, the Conservatives, and UKIP had not stood in Seaton (Allerdale) in 2012 but did so he...

As some of you already know, a motion by Labour to defeat the pernicious and cruel 'Bedroom Tax' failed yesterday by just 26 votes-the current Con-Dem coalition has a majority of 58.  What is shameful is that most Liberal Democrat MPs (only two, Andrew George and Tim Farron voted for this motion) , even from constituencies where the bedroom tax would have the worst impact (e.g. Brent Central, held by Sarah Teather) voted against the motion (and thus for the bedroom tax) despite harrowing stories of bedroom tax victims, and also 47 Labour MPs who could have helped the motion pass did not show up. The list of Labour MPs absent on the day includes notably Diane Abbott, Paul Flynn, Ed Balls, David Lammy, Chris Bryant, and Chuka Umuna, who are not only prominent in the Labour Party but also represent constituencies known to have above-average or relatively high levels of unemployment and poverty. My friends in the Green Party,including Caroline Lucas, are proud to stand agains...

Readers, I hope you have had the time to watch the Channel 4 Documentary 'No Fire Zone' exploring the human rights abuses by the Sri Lankan Army and the Sri Lankan Government, especially its President, Mahindra Rajapaska. These were first exposed in detail by Wikileaks cables. As a result of the exposure of said human rights abuses in Sri Lanka, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper (even though in my opinion his own record on democratic and human rights is bad and getting worse) and Indian Prime Minister Mammohan Singh have decided to boycott the 2013 CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) which is due to be held in Sri Lanka. Although they are right to boycott, their actions will not prove all that useful unless all Prime Ministers of all Commonwealth nations (i.e. David Cameron, Tony Abbott et al.) follow suit and boycott the summit, to send this message to Mr. Rajapaska: No platform for human rights abusers, anywhere! It is important for us to remember ho...

Readers, Just recently, a 'super typhoon' struck the Phillipines, killing at least 10,000 people...and this death toll could potentially rise. I give my condolences, thus, to the victims and their families. I hope aid is given to the Phillipines to help recover from the destruction the typhoon wreaked. On another note, today was Remembrance Sunday, and I hope you wore white poppies of peace rather than the red poppies most people wear.  Alan.      

Readers, over the past year or so, quite a few activists I know have left the Green Party for one reason or another, either to defect to another party or to leave politics altogether. Regardless, they still need to realise why green politics and sustainability are essential for our future, and why their activism was and is important to achieving the aims of green politics. It is clear now to almost everyone, bar a few (often wealthy) stubborn and selfish climate change deniers like the Koch Brothers, that artificial climate change is real and is occurring; the IPCC report showed this and so did the fact that we reached 400 ppm in terms of greenhouse gas emissions,which includes carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane etc. This artificial climate change has occurred primarily because of the effects of the last 30 years of the neoliberal capitalism that has had a grip on the major nations of our planet. The inequality, the destruction of animal and human life, and environmental dama...

The results of local by-elections that took place on 7 November which featured Green candidates are as follows: Durham, Crook: Labour 741 (40.4%), Independent 496 (27.0%), Wear Valley Ind 360 (19.6%), Lib Dem 145 (7.9%), Con 54 (2.9%), Green  40 (2.2%). Nottingham, Dales: Labour 1644 (66.4%), UKIP 364 (14.7%), Con 220 (8.9%), Green 99 (4.0%) , Lib Dem 78 (3.1%), TUSC 72 (2.9%) Nottingham, Radford and Park: Labour 1146 (65.2%), Con 355 (20.2%), UKIP 123 (7.0%), Green 80 (4.6%), Elvis Loves Pets 31 (1.8%), TUSC 22 (1.3%). Sefton, Derby: Labour 903 (64.7%), UKIP 293 (21.0%), Ind E 97 (7.0%), TUSC 48 (3.4%), Ind B 29 (2.1%), Green 25 (1.8%). West Oxfordshire, Chipping Norton: Labour 810 (57.0%), Con 500 (35.2%), Green 58 (4.1%), Lib Dem 53 (3.7%). One worrying aspect I have noticed is that Labour, with the large swings towards it from the Lib Dems and with UKIP damaging the Conservatives' vote in Nottingham further, could soon have control of every single council seat in...

Fellow blog readers, Various polls carried out 3 days ago show that a significant majority of the public, which surprisingly included half of all people who voted Conservative in 2010 , support the renationalisation of energy and transport (especially railways and buses), as shown by this link here:  http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/519684/20131105/left-wing-price-controls-nationalisation-yougov-poll.htm However, none of the three main parties (also not UKIP) who most of them voted for support these measures at all, particularly not the ConDems. I can tell you that we in the Green Party are fully committed to nationalisation of railways and of energy, so that there will be a greater focus on renewable energy, a reduction of energy prices, a reduction of rail fares, and lower pollution as people move away from car use gradually. This is becoming increasingly important in modern times, given that we need to reduce pollution from carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide and al...

Today of course was the 5th of November, commonly known in Britain as Bonfire Night/Guy Fawkes Night. Many of us, though, decided to celebrate this night by staging anti-austerity bonfires (which involved burning straw effigies of Cameron and Clegg, amongst other things, or so I have heard) such as the one in Westminster Bridge in London by Anonymous. To my readers across Britain, well done if you came along to a Bonfire of Austerity event in your area (I was at the event in Barnet,North London). Also, readers, by supporting the Green Party, you can help elect us and we will metaphorically give austerity its final bonfire- by renationalising key public services, enforcing a living wage nationwide, and creating a green economy to replace the failed free market system. Regards, Alan.

Earlier today, I visited Thames Magistrates Court (which is actually in Bow,London, and not actually near the River Thames itself thus) in support of my friend Melanie and her fellow peace activists, who in early September staged action outside the DSEI arms fair-the largest regular international arms fair worldwide, to disrupt the unethical and immoral activity that takes place inside it. Currently,she and her fellow activists now face charges of 'obstructing the highway' just for staging this peaceful protest-yet the real criminals here are the arms traders and their associate companies, who were never questoned or searched, let alone arrested or prosecuted for fuelling grievous war crimes worldwide. Although an international arms trade treaty, due to the support of Amnesty International, was passed a few months ago, there is still much work to do if we are to collectively defeat the evil,murderous,international arms trade, and thus bring real,long-term peace to our world...

The sell-outs by the Liberal Democrats, the Conservatives' coalition partners, over tuition fees, democratic reform, and secret courts that have happened since 2010, are well known to us by now. What many of us do not realise is that this was not the first time the Liberal Democrats had sold the people of Britain out to the Conservatives- their predecessor components, the Liberals and the SDP, did exactly the same thing before the 1988 merger of the two. In early 1977, following losses in important by-elections (Woolwich West and Walsall North) by Labour under Harold Wilson and later James Callaghan, the then-Prime Minister James Callaghan had to ask newly elected Liberal leader David Steel to form a pact in order to continue governing Britain in the economic crisis it and many other nations were facing. Soon after the Lib-Lab pact was formed, Mr. Callaghan and the Labour government moved away from their traditional leftist position, and started making notable cuts to public ...

Readers, since 2010, when the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition government voted to treble tuition fees and also deal vicious cuts to higher education itself, there have been many campaigns at several British universities against cuts, course closures, and privatisation of important university services, undercutting the pay of university workers whilst vice-chancellors and university managers award themselves undeserved and selfish salary increases. The success of some of these campaigns was well noted at today's Student Assembly Against Austerity, which took place in London. However, it is clear that most of the more prominent campaigns have taken place at 'traditional' universities such as parts of London (Goldsmiths,Kings etc.), Sussex, Manchester, and Warwick.  It is worth remembering that the majority of British university students study at the 'post-1992' universities, most of which are ex-polytechnics-mine, the University of Hertfordshire, was once the eng...

Readers, if you are a student or a students' union official, please remember to come to the Student Assembly Against Austerity on 2nd November (tomorrow) at University College London. It starts at 9.30 am :) Please book your place here, and quickly: http://www.thestudentassembly.org.uk/book-your-place.html We will be discussing how to fight the cuts, how to unite vulnerable groups of students together, how to fight for green jobs and against war, and how to organise a national campaign that will reach those voting in the 2015 general election. I will be coming along-will you? Alan.