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.