Alan's Green Thoughts

Ladies and gentlemen, in case you have not already heard, the latest local by-election results involving Green candidates were as follows: East Ayrshire, Kilmarnock North (1st preference votes): SNP 1334 (45.1%), Lab 1130 (38.2%), Con 430 (14.6%), Green 61 (2.1%). Fylde, St. John's: Ratepayers 804 (65.7%), Con 205 (16.7%), UKIP 100 (8.2%), Lib Dem 62 (5.1%), Green 53 (4.3%). Oxfordshire, Chalgrove and Watlington: Con 871 (41.8%), Lib Dem 629 (30.2%), UKIP 311 (14.9%), Lab 159 (7.6%), Green 116 (5.6%). Sunderland, St. Anne's: Lab 945 (48.1%), UKIP 555 (28.2%), Con 345 (17.6%), Green 120 (6.1%). It is interesting to note that the Kilmarnock North by-election is the first time the SNP have held or gained a ward in a by-election since 2011. Also notable are the large swing in Fylde from Conservative to Ratepayers' Association, and the significant swing in Chalgrove and Wallington from the Conservatives to the Liberal Democrats. I was surprised that our vote share de...

Earlier today, many teachers and associated educators across the nation helped stage an NUT-coordinated strike, in protest against the disastrous education policies of Education Secretary Michael Gove. I would like to thank all of you who came out in solidarity to support them, and to fight back against free schools and academisation and show our nation that there is a cooperative and useful alternative for education of our children.  On Channel Four at 7.55 pm tonight, Tim Farron, the President of the Liberal Democrats, presented a Liberal Democrat European elections broadcast, which was brazenly deceitful. First of all, Britain and the rest of the world does not need more growth-it needs wealth distribution and a cooperative economy which is environmentally sustainable. Secondly, the Liberal Democrats have not helped create a stronger economy or a fairer society-they have helped the Conservatives make our economy and society even more unfair than it got under the Blair years, a...

Today, the 24th of March 2014 Anno Domini, will go down in the history of the 21st century in many nations- for all the wrong reasons. Firstly, as was sadly predicted by many, in French local elections the extreme-right Front National (FN) made sweeping gains in many French town halls, capturing notably the town of Heinn Beaumont (a depressed industrial town similar to parts of the Belgian province of Wallonia in many ways) outright as well as many small towns dotted around France. Despite the fact that the FN's leader Marine Le Pen, has not actually moved away from its racist, anti-Semtiic, homophobic rhetoric, the FN could still top the polls in France in the European elections as a result of protest votes, some of which are coming from supporters of the Parti Socialiste (PS) led by Francois Hollande, whose ratings as French President are at a terrible 23% at this time of writing. Secondly, the so-called Justice Secretary (more like the Injustice Secretary!), Chris Grayling, ...

With two months to go before election day, it can be said that the European election campaign in all nations of the EU is now almost in full swing, and there is a tense contest, apparently, between the two more prominent European President candidates, Jean-Claude Juncker (PM of Luxembourg for almost 19 years until recently) and Martin Schulz of the European Union's 'neoliberal triad' of the European People's Party, the Socialists and Democrats, and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe (EPP, S&D, and ALDE). Meanwhile, we Greens are faring well in some parts of Europe (e.g. Spain and Portugal) but elsewhere we find our voters often shifting to parties belonging to the European United Left group, as shown in France and Denmark at least. In Italy, the Left Ecology Freedom (SEL) group has wisely made an alliance with the Tsipras List aka The Other Europe in the hope of getting representation. We should nevertheless keep up the good work and help the Green v...

In case you do not already know or need reminding, there is an anti-racism demonstration tomorrow in Trafalgar Square, London, at which notably Natalie Bennett and Jean Lambert will be speaking. I would like as many of you as possible,please, to come along; I am unfortunately busy in St. Albans that day, for those of you wondering whether I will be able to make it. On this note, I am sorry to say that many parties that belong to what I term the 'racist right' (some of whom, like Golden Dawn and Jobbik, are true neo-Nazi parties rather than racist right-wing populists in the manner of Geert Wilder's Party for Freedom) are still polling relatively well in several European nations, such as France, Sweden,and Denmark, amongst others, partly due to protest votes against the three main European Parliament groups (EPP, S&D, and ALDE) whose member parties within national governments have been responsible for implementing vicious austerity policies.  We, the Greens, contrary...

As you know, George Osborne announced his latest budget, which will continue to hurt ordinary people just as he and his colleagues have done during this Parliament. I can clearly say that those small concessions (a rise in the tax-free allowance, bingo and beer duty being cut by small amounts, and a rise in fuel duty being cancelled) are not real conessions at all. In particular, the changes affecting ISAs will just widen inequalities further and those extra loans that will be taken out in the 2014 budget will end up largely funding the export arms industry. This budget will in any case just continue the worsening ConDems' austerity and keep making life harder and harder for society's most vulnerable. I am glad therefore that there was a good turnout to hand in the 'People's Budget', sponsored by the People's Assembly Against Austerity, to Downing Street, and I am pleased to say that in 48 hours we collected 4,000 signatures for it. As for a better 2014 budg...

Ladies and gentlemen, I turned 23 years of age today. Two days ago, Serbia had an early Parliamentary election. This resulted in the Serbian Progressive Party, which is centre-right and pro-European, gaining a majority of seats in Serbia's legislative assembly (158 out of 250), with many of its newer voters coming from the former voters of the centrist Democratic Party of Serbia. The Socialist Party of Serbia, meanwhile, retained the 44 seats it had in 2012. One positive note about this early election was that the Serbian Greens entered the assembly with 18 seats, thanks to help from the New Democratic Party which it merged with and which commits to green politics.  Also, it has recently been noted by Oxfam that just five extraordinarily wealthy families are alone worth more than the poorest 20% of Britain's population, in yet another revelation about the growing and shocking inequality in the UK-one of the top 10 wealthiest nations on Earth. I hope this and other news wil...

There has been a lot of talk about independence/separation referenda across Europe that have occurred or will occur this year. The referenda in question being Crimean separation from Ukraine, Scottish Independence from the rest of Britain, Catalonian independence from Spain, and most recently, Venice from the rest of Italy. It is also known that the worldwide economic recession has been a major factor behind some of these referenda, especially in Catalonia which among Spanish provinces is suffering a lot under Mariano Rajoy's neoliberal, Troika-assisted regime.  As Europe's population continues to grow, many federal states that have traditionally had a strong regional identity within their own nations, such as Bavaria (and to a lesser extent Schleswig-Holstein) in Germany, and Scotland in the UK, are generally becoming more and more resentful of their lack of sufficient autonomy, particularly in economic and environmental matters. These four upcoming referenda are, I am sur...

As you know, yesterday, Tony Benn, one of the greatest left-wing politicians in British history (some say the greatest and most principled) passed away. Throughout his long history of activism, he was a staunch radical who stuck to his principles and spoke for the people when it was right and necessary. Within the nearly 50 years he spent in Parliament, he campaigned for a better Britain, for the abolition of monarchy (which we need now more than ever) ,for Britain to oppose apartheid, for Labour to truly turn socialist, and successfully for peers to disclaim peerages, as he famously did so himself in 1963 to reclaim his seat of Bristol South East (now split via Bristol East and Bristol South). He also achieved a lot throughout his years in various cabinet posts in the late 1960s and late 1970s Even when he retired from Parliament in 2001, he still remained a prominent activist for the 13 years until his death, prominently via Stop the War coalition and lastly the Coalition of R...

Ladies and gentlemen, local by-election results from 12th and 13th March are as follows: Hampshire, Petersfield Butser: Con 1156 (37.3%), UKIP 720 (23.2%), Lib Dem 685 (22.1%), Lab 322 (10.7%), Green 220 (7.1%). Canterbury, Barham Downs: Lib Dem 337 (37.3%), Con 285 (31.5%), UKIP 164 (18.1%), Lab 78 (8.6%), Green 40 (4.4%). Luton, Farley: Lab 1232 (72.5%), UKIP 226 (13.3%), Con 154 (9.1%), Lib Dem 46 (2.7%), Green 41 (2.4%). In Canterbury, our vote was squeezed by the fact that we were the only opposition to the ConDems in this ward in 2011; this time Labour and UKIP stood and probably helped the Liberal Democrats regain this ward. As for Petersfield Butser...nothing much happened (the swings were very low). Another interesting by-election report is of the Liberal Democrats gaining a Ludlow ward by a surprisingly large swing, given their terrible reputation across most of the nation. In more important news, one of the greatest left-wing politicians of all time, Tony Benn, has...

Ladies and gentlemen, despite what they have lost as a result of their collusion with the Conservatives on almost every important issue this Parliament, the Liberal Democrats have yet again acted as pro-free market stooges to the Conservatives and will do so again-and this time, it is getting serious. On the evening of Monday 10th, almost all the Liberal Democrat MPs (with one exception, Greg Mulholland) present in the House of Commons sided with the Conservatives on the infamous new clause 119 of the Health and Social Care Act, which will allow the Secretary of State for Health to close down hospitals 'if a neighbouring trust is struggling financially' without any proper consultation or scrutiny. As for health minister Paul Burstow's attempt to amend it (when the clause needed to be scrapped altogether), that failed miserably and Mr. Burstow himself did not even vote in the lobby for his own amendment! Also, a leaked memo from the Lib Dems has revealed on how they plan...

Bob Crow, the leader of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers' Union, or RMT, suddenly died today, aged just 52. It has been confirmed now that a heart attack was the cause of his death (updated). This came to me as a great shock when I first heard about it, and I will miss him and his activism on London's streets. Bob Crow was first elected RMT leader in 2002 following the death of Jimmy Knapp. In the nearly 12 years he led RMT, he was a resourceful, faithful, and determined leader who wanted to make sure that his colleagues got what they needed in this often dangerous and harrowing work sector. He was also able to ensure he was thorn in the side of the right-wing capitalist elite, and most of all, London Mayor Boris Johnson. Despite the perceived extremism of some of his views, he still got the job done and fought for the members and workers of RMT when it was needed.  I ask you all to remember his legacy, and continue to fight to bring our railways and other public t...

Yesterday, whilst some of you were busy, possibly attending the demonstration outside the Liberal Democrats' conference in York, I attended the East Anglia Amnesty International UK conference in the cathedral city of Ely, Cambridgeshire. Although much of the focus of that conference was on the rights of asylum seekers and immigrants in Britain and elsewhere in Europe, it highlights how much worse the human rights situation has got in Britain.  Since the coalition government took office in May 2010: - Larger numbers of young people are being shut out of further and higher education simply because of their circumstances due to the scrapping of EMA and the trebling of higher education fees. - Unfair welfare cuts, including capping welfare payment rises below inflation, have forced hundreds of thousands of Britons to use food banks when they can no longer make ends meet. - ATOS' cruel Work Capability Assessments have resulted in the premature and wrongful deaths of more than ...

The latest local by-election results featuring Green candidates read as follows: Ashford, Wye: Ashford Independent 323 (43.1%), Con 240 (32.0%), UKIP 97 (12.9%), Green 55 (7.3%), Lab 22 (2.9%), Lib Dem 13 (1.7%). Bury, Ramsbottom: Con 1398 (47.0%), Lab 1033 (34.7%), UKIP 351 (11.8%), Green 157 (5.3%) , Lib Dem 38 (1.3%). Given that we had not stood in either ward for a few years, we did rather well, particularly in Wye where our candidate, long-serving member Geoff Meaden, got more votes than the Labour and Liberal Democrat candidates combined!   One notable result so embarassing for the Liberal Democrats it made some national newspapers was in Clifton North, Nottingham where perennial candidate David Bishop of the Bus Pass Elvis Party beat the Lib Dem candidate by 11 votes. What the media did not mention was that UKIP had ruined the Conservatives' efforts in Nottingham once again (Clifton North is one of the few wards in Nottingham with any Conservative councillors l...

Ladies and gentlemen, you may have heard before about 'pyramid schemes'. In case you do not know, pyramid schemes are scams which give empty promises of wealth. The starters of this pyramid scheme initially ask people to join them on condition of investing a sum of money, with implicatinos of future wealth if they find more investors. These schemes inevitably collapse, often with serious consequences, due to the fact that our population is not infinite and not everyone will be able to part with cash or be willing to anyway. Thus, pyramid schemes are illegal in most nations. There is sadly however, one global pyramid scheme that has not been made illegal yet- finance capitalism, the same kind that caused the recession we are in and the same kind that is accelerating damage to our natural world. As we have seen, all that finance capitalism essentially creates is debt and money-nothing else, and certainly nothing that is actually useful, in the same way that pyramid schemes...

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I am back from the Green Party conference of Liverpool, which was rather tense at times due to the closeness of several votes. There were many useful highlights of our conference in my opinion, of which I will list the top three: 1. Our unanimous condemning of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) at conference-in related news, we have reported that the Liberal Democrats support this partnership even though this free trade agreement would make implementing some of their own official policies impossible. 2. The joint meeting between GreenLeft and the Association of Green Councillors-a great chance for unity to defeat the ConDems and the rest of the establishment. 3. The Open Mic night at the Ship & Mitre, where I and many others performed, and well. I am glad for the many poets and singers who come to our conferences. There were a few sad downsides in my opinion however: 1. There were relatively few Young Greens pr...