Alan's Green Thoughts

There has been much coverage recently of British Prime Minister David Cameron's rejection of new European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, a Euro-federalist from the centre-right European People's Party who was Prime Minister of Luxembourg for almost 19 years. Notably, only Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban-in some ways worse even than Mr. Cameron-rejected Jean Claude-Juncker as well, with all the other leaders of European Union member states (these leaders are mainly EPP-affiliated as well) supporting Mr. Juncker here. I have also learned, worryingly but not unexpectedly, that within the European Parliament, that the EPP, S&D, and ALDE groups have formed a grand coalition within the European Parliament, giving themselves a total of 479 seats out of 751-enough to push through at least the major provisions of TTIP and any other pro-neoliberal legislation. So,it is true. The terrible neoliberal triad, whose components are respectively led (de facto) by Juncker...

Ladies and gentlemen, the results of the only two local by-elections from this month to feature Green candidates were as follows: South Lanarkshire, Clydesdale South (1st preferences): Labour 1492 (40.8%), SNP 1170 (32.0%), Conservative 659 (18.0%), UKIP 233 (6.4%), Green 104 (2.8%). Barnet , Colindale (actually a deferred election): Lab 2098 (average of 3; 67.9%), Conservative 462 (15.0%), UKIP 308 (10.0%), Green 117 (3.8%), Lib Dem 103 (3.3%). Notably, the Colindale ward election was deferred because it was one of our candidates who had died-Jessica Yorke. Unfortunately, despite the fact I have spoken with many members of Barnet Green Party so far, I never got to meet Jessica before she died. I would like to say that Jess, we did our best for you (by coming ahead of the Liberal Democrats on aggregate) and we will remember you.  As a graduate who is still seeking work, I feel that it is important to note that the fact 18,000 graduates are still unemployed six months after...

Earlier this week, George Monbiot in the Guardian warned about the dangers in the Infrastructure Bill, which as usual has been given scant if any coverage by the media. However, in combination with the Deregulation Bill, which has also received almost no media coverage, it is one the biggest dangers to the rights of the people of Britain that has ever been created by any British government. Both the Deregulation Bill and the Infrastructure Bill seek to ruin our environment and democratic rights just to suit the arch-neoliberal agenda of the Con-Dems. The Infrastructure Bill, and Deregulation Bill, if passed, will together, in Britain: - Repeal important planning laws that protect Britain's natural spots and SSSIs - Allow fracking under people's homes without their consent - Require even bodies such as the Forestry Commission to promote economic growth above all else, even when it is clearly detrimental to their real priorities - Repeal important environmental duties -...

Yesterday, on 21 June 2014, aka the summer solstice of 2014, the People's Assembly Against Austerity staged their national demonstration outside Broadcasting House, London, which is notable as the headquarters of the BBC. Over 50,000 people turned out that day, myself included, and we had a good march to Parliament Square near the House of Commons. We had also come from all manner of left-wing groups and unions, including the Green Party, Left Unity, the Socialist Party, Counterfire, the National Health Action Party, Unite, and the Fire Brigades Union, and not just from London but from sometimes as far away as Bath and Yeovil. Many great speakers spoke there in addition to Romayne Phoenix, who de facto leads the People's Assembly, including Caroline Lucas, Russell Brand, Christine Blower, Francesca Martinez, and many others. Although I attended the march I sadly did not stay for the entire event, as I had come there from a summer gathering run by a group called People and Pla...

Ladies and gentlemen, if you have been keeping track of news from left-wing sources, you will already know about the dangerous Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) which are part of a global corporate power grab to effectively give multinational corporations the ability to override any democratically elected government anywhere these agreements cover. Nations participating in these agreements have done their best to keep these negotiations secret from the general public who will be affected by them. I have now learned about an even more secret proposed agreement- TISA, the Trade In Services Agreement. Wikileaks has revealed that a clause within TISA means that it cannot be revealed for five years after it has passed.  It is the third prong of this global corporate power grab that is planned to manifest in full by the end of this year- which I will refer to as the golden trident of greed, an allusion to the golden calf of Bibl...

There has been much debate in the House of Commons recently at granting voters a supposed 'right of recall' to recall their MPs. However, it appears at present that the proposed Recall Bill will be a farce, especially given the fact that under the proposed terms of the Recall Bill, consent of MPs will be required for the recall to be valid, which runs counter to its democratic purpose.  This is a highlight of how fundamentally rotten British politics really is, with its nepotism, backroom deals, bribery, unfair representation, unelected second chamber, and lack of real meritocracy. All this turns many voters off, especially in urban areas where turnout has been particularly below average over the last 20 years. Here are 8 great ways to make Britain a truly democratic state: (and not a semi-feudal relic) 1. First and foremost, abolish the monarchy and all hereditary titles (Duke, Marquess etc.). Privilege and power based simply by happening of birth and not on merit and ha...

Ladies and gentlemen, the FIFA World Cup of 2014 starts tomorrow in Brazil, in case you were not paying attention. I watch matches mostly out of support for the English football team rather than support of the game of football itself.  I feel the need to comment on sport here, as news of the scandal over the awarding of the 2022 FIFA World Cup to Qatar has been helping expose the corruption, cronyism, and lack of accountability within FIFA,and in many football associations in general. Qatar, for such a small country, is notorious for its very poor record on workers' rights (especially those of migrant workers), its absolute monarchy, and its poor record on human rights in general. Corruption and vote-selling was also a serious problem in the awarding of the 2018 FIFA World Cup to Russia. Even this year's FIFA World Cup has shone the spotlight on the negative consequences of Brazil's grand preparations for it. Widespread protests have taken place in many Brazilian cities...

Today, admired British actor Rik Mayall, famous for his acting roles in such British sitcoms 'The Young Ones', 'Blackadder', 'The New Statesman', and 'Bottom', sadly died today, aged just 56. Even though most of Rik's acting was before I was born, I admired his style and ability to easily satirise within British sitcoms. It is his role as uber-Thatcherite Conservative MP Alan Beresford B'Stard in 'The New Statesman', which I will remember best personally. Rik was able to satirise the worst of the Thatcherite-era intake of Conservative MPs rather effortlessly and fluently in this role. Here are some of my favourite quotes from 'The New Statesman': (phone rings, Alan B'Stard answers): Hello, Alan B'Stard, biggest majority in the House of Commons! Constituent (angry about the fact Alan B'Stard is asking for a £500 fee): But you're my MP!  Alan B'Stard: So what? You would pay me if I was a doctor, or a solic...

Ladies and gentlemen, collusion of the mainstream parties in Britain, at least at local level, has reached new lows. Labour has allied with the Conservatives and UKIP in Portsmouth to form the new administration there, and yet another grand coalition has been formed, in Yarmouth. Even though in both cases they are only shutting out another establishment party (the Lib Dems in Portsmouth and UKIP in Yarmouth), it is also clear establishment collusion elsewhere is being used to limit the impact of honest Green Party councillors as much as possible, especially in Brighton where we form the (minority) administration but where Labour and the Conservatives have regularly colluded to prevent us achieving our progressive goals there. Although the left-wing vote in Britain is growing, it is often split, usually by the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, or by other local left-wing groups such as Lewisham People Before Profit. Given that the right-wing establishment parties clearly have no...

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the first time I have watched an election count live, albeit on BBC iPlayer. It took until 3.45 am to declare the result, as the returning officer kept needing to talk to the 11 candidates taking part for one reason or another. Anyway, the votes cast in the Newark by-election of 2014 were as follows: Paul Baggaley, Independent, 1,891 (4.9%) David Bishop, Buss-Pass Elvis Party, 87 (0.2%) Nick The Flying Brick, Official Monster Raving Loony Party, 168 (0.4%) Andrew Hayes, Independent, 117 (0.3%) Roger Helmer, UKIP, 10,028 (25.9%, +22.1%) Robert Jenrick, Conservative, 17,431 (45.0%, -8.9% ) David Kirwan, Green Party, 1,057 (2.7%) Michael Payne, Labour, 6,842 (17.7%, -4.7%) Dick Rodgers, Stop Banks Owning Britain's Money, 64 (0.2%) David Watts, Liberal Democrats, 1,004 (2.6%, -17.4%) Lee Woods, Patriotic Socialist Party, 18 (0.05%) I was worried for some time that recently re-elected UKIP MEP Roger Helmer, notorious for his anti-L...

Ladies and gentlemen, I did manage to do somewhat well in my psychology degree in the end, and will now give a piece on how green socialism can help ensure real meritocracy in society. The reason for writing such a piece is this: by chance of birth, something we have no control over, I came from a middle-class background and all of the rest of my immediate family (my parents and brother) are university educated, which gave me unfair advantages in terms of life chances compared to children from poorer backgrounds whose parents lacked university education. Children who were privately educated (I was state educated) have the odds stacked even more in their favour, simply by chance of birth rather than real merit. In the Independent, columnist James Bloodworth detailed how meritocracy is a myth and that 'the poor will always stay poor and the rich will always get richer'. What James does not mention is what is responsible for the failure of meritocracy in practice- the neoliber...

Whilst I was looking for work in the not-for-profit sector, the Green Party's candidate for the Newark by-election, David Kirwan, thankfully got rare coverage from the BBC to get the anti-austerity and green message across to Newark, particularly important as it is the first time we have stood in Newark since 1992. It has been reported in a related story that there apparently have been internal BBC memos instructing reporters to deliberately under-report the Green Party during the May elections. It could be worse, though. Sky News ended up lumping us with 'others' when giving the final tally of British MEPs, even though it is known that we Greens have 3 MEPs and the Liberal Democrats only have 1 MEP, and Channel Four giving an hour long documentary exclusive to UKIP leader NIgel Farage and Channel Four waiting very late to give us a slot for our party political broadcast-there was a week where it gave Labour, Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, and UKIP a five minute b...