Alan's Green Thoughts

The 20th of April 2015 marks quite a few things to me. Today is my brother's birthday, today was the deadline for voter registration for the 2015 general election, and in the early hours of today the final results of the 2015 Finnish general election. As was widely predicted, the agrarian, semi-liberal Centre Party topped the poll, increasing its seat total from 35 to 49 and receiving 21.1% of the vote; however, this meant they did not recover all of the 16 seats they lost in 2011. In particular, they experienced their greatest increases in the north and other rural districts, where they had in 2011 lost much support to the True Finns (now the Finns Party). Only one other party in Finland increased its intake of MPs-the Green League, thankfully. I believe this is due to both parties supporting a Basic Income, an initiative we Greens often speak of and which is supported by a majority of Finns-65% according to recent news. The Pirate Party also got more support but could...

Readers, as the Green Party candidate for Hemel Hempstead, I had the pleasure of taking part in two hustings for that constituency so far. One was in Hemel Hempstead, the other was in nearby Kings Langley. So far, with one week having gone since nominations closed for the general election in UK constituencies, here are my thoughts on elections hustings and debates All validly nominated candidates should be invited to election hustings, whichever banner they are standing under. Although last night's election hustings in Kings Langley was inclusive, having invited all candidates including myself and independent candidate Brian Hall, many other general election hustings unfairly excluded candidates from 'minor parties' and also independent candidates. The Churches Together hustings in Witney, where Prime Minister David Cameron is defending his seat, was particularly unfair and undemocratic-minor candidates were not even permitted to attend these particular hustings, let ...

Readers, with most councils having published their statement of persons nominated (a few have not for some reason even though they should have by now as per the Representation of the People Act 1983), here is my rundown of the good, bad, and interesting facts about the 2015 UK general election and the corresponding local elections: The Good: 1. More than nine-tenths of all constituencies in England and Wales will be able to vote Green this year (537 out of 573), including those living in Buckingham, where Speaker John Bercow is seeking re-election. In addition, there are 31 Scottish Green Party candidates and 5 Northern Irish Green Party candidates-the highest ever. 2. The BNP has virtually disappeared-it is only standing 8 candidates this time compared to the 338 it fielded in 2010. There are also few other far-right candidates either-only five NF candidates and the English Democrats are contesting less than half the seats they contested in 2010. In fact, there are only a few mo...

Readers, I will first of all officially confirm that I am the validly nominated Green Party candidate for Hemel Hempstead (in case you are not already aware). Please view and like my campaign page (if you have Facebook) to see why you should vote me on 7th May if you live in the Hemel Hempstead constituency. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alan-Borgars-Hemel-Hempstead/645396582258758?ref=hl I am also very pleased to say that across the UK, there will be 575 Green Party candidates altogether from the UK's Green Parties, meaning almost nine seats out of every ten in the UK have the chance to vote Green in the 2015 general election-the highest ever :) Our current poll ratings of 5% are also the highest the Green Party has seen shortly prior to a general election. I wish all Green candidates standing locally and/or parliamentarily the best of luck and I positively believe the Green Party can win more seats, and give the people an honest voice in Parliament. Regards, Alan.

In light of the fact that Ashcroft polls have been released covering marginal Liberal Democrat seats (the seats covered in the polls will mostly be lost by the Liberal Democrats on that basis, except Cambridge and St Ives), and debate how many seats the Liberal Democrats might save in this general election, I believe it is time to make a prediction of what will happen in the 57 currently held Lib Dem seats. Solihull: With a strong Green advance, and at least some Labour recovery likely here, this seat will almost certainly fall to the Conservatives even though their vote share will be hit as well, and Solihull will probably still remain marginal. Dead cert Conservative gain. Mid Dorset & North Poole: The Green Party will take a significant number of Lib Dem votes in South West seats, and this is no exception. Even with vote-splitting between the Conservatives and UKIP, the Lib Dems have no realistic chance of holding this seat (in my last prediction, I believed they di...