Alan's Green Thoughts

45 new peers have been recently nominated in the Dissolution Honours List 2015-all by the Conservative Party, Liberal Democrats and Labour Party, as usual (A DUP nomination for the House of Lords was denied by the House of Lords Appointments Commission, who also barred the former Liberal Democrat MP for Yeovil, D avid Laws) As expected, David Cameron gave into cronyism by appointing the majority of these new peers (26), with the Lib Dems nominating 11 and Labour nominating 8. He also gave large numbers of other honours, minor and major, to: -People who were just staff in the Prime Minister's Office or those of his friend, George Osborne (Phillipa Rudkin, who just manages George Osborne's constituency office in Tatton, received an MBE; David's own constituency manager, Caroline Balcon, got an OBE; his former deputy chief of staff, Oliver Dowden who is also Conservative MP for Hertsmere, got a CBE, with his current deputy chief of staff, Catherine Fall, getting nominated ...

Labour leadership candidate Jeremy Corbyn has recently called for the introduction of 'women-only' carriages on railway journeys to tackle the significant problem of street harassment on public transport, and some people are backing up this proposed initiative. I do not believe this is a proper solution at all, however, to this problem. First of all, many trains on major commuter routes, especially going to London, are simply too overcrowded to make the implementation of women-only carriages possible. Secondly, although the majority of street harassment is perpetrated by men, not all of it is, and only a minority of men actually engage in street harassment anyway. Thirdly, gender segregation on transport does not tackle the root causes behind the incidence of street harassment in daily life. We should instead look at why there is a significant amount of street harassment occurring in the first place, why some people think street harassment i...

Readers, the results from by-elections from yesterday (and one from 18/08/15) which all featured Green Party candidates, were as follows: Orkney UA, West Mainland: Orkney Manifesto Group 593 (51.4%), Independent 446 (38.6%), Green 115 (10.0%). Orkney Manifesto Group elected at stage 1. Durham UA, Shotton and South Hetton: Labour 595 (52.0%, +8.9%), North East Party 214 (18.7%), UKIP 131 (11.45%), Liberal Democrat 107 (9.35%), Conservative 67 (5.85%), Green 19 (1.65%) Cornwall UA, Pendarves: Con 325 (30.3%, +0.4%), Lib Dem 311 (28.9%), Lab 220 (20.5%, +1.6%), UKIP 89 (8.3%, -23.5%), Mebyon Kernow 85 (7.9%, -11.8%), Green 31 (2.9%), Independent 13 (1.2%). West Oxfordshire DC, Witney North: Con 264 (33.9%, -15.8%), Lib Dem 201 (25.8%, +19.8%), Green 136 (17.5%, +3.2%), Lab 114 (14.6%, -4.0%), UKIP 64 (8.2%, -3.2%). I am pleased in particular about our progress in Witney North, although another local by-election comeback from the Liberal Democrats (who obtained a 17.8% swing from...

Recently, Matthew Hancock, Conservative MP for West Suffolk, outlined the Conservatives' latest plan in their attacks on young people-'boot camps' for unemployed people of the age of 18-21, supposedly to prepare them for work. The reality is that these boot camps will be a complete waste of time and money, and not do anything to tackle youth unemployment-here is why. 1. Boot camps cannot create the suitable jobs young people want to enter. It is not young people's fault that youth unemployment is so high in the UK-it is the fault of the bankers and corporations who started the Great Recession, as well as governmental failure to actually create new jobs or tax the rich more heavily so that more can be invested in job creation. The money that will be wasted on these boot camps if these plans go ahead could be better used for regeneration projects that are better for lowering youth unemployment in the long-term. 2. It would be easier for people aged 18-21 to find wor...

Readers, the results from local by-elections of yesterday that featured Green Party candidates were as follows: Exeter BC, Pinhoe: Conservative 755 (42.3%, +7.2%), Labour 749 (42.0%,+5.5%), UKIP 143 (8.0%, -11.5%), Liberal Democrats 63 (3.5%,+0.1%), Green 62 (3.5%, -1.4%), Independent 11 (0.6%). Conservative gain from Labour. Powys UA, Glasbury: Lib Dem 457 (44.4%), Con 415 (40.3%, -10.9%), Ind 106 (10.3%,-8.0%), Green 52 (5.0%). Liberal Democrat gain from Conservative. Falkirk UA, Denny & Banknock: SNP 2576 (69.1%), Lab 549* (14.7%), Con 431 (11.6%), Green 170 (4.6%). SNP elected at the first count. Warwickshire CC, Nuneaton Whiteside: Con 1281 (58.4%, +5.5%), Lab 503 (22.9%, -8.5%), UKIP 292 (13.3%), Green 119 (5.4%, -10.3%). *The Labour candidate in the Denny & Banknock by-election, Andrew Bell, was dropped as a candidate by the local Labour branch earlier this week after he was caught making sectarian, anti-Catholic comments on Facebook, although his name s...

Readers, in light of not only the news of thousands of migrants fleeing via Calais to the UK, but also the recent racially-aggravated stabbing of teacher Vincent Umoza in Bradford, it is important that we not only tackle racism and anti-immigrant myths, but also the root causes of racism and anti-immigrant feeling, which can often develop in childhood (the boy who stabbed Mr Umoza was only 14 years of age). Given that racism and anti-immigrant propaganda and myths have been on the rise since the Great Recession started, what important things should we all do? 1. Remember that fundamentally we are all human beings, regardless of race, gender, disability, orientation, religious belief etc. In particular, our children should know this as well as respect for diversity and free thinking, and the good it brings to us all, needs to be taught from an early age. Given that dangers such as long-term austerity and adverse artificial climate change affect all of us, now more than ever...

Readers, the results from yesterday's by-elections featuring Green Party candidates (all in Scotland this week) were as follows: Glasgow UA, Calton: SNP 1507 (54.5%, +24.5%), Labour 814 (30.0%, -24.6%), Conservative and Unionist 129 (4.75%, +2.1%), UKIP 103 (3.8%), G reen 99 (3.65%, +0.7%), Independent 47 (1.7%), Liberal Democrats 18 (0.7%, -0.3%). SNP elected at stage 1. Glasgow UA, Anderston City: SNP 1441 (48.1%, +18.5%), Lab 857 (28.6%, -21.7%), Green 414 (13.8%, +3.3%), Con 164 (5.5%, +0.8%), Lib Dem 66 (2.2%, +0.5%), UKIP 43 (1.4%), Libertarian 12 (0.4%). SNP elected at stage 6. Glasgow UA, Langside: SNP 2134 (49.9%, +12.3%), Lab 932 (21.8%, -14%), Green 579 (13.55%, +5.05%), Con 379 (8.85%, +1.5%), Lib Dem 125 (2.9%, -4.35%), UKIP 65 (1.5%), TUSC 62 (1.5%, -1%). SNP elected at stage 2, SNP gain from Green. Glasgow UA, Craigton: SNP 2674 (54.2%, +22.8%), Lab 1643 (33.3%, -20.1%), Con 300 (6.1%, +2.5%), Green 136 (2.8%, +0.7%), UKIP 95 (1.9%, +0.9%), Lib Dem 87 (1....