Alan's Green Thoughts

Readers, the results of yesterday's local by-elections featuring Green Party candidates were as follows: Brentwood DC, Shenfield:  Conservative 852 (58.5%, +0.8%), Liberal Democrats 483 (31.7%, +4.3%), UKIP 85 (5.6%, -2.8%), Labour 49 (3.2%, -3.3%), Green 16 (1.0%). Conservative gain from Liberal Democrat. Peterborough UA, West: Con 1174 (46.4%, +1.1%), Lab 742 (29.4%, -2.3%), UKIP 415 (16.4%, +1.6%), Lib Dem 103 (4.1%), Green 94 (3.7%, -4.5%). Most of yesterday's by-elections took place in villages or small-town areas which were all outside the South West, and the Green Party is more active in urban areas particularly with large numbers of young people, and towns that have a 'naturally green' feeling. Our medicore result in the West ward of Peterborough-a ward that will be abolished when Peterborough gets new ward boundaries next year and 3 extra councillors-was probably due to the fact that the Liberal Democrats stood this time when they had not earlier...

Earlier today, China finally stated it plans to reverse its one child only policy (and replace it with a two child policy), which had been in force since 1980 initially to curb extensive population growth. China was for many years the only country with a population greater than one billion, and even now India's population has reached the one billion mark, China is still the most populous country on Earth by a considerable margin of hundreds of millions. 36 years of having a strict and harshly enforced one child policy (even when relaxed in some circumstances) has had substantial and detrimental effects on China socio-economically and psychologically. Birth rates in China are well below the expected replacement level of 2.1, the rate needed to keep a population stable in the long-term. This is being exacerbated by the fact that China, like many wealthier nations in the Western hemisphere, now has a substantial elderly population with ~20% of its population being over the age of 65...

Two days ago, Poland held its general election, although because it took a long time to verify results (despite the derisory turnout of 51%) I was not able to write this post yesterday. The result was a sharp turn to the right and a clear victory for the Law and Justice Party (PiS) led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, brother of former President Lech Kaczynski (who died in a plane crash in 2010). Needing to present an acceptable face to former Civic Platform (PO) voters, he declined to run for Prime Minister of Poland and instead asked Beata Szydlo to do so. It worked well, since Beata was able to steer the Law and Justice Party towards the first ever single-party majority (235 seats out of 460) in the history of Polish democracy, although given the unstable majority she is likely to seek out a coalition partner, probably the centrist Polish People's Party which managed to avoid losing out. Meanwhile, under the eye of Ewa Kopacz (who became Polish PM after the resignation of Donald Tusk...

Readers, the results of yesterday's local by-elections that featured Green candidates were as follows: Bury MBC, Tottington : Conservative 1046 (52.2%, +3.4%), Labour 619 (30.9%, +2.0%), UKIP 198 (9.9%, -4.4%), Lib Dem 87 (4.3%, +0.8%), Green 54 (2.7%, -1.8%). Conservative gain from Labour, all changes are since 2012. Oxford BC, Northfield Brook : Lab 509 (77.9%, +7.0%), UKIP 60 (9.2%), Con 47 (7.2%, -4.3%), Green 28, (4.2%, -7.0%), TUSC 9 (1.4%). Westminster LBC, Bryanston & Dorset Square : Con 582 (49.7%, -1.8%), Baker Street No Two Ways 218 (18.6%), Lab 167 (14.3%, -5.7%), Green 116 (9.9%, -6.4%), Lib Dem 46 (3.9%, -8.3%), UKIP 42 (3.6%). The last of the three above by-elections is particularly notable due to the publicity of the issue of two-way traffic being implemented on Baker Street, reported for having the potential to cause traffic chaos according to local media. It was strong enough in fact for an independent to register a new political p...

Two days ago, long-serving left-wing Labour MP for Oldham West (latterly Oldham West & Royton) Michael Meacher died. He had served as an MP for more than 45 years. I never met him personally; a few years ago he planned to show up to a political session I went to, but due to unforeseen circumstances he did not do so. Michael first came to prominence in the Oldham West by-election of 1968, where Labour lost to the Conservatives as they did in several other by-elections in otherwise safe seats in the middle of Harold Wilson's second term as Prime Minister. However, he recaptured the seat in 1970 from Keith Campbell (the Conservative MP who had taken Oldham West in the 1968 by-election) and held it until 1997, when it was replaced by the Oldham West & Royton constituency he represented until his death. Michael was notably one of the more left-wing Labour MPs, and was a supporter of such figures as Tony Benn and latterly Jeremy Corbyn, who in his final days he was ...

Sensationally, Justin Trudeau, son of the late Pierre Trudeau (one of Canada's longest serving Prime Ministers) has just easily swept to power in the latest Canadian federal election. In the few months in the run-up to this election, there was a tight race between the Conservatives, Liberals, and NDP, although this slipped away as the Liberals clearly put themselves in the lead in the final moments. The huge Liberal revival he managed, with the Liberals rising from 36 seats (notionally) to 184, gaining a majority of 30 in the 338-seat Parliament; they were also the only Canadian party not to lose any of their seats. Meanwhile, the Conservatives under Stephen Harper, despite benefitting the most from the redistribution and seat increase, fell to 99 seats despite making seven notional gains (all in Quebec) and avoiding falling to third place behind the NDP, which they feared throughout the campaign The gains made by the NDP under the late Jack Layton were g...

The Swiss Federal election of 2015, which was held yesterday, showed two disappointments significant to me. One was a shift to the right, the other was the loss of support both of Switzerland's green parties have received. Both the Greens and Green Liberals lost support, despite some earlier polls showing the Green Liberals gaining seats at the expense of the Greens; the Greens went from 15 to 11 seats and the Green Liberals went from 12 seats to just 7. In fact the Swiss Greens co-leader Adele Thorens lost her own seat in the French-speaking canton of Vaud. Given that the Swiss are strong on environmental initiatives despite famously staying apart from the EU, this is rather worrying in my opinion-in fact, the first ever Green parliamentarian in any national legislature was elected in Switzerland, back in 1979 when at the same time our own Ecology Party was just establishing itself as a long-term (if initially minor) force in British politics. Meanwhile, possibly due to higher...

Despite the fact that the referendum on the UK's future membership of the European Union may be as many as two years away, the debate on whether we should stay in the EU or exit it is up and coming. I believe, however, that without knowledge of the referendum date, and the potential political volatility of our situation nationally (and of Europe's situation as well for that matter), it is too early to take a definite stance on the question of EU membership, and that there are many people who still do not know what it really means for Britain to be a member of the European Union, what the EU actually does, and the many ways in how British membership of the EU impacts on our daily lives. I will therefore take a third stance on the EU issue, in response to the definite yes campaign by Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, and the definite no campaign by Jenny Jones, Green Party AM and the first Green Party peer. To celebrate the second anniversary of my blog, I ann...

Readers, the results from local by-elections earlier this week that featured Green Party candidates were as follows: (07/10/2015): Cardiff UA, Riverside: Labour 1071 (45.9%, -0.8%), Plaid Cymru 780 (33.5%, +2.4%), Con 155 (6.6%, -1.1%), UKIP 110 (4.7%), Green 109 (4.7%, -3.2%), Liberal Democrats 85 (3.6%, -0.2%), TUSC 21 (0.9%, -1.8%). All changes are since 2012. Eilean Siar UA, An Taobh Siar Agus Nis: John MacLeod (No Description) 886 (86.9%), Richard Froggatt (Independent) 75 (7.4%), Scottish Green Party 59 (5.8%). (08/10/2015): South Hams DC, Totnes Town: Green 570 (30.1%,-3.4%), Lib Dem 558 (29.5%, +12.1%), Lab 432 (22.8%, +3.7%), Con 268 (14.2%, +0.1%), Independent P 63 (3.3%). South Oxfordshire DC, Sandford & The Whittenhams: Con 290 (42.8%, -4.3%), Lib Dem 249 (36.7%, +16.3%), Lab 89 (13.1%, -3.7%), Green 50 (7.4%, -8.3%) Highland UA, Aird and Loch Ness: Lib Dem 1029 (33.5%, +21.2%), SNP 1000 (32.5%, +4.4%), Con 467 (15.2%, +8.3%), Independent 29...

In a quiet town park, Close to the call of a singing lark, I see a tiny little person, Swaddled in cloth Eyes bright and open. Meanwhile, a moth Flutters nearby the cute little one, Who is resting in their mother's arms, Looking so sweet and adorable, Many are this newborn's charms. They were only born so recently, Yet their little fingers grasp so tightly, They nestle and gurgle so sweetly, They smile and pout so brightly. After this sight, hours later I think alone, Wishing I had someone so sweet, So cuddly, so little of my own. With my fingers tickling their tiny feet, Them asleep in the sight of my eyes, As soft and vividly pink as baby mice.

Yesterday, Portugal, who like Greece was particularly badly hit by the Great Recession and the machinations of the Troika (if not to the same extent as Greece) held its general election, which was a convincing defeat for the Social Democratic-People's Party government. Despite the fact that the PDS and PP allied together as they did in European elections last year (their alliance is called Portugal Ahead, abbreviated to PaF), they managed to lose 28 seats, undoing all their gains of 2011 (which they managed as separate parties). Despite subpar polling earlier, the Left Bloc (BE) achieved its best result ever, overtaking the Democratic Unitarian Coalition (a coalition between the Portuguese Communist Party and Portuguese Ecologists) and achieving third place for the first time ever, although the CDU nevertheless added 1 seat from its 2011 total. A new green list, LIVRE/TDA, sadly failed to gain any seats , partly due to PAN (Portugal's animal rights party) obtaining crucial v...

In just over two weeks time, Canada will have its general election, which like elections in the UK involves the use of the unfair first past the post system. The fact that there will be 30 extra ridings (for Britain read constituencies) will unfortunately help the Canadian Conservatives in terms of notional extra seats, just as extra seats added under boundary changes in the UK at each review since 1983 have notionally given the UK's Conservatives more extra seats notionally than other parties. I know quite a few Canadians (one of my opponents in Hemel Hempstead at the last general election was Canadian himself) and I take a good interest in elections of nations all around the world, which is why I am covering this. Opinion polls have been fluctuating substantially in the last few months, with the New Democratic Party (Canada's closest answer to our own Labour Party), the Liberals, and the Conservatives each being in the lead at least a few times with each party being withi...

Readers, the results from local by-elections from 24 September 2015 and 1 October 2015 featuring Green Party candidates were as follows: (24/09/2015): Wyre Forest DC, Blakebrook & South Habberley: Conservative 595 (40.0%, +11.0%), UKIP 232 (16.9%, -3.2%), Labour 247 (16.6%, -1.7%), Green 173 (11.6%, +0.5%), ICHC 167 (11.2%, -4.2%), Liberal Democrat 54 (3.6%, -1.6%). (01/10/2015): Cherwell BC, Banbury Grimsbury & Castle: Lab 781 (45.0%, +8.3%), Con 661 (38.1%, +1.3%), UKIP 150 (8.6%, -6.3%), Lib Dem 73 (4.2%, -1.3%), Green 72 (4.1%, -3.8%). Labour gain from Conservative; all changes are since May 2015. Aberdeen UA, George Street/Harbour: SNP 961 (51.2%, +17.5%), Scottish Labour 490 (26.1%, -6.4%), Conservative & Unionist 195 (10.4%, +3.7%), Scottish Green Party 136 (7.2%, -0.1%), Liberal Democrats 96 (5.1%, -4.8%). SNP elected at stage 1. Aberdeen UA, Midstocket/Rosemount: SNP 1168 (40.9%, +1.9%), Con 675 (23.6%, +9.8%), Lab 608 (21.2%, -11.2%), Lib...

Yesterday, Princess Michael of Kent (real name Marie von Reibnitz), who is married to the Queen's cousin, caused public outrage by claiming in an interview about her new book, Agnes Sorel, Mistress of Beauty , that animals 'do not have rights because they do not pay taxes, do not vote, and do not have bank accounts.' Astonishingly, she said this despite apparently being a patron of several animal charities. These remarks of hers are not only untrue and hypocritical but also deeply offensive towards both animals and humans. All animals have rights in the way all humans have rights because they are creatures just like us, and are living things who we share a planet with and like us are dependent on the environment. For example, it is important to know that animals have (or at least should have) a right to life, a right to freedom from degrading and cruel treatment, and a right not to be held in slavery, which are absolute rights we humans have as well. Just be...