Alan's Green Thoughts

The Dutch local elections took place yesterday in 335 municipalities (45, including many municipalities in Groningen, did not have elections due to mergers occurring; council mergers occur frequently and sporadically in the Netherlands), alongside a referendum on granting the Dutch Intelligence Services increased surveillance powers. The measure to introduce these new powers was narrowly rejected by a margin of 49.5% to 46.5% in said referendum, with 4% being blank votes not indicating a preference either way. Progressive university cities in particular like Utrecht, Groningen and Nijmegen were very decisive in their rejection, usually by a margin of more than 2 to 1. The provinces of Groningen and Friesland also heavily rejected it even outside the university towns. Most of the support for the increased surveillance powers came from the southern provinces of Zeeland, North Brabant and Limburg, the Calvinist/fundamentalist Protestant "Bible Belt" and prosperous communities cl...

Readers, the results of British local by-elections from 22 March 2018 were as follows: Aylesbury DC, Central & Walton: Liberal Democrats 551 (40.9%,+18.6%), Conservative 425 (31.5%, -2.5%), Labour 267 (19.8%, +2.1%), Green 61 (4.5%, -3.8%), Independent (Michael) 44 (3.3%). Liberal Democrat gain from Conservative. Bassetlaw DC, Worksop South East: Labour 1004 (77.3%, +23.3%), Conservative 197 (15.2%), Liberal Democrats 98 (7.5%). [UKIP, Greens, and Independents did not stand]. Cheshire East UA, Bunbury: Conservative 663 (53.3%, -16.9%), Liberal Democrats 342 (27.2%), Labour 178 (14.3%, -3.4%), Green 60 (4.8%, -7.2%). Chiltern DC, Ridgeway: Conservative 268 (38.2%, +16.8%), Labour 230 (32.8%), Liberal Democrats 203 (29.0%, +11.7%). Conservative gain from Independent. [No Independent candidates] Midlothian UA, Penicuik (1st preference votes): SNP (35.0%, -0.2%), Conservative (30.2%, +4.0%), Labour (27.6%, +2.0%), Green (7.2%, +1.6%). SNP gain from Labour at stage 3. [Lib...

It is my 27th birthday today, readers, but I do not let this stop me from carrying out the important task of analysing elections from around the world. Two weeks ago, Tasmania held its most recent state election. However, I could not fully analyse it initially because the transfers for the final seats (Tasmania uses Single Transferable Vote for its Assembly, not Alternative Vote which most Australian states do). There are only 25 seats in the Tasmanian House of Assembly so every seat gain or loss is quite significant. The Liberals managed to win a second consecutive term of office in Tasmania, which they have not managed for 32 years, although they did lose 2 of their seats giving them a majority of just one. This happened despite their first preference vote share only decreasing by 0.96%, still leaving them with 50.2%. Labor meanwhile gained 3 seats, increasing their 1st preference vote by 5.3%, and the Greens lost 1 of their seats, with their 1st preference vote share decr...

Last year, I wrote that only one tier of local government in Britain is needed and that all remaining county councils in England should be abolished: https://alansgreenthoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/why-end-may-be-nigh-for-all-remaining.html I firmly stick by this belief more than a year later, when orders for the creation of a new Dorset unitary authority (and the merger of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole), and three pairs of council mergers (Taunton Deane and West Somerset, St Edmunsbury and West Suffolk, and Suffolk Coastal and Waveney) have been approved and are likely to be formalised by Parliament later this year (in fact, the Weymouth & Portland council election of this year has been cancelled in anticipation of the finalisation of such mergers). These trends are set to continue and could potentially lead to the abolition of all remaining county councils in England within the next decade. However, if all of England is to switch to unitary authorities e...

Readers, the results of the three British local by-elections from 15 March 2018 were as follows: Redcar & Cleveland UA, Longbeck: Conservative 494 (32.7%, +7.1%), Liberal Democrats 397 (26.3%, +12.3%), Labour 337 (22.3%, +4.0%), Independent (Jeffries) 282 (18.7%, -3.6%). Conservative gain from Independent. South Kesteven DC, Stamford St George's: Conservative 309 (45.6%), Independent (Johnson) 174 (25.7%), Labour 114 (16.8%), Liberal Democrats 68 (10.0%), Green 13 (1.9%). South Kesteven DC, Stamford St John's: Conservative 327 (39.4%), Independent (Carroll) 267 (32.1%), Liberal Democrats 156 (18.8%), Labour 66 (7.9%), Green 15 (1.8%). A clear reversal of fortunes for the Conservatives this week, who held on to both Stamford seats despite strong challenges from Independents, and who managed to gain Longbeck in Redcar & Cleveland; ex-Labour councillor Vic Jeffries made a strong challenge but in the end finished fourth and last. The Spring Statement was released ...

Professor Stephen Hawking, perhaps the greatest scientist of the 21st century (and the latter half of the 20th), died earlier today. He became best known for his breakthroughs in the field of quantum physics, with his book A Brief History of Time managing to sell over 10,000,000 copies. And most notably, he performed all this whilst suffering from motor neurone disease for 54 years; initially when he was diagnosed with it in 1964 he was given 2-5 years to live. He holds a special place in the heart of greens like myself, though, due to this famous quote of his: " We have only one planet and we need to work together to protect it. We need to break down, not build up, barriers within and between nations. With resources increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few, we are going to have to share far more. " This quote ultimately matches the core ethos of green politics as we know it, and Professor Hawking was basing this on scientific observation not politics, making ...

Readers, the results of British local by-elections from 8 March 2018 were as follows: Bolton MBC, Farnworth: Farnworth & Kersley First 1204 (47.5%), Labour 969 (38.2%,-10.1%), UKIP 169 (6.7%, -29.7%), Conservative 153 (6.0%, -2.6%), Liberal Democrats 23 (0.9%, -2.1%), Green 18 (0.7%, -2.8%). Farnworth & Kersley first gain from Labour; all changes are since 2016. Dacorum BC, Northchurch: Liberal Democrats 545 (59.2%, +40.4%), Conservative 260 (28.2%, -32.1%), Labour 97 (10.5%, -1.7%), Green 19 (2.1%, -6.6%). Liberal Democrat gain from Conservative. East Hampshire DC, Petersfield Bell Hill: Independent (Matthews) 178 (32.6%), Liberal Democrats 156 (28.6%, +14.5%), Conservative 145 (26.6%, -20.9%), Labour 56 (10.3%, -4.9%), UKIP 11 (2.0%, -10.2%). Independent gain from Conservative. [Greens did not stand] Harlow DC, Little Parndon & Hare Street: Labour 781 (62.2%, +7.9%), Conservative 394 (31.4%, +5.2%), UKIP 80 (6.4%, -13.1%). Medway UA, Rochester West: Labour 1...

The Italian general election of 2018, a three-cornered fight between the coalizione centrodestra (centre-right coalition, which also includes the right-wing regionalist party Lega Nord), the syncretic anti-corruption Five Star Movement, and the coalizione centrosinistra (centre-left coalition, led by incumbent Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi) ended with the hardline Nationalist Lega Nord and its leader, Matteo Salvini, leading the victorious centre-right coalition. However, it will be the Five Star Movement and its leader, Luigi di Maio, who will be forming the next Italian government, having achieved the most votes individually of the parties who contested the election (32.2%). The Five Star movement had performed brilliantly for a newcomer in 2013, managing 25.6%, but topped even that without the charismatic Beppe Grillo at the helm (he cannot stand anyway under M5S' constitution due to a previous conviction for manslaughter; M5S' constitution requires their candidates ...

I apologise if this is not as comprehensive as my past reviews of Green Party conferences have been. For reasons beyond human control (i.e. Storm Emma, which brought heavy snow to most of Britain especially the south and Scotland) I was unable to actually make it to conference in Bournemouth this time despite having prepared well in advance. When I reached London I learned that my coach to Bournemouth had been cancelled and that there were none forthcoming, and nor were there any trains to Bournemouth or near there due to the heavy snow and ice around the south coast. Hundreds of would-be conference attendees could not make it either for the same reasons.. My review is therefore based on what I saw within the livestream and from social media discussion about the conference. Good points: 1. The snow cleared up in time for the conference to go ahead, even with a sharply reduced attendance from the expected numbers. 2. A motion on children's rights to nature, crucial in...

Readers, the results of British local by-elections from 1 March 2018 were as follows: Basingstoke & Deane BC, Kempshott: Conservative 686 (58.9%, -2.0%), Labour 366 (31.4%, +16.1%), Liberal Democrats 113 (9.7%, +2.4%). [Greens and UKIP did not stand] Clackmannanshire UA, Clackmannanshire North (1st preference votes): SNP 769 (37.0%, -3.1%), Conservative 659 (31.7%, +7.7%), Labour 493 (23.7%, -2.9%), Liberal Democrats 84 (4.0%, -1.1%), Green 74 (3.6%, -0.2%). SNP elected at stage 5. East Devon DC, Exmouth Town: Liberal Democrats 187 (28.2%, -2.8%), Independent Currier 176 (26.6%), Conservative 142 (21.5%, -3.6%), Labour 86 (13.0%, -7.7%), Green 71 (10.7%, -12.6%). Solihull MBC, Blythe: Conservative 1252 (75.9%, +24.8%), Labour 224 (13.6%, +4.6%), Liberal Democrats 174 (10.5%). [Residents' Association and Greens did not stand]. Residents'/Ratepayers' Associations in Britain are almost always moderately conservative in political outlook, hence the large boost to ...