Alan's Green Thoughts

It is that time of year again. This year we have seen the tide substantially turn against the mess that is Brexit, which all started two years ago with the EU membership referendum. However, with only 3 months left before the official withdrawal date, action must be taken fast to stop the Brexit chaos. Jeremy Corbyn's recent announcement that he will continue Brexit if he won a hypothetical snap election, despite increasing evidence of the damage it could do to Britain socially and economically, shows that he has no more integrity than Theresa May when it comes to hearing the changing wishes of the British public. We have also seen the passing of many great figures of our time, notably Professor Stephen Hawking, Marvel Comics creator Stan Lee, and earlier today, former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown. John Jeremy Durham Ashdown, to give his full name, first rose to prominence in 1983 when he won the reliably Conservative constituency of Yeovil, which Labour had narrowly f...

Readers, the results of British local by-elections from this week were as follows: Charnwood BC, Anstey: Conservative 523 (50.8%, +17.1%), Labour 507 (49.2%, +33.6%). Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats, who did not defend the seat [UKIP and Greens did not stand either] Cumbria CC, Kent Estuary: Liberal Democrats 1381 (62.0%, +9.0%), Conservative 666 (29.8%, -7.2%), Green 109 (4.9%,-1.1%), Labour 70 (3.14%, -0.7%). South Lakeland DC, Arnside & Milnthorpe: Liberal Democrats 1319 (59.4%, +7.9%), Conservative 709 (31.9%, +0.2%), Green 125 (5.6%, -6.4%), Labour 68 (3.1%,-1.7%). Anstey has never had any Labour councillors; its larger predecessor ward, Bradgate, never elected any Labour councillors either. Yet due to the absence of Liberal Democrat and Green candidates, this is the closest Labour have come to winning a council seat in Anstey. UKIP's absence, meanwhile, saved the Conservatives from a locally historic loss. The Lake District's affluence is stro...

Readers, the results of British local by-elections from this week were as follows: (12/12/18): Ashfield DC, Sutton Junction & Harlow Wood: Ashfield Independents 856 (81.9%), Labour 97 (9.3% -28.6%), Conservative 48 (4.6%, -20.0%), Democrats & Veterans 26 (2.5%), UKIP 13 (1.2%), Liberal Democrats 5 (0.5, -37.0%). Ashfield Independents gain from Labour: (13/12/18): Dumfries & Galloway UA, Dee & Glenkens (1st preferences): Conservative 1682 (45.9%, +12.4%), SNP 1024 (28.0%,+8.4%), Independent (Wyper) 569 (15.5%, -18.6%),Green 342 (9.3%, +3.0%), UKIP 46 (1.3%). Conservative hold at stage 4. [Other Indepedents, Labour, and Liberal Democrats did not stand] Haringey LBC, West Green: Labour 1273 (56.6%, -7.3%), Liberal Democrats 621 (27.6%, +19.1%), Green 243 (10.8%, -2.7%), Conservative 114 (5.1%, -3.9%). Harlow DC, Toddbrook: Labour 464 (51.1%, +5.4%), Conservative 311 (34.3%, +0.9%), UKIP 89 (9.8%, -11.2%), Liberal Democrats 44 (4.8%). All changes are since 2015....

Theresa May survived a vote of no confidence yesterday by Conservative MPs-but the margin, 200-117, still puts the Conservatives in big trouble in the long term. 36.9% of MPs voted against Theresa May, including the majority of Conservative backbenchers. Why did it fail in spite of the chaos over the Brexit deal? Theresa May is one of the worst Prime Ministers in British history, make no mistake. But unlike with John Redwood's challenge to John Major, which actually failed by a larger margin (89 votes to John Major's 218), a contest between Eurosceptics and pro-Europeans within the Conservative Party, there were and are no credible challengers to Theresa May despite pollsters claiming there are and despite Mrs May being widely perceived as incompetent. The alternatives frequently cited have no notably different or useful vision (e.g. Sajid Javid), are too divisive despite name recognition (e.g. Boris Johnson), are more extreme than Theresa May in terms of a Brexit outlook a...

Last month, it was announced that Fiona Bruce, currently a BBC News presenter (and not to be confused with the sitting Conservative MP for Congleton of the same name), will be hosting Question Time from January 2019, replacing David Dimbleby who is retiring at the end of this year after 24 years of hosting the programme BBC Question Time's quality has been deteriorating overall since 2015, especially due to the excessive coverage given to UKIP compared to the Green Party, and also due to panels becoming more unbalanced as a whole. David Dimbleby's attitude towards female panellists in particular, especially those of a progressive stance like Caroline Lucas and former Green Party leader Natalie Bennett, has been dismal. In general, his stance is outdated and out of touch with the need for a more inclusive, modern politics. As a result, I have often refused to watch BBC Question Time unless the panel is particularly interesting or innovative. I am therefore personally glad that...

Readers, the results of British local by-elections of this week were as follows: Highland UA, Wester Ross, Strathpeffer & Localsh (1st preferences): SNP 1318 (33.1%, +7.0%), Conservative 1037 (26.0%, +7.6%), Independent (Greene) 622 (15.6%, +3.9%), Green 359 (9.0%, -2.2%), Liberal Democrats 320 (8.0%, -5.4%), Labour 174 (4.4%, -0.7%) Independent (Davis) 130 (3.3%), UKIP 16 (0.4%), Libertarian 8 (0.2%). SNP gain from Liberal Democrat at stage 8. Leicester UA, Belgrave: Labour 5,477 (86.6%, +17.0%), Conservative 412 (6.5%, -11.9%), Liberal Democrats 238 (3.8%), Green 199 (3.1%, -2.5%). [UKIP and TUSC did not stand] Oxford BC, Wolvercote: Liberal Democrats 998 (60.5%, -0.5%), Conservative 404 (24.5%, +1.0%), Labour 162 (9.8%, -0.1%), Green 86 (5.2%, -0.5%). Surrey CC, The Byfleets: Independent 1128 (48.6%, +16.2%), Conservative 782 (33.8%, -7.6%), Liberal Democrats 309 (13.3%, -4.2%) UKIP 101 (4.4%, +1.1%). Independent gain from Conservative. [Labour did not stan...