Alan's Green Thoughts

Readers, the results of British local by-elections from 16 January and 23 January 2020, the first of the year and in fact this decade, were as follows: (16/1/20): Bristol UA, Brislington East: Labour 865 (39.7%, +0.6%),  Conservative 647 (29.7%, -7.0%), Liberal Democrats 486 (22.3%, +11.6%), Green 179 (8.2%, -5.1%). (23/1/20): Brent LBC, Alperton: Liberal Democrats 1699 (39.7%, +30.7%), Labour* 1304 (30.5%, -27.7%), Conservative 900 (21.0%, -1.0%), Green 373 (8.7%, -2.1%). Liberal Democrat gain from Labour. Brent LBC, Barnhill (double election): Labour 1194/1152 (46.5%, -17.5%), Conservative 1082/1018 (41.7%, +16.4%), Green 231/171 (8.0%), Liberal Democrats 118/76 (3.8%,-3.6%). Brent LBC, Wembley Central: Labour 1945 (54.5%, -13.2%), Conservative 1090 (30.6%, +14.3%), Liberal Democrats 378 (10.6%, +1.5%), Green 154 (4.3%, -2.6%). Dumfries & Galloway UA, Mid Galloway & Wigtown West (1st preferences): Conservative 2177 (61.8%, +22.3%), SNP 898 (25.5%, +1.9%), Green 22

In the month since the most recent British general election, there has been a lot of discussion about how badly Labour lost in its northern heartlands and whether it will recover from this, but little about the general election's effects on other political heartlands as such. Political heartlands in Britain have in fact been shifting from place to place and party to party in the last century. The Labour Party's strongest heartlands used to be in the old mining areas, not the biggest cities except in the poorer districts. The Liberal heartlands were once in the Pennines and "Celtic fringe", particularly where there was a Nonconformist religious tradition. Conservative heartlands are shifting as well-Surrey and Hertfordshire are not as safely Conservative as they used to be, and it is the counties of Lincolnshire (including North/North East Lincolnshire) and Essex that produced the strongest Conservative results in 2019. This will continue into further elections even

Welcome to the 2020s, everyone, which will be a crucial decade for us all, and for Earth. Britain's now inevitable departure from the European Union will be the most prominent British event, and in fact one of the most prominent international events, of this year, although subsequent talks will draw out for months. In electoral terms, the presidential election of the United States of America, especially in light of the impending impeachment trial of current US President Donald Trump, is without doubt the most important election of this year, especially regarding the Democratic primaries of 2020 despite the withdrawal of two of the most prominent up and coming candidates from the race, Kirsten Gillibrand and Kamala Harris. There are also national elections coming up in Ethiopia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Peru, Slovakia, and many other nations great and small. Climate change must remain the top priority issue across all nations, and undoubtedly some systemic sacrifices will h