Alan's Green Thoughts

In the run-up to "Super Local Thursday" i.e. 6 May 2021, there were some local by-elections in Scotland and Wales (but not England). The results of those local by-elections, spanning from 4 March to 8 April 2021, were as follows: (4/3/21): North Lanarkshire UA, Fortissat (1st preferences): Labour 1071 (38.4%, +1.9%), SNP 965 (34.6%, +5.5%), Conservative 656 (23.5%, +10.2%), Green 69 (2.5%), UKIP 31 (1.1%). Labour gain from SNP at stage 4. [NO Referendum-Maintain Union Pro-Brexit did not stand and no Independent candidate stood either] North Lanarkshire UA, Thorniewood (1st preferences): Lab 998 (36.4%, -13.9%), SNP 944 (34.5%, -4.2%), Independent (Budd) 518 (18.9%), Con 212 (7.7%, -3.3%), Green 53 (1.9%), UKIP 15 (0.5%). Labour gain from SNP at stage 4. (11/3/21): Highland UA, Aird & Loch Ness (1st preferences): Independent Fraser 997 (28.3%), SNP 994 (28.2%, +5.9%), Con 824 (23.4%, +3.7%), Liberal Democrats 300 (8.5%, -1.7%), Green 272 (7.7%, +0.1%), Lab 133 (3.8%). Inde...

Shirley Williams, latterly Baroness Williams of Crosby, passed away yesterday. Shirley, Education Secretary from 1976-79 and Minister of State for Education & Science from 1967-69 (she held other posts, but these are the two where her impact was the most significant), was most famous for being one of the Gang of Four who founded the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981, alongside Roy Jenkins, David Owen, and Bill Rodgers. The daughter of political philosopher George Catlin and the famous writer Vera Britten (who incidentally was born in Newcastle under Lyme, not far from Keele University where I obtained my master's degree), Shirley first became a Labour MP in 1964 for Hitchin, which at the time included Stevenage as well as the entirety of the current North Hertfordshire district in which I live, and her moderate style suited the constituency very well indeed. Her brief time as Labour MP for Hertford & Stevenage marks the only time my hometown of Ware, along with its larg...

The Bulgarian election of 4th April resulted first and foremost a remarkable breakthrough for parties specifically dedicated to tackling corruption in Bulgaria, especially political corruption which accounts for, among other things, the dreadful turnout levels at election time in spite of list-PR being used. GERB ("Coat of arms" in Bulgarian), the main conservative party of Bulgaria, won along with its main ally SDS only 75 seats despite finishing first, and this loss of 20 seats gives it its worst ever result; they also managed only 25.8% of the vote. Like many conservative parties in Eastern Europe, GERB has been involved in many corruption scandals, not to mention stifling of the media by Boyko Borisov & co and misuse of EU development funds in what is one of Europe's poorest countries. The main social-democratic alliance, BSzP (Coalition for Bulgaria, led by the Bulgarian Socialist Party) fared even worse in this election-it lost 37 seats bringing it down to 43 an...

Two days ago, the island of Greenland, mostly covered by an enormous ice sheet crucial for maintaining our ecosystem, delivered a decisive victory for Inuit Ataqatigiit, a separatist and socialist party. This is important for a key reason: the previous Siumut-led government was considered opening a rare earth metals mine in Kvanefjeld, citing economic growth and job opportunities which if opened will have catastrophic environmental consequences and accelerated the melting of the Greenland ice sheet. Inuit Ataqatigiit opposes the project and any prospect of uranium mining in Greenland. If that ice sheet melts, sea levels will rise by at least 7 metres, meaning that large parts of Europe and the USA will become permanently flooded. Worse still, that will completely divert the Gulf Stream and cause a miniature ice age across Europe for areas that do not become flooded. The Greenland ice sheet is vital to us all.  IA gained 4 seats increasing its seat total to 12; although this is not ...

Dame Cheryl Gillan, Conservative MP for Chesham & Amersham since 1992, passed away yesterday after a long illness. This is the first time I have ever paid tribute to a Conservative MP who has died, but Dame Cheryl is that very rare Conservative MP/former Conservative MP who merits a tribute from me. During her 29 years in parliament, Dame Cheryl spoke passionately on the subject of autistic people's rights, culminating in her sponsoring the Autism Act of 2009, although this law is not well-enforced at present given how autistic people have suffered in the last decade. It is nevertheless an important blueprint for autism rights in the UK. She also resolutely opposed HS2 even though the Conservatives as a whole voted to push this white elephant through despite clear evidence of the destruction to nature it would cause. Farewell, Dame Cheryl. Even though in many ways you were just like any other Conservative MP, that achievement for autism rights is definitely one I will always re...

There have been reports of so-called "Covid passports" being trialled in some areas of Britain, which would require people to provide proof of a vaccination against COVID-19 before being allowed to enter certain places e.g. pubs, or to travel abroad.  However, these "Covid passports" will not in fact work, and here is why: 1. They could discriminate against people who have not been able to receive a vaccination for one reason or another. The COVID-19 vaccines cannot be administered to absolutely every adult; pregnant women and people with allergic reactions to any of the components of the COVID-19 vaccines available in the UK at present cannot receive those vaccines. People with such allergies could be excluded from many parts of public life through no fault of their own if these vaccine passports were implemented. 2. What if proof that someone had received the vaccine was lost or missing? Human error involving records both online and offline does occur, and this wi...