Alan's Green Thoughts

Yesterday, there was a local by-election in Knight's Hill, Lambeth, and the results of it were as follows: Lambeth DC, Knight's Hill: Labour 1263 (63.7%), Conservative 248 (12.5%), Green 230 (11.6%), UKIP 99 (5.0%), Liberal Democrat 94 (4.7%), Independent (Nelly Amos) 51 (2.6%). This by-election was incidentally caused by the disqualification of the recently re-elected Labour councillor, Sonia Winifred, on the grounds she once worked at a school in Lambeth. She resigned the post in order to recontest, but this unnecessary by-election has cost Lambeth taxpayers approximately £10,000, according to newspaper reports. In spite of this, Sonia was re-elected easily, partly due to Knight's Hill being very safe for Labour already and the fact that many electors are on holiday at the moment-the turnout in this election was only ~25%. Even with low swings for local by-elections, the Liberal Democrats sunk to a new low in Lambeth, coming fifth in this by-election behind UKIP in an...

It has just been reported in 'The Independent' that as many as 1 in 10 people within the UK do not have any significant close friends, and also that many people are involved in many poor quality relationships; both of these are detrimental to psychological and long-term physical well-being. What this article does not mention is that people with disabilities and/or mental health problems are particularly likely to be lonely and/or in poor relationships-as someone with autism, I have experienced loneliness myself on several occasions, and it has not been good at all, and I have sometimes felt not as close to someone as I should have been or wanted to be. Also, only 1 in 20 Londoners do not have significant close friends-people in rural or semi-urban areas (small/medium towns,basically) are more likely to be significantly lonely than those living in cities, and this is also true across much of the world. I believe that this sorry state of affairs is at least somewhat attributabl...

Ladies and gentlemen, in case you are not already aware, the results from yesterday's local by-elections featuring Green candidates were as follows: Stroud DC, Valley: Green 291 (42.8%), Labour 230 (33.8%), UKIP 76 (11.2%), Conservative 67 (9.9%), TUSC 16 (2.4%). Epping Forest DC, Broadley Common, Epping Upland and Nazeing: Con 155 (50.5%), UKIP 122 (39.7%), Green 23 (7.5%), Liberal Democrat 7 (2.3%). Worthing DC, Castle: UKIP 568 (36.9%), Conservative 485 (31.5%), Lib Dem 242 (15.7%), Lab 197 (12.8%), Green 49 (3.2%). Although I am pleased we held in the Valley by-election, a ward previously held by current Green MEP Molly Scott-Cato, there was a slight swing against us, partly due to the intervention of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, which has split Green votes in the past. One particularly unfortunate thing is that we did not contest the Wells by-election in Malvern Hills, even though we have two councillors in Malvern Hills and were at the last Malvern H...

Lonely Is A Planet Without Life (can be sung to the tune of Lonely Is A Man Without Love): All the days of my life on this earth of ours, I have seen disrespect  for all the things we depend on,  More and more things just get overused or abused, Or tossed aside or stored away for no reason. There's something we should all know, wherever we are, Lonely is a planet without life, Whether that life is human or not, seen or unseen, We should all protect it from strife.  While so many are hooked online, here's what they should know, Lonely is a planet without life, If we really want to help it, we should all go out there, And repair the neglect so rife. Every day, every week, every month,every year Mass media keeps misguiding so many towards destruction  Life is so sacred and we should all take note of this, And break free from consumerism and unnecessary fashion. There's something we should all know, wherever we are, Lonely is a planet without life,...

Ladies and gentlemen, it has just been noted that former Conservative Party chairman Sayeeda Warsi, aka Baroness Warsi, has just resigned from the Foreign Office over the ConDems' failure to take any action against Israel over its attacks on Gaza and its massacring of hundreds of innocent people there.  Whilst I am pleased with Baroness Warsi for making this public resignation, I also believe that Parliament should be recalled from its current summer recess (due to last until early September) to take action against Israel in the midst of this situation. I therefore ask you all, as some others have done on Facebook and Twitter, to write to your MP and ask him to ask the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, to recall Parliament so that hopefully Britain can at least discuss imposing economic and social sanctions on Israel. I am also pleased about recent ecological developments within Ireland and Nicaragua, on another note. The Republic of Ireland became the first nation ...

Ladies and gentlemen, although there was only one local by-election from yesterday featuring a Green candidate, here it is: Rother DC, Darwell: Conservative 361 (42.7%), UKIP 182 (21.5%), Green 154 (18.2%), Lab 84 (9.9%), Liberal Democrat 65 (7.7%). Rother, like many council areas in the South West (though the Rother area, which notably covers Bexhill-on-Sea and Rye, is in the South East), is a case where UKIP can damage the Lib Dem vote to almost the same extent they can damage the Conservative vote, and this was proven last night. Incidentally, Rother District Council was the very first British local council to elect an Ecology/Green councillor-as far back as 1976. Another result worth mentioning is that of Mostyn, Flintshire. Even though this was won by an Independent, the Independent in question, David Roney, is actually a Wales Green Party member (as far as I know). Up until a few years ago, Flintshire was the sole Welsh authority to have a Green (or Plaid Werdd as they say ...

I would firstly like to start on a positive note by saying that I affirm my support for Will Duckworth (first preference) and Amelia Womack (second preference) in the GPEW Deputy Leadership elections. I postitvely believe Will's hard work so far as Green Party Deputy Leader and within Dudley, and Amelia' passion and inspiration to young activists, will all be useful in tandem in the Green Party, especially as the 2015 general election looms ever closer. I also ask you, if you can, in light of the escalating situation and death toll in Gaza, to come to a protest against Israel's attacks on Gaza (especially its massacring of families and shelling of schools and hospitals, which constitutes a war crime), outside the Israeli Embassy in High Street Kensington, London, tomorrow at 5.30 pm. Further details can be found via this link: www.palestinecampaign.org. I also hope you have found and signed a petititon calling for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be charged wi...