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%), Gree...

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...

As this turbulent decade draws to a close with just 10 days to go before the end of 2019, it has seen many profound and remarkable changes. The Arab Spring, the EU referendum in Britain, the 2016 US Presidential election, and declarations of climate emergencies around the world stand out in particular. This decade's changes will prove to be far more lasting than those of the last decade.   The next decade, the 2020s, will be the most critical for us all as the effects of man-made climate change become more profound and the need for us to move to a more sustainable lifestyle and society, even if phase by phase, is now evident. Things cannot continue as they are and we must heal the old divides that permeate our society and economy in order to achieve the green transition that is fair for everyone and achieves a better redistribution of resources, whilst also ensuring better equality and opportunity. If we do not act in time, this century could be the last homo sapiens sapiens ...

Welcome to the final part of my analysis of the 2019 British general election. What overall have we learned from it?   This is clearly a realignment and pivotal election, one which has not only seen the end of decades-long dominance of particular types of constituency but which has also seen the end of many long great parliamentary careers, not only of MPs who have retired such as Kenneth Clarke but also those who were defeated at this election. Dennis Skinner and Frank Field were by no means the only long-serving MPs to be defeated-David Hanson, Roger Godsiff, Richard Burden, Sir David Crausby, Dominic Grieve, Caroline Flint, Ivan Lewis, Vernon Coaker, Mike Gapes, Gordon Marsden and Tom Brake had all been elected before the New Millennium as well, meaning that as many as 13 of the 73 MPs defeated this year had been MPs for more than 20 years. Sir Peter Bottomley, the new Father of the House, is the only remaining Conservative MP elected before Margaret Thatcher be...

The developments of Northern Ireland are of special importance to the 2019 British general election, as Brexit could trigger the reunification of Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) who gave confidence and supply to the Conservatives when Theresa May was Prime Minister, found themselves on the wrong end of the Remain/Leave divide outside County Antrim. The DUP's leader in Westminster, Nigel Dodds, lost his seat of Belfast North to Sinn Fein's John Finucane after 18 years in Parliament. Mr Finucane, the son of human rights lawyer Patrick Finucane who was murdered by loyalist paramilitaries in 1989, was backed by the Social Democratic Labour Party (SDLP) in an unprecedented nationalist alliance. This means that Belfast North, whose nationalist population is growing, has a nationalist MP for the first time in its history. Furthermore moderates in Northern Ireland are increasingly turning to the non-sectarian Alliance Party, who retu...

Within the British general election of 2019, the developments in Scotland in particular were in stark contrast to England and Wales. The Conservatives not only failed to gain any seats in Scotland but also lost seven of their 13 seats to the Scottish National Party (SNP). The five Conservative MPs defeated in Scotland were Colin Clark, Luke Graham, Kirstene Hair, Stephen Kerr, and Paul Masterson, in the seats of Gordon, Ochil & South Perthshire, Angus, Stirling, and East Renfrewshire respectively. The SNP also gained Aberdeen South and Ayr, Carrick & Cumnock from the Conservatives where those seats' incumbents retired (in Ross Thomson's case this was due to an allegation of groping from now ex-MP Paul Sweeney). Pete Wishart, who held on by only 21 votes over the Conservatives in Perth & North Perthshire in 2017, managed a 7% swing in his favour. However, in the strongly unionist Scottish Borders and in rural Aberdeenshire, the least pro-Remain part of Scotla...