I’m going to put forward a rather unorthodox view for a Green Party member: that the party should willingly co-operate and communicate with other political parties and with companies. I say this is unorthodox because, from my experience, it seems as if most party members are very much of the opinion that the Greens are the alternative to normal politics, and that somehow by co-operating and communicating in a meaningful manner with other parties, we are losing something of our otherness. I don’t know how much this is just something that occurs in the UK, and I could of course, be totally wrong, but I was inspired to write this post by another post
on a blog written by a friend of mine. Read More...

Tags: green, green Party, politics

Do:
- Be calm, relaxed and confident.
- Know what you're going to say.
- Enjoy it.

Don't:
- Forget manifesto points.
- Tell the returning officer that you've lost it.
- Flee.

Guess which of the two lists I followed.
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Tags: hustings, politics

Why, oh why, do people like Derek Conway have to be politicians? Most people already seem to hold the opinion that MPs are overpaid and have far too generous allowances, and when prats like this come along, all it serves to do is whip Daily Mail readers and sympathisers into a frenzy of calls for MPs to live ascetic lives with vows of poverty. Read More...

Tags: politics, conway, politicians, rant

Every now and then, I lose faith in Green politics. We have a tendency to sometimes get side tracked in unimportant things and infighting. The GPEW leadership farce has been a good example of this recently. I really can't believe that some people want to split the party over that! Of course, it is important to have a leadership structure that works well for the party and somehow reflects our ideology but, honestly, the Green Party exists to tackle some of the biggest problems that humanity faces: climate change, social injustice, among others.

So it was very encouraging to go along to a FYEG seminar on migrant youth in Helsinki last week. Hearing from the speakers who were invited, and meeting other young greens from around Europe was inspiring. Us British can often be too inward looking. I think it is important that we face outwards and participate with our neighbours, learning from them along the way. Anyway, enough of the epic speech style of writing. Its time to be green!
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Tags: green Party, politics, FYEG, europe

Tags: books, philosophy, politics

Yesterday the Tories suggested the concept of only having English MPs voting on English affairs. Then before that we had the "will he, won't he?" game around the prospect of the PM calling a general election. On top of all that we have the gently simmering question of what to do with the House of Lords. For a country with no written constitution, we seem to be doing quite well at generating constitutional questions.

It seems fairly obvious that there are two reasons that we are having these questions. Firstly, we have no single written document stating how we shall be ruled, and secondly, as humans, we have a desire for the new and the modern. I have to say that I quite like the idea of the UK being one of only two states in the world to have an unwritten constitution. It is reflective of the fairly unique status of Britain as being a country that has tried on most forms of government at one time or another: absolute monarchy, republic, colony, imperial power and so on, but has finally settled on one without the need for a major modern revolution. But by slowly adopting and adapting, we have caused some little problems here and there in the make up of the state. Read More...

Tags: UK, constitution, politics, Parliament, PM, MP

It is official. I have entered politics! With my first letter to the Edinburgh Evening News, I have sparked two people on the EEN web forum to strongly disagree with me and call me a "career-driven supporter" of the SGP, speaking "no more than blatant propaganda"! Here are the posts in full:

#12(#10 Climate Truth) - Wow! It is good to hear from someone who can speak knowledgeably about these issues that have been reduced to no more than blatant propaganda by the Greens and too many career-driven supporters. Climate Truth's comment refers to the latest IPCC report allegedly supported by "2,500 scientists" and to the "Summary for Policy Makers" which has been released in advance of the report proper. If I understand correctly, this Summary was issued before the report proper was finalised. However, it was announced that the report would not be changed except to bring it into line with the Summary - completely the wrong way round! The summary should be of the findings of the Report! It is not only Tom Redford who says such untruths with a straight face - Greens as a group are lying their way through the Press. A couple of days ago we had another who stated as fact something that was just not true, not misinterpreted, not misunderstood but just not true. And these people have the gall to suggest we vote for them!

#14Yes (12), I too dislike this propaganda that the Greens are using to present their argument. It implies that they have a very weak case so have to use the "big lie" to make their argument. Tom Redford says that Helen Martin "writes that the scientific community is divided on the matter of whether climate change is caused by human activities. This is simply not true." That statement is simply not true, as Climate Truth says with significant references to dissenting scientists. At least Steuart Campbell, whilst supporting TOm [sic] Redford's view, is honest enough to admit the reality - that pursuing the Greens' policy would wreck the economy, a significant factor in my view. I had the privilege to attend the lecture given some months ago by Bjorn Lomborg, who left Greenpeace at the same time as one of the co-founders. They took the view that the argument had been won, that people were correctly concerned about ecology and it was no longer necessary to pursue confrontation to make their case. Too many Greenpeace activists enjoyed confrontation to follow their lead, leading to that schism. Lomborg argues that whilst everyone should be concerned about the planet, Kyoto required far more investment than the improvements that it could create. It couldn't produce a realistic return on the investment, both in activity and financial cost. He even wrote a book about all the other steps that could be taken instead with far greater benefit to the planet and its inhabitants. He has been described as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. He also disagrees with the IPCC "findings".

Tags: politics, edinburgh, climate change