Remember your past too?

Perhaps Nigel Farage should remember that he is an ex-public schoolboy before he sits in judgement of David Cameron for the same.

 UKIP’s policies support a small, rich elite even more than the Tories do. Instead of doing what they claim (supporting the ordinary man) they are the ultimate party for big business, encouraging rampant capitalism. They see no problem with letting the market do its worst.

 Among the foremost figures are people with a history of involvement in racist groups. The party overall has an underlying xenophobic, sexist and racist feel to it, even if this is not explicit.

As for the policy on Grammar Schools, I do disagree with the Tories: you can’t accept private schools (almost exclusively for the rich) and then claim that grammar schools (which, at least in principle, are open to all – and certainly have a higher proportion of less well-off people that private schools (!)) are unfair. First let us ban private education before we start banning Grammar Schools!

 (Declaration of Interests: Author is an ex-grammar school student and enjoyed his time there but agrees that they are not the best mode for education in an ideal world)

Scottish Greens and a bit on our future direction…

The Scots Greens have signed an agreement of co-operation with the SNP for the new session of the parliament at Holyrood. I really hope that progressive things will come out of this: I hope that the social agenda will be kept as a central pillar of what the Green Party is about. There is a danger in focussing too much on environmental issues, which whilst vitally important can be quite distant in many people’s minds from the ‘here and now’. An environmentally sustainable world and a socially just world are inextricably linked – it is near impossible to have one without the other. Both are also vitally important. The Green Party has the capacity to help provide both. I hope that our sister party in Scotland will show that the Green movement is capable of rising up to the challenge.

I believe our elected representatives need to be more than just progressive politicians, they need to provide vehicles to inform and educate and to highlight the fact that another world is possible – a radically different world where people are put before profits. Our representatives need to be careful not to end up supporting neoliberal policies due to short-termism in which they make small gains for supporting an overall neoliberal agenda. The task is massive, short-termism won’t be the answer.

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Interested article posted on Derek Wall’s blog about the progress being made by Chavez in Venezuela. Whilst we cannot stand uncritical of everything that is happening, he must be a big leap in the right direction and a real challenge to the prevailing economic orthodoxy.

http://another-green-world.blogspot.com/2007/05/what-most-people-dont-get-about.html

Greens and the Left

Interesting discussions about the Greens and the Left happening at Matt Sellwood’s blog and Peter Sanderson’s blog. I will try to post something that’s well thought out on the subject as soon as I get a chance!

Scottish Greens Open Formal Talks with SNP on Political Co-operation

Mon., May 07, 2007. 17:17.

Statement following today’s meeting between the parties

Scottish Greens today met with the leadership of the SNP, opening formal negotiations on political co-operation.

Robin Harper, Co-convener of the Scottish Greens, said: “Today the Scottish Greens’ senior negotiating team have explored issues both of common ground and of difference with the SNP, with a focus on policy during our wide-ranging discussions. Our team went into these discussions constructively, while asserting our determination that any Green co-operation with a new government of any makeup would need to be built on increased commitment to positive green action, particularly on climate change. (1)

“There is a duty on all parties to seek to secure a stable and progressive government for Scotland. Our top policy priority is to deliver the necessary effective action on climate change and transport. More discussion is required on these issues before any agreement can be reached and we are looking forward to engaging in those constructively.

“In addition, the clear preference of the Scottish Green Party is for political cooperation short of formal coalition, based on a model of governance known as “confidence and supply”, although we have not ruled out formal coalition.” (2)

Notes to editors

(1) In the 2007 election, for the first time Scotland’s political party manifestos have been scientifically assessed for their overall environmental impact, revealing that Labour, Libdems, SNP and Tory would all fail to reduce Scotland’s ‘footprint’ over the next four years – and in the longer term would make matters even worse. This was the second ‘green’ report on party manifestos. The previous assessment by Friends of the Earth gave the Libdems, Labour and SNP only three out of ten, with the Tories trailing on zero. For those assessments of the various manifestos, see: http://www.foe-scotland.org.uk/press/pr20070402.html http://www.wwf.org.uk/filelibrary/pdf/scottish_manifesto_footprints.pdf

(2) Confidence and Supply delivers policy concessions to the Green Party agenda, ensures joint working on policy where there is common ground, but also allows Greens to take a principled stand on issues where they disagree with the Executive. Greens say such a model would ‘bring to life’ the original vision for the Parliament and require the Executive to win debates on the floor of the chamber. It is a political agreement where a non-executive party agrees to support a government (or ‘executive’) party or parties in any votes of confidence (hence confidence) and the budget (money supply). This ensures government stability where the Executive parties do not have a majority of votes in the Parliament. In return for this assurance, the Executive makes specific policy or legislative concessions to the non-Executive party. All other matters are dealt with on an issue by issue basis.

(taken from www.scottishgreens.org.uk)

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Good news which will hopefully mean some policy concessions to the Green Party on some important areas.

A mixed week

Well, the Greens did well in some places, less well in the others. A mixed night. Highlights included doubling the number of councillors we had in Brighton and making gains in Norwich (although we came just short of becoming the second largest party on the council). Our sister party lost several seats in Scotland which was a real shame and breaking news suggests that the Lib Dems have dropped out of coalition talks with the SNP meaning we won’t be in any kind of coalition (an SNP/Lib Dem/2Green+1Independent coalition having been a possible way of having a majority govt in Holyrood).

After several evenings spend campaigning with the party in the area where I am on placement, we lost by 200 votes to the Lib Dems – but it bodes well for next time. We did substantially better than both New Labour and the Tories.

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On Friday I had an enjoyable night at the LSE with a discussion chaired by Derek Wall and featuring Joel Kovel, the co-author of the ecosocialist manifesto. Lots of interesting topics were discussed, with many members of the audience making what I thought were really valuable contributions. Nice conversations at the Pub afterwards too – a nice way to end an emotionally draining week at the hospital with a team specialising in Breast Cancer.

I must post more often!