Local councils have less and less power, Thatcher cut their influence, trying to make all decisions ones decided by the market....look at the way Blair is heavily pressurising local authorities to get rid of their council houses.
Nonetheless there are some great examples of action by Green councillors, now nearly 100 strong, in the UK (same figures as the Liberals in the 1960s who have thousands and thousands)...we need to elect more councillors and extend their effective action.
Brighton and Hove are campaigning on cuts to HIV/Aids services.
Brighton and Hove Green Party's local manifesto is here.
Phillip Booth who is a councillor in Stroud has an interesting blog with lots on the potential for change, Stroud is one of the strongest areas for the GP in England.
The news from his blog that pubs are introducing fingerprint checks is news to me!
Fingerprint scanning scheme for pubs
Pubs and clubs around the country are introducing fingerprint scanning systems for drinkers. The scheme which is backed by the Home Office was first trialled in Yeovil but plans are afoot to expand the system to Coventry, Hull, Sheffield, Leeds, Gwent, Nottingham, Taunton and possibly Swindon. If they are successful there are plans to spread it across the country.
Drinkers must have their thumbprints scanned and supply their name, address and date of birth to enrol onto the system before they are allowed to enter licensed premises taking part in the scheme.
I can't see local pubs like the Carpenters, Vine Tree or Star introducing such measures, but I am concerned by the increasing number of authoritarian measures are being introduced by UK pubs and clubs following new licensing laws which were introduced in November 2005. Licensees are now subject to increased fines and possible criminal prosecution with a maximum penalty of six months imprisonment for knowingly serving someone who is under-age. As a result many pubs have responded with extreme measures that threaten the freedoms of 'everyone', not just those who happen to look under 18, such as fingerprinting and ID-ing all customers as if they were all potential troublemakers.
Many readers of this Blog will know that I am wholly opposed to the introduction of the new ID cards - they are an extraodinary waste of money and unnecessary and damaging to our freedoms. Greens have campaigned locally on this, held public meetings and joined the national NO2ID card campaign. I have to say I was bitterly disappointed our local MP supported ID cards despite reservations he shared publicly.
If you are in any of the towns affected by this fingerprinting, especially Yeovil, and are willing to do something then send an e-mail to phil@no2id.net (please put "pub fingerprinting" in the Subject). And if anyone knows a pub that would like to take NO2ID beer mats, Newcastle NO2ID has created some with the logo on the front and key counter-arguments on the back, ideal for starting the discussions of the scheme that we need. Beermats are produced in huge quantities, so they need more than a handful to make up an order(if we can make up a total order of several thousand we can produce beermats for £15 per 100). Enquiries to newcastle@no2id.net
11 comments:
Some interesting points, Derek. Even just one Green on each local authority would make a huge difference. Moreover, it's all about influence, presence and the profile of having elected Greens, as well as the policies they can push for. Election automatically means publicity. However, let's be honest: 100 councillors nationwide is pretty abysmal considering the many thousands that are elected across England and Wales. The Greens haven't advanced significantly compared to the Liberals in the 1960s onwards. Indeed, I remember someone making the same point about the Greens in the early 1990s, and still the party is fundamentally in the same place. As much as I despise the Lib Dems (they are a franchise operation, saying different things in different parts of the country to different people) they are good at local campaigning. The Green Party needs to stop using FPTP as an excuse for its continued underperformance, because that's essentially what this is. Yes, the voting system is unfair, but let's have a proper local elections strategy involving year round campaigning and a big reality check. That will help the party to build towards getting MPs and that crucially needed higher profile. I'm fed up with the Greens being a navel-gazing academic debating society rather than a realistic, hard headed political fighting force. Let's have some serious discussion about political strategy. It's interesting how most people I meet in the party who understand this seem to have had a political heritage in another party, usually Labour. The Greens need to reach out to fed up traditional (historically) Labour voters like myself who live in areas where there's no Green Party (a national party and still no presence in large parts of the country!), but where we often have progressive, socialist Labour councillors trying to do good things who should really be in the Greens. Half of Green Party members are in London and there are still so many areas without an active party. And, just to finish my rant, if anyone has time to spare, get down to Camden and get Sian Berry elected. Sorry Derek, but interested to hear your comments!
Forgot to mention - look at success in Lancaster (my nearest Green Party 70 miles away), Norwich, York, Oxford, etc. etc. etc.
John if you want to set up a branch mail me on wallddd@hotmail.com, I think actually joining first would be a big and positive step!
point taken on navel gazing, I am going to be updating my 'how to win local elections' booklet....free copy to any sound people who want to pursue radical green politics.
finally does this help?
Green Party launches branch
Published on 17/11/2006
THE GREEN Party has established a branch in Allerdale and hopes to field several candidates in next May’s borough council elections.
Members will hold a meeting at 7.30pm on Tuesday in the Battersby Hall in Church Street, Keswick.
They will discuss Green policy on the National Health Service, including the future of cottage hospitals such as those in Keswick, Cockermouth and Maryport, which have been under review.
The branch’s officers include environmental activists Dianne Standen, of Maryport and Jill Perry, of Bullgill, who are chairman and secretary respectively.
Ms Standen has campaigned against the addition of fluoride to water supplies and Mrs Perry, a spokesman for Friends of the Earth, is an advocate of wind farms.
Christopher Clay has been elected secretary and Geoff Smith is agent.
In June, Green candidate Lynn Bates, from Armathwaite, contested the Workington St John’s ward seat in a county council by-election.
Said Mrs Perry: “She didn’t win but she got quite a few votes. There was no group behind her and it galvanised people into thinking that we should form one.
“The Green Party has never had a high profile in the area and we are hoping that more people will join.”
There would be a membership drive. she said.
Ms Standen said that the group will campaign on broad green issues concerning peace, the environment and social justice, and on local issues from a green perspective.
The party said it hoped to provide a voice for many people in Allerdale who shared its environmental concerns.
For more details call Geoff Smith on 01900 812172.
Thanks Derek. Will get def get involved and help in any way I can.
Some interesting points here. Have been very active in pressure groups but will join GPEW as fed up of being bombarded at election time with calls to vote tactically against Tories or even New Labour. We must get the message across that people need to break that cycle if there is to be any progress at all. Scotland will be an interesting place to keep an eye on next May, and we might also get our first AM in Wales (anyone heard anythign about progress on that front?)
I'm still in the Labour Party, only just, as I can't help but think that to go anywhere else would just be to journey into the political wilderness. Surely it's about using whatever position you're in to advance ecosocialism and a sustainable way of living? I do vote Green in European elections though! As a district councillor I've made my authority sign up to the Nottingham Declaration, have co-sponsored a successful motion on opposition to ID cards and made them look at ethical pensions/financing, and generally been a nuisance on their poor environmental performance. I could only have done that through being elected, in this case for Labour, although I am standing down next May and will certainly quit the party then. Any thoughts on David Miliband anyone? Saw him at a conference the other week. Possibly the worst speaker I've eevr come across
Mike,
I'd have some sympathy with what you say about changing labour from within, but surely the Party has such a shortage of internal democracy that it's getting beyond savable. The Green Party, on the other hand, is a movement which moves wherever the membership takes it, as long as it stays within the Party's very sound and progressive Philosophical Basis.
What on earth is the Estonian website from Kelly about?! Relevance anyone? Am I missing something?
spam, i hven't worked how to delete comments...
Is anyone in the Green Party actively trying to contact ex-Labour and Lib Dem members? We need a big recruitment campaign that is carefully targetted to push membership up generally. I take the points about the party's lack of a presence in many parts of the country. I used to work in west Cumbria so that's very encouraging news from Derek about a branch forming, and Jill Perry has been excellent on FoE, anti-hunting and exposing Sellafield for years. Allerdale is something of a rotten borough with uncontested elections, so here's hoping Jill will make it. She'd be an excellent councillor. I imagine that Cockermouth would be very fertile territory, as would other places in Cumbria like Brampton and Alston. Not sure if anything is happening in bigger places like Carlisle though?
www.greenparty.org.uk/files/reports/2003/Leaving%20Labour.doc
was a little leaflet urging labour members to leave and join.
Siobhan Vitteli from the radical wing of the Lib dems joined a year or two.
I keen to encourage ex Labour and radical Liberals, a good tradition who may be unhappy with a Party chancellor who was Chief Economist to Shell and very pro neo-liberal globalisation (Vincent Cable).
I think there is also a big constituency of progressive muslims who are politically homeless...spoke at the London Islamic environmental network.
Will post on leaving Labour...i sometimes think I am the only GPEW member who has never been in the Labour Party.
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