Why Greens should vote for Labour

The leader of the Green Party, Natalie Bennett, has today stated that her party would support a Labour government on a vote by vote basis. Now that's not surprising given that the Greens have adopted a more socialist position with many elements of their manifesto echoing core Labour Party principles. However, there is clear green water that separates the two parties and with this post I have set myself the task of explaining my take on this.

But first I have to comment on this further statement by Natalie that every Labour supporter would heartily agree with, "we would do anything possible to stop a Tory government". I'm right with you there Natalie but have you taken that thought through to its natural conclusion? Where voting Green splits the left vote thereby giving a Tory candidate an advantage would you urge your supporters to vote Labour? This election is on a knife edge and the ConDems could sneak back in if the left vote is split. On that note I think it best I return to the Labour Green credentials.

Labour and those of us who think in a green way

Once upon a time, back when Thatcher was depriving children of their school milk and a couple of years later when Callaghan was rescuing the country from the ravages of the three day week we became aware that a new species had been discovered in leafy suburbia, bright of eye and bushy tailed ...... the Porritt. I liked the chap and thought he talked a lot of sense and at a time when many young people were trying to decide which way to go and what they believed in Jonathan Porritt was coming up with some interesting alternatives. We had already lost many potentially useful allies along the way, seduced by John Seymour and his book Self Suffiency, The Whole Earth Catalogue and not forgetting the doyen of them all, Rachel Carson and her book Silent Spring; many decided to opt out of the rat race, effectively turning their backs on what "mainstream society" had to offer. I myself was deeply influenced by Freddy Schumacher and his book Small is Beautiful, an amazing work from an economist who dared to be different. I was so keen on his world view that I even joined the Soil Association because he became its president; going so far as to attend a three day conference in Crewe just so that I could hear him speak. At that point I was on the cusp of opting out myself but several factors held me back. I was uncomfortable that even those who opted out still relied upon mainstream society for most of the basics and as a safety net; I was deeply influenced by Schumacher's thinking and, weighing it all up my innate socialist beliefs seemed to offer the only way of achieving a sustainable balance between an ever increasing tide of humanity and the planet upon which they lived. In the 1979 election we had a Labour Party poster in our garden but an Ecology Party poster in our window because we could see the link. There are some that claim that if Labour had been able to retain those who were seduced by these other leftist factions then Thatcher would not have been elected but a 44 seat majority is hard to explain away in this fashion. Of course, we voted Labour. I have never regretted that choice, always voted Labour and took my socialist and ecological beliefs with me into what became a successful career where I was able to directly influence energy use and effect a positive impact on harmful emissions.

Jonathan Porritt eventually moved on to other things from what became the Green Party but was not forgotten by the Labour Party because in the year 2000 they asked Porritt to chair the new Sustainable Development Commission  a body set up by Michael Meacher and John Prescot to advise the governments and assemblies of the UK, Wales, Scotland and N.Ireland on ......... well it's obvious from the name. This was an important initiative and led to the encouragement of alternative energy strategies and laid the foundations of many of the initiatives on fuel poverty and environmental building standards that had been sadly neglected by the Tories. Inevitably, the commission was closed down by the Coalition Government in 2011. Huskies from then on had to go un-hugged.

But what of the future?

I tried this morning to wade through the Green Party manifesto but opted in the end to read the cut down version they offer for those who are easily bored ............. such as me. The Green Party manifesto link is here.. As I mentioned at the start of this post there are many passages that look very familiar to a Labour Party supporter. So, turning to the Labour Party we find two key documents that contain our green thinking, first this very interesting Guardian article that lists the main points, foremost of which has to be the commitment to make UK electricity supply virtually zero carbon by 2030 (we still have to work within the party to get rid of the word "virtually"). I urge you to click on the Guardian article link where the reporter tries to keep a balanced view and the Tories are given a chance to pooh pooh the whole thing. The documents can be read here Energy Green Paper and here the SERA Labour Environment Campaign website.

Voting Labour would ensure that these policies become law in the next parliament.

We have so much in common. I would love to see the Green Party putting their weight behind the SERA initiative and making sure that Britain has a truly sustainable future.

I will keep digging and plan to link to other Labour policy documents in later edits of this post. I will also list the green credentials of selected Labour candidates for town and borough councils but, for the moment, that's it for today.

I bumped into Captain Belper today

Walking through Belper this morning I bumped into an old friend who was out with his dog (yes dogs again). This chap is known by his friends as Captain Belper, partly because in any conversation it only takes a couple of minutes before he mentions Belper Town Football Club plus, and this is the probable reason for his nickname, he has a little white dog and he himself is bearded. Captain Belper somehow seems appropriate.

We stood chatting and he surprised me when he mentioned this blog, BelperStuff. He had no idea that I had anything to do with it as he urged me to take a look. He then told me that there had been a link to the blog on the Transition Belper Website but this had been taken down because one of the parliamentary candidates complained. I tried to look suitably casual and keep a blank look on my face (I'm well practiced in the art of looking vacant) but inside my mind was working it's way through this information. I patted the dog (let's call it Snowy), shook Captain Belper's hand and wandered back home. The urge to reveal myself as Michael Green had been nigh on impossible to resist but resist it I did.

When I returned home I had a look at the Transition Belper Website and soon realised that a link to BelperStuff would have been inappropriate. The group are non-political so a link to an unashamedly Labour supporting blog would have been wrong. If the link had in fact existed then it is right that it was stopped. I can assure those who read this blog that I have not attempted to place any link on any website, nor have I circulated anything on social media .......... in fact I do not tweet (wouldn't know how to) and I have not used facebook.

I just write this blog, initially inspired by the constant stream of negative campaigning in the run up to the election, at both local and national level but also saddened by the lack of humour in the campaign. Elections used to be fun but this one is just too boring. What I am doing is to offer a personal point of view on the relative merits, strengths and weaknesses of the election protagonists. I still find it amazing that last Thursday I started this blog and here we are, six days later showing 900 views in the UK plus a further 45 in the USA, Ireland, Cyprus and Austria.

My watchword has to be honesty. I will not knowingly write an untruth and if an inaccuracy creeps in then please point this out to me by using the comment facility on the blog. If  I am made aware that I have written anything that is unsubstantiated or unjust then I will acknowledge this publicly on the blog and make an apology. I admire anyone who stands up in front of the public and says what they believe in so if they feel in any way maligned by me then they have the right of reply.

You have the word of Michael Green and you know that is a name that can be trusted.

Hustings in Duffield

From the very first question I realised that I should not have turned up at the hustings held last night in the Ecclesbourne school in Duffield. This was a very genteel affair, organised by the local christian alliance (I think that's how it was described) but I have to admit that there was the odd welcome outbreak of heckling. Thank goodness for grumpy old men. On the platform sat the parliamentary candidates for Mid-Derbyshire facing the massed ranks of wrinklies, (I am allowed to say that because I am one myself) the overall greyness punctuated with a sprinkling of earnest youth workers. I was however pleasantly surprised at the obvious intelligence of the audience who showed their displeasure when a candidate made unsubstantiated comments. However, they deserved better questions which seemed to have been chosen to give the incumbent and easy ride. I will get around to my estimation of the candidates performance later.

Back to that first question (and I paraphrase):

"What would the candidates do to ensure that dairy farmers are protected and get a fair price for their milk?"

The answers given were oh so predictable, the UKIP chap saying that dairy farmers would benefit from a new golden age if we leave the EU; Tory answer the inevitable protect our green countryside from developers and buy British; Green and Liberal answers basically the same as the Tory whilst the Labour view was that more active support is needed for the food producing industry.

The correct answer should have been to bring back the Milk Marketing Board which was established in 1933 by the first Labour prime minister, Ramsey MacDonald. The MMB was established to set a fair price for milk and to collectively buy and distribute the stuff. Effectively this nationalised the supply of a basic commodity, protecting both producer and consumer. The MMB was abolished by John Major's Tory government in 1994, basically deregulation or, to call a spade a spade, privatising the milk industry and handing over control to supermarkets. This has nothing to do with the EU. We faced exactly the same problem in 1933 and the Labour inspired solution of the MMB would work equally well now.

Having mentioned Ramsey MacDonald I am reminded of the parallels of the 1920's and 30's with today. The first Labour government only lasted a few months in 1924 but in that short time they passed legislation that established the principle of council provided housing, the act setting a target and funding for 521,700 houses with controlled rents within a 7 year time frame. That first Labour government also increased pensions, unemployment benefit, more money for education and a whole raft of other provisions that had a positive impact on the lives of the poor and disadvantaged. All this within 11 months and delivered by a party that was not the largest in parliament. The current polls suggest a similar outcome in the 2015 election so the correct riposte to Tory smear tactics, their disgraceful claims of Labour/SNP chaos, is to point to the Labour Party in 1924 and the achievements of Ramsey MacDonald and his team of pioneering socialists.

Sorry about that ........ got a bit carried away there.

Back to the hustings and my summation of the evening and the results of a scientific poll I conducted after the event (me and the wife comparing our thoughts whilst going through passport control in Milford ................... in reality enjoying a couple of pints in the King Billy on our way home)

Pauline Latham

The word smug comes to mind. It was noticeable that the groundswell of opinion was against her with the odd old blokes voice heckling. She consistently avoided answering the question and kept banging on about how great it was in Mid-Derbyshire, the sub text being that if things were so good why bother voting for anybody else. As I sat looking at her I was reminded of Flann O'Brien, the Irish satirist (Flann O'Brien link) and his book "The Third Policeman" in which he describes a policeman riding past on his bicycle, it being impossible for the onlooker to determine where the policeman ended and the bicycle began. With some subtle changes to key words that just about sums up Pauline Latham, Tory Blue, the studied avoidance of any semblance of shame for voting for cuts to the disabled allowance, the bedroom tax, buggering up the NHS and the raft of doctrinaire austerity measures that have done so much to widen the gap between rich and poor. I could not detect where the Tory ended and the woman began.

Martin Fitzpatrick

The UKIP chap. He actually spoke rather well and was in my mind the most accomplished and confident speaker. The problem was, what he was actually saying. Bring back grammar schools ........ he said that ................. despite acres of forest being cut down to provide report after report finding that selection at age eleven is fundamentally flawed he and his elitist ilk keep up with this view despite all the available evidence. Look .... I may be a tad biased here because I was deemed a failure at the age of eleven but subsequently, after I had left my secondary modern school at the age of 16, got a job but went to night school and gained admission to university when I was 20 (thank you the Workers' Educational Association). His one big idea, apart from the UKIP universal remedy for all ills of coming out of the EU was that first offenders should be told at sentencing what their second sentence will be if they re-offend. He said he got this idea from a 16 year old who wrote to him. I am going to resist commenting on this but if there are any of you reading this blog who think that this is a good idea then take the time to lay down in a darkened room and think this through. It is the moral equivalent of leaving university with a huge debt.

Sue MacFarlane

The Green Party. On the face of it a reasonable woman but she completely fluffed what should have been her key subject ...... green issues. Her analysis of the dairy farmer question was basically an echo of Pauline Latham and her position on sustainable energy and global warming was by some degree short of the Labour promises as mentioned here Guardian article but search out Labour's policy document that was issued in 2014 for a better idea. The overall impression of Sue MacFarlane is that she is an able and clever woman but when my wife and I compared notes in the pub afterwards we could not think of anything concrete that she actually said. It was all populist sound bites.

Hilary Jones

LibDem ........... ConDem. Nice enough woman and I am sure she means well but I really cannot remember anything she said. I'm not too worried about that as the Liberal track record of following through with anything they purport to believe in is decidedly negative.

Nicola Heaton

Nicola is our Labour candidate. Nicola is still finding her voice but although showing signs of nervousness battled bravely through to make her points. If you listened closely she was far closer to giving accurate answers to the questions and her reply to, "what one policy from their party manifesto would the candidates want to push through in the next parliament", was the only one that had any resemblance to party policy as all the other candidates waffled on about their pet ideas which had little or no relevance to party manifestos. Nicola's answer was very clear, Labour promises to upgrade care for the elderly in their homes, better pay and conditions, longer visiting times; all this as part of a realignment of NHS delivery (Nicola said it much better than I can write it). Her closing statement was an impressive list of Labour policies but would perhaps have benefited if delivered with a slower, more measured tone. As I said, Nicola is still finding her voice but what she says is worth listening to.

On balance and after reading through this post in search of any grammatical howlers I am now pleased that I attended the hustings.

Anonymity on the web

I have had some feedback about this blog .............. basically asking the question ............ who am I?

I had intended to remain anonymous but I realise that being open and honest in politics ......... and this is after all a political blog ................ being open and honest is the only way to go. In that spirit I am not only going to reveal who I am but also post an image of myself.

My name is Michael Green and this is a painting of me that I keep in the attic:

Please don't hesitate to speak if you see me in the street.

Tory purchase of Field Lane land could have meant "town’s trade would ‘die a death’"

Stepping into the newsagent on King Street this week my eye was caught by local newspaper headlines where a Tory Councillor was accusing Labour of planning to ruin Ripley's town centre by selling off a car park and of hatching this evil plan in secret. I immediately thought of Mandy Rice Davies and her famous quote, "He would, wouldn't he". (For the more youthful of those reading this blog I suggest this link: Mandy Rice Davies ) As we run into the election we can expect more of such mischief from the Tories. I personally don't like such negative tactics but as this has been deemed so vitally important by the Belper News I think it fair to respond to these Tory claims. So here goes:

Tory Car Park Follies:

When the Tories were in control of Amber Valley Borough Council they spent £1,600,000 on purchasing land on which they proposed building a new leisure centre. The plans which are still available on the AVBC website (try this link: AVBC press release from 2011 ) would have meant a drastic reduction in the size of the Field Lane car park, probably losing over 90 spaces. We should not forget that the Tories had already lost half of the Green Lane car park capacity so under the Tories the number of car park spaces that directly serve King Street shops would have been reduced from 400 to 200. Yet another example of Tory hypocrisy. If you follow the link that I have provided you will find further links to the plans that show in detail the adverse effect on parking spaces.


Whilst we are looking at the Field Lane purchase I cannot resist sharing with you this amazing interview with the BBC in 2011 where a leading Tory Councillor states that the council did not have the money to complete the new leisure centre project but thought it a good idea to rush ahead with the acquisition so as to "avoid VAT"  ( the link to Tory Councillor BBC interview).
I am particularly amused , if that is the right word, by this gentleman's comment that, "Our next step will be to establish funding opportunities to build the facility itself, and then to meet the future leisure needs of the people of Belper and surrounding areas.".  
I took this photograph on Friday; this is how far the Tory plan has progressed in the last 4 years; a fenced off bit of ground that cost tax payers £1.6 million, an expenditure made in a town that already had a leisure centre that was in urgent need of investment. Why didn't they spend the money on our existing facilities?

But what about the accusation of secrecy?

This has to be the most scurrilous example of negative election tactics as I think back to last year and the "New Council Offices for Belper Shock" headline that never made it into the Belper News or onto the BBC News. Yes, local Belper Tories met in secret for several months on a plan to spend the Town Council reserves on the purchase of new premises to house it's three part time office staff. We will never know how much this would have cost nor how much was actually spent in time, energy and legal advice as none of these details were ever made public. It is obvious that the plan was yet another Tory folly as when it was voted upon by the full Belper Town Council it was rejected. However, that vote was held in secret, the euphemism being that the vote was held in camera. None of this was reported in any media but if the Tories can gain column inches and airtime for such blatant propaganda just before an election their own track record and obvious hypocrisy should also be a matter for public scrutiny.

So why is Labour thinking about selling off the Ripley car park?

This interests me so after a little bit of research I came up with what I think must be the reason. Between 2009 and 2014 the budget of Amber Valley Council has been cut by 42%. I found this out here: Annual Financial Statement 2014. We still await the statement for 2015 but we have already been warned that the budget for last year was yet again hit by Tory cuts, losing another £960,000. The forecast for 2015/16 being a further £1 million pounds. Faced with such huge cuts on a budget currently somewhere around £12 million is it any wonder that the borough council is looking for ways of avoiding cuts to essential services.

The comparison between Labour and Conservative financial wisdom could not be more clear. Labour tries to raise money to safeguard the fabric of our society whilst Tories squander our taxes on farcical projects that are not needed and have no hope of ever being completed.

The Scottish question - Tory hypocrisy

A couple of days ago in Whitemoor Road I met a dog with a Scottish accent. The dog's human assured me that this was so but I couldn't detect it as the dog sounded just like any other Derbyshire dog. It was of course the dog's human who had the accent but we both laughed and enjoyed the foolishness of his remark.

As I turned into Gregory's Way I was still chuckling to myself, Billy Connolly could not have done better. Ah yes, The Big Yin. I treasure the comment he made when asked what his views were on Scottish independence, he said that as a former welder in the Glasgow shipyards he had more in common with a shipyard worker in England than with a Highlander wearing a kilt. It did not matter that he has become rich, lives in the US and now, sadly, suffering the onset of Parkinson's disease, he had not forgotten his roots and that the real struggle is class based and not about nationality. Of all that was said in the referendum debate his contribution was the most profound.

I was thinking of this when reading the Prime Minister's comments about the supposed dangers of the Labour Party and SNP members of parliament adding up to a majority. The sheer stupidity of suggesting that such an outcome would endanger the very fabric of the UK was the sort of addled thinking that we have come to expect from Cameron. He so easily forgets the crucial role played by the Labour Party in winning the argument in last year's Scottish independence referendum. As Cameron cowered in London, afraid to show his face north of the border, it was left to Gordon Brown, Alistair Darling and Ed Miliband to ensure that 55% of those that voted favoured remaining within the union. They did struggle at times but there was no doubting the passion in their voices as they stated the case for the union. How dare Cameron imply that just a few months later Labour would endanger the UK. Cameron's idea that the SNP block of MP's could force the abandonment of Trident (no matter what you think of nuclear weapons) would depend upon all the Tories voting alongside the SNP ------ absolute nonsense. It's a similar story with his claim that the SNP would write the Labour budget ---------- constitutionally this cannot happen so both Cameron and John Major are mischief making, spinning falsehoods in a desperate effort to remain in power.

As usual the advantaged are trying to move the spotlight away from the real issues of inequality and unfairness. The so called Scottish question does not really exist but is being played up by unscrupulous individuals who should be ashamed of themselves ------- Cameron, Osborne and Alex Salmond to name but three. I am still trying to get my mind around the fact that Norman Tebbit has spoken out about the Tory tactics of Cameron, condemning the anti Scottish  rhetoric that is designed to make cheap political points against Labour. Agreement with Tebbit is something I never expected to experience.

Perhaps the last words should be those of  Billy Connolly, "I think it's time for people to get together, not split apart. The more people stay together, the happier they'll be." How true. He would have enjoyed meeting the dog on Whitemoor Road.

Tomorrow - Tory car park hypocrisy.

Belper not gripped by election fever

Behind Morrisons

There are now only two weeks to go before the polls open on May 7th and Belper is gripped by a wave of apathy. Keeping my ears cocked as I go about my business in the town  .............. yes I am the man with cocked ears  ............ as I was saying ............. keeping my ears cocked for the merest hint of an election comment has proven to be an unrewarding task.

In the car park behind Morrisons I did detect one woman with the word, "Labour" on her lips but after shuffling a bit closer so as to ear-wig more effectively it turned out she was talking about a neighbour who had been whisked off in the night to the maternity ward. At least I now know that there still is a maternity ward.

After a few days I realised that standing close to people chatting in King Street was perhaps not the best way of tapping into the pulse of parish political thinking. I needed another strategy and came up with the idea of initiating conversations myself so,  squeezing into the packed bus shelter adjacent to Poundland I made my first attempt,

Me: That Tory council eh, secretly planned to spend hundreds of thousands of the Town's money on new council offices for three part time workers.... eh .... what.

Bus shelter bloke with an odd look in his eye, dog on lead: They should give some money to folk with dogs as the food bank doesn't have any dog food.

Kindly looking lady standing the other side of the dog: Your dog looks like a pit bull, what's it's name?

Bus shelter bloke with an odd look in his eye, dog on lead: I named it Fang but she prefers to be called Jennifer.

Yet again I was getting nowhere so I decamped to a public bar, hoping that in a more relaxed atmosphere I might be able to join in with a lively analysis of the various party's manifestos. I placed myself, my pint and pork scratchings mid point between two groups of genteel drinkers. I say genteel because on my right were young men all proclaiming love for their mothers via colourful tattoos on their arms; to my left a mixed group of what I took to be weary shoppers staring at near empty glasses. It was quiet for a while as everyone stared blankly at the TV, a news item about the Prime Minister failing to meet his immigration target ........... no ifs ........ no buts. A voice on my right felt motivated to speak:

Young man who loved his mother: Bloody foreigners ....... coming here taking all our jobs.

Weary lady shopper with nearly empty glass: .......... and all our houses too.

Now this was more like it, political discourse ............ so I joined in:

Me: How many foreigners do you think have come here then?

Weary lady shopper now with empty glass: Ooooooh loads. That UKIP chap said in a leaflet that the council was building 10,000 houses around here so they had somewhere to live.

Me: So how many immigrants are coming to Belper?

2nd Young man who loved his mother: Best part of that 10,000 I shouldn't wonder.

Me: Actually, the right wing think tank, Migration Watch, has stated that there are only 50 immigrants per year moving into the Amber Valley Borough Council area. They don't say how many of these are settling in Belper but the majority of the immigrants are from Commonwealth countries with no increase in the numbers coming here from other EU countries.

It went quiet for a while, the weary lady shopper relieved to be sent over a pint from the bar, tattooed young men moving on to discuss the merits of various premiership footballers. I was tempted to point out that most of those were immigrants but it seemed somehow inappropriate.

I finished my beer, dug around in the packet for the very last scratching then went to catch my bus home. Nobody said goodbye but I am not dispirited, I'll be back at it tomorrow, feeling the political pulse of the town, charting the rise in interest that will swell to unbridled excitement come May 7th.