"In the next year or so, the UK is going to have to decide how to meet its electricity needs for the next half-century. It's an incredible opportunity for renewables but my fear is that it may be missed."
Graham Sinden, of Oxford's Environmental Change Institute
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Renewables can plug UK energy gap
Oliver Tickell's article in today's Guardian spells out the case for renweables, based on a report from Oxford University's Environmental Change Institute. There's a lot more work to do, but hard evidence like this is vital to campaigners if we are going to stop a new generation of nuclear power stations.
Creating a storm for Electoral Reform
Last night's meeting at the House of Commons is already being called "historic" by OpenDemocracy's Anthony Barnett. By my count there were over 200 people in Committee Room 14 to hear activists from all parties and none supporting electoral reform.
Polly Toynbee kicked off, calling for a "spirit of revolution" rather than a detailed argument about voting mechanisms - "don't d'Hondt me!". She played on Labour's "choice" agenda by arguing that support for genuine choice in the workings of our democracy should be a prerequisite for any politician talking about choice in other areas of policy.
Billy Bragg warned of the huge problem of party political tribalism, pointed out that we need arguments that will convince Tories to back proportional representation. He reminded the meeting that, whatever headway we make in the Commons, Lords reform is already on the agenda for this parliament and creating a more proportional and more democratic Lords would increase pressure for a more democratic electoral system for the Commons.
Labour MP Martin Linton called first-past-the-post the "least sophisticated voting system in the world" which went out of date 150 years ago when elections started to have more than two candidates.
LibDem strategist Chris Rennard argued that our current rotten electoral system requires tactical voting and this leads to a very negative form of campaigning, which most democrats feel uncomfortable using. ("Not that this discomfort has stopped the LibDems using negative campaigning very effectively," he didn't add.)
Peter Tatchell called for a new Chartist movement, pointing out that all previous electoral reforms, from the right to vote onwards, have been won by popular campaigns on the streets not just in the corridors of power.
Several floor speakers emphasised the need to include local elections in our call for reform and Jason Buckley of tacticalvoter.net mentioned that many people who had been in touch with him were worried about the far right getting seats under PR.
Hackney Green Mischa Borris answered this by pointing out that the way to beat the BNP under PR is the same way as you beat them under the current system - you take them on rather than letting them set the agenda, just as Hugh Muir pointed out yesterday.
At around this point the chair asked if there were any Tories present and two guys from Conservative Action for Electoral Reform and the Campaign for Conservative Democracy spoke up and received a round of applause just for being there. The chair of CCD then made himself even more popular by declaring that he not only agreed with Peter Tatchell, but that he'd happily join him chained to the railings of Downing Street if it came to it.
Closing comments focused on the need to support any change that moves us in the right direction, such as Lords reform or preferential voting on current constituency boundaries, which would at least remove the need for tactical voting - even if it doesn't address proportionality.
Martin Linton reminded us that first-past-the-post doesn't just affect election results, but also the way parties govern - focusing on the views of apolitical swing voters in marginal seats rather than the majority of the population. And in local government, fptp leads to one-party states.
Billy Bragg returned to the issue of the BNP reminding people that under PR the positive protest vote becomes viable and pointed to the success of the Scottish Socialist and Greens and the lack of far-right activity north of the border.
The post-meeting session in the pub was a good chance to catch up with a wide variety of people. The Green Party was well represented as was the ex-youth cnd mafia from 10 years ago. Most of my time was spent talking to various bloggers, including the Honourable Fiend and Tim Ireland of Bloggerheads and backingblair fame.
Polly Toynbee kicked off, calling for a "spirit of revolution" rather than a detailed argument about voting mechanisms - "don't d'Hondt me!". She played on Labour's "choice" agenda by arguing that support for genuine choice in the workings of our democracy should be a prerequisite for any politician talking about choice in other areas of policy.
Billy Bragg warned of the huge problem of party political tribalism, pointed out that we need arguments that will convince Tories to back proportional representation. He reminded the meeting that, whatever headway we make in the Commons, Lords reform is already on the agenda for this parliament and creating a more proportional and more democratic Lords would increase pressure for a more democratic electoral system for the Commons.
Labour MP Martin Linton called first-past-the-post the "least sophisticated voting system in the world" which went out of date 150 years ago when elections started to have more than two candidates.
LibDem strategist Chris Rennard argued that our current rotten electoral system requires tactical voting and this leads to a very negative form of campaigning, which most democrats feel uncomfortable using. ("Not that this discomfort has stopped the LibDems using negative campaigning very effectively," he didn't add.)
Peter Tatchell called for a new Chartist movement, pointing out that all previous electoral reforms, from the right to vote onwards, have been won by popular campaigns on the streets not just in the corridors of power.
Several floor speakers emphasised the need to include local elections in our call for reform and Jason Buckley of tacticalvoter.net mentioned that many people who had been in touch with him were worried about the far right getting seats under PR.
Hackney Green Mischa Borris answered this by pointing out that the way to beat the BNP under PR is the same way as you beat them under the current system - you take them on rather than letting them set the agenda, just as Hugh Muir pointed out yesterday.
At around this point the chair asked if there were any Tories present and two guys from Conservative Action for Electoral Reform and the Campaign for Conservative Democracy spoke up and received a round of applause just for being there. The chair of CCD then made himself even more popular by declaring that he not only agreed with Peter Tatchell, but that he'd happily join him chained to the railings of Downing Street if it came to it.
Closing comments focused on the need to support any change that moves us in the right direction, such as Lords reform or preferential voting on current constituency boundaries, which would at least remove the need for tactical voting - even if it doesn't address proportionality.
Martin Linton reminded us that first-past-the-post doesn't just affect election results, but also the way parties govern - focusing on the views of apolitical swing voters in marginal seats rather than the majority of the population. And in local government, fptp leads to one-party states.
Billy Bragg returned to the issue of the BNP reminding people that under PR the positive protest vote becomes viable and pointed to the success of the Scottish Socialist and Greens and the lack of far-right activity north of the border.
The post-meeting session in the pub was a good chance to catch up with a wide variety of people. The Green Party was well represented as was the ex-youth cnd mafia from 10 years ago. Most of my time was spent talking to various bloggers, including the Honourable Fiend and Tim Ireland of Bloggerheads and backingblair fame.
ELECTORAL REFORM
BILLY BRAGG
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Call this democracy?
Robin Grant of perfect.co.uk neatly summarises the growing call for electoral reform and plugs tonight's Electoral Reform Society/Make Votes Count meeting in the House of Commons.
ELECTORAL REFORM
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
George Monbiot: Junk Science
George Monbiot's Guardian column today does a great job of pointing out just how desperate the climate change deniers are and what lengths they will go to "prove" that climate change is not happening.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Friday, May 06, 2005
Results
I'm not a councillor, but we did score our best ever result in Islington North, our best ever result in Islington South, our best ever council by-election result and our highest ever vote in Highbury West, so the outcome is "disappointing, but still a good result".
Those results in full (with inexplicable gap resulting from my first attempt to hand code a table within a blogger post):
Nationally, the result is apparently "fantastic", but tinged with the disappointment that we didn't get our first MP this time round.
Those results in full (with inexplicable gap resulting from my first attempt to hand code a table within a blogger post):
| Highbury West By election | ||||
| Name | Party | Votes | %age | |
| Theresa Debono | (Lab) | 1669 | 39.2% | |
| Jon Nott | (Green) | 1043 | 24.5% | |
| Iarla Kilbane-Dawe | (LibDem) | 711 | 16.7% | |
| Tim Newark | (Local) | 437 | 10.3% | |
| Simon Phillips | (Con) | 394 | 9.3% | |
| Islington North | ||||
| Name | Party | Votes | %age | change |
| Jeremy Corbyn | (Lab) | 16,118 | 51.2% | -10.7% |
| Laura Willoughby | (LibDem) | 9,402 | 29.9% | +10.9% |
| Nicola Talbot | (Con) | 3,740 | 11.9% | +1.1% |
| Jon Nott | (Green) | 2,234 | 7.1% | +0.9% |
| Majority | 6,716 | 21.3% | ||
| Turnout | 31,494 | 53.9% | +5.1% | |
| Islington South | ||||
| Name | Party | Votes | %age | change |
| Emily Thornberry | (Lab) | 12,345 | 39.9% | -14.0% |
| Bridget Fox | (LibDem) | 11,861 | 38.3% | +10.2% |
| Melanie McLean | (Con) | 4,594 | 14.8% | +1.1% |
| James Humphries | (Green) | 1,471 | 4.8% | +4.8% |
| Patricia Theophanides | (UKIP) | 470 | 1.5% | +1.5% |
| Andy the Hat Gardener | (Loony) | 189 | 0.6% | +0.6% |
| Chris Gidden | (Ind) | 31 | 0.1% | +0.1% |
| Majority | 484 | 1.6% | ||
| Turnout | 30,961 | 53.6% | +6.2% |
Nationally, the result is apparently "fantastic", but tinged with the disappointment that we didn't get our first MP this time round.
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Labour voters switch to Greens
Some very positive last-minute signs, with the discovery of more Labour to Green switchers today.
One of the Guardian's panel of floating voters lives in Islington North and has decided to vote Green, he reveals in his final posting.
And a voter I called on early in the campaign, who told me he was going to vote Labour in the local by-election, stopped one of our canvassers this evening to say that having been canvassed by the Labour candidate, he was so unimpressed that he was switching his vote and would now be voting Green.
I'm off for an early night as tomorrow will be a very long day. By the next time I post, I'll know the result...
One of the Guardian's panel of floating voters lives in Islington North and has decided to vote Green, he reveals in his final posting.
And a voter I called on early in the campaign, who told me he was going to vote Labour in the local by-election, stopped one of our canvassers this evening to say that having been canvassed by the Labour candidate, he was so unimpressed that he was switching his vote and would now be voting Green.
I'm off for an early night as tomorrow will be a very long day. By the next time I post, I'll know the result...
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Labour floundering
There was much hilarity at Arsenal tube station today as we assembled to start our evening canvassing session. Labour's General Election candidate, Jeremy Corbyn, was there with a film crew in in tow - they got some great footage of people taking Green leaflets and turning down the offer of Labour ones.
Those who did take a Labour leaflet were in for an amusing read. Labour's candidate claims to have been "committed to environmentalism" for over 20 years - it's a shame that Labour's commitment to the environment didn't surface while they were running the council and only makes it onto their leaflets when they are about to lose one of their few remaining seats to the Green Party.
As usual, most of their leaflet is dedicated to attacking other parties rather than putting forward their own policies. Interestingly they manage to attack us both for being a single issue party only concerned with the environment and for not mentioning the environment during the campaign.
They also attack another candidate for having no policies on Council Housing, care for the elderly or schools - all issues which Labour have not addressed in any of their leaflets.
The final attack, if it can be called that, is a quick summary of the Green Party's policies on asylum, fair trade and progressive taxation. They are quick to reassure voters that Labour priorities include a plentiful supply of cheap, imported electronic goods (it is not clear how this fits in with their "Green" action plan).
Those who did take a Labour leaflet were in for an amusing read. Labour's candidate claims to have been "committed to environmentalism" for over 20 years - it's a shame that Labour's commitment to the environment didn't surface while they were running the council and only makes it onto their leaflets when they are about to lose one of their few remaining seats to the Green Party.
As usual, most of their leaflet is dedicated to attacking other parties rather than putting forward their own policies. Interestingly they manage to attack us both for being a single issue party only concerned with the environment and for not mentioning the environment during the campaign.
They also attack another candidate for having no policies on Council Housing, care for the elderly or schools - all issues which Labour have not addressed in any of their leaflets.
The final attack, if it can be called that, is a quick summary of the Green Party's policies on asylum, fair trade and progressive taxation. They are quick to reassure voters that Labour priorities include a plentiful supply of cheap, imported electronic goods (it is not clear how this fits in with their "Green" action plan).
Two days to go
I've not had time to sit at a keyboard in the past three days as we've spent the whole bank holiday weekend calling back on people who were out the first time we called.
As usual the closer the election gets, the more helpers come out - we had 18 different people out canvassing in Highbury West over the weekend, with a similar number out delivering leaflets and letters to voters. Over the three days we called on almost every street in the ward and spoke to many more Green voters. The mood in the ward is really positive - people keep telling me on the doorstep that they hope I'll get in and that they think we've got a really good chance based on their conversations with friends - which confirms what our canvass returns say.
There are two more days of canvassing and then the big day itself, when we have to work even harder to make sure that our voters turn out to vote. Every time I bump into the Labour candidate on the street, she tells me that she's looking forward to a rest when the campaign ends. Either this means she doesn't think she's going to get elected, or she thinks that being a councillor will be easy. I'm under no such illusion - the real work starts on Friday when, hopefully, I'll have the responsibility of representing Highbury West as Islington's first Green councillor.
As usual the closer the election gets, the more helpers come out - we had 18 different people out canvassing in Highbury West over the weekend, with a similar number out delivering leaflets and letters to voters. Over the three days we called on almost every street in the ward and spoke to many more Green voters. The mood in the ward is really positive - people keep telling me on the doorstep that they hope I'll get in and that they think we've got a really good chance based on their conversations with friends - which confirms what our canvass returns say.
There are two more days of canvassing and then the big day itself, when we have to work even harder to make sure that our voters turn out to vote. Every time I bump into the Labour candidate on the street, she tells me that she's looking forward to a rest when the campaign ends. Either this means she doesn't think she's going to get elected, or she thinks that being a councillor will be easy. I'm under no such illusion - the real work starts on Friday when, hopefully, I'll have the responsibility of representing Highbury West as Islington's first Green councillor.
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