Talk politics.

From the Daily Express - Caroline Lucas claims that the Green Party *is* Opposition Party in Westminster. Story in full is under the cut to save yr bandwidth. But isn't she right? I mean, how can Labour claim to be the ' loyal opposition' when in fact they are simply the 'Business Friendly, Tory Lite Party'?
And Nick Clegg's Liberals? Well, they are in the Tory led government coalition, fiercely fighting to make sure we don't have any increases in student fees, making sure that the government does not go selling off the nation's forests, opposing the renewal of Trident and... well, ok , so they are not actually doing any of that.

So, like Caroline Lucas said - if you want to vote for a party to oppose the Tories - vote Green

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There are several problems facing Planet Earth right now, and Government really does need to govern.

When Americans look out across the oil slick in the Gulf of mexico and ask ' How come?', the informed answer that is coming back currently seems to be saying that BP ( British Petroleum or Biggish Pollution , dependent on POV) was in a very pally position with the US Guvvermint. Doing their own safety checks and working to a very watered down version of Safety Regulations, anyway, so I read in the Sunday Times.

British activists like myself have long regarded BP not so much as an ethical oil company, just as one of the least UNethical ones that we have had dealings with.

I sincerely apologise to any Americans out there for any damage this company has done to your economy and environment, and hope you get them to pay full costs on any and all damage done.
I also hope you realise that this is what will continually happen when you allow Big Business to ' regulate itself', 'Free it from red tape', or fall for any other sort of Snake Oil that they regularly try to use and british environmental activists have learned to view with extreme scepticism over the years.

The only way to run any company, especialy an oil one working anywhere near the water, is to have independent experts make the rules and have independent bodies checking that they are fully compliant. Otherwise, you get the mess we currently see along the US Coast rght now.

But, when it comes to individuals, a different dynamic is needed. Corporations oftenn have to be beaten into line with legislation. citizens have votes, and can be led, not driven, we feel. ( Read more... )

Ok - I think I have pretty much covered the Green position on one other issue.
We care about the planet, we care about the people, and we care about the community.

These three issues, we believe are interlinked and one will affect the others. Of course, we advocate healthcare - we want to see kids growing up in decent homes instead of dying young of typhoid and malaria. So, I have posted about IMR, about WaterAid and stuff like that, here in the past..

But, you may say - if all these kids grow up, how are we going to find work for them all? They need jobs, and we don't have enough jobs in this country to go round as it is. We don't want to see more starving adults any more than we want to see starving kids on the news, thanks.

Point taken . As a member of the Green Party, I would like to point out that several initiatives have been going on for years, they do work and I want to see them grow. Here is one.
http://www.traidcraft.co.uk/

In a nutshell, we in the west buy coffee cheap , and we sell it dear. The same is true of tea, coffee , sugar and much else , too.
Traidcraft went into the developing world in 1979, and set up workers co operatives. Local people went and grew tea, coffee and lots of other stuff, and Traidcraft bought the goods at a fair price, not a low price. They then sold it on the open market in Britain.

This has meant that they were able to pay the growers more money. The growers used the cash as they wanted, to expand the business, or open a village clinic or school. Traidcraft has opened up  more lines of business - it now offers Fair Trade (FT) clothing , as well as food items. there are also Fair trade organisations like it operating around the world, including the USA.
At first, it was only possible to buy FT coffee at my local charity shop or church hall. But dedicated volunteers campaigned to make FT coffee a mainstream item. You can now buy FT coffee in Starbucks, and hopefully, if the trend continues, FT goods in many other places, like department stores.

This is taking us out of the era when people in developing nations lived in mud huts and were dependent on Foriegn Aid whenever the harvest of subsistence farming failed. Another big initiative is this one -

http://www.tfsr.org/

Again , in a nutshell, instead of shipping out food which will be eaten and needs replacing , this group is shipping out tools that will enable local people in the developing world to be more self reliant. it will enable them to start up businesses.
Black smiths and clothing factories will emerge in little villages. instead of everyone growing their own food, labour will be able to become more specialised, incomes will increase and people will be able to adopt a better way of life - hopefully without going through all the hardships that we did in the 18th and 19th centuries, because they will be able to go straight to using solar power and other renewable  energy sources where we went for coal and oil.

And once we achieve that, we can talk about the Greens position on Trade and Industry, crime, policing, schools, health services, electoral reform and all the other issues we talk about in the Western world. We do not want to see the developing world lag behind forever, we want to see the developing world actually develop.

I think it could be done in my lifetime , and I think this is the way to go. Workers co operatives leading an industrial revolution in the 3rd world; NGOs providing the start up technology and expertise. India and china are already going to become major exporters on the world market in the 21st century. Together, we need to re write the rules on world trade and shift the advantages heavily weighted towards the developed nations.

Hello - a general  election has been called in the UK, and I am one of the many candidates on the campaign trail.
I have opened a blog on LJ, and it's the first time I have stood in a general  election.

If anyone wants to check out my blog, I will be talking about issues and events as they happen.
I am not a professional politician, but the way things are in this country right now, I have decided that i will get involved and see if I can make any difference.

In my blog, i will be arguing for a very Green agenda, but I hope to run a fair campaign. No personal attacks, no wild claims or empty promises.
There is too much of that in British politics already. I hope to bring you an inside view, not only of the campaign, but the political process in action.

Go to my blog for more details.
http://green-man-2010.livejournal.com/