mancunian green

Is this the Ungreenest Government ever?

2011-10-04T12:52:00.000-07:00

Some months back I attended a public meeting entitled 'Is this the Greenest Government Ever?' with speakers including local Lib Dem MP John Leech. The verdict of the meeting was that it was too soon to tell, and that whilst being the greenest ever wasn't setting the bar very high, things still weren't that promising. Given the events of the past few days, it might be more appropriate to turn the question round to 'Is this the Ungreenest Government ever?.

Even before the blue hordes descended our city for their Autumn conference (strange that a Party should choose to come somewhere where they are so unpopular) things were going downhill. As well as increasing the threats to our green and pleasant land, the changes to the Planning laws skew the balance of power even further towards developers and away from local communities than at present. See here for Green Party Leader Caroline Lucas' take on this.

On the eve of conference the Tories produced 2 anti-green howlers on the same day. Time and again local authorities are told there is no extra money for health, welfare and other public services and then Eric Pickles suddenly finds a quarter of a billion pounds for local authorities to reinstate weekly bin collections; a gimmick designed to please the tabloid press, and a threat to undermine the recent improvements in recycling, including in Manchester (although admittedly from a low base here). The case against this is well argued by Rupert Read in Left Foot Forward (listed by the BBC as one of the 5 media sources for this alongside the likes of the Mail and Express.

At the same time Transport Minister Phillip Hammond went for the boy racer vote by bringing in a consultation to raise the motorway speed limit to 80 mph. According to free paper The Metro this is apparently Plan B for the economy. As a cyclist friend of mine said 'Plan B for Bonkers'. Apart from the fact that such a move would shave no more than a few minutes of people's journeys (and get them to the next traffic jam quicker), the extra 10 mph is likely to cause an increase of around 20% in carbon emissions (I know the 80 mph is being balanced with a call for more 20 mph zones in cities, but on that I'd say 2 things: we should be much further down that road anyway by now, and secondly the higher people drive on motorways, the harder they'll find it to slow down to that level in the cities.)

Ah yes, carbon emissions - climate change. Remember Dave Cameron and his huskies?. Remember when we claimed to be leaders in the reduction of carbon emissions?. Well Dave's long-time Bullingdon buddy George Osborne has now kicked that in to touch in his conference speech here in Manchester. There's some good comment on it here from the Guardian's Damian Carrington - .

Now that may be just the views of one cabinet minister (albeit a very influential one), but it chimes with something I've observed about the conference this week. For the past 4 years Labour and Tory have alternated their conferences in Manchester. In previous years with both Parties (yes, even the Tories) there has always been a profile of environmental fringes outside the 'Security zone' with ministers or shadow ministers willing to engage with NGOs; For some reason that just doesn't seem to be happening this time.

Ungreenest Government ever? there's a lot of competition, so maybe it's too early to answer this too. But that 'Greenest Government Ever' looks a long way off now...

High Speed Rail - Green? - Good for Manchester?

2011-07-05T13:01:00.000-07:00

There's been a lot of propaganda around recently in support of the Government's High Speed Rail plan (HS2) for London to Birmingham, and subsequently to Manchester and Leeds. A couple of weeks ago I saw a group of people with balloons and leaflets in Piccadilly Gardens, seeking to convince passers by to sign up to the scheme. Adverts can also be seen on the local buses. Is it the boon its supporters claim? Is it green? is it worth the cost?
Supporters claim that it will replace air travel with more environmentally friendly rail, and that the reduced journey times will benefit Manchester and the North. However...

The economic case for HS2 depends on a massive expansion in air and road travel, and the forecast is that it will only achieve an 6% shift from air and 8% from cars; it also assumes that time travelling is automatically time wasted and that a third of passengers will be on incomes of £70,000 or more. Furthermore it is likely that by encouraging a culture of high-speed travel, air travel levels will increase between other cities, as has been the case in Germany.

'It will bring jobs' is the cry, but the extension to Manchester is not expected to be in place until around 2032, following a cost of £34 billion, and a Manchester to London journey time of only 45 minutes less than today. We need appropriate investment in Manchester and the North West now. And the extent to which the present Government cares about jobs in this country can be seen in today's news about the Bombardier plant in Derby .

On the environmental front, one argument is that as the trains will run on electricity this can be 'decarbonised'; a fair point, but the faster a train goes the more energy it requires (in common with transport generally). I am a big fan of renewables and I believe they can meet our energy needs but not if those 'needs' expand continually.   Slower trains would be 'greener' but don't fit the economic case being presented. There is also the environmental cost of building the line.

North-South divide? - If anything the line will reinforce the role of London as the capital. The DfT say that more than 7 out of 10 of the jobs created by HS2 around stations will be in London (Clarified by e-mail of 2 March 2011, between Phil Graham, Deputy Director HSR, DfT, and Hilary Wharf, HS2AA).   Various Academics, such as Professor Mackie (ITS Leeds) and Professor Overman (LSE) have stated the line will make little if any difference to the north south divide.

With regard to capacity, I can appreciate this is a concern, but there are various ways of tackling at. For a start on a typical Manchester to London train there are several underutilised carriages - namely the First Class ones.   Various options for improving capacity have been put forward by the HS2 Action Alliance who have a number of other similar briefing papers.

Even if all of these are felt to be insufficient, and additional rail lines are deemed essential, then the argument that they reduce road capacity should be invoked, and the lines should replace part of the existing motorway space between the cities.

We need significant investment in our rail network. The top priority should be the electrification of intra- and inter-regional connections, particularly in the North, e.g. between Liverpool and Newcastle, and in the suburban lines of the major conurbations. We should also be looking at re-opening some lines, as is happening increasingly in Scotland. However the huge cost of HS2 is likely to deprive other parts of the country of the investment needed.

A direct link from the west coast line to the continent is also needed; it's now included in the HS2 plans but could and should be put in place much earlier to facilitate train links to the rest of Europe.

As it stands the economic case for HS2 is already dependent on a level of transport growth which is at odds with a sustainable society, and is likely to be delivered at a price which is at odds with with an equitable society. Certainly in its present form it is neither Green nor Good for Manchester.

Consultation on the London - Birmingham phase is underway; see here, you have only 24 days left to have your say.

Greens and Art

2011-06-19T14:27:00.000-07:00

I've thought it myself, and I've heard other people say it 'the green movement would benefit from more artistry'; and for green movement also read protest movements generally, including the recent anti-cuts demonstrations. Well, if some recent events that I've attended are a guide, there is a growing interweaving of political action and art.

Last Saturday, (11th June) saw an anti-cuts demonstration in my home suburb of Chorlton. It was pretty well attended, about 150 in all and featured the usual slogans and chants (if I hear 'When they say cut back, we say fight back' one more time I shall scream). More unusually, and interestingly, it was accompanied by a piece of Agiprop Theatre, with young campaigners dressed as bankers, complete with sharp suits and snouts (for the trough); in prime position outside RBS at Chorlton's famous '4 banks' corner, they pleaded with the public for more money for Eton fees and pony lessons (see below - picture taken from Manchester Coalition against Cuts website). The action was the brainchild of Emma Martin, and she has other ideas in store for future actions...

On Tuesday evening I attended 2 events; one was the launch of CityCamp in Manchester, (CityCamp is an initiative which has been launched in a number of Cities; it's not so much art focused as IT focused, using terms such as crowd-resourcing - I won't attempt to describe further, I'll let them do that themselves here

The other was a monthly organised event under the banner 'A Reasonable Cause' - I'd been to one of these monthly events before; a guest speaker on a particular campaign is bracketed with a film or two, a chance to draw pictures, and some high-quality music (the key people involved appear to be music students). This event excelled itself on the music front, with a particularly dextrous accordian player, Jim Molyneux, and a remarkable Harp Quartet, going by the name of Clouds - I'd definitely recommend them if you get a chance to see them. More info on the Reasonable Cause Facebook Page

Yesterday's Envirolution festival also included an artistic thread, along with discussions and entertainment, in a four hour event in the centre of Platt Fields Park.

But perhaps a clearer example of the meeting of green concerns and art can be found back in Chorlton, where 'Creative Recycling' have for several years been making beautiful objects from the rubbish that others would throw away. Some of their work can be seen in the picture below.

The battle for Fourth Place

2011-05-15T07:31:00.000-07:00

It's nearly the end of the football season and the title might suggest a football piece (after all its the main topic of conversation in Manchester this weekend), but no - I'm talking politics.

Everyone knows about the 'Big Three' but other Parties such as UKIP, the Green Party and even the BNP often like to claim fourth place (I'm excluding the SNP and Plaid Cymru as they only stand candidates in their respective countries; I'm also excluding Northern Ireland). So who should be fourth (or top of the Championship if the 'Big Three' constitute the Premiership)?.

Let's work on the basis of 20 points for an MP (on the basis that they are so hard to get under first past the post), 15 points for an MEP, 10 points for a member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP), the Wesh Assembly or the London Assembly (GLA) and 1 point for each primary authority councillor (parish and town councillors not included).

Here's the comparison (until 2010 Respect would have been included, but they now have too few councillors to merit inclusion). Councillor figures include Scotland and Wales
                           Green            UKIP          BNP

MPs 1 (20 pts) 0 0
MEPs     2 (30 pts) 12 (180 pts) 2 (30 pts)
MSPs       2 (20 pts)   0   0
GLA members 2 (20 pts)    0   0 (was 1 but resigned)
Councillors    140    23 13

Total                230 pts          203 pts        43 pts.

So that gives us Greens 4th, UKIP 5th and BNP a poor sixth

Gender balance note: of UKIP's 23 councillors only one is a woman (even the BNP manage 4 women). Would take a while to count the number of Green women councillors, but I'm confident it will be over one third.

Watching the Red Tide come in

2011-05-08T13:32:00.000-07:00

Observations from the Manchester count:

It was another late night, although not as bad as last year with the co-incident general election. This time there was the co-incident AV referendum, so the first task was to separate out the two sets of ballot papers from each box. This gave the opportunity to gauge the referendum vote - I'm pleased to note that in my ward, Chorlton, the 'Yes' vote was definititely in front, probably at least 60% 'Yes'. Sadly, Chorlton is not typical of the country as a whole in this respect.

My view is that the referendum ballot should have been allocated a separate box at each polling station; actually my view is that the referendum shouldn't have been held on the same day as the council elections at all - I blogged on this last summer when the referendum was announced.

As the counting progressed a clear pattern was emerging in those South Manchester seats where the Liberal Democrats were defending.   In ward after ward Labour were out-polling them.

There were even optimistic noises from fellow Greens who saw areas where they seemed to be challenging the Lib Dems for second place in their former heartlands. In Whalley Range, Ayo Ogolo - standing for the first time - came within 50 votes of the Lib Dems, in a ward where recently they had two councillors.    But the big victors in the City were undoubtably Labour; it gradually became clear that they had won all 32 seats up for election (33 including a co-incident by-election in Burnage). A red tide indeed.

Talking to a couple of Liberal Democrats, I got the response that while they were expecting it to be bad, they didn't think it would be this bad. They were taking it with a mixture of grim resignation and gallows humour (I saw one sporting a yellow rosette and a 'No2AV' sticker).

The results couldn't be announced officially until a separate verification of the referendum ballots was done, which was taking forever, and so for the first time ever I left before the declarations (leaving at 2.45 am).

So now to digest the results. Whilst at a national Party level the Liberal Democrats may have had it coming (all those students, and other people who thought they were voting for a progressive Party...), I don't celebrate their wipe out. Many good local councillors (and I include Paul Ankers, my Lib Dem opponent in Chorlton in this) have been put to the sword in the process and an increasingly one Party Labour state in Manchester is bad for democracy. For us Greens, our vote has held up amidst the carnage, but it hasn't really grown much.

The big step forward for us is that we came second in four wards; we beat the Tories in 15 wards and the Lib Dems in 6 - definitely our best result in terms of beating 'major' Parties. In all our second place wards we've got a long way to go to beat Labour on Thursday's showing; however if the Lib Dem decline continues, someone will need to fill the gap; that could only be us. Interesting times ahead - even if we are stuck with first past the post for the foreseeable future.

Full results are available on the Manchester City Council website.

Not your typical Royal Wedding Weekend

2011-05-01T03:05:00.000-07:00

Another long weekend partly thanks to Will and Kate, but to be honest they haven't featured much in my activities over the past 2 days.

In fact for much of the duration of the wedding I took part in a walk on Manchester's 'Radical, Rebellious and Riotous history' - a well-presented and well-attended 2 hours in which Michael Herbert (who has been researching and writing about Manchester's radical history for 30 years) underlined the many times when Manchester and it's people were in the front line of reform (e.g. I never new that the first fatality in the English Civil War was a linen weaver in what is now Market Street). Michael Herbert is planning to put more of these Manchester-based walks together in future, under the name Red Flag Enterprises.

All of which segued nicely into a protest in Albert Square, organised by people in the uncut movement, and featuring a mock funeral for our public services. Coffins and wreaths represented areas ranging from the NHS to the Arts were preceded by a long trumpeter (pictured right). One of the things I like about the Uncut movement (as well as telling it like it is about the rich and powerful) is its use of more imaginative, almost street theatre, approaches to protests. It was a small but select band, which fortunately avoided the wave of arrests on peaceful protester which took place elsewhere in the country on Friday (for shame! - see various Youtube videos for evidence).

On Saturday I was back in Chorlton, where I am standing as candidate in Thursday's local elections. Unity Arts Manchester were running a workshop for children in Beech Road Park, and I was pleased to meet them and have a lengthy chat with one of their volunteer workers, about the work they do in the city for both children and adults, bringing people from different cultures together to celebrate and enjoy our rich heritage. One impact of the cuts is that they may have to carry more of the burden of issues which would previously have been handled by the paid public sector (without more money to help); it hope that doesn't adversely impact the work they currently do - i fear it might.

In the same area, I visited the monthly farmer's market outside the Horse and Jockey; whilst I am often critical of the Council, the markets here and outside the Library have been a welcome addition to the Chorlton scene. We'd like to see more though, and a higher percentage of food actually produced within our city and it's immediate environs.

Next up (this afternoon) - Speaker's corner - an initiative in Platt Fields Park, modelled on the famous Hyde Park speakers' corner. A chance for a bit of oratory (getting nervous already), whilst a number of my colleagues join the May Day march and rally in the city centre. Then there's some leaflets to deliver... and so on...

Coming up for me in the next few days: Speaking at a debate on the AV referendum at Manchester Students Uni. on Wednesday, a slot on Peace FM radio station, later on Wednesday night and the official launch of the 'Save Manchester Sure Start' campaign on Tuesday lunchtime.

Save Manchester Sure Start

2011-04-24T06:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I attended a public meeting of 'Save Manchester Sure Start', a campaign launched when the council threatened to privatise Manchester's 36 SureStart Centres as part of 'The Cuts'. A number of women spoke eloquently and sometimes movingly of how much Sure Start had helped them in difficult times; how it was so much more than a basic service for young children. A key point raised time and again was that the early intervention provided by and through Sure Start Centres prevented situations where social services would have had to get involved, saving grief for parents and children - and saving money for the authorities including the council.

Another key topic was an alleged campaign of intimidation by the council against staff working in Sure Start Centres. There is plenty of evidence that staff and users have been discouraged from campaigning on this issue since it first arose earlier in the year. Council Leader Sir Richard Leese, who attended the meeting, claimed that this was because of the 'Purdah' which prevents local councils from expressing political views during election campaigns. However the problems precede that and include a leaked email instructing Children's Services staff to block out parents campaigning to protect their Sure Start centres (as reported in 'The Mule').

The campaign produced the following draft statement which was agreed overwhelmingly at the meeting (with the addition of a deadline of Tues 3rd May for the council to agree - just before polling day...). I agree totally with the statement.

"This forum believes that the children of Manchester are the City's future and as such they should be regarded as its major asset. We are committed to work tirelessly to ensure that all the public services in the city are providing the best public services to our children's futures and the resources needed should be regarded as a long term investment not just for our children but also for our communities and Manchester as a city.

This forum believes that the first stage of this investment begins at birth. We believe that all children are equal and should be guaranteed equality of opportunity regardless of race, gender, disability or social economic status. All public services should be inclusive not exclusive. It is the view of the Forum what these criteria are currently being delivered through Manchester City Council's Sure Start Childrens Centres.

This Forum agrees that despite the City Council's finances, Manchester's Sure Start Childrens Centres should remain publicly funded and run as a public service which in our view will ensure better quality standards and greater accountability with parents, users and our communities.

This Forum believes Manchester City Council should agree to holding a 3 month consultation involving representatives from the Friends of Manchester Sure Starts Forum and the Trade Unions to discuss in detail all the options regarding the financing and future of Manchester Sure Start Childrens Centres. The outcome of that consultation shall be produced in a report with options for Manchester City Council to consider.

In conclusion, until that process has been completed this Forum calls on Manchester City Council to suspend with immediate effect all outsourcing related work on its Sure Start Childrens Centres"

As well as being thanked for attending the meeting Leese was given a tough time. Under pressure he did appear to put on the table a '4th Option' of keeping the Sure Start Centres under Council control. We will see.

Which Manchester do you Mean?

2011-04-11T05:11:00.000-07:00

I see David Cameron has been blessing our city with a visit again, and in addition to the totally unsurpring (but still outrageously hypocritical) attack on the City Council's cuts (see here), he brought up the idea of a Mayor again.

Now I'm not a great fan of elected mayors - smacks too much of politics by personality - but I'd be happy to go along with an elected Mayor of Manchester providing the following conditions were attached.

- It was for a Mayor of Greater Manchester, just as the Mayor of London is the Mayor of Greater London)
- It was combined with a democratically elected Assembly to provide conurbation-wide checks and balances

(I could add a third, namely that the Mayor was elected by Alternative Vote rather than First Past the Post - but that would almost certainly be the case anyway in line with other elected Mayors - surprised the 'No2AV campaign hasn't put a stop to it...)

Regarding the first condition - there is a lot of confusion and ambiguity around the word Manchester - how often do you hear in the national media of some dastardly crime committed in 'Manchester', only to find its actually somewhere like Salford or Rochdale?. Do Manchester United play their home games in Manchester?

On a range of policy areas from transport to policing to waste management (typical areas under responsibility of the Mayor in London), the appropriate level is Greater Manchester, not Manchester. The ten boroughs which make up the conurbation already co-operate in these areas; there was of course a Greater Manchester Council until the Tories abolished it.

And yet somehow when Cameron states how much Manchester needs a Mayor it's just this troublesome Labour City he's on about, not Tory Trafford or Lib Dem Stockport.

The second condition (the Assembly) again reflects the London situation; as far as I'm aware Londoners are reasonably happy with the set-up (I'm not aware of any plans to abolish the Assembly). Maybe one reason for that is that it's the only legislative body within England which uses a genuinely fair electoral system.

A similar body in Greater Manchester would be a breath of fresh air amongst the one-Party states which make up most of Greater Manchester's council chambers.

Referendum Revisited (It's a definite Yes)

2011-03-13T12:27:00.000-07:00

When the AV (Alternative Vote) Referendum was announced last summer, I wrote a piece about it which was highly critical (and pessimistic) - see here . Re-reading it today, I felt it needed an update, as my views on the subject have gradually changed in the intervening months.

I still take the view that AV versus First-Past-the-Post is a pretty poor choice. Caroline Lucas did her best to get a wider choice of systems on the ballot paper, but with not a single Lib Dem supporting her (so much for their commitment to proportional representation) she couldn't get very far. However with respect to the referendum with which we are now stuck, I have become increasingly convinced by the following:

- A 'No' vote will be far more damaging to future reforms than a 'Yes' vote
- There is sufficient advantage in AV when compared to FPTP to make it worth arguing for a yes in itself.

However the strongest motivator I have for supporting the 'Yes' campaign isn't to do with the 'Yes' campaign, it's to do with the 'No' campaign, who (bereft of any constructive ideas) are running an increasingly dishonest and dirty campaign.

Some weeks back there they launched a series of expensive billboard ads, claiming that use of AV would cost hundred of millions of pounds, thereby depriving babies of life support machines and soldiers of effective body armour. The public were therefore exhorted to vote no to save the babies and the soldiers. This in spite of treasury figures showing that this additional cost was untrue - unsurprisingly this was taken up with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). More surprisingly the ASA let it go.

I'd hoped the 'No' campaign would have had the decency to withdraw it anyway, but No. A version of the advert appeared this week on the wall opposite the office where I work (there's enough to wind me at work as it is without this addition). Unfortunately it's just out of vandalising reach

The latest guff being spouted by 'No' campaigners (such as Ken Clarke on Radio 4's Any Questions last week) is that the AV voting system will benefit the BNP. Supporters of different electoral systems often get 'the BNP question' - with some systems it's true that the chance of the BNP gaining seats is higher; however that is something which is definitely not the case with AV.

To win with AV requires a vote from 50% of the electorate either via first preferences, second preferences or subsequent preferences; how many voters of other Parties are likely to give any preferences whatsoever to the BNP? Hardly any, I'm sure which would mean the BNP would have to get over 50% on first preferences alone. It's no wonder that the BNP are the only Party with an official Party policy of supporting First Past the Post in the referendum.

So this is another 'No' campaign lie, attempting to scare the voters. My fear is that this sort of negative campaigning works (the referendum a couple of years back to grant proper a proper democratic assembly for the North-East foundered on propaganda about increased cost - so I know that can be a persuasive argument even when false).

I have to say that I'm not totally happy with the 'Yes' campaign either; I can just about swallow comments in their leaflets about the desirability of the constituency link (which tends to work against true proportional representation) but they shouldn't be saying that AV eliminates tactical voting (no system will do that entirely, although first past the post is worst for it). But compared to the 'No' campaign, those in favour of this reform are a beacon of integrity.

See here for Link to the The Yes Campaign

Kicking a Leather Sphere around a Green Field

2011-03-05T11:50:00.000-08:00

If there is one thing which Manchester is noted for internationally at the moment it is football. Regardless of country or continent, if you mention Manchester the reaction is 'Ah yes, Manchester United!'. Of course Manchester also possesses arguably the richest club in the World in Manchester City, but I'm not going to get drawn into the customary United / City arguments (I'll just say that for historical reasons I'm a Newcastle fan and move on).

Under the circumstances it's not surprising that football features regularly in the political and economic life of this city, and recent events provide plenty of examples. City moved centre stage last week, with the approval of a massive plan to develop sports facilities in East Manchester see here. Greens are sometimes accused of being against all developments - on the contrary, my initial reaction is that this is a welcome development in a part of the city which has suffered disproportionately; it is much better than the supercasino which Manchester Council were trying to get previously.

Manchester United has its own political dimension. Following the takeover of the Glazers, many Man U fans sport green and gold scarves (a colour scheme which I find quite fetching) rather than the conventional red; those of a more radical bent formed a breakaway club with the prosaic name of FC United. Whilst not yet in a position to challenge the senior divisions of English football, they have had their moments. Their rebellious origin and democratic approach appeals to me; If I were to support any local team it would be 'FC'. Manchester City Council seem less supportive; a plan for a stadium on derelict land in Newton Heath was dumped last week because the council has refused financial help to get it off the ground - see FC United's take on it here

Now, from this last fact one might assume that the City Council weren't interested in football. Not quite - despite the cuts imposed by the ConDem Government, and passed on to the people of Manchester by the council - they are paying £7 million to get the national museum of football into the Urbis building. Now I think that Preston was an entirely appropriate venue for the museum, and I was one of those campaigning for Urbis original cultural role to be retained, but if we are to have the National Football Museum here, surely we should be looking at the two super-rich Manchester clubs to be funding it?

Links to the Past

2011-02-20T02:51:00.000-08:00

They say nostalgia isn't what it used to be; that may be true but it still exists, as brought home by two events which I attended in the last few days.

Site Battles

Firstly – 'Site Battles' on Thursday was a commemoration of the protests against Manchester's second runway in the 1990s, (Campaign against Runway 2 or CAR2) and was timed to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the opening of said runway. Veterans of the trees and tunnels were there, some reunited for the first time since the protests, to tell of their experiences. It generated a really good atmosphere in the room – these were people who had been though a life-changing experience together, on the front line in a battle for a sustainable future.
My involvement in the campaign was somewhat fringe – I remember visiting the camps on the site, taking food down and being part of demonstrations in the area. I have the utmost respect for those who lived there for months, buried in tunnels and sitting precariously in the trees for the cause. Here's an account from the time Schnews and here's the MEN account on the 'reunion' Reunion

It was good to see many links to the Green Party; among those speaking about their experiences were long time Green activist Lance Crookes (seen on video here and former Manchester Green Councillor Vanessa Hall. A 'World in Action' documentary of the time was shown, which included lengthy interviews with a 'youthful-looking!' Professor John Whitelegg and Gaynor Trafford, one of the 'Mobberley Mums' supporting the protesters who went on to be a Green parish councillor.

On paper you can argue that the protesters failed – the second runway went ahead. But together with the earlier protests at Newbury and other famous road battles of the 1990s, they helped to change opinion. Since those days it has become more difficult for both road schemes and airport expansions to get off the ground.

Expansion is still on the cards at Manchester Airport however – homes and environment are threatened by freight expansion – for recent news see stopmanchesterairport.blogspot.com: Non-violent direct action is also still on the cards – this Monday sees the start of the second trial of protesters from an action at the airport last year. For details see manchesterairportontrial

George Osborne isn't Working

Given the apparent hostility of our new Government to the north – see here – it comes as a surprise to realise that the constituency of one of its principal actors is just down the road. Chancellor George Osborne is MP for Tatton which includes places like Wilmslow, Alderley Edge and Knutsford.. Famous previous Tatton MPs include Neil Hamilton and Martin Bell, indeed two of the biggest news stories of spring 1997 were the battle between those two, and the CAR2 campaign mentioned above, and both of them affected the same constituency!

Those with long memories will recall a poster advert from the seventies showing a long queue of people at a dole office and the slogan 'Labour isn't Working'. This event was a recreation of that queue at Osborne's constituency office in Knutsford, with the title 'George Osborne isn't Working'.
The idea was the brainchild of Respect member Richard Searle and provided an opportunity to dig out an old coat and flat cap for the occasion. As well as the photo shoot, it was a chance for people to deliver a message to Osborne, which could be anything from a lengthy critique of his economic policies to a simple request to take the advice of the initials of his name and just GO.

The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round

2011-02-15T12:02:00.000-08:00

Last week a Tory got some stick for a comment which denigrated waitresses and bus-drivers – see here. Clearly bus-driver is seen as a term of contempt – one cannot imagine, say, airline pilot being used in the analogy, even though they are both forms of transport. The bus-drivers insulted by Lord Lang do a job which I would not envy, combining as it does the role of driver, navigator, fare-collector, and security guard (difficult passengers on buses are rare in my experience, but the driver always has to be alert for possible trouble). Imagine if an airline pilot was expected to do all that on his/her own?

In a way the comment is hardly surprising, - the humble omnibus (meaning 'for everyone' in Latin) is the Cinderella of public transport. There is a famous quote from the 80's – often attributed to Thatcher, but actually Loeila, Duchess of Westminster that 'Any man who finds himself on a bus after the age of 30 can count himself a failure'. Thatcher probably thought it however and successive Governments of any persuasion have failed to dispel it. Outside London, where different transport arrangements prevail, bus use has generally been in decline.

I'm well past the age of 30 and am proud to be a regular bus user; it reliably takes me to and from my place of employment in the centre of Manchester on a daily basis. It is slow, but that gives me a chance to relax and read the paper and occasionally chat to a friend or colleague also using this form of transport. Sometimes the slowness can be irritating (e.g. last Friday morning as the bus had to wait several minutes to get into Piccadilly – surely the worst designed bus station in Europe).

Whilst Metrolink gets much more emphasis and publicity, Greater Manchester's humble buses are largely out of the limelight. Bus users will still have to wait until December to know the fate of major schemes – see here. Yet even when the Metrolink expansion is complete most of Greater Manchester's travelling public will be closer to bus stops than to tram stations, and many will still rely on the continuing rotation of the 'Wheels on the Bus' as described in the well-known nursery song. .

Liberal Democrats Waning Here

2011-01-22T06:46:00.000-08:00

There have been two ward by-elections in the City of Manchester since last May's combined general and local elections, and the results of them cannot make pleasant reading for the City's official Opposition Party, the Liberal Democrats.

In November's Hulme by-election, the Lib Dems absolutely flooded the ward with leaflet after leaflet claiming 'It's neck and neck!' 'It's Lib Dems or Labour!' 'Greens and Tories can't win here!'; the barcharts – which started with the legitimate fact that the Lib Dems held second place in the May election, if only slightly - stretched reality further and further with each leaflet. Hulme is of course a ward where the Greens have won in the past 10 years, unlike the Lib Dems.

Come polling day and it transpired that 'neck and neck' meant Labour outpolling the Lib Dems by a factor of 7 to 1 (over 1000 votes compared to 151); if the Lib Dem campaign had any effect on the result it was probably to bolster Labour, at the expense of the Greens, to make absolutely certain that the Tories' allies didn't win. Full result and Green comment can be seen here

Perhaps chastened by this result the Liberal Democrats appear to have gone for a more low key approach at the second Manchester by-election in Baguley (part of Wythenshawe). The consequent result of Thursday's poll (20th January) was even worse for them:

Labour 996 70.5% (+23.4%)
Conservatives 160 11.3% (-4.9%)
UKIP 77 5.5% (-1.3%)
BNP 52 3.68% (N/A did not stand in May)
Liberal-Democrats 52 3.68% (-20.8%)
Green Party 51 3.61% (+0.8%)
Donnelly (Independant) 19 1.3% (N/A, did not stand in May)

So the Liberal Democrat vote share dropped a staggering 20.8 percentage points from 24% to less than 4%. The Green Party campaign did not spend resources in what is a part of the city where we have no history of election campaigning. It's a pity because even the smallest increase in campaign activity would have seen us outpoll not only the BNP, but also the Liberal Democrats. I've been looking at election results in Manchester for a long time now, and I can't remember that low a vote share for the Lib Dems in a ward election anywhere. And with a turnout at the sort of level which would be achieved by people wandering into polling stations by accident, it will certainly be their lowest vote aggregate by some margin.

Manchester is not an exception in this respect; there have been shockingly bad results for the Lib Dems in other northern urban seats, including in Sheffield, Nick Clegg's backyard. This doesn't bode well for Clegg's Party in the coming May elections. With the deep feeling of betrayal many people have for that Party, it's tempting to cheer that prospect. There are reasons to regret it though as well. Many Lib Dem councillors have worked hard and well in their wards, and are likely to lose their seats through no fault of their own. There is also the prospect of Manchester becoming even more of a one Party (Labour) state than it is now.

If the voting trends continue - and as Manchester City Council have just announced 2,000 job losses as they face cuts imposed by the 'ConDem' Government this is likely - someone else will have to rise to the occasion as an alternative to Labour dominance. It should be the Green Party, and after all we were the third Party in the City in the last European Elections. That was under a PR system however, and first past the post is tough to crack. Hopefully a Yes victory in the AV campaign (which itself will be a tall order if the campaign gets associated too much with the Lib Dems), will open the door to a fairer voting system for local council elections (which I've also blogged on in the past).

Whatever happens we should have our work cut out in the coming months and years.

Manchester's Two Transport 'Gods'

2010-08-08T13:30:00.000-07:00

When it comes to Manchester and modes of transport there are 2 'gods' to which the local environment can be sacrificed – one is the Metrolink tram system and the other is the Airport. When the two combine, then Heaven help what is left of South Manchester's biodiversity.

As recently as June 24th I mentioned the possibility of a Metrolink line to the Airport, stating that it had not yet got funding. Things have moved faster than I thought, the line has now been approved, and work is expected to begin within a year. There is a good case for improving public transport links between Wythenshawe and the rest of the city, for example when Withington Hospital was closed, it was on the basis that Wythenshawe would serve the whole catchment area. The line isn't about this though – it's about the Airport. To emphasise this the South Manchester Reporter's lead story on this granted the longest quote and the only photo, not to a South Manchester politician but to the boss of the Airport, Geoff Muirhead. Residents living close to the Airport line will also be pleased to hear of the intention to run trams from as early as 3 am, whilst to add injury to insult, the branch which passed Wythenshawe Hospital in the previous plans seems to have disappeared completely.

In that previous blog I mentioned the impact on the Mersey Valley, and I'll refer people again to an excellent blog post from Dave Bishop on this; also here's a photo of the type of area which will be lost , but there are issues with the route from Chorlton even before it gets that far.

Presumably the plan is still to destroy the central reservation of Mauldeth Road South, with all its trees. As well as the loss of trees this would create 6 lanes (four road and two rail) down that stretch and the junction with Barlow Moor Road would be highly problematic. When the plan was route was first proposed, back in the late 1990s, Greens in Chorlton opposed this destruction. I have long felt that if the Metrolink is there to take cars of the road, then it should take up road space instead of Green belt or existing heavy rail lines (elsewhere in the conurbation, the development of Metrolink has led to the closure of existing rail facilities for years at a time). In this case it should use part of Princess Parkway. That's if one accepts that such a tram-link is the best transport solution.

There is a precedent for protecting the valley from outdated transport plans. Decades ago there was a proposal to extend Mauldeth Road South/Hardy lane into a motorway spur across the Mersey Valley at Jackson's boat and onto what is now the M60. Apart from a half-hearted attempt to revive it about 20 years ago by Trafford Tory Philistines, it has been long dead and buried.

The usual approach of the '3 Main' Parties to any Metrolink expansion is along the lines of 'We brought the Metrolink', 'No, we brought the Metrolink' etc. - It's like a scene out of the movie 'Spartacus'. Following their well-publicised opposition to the football development plans in the Mersey Valley, it will be interesting to see what the local Lib Dem councillors, and the remaining Labour councillor, in Chorlton/Chorlton Park have to say about this route.

Every Little (and Big) Hurts

2010-07-25T13:42:00.000-07:00

On Sunday 27th June, I had a chance to witness England's great sporting triumph of that day. Those of you looking back at the calendar may be puzzled – surely that was the day we were thrashed by Germany in Bloemfontein, hardly a triumph. True, but I was referring to our cricket team taking an unassailable 3 -0 lead over the Aussies at Old Trafford, a mere 2 miles from my home, and a match to which I might have gone.

So why didn't I? Because, Lancashire County Cricket Club have hitched their ground improvement to Tesco, who plan to put what is arguably Britain's biggest hypermarket close to the ground, with the redevelopment money as a bribe to Trafford Council and the Cricket Club. I've blogged at length on this before - Just Not Cricket so will just focus now on more recent events in this sorry saga.

Tesco's application was approved by Trafford Council, but a strong campaign from No Mega Tesco called for the Government of the North-West to have it called in. A particular argument for call-in was a rival supermarket plan for Sainsbury's at White City little more than a stone's throw away, and on a site where such a store was already permitted. The Government of the North-West deferred their decision until after the election; several weeks after the result, with the Tory – Lib Dem coalition in power, and cuts very much on the agenda, the Government let it go. As the cricket club celebrate the many campaigners have only a possible appeal from Derwent Holdings (who are behind the rival Sainsbury's) bid to hold on to.

To add insult to injury Tesco are apparently planning a further supermarket in Chorlton, to add to the one they forced through against local opinion a few years back. Unfortunately as they are taking over a disused pub, they don't need planning permission, so we can expect it imminently.

Battles against Tesco rumble on continually across the country, indeed there is a well-known national campaign group concerned with this one topic – Tescopoly. Former Green Party principal speaker Derek Wall has the honour of being banned for life from Tesco, following an earlier act of opposition.

Elsewhere in the country right now, the Norfolk town of Sheringham is trying to hold out against the juggernaut, with evidence of dirty tricks from the Supermarket giant - as reported in the Independent recently -
Meanwhile in Brighton, Green councillors and even a Green MP don't necessarily tip the odds enough, - see here for information on their fight to save a Community Garden from the Tesco onslaught:- Lewes Road Tesco

Tesco already control over 30% of the UK grocery trade; in the wake of these developemnts we can the loss of more local shops across South Manchester and Trafford, and more money siphoned out of the area, to the pockets of Tesco shareholders

Same Sh*t, Different Referendum

2010-07-04T03:56:00.000-07:00

So we are going to get a referendum on the voting system (for Westminster elections) next year. For most of England this will be the first referendum for over thirty years – I say most, because of course, the people of Manchester had a referendum much more recently (on the 'TiF Bid/Congestion Charge).
At first glance these two referenda, one on transport the other on voting reform, have little in common. On the contrary I can see a lot of similarities.

In the Transport referendum the majority of green-leaning groups, such as Friends of the Earth campaigned for a Yes vote, but there were many, including myself, who felt that what we were offered had so many flaws that we couldn't get behind it with any real enthusiasm. There were some Green Party activists who felt for sound reasons that a No vote was the right response.

In the Alternative Vote referendum coming up, I can see remarkably similar lines being drawn. I only have to look at my inbox – the day after the referendum announcement I received 2 emails almost simultaneously. One was from Vote for a Change' gushing with 'amazing news' and a 'huge victory', and of course urging me to campaign for a 'yes' vote; the other from a respected Green Party colleague inviting me to join the Facebook Group 'No to AV – Yes to PR', and calling for a No Vote.

What will guide me in whether I vote Yes or No (or abstain altogether for that matter) when the referendum comes, is which outcome will do least damage to our transition to a genuinely proportional system. Will a Yes vote be taken as 'Well we've gone to all that trouble to change the system, we're not changing it again' or will a No vote be taken as 'people don't want to change from the present system so its off the agenda for a long long time'. If I vote Yes it won't be with any enthusiasm whatsoever. What we are being offered is completely the wrong referendum (and at the wrong time too – more of that later).

What should have happened was a healthy open debate about the different voting systems, along with wider constitutional issues (what is happening with the House of Lords?, what about voting reform for local councils?) engaging as much of the electorate as possible. This would be followed by a referendum offering a range of choices, as it was done in New Zealand when they changed their voting system. Instead we're being granted an artificial choice between two systems which are only marginally different in their effect, a feeble offering from a bunch of establishment politicians looking to entrench/advance their own Parties' positions. Why don't groups like 'Vote for a Change' stop drooling over this pathetic choice and start campaigning for real Change?

Wrong time too – holding it the same day as the local, Scottish and Welsh elections, presumably in an attempt to boost the turnout. It will be particularly strange for voters in Scotland; as well as casting their votes for the Scottish Parliament and local councils, using two different voting systems, they'll be asked to vote between two different, and worse, systems for Westminster. Far better to keep such votes separate so that voters can concentrate on one set of issues at a time. It may well be a bad time for the coalition too, as their cuts begin to bite. It smacks of desperation on the part of the Liberal Democrats, as their influence within the coalition seems to be slipping.

The TiF bid/Congestion Charge proposal was heavily defeated. With many supporters only too aware of flaws, a hostile media, and tarnished by a close association with the political establishment, it's not surprising in retrospect that it lost. My feeling at the moment is that the Alternative Vote referendum will go the same way.

PS for description of different voting systems see – Electoral Reform Society – but note they are very evangelical about the Single Transferable Vote system so take any bias into account.

How Green is Our Valley

2010-06-24T14:10:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday I attended two events in our local green lung, the Mersey Valley. The first was a walk organised by the 'Friends of Chorlton Meadows (FOCM)' (see blog) which looked at the different species of bee which can be found in the area, with a local bee expert, Brian Robinson. I have to say that I hadn't realised there were so many different species of bumble bee in Britain alone, and also that there is still so much for us to learn about their role in the eco-system.

Bees have been in the news a lot recently and not for the right reason. The honey bee has been hit very badly by a disease called Colony Collapse Disorder, whilst in recent decades many species of bumble bee have gone into decline or even disappeared from this country as habitat has been lost.
The role of bees in the pollination of plants cannot be overestimated. Whilst larger species in danger of extinction such as the polar bear and the tiger get the publicity, the loss of the humble bee would have a far greater impact on our lives.

2010 if of course the Year of Biodiversity, and this was one of a series of walks highlighting the variety of different types of flora and fauna in this part of the Mersey Valley. FOCM Chair Dave Bishop stated that he was struck by the degree of biodiversity across the range in this small area of South Manchester. All the more reason for valuing and safeguarding this vital green lung, which brings me on to the second event.

The Save Chorlton Meadows campaign (not to be confused with FOCM) came into being last year when a plan was proposed to convert the Meadows at Hardy Farm into football pitches including floodlighting. Whilst that plan was defeated, an application has just been put in for floodlighting and other changes at the existing pitch on the edge of the meadows. Smaller scale it may be, but the floodlighting and increased capacity will still have an adverse effect on both wildlife and local residents, and the Campaign is fighting it with as much vigour as the earlier application.

Good to see the defence of our valley against the rampant god of football. It will be interesting to see if it can be defended against another local god – the Metrolink. A planned future route of the light-rail system takes it straight across this part of the Mersey Valley. This particular development has not yet secured funding, so would be some time in the future but it is definitely time to challenge the route.

One of the arguments put forward for Metrolink is that it will take cars of the road, in which case I have long felt that the lines should be run on current roadspace, and not on existing rail-lines or greenbelt. I was pleased to hear local MP John Leech, state the same opinion, and I think the newly-radicalised campaigners of Chorlton and Chorlton Park may have plenty to say when the impact of the Metrolink on this area becomes clear.. Especially those who have witnessed the line being driven though other parts of the area, such as the cutting between Wilbraham Road and the Fallowfield Loop cycleway, a matter of yards from my house.
The aforementioned Dave Bishop has plenty to say on the matter here

Back to Normal ?

2010-06-08T13:14:00.000-07:00

I haven’t posted on this blog for a good while – partly due to my focus on my election blog for the campaign period; my excuse since polling day is that I’m in a recovery period. However enough things have happened in my area of Manchester in the last few days for me to put finger to keyboard again.

Last Friday I got an invitation to a mass lobby of John Leech MP, following Israel’s outrageous act of piracy against the Gaza Flotilla. Mass lobby was something of an exaggeration, it was a group of about 10 students from Manchester University Action Palestine. Enough to fill Mr Leech's Office though.
The Lobby called for:

. End the Siege of Gaza

· No to an Israeli enquiry, yes to an International enquiry

· Sanctions on Israel – End the EU-Israel Association Agreement

John Leech was generally supportive and agreed to take various things forward with the relevant authorities/people but could only display limited optimism at achieving the changes being demanded particularly in the relationships between Britain /EU, and Israel. I'm pleased to see he's signed the Early Day Motionon the subject.

Eat Your Streets

Saturday was World Environment Day, and a local event in nearby Manley Park (Whalley Range) was organised by Manchester Friends of the Earth and ''Eat Your Streets'. In perfect weather, guests were served up food by a Chorlton-based group called 'Cracking Good Food', whilst the more dedicated dug a small plot on the park and planted soft fruit plants and vegetables. This planting is one of several which the group are doing in different parts of Whalley Range - watch this space (something might grow in it!).

On Sunday, St. Clements Parish Church in Chorlton put on a talk by Professor Michael Northcott St Clements of Edinburgh University, a leading expert in the field of environmental ethics (and also described as the 'thinking man's Michael Moore)'. The talk was primarily on the ethics of climate change, particularly internationally; unfortunately I missed a significant part of it, but it was a salutary reminder of both the truth and the importance of this topic, in the wake of the recent publicity given to climate change deniers in the media.

As an example Professor Northcott pointed out that whilst Britain is usually quoted as being responsible for 4% of world emissions, when all of our exploitation of resources in other countries is included it's more like 10-15%, and if the effect of all British companies is included as well it's more like 30%.

At the end of the talk there was a chance to look at a range of designs for the rebuilding of the scout hut adjacent to the church; the Centre for Alternative Technology have been brought in to advise on the most ecologically sound designs. All credit to the Church for the way they are going about this, and for arranging the talk by Professor Northcott.

Back to normal? - well, the above events are the sort of things I would like to consider normal for a weekend.

New Election Blog created!

2010-04-15T02:23:00.000-07:00

For the duration of the election campaign I have set up the following blog
to cover my campaign and associated comments events etc:

briancandeland.blogspot.com

This means I will probably posting less here for a while and posting more there - should be much more there.

The Battle of Bolton

2010-03-21T04:26:00.000-07:00

I went to Bolton yesterday to support Green Party colleagues and Bolton against Racism oppose the EDL. Anyone relying on reports in the mainstream media (including the BBC) is likely to have a very misleading view of what was going on. I must also confess that during the time I was there it was difficult to tell what was going on, and I left before the end; this is very much a personal account. I did witness some very heavy-handed policing towards the anti-fascist demonstrators. I notice the Police were claiming that 2 injuries were caused by protesters, however I saw the two injured people being escorted away and it didn't look like that to me. Surely after the G20 the media should be a bit more wary of Police accounts.

I was intentionally going to support Bolton against Racism (BAR), and to be part of a dignified protest. I am please to say that there was a good number of BAR people there, many in a community choir. A number of local MPs of various Parties had also called on people to go and oppose the EDL (although I didn't see any of said MPs while I was there). I regret that some elements on the UAF side were less than dignified; there were some people there who would have welcomed a fight. The EDL are a rag-tag army of racist thugs and it takes a degree of skill to cede any moral high ground to them, so that is disappointing.

Having said that, the Police seemed at best confused about how to deal with the situation and looked like they were deliberately winding up the pressure in front of what I consider was basically a peaceful demonstration . Perhaps it was an opportunity to show off all their nice new riot gear, and their menagerie of animals. First they showed us the dogs, bristling and snarling, then the horses; I would not have been surprised if elephants had followed. And the arrest of UAF's Weyman Bennett was ridiculous.
In one bizarre sequence our group were moved further and further back by a solid cordon of Police to make a wide empty space. I surmised that this was the space the EDL were coming though. But no, half an hour later, the Police had all moved on somewhere else (mainly to kettle the core of the demonstration) and we were able to mill around again. They seemed to be making it up as they went along.
World War 2 Veteran knocked over - Video clip

Police tactics before the demo were also disturbing. Local Green candidate Alan Johnson (definitely not to be confused with the Home Secretary of the same name) informed me that whilst leafleting for the anti-EDL demo at a local mosque he had see police there advising Muslims not to attend. Alan had even felt in danger of arrest himself for leafleting the mosque. So members of Bolton community are being advised to keep out of their town centre to make way for a bunch of racists from outside!. No wonder feelings run high.

The most disconcerting moment for me was my return to the station. Bradshawgate was crawling with EDL (and noticeably fewer Police...), who were hitting the local bars. I think there were more of them there than in their section of the central square. I was amused to see a group of them being frisked by a black bouncer, but apart from that it was a creepy feeling. I knew what these people had done in Stoke; I feared for Bolton later that day.

The EDL demonstration, which had nothing to do with Bolton, should not have been allowed to happen in the first place. This organisation is clearly out to make trouble and divide communities. The Government have banned Islam4UK from marches, so why are the EDL exempt? Ant-fascist groups, whilst rightly standing up to racism need to beware of giving ammunition to the media and the authorities. As for the policing, there needs to be a proper investigation as to how that was conducted, both before and during the demonstration.

Airport Twinning

2010-02-08T12:54:00.000-08:00

Apologies for the long gap between posts - roles may change (see below), but life doesn't get any easier.

Town Twinning has been around for a while but I was present at an event yesterday which could be described as Airport Twinning, although Anti-Airport twinning would be more accurate.

Residents of Hasty Lane, threatened with demolition to make way for a hanger, linked up by webcam with residents of Sipson, the village threatened with obliteration if the Heathrow third runway ever goes ahead. The picture shows representatives of the 2 campaigns cutting a ceremonial ribbon.

This was part of a well-attended event, which also included a tour of the immediate area (including a bio-diverse pond) which will all be destroyed if the Airport get their way (see here), and an Adoption ceremony.

This last exercise was an extension of something which has already been done at Sipson, whereby activists 'adopt' an affected resident and thereby pledge their support for the campaign. There were enough people there to give each resident (7 currently threatened with eviction I believe) a team of about 10 adopters.

Among those attending were several guests from Sipson and leading anti-airport campaigner John Stewart (pictured with Manchester Central and Hulme candidate Gayle O'Donovan and a guest from Sipson). The event was well covered in the local media including BBC regional news.

Role Change? I have recently relinquished the post of Chair of Manchester Green Party after 4 years, only to exchange it for the role of MGP Treasurer. I'm still deciding what to do with the blog - abandon it, keep it as it is, push it in a different direction. I won't replace it with a Treasurer's blog and regale you with tales of Bank mandate forms and Paypal accounts.

I am also gearing up for dual election candidacy, for Withington constituency in the general election and Chorlton ward in the local council elections - see Chorlton Greens blogspotThese roles should make for more blogging potential as the elections approach.

What's the Core Strategy? - Comments

2009-12-29T12:22:00.000-08:00

Firstly, a Very Happy New Year to one and all!

Now back to 2027...

Following on from my last post on the City Council's Core Strategy document for now until 2027, and having had a chance to read and comment on the document, here are some observations and thoughts.

Unsurprisingly, a key theme is 'growth' - not just the economy but the population as well. To some extent the City is at the mercy of higher bodies, the Region (which has its own 'Spatial Strategy', The 'Northern Way' group of northern cities and the Government itself. Even allowing for these constraints, the plan shows insufficient recognition of the imminent challenges of climate change and peak oil.

For instance, when listing employment opportunities in the city, the six main sources are stated as being aviation/airport, new media, financial services, IT, life sciences and manufactoring. Environmental technology only makes it into the second division here, despite the clear opportunities for retrofitting housing stock and other buildings.

The Airport is very prominent in the document generally; here the figures in particular seem to reflect pre-crash, pre-climate change optimism. Three options are offered posing three degrees of impact on the green belt; the least damaging is the first of these, which retains the existing Green Belt, and requires any expansion to be managed around that.

A population growth of around 100,000 (to 557,800) is planned over the next 20 years, with the increase in housing targeted mainly for the city centre (28%) and east Manchester (32%). 63,000 new residential units are planned in all. Affordable housing is encouraged, although they have given themselves a couple of get-outs i.e. "not if it would undermine 'proposals critical to economic growth' or if 'financial impact would affect scheme viability".

Despite the population increase, the number of District Centres is almost the same, the only new centre being Baguley, in Wythenshawe. It surprises me that there is no increase in the number of District Centres in the north and east and it makes me wonder what quality of services the increased population in those areas will get.

Incidentally the main reason for the population increase is givan as Manchester's regional capital status, i.e. forces outside the Council's control. There is no doubt however that our City fathers (and they are mostly men) welcome the challenges which this increase will bring. It is true that there are some environmental benefits in relatively high city centre dwelling, if that is also where people are working, but the city will have its work cut out providing sufficient local services, and balancing the increase with preservation of what green infrastructure remains.

A word that seems to crop up even more than growth is 'sustainable', which is used, misused and abused on a regular basis. Climate Change is mentioned extensively but it is clear that its challenges have not really been taken on board. The intention is that growth will be zero-carbon, 'decoupling growth from emissions', but as with the Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP)there is insufficient detail on how they are going to achieve this, although it does include more detail than the climate change action plan with respect to improved energy rating of new build.

The targets on carbon reduction predate the CCAP and are slightly less bold (36% by 2020 vs 42%, and no mention of embedded carbon).

Once you find it (Manchester City Council just love to consult), the ability to respond online is good, with a chance to see previous comments, not just on this document, but on previous stages in the process. It's a pity that there are not more comments (and there's only 3 days to go now), particularly from ordinary citizens; good to see some fellow Greens in there though. Hopefully we'll have some effect.

'What's the Plan' - the Story continues....

2009-12-14T13:25:00.000-08:00

Whilst most green-minded people have been focusing their attention on Copenhagen, and more locally on the City Council's Climate Change Action Plan – see previous blog post, the Planning Strategy process (now known as the Local Development Framework (LDF)) for the City rumbles on. We are currently in the consultation period for the 'Core Strategy' document – and indeed this is the core of the whole process, and will influence what happens in the City for the next twenty years. And yet, hardly anyone seems to be aware of the fact; another testament to our Council's communication strategy... Incidentally the Council's slogan to catch the eye is 'What's the Plan?' hence the title of this post.
How the different parts of the framework link together is illustrated in
this diagram. Any the wiser?

Having been involved in an earlier phase I did get an email advertising a series of drop-in sessions and I duly dropped in to the Chorlton session – I was the only member of the public there during my visit. I was also advised of a consultation event at the Town Hall, which I also attended (evening session). Again there was very little attendance from members of the public, although I was informed that the afternoon session had been much better attended. In mitigation, the evening session did coincide with a Rally with Climate Change Minister Ed Milliband, which will have drawn many of the green-minded people mentioned earlier. It certainly drew some of my Green Party colleagues, and I am reliably informed, and pleased to note, that they were very prominent in asking questions of Mr Milliband and the rest of the platform.

Anyway, Back to the 'Core Strategy':-
At the evening session I attended 2 workshops. The first was entitled ‘The Economy and The Airport’ – I was relieved to find that this was 2 workshops combined, and it wasn’t an assumption that the airport and the economy are the same thing (although they are sometimes made to sound that way). With the planners on one side of me uttering ‘growth, growth, growth’, and an Airport representative on the other, I did feel like a fish out of water – it’s at times like this one realises what we are up against.
The second workshop was on ‘The Environment and Climate Change’ although I said more about climate change in the first workshop.

Questions and comments made at these workshops have no bearing on the consultation apparently, to exert influence one has to submit formally.
One personal advantage of such a low attendance is being able to leave with one of the printed copies. The document is 194 pages long and submissions have to be in by 4th January. Good job Christmas holidays are coming up, to give me time to read it. I’ll post some more detailed thoughts on it when I’ve had a chance to do that. I'm particluarly interested to see how it stacks up against the climate change plan.
Here is the link to see the document on-line: Core Strategy. To maintain Council consistency in these matters, it is hard to find on their website.

Busy times

An advantage of working in the City Centre is the ease with which I can ‘drop in’ to various protests, actions, meetings etc. In many cases ‘drop-in is all there is time for. In recent weeks alone these have included a pre-Wave climate change ‘flash-mob’ with Oxfam, a ‘pots and pans’ protest against the Banks, a pre-planning meeting demo to ‘Save Hasty Lane (see previous blog post – in this case a quick 5 minutes before returning to work was enough to make a Manchester Evening News photograph), and a No2ID stall on the day the cards were ‘launched’ in Manchester.

All in all this gives an indication of the range of activities which can occur in the centre of our city during the week, and which may be of interest to a Green. No doubt this will continue, especially as elections approach...

What a Difference a Day Makes

2009-11-22T11:28:00.000-08:00

The City Council have now produced their long-awaited Climate Change Action Plan, following their ‘Call to Action’ earlier this year and the activists response of a ‘Call to Real Action’, and just in time for the Copenhagen summit. Sir Richard Leese and others will fly off to Copenhagen (i.e. by the most carbon intensive travel mode) and proudly brandish it in front of world leaders.

What do I think of it? Well, there are plenty of fine words in it. To be fair, the Council are being ambitious with it, particularly when compared with the other Greater Manchester boroughs. As well as a proposed 41% cut in the City’s carbon footprint by 2020, there is a ‘commitment to create a Total Carbon Footprint framework’ by 2013 (this means including embedded carbon, i.e. the carbon cost of everything consumed in and by the City). The 64 page document contains numerous welcome ideas ranging from the large-scale insulation of housing to increasing local food production.

But - of course there is a but; in fact there are several buts. In his foreword Sir Richard talks of a picture being painted of our City’s future, What follows however is a picture which is little different from the City today. On transport for instance there is no recognition of the need (beyond a nod to video-conferencing) to move away from the commuter model and the recognition that public transport also has a carbon cost.
The vision could and should be better. Major deficiencies are the lack of detail as to how the 41% will actually be reached, and the absence of any plan for beyond 2010.
It is somehow expected to co-exist with the Council’s other plans for continuous economic growth. And perhaps most blatantly, any recognition of the real impact of the airport (the air travel) is coyly shelved until beyond 2013.

Following the influence of Call to Real Action, the Council have included a large number of people in their writing groups and, to be fair, they have produced the plan in a relatively short period of time. So can I say that the approval on Weds 18th November of this document by the City Council marks a big step forward?….
………
Well, What a difference a day makes – on Thursday the 19th the Council Planning Department approved the demolition of 200 year old cottages, and a neighbouring beauty spot at Hasty Lane; this to make way for an extra airport freight hanger. Never mind that airfreight has been falling for 2 years (and in the promised low-carbon city should fall much further); never mind that the Wythenshawe councillors (of all Parties) unanimously voted to opposed the plan.

To their credit the Lib Dem councillors on the committee opposed the plan, but the Labour majority on the committee saw it through.
It is hard to have any confidence in the City Council’s ability to make the changes it claims to want, when it commits such blatant acts of vandalism in almost the same breath.

Cockermouth memory

The news of the terrible flood in Cockermouth brought back a memory for me, indeed one of the very earliest, and haziest, memories I have; this was of floods there in 1954 (our family lived there between 1953 and 1957). Although that was a very wet year, the floods in the town did not match what we have just seen, and there was never a day when 12 inches of rain fell; in fact before last week there had never been a day in Britain since records began when 12 inches of rain fell - that is no longer the case.

For me this illustrates that whilst extreme weather events have occurred throughout history, and while no single event on its own should be taken as proof of climate change, the evidence of more extreme weather is definitely stacking up.

It's Just Not Cricket!

2009-11-15T13:55:00.000-08:00

Sport is the theme again in this blog, although this time it's the 'summer game'. Lancashire Cricket Club (LCC) are seeking to renovate their nearby Old Trafford ground and get back on the Ashes test trail. There is competition for the honour of holding test matches and other grounds around the country (e.g Southampton , Cardiff)have also been investing. None of the others to my knowledge however have prostituted themslves to the corporate monster that is Tesco.

I am stumped as to why LCC and Trafford Council haven't had the imagination to come up with something better.

It should be noted that this is no ordinary Tesco (indeed the Supermarket chain have had planning permission for a 47,000 sq ft store at this location for 5 years, but have done nothing with it, clearly hoping for something much bigger). A store of 140,000 sq. ft. is threatened which would make it one of the largest in the country, sucking the life out of all other retail sites for miles around. The plans have just been submitted and are not available for public viewing at the time I write this; the accompanying press release refers to a 100,000 sq ft store, so maybe even they realise they were going too far. We shall soon see.

For full details of the campaign, in which our fellow Greens in Trafford are very much to the fore see here.

This is not the only Tesco controversy in the area. They seem to be taking over the City Centre, much to the consternation of the growing inner-City citizenry, e.g. with this development in the Northern Quarter. and there are also plans for another huge store (another 140,000 sq ft again) in Salford. Greater Manchester is indeed becoming Tescopolis

A final point on the subject of cricket (which I do follow despite having absolutely no talent for playing it whatsoever) I notice the authorities are complaining about Ashes test being shown free on terrestrial television in the future. I see this as another example of the sad trend in sports for money to take priority over enthusing the nation's youth. In the light of this it is hardly surprising that in the English team's latest thrashing, its two highest scorers were South African and in the previous match the highest scorer was an Irishman.

People Power on the Meadows!

2009-11-08T11:32:00.000-08:00

A picnic on Chorlton meadows organised by the the Save the Meadows campaign
attracted about 250 people this afternoon. On a cool,overcast but dry afternoon, they celebrated this beautiful local amenity. Chants of 'ditch the pitch' and 'don't yield the field' were interspersed with balloons and ballgames, whilst local entrepreneurs sold home-baked food (70p for a cake and a hot chocolate drink - delicious and great value). At one point a buzzard soared high overhead - hopefully a good omen.

Picnicers were informed that 1000 letters of objection had now been received against the proposals, a remarkably high number. For my own part the more I think and know about this proposal the worse it seems. From the centre of the meadows field where the picnic took place, one gets an idea of the size of the development. The developers claim that there is insufficient capacity for footballers in South Manchester, particular for youth football. Well, on my walk down this afternoon, through Chorlton Park, I noticed that only 2 of the 5 pitches there were being used. As I commented earlier this is clearly a commercial development.

Whilst local Labour councillors have joined Lib Dems and the Green Party in opposing the development, the Council's Leisure Dept. are apparently supporting it. And whilst it is true that the Council is obliged to consider any planning application submitted to it, there is a pattern of threatened green space across the city (see below).
Opponents of the development from further afield include Prince Charles and Mike Harding; Mike's letter of support made reference to Manchester's position at the bottom of the charts when it comes to park provision. The application is still due to be heard on 19th November; let's hope the Council does the decent thing on this occasion and boots it out of play.

Examples of the council's cavalier action towards green space elsewhere in the city have already been covered on this blog. With regard to one of those examples - Charlestown Wood - an application for a village green has been turned down by the Council's Licensing Committee; this is apparently on the basis that the Woods are covered by the 1906 Open Spaces act and are therefore protected anyway. local residents are only too aware that the Council's intentions are far from protection, the matter has now gone to judicial review.

Next year is the International Year of Biodiversity; are Manchester City Council aware of this??.

'Shaw station is closed'

2009-11-01T10:24:00.000-08:00

...Was an internal email I received at work recently. The reason is that that the existing rail line is being replaced by Metrolink, and this work will take approximately 3 years. The reason for the Shaw mention is that the company I work for has its logistics operation in Shaw, and therefore people travel between the sites – I do myself occasionally. For the next three years public transport between sites will not be a practical option.
I wonder how many commuters who currently use that line and who will switch to the car, will give up the car for the Metrolink when it is finally in place?

Closer to my home in Chorlton, the next phase of Metrolink development (beyond the line to Chorlton already under construction) will put a line across the green lungs of the Mersey Valley. It will also, if existing plans are retained, take out the tree-lined central reservation of Mauldeth Road.

Trams have a place in the public transport system of our conurbation but they should be taking road space instead of existing rail and green space.

A further adverse impact can be seen in Didsbury as reported in this week’s ‘South Manchester Reporter’. Parrs Wood allotments were run down by the City Council, and are now to be replaced by a multi-story car park. The reasoning behind this is that it will form part of a Park and Ride scheme, linked to both the existing rail station and the proposed new Metrolink station (if and when the Didsbury spur gets the go-ahead). Sadly both local MP John Leech, and former Allotments Chair Geoff Bridson seem to have given up on the allotments and backed the proposal.

This is regrettable and short-sighted. For the City, and indeed the country, to meet the carbon-reduction targets which are essential to combat climate change, 2 areas where we have to change are food and transport. We need to be growing more food within the city, and we need to reduce the need to travel, not just by car but across the board. This move goes against both of those requirements. It will of course be argued that a ‘Park and Ride’ approach is better than people taking their cars into the city centre; I can understand that argument, but we have to think beyond that. The Council is busy preparing a Climate Change action plan, promising radical reductions, which it will proudly brandish in Copenhagen. How are expected to have any confidence in its ability to deliver?

Dear Sir..... Hello?

2009-10-24T09:23:00.000-07:00

I've looked twice now, and a couple of other people have looked and it's just not there....
- The letters page in South Manchester's celebrated and long-running weekly newspaper 'The South Manchester Reporter' is absent from this week's edition. Time will tell whether or not this is just a one-off, in fact I will contact them to find out. There was definately a letters page last week as the Green Party's Gayle O'Donovan had a letter published. If this is really the end of the readers letters page, it marks the end of an era, as well as another step in the general decline of local print media. For years the letters page has been a highlight of the paper, a vibrant reflection of the area's dynamic and sometimes contentious political intrigues. Indeed the Reporter and I go back a long way, and I have letters on that page on a number of occasions over the past 20 years.

Even in the SMR's parent paper, the Manchester Evening News, adverts are encroaching onto the letters page, and it is often tucked away near the back of the paper and hard to find.

Of course there is now an online alternative. Every newspaper and broadcast organ has its website, and its corresponding 'Have your say' slot. However, even in this day and age not everyone has or wants an Internet connection, and if reader's letters disappear from the print medium, those people will lose their voice. Also, and at the risk of sounding snobbish, the composing of a letter usually involved a degree of thought; the quality of 'Have your Say' type comments leaves much to be desired.

Print media in general is struggling, with weak advertising revenue in the wake of the recession, and the increased use of the Internet. It may surprise some people to see a Green defending the continued use of the 'dead-tree' format of news publication. It may also surprise people to know the environmental impact of the Internet - indeed the carbon impact of Internet servers is comparable with aviation, and is growing even faster - see here). Apart from that, traditional local newspapers have had important roles in keeping the community informed and keeping local politicians and councils on their toes.

However the ability of papers in the Manchester area to fulfil that role has declined. The Guardian Media Group enjoys almost total control over the print media in the conurbation. Increasingly in thrall to business interests, it cut 70 editorial jobs and centralised its news operations earlier this year, weakening the reporting in the surrounding boroughs and suburbs. For earlier Manchester Green Party comment see here
The recent departure of MEN editor Paul Horrocks to set up a media consultancy may also be a sign of the times.

Meetings of all Colours

2009-10-12T13:55:00.000-07:00

The last seven days have been busy, with meetings that could be said to have come in a range of colours.

On the Blue front, I attended a couple of the Conservative Party fringes at the Climate Clinic; as expected, contributions from the ‘natural party of government’ were thin on the ground, with most of the contributions from the floor at the first meeting I attended - on financing the Green New Deal - coming from the local climate change cognoscenti. The Tories fielded Greg Clark, who made some of the right noises before departing earlier; however I lack confidence in him having much influence over his shadow cabinet companions. Confusingly the Tories other climate change spokesman is called Greg Barker, and for a while I suspected that they were the same person on the meetings programme; maybe climate Tories just have to be called Greg (or Zac).
The other fringe was on ‘Can Climate Change invigorate Democracy?’ - There were about 20 people there tops – it may be good for democracy elsewhere, but not here.

Anyway the ‘Blue Meanies’ have departed, so we’re on Red and Green now (with a dash of Lib Dem orange). I observed a meeting of our City Council on Wednesday, given the Council make-up this counts as (very pale) red, plus orange dash. I would recommend every Manchester citizen to see their Councillors in action from time to time. There were the inevitable yah-boo exchanges between the 2 main groups, but of most interest to me were the motions on climate change and the impending EDL soccer hooligan / racist demo.

Proposing that the Council adopt the ’10:10’ reduction, the Executive member for the Environment Richard Cowell promised that the Council’s Climate Action Plan will be ‘Radical and Progressive’. The Lib Dems gave their support to the proposal (and reminded the ruling group of the existence of the Airport, although without going into much detail). It was passed without demur; now let’s see if anything comes of it in practice…

Thursday was our monthly Manchester Green Party meeting, and this week included guest speakers on the shenanigans at Manchester College – and Brimar arms campaign.

After attending a display of the consultation for Chorlton Precinct on Friday, I was present at the start of the battle of Piccadilly (red in tooth and claw), between the EDL and Anti-racists. As the anti-racists seemed in the overwhelming majority, I rounded off the week in a familiar green hue at a meeting to develop a response to the Council’s Climate Change action plan (mentioned above), as a follow up to the ‘Call to Real Action’.

Manchester gets the blues

2009-10-02T14:00:00.000-07:00

After playing host to the Labour Party twice in the past 3 years, it seems a bit strange to get another shade of ‘mainstream’ politicians flooding the city. We can expect the usual transport chaos due to closed roads, and lost souls with suits and identity badges wandering the streets (and that’s just the journalists). It will be interesting to compare the feeling engendered by a Tory conference as opposed to a Labour one.

Following last year’s 'Convention of the Left’ it’s unlikely that a corresponding ‘Convention of the Right’ will emerge (or if it does I can guarantee that Manchester Green Party will be giving it a very wide berth indeed). There will however be a Stop the War march (Assembling at the war memorial at 1 pm); whether or not it will have the same oomph as a march against Blair and Brown remains to be seen.

From a difference to a similarity – the Climate Clinic will be in full swing at The Cube just as it was during the Labour conference (see their site for a programme of events). And just as with Labour we can expect that the main attendance at those meetings will be the environmentally-aware of Manchester; with Tory delegates in short supply other than the token shadow ministers. Maybe I’ll be proved wrong but I doubt it. As the polls are predicting a Conservative victory at the next General Election, let’s hope that some education goes on (of them not us).

Climate Change is of course only one of many subjects for fringe meetings around the conference. One meeting which has attracted a degree of advance publicity is one entitled “Have the Parties Got What it Takes to Clean Up Politics?” with former independent MP Martin Bell. Answers on a postcard….

One question which is bound to resound in the local media is ‘Will the Tories win seat(s) in Manchester again?’; given the Tories recent record in the City (I’m talking Manchester here, excluding Trafford, Salford etc), I’m amazed how much coverage this gets. It is 15 years since the Tories won a council seat at an election in the city, and as for winning a Parliamentary seat here, I reckon there is more chance of finding Elvis Presley alive on the moon.

In the most recent election in this City – this June’s European elections – the Conservatives were only the fourth Party, behind Labour, the Lib Dems and, of course, the Green Party (results here. And when the politically-neutral Manchester Climate Forum invited a Tory speaker to a recent public meeting, they couldn’t even manage to provide one.

But let’s try to put all that to one side and extend a welcome to our visitors, and make the most of that rarest of sights – Tories in Manchester!

Manchester Green Spaces - fighting on all fronts

2009-09-27T03:41:00.000-07:00

We have a range of battles to protect our Green spaces in and around the City of Manchester at the moment.

In Hulme, Manchester Metropolitan University are proposing to build on the Birley fields (pictured below) in the heart of Hulme. The ‘consultation’ period is well advanced, but has never asked the basic question “Do you want this land to be GIVEN to MMU to develop?”. A campaign to protect this space has been set up under the name ‘Our Hulme’ which is a successor to the previous long running ‘Save Birley Fields’ campaign. More information can be found from Manchester Permaculture and the Facebook site Our Hulme.

A few miles to the south Chorlton Meadows are under threat from football pitches, including floodlighting. The location is the Hardy farm meadows area which is the route into the valley for residents in the eastern areas of Chorlton. Further information can be found here. Strength of feeling in the area against the plans can be judged by the size of the Facebook group which grew to over 5,000 members in the space of one month.

Meanwhile in the neighbouring city of Salford, the battle of Albion Green has been launched by local residents in the Poet’s Corner area of the City. More information available via 'The Mule'.

In the far north of Manchester a longer running campaign is seeking to save Charlestown Woods. Here Green activist Michael Prior is working with local residents and others to secure village green status for the threatened area.

Village Greens:

The qualifications for these are:
- Free and untrammelled access by the public for 20 or more years
- Used by a significant proportional of local people for informal social activity (including conversations)
- Unregulated access

The legislation comes from the 1906 Open Spaces Act and more information is available from the Open Spaces Society. It only requires one or more individuals to raise an application. A key requirement is to get verbal statements from local people that the land was used by them 20 years ago.

I understand the Charlestown application is proceeding well. An application for a village green for Ryebank fields on the Chorlton Stretford border ran into difficulties so it is not the right solution for every situation. It is however a useful potential tool to protect some of these remaining green spaces and one which campaigners may increasingly consider.

'Ethical Consumer' - another Manchester success story

2009-09-09T03:47:00.000-07:00

Twenty years ago (yes that heady year of 1989 again) two publications started out to help consumers apply ethical considerations to their purchases.

The more heavily promoted at the time was ‘New Consumer’ a relatively glossy publication based in London which I seem to remember folding in the 90’s (however I notice that the brand was revived in Scotland as a website + magazine – see here).

The other publication was the ‘Ethical Consumer’ based since its inception in Hulme, in Manchester. Founder members included a couple of Manchester Green Party members at the time, including Paul Harrison, the brother of Rob Harrison, who remains the editor of the magazine to this day. Deliberately less glossy than its rival, the Ethical Consumer survived the 90s and this month celebrates its 20th anniversary.

Associated with the magazine is the Ethiscore site where paid subscription opens the door to detailed reports on pretty much every type of product under the sun.

Unlike ‘New Consumer’ the Ethical Consumer refused to take paid adverts for a long time; when commercial pressures resulted in a change to accept advertising, the company entered a minefield of which advertisers it could accept and stay true to its position.

I have been a subscriber since it started, and found it useful on a number of occasions; I hope to join workers and other subscribers at a 20 year celebration. I also look forward to it continuing, and being around for the 40 year celebration!

Speeding up after the holidays

With August out of the way, the list of possible meetings to attend grows almost by the day.
Today, I am thinking of applying careful timing to attempt 3 in one evening:-.

Firstly a group called
OpenSpaces Co-op are holding a Networking event in Hulme.
Then, there’s a meeting for the
Call to Real Action campaign, and to round things off a meeting concerned with the threat of a massive Tesco development at the Old Trafford cricket ground, with people from Trafford Green Party and ‘Keep Chorlton Interesting’.

Tweedledum and Tweedledee

2009-08-31T11:33:00.000-07:00

There is a consultation / vote going on in Manchester regarding whether or not we have an elected mayor. In the light of low turnouts in local elections, the Government in its wisdom decided that what we needed was more ‘personality’ politics and ‘American-style’ elected mayors, (actually elected mayors could equally well be described as ‘European-style’ but our slavish obeisance of all things from across the pond wins out as usual).

It is now the City of Manchester’s turn to consult on whether we have a ‘Council Leader and an Executive’ or an ‘Elected Mayor and an Executive’; in some ways a choice between Tweedledum and Tweedledee – any more radical or different ideas are decreed as impermissible. It apparently comes down to whether you want someone like Richard Leese or someone like Terry Christian

The current City Council’s blurb on the consultation makes it clear they prefer the no-mayor status quo, (itself a temptation to vote for a mayor). The nature of the ‘vote’ as well leaves much to be desired – we received one voting slip for our household, for 2 present voting adults.

Some people may think this is an equivalent of the London Mayor – nothing could be further from the truth. In London the Mayor covers the whole conurbation of Greater London, and has a democratically-elected Assembly to provide checks and balances at that level. It would make some sense to replicate this in Greater Manchester, a conurbation of 10 local authorities with boundaries which cut across physical and social lines which is arguably second only to London in size in this country.

My use of ‘democratically-elected’ with Assembly was deliberate. The London Assembly is elected by a form of proportional representation, unlike Manchester City Council or indeed any other local authority in England. I’ve already mentioned the need for fair votes in a recent blog.

As in London a range of functions are administered at conurbation level from transport to waste to police, and of course Greater Manchester did have an elected authority until Thatcher abolished it in the 80s. My daily journey to work runs close to the Manchester – Trafford border, and no outside could tell which block of flats sat in which borough.
In addition to the above, responsibilities for tackling climate change are likely to pass up to the conurbation level, increasing the need for some sort of accountability at that level (at the moment the group of 10 authorities operate under the sinister-sounding acronym of AGMA).

However on that last climate change point, unless we get some serious commitment to tackle the problem, minor tinkering with the structure of the City Council will be no more effective than rearranging the deck-chairs on the Titanic.

Manchester Pioneers

2009-08-24T12:26:00.000-07:00

It is 50 years ago today that the Manchester Guardian ceased and became another London-based paper. Manchester nowadays seems to be regarded by the rest of the world as a provincial city with nothing to commend it except rich/famous football team(s) and occasional music trends. As the world’s first industrial city it should be more famous and respected than it is. For over 200 years it has produced pioneers in a range of fields:

For instance, without Manchester I might still be writing this on an old-fashioned typewriter. This was one of the key places in the development of the computer both via the Mark 1 ‘Baby’ and via Alan Turing who spent his latter years in the city.

Politically it has played a key role in radical movements across the political spectrum: Communism, Feminism, Free Trade and Zionism for starters – for more detail see here. Less well known is its role in African history of the last century see here

In the field of science and technology, Manchester has played a key role in several developments with particular resonance for Greens, in both a positive and negative way.
For instance, no-one could deny that energy is an important subject; and what is the international unit of energy? – the Joule, named after nearby Salford’s James Joule

Less positively (for most Greens anyway), the development of nuclear energy (and for that matter weapons) can be traced back to Ernest Rutherford who ‘split the atom’ whilst chair of physics at Manchester University.
Similarly those of us concerned with the growth of aviation, have to live with the fact that it was John Alcock, born in Seymour Grove Old Trafford, who made the first non-stop transatlantic flight (with navigator Arthur Brown).

Who will be the next Manchester pioneers? At this point in human history, wouldn’t it be great if Manchester led the way in solutions to the problems of climate change, peak oil and economic collapse? The present City Council doesn’t inspire much confidence, but there is a thriving alternative community, and maybe that ‘first city to industrialise’ tag should give us a head start.

Call to real Architects

2009-08-12T01:40:00.000-07:00

Although building work has been hit during the recession over the last few months, Manchester’s skyline has been very busy with cranes and new buildings over recent years. Two recent pieces in the online ‘Manchester Confidential’ caught my eye (in between the restaurant reviews) – an interview with Will Allsop on the ‘New Islington project in Ancoats, and a debate on the merits or otherwise of the Beetham Tower

Read through both these pieces and see if you can find any mention of anything to do with ‘energy’ or ‘green’ or ‘climate change’. If so, you are doing better than either me or my computer’s find facility (actually green is mentioned in the Allsop article as one of the fancy colours for the recessed balconies).

This is in a city which apparently wants to be Britain’s greenest. Are the Allsops and the Simpsons (creator of the Beetham monstrosity) aware of this? Or of impending climate change or peak oil in general?. It’s all very well the City Council wanting to put lots of money in reducing the energy footprint of the Town Hall (as promoted in their ‘Call to Action’), but what are they doing to ensure top standards in these new landmark buildings around the city?

Just as Manchester’s buildings are an odd mix of shapes and styles, so are their approaches to energy and environment. On the plus side, the CIS building (Manchester’s tallest until usurped by Beetham) has extensive solar panelling (although I think extending it to a side which gets little sun was going too far). A stone’s throw away the Urbis building has a nice sloping roof – ideal for solar panels - except that it faces north! In the other direction going out of the city is a new complex calling itself the Green Quarter; I managed to find a way in the other day, and sure enough there are some grass and trees, and a nice water-feature, but nothing about the buildings which said ‘Green’ to me.

Regarding our recent ‘award-winners’ the Beetham Tower has made no effort whatsoever in the environment department; indeed according to the Environmental Investigation Agency it is using illegal timber. The curious crest on top rattles in the wind disturbing residents in normal buildings nearby – why not harness that troublesome wind?

Denton Corker Marshall has considered sustainability in the new Law Courts, to be fair, providing natural ventilation to all areas. However, there is still no attempt to harness renewable energy.

The Courts however are a public building, and there are few of these compared with the new residential blocks going up; here New Islington – how pretentious a name is that? – and Allsop’s ‘Chips’ are more the direction we are going.

So a message to architects: you can have your multi-coloured balconies and fancy little features, but please get real to the threats which are going to be facing the inhabitants of those buildings in the years to come, and build for a low-carbon world.

Fridays and 'Sky' days

2009-08-02T06:40:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the long gap since my last post – only partly due to a brief holiday in the Asturias region of Northern Spain (reached by surface transport in case you ask!).

I seem to have returned to a flurry of activity on the cycling front. I have posted previously on Manchester’s split personality on the cycling front here
and maybe one of the two events I will describe below is an intention to bridge that gap.

But first things first; for some time now there has been an organised cycle commute from various points in the city on the last Friday of every month known as Critical Commute’ (the Critical being taken from the spikier Critical Mass which has a longer and wider pedigree). I have partaken on a number of occasions, although my more usual means of commuting is by bus. Numbers were getting fairly thin on the ground, which may be why the organisers (Friends of the earth/ loveyourbike) have amended the name to the less opaque ‘Bike Friday’.
This last Friday, 31st July was more widely advertised as a ‘launch’ and that certainly got more people out on the streets (there were about 70 at Albert Square - see photo - and 15 in the convoy from Chorlton alone). So whilst I rather preferred ‘Critical Commute’, if the new branding gets the numbers up that is all to the good.
Any minor quibbles about the name on that event were well eclipsed by my reservations on the name of today’s big cycling event in Manchester – ‘Skyride’ (due to sponsorship from Sky – you know, Murdoch’s lot), organised by British Cycling who are based in the city. From the advance publicity I naively thought that the whole city centre was closed to traffic, for cyclists to enjoy at will. It wasn’t as good as that, but it was good enough to tempt me to join the riders round the route from Albert Square to the velodrome and back. I have to say it look extremely well attended, and it was a pleasant change to cycle along traffic-free roads, especially with large numbers of other cyclists, of all ages. Less pleasant to see the s k y combination on everyone’s hi-vis jackets but that’s another debate.

This is the first of four such ‘Skyrides’ in various cities (Manchester taking the lead as it often does – for good or ill) ; we’ll have to wait until London for it to really make the news.
It will be interesting to see if this leads to any long-term rise in road cycling in Manchester (or indeed if the Bike Friday initiative really takes off). An encouraging sign was the number of families taking part in the Skyride.
However, a one-off event is one thing; what we really need is for people to feel safe cycling in Manchester not just on ‘Sky’ days, or even just on Fridays, but on every day.

Elected Dictatorships

2009-06-24T03:13:00.000-07:00

With the expenses scandal, constitutional reform is back on the agenda, a recent poll showing a majority in favour of a change to the voting system for Westminster.

What has been less in the news is the need for voting change for that other bastion of first-past-the-post – local councils. The main story of the recent round of county council elections was Labour’s terrible showing. At the end of the counting all but one of the 24 County Councils were in Tory control. Wow, those Tories must have got an absolutely huge vote...

Well, no they didn’t. Their supremacy is entirely a product of the voting system. All these councils are effectively one Party states with all other parties, with their handfuls of seats, reduced to minor roles on scrutiny committees and the like. Take Kent as an example, the Conservatives have 74 of the 84 seats with all other Parties together getting just 10. This certainly doesn’t reflect the actual votes (the national Tory figure for the local elections was around 38%, unfortunately I don’t have the figures for Kent to hand, but it won’t have been more than around 50%).
Is this healthy for democracy? - hardly. It isn’t healthy for the environment either. From a climate change point of view, whilst cuddly Cameron rides round on his bicycle, these shires are full of backwoodsmen (and women ) who oppose any sort of renewable energy development such as wind turbines.

Of course you don’t need to go to Kent to see unhealthy one party ‘democracy’. Here in Manchester, we have had total Labour domination for as far back as anyone can remember. Labour currently holds around 2 thirds of the council seats and yet their share of the vote in the last 3 rounds of local elections is less than half (only 43% in 2008, the last round) .

Voting reform for local councils is an idea whose time has come; it is something that Greens in Manchester, amongst others will be looking at in the months ahead.

Answers to last weeks quiz - if you put c) for every answer, full marks!

Post Euro-election Quiz

2009-06-09T12:01:00.000-07:00

Sorry no prizes, just checking whether or not you’ve picked up the facts, and not just the superficial media coverage. All questions relate to the 2009 Euro-elections just gone unless otherwise stated.

1. Which one of the following parties increased its number of votes nationally (as well as its %age) compared with the previous 2004 Euro-election?
a) UKIP
b) Conservatives
c) Green

2. Which out of the following parties scored the highest number of votes in the City of Manchester
a) Conservatives
b) UKIP
c) Green

3. In which City did the Green Party outpoll all other Parties?
a) Norwich
b) Brighton
c) Both of the above

4. Which out of the following Parties gained the most votes across the South East, Britain’s largest region?
a) Labour
b) BNP
c) Green

5. The Lib Dems gained a seat compared to 2004 – by how much did their vote increase since 2004 in percentage terms?
a) 2%,
b) 1%
c) It didn’t, it actually went down.

6. County Council Elections 2009: The BNP won 3 seats nationally, how many did the Green Party win in Norfolk alone?
a) 3
b) 5
c) 7
Supplementary question - which of these 2 results got most coverage in the media?

Answers next week

North West Euro-election Stakes - Runners and Riders

2009-05-30T02:16:00.000-07:00

In the interests of information and fairness, I present to you below the full list of Parties (+ 1 Independent candidate) standing in the North West for the European elections. It's a long blog post, as its a long ballot paper. Presented here as they appear on the ballot, I will try to be fair in my comments...

- BNP - forget fairness, if this bunch of racists get a seat it will bring shame on Britain and the North West in particular and damage community relations for years. To greatly reduce their chances see Stop Nick Griffin website listed to the right. Nuff said

- Christian Party - a subtitle 'Proclaiming Christ's Lordship' probably tells you all you need to know for now

- Conservative Party - well known 'major' Party

- English Democrats Party - another anti-EU Party (one of many) with an added touch of also being anti-Scottish; may get some votes after the Rangers fans antics in Manchester last year

- Jury Team - this election's novelty act perhaps (but lacking the wackyness of the Natural Law Party - remember them?); probably well meaning but a Party list of candidates all with independent views is hard to swallow. And how Independent are you when you've been set up by a millionaire, who also donates to the Tories?

- Liberal Democrats - well known 'major' Party; I do notice however that their recent literature pushes Chris Davies MEP (understandably) but makes no mention of their number 2 candidate, which suggests they've given up on getting a second seat.
- No2EU: Yes to Democracy - My Manchester Green colleague Gayle O'Donovan has done a good analysis of them here. Suffice to say they are Socialism with a National streak; history suggests that's not a good combination.

- Pro Democracy:libertas.eu - another novelty act contender. Will be fun in the North West if they get a seat, their lead candidate is dumping them and coming over to the Greens! see here.

- Socialist Labour Party (Leader Arthur Scargill) - the left splinter group that even other left splinter groups forget about.

- The Green Party - 10th on the ballot paper and 10% in the polls right now; plenty more on them on this blog now and in the future; for now a couple of facts which might otherwise go unnoticed:
We are the only Party in the North West with more women than men on the list (5 women, 3 men - most other lists are overwhelmingly male)
We are the only party in serious consideration for seats in the North West, where all the candidates have addresses in the North West

- The Labour Party - well known 'major' Party

- UKIP - surprisingly popular after their shambolic history since the last Euros. That really doesn't flatter British politics.

- Francis Apaloo (Independent) don't know anything about him, but may pick up more votes than independents in previous Euros in these peculiar times.

Drama in (Greater) Manchester's Second City

2009-05-22T12:17:00.000-07:00

The second city in question is of course Salford. Salford is often neglected and probably deserves a blog post of its own, but it's a place that’s been in the news recently as the stamping ground of Hazel Blears MP, arguably one of the 2 most famous women in Britain over the last few days.

The drama I refer to (such as it was) was the count following a council bye-election in Ms Blears constituency, and therefore something of a litmus test on the effect of the expenses scandal on voters. There is no doubting the woman’s public profile; the counting room was full of TV cameras. In a crowded room the diminutive frame was difficult to find, until one realised that you could always tell where Hazel Blears was by seeing which way the cameras were pointing. At the risk of name-dropping, I once shared a platform with Hazel Blears, in the 1992 general election when she was a rising Labour star working her way up through the seats. How times change. But enough of celebrity politics for now.

I am a long-standing attender at Manchester counts so it was interesting to see how Salford did it - and they did it very efficiently I have to say. I also have to say that the turnout was so low (17.5%), it would have been hard to do it inefficiently! In the end, the drama was muted as Labour held the seat, albeit with a reduced majority, and the BNP threat amounted to nothing more than a slight increase in votes and third place. The atmosphere was surprisingly good-natured, marred only by BNP yobs thrusting kitkats and expense forms in Ms Blears face. For full result and Green Party comment see here.

If this result can be said to be any indication for the European elections, there is everything to play for. The BNP vote here rose by 18% from the last election, in the last Euros the BNP got 6.4% - an 18% rise on 6.4 - that gives about 7.6%.
The Green Party in this bye-election got 7.8%; hmmmmm...

Back to the 2 most famous women, (and back to celebrity politics?). The other is the redoubtable Joanna Lumley, with her succesful campaign on behalf of the Ghurkas. Now there's a formidable woman - I wonder which Party she's backing?
Who else but the Green Party, or more specifically Caroline Lucas MEP as seen here.

Shades of 1989 ?

2009-05-19T04:27:00.001-07:00

I referred in my last blog to the time I was a European election candidate in 1989 and the spectacular (but seatless) result the Green Party achieved that year. This weekend just gone, opinion polls for European election intentions reminded me of that year as well! Of course circumstances are very different this time round, and much can happen between now and polling day, but given the sleaze and scandal surrounding other Parties it is hardly surprising.

The media are still very much focused on Westminster politics and barely acknowledge that a European election is just around the corner. In the light of that, as I left our North West Euro-launch I was pleased to see a set of stalls in Albert Square informing the public of the work of the European Parliament. I was also pleased at the response of one of the organisers whom I spoke to who informed me that 'lots of people I know are voting Green'. Whilst they weren't getting much response, they seemed to be getting more than the forlorn looking 'No2EU' stall in the corner of the Square.

One area which needs more public information about the European election is the voting system. The emphasis on Westminster-style first-past-the-post means that there is hardly any understanding of how seats are allocated, or even that people vote for a region-wide Party list. To fill the gap here are links to
- a vote calculator (NB this time round the North West has 8 seats, not 9 so adjust accordingly),
- a simple graphic, illustrating the importance for us to beat the BNP see here
(Incidentally, adding in UKIP to the mix doesn't change the principle - try it)

Voters thinking of voting UKIP or BNP as a protest against sleaze should consider the following:
- That UKIP' MEPs also have a bad record on expenses and sleaze, for an example see here
- The record of the BNP's local councillors (they have only about 60, half as many as the Green Party) can be found on the Lancaster Unity site (in list on the right) - look for 'Crap councillors' - its a long list

Drop the Definite Article!

2009-05-09T02:00:00.000-07:00

It was twenty years ago today - give or take a few days - that a man stood in the Elections Office at Manchester Town Hall, brandishing a set of nomination papers and a bag containing £1000 in pound coins. That was me, standing for the Green party in the 1989 European elections, for what was then the Greater Manchester Central Euro-Constituency. That year the Greens polled 2.3 million votes, an average of around 15% and won how many seats? Zero, nil, nada, diddly-squat. That's first-past-the post for you.

I was at the very same place a few days ago to submit the nominations for this years European election candidates. We now have a proportional system for European elections, but that still doesn't make it easy for us. The system seems to have been designed to give proportional representation a bad name, combining large regions with no local element and a high threshold for victory.

It seems that this year the Electoral Commission have made our task even harder. Parties are listed on the ballot paper alphabetically so where would you expect to find the Green Party? Under 'G' for Green? sadly not - I have been informed that our officially registered name is 'The Green Party' and so we will be positioned under 'T' for 'The'. Actually, even this is wrong - our name as recorded on the Electoral Commission website is 'Green Party [The]'; so 'G' is where we should be even with this ruling.

The ballot paper will therefore start with an outfit who shall be nameless but begin with a 'B'. Your eyes will then move on past more conventional Parties like the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, and this years fly-by-nights like 'Jury Team', 'Libertas' and 'No2EU', and if you persevere, will eventually reach 'The Green Party' and 'The Labour Party' (who are similarly afflicted), with UKIP bringing up the rear. Whilst there may be some benefit in coming higher up the paper anyway, the biggest risk I fear is that voters who aren't sure if we're standing or not (in areas where we usually haven't the resources to stand)will look for us under 'G', think we're not standing, and vote for someone else. This is less of a problem for the Labour Party - their supporters will be sure they're there and search till they find them.

Both logic and fairness should dictate that the definite article in a Party Name is not relevant, and that a Party should be positioned where electors would expect to see it. I hope this will be overturned but we are dealing with bureaucracy here.

One in a Million

2009-05-03T05:09:00.000-07:00

The population of Mexico is currently about 111 million (according to the CIA who may or may not be telling the truth). The number of deaths from so-called ‘swine flu’ in Mexico has now been revised downwards to 109. Hence the 1 in a million statistic. And that is in by far the worst affected country. You wouldn’t think this was the case from the reaction; our media has been full of it – how they love a good health scare. It’s not just the media who are obsessed, the Egyptian Government is slaughtering the country’s entire pig population as a precaution (and worsening relations with the Christian minority there in the process).

It’s true that we are due a serious flu pandemic, and they can be very lethal, but the degree of coverage has been out of all proportion to the evidence so far. After Sars and bird flu, I think there is a danger of crying wolf.

Also this means that far more serious world events are being ignored, as well-expressed by Simon Tisdall in the Guardian last week. The serious and ongoing threat of climate change also slips under the radar; recent items on that front include the loss of the Antarctic ice bridge, a devastating heat-wave in India, and the city of Adelaide potentially running out of water.

Still gives me an opportunity for a joke: - Thanks to Dave Hampton 'The Carbon Coach' for this:
What did the Climate Change Activist say about the Frequent Flyer?
'The Swine Flew'.

‘Green Party Woman Is a Nightclub tart’
About time we clean-living Greens had a sex scandal, you might think, but this is fiction, a line (see here) from our new Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, who lectures at our very own Manchester Metropolitan University. As well as being the first woman laureate, Carol is openly gay, and probably the first laureate to mention the Green Party in a poem. We congratulate her.

What I would have said...

2009-04-26T11:19:00.000-07:00

at yesterday's UAF (Unite Against Fascism) North West conference, had I had the chance to do a full speech:

"Firstly can I convey apologies from Peter Cranie our number 1 candidate in the Euro-elections who had a prior engagement in Cumbria and has asked me to express his support.

UAF has supporters across the political spectrum. We will have disagreements as Political Parties but at least we are all legitimate Parties, the BNP have forfeited any right to be treated as such; their Press Officer Simon Darby has let slip that so called Party's true nature, by describing it as 'technically an ethnic group' - clearly an admission that the BNP is a completely race-based, and racist, organisation, unlike any legitimate UK political party.

If the BNP are elected, it will give them legitimacy far above any before, and tarnish British politics and damage community relations for years to come, maybe even decades.

It is vital that turnout in this election is high.

Clearly UAF can not be partisan, but I would stress that this is a proportional election, not ‘first past the post’ and usual assumptions about tactical voting do not apply. Labour, Lib Dems and Tories will all win representation; we will be competing directly with the fascists for a seat. We were just 1% point behind the BNP in the last Euro election, since then our membership and our number of council seats have increased across the North West, If we finish with a higher vote than them that will almost certainly prevent them getting a seat. So I’m not going to tell you who to vote for, but if you’re thinking of how to vote tactically – bear that in mind; (for more information see 'Stop Nick Griffin' . In interests of balance, in a first past the post election in most places you would probably vote tactically for another Party, and understandably so.

But looking beyond this European election, all Parties (including mine) need to ask themselves why people in these areas targeted by the BNP feel neglected, why they are seduced by the politics of hate. These people need jobs, hope, and justice instead of an economic system that has betrayed them. Instead of bailing out the bankers and squandering billions on Trident and ID cards, we should be investing in Green jobs, in areas like insulation, renewable energy and public transport - providing employment as well as improving quality of life for these neglected estates and combating the threat of climate change.

And Government and Councils need to do so much more, - they must stop taking people’s votes for granted, and playing groups off against each other. Mainstream politicians must stop pandering to the right wing press, they must stand up to the scaremongering and the scapegoating of ethnic minorities, migrants and asylum seekers, and guarantee justice for the most vulnerable in our society."

'A Child of Our Time'.

It's surprising how often 2 (or even more) events on the same day can be connected. Following the UAF meeting I attended a performance of Michael Tippett's "A Child of Our Time" (by Salford Choral Society, of which my wife is a member). The writing of the work started 2 days before the outbreak of World War 2; the 'Child' in the title is a real-life 17 year old Polish Jew who, angered by the persecution of his mother, shoots a German diplomat; a violent pogrom follows in Germany, and the boy later 'disappears' after being handed over to the Nazis.
The opening chorus line is 'The World turns on its dark side' - let us make sure it does not turn on its dark side again.

Is St George slaying the racist dragon?

2009-04-19T12:34:00.000-07:00

For years the cross of St George, and English nationalism in general, was feared by many to be the preserve of the far right. More recently a determined effort has been made in some quarters to ensure that St George and his flag unites people of every faith and colour who feel an attachment to the concept of England. This week, in the run up to St George's Day, how far have we come along that road?

I witnessed the St George's Day parade in the centre of Manchester today. To be honest it is not an event to which I would normally have gone (and the reason is not that I am half Scottish). There were relatively few ethnic minority faces (interestingly, and maybe depressingly, the highest concentration was on the army float around which young soldiers were dishing out recruitment leaflets). Outside of the Elizabethan costume, morris dancers and medieval pikemen, there was a shortage of colour literally in the floats as well; noticeable to someone who has witnessed the Mardi Gras parade and the Mela in Platt Fields.

There is much to be proud of in English history, including the contributions made to our country by other cultures, and it's a shame this was not more visible in today's march. I did have the feeling that this was targeted at the predominantly white north and east of Manchester, perhaps on the basis that the ethnic minorities have their own festivals? Yes, there was a good sprinkling of BME people both on the parade and watching but at the present time, with the risk of the far right exploiting people's fears and insecurities it's a pity that a parade in honour of our patron saint, (who is also the patron saint of Aragon, Catalonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Palestine and Portugal) was not more inclusive.

Speaking of Palestine, it was noticeable that there were more Afro-Caribbean people than Asian at the parade. Yesterday, I attended the AGM of Greater Manchester Stop the War and the alienation felt by many Muslims in our society was very prominent, following the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine. With the recent high-profile arrests of students in Manchester and Liverpool and the suspension of employees in Preston apparently just for receiving emails, the situation is likely to get worse.

Have we just had a lucky escape?

2009-04-13T01:28:00.000-07:00

I am referring to last week’s arrest of various Pakistani students in Manchester and elsewhere and the North-West and the statement from Police that a major terrorist incident was just about to take place in Manchester (within days in fact). Amongst venues mentioned were the Trafford Centre, the Arndale Centre and the Birdcage Club.

Now, why am I not sighing with relief and praising Police for their prompt action?? Well for a start, after the recent G20 business, when the Police blatantly lied over the circumstances around the death of Ian Tomlinson, I no longer believe anything they say. It’s not as if that was the first time; repeatedly we get stories from Police forces which subsequently turn out to be complete porkies, from the events around the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes to the ’70 Police injured by protestors at Kingsnorth’.

Regarding these arrests, on the one hand we are told they are being speeded up because a careless chief Plod in London displayed the secret details to the cameras, on the other hand we are told bombs could have gone off this weekend (in which case how much longer where they going to leave it?). Nor should we be too Quick to see this as a cock-up – maybe it’s something more sinister as former British Ambassador Craig Murray points out.
According to a friend of my son, the Trafford Centre was swarming with police last Saturday; I went into the centre of Manchester (I avoid the Trafford Centre like the plague) and found it all quiet on the police presence front. Proves nothing either way.

It gives me no pleasure to feel this total lack of confidence. I am not naïve, I know there are violent extremists out there with the intention of committing murder and mayhem. But I am confident of some things:

- the suspicion and hostility shown to Muslims in our society, and the clamour on behalf of the police and others for longer detention without charge, will increase the risk of a violent response
- a police force which shows contempt for the truth time and again (in incidents ranging from the Hillsborough tragedy 20 years ago to the ‘Ricin plot’) has a diminishing chance of public belief and co-operation if and when there is a genuine terrorist incident
- there is far far more chance of being killed in a road accident in this country (and most countries) than by an act of terrorism.

So in conclusion no I don’t think we’ve had a lucky escape on this one.

Green Shoots Spring Forth in Manchester

2009-04-07T12:56:00.000-07:00

Further evidence that Green can be popular and fun as well as worthy were illustrated by two events I attended in Manchester in the space of 3 days.

Firstly came the Chorlton Big Green festival, a new venture in what is arguably Manchester’s greenest (with a small g at least) suburb, and one which is sure to be repeated based on Saturday’s attendance. The organisers reckon an estimated 2000 people attended a day long programme of music, talks, films and visual events against a backdrop of ranges of stalls both inside and outside the St Clements Church venue.
The day was rounded off with a stomping ceilidh around the church pillars.

Excellent day though it was, much of the content could be described as a bit twee to hardened Greens, with a lot of emphasis on alternative therapists and arts and crafts, but hopefully there was enough message getting out there as well.

This was followed yesterday (Monday) by the launch of Call to Real Action at the Northern Quarter’s Nexus Café. This is the response of a number of green-minded people in Manchester to the City Council’s ‘Call to Action’ and has been mentioned in previous blogposts.

Before even entering the building I was struck by the window display of 3 models dressed entirely in clothes recycled from household and other objects. Inside, a packed café we were treated to various entertainments and the first sight of the finished 62 page ‘Call to Real Action’ document.
Actually ‘finished’ is a misnomer – this is very much a living document which will continue to grow and adapt in contrast to its Council-owned counterpart.
Unfortunately there were no Council representatives at the launch, but they will not escape exposure…

Earth Hour

2009-03-31T04:45:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday saw the second Earth Hour, whereby the whole world switches off the lights for one hour, as part of a call for action on climate change. Whilst many Greens were keen to support this I have to say that I had mixed feelings. It seems like a gesture to make people feel they are doing something whilst Governments and business carry on as normal. After all, domestic lighting makes a relatively small contribution to climate change compared with many other things.
As it happens I did take part, whilst I was with relatives on a weekend away in the North York Moors. What struck me about the hour however was nothing along the lines of ‘oh, isn’t this a noble thing to do’ but the fact that having a candle as the only source of light made the conversation flow more freely. It seemed a shame to put the lighting back on afterwards.
Greens are often accused of wanting to make people sit in the dark, but this hour struck me as an example of how reduced energy use can actually improve quality of life not reduce it. On a similar note, one of the many good sessions I encountered at the recent Green Party Spring conference in Blackpool, featured the ‘Happy Planet Index’, backed by research from the New Economics Foundation
Incidentally I gather that Manchester rather let the side down as a city (at least according to the Manchester Evening News). Perhaps the sneering comments of a particular MEN commentator a couple of days earlier didn't help...

Multi-track climate campaigning

2009-03-16T14:15:00.000-07:00

One thing we are never short of in this fair City is a choice of climate change related campaigns. As I speak a number of activists, including several Green Party members, are engaged in writing a response to Manchester City Council's 'Call to Action' on climate change; this will be a hopefully much stronger 'Call to Real Action'

At the same time a campaign has started to make Manchester a Transition city, along the lines of transition towns such as Totnes and Kinsale but on a bigger sale; Manchester SERA (Socialist Environment and Resource Association - although despite the word Socialist it is still heavily linked to the Labour Party) seem to be focusing on this particular venture.

Sunday evening saw the launch of the 'Not Stupid' campaign in Manchester, when one of the Vue cinema screens at Salford's Lowry Retail Centre gave one of the Premiere showings of film 'Age of Stupid' (completely with live satellite link with the main Premiere in London. Manchester Friends of the Earth and Action for Sustainable Living were very prominent at this (along with myself and some other Green party folk).

The confluence of the threat of climate change and the economic crisis have given rise to more than one Green New Deal document for Manchester. Two I am aware of:

- 'Green New Deal for Manchester' produced by Green Party members Michael Prior and Steve Durrant, and presented to the Convention of the Left Renewal meeing in January

- a Bioregional approach produced by Mark Burton (also linked to Convention of the Left), which raises some interesting and unconventional ideas.

Also currently active are SEMA and Northern Climate Rush, whilst the almost indefatigable Marc Hudson runs occasional Manchester Cimate Forum events and produces the regular Manchester Climate Fortnightly ('McFly').

So something for everyone's tastes, from chaining yourself to a gate to writing to your MP.

A Brief Geography of Time

2009-03-13T13:10:00.000-07:00

Whilst the attention of many fellow Greens was drawn to proposals for a major new business development at Manchester Airport this week, there were also headlines around a new high-speed link between Manchester and Leeds, which promised a reduction in travel time between the two cities of 25 minutes. This was much to the enthusiasm of local politicians and businesses, long frustrated by the relative neglect of surface public transport in the North compared to pampered London.

I most definitely do not share their enthusiasm. As long ago as 1993 Green transport guru Professor John Whitelegg referred to the concept of time pollution whereby fast travel doesn't actually save time, as people compensate by travelling greater distances and travelling them more frequently. I do not believe anyone really needs to travel between Manchester and Leeds in 25 minutes, as opposed to the hour that a reliable conventional train would take. Apart from the carbon cost of constructing a new special line from scratch, there is a general rule that the faster the journey, the greater the energy consumption. Also such a line would do nothing for commuters in either Greater Manchester or Yorkshire, as a train travelling at such a speed would not be stopping at places like Stalybridge and Dewsbury for their more modest requirements.

To the extent that we need better intercity transport links in the North, the money would be better spent on extending electrification of the lines between Manchester and Leeds and Liverpool, and reopening the Woodhead line (see Woodhead Tunnel campaign here) to provide a decent Manchester - South Yorkshire service. Any surplus should go into improved cycling and local public transport as part of an essential move away from the long-distance commuting model.

Regarding the proposed high-speed rail link from London northwards (whether or not it gets as far as Manchester), the pragmatist in me sees a desire to provide an alternative to air travel for the same journey. However the same arguments apply. Government, business and indeed all of us need to consider the likely growing impact of climate change and fossil fuel depletion, and challenge this growing time pollution.
I will refer those who say 'people will always need to travel faster and you can't stop progress' back to Manchester Airport - not to the terminals and runways but a nearby hangar. There you will see the supersonic museum piece that is concorde.

Counterintuition

2009-03-08T13:04:00.000-07:00

No, not a Stevie Wonder song, but a noun derived from 'counter-intuitive' which may or not be a real word. I am using it here to cover that range of comments and research pieces which come to conclusions which are counter-intuitive to the normal Green view.

Two oft-quoted examples are the claim that 'a dishwasher uses less energy than washing up by hand' and 'cloth nappies are less eco-friendly than using disposables'. More on these later.

The Independent has been having a field day on this recently, following on from its spurious claim that the green movement is now pro-nuclear,on the basis that 4 people have made a statement in its favour. I am deliberately not linking to the Indie here, nor am I going to say much about Chris Goodall, one of the gang of four just mentioned, except that when the Indie broke the nuclear story I researched the guy and found that he has "form" in this area; see here As you will see if you follow the link The Times has obligingly provided a number of other 'counter-intuitive' claims.

So how should a Green respond? The first thing to consider is that statistics can be used to prove pretty much anything. To take the walking versus car driving argument; this falls flat if the walker in question ate the same amount before using his car and just put on weight instead, a more likely scenario in our culture. To return to the 2 examples in the first paragraph: in the dishwasher exercise, most people did the hand-washing whilst running a separate hot tap continuously for rinsing, a very wasteful practice. The minority who took the trouble to hand-wash in a low wastage way outperformed the dishwashing machine. In the nappy comparison, it was assumed that cloth nappies would be boiled at 100 C and tumble dried; again the high-wastage option.

So clearly these 'Counter-intuitives' should be received with caution; there are manufacturers prepared to bend statistics as far as they need to promote particular products, and there are others out there who relish the chance to throw those earnest hairshirt greenies into confusion. But having said all that those of us who are concerned about our carbon (and general environmental) impact do need to check these things out and beware of simple assumptions. A shared car will use much less carbon than an empty bus, whilst the impact of eating habits is often underestimated, or even ignored completely.

The New North American Villain

2009-02-21T01:42:00.000-08:00

For years now, Canada has been seen as the enlightened one of the two huge North American countries. Whilst Bush was busy invading the middle east, locking people up without trial and trashing the planet, Canada was this fluffier, liberal, almost European haven across the USA's northern border.

Times change. Now we have that nice Mr Obama in the White House (well relatively nice, I notice today he still refuses to grant Bagram Airbase inmates proper human rights for instance), but his attitude to climate change seems a welcome world away from that of his predecessor. Meanwhile Canada under the Conservative Prime Minister Harper is pressing ahead with what is arguably the dirtiest and most damaging single project on the planet - the huge scale extraction of oil from the Athabasca Tar Sands in Alberta.

Last night (Friday) I attended a well attended and inspring meeting organised by Manchester Friends of the Earth and the Co-operative. It featured Jack Woodward, Canada's top aboriginal lawyer and legal council to the Beaver Lake Cree Nation; Jack spoke eloquently about the massive damage being done to the boreal forest there and to the lives of these First Nation people. And from a planetary point of view the exploitation of these tar sands could alone add 64 ppm to global CO2 - the single largest carbon emitter in the world; further information here on the lawsuit where the Beaver Lake Cree are taking on Albertan and Canadian Govts., and the multinational oil giants.
The Co-operative Society, based of course up here in Manchester are running a toxic fuels campaign on tar sands and oil shales.
Attendance at the meeting was about 70-80 and it is good to see Friends of the Earth in Manchester in such good health; they had seemed a bit quiet recently.

Finally, returning to the North American climate villain charts, of course the USA isn't off the hook: where do you think all this oil is heading?...

Another Busy Week

2009-02-14T12:12:00.000-08:00

With Christmas and New Year long gone, the campaigning season is well under way. This has been a busy and varied week:

On Tuesday, I attended the latest in a series of Manchester Climate Forum events. This covered both the global (Dr. Victoria Johnson described her experiences at the Poznan Climate Change talks late last year) and the local (current Manchester City Council Executive member for the Environment Richard Cowell giving his defence of the City Council's 'Call to Action' (more on this later)), to a bemused and disappointed audience.

Wind forward a day and the focus shifts to the Manchester University student sit-in on Gaza, one of a whole series of sit-ins by students around the country. I have to say this is music to my ears, as someone who remembers the summer of 68; for too long most students have come across as Thatcher's children, without a radical bone in their body. Maybe now the economy has collapsed, they have nothing to lose. As well as support for Gaza students are calling for disinvestment from the arms trade and Manchester Green Party have written to the Vice-Chancellor expressing our support for the students (letter here). However The Uni have a lot of interests connected with armaments and are proving more stubborn than many universities.

On to Thursday and a meeting of Manchester Green Party was treated to a summary of a short book written by local member Michael Prior ('Beyond Feelbad Britain' about the current financial crisis and possible solutions. More on this topic in a future blog I suspect.

Friday saw a return to Palestinian matters, as the convoy for Gaza drives through the streets of Manchester in the late afternoon, near the start of its long journey through Europe and North Africa. I and many others cheer it on its way as it passes the BBC.

Saturday saw the launch of a response to the City Council's vacuous 'Call to Action'. This is a 'Call to Real Action' by a collection of green activists (a number of whom I am proud to say are Green Party members), who are determined to produce an alternative set of proposals for the City which far exceed those of the City Council and their multi-thousand pound consultants from The South who go by the name of 'Beyond Green'. A lively and focused meeting promises much over the coming weeks. Website launched - here

Finally today (Sunday) - A fitting climax to the last few days in the shape of two hours on the BBC Radio Manchester midday 'What the Papers say' slot with Andy Crane. As someone who never buys a Sunday paper, not even the Observer or Indie on Sunday, my exposure to the horrors of the gutter press live on air gave me some trepidation. Expecting a formal studio I was surprised to see the programme recorded in the foyer of the Lowry Centre with Joe and Jane Public walking by. Two hours passed surprisingly quickly with half the programme taken up with music (including the live and entertaining Louis Barabbas , who stepped in at short notice so I'm giving him a plug). It emphasised the gap between the news as seen by Greens (climate change, war, resource depletion) and that seen by much of the country's population (celebrities, teenage pregnancy etc). It was the first time a Green had been on the show in the politician slot; hopefully given our 8.5 - 9% vote in City Council elections over the last four years it will not be the last.

Disproportionality...

2009-02-07T12:22:00.000-08:00

...Is a word that often crops up in the Gaza situation, indeed the Israeli government seems to regard disproportionality as good and legitimate. In this blog post, however I am referring to a different example of disproportionality, and one which risks offending some fellow campaigns. This example is the difference in energy devoted to anti-war campaigning between Gaza and the Congo, particularly given the vastly greater death and suffering in the Congo.

In the midst of messages urging me to support the Gaza sit in at the University of Manchester, I attended a demonstration concerned with the Congo. Attendance was around 150 people, small in comparison to the thousands mobilised for Gaza. Whilst there is a small but thriving Congo support movement in Manchester, it is not just the BBC who have paid little attention to this conflict, which has claimed some 5 million lives over the last 10 years. This is far more than Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine put together. One problem is there are no obvious good and bad guys, - certainly no obvious good guys. Placards at today’s demo attacked both President Kabila and rebel militia leader Laurent Nkunda.

There are however two areas where Western countries have an impact here. Firstly, the Government, in an astonishing denial of the situation in Congo, regards it as a safe place to return refugees. For more information, see here . There are various campaigns against deportations, and readers are urged to write to MPs and the Government to support these campaigns.

For the other reason, look at your mobile phone, or laptop (with which you may be reading this blog). Eastern Congo is the number one source of Coltan, which is an ore of the metal tantalum vital in creating capacitors. Rebel Groups and neighbouring countries have exploited used this to finance their military involvement, with western-based corporations willing to turn a blind eye in the pursuit of profit. See futher information here

Manchester - Guinea-Pig City

2009-02-01T02:29:00.000-08:00

In case anyone here thinks I have going to talk about furry animals, in line with one of the usual green stereotypes, I'll make it clear that this is guinea pig which (to quote Wikipedia) is 'a metaphor in English for a subject of experimentation'. In the old days, Scotland could be relied on for this role (remember the poll tax?), but they've got a bit of independence now, so step forward a new victim, Manchester.

To give 3 recent examples.

- A couple of years back our government got very keen on casinos, and one lucky borough was earmarked for the biggest casino of all. East Manchester was formerly a hive of industry, but is now a serious area of deprivation. This was deemed to be a perfect site for a huge gambling den, unprecedented in British social history. Manchester's Labour Council, lacking the imagination or ability to come up with a beetr solution for the area, were enthusiastic despite the warnings of many groups regarding crime and gambling addiction, and the consequent further impoverishment of many people in the area. It was subsequently pulled by Son-of-the-Manse Gordon Brown (without any alternative strategy) so we'll move on.

- The great transport bid / congestion charge debate roused many strong views, but a significant argument of the anti- campaigners was that Manchester was being used as a guinea pig for a particular form of road-pricing, with a scheme proposed which was unlike anywhere else on the planet. No other city was subjected to this, London has its congestion charge, true, but it also gets far more than its share of major transport spending. Greater Manchester, despite its considerable size has long been treated as a poor provincial relation. Maybe Manchester doesn't have enough marginal Labour seats?

- The third example hit the news a couple of days ago. The Government's stubborn and perverse determination to foist ID cards on us has already led to Manchester Airport employees being amongst the first to have to carry them, now Jacqui Smith wants Manchester to be one of the first places these are rolled out (see here), shamelessly promoting them in a school. Despite massive opposition, including from the Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Green Parties, the Government claims people can't wait to have these cards, indeed as I go about my business on the streets of Manchester I often come across huge mobs impatient to pay money to be fingerprinted and scanned - err not. For information on ID cards see NoID and for a less partisan view from an IT perspective Computer Weekly often provides some lowdown on this and other Government IT c**kups.

Daft Comment of the Week:
I haven't kept this feature up very well, so 2 for the price of one this week.
Firstly: the BNP's Simon Darby has let slip that 'Party''s true nature, by describing it as 'technically an ethnic group' - clearly an admission that the BNP is a completely race-based group, unlike any legitimate UK political party. Thanks to Lancaster UAF for that info. The BNP are claiming to be the victims of racism by the way - sheesh!

Secondly here's a quote about climate change from a Councillor Barton, a Tory on Birmingham Council, admittedly from last year but brought to my attention this morning by Spencer Fitzgibbon “We can’t even predict the weather three days ahead...It’s said that we are going to turn into a desert, but there’s not much sign of that happening yet.” Councillor Barton is tipped to become a Tory MP at the next general election, and this is in a city whose Conservative-LibDem coalition recently announced its intention of making Birmingham the UK’s first “sustainable global city”. (Actually some people who have been to Birmingham might debate the desert comment).
It's hard to do a daft Tory quote from a Manchester City Councillor as there's only one of them, but he is trying to get into the Daft Comment spot and will probably succeed before long.

Boon - or Bobbins?

2009-01-25T05:33:00.000-08:00

As the banking crisis continues, alternative or complementary currencies are back on the agenda, as evidenced by George Monbiot's last piece in the Guardian , and a feature on Lewes Pounds on BBC's radio 4 in the last couple of days.

The idea of an alternative currency is not new, and back around 15-20 years ago, LETS schems (Local Exchange Trading Systems)were seen as a key part of the move to a sustainable society and there were close links between Green party activists and LETS schemes in various places around the country. The scheme in Manchester used a currency called 'bobbins' after the cotton industry and for a while local Green Party membership could be paid for in bobbins, though hardly anybody ever did.

Unfortunately in recent years I have heard much less about them, and even their co-ordinating body, Letslink, reports a likely drop in membership since the early days. I can think of two reasons why this might be. Firstly, the kind of people attracted to such schemes in those days meant that there were too many aromatherapists and not enough plumbers. Secondly I have noticed a decline in co-operation amongst people outside Green circles since then; to give a couple of examples:

- when our children were young we belonged to a local baby-sitting circle by which people sat for each other using tokens as a currency; it worked well for a while, but nowadays couples with young children don't seem to have such a facility, and often struggle to find sitters to whom they have to pay hard British pounds.

- when I started at my current workplace there was a milk sharing scheme, each person in a team bought the milk on a different day, over time people 'forgot' and the system fell apart until everyone had to bring their individual half pints which cluttered the fridge and regularly went off before consumption. (The company resolved this by bulk buying milk and providing it as a perk, so we went from co-operation to individualism to corporate paternalism).

This probably all started with Thatcherism and 'no such thing as society' but has continued throughout the 11 years of so-called Labour. But with the banking crisis maybe things are changing again. Whilst LETS scheme are less visible, new ideas have arrived with a broadly similar philosophy, such as Timebank and Freecycle. A prolonged recession caused by failure in the conventional economic system may provide the seeds not just for a revival of alternative currencies but their extension out of the trendy middle-class ghetto. Internet developments, such as 'Web 2.0' technologies may also help.

The next couple of years are an opportunity to see if this type of trading will be a boon to hard-pressed citizens, or if it will just be 'bobbins'.

Call to Action???

2009-01-11T12:13:00.000-08:00

Manchester has a stated aim of becoming Britain’s greenest city, and many moons back announced that it was introducing a climate change strategy. A ‘statement of principles’ was produced, which were actually not bad thanks to lots of input from environment groups in the City, and a relatively well-informed and forward-looking executive member for environment (Neil Swannick). It called for a reduction of a million tons of carbon dioxide annually from current levels of 3.3 million.

There then followed a long period of quiet; Neil Swannick took on the lead Greater Manchester Waste role and his place was taken by Councillor Richard Cowell. Meanwhile Manchester dropped 3 places in the Sustainable index from mid-table to a lowly 15th out of 20.

But as a new year dawns, fresh shoots of activity have appeared with the release of the Manchester Climate Change Call to Action. A summary was released on the 7th Jan and the report is to be debated on the 14th. A summary of the summary, plus comments, now follows:

The first bit of real substance is the timescale – the final action plan is not due to be published until late 2009. Given earlier delays as well any talk of the urgency of climate change in the document may raise eyebrows. But let’s be generous and say that this gives several months of good ‘consultation’ time for Manchester activists.

The summary then lists 5 elements. Unsurprisingly the first concerns business competitiveness. The document states that commitment to a low carbon economy will have a major influence in future investment decisions’ but there are no examples or indeed any substance in the rest of the paragraph.
The remaining 4 elements concern ‘Education and Employment’, ‘Neighbourhoods of Choice’ ‘a Fairer Manchester’, and ‘A higher quality of City Life’. Motherhood and Apple Pie could easily make up elements 6 and 7.

Moving on through the document the most detail is in the catalytic actions starting at the bottom of page 10 (of 13 pages). However it still varies from the totally vague to the slightly specific ‘green’ the Oxford Road corridor, to the surreal (the airport bit, which is effectively ‘air expansion isn’t sustainable but we won’t stop till everyone else does').

Frankly the only action I feel called to carry out by this document is to put it in the recycling bin. Even making constructive criticism is like nailing blancmange to the wall of a shed.

Maybe I am doing them an injustice and the full document will be wonderful but I doubt it. There is no conviction that they have any real plans, or sense of urgency. There is no joined up thinking with Manchester’s other strategies, e.g. the Local Development framework. And in the light of the economic crisis, which has hit since the Principles were issued a year ago, there is no vision for solving the combined economic, climate and resource crisis along the lines of the ‘Green New Deal’ advocated by the Green Party.

Doctor Who and the Parallels of Doom

2009-01-04T06:02:00.000-08:00

Despite everything else going on in the world, BBC radio news yesterday teatime seemed most excited about who would be the new Who (another middle-class white male - surprise surprise). What with dodgy telephone polling, Brand-Ross-gate and the Strictly Come Dancing controversies, our poll-tax funded Beeb is now so far up its own a**e that it is no wonder it seems to struggle with balanced and informative reporting.

Anyway to celebrate the new Doctor’s arrival, let’s accompany him back in time in the Tardis, taking one or two historical liberties along the way.

Da-da-da-da, Da-da-da-da, Da-da-da-da, Daaaaaah, Da-da-da-da.

Title sequence “Doctor Who and the Parallels of Doom”

The battered London police box materialises on a street corner. The Doctor emerges from the Tardis to the deafening whistles of bombs falling nearby and the drone of aircraft overhead. He switches on his trusty sonic radio to find out what is going on and hears an American voice. ‘And now, as the German blitz enters its second week, a word on the situation from the President, Franklin Bushovelt.’ A second voice starts up..

‘We’ve gotta remember that the German Government is just defending its own people here. This all started when Churchillist militants sent their home-made Lancaster bombers deep into German territory. The Churchillists are a terrorist group who seized power in a coup against the legitimate government of Neville Chamberlain, and who use violent rhetoric about fighting on beaches and never surrendering. We are in regular talks with the German Government and Adolf Holster has assured us that the German defence force are only bombing military targets such as docks, defence installations and police stations. It’s unfortunate if the odd civilian gets killed, but you gotta remember that these militants have sited these police stations in or near civilian areas in total disregard for people’s safety.’

‘I’m getting out of here before I get killed after only one episode’ said the Doctor, rushing back into the Tardis with the blonde cockney assistant who just happened to be passing by. ‘Let’s find a different and more peaceful time and place’….

Da-da-da-da, Da-da-da-da, Da-da-da-da, Daaaaaah, Da-da-da-da.

Episode 2
The Doctor emerges from the Tardis. All around, there humans dressed in bizarre clothes and embarrassing hairstyles.
“Where are we? When are we?” says his stunned but beautifully made-up sidekick.
‘It’s Britain in the 70s’ says the Doctor. “Let's listen in to those people.”
They overhear a snippet of conversation,

‘Well I’m glad our Government is doing something at last’

‘Absolutely, I mean it’s a shame if any civilians get killed but it’s their own fault’

‘Oh I’d slaughter all of them if I was in charge – it’s the only way to get peace.’

Puzzled, the Doctor switches on his radio.
A BBC-intoning presenter drones on ‘British planes have hit military targets in Dublin for the seventh successive day, in response to the indiscriminate firing of rockets towards Crossmaglen and Newry by the IRA. Targets include police stations, Catholic churches (which the MOD states are being used as weapons dumps) and the Post Office (because that always gets blown up in Dublin). In response to concerns raised about civilian casualties, a Government spokesman pointed out that “All of these have been cynically placed in residential areas by the enemy- making some collateral damage inevitable.” Her Majesty's Government has also warned the United States that their tolerance of funding-raising activities by the IRA terrorists makes Boston, Massachusetts a legitimate target. British warplanes are already engaged in manoeuvres over the North Atlantic.’

The beautiful sidekick looks to the Doctor. “Can we go somewhere safer and saner, please?”

And with that the Doctor and pouting assistant returned to the Tardis and desperately sought sanctuary on a distant planet inhabited by Daleks and Cybermen

Da-da-da-da, Da-da-da-da, Da-da-da-da, Daaaaaah, Da-da-da-da.

Daft Comment of the Week: I have omitted to keep this up on my blog recently, but with this week's quote I can be safe in the knowledge of not offending anyone, since it comes from me, and concerns my wildly inaccurate forecast of yesterday's Manchester Palestine demonstration (see here); actual numbers were about three thousand.

I hope to get back to blogging on Mancunian and conventionally green topics soon, but injustice and biased media coverage are things which really get to me...

What is a life worth?

2008-12-30T08:52:00.000-08:00

The answer apparently depends on whose life is being taken. Before I move on to more recent events, remember the terrorist attacks in Mumbai a month ago. This was one of the biggest news stories of the year and was described as if it were the worst terrorist incident in Indian history. The death toll from those attacks is now reckoned to be 173 people; in contrast the violence in Gujarat in 2002 claimed around 2000 lives. So why so much emphasis on the recent Mumbai attacks? Is it because the targets this time were 5-star hotels used extensively by westerners, including the media, i.e. an attack on people like us? Whereas the victims of the Gujarat violence in 2002 were overwhelmingly Muslims, slaughtered in reprisal for an Muslim attack on pilgrims on a train.

Fast forward to the last few days. Israeli jets killed more people in a day than the Mumbai terrorists in total. The leaders of the USA and its allies struggled to find words strong enough to condemn the killers in Mumbai, but when it comes to Israeli aggression, what do you hear? Nothing stronger than ‘urging both sides to show restraint’, or worse putting the blame on Hamas, as per Condoleeza Rice here .

The double-standards which are applied throughout this massacre are breathtaking. For example, Israel condemns Hamas for having put their police stations in civilian areas. I checked out the location of the main Tel Aviv police station and it is of course in a densely populated area, on Dizengoff Street, (noted for its designer shops apparently, I bet there aren’t many of those in Gaza).

So, in terms of loss of life in this conflict what’s the score? As I write it is something like 362-4 ; so if we take it that both sides are equally at fault, pace the BBC and others, then that makes an Israeli life worth about 90 Palestinians. That’s extreme even by the usual western media rating, where American and British lives are worth most, and at the other extreme are Africans in places like the Congo, which has seen the deadliest war worldwide since 1945 over the past 10 years and it’s barely been noticed.

The media then go on to explain that only about 62 of those Palestinian deaths are civilians; this seems quite a low proportion until one reads the small print and finds that all adult males are excluded just in case they include uniformed personnel (as reported in today’s ‘Independent’). I was at a vigil for Palestine yesterday in Manchester, and it’s strange to think that had an Israeli bomber wiped us all out, only half of us would have been deemed to be civilians.

As to what will happen next, I can only see the cycle of violence continuing. Those who pin their hopes on Obama to solve the crisis may be sadly disappointed. Even though he takes office in less than a month, he has been noticeably silent on the current events. With Hilary Clinton as Secretary of State, and a hardline pro-Israel chief of staff, I think we can expect more of the same.

I think the Israelis are hoping that ordinary Palestinians will turn against Hamas as a result of this bombardment; that may actually happen but not in the way they hope. If I were a Palestinian in Gaza forced to live under permanent siege and seeing friends and relatives destroyed by Israeli jets I might well turn away from Hamas – but to a more extreme group that would never waste time on ceasefires with such an implacable foe.

Ain't no Midnight Train

2008-12-26T11:01:00.000-08:00

To quote Buddy Guy and Johnny Lang

Free music - Midnight Train

Indeed no trains at any time for a period of 58 hours, a unique achievement in Europe for the country that invented the railways. Incredible.
Maybe it’s a strange time to blog about public transport on a day when it barely exists, but if it’s hard to travel anywhere it means more time at the computer.

Actually its bus rather than train travel I’m talking about today. As you will all be aware, dear readers, transport has been a hot topic in Manchester recently, and a feature of the barrage of letters in the press is what can only be described as a fear and loathing of public transport, particularly bus travel. As a regular, indeed almost daily bus user, I find this very strange; I must inhabit a parallel universe.

Apparently, merely stepping on a bus exposes one to risk of violence from the antisocial members of the lower orders, blasting out their atrocious taste in music. I can honestly say that over the years I have travelled on the omnibuses of our conurbation I have never felt really threatened. Yes, the buses are often crowded and slow and the musical tastes of other passengers can be irritating, but on the plus side I can relax and read the paper on the way into work (and read the Manchester Evening News on the way home, although that only lasts me a couple of stops). Not only can I read the paper I can save money too. A weekly ticket costs me £10, colleagues coming in by car can pay that every couple of days for parking alone. It’s not that I only travel in the rush hour either. I often travel in the evenings, I also occasionally venture to other parts of the city outside the City Centre - Chorlton route.

So what is going on? Have I got used to a low quality of life? Am I just dead lucky? Or have I escaped the selfish air-conditioned bubble mentality of the average regular motorist?.

Having said all that there is a lot which could be improved in the buses which ply our conurbation, some of which would hopefully have been addressed had the TiF bid gone ahead. Of course all that has been kicked into touch now, by the sort of people who write the letters I referred to above. Any such improvements are now likely to be a long time coming.

So why the train reference at the start of the blog? Well, I'm experimenting with combining sound and text, and I couldn't think of a good song about buses. That's the problem I suppose, people really see the bus as the Cinderella of transport modes.
Incidentally there was one bus service running in Manchester on Christmas Day, and guess where it was running to?

Was it to the Cathedral, for people going to the Christmas service?

... No

Was it to the Trafford Centre for people to worship Mammon?

... No, not even there

It was of, course, to the &8$%^&*& Airport.

'One Away....'

2008-12-07T11:14:00.000-08:00

The title refers to the doomsday words of a British Trident submarine operator reporting the release of its first nuclear weapon, as revealed on BBC Radio 4 earlier today. In the absence of the cold war it is easy to forget that as I write this a British submarine is out in the Atlantic with weaponry on board that is more powerful than all the explosives used in world war 2 put together.

For me the programme was topical in a sense, as I was reminded recently that opposition to nuclear weapons was probably the single thing which tipped me into joining the Green Party in the early 80s. The reminder was last Friday when I met up with the group of people who were the backbone of Stockport Green Party (which is where I joined) in those days. It was the first time I had seen them in over 20 years! - so it was a really nostalgic evening.

In those days of course we Greens were competing with the Labour Party for the anti-nuclear weapons vote. Manchester's Labour council proudly proclaimed a 'Nuclear Free City', and indeed started a movement of Nuclear free Cities (we like to be first to do anything in Manchester). How times change, now Labour seem to regard genocide as legitimate, even to the point of committing billions of pounds to Trident replacement. And what are our local 'Nuclear Free City' Labour MPs and councillors doing to fight it??

TiF Bid Referendum - last few days:

Only a few days to go now on the referendum on the topic which has dominated Manchester politics for the past few months, namely the bid for £3 billion in transport funding, or 'the vote on the congestion charge' as the media, and its opponents always call it. I have commented on it before of course, and recently have hardened my 'Yes' position. This is not because I see the proposals as any less flawed than before, but because defeat will be interpreted as a victory for the motoring lobby, and will undermine any other (probably better) schemes around the country (and beyond) for years to come.

In addition, while I have been unimpressed by much of the 'Yes' campaign, the disingenuity of the 'No' campaign has been remarkable. To listen to them one would imagine that everyone will be paying a £1200 tax from December 12 onwards (including the large number of Mancunians without access to a car!). To get the facts straight, this is what you would need to do to achieve payment of £1200 in one year:
- wait until 2013, and fail to find any alternative travel plans in those five years.
- drive the worst possible combination of journeys at the worst possible times every working day, except for a few days annual holiday.
- never share your car with another car-user to spread the cost (both financial and environmental).

The beautiful game?

2008-12-01T06:26:00.000-08:00

'Oil Rich Abu Dhabians - nil, American food millionaire one' as yesterday's Manchester 'derby' result may have been described. When you say you are from Manchester the one thing people these days know about the City is 'Manchester United'. This was a match between the richest club in the world and probably the most famous club in the world, and although both teams have Manchester in their titles, I gather that there was not a Mancunian player on the pitch.

It's a far cry from the days of the footballer's maximum wage. These days top players earn about as much in a week as a qualified nurse earns in 3 years, all for kicking a piece of inflated leather around a green field (the footballer not the nurse that is).

People who rage against the fat cats of the large corporations seem perfectly tolerant of these obscene amounts of money; maybe the reason is the hold that the 'beautiful game' has on the psyche of a large proportion of the male population.
Support for a football team is akin to 'imprinting' in baby geese; once you have pinned your allegience to a club it is almost impossible to change; they say it is easier to change your spouse than your bank - I would say it is far easier to change your bank than to change your support for a football club. (I speak from experience - for my sins I am a supporter of Newcastle United, and therefore lumbered with a team whose playing staff include a violent criminal - can I break free? - it hasn't happened yet. It does mean I am neutral from the point of view of this article though).

Assuming one can start from a neutral position, which team should a Green support? The Ethical Consumer magazine analysed the premership clubs for their ethical performance and surprise surprise, none came out that well. Of the 2 big Manchester teams City deserve some credit for a range of measures to reduce their environmental footprint; these included a large on-site wind turbine, although that plan has now been stopped over safety fears. United have no history of note in this area, (although today's Manchester Evening News includes an intervention in favour of the TiF proposals ( here)by Sir Alex Ferguson, albeit not for particularly green reasons).

Regarding the names which the teams proudly display on their shirts, City's 'Thomas Cook' will not go down too well with Greens concerned with the expansion of air travel, but United's 'AIG' the big US insurance company, have been major donors to the US Republican Party. AIG's loyalty to the US agenda was shown recently by the refusal of a UK subsidiary to provide travel insurance to visitors to Cuba on the grounds that it was one of the world's most dangerous countries along with Afghanistan and Sudan! (reported in the Independent).

So ranking on Green issues puts City above United in the table on top in my book, although that could change when the new oil sheikh owners get into their stride.

A week in the life...

2008-11-23T11:31:00.000-08:00

... of a Green Party activist. Ok so I'm not feeling inspired this week so I'm using my weekly slot as a diary of some events which I have attended over the last few days. Not really a typical week - I don't think there is any such thing - but hopefully it gives the impression of diversity.

Last Wednesday Manchester Green Party hosted a public meeting on 'Faith and Climate Change' which featured guest speakers from the Christian, Muslim and Humanist faiths, and was attended by about 40 people. Whilst there is a whole ecosystem of groups campaigning on climate change in Manchester this brought some new angles to the subject, and there is every intention that it is repeated with different faith groups. The meeting was held at the 'Nexus Cafe' a relatively new meeting place, and thanks are due to the group of people who run the cafe for letting us use it.

Thursday saw 2 events: at lunchtime Gtr Manchester Stop the War held an event in Market Street at which 1,000 names of the many thousands of people who have died there since (soon to be ex-) President Bush declared victory there no less than seven years ago. This attracted a lot of attention (and support) from passers-by. Work prevented me from staying long, but an advantage of city-centre working is that I can take part in such events.

This was followed in the evening by a relaunch rally for Manchester Unite against Fascism (UAF), which was a lively event attended by over a hundred people. Any schadenfreude over the recent public leaking of the BNP membership list was short-lived as the possibility of the North West having the odious Nick Griffin as an MEP hit home. There will be more on this topic on this and related blogs to come. For an ongoing low-down on the BNP see the Lancaster UAF blog in the list on the right.

The most recent event of the last few days was a Tea-Party at the threatened Rose Cottage (mentioned briefly in an earlier post 'South of the River'. Seeing the beautiful 17th Century Cottage and its surrounding buildings in the flesh brought home to me the sheer vandalism of the Airport's expansion plans. The cottage is sandwiched between the M56 and the Airport and its immediate surroundings have become a haven for wildlife driven from the already huge expanse of the Airport. Small-scale compared to the Heathrow 3rd Runway maybe, but symbolic of the battle lines between those who recognise what is unsustainable and those who do not.

Of course this is only the part of the life of an activist; there is all the online stuff - emails, websites etc. Plus of course work, family and other interests. Anyone know any good multitasking courses?

Tif and the Charge - the Debate heats up

2008-11-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

I thought it wouldn't be long before I returned to this topic. I am referring of course to the impending referendum on the TiF bid for transport funding and the linked congestion charge proposal. As ballot papers are due to go out very shortly and the deadline for voting is 11th December, the 'yes' and 'no' campaigns are engaged in all-out battle.
This was evidenced at a debate last Thursday organised by the South Manchester Reporter, in which I took part. An audience of around 180 took part, with a panel consisting of Lis Phelan (Chair of the yes campaign)and Andrew Simpson (of Peel Holdings and the yes campaign's favourite pantomime villain) plus representatives of the four main political Parties in the area (yes, four) as a supporting cast.

Clearly both Lis and Andrew have done a number of these events and now present their respective cases with the slickness of professional politicians. A vote was taken of the audience before and after - the pre-vote was 44 in favour (of the bid) and 57 against; the vote at the end was 74 in favour and 80 against. To me this this all suggests that opinion is pretty evenly divided (at least amingst people who attend public meetings) and is pretty entrenched on both sides.

Of the 4 Party representatives, there were 3 in support (Labour, Lib Dem and me for the Greens) and 1 against (the Tory). Manchester Lib Dems have clearly come off the fence now; actually I shouldn't be too hard on them as we Greens have also had internal differences of opinion on this. I have to say that, just as the devil seems to have all the best tunes, it is more fun to argue against the many flaws in the whole package than to argue in favour. The pragmatic argument in favour wins out for me however, and seeing some of the bedfellows one would have in the 'no' campaign, reassures me that I am in the right place.

Unsurprisingly there were many 'questions' from the floor; of course these were mostly comments, although there were some definite questions along the lines of 'where are you lot getting your funding from?' (on both sides). Arguments raged over the numbers of people who would pay and the use of the word 'zone'. Fortunately climate change and other environmental issues did get a good look-in (they haven't always in previous debates).

Interaction between audience and panel was fast and furious; I was at the end of the row and being a naturally polite person was reluctant to interrupt; at one point I confiscated a microphone to ensure I could get my turn. The 'debate' was billed to end at 9 pm, but continued till 9.20 and the time seemed to pass in an instant.

It is hard to overestimate the significance of the coming referendum; people all around the country are looking to Manchester to see what happens. Not just in this country too - apparently no less a person than Barack Obama is showing an interest. A referendum is unusual in itself - last time I remember being able to take part in one was for the Common Market (as it was then called) in the 70s.

I also think it is important to see this bid as only one of a number of changes which will be needed in Greater Manchester to reach a sustainable low-carbon future.

South of The River

2008-11-09T02:07:00.000-08:00

Manchester is in a strange city in the geographical sense. It's shape resembles a slightly squashed banana, sandwiched in between the neighbouring Greater Manchester boroughs. The centre is about 3/4 of the way up, leaving a south which is 3 times bigger than the north. In turn this south can be divided into an 'inner south' (down as far as the Mersey Valley) and Wythenshawe.

There are major cultural difference between the different parts of the city too. A look at the spread of Green Party members is revealing; the vast majority are in the centre and south, and 'inner south' at that. I would expect an analysis of members of groups such as Friends of the Earth to be similar. This in no way means that people living in the other areas are any less green or potentially green (Green Party vote levels are not that different across most parts of the city). It is maybe more that people in those areas are less likely to have time or inclination for involvement in a political Party.

Because of this imbalance, we are not always as aware as we should be about what is happening in these other areas, so I would like to do a series of posts highlighting them, starting South of the River (Mersey) with Wythenshawe (including, and at the risk of upsetting people there, Northenden).

Wythenshawe was built as a garden city in the 1930s and was formerly known as the biggest council estate in Europe (we like our superlatives here in Manchester). Over the years it unfortunately acquired a reputation for high unemployment, crime and poor health which it is still struggling to shake off. My wife worked for several years at a school in Benchill (which was officially the most disadvantaged ward in the country until it disappeared in the last boundary changes)and became well-acquainted with the difficulties. National attention was last drawn here when a 'hoodie' pretended to shoot David Cameron.

However there are moves to bring more of a sense of community to the area. The area is the site of a pioneering community radio station (Wythenshawe FM) which was set up in 2000 with the backing of Manchester's Radio Regen project. As well as providing local information, the station has made a point of providing training.
Huge amounts of money have been invested in the area, but the City Council's usual top down, control-freakery approach is less likely to bring dividends than initiatives which are genuinely rooted in the community. The latest such move featured in last week's Guardian (article here); time will tell how successful it proves.
Another avenue being pursued in Northenden is the creation of an urban parish council, which has the support of many groups and individuals in the area, but which the City Council seems determined to strangle at birth (control-freakery again). I will probably return to this in a subsequent blog.

It is interesting to note that the high unemployment has continued in this area, the part of Manchester which includes the Airport, despite the claims of jobs, jobs, jobs every time the authorities want to expand the airport. This conflict between Wythenshawe and its remaining green lungs is highlighted by the campaign to save Rose Cottage - see link here.

BBC Shocker! (no - not that one)

2008-10-30T11:43:00.000-07:00

These are not good days for the BBC - I'm not going to dwell on the Brand - Ross business, it's been done to death already, (although as resignations go up the chain, I will be interested to see if Gordon Brown goes). Unsavoury though that was, no-body died, - the arms industry is a different story.

The BBC's Top Gear programme is taking part in the MPH motor show which opened today in London, and the owners of the show, Clarion events, bought up the DSEi, ITEC and LAAD arms trade show earlier this year - see here

Campaign Against the Arms Trade have called on the BBC to recognise the level of public opposition to the arms trade saying "Clarion owns arms fairs which have cheerfully invited officials from brutal regimes such as China, Colombia and Saudi Arabia. Involvement with this trade is not an option for any company that cares about its reputation". In as much as the BBC has any reputation left. Protests can be hoped for - and expected.

No surprises that the programme in question is 'Top Gear' of course. This is a show, paid for out of the license fee/broadcasting poll tax of all of us, which glorifies speed and petrol burning and will no doubt have led indirectly to the deaths and injuries of many at the hands of boy racers trying to emulate the presenters (not to mention the climate change impact). The fact that it is apparently so popular is a slap in the face to all green-minded people in the land. I tuned into the Television Awards programme last night to see Clarkson hurtling down some highway holding a Bill Oddie mask in front of his face to fool the speed cameras as the show won an award for best factual programme (!).

Which leads me on to my 'Daft comment of the week'. A host of possible contenders here, even without considering Palin and co as the US election reaches its climax. No, my choice is an excerpt from Manchester Evening News' TV editor Ian Wylie, who in a half page eulogy to the show claimed that 'there can scarcely be a TV viewer in the country who isn't excited about the return of Top Gear'.

A Tale of Two Cycling Cities

2008-10-19T02:36:00.000-07:00

With 1966 becoming a fading memory it's good to know that there is another sport in which we rule the world, and have done consistently over several recent events. I am of course referring to track cycling, which was back in the news this week with two-wheeled gold medallists taking pride of place in the first bus for the Olympic parade in London. The current home of British cycling is at Manchester's velodrome, and there is even a chance of seeing some of these medallist out and about on the streets of the conurbation. Indeed one or two may have passed me, but at the speed I pedal on my 1985 Coventry Eagle, I would not have seen them for dust.

So Manchester leads the world in track cycling, and this can rightly be seen as a source of civic pride; this is one of the Cycling cities referred to in the title. Given that you would think that Manchester would be a leading city for ordinary cyclists too. Alas not.

This other of the two cities was also in the news this week, with figures on the accident rates for cyclists in the city, and its didn't make encouraging reading. Whilst facilities are better than they were, Manchester and other large British cities still trail comparable cities in continental Europe by miles. Some comparative statistics can be seen here for countries and for comparable-sized cities
This year Manchester had the chance to become Britain's cycling city, but lost out to Bristol. Some reason why may be gleaned from the following comment at a recent Cycle Forum meeting "Cycling England basically said that the Council had shown no leadership in promoting Cycling or increasing the amount of Cyclists in Manchester…when the bid went through the Council didn’t even have a Cycling Officer as he moved job and wasn’t replaced for 3 months."
In Manchester's current great transport debate cycling was little more than an afterthought, and its increasing profile during the consultation is due entirely to hard work by environmental groups such as FoE and Greater Manchester Cycling Campaign. This despite the leader of Manchester City Council, Sir Richard Leese no less, being a cycle user.
Daft Comment of the Week
I'm introducing this as a new feature. For our inaugural comment we go from the least polluting form of transport to the most polluting, and a comment from John Twigg of Manchester Airport. What follows is as reported by the Manchester Evening News (so it must be accurate) from their Greenlife debate on Sustainable Cities this week. Bizarrely given the title, this event was sponsored by Manchester Airport (a bit like King Herod sponsoring a conference on successful child-rearing). The quote is "Creating a sustainable city is part of the long-term plan for us - we want to maximise the potential that air travel brings to the economy and population".
I think Mr Twigg has set a high standard for daftness here; however I fear there will be anough material around to maintain the standard for weeks to come.

A piece of history

2008-10-12T01:19:00.000-07:00

A piece in the business section of the Manchester Evening News caught my eye this week as it brought back memories of my life in a period of the mid-eighties. The article concerned the preservation of the Mather and Platt factory in the Newton Heath area of East Manchester, where I worked for two years.

I remember the almost Dickensian atmosphere of the plant with its noisy, grimy machine rooms (I was normally in the quieter confines of the IT Office, but I went out onto the floor occasionally). To environmentally-minded colleagues of the day it seemed the last sort of place that a Green should be working. Even now, a survey of Green Party members would probably show a majority in the 'helping professions' or in small scale ethical businesses; however there is a role for heavy metal-bashing too (where else would our renewable energy devices be made?), and it is those types of industry where environmental and energy awareness is likely to make the biggest difference.

It's easy to forget nowadays just how big East Manchester was as a centre for engineering in times gone by. The eighties of course was the heyday of Maggie Thatcher and the replacement of manufacturing in this country with service industry - particularly financial services (look where that's gone!) The last proposal for creating employment in that area of the city was to build a huge gambling den. That too is now history, and rightly so.

As the laissez-faire financial markets collapse around us, why not bring back appropriate (and cleaner!) engineering back to the area, as part of a Green New Deal to invest in sustainable technologies for the future instead of propping up the 'banksters'.

The TiF Bid

2008-10-05T03:31:00.000-07:00

Nobody could spend any time in Manchester these days without noticing that there is a big transport debate going on, with a proposal for massive public transport investment paid for with a congestion charge (the Tif bid). I won't go into the basic details - there are a range of sites from both proponents and opponents for you to sift through (various links in the text) - but this has been a more difficult subject for us Greens to deal with than you might think.

Colleagues in groups like Friends of the Earth express surprise that anyone other than a diehard motorist should oppose the scheme; it improves public transport, it discourages cars - surely it must be a good thing. Greens campaigning for other congestion charge schemes around the country might feel the same. However detailed reading of the consultation documents raises a number of issues from a true Green point of view.

The first issue is with the rationale of the whole proposal; it isn't for environmental benefit, it is to support continued economic growth in the City region. The problem to be solved is the negative impact of congestion on business.
The environmental aspects of the proposal are tacked on as an afterthought, indeed the 24 page consultation document sent out to households contains just 2 brief paragraphs on the environmental impact.

Reading the small print one finds out that the reduction in carbon claimed by the scheme is only a reduction in the increase that would result from a 'do nothing' strategy. A low carbon option was put forward by consultants Steer Davies Gleave in their Strategic Environmental Assessment; this was rejected by the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) as being too radical. Walking and cycling have a low profile despite the fact that 17% of car journeys in the conurbation are of less than 1 km and 51% are of less than 3 km. And there is always the worry that AGMA will have an incentive to keep car use at a level such as to pay off the loan via the congestion charge for years to come.

Much of the public debate (particularly in the business-obsessed Manchester Evening news) has centred on the pro and anti business groups, ('United City' and 'Greater Manchester Momentum Campaign' respectively) slugging it out over which outcome will best suit their interests. The motoring lobby has of course been vocal in framing it as 'another stealth tax on the poor motorist'. Community groups may well be deeply involved in the consultation process, but if so, it is under the radar and one wonders how much say they will actually have.

Anyway, decision time approaches. The question is - from a green point of view is the scenario which would result from a succesful bid better than the balance of likely scenarios if it falls? Most green-minded people might answer yes, but it can be argued both ways.

The students are back!

2008-09-30T14:22:00.001-07:00

Amongst Manchester's many claims to fame is that it has the largest campus in Europe (probably the largest anyway). Late September always shows a huge increase in the south Manchester population, public transport almost grinds to a halt, and the bars fill to overflowing. It is a time of high activity for student groups keen to recruit from amongst the freshers, and the Young Greens are no exception. As well as a series of Thursday sessions coming up on policy areas, they hosted a meeting with Green MEP Jean Lambert yesterday evening, and around 30 students braved weather which was vile even by Manchester standards to hear what goes on in the European Parliament, and what Greens have to say on the issues of the day.

Our newly-elected leader Caroline Lucas has such a good profile that the media sometimes forget that we have 2 MEPs. Jean's work in the Parliament has been as significant as Caroline's, and has focused on areas such as employment and civil liberties which many people don't automatically associate with Greens. Jean's website can be seen here

Despite representing London, Jean has made several trips to Manchester over the years and it is always good to see her up north. Unfortunately she had to get back to London after the meeting, but not before fielding questions on subjects ranging from education to Palestine. Also there to field questions was Peter Cranie, prospective Green MEP for the North-West.

Prospects for green activity at the Universities this year are very good. There are Young Greens on the executives of both Manchester University and Manchester Metropolitan University. Dan Lee is Campaigns Officer for Manchester University (a sabbatical post) and amongst other things, he is planning an intense week of climate-change related activity at the end of October.

Meanwhile over at MMU Tom Redford is working with other green-minded students to make an impact at that institution, although with the disadvantage compared with Dan of having to combine it with his studies. Tom has a blog in my bloglist on the left, (entitled the Thursday briefing), as indeed does the aforementioned Peter Cranie.

Flashmob works fast and no messing

2008-09-23T11:51:00.001-07:00

Apologies to those of you who don't remember the Flash adverts from the olden days, but it did seem like an appropriate title. Today in front of Manchester Town Hall, about 100 people revealed themselves in bright red T-shirts bearing the slogan 'Stop Airport Expansion'. Timed to coincide with the Labour Party conference, this marked the official launch of the Stop Expansion of Manchester Airport campaign (SEMA). The Town Hall venue is appropriate; Manchester City Council own 55% of Manchester Airport. After a few minutes, and in the absence of any high-powered Labour Party representatives (no doubt kept well away from us), we got more adventurous and lay on the ground to spell out words across Albert Square.
A nice change from the usual type of demonstration - participants get to keep a nice T-shirt and there are no mountains of placards to deal with afterwards.

For me this made 2 aviation-related events in 2 days; the other being a Friends of the Earth action to demand the inclusion of aviation in the climate change bill. This time a minister was sighted - indeed it was the second time this year I have come within a few feet of Ruth Kelly. Given that in addition to that I have taken part in a demonstration outside her constituency office, I'm worried people will think it's an obsession.

Anyway the flashmob was followed by more on transport, a meeting at the Convention of the Left. This meeting pitched the Scottish Socialist Party's Ken Ferguson with prospective Green Euro-MP Peter Cranie, and their speeches and the lively debate which followed highlighted a division over the issue of free public transport.
The SSP made this a big campaign in the recent Glasgow East bye-election and a similar campaign is being launched in Manchester this week. From an out and out socialist perspective this makes sense, as well as having popular appeal; why not when we support a public health service free at the point of use. However, bringing a green perspective shows drawbacks. All forms of transport have an environmental impact, and our priority should be to reduce the need to travel, focusing on accessibility rather than mobility. Completely free public transport would run counter to that and help to perpetuate the model of long-distance commuting.

More on transport to follow soon no doubt.

Why do I know all these people?

2008-09-23T00:47:00.001-07:00

Well the Labour conference is in full swing and as expected there is no shortage of meetings and events. There is also no shortage of disruption to life in and around the city centre, but the Manchester Evening News assures us it's great for the economy - of course they said that about the invasion of Rangers fans earlier in the year as well. But I digress. Taking advantage of all this whilst balancing family and work as well (and writing this blog) is not easy. However one thing that has struck me so far is the number of faces I recognise at said events.

Now this might be considered a good thing, but the phrase 'preaching to the converted comes to mind'. A good example is the fringe on 'A Green New Deal' held on Sunday night.' I half expected to be turned away, to make room for all the Labour MPs and delegates packing the meeting (it's supposed to be their conference after all). The meeting was full, but the regular Manchester climate change cognoscenti probably outnumbered the Labour Party. Most noticeably absent was Government Minister Yvette Cooper, who was due to speak on the platform. Whether or not she would have contributed more than the empty chair is debatable, but she could at least have been there to hear the arguments or provide a counter-argument. However, if anything, I found the lack of 'normal' Labour MPs there more dispiriting. Here is an approach to tackle the triple threat of climate change, the credit crunch and peak oil; given the events of last week it could hardly be more timely. For more information on the Green New Deal see here

Of course the Labour conference is not the only show in town this week. Running parallel to the 'official' conference is the Convention of the Left, with its own series of meetings and events, like the Edinburgh fringe which runs parallel to the main festival. Older readers will remember the days when the Labour Party was considered on the left, and no-one would have foreseen any need for a separate event.
For the reasons of balance stated above I have not been able to attend much of the convention, but people tell me it has been good-natured and positive overall, without the factional rancour which can arise. The Green Party's involvement in the Convention has been in the hands of 'Green Left' and Manchester Green Party, rather than official national involvement. On yesterday's evidence we are a little light on speakers at meetings, but seem to be regarded as good chair-people. Of the 3 meetings I have attended at the Convention, 2 were chaired by Green Party members.

One obvious question is 'Is the Green Party part of the left?'. You will get a difference of opinions amongst members. I think the answer is yes and no, but mainly yes. The 'yes' is that if by 'left' one means a real commitment to social justice and economic equity, to greater control over the corporations and financial institutions, to civil liberties and to international co-operation, then we are absolutely left. If being 'left' requires adherence to old industrial models and language and support for economic growth then we certainly are not. Any successful coalescing of left opinion which includes Greens has to be based on genuine understanding of constraints of climate change and resource use; I think the 'traditional' left is heading that way, but the jury is still out.

However the 'usual suspects' argument mentioned above applies to the Convention as well as the official Labour fringes, and agreed statements and worthy rants will count for nothing unless and until a much wider circle of people are involved.

2008-09-21T01:41:00.000-07:00

It's All Happening In Manchester

The coming few days see a flurry of political and campaigning activity as the Labour Party circus rolls into town. Whilst the Conference area is sealed off to normal citizens (including most Labour Party members, there are a host of fringes going on around the City Centre which are accessible to the public. There is therefore plenty of opportunity for those outside the Labour Party (indeed who feel there is a huge amount to criticise about said Party) to get involved.

Of particular interest is the Convention of the Left, a coming together of a wide range of organisations who regard themselves on the left of British politics and who are providing something of an alternative conference in the City. It includes many in the Labour Party - veteran campaigner Tony Benn was among those speaking at the launch of the convention). Among the sponsors are Green Left (a collection of Green Party members who take an eco-socialist view and have been seeking to build more bridges with the Trades Unions) and Manchester Green Party. It will be interesting to see how much attention this venture gets and how well the various groupings will rub along in the confined space of the Friends Meeting House lobby! See here for a full programme of the
convention events.
There are also an interesting series of fringes on the vital subject of Climate Change run by the Climate Clinic and opportunities to get to meetings on everything from health to civil liberties.

So, get some time off work if you can and make the most of this once in every 2 years opportunity. You may meet some (relatively) famous politicians; you may get the chance to boo and jeer them, or even (long shot this one) change their opinions.

Of course no Labour conference in the City would be complete without a Stop the War demonstration. You would have hoped the need for these would have passed long ago, yet here we are with War in Afghanistan not only hotting up again but spreading to Pakistan. Yesterday's march took place in perfect weather, unusually for recent demos, which must have helped to boost the numbers. Taking that into account the attendance was actually pretty disappointing.

I was stewarding and got a good view of the size of the demonstration, and there couldn't have been more than about 10,000 there at most (the BBC quoted 'over 2,500', probably based on a police estimate). What should also be noted was the makeup of the demo; there were the large contingent of Socialist Worker Party, the other left Parties, some Greens and a significant number of anarchists. This last group seemed to worry the hell out of the Police and the Organisers but all passed off peacefully. The 'ordinary people' of the big 2003 demo and even the 2006 one in Manchester have largely gone. I saw no sign of any Liberal Democrats (apart from a couple on the No2ID campaign) but maybe that isn't surprising these days.

There were also hardly any banners from outside the Manchester area, reflecting my suspicion that people only think events are 'national' when they happen in London.

So maybe it is time to rethink this traditional march from A to B approach, and consider some of the more imaginative approaches coming out of the Climate Camp movement.

Green Party Conference Report

2008-09-09T13:45:00.000-07:00

As there is plenty of dry information on conference elsewhere I will restrict myself to particular fringes and observations.
The main conference room lacked the usual tables where members can sit round during plenary session; instead the layout was the serried ranks more usually associated with the grey parties. "It's the start of a slippery slope" I heard from a couple of the anti-leader persuasion. I certainly hope that is not the case and put the seating arrangements down to the constraints of a Central London venue. Hopefully we'll be back to our distinctive table feature next time.
Why a Central London venue, with its implication for cost and space? To get more of the media along, for the great moment of transition to a leader / deputy leader, of course. Did it work? Well we got some great coverage on the BBC and the BBC and err, the BBC. But where were the national print media???
Now, don't get me wrong, I voted in favour of the new structure, and think that we have an excellent leader and deputy leader in Caroline Lucas and Adrian Ramsay, but anyone who thinks that most of the media in this country are going to start treating us fairly from now on is being very naive.

Another new experience, and related to the above, was the standing ovation. Is this another slippery slope? We have had such things before on occasions at conference, but this time you knew there would be a standing ovation for the leader and deputy leader speeches. Would they feel artificial? How long should they go on for? As it happens both Caroline and Adrian delivered very well and it did feel natural to stand to applaud them; even so, that question mark still lingers; is this a new ritual which we have to perform to be a 'proper' Party?

There was plenty going on at conference to inspire and encourage as well. The panel session on the Green New Deal was excellent, to hear how Solihull Greens went from 4th place to victory in a ward in 1 year (usual rule is you have to make 2nd place before you win) was inspiring, and we are heading into the future with a keen and promising executive along with our leaders.

I had an interesting experience on the journey home. In my first class compartment (before you say anything, in todays insane world of rail fares it was cheaper than standard) , I was perusing some excellent reports of Jean Lambert MEP on housing, insulation and renewable, when I overheard my neighbours in the carriage talking about the same subject! Turns out they are working in the insulation and renewables sector in Manchester, and one of them is the custodian of the council's Eco-House in Miles Platting.
It's a small world as they say, and shoes that there are some people out there in the 'Grey' world who can be our allies, at least up to a point.

2008-08-24T12:03:00.000-07:00

To avoid any confusion, Manchester in this case means the City of Manchester as opposed to Greater Manchester. For people outside the conurbation this seems a continuous source of confusion; people often ascribe events in Salford, Bolton, Trafford etc to 'Manchester'.

The Green Party functions as Local Parties, (not 'branches, please) each of which occupy a geographical area based on one or more local authorities or constituencies. Manchester Green Party currently has the rather complicated area of the City of Manchester plus the constituency of Salford and Eccles. There are thriving Green Parties in the neighbouring metropolitan boroughs of Trafford, Tameside and Stockport , whilst South Lancashire Green Party (for now) covers the rest of Salford, Bolton, Bury and Wigan.

2008-08-24T11:42:00.000-07:00

Hello readers

This is the blog of Brian Candeland, currently Chair of Manchester Green Party. I am pretty new to this, and being on the upper side of 50 (slightly) may not be fully up to speed with current trends (having said that, I work in IT so should really have no excuse).

I intend this blog to be a combination of my own observations on events in Manchester and beyond from a Green perspective, and material which will hopefully aid the transition to a Green and sustainable society. Not everything I write may be strictly in line with current Green policy but I will flag up anything which might be controversial with a little (!) just to make it clear.

Having seen some of the existing green Party blogs, there are some hard acts to follow but I shall do my best.