Green Tories ? - an oxymoron

Letter to Beverley Guardian

 

Dear sir

I wonder if our local Tory MP, Graham Stuart, was  one of the group questioning the Prime Minister on his lack of commitment to green policies?  I have asked him, but somehow I doubt it.  Perhaps he would like to let the readers of this paper know where he stands on this crucial issue.

Whether David Cameron actually used the words ‘green crap’ or not,  that phrase sums up  what is now quite clear:  his complete U-turn on aspiring to be ‘the greenest government ever’.  He is utterly dismissive about real green issues and the radical agenda that is so desperately needed now.   In the face of climate change, and devastation of nature and communities on an unparalleled global scale, he can think only in terms of what suits the corporations which fund the Tories (and cause the devastation) – resulting in our being stuck in the same old  paradigm of fossil fuels, fracking, more and more cars on more and bigger roads,   stupidly fast  trains cutting swathes through the countryside for a few minutes’ saving on journey time (does the frantic rat-race really need yet more speed?), factory-style agriculture which kills the soil and  soaks the land and water supplies with chemicals which end up in our bodies, selling off our public services like the NHS and schools,  blaming the poor and vulnerable for the crimes of City bankers and corporate tax dodgers - not to mention promoting sales of arms worldwide  - often  to regimes which use them on their own citizens.

The only way out of this economic , social and environmental mess is through REAL progress:  a transformation of the economy through a transformation of our values - and that needs political leadership.   The Greens work for this on a European and global level.  We need modernisation and sustainability in the best sense:  millions of new jobs improving all our buildings to  insulate them properly against the cold,  a determined  push for all  the varieties of renewable energy, better integrated public transport and  urban cycling strategies ( like they have in places like Copenhagen), promotion of local foods and local communities and excellent public services. 

This, though, takes vision and political courage – something which is in very short supply in all  the (almost indistinguishable)  puppet political parties who  dance to the corporate tune of ‘growth’ on our small and finite planet.