Comedy Club - Greens get out a bit!

Last night we sloped along to Comedy Club at the lovely community run Frazer Theatre Knaresborough.  The crowd was in the swing when we arrived,  dressed  mainly in black and downing local beers.  We were immediately given a warm welcome to our seats by an unmistakeably Scouse guy: he and his partner had come east for the weekend and had seen this show was on...but they said they had asked locals the way to the Theatre, and noone had heard of it! Could have been the Comedy Club they hadn't heard of as its new to the Frazer....or does this mean that Knaresborough has a kind of double life? 

Anyway - back to the show:  it was excellent with 3 very different acts (Harriet Dyer and Peter Brush  first) - but beyond my wildest dreams in terms of the election campaign. Tom Toal, the MC, after finding that everyone he asked  in the audience worked in  IT, asked who has the most interesting job in the room so I put up my hand.  'Im standing for Parliament for the Greens,' I said.  Oh! he said, so what will you do for this area?  I went Wow - you really want me to say?...Yes he said.  Of course I hadn't prepared a speech, so I waffled something about making everything more friendly and not about money and greed...must have sounded very vague....but the Green theme continued throughout the evening.. with comments like 'I'll get the Green Party to sort you out'...

Tony Burgess , the 3rd act, was ecstatic about Knaresborough ...its like Narnia round here,  he said, even Christmas decorations still up in the market square, comparing it with his native Manchester - where you can't go for a walk in case they nick your legs and leave your torso on bricks.  He said what a diverse audience too...including an aspiring  Green MP....He asked if we had any BNP around here...then said 'NO - you will have sent them away- in a gondola or something!!'

The lovely Scouse couple (having compared notes with my Scouse husband, Bill)  said they will come along to Green Party conference in Liverpool in early March (the venue has had to be changed due to massive demand for places).  Several others commented warmly as well - so it was a fantastic night out in all respects and we shall be going again to Comedy Club!    

Letter to Horsforth School

Dear Sarah

Thank you very much for inviting Friends of the Earth to give the assemblies this week.  Its been a very enjoyable and interesting experience for me and I hope the students have learned a lot.  They certainly seemed to be interested and concerned about the issues we touched on.  One boy in yr 9  thanked me afterwards and said he was very interested and asked if a 13 yr old could really write to the council or MP (I had emphasised that it’s all our responsibility to DO something to stop the rot).  Of course I said yes.  Another girl (poss yr 8) very sweetly came to say sorry she had had to leave the room for health reasons – and she didn’t want me to think it was for any other reason.  Another boy asked where the nearest FOE group is  (Leeds – but no reason why students shouldn’t start their own local one)

It would be great if more schools invited FOE speakers  since it was worrying to discover that the  students seemed unaware of this well established organisation and most of these crucial issues, and I guess this will be the case with most young people at the moment.  I spoke briefly with Ms W and offered to come back to discuss things in more depth with your school council or any other group.  I also suggested the school might want to set up a hustings before the election in early May so that students can see and hear at first hand what each political party has to say about these issues.  Possibly parents and  the public could be invited too.   I did emphasise to the 6^th form that all these issues ARE political and they should get informed.  As you probably know, FOE is not aligned to any political party, but their policies are virtually identical to Green Party policy. You will see that I am a Green Party candidate for May’s election – but I didn’t mention this to the students since I was giving the talks on behalf of FOE.   I was, however,  in two minds about mentioning this, since I feel it’s important that young people  (particularly girls) know that politics is a route they might be interested to follow as a response to their concerns.

On a practical note – I wonder if the school might want to reimburse my travel expenses which amounted to about 30 pounds for the 5 days (train and bus).  I have tickets if that would help.

I left a poster with reception showing bee-friendly flowers and wonder if the school might consider making a wild flower meadow!   The Woodland Trust is offering free trees to schools at the moment.  Last but not least, regarding solar panels – please see FOE’s current project to encourage solar on school roofs: I know you have some – but maybe there is room for more?!

Please convey my thanks to Phil the techno wizard for his help and to everyone else who made my visits so pleasant.   Thank you again, Sarah,  for making the effort to invite us: having been a teacher myself, I know it’s a big effort to go beyond the excessive day to day workload to make external arrangements!

Very best wishes

Shan Oakes

For Friends of the Earth

Complaint to BBC

Your coverage of the Green Party was clearly restricted.  This is bias.  Green policy is the only coherent and positive alternative to the old establishment parties.  UKIP were covered ad nauseam.  The Green Party is growing very fast and Green councillors around the country are doing fantastic work and yet you ignore it.  This is undemocratic, unfair, and extremely damaging.  Decent journalism would consider the real alternatives in politics.  You are clearly an arm of the establishment and therefore not worth watching any more.

I am too tired after the election campaign (unfunded by corporations, unions or fatcat donors) to write any more - but I have no doubt you will be bombarded with similar complaints, since I have heard many people voice this issue..

Women in politics

Yesterday I drafted a press comment on behalf of the Executive in response to the publicity given to the paltry presence of women in government.

...‘That women feel  under-represented in and by government is no surprise.  The results of the  survey confirm what we already know through our conversations on the doorstep and in the streets and through observing the male-led policy-making of  the old grey political parties.   If more women had a real say in  choosing and running our  government, would we be buying a  new Trident missile system,  continuing to sell arms,  making a habit of  going to war,  bailing out and rewarding the (mostly male)  banking sector ... whilst cutting services and  benefits to  vulnerable people and those with disabilities? 

 As a woman in politics, it's frustrating to find one is often expected to fit in to the political stereotype of arguing about detail whilst the big issues (e.g. climate change, corporate exploitation of people and planet, democracy) are rarely mentioned.  To go to the root of the problem, to point out the elephant in the room (or that the emperor has no clothes) as many women tend to do, is often treated as naive -  ‘real’ politicians don’t mention that, do they?    

Politics needs women – not just in the UK,  but worldwide.  It is an outrage that at least half of the world’s population is marginalised.   On top of that, in the UK, the first-past-the-post electoral system means that  most people justifiably feel that their vote doesn’t count and/or that they can’t vote for a party they believe in  - so it’s really not surprising when the turnout at elections is so low.‘

We have a lively Green Party Women group in the Party  and we are working hard to ensure women are empowered to come forward as candidates as we see equality as fundamental to progress towards a sustainable world.  The Green Party has just elected its new Equality and Diversity Committee to ensure we  continuously improve. 

According to a report from the Centre for Women & Democracy  :

...at the 2010 General Election there were more candidates standing than ever before (4,134). There were also more women candidates than ever before (877), constituting a greater percentage of candidates than previously (21% as against 20% in 2005, 18% in 1997 and 8% in 1979).

The report noted that the Green Party had the highest percentage of women candidates (33% - a slightly inaccurate figure) followed by Labour (30%), the Conservative Party (24%) and the Liberal Democrats (21%).'

Letter to Beverley Guardian - hypocrisy

Dear Sir,

A meeting has been called in Beverley  this Friday 25^th Nov at 2pm  about increasing homelessness and  lack of jobs in the area (for detail call  874096).  Considering the ConDem policies of blaming/punishing the poor (by cutting public services and pensions)  for the sins and greed of the banks  and corporations ,  it’s a bit rich that our MP has expressed concern about the issues and may attend this meeting.  Unfortunately we can’t be there,  but if we were, we would be asking him exactly how he thinks that his turbo-capitalist policies are going to help.   It’s the government’s job to understand the big picture and act accordingly….but all it is doing is promoting business as usual.  It’s repeating the mistakes of the 1930s.   It’s so tied in with the toxic financial, commercial, energy and military  ‘establishment’ that it can’t accept that things have to change radically now (in light of the crises in oil, most other resources, climate,  economy, ecology and society)  to promote  local economies and local sustainability – as in the Transition Towns initiative ( and there is now a local group) and explained by the Green Party deputy leader  next Thursday Dec 1^st at Norwood Methodist Church, 7.30pm.   

The Government will say it is trying to promote ‘growth’ (ie supporting the CITY of London,  big business and more globalisation -  the very things responsible for global physical and economic overheating,  wars for resources, arms proliferation,  etc.)  It is blinkered,  to say the least.     Einstein said:     ‘We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them’.  We are overdue for a big (positive and exciting) change in our thinking.

We do hope that others will make these points at the meeting    (as well as trying to find ways to patch up the expanding holes in the local economy and services)

sincerely

Shan Oakes

East Riding  Green Party