More small business and other types in Knaresborough!

I love diversity.  Here's a selection of Knaresborough characters: the Town Cryer - wearing my hat, me wearing my new special (different size) boots from the excellent shoe shop on the High Street, Gigi in style in Starbeck, and Green Dragon Crafts stall - wearing a big smile... love it!  What a change from the faceless big brands.

Small business - lifeblood of the community

These are the types of local business we admire and support

A flurry of Hustings

Harrogate Chamber

Bilton WMC

Never a dull moment these days.  All the five candidates have slugged it out in a succession of well organised hustings.  As well as those illustrated, we sparred at a Joint Knaresborough Chamber with Churches Together event at King James' and the Harrogate Over-50s Forum yesterday.  The conduct of all has been well mannered and mainly non confrontational, but clear water is opening up on Corporate power, TTIP, NHS sell-off and the Austerity programme:  One (Green) v Four (greys)

Cats

What is it with cats at about 8pm this time of year?  Whilst out leafleting and chatting with people I've noticed they are all queueing up to go inside at this time.  Don't they want to stay out at night?  Maybe its too cold still...or maybe last night they wanted to watch the Leaders debate? .. They know that the Greens need to win if other species are to be protected from the ravages of corporate greed.

Register to vote by April 20th

Today Bill and I sallied forth into Knaresborough Market Place to encourage people to vote...  wondered where they all were: then realised they had all squashed into the pubs to watch the Grand National!  An outsider won....but the Greens are on target to win in Harrogate and Knaresborough

EU - need for reform

Just found this pic of me speaking to the European Greens (a few years ago - was it in Malmo?) about the need for a reformed EU...

Excitement at the Hustings

So far in the campaign to win Harrogate and Karesborough for the Greens, the hustings have been good natured and rather quiet affairs. That seemed to be the way last Thursday's event at the Cedar Court Hotel was going, until the subject of TTIP emerged. The Greens are confident that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership proposals are bad – bad for business, bad for Britain and particularly bad for the NHS. My assertion to this effect invoked a flat denial from the Lib Dem candidate, and the cry of 'liar' from someone in the audience.

So, what's the story?

In February this year, BBC Scotland revealed a leak from the EU negotiations, purporting to show that NHS services are exempt from the TTIP negotiations, currently being negotiated in great secrecy in Brussels. Now, one person's leak is often another mischievous plant, deliberately designed to misinform. This latter option is, I think, the situation here.

The leaked document has, in reality, been in the public domain since May 2014. So this is, in the words of War on Want, less of a news story and more of a spin operation. It confirms that the position of the NHS in the TTIP negotiations is worse than I described, the government knows this, and is deliberately trying to misinform the public to allay concerns. The whole rebuttal of the implications of the 'leak' can be seen here

Rather than being branded a liar, I should be applauded as a whistleblower!