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!

Knaresborough High Street - who is it for?

Meeting about trucks unloading in Knaresborough High St last Monday: main issue is the expectation that the town must dance to the tune of huge corporations.  Residents living above shops have to put up with unloading noise very early in mornings.. lack of flexibility on part of mega corps.  Old political parties don't question this power imbalance as they believe we have to keep going along the outdated 'growth for corporations' path (TTIP etc).  Greens question the  underlying paradigm so all our policy  takes us in a very different direction from the old political model..

Leafleting today

Leafleting :   its good exercise, and gives you a chance to take a closer look at everyone's gardens.  The variety in gardening styles is as diverse as the people whose gardens they are.  There are the gravel-only types and the push your way through the bushes types, and everything in between.  Today I saw a large brown rat, and a pond literally bulging with frogspawn...and loads of brand new spring flowers !!  Only one hostile dog behind a letter box.

3 cheers for the green surge!

Green Party parliamentary candidates for Yorks and the Humber (some of the many) in Leeds 7 Feb.

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!