It’s been a dank and dismal day here in the Calder Valley which was a shame as I’d hoped to start a new week in positive fashion. Sadly it wasn’t to be. Added to the gloom was the bounce I felt yesterday as I thought I was shaking off Covid bounced the opposite way today! This isn’t uncommon apparently. You have good days and bad days, it’s just the bad days get less bad. I’d tried to keep busy with paperwork and preparing for the week and even ventured out for a walk on my own through the local woods where I wasn’t likely to come into contact with people, but by the time I got back I was knackered! The stamina levels obviously still need a bit of tweaking. To that end I’ve loosened the reins on eating and drinking. After all, there’s got to be some pleasures left in life. Thankfully, Dawn still seems to be Covid free even though she feels that not all cylinders are firing.
Away from our own concerns there’s the tragedy of the Ukraine still unfolding. I’m resisting blogging about this (for now) as I need to be in full spleen-vent to describe my feelings about what’s going on, the atrocities occurring and the senseless waste of life on all sides. Because of this I did snap at one point earlier today when I saw a young HS2 opponent tweet about how the protesters were suffering ‘lifelong trauma’. What? from events that never happened? For years the protesters have complained about ‘brutality’ from police and security. This ‘brutality’ happens just as soon as someone says ‘no’ to them. A classic example would be a trespasser refuses to move despite several requests to do so, so the police/security use their powers and exercise reasonable force (as they’re legally entitled to do). As soon as the protester has a finger laid upon them they start screaming about being ‘assaulted’. Oh, please! Despite these protests having lasted for 5 years the only convictions for assault have been of protesters. Several charges and arrest warrants are outstanding but certain people have ‘disappeared’ in the hope of evading the police. Even though said protesters nearly all carry camera-phones to record their antics they’ve never yet managed to film a single genuine assault and the video they do produce often leads to the exact opposite result in court. Now, I’m not taking sides here (other than that of the law). If any member of HS2 security or the police does actually assault a protester they should have the book thrown at them. But that’s up to a real court to rule upon, not the court of social media. Frankly, I find it insulting that people who’ve suffered genuine traumas in their lives are being compared to a protester being told ‘no, the law applies to you too’ who them makes stuff up. It’s disappointing to see some mainstream greens supporting this position but I can see their dilemma.
The Green party began from a protest movement and it’s struggling to be a mainstream political party with aspirations of political power. It’s torn in too many directions. Because with power comes responsibility. How could you pass laws when you encourage people to break laws? It’s a question some greens would rather you don’t ask – especially coming up to the May elections. How can they reconcile support for the tactics of people allied to the Extinction Rebellion banner who routinely break the law (sometimes receiving custodial sentences) and at the same time criticise the Johnson Goverment for its law-breaking without looking like hypocrites. Clearly in ‘green’ eyes some laws are more equal than others. This leaves a huge hostage to fortune and the right-wing media an open goal.
Anyway, enough of these musings. I’m sure I’ll be revisiting them again in the future. In the meantime, here’s the picture of the day which relates to some of my earlier comments. We spotted this on out walk on Norland Moor yesterday.
The sooner this war criminal’s in the bin the better…
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I woke up this morning to the news that the Lib-Dems had pulled off what many thought improbable if not impossible and taken the safe Tory seat of Amersham and Chesham in a by-election. Here’s a breakdown of the result c/o Wikipedia
It’s an impressive result, especially when you consider this has been a safe Tory seat since it was established in 1974.
As usual, we’re seeing all sorts of claims about why this has happened. Many are trying to blame it on purely local issues like HS2 and the proposed reform of planning regulations. Good old Nimbyism in other words! What none of these commentators can explain is – if HS2 really was the issue, why now? The project has been around since 2009 and never lost the Tories the seat, even when UKIP were around and stood on an anti HS2 platform. Take a look at the 2017 general election results, the last time UKIP stood. Despite HS2 having gained Royal Assent earlier that year, UKIP’s share of the vote collapsed. They went from 2nd place in 2015 with 7218 votes down to 1525, a fall of just under 79%. In fact, the swing that year was from the Tories to Labour (who also endorsed HS2).
Now HS2’s being built, construction’s well under way so the time to try and stop it is long gone. So *why* would it cause such a political upset now when it never has before – even when the 2nd placed party opposed it in 2015? Why would people who, if they wanted to send a political message about HS2, wait 11 years to send said message? Why wait until the project’s gone from the drawing board, all the way through Parliament via two Governments to actual construction? Talk about shutting the stable door! This is why the idea simply isn’t credible.
Also, whilst the 2021 winner (Sarah Green) may have made anti HS2 noises her party nationally backs the project – as can be seen from this – which is pretty plain.
In fact, the only party of any national standing in this by-election that actually opposed HS2 is the Green party. Their candidate (Caorlyne Culver) ran a vehemently anti HS2 campaign where it was literally all she talked about! Imagine, a ‘green’ who didn’t once mention Climate Change in her campaign and focussed exclusively on local Nimby issues. That must have worked, right? Wrong.
The Greens share of the vote dropped by 1.6%, but that doesn’t tell the full story. When Alan Booth stood for the Greens in the 2019 general election he collected 3042 votes and increased the greens share from 3% to 5.5%
Culver only managed to attract 1,480 votes, a fall of over 51% on their 2019 result. Yet HS2 is meant to be the issue that ‘swung’ it for the Lib-Dems? Of course, blaming HS2 is a convenient smokescreen for some people. It’s noticeable that so many right-wingers are doing exactly that as a ‘look over there’ tactic to avoid talking about what’s likely to be a much more important issue – Brexit and the shambolic performance of the Government on a range of of issues, including Covid and the economy. Plus, blaming HS2 fits their narrative. The right have always despised the project as it’s public infrastructure, hence the likes of the Taxpayers Alliance and IEA always banging on about it. Both big Brexit supporters, you can see why they find it convenient to use HS2 to say ‘look over there’. You can see this phenomenon most on Twitter, where anonymous ‘flag-shagger’ accounts like this one who retweet the likes of John Redwood and the ‘Guido’ website have gone into overdrive.
Also, let’s not forget the fact Chesham and Amersham voted Remain in the 2016 referendum.
There’s clearly other issues at play here other than HS2 but no-one wants to talk about them. There’s obviously been a strong ‘get the Tories out’ movement here as people are disatisfied with Boris Johnson’s government. Look at the actual turnout, which is down by nearly a quarter. Many Tories have obviously decided to stay at home. Plus, look at the collapse of the Labour vote, down by 11.2%, how many Labour voters have decided to vote tactically – and not because of HS2 either!
There’s another clue that the issue of HS2 has been exaggerated thanks to a petition on the Government website that (co-incidentally) closed after 6 months on polling day in Chesham. Started by celebrity petrolhead and car advertiser (don’t you mean ‘environmentalist’? Ed) Chris Packham and backed by the Green Party, Extinction Rebellion and a rag-bag of political interests from left and right, it managed a measly 155,000 signatures UK-wide. To put that into perspective 2.6 million live in constituencies affected by HS2. So, how many signed in Amersham? Actually, it got the best result of anywhere in the UK, but that’s nothing to crow about! Just 4.05% of C&A’s 96046 constituents signed it in 6 months. Which means 96% couldn’t be bothered. Yet (supposedly) they could be bothered to change their long held political allegiences for the very first time in yesterday’s by-election. I smell bovine excrement…
No doubt certain people will continue to try and blame HS2 as a way of ignoring the real reasons people have elected the Lib-Dems and HS2 opponents are already trying to pretend this has strengthened their campaign. Really? How? CCHQ already know there are other far more real issues at play here across the Tory Shires, hence their increasing nervousness – and HS2 only affects a small number of constituencies. In May the Independent published this well-informed article about the Lib-Dems election chaces. Written by Andrew Woodcock it never even mentions HS2 as an issue, pointing out that there are far more important things in play.
As for the Green party, this was an awful result for them. They let their candidate run an appallingly dishonest and parochial campaign (see this blog). If HS2 was such a big thing, they should have increased their vote, instead they did the opposite. Their big question now is will they learn from their mistake – doubtful as they refuse to listen to anyone but themselves. As of Friday night the Chiltern Green party still couldn’t bring itself to update their website or Facebook account to even mention the result! It’s like it never happened!
No doubt the ructions of this result will continue to echo around for days as many people try to put their spin on it. The Psephologists will be going into a frenzy of speculation over what it means for the Government, the opposition and maybe even HS2.
What won’t happen is HS2 being cancelled, despite the extravagent claims. In the meantime, go get some popcorn and enjoy the media fun!
Next week I’ll be blogging from the Calvert area as I’ll be on an HS2 site visit, showing you what’s really happening on the ground, away from the rarified atmosphere of political punditry and daft claims.
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Over the past few years I’ve become increasingly cynical about the ‘green’ credentials of the Green Party of England and Wales (please note, the Scottish Green party is a seperate entity and a very different kettle of fish, they’re actually sensible!) mainly because I had to study their policies on transport, rail privatisation and High-Speed 2 way back in 2015. Everything I’ve experienced since has made me even more cynical. Frankly, as a ‘green’ party, they’re not fit for purpose. They’re little more than a posturing protest group where dogmatism is allowed to override science and facts.
The latest example of this is the antics of their candidate for the Chesham and Amersham by-election on June 17th. The local ‘green’ party chose one Carolyne Culver who is currently the leader of the ‘Green’ group on West Berkshire council.
The by-election was called following the death of the sitting Conservative MP, Dame Cheryl Gillan, who passed away on the 4th April 2021. Gillan was a Brexit supporter and opposer of the High Speed 2 railway which passes through the constituency.
The ‘Greens’ have decided that the ‘cunning plan’ of their campaign in Amersham and Chesham will be to base it around a single issue (opposition to HS2) in the hope of attracting the ‘Nimby’ vote. To that end Culver is running one of the most cynical and opportunistic campaigns I’ve ever seen from the GPEW. Imagine, a party that’s supposedly concerned about ‘green’ issues and global climate change pandering to parochialism, nimbyism and self interest – and the truth (and science) be damned!
Here’s an example. This is Culver’s statement on the local Green party website.
Carolyne says,
“The people of Chesham and Amersham have been taken for granted for too long. The government should scrap HS2 and invest in local services and infrastructure instead. The destruction of the environment, homes and businesses must stop. HS2 tunnel boring has started, threatening the chalk aquifer and water supply. The residents of this constituency are bearing the brunt of this project but will gain nothing from it. At the same time, they have to put up with poor quality, unsafe roads and inadequate bus services.
“Spending more than £100bn on HS2 is frankly obscene. The Covid-19 pandemic has taught us that we need to spend more on the NHS and adult social care, school students who have missed out on education, and helping people back into work and to reskill.
“I have campaigned alongside local residents and other Green Party members to protect Jones Hill Wood and the Leather Lane oaks. I have witnessed the anger, despair and disbelief of residents affected by HS2. If elected to parliament I would be a fearless advocate for local people and opponent of HS2.”
So, no mention of anything to do with anything outside of local issues and forget GLOBAL Climate Change! It’s a manifesto for Nimbys, nothing more. It’s also pure posturing. HS2’s being built, now. Even if by a miracle Culver was elected (she won’t be) it’s a dead issue as far as Parliament is concerned. She can no more stop it than fly in the air.
There’s more…
This is the “vote Culver” website which contains the following gems.
“Carolyne is the only candidate endorsed by the Stop HS2 campaign”. Well, ignoring for a moment that campaign is as dead as a Dodo now that Joe Rukin hung up his inflateable white elephant for the final time earlier this year, it’s also bizarre thing to boast about because this conflicts with the Green Party policy TR244, which says “The Green Party supports the principle of a new north-south high speed line which would reduce the number of short-haul flights within the UK.” Except when it actually comes to putting your money where your mouth is and building one, obviously! Hypocritical, much? Confused, much?
It gets worse. Culver is shown on her website holding this banner.
That’s 6 claims – and not a single one is true! Let’s go through them.
‘Biggest deforestation’? I nailed that lie here. It’s not even close…
108 Woodlands ‘destroyed’ Another lie nailed. In fact, not a single ancient woodland is destroyed (but a minority do suffer some loss of area).
‘Experts say’? No, experts (plural) don’t say. In fact, only one man has claimed this, Lord Berkeley’s sidekick Micheal Byng. It’s a figure no-one else recognises. Oh, and as for the HS2 only ‘saves’ 15 minutes, that’s complete cobblers too, as the official journey times show. Culver seems unaware (or just doesn’t care) that HS2 isn’t just a Euston to Birmingham service only running between the two stations so there are multiple journey time savings. This claim was always idiotic, it’s even more idiotic now that HS2’s being built from Birmingham to Crewe, but does Culver care? Obviously not.
No ‘local’ benefits? HS2 frees up capacity on lines running through the constituency, it also helps take lorries off the roads (cutting local pollution), can reduce domestic aviation and contribute to UK GDP (which benefits everyone) – and cut transport Co2 emissions which benefits the whole planet, not just a few local Nimbys.
The old Working From Home (WFH) and videoconferencing claim isn’t borne out by any real statistics either, least of all by the fact road traffic’s almost back to pre-Covid levels and rail traffic continues to recover. It’s middle-class wishful thinking, nothing more. The reality is the majority of people can’t work from home.
Err, no taxes are paying for HS2, like most big-ticket infrastucture projects and Government spending, the money’s borrowed on the Gilts markets where the costs of borrowing have reached historic lows.
Oh, and as for that ‘NHS not HS2’ economic illiteracy – I dealt with that here.
Still, facts eh? Carolyne clearly wouldn’t know one if it bit her.
There’s (yet) more. Here’s an interview Culver gave to the Bucks Free Press which is a rehash of all the daft claims off her website plus extra scaremongering about local water supplies.
What’s facinating and depressing about all of Culvers electioneering is the way she’s running a rabidly parochial campaign all about local issues like potholes and with an obsessive focus on HS2. You’d be forgiven for thinking she’s running for the position of Councillor, not Member of Parliament. None of the great issues of the day – like Brexit, the economy, or most bizarrely – Climate Change – even get a mention!
So, what’s her background? Could that help explain this? Her bio says;
“Ms Culver, a Green Party county councillor in West Berkshire, has spent much of her career working in communications in the charity and university sectors, including the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust and the University of Oxford. She has also been a teacher, lecturer and journalist.”
Hang on, how can someone who’s educated and worked most of her life in PR and Comms be so tone deaf and inept? Her campaign’s a PR car-crash – literally! Here’s a classic example from this week, when another ‘Green’ party car crash (Natalie Bennet of ‘brain fade’ fame) popped in. What did the two of them do? Toured HS2 worksites – in a 2014 built petrol-driven car! Here’s a Green party candidate who opposes building a green electric railway that we need to get modal shift from road/air to rail to tackle global climate change and she’s touring around the sites in a petrol driven car!
Needless to say, this Tweet soon attracted attention – and it wasn’t kind…
Sadly, like most ‘green’ candidates or members of the heirachy, Culver doesn’t like being questioned or challenged. Raise any of these issues with her or ask how someone from a party whose priority is supposedly global climate change can run such a parochial, fact-free campaign and this happens…
See what I mean about that tone-deafness?
The really dumb thing about this apparently experienced communications and PR ‘wizard’ running an anti HS2 based campaign is that Culver hasn’t bothered learning about Cheshaam and Amersham’s political history in relation to HS2, because Culver’s not the first one to optimistically think opposing HS2 will win her a safe-Tory seat. UKIP tried that one too!
Let’s delve into a bit of history…
The Chesham and Amersham seat was formed in 1974. Only two MPs have held it in all that time – both Tory. Dame Cheryl Gillan first won it in 1992 and held it until her death this year. Although she was a Brexiter, the area returned the biggest Remain vote on the UK mainland at 55%, it was second only to Gibralter. But, like many Tory MPs what mattered to Gillan wasn’t the views of her constituents, it was her local Tory party association who are the real power behind MPs and their views. Nonetheless, on the back of HS2 passing through the area and the vocal cries of a Nimby minority, UKIP were persuaded that if they stood on an anti HS2 platform they just might take the seat. Hence bombastic nonsense like this.
UKIP were to be disappointed as the local HS2 nimbys had been writing cheques they couldn’t cash by boasting of support thay didn’t have as the General election results in 2010, 2015 and 2017 demonstrate. Oh, they also show the problem Culver and the ‘Greens’ have. How on earth does she think she’s going to persuade dyed-in-the-wool Tory voters to vote ‘Green’ when they couldn’t even bring themselves to vote for a party that was so close to many Tory hearts (UKIP)?
UKIP never got close to unseating Gillan, despite HS2 and the ‘Green’ vote has been up and down like a bride’s nightie! In 2019 it was 3042, or 5.5%, only mariginally better than it was in 2015!
So, Culver doesn’t stand a hope in hell of winning. Her only achievement by running such a fact-free and parochial campaign will be to tarnish the national party’s image even further. I mean seriously, a ‘green’ candidate who campaigns on potholes and better roads, but doesn’t even mention Climate Change? It’s time the GPEW grasped the nettle that’s their mad policy on HS2 before it does them any more damage. Sadly, with the dogmatic leadership they’ have in place, I can’t see that happening, which takes us back to the theatre of the absurd. By pushing ahead with HS2, Boris Johnson and his Government have proved (with their rail policy anyway) they’re actually greener that the ‘green’ party! How absurd is that!
UPDATE: 6th June 2021.
Things haven’t got any better with the ‘green’ party. Exactly the opposite in fact. Seemingly stung by the criticisms of their campaign, the Chiltern ‘green’ party has resorted to blocking anyone on Twitter who has the temerity to question the wisdom of their campaign – including other Green party members and voters!
It’s a classic example of ‘groupthink’ and why the party is so out of touch with ordinary voters. Mind you, as this policy come right from the top and is practised by the majority of ‘green’ leaders it’s hardly any wonder it’s taken up by the grassroots. The ‘greens’ block list is beginning to resemble an old London telephone directory in size!
It’s incredibly unhealthy for a supposed democratic party but then I’ve always maintained that the ‘greens’ are no such thing, as they’re proving by their actions. This is a protest group that brooks no dissent from the party orthodoxy.
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The Joseph de Maistre quote that “Every nation gets the government it deserves” has never been more apt. Sadly, it’s not just Governments, but politicians in general. Have we ever had such a lacklustre bunch – of all political shades?
Here’s an example – and a confession.
I used to vote for this person when I lived in London. By instinct I’m a natural green voter. But, over the past few years I’ve had a lot of interaction with the party’s politicians potential candidates and members. Now, I wouldn’t touch the Green Party with a barge-pole, because their dogmatic indifference to the science and the real issues – as well as their ineptness and dishonesty – is infuriating.
Here’s yesterday’s example. This blustering tweet from Baroness Jenny Jones regarding the HS2 Phase 2a: High Speed Rail (West Midlands to Crewe) Bill which is about to complete its journey through the House of Lords.
“Fight”, Jones? A fight is something you have a chance of winning. There is no fight as the Hs2 bill is already a ‘done deal’ – this is pure bluster. Either Jones doesn’t know how Parliament works (quite possible) or she’s being dishonest and grandstanding (equally possible). Of course, it might even be both as Jones has repeatedly proved attention to detail or facts really isn’t her forte. But then she is a also a ‘Green’ who backed Brexit in this infamous shambolic justification.
What Jones isn’t being honest about is the Hybrid Bill process. This starts in the House of Commons then moves to the Lords. Here’s the full timeline of the Phase 2a bill.
Now, what Jones either doesn’t know or isn’t admitting is that some stages are more important than others. The most crucial of which is the 2nd reading of the bill in the House of Commons. If a bill gets a majority at this stage then the ‘principle’ of the bill is established. That means it’s gone beyond the point of no return. It cannot be stopped. Oh, amendments to the principle can be made at Committee stage, but the bill cannot fail.
Second reading – the general debate on all aspects of the Bill – took place on the 30th January 2018. The bill passed by 295 votes to 12, a massive majority of 283. The 12 opposing were the usual suspects, many of whom representing constituencies HS2 passes through.
Of course, some of the 12 have since left Parliament! Meanwhile, when the Bill passed 3rd reading in the Commons on the 15th July 2019 the Bill had 263 votes for and 17 votes against – another huge majority.
So, since January 2018 there’s been no ‘fight’ against the bill. To reinforce that fact when the bill had its 2nd reading in the Lords on the 9th September 2019 it passed without a vote as it was clear there was no need for a ‘division’. Why? Because there’s something else Jones isn’t telling people – HS2 enjoys even more support in the House of Lords than it does in the House of Commons! This isn’t a ‘fight’, it’s a walkover! The final stages of the bill are now a formality, it’s only a matter of time now before it receives Royal Assent, at which point it becomes law. This afternoon the bill is back in the Lords at what’s known as the ‘reports’ stage. This gives a further chance to closely scrutinise elements of the bill and consider (minor) changes – nothing more, as the Lords Ctte noted themselves on Page 6 of their report.
“It is not for this Committee to consider the general merits of the scheme. Parliament has already approved it by passing the 2017 Act and by giving a second reading in both Houses to the West Midlands–Crewe bill. We note these general issues by way of background”.
So Jones is blustering. Needless to say, quite a few people pointed this out to her on Twitter. Her response? A mixture of arrogance and (typical of Green party ‘leaders’) an absolute unwillingness to listen to opposing views. Jones clearly prefers the security of her own little echo-chamber.
Worse was to come. How’s this for an example of patronising contempt – and cringeworthy sexism!
“Big boy toys”? Seriously?
Sadly, this sort of stuff is par for the course from Jones who is one of the main architects of the Green Party’s mad policy to oppose HS2. Still, it’s a good example of why they can’t be taking seriously as a credible political party. There’s a whiff of good, old fashioned Stalinism about the way they won’t tolerate any dissent – either from ordinary voters or within their own ranks.
Why does this matter? Good question. The Green Party only have one MP and their chance of getting any more is pretty much zero. But…
Climate Change is the biggest issue facing us all. We need a credible, strong, Green Party to continue to push for positive change and work with others to achieve it.
An illustration of the problem. These are the Medway viaducts in Kent. the two massive and wide motorway bridges dwarf the graceful high-speed 1 railway viaduct in the background. Now, guess which form of transport the Green Party spend all their time and energy in opposing?
Sadly, that’s the last thing we’ve got. Instead we have a bunch of tone-deaf people at the head of a dogmatic party that’s incapable of meaningful engagement with ordinary voters. So where does that leave politically homeless people like me who can see the problem? I’m damned if I know.
UPDATE:
Anyone looking forward to some political pugilism as promised in Jones’ bluster will have been sadly disappointed by this afternoon’s debate. It was a walkover!
I won’t bore you with the political minutiae and ins and outs of the procedure that involved Lord Berkeley trying to put forward an amendment using Transport and Works Act Orders as a way of delaying the bill’s progress, but it failed. Badly. From the outset it was clear Berkeley had no support, so he didn’t even press for a ‘division’ (vote), instead he withdrew his amendment.
And that was the end of that! Jones did speak, but there was no ‘fight’ in her. In an anondyne speech (sans StopHs2 T-Shirt) the gist of which was “I like trains, me”, she expressed her concern that people weren’t being listened to and that there was a lot of expertise out there people weren’t paying attention to!
“I think people should be listened to – and I’ll block or mute the first person who dares argue with me”!
Her weapons-grade hypocrisy nearly caused a coffee/keyboard interface issue here in Bigland Towers. The same person who was boasting on Twitter how she blocks and mutes people who don’t agree with her lecturing on ‘listening’? You couldn’t make this stuff up!
One bright point of the debate was Lord Adonis who was as fluent and passionate as ever, gently poking fun at Lord Berkeley and making the case for HS2’s Eastern leg whilst sporting a rather impressive tie!
If you want to watch the events on Parliament TV, you can follow this link, which will take you to it. After Lord Berkeley’s amendment was withdrawn the debate continued to discuss HS2 and another amendment from Lord Adonis that would commit the Government to building the Eastern leg of HS2. Lord after Lord from all sides of the political spectrum spoke in favour of, including many Ex-Government Ministers like Lord Blunkett (Labour) and McLoughlin (Conservative). Anyone watching the debate would be left in no doubt of the strength of support for HS2 in the Lords!
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Well, the Green Party of England and Wales anyway. The Scottish Green party is a separate entity and seems to be far more sensible and less dogmatic than the GPEW.
As someone who fits the profile of what looks like a natural Green party supporter and who’s voted for them in the past, I now find myself actively opposing them. Why? Because of their dogmatic and dishonest stance on railways and especially the High Speed 2 (HS2) rail project. It was this stance that made me look deeper at GPEW policy several years ago. It led to a long blog where I dissected their policy and the outright misrepresentations it contained.
Sadly, nothing has changed since. If anything the Greens leadership has become even more hardline about HS2 – and even more dishonest. That’s often the problem when you get caught up in a lie. You either come clean and admit it or you double-down on it. The Greens have taken the latter course.
The truly sad thing is this lie completely undermines everything the Green Party is meant to stand for. Why? Well, the UK’s biggest emitter of carbon dioxide nowadays is transport. The details can be found in this Government paper. As it points out –
As such, you’d expect the GPEW to have a laser-like focus on cutting transport Co2 emissions, wouldn’t you?
Exactly the opposite. Because, whilst the Greens have a mealy-mouthed policy of supporting UK High-Speed rail ‘in principle’, they vehemently oppose it in practice. In other words, they’re nothing more than hypocrites. But they don’t just stop at hypocrisy. Take a look at this Tweet from Caroline Russell. “Who she?” I hear you ask? Well, amongst other things, Russell is the GPEW Spokesperson on Transport.
As you can see from Russell’s list of roles and the fact she lives in North London, this is no rural Green Party Councillor living out in the sticks, who cycles to local meetings in-between knitting her own yoghurt. Russell is at the centre of things and has access to transport experts and a wealth of knowledge. So how can she come out with something as unutterably stupid as this tweet?
HS2 “shaves minutes” off ‘the’ journey between two major cities? Seriously? Has Russell ever bothered to look at a map of HS2? Because if she had, you’d expect her to have noticed that (from day 1) HS2 serves more than just two cities!“Two cities”? Oh, please…
As for the “shaving minutes” nonsense, let’s have a look at a few sample times.
“Shaving” a few minutes? Hmm…
Not only does this point out that HS2 will serve 8 out of 10 of our largest cities, it looks beyond Russell’s obsession with London and Birmingham to highlight some rather spectacular journey time cuts. For example, Birmingham to Manchester is cut by 52% and Birmingham to Leeds is cut by a whopping 58%. Rail’s market share on both these routes is small because the existing journey times are slow and the trains are cramped Cross-Country ‘Voyagers’ of 4-5 cars. The services via Leeds also start/finish way beyond the core route and are often crowded before they reach either location.
Such journey time cuts are ideal to get people out of their cars and onto trains -as will be the new trains as they’ll be far superior to the product on offer now. Then there’s the massive increase in capacity HS2 adds to the existing rail network (for both passenger and freight services) that’s the real winner, because without it our rail network can’t cope with any shift from road/air to rail. Remember, before the pandemic, our existing rail network was creaking at the seams as it tried to cope with record numbers of passengers travelling on record numbers of trains running. It simply couldn’t cope with huge numbers of new passengers.
But surely? That’s what the Greens want, isn’t it? If we’re going to get people and freight off roads to cut transport Co2 emissions we need to provide the rail capacity to be able to do it?
Not according to the GPEW! According to Russell, some local electric buses and a few more local trains will do it! Quite how we’re meant to fit those local trains through choke-points like Birmingham New St, Leeds or Manchester Piccadilly is never explained – because the Greens don’t do explanations. Nor do they listen to the experts who point these things out.
Russell’s tweet begs the question, is (despite her being the Green’s Transport Spokesperson) she spectacularly ignorant and ill-informed, or – is this deliberate misinformation? But it’s not just Russell, you’ll hear this misinformation from many other ‘Green’ leaders too – like Bartley, Jones, and Bennett. It’s endemic and institutionalised.
It illustrates exactly why I won’t touch the Green party with a barge-pole, and I’m not alone. Their blind dogma and refusal to deal with the fact their policy on the railways and HS2 in particular is a dishonest mess that actually prevents them being credible (never mind actually tackling Climate Change) is maddening, but it’s so deeply ingrained in them I believe the GPEW is a write-off.
Sad to say, if you want genuine Green solutions to tackle climate-change. Don’t vote Green…
Sometimes, you really have to wonder. I’ve been occupied scanning old slides again this evening as Dawn’s busy on a Reiki course, so whilst I’ve been waiting for the scanner to perform its (slow) miracles I’ve been keeping an eye on social media – which is when I spotted this gem..
Seriously? F**k me, who knew that for thousands of years people have used various (mostly humane) methods to deter birds? Have the RSPB never heard of Scarecrows, or the farmers that set off shotgun cartridges on a timer – or Network Rail patrolling some of its stations like this? “Ethically dubious”?
If this is the desperate intellectual level some of our environmental groups are reduced to, you do have to start asking – what’s the point of you? What problems are you really going to solve with rubbish like this – and why on earth should we take you seriously?
Needless to say, it wasn’t long before arch HS2 critic Chris Packham piled in in his own unthinking fashion with this tweet.
Holding nature in ‘contempt’ by using birds to scare off birds? Talk about mental gymnastics! The sad thing is that knee-jerk rubbish like this only makes it easier for people to dismiss environmental groups as cranks. It gives ammunition to the opposition, nothing more, but nothing that Packham comes out with surprises me anymore. Let’s face it, a man who flies people half-way around the world on expensive bird-watching tours of the Gambia (for which he earns a pretty penny) trying to stop people in the UK from being able to travel on a carbon-neutral railway is the height of hypocrisy.
I’ll look forward to the next chapter of this madness, the RSPCA starting a campaign against people buying cats to scare away mice perhaps? For God’s sake – no-one tell them about Felix, the Huddersfield station cat!
Yesterday the Green party and StopHs2 held a joint demonstration outside the Department of Transport in London. To say it was a bit of a flop is an understatement. The event was widely advertised on social media by anti Hs2 groups and the Green party – for all the good it did. Here’s an example.
Notice that 27 people claim to have attended? This is a piss-poor number when you consider the number of people who supposedly oppose HS2. As is my habit, let’s crunch some numbers to get a bit of perspective.
Over 6.5 million people live in the 63 Parliamentary constituencies HS2 will pass through.
The Green Party are estimated to have a membership of 48,500.
StopHs2 have 11,849 Facebook followers. Many of whom will have seen this leaflet.
Now, allowing for the fact there’s clearly crossover between these different groups, you’d expect a reasonable turn-out, wouldn’t you? Especially as the demonstration was taking place in Central London, thus within easy reach of many of those supposedly up in arms about HS2, No?
No. Here’s a few pictures from the event, which was timed to take place between 3-4pm. The first one is the sort of tightly-cropped pictures that you’ll see the media use, making it look like there’s actually something going on.
Here’s Green party ‘co-leader’ Jonathan Bartley, (right) singing the praises of Mark Keir, their candidate in Uxbridge who’s standing against Boris Johnson. In the foreground is Sarah Green, another Uxbridge campaigner who’d been in court that morning to have (yet another) injunction taken out against her tiny protest group. In the background, dressed as a tree, is StopHs2 ‘campaign manager’ Joe Rukin.
Here’s what the media won’t show you. This is a view of the full event, which shows you just how pathetically small is was! I count a total of 15 people, including 3 members of the media. Even the police didn’t bother showing up! The only security is a couple of DfT staff stood discretely in the background.
Here’s another shot, after the media had left but including one innocent passer-by on her phone. This is the best both the ‘combined might’ of the Green party and StopHs2 can do – in Central London! Quite where the others out of the 27 who claimed to have gone were is a mystery. But then it’s like the social media ‘keyboard warriors’ who spend all their time ranting about Hs2 on Twitter or Facebook – but never get out of their armchairs when it comes to doing anything else.
Here’s a short video, just in case stills aren’t convincing enough!
I’ve not seen any media coverage of this as I’m assuming it wasn’t considered newsworthy, which is hardly surprising. Bartley gave a speech to camera in which he trotted out the usual scaremongering nonsense about ‘ecocide’ and ‘concreting over’ the countryside. mark Keir also spoke to the camera. What he said was more interesting because of what he let slip. He appealed for more people to turn up to the Uxbridge protests because they’re desperately short of bodies on the ground. If you follow his and the other protesters farcical antics on Facebook it’s easy to see why!
The whole protest reveals something about the UK green party, which is that they’ve very little credibility as anything more than a protest group – which is clearly what they’re happiest being. They have several credibility issues, one of which is the calibre of their candidates and Mark Kier is a good example of this. I’ve no doubt of his commitment, but there are serious questions about his fitness to be a candidate. OK, it’s fair to say that the whole Brexitshambles has exposed the fact Parliament has more than it’s fair share of people with the intellect of an amoeba on both sides of the floor, but the Greens are meant to be offering something better. Here’s an earlier blog of Kier giving an interview. Does this sound like someone you’d like representing you in Parliament? remember, he stood in Uxbridge in 2017 and managed to reduce the size of the Green vote!
I’ve no idea how the Green Party chooses its candidates, but I have to say they really need to up their game if they expect to be taken seriously. That said, their ridiculous ‘co-leader’ policy doesn’t help either. It may play well to the membership, but out in the real world? Oh, please…
The tragedy of all this is the UK desperately needs a credible Green party, but this lot ain’t it. When I see the impact their German counterparts have on politics I do go green – but only with envy! The German party manages to grapple with national and international issues whilst the UK party is obsessed with localism and can’t actually see the woods for the trees, hence their mad opposition to HS2, because the hard truth is without HS2 we simply don’t have the rail capacity for the future to get people and freight off roads and cut transport Co2 emissions to tackle Climate Change. Stopping HS2 isn’t ‘green’, it’s exactly the opposite.
The Stophs2 campaign is going from farce to worse and yesterday has been an outstanding example. The ‘intellectual’ wing of the campaign collapsed several years ago when the folk involved in the ‘High Speed 2 Action Alliance’ (who were essentially a bunch of Chiltern Nimbys) gave up the ghost in 2016. The anti Hs2 ‘flame’ then passed to the sole surviving group known as Stophs2 who were always the ‘Mickey Mouse’ end of the campaign, as yesterday has proved in spades!
Stophs2 have been struggling to stay relevant for a long time now as their Chair, Penny Gaines has buggered off to Bournemouth whilst their Campaign Manager, Joe Rukin remains in Kenilworth. They get wheeled out as rent-a-quotes to various sections of the media who still have them in their contacts lists, but that has no reflection on their actual influence, which is zero. They weren’t even part of the HS2 phase 2a petitioning process.
But you can always rely on Joe Rukin to come up with a Cupid Stunt. Sorry, I meant to say a cunning plan! His latest brainwave was to dress up as a tree in the Uxbridge constituency of Prime Minister Boris Johnson along with some Extinction Rebellion protesters. Quite what Rukin was thinking this would achieve is unfathomable, but I’ll explore that more later. First, here’s a screenshot from the StopHs2 Facebook page that shows you this farce.
If you’re on Facebook and want to view this complete car-crash in all it’s glory, feel free! Here’s another snippet from their FB page.
Interestingly, some StopHs2 supporters were less than impressed by the spectacle, as the comments on Facebook show.
There’s also this little revelation that makes it clear the stophs2 grassroots really aren’t all that keen on getting involved in direct action. A stopHs2 sticker in the back of their 4×4 is one thing, joining a protest is another!
Despite the latter claim it’s clear that Rukin was in Uxbridge with Extinction Rebellion who were presumably hoping to entice people to vote for the Green party with this cringeworthy spectacle. Now, let’s get real for a moment and look at some facts.
In the 2016 EU referendum Uxbridge voted 57.19% to leave the EU. Boris Johnson held Uxbridge at the 2017 election with a 5034 majority.
The Green Party’s candidate, Mark Keir, who has been involved in various anti HS2 stunts, is not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer or obvious Parliamentary material who would be seen as attractive to ordinary voters (see this blog). He came last in 2017 and saw the green vote fall by 1.3% to 1.9%. The only person within spitting distance of Johnson was the Labour candidate, who increased their vote by a sizeable 13.6%. This year Labour have put up a different candidate but Keir is yet again standing for the Green party. So, who is StopHs2 backing? Keir! The one man who is guaranteed not to win and whom voting for will help keep Labour out and Boris Johnson in!
The StopHs2 campaign has been a tragi-comedy for some time. Informed sources tell me that Joe Rukin has been looking for a proper job for some time. Perhaps with his experience in ‘story-telling’ and dressing up, he should consider getting himself an Equity card, after all, he’s clearly got a talent for Pantomime and that season’s fast approaching!
Yesterday there was a local Council election in Haddenham and Stone, a ward on Aylesbury Vale council in Buckinghamshire. The seat had been held by a long-serving Conservative Cllr who had passed away at the age of 82. In yesterday’s election the seat was won by the Green Party’s David Lyons, a well known local Green party member who’d stood before, coming second in 2015. Here’s the result, thanks to the excellent Britain Elects website and Twitter feed
So, with no UKIP or Independent candidates standing and the long-standing Cllr deceased, The Greens won the seat with an impressive 36.5% swing. Picking the bones out of this one would be interesting as it suggests a lot of voters have swapped allegiances for a whole host of reasons. Does anyone seriously believe UKIP voters decided to go Green en-masse?
Here’s a background on the constituency and the players from Britain Elects. It adds some valuable context.
Of course, Hs2 passes through the area and antis are falling over themselves to claim this is a backlash against the project. No doubt some of that is true – especially as preliminary construction work has started. This is no longer a project that was on the drawing-board. Now there’s visible evidence on the ground, which tends to concentrate a few more minds. However, it’s clear that Hs2 isn’t the only issue in the area, as some local Tweeters have pointed out. Housing is also a big issue with 500 new homes due to be built in the area.
As is often the case in Council elections the party that won had put in a lot of effort on the ground and built up a following behind a local man. Add this the demise of a long-standing incumbent and some local issues like Housing and Hs2 and you can see why the Greens have managed to go from 2nd to 1st place. Was Brexit a factor as some people are claiming? Probably, but again, these are local elections which tend to reflect local issues, so you can’t read too much of the national picture into them and get a true image.
So, what does this mean for Hs2? Absolutely nothing.
For a start, these decisions are way above a local Councillors pay grade. Parliament, MPs and the Lords decide on these things, not Councils. This is the political equivalent of a flea trying to bite a rhinoceros. It’s also worth noting that the Council David’s been elected to will be abolished in 2022, so his shelf life isn’t long.
If those opposed to Hs2 had real political muscle they would have shown it long before this. 2010 would have been good, or in any of the local or national elections since. It never happened. Even if Hs2 was the primary consideration (locals suggest it isn’t), this is very much a case of someone shutting the stable door long after the horse has bolted!
Update
I’ve done a bit of digging and found the actual numbers of votes cast, and the results from the May 2015 elections which is the last time the seat came up. You can draw your own conclusions…
Meanwhile, the Independent’s Europe Correspondent, Jon Stone (@joncstone on Twitter) has added this, detailing why some of the Nimbys in the area just might be upset with Hs2!
Could we be faced with a delicious irony here? A Green party win because of a few disgruntled golfers? After all, golf courses aren’t exactly on top of the Green Party’s list of favourite things!
I’ve a favour to ask.
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I can’t help but look upon the imminent demise of UKIP without a certain frisson of pleasure. A party that’s done more to ruin the UK’s reputation abroad and helped deliver the shambles that is Brexit is about to get its come-uppance – as blogger Tim Fenton mentioned today.
Ukip’s most recent accounts show it was £380,630 in debt before the 2017 election which weakened the party’s finances even further. The party’s so skint it can’t even put up candidates in local elections. The parlous state of the party’s finance have been the subject of infighting in the past and an open secret amongst members (link).
Now UKIP can’t afford another leadership election, which might save the skin of the latest temprorary Leader (the 4th in 15 months), Henry Boulton, despite the revelations about his openly racist girlfriend – Jo Marney. Jo’s provided social media with an open goal, so I make no apologies for sharing this pic of the couple caught together on the London Underground after their supposed ‘split’. Oh, and the Twitter commentary from Scott Ballantyne is inspired!
Meanwhile, former UKIP leader Nigel Farage has got himself embroiled in the murky world of American politics, Trump, Assange and Russia…(link). There’s no chance of him riding to UKIPs rescue as there no money in it for him anymore which leaves the party stuffed. Even MEPs and some of the remaining local Councillors are jumping ship. John Arnott, the MEP for the North East of England, said he had lost confidence in Mr Bolton but thought no better of those “jockeying” to replace him.
Here’s a list of recent desertions, with links. Arnott
Will the last one to leave please turn out the lights?
Of course, UKIPs collapse spells even more trouble for another bête noire of mine, the Stop Hs2 campaign!
I’ve not seen any evidence that UKIP helped the campaign financially or practically, other then lending it support via social media & having members who had a foot in both camps. But UKIP did help draw attention to the campaign. Their opposition to Hs2 was nothing more than a cynical ploy to attract votes from disaffected Tories who lived on the HS2 route. The problem was that the Stop Hs2 campaign had always exaggerated how much support it had, so the avalanche of votes UKIP hoped for never materialised – even in the Chilterns, which was the ‘hotbed’ of anti Hs2 activity. They gained (and then lost) a couple of Council seats but never seriously threatened to unseat any MPs.
UKIPs demise will leave the Greens as the only party opposing Hs2 – and they’ve got their own problems as their standing in the polls and share of the vote in recent local elections has fallen dramatically. As an illustration of both parties troubles, here’s three local election results from Thursday.
We live in interesting times…
Update: 22 Jan.
UKIPs National Executive Committee met yesterday and passed a motion of no-confidence in Bolton. Bolton refuses to resign, so now a ballot of the (remaining)members will take place. Meanwhile, social media has been kept amused by today’s antics as a series of UKIP ‘Front Benchers’ no-one’s ever heard of have resigned. Ds anyone even *know* UKIP had a spokesperson on Culture? Or Intelligence? But the biggest ‘pot calling kettle black’ moment came from Neil Hamilton, disgraced former Tory MP, ex-jailbird & now UKIPs leader in Wales, who told the BBC;
“He’s made himself into a ludicrous figure by his own poor judgement and he should get out of the way and allow us to get on with rebuilding the party.”
Paul Bigland 