Final election round up: Smash the system in their stupid faces.

So, it's almost time. Not that it's going to really end for a while as the leader's of the main parties have stubbornly refused to accept that it's going to be a hung parliament and have been busy drawing 'red lines' all over the place, insulting all the others leaders & Scotland, meaning that a formal coalition is very unlikely, and even getting enough MPs to back a government will be tricky.

In the final weeks candidates have been doing and saying stupid things, leading to them being suspended. Yet they will still appear on the ballots. For example, the Lib Dem candidate challenging Jeremy Hunt has been suspended, meaning the NHA party (http://nhap.org/candidates/) could have a chance to cause an upset, but people will still be able to vote for him despite it really being a wasted vote. It's against the law to even tell people at the polling station that he's no longer standing, the ballot papers can't be altered.

FPTP obviously doesn't work anymore. When the views of 20% of the population are likely to be represented in parliament by 3 or 4 MPs, something has to change. Might as well make have an elected House of Lords while we're at it. Hell, why not get rid of Lordships and the like altogether, this is 2015 after all.
But we're stuck with it tomorrow, so vote for what you believe in, even if it's a lost cause. The closer we've got, the more people (Russell Brand, Owen Jones, etc) have started to say that you should vote for the party you'd rather protest against. Since when did we actively vote for what we want to protest against? Nonsense. Plus, if a sizeable chunk of votes move away from the smaller parties to Labour, it'll make it harder to force change as Labour will be able to point at the results and say 'If people really wanted change, why didn't they vote for it?' Read Armando Iannucci's excellent article: here. Then go read everything else he's written in the last few weeks, most of it is brilliant.

The Tories have been desperately trying to convince the country that a government with the backing of most MPs will be illegitimate unless it's theirs. Just plain bullshit. If you have the backing of a majority of MPs, you get to govern. It's how the system works.

There will be major cuts to welfare whoever is in charge, thanks to Labour voting through the Tory bill that legally limits the spending (http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/may/05/revealed-coalition-plans-to-slash-welfare-for-sick-poor-young-and-disabled). The Tories haven't worked out where they'll make their cuts yet, but ask us to look at their track record of finding things to cut and trust that they'll be able to do it. I do trust their record. I trust that they'll screw over the most vunerable again. Read The Austerity Delusion by Paul Krugman

Labour keep talking about being best for 'hard working people'. What about those who can't work? The sick, the young, the old? Don't you care about them anymore?

Everyone seems to think that millions more apprentices are the answer to everything.Working for a year at £2.73 an hour doesn't sound like an answer to much to me. They will 'encourage' employers to pay a living wage, instead of just making the minimum wage the minimum that you can actually live on. £8/hour minimum wage by 2019 or 2020(depending on party)? The current living wage is £7.85, so £8 in 4 or 5 more years of rising living costs is just not good enough.

No surprise that the rental market is so screwed up when you realise that almost 1 in 4 MPs make money from it (http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/may/06/number-of-mps-who-earn-from-renting-out-property-rises-by-a-third) Some are even renting out homes that were part subsidised by parliamentary expenses. I think I can see where to make an easy budget cut.

The one issue that affects all others is the environment, and it's been completely ignored. UKIP deny climate change, the 'greenest government ever' favours fracking over renewables and Labour just don't seem to give enough of a shit to commit to anything. More reading: here, George Monbiot article: here

Tomorrow, go vote. Vote for what you believe in. And then prepare to fight for those beliefs over the next 5 years because trying to change everything once every 5 years isn't enough, the pressure needs to be constant. Smash the system in their stupid faces.

Why I'm voting for the Green Party: I don't want a 'Better Plan', I want a good plan

1. Because I don't want a 'Better Plan', I want a good plan, a plan for the Common Good.
2. Because I believe in a Living Wage. People working full time on the minimum wage should earn enough to support themselves and their family.
3. Because I believe in having a fair, humane, common sense approach to immigration.
4. Because nuclear weapons have no place in civilised society.
5. Because education shouldn't cost a life time of debt and should be accessible at any stage of life.
6. Because big investments in renewable energy are needed if we are to still have any hope of preventing the worst of climate change.
7. Because when I've had surgery and chemotherapy, I've known that my health has been the priority, not profit. 5% profit is 5% too much, when it comes to keeping people alive there should be no place for the profit motive.
8. Because public services should be in public hands, not making huge profits while providing bad service and taking government subsidies. Public transport should be affordable and easy.
9. Because I want a fair rental market. No excessive, unjustifiable fees, no worrying about where you're going to live every 6 months, no uncontrollable rents.
10. Because I don't want the return of fox hunting, or more badger culls that go against all evidence.
11. Because fracking is just plain bad.
12. Because I don't want to vote for a party that I disagree with slightly less than another party. I want to vote for something I can believe in.
13. Because everyone should pay their fair share of tax.
14. Because they are not bankrolled by corporations, unions, millionaires and billionaires. Which means they don't put the needs of the wealthy before the needs of the many.
15. Because no one else mentions climate change, and if we don't get serious about climate change now, no other policies will matter in the future.

Easter weekend reading

There's so little going on this weekend that the media has resorted to making up 4th-hand accounts of conversations. Here's some articles actually worth reading:

Opinion:

Politics was once about beliefs and society. Now it’s a worship of money - Armando Iannucci
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/08/armando-iannucci-money-at-heart-of-politics-general-election-2015?CMP=share_btn_fb

If parties are funded by big business instead of average people, who are they going to act in the interests of? (Not a problem the Green Party has..)

It’s a great time to push for change in politics - Armando Iannucci 
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/18/2015-general-election-enough-fatalism-push-for-change?CMP=share_btn_tw

'...now is the best time in a generation to go out and vote. With such a fragmented system on offer, nothing is inevitable....
No politician voted into office is going to take the number of people who didn’t vote into account; what they will do is heed the number who voted, but not for them, if that number is overwhelming.
This time round, the day after the election, party leaders are going to look at the numbers – how many voted and how many didn’t vote for them. If both those figures breach certain tipping points then, irrespective of the number of seats won, and regardless of the make-up of the new House of Commons, the political agenda will have changed utterly.'

I didn’t leave the Labour party – it left me - Jack Monroe
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/19/leave-labour-party-green-party

'In fact, I had quietly left some weeks beforehand, and run away to look for the living wage, the social housing, the repurposing of abandoned buildings, free education and the NHS. I had left the Labour party to find the values that I thought that it once stood for, and I found them, in the Greens.

Like greeting old friends, I embraced the importance placed on a national health service, on public transport, on sustainable energy, on fair pay for fair work. Here you were, all the time.'

Enough of the dry politics of numbers. We need to discuss values and vision -Will Hutton
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/22/britains-economic-recovery-end-obsession-with-debt-reduction?CMP=share_btn_fb

'Britain’s national debt is comfortably affordable today – even moderate, by historical standards. To present it as economic enemy number one is just wrong.'

Local news:

Library of Birmingham cuts weekend opening to six hours
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-32146016?SThisFB&fb_ref=Default

Spend almost £200m on building the biggest public library in Europe and less than 2 years later run out of money to run it, meaning halving of opening hours and staff. How has this been allowed to happen?

News:

Lords accuse Tories of ‘burying’ review that cleared EU of interference
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/28/lords-accuse-tories-burying-eu-powers-review?CMP=share_btn_fb

Government spend millions on investigating how far Brussels' powers really go into British life. Find out that they're not a problem. Try to hide the evidence.

The rise of DIY dentistry: Britons doing their own fillings to avoid NHS bill
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/apr/03/rise-of-diy-dentistry-britons-doing-own-fillings-to-avoid-nhs-bill?CMP=share_btn_tw

There's still NHS dentists around?

Costa Rica goes 75 days powering itself using only renewable energy
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/costa-rica-goes-75-days-powering-itself-using-only-renewable-energy-10126127.html

Proof of what's possible if you put the effort in.

France decrees new rooftops must be covered in plants or solar panels
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/20/france-decrees-new-rooftops-must-be-covered-in-plants-or-solar-panels?CMP=share_btn_fb

A fellow European country doing something sensible while we sit around in denial? Yep, sounds about right. Go France!

Virgin Care among firms with lucrative NHS deals and a tax haven status
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/mar/21/ow-lucrative--deals-go-to-firms-that-use-tax-havens?CMP=share_btn_fb

The biggest privatisation in NHS history: why we had to blow the whistle - Kate Godfrey
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/16/nhs-privatisation-biggest-history-staffordshire-cancer?CMP=share_btn_fb

Just depressing. And why the Tories must be stopped and Labour kept a very close eye on. Screw 5%, there should be no profit made from cancer or end-of-life care.

Nigel Farage would axe 'much of' race discrimination law
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31846453?fb_ref=Default

UKIP - not racist, they just want the option...

'Defend your happiness, organise your rage'

Morning reading today:

'Defend your happiness, organise your rage'

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/31/podemos-revolution-radical-academics-changed-european-politics?CMP=share_btn_tw

The rise of Podemos in Spain shows the potential of the left if it can get people energised about change. In Spain and Greece people sick of corrupt politicians get angry and try to do something about it, in Britain too many have already given up on change, not helped by the Lib Dems failing to get a vote on Proportional Representation when they had the chance. AV was a poor second best, but with around 20% of this year's vote likely to be represented by 1% of MPs, it surely can't go on.

Science spending should be 1% of GDP, say Greens

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32086204

While the other parties argue about committing 2% of GDP to defence, the Greens go a much more worthwhile route. The recent fuss over the Meningitis B vaccine deal shows the problem with leaving research to the private sector. Science is expensive. If you don't fund it, pharma companies are going to charge for it, if you want a good deal, do it yourself. We spend less than the EU average on Research and Design, despite party leaders frequently saying how important science and technology is they won't commit to funding it.
Quite how this would fit in with the Greens Party's aim to end all animal experiments remains to be seen. If reliable alternatives to animals are available, they are already used. Scientists would love to be able stop using animals, it would be easier, quicker and cheaper, but the technology is still simply not there yet.

A second Green MP?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/generalelection/election-2015-opportunity-knocks-or-call-my-bluff-green-candidate-darren-hall-thinks-he-can-win-in-bristol-west-10141438.html

Despite the massive surge in support for the Green Party, it's going to be tough for them to get any extra MPs, thanks to First Past The Post. The most likely place seems to be in Bristol, The Independent takes a look. He's even more straight talking than Cameron: “People here are so pissed off they are willing to think about something new, they think the system is completely fucked up, and [want] leadership that’s actually going to take us in a different direction.” Good luck Darren Hall.

Birmingham Green Party

https://fabrily.com/bgp-rotunda-view

Quick plug for the local party's latest fundraising effort, a green Birmingham t shirt, no anti-immigration slogans here.

Election Playlist song 2: