Eye-catching, but generally silly

It is conference season for the major political parties of the UK. It doesn't need to be said that, in and around conference season, the major parties tend to release a flurry of new, eye-catching policy ideas, and this year has been no exception. The Conservative Party conference is being held this week in Manchester and two of the mooted policies have caught the eye for being distinctly lacking in environmental consideration.

Firstly, Eric Pickles, the Communities and Local Government minister, seems to have won the day regarding bin collections. Before the general election, Mr Pickles went on record saying that weekly bin collections were a "basic human right". Now, he has announced that new money will be made available to councils to ensure that they can maintain or re-instate their weekly collections.

Well. I am very pleased the government includes ministers who are proponents of human rights. But this one doesn't come as high on my list as suffrage, education and good health care.

In fact, if I were to meet Mr Pickles, I would tell him that, personally, I would prefer my bin not to be taken away weekly. Wheely bins are completely animal-proof and there's no food waste in it anyway (I prefer my food to go into my stomach). In fact, I don't throw much away at all, with the recycling facilities that are available.

So it's not difficult to reduce the amount of waste you generate. And if all the bins contained less waste the bin lorries would have to come less frequently, they would not need to be so large, they would not use as much fuel and they would not fill so many acres of our valuable and beautiful land with our garbage. Everybody wins.

And personally I think there are far better "human rights" the government could be spending our money guaranteeing for us. Please Mr Pickles, build a new school or hospital somewhere instead.

The second government initiative that circulated hours before the Tory conference began was a revised motorway speed limit. Philip Hammond, the Transport Secretary, has called for consultation on raising the speed limit to 80 mph on our motorways. An 80 mph limit, it was claimed, would bring major economic benefits to the country, and besides the 70 mph limit was outdated.

Well. Perhaps I am outdated myself, or a contrarian, or both. If I were to meet Mr Hammond I would ask him to consider reducing the speed limit on our motorways to 60 mph. A car travelling at 60 mph is less likely to be involved in an accident and any accident is less likely to be fatal. The risks increase with higher speeds. The fuel efficiency of any car falls off a cliff when it is driven faster than 70 mph. An increase to 80 mph, over the millions of journeys that take place on our motorways each year, is going to increase fuel consumption and drive up our nation's collective greenhouse gas emissions.

It has been suggested that an increase in the number of 20 mph zones within towns would offset the environmental damage caused by the 80 mph motorway limit. This is sadly not true. 20 mph zones were introduced as a way of reducing the number of accidents (with some success, it is true). They do nothing for our overall fuel consumption because cars are, in general, as fuel-inefficient at lower speeds as they are at very high speeds. From an environmental point of view, 30 is better than 20.

Besides, various studies have shown that lower speeds on the motorways actually improve traffic flow on congested routes. This is the reason we see variable speed limits on our most congested motorways.

And I would increase enforcement of my lower speed limit as well.

So I would call on the Tories to avoid these unnecessary populist measures. Think more deeply - perhaps there are votes to be won by taking a more radical line on such issues. A lot of people care for the environment these days.

What is going on here? Are these issues part of traditional Tory dogma? No, of course not. These are populist measures, aimed at winning a quick headline and a few cheap votes. What happened to the idea of the "greenest government ever"?

And finally, I suspect such announcements are designed to distract attention from the Tories' other, somewhat dangerous and damaging policies. Yes, George Osborne, your cuts are still wrong. And, I suspect, they are designed to distract us from the fact that there are still very serious differences with their coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats. When George Osborne says that taxes will only be cut when the government can afford to do so, it is a political statement, not an economic one. Abolition of the 50% tax rate will create divisions in the cabinet like no other issue that the government has faced so far in its 18 month lifetime. The government may find tax cuts difficult to finance, but they would dearly love to do it. The real problem is that, with the Liberal Democrats prepared to fight any tax cut for the rich, what they really cannot afford is the trouble this will bring around the cabinet table.

It's The Economy, Stupid

The riots in London and other cities across the UK are to be condemned. We are witnessing nothing but criminality and stupidity. May those responsible be caught and punished severely for their crimes.

But it is no coincidence that the riots are occurring against the backdrop of economic austerity, even despair.

Since the coalition government came to power last year, we have seen several violent demonstrations by students, strikes, half a million people on the streets in a trades union rally, and now the biggest display of civil disobedience in several decades. The common theme linking all of these events is the cuts, the UK government's high-risk strategy to reduce its budget deficit at break-neck speed.

The demonstration that turned to a riot in Tottenham on Saturday night was initially a protest at the police's shooting of one man. There are undoubtedly still problems with the Metropolitan Police's general relationship with certain areas and certain populations within London. Stop and search is still a big issue in the eyes of some communities.

Since then, however, the question has moved on. What causes hundreds of youths to come out onto the streets each night, to set fire to local shops, to loot and ransack their own neighbourhoods? This was nothing to do with Mark Duggan.

What caused youths to attack police on the streets of Belfast last month, to set fire to a bus, to roll burning cars down the street at police lines? This was nothing to do with Orange Order marches or uniting Ireland.

The answer to both questions: it's the economy, the unemployment, the cuts, the rising cost of living, the inequality of our society.

In the UK, we have now seen decades of rampant consumerism, the nurturing of a way of life: buying more and more stuff on ever more credit. We have been taught by successive political parties that economic consumer-driven growth was a panacea, a goal more important than any other. And in the past fourteen months, we have seen policies that are already exacerbating the problems of deprivation and inequality in our society.

The front page stories are all about the violence, the skirmishes with police and the burning buildings. But the real story is the deeply divided and broken society in which we live, and that we will not see an end to these scenes unless we understand and tackle the context in which they have been allowed to arise.

Statement on Lagan Valley Hospital’s reduced A&E service

The recent reduction in opening hours of the A&E department at Lagan Valley Hospital, by the South Eastern Health Trust ‘due to a shortage of medical staff’¹, is of serious concern for the greater Lisburn area and part of a worrying trend of cuts in acute care in Northern Ireland.

The Lagan Valley Green Party welcomes the efforts from across the community and political spectrum in support of 24 hour A&E provision at Lagan Valley Hospital.

Chairperson Conor Quinn stated, “It is vital that the cross-party efforts on Lisburn City Council are maintained to ensure that the reduced hours A&E provision at Lagan Valley is only temporary. The Green Party will continue to fight for the protection of local services, in particular emergency health care.”

Commentary on recent news

Phone hacking

Lately the news has been filled with atrocious stories about phone hacking of crime victims. The journalists and investigators involved took their work to a new low level of depravity. A free press is good for our nation and for holding government and corporates to account but in this case News International proves the media also need to be held to account.

Prime Minister David Cameron has evaded the hard questions for now but it is yet another lesson for politicians to choose their friends and employees wisely.

Badgers

On a more environmental note, it was reported that badgers may be culled in Northern Ireland. It is thought they threaten cattle with bovine TB. However in Wales this has been postponed pending a scientific study.

We believe badgers should be protected and other means sought to protect livestock. Vaccination, testing, improved bio-security and controls on the movement of cattle are better ways of reducing the cases of bovine TB in cattle.

How would a badger cull affect the balance of our local ecosystem?

Plastic bags

A plastic bag tax is being proposed for Northern Ireland. Alex Attwood, Environment Minister, has put this out for consultation to find out how much consumers should pay.

Dr John Barry, lecturer at Queen's University and Green Party spokesman has stated, "Introducing this tax is only following suit after its success in the Republic in terms of reducing plastic bad useage and spending the money raised on environment issues."

We are in favour of this tax. It works for M&S and Lidl and we would encourage you to email your comments to Alex Attwood via a.attwood@sdlp.ie

As always we would love to hear from you. Add your comments below or tweet us @lvgreens.

Growing Greens in Lagan Valley

Following on from the recent electoral success of the Green Party leader, Steven Agnew MLA in North Down, the local Greens in Lagan Valley are showing signs of growth.

At their AGM meeting held in Bridge Community Centre, Lisburn, on Tuesday 28 June, new members were introduced and a vote taken to transform the local group into a more effective constituency group for Lagan Valley. Positions were also appointed for Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, and Communications Officer.

Conor Quinn, who has been re-elected Chair said: "As a result of our increasing membership the Lagan Valley Greens have recently reconstituted as a full constituency group within the party”.

“We were delighted with the response on the doorsteps during the recent elections. It is clear there is an appetite for new, progressive politics in Lagan Valley”.

Local environmental issues were also discussed at the AGM, including the proposed development of John Lewis with 20 smaller retail units at Sprucefield, the proposed waste energy plants at Glenavy and Moira Road, the wind turbine at Lisnagarvey Hockey Club, and the allotments at Killeaton Playing Fields.

Lagan Valley Greens’ members come from different backgrounds, careers and age groups. Prospective members don’t need to be ecologists or environmental perfectionists to join. All that is needed is an interest in improving life for people and the planet.

As the Green Party believes in clean politics, it only accepts donations from individuals and never from corporates. This sets it apart from all other mainstream political parties and prevents influence from companies wishing to promote their own commercial interests.

The Lagan Valley constituency covers a wide area encompassing the City of Lisburn, Hillsborough, Dromore, Moira and parts of Dunmurry. To find out more about the Lagan Valley Greens visit www.LaganValleyGreens.com or call 07717 717755.

Lagan Valley Greens AGM

The 2011 AGM of the Lagan Valley Green Party will be held at 7.30pm on Tuesday 28th June in the Hamilton Room, Bridge Community Centre Lisburn.

The big question which will before us is to consider is whether we wish to upgrade to full Constituency Group status from Local Group status. We now have 13 paid up members (minimum for Constituency Group is 10). We do however need to fill the Secretary position to comply with Rules and Procedures.

All officer positions are open for election at this AGM. Conor Quinn will be standing for Chair/Convenor and Ciara Daly will be putting herself forward for Treasurer. Members can put themselves forward for ANY of the officer positions but members interested in the Secretary position are particularly welcome.

Members in probation (first 6 months) may stand for officer positions but may not vote in the election or any other motion. 2010 members can renew at the AGM and retain full voting rights.

I encourage all members to consider setting up a standing order as we build again for the next elections. You can find the standing order form here.

Assassination of Osama bin Laden

Seven reasons the assassination of Osama bin Laden might prove to be a mistake:

• The Green Party believes the death penalty is wrong.
• Bin Laden should have been captured and brought to trial under international law.
• If questioned, he might have been a source of valuable information.
• Most of Al Qaeda's operations will continue as they would have done anyway. The organisation has always operated with regional leaders and a highly distributed network.
• Bin Laden himself was no longer a threat to world security.
• The assassination may well inflame tensions within the Arab world and beyond. Bin Laden may become a martyr in the minds of many people in the Islamic world.
• In the long run, it may well end up making the problem of organised terrorism carried out in the name of Islam worse, not better. The chances of reprisal attacks has to be high.