Caroline Lucas hopes to become the party's first MPThe Green Party of England and Wales have set out manifesto plans to make Britain a "greener and fairer society".
Party leader Caroline Lucas said they would create a million new jobs and reform the tax system to "redistribute" income to the less well-off.
Key pledges include a "living wage" of £8.10 an hour, a "citizen's pension" of £170 a week and £44bn of investment in transport, housing and energy schemes.
There are more than 300 Greens standing at the election in England and Wales.
Ms Lucas, who is standing as a candidate in Brighton, said her party was "on the brink" of getting its first MPs elected to Westminster.
'Ambitious programme'
The party are hoping to capitalise on the widespread anger with the three largest parties over the expenses scandal as well as uncertainty over the future direction of the economy.
Thursday, 15 April 2010
BBC News - Election 2010: Green Party launch 'ambitious' manifesto
Vote for hung parliament, says campaign group | UK | Reuters
1 of 1Full SizeSTART News Content Page Tags 'Text' | 'Picture' | 'Slideshow' | 'Video' ie. articleId ie. articleId ie. articleId ie. headline for article ie. headline for article END News Content Page TagsLONDON (Reuters) - If you think a hung parliament would be the worst outcome of the May 6 election, think again.
A group of political reform campaigners claims that far from ushering in a period of ineffectual leadership, an inconclusive poll outcome could be a blessing for Britain's economy and a powerful catalyst for change.
"Hang 'Em is about challenging the traditional party system," Jonathan Bartley, one of the campaign's founders, told Reuters, referring to the name of their campaign for a hung parliament.
"We want to tap into the anti-politics feeling following the expenses scandal to renew democracy and make politics more accountable."
A hung parliament, where no party has an outright majority, has long been feared in financial markets because political deadlock would hamper efforts to cut Britain's record budget deficit.
But proponents of the "Hang 'Em" campaign say such worries are unfounded. They point to an OECD study which shows that seven of the 10 biggest deficit-cutting programmes since the 1970s took place in countries with coalition or minority governments.
A hung parliament is looking an increasingly likely outcome of next month's poll, with the Conservative party's lead over Labour having halved over the past year.
The non-partisan initiative, which is backed by open Democracy, the thinktank Ekklesia, Charter 2010 and Progressive Parliament, is urging voters to back independent candidates or those representing smaller parties in a bid to change politics from the ground up.
Click on link to read article.
The UK and here in Hexham we need real democracy not Labour or the Tories
Liberal Conspiracy » Voters want hung parl. than Tory or Labour win
The Times / Populus poll tonight shows the Conservative lead slipping to 3pts. The Tories are at 36%, Labour at% and Libdems on 21%.
More interesting is the general level of annoyance at all three major parties.
The latest poll shows that 32 per cent of the public now hope for a hung parliament (as opposed to expecting one), against 28 per cent wanting a Tory majority and 22 per cent a Labour one. Lib Dem voters prefer a deal with Labour than the Tories in a hung parliament, by 44 to 31 per cent. The public is evenly split 40 to 42 per cent about whether they want Labour or the Tories in either a majority or a minority government.
…
Voters were asked to say which party had proposed eight key manifesto pledges. They wrongly identified four: reducing the increase in national insurance contributions (naming Labour not the Tories); allowing unsuccessful schools, hospitals and the police (the Tories, not Labour); tightening up takeover rules (the Tories not Labour); and requiring foreign workers employed in public services to speak fluent English (the Tories not Labour).
In only one case, the £150-a-year tax break, did more than half of voters (60 per cent) correctly identify the party making the proposal.
Which basically confirms my point that most voters don’t really pay attention to policy pledges.
The UK and Hexham needs real democracy instead of the current sham
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
The value of depression - article from DailyGood
In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer. --Albert CamusUpside of Depression:
It's everywhere. As inescapable as the common cold. Every year, 7 percent of us will be diagnosed with the grey clouds of depression. But how well do we really understand it? Charles Darwin claimed that depression was a clarifying force, focusing the mind on its most essential problems. And the grey clouds hit him hard, leaving him "not able to do anything one day out of three." More recently, researchers say that depression has a secret purpose, and it's best to ride out, rather than conceal, the pain. Like a fever that helps the immune system fight off infection, depression might be an unpleasant yet adaptive response to affliction. Maybe Darwin was right. We suffer- we suffer terribly- but we don't suffer in vain. [more]
Be The Change:
Feeling blue? Reflect on afflictions in your life that might be triggering you to withdraw.
Click on link to sign up to the DailyGood
Make My Vote Count - MPs cannot duck change
Remember, Remember the 5th of November ... duckhouses, POWER and pullouts.http://VoteForAChange.co.uk/10000
On 5 November the Vote for a Change campaign floated a model of a duck house down the River Thames to Westminster. For those inside Parliament, the message was simple: 'you can't duck change'. There is no possibility of effective self regulation at Westminster. The fundamental questions - like how we hire and fire our MPs - can't be left to politicians. But it can be left to the voters on Election Day with a referendum on the voting system.
This action is one of a series of campaign activities piling up the pressure on MPs in the run up to the Queen's Speech on 18 November. Our activities range right the way from a meeting next week with Gordon Brown and one-to-one lobbying of Labour MPs; to supporter emails to a "rogue's gallery" of high profile electoral reform opponents; taking the Gravy Train to MPs of all parties who are roadblocks to reform; and getting 60 young people together outside Parliament dressed as zombie politicians for a Halloween stunt.
http://www.voteforachange.co.uk/blog
Adding another notch to our lobbying of Labour MPs and decision-makers, this coming week's edition of the New Statesman magazine contains a 32-page pullout section on electoral reform. You can pick up a copy of the New Statesman from your local news stand.
We've also set an ambitious goal: 10,000 letters to those MPs who are resisting reform and propping up our rotten political system for their own benefit. Can you help us reach 10,000 today by sending a letter now?
Click on link to read much more - and support VoteForAChange
Friday, 9 April 2010
Should the UK get rid of its extremes of poverty & wealth? - MP3 interview
Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, academic epidemiologists at Nottingham and York universities respectively, are authors of The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better.
They explain why relatively unequal societies such as Britain and the United States are more likely to suffer from a range of problems, including low life expectancy, illiteracy, stress, and a high crime rate. Even climate change is less of a challenge for a society with a narrow gap between rich and poor.
The average voter just doesn't know what's been done to them. Look;
Labour as well as the Tories have been screwing the middle classes as well as the poor for 4 decades.
The lower 50% of the UK population in 1973 owned 12% of the wealth - that by 2003 had fallen to 1% - yes 1%.
Where has the other 11% of the wealth gone - to the mega-rich of course.
"In 1976, excluding property, the bottom half of the UK population owned 12% of the marketable wealth; by 2003 that had fallen to just 1%. In the same period, the
share enjoyed by the top 10% rose from 57% to 71%. Even when property is included, the bottom half of the population still only owns just 7% of the country’s wealth."
Consider the current sickening every-hour TV ads in which the poor are being invited to send in their few bits of gold. Where do you think that value is being transferred to?
As with the National Lottery the blood of the poor is being transfused to the bloated bodies of the mega-rich'
Social justice matters - to everyone - for a programme for a New Politics see HERE This is why in Hexham were supporting Dr Steve Ford - see HERE
SEE
http://www.respublica.org.uk/articles/spend-investment
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6861008.ece -
http://www.respublica.org.uk/articles/new-tories-will-stop-class-becoming-caste
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/742025ee-e5b4-11de-b5d7-00144feab49a.html?catid=2&S...
4 Way race in Hexham - but who is missing - has Labour given up the ghost already?
Prospective parliamentary candidates
General election 2010
- Andrew Duffield, Liberal Democrat
- Steven Ford, Independent
- Guy Opperman, Conservative
- * Incumbent MP
The 2005 general election
Peter Atkinson, Conservative 17,605 42.4% Kevin Graham, Labour 12,585 30.3% Andrew Duffield, Liberal Democrat 10,673 25.7% Ian Riddell, English Democrats 521 1.3% Thomas Davison, Imperial Party 129 0.3% Candidate Votes Share % Conservative majority: 5,020
Turnout: 68.8%
The 2001 general election
Get rid of the corrupted parties - be Independent, vote Independent - vote Dr Steven Ford in Hexham.
