Rupert's Read

http://www.labourhome.org/story/2009/5/16/14351/4084   _Should the Labour Party take a leaf out of the Greens' book?_ Under her (Lucas) leadership, the Greens have positioned themselves as  a party not only concerned with environmental affairs, but who also  have coherent policies facing Britain today. Banking nationalisation, nuclear de-armament, a 'green new deal' -  these could all very well have been Labour proposals, yet somewhere we  have lost our way. By no means are the Greens in any position to challenge Labour yet,  but we should observe their recent resurgence with a mixture of awe  and envy. They are connecting with disenfranchised young voters,  particularly students and young professionals, which have all but  abandoned Labour outside of the Northern heartlands.

PETERBOROUGH CHARITY TAKES ON LARGE ORGANISATIONS Peterborough & Fenland Green Party is delighted to congratulate a Peterborough charity which has been shortlisted for The Observer Ethical Awards (Conservation category). It is excellent that people doing hard work based on high principles are recognised. It is brilliant that Peterborough is home to an outstanding conservation campaign. Buglife campaigned to save a site in the West Thurrock Marshes from major development. This was a really tough campaign: no opportunities for heroics on high seas, no lovely cuddly pandas, no fabulous views of outstanding natural beauty. This was a campaign to save a patch of overgrown brownfield land, which had been neglected for so long that nature had returned to it and installed tiny populations of her rarest and most threatened invertebrates there. This was a campaign which suffered setbacks, but carried on. Invertebrates are the insects, the spiders and the weird little blobs of life wh...

In a YouGov poll to be released tomorrow (Monday 18 May), 34% of respondents said they would either definitely be voting Green or would consider voting Green. This is the highest percentage ever to indicate potential support for the Greens. Interestingly, the largest group who would consider switching were LibDem voters. It's far more common for the Greens to attract former Labour voters, who were the second largest group considering switching. Also interesting was the fact that around one-fifth of those considering switching were Conservative voters - the group normally the least likely to switch to Green. **Potential Green surge?** With the expenses row in full flow, and UKIP considered unlikely to benefit from voters' anger at other parties' sleaze thanks to its own frequently-criticised record, the Greens are not ruling out a potential surge like that in 1989, when 2.2 million Britons voted Green in the European elections. But even a much smaller swing from the big thre...

http://bit.ly/JuLJv Greens hit 11% in _EXPRESS_ [UKIP-funded!] poll! LET'S GET THIS NEWS UP AND OUT THERE! Let's use our own networks and Green Party outlets to do that, asap. _The election is now our's to win_. If we make the right moves now, we can solidify this figure and achieve our goals: of holding our two seats, and winning two more in our target Regions. If we can help create further increases in support nationally, and get close to 1989 levels, then we can potentially win a second seat in south-east and maybe in SouthWest too. Let's do this, team-Green!!! Let's make history this time! Rupert C'llr. Rupert Read, prospective Green Party MEP for the East of England... p.s. We need our own (Green-funded) national opinion poll now, to keep building our figure up... See Mark Thomas endorse me and the Green Party for the Euro-elections: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em2kW1AWzE0 & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzrpT0QvFIc&feature=channel_page Che...

David Campbell-Bannerman caught on tape saying that Venus has ice-caps (which are "melting"), and calling acceptance of manmade climate change "a cult" The scientific illiteracy of UKIP, as manifested in their Deputy Leader and Eastern Region lead candidate David Campbell-Bannerman (likely to be an MEP after June 4th) has hit new lows. In a vigorous and personal exchange with the Green Party's lead candidate for East England [that's me!] just filmed at a Union hustings (see note 1), Campbell-Bannerman denies the existence of manmade global warming, relies on the say-so of (astronomer, NOT climate-scientist) Patrick Moore in this denial (although he actually calls Moore an "astrologer"), appears to more than once call acceptance of the phenomenon of manmade climate change "a cult", and (most bizarrely of all) claims that the ice-caps of Venus are melting at the same rate as the Earth's ice-caps... Venus, whose average...

Green Party election rally, Norwich, Monday 18th May Green Party County and Euro election candidates will be in central Norwich on Monday 18 May, with their green hard hats, overalls, ladders, drills and spanners – and ready, if elected, to build a lasting, ‘Greener Future’. A rally of candidates and supporters will assemble in the Haymarket, Norwich at 11.00 am. Many of the Greens’ 51 candidates for the Norfolk County Council elections and the party’s top three Eastern region candidates for the European elections will be there, before spreading throughout the city speaking to residents who are looking for a positive alternative to the three Westminster parties. A Green ‘construction crew’ will construct a ‘soapbox’ stage - another element of the party’s diverse campaigning - which has included traditional and modern methods, from door-to-door canvassing to blogs, twitters and website video-clips. Monday's event comes just before voting starts for the County and European electio...