A party political that can bring joy? 'Never? ' Watch this from the Greens...

Garden Tax and waste changes start from today

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Brent Council's new waste collection service came into force today which includes the £40 annual green garden waste charge.  Lorraine Skinner, local environmental video artist and activist, has made the above video giving her view on the changes.

Meanwhile a resident on Barn Hill has sent a photograph of the dumping of garden waste near the car park at the top of the hill. She fears that there will be more as a result of people trying to avoid the charge.

Len Snow: A good and gentle man

The Memorial Bench in its setting in Barham Park

Guest blog by Philip Grant
 

There are many good reasons to visit Brent’s parks and open spaces, and last Sunday another reason was added to the list of why you should visit the excellent Barham Park. A group of family, friends, Labour Party supporters and (my own category) local historians gathered in the park for the unveiling of a memorial seat to Len and Joan Snow. They had been married for seventy years when Len died in November 2013, and both had lived ninety active years, more than sixty of them as Wembley residents.

They had been stalwarts of the Labour Party since the Attlee years of the 1940’s, and Len was a local councillor for more than 25 years up to 1990, and Mayor of Brent in 1976/77. It was not surprising, then, that the main speaker at the short ceremony was Paul (now Lord) Boateng, the former MP for Brent South, whose strongest memories of them were for the kindness and love they shared with everyone they met, rather than their political work.

I had known Len and Joan only since 2007, and the conversations we shared were mainly about local history, not politics. One of my best memories of Len was from a talk he gave to Wembley History Society about Japan. As a 22 year-old British officer, he had been in charge of a district in southern Japan as part of the allied army of occupation after the Second World War. Despite the cruelty displayed by the Japanese army in South-East Asia up to 1945, Len soon developed a love and respect for the ordinary people of that country and their culture. A visit to Hiroshima, just months after an atomic bomb had been dropped on the city, left him committed to nuclear disarmament for the rest of his life.

It is fitting that Len and Joan’s memorial seat is in a peaceful and beautiful setting. I would encourage you to visit it. You can find it by entering the park beside the former Barham Park Library, going straight ahead into the walled garden area, through the gateway at the far side between the two lion head fountains from the 1924 British Empire Exhibition (now sadly damaged), then up the path to the right and turn left along a path to the top of a small hill.

A plaque on the seat asks visitors to remember Len’s legacy, a life of service to his community, carried out with kindness, fairness and humanity – that is something that all politicians, both local and national, and not only within the Labour Party, should reflect on, and an example that they would do well to follow.

Philip Grant.

Red Pepper on 'How red are the Greens?'

The latest Red Pepper, delivered today, has How red are the Greens? as its cover story with additional articles inside. It is edited by Michael Calderbank who is a member of the LRC and a local Brent activist with whom I have campaigned on various local issues.

The cover story by Andrew Dolan is fairly friendly and attributes a drop in Labour support on the left and the support of the young  'in part a consequence of the Green Party's opposition to the austerity politics that Labour has committed itself to. The Green's policies of rail nationalisation, social housing construction, a rise in the minimum wage and free education represent an attractive alternative to a demographic traditionally located on the left and more likely to express dissatisfaction with neoliberalism and austerity than those already entrenched within labour and property markets.'

However he quotes research by James Dennison that on specific economic policy issues those planning on voting Green in fact tend to be less left wing that Labour voters. 'What clearly separates likely Green voters from those of other parties, UKIP aside, is that a far higher proportion express a lack of trust in MPs in particular and UK democracy in general.'

He goes on, 'Accompanying the Green's leftward policy shift has been a new rhetoric comparable to that deployed across Europe. Talk of "the people" , of "us versus them" and even of "revolt" is now commonplace In Green Party publications and speeches and carries some legitimacy when considered in relation to the party's well-publicised support for various grassroots struggles and the involvement of the Scottish Greens in the Radical Independence Campaign'.'

After examining the prospects of the Greens winning more seats and holding on to Brighton Pavilion (according to him not terribly good) he says on tactical voting 'A newly emboldened Green party has little interest in such tactical anti-Tory consideration. Rather its eyes are fixed on the opportunities that may arise should '"politics as usual" and the austerity it entails continue. The party's recent talks with thee SNP and Plaid Cymru, and their stated intention to "unite wherever possible to battle the Westminster parties' "obsession with austerity", hint at the possibility of a changed political landscape: one in which the idea of the "other parties" including the Green Party, transforming growing popularity into power is more than just a pipedream.'

Joseph Healy, billed as a founder member of Green Left and ex GP International committee, writes a pessimistic article suggesting that the Greens chances of not disappointing their supporters if the get into any government are 'not good' based on what happened in Ireland, Czech Republic and France.

Hilary Wainwright in Out of their seats writes 'Caroline Lucas is perhaps currently the one (MP) able to speak most openly and clearly about what is on voters' minds: austerity and is daily consequences, and what is needed is parliamentary terms to end it.'  Quoting Lucas saying that a progressive alliance could do more in the next parliament Wainright goes on: 'Although the 'we' might in parliamentary voting terms be only one MP, in Lucas the Greens have had a real political force in parliament - a force driven not only by her personal capacities, which are immense' but also by a political methodology that could well be adopted by the progressive alliance as a whole. Lucas's effective parliamentary initiatives against fracking and the energy companies, for public ownership of the rail system and for reinstating the NHS have been the result of immersion in extra-parliamentary campaigns and public debates..A bit like Tony Benn, she thereby giver further confidence and strength to the movements in society and their ability to shift public consciousness with a clear and persuasive political message.'

Reviewing Caroline Lucas's recently Published Honourable Friends? Parliament and the Fight for Change, Ian Sinclair having praised the book as 'an absolute joy to read - accessible, fast paced and entertaining - and often funny too'  concludes..'Cogent, rational and humane Honourable Friends? confirms why it is essential all progressives work to make sure Lucas continues as an MP.