Why the Green Party is shit

[redsquirrel]

Problem is the way that the Greens are structured there's little you can do if you're not in Brighton. The local party can do what it wants, no matter how much everyone else it the party despises KitKat. There was an attempt by the Green Left to make councilors commit to being anti cuts which almost succeeded, maybe new members should make another attempt. It's a left party membership wise with a fair few unprincipled councilors desperate to keep hold of their little niches no matter. Hopefully as the party grows the old deep greens will lose power. Who knows, I'm an ex member, not least for some of the problems you highlight. But there's some very decent people in the party.

But the party must be able to expel people, I know anti-semites like Gosling and Icke were expelled. Why can't it expel the Brighton councillors?

 

[Plumdaff]

But the party must be able to expel people, I know anti-semites like Gosling and Icke were expelled. Why can't it expel the Brighton councillors?

There would have to be the political will, particularly on a local level. And there wasn't.

 

[SpineyNorman]

Special hero's mention to SpackleFrog who stood for TUSC in a council ward a Green councilor was up for re-election. If the vote of the Green and SpackleFrog combined would have been enough to win it. Now in a way I hope the people who voted TUSC wouldn't touch the green vermin with a shitty stick but it is perfectly possible (and the greens with their victim mentality will definitely believe) that he split the vote enough to lose them a seat

 

[treelover]

It’s a complaint Lucas hears daily. “The council were actually trying to resolve a difficult situation in which there was a huge disparity between living allowances for male and female council workers,” she says. “But when people see litter piling up …” The rest of the sentence is left unfinished.

I have a lot of time for the Greens here, well some of them, but they seem to adhere an almost religious status to picking up litter.

 

[cesare]

The Greens lost the most deposits, apparently. More than even the LibDems.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

I have a lot of time for the Greens here, well some of them, but they seem to adhere an almost religious status to picking up litter.

Nothing wrong with that tbf.

 

[coley]

I have a lot of time for the Greens here, well some of them, but they seem to adhere an almost religious status to picking up litter.

Crack the littering problem and GW will be a pushover

 

[JTG]

Green gains on Bristol City Council

It's like a definitive map of gentrified areas

 

[Indeliblelink]

Brighton Council vote latest

 

[Sirena]

The Greens lost the most deposits, apparently. More than even the LibDems.

They quadrupled (nearly) their total vote to more than a million.

They got one MP.

The SNP got slightly more (1.4 million) and ended up with 56 MPs

 

[killer b]

They quadrupled (nearly) their total vote to more than a million.

They got one MP.

The SNP got slightly more (1.4 million) and ended up with 56 MPs

the SNP stood in 58 seats, the Greens in a huge number more (all of them?) - it's a fatuous comparison.

 

[Indeliblelink]

Brighton Council vote latest

Final result - Greens lose control of Brighton & Hove Council to Labour
Lab 23
Con 20
Grn 11

Was
Grn 20 (21 if you include Ben Duncan)
Con 18
Lab 13
Ind 2 (inc Ben Duncan)
UKIP 1

Greens given a kicking
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/12941299.Labour_take_council_as_Greens_take_drubbing_at_ballot_box/

 

[belboid]

The Greens didn't have 'control', and neither do Labour now.

 

[Indeliblelink]

Seems a pretty common way of describing it though, eg
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/1294..._as_Labour_take_control_in_Brighton_and_Hove/
but I take your point, it's a minority Labour council

 

[free spirit]

Oddly that might benefit the greens in brighton as Labour will need their support to get anything passed, so they should have a fair amount of influence, but Labour will take the flack for having to implement the austerity budgets forced on them, rather than the Greens.

Also might give the greens there a chance to regroup, and reflect on what they got wrong, as they obviously did get some serious things wrong.

 

[belboid]

Bristol Greens are a complete disgrace. The worst sort of beardy, hipster, liberal, self-employed 'entrepeneurs' who will happily campaign to hold back the development of two of Bristol's sporting institutions in order to maintain the level of Bishopston house prices. They don't know how many thousands of people they've pissed off

just asked a former comrade of mine, who has just joined the Greens about this. His response - "No-one cares about football"

 

[JTG]

just asked a former comrade of mine, who has just joined the Greens about this. His response - "No-one cares about football"

That'll be why BRFC fans who normally vote Tory in West were voting Labour to stop the Greens then. Strong case for saying that Charlotte Leslie owed much of her re-election to her support of BRFC over the stadium issue as well.

Of course Greens in Bristol would say nobody cares about football, largely because they live in a Bishopston/Montpelier/St Andrews bubble where they've created their own little world for people who can't afford London anymore and pursue an anti-sport agenda (they opposed GCCC's new floodlights as well, endangering international cricket in the city) because they're terrified of meeting any actual Bristolians.

 

[JTG]

btw, BCFC fans also bear a grudge because they successfully opposed their new stadium development at Ashton Vale as well. They may have gained seats this time but they have an awful lot of enemies outside of the gentrified inner suburbs

 

[J Ed]

Of course Greens in Bristol would say nobody cares about football, largely because they live in a Bishopston/Montpelier/St Andrews bubble where they've created their own little world for people who can't afford London anymore and pursue an anti-sport agenda (they opposed GCCC's new floodlights as well, endangering international cricket in the city) because they're terrified of meeting any actual Bristolians.

Maybe they think that all football supporters are racist like Green Party people I know do. Fucking idiots

 

[sojourner]

Right redsquirrel , I was just about to launch into a fucking massive strop about your post as it seemed that you were being deliberately obtuse. However, I have re-read the posts and it would appear there has been a hefty misunderstanding, so to clarify:

When I referred to 'them' not being strikebreakers, I meant our local Parl GP candidates, not the Brighton ones, not the ACTUAL people who did the actual strike breaking.

Second, I was referencing the narrative about a lack of diversity in the GP when I mentioned that they were non-white. I was not for a second saying that was a reason to vote for them, and I'm not sure if we've had much interaction on here but if we had, you'd know that I'm not that fucking stupid. Hence me saying 'don't put words in my mouth'. I'm not entirely sure WHY you thought my post was exclusively about 'a reason to support Greens' when no one else's was deemed to be that.

Hope that's clearer for you now.

Well that's great, they may be strikebreaker cunts but at least they're not white strikebreaking cunts.

You really think that's a reason to vote for them? Well at least you've managed to provide Blagsta with another reason why he shouldn't vote for the pricks.

They're not strikebreaking cunts - you're mistaking them for people who actually took that action.

Did I say it was a reason to vote for them? No I did not. Don't put words into my mouth. And save your aggressive attitude for people who deserve it.

Oh sorry, they're not actual strike-breakers, they just enabled and promoted the strike-breaking. Brilliant.

What words did I put into your mouth? Your post gave a single reason to support the Greens, the race of the candidates you are standing. Call me crazy but I find it pretty concerning when a supporter of a (supposedly) progressive party uses such a factor as a reason for why people should vote for their party. If you don't think that is a reason why people should vote for them why did was it the sole issue mentioned in your post?

 

[J Ed]

 

[J Ed]

Also...

The Green party’s failure to make an electoral breakthrough, despite unprecedented publicity in the national media, demands reappraisal of its political strategy. While some voters may have needed reassurance that it is not a single-issue party, environmental experts and other prospective supporters were rightly horrified at the leader’s focus on leftist anti-austerity rhetoric rather than on the party’s approach to environmental sustainability and the quality of life. Natalie Bennett’s final message to voters on election night was that voting Green “will keep the Tories out”. This was a grave tactical error. To achieve a change in government the party should have focussed on its many policies that would have appealed to wavering Tory and Liberal Democrat voters.
Tim Cooper
Former Green party chairman

 

[frogwoman]

Has anyone watched the video of the bristol green party by john harris? Its but also and

 

[JTG]

Has anyone watched the video of the bristol green party by john harris? Its but also and

The one where clueless Montpelier muesli types go canvassing in Lawrence Hill? Yes. It's quite something

 

[kebabking]

so, any rumbles of a leadership challenge/opening in light of Bennetts' failure to win the seat she was after, and the general effect of the campaign?

 

[rioted]

TBF some of his views are well to the left of most Labour MPs:

GM has never been about feeding the world, or tackling environmental problems. It is and has always been about control of the global food economy by a tiny handful of giant corporations. It's not wicked to question that process. It is wicked not to.

 

[frogwoman]

The one where clueless Montpelier muesli types go canvassing in Lawrence Hill? Yes. It's quite something

'what local issues matter to you'

'I think they should legalise weed'

'Well, just as well thats a green party policy'

 

[ViolentPanda]

Old friendships/partnerships at work there. Zac's uncle Teddy boosted the Greens for decades in The Ecologist, as did Zac himself as editor. Quid pro quo, perhaps?

 

[J Ed]

'what local issues matter to you'

'I think they should legalise weed'

'Well, just as well thats a green party policy'

Honestly for something that is actually their party policy she could not have looked more offended by the suggestion.

 

[redsquirrel]

Right redsquirrel , I was just about to launch into a fucking massive strop about your post as it seemed that you were being deliberately obtuse. However, I have re-read the posts and it would appear there has been a hefty misunderstanding, so to clarify:

When I referred to 'them' not being strikebreakers, I meant our local Parl GP candidates, not the Brighton ones, not the ACTUAL people who did the actual strike breaking.

Ah ok, yeah I read "them" as referring to the Brighton councillors.

Second, I was referencing the narrative about a lack of diversity in the GP when I mentioned that they were non-white. I was not for a second saying that was a reason to vote for them, and I'm not sure if we've had much interaction on here but if we had, you'd know that I'm not that fucking stupid. Hence me saying 'don't put words in my mouth'. I'm not entirely sure WHY you thought my post was exclusively about 'a reason to support Greens' when no one else's was deemed to be that.

Hope that's clearer for you now.

OK, I didn't make any connection to lack of diversity in the GP in your reply to KB, he wasn't really taking about that was he? Anyway yeah point much clearer now.