Although the Greens have become known for their irreverent take on party broadcasts (see last year’s one at the primary school, or the boy band the year before), this year’s local election broadcast is altogether more sombre and hard-hitting:
Author: Jack Lenox
Automattician, humanist, vegan, adventurer, journeyman
A Green perspective on the Copeland by-election, and a rallying cry for a better electoral system
Last Thursday, history was made as the Conservatives took the Copeland parliamentary seat from the Labour Party. The seat had been held by Labour for 82 years, and it’s the first time a governing party has won a seat from the opposition in a by-election since 1982. And as the Conservatives have been proudly touting, it’s the first time a comparable by-election win has occurred for well over a century. While undoubtedly a seismic event, a closer inspection of the numbers, and of the events that took place during the by-election campaign, reveals a host of curiosities.
Copeland by-election: opposing nuclear power, and voting Green, is the only rational choice
Originally published by The Ecologist on 17 February 2017.
The media, and every other candidate in next week’s Copeland by-election, have fallen prey to the nuclear industry’s mighty PR machine by backing the planned Moorside nuclear mega-project just next to the Sellafield site.
Trying to set the story straight is an uphill struggle, and can at times be maddening. But it’s worth the fight.
Why there is no progressive alliance in Copeland
Published on Left Foot Forward on Thursday 2 February 2017. This is the unabridged version!
On Friday 13 January, the Green Party announced that it would be standing a candidate in the Copeland by-election. A decision had been reached by the local party in Copeland at its AGM the evening before. Within minutes of the announcement, onlookers on social media questioned why there was apparently no progressive alliance for the seat.
Continue reading “Why there is no progressive alliance in Copeland”
New Year’s resolutions for WordPress developers
I wrote a post of New Year’s resolutions for WordPress developers for Post Status. It’s a compilation of some of the things I have learnt since joining the WordPress.com VIP team a little over a year ago.
New Year’s Day walk
A walk around Loweswater to see in the New Year.
