Sexism/other issues in the Green party England & Wales - Discussion Thread 3

I read the first words as "Zip has officially..." and now I'm stuck with an image of Zippy from Rainbow in my head.

Edited because image wouldn't upload

ZP has officially announced he's going to stand in the by-election for the seat soon to be made vacant by 2Teir, should we start a book on his chances. 😂

He probably could win off the back of Gaza votes and #BeKind stuff and belated Starmer hate. From the Economist interview he was very techy about his time in the Lib Dems. 2bh I think of him more as an enthusiastic LD eccentric like bloody Lembit Opik. Essentially a bit lightweight on policy. The DRAMA of having him sitting just over on the same side as Ed Davey will be spicy

I think so too. I don't think more sunlight will be good for him. Hopefully it will bring more scrutiny of what the Greens now stand for as well.

Zack is hopelessly inconsistent and a high profile by election is likely to expose this and the overall batshittery of the Greens. The mainstream reporting may well expose this to a wider audience.

He'd get jeered a lot in the commons if he gets elected. We'd get to see how he really operates under pressure, especially with barracking from back bench Tories

What do you all think of Zack Polanski standing in the by-election that is being triggered by Keir Starmer stepping down? I assume the Greens are going to throw the kitchen sink at it. Should be interesting.

And the greens are backing Good Law Project's attempt to restrict reporting of bad news items because of that other legal threat enthusiast Jason Arday

Legal threats to journalists reporting, eh?

Cuddly and caring, those Greens.

It's all very popcorn 🍿 worthy, the stronge arm tactics being used to silence the critics in the party, are the same ones they'd use against the rest of us if they get into power.

'The Green Party deputy leader has used thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ cash meant for council work to partly fund his national role, the party’s own councillors have claimed.
Mothin Ali received £5,800 in a special responsibility allowance (SRA) from Leeds city council after allegedly telling fellow Greens the national party was not adequately supporting its leadership team.
But two of the party’s councillors have called for an investigation and for Ali to be suspended.'
'SRAs are meant to support councillors who take on additional duties in the council, for example chairing a committee. The Green Party has since said the allowance was given because Ali acts as a spokesman for the council group.'

'However, Mirosanu claimed no discussion took place in May about him taking on a role and it was only on August 10 that the group agreed Ali would become a spokesperson for the Leeds Greens. She claimed the role’s duties were not discussed but Ali said he had already been carrying out the role unofficially.'

'Mirosanu and fellow Green councillor Eden Hills reported the matter to Leeds city council, which is investigating. ' [Eden Hills is a man who dresses as a woman]
...
'. Ali’s critics have been labelled racist and Islamophobic in messages seen by The Times and supporters discussed whether councillors who challenged him should themselves be suspended.'

In the Times now "Green Party deputy accused of misusing taxpayer funds"

https://www.thetimes.com/article/13ac493e-62de-401b-964f-ba66537e0a72?shareToken=101f591877ac0ff972515ac95d8bdcb2&ver=article

Keir Starmers resignation as an MP gives Zack Polanski a chance to stand for parliament. News are leading on the possibility.

Although already chortling Chris Mason is saying green members were contacting him remembering that ZPs key pitch as leader was that he wouldn't be an MP to distract from leadership. Might give Rachel and Mothin more of a chance to shine though.

I'm wondering whether it's a matter of time before Alex Sobel joints the Greens. Their particular brand of student identity politics seems like a good fit for him.

No sure why MNHQ has hidden my reply as it is just details of some of the enclaves that the tech bros are building for themselves.

How strange. Would have thought posting facts to substantiate an earlier comment would not be an issue, but welcomed!!

Hawaii: Mark Zuckerberg owns a large 2,300-acre compound in Kauai with underground shelter features. Larry Ellison owns nearly all of the island of Lanai.
Latin America and the South: Peter Thiel and other wealthy figures have purchased large ranches and properties in Argentina and Patagonia as safe havens.
Charter Cities: Projects like Próspera in Honduras and proposed crypto-funded zones in the Caribbean aim to run on separate legal systems with low or zero taxes.
Startup Cities: Collectives backed by tech figures have pushed for new independent cities, such as Praxis.

The irony is they know what they are pushing it going to cause a crisis. And they are already preparing their elite communities where they will be unaffected.

There was a sensible woman from some part of government dealing with foreign aid the other day on the BBC (yep, I was shocked too) and she made the point that we need to invest more in making countries like Nepal more resilient to climate change and natural disaster, rather than funding asylum/ immigration here. This makes sense on a human level - because if we can make it better for people to stay in their home country surely they'll want to - and also an environmental level - lots of people migrating drives up CO2 emissions, it's really environmentally unfriendly.

I am not sure who said this but cant believe the way it is framed here.

Nepal has suffered a catastrophic "natural" disaster, actual created by global warming.

WTF has that got to do with "staying" in their own country.

The problem is the over consumers, yes us in the west, have created an environment that a large part of a glacier fell away and devastation followed.

Everybody in the west looking at this needs to be reminded we contributed to this. I very much doubt that Nepal itself in anyway contributed to it.

This is the problem. People in the west are such brain dead consumers that even when they are made aware of their life style choices are a problem they carry on doing it. Even when it is workmen within out own country dying from silicosis.

A few people after the fires this year have been made slightly more aware that "something needs to be done" but will not accept it should impinge their life style. Parts of europe had their electricity rationed.

No western Government is going to say to it over consuming citizens, each year you will be given an amount of (name various things that cause problems, flying, eating meat) and you have to arrange your life within those limitations.

Not saying this would be like war time rations, but for centuries people only ate mean occasionally. We need re-educating.

And no doubt if we had these quotas there would be some sort of black market where you could sell you flying quota for the year.

And more needs to be done to help countries that are suffering from underdevelopment to improve their lives. Not just seem them as tourist destination for people from the west.

And so long as big companies, and more and more big tech, are able to influence Governments this isn't going to happen.

(Slightly off topic, but is anyone aware that there is a trend among those in tech with money to set up "independent" communities in underdeveloped countries where they live in their own "self governing state" as they dont like the way in the west they have to pay taxes etc.. So no doubt it will end up with a few of this well protected sealed off communities whilst the rest of us return to subsistent way of life.)

I think the problem is firstly, if you're the only family doing it essentially your children aren't going to like you very much and secondly most people feel they have very little control over the 'climate crisis' (ironically it's only relatively well off that have the time to even get up to speed on emissions and the global picture let alone protest about it) so prioritise doing things that make them feel a bit better in the short term when they're struggling with their rent and mortgage costs and stuck in a soul destroying job they hate for ever decreasing pay in real terms.

It needs to be a collective effort, there literally is no point in people giving up holidays if everyone else isn't. ALSO, it's still the case it's cheaper to go for a week in Spain than a week in Torbay. You might find if it was the other way around, people would happily choose the more environmental option. But if it's Spain or stay at home, people deserve to get what happiness they can out of life. The people making decisions about family holidays now will be long dead before the biggest impacts are felt, and honestly I don't think it's a given how it's going to go. The fearmongering on both sides is extreme and there are lots of idiotic and untrue claims on both sides.

It's quite easy to think of better ways to reduce air travel if you really want to. Subsidised hotels in Devon and Cornwall, the Lake District, Scotland (only if you go by train), during the school hols. Reduce business taxes during that time. That'd probably reduce air travel more than any punitive measure. It needs to be carrot not just stick. I can't see this happening though as those who profit from normal people will not be on board.

Its not because I dont like your points. Its because they dont make logical sense.

And sorry for correcting your spelling - you kept making the same error and it is a key term.

Carbon capture, as I said, seems like a great idea but nobody has managed to find an effective way to do it. And they've been trying for quite a long time.

If that is all we have, then we are fucked.

People get indignant about the potential loss of their summer holiday in the next six months and seem to not care about risking the loss of absolutely everything in the following years to come.

We will see increasing fires and destruction, crop failure, &c, but god forbid anyone gave up some comfort and convenience. I mean we are seeing it. It's here. It's going to get worse going forward.

People have been sounding the alarm for years and have been ignored.

Progress has been made in reducing emissions. Quite heartening progress, in some respects. I hope it continues.

Yes. This will be the real crunch. It's why Polanski keeps stressing he's only against the 1%, when if you really think global, that 1% of 9 billion or so souls on earth would be some of those in the UK he's currently trying to get on side

I saw this quote from an Orwell essay on Rudyard Kipling:

All left-wing parties in the highly industrialized countries are at bottom a sham, because they make it their business to fight against something which they do not really wish to destroy. They have internationalist aims, and at the same time they struggle to keep up a standard of life with which those aims are incompatible. We all live by robbing Asiatic coolies, and those of us who are 'enlightened' all maintain that those coolies ought
to be set free; but our standard of living, and hence our 'enlightenment', demands that the robbery shall continue. A humanitarian
is always a hypocrite, and Kipling's understanding of this is perhaps the central secret of his power to create telling phrases. It would be difficult to hit off the one-eyed pacifism of the English in fewer words than in the phrase, 'making mock of uniforms that guard you while you sleep'.

(https://www.george-orwell.org/Rudyard_Kipling/0.html).

No one voluntarily has yet ever voted to make themselves poorer. Brexit and Trump voters were convinced they'd be richer for instance. Even Global optimist Hans Rausling observed that even the most committed environmentalist wouldn't give up ownership of their washing machine. So the question is how you get people to accept an objectively worse standard of living like not going on foreign travel when it's something most people parents if not grandparents were able to do, and voluntarily consume less

ultimately, I just think it's pointless to try and expect people to accept a worse quality of life

Yes, we are pretty fucked.