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

[fromorbit]

Zack Polanski is making things bigger yet again so another thread needed.

Well things have developed rather a lot since the start. ZP started out as being another sexist guy in politics - no shortage those around, but he thought he could take it to a new level and he proved he could do it.

The Green threads have followed his rise from the start of with the Hypnoboobs scandal and much more. There is also:

Mothin Ali as deputy Leader who clearly doesn't believe in trans thinking, but cleverly sidesteps round talking about it, has always had a issues with encouraging racist violence and is now encouraging people to sue the Green party if they attempt to stop them saying racist stuff.

The other deputy Rachel Millward represents the posh rich faction of the Greens who manages to sounding like Reform when opposing Asylum Seekers in her area, but at the same time saying we are too harsh on immigrants in general. Obviously she also doesn't believe women are a thing. Yet she is the least crazy when violence is concerned compared to ZP, and Mothin.

Hypnoboobs scandal got worse recently when it became clear from BBC footage ZP actively believed in the Hypnoboobs thesis rather than being tricked into it.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn9enygvezeo

Alongside all this there is constant ongoing attacks on biological reality from the party in interviews and in policy.

Now in the last week or so after a longstanding spate of antisemetic rhetoric from some Greens during the election campaign and ZP downplaying it. We have synagogues, schools, ambulances attacked, two Jewish people dead and ZP berating unarmed police for risking their lives in fighting a violent killer who was still armed with a knife things have come to a crisis point.

The Greens are becoming ever more sinister with dozens of candidates sounding like they are seventies NF supporters with comments about uppity women and Jewish power. The huge drama over a crazy motion which they were trying to pass against Israel at conference alongside a motion to prevent women having sports will surface again their September conference.

It seems likely after next week The Greens are going to be running a bunch of councils which doesn't bode well after their antics in Bristol.

Yet there is hope, in Bristol women are fighting back_: www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5455053-bristol-council-is-about-to-be-sued_

The fight back from Green Women's Declaration, ( https://www.greenwomensdeclaration.uk/ ) continues and the court cases against GPEW from Emma Bateman and Shahrar Ali are developing, both getting through legal delaying tactics as they move to trial. Gardening is needed. These cases if successful could be dramatic in their impact.

First thread - where you can follow the rise of ZP and lots of other scandal
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5328986-greens-internal-drama-warms-up

Second Thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5456759-sexismother-issues-in-the-green-party-england-wales-discussion-thread-2?

Note the Scottish Greens which are a separate party to the Green Party England/Wales have their own thread for all their sexist drama. They split off because GPEW didn't hate biology and women/gays enough at the time.
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5313420-scottish-greens-being-sexist-again?page=1

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

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.

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.

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

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. 😂

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

Hypnotits, Zippy, Walter Titty a man of many names.

I think the contest is excellently timed and is going to be very revealing..

Cllr Sagal Abdi-Wali current leader of Camden council is possibly the front runner to be the Labour candidate. She is a Muslim Somali refugee who plays cricket. Be a very interesting contrast to ZP,
https://martinplaut.com/2026/09/03/could-sagal-abdi-wali-become-the-first-british-somali-woman-in-the-uk-parliament/

Reports began circulating on Wednesday (September 2) that a slew of politicians from within the council were vying for the candidacy, including Cllr Abdi-Wali, her predecessor Richard Olszewski, and current cabinet members Adam Harrison, James Slater and Nasrine Djemai.

It is Holborn so the existence of biology is likely to come up on the campaign trail more than a little. I would like to see Zippy discuss why he thinks women don't deserve sports or anything else at the hustings.

Meanwhile the Mothin Ali scandal is getting bigger by the day and will crop up.

The Greens conference which is likely to be utterly insane as we have discussed many times here we will occur during the campaign. Even more media attention.

However Zippy has a problem his hopes of standing in Keir Starmer's seat could be denied by his own party members who would prefer a Palestinian candidate or co-operation with a pro-Gaza independent, leaked WhatsApp messages from activists in Holborn and St Pancras reveal. Times article

Zack Polanski’s hope for seat could be scuppered by pro-Palestinian candidate
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/zack-polanski-holborn-st-pancras-keir-starmer-7vhbrzjjd

Don't have a share token

Great burn😀

Emily Thornberry
6h
I’m not usually one to defend Zack Polanski, but the idea he doesn’t have at least one single connection to Camden is just nonsense. Look, here he is standing for the council there in 2015… as a Lib Dem… during the austerity coalition…

St Pancras and Somers Town Ward By-election results 5 March 2015
London,06March2015
The results of the by election are as follows:

Candidate Party Votes cast

Shahin Ahmed Conservative Party 243

Zack Polanski Liberal Democrats 96

Tina Swasey Green Party 213

Paul Edward Tomlinson Labour Party 1481

Paul Edward Tomlinson was duly elected borough councillor for St Pancras and Somers Town ward.

The voter turnout was 21.8 %.

However Zippy has a problem his hopes of standing in Keir Starmer's seat could be denied by his own party members who would prefer a Palestinian candidate or co-operation with a pro-Gaza independent, leaked WhatsApp messages from activists in Holborn and St Pancras reveal.

I can't see Zippy reacting well to that.

(And now the image in my head is the puppet from Rainbow spitting feathers.)

The Greens are coming for north London
Noa Hoffman

In recent months, Labour has shown that where the Greens lead, it will often follow – even if only halfway up the garden path. The by-election will place huge pressure on Burnham to move further to the left. Labour HQ, however, is determined to attack the Greens as hard as possible. This is relatively easy, given that the party’s membership provides almost endless material for ridicule. Ahead of its conference in October, member-submitted motions range from giving ‘people who menstruate’ an additional 36 days of paid annual leave to disbanding the Prevent programme and forging closer ties with the IRGC.

The question for Labour is how far Burnham and his eventual candidate should go to chase those votes. Some senior MPs believe it should refrain from launching negative attacks on its rival party, focusing instead on Burnham’s positive agenda. Others believe that, even in an area as progressive as Holborn and St Pancras, highlighting Polanski’s extreme positions will deter potential Green voters and push them towards Labour.

https://archive.is/nuAdQ

It seems we could start with a book on whether Zippy will even be selected by his own party to stand in the by-election. 😂

Right. If Zippy gets elected, I will have to swear off British politics for the foreseeable future. It would be like seeing The Office coming to life. So painfully cringy you can’t watch it.

<sigh> my message was hidden presumably because I linked to a page on a site called Oddschecker specific to the by-election. Just for a bit of fun.

I can't see Polanski being elected. It's too soon into Burnham's premiership and many are still waiting to give him the benefit of the doubt.

I think as with most elections, it will be more about how people feel "against" other parties.

So suspect this by election will be as much about Burnham's supposed positive impact. ie Labour now more popular than Reform since Starmer stepped down.

And whether the negative coverage of various Green gaffs that have been reported since local elections, will have made some think maybe the Greens aren't the "not as bad as everybody else".

The recent Green success was in most instances wanting to get rid of Labour.

This is an "interesting" development!

https://www.thetimes.com/article/2beebeba-83d4-4337-8b47-3c79ef3e9361?shareToken=55843ec49c187619746bede642633ad3

@ProudWomanXX that just takes me to the Times home page.

It works for me but try this one
https://www.thetimes.com/article/2beebeba-83d4-4337-8b47-3c79ef3e9361?shareToken=ea4379553c5174a45f1d747ef519def4&ver=article

Sorry! I used the share code, so no idea why .

There's been problems with the Times share tokens for a few days now

Thanks. Excellent news!

"The party is already dealing with what its own treasurer has described as a “substantial exposure to legal claims” under the Equality Act, which delayed the publication of its annual accounts."

Well, good.

"A Green Party spokesperson said: “All elections to Green Party positions are held in accordance with our rules and constitution, and we always act within the law.""

Wonder who their lawyers are, then, that they don't understand such basic issues?

Edit: posted before I read this bit. "It follows warnings from the Green Party’s own lawyers over the potential consequences of its approach."

I'm not making the obvious joke about them identifying as lawyers.

The text in case links are tricky:

'The Green Party is facing a fresh legal challenge after a transgender activist was elected to a position designed to boost female representation on one of its most powerful internal bodies.

Eleanora Folan, a self-described “trans communist” who has called for “glory to the Iranian resistance”, won a vote last month to represent the Eastern Region on the Green Party Council in its women’s place.

Gender-critical Greens said the result appeared incompatible with the Supreme Court ruling last year that “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 referred to biological sex, and that they were consulting lawyers.'

Did they make use of the all women short list legislation to create postions that are specifically for women or is this different?