Marple Website Community Calendar
Archive => Archived Boards => Local Elections and Council Matters => Topic started by: Newbie1 on April 20, 2018, 04:08:50 PM
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Marple is a great place to live. We have the canal network, plenty of parks and green spaces, and are only a 25min train ride away from Manchester Piccadily. We have our wonderful cinema and an increasing number of independent restaurants and cafes. People are friendly and we have lots of community groups and opportunities for people of all ages. We do need investment in the centre, however, and I would love it to become the vibrant, bustling centre I'm told it was once again.
Calling oneself a protector of Green Spaces seems like a common theme for candidates of all colours in elections. It is only Green Party candidates who can totally be trusted to protect ALL green spaces, both in Marple and in Stockport.
The Green Party is an anti-austerity party. If elected, I can stand up against budget cuts and campaign against austerity. How can my Lib Dem and Conservative opponents do this when it is their coalition government that introduced austerity? I was a junior doctor 20 years ago. Things were much better then, but the pressure I was under at times was almost intolerable. I can completely empathise with the pressure our public servants are under now. I'm not going to be adding to their pressure, but will fight for better funding for our public services.
If elected, I would be able to push for investment in Marple. I will be free to vote for what is best for Marple. I'm not going to be restricted by national headquarters, like most of my opponents.
National Green Party policies may not appeal to some. However, we are talking about local politics here. As much as I'd like to see it, I think its unlikely that the Green Party is going to have a huge amount of power anytime soon. At a local level. even just a single Green councillor can make a difference and I would urge people to consider voting Green on May 3rd.
On a lighter note, a shock election result would bring publicity to our lovely little town- vote Green on May 3rd!
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I've just come back from a climate change and sustainability conference in Manchester today. Our government could, and should, be doing so much more to tackle air pollution, climate change and other environmental issues.
I'm hopeful that more Green Party councillors will be elected than ever before in May. Please vote Green and send a strong message to the government that they cannot ignore.
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Wouldn't you have been more useful employed pressing the flesh in Marple North
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Good question. The conference was excellent, and we discussed issues that I had not really contemplated before such as gender politics and climate change (women fare far more badly due to the consequences of climate change)
I don't like knocking on doors as it irritates the hell out of me personally. My leaflets have all been distributed, I've been accessible online and we had a Green Party stall a few weeks ago in Marple.
So maybe, maybe not
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Just to clarify - it irritates me when canvassers knock on MY door. I've been delighted when anyone has taken the time to talk to me when I've been out and about!
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Hi Carolyn as I've said before in other places I'm completely in favour of a great deal of the Green agenda, in fact I think it's probably ultimately the only agfenda, the question for me is wo is best to implement it. I read that letter / article you posted on fB - it might be an idea to post it here - and the only bit that concerned me was the idea that the Greens wanted a society without any form of organised state - am I right about that? And if so, what does that society look like?
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The thing is @Carolyn Leather that councillors are supposed to represent the whole community, not just garner votes. They should care. That's how you get to know issues too. Although it's growing, only a small proportion of Marple people come on this website.
@Steve Gribbon has been on doorsteps since last autumn. Other candidates in Marple N only more recently. And if face-to-face conversations irritate you, that might be a problem for a potential councillor.
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Hi Chris
This is a link to the article you refer to, which I think sums up nicely what the differences are between the Green and Labour Parties:
https://leftfootforward.org/2018/02/come-and-join-the-green-party-an-open-letter-from-jonathan-bartley-to-owen-jones/
I know you have suggested that a Green Party Government would lead to anarchy. I disagree! The Green Party believes strongly in individual liberty, and for me, that is the key difference between the two parties. I've explained on here before why I initially joined the Green Party. My daughter is severely disabled, but I wanted her to be in a mainstream school with her twin brother. I am a member of ALLFIE (https://www.allfie.org.uk/) and believe that it is wrong to segregate disabled children in special schools. My daughter was happy in her local school, but the pressure I was put under by the school, professionals and the Local Authority (not Stockport) to put her in a special school was immense. I looked at all of the political parties' education policies at the time, and it was only the Green Party that supports a truly inclusive education system that would work for all children.
For me, school is the ideal place for children to learn about people who are different to themselves, and should focus much more upon building community. Indeed, a lot of Green Party policies are based upon the importance of empowering communities and creating a more caring society, within which people care for themselves, each other and the environment.
I was a doctor and I saw firsthand how so many people rely upon professionals for support in the absence of supportive community. The Green Party absolutely wants to see brilliant public services accessible to all people. Professionals have to keep their clients at arms length however and cannot form the emotional attachments that are required to improve many people's lives. This is why Community is so important.
@CllrGeoffAbell Face to face conversations do not irritate me at all. I've clarified that point already.
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Hi Carolyn as I've said before in other places I'm completely in favour of a great deal of the Green agenda, in fact I think it's probably ultimately the only agfenda, the question for me is wo is best to implement it. I read that letter / article you posted on fB - it might be an idea to post it here - and the only bit that concerned me was the idea that the Greens wanted a society without any form of organised state - am I right about that? And if so, what does that society look like?
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I read this book many years ago. It made me think about a lot of things differently:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Careless-Society-Community-Its-Counterfeits/dp/0465091261
I realise that this has nothing to do with the local elections.
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Concisely, are you anticipating the breakdown of society into smaller, self managing cooperatibe units, a bit like the feudal system without the Barons, or a more general free for all, like the Wild West?
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@Chris Wallis To be honest, I can't envisage a Government led by the Green Party in my lifetime. I am hopeful that there will be more Green councillors and Green MPs to really push the Green Agenda and our other ideas though, all of which make sense to me. Just think what UKIP has managed to achieve...
Neither of your options are how I would envisage a country run by the Green Party. As I said before, I envisage strong communities supported by excellent services.
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But if there's no central administration, who supplies the services? To help others catch up you could post that letter here?
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@Chris Wallace Unless I am mistaken, there would be a government to administer services. I believe individuals need to be empowered and have more control over their lives, and
I think that is what other Green Party members also believe. I feel that as a society we have become too dependent upon the "state", which simply doesn't have the resources to meet all of our needs.
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That's not what I understood from the document you posted. can you put it up again? Oh and it's Wallis not Wallace, like the shop, not the hero. :D
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Apologies for getting your name wrong. The article is on this thread, not far down. It is only you and me chatting about this.
I think we are not getting very far with this conversation. You think a Green Government would lead to anarchy, I don't. Either way, the Green Party currently has just one MP so how likely are we ever to have a majority government?
Are you going to the count? I think this is an interesting conversation we could have to kill the time there!
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@Chris Wallis This is a link to a summary about the Green Party's vision of a "Citizen's Democracy"
https://www.greenparty.org.uk/green-guarantee/a-citizens-democracy.html
The detailed policy can be found online if anyone is interested. It is an evolving document.
In summary, decisions would be made at a level as close to the people/communities that they affect. Local Authorities would have much more power than they do now, and communities would be motivated to engage with politics as they would have more power in turn.
There is reference to a central government and an elected second chamber to replace the House of Lords.
Again, this is all a vision and has little to do with the local elections. I started this thread as I genuinely believe a Green Party councillor would be in a unique situation on the council. They would be free to really speak out for the community that they represent, much like an independent councillor . They would, however, always have the environment at the forefront of their mind when making decisions.
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@Carolyn Leather Thanks for the clarification and I'm sorry I missed the previous post. My concern about governmental structure comes solely from a sentence or two in that doc : 'And we trust the people. We don’t want an authoritarian state, an authoritarian electoral system or an authoritarian party structure.' - which begs the question ,what sort of structure do you want? Yes let's talk at the count.