What's the story in Balamory?

Well now I'm into my series about the rapidly approaching Scottish independence referendum. A month to go! Potentially until the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ceases to exist as a united entity. Instead it could become two nations: Scotland and the United Kingdom of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. However the latter countries name is still up for debate. I quite like the sound of:

The United Kingdom of Southern Britain and Northern Ireland

Just say it how it is. Although, the name of the "rump" UK is still up in the air in quite a literal sense. It all depends on whether the Scottish people vote Yay or Nay next month.

So let's get down to the facts. What is exactly going on north of the border in the land of tartan, Scottie dogs and Balamory! As I don't want to bore you with the details and I want to keep this week's blog short and sweet.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-26550736

Archie from the CBeebies Show, Balamory. Apologies to all Scottish reader here..

 

As I'm sure this BBC article will tell you and you can glean from the media buzz around the debate, this is kind of a big deal.

From my own personal perspective it has thrown up a lot of questions about identity and how I view myself. In the 2011 UK census, I would tick the little box that said "White British". As that’s how I viewed myself. Not as a Cestrefeldian (someone from Chesterfield), a Derbyshire lad, English whatever. I simply viewed myself as British. A simple label that has a lot of different meanings for a lot of different people.

From studying History at both GCSE, A-level and via YouTube, I would honestly admit that I have some patriotism in being British. However, I would also like to point out that I have also been ashamed of what was done in the name of Britain in the past.

Now the Scottish referendum has called all this into question for me. What does it mean to be British in 2014? In particular when a part of the "mother" country was No Thanks to the current Westminster system from London.  I do sympathise with the long battle that has been fought by the Scots to get a greater say in their affairs. Especially after the horrors of the Thatcher years (1979-1990), and a Tory government who had a dwindling number of seats in Scotland was re-elected three times (1983, 1987, 1992). There are some links below to some very good documentaries which explains the history behind the referendum in far greater detail than I can:

Thatcher and the Scots (2009)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31FGZZ9Jb1E

Referendum Documentaries- Scotland's Smoking Gun (2014)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03sltv5/referendum-documentaries-2-scotlands-smoking-gun

Better Together Campaigners (Glasgow Tories) in Glasgow.

However, until recently I still felt that the UK was better as a whole, united nation. Rather than it being split into two. In fact I was and still am on the Better Together (Anti-Independence) campaign mailing list. I even rang them up and said that I was prepared to run an aggressive Twitter and Facebook campaign against the Yes campaign.

This presented me with a problem as it went against what both the Green Party of England and Wales and the Scottish Greens were saying. This was complete support for an independent Scotland. So what do I do?

Scottish Greens website (2014)

http://www.scottishgreens.org.uk/independence/

Green Yes Manifesto- Scottish Greens (2014)

http://www.scottishgreens.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/11/Green-Yes-document.pdf

 

 

Patrick Harvie. A Green MSP and Male  Co- Convener of the Scottish Greens.

Well I thought about actually asking the Scottish Greens, particularly the Scottish Young Greens what the deal was exactly. Seeing how I was an "English" Masters student sitting in Chesterfield and having never been to Scotland (Shock, horror!), coming out on a vehemently anti-Yes stance.

My main concerns were: the currency issue, the EU, and the political situation in the remaining parts of the UK. My personal opinion was complicated by Dad. The reasoning being that my Dad works for a company who has its headquarters in Newbridge, near Edinburgh. So occasionally he has to go up there on business trip etc. Every time has been up I have always asked him:

"What is the mood up in Scotland?"

"What's the feeling up there?"

"What does your boss in Edinburgh think of the referendum?"

Apart from being a little annoying on my Dad's part to be my personal opinion tester of the Scottish people, I have actually got some interesting responses. An answer to the latter question was:

"They are voting No, because they wonder who would there be to lead an independent Scotland other than Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon. Who would form the cabinet?"

I find this a very interesting reason for not voting Yes in the referendum, and could be indicative of a lack of knowledge or apathy. Likewise it could be argued that other than Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon, who else is really well known in Scottish politics? I feel that would be rectified in an independent Scotland, as media attention north of the border would focus on Holyrood (Scottish Parliament) rather than Westminster. But still an interesting reason to support the Better Together/ No Thanks campaign.



Alex Salmond- Current Scottish First Minister

 



Getting back to the Scottish Greens and my concerns, I asked a Scottish Young Green my question and got some open and honest responses. None of the simple slogans that has been muttered by the Scottish National Party (SNP) and in my opinion has provided the No campaign with some easy political points.

The responses I got made me think that maybe I can support the Yes campaign after all. Maybe the sky won't fall in, if I supported Yes on September 18^th. Now this has to be credited to the Scottish Young Green who reply to my questions and took away some of my ignorance on the key issues.

Now I can see here, that some people might think I have been led astray here. However, I would have to disagree. With an issue that has such wide reaching and long term consequences for not just Scotland, but the whole UK.

Anyway I have blithered on for too long now and must stop before I get repitative stain injury to my wrists! However, as promised I will continue this series next week and will tackle some of the key issues of the debate. So keep those eyes peeled J

OPINION POLL- 4 WEEKS LEFT TO GO!

YES: 38%

NO: 51%

DON'T KNOW: 11%

Source: YouGov

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/events/scotland-decides/poll-tracker

Additional Reading/Viewing

Balamory Theme Tune

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWBAINpDuvk

 Referendum Documentaries- Five Million Ways to be Scottish

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03tgtmt/referendum-documentaries-3-five-million-ways-to-be-scottish

 Referendum Documentaries-Scotland's Top Ten Battlegrounds

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03vmb0s/referendum-documentaries-4-scotlands-top-ten-battlegrounds

Yes Scotland campaign website

http://www.yesscotland.net/

Better Together campaign website

http://bettertogether.net/

 

 

Frack Wars- Episode 1 - The Fracking Menance

Apologies for the very belated blog post. It is already a third of the way into August! My promise of a regular blog on a Thursday will also be another commitment that I will also be broken.

Now I do have an explanation for why I am so late with my blog and why I have decided to change the day that I blog. My lateness is due to a combination of a quirk of the calendar, fracking meetings, unreliable technology and my Nan's 80^th birthday. So there are some legitimate reasons for why I am behind in my blogging.

For auld lang syne, my jo

My reasoning for changing my blogging day is due to the upcoming independence referendum in Scotland. Yesterday (August 11^th) was the 5 week mark until the referendum on September 18^th. My plan is from next Monday (August 18^th) onwards to do a series of blog posts on the referendum. These will cover the key issues of the debate, an analysis of the polls and my own opinion on what's occurring north of the border.

Now I welcome both the Yes and No campaigns to comment/critique my posts, so that there can be a constructive debate on the issues raised. I will also do a special blog post on September 18^th (polling day) itself. This will be followed up by an analysis of the results and we can see whether Scotland has voted Yay or Nay on independence.

In recognition of this, I have also changed my blog poll to:

"Should Scotland be an independent country?"

This is the same question that the Scottish electorate will be asked. So I urge all readers to participate.

Chesterfield Politics

Finally, I am also planning to continue my other series on Chesterfield politics. I have been in contact with the local Labour, Lib Dem and UKIP parties, to quiz them on why they feel they are best disposed to represent the people of Chesterfield. In other news, I have also been contemplating the notion of standing as a Green candidate in May 2015. So for further updates, watch this space!

Fracking

Now getting down to the issue that I really want to discuss: fracking. Fracking is currently a very topical issue within the Green Party. With the Green Party as having come out vehemently opposed to the whole process of fracking.

https://my.greenparty.org.uk/civicrm/petition/sign?sid=3

 

 

A protester at the Frack Free South Yorkshire led protest and rally in Sheffield.

 

But what exactly is fracking?

Well Wikipedia (reliable as ever) describes fracking or hydraulic fracturing as:

"..the fracturing of rock by a pressurized liquid."

This is a very broad definition of what fracking is and also includes natural causes. The type of fracking that has the Greens so riled is Induced hydraulic fracturing a.k.a. hydrofracking, fracking and fraccing. Again thanks to Wikipedia this is defined as:

"..a well simulation technique in which a high pressure fluid (usually water mixed with sand and chemicals) is injected into a well bore in order to create small fractures (<1.0mm wide) in deep rock formations in order to allow natural gas, petroleum and brine to migrate to the well."

Well now that we have a definition of fracking is, but why does it get the Green Party's blood pressure up. Now I can only speak from what I have seen and my own opinions on the issue.

The main contention is in the UK with fracking is what happens to that "pleasant" soup of water, sand and chemicals after the fossil resource/ shale gas has been extracted. Where fracking has been in operation in other countries, notably the United States and Australia, there have been reports on massive environmental contamination of both groundwater and drinking water. With some very extreme cases as shown in the video link below of people being able to set fire to tap water.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LBjSXWQRV8This video was provided by the Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition (see link below).

Now I am no geologist, but I have studied a fair bit on groundwater and chemical leaching as part of my MSc degree, and I don't want to bore you with the details. However, I do think cases like this show that there is some risk potentially posed to water supplies from fracking.

What fracking also highlights to me is how desperate we are as a society that we have to blast fossil fuels from the ground beneath us. Likewise to the massive tar sands operations in Alberta, Canada (pictured). It shows how we (myself included) as society are addicted to fossil fuels and will go to any lengths to get them.

The scale of the tar sands operations in Northern Alberta, Canada

 

Anti Tar Sands protesters in London.

 

Critics of my opinion would argue:

"We have the technology to persue fracking in the UK, why not?"

"Think of the jobs that fracking will create in the UK."

"The UK will be able to be self-sufficient in its energy supply!"

I can see that there is grounding for these arguments. The appeal of a domestic energy sector that allows the UK to have long lasting jobs and to also end our reliance on Middle East oil does sound good.  However at what cost do you want that? The UK has long been described as a "green and pleasant land", and I fear that we have the potential with fracking to threaten that.

Going back to the technology argument for fracking, well we also have the technology for renewable. Now I know that renewables aren't necessarily the fabled magic bullet to the UK's energy crisis. I view them as part of the solution, along with a national drive to create a more sustainable and energy efficient economy.

This is one of the reasons why I support the Green Party as I feel that their policy of a Green New Deal hits the nail on the head.

http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/12-05-2009-one-million-jobs-only-the-start.html

Now conscious of going on a bit here, I will draw this week's blog to a close. However I will provide you all with a few links to websites, for those of you who like a bit of additional reading below. I also promise to continue this series on fracking, as it is an ongoing issue and will continue to develop. Plus I want to discuss my role with Frack Free South Yorkshire, whose link can be found below. So over and out!

Frack Free South Yorkshire

http://www.frackfreesouthyorkshire.co.uk/

The Guardian section on fracking

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/shale-gas

A recent Guardian article on the secondary effects of fracking.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/aug/10/fracking-censored-house-price-report

Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion being arrested

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/video/2013/aug/20/caroline-lucas-protest-fracking-arrest-balcombe-video

The Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition

http://www.gdacoalition.org/GDAC_ABOUT_US.html

Young People and the Vote.

So I'm back to my usual Thursday blogging. This week I thought that I would talk about an issue that I feel is very important and could well affect next year's general election. That is young people and the voting, particularly first time voters.

According to an article that I read in the Worcester News website, there will be approximately 2 million first time voters in 2015.

http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/11196756.Young_first_time_voters_to_shun_2015_general_election__says_poll/?ref=var_0

The article goes to say how those young voters are planning to "shun" the ballot box, due to an increasing disillusionment with politics in general. It then back this up with a survey that the paper conducted that of 1000 first time voters in Worcester, only 41% have indicated that they intend to vote next May. That is down from 2010, in which an Ipsos Mori poll found that only 44%! Of the 18-24 age group bothered to vote. The breakdown was as follows:

Men: 50%

Women: 39%

The figure for the young, female vote I found particularly disturbing and I'm sure many female politicians and political activists will. Especially, after the long battle that was fought in Britain by groups like the Suffragettes fought so passionately for the vote. As my still nameless Tory friend would say:

"What would have Mrs Pankhurst have said!"

I think that there is a lot of truth in that remark, as what would women such as Emmeline Pankhurst, Emily Wilding Davison and other Suffragettes would say at those figures. Particularly Emily Wilding Davison, who was famously martyred for the cause by colliding with the King's horse at the Epsom Derby in June 1913.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22739748

Going back to the local newspaper article in Worcester, I think one comment by a student rally sums up the discontent that young people currently feel with the political system:

"People my age are rarely into politics because they don't think it will make a difference."

The student goes onto say:

"If you ask people not at university I reckon it will be especially low. It's not good."

For me that highlights the issue particularly well that a lot of young people feel cut off from the politics and the decisions that affect their lives.  In addition to the lack of exposure to the political world for those young people who have not had the privilege of a university education.

The article also quotes an A-level politics student from Worcester, who said:

"You can't blame the politicians in my opinion."

"Young people have got to want to get involved. There are a lot of people my age who are interested, but most are not."

I can see both sides of the argument that is presented here. Although I would have to agree with the former rather than the latter argument. However, they both point to the same point of a lack of interest/awareness in most young people, due to a lack education or understanding.

This speaks true for me, as my political education was almost zilch throughout secondary school, until I did AS History. In a lesson about Stalin's ideological position within the post Lenin power grab, my History teacher explained the left-right spectrum to us. With some additions from where he thought individual newspapers such as the Daily Telegraph, Guardian and the News of the World fell on this spectrum. I was completely unaware that there was such a thing as left-right and assumed that all politicians were the "same" and just had different opinions.

My real political education came at university in York. At the fresher's fair wandering around the stall, being bribed to sign the mailing list of a variety of societies. Then I came across where the area where the political societies were. I saw the Tories in their suits and smugness and thought "Nah", and Labour didn't appeal to me much either. I remember speaking to the Lib Dems and asking:

"What effect do you think that being in coalition with the Tories will have on the Lib Dems."

Now this was October 2010, pre-everything that has happened since, and so the response that I got is somewhat justified:

"Well let's wait and see…"

I then came across the Greens and signed up to their mailing list. I only properly became involved in the 2011 local elections in York, and the rest they say is history. What I am trying to say here is that politics shouldn't only be accessible at university, but much earlier. We need to have a radical shake up of how we teach politics in school. Maybe even lower the voting age to 16.
But isn't this just all empty words? Aren't actions louder than words?
Well in answer to that I have been doing something to try and help to engage the disenfranchised. Well on Tuesday, I went to Rotherham to talk to some first time voters about the importance of voting and why they should go to the ballot box on May 7^th 2015.

The talk was part of a week-long event that was hosted by Sarah Champion (pictured), the Labour MP for Rotherham, called Sarah's Summer School. The summer school was open to all young people in Rotherham aged 16-24.

 

Sarah Champion, Labour MP for Rotherham at her by-election victory in 2012.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-20535008

 On the day there was only a small group of about 5-6 in the end, but still it was very interesting to listen and engage with them. For a small group there was a large amount of variety amongst them, but there was one common theme and that was that they wanted to learn more about politics. So that does show that there is some interest in politics with young voters. All that it takes is a bit of effort from those of us who are interested/ engaged in politics. So let's do it and make a difference!

As I am conscious of this being a long post and I will return to this topic. So over and out for this week.

 

 

 

 

Post By-Election reflections..

This post is a follow up to my earlier blog on Thursday about the by-election in Edenthorpe, Kirk Sandall and Barnby Dun, in which a fellow Young Green (Pete Kennedy) stood for the Greens.

As such I will give you the results and a quick analysis of the results. Then back to my usual blogging pattern of every Thursday.

The results are as follows:

Candidate	Party	Number of Votes	% of Votes
ALLEN, Nick	Conservative	479	16.2
BISSET, Paul	UKIP	1203 (elected)	40.8
KENNEDY, Pete	Green	160	5.4
NEVETT, David	Labour	1109	37.6
TOTAL		2951	Turnout- 27.5%

 http://www.doncaster.gov.uk/sections/councilanddemocracy/votingelectionsanddemocracy/ElectionResults/Results/Edenthorpe__Kirk_Sandall_and_Barnby_Dun_By_Election_24_July_2014.aspx

http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/local/ukip-victory-in-doncaster-by-election-1-6749238

Now the results for the Greens are not the best, as can be seen in the table above, and the fact that UKIP have got elected is also disappointing for me. However that is how the people of Edenthorpe, Kirk Sandall and Barnby Dun have voted and that must be respected. However there still is some potential for analysis!

The fact that UKIP have taken the seat is perhaps most worrying for Labour. This reinforces the notion that Labour is losing touch with its "core" working class voters in the party's traditional heartlands. As well as further building upon the success that UKIP had in the local and European elections in May in Yorkshire and the Humber.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-27533375

In particular within Ed Miliband's own back yard of Doncaster!

Another point that should be noticed is that there is no Lib Dem candidate standing in this by election. This is could be due to the fact that the Lib Dems in Doncaster couldn't find a candidate to stand in time. However, this could be interpreted as a sign that the Lib Dems are beginning to concentrate their resources on maintaining the vote in their "heartlands".  As in the 2010 elections, the Lib Dems managed to get a respectable vote in all 3 of the Doncaster constituencies: Doncaster North, Doncaster Central and Don Valley.

Constituency	Number of Votes	% of Votes
Doncaster Central	8795	21.1
Doncaster North	6174	14.9
Don Valley	7422	17.1

However I think that the Lib Dems will poll far worse than they did in May 2010. This is not only due to the dissatisfaction of former Lib Dem voters, but also the "rise" of UKIP.

Getting back to the Greens the result isn't the best, but I think there are lessons to be learnt for the party. From what I have read of Pete's own analysis and reflection on Facebook, I think he personally feels that he has gained a lot from the experience and I have no doubt that he will be a great future Green councillor. This sentiment can be best reflected in the comments made by Andrew Cooper (pictured) (The lead Green MEP candidate for Yorkshire and the Humber):

"In 1992 we got 6% in the Newsome Ward in Kirklees and then decided to put solid casework in and by 1996 we won the seat and have won every local election since. Well done on the effort. Rome wasn't turned into an ecological paradise in a day. UKIPs foundations aren't solid and their candidates are often ill equipped to be local councillors."

Andrew Cooper, the lead candidate for the Greens in Yorkshire and the Humber region in the 2014 European elections.

 

This shows that although we may not have got Pete elected, there is a base of votes for us to build upon as a party in future. As well as showing that there is a need for us to wait and see how the new UKIP councillor, Paul Bissett performs…