[Closed] Just joined the Green Party - feelis like a weight has lifted

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perhaps you should vote based on the issues and policies put forward at an election rather than pinning colours to a mast

Interesting

My wife and son joined today to get them a head of UKIP

I might vote labour as although its a safe Tory seat their are still more Non Tory votes than Tory. Also UKIP could damage them here.

I once voted tactically in an election and regretted it. Lib Dems nearly kept Tories out of a seat but I voted Labour having been told they were in second place

If there was a way to prevent tactical voting it would be great for democracy..

I say vote Green, unless you're an idiot, in which case still vote Green
Their membership has surpassed UKIPs in the last day or two, and I think UKIPs success at the last ballot will have given a good number of politically apathetic progressive types the kick up the arse they needed to get them to stand up and be counted

So I'm a hypocrite

Sounds to me like you did the right thing~ very easy to be disillusioned by politics these days, but the Green Party's policies make a lot of sense.

The tactical voting trap is a tricky one... surely everyone should just go balls out for what they believe in, rather than pandering to archaic tradition?

Policies make a lot of sense? Some of them, others are ludicrous and some are plain stupid.

specifically Mike?

[url= http://policy.greenparty.org.uk/ ]http://policy.greenparty.org.uk/[/url]

inclined that way too TBH. And I think if my wife (old style Labour voter type, who hasn't voted Labour in years, now English person voting SNP) joined any party now it would - possibly - be Green for UK presence. That or SNP.

I don't get it.

Do you need to join a political party just because you want to vote for them?

Does that mean if you want to vote for other party you will join them too?

Crikey, talking about people putting their faith in zombie politicians (regardless of the products they are selling) ... you are doomed!

🙄

Why do you need to be a member to make a party win? Do you get an extra vote?

The need to join the Green Party for me was driven by a desire to make it even remotely possible for it to fight for seats. It needs both money and volunteers to help get the messages across and encourage people to vote for it.

Voting is the most important bit. Also enabling others to see it is worth voting is even better!

Rachel

specifically Mike?

http://policy.greenparty.org.uk/

Their policies on GMO's and Nuclear Power for starters.

perhaps you should vote based on the issues and policies put forward at an election rather than pinning colours to a mast

There's a pick n mix option great I'm in how does that work?

allthegear - Member

The need to join the Green Party for me was driven by a desire to make it even remotely possible for it to fight for seats

Do you have to join to volunteer?

Do you need to register with charitable cause/club/party etc as a person in order to help others?

😯

The Pub Landlord would get my vote, if only for calling his party the Free United Kingdom Party - FKUP 😆

Genuinely no idea how I will actually vote. Naturally right of centre. Don't trust Labour, don't like the impact of the Tories policies on genuinely vulnerable people. Liberals too pro-Europe for me, UKIP too anti-Europe as well as being general dicks. Greens too idealistic and impractical.

But I do believe that everyone should vote - even if there was a "none of the above" option. If you don't play you shouldn't moan about the results.

If there was an anti HS2 party I'd vote for them, surprised that hasn't been organised, would make a right mess of the Tory vote along the route.

No chewk it costs literally nothing for the greens to operate and if they had no members at all they would be just as powerful and useful as they are today

Anythign else puzzling you?

Junkyard - lazarus

No chewk it costs literally nothing for the greens to operate and if they had no members at all they would be just as powerful and useful as they are today

Anythign else puzzling you?

So they will still be powerful if not then donate money to them, volunteer, help out etc ...

[b][u]But why do you need to become a member?[/u][/b]
You have not answered my question but rather explain about their ability.

Yes, it's still puzzling explain yourself.

Cant see Miliband as PM...

Cameron not so convinced about either

Clegg.. well.. just really?

perhaps you should vote based on the issues and policies put forward at an election rather than pinning colours to a mast

Would be fine if the parties actually got on and did what they said they would in their manifesto's... but they don't. They're usually empty promises - more like short-term advertising slogans than genuine statements of policy.

Last two opportunities I voted green.
They really don't do themselves any favours though. and need some new people to make the party more contempary there is however a wave to ride if anyone's intrested IMO.

Edit: re above about Clegg, I'm always impressed by him when he's on radio or whatever, not sure what others see that I dont.

Both I and t'other half joined too - increased numbers raises the profile and may help others to thing... you know what... perhaps we DON'T have to just vote for the status quo.

The only way this country is going to change is through a radical shift in politics away from the self serving "elite" career politicians. No, I don't agree 100% with their policies but they are the best fit to what I do believe, and they are a driver for change.

If people actually voted with what they believed, for change and to better the country then perhaps... just perhaps... we may start to steer this country towards a more democratic, representative and sustainable future.

Or... you know... we could just carry on as we are, let the socio-economic divide widen and let an ever narrowing proportion of the country decide our future.

If there was an anti HS2 party I'd vote for them, surprised that hasn't been organised, would make a right mess of the Tory vote along the route

[b]I have voted for all of them[/b] in the past from Lib Dem, Green, Labour, Tory to UKIP.

Crikey, you lot are really giving too much credit to zombie career politicians.

😯

On their core competences, the Greens talk some sense, but on the economy they make AS look literate, which takes some doing.

But given their momentum especially vs UKIP perhaps Dave is right in having them included in any TV debate. They could help us understand their economics a bit better.

Having read through the Green's "policies", about a 1/3 are well intentioned, 1/3 would break the economy and the other 1/3 will only work with the help from the fairies at the bottom of the garden.
[i]
"PD302 On inspection, there is little or no threat of direct invasion of the UK by any nation. Commitment to a large standing army, a navy of large warships around our coastline, squadrons of fighter planes and a cripplingly expensive missile defence system is therefore unnecessary"[/i]

We can all feel safer now, what with the russian's running regular military air sortie's over UK airspace and sailing their subs into our coastal waters.

here's another good example...

[i]"PD432 We will end all subsidies to arms exports, close DESO (Defence Export Services Organisation) and the Export Credit Guarantee Department, and disband service units that presently demonstrate British defence equipment."[/i]

So that pretty much wipes out a good 50,000 - 100,000 jobs in the UK, enough corporation tax to pay for the NHS for half the year and would wipe out a lot of development that leads to civilian applications via tech transfer and associated revenues for the country.

teamhurtmore - Member

... [u]core competences[/u], ...

FFS! Well done with bureaucratic zombie jargon.

If the Green starts to use this term then we are doomed. Doomed!

Even the "nicest" party has gone corporate.

Try to use a "green term" rather than those corporate BS.

😯

edit: told you they are all in it for the £££ ...

Alex Salmond.

House!!

Can't vote green, there's no point them standing here (safe Tory seat + first past the post system).

I think the main problem for the greens is that, in order for their policies to be successful, it would require people to make big changes to how they live and actually face the fact that we can't carry on living the way we do. While all the other parties are promising us the earth, I don't think most will vote for a party that's asking them to consume less.
Who eats the cous-cous at the buffet when there's steak on offer...

Also, I think the green's policies on GMO and nuclear power aren't that crazy if you put them in the wider context of more sustainable consumption.

Then there's the matter that people will consider voting for a man who wants to ban data encryption but ridicule well meaning attempts at sustainable consumption...

Of course, official party policies only account for so much when your party is stacked with nutters and fruit loops

See UKIPs totally not racist immigration policies as an example 😉

Edit:

[i]"PD302 On inspection, there is little or no threat of direct invasion of the UK by any nation. Commitment to a large standing army, a navy of large warships around our coastline, squadrons of fighter planes and a cripplingly expensive missile defence system is therefore unnecessary"[/i]

Allied with their policy on Ukraine

[i]Calls for a peacekeeping force to be placed in areas at highest risk of renewed conflict[/i]

Hmm, now, where are you going to get that peacekeeping force, and what are you going to equip them with? Asparagus spears?

[url= http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21637420-green-party-growing-force-british-politics-if-only-it-was-more-world-green ]Green grows the privet, O![/url]

[img] [/img]

deadlydarcy - Member

Alex Salmond.

House!!

Should be ... Road House! (Peter Griffin)

just5minutes - Member

We can all feel safer now, what with the russian's running regular military air sortie's over UK airspace and sailing their subs into our coastal waters.

What exactly do you think Britain's armed forces are going to do about that? Do you imagine that Putin's sat at home thinking "Man, I wish I could invade Britain, but they've got that aircraft carrier with no planes!"

chewkw, are you on some sort of pay per zombie scheme?

ut on the economy they make AS look literate, which takes some doing.

It gets funnier the further away from relevance it gets Swiss Tony

nickc - Member

chewkw, are you on some sort of pay per zombie scheme?

Well, you tell me.

I say they are all career zombie bureaucrats and at the end of the day they retire handsomely.

😛

Retire handsomely? They do indeed

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/11348337/William-Hague-splashes-out-on-2.5million-Welsh-country-estate.html

[i]Well, you tell me.[/i]

OK,

please stop with the zombie thing, it's getting tedious now

thanks

Hague had a good stint in industry before politics though - he worked for McKinsey who generally employ only the very brightest of minds - McK tend to be the pipeline for industry CEOs so Hague is probably worse off than his peer group with "only" having achieved a £2.5m gaff in wales.

teamhurtmore - Member

Retire handsomely? They do indeed

Yes, they do.

He started age 16 as career politician ...

Therefore, be a career politician to have big house and good retirement ... errhh ... hang on I am in wrong "career".

😆

nickc - Member
please stop with the zombie thing, it's getting tedious now

The term is as it is, i.e. tedious, as that is the nature to describe those people. 🙄

Bastard Tories, retiring rich like that when poor old Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have had to keep on working after the end of their parliamentary careers...

The Green's are more attractive than any other party right now...

[i]The term is as it is, i.e. tedious, as that is the nature to describe those people.[/i]

I think you may have done the point to death, time to change the record perhaps?

ninfan - Member

Bastard Tories, retiring rich like that when poor old Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have had to keep on working after the end of their parliamentary careers...

I voted for Tony Blair because of his grin and because he was so difficult to "nail" down by PM Cameron during PM Q time. Then I voted for Cameron because Gordon could not "nail" him. Now, I have voted for Farage (not him directly) because nobody has not been able to "nail" him down yet.

Therefore, those that cannot be "nailed" shall be PM. Logical? 😆

nickc - Member
I think you may have done the point to death, time to change the record perhaps?

Ok, [b]I shall stop the use that term on this thread for you[/b] but you are making my simple brain hurts to think of alternative terms. 🙄

nifan I do find your adherence to the idea that there's some sort of ideological difference between Labour and tories, utterly charming, please promise never to stop

chewkw,

it's become a sort of tedious old relative who repeats the same tired old joke every time one visits, even though it wasn't particularly funny the first time around, and has become just more and more threadbare with each airing, I am afraid at some point it will become so see-through, your fundamentals will be on view for all to see, point and laugh at, and no one wants that do they? It's unseemly

nickc - Member
... your fundamentals will be on view for all to see, point and laugh at, and no one wants that do they? It's unseemly

I don't understand.

I don't even know I have fundamentals to be known of but I like to have absolute power absolutely totally with no challenge. I decide mankind. 😀 (posted this without seeing JY response ... you guys are getting serious aren't you ... d'oh!)

Could you let me know what have you found out about my fundamentals? Just curious.

EDIT mm 37 seconds to late for that appeal then ...returns to not reading chewkw posts

+1
What i find strange is that every now and again you do a serious posts and it is clear you do not struggle to make sense or cogent points and are actually quite bright.

I dont understand why you do this confusing patois.
Please stop as, tbh, I just skim your posts these days

Junkyard - lazarus

+1
What i find strange is that every now and again you do a serious posts and it is clear you do not struggle to make sense or cogent points and are actually quite bright.

I dont understand why you do this confusing patois.
Please stop as, tbh, I just skim your posts these days

I see ... 😛

If it is time to be serious I get serious especially the response to individual.

Otherwise, I see the funny side of things especially political debate, the funniest thing of all, as I really cannot get serious with people and power.

Otherwise, I see the funny side of things

Feel free to share it with us sometime. Otherwise face up to Magnum 23. Or Glück 34.

deadlydarcy - Member

Otherwise, I see the funny side of things

Feel free to share it with us sometime. Otherwise face up to Magnum 23. Or Glück 34.

😆 That's good make me laugh. Really. You are catching on. Well done.

The Dirty Harry version of Magnum is difficult to get but the 6 inches version easier. Good gun. I like.

As for the "Gluck" I like them all. Very good stuff from Austria even the British Special Force use them ... ya, made in Austria not UK coz you don't have good gun manufacturer anymore. 😆

There are Green policies that seem unworkable but they will evolve as the party gets more support and I really don't undestand this waste vote principle in safe seats, that principle would lead you to never vote for anyone.

You may not feel able to make the right choice everyday (it's not the human condition) but you can for a few seconds in the voting booth.

[quote=deadlydarcy said]Or Glück 34.

Is that a knockoff Glock.

Sorry, think I meant Glïck.

I see the Greens as a sort of political tool. A large support for the Greens would, hopefully, kick Labour into touch and do for them what UKIP has done for the Conservatives- get them closer to their core values.

However, while I support the general Green ethos I'll not be voting for them next time round. First we need a party that has at least a nod to left wing reasonableness rather than right wing selfishness in government. The Conservatives will probably get further right wing given the upswell in support for UKIP and may well win the next election. For me as a lefty voting Labour in the next election is the way to start reeling in the Conservatives, then when Labour are in power safely I'll probably switch to Green. If there is a large amount of support for the Greens while Labour is in power my hope is that this will make Labour more left wing.

The likelihood of all that happening, I realise, is slim, since apparently immigrants and polar bears are all utter bastards according to the bulk of the voting public.

I also have major issues with the Green's lack of support for nuclear power, the short term answer for a lot of the environment's problems until an alternative is found, and their stance of a lot of scientific research is very backward.

We have the lone Green MP and a Green council in Brighton and some of the worst recycling rates in the UK.

But why do you need to become a member?
You have not answered my question but rather explain about their ability.

Donating / joining a political party is no different to why you might chose to join / donate to a charity, because you want to help them achieve their goals.

You might not like poverty or homelessness and think it's a bad idea, so you could donate to Shelter or donate / join a political party which cares about the poor (although in the UK you'd struggle to find one as the Thatcher/Blair legacy is one of unbridled personal greed).

Chiefgrooveguru, IANAB*, but i have some family/inlaws who work in refuse/recycling in brighton, from what they tell me it would seem to be more a case of Brighton&Hove being a lot more honest about what they can and do genuinely recycle than we hear from more optimistic local authorities.
(*I Am Not A Binman)

I have voted for all of them in the past from Lib Dem, Green, Labour, Tory to UKIP.

what criteria do you use to cast your vote when at different times you've voted for sandal-wearing guardianistas, tree-huggers, trade unionists, exploiters of the poor, and xenophobes? Do you just roll a dice? And who will be next to benefit from your well-chosen vote?

mitsumonkey - Member

"If there was an anti HS2 party I'd vote for them, surprised that hasn't been organised, would make a right mess of the Tory vote along the route"

UKIP are anti HS2

As are Green.

Well I suppose if you're interested in financing the country by tending the Free Money Tree, the Greens are as good as any other economically incompetent wastes of space.

Balls, for instance.

Although I haven't heard even THAT numbskull advocate encouraging starvation by denying access to growing GM crops.

JulianWilson - can your family confirm this:

"the main reason they look likely to lose power in May is Brighton’s appalling refuse collection. After an awful bin men’s strike, residents lost faith in recycling, shoving rubbish in any old thing. The Greens promised a 70 per cent recycling rate but the actual figure of 26 per cent makes Brighton 302nd out of 326 local councils."

from http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/columnists/article4323589.ece

I wish they had a box to tick on the ballot paper that said:

I want to vote, I want my vote counted but I also don't wont to vote for the above numpties.

Sadly I suspect that would never happen as the non vote party would sweep to victory in the blink of an eye.

We have the lone Green MP and a Green council in Brighton and some of the worst recycling rates in the UK.

I see the Greens as a sort of political tool. A large support for the Greens would, hopefully, kick Labour into touch and do for them what UKIP has done for the Conservatives- get them closer to their core values.

That pretty much sums up my feelings, as quoted in the OP.

Watermelons and zombie maggots 😈

I wish they had a box to tick on the ballot paper that said:

I want to vote, I want my vote counted but I also don't wont to vote for the above numpties.

spoil your ballot paper? doesn't really say what you want but it's the only way to "vote" without actually voting for someone

CY580 The Green Party will extend the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 to provide wider public access such as that granted in Scotland by the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. Access Authorities will ensure that the law is properly implemented. Public access to woods and plantations will be protected (see above).

Mr Poppet - could you be slightly more specific in what you're alluding to with your money tree comment..
I posted a link to the Greens policies on the previous page.. Do you think you could point out which policies in particular have led you to your conclusion?
I'm trying pretty hard to collate enough info to enable me to vote responsibly and I'm guessing you're pretty well clued up to be able to assert such a damning condemnation..

Something about lentils?

There should be a matrix of party policy v key issues- blue,red,yellow,green,purple? on the y axis, nhs, environment, education, transport, immigration, tax etc on the x axis.

Keep it simple, everyone would vote.

Anti HS2 and for greater access to the countryside?

Bet we haven't got a Green candidate though?

I vote for the party I think will be best for the country based on their policies, leadership and ability to deliver. Even with good policies if they are led by an charismatic or incompetent leader, lack the size and expertise to govern then they are never going to deliver any significant change or benefit

We have the lone Green MP and a Green council in Brighton and some of the worst recycling rates in the UK.

On the other hand you've substantially reduced the amount of waste you send to landfill, so I wouldn't be too hasty to draw conclusions either way about the Green's performance.

One other point to note is that they don't have an overall majority. We had a similar situation here in Bristol a few years back and it was total chaos - Labour and Tories would join forces to vote down the Lib Dems (who were the largest party)

id vote green if their science policies; animal testing, gmo and nuclear werent so backwards

id vote green if their science policies; animal testing, gmo and nuclear werent so backwards

No party is perfect but I'd rather a dodgy policy on GMO and nuclear power than the neo-liberal shower offered from the other main parties. The faults of the Greens are minor when compared to the 'carry on as normal as we've learned exactly nothing from recent economic cluster****' policies of Labour/Conservative/Lib Dems and the 'forward to the 1930s' drivel of UKIP.

+1

Lot of sensible polices:

- End the war on drugs
- Rent controls
- Minimum military intervention
- Maximising the quantity and quality of all forests
- Energy security with local supply

Rent control as well?

My job would be secure if the Greens get in. Suspect that the cost fuel may make property inspections prohibitively expensive though.