Green Politics in the UK

The Woodland Trust has emailed me a really interesting link to a report which has been published by The Green Alliance. It looks at all the key policy areas in relation to the environment, and assessed the performance, targets, proposals etc from the three main UK political parties - Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats. It has attempted to cut through the spin and gloss which we so often hear in the media - I think we all know being 'green' is seen as quite fashionable at the moment, so all parties are trying to jump on the bandwagon in order to gain popularity/potential votes.

The link to the report is: HERE!

If you can't be bothered to read it, (I have only read the executive summary myself), I can tell you that:

- There were six areas that the parties were measured against, using a traffic light system to grade them.
- No party performed consistently across all six areas e.g. where one party is performing well, another is doing less well; and vice versa.
- Overall, the Conservatives performed most poorly - they scored no green lights. This is in spite of their success in bringing green issues to the attention of many through the mainstream media. They scored 2 red lights, the rest amber.
- Labour scored one green light, one red light, 4 amber.
- Lib Dems are performing the best overall, with three green lights. However they also scored one red light, followed by two amber.

Finally back online

A busy few weeks, hence my silence...

I moved to new digs nearly three weeks ago. It's only now that we have got online. Before that there were a couple of sporadic attempts to jump on the back of someone's unsecured wireless network, but the signal was very weak.

I had to hire a car to do the move of all my possessions, and did a fair few trips between London and Bedfordshire to drop things off at my new flat, and also to leave a few things in storage at my Grandma's house.

Saturday 8th September I truly didn't know if I was coming or going. I was up at 0630 and had spent virtually all of the day packing the car (4-5 loads, I lost count), driving, sitting in traffic jams, unpacking, cleaning the old flat etc. I finally 'finished' the move at about 2300 hours, and then collapsed on my bed just after midnight completely exhausted and almost delirious. I hadn't even managed to eat anything until about half three in the afternoon when we stopped at a drive-thru Macdonalds of all places, to refuel my body and brain. I very rarely eat Macdonalds...only when I am really desperate - and this was one of those days! They're hardly a pinnacle of green-conscious living, but then it's hard to be very green when you're moving house whilst also embarking on a fairly stressful period in ones life (it's not just been a flat move which has been stressing me out!)

Well, now I am online properly and I will start putting entries on my blog much more regularly.

Currently listening to chillout radio station Magic 105.4fm - listening to

Meeeeeee-eeeee-eeeeee and Misses, Misses Joooonnnnesss Misses Jones Misses Jones.......... :)

A poem

The energy of living
Rising and falling

like breathing

sometimes there's a moment
when air is sucking in
breath is gathering
holding
anticipation giving way
to release
relief
uncertainty
peace

A beating heart
felt more readily in the breast

Reminding
Remembering
that I am simply living

nothing more
nothing less