[Philip Marlow]

Well Mandelson is right though embracing this lot was always going to lead to problems and this is one of them. I mean when you stop to think about it I find it hard to get worked up by the first statement as frankly it's abog standard anodyne statement but the fact that Denyer had to backtrack show's that they're a problem.

The word ‘complicit’ is what appears to have excited a lot of people, and to be honest I just can’t get fussed about it. Whether or not you’re comfortable with deploying the g-word with regard to what’s happening to Gaza, the other seems perfectly fine as applied to a politician who has been ensuring a steady flow of money, weapons and diplomatic cover to Netanyahu for the last few months.

[The Weeping Angel]

That's not my point the point is that an online mob forced Denyer to backtrack from her initial statement.

[Philip Marlow]

Ah, gotcha. Sorry.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Greens ban Surrey members for allegedly backing tactical voting against Jeremy Hunt
‘Draconian’ expulsions including of two local councillors follow original candidate’s withdrawal at behest of local party

This seems a bit silly. Last week, Carla Denyer was telling us that it wasn't any sort of problem that the co-leader was acting as a "constituency MP" in fucking about over pylons for renewable energy. Now they're the party of discipline and national positions.

A Green spokesperson said: “Green party members voted to stand a full slate of candidates at its final conference before the general election and this helped us secure a record number of votes and four MPs.

“In Godalming and Ash, there was a last-minute discussion of some members that didn’t override the wider national membership decision and so the Green party’s governance bodies took the decision to uphold the membership’s decision on candidacy. Green party members at conference hold the most senior decision-making power in the Green party on the basis of one member, one vote.”

The Greens have a good relationship with the Lib Dems going back a while, so my guess is if you asked members they'd say "Hell, yeah, let them get rid of Jeremy Hunt!"

I've laughed at the inconsistencies before, but I think I was maybe missing the point. Nobody sees them as a party of government who are going to win the next election. So don't bother about it. Make a virtue of the fact you act locally, aside from a core of green stuff. But I still think the joint-leader opposing renewable energy pylons is stretching it.

[davidjay]

I wonder what the Cult members who've gone Green think about draconian measures imposed on local activists by the national party?

[Tubby Isaacs]

I know it's easy to say "opponents rattled" and all that, but this is one of their senior politicians (ex MEP). This does read "rattled" to me. And also really poor. As I keep saying, make Carla Denyer leader (she seems to have the most potential), get a proper leader's office and get the top people in there. And run it more like a proper party. That doesn't mean Ellie Chowns needs to be forced to go to the wall for scrapping Trident, but unite around a workable core.

The Greens line today seemed to be "what's really needed are council houses". That's a fair point but building other housing is good too, and it can't be hidden behind.

[Youngian]

Molly’s getting a huge bashing from posters who should potentially be sympathetic to the Greens.

[Tubby Isaacs]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ar ... sure-group

Leftwing members of the Green party are calling for a shift towards an “internationalist, anti-capitalist and ecologically transformative agenda” as they launch a new group at their party’s conference this weekend.

The new collective aims to combine the party’s traditional environmentalist politics with “new strands of ecological consciousness, from river pollution and right to roam campaigns to an internationalist and decolonial climate justice movement”.

Not sure these are the words Ellie Chowns would use. Actually in terms of wider appeal, "what would Ellie say?" is probably a good general guide for Green comms.

[The Weeping Angel]

Ah so these are the watermelons I've been hearing so much about.

[Andy McDandy]

Here's a test. Does it sound like a load of Guardian columnist bollocks? If so, rephrase it.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The language is fine, if that's the sort of world you're in. Maybe they reckon they can attract more from the wider left? Not quite where 43% of North Herefordshire are, one might think (including a substantial number of people who switched from the Tories).

[The Weeping Angel]

[The Weeping Angel]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2dgd9d9503o

The Green Party of England and Wales have been ordered to pay £90,000 to cover the costs of their former deputy leader, who won a discrimination case against them.

Shahrar Ali had already been awarded £9,100 in damages in February, after the court ruled the Greens had unlawfully discriminated against him during a row over his gender-critical beliefs.

Today's ruling raises questions about the Greens' financial stability after auditors warned the case left "uncertainty" about the party’s ability to operate normally.

A spokesperson for the party, who had their best-ever election this year with four MPs, said ruling "will have no detrimental impact on our work in the future".

I suppose they could hold a few bake sales and raise the money that way.

[Tubby Isaacs]

A fairly underwhelming effort by my MP.

To end the housing crisis, we need to build the right homes, in the right place, at the right price.
That means new council and social homes well served by schools, health services and public transport - not detached estates with expensive homes out of reach for most.

There's a longer rant too, attached to a reasonable point about more social housing being needed.

I've asked her about her constituency- does she consider a prominent development on the edge of Ledbury to be the wrong homes in the wrong place? Does she think Bovis are making too much money on them? These are nice family homes, nothing flashy, but expensive because of the cost of land. Are they a bad thing, even if people seem to be happily buying them and moving in?

I suspect the Greens are going down a modified version of the Lib Dem "not those houses not there" route. ie "well social/affordable houses would be fine but..."

How many homes being built are "detached estates" anyway? How many homes in Herefordshire does she think can built on public transport routes that people are interested in actually using? There are only four railway stations in the entire county (Hereford, Ledbury, Leominster and Colwall). Hardly anybody under 70 uses rural buses.

[mattomac]

The entire council consultation on housing might as well been.

“Well of course we need more housing, just not here”.

[The Weeping Angel]

Which is what the Greens did in Bristol.

[Tubby Isaacs]

If Zack Polanski is Deputy Leader, the Greens must have about as much strength in depth as Reform. He's the chap who used to sell quack breast enlargement treatments.

The ban was recommended by the Commission for Human Medicine. I'm not up to date on their membership, but it's not thought to include Nigel Farage and Pat Buchanan. I know that lots of physicians will disagree with the recommendation, but the fact remains that this is a report by scientists, and should be engaged with as such. Absolutely the last people who should be responding to scientific reports with narrative name calling are Greens. Climate change? It's an attack on freedom and business.

[Youngian]

'Zack Polanski breast enlargements' wasn't something I expected to Google.
https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/zack-polansk ... s-breasts/

[Tubby Isaacs]

I should clarify he merely offered this treatment for free, not sell it. I'm still surprised that he's been able to shrug this off.

[The Weeping Angel]

I think him being gay has something to do with it.