Scottish Green Party Confirm 32 Candidates For Westminster 2015

It is with great joy that the Scottish Green Party have announced their biggest ever number of candidates that are standing for a Westminster election. There are 32 Candidates, including our very own Veronika Tudhope, standing in Scottish constituencies hoping that they can be elected to represent the Green interests for Scotland in our United Kingdom parliament.

Vote For Policies - 2015 General Election Update

After what feels like an age of waiting, the site at Vote For Policies has finally updated and now invites you to compete their survey with quite a few differences from their previous site.

The first and most obvious difference is that you are now asked in which of the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom you are completing the survey from. This is because they have included several parties that were not represented in their last edition. The site now includes The Scottish Green Party and the Scottish National Party. Neither of these parties were included previously and although Green interests were represented as the Green Party of England & Wales were included, this was not completely satisfactory as The Scottish Green Party are autonomous.

Political Compass Party Update for 2015

UK Political Parties 2015

 At last we have an update by the site The Political Compass to include the parties standing in 2015.

There are quite a few marked differences in this new graph compared to the one from 2010. For comparison purposes here's the illustration of 2010:

Ayrshire Greens Public Meeting - 25/2/2015 - Andy Wightman

If you are in Ayrshire or nearby on Wednesday 25th February at 7:30pm, please think about making the time to come to Ayrshire Greens next meeting. This is a public meeting, with Andy Wightman. Land Reform activist and guru attending.

With the Scottish Governments Land Reform consultation just closing it would be a great time to put your questions to Andy.

If you use Facebook you can also find the event at https://www.facebook.com/events/626738377454743/

See you there.

Scottish Government Land Reform Consultation - Final Day For Submissions

In November 2014 the Scottish Government set up a consultation to look into Land reform. The Scottish Government site says:

"On the 26 November 2014, the First Minister, as part of the Programme for Government, set out the Scottish Government's vision that Scotland's land must be an asset that benefits the many, not the few.

This vision promotes a strong relationship between the people of Scotland and the land of Scotland, where ownership and use of land delivers greater public benefits through a democratically accountable and transparent system of land rights that promotes fairness and social justice, environmental sustainability and economic prosperity.

Land reform aims to ensure the correct balance of land rights to achieve this vision. This can only be achieved through a package of measures, taken forward and understood together.

The current Consultation on the future of Land Reform in Scotland seeks views on a range of measures intended to further land reform in Scotland. Through this consultation, the Scottish Government is seeking your views on a proposed Land Rights and Responsibilities Policy to help guide the development of public policy on the nature and character of land rights in Scotland and on a range of proposals for a Land Reform Bill."

South Scotland Regional List For Holyrood

Well that's it finally done. I have submitted my nomination for the South Scotland List. I would ask that you consider me for this position and that you consider giving me your first preference vote,

I am not aware of who the other candidates are as of yet but I would very much like them to be part of this blog and I would be more than happy for them to submit a post to me and I will publish it in their name for them.

My exact submission states:
 

Veronika Tudhope - Scottish Greens Candidate for Central Ayrshire

A quick shout out to our wonderful candidate Veronika Tudhope who is standing as a candidate in the Central Ayrshire constituency in the General Election in 2015.

A short excerpt from her page:

I am hugely honoured to be standing as the Scottish Green Party candidate for Central Ayrshire in the upcoming election on 7th May 2015.

Vote For Policies Not Parties

I have long been a supporter of "radical' democracy for the basic and simple reason that ours doesn't work properly. It does not provide the framework for all the people in our country to have, as standard, a proper say in the way our country is run and as a result their lives are worse of for it.

I have often seen simple and logical ways of possibly improving our democracy. Ideas like changing the seating arrangements of parliaments. Instead of having all members of the same party together in a bunch, why not have members sit in their respective areas. For me this would lead to less partisan behaviour and more behaviour based on local issues with members banding together to sort out matters relative to their own voters patches. Is that not why we voted for them? To represent our interests? This may have only a small effect and there are possible problems with it too but why not give it a go and see if it makes a difference?

Another idea that I heard muted was that we should not get names of parties on ballot papers,  just the names of candidates. Whilst this would definitely be a radical step, I can see part of the rationale behind those who talk of it. It would certainly make the electorate seek out what the actual person stood for and also make the candidate work much harder to get their personal message over to the voters.

The above may be a step too far for most, but what about the electorate seeing all of the party's policies without seeing which party it belonged to? A blind taste test? Well that actually ALREADY exists..... at Vote For Policies.

Scottish Greens Will Split The Yes Vote For Westminster

We are going through some amazing times right now with the advent of political more awareness and activism throughout Scotland after the referendum. An unfortunate part of this, as the Scottish Greens get more popular and more people become aware of their existence, is that they become more of a threat to the incumbent political machinery and those parties that are already a major part of it.

One of the major arguments that seems prevalent, especially on social media, is that the Scottish Greens will split the vote of the SNP. I read a great answer to that today from one of our candidates for the Westminster election, Zara Kitson. In fact since I couldn't say it better myself I'll just let you read it and make up your own mind.

Is The Left versus Right Political Axis Enough?

I have learned many things over the years about many different subjects. One of the biggest lessons I have learned is definitely the fact that:

"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing"

During the referendum campaign Scotland's political psyche was awoken and for the first time in many many years "normal" people became politically active and took part in debates and discussion all over the country. The rights and wrongs of both sides were discussed, sometimes heatedly, in every home, pub, workplace and shop. It was enlightening that so many people engaged in politics, after all it's their lives that are being affected by decisions made by those able to make them. 

Although I believe that many people got involved through the passion of the argument, I believe one of the main reasons that the referendum lent itself to such engagement was it's singular issue nature. There were only two answers to the one question that was being asked. Yes or No. Indeed there were many issues to discuss within that but ultimately there were only two camps. Yes and No.