Tory panic sets in as they offer tax breaks to woo voters

The drop in the opinion polls has obviously panicked Tory HQ into going back to the old chestnut of offering lower taxes.

They are doing this by offering to scrap the NI increase for those earning under £45,500.  But surely this is irresponsible foolishness, considering the monumental national debt we are facing.

They claim they can save money from efficiency savings.  They are using the old right wing tabloid myth that the public services waste money and are over staffed.    This is not the case and the cuts they propose will no doubt have a negative effect on public services.  It is not possible to keep cutting funding and not see a reduction in quality from services.

What we will see is a return to the under funded public services we saw in the 1980s and early 1990s under the Conservatives.

I for one would rather pay a bit of extra NI if it helps maintain public services at their current levels.  We are already seeing the effects of funding cuts to Higher Education, with wide spread redundancies and reduced student places.  To go even further with cuts is simply irresponsible.

The only cuts I would welcome would be to the defence budget by scrapping the Trident replacement and leaving Afghanistan, but it is unlikely these areas will be touched.

Support for Green policies

I have just come across an excellent website called Vote for Policies.  The idea of the site is that it shows you policies from 6 parties and you pick which policy you prefer without seeing the party name. 

The questionnaire covers the following policy strands:

• Crime
• Democracy
• Economy
• Education
• Environment
• Europe
• Health/NHS
• Immigration
• Welfare

After you have chosen your preferred policies the site will tell you which party best matches your viewpoint.

So far 6049 users have taken the test, and the results are as follows:

BNP - 11.19%
Conservatives - 13.5%
Green Party - 30.34%
Labour - 16.64%
Lib Dems - 17.61%
UKIP - 10.72%

As you see the Green Party policies win by quite a large margin.

I would encourage you to promote this poll on Twitter/Facebook etc.  I feel a lot of people will be surprised after taking the test, not realising how much they have in common with Green policies.  It will also show voters that we have strong policies in all areas, not just environmental issues.

Why I'm voting Labour in York Outer

Many of you will be surprised to read that I have decided to support Labour in the forthcoming general election.  Unfortunately the Green Party are not standing in York Outer which has meant I have had to think carefully about where to place my vote.

I loyally voted Labour for the first 7 years of my voting life, but after the Iraq war I no longer felt I could support Labour and have not voted Labour for the past 9 years.  Even though I have a good MP in John Grogan I could not bring myself to vote for a party led by Tony Blair who I still feel should stand trial for war crimes and breaking international law.

In 2005 I ended voting Liberal Democrat, this is not an action I intend to repeat.  Since Charles Kennedy was ditched they have continued to move to the right.  So much now that we see Nick Clegg praising Thatcher and not ruling out helping a minority Tory governement.  I refuse to vote for a party which may end up propping up the Tories.

Despite the airbrushing and token statements on the environment and gay rights they have not changed.  I could write pages on why I would not vote Tory, but here are just a few reasons:

1. They wish to overturn the fox hunting ban.  This alone I feel is reason enough not to vote for them.
2. They still wish to impose their moralistic values on the country.  Two examples are their wish to give tax breaks to married couples and today's announcement by the shadow minister for children that he would like to criminalize under 16s for having consensual sex.
3. Leading members of the Tory party do not believe in man made climate change.
4. Even though we are facing cuts to the public sector in Labour, it looks like the cuts proposed by the Tories will come in sooner and be more severe.  I cannot see how firing large amounts of public sector employees will help the economy during a recession.
5. They wish to remove Britain as a signatory to the Human Rights Act
6. They are vehemently anti-union.  Cameron called on the PM to urge BA staff to cross picket lines during PMQs
7. They are members of the European Conservatives and Reformists group.  A group alleged to contain anti-semites and homophobes. (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/gay-tory-daves-embarrassing-friends-1769707.html)

So why Labour?  Gordon Brown has to accept some responsibility for the Iraq war and we are still in a pointless war in Afghanistan.  But Labour have done good, which should be acknowledged, including:

1. Drastically cutting NHS waiting lists.
2. Fox hunting ban.
3. Implementing the minimum wage.
4. Human Rights Act
5. Freedom of Information Act
6. Scrapping section 28 and improving rights for the LGBT community.

Many people do come up with the old adage 'they are all the same' and say they will simply not vote or spoil their ballot papers.  I argue that they are not, and the thought of the return of a Tory government fills me with dread.

I therefore hope that fellow Green Party supporters will go out and vote for James Alexander for Labour in York Outer.

And, if you are lucky enough to live in York Central, please support and vote for Andy Chase for the Green Party.

The BBC, putting quality first?

In Mark Thompson's blog he states:

Today I'm going to set out the conclusions of a piece of strategic thinking we've done over the past few months. We're calling it 'Putting quality first'.

I immediately have a problem with this title.  Thompson is proposing axing quality stations BBC 6 Music and the Asian Network, which offer a service not found elsewhere on radio.  At the same time BBC 3 remains untouched, a station which offers us such gems as:

• Snog, Marry Avoid? 
• Hotter Than My Daughter 
• The Undercover Princesses 
• From WAGS to Riches 
• Freaky Eaters
• Addicted to Boob Jobs 

I could go on, but you get the idea.  You can see a full list of the trite offered at http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/programmes/a-z/by/a/all

The BBC meets its public service mandate by offering the forementioned radio stations, but not by BBC 3, which offers the same sort of programmes available on numerous digital channels.

Please send your feedback about the proposed closures to srconsultation@bbc.co.uk or fill in the questionnaire at  http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/consultations/departments/bbc/bbc-strategy-review/consultation/consult_view

Please join the Facebook group in support of BBC 6 music at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?src=fftb#!/group.php?gid=278123313911&ref=ts

Sign the petition at http://www.petition.fm/petitions/6musicasiannet/

And if Tweeting use the hash tag #savebbc6music

Please also fax your MP asking them to sign EDM 963 calling for 6 music and the Asian Network to be saved.

Tory Charlotte Vere attacks Marcus Brigstocke for performing at Green fundraiser

An argument has broken out on Twitter after Brighton Pavillion Conservative candidate Charlotte Vere (@CharlotteV) posted the following Tweet:

Fundraisers support Greens because they are not BNP?! I will be writing to the BBC about this. http://bit.ly/9Mk2HE

As Marucs (@marcusbrig) points out:

It's all so complicated and inevitably political. The idea was to help make sure there are funds enough for The Greens to have a fair chance

Charlotte picks her story up from the right wing, paranoid Biased BBC site which is obsessed with the idea that the BBC is run by a liberal left wing cabal.

On a day when it is revealed that Tory deputy-chair and donor Lord Ashcroft is a non-dom, it is a bit rich of the Tories to be attacking performers for helping out a party which does not have the benefit of millionaire donors to help it out.