The Gurn fun poll has the Greens on 4%. Fun yes, our poll is just that but it is interesting to note that according to the Herald a poll across Scotland has the Greens on 4% also for the regional vote. It is with the list vote that they usually campaign to get an MSP, last time round you will have seen the slogan "2nd vote Green". Given the development issues here in Nairn one would have thought the Greens would have had quite a lot to say on Nairn affairs and their lack of support here is obviously linked with their silence on Nairn issues. This may well be reflected across the Highlands. It is possible of course that they have been making efforts with press releases etc so the Gurn had a quick look at their website to see just how much effort they have been making in this direction. At the top of their 'recent' articles is an item entitled 'Greens oppose Evanton Bus Cuts' dated 17th Feb 2011.
The lack of a strong campaigning Green party in the Highlands is a tragedy, from here they look like a total lost cause and a wasted vote for the Holyrood elections in May. You can visit the Highland Greens website here.
The lack of a strong campaigning Green party in the Highlands is a tragedy, from here they look like a total lost cause and a wasted vote for the Holyrood elections in May. You can visit the Highland Greens website here.
Do you think the greens might come up with an idea for me. I don't have a car, so how can I recycle my glass jars and bottles. I am elderly so will not be carrying them any where. We will have no bin to put them in when the new
ReplyDeletewaste collection starts.
Gurn, a Green vote on May 5 is certainly not a wasted one. The election campaign hasn't officially started yet but I'm sure in the coming weeks the Greens will have plenty to say on Nairn and the rest of the Highlands and Islands, a massive constituency.
ReplyDeleteI'd caution against reading much into one poll. An earlier poll in the Herald put the Greens on six per cent and six MSPs with other number crunching I saw suggesting that meant a return of a Highland Green MSP.
You must also remember the Greens are a real grassroots (pardon the pun) movement. They're not bankrolled by dodgy sources like some parties I could mention.
Re Anonymous' question about jam jars, I can't speak for Highland Council but I understood the introduction of the new bins arrangement meant we'd get one for all recycling (glass, paper, etc) and one for non-recyclables. Anything that helps cut down on waste and enables folk to recycle has to be good. Maybe Liz and Graham can tweet a clarification?
ReplyDeleteSorry Green Dad, but exactly what have the Greens, or come to that the Torys or Labour, etc, done in this area in the last couple of years?
ReplyDeleteHow many years has it been since the last Scottish election? Why do they all crawl out from under the stones they've been hiding below for the past 4 or 5 years? If these parties were really interested they would have been using the intervening years to put themselves about and laying the groundwork so that the public have a better idea of who they are and what they stand for. Too many of the parties parachute some unknown in a couple of weeks before the next election and then expect the voters to vote for them.
I for one will be giving my 2nd vote to the Green party, but I suspect that a green stance may not be popular with many people. If you look at just one policy of new roads or better public transport then I suspect most people will want to enjoy the personal bubble of their motor car, and maybe a bypass for Nairn as well?
ReplyDeleteWith regard to political parties retreating under stone in-between elections, this is not entirely true. The press do publish some press releases by all parties. Would we really welcome political parties chapping on our doors or having stalls outside the Town house outwith election times, I suspect not.
Many of us vote for the best out of what we probably think are a bad bunch, and then complain about them when they are in power
If you want to change matters get involved, but most of us won’t!
OK Anon but have you seen any Green press releases concerning Nairn recently? There aren't any on the Highland Green Website this year.
ReplyDeleteIf such material existed we could point people in that direction.
Sorry I think the Greens are just turning up for the vote.
Campaigning on environmental issues in Nairn is left to the like of the Community Councils and NRCG, NICE etc.
If you you look on the Highland council web site (the bit about the calender for recycling) it looks to me to be saying that the blue box contents are to be the same for the year 2011-2012
ReplyDeleteThe Greens aren't just 'turning up for the vote', Gurn. There's a very active Green group in Moray and a lot of activity in Inverness/Easter Ross. I'm surprised Nairn is quiet on the Green front. Anyone interested in getting something going in Nairn should pipe up now!
ReplyDeleteRe A96 bypass the Greens are for it. When you have a dangerous trunk route splitting a community in two the need for a bypass is without question. What we also need are better buses and trains (and a nicer bus station and train station!).
What's wrong with the train station and all Nairn really needs are two decent bustops either side of the A96
ReplyDeleteDear Gurn, would you rather we were publicity hounds or busy trying to get things actually done? We’ve been challenging plans to build new developments along the A96 corridor since they were first proposed a few years ago now. Sometimes our challenges get in the press but a lot of the time they don’t. We’ve been writing to Network Rail, the Highland Council and the Scottish Government; our last letter to the Director and Chief Planner at the Built Environment Directorate, went out this week. We’ve also been working behind the scenes with the Green MSPs and will continue this while the parliament is in dissolution. We are the only party pointing out that the new developments will drain jobs from existing communities, when the money could be used to strengthen those communities; increase traffic congestion, when better rail links would ease the traffic; and lower the quality of life across the Highlands, not to mention the quality of the view from Inverness, through Nairnshire to Moray, with the private developers being the only people who benefit.
ReplyDeleteThe Green alternative budget shows how we would avoid most of the devastating cuts to public services across the country and you’ll find the most up to date information on what we’re doing, on our facebook page. You can even leave comments.
Here we are in the paper. It was October but you know, there’s no headline in sticking to your guns with the same battle, even though it’s the only thing that ever works:
http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/13506/Inverness-centred_developments_will_starve_Highlands_of_investment.html
Here’s our Green alternative budget proposals:
http://www.scottishgreens.org.uk/news/show/6476/greens-set-out-alternative-budget-proposals
And this is our facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Highlands-and-Islands-Green-Party/141129265907143
We don’t have big corporate funders so our Highlands and Islands campaigning is done by volunteers in the time they can manage away from jobs and families. If any of your readers would like to see more of the Greens in Nairn, we’d appreciate their help and support - our membership form is here http://www.scottishgreens.org.uk/uploaded/join-donate-form.pdf
Anonymous with glass jars to recycle, you can’t be expected to recycle glass if your local infrastructure doesn’t allow you. I agree with your complaint and it is surely shared by many. What we have done on this is propose to Highland Council that they ask supermarkets to contribute to the bill for taking away refuse as the supermarkets’ excess packaging makes up so much of what our Council Tax pays to have removed. Had this proposal been accepted, it might have allowed funds to be spent on better recycling provisions but it was not accepted. We’ll continue to work on this issue and we will have candidates standing for election to the Council next year.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/12905/Supermarkets_must_bear_greater_burden_of_waste_costs.html
Hi Gurn, You're a star! Let's get people thinking about their options and the issues.
ReplyDeleteIt's election time again and here I come out from 'under my stone' or 'earning a living' which is more accurate.
First issue. Why do you think the Scottish Green Party should have been representing the people of Nairn over the last 4 years in the Scottish Parliament and the Highland Council when they were not asked to do so?
If I ask a plumber to do a job for me and he makes a pig's ear of it then I don't go and complain to the plumber across the road who offered to do the job properly in the first place but I said no to him.
Four years ago, the Green party offered to represent Nairn but the electorate asked others to do the job (and paid them handsomely for it).
You had eight MSPs representing you, and none of them were from the Green Party,so why do you have this mistaken belief that we have not done a good job when we didn't have a job to do?
I agree that your representation was rubbish and if you had given us a mandate we would have done better.
Maybe it is a lesson learnt!!!!
Donnie Macleod
Ardersier
So what do you reckon the turnout at these elections will be then folks?
ReplyDeleteTo look again at the figures for the Constituency that the Gurn showed us The SNP were on 41%, The LibDems 27%, Labour 19%, Conservative 11%
Do you really think that what the Conlibs are doing in Englandshire will have an impact here?
Come to think of it now that the Scots Parliament has been around for a while is there a chance that we think of Lab/Con/Lib/UKIP as being British parties to be elected for a British Government and the only suitable Parliament for Scotland is a Scottish Party?
How does Green fit in with this thinking?
According to the Highland council website you can DEFINITLY not put glass in your blue bin,you have to take it to your nearest recycling point. Watch this space for people dumping there glass in the nearest bin to them, whether it belongs to them or not. The scheme has not been thought out.I for one can certainly sympathise with anonmous above, what if you don't have a car to take your glass bottles and jars??
ReplyDeleteInteresting point that Donnie Macleod raises. I wonder how much we are paying here in Nairn for our representatives to represent us. Does anyone know?
ReplyDeleteIt smacks of David Cameron's 'Big Society' where volunteers are expected to do the work that we are paying for through our taxes. Whilst our taxes are used elsewhere.