Academies

How long will it take for the new Coagulation Government to privatise everything? They are now trying to cash in on our childrens' education.

The problem with Academies is that they will be run by businessmen, as businesses. The way you run a business is you create a 'Product' as cheaply as possible and then sell it for as much as you can get away with. Then you make cut-backs, while raising the price. Then you do it all over again.

Do we really want our children educated like this? If your child doesn't meet their 'targets', will they be excluded as not economically viable? It's not about education, it's about making money. That's what a business is.

As for the Tory claims of choice (another capitalist smokescreen for 'control') how does a poor family living next to an underfunded, underachieving school with no free public transport have any choice but to send their child to the underachieving school next door which is stamping out clone, drones and and factory fodder?

Again, the Tories plan to favour the favoured over the poor, keeping the poor uneducated. And if the schools, police, NHS, etc, are all to be run privately as businesses, what are we paying our taxes for?

All schools should be state run and funded, equally, to the highest standard possible. People don't want the illusion of choice, they want a decent education for their children at their local school. This would mean a generation of people able to think for themselves, which suits the Greens just fine!

Kennington North Estate

It would seem the Kennington North Estate proposal is a big red herring. The main feature is a link road. In order to justify the road ABC need to build a housing estate, and then the road will be in place to relieve congestion on the A28. Except the A28, according to Winston Michaels' independent survey, is not congested.

The problem is between 07:30 - 09:00 when people are taking their kids to Wye school and lorries are coming into Ashford from Faversham but, even then, it is apparently not so much of a problem to justify destroying even more of our countryside and evicting the wildlife.

What's more, the building of more houses would mean more cars and more congestion even with the new road in place.

So, instead of building more houses and a link road, which can only be financially motivated, how about a school for the children of Trinity estate, with a free bus service for the children who continue to attend Wye school, and a long term strategy to get lorries off the roads by transferring freight to rail?

Baptism of Fire.

29,878 votes against Labour and 9,204 votes against Conservative? That's a lot of hate!!


Green 1,014
Labour 9,204
UKIP 2,508
CONservatives 29,878
Lib Dems 12,581


Disappointing, I admit, but watching the analysis of the whole thing from a national point of view, not surprising.

The general consensus, talking to people on the doorstep and in the street, was that no-one voted Conservative, they voted against Labour, and no-one voted for Labour, they voted against Conservative.

Taken in this context, 1014 votes for the Green Party in Ashford is not a bad result! 1014 votes for a hippy in a cheap suit is, actually, fantastic.

Three of us, Chris Took, Jeffery Elenor and myself, walked from the count with our heads held high.

The annoying thing is that, policy wise, we could have walked it. VoteForPolicies showed that the Green Party have the manifesto the people want, and the candidates you can actually trust. With people voting for what they wanted instead of against what they didn't want, The Green Party could have won a lot more seats.

But Caroline Lucas becoming the first Green MP in Britain? Some you win, some you lose, and this time we won! From a historical and global point of view this was an essential result and, while we can all celebrate and pat ourselves on the back because we knew it had to happen, we must not forget why this had to happen. It's not about The Green Party, or Caroline, or some hippy in a cheap suit, it's about the environment, equality, animals, human rights and the future of the planet.

Caroline started off as an animal rights activist and CND campaigner in a Tory safe seat, and on Thursday she took that seat away from Labour, and she is probably the only candidate in the country that can say that every single vote she received was for her.

So now what? It's looking likely that we will have another election in a year or so, and in Ashford we've got the local elections next year, and Ashford Green Party will be there. In the meantime we've got a Green MP actually making a difference in the House of Commons. The future's looking good. Fair is worth fighting for, and the fight continues.

My proudest moment yet!

"Steven Campkin, Green Party candidate for Ashford, has been fully endorsed by
Protecting Animals in Democracy as the candidate to vote for to protect animals
in Ashford (http://www.vote4animals.org.uk)

Steve was the first candidate in Britain to respond to the campaign and the only
Ashford candidate that endorses all six points brought up by PAD:

1) Support the Hunting Ban,

2) Work for democratic reform on behalf of animals,

3) Support a Full Ban on battery cages for hens and prohibit de-beaking,

4) Support the reduction and elimination of animal experimentation,

5) Support the repeal of Section 24 of the 1986 Act and the application of
Freedom Of Information to animal experiments,

6) Support subsidies to sustainable forms of energy production that protect
animal welfare, and ensuring that biofuels (except true waste products) are not
supported through targets and incentives.

Steve said 'I am honoured to be endorsed by an organisation that works so hard
to protect animals, this really is a subject close to my heart and was one of the main reasons for getting involved with politics. When it came to deciding which party to join, the Green Party was the only logical choice."

Animal Rights in Kent (A.R.K.) will be hosting an information stall at the
Canterbury Climate fair on 15th - 16th May.

Bollocks to the Economy!!

The economy is important, I know that, but it must not take precedence over other issues. Firstly lets look at money and ask ourselves two questions:

1) Where does it come from?
2) Where has it all gone?

The answer to both questions is, of course, nowhere!! Money doesn't exist. Like so many other things it was made up, it's an abstract concept, some information stored on a hard drive somewhere. Which leads to the next obvious question

3) Why are so many people suffering and dying for it, or for lack of it? Why do we torture animals and pollute our environment for it? Why on Earth are we fighting wars over it? Are we insane?

The oil spill in Mexico at the moment is due to BP (again) putting the planet at risk to save money. People know that the world is in danger and the Greens are the only party that can do anything about it, but they're more worried about the economy.

And the Green Party has had to take this into account, so we've come up with a plan to save the planet, restore equality, help animals and save the economy. This means we can't meet the £200 Billion demanded by Greenpeace, but our £44 Billion investment in a Green New Deal frankly pisses over the Lib Dems £3 Billion, and spits on anything the others have to offer.

So I ask everyone to think about what the priorities are at this juncture in history: Will a strong economy stop the floods and droughts that are coming? Can we bribe the rising sea levels? Can we buy food that will not grow? And is this abstract concept worth killing for? I don't think so.

I live in rented accommodation, work 39 hours a week for £12,000 pa, get everywhere by bike and refuse to buy cheap crap made by children in 3rd world sweat shops. At the weekend my spare time and cash is spent protecting and defending animals, the less well off, campaigning for justice. I don't get paid for this, I pay to do it, because there are more important things than money.

On May 6th, please, say "Bollocks to the Economy" and vote for a fair future, vote Green Party. And we'll sort out the economy anyway ;-)

Here's a bunch of rich people who agree with me:




On a lighter note, popped into Muffin Break while campaigning today and got recognised! Took part in their Bean Poll and replaced their picture for "Others" with a high res pic of Caroline, so a bit of a coup there! I think that earns them a bit of free advertising.