A street petition at the school gates
Was delighted at the response I got when collecting signatures for the 20's Plenty campaign outside Elm Grove school on Friday.
I've blogged about 20's Plenty before, but I'll re-state the figures, because they're pretty compelling: 1 in 40 pedestrians struck by a car at 20mph die, compared with 1 in 5 at 30mph. At 40mph the fatality rate rises to around 90% with only one in ten pedestrians surviving a collision.
Parents were happy to discuss their concerns on safety, and seemed delighted that someone was taking an interest in making roads safer for children to cross. And a lot of them said they would be voting Green come the election, which is something I've heard more and more.
While out canvassing on Saturday this was very much the mood on the doorstep - that residents feel betrayed by Labour, and disenchanted by the Conservatives.
People are excited here by the fact they have a genuine other option to vote for, who will represent them with an independent and honest voice in Parliament.
By the way, recently, as you may have seen, there have been some negative campaigns on internet sites about myself and other local
parliamentary candidates.
I found this really disappointing because until now the local campaign here had been really clean and positive.
Political campaigning in the age of the internet is immensely challenging and complicated.
Cyberspace is a medium that is easily open to abuse. Never before have individuals been given so much freedom to express their views to so many; but with this freedom comes also the need for self-control and responsibility.
So I pledge to continue to use electronic media - whether they be websites, blogs, twitter or Facebook Groups - with honesty and
integrity, and I call upon all of my supporters and all Green Party members to do the same.
Our proposed Clean Campaign Pledge was designed as a way of trying to ensure that we have a clean campaign here in Brighton - and I'm still hoping other candidates will sign up too!
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Comments:
Eloise on behalf of Caroline and the Campaign Team
19 January 2010
14:21
Hi Anthony,
Thank you for your comment and your kind words - it is exciting to think that we may soon have a Green presence in parliament, as the latest poll suggests, putting us 8 points ahead of the Conservatives in Brighton Pavilion.
When you look at our policies it is difficult to categorise them under labels such as 'libertarian' or 'authoritarian'. Instead, they seek to strike a balance between important individual freedoms and the responsibilities individuals have to enable a fair society and a sustainable environment.
The 20mph campaign is a good example of this. We accept that people drive in residential areas, and need to go at a practical speed, yet also believe they have a responsibility to drive safely. 20mph is a lot safer than 30mph, and would still keep traffic moving at a reasonable pace, hence our support of the 20's Plenty campaign.
In case you haven't seen already, you can get more of a flavour of our policies on our policy webpage (http://www.greenparty.org.uk/policies.html).
Hope this answers your query,
Eloise,
on behalf of Caroline and the Campaign Team
Anthony Smith
18 January 2010
18:47
Hi Caroline,
First, I wanted to say that I've been very impressed with what I've seen so far from the Green Party in the run-up to the election. I'm still working through my own political convictions, but a lot of what I'm reading seems very appealing, and it's exciting to think that there might finally be a Green presence in Parliament.
On the "20's plenty" issue, 1 in 40 is still not particularly safe, so part of me wants to say why not 15 mph? Or 10 mph? I guess it's a balance between two extremes: letting people do whatever they like and make their own risk assessments (but they have to face the consequences), and legislating so that people just have to mindlessly follow all the rules and everything will be okay. My concern is that the country is moving too much towards the latter extreme, with endless "health and safety" legislation and bureaucracy, for example.
I'd like to know where the Green Party stands on this general issue - which I think is the "authoritarian"/"libertarian" distinction? On this particular issue, you seem to be pushing things in a more authoritarian direction: is this true of Green policies in general? Or is the Green Party actually more libertarian than the other parties (as suggested on <a href="http://www.politicalcompass.org/extremeright">this website</a>)?
Many thanks,
Anthony
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