Oxford West and Abingdon, Green Party
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i.
what do you think is the most
important issue in this election?
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Climate change.
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ii.
why did you make the decision to
stand in this constituency and for this party (as an independent)?
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I live in the
constituency and the Green Party has the best policies for the future of the
planet, social justice in Britain and worldwide, and peace. Its very
thoughtful, original, non-aggressive and inclusive way of doing politics is also
a model to be followed.
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iii.
what kind of vote are you expecting
on May 5th? |
A good one! In the
Oxford part of the constituency (nearly half of the electorate), the Green Party
came second in local elections last year with 25 per cent of the votes, winning
two wards out of seven. We beat the Tories and Labour into third and fourth
places in nearly every ward. Don't let the Lib Dems con you into thinking that
if you don't vote for them the Tories will get back!
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iv.
aside from the vote what are you
hoping to get out of this campaign? |
Further understanding
of Green policies and support for our campaigns.
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v.
in your view what is the greatest
threat to our civil liberties at the
moment? |
Tony Blair, closely
followed by Michael Howard.
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vi.
Blair has taken us to war three
times since coming to power (not including the occasional ad hoc bombing
raid) in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq. Can war ever be justified?
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Yes, the UK's
declaration of war in 1939 was a necessary and noble act. I had some sympathy
with the intervention over Kosovo in 1999 because of Serbia's oppression of the
Albanian majority there (I have worked in Serbia, Albania and Macedonia). The
attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq were totally unjustified and I protested
strongly against them. The war in Iraq is one of my main campaign themes -
including the complicity of the sitting MP, the Lib Dems' Evan Harris, who with
Charles Kennedy lent his "complete support" to the invasion while it was taking
place.
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vii.
There is very little left to
privatise in this country, if you had your way what would be brought
into public hands. |
Let's start with the
railways, hospital cleaning and school dinners. Ending all PFI and PPP schemes
would be pretty good too.
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viii.
Some environmental campaigners have
started talking about nuclear power as a way to bring down CO2 emissions
- what do you think of this? |
Dangerous nonsense as
no one has yet found a satisfactory way to deal with nuclear waste, or to
completely prevent meltdowns or Chernobyl-type disasters. I have visited the
scene of one of the world's worst nuclear accidents, which took place in Western
Siberia in 1958, and it must not be repeated. The answer lies in energy saving
and a transfer to sustainable sources of energy. Nuclear power could destroy
the planet even more quickly than global warming.
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ix.
Asylum and immigration will be
central issues in this election.
What action on this issue would you
like to see the next government push through? |
Stop scapegoating
travellers, asylum seekers and migrants. Remove the restrictions imposed by the
IMF, World Bank and WTO (and UK aid programmes, for that matter) on developing
countries' freedom of policy-making, take action to restore their commodity
export prices as well as cancel debts, and in that way move towards a more equal
world in which state power does not break down and there are human opportunities
available in all countries.
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x.
What question do you wish was on
this list but doesn't appear? |
What form or forms of
transport do you use most often? (The answer in my case is my feet, my bicycle,
buses and trains.)
April 2005
