Stop Me If You Think That You've Heard This One Before

Mr K is right (as usual) when he says I need to add the following to the sweepstake:

6. The New York Dolls
7. Roxy Music

No [*ahem*] Raymonde one hopes - a band so dire that even the mighty Google does not compute a link (lucky readers...)

ETA - rank outsiders - they're good but they're not right:

8. Linder
9. Jobriath

November Spawned a Mozza*

Morrissey is on Desert Island Discs on Sunday. I am unbelievably excited - every trailer on Radio 4 has me all a-quiver with delicious anticipation. He is one of my heroes and I have loved him since I was 12 years old.

I think I last heard Morrissey (who has consistently viewed the media with suspicion throughout his career) on the radio in June 1986 when he made a rare-as-rockinghorse-s*** appearance to preview The Queen is Dead on Tony "the Greek" Michaelides' *alternative show* on Piccadilly Radio, a much-missed independent Manchester station where Chris Evans began his career as Timmy Mallett's sidekick (not to mention OOH Gary Davies...).

I can remember so vividly sitting in my bedroom, hoping my tape deck was working, hanging on Mozza's every word, transported by the new songs I was hearing, counting the minutes down till I could buy my very own copy (on vinyl, natch). Ah, happy days**.

So roll on 11.15am on Sunday morning! I predict we will hear at least one if not all of the following:

1. Elvis
2. Twinkle
3. Cilla Black
4. Sandie Shaw
5. The Smiths ;)

Happy listening, readers!

PS OMG! Tony the Greek is a blogger! And he's thinking about making a radio comeback! Do it Tony, DO IT!

*I can claim no credit for this witticism - it's the name of a Brighton club night devoted to all things Smiths & Moz-related. Still, as Oscar Wilde (a Mozza idol) is reputed to have said - talent borrows, genius steals ;)

** when I wasn't busy being, erm, miserable lol ;)

What I Did On My Holidays Part II

2. I visited Another Place




On Crosby Sands














I can connect















Nothing with nothing.











With apologies to TS Eliot.

In The Meantime...

Sooooo... it's four weeks since I last posted on this blog. Four weeks since our epic victory in Goldsmid, three weeks since Pride, two weeks since I "went on holiday" (aka got bustled around Cheshire by my Ma / sis / cuz in the pursuit of friends & family), one week since I came back (to an exploding Inbox).

Happy Summer Holidays! Whoever it was that said "honestly, nothing happens during August" with reference to council duties was clearly not a member of the Planning Committee and/or dealing with a lot of angry constituents who feel duped by the recent London Rd Station CPZ consultation, or frustrated residents in the Old Shoreham Rd area whose refuse and recycling collections have been non-existent in recent weeks. It's been a busy old time, all in all.

So apologies as always, dear reader, for being a less than faithful correspondent in recent days. Out of all the stuff that's been happening, Pride deserves a post all to itself, but in the meantime here's a couple of snaps of Brighton & Hove Green Party's contribution to this year's Pride Beside The Seaside:





L-R:

Captain Amy Kennedy

Dr. Caroline Lucas MEP, Admiral of the Fleet

Commander Phelim Mac Cafferty












OMG have you ever seen anyone look so happy to be this close to recycling bins? (my Mum worries my activism is "unhygenic")









More posting on all this and other stuff to follow, but my absolute favourite Argus 'Silly Season' story from this week has got to be the funky sandwiches piece: regular readers (and those who know and love me) will be familiar with my interest in Bento and Food Art, so to see such skill and expertise emanating from Littlehampton more or less made my week :D



"If I was a sculptor... but then again - no..."
(Mark Northeast, Littlehampton 2009)

[note to self: did E.John ever stay in Littlehampton? CHECK.]







My favourite ever Bento: Sardine & Red Pepper Heels.











Nom nom nom :D And ta-ra for now.

Blog Assessment; Bee Amazement; Bong Amusement

Blog Assessment

I'm now almost five weeks into starting this blog (yes, I know it feels like longer ;)), and this evening I started to worry slightly that I've been doing it wrong.

Yes, I've been making some punchy political points about both local and national government policy issues, and yes, I've tried to give my, erm, dozens of readers a flavour of the work I carry out on a day-to-day basis on behalf of the residents of Preston Park ward. I've also blogged at length about the recent European elections, and the current local by-election in Goldsmid.

But equally I've also been wittering on about things I like (art, architecture, food, horticulture etc) and things that amuse me (smoking fish, Morrissey heads), which aren't necessarily directly connected to my work as an elected Green, or to my efforts as an activist (although to me, the personal is always political).

It feels like a dilemma: should I scale back on the fripperies and observational stuff to concentrate only on being a Politics Robot? Or should I leave out the campaigns and the elections, and just content myself with musings about urban meadows and street art (etc)?

Ideally, I'd like to keep on doing both, but I don't want to appear inconsistent and/or (*ahem*) 'random'.

This ISN'T an official Green Party of England & Wales blog, but I am a Green councillor, and I'm very mindful of the potential for tension in including both my personal musings and my political mutterings in the same blog (*eyes P&P imprint to right*).

Answers on a postcard please (or via the 'post a comment' button), but in the meantime, here's a bit of both:

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Bee Amazement

(Charlie Brandts, a White House carpenter as well as beekeeper, collects the first batch of honey from the beehives on the South Lawn of the White House, June 10, 2009. Official White House Photographer: Lawrence Jackson)

So we all love Obama (yes, we do!). But this week I started to love him even more when I learnt that he's keeping bees at the White House. I am so thrilled by this! - it's amazing, visionary, and totally leading by example.

I have, erm, a bee in my bonnet about bees: some readers may be aware that the escalating demise of the honey bee is a serious cause for concern, and potentially a catastrophe for agriculture and ergo humankind.

Bees are also a symbol of industry, and the symbol of my hometown (see right for a snap of the beautiful mosaic floor in Manchester Town Hall): I love the little fellas, and I'm hoping to do some work on (or even with) them soon (now fuelled by Obama-spiration).

Here are a couple of pix of some apian chums closer to home (well, Bowdon, last weekend) to be going on with:

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Bong Amusement

Last Sunday my family and I went for a walk at Lymm Dam - an area of rural fringe land abutting the M56 which has been beautifully restored in recent years by a regional agency and community partnership project.

Pastoral beauty and tranquillity notwithstanding (and somewhat regrettably, given the fact that we're now both in our thirties), it doesn't take much to reduce me and my brother into Beavis & Butthead-like fits of the giggles:
Lol etc ;) (Etymologists might like to know that "bongs" is derived from the mediaeval (old French) word "bancs", meaning "wooded banks".)

After a lovely walk (during which we saw chaffinches and goldfinches), we ate some delicious cakes provided by the Lymm Brownies. At 30p for a big fat slice, it seemed churlish not to. Ah, Mysterious Cheshire!

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So there you go - tit and tat. Like I say, answers on a postcard or via 'comments' please... I enjoy blogging about the incidentals as much as I enjoy blogging about hardcore politics/industry stuff. Maybe I need two seperate blogs (*brain melts at prospect of moar difficult coding*). All advice and constructive criticism much appreciated.

Last week I was mostly...

I've just returned from a long weekend Up North seeing my folks, which was lovely. I've been without broadband for a few days (insert your own joke about Northerners here), so I thought I'd do a quick round-up of last week's happenings before getting on with this week's work.

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London Road CPZ

The majority of correspondence I received from residents last week concerned controversial proposals to introduce a new Controlled Parking Zone in the area around London Road station.

Residents in the affected streets have now received consultation packs - whether they're for or against, people need to make their voices heard, so I hope the response rate is good.

I think my fellow ward councillor Cllr Kevin Allen is trying to set up a meeting with Highways officers about the proposed scheme - hopefully I'll hear more in the next few days.

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From Bra Wars to Bosom Buddies

The Bra Recycling photocall finally went ahead on Tuesday morning!

Dramatis personæ from l-r in first pic: Cllr Dee Simson, Leonie Petrarca of The Pink Dolphin Appeal, Cllr Jayne Bennett, Cllr David Watkins, me, and Cllr Gill Mitchell with the first batch of bras to be donated to the collection point at The Level (Pictures: Hannah Brackenbury 16/06/09)

I'll leave it to readers to come up with their own captions...

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Prestonville Town Square?

On Tuesday I also met with Marek from the Prestonville Community Association to discuss an idea floated by residents for a 'Town Square' for the Prestonville community.

We met outside the Chimney House, and were joined by Lee Davies of Conran & Partners and Ben Meekings of Project Centre, a highway design consultancy and landscape architecture practice who have worked on a number of award-winning street schemes.

Marek has blogged about this, but the basic idea is along the lines of the Home Zone model, where cars are still allowed to use the road, but don't have priority over pedestrians or cyclists.

This is a really exciting idea. As you'll see from the pix below, there's loads of space where Upper Hamilton Road meets Buxton Road, so there'd be no need to lose any parking, and hopefully better siting of the bicycle racks too.

This is still very much an embryonic idea at the moment, but it was an excellent meeting - thanks so much to Lee and Ben for giving up their time to come and discuss it with us.

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Green New Deal at the UNISON Fringe

Also on Tuesday (it was a bit of an epic day), I took part in a panel on the Green New Deal at the UNISON Conference Fringe, organised by David Arnold (UNISON National Policy Officer for Green Issues).

My fellow panellists were Paddy Tipping MP, Lucy Pearce (Stop Climate Chaos coalition), Caroline Fife (UNISON South East Business & Environment officer), and Sarah Pearce (TUC Green Workplaces Project).

I was really pleased to be invited to take part, and enjoyed the Fringe session immensely. The other members of the panel spoke very passionately about the work they're doing in their respective fields in trying to advance some of the ideas contained within the Green New Deal, and the audience asked some excellent questions. It was also really heartening to hear just how much work the Trade Union movement is doing in engaging members with promoting sustainability in the workplace.

The hour passed very quickly, and I would have really liked more time for the questions, especially from the Planners present. I hope I get asked back next year!

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Preston Park Access

On Thursday I met with Preston Park Avenue residents to discuss their continuing campaign for a pedestrian access ramp into Preston Park at the northern end of the street.

Last October I presented a petition about this to the council (signed by over 300 residents), but little progress has been made since then, partly due to the uncertainty surrounding the implementation of plans for a parking scheme and associated landscaping works (which were due to include the access ramp) within the park itself.

I'm now trying to get to bottom of this, and will be putting a question to the Cabinet Member for the Environment at Full Council on July 16th.

The bottom line is that, with two Nursing Homes at the northern end of Preston Park Avenue, an access ramp is sorely needed . The photo above shows the nearest ramp, opposite no. 20 - about halfway up a very long road, and hundreds of yards away from the Nursing Homes.

Are residents going to have to wait another summer before access into the park is improved?

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This week is set to be a bit quieter, but having been away for a few days I've got some catching up to do (*eyes exploding Inbox*). And I am now going out for this evening's Green Group meeting.

I should be singing from the rooftops

The European election results have now been fully announced. We held both our European seats; nationally, we increased our vote by 44% - an awesome gain.

In Brighton & Hove, the Greens came first across the whole city with 31.3%, beating the Tories by 6,000 votes and taking more than twice as many as Labour.

We also topped the poll in Oxford and Norwich, putting us well on track for electoral success in the General Election in our target constituencies.

And I am really pleased about all of this, honestly I am.

But I can't help feeling very disappointed that we missed out so narrowly on a second seat in the South East, and also that (despite a huge amount of hard work) we fell short in other parts of the UK by a very small margin.

So after all that effort, and despite a massively increased voteshare, we still have only 2 Green MEPs - fewer per votes cast than any other party.*

Yes, the proportional representation system used in the Euro ballot is fairer than the wretched first past the post system we endure for Westminster, but the d'Hondt method still favours larger parties; which is perhaps why it was chosen in the first place.

Ben Duncan, Jim Jay, and plenty of other people have blogged very eloquently about our results in recent hours, so I'll end my contribution here...

...with a final thought that perhaps the main reason why I don't feel like singing from the rooftops today is because I am utterly, utterly ashamed to be Northern right now.



*Votes cast per MEP elected in England and Wales in the 2009 European Elections:
Plaid Cymru 126,702
Con 167,191
UKIP 187,726
Lib Dem 195,358
Lab 195,628
BNP 458,212
Green 611,652

South East Euro Results - Greens hold seat

Well, we won overall in Brighton & Hove, and Caroline Lucas held her seat, beating Labour into a miserable 5th place in the South East.

Many congratulations to Caroline, and many commiserations to our Euro No. 2 Cllr Keith Taylor, both of whom fought a hard campaign for the Green Euro vote in South East England.

Above all many thanks to all the candidates, and activists in Brighton & Hove and the South East (and friends from beyond), for putting in such a massive amount of graft over the past few months on the Euro trail - the results speak for themselves, and we're now in an unprecedented position to win Brighton Pavilion and elect Caroline Lucas as Westminster's first Green MP.

Well done all!

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Commiserations too to Cllr Rupert Read (Eastern Region), and Cllr Ricky Knight (South West Region) for narrow misses. Am waiting on tenterhooks now for Peter Cranie's result in the North West...

A good deed shines in a naughty world

I've been out and about in the ward over recent days doing some last-minute leafleting for the European Elections this coming Thursday, 4th June.

Plenty of other people have blogged at length about our prospects for this ballot, so I'm not going to jam up any more bandwidth with my hopes and fears for Thursday, but suffice to say I've never met so many people on the doorstep and in the street who say they're voting Green for the first time.

It's incredibly heartening and very exciting - people really do seem hungry for change, and the progressive vote seems to be going our way, not least because our Green MEPs have a track record in making their expenditure transparent, and in speaking out against the "Euro Gravytrain".

Sunday seems like a long time to have to wait for the results... I've got everything crossed, obviously for all our candidates, but particularly for our existing MEPs Caroline Lucas & Jean Lambert, and also for my friend and colleague Cllr Keith Taylor, and for Peter Cranie in my motherland of the North West.

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However, for all the good Green deeds afoot in Brighton and beyond today, the naughty light below was shining in the avenue next to Preston Park at 2.15pm this afternoon, on the hottest and sunniest day we've had so far this year:



You can bet I'll be reporting this, but to whom? Unless I'm reading it wrong, the council website seems to be saying that it's all EDF's fault, but, erm, they won't be doing anything about it:

Why is my street light on during the day?

Modern streetlights are switched on and off by a sensor that knows when it is getting dark. Older lights were switched on and off by area using a network of cables that are owned by the Electricity Utility EDF. These cables are very old and are beginning to fail. EDF when they discover a fault do not have to repair this switching facility and make the cable permanently live or on. This results in day burning columns.

So that's OK then, is it? (hmm) One to add to the list of things to do tomorrow.