Have been incredibly busy over the last few days so unable to blog until now. Thursday night saw me appearing at a hustings organised by the UN Association in Enfield, which was preceded by a radio interview on the Euro elections with a local Irish radio station, Radio Verulaneum, based in St Albans, on the phone ten minutes before the hustings. There was a good turnout and highlight of the evening was the UKIP MEP, Gerard Batten, admitting that he did not believe in climate change - something to do with the earth tilting apparently! I also read out the Open Europe Report indicating that the Green MEPs were ahead in the expenses stakes, this did not please Mr Batten either, who also had to answer a question about Nigel Farage's massive expenses claims.
Friday I was on the European election campaign bus with Jean Lambert MEP, fueled by used cooking oil. We met locals at Sipson village, threatened by Heathrow expansion, and then on into Islington, where Jean spoke at a huge meeting for the Nigerian community and was cheered to the rafters for her speech. After that the bus travelled into Westminster, giving a message of support to the Tamils and Brian Haw in Parliament Square. We also set up a stall in front of Westminster Abbey and handed out leaflets to passers by. The final leg took us through the ward I am fighting in the Lambeth by election, where I called on voters to vote Green in the Euros and the by election on June 4th. I left the bus at Waterloo to take part in the London CND hustings at Friends Meeting House, Euston.
The hustings were chaired by Kate Hudson, Chair of National CND, and there were 8 candidates, which included The Christian Party, the English Democrats, Libertas, The Jury System, Lib Dems, Labour, the Socialists Party of Greate Britain, and the Greens. The replies to questions took ages. Pat Arrowsmith, the veteran peace campaigner, made mincemeat of the Labour candidate and some of the others who supported the nuclear deterrent. After a speech by the Labour candidate where she spoke about refugees, I made the riposte that most refugees waiting at Calais to enter the UK were from Iraq and Afghanistan and were a direct result of this government's wars. Interestingly the Lib Dem Candidate, Chris Le Breton, who is 4th on the list, admittted that he and the No 2 candidate, Jonather Fryer, both now supported a one state solution in Palestine, and were opposed to the position of their No 1 candidate, Baroness Ludford. There was a row at the end of the hustings when the CND organisers admitted that they had not invited the BNP. This resulted in the Socialist Party of GB claiming that this was a disgrace as they should have been challenged in open debate. When I responded that I would not share a platform with them, all hell broke out and the Chair had some difficulty in calming proceedings.
Yesterday I was back in Lambeth, greeting the European campaign bus with Jean Lambert in Brixton and giving out leaflets there with Lambeth Greens. I also managed to give my support to a local demonstration against the privatisation of Council housing and job cuts in Lambeth which gathered outside the Town Hall.
Today I was back in Princes Ward, distributing the last of my by election leaflets and the European campaign leaflets. I had some good responses from voters. I also noticed a dirty tricks leaflet from the Labour Party claiming that the Lib Dem candidate does not live in the ward but in Whitstable. I am afraid that this sort of campaiging by Labour has a history in the ward.
The polls are good for the Greens and disastrous for Labour at present. Alan Johnson is predicting a wipeout, the scale of which has not been seen since the 20s. http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/may/31/labour-elections-2009-alan-johnson
So now it is on to the final lap - only three days left now. I will be leafleting travel hubs over the next few days. But I have one last husting in Stratford Town Hall, East London, tomorrow night at 6.30pm organised by the PCS trade union and which will concentrate on the EU's labour and trade policies and workers' rights. Council Chamber, Stratford Town Hall, BroadwayNearest tube: Stratford. I am expeciting to encounter No2EU there again, who appeared on the platform with me at the Battersea and Wansdworth TUC hustings in Goldsmiths College a week or two ago.
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