Wars and rumours of wars plus Ireland

I was away on the weekend before last in Belgium, visiting the historic city of Ghent for the first time. Our visit to Belgium coincided with an immense downpour and it rained all day on the Saturday. Belgian television was full of images of flooded towns and villages and of dykes bursting in Flanders. At one point the Eurostar line south of Brussels was closed. On returning via Brussels on the Monday, the headline in the Brussels version of the Metro newspaper was "Belgium under water" with aerial photos of deluged villages. This was a stark reminder once again of the impact of climate and weather.

On my return to London, I completed my course on independent brokerage and have now a certificate to prove it. Tuesday night saw me sharing a platform with my old sparring partner, Kate Hoey MP, at a public meeting on the Afghan war organised by Lambeth Stop the War Coalition. Leaving behind yah boo politics, I paid tribute to Kate's anti-war credentials, having been one of only 14 MPs to recently vote against the Afghan war, and she in turn paid tribute to the Green Party's long resistance to the interventionist wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here is a picture from the evening. Naturally this was a build up to the Stop the War national march against the Afghan war on Saturday.

I spent Wednesday completing the minutes of the Green Left general meeting held about ten days before, only to be plunged back into more minute taking at the Green Left committee meeting on Thursday night. Being the Secretary is one of the most labour intensive jobs. At the meeting we discussed a number of issues including motions to the spring conference, where I am putting forward a motion, recently agreed at the Stop the War Coalition annual conference, on giving the power to declare war back to parliament and away from the Prime Minister, exercising the sovereign's prerogative.

On Saturday I was on the Stop the War Coalition march and carrying the Green Left banner in the march, as well as meeting up Greens from across the country who had come along to support it. I was disappointed that turnout was not higher - it was about 5,000 - and think that there is a need for the Coalition to reconsider strategy It is clear that the majority of the population are opposed to the war but it seems are not yet ready to march against it. Another photo from the demo below.

In the interim I have been following the news from Ireland closely. A text message from my brother in Dublinon Thursday summed up the views of many Irish people. It read: "the country is bolloxed. The IMF are in Dublin." The Irish Greens in government have a lot to answer for in their role over the last three years. As one of them told me in London 2 years ago: "we are in government with a kleptocracy." Yes indeed, and now the Irish people, at least those who will not be forced to emigrate, will pay the price for decades. My views on the role of the Irish government were summed up very well in the Observer editorial on Sunday.

Most of this week will be spent, when not working, preparing for the Coalition of Resistance conference on Saturday to ensure that the UK road to recovery is not the same as the Irish one.