Yesterday's Stall + New Poll

We held a stall in Swindon town centre yesterday. It went very well
from 9am to 3:15pm, then the table broke and we had to call it a day. We
were almost out ofleaflets anyway so it made sense to stop then. I will chase up more leaflets from GPSWHQ so that we can continue our campaigns. We got a very. very positive response. It's looking good but we still need to win over the undecided
and make sure our supporters do actually go out and vote.

A Sunday Telegraph/ICm poll to be published tomorrow, when asking voting intentions for the EUROPEAN ELECTION next Thursday, (apparently even without prompting of
non-main party names) gives the following headline figures:

Con 29 (-1)
Lib Dem 20 (+2)
Lab 17 (-7)
Green 11 (+1)
UKIP 10 (nc)
BNP 5 (+4)

Up and coming Events for swindon Green Party

Help is needed for all events, please e-mail me at jenni@:swindongreens.org.uk

Tomorrow (Saturday 30th May) 9am-6pm: Stall near Central Library. If you can help, even for a short time, please just turn up.

Sunday 31st May 2pm-8pm: Canvassing , location TBC (probably Parks), e-mail me if you can help.

Monday 1st June 8:30am-9:00am: Leafleting , Lethbridge School.
Monday 1st June 6pm-8:30pm: Canvassing around Walcot/Lawns..

Tuesday 2nd June, 9am: Leafleting at New college.
Tuesday 2nd June, 7pm: Green Drinks at the Savoy (see.www.swindongreens.org.uk for map)

Wednesday 3rd June, TBC: possible stall near Central Library.
Wednesday 3rd June, 2:30pm-3:15pm , Leafleting , Lethbridge School.
Wednesday 3rd June, 6pm-8pm: Canvassing location TBC (probably parks),

Thursday 4th June, 6pm-very late: Count at Oasis - read my twitter for updates (http://twitter.com/jennimiles)

Monday 15th - Friday 19th June, 11am-2pm: Stall for ENVIRONMENTAL WEEK at Swindon college.

Saturday 27th June, 10am-5pm: Stall at the Old Town Festival at The Lawns
Sunday 28th June, 10am-5pm Stall at the Old Town Festival at Town Gardens

Monday 29th June, 8pm, AGM at Central Community Centre, Emlyn Square.

Lastest Poll

The Greens are set to take 9% (+3) of the total vote, while Ukip is on 10% (-6), leaving the BNP way behind on just 1% – considerably down on the 5% the far-right party achieved at the last European elections in 2004.

Message from SPARK:

Dear all

Despite all our efforts, we have now received written confirmation from Swindon Borough Council that the Groundwell P&R will be mothballed from 31 May 2009, with the last service running on 30 May 2009.

Whilst this decision is extremely disappointing, Thamesdown Transport has confirmed that they will be running a new service, the Priory Vale Express, no12 , aimed at North Swindon commuters, from 1 June. The service will run from Oakhurst and Abbey Meads to Fleming Way via Cricklade Road with limited stops between 07.10 and 08.40 in the morning and 16.35 and 18.05 in the evening. However, please note that the Priory Vale service is being run as a 'trial' and the council has not confirmed how long the 'trial' period will be.

Finally Lindsay and I would like to thank everyone who has supported us in this campaign. We will now be taking a back seat over the summer and hope to pick up the campaign in October/November when the council will be setting budgets for 2010.

If anyone wishes to keep in touch with us, please continue to write to us at the SPARK email address ~(spark2009@hotmail.co.uk).

Best regards

Sara Spinks
On behalf of SPARK

Open letter to Deputy Council Leader Fionuala Foley,

Ms Foley, I would like to state publicly how appalling your behaviour towards Shirley Burnham, the 61-year-old campaigner of Save Old Town Library was today. After the Princess Royal's visit, you publicly snarled rudely a suggestion that she had no right to protest at your council's indefensible cuts, glaring at her as if she was not fit to be walked on by you.

Shirley, who unlike you is not paid an allowance for the work she does for the community, had just stood patiently outside the library for hours while you and you colleges had a posh lunch with royalty inside. She was there attempting to provide future generations with a decent
library service and to promote life-long learning, community and culture.

You were there to promote yourself.

She is a hard working local campaigner who deserves the utmost respect and joins a long list of strong community-minded women including Jean Saunders (Coate Water), Martha Perry (Mechanics Institute), Marilyn Harrison (Animal rights), Emma Bushell (Human Rights, Poverty) and Deb Joffe (Climate change) to name just a few. These women represent Swindon, working for their community fighting injustice - unpaid and seldom thanked. They are an inspiration and their hard work and sprit should be praised.

You, with your rude and disrespectful behaviour should not. It is not just MPs who fiddled their expenses that the public are angry with. It is people like you that put people off politics. Shame on you.

You said "there is an opportunity for the Old Town community to take on the running of the library to solve the problem.", but this is what they pay you for. If you are not up to the job, then stand down. I can think of someone much better to take your place.

Jenni Miles

Chair, Swindon Green Party & Governor, Lethbridge Primary School.

Shockingly I'm a green!

MP's expenses

I was asked a lot about what we would do about MP's expenses while campaigning today. So to clarify the situation from the Green Party's point of view:

The Green Party wants a thorough investigation to ascertain the full details of what has gone wrong, and in exactly what ways, so that the issue can be completely addressed. But our immediate proposals would be:
· MPs should not be allowed to make up the rules that govern their own expenses and communication. There should be an independent commission empowered to oversee and regulate.
· There should be comparison with civil servants in how these matters are handled.
· It should be a criminal offence to knowingly overclaim - just as it is a criminal offence to knowingly overclaim benefits.
· Accommodation: MPs should have their main home in or near their constituency. When MPs who don't live in London need to stay in London, the following criteria should be applied:

They should be paid a flat-rate overnight allowance.

The allowance would pay for hotel accommodation, but could instead be used for rent. (While many MPs have behaved outrageously, it's unreasonable to ask a good MP to live out of a suitcase).

The allowance should only be paid for the nights that the MP needs to be in the capital.

As a possible alternative to the above, we would ask the Kelly committee to consider the possibility of providing MPs who live outside London with apartments in London.

But this isn’t just about expenses. We have an unfair election system that practically guarantees a minority government – a government more people voted against than voted for. The whole system is dominated by three very similar parties. So instead of active public engagement with politics there is widespread apathy, cynicism and anger. Therefore we need a complete overhaul of British democracy – including a proportional elections system.

So now you know :)

Have been up to my eye-balls...

in election stuff. There is still so much to do and less than 3 weeks to do it in. I've been off doorknocking (is that even a verb? I've not have enough sleep to know!) almost every night and have lots of Governors' stuff coming up too. I'm going over the plans for the eastern development. My eyes are going crossed. I wish Fabian (my 8 month old) would sleep at night, it would really help me get this all done.

Ricky Knight will be in Swindon tomorrow so more campaigning then. At least dave has taken the day off so I will not have to be doing it with the kids.

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