Friday 23 April 2010

On the Campaign Trail + Links and events

On the Campaign Trail

Thurs 22nd April - 2 notable events; a Rally for Older People and the long-awaited 'Unlock Democracy' hustings.

The Rally for Older people, which was organised by CSPA and UNITE Federation (not the Trade Union) was strange (I don't mean that in an insulting way) - given the significance of the campaign I was expecting a wide spread of MPs and candidates, particularly given the fact that older people were more likely to vote. They were noticeable by their absence, indeed I was quite possibly the only general election candidate there. Maybe 'The Three Main Parties' are embarrassed by what they are offering older people. It is one of many areas where the Green Party is out in front - see this earlier release on the Manchester Green Party website.

Although I was unable to stay for the whole meeting, I found it very informative as a candidate. As I slowly approach retirement age, it was informative for me as an individual as well.

The second event I attended was the Hustings event organised by 'Unlock Democracy' and Power 2010 (see earlier post). In my past experience the people of South Manchester have done this sort of live hustings debate proud. They still do. Regarding the audience size I lost count at around 150, all 7 of the Parliamentary candidates were there, while the South Manchester Reporter staff used all modern technolgy devices to record the evening. It lasted well over 2 hours and I think both candidates and most of the audience would have been happy to go on all night.

The audience size was particularly welcome given that the second Leaders Debate was on TV last night. As I said on the panel, the audience had made the right choice seeing the 7 people they can vote for live, rather than 3 people they can't vote for on TV. Whilst the focus of the meeting was democratic reform, there was plenty of opportunity to pose questions on a range of other subjects. For coverage of the debate (a la SMR) see here

Some Links:

What do the Parties / Candidates think on particular issues?:

- Regarding Unlock Democracy, here is their rating on the various Parties on the democratic reform agenda: I look at the Green and Lib Dem scores and the phrase 'It's a Two Horse Race' comes to mind.

- Greater Manchester Friends of the Earth have compiled a record of the views of Greater Manchester candidates here

My third link is slightly different - The following site invites the public to take a blind test to see which Party they should vote for on the basis of whose policies they most like: the results are interesting - see here

Upcoming Campaign Events

Sat 24th April - the World Development Movement (WDM)are leafleting outside RBS at Chorlton's 4 Banks to protest against RBS' support for the devastating tar sands exploitation in Canada - for information here's information from a meeting I attended some time back on this here
I and hopefully other candidates will be there to show our support for WDM#s campaign at around 11 am.

Sat 24th April around 2 pm - I'll be meeting up with Manchester Gorton Green candidate Justine Hall, who is doing a cycle ride round the boundaries of her consituency (which despite the name now includes Whalley Range).

Sun 25th April - Another Hustings event, this time at Chorlton Community Church (junction of Barlow Moor Road and Zetland Road), starting at 7.30 pm. The title is 'Faith in Government'

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