By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor
Friday, 28 May 2010
Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green Party. It is the first time in decades a new national party has taken a seat at Westminster
History doesn't always come in thunderclaps or cheering crowds, and yesterday it was made with very little outward fuss when a woman in a pale blue trouser suit got to her feet from a green leather bench and began to speak.
It was precisely 3.30 in the afternoon, and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, Hugh Bayley, had just issued a two-word invitation: "Caroline Lucas." And with that, the first MP of the Green Party, in fact the first MP of a new national party for many years, began her maiden speech and her party's political life at Westminster. Henceforth, the environment has its own representation in our politics.
It had been a long journey to get there, she said. Indeed it had: nearly 40 years from the Green Party's origins as the Ecology Party in the 1970s, and nearly 20 years in the case of Ms Lucas herself, who began her rise in the party at the moment of the Greens' false dawn: in the Euro elections of June 1989, when they got 15 per cent of the UK vote, burst on to the national political scene, and then blew it.
Thrust into the spotlight, such were the antics of the Greens' grassroots, rejecting the "cult of leadership" and insisting that the party spoke with several voices at once – I listened to the debates with an inward groan at Green Party conferences at places like Wolverhampton and Bridlington – that by the mid-1990s they had dissipated their credibility entirely and had become little better than a political joke. Caroline Lucas has led the way back to reality, and to the realisation of the truly noble aim of having a politics based on concern for the Earth, as much as on concern for equality, or freedom – the ideal of Petra Kelly of Germany's Die Grünen, the charismatic inspiration for Green parties the world over.
I have followed her long journey closely over those two subsequent decades, and many key moments are etched on my mind. There was a midnight meeting in Oxford in 1992 with a troubled Petra Kelly herself, shortly before she was murdered by her partner; a 4am moment of euphoria in Winchester Town Hall in 1999 when Ms Lucas was elected as the Greens' first Euro MP; the moment in 2007 when she was adopted as candidate for Brighton Pavilion, the one parliamentary constituency where the Greens had a realistic chance of success; her winning of the fight for the party to have a single leader, in 2008, and then the securing of the post for herself; and finally the election night marvel at 5.45am in Brighton's conference centre on 7 May, when she and her supporters realised that they had broken through the wall into Westminster.
That was an unforgettable occasion of cheers and wild delight – in a weird way, it was like witnessing a baby being born – but somehow even that was eclipsed for me by yesterday's event, calm, composed and routine.
It was so routine, in fact, that I was the only observer in the Press Gallery, apart from two guys from Hansard, the official recorder of parliamentary debates, and a chap from the Press Association, the national news agency. There were 31 people in the public seats, and fewer than 50 MPs in the chamber. There was no roll of drums. There was no fanfare. But when this 49-year-old former Oxfam adviser got to her feet, I could not suppress my own sense of history being made; for here it was. It was real, after all, it was really happening: the voice of the environment was at last being heard in the Mother of Parliaments, long after it had resounded through every other national legislature in Europe.
You had to go back several decades, she said, to the election of the first Nationalist MPs in Scotland and Wales, to find the last maiden speech from a new national political party.
She went on: "And perhaps a better comparison would be those first Socialist and Independent Labour MPs, over a century ago, whose arrival was seen as a sign of coming revolution. When Keir Hardie made his maiden speech to this House, after winning the seat of West Ham South in 1892, there was an outcry, because instead of frock coat and top hat, he wore a tweed suit and a deerstalker... but what Keir Hardie stood for now seems much more mainstream: progressive taxation, votes for women, free schooling, pensions, and abolition of the House of Lords.
"And though the last of these is an urgent task still before us, the rest are now seen as essential to our society. What was once radical, even revolutionary, becomes understood, accepted and even cherished."
MPs in their maiden speeches traditionally sing the praises of their constituencies, and Ms Lucas followed Tom Greatrex, singing the praises of Rutherglen and Hamilton West, and Angie Bray, lauding the virtues of Ealing Central and Acton, in making sure the Commons knew the virtues of Brighton. In fact, the bohemian bit of the Sussex seaside resort, centred on the Pavilion constituency, is the Greens' spiritual home, and Ms Lucas hinted at this, remarking: "You have to work quite hard to be a 'local character' in Brighton" before going on to praise the Lanes, the Conference Centre, the Pier, the Royal Pavilion, the entrepreneurial spirit of the people, the beauty of the Sussex countryside, and the achievements of her predecessor, the Labour MP David Lepper.
But the markers she put down about her future activities constituted the meat of her speech. Climate change would be a major concern, she said, and she went on: "Politics needs to renew itself, and allow new ideas and visions to emerge. So I hope that if, and when other new political movements arise, they will not be excluded by the system of voting. Reform here, as in other areas, is long overdue." Electoral reform, she said, "means more than a referendum on the Alternative Vote: it means the choice of a genuinely proportional electoral system."
Furthermore, she told the House, one of the things a single MP could do was raise issues which could not be raised elsewhere, and despite the tradition of maiden speeches being non-controversial, she broached the issue of the commodities trading group Trafigura and the shipping of hazardous waste to Ivory Coast – an issue which was not being reported in Britain, she said. She added: "These are the kind of issues I would like to pursue."
The House of Commons has been warned.
Extracts from the maiden speech
Our message
"If our message had been heeded nearly 40 years ago, I like to think we would be much closer to the genuinely sustainable economy that we so urgently need, than we currently are today."
Climate change
"I have worked on the causes and consequences of climate change for most of my working life, first with Oxfam – for the effects of climate change are already affecting millions of people in poorer countries around the world – and then for 10 years in the European Parliament. But if we are to overcome this threat, then it is we in this chamber who must take the lead."
Single MPs
"Both before the election and afterwards, I have been asked the question: what can a single MP hope to achieve? I may not be alone in facing that question. And since arriving in this place, and thinking about the contribution other members have made over the years, I am sure that the answer is clear, that a single MP can achieve a great deal."
Friday, 28 May 2010
The Energy Debate - The fox trick and the Greek defence
The day's main event was the clash of Chris Huhne's abstract nouns with Ed Miliband's attempt to enthuse Labour backbenchers
Simon Hoggart The Guardian, Friday 28 May 2010
The day's main event was the debate on energy, featuring Chris Huhne, the Lib Dem cabinet minister, and Ed Miliband, who is running for leadership of the Labour party. Huhne had to demonstrate that he was a loyal member of the Conservative administration. The Tories are all in favour of nuclear power stations, which need to be built lickety-split, as we have few energy supplies left, and within a few years the government will be handing out exercise bikes hooked up to the mains and we will have to pedal frantically if we want to watch Match of the Day – or boil an egg.
The Lib Dems, by contrast, are totally opposed to nuclear power. Without the spirit of goodwill that has created the coalition, this might have been a problem. Instead, they have gone for what I think of as the fox hunting compromise. Fox hunting is now illegal, yet carries on much as before. In that way, everyone is happy, except the foxes. In the same way, the coalition parties are agreed that nuclear power should get an immediate go-ahead. On the other hand, it will have to be financed entirely by private money, with no state aid. This means no nuclear power stations will actually be built. The world will gaze in wonder at this cunning arrangement, and will continue to gaze until the lights go out.
Huhne is a former member of the European parliament, and it shows. He loves the kind of phrase that is constructed out of abstract nouns, selected to make it easy to translate into 20-odd languages. "Preventing habitat degradation"; "exploring new international sources of funding"; "decarbonising our economy" and the sonorous "2001: United Nations Year of Biodiversity". Presumably some young civil servant had the job of putting the speech together at random from a box of cards marked "Energy and Conservation Bingo". Huhne read it out with an air of passionate conviction. Somewhere, you felt, an interpreter was falling asleep.
Miliband had the opposite problem. He needed to enthuse and excite. The message to Labour backbenchers had to be that he was the chap who would maintain a ferocious attack on the coalition, the leader who would never apologise for the last 13 years but restore his party's morale. The difficulty is that most MPs agree on climate change. "The other side are more or less right!" is never going to be a great battle-cry, so he slid over the topic as fast as he could.
His main assault was on the Lib Dems, who have had to support policies they explicitly ran against. "Being a Lib Dem in opposition meant not having to choose … being a Lib Dem in government means not having to choose either!" Huhne interrupted to say that the government couldn't spend money because we were in a worse position than Greece. "Aha!" cried Miliband, "the Greek defence! You don't need to keep your promises, because of something that happened in Greece!" A far away country of which we know quite a lot.
Meaningless, of course, but it won't half cheer up the Labour party.
Simon Hoggart The Guardian, Friday 28 May 2010
The day's main event was the debate on energy, featuring Chris Huhne, the Lib Dem cabinet minister, and Ed Miliband, who is running for leadership of the Labour party. Huhne had to demonstrate that he was a loyal member of the Conservative administration. The Tories are all in favour of nuclear power stations, which need to be built lickety-split, as we have few energy supplies left, and within a few years the government will be handing out exercise bikes hooked up to the mains and we will have to pedal frantically if we want to watch Match of the Day – or boil an egg.
The Lib Dems, by contrast, are totally opposed to nuclear power. Without the spirit of goodwill that has created the coalition, this might have been a problem. Instead, they have gone for what I think of as the fox hunting compromise. Fox hunting is now illegal, yet carries on much as before. In that way, everyone is happy, except the foxes. In the same way, the coalition parties are agreed that nuclear power should get an immediate go-ahead. On the other hand, it will have to be financed entirely by private money, with no state aid. This means no nuclear power stations will actually be built. The world will gaze in wonder at this cunning arrangement, and will continue to gaze until the lights go out.
Huhne is a former member of the European parliament, and it shows. He loves the kind of phrase that is constructed out of abstract nouns, selected to make it easy to translate into 20-odd languages. "Preventing habitat degradation"; "exploring new international sources of funding"; "decarbonising our economy" and the sonorous "2001: United Nations Year of Biodiversity". Presumably some young civil servant had the job of putting the speech together at random from a box of cards marked "Energy and Conservation Bingo". Huhne read it out with an air of passionate conviction. Somewhere, you felt, an interpreter was falling asleep.
Miliband had the opposite problem. He needed to enthuse and excite. The message to Labour backbenchers had to be that he was the chap who would maintain a ferocious attack on the coalition, the leader who would never apologise for the last 13 years but restore his party's morale. The difficulty is that most MPs agree on climate change. "The other side are more or less right!" is never going to be a great battle-cry, so he slid over the topic as fast as he could.
His main assault was on the Lib Dems, who have had to support policies they explicitly ran against. "Being a Lib Dem in opposition meant not having to choose … being a Lib Dem in government means not having to choose either!" Huhne interrupted to say that the government couldn't spend money because we were in a worse position than Greece. "Aha!" cried Miliband, "the Greek defence! You don't need to keep your promises, because of something that happened in Greece!" A far away country of which we know quite a lot.
Meaningless, of course, but it won't half cheer up the Labour party.
How to have an ethical barbecue
Forget gas grills, use sustainable charcoal – and give squid a go
Rebecca Seal guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 26 May 2010 21.00 BST
Last year, in spite of the dire summer, we hardy Brits had 120m barbecues, making us the barbecue capital of Europe, according to the National Barbecue Association. The "alfresco eating industry" is worth £7bn annually (presumably companies making rainproof gazebos and waterproof fleece are also doing well), but, unfortunately, few of us realise how environmentally unfriendly a traditional barbecue can be.
Those who think an outdoor gas grill is the green solution are quick to point out that charcoal releases more than 100 times as much carbon monoxide as gas. But although it's true that gas is a more efficient fuel for cooking, charcoal is carbon neutral as it releases carbon tied up temporarily in the tree it was made from. Gas, whether propane or butane, is a fossil fuel, and so is a net contributor to global carbon levels. Electric grills are little better, if you know that your electricity doesn't come from a coal-fired power station. Green credentials apart, electric barbecues are a cheat; having an electric grill outside is akin to hauling your hob out on to the patio, plus it's difficult to get that distinctive barbecue flavour from anything but charcoal.
Most charcoal briquettes are made from hardwood culled from tropical forests that could do with being left alone. And they are also usually doused with firelighter solutions which can taint your food. The solution is to buy British lumpwood charcoal from sustainable sources, such as coppiced trees in managed woodland and forests. Sarah Mooney from Bioregional, an entrepreneurial charity that sells British charcoal (available from Homebase and Sainsbury's, from £7 a bag), says: "Our charcoal has a more open structure than hardwood charcoals, so it doesn't need to be impregnated with lighter fuel. It burns for far longer so, although it's a bit more expensive, you'll use much less." Start your barbecue using twists of rolled-up newspaper, with the charcoal stacked on top, or natural firelighters such as those from If You Care (available from goodnessdirect.co.uk, 72 for £3.97), which are made from wood and vegetable oils.
When it comes to the barbecue itself, it's good to use a lid and adjustable vents as they help control the temperature. Try something that's designed to use as little fuel as possible, such as the Cobb. You could also build your own barbecue using an oven rack and some old bricks, or an old oil drum cut in half – you'll have to weigh up the ethical points scored by not buying something new against less efficient cooking. Avoid foil single-use barbecues as they use impregnated briquettes and rarely get recycled. Rather than using paper plates, stock up on crockery from charity shops or buy palm leaf plates that biodegrade (25 plates, £11.99).
Finally the food. There are far more interesting and ethical things to cook than cheap beefburgers, sausages, or Day-Glo chicken. Ben Spice, head chef at Acorn House and Water House, two of London's most environmentally friendly restaurants, suggests farmed tilapia fish or arctic char. "Unlike lots of farmed fish, tilapia is not fed dried fishmeal (which could have come from all sorts of untraceable, endangered fish), but sustainable organic matter. Similarly, farmed arctic char, a pale pink fish halfway between salmon and trout, barbecues well and is also fed on traceable fish meal. M&J Seafood is good for both."
Both he and Henry Dimbleby, a restaurateur and founder of the Sustainable Restaurant Association, agree that squid is also a great choice. "It's the most sustainable fish at the moment, as we have overfished their predators and they're multiplying with abandon," says Dimbleby. Spice also recommends pollock now, sardines and mackerel later in the summer, and crayfish any time. "American crayfish invading our waters are eating all the fish eggs, so they are good things to eat if you can find them." He always goes for lamb over beef. "Lamb has to be grass fed and is never stuck in a barn in the dark." For vegetables, "Do whole Portobello mushrooms stuffed with lemon, basil and feta or garlic and mozzarella and in August, try wrapping a whole globe artichoke in foil and cooking slowly in olive oil and its own juices."
All we need now is for last weekend's barbecue weather to come back.
Rebecca Seal guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 26 May 2010 21.00 BST
Last year, in spite of the dire summer, we hardy Brits had 120m barbecues, making us the barbecue capital of Europe, according to the National Barbecue Association. The "alfresco eating industry" is worth £7bn annually (presumably companies making rainproof gazebos and waterproof fleece are also doing well), but, unfortunately, few of us realise how environmentally unfriendly a traditional barbecue can be.
Those who think an outdoor gas grill is the green solution are quick to point out that charcoal releases more than 100 times as much carbon monoxide as gas. But although it's true that gas is a more efficient fuel for cooking, charcoal is carbon neutral as it releases carbon tied up temporarily in the tree it was made from. Gas, whether propane or butane, is a fossil fuel, and so is a net contributor to global carbon levels. Electric grills are little better, if you know that your electricity doesn't come from a coal-fired power station. Green credentials apart, electric barbecues are a cheat; having an electric grill outside is akin to hauling your hob out on to the patio, plus it's difficult to get that distinctive barbecue flavour from anything but charcoal.
Most charcoal briquettes are made from hardwood culled from tropical forests that could do with being left alone. And they are also usually doused with firelighter solutions which can taint your food. The solution is to buy British lumpwood charcoal from sustainable sources, such as coppiced trees in managed woodland and forests. Sarah Mooney from Bioregional, an entrepreneurial charity that sells British charcoal (available from Homebase and Sainsbury's, from £7 a bag), says: "Our charcoal has a more open structure than hardwood charcoals, so it doesn't need to be impregnated with lighter fuel. It burns for far longer so, although it's a bit more expensive, you'll use much less." Start your barbecue using twists of rolled-up newspaper, with the charcoal stacked on top, or natural firelighters such as those from If You Care (available from goodnessdirect.co.uk, 72 for £3.97), which are made from wood and vegetable oils.
When it comes to the barbecue itself, it's good to use a lid and adjustable vents as they help control the temperature. Try something that's designed to use as little fuel as possible, such as the Cobb. You could also build your own barbecue using an oven rack and some old bricks, or an old oil drum cut in half – you'll have to weigh up the ethical points scored by not buying something new against less efficient cooking. Avoid foil single-use barbecues as they use impregnated briquettes and rarely get recycled. Rather than using paper plates, stock up on crockery from charity shops or buy palm leaf plates that biodegrade (25 plates, £11.99).
Finally the food. There are far more interesting and ethical things to cook than cheap beefburgers, sausages, or Day-Glo chicken. Ben Spice, head chef at Acorn House and Water House, two of London's most environmentally friendly restaurants, suggests farmed tilapia fish or arctic char. "Unlike lots of farmed fish, tilapia is not fed dried fishmeal (which could have come from all sorts of untraceable, endangered fish), but sustainable organic matter. Similarly, farmed arctic char, a pale pink fish halfway between salmon and trout, barbecues well and is also fed on traceable fish meal. M&J Seafood is good for both."
Both he and Henry Dimbleby, a restaurateur and founder of the Sustainable Restaurant Association, agree that squid is also a great choice. "It's the most sustainable fish at the moment, as we have overfished their predators and they're multiplying with abandon," says Dimbleby. Spice also recommends pollock now, sardines and mackerel later in the summer, and crayfish any time. "American crayfish invading our waters are eating all the fish eggs, so they are good things to eat if you can find them." He always goes for lamb over beef. "Lamb has to be grass fed and is never stuck in a barn in the dark." For vegetables, "Do whole Portobello mushrooms stuffed with lemon, basil and feta or garlic and mozzarella and in August, try wrapping a whole globe artichoke in foil and cooking slowly in olive oil and its own juices."
All we need now is for last weekend's barbecue weather to come back.
Pedal or throttle? The lure of the electric bike
They might not be for everyone, but pretend to pedal and it's great fun shocking the Lycra crowd with your unexpected speed
When this blog's Helen Pidd tried out an electric bike, the Gocycle, almost a year ago, she did promise "a proper comparison of different models".
We might not have been fast but we've made it – over the past couple of weeks myself and two colleagues have been testing out three examples of that curious half-way point between the bicycle and the moped. You can hear more about the experience in the next Bike Podcast, out on Tuesday.
Below are some details about the three models, but firstly an observation as someone who had never previously tried out an electric bike: they really are great fun.
There's something deliciously indulgent about, for once, not standing up in the pedals to set off from traffic lights but simply twisting a throttle and gliding away. Travelling up hills, meanwhile, feels almost mystical.
Another immediate thought is that the electric habit soon becomes addictive. All three bikes are set up such that you can either have "pedal assistance", an extra electrical kick as you ride normally, or full on, twist throttle-provided, non-human power. Such was the novelty that within minutes I'd abandoned any thoughts of self-propulsion.
The other half-illicit thrill came while riding a test machine which looks, at first glance, like a slightly standard, if chunky, mountain bike, particularly as my legs covered the frame-mounted battery. It was huge fun to park myself at red lights amid a horde of Lycra-clad whippets and puzzle them by accelerating away in pole position, legs spinning to simulate riding while the traffic roar drowned out the milkfloat whine.
That artifice, incidentally, also brings a drawback: drivers and fellow cyclists alike tend to make a lot of visual assumptions about how fast you will travel on a bike and act accordingly. When you resemble a tortoise but speed like a hare you need to be on your guard.
So before we get into the details, the inevitable question: would I swap my traditional bike for one? No – I enjoy cycling too much, it keeps me fit, and I get slightly dizzy thinking how nice a real bike I could buy with the £1,500-plus price tag of a posh electric machine.
A better question is whether I can see why others might use them, and that's a definite yes. You might, say, have an injury, or want to build up your fitness gradually. You might even have a long, hilly commute and prefer not to arrive in the office freshly steam-bathed. Or you might just find them a whole lot of fun.
Bikes provided by Electric Bike Sales
Smarta LX
The cheapest of the bunch, but still a shade under £900, this looks more or less recognisable as a bike, even with the sturdy, moped-esque kick stand. It has a claimed top speed of 15mph – the most allowed in the UK for an electric bike on the road – and can supposedly do 40 miles between charges. The least powerful and arguably the least fun of the three bikes we tried out, it would still work very well as a commuting workhorse, particularly given the (relatively) modest price.
Wisper 905 SE City
More upmarket and speedy – but at £1,500 almost double the price – this was the lightest machine on test at 21kg, still about the weight of two decent traditional bikes. This was the model I tried on my commute for a few days, and it does pull away from traffic lights with a satisfying zip, while still looking recognisably bike-like.
Ultramotor A2B Metro
Or as we testers (and, apparently, the people at Electric Bike Sales) call it, 'the Beast". This is, essentially, an electric moped with pedals and gears attached so the law still sees it as a bike. The throttle shoots you to 15mph and there is also a very tempting button marked "boost", officially to be used only when off road, which takes you to something past 20mph. I did try pedalling this without the motor, and at around 37kg it felt like trying to cycle a Harley Davidson. Huge fun, but not cheap at all at just under £2,000.
When this blog's Helen Pidd tried out an electric bike, the Gocycle, almost a year ago, she did promise "a proper comparison of different models".
We might not have been fast but we've made it – over the past couple of weeks myself and two colleagues have been testing out three examples of that curious half-way point between the bicycle and the moped. You can hear more about the experience in the next Bike Podcast, out on Tuesday.
Below are some details about the three models, but firstly an observation as someone who had never previously tried out an electric bike: they really are great fun.
There's something deliciously indulgent about, for once, not standing up in the pedals to set off from traffic lights but simply twisting a throttle and gliding away. Travelling up hills, meanwhile, feels almost mystical.
Another immediate thought is that the electric habit soon becomes addictive. All three bikes are set up such that you can either have "pedal assistance", an extra electrical kick as you ride normally, or full on, twist throttle-provided, non-human power. Such was the novelty that within minutes I'd abandoned any thoughts of self-propulsion.
The other half-illicit thrill came while riding a test machine which looks, at first glance, like a slightly standard, if chunky, mountain bike, particularly as my legs covered the frame-mounted battery. It was huge fun to park myself at red lights amid a horde of Lycra-clad whippets and puzzle them by accelerating away in pole position, legs spinning to simulate riding while the traffic roar drowned out the milkfloat whine.
That artifice, incidentally, also brings a drawback: drivers and fellow cyclists alike tend to make a lot of visual assumptions about how fast you will travel on a bike and act accordingly. When you resemble a tortoise but speed like a hare you need to be on your guard.
So before we get into the details, the inevitable question: would I swap my traditional bike for one? No – I enjoy cycling too much, it keeps me fit, and I get slightly dizzy thinking how nice a real bike I could buy with the £1,500-plus price tag of a posh electric machine.
A better question is whether I can see why others might use them, and that's a definite yes. You might, say, have an injury, or want to build up your fitness gradually. You might even have a long, hilly commute and prefer not to arrive in the office freshly steam-bathed. Or you might just find them a whole lot of fun.
Bikes provided by Electric Bike Sales
Smarta LX
The cheapest of the bunch, but still a shade under £900, this looks more or less recognisable as a bike, even with the sturdy, moped-esque kick stand. It has a claimed top speed of 15mph – the most allowed in the UK for an electric bike on the road – and can supposedly do 40 miles between charges. The least powerful and arguably the least fun of the three bikes we tried out, it would still work very well as a commuting workhorse, particularly given the (relatively) modest price.
Wisper 905 SE City
More upmarket and speedy – but at £1,500 almost double the price – this was the lightest machine on test at 21kg, still about the weight of two decent traditional bikes. This was the model I tried on my commute for a few days, and it does pull away from traffic lights with a satisfying zip, while still looking recognisably bike-like.
Ultramotor A2B Metro
Or as we testers (and, apparently, the people at Electric Bike Sales) call it, 'the Beast". This is, essentially, an electric moped with pedals and gears attached so the law still sees it as a bike. The throttle shoots you to 15mph and there is also a very tempting button marked "boost", officially to be used only when off road, which takes you to something past 20mph. I did try pedalling this without the motor, and at around 37kg it felt like trying to cycle a Harley Davidson. Huge fun, but not cheap at all at just under £2,000.
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