Going through Sian Berry’s campaign website made me feel that there is a real person behind the campaign. Well, of course, there is a person behind each one (d’oh!) but what I meant is that Sian’s proposed policies were presented in a way that ordinary people would understand. It even encourages participation by letting people leave comments and questions! And, the best part of it all, Sian’s replies actually sound like it was her behind that keyboard tapping away the answers! You also have the opportunity to make your own campaign for Sian with the help of tools that are provided on the website.
Well done to her and her party for that!
What I don’t get is why there are sections in the website that are in Polish? Is she of Polish origins? If not, then why the preference, why not include other languages spoken in the capital?
Let’s now go through her policies.
I like…
- Solar electricity and heating by 2015. Brilliant! With the rising cost of energy here in the UK, any effort to use alternative, safe and cheaper sources are certainly most welcome. Granted, there is the infrastructure to build that would entail spending but I’m pretty sure that they are hatching up an affordable way to have the solar panels installed at your home and/or place of work to achieve this goal.
- Free house insulation. No other candidate or party has proposed this. However, the first question that came mind was, “How is this FREE program going to be funded?” Who’s paying for it then? I found the answers immediately from Sian’s response to the same comment placed on the campaign website:
Excitingly, the extra money is largely available from the gas and electricity companies themselves. … The money is available because each energy company has an obligation under EU law to take steps to help save its customers energy.
I have doubts or do not agree on…
- Reducing off-peak fares by 20p. I know, I know, transport fares in London are really expensive so any reduction should be welcomed with open arms, right? Hmm, maybe. I just don’t agree with the fact that it is only with off-peak fares where the reduction is proposed. The London transport system — including tube, buses and trains — are crowded during peak hours. So, why try to encourage people to travel off-peak because of cheaper fares when they need to get to work during the peak hours. I don’t completely understand the logic why exclude the peak fares. Why not cutting fares across the board?
- Ensuring all households get weekly recycling collections. Yep, this is good but what I would like for London is to have recycling bins out in the public areas. That when I am walking down Regent Street on a shopping day, I could chuck away my empty coffee cup in a separate bin from the coca-cola can that my friend was drinking. This idea still seem to be a miss amongst the candidates.
In general, Sian Berry seems to have presented a good set of policies that seem more achievable than the others. I could be persuaded to vote for her. Let’s see.
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Hi,
Thanks so much for your comments about the website. We are really proud of it and I think you’re right that the reader can tell that Siân rights her own contributions – and that that really makes a difference.
I thought I’d answer a couple of the questions raised here, if that’s okay.
The reason we have a page in Polish is mainly because someone volunteered to write us one! We would love to have pages in other London languages but weren’t offered any.
That said, I think we also felt that the fact that most Polish speakers in London are very new arrivals (Polish wasn’t in the top 20 languages spoken in London in 2000), so might be more in need of help like webpages in their own language.
Siân’s policy on fares is to reduce off-peak Tube fares by 20p but *all* bus fares by 20p. The reason we’ve had to miss out peak-time Tubes is that there is essentially no more space on them.
But with the bus fare cut across the board, the “one pound, one hour” ticket so you can change buses without paying extra, and the scheduling changes we could make to make buses more reliable, we think many Tube users might find that they can switch to the bus, take advantage of the cheaper fares and still get to work on time.
As for your idea about separated street bins for recycling – what can I say other than I completely agree, and I can pretty much guarantee Siân would too. I’ll ask her today and report back, if you like.
Thanks again for writing about us, and do get in touch if you have any other questions or comments. Or indeed just post something obvious and, slave to my Google Alerts, I’ll probably pick it up like some kind of blogosphere Bat-signal.
Yours,
Gary Dunion
Chief Press Officer
Green Party
Ahem. Siân *writes* her own contributions, of course.
Hi Gary,
Thanks so much for replying to the questions I raised in my post. I have no words other than impressed by the way your party is monitoring and addressing the various queries of Londoners from different forms and media. Really, big kudos to the Green Party for that!
Also, may I say that none of the other parties that I posted about so far has done so. Again, good one on you!
I’m actually convinced by this policy and will most likely be voting Green Party as my primary vote (as I did last election) – Lib Dems a good second, though.