Reflections on Jeanette Fitzsimmons in Camden May 31, 2010
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : New Zealand,Politics , 1 comment so farIt was quite a treat yesterday to go to a small meeting of the NZ Greens here in Camden, with the former leader of the NZ Greens, Jeanette Fitzsimmons, and her husband Harry Parke. Jeanette recently left the New Zealand Parliament, after 14 years as an MP. She first gained a seat when New Zealand switched to a proportional representation system in 1996 and has the distinction of being the only Green MP to have won a constituency seat under NZs ‘Mixed Member Proportional’ electoral system. In MMP, the country elects half its MPs to individual constituencies and the other half from party lists, thus ensuring that politics retains a local element while the parliament reflects the overall voting choice of electors. It’s so different, and so much fairer, than the antiquated first past the post system we use for Westminster and local Councils here.
Having observed our recent elections, she told us that people back in NZ thought it quite funny that everyone here was getting worked up about a ‘hung’ parliament and a coalition – coalitions are the norm in New Zealand, as indeed they are in most democracies.
Her advice to Greens in the UK is to work for electoral reform above everything else.
Its a simple message, and one I believe the Green Party here should take to heart. Our one Green MP is a fantastic achievement, but could so easily be reversed at the next election. We gained less than 2% of the vote, and our 285000 voters are represented by our one MP. In European and London elections, we regularly get 10-15% of the vote, suggesting that we have a strong appeal, but people are reluctant to vote for us for Westminster because we’re very unlikely to win. Locally, we have about 10% of the council vote in Camden, and only one councillor elected this time.
If politics is the best way to achieve change then the first change must be a fair way of electing politicians.
Jeanette went on to talk about some of her thoughts on the way that New Zealand was tackling climate change, or not tackling climate change, with the new National (Tory) government being unusually sceptical and reluctant to implement carbon reduction measures. And then she said something which was very obvious, made complete sense, and which had never occured to me before. She said that we could have all the renewables in the world, all the efficiency measures, but it didn’t matter a jot unless the coal stays in the ground.
New Zealand has about 8.6 billion tonnes of economic reserves of low quality coal, and the state-owned coal company seems hell-bent on mining it and using it in whatever way they can. This means open-cast mining in Otago and Southland, selling it to China, plants to make urea from coal and syngas plants – all very very environmentally damaging, and suicidal on the carbon emissions front.
A somewhat uncertain statistic from UK Coal suggests that here we have a mere 400 million tonnes, but the reserves in Europe and worldwide are large.
As we build our renewables, putting up those thousands of turbines in the North Sea, investing millions, or billions, in wave and tidal systems, and subsidising the rooftop-owning half of the country to install solar photovoltaics, are we really replacing CO2 emitting fuels, or are we just adding more generating capacity which will get absorbed by the future growth that’s so very important to our politicians?
It goes to the very heart of what Green politics are about, and where Green ideas differ from Socialist ones and the rest of the progressive left – growth is the problem, not the solution.
For me, those two messages – work for proportional representation, and remember that growth is not good – stood out. And hearing a pragmatic, inspirational politician who has a wealth of experience talk is a welcome tonic to all the political doom and gloom about. Now that she’s left parliament, I’m not sure what Jeanette will do next, but I am sure it will be at least as illustrious as what has gone before.
Boycott Whitcoulls! August 12, 2007
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Miscellany,New Zealand , add a commentNormally, I’m all in favour of New Zealand companies, but this appalling behaviour by ARW towards an Australian medium-sized publisher (hat-tip to Boing-Boing) would make me never darken the doorway of Whitcoulls or Bennetts again.
ARW (owners of Whitcoulls and Bennetts, as well as Australian chain Angus and Roberston) are demanding what amounts to protection money from publishers in a display of corporate arrogance which is truly astonishing. The response from the manager of the publishing company is a joy to read.
Interesting too that the ARW manager involved is ex-WH Smith. I wonder how common this practice is in the UK? This is why I love Foyles.
Technorati Tags: arw, extortion, whitcoulls, bennetts
Epsom Girls Grammar Alumni July 20, 2007
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : New Zealand , add a commentI went to Epsom Girls Grammar, in Auckland. It was a good school, I enjoyed my time there and I think it set me up well for future life. Many successful NZ women are alumni (including the NZ Prime Minister, Helen Clarke) which says a lot for the place, and also for the demographics from which its students come.
Today I got a letter from them, asking for a donation. This is a state funded school, but the letter informs me that ‘as a decile 10 school, we are expected to raise funds from parents and our community to maintain and develop our school facilities’. Perhaps its payback time.
Then I saw this article on Slate, about American giving to their old universities and how it rises as children get towards University age, and they hope that donations will help secure a place at the alma mater. That’s unlikely to be a motivation for me, and I wonder to myself why I should donate to a wealthy, well-supported institution rather than, say, a charity supporting basic education in places where that is rare, or indeed other charities I support such as The Centre for Alternative Technology or Practical Action.
So, I don’t think Epsom Girls will get anything from me this time, though I wish them well in their endeavours.
Technorati Tags: epsom girls, charity, alumni
Monteiths in the sun May 24, 2007
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : London,New Zealand , add a commentNow, as any kiwi knows, Monteiths is a wonderful brew. I first tried it when I lived in Wellington in the eighties, an ale and a stout which, along with Macs Real Ale, were the only beers I was ever all that keen on. Its a small brewery on the West Coast of the South Island and, along with pineapple lumps and proper Sanitarium marmite, I figured it was one of those nostalgic memories to enjoy on trips home or persuade friends to bring over occasionally.
When I was home a couple of years ago, I was delighted to discover their Summer Ales, clearly aimed at the female end of the market and right in their demographic with yours truly.
So imagine my pleasure when I arrived at the launch party for my latest project, at Corney and Barrow at the bottom of the Lloyd’s building, to discover a tin bath filled with the stuff. Beats Pimms any day.
Technorati Tags: monteiths
I miss real weather September 1, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : London,New Zealand , add a commentIn London, it drizzles, rarely rains and never comes pouring down in buckets so you’re soaked through in a minute. A gentle breeze is as strong as it gets, never the kind of blow that means you have to hold onto railings on the street and people walk along at a 60 degree angle. When it’s sunny, its pretty half-hearted. If you’re a pale-skinned English after a long winter you might get a bit pink, but the only way to work up a decent tan is in a salon.
Wild weather in Wellington from Miraz the other day reminds me of sitting in the lounge in Khandallah, to the North of the harbour, watching the stormfront sweep across the sea and feeling it hit like a blow as the picture windows buckled but didn’t quite break, remembering to keep the back windows open so the pressure differential didn’t cause a problem, being blown over on the bike while riding along the ridge in Brooklyn, everyone in the office going out for dinner because the main road out of the city to the Hutt Valley was closed by floods for hours, feeling the house rattle and shake as the storm whipped around it.
I do miss real weather.
Seeing Stars March 19, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Environment,Green in the City,London,New Zealand , add a commentMiraz over on Oddity 59 has just bought herself a new set of binoculars for stargazing and it reminds me of one thing I do sorely miss in London – the stars. Even in the cities in New Zealand, on a clear night, you can see thousands of stars. Out in the countryside, away from artificial illumination, the southern sky holds millions of lights. The only time I’ve ever seen anything remotely comparable in the UK was in the far north of Scotland.
Here in London, with the lack of clear air and the enormous amount of light we pump into the sky each night, there’s scarcely a star visible. Are we really so afraid of the dark? Is it really so dangerous? It’s a primeval fear, walking home at night through a dark patch, but could we not make the street lights illuminate downwards, rather than up as well, and switch off the lights in unoccupied offices? A reflecting shade on every street light would save huge amounts of power, and help us to get our stars back.
Kiwis Everywhere March 2, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Blogging,New Zealand , add a commentI should have called this blog Camden Kiwi. That would nicely capture two parts of my life – I’m from New Zealand, but have lived in London for the last 7 years. I’m starting to think there’s a little synchronicity going on here though. I know there are at least three Kiwis reading this – my mother (
), William Parry who commented on my last post, and a bloke from somewhere on the East Coast who emailed me and told me he was taking an RSS feed. It’s great to see you all!
The biggest NZ connection happened yesterday. I had an email from an American lady who’s writing a book about blogging – won’t say who in case it’s confidential – who would like to use this blog as an example. I was rather flattered, and noticed that she’d cced her co-author, who had a .co.nz address. I then had a look at the NZers web site, wrote to my mother, and found out that the co-author is not only a friend of my mother, but was also meeting her in a couple of hours. The blogosphere is a very small place indeed!
So, if you’re a Kiwi reading this, introduce yourself in the comments and send me a link to your blog. I’d love to hear from you. (and if you’re not a Kiwi, say hello anyway)
And the book’s due out in April, so I’ll review it then. It’s going to be fabulous.
A Colonial Ritual February 7, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : New Zealand , add a commentFebruary 6th is New Zealand’s national day, Waitangi Day. It commemorates the signing of the treaty of Waitangi between the British Crown and the combined tribes of Aotearoa / New Zealand, and the founding of our country. The treaty has been more honoured in the breach, though there have been serious attempts to rectify that wrong in the last 20 years or so, and the day remains one of controversy.
For Kiwi’s in London though, there is time-honoured ritual to unite those who are so very far from home. I’d completely forgotten about this until, waiting for a friend at High St Kensington station on Saturday afternoon, I saw, and heard, thousands of Kiwis leaving and coming into the station. The circle line was clogged full of them, as the great annual Circle Line Pub Crawl was underway. This tradition is a simple one, where you go around the circle line, and drink a pint at every station. Mostly harmless, though I’m not sure how many people manage the whole 25 stations. Maybe it’s just as well half of it was closed for engineering works.
All together now “We’re all drunk on the yellow circle line, the yellow circle line, the yellow circle line…”
