Council Elections and Conference

Thursday night and sadly the Greens didn't take control of Norwich Council. The Party won an additional seat taking them to 14, while Labour held 16. Nevertheless it's the largest green group of councillors in the country and Norwich as a city should be able to mount a campaign against the cuts that the Con Dem government will surely attempt to impose.

The day after the Green Party Conference began in Birmingham. It's the first conference since Caroline Lucas won the seat at Brighton Pavilion, and the importance of that fact was confirmed when she was interviewed on Radio 4 and 5 in the morning. BBC News carried a short soundbite from her at the conference, and the Guardian, Independent and Telegraph carried reports the next day.

Her speech focussed on welcoming those disillusioned with the three main parties, she ridiculed the choice put in front of Labour members in the current leadership contest. In fact she could have been speaking to me, since leaving Labour I've not felt compelled to return. I was energised by working for the Greens during the election campaign, but in truth the yawning gap between the level of debate at national level and the near moribund state of the local organisation deters me from involvement. I sense I have to resolve this in my own mind during the remainder of thw year.