A bright spot among the gloom

Good news has seemed hard to come by recently, but there has been some light to lift the spirits. The unwelcome news included our MP Simon Hoare when he was found to have claimed four driving offence fines against his MP’s expenses. Boris Johnson hogged the limelight, again, with extraordinarily petulant outbursts over being found to have deliberately misled Parliament. Poor man was too upset to think about reimbursing the £245,000 of taxpayers’ money used to fund his legal costs during the investigation. Or to forego the (up to) £115,000 annual allowance he’s now entitled to receive as an ex-PM. Rishi Sunak has railed against concerned protesters, calling them ‘eco-zealots’. And he accused Labour of allowing donors to dictate the party’s energy policy of blocking new oil and gas projects –notwithstanding that large donations have been made to the Conservative Party and some of its MPs (including Sunak) by individuals and companies linked to fossil fuel interests.

Labour disappointed us by refusing to support a Green Party motion in the House of Lords that would have prevented the government from using an unconstitutional manoeuvre to overturn a House of Commons vote on public protests. Instead, Labour tabled a motion of ‘regret’ – which no doubt troubled the government greatly. No wonder there are times when it’s best to switch off the news and take a break. Otherwise the many problems we face can feel insurmountable, which they are not – but we are running perilously short of time to deal with them.

In other news

Some recent good news came via an unlikely source – the Daily Mail. I know, you didn’t see that coming, did you? The paper blasted Labour for having accepted donations from Dale Vince, founder of green energy company Ecotricity and a supporter of various environmental protest organisations.

In response, Vince offered to match all public donations to Just Stop Oil made over a 48-hour period, which promptly raised £340,000. Well done Daily Mail! When the bad news seems relentless, it’s good to stay grounded – for example by enjoying positive community news in magazines such as this one. And reminding ourselves that we humans have the capacity to be so much better. And not only can we do better, we must

Ken Huggins, North Dorset Green Party