- after three weeks of party conferences it only rained one day - on Tuesday in Manchester, and boy! did it rain
- I kept noticing that the lift in the Premier Travel Inn was named after a bird - Otis (Otis tarda - great bustard!)
- I really do remain of the view that most politicians are in it to make the world a better place
- I was slightly amused to see how many people were at Manchester who had never been to a Tory party conference before - the RSPB has see the good and the bad times with all of the political parties
- as an NGO, we always seem to be in (friendly but critical) Opposition!
- the team who run the Climate Clinic are an efficient and very friendly bunch!
- the man promoting living in polytunnels with adjacent allotments is Stuart Holmes who commandeered the fouth plinth in Trafalgar Square. Mr Holmes tells me that he has attended the Party Conferences for 20+ years, lives on the streets and is the greenest man in Britain! He may well be! I've seen him promoting vegetarianism and slagging off smoking in previous years. He is quite intense and is treated as a bit of a nutter by many, but I admire his dedication and the way he promotes his ideas in all weathers and despite some unencouraging feedback at times. Mr Holmes is always welcome to a few sandwiches from our Fringe meetings
- lots of people talking about how to produce more (profits, food, jobs etc) but few talking about how to consume less or pollute less
- and a last thought - given how likely it is that the Tory Party will win the next General election (I know, there's a long time to go etc etc) - the mood in Manchester has been serious and thoughtful. Whichever party is in power in Westminster after the election there are important decisions and big choices to be made which are enough to make anyone serious.
Well a lot to go on here then Mark,good you think politicians are generally trying to make the world a better place and must say that after seeing some of David Cameron's speech on the news tonight I was most impressed and I do think he is sincere but if he is successful he will have a very difficult time.I thought it was one of the most impressive speeches I have heard but only time will tell if he is allowed to try and clear up the terrible mess the country is in.I thought the most impressive thing at the conference was the young girl 15 I think saying Gordon Brown should be charged with putting her generation in debt for a long time or something like that.Yes seems like a lot to admire in Stuart Holmes but probably a good job we are not all like him or the sandwiches would soon run out and worse.I do so hope he is not claiming benefits or he cannot claim to be green at all.Your last thought says it all Mark.You do well to come up with such a lot of diverse and lots of these blogs.Now as you mentioned Bustards are the RSPB into the
re-introduction at all as I have been told they are not very interested in putting much money into the project if any at all but unless we hear from the horses mouth we never know.I remember Kate Humble enthralled at seeing first UK chick and they are more likely to have been resident on Salisbury Plain than the Sea Eagle in East Anglia but personally I feel almost everything is against the Bustard as much as I would like it to be a success.