Sandy Hore-Ruthven

This is where populism takes us. As the car hurtles towards the cliff edge our leaders are fighting over who takes the wheel. Sadly much of western politics has taken on this ‘winner takes all’ mentality – if we win then everyone has to do what we say. It is the opposite of good leadership. Good leadership reaches out across divides to understand others. It understands that to move forward; you have to take account of others opinions, bring people with you and see when your idea is going to fail spectacularly because no one else thinks it’s a good one.  

When Theresa May said ‘I will reach out across the house and listen’ I gasped in disbelief – this should have happened 2 years ago! I cannot believe that a seemingly intelligent person can have spent so little time understanding others she didn’t see the vote coming.  

And when Jeremy Corbyn puts forward a vote of no confidence he is nothing more than the drunken brawler who cannot let the fight go and just wants to ‘win’ whatever the cost.  

Our leaders would do well to think of all the people of this country, get their heads out of the fighting pit, have a look around and understand that people want leaders to stop fighting and start finding solutions to the big problems we have.  

The car is still hurtling towards the edge of the cliff – one of them needs to get the map out and the other take the wheel, ram on the brakes and listen again to what people are really saying.

Press release:

Bristol’s Green Councillors have today launched a new report outlining the action needed for Bristol to meet its new commitment to becoming carbon neutral by 2030. In November, Bristol’s Councillors from all parties supported a Green Party motion to announce a climate emergency and pledge to make Bristol carbon neutral by 2030, the most ambitious target of all UK core cities. Bristol’s Mayor was tasked with developing an action plan within six months to respond to the emergency, and the new Green report outlines the first steps Bristol City Council needs to take to develop meaningful action.

Bristol’s climate pledge follows the recent announcement from the IPCC that humanity has just 12 years to take emergency action to prevent global warming greater than 1.5°C. Sir David Attenborough called the emergency the greatest threat in thousands of years, warning that inaction will lead to the collapse of civilisation and the extinction of much of the natural world.

Green Party Mayoral candidate Sandy Hore-Ruthven said:

“Becoming carbon neutral is a real opportunity not only to reduce our environmental impact but to create jobs, improve our transport and our homes.   It’s good for everyone in Bristol especially those who need the most help. Reducing emissions from transport will make it easier for everyone to get around the city.  Greener homes are cheaper to run – saving the poorest much-needed money on fuel bills. Generating that energy from renewable sources creates more jobs than traditional energy generation.”

Leader of the Green councillor group Eleanor Combley said:

“We have just 12 years to avoid catastrophic climate change by limiting global warming to below 1.5°C. I have teenage children now, and by the time they are in their twenties, it will be too late. The scientists have done their job by telling us of the risks of floods, droughts and extreme heat and the increase in poverty, conflict and migration this will cause. Now it’s time for our politicians to respond. History will not judge inaction kindly. I’m proud that Bristol’s councillors from all parties have come together to vote for Bristol to have the most ambitious climate change targets of all the UK core cities. We now need these promises to be turned into action, and our Change Starts Now report outlines the decisive action needed.”

Deputy Leader of the Green Party Amelia Womack said:

“It’s great to see Bristol setting the gold standard on climate action. While the Government fails to act on the climate crisis, our communities and cities are stepping up and showing real leadership – because they know that the consequences of failing to act are immeasurable. And they are doing so despite the desperate austerity measures imposed by the Government.”

Councillor Eleanor Combley continued:

“Our Change Starts Now report showcases some of the inspiring action cities across the country and the world are taking to respond to the climate emergency, as well as the extensive work already being done across Bristol. We know Bristol has the expertise and drive to succeed in becoming carbon neutral by 2030. We now look forward to hearing the Mayor’s formal announcement of the climate emergency and his endorsement of the 2030 commitment, followed by an implementation plan due in May.”

ENDS

Full report at https://www.bristolgreenparty.org.uk/library/Change_Starts_Now_-_Towards_Carbon_Neutral_Bristol_by_2030.pdf

A seasonal message from Sandy about how even when our national politics is so divided, we can unite as a city for our shared future.

Happy Christmas. Enjoy the break! pic.twitter.com/F2fmjYTkCv

— Sandy Hore-Ruthven (@sandyhruthven) December 20, 2018

Responding to the news that Bristol Mayor, Marvin Rees, has today joined a nationwide warning that ‘councils have reached breaking point’ over funding cuts, Green Mayoral candidate, Sandy Hore-Ruthven says,

“I welcome the Mayor expressing these concerns alongside other city leaders. This is something Greens have been asking him to do for some time now [2]. These cuts being pushed by this Conservative government are impacting councils across the country. We desperately need Westminster politicians to step outside of London and come and see the impact their decisions are having. Here in Bristol, I see every day how the most disadvantaged suffer disproportionately, but I have also been working hard to find alternative pots of money to keep providing vital youth services. We have had some real success in this and government ministers need to come and see these potential solutions.

Here in Bristol we also need the Mayor to move beyond his very welcome words. He needs to explain to the city how he intends to avoid what he describes as “catastrophic collapse in key council services”. Residents are rightly concerned about the future of services and need reassurance that this Labour administration has a plan.”

At the recent Bristol Bus protest, Sandy said:

“A good bus service means people can get where they need to go, when they need to go. The ability to travel should not be based on your income or where you live.

Only yesterday I was working with a young man who is third generation unemployed. He lives in Hartcliffe and is looking to turn his life around – get himself out of the rut he is in. He is looking for work but many of the jobs he can find are in Avonmouth. He can’t take them – the two hour one way journey, the cost and the lack of services at the right times of day means these jobs are not available to him.

At rush hour buses move at 6mph along with all of the other traffic. Business suffers and our health suffers too.

Bristol consistently exceeds World Health Organisation pollution guidelines, day after day, year after year.

And yet – more people than ever before are using buses in Bristol. We are bucking the national trend despite the problems – imagine what we could do if we had a great service – one that was cheap and reached the across the whole city.

Only with bold action and imaginative thinking can we solve this problem. It’s time First Bus to sort its services, for central government to allow Bristol to chose how it runs it’s buses and it is time for the Council to be bold and raise the money they need to invest more making fares cheaper and opening new routes.

A good, cheap and efficient bus service is good for everyone. Everyone gets to where they want to go faster. It’s good for business, it’s good for jobs, it’s good for our health, it’s good for our environment.

When we have a great bus service Bristol will be an even better place to live for everyone.”

As we remember those who have died for our Country in conflict over a century on Sunday I think it is worth reflecting how peace is built.

As a society, I think, we are resigned to the fact that war is a part of life and I think that is both wrong and sad.  I have the greatest respect for those who serve in our armed forces.  Close family members have served in past wars and present.  A Great Uncle was one of the first members of the SAS in the deserts of North Africa in 1942 – he died there – and my cousin commands a Tank squadron in today’s army.

As well as being a formidable soldier my Great Uncle was also a poet and I have an anthology of his war poetry from his time in the Second World War on my bookshelf at home.  Both he and my cousins would agree that to send troops into battle should only ever be a last resort and that we should spend far more time and energy on building peace.

Our media covers war a lot but talks very little about peace.  I think that’s because peace is complicated and is not just the absence of war.  In fact, whilst war requires the highest technology, vast sums of money and huge movements of people  – peace is the opposite.  It requires very little technology and resource but is built from human understanding and spirit.

Peace is built on the everyday kindnesses, understanding and communities that we build in our towns and cities.  A kindness to neighbours, understanding another’s culture, old teaching young and young helping the old.  It is built on a journalists choice to understand a story more deeply or a political leaders chose to hear all sides of the story.   It is built on the choices of businessmen and women to act fairly when they recruit and the police’s choice to understand where communities might not trust or respect them.  Most of the people I meet in Bristol do help to build peace in our city but they are often unsung and unrecognised. 

In these divided times we would do well to remember that all our words and actions lead us in one direction or the other – towards peace and understanding or conflict and war.  Our peace is built on those choices and we should never forget that.

That is why, on Sunday, I will be standing to remember our heroic dead but using every ounce of my energy to build understanding and peace in our city and our world so that we never have to remember again.