Vote Green in Glasgow Kelvin

Monday 30 April – In the final week before Thursday's elections, Dr Martin Bartos has been concentrating on meeting voters throughout the constituency and taking the Green message onto the streets.

Over the weekend Martin spent time in Scotstoun, Partick, Hillhead, Kelvingrove and the city centre. On Sunday, with other Green Party supporters, he visited a number of places of worship in the West End to discuss the coming elections with constituents from the Sikh, Hindu and Christian faiths.

This week he will be visiting Glasgow, Caledonian and Strathclyde Universities, as well as the Glasgow Metropolitan College. Students make up a high proportion of Kelvin voters and Martin will be talking about the Green Party's education policies as well as environmental ones. He'll also be spending more time on the streets throughout the constituency and talking to people about the wide range of reasons to vote Green.

If you see Martin out and about (you'll probably spot the Green rosette from some distance), say hello and find out what kind of MSP you could get by voting Green in all the ballots in Glasgow Kelvin this Thursday.

Friday 27 April – Glasgow Greens, including Dr Martin Bartos, joined cyclists for the start of the Critical Mass event in George Square. Martin is a keen cyclist who uses public transport and a folding bike to get to and from work, as well as for recreation.

The Scottish Green Party's manifesto sets out its support for cycling:

Cycling is good for people’s physical and mental well-being, saves money and the environment, yet cycling currently only merits 1% of the transport budget. We want cycling funding to quadruple by 2014 to at least 4%.

The following letter from Martin was published in today's Herald:

Carolyn Churchill's article (April 25) on power generation had figures only from the nuclear industry. Considerably less favourable independent calculations suggest nuclear's CO2 emissions are comparable to emissions from gas turbines. CO2 savings, if any, will be late on in the lifecycle of a station - not soon, when we need them. It is unhelpful to repeat the intermittent supply argument against renewables, given that Hunterston B has spent six months out of commission for repairs and yet not a day has gone by when Scotland has had no wind, waves, tide or sunlight.

The political debate over whether to build more commercial nuclear power stations is more complex than a matter of CO2 emissions. We must take account of the international political equation where, for reasons of global safety, we need to take a principled stand against proliferation of potentially dual-use nuclear technologies. In committing to nuclear technology, we defer our energy crisis to the next generation when high-quality uranium ore (sourced from foreign shores) becomes the depleting resource over which the world fights.

Helpfully, the article cites one key statistic which should focus the minds of readers: the estimated 50% increase in electricity demands by 2050. This is not a given, merely a prediction that we can choose to influence politically. We may choose to bury our heads in the sand about our energy profligacy, provide a poor example globally and take out a further expensive nuclear loan whose repayments generations will rue. Or we can use existing nuclear power until the licences run out and forge ahead setting an example both with renewables and with efficiency. We can build a high-quality, low-energy, sustainable society which current and future generations will thank us for.

Dr Martin Bartos, Scottish Green Party candidate, Glasgow Kelvin, Byres Road, Glasgow

Friends of the Earth today invited politicians from all parties to come and join a large white elephant in Glasgow's St Enoch Square in order to make their view on nuclear power clear. Martin Bartos joined Glasgow regional candidates Patrick Harvie and Rosemary Burnett, in support of the Scottish Green Party's clear stance on nuclear energy:

Nuclear power is dangerous, dirty and expensive, and is not a low carbon technology: the energy involved in mining, fuel fabrication, construction, transport and waste makes nuclear comparable in carbon dioxide production to an efficient gas-powered station. It leaves toxic waste, which will remain a threat to humans for hundreds of years. The costs of cleaning up this waste, already nearly £100bn and rising, will fall to future generations.

(Scottish Green Party Manifesto, 2007)

Robin Harper, co-leader of the Scottish Green Party, joined Dr Martin Bartos (Holyrood candidate for Glasgow Kelvin) and Patrick Harvie (top Holyrood list candidate for Glasgow region) on the campaign trail on Saturday. He helped party activists paint over grafitti in the Clyde cycle tunnel, which has been neglected in recent years and is now very run-down.

Mr Harper said: "The local council has spent £10 million on the Clyde road tunnel in the last two years but has not managed to paint the cycle tunnels in at least five years. Glaswegians are rightly being urged to take more exercise in an effort to tackle obesity – but the council has let this tunnel deteriorate badly. Make your first vote Green on 3rd May and we will make
sure that people can get about on foot or bicycle in pleasant and safe surroundings."

Mr Harper also visited Queen's Park Farmers' Market on the southside and the site of the proposed "mega-school" in Kelvingrove Park which will merge four primary schools and two nurseries. Greens are concerned that the development will worsen traffic congestion, safety and air pollution. It's unclear if
there will be any improvement of routes for those walking or cycling to school.

Patrick Harvie said: "Pupils in the area should have access to the best schooling facilities possible, but we are not convinced of the benefits of centralising schools in this way."

The following letter from Martin was published in today's Herald:

Let's move on from the referendum issue. Surely the main parties' positions are pretty clear? The SNP, surfing what we all know is an unpredictable anti-Labour/Blair sentiment rather than a reliable pro-independence vote, has toned down referendum rhetoric with a sedate 2010 timetable, though it will probably call it whenever it thinks it might win it - that is, the next Westminster election.

New Labour, masters now of the "if you don't vote Labour the sky will fall in" tactic, sees the referendum issue as a big, bad bogle to scare its voters to stick with the party; certainly it scares its English MPs, for whom independence would mean a long-term opposition.

Scottish LibDems, whose log-book shows they change tack in the slightest breeze of votes, seem to be calculating that ex-Labour votes may blow their way if they're seen to fight the bogle before the election; they can always gracefully negotiate afterwards if the SNP turns out to be their next executive partners.

Where is the voice of the old Scottish Tories? Perhaps they are ambivalent, unable to countenance divorce from their new man, young David, but still nursing the scars of Scotland's abuse by the 1980s Westminster Conservative government. With their English MPs resenting the Scots Labour MPs, both sides of the border may secretly yearn for a split.

Finally, contrast the Greens. Their position springs not from the identity politics of nationalism or from political expediency. Instead from principles that value localism balanced by internationalism. The Greens favour civic engagement in a devolutionary process, not diktat by politicians. Unclouded by political noise, a standalone referendum (however many options) would help clarify the Scots' own wishes and a "no" vote wouldn't give the Greens an existential crisis.

Sitting as we do at the edge of a global climate precipice, with a society whose future cohesion needs progressive thinking on energy, transport, health, education, social justice and so on, there are more pressing political priorities than talk of a referendum. Aren't there?

Dr Martin Bartos, Scottish Green Party candidate, Byres Road, Glasgow.

Saturday 14 April – Dr Martin Bartos today launched his full time campaigning for the Glasgow Kelvin seat in the Scottish Parliament. He joined fellow Green Party Holyrood candidates Patrick Harvie and Rosemary Burnett at the Partick Farmer's Market, where the Glasgow Green Party regularly runs a stall.

As the Scottish Green Party's only Holyrood constituency candidate, Martin is enthusiastic about the opportunity to engage directly with Glasgow Kelvin voters:

"Glasgow Kelvin has always been one of the Green's strongest election areas, which is why we've made an exception and are standing a constituency candidate. Voters here want to use all of their votes to vote Green.

"Talking to people on the street, there's an overwhelming desire to see environmental issues taken more seriously. Over the next three weeks I hope to meet as many people as possible and explain why voting Green makes most sense if you share our concerns for climate change, public transport, local health care, poverty and civil liberties."

Martin will be out and about in the constituency over the next three weeks. Look out for the large green rosette, and don't be surprised if you spot him cycling along on his green folding bike!

If you're a community group and would like to meet Martin in the run-up to election day, to hear first-hand what the Greens can do for you, please email us as soon as possible at agent@kelvin.scottishgreens.org.uk

Thursday 12 April – The Herald newspaper's Election 2007 supplement today identified Glasgow Kelvin as one of the more vulnerable seats in Scotland and the Green's sole constituency target:

"While some in Labour are nervous about parts of its heartlands where turnout is low, the more vulnerable seats include Glasgow Kelvin. This has a more patchy history than the rest of the city's steady general election support for Labour. A lot of the constituency was part of the old Hillhead seat that gave Roy Jenkins and the Social Democrat Party a historic by-election victory. But that was 25 years ago last month, and more recently, Sandra White has taken two second places.

"Kelvin has a mixed electorate, including students, academics, and public sector professionals. While the LibDems see this as one of their better hopes, amid poor prospects in the city, it is one of those places where they are at loggerheads with Greens.

"In the 2005 election, though under different boundaries, the Greens polled strongly in this part of the city, having their fifth best result in Britain. So while Greens are fighting for list seats throughout Scotland, this is the sole constituency in which they are fielding a candidate as well. There are slim prospects of a victory for Martin Bartos, a psychiatrist, but Greens are testing out the potential for making progress for a Westminster breakthrough"

Douglas Fraser, The Herald "Election 2007" supplement, 12 April 2007