Thanks to Vowles the Green for alerting me to Blog Action Day. On October 15th we're all supposed to write a post about green issues. This is about the importance of separating environmentalism from the sub-Taoist bilge which sometimes gets attached to it.
The Green Party is experiencing something of a renaissance at the moment in the UK. Some of you may remember the last time this happened. It was in the early 1990s. At one point they might even have become the third party in British politics. Their leader at the time (they call them facilitators or some such) was David Icke. Can you see where this is going?
Yes, it was just after this that he announced to the world that he was the Son of God, and that was the end of the little Green surge. Since then he's gone on to greater things, alleging that the Protocols of Zion are historically accurate, and that the world is run by alien lizards disguised as bankers and Presidents. And as the British royal family. They must be a unique species of German alien lizard.
The Greens dropped him like he was a Komodo dragon, but it was too late. The British electorate are a forgiving bunch when it comes to infidelity and the usual adolescent flirtations, but they're a bit iffy about politicians who take any visible interest in God, never mind saying you are one. Even claiming to be related is considered rather showy. The next poll showed the Greens back down to single figures again.
I posted a comment about this on the Vowles website, and he pointed out that it was only one incident, and that the Greens have a long tradition of accumulating scientific evidence for their position. He himself has a science degree and many years of research, which hasn't prevented him from standing for the council as a Green. Maybe I'm behind the times.
However, on checking the Green Party health policies, I find this.
Patient empowerment would eventually encompass choice of treatment backed by NHS funding for patients' preferred treatment whether it be within the conventional framework of treating an illness and/or utilising alternative therapies.
In other words, Green Party policy is that if you walk into a clinic and demand that crystals be waved over you to combat your ulcer the NHS is obliged to arrange it.
Can I suggest that this policy be rewritten? Here's a suggestion.
Patient empowerment would eventually encompass choice of treatment backed by NHS funding for patients' preferred treatment as long as that preference isn't for some withered old acid casualty with a bag of coltsfoot and some twigs. All the toy doctors will be offered consultant status at the new Hospital of Gibbering Nonsense on the Isle of Sheppey, which will then be surrounded by a thirty foot fence with a one way door in it. Within the hospital mobile phones and wireless networks will be banned to protect the poor darlings' sensitive digestions. There will be none of those awful authoritarian treatments with actual medicine in them. Instead, therapists and patients will be encouraged to try and stem the tidal wave of diphtheria and swine fever using their own resources.
Firm but fair, if you ask me. And I'm not saying we'd never feed them.
A much needed tweak for their health policy, then. On the other hand, their education policy says this.
No publicly-funded school or learning centre will be run by a religious group. Schools or centres may teach about religions but are prohibited from delivering religious instruction in any form or encouraging adherence to any particular religious belief.
Surprisingly, perhaps, the Greens say they would put an end to Church of England, Catholic, Muslim, Jewish or Sikh schools getting government money to warp kids' minds. I expect the Jedis would also be disappointed to see their plans nipped in the bud. It's almost as if society since the Eighteenth century had gone through some kind of Enlightenment.
So that's my piece for Blog Action Day. I seem to have forgotten to say anything about the environment, and just banged on about the usual stuff instead. Sorry about that.