Man About Town
I agree with Nick…Hillman?
For the next few weeks, Man About Town will be offering a local perspective on the elections. In this entry, he wonders if it’s the Green candidate who offers the possibility of a shock to Westminster.
Tony Juniper: green by name, green by nature
With ‘the Clegg effect’ in full swing and the Liberal Democrats threatening to wreck Cameron’s party, it might be easy to assume that the Cambridge seat is a foregone conclusion. The political map of East Anglia makes this constituency look like a piece of gold in the sea. Yet, whilst gold-rush ensues and dem Libs reek havoc up and down the country, is it possible that Cambridge could defy the odds and offer a shock result?
On Tuesday night, Peterhouse Politics Society offered up the most likely prospects for the Cambridge seat. They turned out as if they’d just stepped off their respective mother ships – cigarette papers might have separated their values, though the colour of their ties presented the clearest difference.
So who are these chaps? I overheard one Peterhouse stewardess receive a swift answer after unknowingly denying the Labour candidate, Daniel Zeichner, a space in the VIP – “He’s one of the speakers,” his female accomplice piped up. “I am one of the speakers,” he reassured her. The glamour of Downing Street is some distance from its Cambridge namesake.
Zeichner’s posture resembles that of Squidward from Sponge-bob Squarepants. His mouth moves whilst the rest of him stays rigid. He prioritises the ‘kids on the streets in the North of Cambridge’ who suffer from a disparity in opportunity and regrets that locals feel the University has not been open and welcoming to them. When the issue of funding a University Sports Centre was raised, he made it clear that such projects were not at the top of his to-do list. Zeichner offers himself up as ‘the fresh new option’ against his competitors, who, he claims, are merely nodding dogs for their party leaders.
The man enthusiastically agreeing with this comment was Liberal Democrat Julian Huppert, surely hoping that he could nod his way to top dog on the coattails of his own leader. The promise to scrap tuition fees slid in unquestioned. Talk of fairness sounded fair. Decentralisation and people power was a theme.
But when Zeichner quizzed him on a proposal to fund schools that could probably, maybe, perhaps choose to cut their own class sizes, a pledge sounded more like a possibility. Detail was lacking in a suggestion that cutting NHS ‘quangos’ and reducing control from Whitehall would “let the NHS be better”.
With Lib Dem HQ doing all the hard work, the seat is probably Huppert’s to lose.
But repeated references to the party manifesto became tiresome. On fundraising for the Sports Centre, the response was familiar – “I’m not an expert on this.” Check the manifesto?
Huppert told us it was a two horse race between him and Zeichner. Conservative candidate Nick Hillman disagreed – Lib Dem councillors were responsible for empty shops. Labour were responsible for everything everywhere. The Conservatives would sort out the mess which our generation would have to pay for. Hillman looks like he’s speaking with his eyes shut – this makes him appear as a vulnerable villain, but might also be responsible for his asserting that “the last thing I want to see is a war with Iraq”. It’s Iran, silly!
On that subject, Green candidate Tony Juniper spoke well. He offered ‘blues skies thinking’ and told of how the West could help wean Iran off oil with solar energy. “Iran has masses of sunshine.” Beautiful. The last to speak, but the least active in his interjections, Juniper’s cool presence offers an alternative to the yakking of the three main parties, but is he enough of a presence?
Shirt unbuttoned, his confident delivery reminded us that he’d run Friends of the Earth for five years – a fact which tells us the Greens are taking the Cambridge seat fairly seriously. Sustainable economy, social fabric and a Green voice in Parliament were his offerings. That would be a shock. Wake up and smell the Junipers?
Sound bites:
Daniel Zeichner, Labour: ‘I am one of the candidates’
Julian Huppert, Liberal Democrat: ‘Check the manifesto’
Tony Juniper, Green: ‘Iran has masses of sunshine’
Nick Hillman, Conservative: ‘The last thing I want to see is a war with Iraq’
To be fair, Nick did correct his own slip of the tongue later in the same sentence!
I was at the hustings tonight and I’ve got to say I was very impressed by Juniper. His was the outstanding performance by a significant distance. He wasn’t just incredibly well versed on the environment; he had a grasp of other issues as well, to a level that others did not. I think that 3 or 4 Green MPs in Westminster would not be a bad thing; the environmental agenda needs to be pushed properly, and not as a vote-winning policy from a main party.
The loser has to be Julian Huppert, who came across as smug, condescending and arrogant. Describing the seat as a ‘2 horse race between myself and Daniel’ was an affront to the productivity of a debate which included 3 other candidates. And describing his party (the LibDems) as the ‘greenest party’ in the UK was puzzling, to say the least.
My thoughts exactly, although I’d only been to an earlier debate. I was very impressed by Juniper and his proposals, where it seemed like the others were just outlining problems that already existed.
Same sentiments again on Huppert! I served him at work and he was incredibly rude, and judging by the amount of ‘green’ posters I’ve seen around Cambridge, it is most certainly not a two horse race.
I just hope Juniper keeps canvassing because I think his personality is very appealing and he would be a wonderful representative for Cambridge.
Great commentary
I think Tony Juniper is very impressive. Loved that pic of him in the Cambridge News after he chased a burglar away from his neighbour’s house! Also loved how he said the Lou Reed concert was ‘a bit rubbish’ – honesty counts for something I guess…
I’ve got to know Tony Juniper quite well over the past few months and he is an absolute breath of fresh air in politics. He’s honest, authentic and incredibly knowledgeable. It feels such a privilege to be living in a city where we actually can elect a Green MP and have such solid policies represented in Westminster.
Green Tony Juniper has been keeping his more extreme views quiet as we’re getting closer to the election.
Juniper thinks we ought have more people engaged (and more of our economy devoted to) food and energy production. A reason Juniper has given for opposing nuclear power has been that nuclear power stations don’t employ many people. His policies would mean food and energy prices would go up; and he doesn’t see this as a bad thing.
I think government should be focusing on energy security and keeping energy prices affordable. Juniper’s policies are designed to take us back to an era where we were all much poorer.
Juniper believes in protectionism. He would like to see everything we need produced here in Cambridgeshire.
My view is none of the candidates are worthy of representing Cambridge, none have convinced me to vote for them.
I have expanded on this in a video at:
http://www.rtaylor.co.uk/may-2010-general-election-cambridge.html
I attended the hustings and have written about the discussion on the West Cambridge Sports centre:
http://www.rtaylor.co.uk/west-cambridge-sports-centre.html
–
Richard Taylor
Cambridge
http://www.rtaylor.co.uk
Are you going to interview me?
http://www.oldholborn.net
I thought Juniper was pretty unimpressive really, he didn’t say anything, people just expected that he was the best because he was trying to look “cool” and “down with the kids.” Best part was when they outed that guy who asked the ridiculous question and mentioned the green party as a paid-up green party activist! lol. I want someone who just knows their stuff and is honest. I know who I’m voting for, and it ain’t Tony Juinper. Definitely wont be Labour or the Tories either!
Huppert doesn’t strike me as very honest. He seems to steal everyone else’s good ideas.
He seems like a self righteous expletive
At least Tony Juniper has now been endorced by a man who wants children to have anal sex and Daniel Zeichner has deleted his twitter account after calling a Rochdale woman a bigoted xenophobe with BNP views
http://www.oldholborn.net/2010/04/daniel-zeichner-deletes-his-twitter.html
Consider Voting Tony Juniper Please….
We need some sane people in parliament !
People who are not professional politicians.
People like Tony who have had a life.
Please pass on, = , 6 passes on will get this message to everyone in Cambridge.
Right now Tony is neck and neck with professional politicians from the major parties.
Without the corporate backing. Hence this.
Quality Article on why voting Tony Juniper is sound. http://cambridgetab.co.uk/opinion/confessions-of-a-tory/
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Huppert doesn’t smack me as extremely truthful. He seems to pinch everybody else’s good ideas.
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IS TONY JUNIPER THE MAN FOR CAMBRIDGE?
probably not…given that the election was 4 MONTHS ago. but why not keep it front page
Huppert doesn’t smack me as very truthful. He seems to take one and all else’s superior ideas.
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