The Green Party

Playing at politics

Playing with fire

 

In this column: pictures, with text to explain the pictures

 

 Pictures of some varied Green Party People and things important to Green Party People, things important for the understanding of these people, things important in opposing them.

 

 

 

Above, two views of Natalie Bennett, former leader of the national Green Party. Natalie Bennett lives in Sheffield. The second image is 'The Official Portrait' of Natalie Bennett in her role as

 

The Right Honourable The Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle.

 

I know enough about the history of 'Manor Castle' to know that the Bareness's choice of 'Manor Castle' was arbitrary, bizarre, grotesque. The Baroness's  views are nothing special, predictable, Standard Stuff - and bizarre, grotesque.  The fact that she has reached the heights (or the abysmal depths) of the House of Lords proves absolutely nothing.  She supported (of course) and almost certainly still supports 'the boycott of Israeli artists, musicians and academics.'

 

Natalie Bennett! Gordon Bennett!

 

'Gordon Bennett' is an English-language idiomatic phrase used to express surprise, contempt, outrage, disgust, frustration or exasperation.'  [Wikipedia]. I do feel 'contempt, outrage, disgust, frustration and exasperation' for supporters of The Green Party, including the Baroness, but not surprise. I've learned to expect nothing good from these people, to expect the most ludicrous garbage.

 

Perhaps in the distant future the  (temporary) Leader of The Green Party Zack Polanski (real name: David or Dave Paulden)  will be installed in the House of Lords as 'Baron Zack Polanski' of something or other. By that time, it's not likely that his views will have advanced far beyond the crude, ludicrous views he has now.

 

As with the Home Page, scrolling down this page will show the variety of images used but for the time being, the selection is very short. This page was begun in plenty of time for the 2026 Council elections.

 

As I explain below, I observe copyright. There are no copyright-free images of Sheffield Green Party people and very few at the national level. I also explain below my intention to take photographs which can be used on this page and other pages. I exlain that images are far less important to me than information in the form of words, but obviously images are still important.

 

Below, there are links to Green Party Website pages which provide images of people and events. This is a small selection:

 

The second image on the page

 

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/sheffield-green-party-elections-2026

 

shows assorted Sheffield Green Party functionaries, although quite a number are missing. These people were standing outside Sheffield Town Hall, the place where Councillor Alexi Dimond delivered his  shockingly mindless speech. He  can be seen in the photograph on back row at far left. In the front row are two candidates for election,  preparing to launch themselves into competitive political life, with its possible or inevitable exposure to publicity in the public domain, good and bad publicity. 

 

On the front row far left is Richard Tinsley, candidate for the Hillsborough Ward. On the far right is Maia Salman-Lord (City.) In the centre of the middle row is Andy Davies (Walkley). In my experience, all the elected Green Party Councillors are experienced evaders of awkward questions but none of them can be sure that this situation will continue. Towards the centre of the front row is the Leader-with-no-leadership-qualities-whatsoever, Zak Polanski.

 

The second image on the page

 

https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/news/2025/three-parties-lead-sheffield-city-council-third-year

 

shows other leaders. The least able by far - as I see it - is Angela Argenzio. I knew her well. She's preferable to another  Green Party Councillor, the more obviously fanatical Toby Mallinson - I knew him well. Over a long period of time (20 years in my case) we were members of Sheffield Amnesty International. For most of that time, I was the Death Penalty Co-ordinator for the group, although I worked on very many other issues.

 

The photograph shows, in the middle, the Leader of Sheffield City Council, Tom Hunt, one of the Councillors for the Ward where I live. To the right is the Leader of the Sheffield Liberal Democrat party. These three are established in an arrangement which could be called a political necessity but one which has serious disadvantages. The Labour Party has the greatest number of Councillors but no party has an absolute majority.

 

I regard the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats as belonging to a different category completely from the Green Party. I'm critical of various policies of the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats and many people with positions in the parties, but they have important strengths - unlike the Green Party. I've no need to specify and explain the weaknesses of the Green Party because the site already contains so much evidence.

 

The Green Party in Sheffield has an influence out of all proportion to its electoral results and its councillors. Sheffield Green Party is discredited - and its Councillors are discredited. The same applies to the national level.

 

The next page

 

https://sheffieldgreenparty.org.uk/council-election-2022/eamonn-ward/

 

shows Eamonn Ward, a prominent (but negligible) supporter of Sheffield Green Party. He's holding a sign 'SHEFFIELD ZERO CARBON 2030.' Success has eluded him in all the elections he's conducted as the Green Party candidate.for the Darnall Ward.  In the election of  2016 he received 116 votes,  in 2019 he received 181 votes, tried again in 2022 and received no less than 214 votes, his best result by far. He wasn't able to build on this record figure.  In 2023 he received 173 votes.

 

Does he confine his reading to Green Party publications? I don't think for one moment that he has the wide ranging background knowledge needed to arrive at a fair-minded assessment of the Net-Zero-by-2030 issues, which are very, very complex.  The difficulties of achieving this result over such a short time-scale are formidable. In fact, the chance of achieving Net Zero by then are surely non-existent.

 

'From the site

 

.https://www.andrewteale.me.uk/leap/ward/16414/

 

'To keep global warming to no more than 1.5°C – as called for in the Paris Agreement – emissions need to be reduced by 45% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.'

 

These objectives, much more modest than the impossible objective of 'Net Zero by 2030' are more realistic but almost certainly unachievable in themselves.

 

This is a short extract which lists some of the difficulties:

 

• Infrastructure and Supply Chains: Massive infrastructure investment is needed, but manufacturing, installation constraints, and shortages of critical minerals hinder progress.
• Grid Capacity and Permitting: Slow, complex permitting processes, particularly for offshore wind and solar, result in long lead times and growing delays in grid connections.
• Financial Hurdles: Rising interest rates and high capital costs for projects pose significant economic challenges, with estimations suggesting substantial funding requirements (e.g., over £140 billion needed for UK public services).
• Technology and Reliability: Dependence on immature technology (e.g., floating offshore wind) and the need to manage intermittent renewables alongside maintaining power system stability.
• Political and Economic Risks: Uncertainties around policy changes, market reforms, and international competitiveness (e.g., US Inflation Reduction Act attracting investment away from Europe) challenge meeting targets.
• Socio-Economic Impacts: Transitioning requires ensuring a "just transition" to avoid aggravating fuel poverty, particularly in decarbonizing heating and housing.
• Manufacturing and Sectoral Challenges: High-energy industries (steel, petrochemicals) face challenges balancing competitiveness with stringent, fast-tracked emission reductions. 

Quite apart from the limitations of Eamonn Ward, I see no sign that Sheffield Green Party has the expertise, the background knowledge (or the basic common sense and sense of realities) to provide reliable and trustworthy evidence for its claims.

 

 

The photographs of Councillor Dimond in action outside Sheffield Town Hall were not taken by me. I contacted the party to request permission to use the photographs, with blocks obscuring the faces and there was no objection. They show a side of the Green Party which seems not to embarrass the party in the least, not to be a source of shame or regret. In his public persona, this Sheffield Councillor seems to me more like a Nazi Stormtrooper or Nazi agitator rather than a representative in a liberal democracy. To me, this is someone who likes telling people what to think but I doubt if he can explain the reasons for his views or defend his views. Perhaps he is, after all, a very timid person. The appearance of complete confidence is very misleading, surely. Can he defend his views? Can he defend his own behaviour?

 

I use the photographs in various other places, on the Home Page of the site and the page 'Shambolic Sheffield.' The description which appears on the Home Page: Outside Sheffield Town Hall, the ludicrous Councillor Dimond of the ludicrous Green Party makes the ludicrous claim that Keir Starmer is guilty of genocide. He asks the crowd to chant, 'Starmer, Starmer you can't hide, we charge you with genocide and the crowd obliges.

 

 

Photographs above show a Green Party supporter, name unknown to me, and Andy Davies, the Green Party's candidate for Walkley, Sheffield in the local elections. More information about Sheffield Green Party  people on my page Shambolic Sheffield. The material will be revised and extended, which is always my practice or at least my preference when I can find the time.  When I was taking photographs, the unknown man was unaware that the law allowed me to take photographs in this public place. I was able to correct this very common misapprehension. He preferred not to stay and left soon after. More on photographing Green Party People below.

 

No photograph is available for the Green Party's candidate in the May 2026 local elections, Maia Salman-Lord, standing for the City ward. All the photographs available at present are subject to copyright. I observe copyright in my use of images.

 

These two candidates will have passed the test which Green Party candidates in Sheffield must pass in order to be eligible - their views on Trans Issues must be impeccable, beyond reproach - in the eyes of the people who hold power.  The Sheffield Green Party declared the former Green Party Councillor , Alison Teal persona non-grata.

 

 From a page which documents the injustices these people perpetrated, or allowed to happen.

 

https://greensinexile.org.uk/exile-alison-teal

 

Names of Sheffield City Councillors in bold print in the extract below are not in bold print in the article published in the Website 'Greens in Exile.' I make it clear that publication of this extract doesn't imply that any of their contributors and supporters endorse my general views on the Green Party, the environment and other matters. I share their views on trans issues and I regard their Website as accomplished and as an important one, but I have different views from theirs in very many respects.

 

Alison Teal writes,

 

'In August [2022] I stood to be the next PPC for Sheffield Central and was selected as the candidate in September 2022. 

 

 

The press launch for the selected PPC was intended to take place a couple of days after the votes were tallied but Natalie Bennett refused to attend and the event was cancelled. The Sheffield Green Party never put out a press release about my selection. On 10th October five Green councillors: Martin Phipps, Brian Holmshaw, Alexi Diamond, Angela Argenzio and Ruth Mersereau tweeted: “I am a member of Sheffield Green Party and I support trans rights. I will not campaign for any candidate who discriminates against trans people”. This was perceived as an allegation that I discriminate against trans people, which I do not, however, my former colleagues made this deeply distressing claim and it was widely understood to be about me.

 

“I received a formal complaint from the Green Party on 20th October from Cllr Martin Phipps alleging that I had made transphobic tweets. On 25th October I was told by the party that GPRC had imposed a No-Fault Suspension on me but eight months passed before I was given a reason why. The reasons were just as spurious as the complaint. “

 

 

'The facts are that none of my tweets are transphobic and I have never discriminated against a transgender person. I have been expressing concern about the impact of gender identity ideology since 2017, starting with a critique of Self-ID and the potential unintended consequences this practice could have (illustrated by the incident of double rapist, self-identifying woman Isla Bryson being sent to a women’s prison in Scotland). 

 

'Multiple failures in the disciplinary and governance process, mostly the result of the flagrant practices of GPRC, led to the continuation of my NFS through to the time that the next GE was called on 22nd May 2024. Because of my NFS status, I could not be removed, according to the constitution, by any means other than a deselection process. This did not take place. However, GPRC saw fit to tell the Sheffield Green Party to go ahead and select a new candidate for Sheffield Central.

 

'I learned about the process of selecting a new candidate from a member emailing me to ask if I minded them standing! No one had the courtesy to formally tell me this decision had been made. I was devastated. I picketed the meeting with friends and supporters but the hustings went ahead and Angela Argenzio, one of the councillors who smeared my reputation, was selected by fewer than 50 votes. 

 

'After working very hard for the party over the past ten years it was extremely difficult to come to terms with how disrespectfully I was being treated. I made the painful decision to resign for the sake of my dignity and with the encouragement of many people I submitted my nomination papers to stand as an Independent candidate on 7th June 2024.

 

'Miscarriages of justice have continued in my name with 15 members of the Green Party being accused of campaigning for me who have now been expelled unconstitutionally by GPRC. 

The body intended to protect the reputation of the Green Party, GPRC, continues to be responsible for bringing the party into disrepute by its own malicious actions. 

 

' I have suffered vexatious complaints  from six named complainants and some anonymous, since 2021. The disciplinary system has created an opportunity for members with strong opinions on gender identity ideology to harass and bully members who understand the vital importance of women’s sex-based rights and also child safeguarding and the way that proposed Self-ID can negatively impact women and children.' 

 

An election address written by Andy Davies (or some Green Party functionaries) and delivered to addresses in Walkley - all or most of them, presumably - is grossly misleading and economical with the truth. For example, he has the audacity to make this claim:

 

'As a Green, Andy is independently minded. Unlike Labour councillors, Greens are not told how to vote and put the community first.'

 

The Green Party is in the grip of dogma - of multiple dogmas. If Andy Davies ever begins to doubt that biological men who declare that they are women are truly women, he will be suspended in no time at all. If Andy Davies ever begins to doubt that Israel is really the greatest threat to the world, he will find himself instantly disowned.

 

If I'm to obtain photographs of Sheffield Green Party Councillors to illustrate the argument and evidence provided on the site (the argument and evidence are far more important than the images) then I have to take the photographs myself. I observe copyright and wouldn't use any of the copyrighted photographs of these people -  councillors, candidates, supporters - which are available on Green Party Websites and other sites.  Photographs of MP's are readily available which don't infringe copyright in most cases.

 

 

 

Above, spraying Japanese knotweed with glyphosate at an allotment - not one of my allotments. Japanese knotweed was growing at an allotment very near to mine. It was sprayed with glycophase by Sheffield City Council, the knotweed was eradicated and hasn't regrown.

 

 

I've practically never used glyphosate in my own growing. I've worked hard to attain  largely weed-free growing areas by other means, not involving chemical treatment.

 

Probably, as a rough and ready generalization, ecology is the branch of science which members of the Green Party know most about, if they haven't studied science beyond the age of 16 or so. This has obvious relevance when considering the advantages and disadvantages of using glyphosate. They may be strongly opposed to considering any advantages of glyphosate. They may consider glyphosate harmful in every respect.

 

A much fuller knowledge is needed to come to an informed decision - not specialist knowledge of branches of chemistry and biochemistry and physiology, but much more than a slight knowledge.

 

Full, very technical and not so technical accounts of the necessary scientific background are available, with detailed and not so detailed explanations of the mode of action of glyphosate and its effects on vegetation and the human body and on other organisms.

 

Also necessary is an appreciation of a decision procedure which can be applied in this case, as in so many other cases. I refer to the importance of 'outweighing.' Very often, there are mildly harmful effects or effects that are harmful or exceptionally harmful. If the effects are exceptionally harmful, then this may be a reason for outright rejection.

 

Some medical treatments have very severe side-effects but are used because the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Many medicines have mild side effects or hardly any side effects but in a minority of patients the side effects may be very serious. The medicines are still used because the alternatives would be even worse, much worse.

 

An immense amount of work has been carried out on the actual or potential harmful effects of glyphosate and the consensus, with only a tiny number of informed dissenters, is that the hazards of glyphosate are of a low order. In the scale of possible hazards to life, glyphosate, when used carefully, is very safe.

 

Green Party people - in my experience - ignore so many dangers which are overwhelmingly important. Caring for nature, caring for plants and animals and communities is important, but to ignore the threats to these peaceful activities is grossly mistaken. When Nazi Germany invaded Czechoslovakia, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, the Baltic states, Russia, then caring for nature and the rest had to become a lesser concern, opposing invasion or taking other action, unnecessary in time of peace, had become far more important, or should have been far more important.

 

The fact that Iran has missiles able to reach this country is a very serious matter. At very long range, missiles are far more difficult to aim but Iran will eventually have missiles sufficiently accurate and with sufficient range to pose an enormous threat to this country and a significant number of others. Green Party people in my experience are somehow unable to appreciate the force of this predicament and many other predicaments. They seem to me to be naive, to be lacking. They put their trust in words like 'Peace.' Using the word 'Peace' offers no protection at all. Putting words together to form simpletons' phrases offers no protection at all.

 

Focusing attention on minor hazards or far-from-minor hazards whilst ignoring very severe hazards is the lazy way. Proper protection generally involves hard, sustained work, great skill, sacrifice and devotion.

 

Below, photographs of Gay Pride in Tel Aviv

 

 

 

Gay Pride in Tel Aviv is a massive event and similar events take place in many other places in Israel. Sexual freedoms are far in advance of all other states in the Middle East. Non-heterosexual people are free to live their lives without persecution or suppression. These particular freedoms and events are one aspect only of a state with far-reaching strengths, which include effective action against a statewhich threatens the security of other states in the Middle East and states much further away, including this country. In the future, Iranian missiles will be a threat to be reckoned with, unless Iran is prevented.  Israeli power will be a massive advantage in deterring Iranian aggression.  Pride parades will do nothing to prevent Iranian aggression but for pride parades to continue, for the freedoms of Israeli society to continue, deterring Iranian aggression and deterring terrorist action will be essential.

 

 Israel has executed only one person since its founding, the Nazi Adolf Eichmann, who of course played a leading part in the Holocaust.  The page on Israel includes detailed discussion of the Holocaust, genocide, the killing of non-combatants in war and apartheid. I show that claims that Israel

is a genocidal apartheid state are shockingly wide of the mark. 

 

It's Israel, not Iran, which receives the full force of the Green Party's fury and the fury of so many other organizations.

 

Iran is one of the most repressive countries in the world for LGBTQ+ people, who are subjected to discrimination, violence again and again, and sometimes killed. Gay men are deemed to have a mental illness. The Iranian penal code explicitly provides for the death penalty and flogging for sex between consenting adults of the same sex. It's estimated that more than 4,000 people have been executed for homosexual acts since the Islamic Revolution. A very wide range of acts are subject to the death penalty, including adultery, prostitution, politicaldissidence, blasphemy, 'spreading corruption on Earth.' Iran executes on a horrific scale. In one week in 2024, 40 people were executed. Iran is regularly responsible for the majority of the executions taking place worldwide - over 60% of all executions worldwide in 2024. Iranian politician Aziz Akbarian: 'If two people are thoroughly flogged and two people are

executed ... it will be a lesson for everyone else.'