Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I've been in the Green party for a very long time - when was it, 1986 - and I joined the party because I seriously wanted the party to have influence.
Reminding oneself that not all rules are good rules and sometimes it's good to challenge them is an important part of being an effective parliamentarian.
If a prime minister can suspend parliament to deliver a 'no deal' Brexit, what will the government try to do next with no democratic scrutiny or oversight?
Trump is surrounding himself with so many climate sceptics and when he himself says he thinks climate change is a Chinese hoax then there are real concerns.
No more top-down politics with Westminster dictating what's right for every community. We must all be partners in designing a better future for our country.
I don't think Ed Miliband has the courage of his convictions. He's scared he'll be painted by the rightwing press as a throwback to the time of the 'big state.'
Our railways maintain a healthy economy and society. They keep businesses running and families close. They're a vital public service and must be treated as such.
Our economy is failing far too many - forcing parents to use foodbanks to feed their children, demonising migrants and condemning all of us to climate breakdown.
We can no longer allow special corporate interests to shape our political and financial decisions, while our citizens and communities cry for real climate action.
Other countries are developing well-being economies - we should do the same. That is the way to create a society which would stand the test of time - for everyone.
My interest was in renaissance literature, looking at how men were writing for women in the 1590s, a time when many women were being taught to read but not to write.
Labour needs to end its support for expensive nuclear power and vanity projects like HS2, and take a firm stance against the ecologically impossible expansion of airports.
If we genuinely believe in a bigger future for our country, we have to redistribute both wealth and power - so people can take back control for good, not just for one vote.
Britain is a parliamentary democracy. Power rests in Parliament, in the House of Commons, and the government - the executive - has to seek the consent of MPs for its legislation.
We always knew that whatever party Nigel Farage led - first UKIP and then the Brexit party - was basically a vehicle for his own political self-glorification and now he's proved it.
The models that the other parties have used where you have a very powerful leader squashing any kind of independent ideas from the grass roots is not very attractive to the electorate.
The one thing we have that the other parties do not have is a political integrity. No one thinks you join the Green party because you're politically ambitious, or have your own agenda.
There is an important message that all political leaders should be taking from the response to coronavirus, and that is that people are prepared to make hard choices for the common good.
In the public mind, when they think of politicians, sadly they probably tend to think of men in grey suits doing work behind closed doors at Westminster. I want to get away from the idea.
Huge public spending and borrowing in the face of an existential crisis is clearly the right thing to do, as is putting people's health and wellbeing above the pursuit of economic growth.
The Government needs to recognise that we live on a planet with finite resources - and start measuring our progress as a society by the quality of our lives, not the expansion of our GDP.
To the extent that Bernie Sanders was about building a movement of people where challenging things that up until then were unchallengeable, then absolutely we want to be seen in that mould.
Many are outspoken about the climate crisis, but conveniently ignore the fact that support for fossil fuels is not just incompatible with curbing emissions but dangerously counterproductive.
Clear skies and clean air must become the new normal. We must re-design our cities, reclaiming the streets for cycling and walking, allowing people to walk along streets unpolluted by traffic.
I've been arrested a few times. The most high-profile instance was when protesting at the fracking site in Balcombe. It's an industry which will undermine our chances of tackling climate change.
Advanced industrialised economies like ourselves cannot afford to go on growing, particularly if we want to give people in poorer countries a chance of being able to at least meet their basic needs.
I think if people thought we were just like the other parties and would ditch our policies at the first moment we thought we wouldn't get a majority, then we'd become just like all the other parties.
With pollution from traffic a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, we should be building a transport and planning system that makes car-free travel for shorter distances the norm for the majority.
Coronavirus has exposed for all what many of us already knew - some of our most important workers have barely enough to live on, and millions are condemned to financial insecurity, inequality and food poverty.
The only newspaper in our house when I was growing up was the Daily Mail, and we would never have dreamt of discussing politics around the dinner table. So my involvement in politics came about through activism.
Britain was once notorious as the 'dirty man of Europe' with polluted air, raw sewage pumped into the sea and protected sites being lost at a terrifying rate. E.U. laws and the threat of fines changed much of that.
For expectant mothers there's so much to think about - and so much to prepare for. In amongst those many thoughts and all the excitement are also some concerns, not least the serious worries for many about what will happen at work.
There are lots of things one can criticise about the European parliament, but it does work pretty well in terms of the speed with which you can vote, the fact that there's room to sit, the fact that there are offices when you arrive.
What does the public want? It wants a vested interest in its own energy provision - driving more efficient behaviour. It wants greater choice and responsibility at a local level. And it wants increased use of renewables to protect the environment.
With the huge benefits of investing in renewables, energy efficiency and demand reduction becoming ever more obvious, it's clear that there needs to be far greater scrutiny of the policy decisions that are propelling Britain towards a nuclear future.
The people who serve your fast food lunch or your after-work drinks deserve dignity - and if big companies don't start paying them enough for a decent standard of living, they have the power to close these businesses. But no one goes on strike lightly.
We have always been a party that has had policies on everything, from education to the economy to the environment. We have always said that, if you are serious about the environment, then the policies that you need to change most are the economic policies.
A girl named Rachel transformed my childhood. Life was safe, suburban and comfortable, but ours was a home without books. I met her aged 11, and she introduced me to the joys of poetry and literature. It opened my mind to ideas I could never have dreamed of.
I think the Greens are posing some of the most important questions of our time, for example how we live sustainably on a planet of finite resources and a rising population, and how do we do that in a way that doesn't exceed environmental limits and which is fair.
I accept that as an elected politician I have a number of other tools that I can use to bring about change but I would also say that the Green party remains committed to appropriate non-violent direct action and I think it is a tool in some cases that is legitimate.
Banks and investors have poured money into dirty energy and high-carbon for decades. While no single policy is a magic bullet for the climate crisis, there is also no way of solving it that doesn't involve a fundamental reimagining of the role of our financial system.
I think we'd be crazy to do anything to the integrity of our policy package, which is progressive, and really dealing with the key social and environmental issues that we face. We're not about to ditch our commitment to nuclear disarmament, for example, to somehow make ourselves more electable.
We promote new fossil fuel infrastructure, from airport expansion and coal mines in the U.K. to oil pipelines in the U.S. Investments are meant to build and secure our shared future - but all these fossil fuel investments are directly fuelling the climate crisis that threatens to undermine that future.
Politicians can either keep listening to a small number of polluting fossil fuel companies, who're keen to profit from keeping us hooked on oil, coal and gas, or they can listen to the majority of other voices from civil society to business calling for an urgent switch to low and zero carbon heat and power.
In a fair society, the solution to unemployment is not to force people into workfare programmes which do little more than supply big companies with free labour. It's to create jobs that pay a living wage, for example, by investing in new sustainable infrastructure projects and boosting the jobs-rich low carbon economy.
Addressing the climate and biodiversity crises requires us to radically change our economic models, moving away from economic growth as the over-riding measure of progress and moving instead towards improving health and wellbeing for people and nature. That means a different economic model taking us towards a sustainable economy.
I do think that if people are taking the time to think about their environmental footprint when it comes to how many flights they take, whether or not they have a 4X4, whether or not they are going to have a patio heater, then putting the question to themselves about how many kids they are going to have is a reasonable thing to do.
It used to be said that war was the locomotive of history, with its power to accelerate change. The coronavirus crisis has that same power. It has already shown us who we really are, and how there is much more than unites than divides us. It has shown how governments need to work with their citizens to overcome threats or challenges.
The billions being spent on Trident replacement would be much better spent on investing in developing the infrastructure we need for a zero-carbon economy, as well as in protecting public services. To use the money on a project that makes Britain and the world a far more dangerous place is politically irresponsible and economically obscene.