19-04-2010 Ask a Climate Question hustings event

We held a really positive “Hustings” event yesterday (Monday 19 April 2010) at the “Ask a Climate Change Question” event organised by Greenpeace at City University, Islington, London EC1.  I was able to take part as one of the panellists along with the current MP for the constituency, Emily Thornberry (Labour), and Bridget Fox (Lib Dem), Antonia Cox (Con) and James Humphreys (Green Party).

It was really well attended and a fine thing to see so many young people giving up their evening to actively engage in political debate and discuss the critical issues surrounding climate change and the environment.

There was, inevitably, a bit of mud-slinging between some of the candidates from the so-called “bigger parties” because unfortunately that seems to be the only way that some know how to “debate”, rather than focusing on the real issues.  I was lucky that I didn’t have to (and didn’t want to!) get involved in any of that negative politics.

As you know, I’m only a “part-time” politician, and so it’s a daunting challenge to be up against “professionals”, but I think we held our own very well.  We were, of course, the only party to make the connection between livestock and fisheries farming and climate change and environmental damage, and the feedback I got was that the audience really appreciated the fact that we mentioned those facts about animal farming!

It was certainly clear too from the answers given by the other candidates that animal welfare really is only an “afterthought” at best for them, as they struggled to articulate their party’s policy on this crucial issue, and that is very disappointing.  So many of the ills that currently plague our society – not only climate change, but also diseases of “diet and affluence” such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease (and the knock-on effect on the NHS), and also domestic abuse in the home – can be seen to have a foundation in the way that we treat animals.

Yesterday was a good day for Animals Count, with that really positive evening event following on from the high-profile coverage of my video interview with The Daily Telegraph which they featured on the main page of their election coverage – during the morning it was right at the top, next to a picture of Prime Minister Gordon Brown!

We’re definitely getting there!

– Richard J Deboo