grindey

Fareham can Go Green!

February 20, 2015 — Leave a comment

To stand for local election, the only thing it costs you is time. Just to get ten signatures and then hand in your form to the local council offices. In terms of a general or by-election – it costs £500. However, in terms of spending that is only tiny compared to the costs of the production of leaflets, distribution, posters etc.

This is why I’ve set up my Crowdfunder. To help pay for these things and to produce leaflets to distribute across the area. So if you can please donate as much as you can. *Disclaimer: You MUST be registered to vote in the United Kingdom if you want to pay £50+*

On the 23rd of February we releasing a Thunderclap – but we need your support!

Please support my Thunderclap by clicking HERE and then selecting “Support with…” and you can pick and choose between Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or a blend of the three to help get the word out that we need funds. Remember, we need 100 people supporting it on the 23rd of February otherwise it won’t go out!

Going Green? Go Grindey!

I have been selected to stand for Fareham

November 23, 2014 — 2 Comments

Well this has been an exciting week to say the least!

Members of the South East Hampshire Green Party have nominated me, a 19 year old Itchen Sixth Form College student, as their Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the Fareham constituency at the next general election, to be held on the 7th of May 2015.

 

As you may know from reading this blog, I have  grown up in Warsash and at the time of the next election, I will be just 20 years old – making me quite possibly one of, if not, the youngest candidates in the UK. I have previously has stood for election in 2013 and 2014 in my home ward of Warsash. I have recently become the Chair of the Warsash Residents’ Association and have been campaigning on local issues such as Public Transport and have demonstrated against the proposed development known as “Welborne”.

 

I’ve grown up in Fareham and I want to see to it that the people of Fareham are actually listened to as opposed to being managed like cattle. It is time we had someone in Parliament who will fight against destructive developments like Welborne, who will fight to renationalise our trains and get proper links to places of work, hospitals and schools, someone who will fight for the next generation and scrap tuition fees, someone who puts people before profit. All my life I’ve heard people crying for an alternative, and here I am.

Let’s rock.

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Miles

BIG NEWS: I’m now the Chair for the Warsash Residents’ Association

November 21, 2014 — Leave a comment

I’m extremely pleased to announce that I am the new Chair of the Warsash Residents’ Association. I’d like to start by thanking the members of the association for making me feel so welcome and the members of the committee for giving me the opportunity to help out in my home community. I feel it is also important to thank the former chair, Chris Bridges, for all his hard work as Chair for the last year.

I’m very happy to be in a position where I can give back to the community I’ve grown up in. Warsash is my home – it’s where my heart lies. I hope to raise the profile of the Residents’ Association and engage the whole of the Warsash community into what is happening in our local area, to keep everyone in the know and not just a few.

Not only am I the youngest Chairperson in the Association’s 82 year history, but at 19 years old I may very well be the youngest chairperson in the entire country!

I’m getting very hopeful for the future.

Thanks for reading,

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Miles

Fareham needs an alternative

October 22, 2014 — Leave a comment

As the Welborne hearings continue, it is becoming more and more clearer that it is completely undemocratic. As our own Prime Minister, David Cameron, said “it is up to the people of Fareham to decide” – seems to be I’ve never been asked if I wanted it!  It also appears to me that the people of Funtley and the surrounding communities have never really been consulted properly.

This time last week, I attended a demonstration organised by Jason Mudge – who is a local hero as far as I am concerned.  For the first time I  (or my family who’ve lived in the borough for nearly 60 years) can recall, there has never been such fierce public opposition to anything directly affecting our town.

Some of our councillors seem to be adamant in building Welborne, they say that it isn’t in their hands and that there is “nothing we can do” – but the last time I checked, we live in a democracy don’t we? Not some absolutist totalitarian regime that is hell bent on clogging up our roads, packing up our schools, our surgeries and destroying vital farmland. Fareham was named the most car dependent town in the entire UK, and the M27 was labelled as “the worst for traffic incidents” – what good will this monstrosity serve if we just keel over and allow these people, who are supposed to represent us, to go ahead with this?

Already we have heard of councillors in the North Fareham ward breaking their silence and saying that they are opposed to this development, and they have my respect for that – they had been effectively gagged up until this point and it’s a brave thing to do, but in my opinion – if David Harrison had been elected in May he wouldn’t have been dormant and actually spoke out about this as early as he could.

Fareham needs an alternative, this universally complacent attitude has been  going on too long, the people of our town need a brighter, Greener alternative that when chosen by the people will work for them tirelessly.

It is time we stand up for our town and take the “Green Plunge”.

Thank you for reading,

miles

 

 

 

 

 

Miles

Going Green? Go Grindey!

Autumn Conference 2014

September 11, 2014 — Leave a comment

Well I came back Sunday, so I feel this to be a bit late. I’ve spent last weekend up in Birmingham for the Green Party’s Autumn Conference, it was held at Aston University – the hotel was lovely and so were the staff there, a truly welcoming atmosphere. I met some lovely people as well and got some very important business done!

This was “my spot” at the conference, right at the back in the middle.

Others from South East Hampshire joined me up there, which was quite nice! When I arrived on Friday I sat through one of the best speeches I have ever heard, from Natalie Bennett – an absolutely fantastic speech was given, I could tell I was right in choosing the Green Party to support. We then followed a rather unnecessarily heated plenary about the Standing Order’s report, however it did pass.

In the evening I spent some time in the bar chatting to a few friends of mine from other parties, got chatting to a few Young Greens – it was very nice! Then the welcoming event by the World Animal Protection group, of which Natalie was there so I kinda had to take…

 

a selfie!

 So then the next day, as I was having my breakfast – Natalie then joined me for breakfast, we had a lovely chat about all the things I was doing and what was going on in general, it was rather nice and it was a truly humble experience. I did have to kind of call my mum and let her know what had just happened, her reply? “NO way! That’s so cool!”. Amazing.

Caroline Lucas about to give a speech on Saturday 6th Sep

Saturday had the Plenary from hell, I kid – it was quite fun and well done, so a brilliant congrats to the chair of that. We had a good and healthy debate about Nuclear Energy, a couple of Young Greens voted for it but the majority (including myself) voted against it and in the brief pause between absorbing what just happened and getting on with the plenary I just went “HA!” at the back of the hall. 

In the evening I flocked back to the Bar and was joined by the rest of the South East Hampshire lot who had popped up to conference, which meant…

…another selfie!

So that was quite nice, meanwhile I had been trying to get a drink out of Keith Taylor MEP – since he tweeted back in February he’d get me one! I also had a chat with the Bristol Greens, seeing as where Bristol is the uni of choice for a certain friend of mine – Some really nice guys.

I met a lovely couple of people called Sally and “Vip”, very warm and welcoming bunch those two are – good sense of humour too! They were doing a stall about sustainable technology, so plenty of literature to give to mum when she’s talking about Apple! 

Overall I had a fantastic time, met some lovely people and I’m feeling really inspired – I wonder what interesting things might happen next year…

 

Thanks for reading!

 

miles

Miles

Grindey Goes to South Downs

May 17, 2014 — 1 Comment

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday, me and David Harrison of the SE Hants Green Party, went to South Downs college after being invited by the Student Union President Daniel Hughes and had a stall promoting The Green Party as part of their drive to give students a wide picture of other parties to look at.

I was most impressed by the system they use to register visitors, where they have a tablet that you write your name and (if needed) company and then it prints off your badge, and then the receptionist puts together for you! It’s really innovative and I couldn’t stop talking about that for the rest of the day!

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The other thing I was very pleased with was that their student union is independent from the college, it has a liaison committee within it so that dialogue can easily flow with students to teachers, without them dominating the union. It is also part of the NUS and also the head of it is elected! Everyone is given a role so that they have something to do, and it’s a great way to engage students with the college – it’s possibly the most student friendly college I’ve encountered so far! I hope that within the next year the ISU gets closer to that level of student representation.

 

I wish all the best to Daniel, Liz Langley and in general the whole of South Downs. I am very grateful for their hospitality and I hope to engage more with them in future.

 

Thanks for reading

Go Green

Go Green

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miles

 

We’ve all had enough, we want more buses.

March 14, 2014 — Link — Leave a comment

We’ve all had enough, we want more buses, Sign the petition HERE.

Someone has to say it, enough of us talk about it. Whether we’re stood waiting for a bus, or we’re having a pint down the local, one issue keeps coming up every day – we want more buses. It’s purely common sense, if the developers at Whiteley had any serious thought of making the site a success you would have at least thought they’d work hard to get more buses to the precinct? Well unfortunately not, buses are on average two hours apart and they don’t even run on a Sunday! (Here is a link to the timetable) But there is one service that is desperately needed and it’s quite frankly disgusting how it was originally cut because it wasn’t “commercially viable”.  It’s amazing how places like Queen Alexandra Hospital and Southampton General have buses going right to the door and yet that is something that is cut when it comes to Fareham Community Hospital.

Is Fareham Borough/Hampshire County Council and the bus companies waging war on the sick and the elderly residents of the Western Wards?  I’ve contacted Friends of Fareham Community Hospital regarding their petition and I think that actually this socially necessary service needs to be reinstated, fast.

Thank you for reading,

Miles

Go Green

Go Green

Rise and shine!

March 9, 2014 — 1 Comment

It’s just over 11 weeks till election day and I can feel the momentum going, Warsash may not be quite as safe as some people seem to believe. Every day we go canvassing more and more people like our message – that fair is worth fighting for. Fair is something the people of Warsash deserve, and it’s something that isn’t being delivered. We live in a Borough where councillors seem to have this notion that if you get an opinion expressed by well under a percent of the population then that is the green light to go ahead with an idea and say that you’ve “done a proper consultation” and to me (at least) that seems like utter rubbish – Warsash deserves better than this!

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Article from Monday 3rd March 2014

 

You know I must admit, it might be a sense of Deja Vu but I’ve seen that response from the school of Nav’ before! In fact when I was younger that was pretty much their “stock answer” to any query regarding parking. Could they just simply not care? Someone said to me once, when I was talking about canvassing, “Surely you could fight bigger battles?” and I simply said “No, these are local issues – what people tell me about and really if I want to get anywhere with making the slightest difference, these are the issues I must deal with”. Big or small these sort of things (like yellow lines) affect people’s daily lives, and someone has to take them seriously… might as well be me!

 

Thank you for reading,

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Follow me on Twitter @MilesGrindey
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Miles 

 

When the Greens come a-knockin’

January 27, 2014 — Leave a comment

We’ve been canvassing for the nearly 4 months now and the reception has been incredible, 49.5% of the people we call on have a problem – they are responding well to my canvassing. One person said they hadn’t  even voted in the last 20 or so years and they were going to make their next a Green Vote! The people of my home town have been incredibly gracious towards me and my aim of representing all the residents of the local community. Being a 2nd Generation Warsash Resident (only having moved to Locks Heath/Park Gate two years ago), attending Primary School at Hook-with-Warsash – I have a personal history with the village.  I still frequent down The Silver Fern often with my friends, and I still see my Grandparents often. I feel as though I should give back to the community that gave me so much growing up.

Since November, I have been talking to local residents about local issues – the issues that affect people in their daily lives, and I am hugely grateful for their time that they’ve taken to talk to me. As of now I will fight for local people’s right to be heard, one resident along Newtown Road said to me:

Finally a breath of fresh air! Until you came along we never saw a candidate for anything come to our door and actually speak to us.

At the last Warsash Resident’s Association meeting, I confronted Cllr Trevor Cartwright when he was discussing Yellow Lines. I said that I’d been speaking to resident’s throughout Warsash, and how they were quite rightfully fed up with the Council-sponsored kettling of students parking places. I also told him that residents don’t feel as though he’s taking their concerns seriously, and that no legitimate consultation was taking place. He quickly stated that 6 people had written to him/Fareham Borough Council, and that’s apparently the go-ahead to do anything anymore, when a ridiculously small number of people in a largely populated area actually take the time to write in. It’s hardly democratic or fair, from my notes I can count at least 16 people who are fed up with double yellow lines and want to see some sense put into councillors. They want Parking Permits! That’s common sense.

The fact of the matter is that myself and The Green Party share common ground when it comes to local issues, consultation is key when it comes to the things that matter. It seems there are dark clouds of complacency surrounding the Tory Party in Warsash, are they really trying hard enough to represent those who they were chosen to represent?

The people of Warsash are calling to be heard, and Warsash I’ve been listening!

Thank you for reading,

Miles Grindey

Green means GO!

November 9, 2013 — Leave a comment

There is a great deal of cynicism in the UK these days, and quite rightfully so! I mean who wouldn’t be cynical about politicians, political parties and indeed candidates after all that has happened, the lies, the deceit and the overall “Image” over “Substance” culture? Many of the people who go to my college seem to think that Green Party (or Greenpeace Party as someone thought it was) is just a bunch of vegan hippies trying to put up wind farms all over the place.

The Green Party is not JUST about the environment, it’s a party that prides itself on inspiring social change, a party that so desperately attempts to improve social justice wherever our members are in power and it’s this great deal of ignorance and lack of insight that is allowing the elite in politics to have their way with the public and push people who genuinely want to do good to the side. 

Over the past couple of Sociology lessons my class watched Michael Moore’s great documentary “Capitalism: A Love Story” about how banks and lobbyists had invaded their political system and indeed how alienated people WERE (emphasis) feeling disenfranchised with the whole system. I was surprised to see two things, one the distinct lack of interest from the majority of the class about what has happened to OUR society and two the fact no one (apart from myself and perhaps a couple of others) felt anguished by how easy these people with a ridiculous amount of money were able to get away with it so quickly!  All in all I feel as though I’m the only one willing to do anything about it. While it is true that I am standing in the Local Elections next year and that my issues will be purely local ones, but to bring about sustainable change it must be achieved through baby steps. One foot at a time. 

To get politics across to college students is a very difficult struggle, with many accusing the likes of me doing this for personal gain.  It is these accusations which, if it weren’t for my thick skin, would cut me deep so much that I’d give up my dream. I am determined no matter what to do something different, big or small – I want to do something that will enlighten people of all generations to fight the system when it doesn’t go our way. We are supposed to alter the system to fit our needs, but nowadays we’re being shaped to fit the needs of the system. Where did we go wrong? The short answer for you is “I’m not entirely sure”. This culture of either spouting hate at everyone with a rosette, “bending over and taking it” or following the trail of thought of “Mummy and Daddy” is highly damaging. I don’t blame people either, in the last 30 years we’ve lost people who mean what they say and say what they mean. I think that an ever growing proportion of people are forgetting how to think for themselves and that their whole thought process comes from adverts and what the media tell them.

One thing from my experience is that if you want to see change, think of things as a traffic light. Labour (Red) is stop, the Lib Dems are something you probably shouldn’t chance and Green means go! 

Thanks for reading,

 

Miles Grindey