Only 121 votes, a very slim margin.

Central Devon was even closer, a majority of only 61 votes!

Wholeheartedly agree, best we can do is do business with local shops where possible.

Which would make perfect sense if there was some way of adding ‘… but don’t count my vote if it makes electing the Labour candidate less likely’ to your ballot. As it is, the effect of voting Green is to make a Labour government, and therefore any effective action on climate change, less likely. So, your real choice is: A Labour government, that does something (even if it’s less than you’d like) or voting Green and handing government back to the Tories, and getting nothing (which is definitely less than you’d like).

I agree, which is why I’m voting Labour in a Conservative stronghold. Granted they would still be the largest party after losing those 4 seats, even if they don’t reach majority they’d still be able to make a coalition, most likely with the Lib Dems.

And right now, when Labour are promising to decarbonise the grid by 2030, which may well be impossible, it’s especially absurd to insist they do ‘more’. ‘More’ than borderline impossible?

That claim by Labour probably has about 10 caveats that would further delay proper decarbonisation.

We also need to decarbonizing everything, not just the grid. Get people out of cars and onto bikes/transit, switch vehicles to renewables, reduce plastic use and meat consumption etc. Pledges for these would require action that would antagonize the majority of Labours voter base so they’ll never make any of substance.

We had these where I worked, what a lot of people miss is these don’t actually record until the person wearing it presses a button, it doesn’t have the battery life to record, encode, then broadcast video for 8+ hours. No doubt when that becomes feasible they’ll give it a go though.

In the UK we have to announce to everyone it’s recording. The gangs and thieves know this and don’t care. They were happy to attack and rob us when we already had store wide CCTV.

The only deterrent that worked was a security guard we had for a short while, but the company withdrew them because we weren’t losing over 5% of our daily take to theft, ignoring that we got the guard because two people had been sent to hospital after being attacked by a gang of youths.

People who vote green know they won’t win an election, but do so anyway to pressure the larger parties to do more about climate change. The Greens themselves achnowledge this.

However, the pressure won’t have much effect until they start actually taking seats from them. Standing down to give Labour a clear shot would destroy their steady gain in momentum and spoil the best chance they’ve ever had to get more seats.

This was a cross-post, didn’t realise it didn’t provide the link. I’ll try find the link for you.

Edit: Added the link to the post, will remember to double check in future.

Got a 10 year old laptop that couldn’t do anything whike running Windows 10. Couldn’t install Windows 11 because no TPM chip. Was about to replace it when I thought screw it and gave Linux a go.

It now runs as smoothly as the day I got it, and am now a Linux convert.

1. Yes, at least in my experience.

2. I’ve used my Fairphone 4 since I got it in Febuary 2022, although I ordered it November 2021, replacing the Oneplus 3 I’d bought at release. Main reason for the upgrade was because of the relockable bootloader, which meant it would get CalyxOS support.

3. Repair is trivially easy. Like, you have to be an idiot to make a mess of it easy. Only thing I’ve replaced so far is the plastic back (for reasons explained in answer 4) which took literal seconds. I also bought a spare battery that can, again, be swapped in seconds. It’s come in clutch several times. I’ve disassembled and reasessembled this phone to satisfy the same impulse I get when taking apart a pen.

4. I’m very clumsy, for reference repairing my old OP3 cost me double what I initially paid for it. The FP4 has so far landed face down on the pavement about as many times my OP3 did, and the only damage it’s recieved is to the plastic back, which takes alot of the impact energy with it when it pops off. Eventually the back had so many chips in the sides it had to be replaced but everything else has remained fully functional despite such mistreatment. It’s also thicker than most phones, it feels comfortably sturdy to hold. There was also a massive camera upgrade recently thanks to a software update, although being on CalyxOS I can’t offer first hand impressions.