Chris Connelley - Man of radical and libertarian insticts!

Now that Wilson has outed me as a former Labour councillor, I feel obligated to explain my presence as a Green, lest I be perceived as some ghastly old unreconstructed leftie - still mumbling the red flag and prone to nostalgising about the winter of discontent, as a positive manifestation of workers' power.

Yuk!!!

No, let it be clearly stated that I am very much a man of radical and libertarian instincts, and instinctively distrustful of centralising, socialistic or statist ambitions. I did indeed hold a Labour card for much of the 1980s and early 1990s - show me a social science student of the time who did not, as some kind of generalised statement distancing oneself from the emerging backdrop of Mrs Thatcher's Britain.

My presence as a councillor in 1994 came as much as a surprise to me as anyone, my original willingness to stand based on the total unlikelihood of a Labour victory on the Seven Kings bungalow estate.

In that febrile local election year, however, many unlikely candidates were chosen, and I hope that I used my time on the council in a constructive and ecumenical manner. I know I helped some local people in their attempts to get a fairer deal from the council but in party political terms, was certainly seen as hopelessly independent and way too collaborative by more traditional party comrades. In fact, my overall experience of the Redbridge Labour Group was sadly negative and dysfunctional; and actively contributed to my decision to bow out of frontline party politics in 1998

Despite being Labour, I had invariably voted Green in european elections and throughout the 1990s became increasingly interested in, and excited by, areas like localism, social enterprise and how to help re/build and cohere fragmented local communities, which I pursued through groups like SKAG- the Seven Kings Action Group-and now TASK- Take Action or Seven Kings.

I have enjoyed these journeys, which have introduced me to some brilliant free-thinking people, working together for the common good. As in the current case of the Seven Kings library, now- almost- back after 19 years after a spirited spot of neighbourhood campaigning.

My environmental awareness has grown over the years, as I have grown older myself alongside the debate on climate change, peak fuel, transition towns; and have actually subscribed to the greener way we now generally live our lives through recycling household waste, going organic and cycling even more.

Green is now decidedly mainstream for ordinary folk yet still fundamentally challenges the political parties, who pay lip service but stumble and obfuscate when it really matters. Like at Copenhagen in December.

My genuine sense is that in age where so much associated with the old parties seem bloated, self-indulgent and frankly irrelevant, the refreshingly modest, lo-fi and free form Green party offers a refreshing beacon of light, localism and hope.

Which is surely beyond price in these wayward, morally compromised times.

This is why I am pleased to be a party member -----