Hi, I'm Rose Runswick, and this is my blog, I largely discuss politics here. You probably came here for either one or two things, an explanation of the title and design, or to find out more about me, so here's both:
Who I am
In terms of the about me, I am currently a member of the Liberal Democrats and was a member of the Labour Party until a the Party took a rightwards turn after the 2024 General Election. I still consider myself a Libertarian Socialist in many ways (Think Roy Jenkins or George Orwell.) and support various causes such as Land Value Taxation, Universal Basic Income, Proportional Representation and a further expansion of Human Rights to ensure protection from both overgovernance and capital, to name a few.
I have too many emails to count, but you can contact me at rosenstead(at)proton(dot)me, you'll have to type the @ and . yourself because otherwise this will inevitably be scraped and my inbox filled with bots. (Fun!)
What is a "Green Ribbon Club"?
As for the second question, the original Green Ribbon Club was a debate group and intelligence network of what we would now consider the first Whig MPs who met at the King's Head Tavern and sought to exclude the future King James II from the line of succession out of the fear he would be as tyranical as Bloody Mary I, who had been last Catholic to be the Monarch of England. The background image of my blog depicts a contemporary map of the Street they met on. I chose this as the name of my blog not because I'm a raging anti-Catholic - in fact, I'm quite agnostic - but instead because of what the Green Ribbon represents.
The Whigs choice to use the Green Ribbon to represent themselves was actually inspired by an earlier movement known as the Levellers who were active during the British Civil War decades earlier; this was a group of radicals who were usually members of the New Model Army who advocated for Republicanism, Universal Suffrage, Freedom of Conscience and a Written Constitution. While these are hardly exciting ideas in the modern age, during the 17th Century these were regarded as ideas that, according to Oliver Cromwell, "must end in anarchy." An even more radical group known as the True Levellers, or Diggers, advocated for Public Health Insurance as well as Communal Ownership of the land and it's resources.
It is these ideals, representative of early Libertarian Socialism - many of which we to this day we still haven't achieved! - that I choose to style my blog around, with the quoted subtitle being from the Leveller Colonel Thomas Rainsborough, who stated during the Putney Debates over the future constitution of England:
"For really I think that the poorest he that is in England hath a life to live, as the greatest he; and therefore truly, sir, I think it’s clear, that every man that is to live under a government ought first by his own consent to put himself under that government"
Perhaps one day, the Britain he envisaged will be real.
