Greens try to shake off image as single-issue party

[T_i_B]

I just thought it might be an idea to do a thread about the Greens for a change. Make of this what you will.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,3605,1566749,00.html

The Green party may move a step closer to the political mainstream this weekend by embracing the government's policy of anti-social behaviour orders. Delegates at the party's annual conference in Lancaster will vote tomorrow on a policy motion recognising that Asbos can reduce imprisonment and "play a meaningful role in combating crime".

It is a signal of the party's ambition to be thought of as more than an ecological pressure group that saw the Green vote double in three key seats.

These should be prosperous times for the party. Hurricane Katrina has put climate change on the agenda; the soaring oil price has exposed the world's dependence on fossil fuel; Iraq and civil liberties are constantly in the news.

Greens emphasise the 22% share of the vote they scored in a target seat, Brighton Pavillion, and the best-ever 256,020 general election votes they won across England and Wales (Scotland's Green party is separate). But beneath this confidence there are worries about what they can do to breakthrough from the fringe.

[Kipling]

1. The name can hardly help.