Why the Greens aren’t despondent despite the derision | Zoe Williams | Comment is free | The Guardian

Why the Greens aren’t despondent despite the derision | Zoe Williams | Comment is free | The Guardian: "There is something distinctive about the authentic ovation: the applause that is neither dutiful nor orchestrated, but occurs in the spirit for which it was invented. I don’t know how you can tell, but you can, and that is what greeted Green party leader Natalie Bennett at its spring conference on Friday.

My droll Guardian colleague John Crace suggested that they were giving her a standing ovation at the start in case she messed up and they couldn’t, in conscience, do it at the end. But it was a statement of support, of love, if you like. There is no crisis of confidence in the Green party.

There are no huddles of people, saying “all lost, all lost” with their eyes (well, about the environmental apocalypse, maybe, but not about the party). There is no sense of starting every day with a compromise, nor a great taboo to step around, where the one idea that unites them is the one they can’t say – and on this last point it contrasts instructively with the Ukip conference but it is strikingly unlike any other party’s.

Natalie Bennett comes good amid conference chaos
John Crace
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On that difference between the Greens and Ukip, the Mirror produced some helpful data at the weekend, comparing the two: 1,300 Green conference delegates, to 500 Kippers; 55,000 Green members to 42,000 Ukip; a typical age group of 18-24 among the Greens, and 60-plus in Ukip."



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