When they lose the argument, the two and a half main parties will always fall back on the line that the Greens can’t win - it’s a wasted vote . This is not only arrogant, it’s also cobblers.

Firstly, elections for the GLA and the European Parliament (both of which make decisions that significantly affect London) are decided by forms of Proportional Representation that give the Greens seats according to the total number of votes cast - and we currently have 2 MEP’s and 2 GLA members.

Secondly, even in our woefully unfair first-past-the-post system, the Greens DO win - Katie Dawson did in Islington in 2006, along with a dozen other Green Council candidates in London, and 100 across England.

Thirdly, every Green vote makes the other parties sit up and start adjusting their agenda. Imitation is not just the sincerest form of flattery, it’s the cheapest way to political survival. In Islington, do you think we’d be being treated now to the sight of Labour councillors hugging every tree under threat or the Lib Dems treating compost as the Holy Grail of politics if there hadn’t been an 18% vote for the Greens in the Borough in 2006? Green votes are changing the political landscape in the UK, just as they have done for many years in other european countries.

But the other parties’ newly found Green agenda is skin deep,and it’s no substitute for the real thing - a radical vision for how economics and the environment can and must work hand in hand. The Green Party’s vision.

And when they tell you that believing in that is a waste of a vote, what does that say about what they really think of you?