Actually It's Not That Difficult Being Green

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Brentford West councillor Guy Lambert reports back

Brentford West councillor Guy Lambert

November 6, 2025

This has been a rather momentous week for me because I have become a Green. I am still a youthful looking pinkish (in two respects) handsome man (in my opinion) , but now green inside.

I had been saying that I will stay as an Independent councillor and stand as an independent next May. But things have moved on in the Green party world and I have been reading and hearing Zack Polanski's vision for the party, and have talked to some friends who have left Labour for the Green party in the past, including one who ran a very credible campaign against Lara and me in 2022. I was quite worried that he would beat one of us, but in the end the locals returned us both.

During this period, I wrote to a number of my friends in the Labour party and others whose opinions I respect, letting them know I was considering becoming a Green. Many people understood, though a lot of the Labour people thought I was wrong. Fair enough: I have put a lot of effort into the Labour party and have supported it through thick and thin. The strongest response was from my much-missed ward council colleague Lara Parizotto. I had last heard of her in Liverpool but now she is in Lewisham and said "I've joined the Greens here in Lewisham and I am loving it. So much more democratic and inclusive of everyone."

This Wednesday I was announced as a Green councillor and this has been publicised. The Greens found this picture. I recognise the shirt and someone with good judgment says I look like Robert Redford. Very true, except that RR is dead and last time I looked I am still alive.

I also had an 'interview' in Boston Manor Park with Brentford TV. Actually his interview was fair enough though I find watching films of me excruciating and I didn't like his headline. John Dale loves a bit of a fight on his page.

Back to my diary. On Thursday afternoon we had a meeting about our plans for making Brentford a Heritage Harbour. One of our most valued potential trustees has resigned because he has some health limitations so we are rather short of potential team members. I'd love to hear from anyone who cares about Brentford and would be up for helping us move this forward. Brentford has a rich history as a once important port and if we manage to get recognised as a Heritage Harbour that would be a good way to celebrate our town. Immediate needs are for a secretary who can help us move towards registering as a charity.

I hadn't come across NarrowBoat mag before but someone said there is something about Brentford in the Spring 2014 edition. Yes, this is about history!

Later I went to a meeting with Hounslow Cycling which included a discussion about dangerous junctions, which proliferate on the A4 and mess with pedestrians as well as cyclists. Many don't work at all for cyclists but the two I find perilous for pedestrians are Windmill Road on the north side of the A4 (perversely better at present whilst the junction is closed to north/south traffic). The other is Capital Interchange Way, which has an official rat run avoiding people from south of the river (and Brentford) accessing the A4/M4 via Chiswick roundabout.

It has always been hazardous but got much worse when they started developing. I protested and they took the hoardings back but have now put them back out again. Crossing that against cars zooming out to join the A4/M4 is lethal. I have little expectation that anyone will do anything about it, but I keep trying (or moaning if you will).

One of the charities I give a few pounds to is Medecins sans Frontieres, who send doctors etc to places where the health system has collapsed in wars or famines or climate catastrophes. They were doing an exhibition in the Oxo Tower, so I trained to Waterloo and walked there. Many of the pictures are harrowing but they are often uplifting too, like this one.

And this one. Lovely people ready to do a truly vital and very challenging job. The smiles and evident joy do it for me!

I had not noticed this Windrush statue at Waterloo before. It is beautiful, I think. There were two West Indian (I suppose) women there trying to take a selfie with the statue. A (white) woman stepped in and took the picture for them. I found it touching to see that.

On Sunday I had my first Green Party meeting in Isleworth. They realised they need a bigger venue because it was really jammed in there. Various discussions, all in good spirits and some very generous welcome to me. I was unanimously adopted as a candidate for Brentford West in May. I'd better keep schtum on the other candidates selected but no doubt it will be announced soon. A very convivial event - augurs well.

In my diary every Monday I have a special entry called 'Surprising'. One of the joys of my current life is that I have a preference for a bit of serendipity and putting that in my diary reminds me. Actually, I had a bit of that on Friday, when I strolled across Blackfriars Bridge. I had seen a dome on the horizon and observed to myself that I had lived in London since 1969 and had never visited St Pauls, which is not really my bag but feels like an omission. Anyway, I found it. There were people outside looking like bouncers and there was a security guard who went through my bag. It had said entry free but when I walked past the till a man came after me and asked if I was a tourist or a worshipper. I don't do God but I do generally avoid lying so I pleaded guilty to be a sightseer. That was £6 which I did not want to pay. I'm not really a skinflint (I had just dropped £10 into the box at MSF to top up my regular donation) but I don't like scams and that is what that felt like. I got a Lime bike back to Waterloo but when I got there, I find I had to take the thing back half the distance to St Paul’s. I know Lime is ridiculously expensive, but £7.38 for a 1.5 mile trip (true, 2 miles by the time I found a parking bay) They are 'aving a larf.

Back to surprising. I take a podcast called The Abundance Agenda which is made by some youngish men who have an irreverent approach to how the world develops, mainly transport and building issues. They had Ruth Cadbury as a guest on their podcast in August and I find this ‘channel' both fun and stimulating. This episode was called 'HS2's Bridge to Nowhere' and was about a stunningly mad bridge in the middle of nowhere to deal with a farm track that was cut by HS2. So I thought would be fun to drive up to Wendover, about an hour drive away and have a look for myself. It is truly insane.

I drove along one half of Bowood Lane where much of it was what my father used to call 3-ply (broken tarmac with grass down the middle) but I failed to find the worse other end so I've cheated by using Google Earth. As you can see it is very vital that a two lane bridge - 70M long) is provided to help people to navigate this important throughfare - even though the rest of it is not suitable for vehicles. And people complain about the council spending £20K on a fireworks display. I haven't explored, but my estimate is this utterly pointless bridge will cost many £millions. Full story here Substack.com/@MFROBBINS . You may have to pay if not already subscribed.

Came home through Hemel Hempstead where I worked for many years. Much changed: it used to be where all our photos were sent to be processed by Kodak (all gone). Also where there was a massive explosion when the oil storage place was destroyed back when I worked there (and passed it twice a day - bad timing and I would have been toasted). Much of the industrial estate was either destroyed, made unsafe, or - like where I worked - sustained serious damage which led to us having to temporarily relocate. That's another story!

That aside, not much this week. Being old like me I have a lot of doctoring. They think I may be short of Vitamin B12 so a blood test at Wellesley Road surgery. Then I had to go to Heart of Hounslow to see a dermatologist - I had a sort of wart on my ear which has now fallen off but the GP wanted it seen by a dermatologist. She doesn't think there is anything alarming, but time will tell!

I had never been inside Heart of Hounslow Health Centre and I was rather stunned by it. Big and with a splendid kind of atrium and buzzing with doctors, patients and practitioners of various types (not on the stairway!)

I was heartened to see progress with my hairdresser Bea. I thought for a moment we might get a second shop but I am premature. She still has to do something with the floor then persuade the council to approve something or another. With luck she will break all records and get into her new shop (just) less than a year after she was evicted by the council.

Down to Duke's Meadow, my favourite leisure ride. Well, not all leisure. On the way there was a treacherous mess of sludgy leaves in the cycle lane outside Sainsbury's near Kew Bridge

Hounslow Highways say they will deal with it 'as soon as possible'. Reminded me of the Foreign Office when I worked there and asked what 'in the autumn' meant. That was clear: it would be published on 24th December.

In Dukes Meadow I reported a flytip.

Hounslow Highways said 'not us, guv' and parks says 'it's us'. Obviously a proper fly tip - will there be a £1000 fine? No that's too hard to find them.

When I was at school I was told a song called The Bold Gendarmes.

I am no songwriter but I adapted the first verse and chorus for Hounslow:

We're public guardians, bold but wary,

And of ourselves, we take good care, 

To risk our precious lives, we're chary,

When danger looms, we're never there

But when we meet some helpless business woman

Or people on boats that do no harm

 Chorus

We run them in, We run them in,

We run them in, We run them in,

We show them, we're the bold gen-darmes,

We run them in, We run them in,

We run them in, We run them in,

We show them, we're the bold gen-darmes,

I do not disrespect the officers who carry out our current mad policy set by I know not, but we must change it. The woman I talked about a couple of weeks ago has heard no more but the boat dweller has had a reminder to pay the fine. Of course he won't, because like the wool lady, he has not fly tipped at all. Nor has the third one who has contacted me, nor the four that Cllr Biddolph has dealt with. When these get to court, I will report back.

On Wednesday evening I attended a Corporate Peer Challenge. There was a bunch of backbench councillors there and a couple of officials. They probably gave their names but I didn't catch them and they were listed only as 'Executive Office x2' It was billed as 'A small team of experienced councillors and senior officers from other councils will spend several days with us to explore..' These two may have been 2 of them but they had Hounslow ID badges so I'm no wiser. I was grumpy, partly because I couldn't hear all of it (which is a problem I have to do my best with) but also because there was not what I would call a proper agenda. The Conservatives were slagging off Lampton, which is very fashionable at present amongst them and Cllr Dennison who set it up in the first place before he was dropped from the cabinet.

I spent 6 years being the lead on Lampton until I was sacked without any stated reason. Seems to me that everything we set up (including the rules set by Theo) have now gone by the board and I find it very annoying. It always had challenges, but we had a very talented team and Lampton were delivering outstanding services. There is a large debt, because they have bought (last time I looked) 600 flats to take people off the housing list and avoid the government paying a fortune to often dodgy private landlords via the benefit system.

Nothing more on today. As it's semi-sunny I will go and have another decko at the Cycle lane and Dukes Meadow.

Councillor Guy Lambert

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