Usually sometime over Christmas and New Year I choose a ‘Technology of the Year’ and a ‘Person of the Year’. A few weeks ago I flagged-up Ox Delivers as my ‘Technology of the Year’. For ‘Person of the Year’ I want to pay tribute to perhaps a couple of dozen people who’ve shown remarkable leadership in very diverse ways. Today I’ll focus on politics, policies and the defence of democracy. In a week or so I’ll look at people who have impressed me with their work in relation to the climate and nature crisis.

In July we had a General Election, and Ellie Chowns was elected as MP for North Herefordshire, with one of the biggest political swings in UK electoral history. We had a huge team of about a thousand volunteers, who recognised in Ellie an exceptionally strong candidate. It was a truly historic win.

J. K. Rowling has been and remains a strong advocate of women and girls’ rights, and the protection of young people from the mutilation caused by attempts at changing sex. Although I’ve been a Green Party supporter since the 1970’s, I do think they, like all political parties, sometimes follow deeply misguided policies. Their advocacy of so-called ‘Trans Rights’ is a prime example. They have expelled many of their best members over this issue, and their costly legal battles with Shahrar Ali have been a tragic waste of time and money. So J. K. Rowling and Shahrar Ali share my accolade for providing leadership on this issue.

Geo-politically we live in increasingly dangerous times. Russia’s genocidal invasion of Ukraine absolutely must be conclusively defeated. The three biggest powers, USA, China and Russia all seem to becoming more authoritarian and anti-democratic. I fear that if Russia succeeds in beating Ukraine it will probably attack the Baltic Republics, Poland or Finland. Putin needs constant war to quell internal dissent. Russian victory will encourage China to invade Taiwan. Meanwhile USA will continue its mad dash towards kleptocratic oligarchy. Europe is increasingly standing out as a beacon of the resolute defence of democracy. Zelensky has of course been outstanding as a war-time leader in Ukraine. Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Sanna Marin the former Prime Minister of Finland, Kaja Kallas the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs are all showing a clarity of purpose sadly lacking in most UK politicians.

On the Israel/Gaza conflict one voice stands out as embodying a deeply well-informed and robust analysis of the situation, and that is Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib. He is a Palestinian journalist and academic working in USA, who has lost many family members in the conflict. He is strongly critical of both Hamas and Netanyahu and constructively supportive of both the Israeli and Palestinian people’s rights to live peacefully alongside each other under some kind of ‘two state solution’.

Much of the media is disappointing, but odd podcasts, programmes and books stand out. Carole Cadwalladr and Peter Jukes podcast ‘Sergei and the Westminster Spy Ring’ is an extraordinary podcast revealing a tale of ongoing intrigue and espionage, probably greater than the Cambridge Spy Ring or Watergate. Katya Adler’s new series ‘The Balkans: Europe’s Forgotten Frontier’ looks excellent. Kim Ghattas’ book ‘Black Wave’ I found very useful in trying to understand changes to political Islam that have had such profound impact on the lives of people throughout the Middle East and beyond over the last forty-five years.

On the massive issue of the climate and nature crisis many voices stand out as showing leadership. So many that I’ll write my next blog about a dozen or so of them.

It is something of a tradition at this time of year for me to choose a ‘Technology of the Year’, and a ‘Person of the Year’.

The falling price and improving technology of solar panels and batteries is having dramatic impacts in many ways. Globally transport is electrifying, in some sectors and some countries very rapidly, and in others very much more slowly. In Norway nearly all cars now sold are electric, and in China electric car sales will overtake fossil fuelled cars this year. Last year Ethiopia became the first country in the world to ban the import of fossil-fuelled vehicles. No doubt other countries with cheap and abundant renewable energy will follow suit over the coming years. Electric two and three wheel vehicle sales are booming, especially in India, SE Asia and parts of Africa.

The Fully Charged show is a great way to follow these inspiring stories of electrifying transport, and a few of my favourite episodes are about a fishing boat in Scotland, tug boats and trucks in British Columbia and massive trucks in Australia. But for me one episode stands out more than any other, and that is the story of Ox Delivers.

In this 35 minute video Fully Charged Show’s Imogen interviews Ox Delivers co-founder and CEO Simon Davis. Please do watch it in full; it is packed with so many good angles. Ox Delivers have developed an electric truck specifically for the African market, so it needs to be suitable for rough dirt tracks. It is an excellent example of a circular economy product. They are offering a ‘transport as a service model’, rather than trying to sell to private customers. This suits poor African farmers who could not afford to buy vehicles, and by retaining ownership Ox Delivers benefit from building durability and recyclability into their product. Technologically and as a social model this has so many advantages. Please do watch the video. The stories of small Rwandan farmers and wholesalers improving local food supply and working their way out of poverty are heart-warming, and made possible by the Ox Delivers business model.

The change from fossil-fuelled vehicles is important everywhere. Equally, or perhaps even more important is the change from private ownership to a transport as a service model. I’ve often mentioned our local car share club, and Riversimple, on this blog. There are many ways we can move beyond individual vehicle ownership and into various forms of shared ownership or shared use. As Simon Davis points out this change will happen faster in Africa and other places where there is not an incumbent tradition of individual ownership. It is one of many examples of how Africa can leapfrog the UK in its’ development.

The Fully Charged Show was recorded three months ago. Since then Ox Delivers has received major investment of $163 million in order to expand in their initial market of Rwanda, and move into Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

For me Ox Delivers truck is the ‘Technology of the Year’ and Simon Davis could well be my ‘Person of the Year’. (I do have a few other contenders for ‘Person of the Year’. I’ll write about some of them in subsequent blogs. They can share my little accolade!)

Last year the climate scientist, and activist, Peter Kalmus tweeted the following: ‘People don’t understand how hope works. It doesn’t come from downplaying scary truths or from false optimism. Everyone sees through that. Instead, it comes from hard work, from solidarity, from courage. Hope comes from joining together and doing something. Hope comes from action.’ I very much share his view. My book, blogs and talks all come from this standpoint. There are huge and scary things, from climate change and the biodiversity crisis to wars and poverty, and I would not want to downplay the reality of any of those. However there is a wealth of positive action with which we can engage, in many different ways.

My last blog was about a vast investment in a basket of cleantech by the Indian corporate giant, Reliance Industries. Such multi-billion pound investments give me hope. However, most of us are not in a position to influence such decisions directly. Our actions are usually best focused more locally, and on a more manageable scale, even if it makes a lot of sense to follow these bigger actions, as they will eventually have a global impact.

Most environmental groups spend a lot of time promoting signing petitions, going on street demonstrations and lobbying MP’s. I’ve done quite a lot of all of these over the years. I’m not convinced that any of these kinds of actions are that effective. I’ve rather given up on putting much effort into any of these kinds of action.

There is another level of action between the multi-billion investments that most of us cannot influence because we don’t have that kind of money, and the petitions and lobbying of MP’s who simply are not listening. It is action at this intermediate level that gives me most hope, and into which I now put most of my time and energy. Let me briefly outline a few such projects that are all more than one person alone could do, and yet are all achievable with some collective effort, and to varying degrees I have been a part of them all.

In 2012 I posted a blog about the launch of our local community car share club. It has gone from strength to strength. We now have fifty households as members, sharing the ownership and use of six cars. This helps us all save money, reduces our carbon footprint and reduces local traffic congestion. It has been a great team effort. We did try a battery electric car but the lack of public recharging facilities locally made this impractical. The change from individual ownership to collective ownership is probably a bigger change than that from fossil fuels to electric, but in time, with better recharging infrastructure we might yet look again at electric cars.

I’m a member of seven renewable energy co-operatives. This is a way of investing in the technology and organisations that are creating change, reducing carbon emissions, helping communities and at the same time making a financial return on investments, and one doesn’t need to be a millionaire to invest. I’ve blogged several times over the years about these co-ops. In 2013 I enthused about Sharenergy, in 2022 mentioned hope, and Egni, and ought soon to blog about The Big Solar Co-op, which is another great project.

The Friends of Castle Green was set up by the local community when our local council wanted to sell-off assets. It took several years and lots of effort by numerous local volunteers to challenge the council, enact a community right to buy, raise grant funding and start on the major restoration of a large building, and with it take on responsibility for a park, bowling green and clubhouse: quite an impressive achievement and right on our doorstep.

The Friends of Bartonsham Meadows is another successful very local project. The Meadows are a 100 acre space close to the heart of Hereford, owned by the Church Commissioners. After the land ceased to be a working dairy it was let to someone who ploughed the land, which when it flooded, as floodplains do, it was left in a degraded state. Ruth Westoby, and a great team of local residents started lobbying for the land to be managed in a more ecologically sensitive and socially inclusive way. Eventually the Church Commissioners agreed on a 25 year lease to the Herefordshire Wildlife Trust. With this successful outcome The Friends of Bartonsham Meadows has dissolved itself as an organization, and members are actively supporting the Wildlife Trust to make the most of this wonderful space.

Tired of lobbying our local Tory MP’s over many years, and on many issues, I came to the conclusion that there was no alternative but to replace them. I’d been involved in a very minor way since the 1970’s with the Green Party, or the Ecology Party as it was called back in the early days. Elections were often dispiriting, fighting knowing we would usually loose. Then in about 2015 we started getting better organised, and attracted some people with the necessary skills and energy to build a winning team. We started winning more local elections, and about three years ago North Herefordshire was picked as a target constituency with Ellie Chowns as our candidate. Many people thought overturning the massive Tory majority would be impossible, but gradually the team grew, and in the July 2024 election we won with one of the biggest swings in Parliamentary history.

With some of these projects, such as Friends of Castle Green, I’ve been a keen supporter without actually putting much time, effort or money into the project. With others, such as our local car share club, it’s mainly time rather than money, while the renewable energy co-ops have mainly been about putting in some money. To elect Ellie Chowns required a huge team of about 1,000 people helping in some way, and many of us put in considerable effort, time and money. As Peter Kalmus says, it is the hard work, solidarity and courage that give rise to hope. These half a dozen or so projects I have mentioned today have all achieved remarkably good outcomes, and overcome much scepticism, and I feel proud to have played a role, however minor, in all of them.