Letter: The future of environmental policies as the Green Party falters

Sir: Today's front-page report of the Green Party conference bears all the hallmarks of a gutter-press political hatchet job - contrived photograph of a stereotype, simplistic distorted accounts of personalities rather than policies, quotes from an extremist and unrepresentative (tepee-dwelling) activist. Shame on you] Your standards are slipping.

As a (clean-shaven, short- haired, house-dwelling) Green Party member, I read the Independent (not the Guardian) because I admire the intelligence and objectivity of its reporting, particularly about green issues, and believe it demonstrates that the profession of journalism can be an honourable one. Please print some facts about the Green Party's current difficulties and some intelligent analysis rather than your correspondent's prejudices. The issues at stake are too important to be trivialised in this way.

Britain needs a political group with the courage to articulate the electorally unpopular policies that will be shown to be necessary in the next two decades. The cynicism of your newspaper's account of the Green Party's troubles does a disservice to the many sincere, concerned people who, as ordinary party members, are trying to increase public awareness of these policies.

Yours faithfully,

COLIN KRUGER

Tring and Berkhamstead

Green Party

Tring, Hertfordshire

12 September