I’ve never been much of a joiner. Even though I’ve worked as a writer/journalist for a few years, I only sent my form off to the NUJ last month. The Union, the Tartan Army, the Tufty Club… and, er, that’s about it. Still, I have given recent thought to joining my local Green Party - so I read Dave Osler’s recent piece: Green Party: vehicle for the British left? (and there), with interest.

Like Dave, I doubt the Greens can build a systematic left-wing alternative to Labour, now properly classified as a ‘centre-right’ not a ‘left’ party. But I do believe the popularity of mainstream greenish politics offers something. A ‘moment’, perhaps, for slipping something with a progressive flavour in with the recycling. A reasonable place to look for inspiration is Sweden.

Sweden’s Green Party have just finished 8 years as junior coalition partners in a red-green government. Top of their list of achievements was the inauguration, in January 2005, of a so-called Alternation Leave policy. Under this scheme, 12,000 Swedes have the annual opportunity to take a government subsidized sabbatical from work (similar to parental leave, but without a baby). Three main conditions apply: employer consent is required; the vacancy may only be covered by recruiting from the pool of current unemployed; you may not work while on leave, except to start a new business.

While headline UK unemployment is low, we have above-EU-average rates of economic inactivity for males aged 25-64 (pdf, p.9). More than supposed sick-man France. Schemes that give the jobless employer-based training may pay us back in the long term. Alternation policies similarly support entrepreneurship: give your big idea a go, with a twelve-month safety net should things go Pete Tong.

We hear a lot about ‘lifelong learning’ - this policy puts its money where its mouth is. Here’s a year - go fill your head. It’s also liberal (voluntary), costable (set numbers in advance) and even supports ‘family values’. Plenty of Swedish alternation-leavers have spent their time raising children or extended family. It’s a practical way to show government commitment to ‘work-life balance’, that goes beyond platitudes.

None of this will smash the capitalist system and reclaim surplus value for the working (wo)man, of course. It’s not a workplace panacea. It does, though, combine sellability with the seeds of a new model for employee/employer relations. A start towards ‘Scandinavianizing’ British working life. Maybe even a real-world path to a Citizen’s Income. Even more interesting than the details of the policy (which I’d call ‘intriguing’ rather than ‘convincing’) is the realisation that in a galaxy not so far, far away from us, There Is Never No Alternative.

Of course, for our Greens to get anywhere near Westminster, we’re going to need a serious dose of electoral reform first. And that, as they say, is another story.