SCYP - March '10 Meeting

Today was actually a pretty productive meeting. We discussed a lot of things really and had a bit of fun with the debate, which I chaired!

For the first part, we had guest speaker Ross Borman, who is part of the Inter Generational projects and works on boosting relations between generations, removing ageism and stereotypes. He had previously emailed me about an event in Southampton called 'City for All Ages', in which he asked me, as well as others from different groups in age (seniors council, etc), to speak a little about the challenges people face and how we can overcome them. He came today again to talk about this and explain how this will present fantastic opportunities for all ages.

I believe this is going to be a brilliant event and is going to be the start of not only gaining young people a better image in the media, but also developing links with the seniors council and other groups to achieve common goals, such as the improvement of transport and cost.

As well as this, we did sub-group work and our group discussed more about the hate crime project. We decided the best approach would be to ask ITV fixers on help for creating a sequence game, involving video clips. Providing the game/video is made well, this project is going to really target hate crime and bullying, with great effect. I think this will be a one to watch and hopefully will be a success in Southampton schools.

We also went over many other points, with future projects looking very hopeful! There was also lots of feedback from some of our recent endeavours, including a talk from me on the recent south East Residential. After this, the debate began and somehow I ended up as chair. We agreed to discuss vote sixteen and many good points were raised. Though I struggled controlling Mr Rawlins!

Although I did let this run of a bit, we had time to briefly run over a few points and once more discuss our May elections, when we chose a new chair and positions. Everyone wanted to be involved at this prospect, so we all put our names down at the end of the meeting for positions and which team we wanted to be in. I decided to run for Vice Chair and Media Rep! Hopefully our end of May election, will be just as interesting as that on the 5th!

Another excellent meeting on the whole!

MYP Profile

Forgot to mention you may notice I have added a link on my 'websites' saying: " My MYP Profile ". This is a link to my views and profile as part of the UKYP. We were asked to write 20-50 word responses to the questions asked. Ok, I went a little over, but here's what I said:

Which political issues are you most passionate about?

This is difficult for me to name only a few, as I am passionate about almost every political issue. But for me, this has to be the image of young people in the media. I firmly believe we are getting an unfair reputation as hooded knife carriers, who are prepared to use violence at every opportunity. This is not true. There are so many wonderful things young people do, which deserves far more recognition and praise.

What do you feel is the biggest issue for young people in your constituency?

In Southampton, there is a major issue with young people having nothing to do and no way of getting themselves to do things. We need more opportunities and better, cheaper and more efficient public transport, to allow us travel to these new prospects.

What do you hope to achieve during your term of office?

I would like to achieve cheap, if not free, bus fares and other public transport costs for young people in Southampton. I am also aiming to gain much needed media respect and community support for youths, who are facing an adult world which seems to be against them.

What is your future career ambition?

I would love for a career in politics, television, journalism and controversy! My dream would probably be to become a major political figure, in either the UK or Europe, but I have many other interests I would certainly like to pursue as part of this.

Which public figure do you most admire and why?

I do not admire any public figure as an idol; in the sense that I would like to be myself and create my own persona. However, one person I am inspired by has to be Eddie Izzard. As well as making me laugh lots and lots, he is a hard worker, with a fascinating life story and has come from nothing, with an ordinary lifestyle, to a big success. This proves to me it is possible to move from working class, with little opportunities, to become successful and fulfil ambition.

If there was one message you could send to the government, what would it be?

Please give up your powers and hand them over to me. I shall ‘promise’, as you would to me, to give you sufficient enough money to live the bare minimum quality of life and just about survive. Thank you :)

Additional comments:

I am quite the avid social networker; enjoying blogging, emailing and keeping in touch with people. One of my passions has to be my Blog, as well as Facebook and Twitter, to which I am addicted to :)

Again, This is the full profile if you want to have a look!

UKYP Elections in the Echo!

At last they have printed the article, after a few weeks! Despite the printing making it look like we all have bizarre lipstick on, it is still a good photo and article. Thanks to all the guys involved and the Southern Daily Echo news team! (click picture to read article)

SCYP - Hate Crime Discussion

Today was a good meeting! We had a professional from ITV Fixers in, for us to discuss our plans on 'Hate Crime in the Community'. This will be a project on how hate crime effects victims and, in the long term, we will use it to raise awareness and reduce hate crime; bullying and lack of community spirit.

We came up with loads of ideas today, but I will keep you updated on how our next discussion goes. This looks like it will be a very good project!

South East Residential

From Friday 19th March to Sunday 21st March, I experienced my first taste of the UK Youth Parliament, in the form of a three day overnight residential at an activities centre, in the Isle of Wight.

For me this was pretty new experience on all fronts. I have obviously stayed over at places, been on group holidays before, but only a few and never a residential trip. So I was pretty nervous, especially as I'm not a particularly good socialiser, when it comes to meeting new people and full stop for that matter.

As well as this, I haven't even been a MYP for a month yet and am new to the whole Youth Parliament set up on the whole. As you can imagine, I was rather scared!

However, upon arriving and settling in my room (being the first person in there helped), I realised I wasn't the only one, with only a few experienced MYPs there and the others in the same boat as me. This of course gave me a bit more confidence, to think that I wasn't alone.

Everyone else then started arriving and I was so thankful, as they were all so down to earth and wonderful! Although I'm pretty socially shy, I still really enjoyed being in the company of the other Young MPs, especially those whom I shared a room with.

Another part of the trip I was most fearing, was the food. It did not disappoint. Exactly as I expected, though possibly worse, but at the same time it was bearable and just about edible, if you were willing to risk food poisoning. Despite this, I ate quite a bit of it! This was probably due to desperation or perhaps the simple fact I was rather tired indeed.

The evenings were a good laugh too. The first night I laughed so much, I couldn't actually sleep; it was so worth it! The level of wit and intellect was high; perfect and I felt as I was with others who I could understand and seem relatively normal with! (though this is difficult for me!)

In the day we did activities, which I felt went pretty fantastically! I took away a fair bit of knowledge, but more than anything enjoyment and bonds with new people, which is vital for the politics career path.

The showers. Brief here, but I, along with others, managed to survive them! They weren't actually too bad to be fair, as I've experience far worse. These ones were actually warm, at times; fairly powerful, despite requiring continuous button pressing and also relaxing for a good two or three minutes!

We also had time to stroll and be free! Which was often a bit boring, but at the same time relaxing as we could talk for a bit and get to know each other. I felt everyone got on really well and will certainly make for a brilliant team over the next year.

On the whole, I really have to say I enjoyed my first UKYP residential immensely! I felt a lot more comfortable than I thought; had a great time with lots of laughs; met some amazing new people and friends, but also I just had a lot of fun! I am looking forward to the next meeting and the Annual Sitting in July!!! :D