Unemployment

My oppinion of the unemployed state of this country has altered somewhat in recent weeks. The majority of the country would blame migrant workers for unemployment.

I personally would blame the elitest attitude of the british middle classes for the migrant workers. So in fact it was the fault of the unemployed. Therefore coalition's welfare reform policy of cutting benefits if the recipiant turns down work, gets my full backing.

But the unemployed population of this country get a little more sympathy. I recently went for a job interview. Out of 6 candidates 4 were in employment. The successful candidate was one of the employed candidates. I ask you, if we give jobs to people who already have jobs, how do we reduce unemployment?

Graduates are finding it increasingly more difficult to gain employment to suit their skills. But what is the answer?

We simply need to stop giving jobs to people who already have jobs.

The political Diary

I never realized how hectic and strategic a political calendar can be.

I mean I was told for ages that council meetings can go on late into the night, but before I have even been selected as a councillor, my CF calendar is almost as full as that of an MP.

Society, Society, Society!

In the wake of the Coalition Government's 100 Day point, do we need to bolster the Big Society Agenda in the Constituencies and in our council's?

As I am preparing for my Council Selection Interview, I think what is it that I want to do and achieve, if I am selected and elected?

This may sound very political and buzz wordy... But can we really get young people to engage in politics? Can we really get the Youth of today interested in Politics? The answer is... YES WE CAN!

I have described before the time that I was engaging 16 year old girls in conversations about politics and government.

and Now for the buzz word... Co-producer...

I have a vision to get the society actively participating and engaging in politics and co-producing their local government. and to get Young People in particular engaging in politics and co-producing in society.

I believe, whole heartedly, that the young people of this country, the young people of this constituency and the young people of this borough are the future of the country, similarly, the young people of the conservative party are the future of the party and the future of politics as we know it.

Why do we enter politics in the first place?

As I have illuded in previous blog posts, I am a seasoned Student Union Politician. But thinking back, it began before University, before UDSU and certainly before NUS.

I had completely forgotten my time spent as a rep on the sixth form council at Friesland back in 2003/2004. It was a single 1 year term but it bore the foundations and the basis to my student politics career.

I believe I have also illuded to the troubled time in 2009, when I was almost on the verge of resigning my UDSU office. Well a few close friends and the UDSU president helped me to realise why I became a Union Officer and why I entered into politics in the first place.

I was told back then basically that I needed to be the calm level headed "cool cat" for the disabled students. The nail had been hit right on the head there. I was there to lead and represent the disabled students.

I entered into student politics and political activism aswell, to serve and work with my community. I quite famously said that its not about what I can get out of UDSU, its about what I can give back.

As I await my council selection interview, I bear the same ideology in mind. I want to educate and engage the next generation of voters.

Thats why im a Tory activist and politician!

Responsibility!

Responsibility, the most important word in politics. Thats all I'm going to say!...

Do MP's who defect really hold any values?

In the wake of reports that 3 Lib-Dem MP's are to defect to Labour, it has been questioned, do they hold Labour values.

I ask, if they are defecting, do they hold any values at all?

Votes at 16 and electoral reform

Now most people will recognise me as a hardcore Tory. I am not a "con-dem" I am a Tory.

It will therefore come as no suprise that I am not in support of AV or electoral reform, in the sense of changing the voting system.

I do, however, support the idea of lowering the voting age. I mean at 16, you can have sex, get married, join the army and fight for your country, you can buy a lottery ticket, pay taxes and a whole host of other things, but you cannot vote!

All of these things are decided upon by the government. Yet you cannot decide who makes those decisions until you turn 18.

Ask yourselves why? Is this fair?

I, as yet, have not tracked down the party stance on this...

Changing the voting system would change the country

I know this is the third blog post today, but I decided to check the papers and blogs before bed...

This excercise opened up a thought process in my mind. If we change the voting system, would the british political environment change?

The answer is probably yes! In Britain we have a distinct party political system. This is a deep set historical system. Yet the 2010 election delivered a hung parliament, possibly contributed to by the televised debates. The coalition of the conservatives and lib dems was subsequently formed.

Under AV the lib dems would have gained a further 22 seats. Throwing the election even more wide open.

So will AV replace single party governance with coalition governance forever?

Political Education...

If we don't actually teach politics as a curricular subject, how and when do we teach it?

History would appear to be the common one. But is that with the war and conflict link? However, there is a political link to most historical events...

Citizenship, where it is explicitly taught is another common one, with a little inclusion in PSHCE.

Then at post 16 level, there may be a little politics wedged, implicitly, into sociology and within the cultural and social domain papers in general studies.

I fully believe that we need to be educating our children about politics to ensure that the next generation first time voters are a voting generation.

Obviously my priority is to gain as many conservative votes as possible, but my message on may 5th was go out and use your vote, regardless.

To continue that message, we need to get the next generation to believe in politics and vote!

U Turn if you want to...

But the party is not for turning...

Cliche, as it may be, it is one of Maggie's most famous and iconic speeches. It is also a phrase that has been used and paraphrased by Tory's for many years and will be for many years to come.

In this instance, however, I would like to apply it to the milk fiasco. Now I have read many different political commentary blogs this morning, from the great Iain Dale, John Redwood and Guido Fawkes to the inclusive Conservative Home. They all seek to mention the so called "milk snatching" apparent "U-Turn" of yesterday.

Having done my own research into the Milk Snatching fiasco, I am inclined to agree with John Redwood in the fact that all three parties that have shared power at some point between 1968 and 2010, have in some way contributed to the removal of free milk in schools, presumably as an economy saving measure.

The media's biased outlook on politics is off on its own little tangent again, as we will now have another history lesson from the world on how bad the Tory's have been in the past. One history lesson that is getting particularly boring. But now we will have to delve into the chapter on Baroness Thatcher removing milk from schools for 5-7 year olds. The world has obviously forgotten or just conveniently overlooked the fact that Edward Short, in 1968, was the first education minister to remove free milk for 11-18 year olds. Edward Short was a Labour minister.

This all stems from a policy that was being mooted around the cabinet office at junior level, but was subsequently dropped.

Which brings me back to my original point... Discussing a policy and then subsequently dropping it in favor of something better is not doing a so called Policy U-turn. Its democracy and common sense.

The one where the liberation activist became a Tory activist

The big question of 2009/10 was "How can you be such a committed and passionate disabled activist and be a Tory?"

Bigger outrage came when an LGBT activist announced his Blue affiliation.

Well, I am a realist, a cynic, and I believe in welfare, ofcourse I do, but I also believe in society. I want benefits for those in need of benefits but opportunity to work, if you can, must be priority.

The truth is that liberation, unlike the labour election campaign, goes much further than section 28.

Theresa May and Iain Duncan Smith have plans for an improved benefit system that puts a stop to fraudulant claims and looks after those who need it.

So yes it is possible to be a Tory Liberation activist, I'm living proof

CF objectives and political engagement

Amidst the hustings and policy of the CF National Chairman Candidates, I had a thought that got me thinking... What is the purpose of CF?

Well my first point of interest was obviously the CF constitution. The objectives that are cited there are pretty generic and the usual suspects show up in the objectives section:

3 OBJECTS OF CF

The Objects of CF are:-

3.1.1 to advance the principles and policies of the Party amongst people:-

under the age of 30; and/or studying at institutions of higher and further education within the

Nation;

3.1.2 to recruit members to the Party;

3.1.3 to advise and provide assistance to the Party on all matters where the

particular expertise of CF may be of value;

3.1.4 to represent and promote the interests and profile of Party members under

the age of 30;

3.1.5 to encourage and develop among its Members the formation, organisation

and operation of branches;

3.1.6 to work for the election of Conservative Candidates in local, regional, national

and European elections.

Well that provoked another thought, how, exactly, do we recruit members to the Party? More importantly, how do we keep our current members active and retain membership?

Indeed, why do people join political parties? One would assume that this is because a person feels a connection, either ideologically or otherwise to that party. In which case, they would possess the want and desire to get involved and be an active member of that party.

Therefore an active involvement or perhaps even a committee position or officer's role in the local association would keep the membership satisfied and active. But realistically this is not always enough for younger members. Which is why the vast majority of conservative future branches are based around and built upon social activity and dare I say it? Alcohol.

So how do we recruit members? Is it possible to sustain political interest in young people? The answer is, YES...

I was on a student union trip to our far flung campus in Buxton, prime rich pickings for a High Peak Conservative Future branch at the outset. We were trying to get some two way engagement going with the Union's democracy campaign. Now a strong FE base would normally cause a look of horror to be struck at the hint of the word politics, but, I was surprised at the amount of knowledge and engagement that I witnessed in a bunch of 16 & 17 year olds.

I even got a young lad to talk himself round from voting BNP to voting Tory, by his unknowing hatred for Nick Griffin outweighing his hatred for foreign migrants and immigrants. But by sitting and chatting with them, its easy to show them that their everyday lives are governed by politics.

It is upsetting, however, to learn that there are very few FE institutions left that teach politics.

I leave you with the question, then, is it time to bring politics back to the curriculum, and would those gaining academy status and the subsequent autonomy, include politics as part of their curriculum?