A confident 3 to 5 year old

I think that it is fair to say that in my lifetime I have not been dealt the easiest hand in life. I wouldn’t change 99% of those experiences because without them I wouldn’t be the person I am today. However growing up a lot of the forthmentioned experiences severely knocked my confidence, and I believe that although my confidence is far greater than what it was that I my confidence still has a long way to grow. Basically when I was 7 months old I was rushed to hospital and after 3 days of tests was diagnosed with Septicaemia, a very severe form of Meningitis. Luckily after then finally worked out what it was (as I had no rash) and started to treat it. I very quickly recovered and was only in hospital for the whole of 6 days. Having heard stories of people surviving the condition losing limbs and other horror stories. I realise how lucky I am that none of those happened to me. I always think about how lucky I am to be here every year on Valentines Day, which was the date I was admitted to hospital. By the age of 2 it was confirmed that my Mother had MS which had been a suspicion since way before I was born. I have very vague memories of her walking unaided and my parents swinging me as we walked. At this time and up until I started School I was a VERY confident child. I would go up talking to anyone, including old people on the bus, a group of councillors, or the person who designed Spaghetti Junction just for a few examples. There were even times where I ducked in front of another child (at the time me aged 3 them aged 8) and pushed them off a ride so I could have a go. My Granddad was scared that one day someone was going to hit me for tricks like that. However sadly all that changed after I started school. 

As much as I liked school, and primary level I really loved Maths and History (because I was good at them) but struggled with other subjects such as English. My parents and Granddad had suspected since the age of 3 that I was dyslexic. (I was brilliant at writing backwards). However when this was mentioned to my teacher in year 2. She told my parents that I was not dyslexic, that she was trained to spot dyslexic students and that if I was I would be in a special school. This teacher had also ripped up my work in from of other children in the class and called me thick. Also whilst at this school, a Dinnerlady took it upon herself to force me to use my knife and fork righthanded, even though I am lefthanded. I told my parents neither of these for a long time, because at the time I thought I would get in trouble. The year 2 teacher even put my estimated SAT level for Maths down as a Level 1, and then was surprised when she ran into the staff room shouting guess who got a level 3 in my class, and the staff got it in one. Unsurprisingly after year 2 I changed school, this was because it was after pupils heard a teacher calling me thick that they thought they could too, and even at 7 years old I was smart enough to realise that I needed to be at a school where people didn’t know the history.

By the time that I was 7 years old my Mum’s MS had really started to kick in, and now had a wheelchair, so as well as having to deal with the issues at school on my own, I was also helping my mum and dad out at home. The first couple of years at my new school were fine, the teachers were lovely and supportive (even though the dyslexia was still undiagnosed). However by year 5 history had decided that it was going to repeat its self. We had sets for English and Maths and we had been in sets since year 4. In Year 4 I had been in top set and was one of the more advanced in the class. So obviously in year 5 I was put in top set again. However this lasted about 5 minutes into the year. This is because my actual year 5 teacher (who was also the deputy head of the school) decided to pull me out of top set and put me in her set (bottom). The teacher of the top set was not impressed and tried to stop her. But apologised to me saying there was nothing he could do. This also happened in front of the whole class. Also during this year, at parents evening, she asked my parents if it had been a difficult birth because she thought I was brain damaged. My dad also enquired to why she had been marking all my maths work wrong when he could see that it was right. Her response being because she has not done it how I have asked and I can not follow how she has worked it out. My dad therefore thinking what she is telling us is that our daughter is better at maths than she is. The teacher also old them that I was not dyslexic and that they surely could find something better to spend inheritance money on than getting me tested, because it would be a waste of money and that my parents would have to accept the results, as they were set in stone and could not be appealed. I was tested the following summer which confirmed that I was dyslexic, and even after a year in bottom set maths at the age of ten I had the maths ability of a 16 year old. The test centre had been horrified that the report sent in by the school (from that teacher) and told my parents that they had to go back to the school and ensure I got the support I needed. Years later found out that they teacher who said they could not be appealed, tried to appeal it (because it proved her wrong).

Now in year six, back in top set maths and with one of (if not the best) teacher I ever had. I started to get the support I needed. By the end of the year when SAT results came out I got Level 5 Maths and Level 4 English. Sadly I was ill the day they were realised but my dad still needed to go down to the school, and my teacher, another teacher and the headteacher all came rushing soon as they saw my dad to tell him that I had a level 4 in English. That was the biggest achievement. The deputy head was nowhere in sight. It is fair to say that I had also got bullied at this school, because I had been a shy introvert person from my previous experiences. However on the last day in assembly the whole of year 6 did a performance and you could choose what to do. At the time I was a huge Britney Spears fan, and decided that I was (on my own) going to dance to hit me baby one more time. It had all the parents on their feet, and weirdly had all the students being really nice to be for the rest of the day. Was probably the first time in my life I had experienced popularity.

Then there was High School. Would have though that now the dyslexia had been diagnosed and was starting a new school that things would get better. How wrong could you be. I just happened to go to my local school, which to say was not the greatest would be an understatement, it was one of the worse schools in the area. I was severely bullied at this school, including once having my shoelace tied to a computer wire which sent me falling off my chair on to the floor. It got to the point that I was running out of school going home telling my parents that I didn’t want to go back. There was on one occasion even a teacher beaten up and then a student because they thought he had grassed about the teacher beating when he had not. I think that it would be fair to say that it was like the real life Waterloo Road. Again I had a teacher (my form tutor) who was not supportive at all. Thankfully my Head of Year was (excluding the time he embarrassed me in front of the whole year in assembly). But it got to the point where I was doing my work in his classroom instead of going to class. I felt like I was the one being punished for their behaviour. Eventually I had, had enough and decided that I was going to move schools (yet again).

So April of year 9 I started at my new school (about the best in the area) and when I started I really was a shell, any noise made me jump I was scared of my own shadow. Again along with all my problems at school I was more and more helping out at home to care for my mum, and I was getting to the most important time in my life yet just about to start my GCSEs. After I started the new school everything seemed to be looking up for me. I was at a school where people wanted to learn and where there was a strict Headteacher to keep everyone in line. I was doing well and getting the support I needed for my Dyslexia. It really did look like my luck had changed. The in November of year 10 I suddenly was feeling really tired all the time and could barely get out of bed. I was missing days at a time, and then on days I did get in I was often late because it had taken me so long to get up. After six months of going to the doctors everyweek and them barely taking it seriously (along with everyone at school thinking I was putting it on) a blood test confirmed that it was a form of ME called Coxsackie B. It took the whole of the rest of year 10 and 11 for me to get my energy back and really affected my GCSEs. To the point that my Mother asked my Head of Year if I could drop classics to concentrate on the others. This actually ended up being classics and sociology which was annoying because I loved that. It then grew (just after Mocks in year 11) to her asking me to drop everything that I didn’t have to take. It was a science college she wanted me to concentrate on science. I said no, because I was not dropping subjects I loved like History which I could get a C in (having been 1 mark off in the mock) for a subject I hated, didn’t understand and was never going to get a C regardless. She then told my parents that they had to tell me I had to drop everything. (something my parents were not going to do). This was also the teacher who asked me why I was wasting my time applying to Greenhead and New College because I was never going to get into either of them as I would not get 5 Cs, and that all I could aspire for was E2E at the Tech. She was right that you did need 5 Cs to get into Greenhead, but at New College you could do Level 2 courses as well as Level 3, which I told her. (She didn’t believe me). I finished school with 2Cs 4.5 Ds and 2 Es. But having been told I would get nothing higher than an F that is pretty impressive. History also seemed to repeat it’s self again. Results day and the Head of Year was no where in sight.

FINALLY: a turning point – I did three years at Huddersfield New College, and the first year was a real culture shock for me, I was top of the class and the teachers were sending students to me for help. This really did take a lot of getting used to. I had three good years at the college and really did help in boasting my confidence.

However when it came to deciding on Universities, I had always had it in mind that I wanted to be like my parents and go away to uni. I didn’t want to be somewhere within a commutable distance. This also provided the dilemma of me feeling guilty about wanting to leave home, where there would only be my dad to look after my mum. Although my parents would be the first to tell me not be so stupid and to live my life.

Eventually my dad came across a course at Swansea University and I feel in love even just reading it over the internet. I went to two open days once with my parents and another on my own. It was the Uni for me. I did apply else where but I knew where I was destined to be. I started in Sept of 2008 and was weird to be in a place knowing no one and everyone knowing me, having set a village facebook page up which got 600 members in a day. Rumour has it that the Union had a competition for the first of them to meet me. This is when my confidence really did start to pick up. I made really good supporting friends (which with the people I had to live with in first year i needed to get through it). One of these friends even helped me put myself into situations which I would never have dreamed of, such as standing in union elections. There are still situation were I am petrified such as giving speeches (I shake ALOT). But my friends at Uni tell me how much more confident I am since I started (if only they had seen me five years prior) they would have realised how much my confidence had grew by the time I started Uni. Whilst at Uni I often rang home just to make sure that everything was ok with my Mum. I graduated in 2012 with a 2:1. Since then I have worked at Wakefield College, and Calderdale Council. I have also had to deal with unemployment twice. the first being for five months.

The point to this very long back story is that even from a young age with very little confidence I knew that if I was going to get anywhere in life that I needed a good education and that if I was going to achieve that then I needed to fight all the people (teachers) standing in my way. Although I do wish that I had more confidence I am very proud of myself for what I have achieved any the amount of people I have proved wrong along the way.  Also without mentioning names, give thanks to all the people who did support me and help me grow. They know who they are and they all know I appreciate it.   

Young Labour Conf

The weekend started with a social on the night before conference, which was a nice ice breaker to meet new people and catch up with old friends. The first day of conference started with a speech and Q&A with Gloria Dei Piero. During this time she touched on various different issues and topics. These included ending the everyone must go to University mentality, ending Youth Unemployment. She also spoke on how members of young labour need to have fun and seem normal. She also touched on how CLP formats need to change and how members of young flavour will be vital in winning the next election especially the seats in university towns from the lib dems.

Once the session with Gloria had finished, there was an attempt at mass tweeting the same thing at the same time, which didn’t work very well as the tweet was actually too long.

The next session was NEC hustings. There was two candidates for this position Bex Bailey and Olivia Blake. Both candidates made some excellent points. However for me Bed just had that little bit more. Moored confident and assertative.

The next Hustings were for Chair of young labour. I have to say that in this election I was very biased as one of the candidates was a good friend from University. Again there was two candidates Simon Darvill and Kate Taylor. On some issues both candidates had similar opinions including that of One Member One Vote, and that more time needs to be spent on liberations than 30 minutes every conference. Other points that Darvill raised included liberation weekends, free transport for young members to campaign events, support for young cllrs. Along with so much more.

The next hustings was for International and ordinary Reps. There was so many people running for these positions it would be impossible to list them all.

In the evening there was a social at the union bar. Which is also where the results were announced. Elected Ordinary reps were Rachel Hodgson and Keiran Russell. International officer was won by Jack Storey, Simon Darvill was elected Chair and Bex Bailey elected to the NEC.

The Sunday morning was dominated with Caucuses. Along with a general discussion on liberation. I attended the Disabled and Womens caucuses. It was at these caucuses where the liberation officers were elected. Before the disabled caucus no one had nominated themselves to run for election. However on the day myself and two others all decided to run and I lost out to a worth opponent of Simon Evans. There was also a discussion on how to try and get more people with disabilities engaged within the movement. At the Women’s caucus 7 people had nominated themselves in advance although only one turned up on the day and 2 more decided to run on the day. Jo Joynson was elected to the position. There was also a general liberation discussion where anyone could attend as often with caucuses you are preaching to the converted.

There was a then a session with Ian McNicol. He gave a great speech and answered questions. Which included tackling unpaid internships – which he stated he knew of no one who did that but would never support or encourage such practice. There was also questions on making the party more accessible and introducing a disability manifesto. Which Ian McNicol stated thought would be an good idea to introduce.

We the moved into a policy discussion with Angela Engle. Which during the break before hand me and some mates got speaking to her about various things. There was various workshops and I attended the one on Youth Politics. Which had discussions on votes at 16, how to actively involve and make campaigns more accessible for those with a disability. And a discussion. On how to retain more BAME members.

At the end of conference me and some of my Welsh friends finished the weekend in the only way we knew how… A curry!

Why Remploy is not good for increasing disabled employment!

My Mum has MS and a few years ago spent a couple of weeks working at Remploy, and completely hated it. In a time of the Equality act and liberation campaigns. I think that the closer of Remploy Factories is actually the right move. Yes there needs to be support for people with disabilities getting into work. However it needs to be work where they can work along side people disabled and able bodied. Most people who work for Remploy do not go on to work within the rest of society. If there was such a scheme that kept people of ethnic minorities or women in employment but separate from the rest of the work force everyone would be up in arms. There needs to be schemes to help disabled into normal jobs, not to keep them separate from everyone else in society.

Today is the first day of the rest of my life…

I doubt that I am going to get through writing this without crying (as I have already cried with happiness about 20 times day), but here goes….

I woke up this morning to find out that I had achieved a 2:1 degree in BA (Hons) Business Management along with achieving a first for my dissertation (which was the biggest shock of all). It is fair to say that I am ecstatic and my parents are proud. Although it has not been a easy road to here, I have had to overcome obstacles from just after I was born. When I was 7 months I had septicemia, which was terrifying time for my parents, I have seen some of the side affects of the illness, and I was really luck not to have any of them.

I am Dyslexic and until I was 10 when my parents couldn’t afford to get me tested (sadly only due to inheritance from a family member) that many teachers would believe that I had the learning disability. At Infant School, one teacher said that she was trained to spot Dyslexic’s and I certainly wasn’t (I was just apparently less intelligent than the other children) She even ripped up my work and called me thick in the front of the class at times. What was even better was my family are friends with one of the teachers working at that school the time, and informed us of the time that this teacher (who had predicted me to get a level 1 for maths in year 2 SATS) came running into the staff room telling them to guess who got a level 3 maths in her class and astonished that our friend and my previous teacher both got it right in one. I also found out today (from my mum) that the Head of that school said that I wasn’t Dyslexic because they would have picked up on it by then and I would be in a special school because they do not have Dyslexic kids in their school.

Due to how I was treated in year two I moved to a different school for juniors and by the time I was in year 5, I was having all these problems again. My parents were having arguments with my teacher about whether I was Dyslexic (expect this one was worse). I was meant to be in top set for Maths, she dragged me out (the teacher for top set even had an argument with her to try and stop it happening) and put me in her set (bottom) marked all my work wrong because she couldn’t follow how I had worked it out. When she told my parents that and showed them the work my dad took one look at it and said well I can so your telling me that she is a better at Maths than you are. When my mum at the same parents evening brought up the subject that they thought I was dyslexic, they got that they were both intelligent parents who couldn’t accept that they had a child who was not as intelligent. She even asked my mum if it had been a difficult birth because she thought I was brain damaged. My mum explained that My granddad had thought the same about me being Dyslexic before he had died (three years prior) and got well what do grandparents know. Well when he worked with people who were Dyslexic and me and my mum suspect he was Dyslexic and he hid it well from others probably quite a lot. This is the best bit, when my parents told her that they were paying £200 to get me tested they got told that these tests are very accurate and that you can not contest or appeal them so it would be a waste of our money. She was that convinced that the test would come back negative, that when it said that I was dyslexic she was the one trying to appeal it. The year later was when things started to turn around my teacher that year was brilliant and so helpful and supportive. by the time I left Juniors I have a level 5 Maths and Level 3 English SATS. I was annoyed I had not been put forward for the level 6 Maths but very proud of the 3 English (that was the biggest achievement). It shows how damaging this was to my year 5 teachers reputation when she ignored my Father who had helped out in her class and was a governor and slammed a door (in a Victorian building) in my mum’s face who is disabled and was walking with two crutches at the time.

I again had further troubles at High school, I got bullied at the first school some of the teachers were helpful but others weren’t just got comments well she shouldn’t let them. That’s easier send than done especially when you have already had all your confidence kicked out of you by teachers never mind pupils over the prior 5 years. It got so bad I decided that I had to get out of there, I moved schools just before my year 9 SATs, where I achieved a Level 6 Maths and Level 4 English. Then at my new school during my GCSEs I was ill constantly for two years missing nearly half of my GCSE education. I ended up dropping two subjects to concentrate on the rest, then I got to just after my mock exams in Year 11 (where I achieved nothing less than a E) and my Head of Year pulled me aside to suggest that I drop everything I didn’t have to take and concentrate on getting a C for Maths English and Science. This would have meant dropping History which I loved and was only 1 mark of a C in my mocks and I didn’t like science and was no way I was going to get a C I just didn’t understand it. All she was concerned about was me getting Science because they were a science college. When I told her no she phoned my parents and told them they had to tell me to drop everything otherwise I would only get F’s and G’s. My dad told her that he was not going to make me do anything that I didn’t want to and asked if I was only going to get F’s and G’s why didn’t I get anything less for my mocks. The next day my History teacher who was also one of the R.S. teachers came into my R.S. class to say who was taking the exam and who was not as only half the year took the exam as it was only a half GCSE, and she actually allowed me to make the decision to whether I took the exam, so I did. This head of year had even asked my why I had applied to Greenhead College (the best college in the country) and New college. She and the careers advice person had both decided my only viable option was E2E (Education to Employment). I even knew then I was better than that! by the end I had 2 C’s 3.5 D’s and 2 E’s.

I went on to college where was the first time that people really believed in my ability, I resat my English and did a Btec First (worth 4 GCSEs) and excelled at in the teachers were even sending other students to me for help when they were busy or probably just couldn’t be bothered. Although 3 others attained Distinctions that year (first time in the colleges history that anyone had and there were four of us) I attained more points than anyone 38/42 and that was only because I got told there was no point doing the other work. I wanted to go for 42/42. The next two years I stayed at the college and did the Btec National (worth 3 A levels) again the teachers believed in me and great exceptions for me, I was predicted to come out with DDD the best you can attain however I attained DDM the next best because I will be the first to admit I slacked towards the end. Although the head of department had congratulated me on getting the best mark in the class. I had to point out that another girl had done better than me, and got well done on being the second best then. The next disaster was the exam board lost the whole courses marks so hadn’t got past to the University. one of the assistant principals had to ring up and confirm that I achieved what they were asking for, and then they accepted me.

The last four years I have spent at Swansea University which has been a rollercoaster. When I first started I knew no one but everyone seemed to know me (this is because I created a group for the people living in the village as I couldn’t find one and got 600 members in a day). Turned out that the SU had been FB stalking me and that there was a prize for the first one to meet me (or at least I have been told). Uni was so different to college and school and any way of learning I had ever known. In my first year I struggled mainly due to my Dyslexia and the fact I had never really had proper revision practice with being ill during GCSEs and doing Btec’s at college, therefore failing half the modules in my first year (even with working damn hard). I even thought over changing degree to History and Politics, I really had decided that Business most not be for me and I had always had an interest in History and recently got involved in the University’s Labour Students’ Society. But after talking to the head of politics who wanted to take my grades from my first year of business into account (which history said they shouldn’t as I would be starting from level 1 again anyways) decided to stick with Business. I failed all my resits in the summer by getting exactly the same or worse than originally and having to resit the modules I had failed the following year. It should be pointed out that in my first year there was negative marking for multiple choice questions and most exams were multiple choice, therefore any question answered incorrectly got either a quarter or a third of marks deducted. This policy was scrapped the following year (probably because loads of people failed). In the year that I resat level 1 I was on various committees including the student union. I passed my resits and completed the level of study and went on to level two of my studies. This year seemed like it was going a breeze nothing seemed to be going wrong that was until everyone else on my course results came out and mine didn’t. Kept trying to find out what was going on and just kept getting fobbed off that they were still being processed. eventually found out from my tutor that there was a 0 showing for one of my results and that the grade was lost. took another week for me to find out all my other grades because they wouldn’t even realise the rest. After three weeks of stress my dad final managed to get hold of someone who could do something about it, and they had only heard about the problem earlier that day. With the next 24 hours I had been offered a 60% the overall average for that module, something I as very happy with. I had one tolerated fail and this meant that I could definitely progress onto the level 3. I decided to opt to do a optional business plan dissertation which was 20 credits of my course. Due to the format of not being a traditional dissertation I struggled at times to work out how I was to format it and what direction I was meant to take. Also I started getting really bad wisdom tooth pain in August a month before going back to Uni and it didn’t get removed until just after my exams in Jan, which had an affect on my energy. I also had problems with my accommodation with both lifts breaking over Christmas /New Year I lived on the 8th floor and have asthma, walking up there everyday for week felt like it was going to kill me. Also had a week without heating because of misunderstanding after a burst pipe had been mended in the building, at one point in this week it was snowing, it was like a freezer in my room. All which had an impact on my health and likely my work ethic. by the time June exams came I was not confident about any of my exams, and nearly came out of one crying, I looked at all the questions and couldn’t think how to answer one and the builders drilling right out side on and off did not help. I managed to get 48% overall for that module which I am happy with knowing how I felt looking at the exam. My best mark of the year was Organisational Behaviour which was 100% essay relating a business to organisational metaphors and I wrote about News International which was completely unique and gained 72% and I was astonished by my dissertation mark knowing that after the progress report and business outline I had averaged 49% and got 58% for the presentation and overall all 3 were 25% of my mark I thought the most I could hope for was 60% and I even thought that was optimistic. As it turns out I achieved 70% something I am damn proud of, probably more than anything during Uni. Well except achieving a 2:1 classification think that is the real highlight, and fingers up to some of the people already been mentioned in this.

You might wonder why the title of this is “Today is the first day of the rest of my life…” when I have basically given you my life history. Well I know that I have lack of confidence at times definitely got more confidence that I used to do, but it still has a long way to go. My Boyfriend called me the “Stupidest Clever Person he knows” but he now insists that it was “Cleverest Stupid Person he knows” because of me not having confidence in my own ability. I know that I don’t at times and put myself down when I shouldn’t but when most of my life i have been used to others putting me down including teachers  is it surprising.

I have always fought to prove them wrong (and I have done that now) so I think that it is now time for me to have confidence in my own ability and give myself credit where it is due. Now I just need to decide what to do next, get a job, do a masters, pursue a business plan the options are endless.

So one final note – never let anyone put you down, or belittle you and fight for what you want and never care what anyone else thinks xxx

SU Elections

First off I know there is going to be a lot of people I know, who are not going to agree or like what I am about to say. however what I have learnt in the past few months is not to care what others think of me nor to be scared of expressing my opinion.

secondly I just want to make clear that what I am about to write is no indication of who I will vote for in the elections. I have said throughout that I am keeping my vote private and that still stands.

Therefore I want to comment on the recent scandal over the Women’s Officer elections.

I think that it is awful how one candidate is being cyber bullied by other members of the union and of NUS Wales just for expressing her views about the women’s position being outdated and for trying to make a joke out of traditional stereotypes and making people think about those issues.

Taking the first point, as it currently stands the remit of the Women’s Officer at Swansea University covers all of the liberation campaigns, not just the issues facing women (which plenty of students do not realise). Therefore surely changing the name to Equalities Officer is a logical move. It would make the remit of the position more clear to the vast student population of the union. I have heard people ask plenty of times why do we need a Women’s Officer and the reason they ask that is because they do not truly understand what the remit entails. back in 08/09 the treasurer position was changed to what is now the Societies and Services Officer none of the duties or responsibilities changed. Just the name. So what is so wrong with changing Women’s Officer to Equalities, especially when the candidate has also expressed that she would also introduce a part time Women’s Officer.

Currently all other liberations have a part-time officer who work with the Women’s Officer on campaigns. Surely by taking this move it is actually providing better and fairer representation of all the liberations and not mainly concentrating on one.

On this point, I would like to point out that a male mate of mine was told in my first year that he shouldn’t be able to support nor vote for the women’s officer. this mate has dyslexia, which is a learning disability and therefore defines into the liberation for disabilities, which is under the remit of the women’s officer so why shouldn’t he able to vote. this is proves more that the name needs updating to represent all the liberations.

On the second point I believe that if people can not see that the candidate is making a joke out of the traditional stereotypes then they need to get their heads out of the clouds and back to reality.

The way you make people take notice and look at something is to make a joke out of it. candidates in elections used to have fun laugh and make jokes all the time. now they are just being extremely serious.

On a final note, for all those who are upset and offended by this candidates campaign, can I just remind you of two things

– “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about” Oscar Wilde

– All publicity is good publicity

Can You Remember Where You Were 6 Years Ago Today

Six years ago today was 7th July 2005, or more famously known now as 7/7.  As most people will know and if you don’t know how can’t you? Six Years ago four bombs were set off by a set of suicide bombers on the London Transport System, three of them were on various routes on the underground and the fourth was set off on the top deck of a bus. This attack killed 50+ people including the bombers and injured loads more. It was the worse attack to be seen in London.

I along with most people can probably remember exactly where they were when they heard the news break.  For me it was a very surreal experience hearing about the bombs for the first time. I was at the time in Cornwall Connecticut.  Me and my parents the night before were happy when the waitress in the restaurant told us that London had got the 2012 Olympics. The main reason I was happy about this was that it proved my Dad wrong whom had reckoned that they were going to go to either Paris or New York. In the morning we had been down for breakfast, I had finished so decided to go back to the hotel room to watch TV whilst I waited for my parents. Which is something I have done often whilst on holiday then and before. Little did I know that watching TV that day was going to be like no other.

I was sat on the bed watching Regis & Kelly when it came up with “sorry to interrupt this programme for an important news bulletin” at this point I remember thinking OMG what has happened in America now. When it came up with images of the bombed London Bus saying that four bombs had gone off on the London Transport System, I just couldn’t believe it. Without hesitation I jumped up started running for the door, then had to retreat as I realised I had forgotten the key. Ran faster than I think I have ever in my life, called the lift (which seemed extremely slow to get to me, and even slower to get to the ground floor) and then ran to where my parents were still have breakfast. Apparently my dad could see me coming and according to him he said that I looked mad and like I was on a mission. Which to be fair both were probably correct. Once I told my parents the news we all dashed back to the room to listen to the news.

My dad was determined though that it was not going to ruin our holiday, so we headed out to Mistick, I will never forget seeing both the American Flag and Union Jack flying underneath each other at half mass. In the evening we had food in the restaurant back at the hotel, my Mum couldn’t eat hers just because she was not feeling well and was nothing to do with the days events. However we believe that the Hotel thought it was and actually didn’t charge us for my mum’s meal.

To be honest I think the most surreal part of my trip to America six years ago was the fact we headed to New York on the 8th July, basically the day after. Everyone in Connecticut and New York were so lovely, but obviously more so in New York. We had people asking us if we had been in contact with our family and friends to make sure they were all ok, thus proving that Americans think that the whole of England is in London. Got asked if we knew of anyone whom was there. One person even asked me if I had been there. I don’t think that guy was right in the head somehow. Everyone kept telling us that their thoughts were with London, and kept making out that it was as big was 911. Which was unbelievable how they were comparing them as being on the same level when over 2000 were killed in 911 and 1000s more injured along with the 2 tallest buildings in America collapsing to the ground. Where 50+ people died in London, and 100s injured. It doesn’t mean that either of them should have happened. No one should have been killed on either of those days. Not even the bombers, killing yourself is the cowedly way out. What Justice is that, for all those innocent people whom died and were injured in those events. To think that those people did exactly what they intended to do by killing themselves and the people around them none.

It was really moving to see to the extent that New York were thinking about London. Me and my parents went to visit Ground Zero which was about 5 minute walk from our Hotel. There was a huge sign attached to the railings saying New York, London Sister Cities Our Sympathies Are With You, and all you could see was people signing it.

I will never forget my one and only trip to America and definitely Connecticut and New York, being in New York at that time did open my eyes more to how strongly upset they were over 911 and how it would be apart of those people for the rest of their lifes.

I remember telling me that no one we knew would be effected because we lived in the North of England 100s of miles from London. Yes that statement was correct. But I was in for the shock of my life on returning home. I think it was the day after we got back so about the 13th July that one of my School mates was holding a party around at hers to celebrate us finishing our GCSEs and thus our High School education. Just before I was about to leave for the party I remember getting a phone call, it was a reporter from the Yorkshire Post. Wanting to know if I knew anything about Germaine Lindsay one of the suicide bombers. I was a bit confused to why they were phoning me. So I asked why he thought I would know anything about him, and got haven’t you heard the news. Which with being in America for 5 out of the 6 days since the incident happened I hadn’t heard anything. It turned out that Germaine Lindsay had attended the same High School that I had attended. He was three years ahead of me, so I didn’t know anything about the guy. But the Shock that I had actually attended the same school breathed the same air, walked down the same coridoors, creeped me out then now and will for the rest of my life.

 

London Backpackers!

On Sunday 26th June, me and my mate Charlie met up in London and headed to the London Backpackers Hostel in Hendon, which we had booked nearly 2 months in advance. Little did we know that for a few hours London Backpackers was what we were about to become. I had stayed at this hostel twice in the past, so had no worries about booking the place. On trying to check in to the place it turned out that they couldn’t find our booking, and on searching both my bank statements and the hostelworld website we had booked through there was nothing. It seemed that even though it had said at the time our booking was successful it wasn’t. Thinking that me and my mate 21 and 22 years old were  both now stranded in London, stressing about what we were going to do, you would have thought that the Hostel would have been slightly more polite with us. I am not someone who is just randomly going to turn up at a hostel insisting I had booked into the place if I hadn’t. The man on the reception was just plan rude and on the verge of calling me a liar. We ended up on Hendon Central tube station platform using the internet on our phone and calling our families to try and find somewhere to stay even if it was just for that night. Thankfully my parents found an Ibis at Wembley which they booked for one night on my credit card, and a very lovely woman on the platform explained that it would be quicker to get the bus than the tube especially on a Sunday. On arrival at the Hotel I enquired into if they had any room for the three nights after, luckily they had room up till Tuesday night, so we only had to find somewhere for the final night, which Charlie’s mum and uncle found a b&b in Paddington and were kind enough to pay for. After this whole experience I am never going to stay in a Hostel again, I was just lucky that it was a hostel within my own country and within a city I knew how to get about in. As i will never trust booking through Hostelworld again, and even if I did stay in a Hostel again it would certainly never be in the London Backpackers, they have certainly lost custom for life.

What a weird 2 days has it/will be

Ok the last 24 hours have been very weird annoying and frustrating to say the least. The internet at my house decided that it wanted to be a yoyo. never knowing if it was going to stay on or not. Then i realised that my Iphone would not charge and looks like it has a fault. The phone is out of warrenty and because it is not accidently damage, looks like it will not be  covered on my parents insurance. Then i realised that i had very little/no credit left on my pay as you go, and orange wanted to be spazzers and not allow meto top up over the phone so had to buy a voucher. So all in all had a been in communicardo day. Also was meant to get loads of revision not. bit happened not much ended up falling asleep. Before going out for two Birthdays.

Which after headed straight for the library at 11pm at night. Which is where i have been for the past 6 hours starting and finishing off my Skills review. it is the first time I have pulled an all nighter for uni work and it was for something now worth much and could have been completed weeks ago. tut tut to me.

Now it is 5am on Thursday the 5th may. Meaning that it is election day. i now have to debate going home for a quick nap or going out leafleting in 10 minutes time. oo what to do.

Well whatever happens doesnt look like I will be getting much sleep till tonight and hopes that Welsh Assembly get a labour Majority and that we get No to AV

All is good x

Why I am voting no2av

In just over 2 weeks time, the country will once again going to the ballot boxes. However on 5th May as well as voting in the council elections in England, the Welsh Assembly elections and Scottish Parliament elections. There will also be a referendum on reforming our voting system. At the moment we currently use the first past the post system, meaning that who ever gets the most amount of votes wins. However, the system that you can vote for in the referendum is the AV (Alternative vote) system. With this a candidate needs to get 50% +1 vote to be elected. Basically instead of just placing a x next to the candidate you wanted to vote for, you would list them in order of preference, so 1 for your 1st choice 2 for you second and so on. There is also no compulsion to have to place a preference next to every candidate.

I shall tell you now, why I will not be voting in favour of this change. It is made out that the AV is fairer than that of first past the post, as it means that you have to get more than 50% of the vote to win, and therefore have the majority of people backing you. However that is not more than 50% of first preference votes, because if it was it wouldn’t matter which system we had, because they would win with either system.  AV can have a lot of rounds of voting before a candidate achieves the 50%+1 they need to win. this means that they will be getting a lot of 2nd and 3rd and maybe even 4th and 5th etc votes to get them elected. when the votes are transferred from losing candidates they still have equal weighting. In my opinion that means that people whom vote for candidates that lose and are eliminated from the count are actually getting another chance to vote. Therefore meaning that their votes are actually worth more than someone whom votes for the winning or runner up candidates.

Also there has been no real debate about reform or PR from the Government. The only debate is yes to av or no to av. There is more than 2 voting systems. I believe that there should have been a real debate about PR and which voting system would be best for us.

As a member of the Labour Party, it is not every often that I would say that Michael Howard was talking more sense than Peter Hain. However, on Question Time the other night that was in fact the case. Michael Howard made the point that we need accountability within Government, and that with First past the post the majority of the time it leads to a majority government. (of course not all the time as we are in a coalition at the moment, but this is our first coalition post ww2) Where with a AV system it would be more likely to lead to more hung parliaments and more coalitions. It was pointed out by Peter Hain that in Australia they have PR and that it rarely leads to coalitions. Just one thing he forgot to mention, that there it is illegal not to vote, and is illegal to spoil the paper. We are lucky if we get 60% out voting in a general election. So really the two are incomparable.

That is another thing with this AV referendum,  with it only being council elections, along with other elections in Wales and Scotland. There will be even less people turning out to vote. Maybe this coalition government should stop wasting money trying to change the voting system to one that will not work, and instead investing that money to try and engage people to why they should vote in elections. Why it does matter, and if all else fails (as much as i dont agree with it) look at adopting a system like they have in Australia, where it is illegal not to vote.

I do not think that we can have a referendum of AV if only 30% of the voting population turn out to vote. That means that the voting system could be changed on the say so of just over 15% of the voting population, and that is definitely not fair.

Until there is a real choice and a really debate on this topic. I can not vote for it. It is currently a badly thought out coalition agreement. That the LibDems only agreed to because they were told it is that or nothing, and they are that power hungry that they took it. I would much prefer to see a choice for STV that is similar to AV but gives weighting when transfering votes. for example if a losing candidate got 15% of the vote, then when transferring their votes to the 2nd perferences those votes would only be worth 15% of a whole vote, and not a whole vote like with AV. That would be PR and far fairer.

so whatever you do on 5th of may please vote NOtoAV

Toxic Clegg

It has come to light that the Liberal Democrats in Sheffield,(where Nick Clegg is MP)  are airbrushing Nick Clegg out of their leaflets.  I think that this shows how hated Nick Clegg is within the country, and within his Constituency for Sheffield Liberal Democrats to take this move. In order to try and save votes.

I think that in light of this a long with a Liberal Democrat Councillor writing to Nick Clegg to warn him to pull out of the collision because he feared that the LibDems are going to lose tons of Council seats. Shows the thoughts by some of the people within their party. It is obvious that some libdems are not happy with what Nick Clegg has done, and I believe that even if the collision manages to last until September when Party Conferences happen. That there will be a vote of no confidence against him. It doesn’t help with some LibDem MP’s defending what they have done within this collision by saying we haven’t been in power for 65 years, and before the election we could make policy that we knew we could never carry through because we knew we wouldn’t be elected. However now that we are in power, we need to make sure that we do whatever possible to stay there.

So basically saying that they are power hungry and have no morals.

Another thing in the news this week is that Norman Lamb MP, one of Nick Clegg’s advisor’s, is considering resigning over the NHS reform, if they cannot get the Health Profession onside. Realising that it is not going to work if Doctors Nurses etc are not happy to co-operate with it.

It has also been in the News today that Gillian Duffy (the woman called a bigot by Gordon Brown during the General Election campaign) asked Nick Clegg, if he was happy with the policies being made within this collision. When he gave a response of “the government was taking tough decisions in order to cut the UK’s deficit” She blatantly told him that is the same speech you gave a hour ago.

I think that all of these (and probably loads more in the news) shows that it is only time before this Collision and Nick Clegg crumble to the ground. I seriously hope that it does, and that we have another election soon.