shhs magazine - South Hampstead High School

SHHS Interiors:Layout 1 12/06/2011 22:03 Page 1818politics andeconomicsPolitics round up for 2009-2011With the current political climate growing evermore intriguing, it is fitting that in the last two yearsat South Hampstead, we have been keeping up withtopical debates through our outside speakers andour own political involvement. We often take forgranted how fortunate we are to be so close toWestminster and to the heart of all the action, notonly in terms of Parliament itself, but also to actualexamples of direct action such as the recentprotests and sit-ins in relation to tuition fees and tothe controversial ‘democracy village’ situated inParliament Square.We have been visited by captivating speakers,ranging from current politicians such as GlendaJackson, who passionately explained her love of theLabour Party and why she feels the voting ageshould not be lowered to sixteen, to other influentialspeakers, such as Germaine Greer who spokeabout her beliefs and people’s reactions to them aswell as her time in the Big Brother house. SixthFormers were lucky enough to hear about politicaljournalism from the BBC’s Jon Sopel and to learnabout ways for young people to get involved in politicsfrom New Turn’s Babs Williams. We also benefittedfrom hearing Laurie Oliva from the LondonFeminist Network speak to us about feminism inLondon, Reclaim the Night and feminist viewpointsthat are different from Germaine Greer’s. TheUpper Sixth were able to listen, in a GeneralStudies session, to Matthew Hanney, political advisorto Nick Clegg to learn more about how governmentworks and about why politics is important.As well as being able to have talks specificallyfor South Hampstead students, we have also beenable to attend an annual politics conference forsixth formers held at the Methodist Central Hall inWestminster. In autumn 2009 we were able to hearNick Clegg speak about tuition fees and parliamentaryreform having no idea that, within only a fewmonths, he would become our Deputy PrimeMinister. In autumn 2010 the atmosphere at theconference was very different. Students, no longerinterested in giving a standing ovation to a leadingfigure of the Liberal Democrats, instead were keento constantly question their broken pledge ontuition fees, giving Simon Hughes much criticism forhis party’s actions. The conference also allowed usto hear Tony Benn speak about his own experiencesat a similar conference when he was thesame age as us, enabling us to hear his thoughtsabout politics in the modern day and how they contrastedfrom those of Hilary Benn who we werefortunate enough to hear speak at the conferencein the previous year. Margaret Hodge spoke abouther experiences as a female politician and her experiencein contesting her constituency seat with theBNP. The day was rounded off nicely with an explanationby John Bercow about his role as theSpeaker and his interest and commitment to theUK Youth Parliament.In February 2011 over thirty Economics andPolitics students in both Lower and Upper Sixthwent on a Politics and Economics trip to Paris toattend a conference for teenagers on issues surroundingpolitics, economics and the EuropeanUnion. The conference provided a concise explanationof the history of the European Union, an explanationof the implications of the free movement of