The Inkling Volume 2

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The Big Debate By Katie Kirkpat- In November this year, I and seven other Year 11 students took part in our school’s heats of local MP Lucy Frazer’s parliamentary debating competition. During the afternoon, we held two heated debates on the abolition of university tuition fees. ‘Points of interest’ (where you can interrupt another speaker to disagree with something they’ve said) flew as the English teachers watched and made cheers and gasps heard only at a football match. Eventually, Beth Buchan and I were announced as the winners. We were told that the final would be held in the House of Commons, and that we would be debating for the legalisation of all drugs. December 7th, the day of the final, came around alarmingly quickly. Soon enough, seven of us were piled into the school minibus with heavy bags full of chocolate, crisps, drinks… and notes of course. Arriving at the station, we met Miss Owen and Mr Nieuwoudt and purchased our tickets, breathing a sigh of relief - we were half an hour early. In the waiting room, we befriended a woman who told us stories of Soham teachers of days gone by: the school certainly has changed! The half-hour wait passed quickly, and we were soon on the train and ready to go. Just over two hours later, we pulled in to London King’s Cross. What followed was the most stressful part of the day - yes, even more stressful than the debate itself. I hate the tube so about six stops of it in rush hour sounded like hell to me. In reality, the tube itself wasn’t too bad; it was the jogging around the underground, desperately trying to keep the group together that was a little more difficult. Eventually, we saw the holy glow of daylight and stepped out into Westminster. As soon as we got above ground, the excitement was tangible. Buskers filled the London air with a cheerful buzz of Christmas carols, and festive lights were everywhere. Even the plane flying above us had flashing red and green lights to match the Christmas theme. Walking through the busy streets, it began to sink in that we were going to debate in the House of Commons. But before we could enter Parliament, there was security. Given the importance of the building itself and the people inside, we knew the security checks would be pretty intense, but it was still a little surreal. Just like at an airport, we had to take off anything metal and walk through a scanner. A jolt of fear ran through me as I beeped, but once the assistant had scanned my shoes (why shoes?) I was free to enter. Even just the walk to our committee room was an experience. The building was full of statues of political figures and enormous paintings, as well as the somehow both ominous and reassuring presence of police around every corner. It was particularly exciting to see our debate listed on huge screens that sit near to the Chamber. Adrenaline running, we were ready to start the debate. And yet we had to wait for an hour: some of the schools were running late; Beth and I were sat on the panel table for what felt like a day as we looked out at the stormy sea of faces before us. Eventually, everyone arrived and it was time to begin. Beth was the very first speaker of the event. She gave a fantastic argument, although sadly none of the opposition interjected; I enjoyed a lively debate with one of the Witchford students on peer pressure. Other points brought up included recovery, taxation and purity. Watching the second debate allowed us to engage with points that we hadn’t already considered. Some excellent arguments were given, and we particularly enjoyed when one student answered an interjection with “No. I Googled that, I’m definitely right.” Before the results were announced, Lucy Frazer opened the debate up to the floor, leading to a heated debate between King’s Ely and Impington over a battlefield metaphor… Luckily, Lucy told us it was time for the results before anything could get out of hand. First of all, the winning team of each debate was announced, and we were thrilled to find out we had won! The judge, BBC News correspondent Lucy Manning, then went on to declare the overall individual first, second, and third place. Impressed by some very well-planned speeches from the other schools, I was confident I hadn’t placed. You can imagine how shocked I was to be awarded joint first place! It was fantastic to sit back with the group and feel like I’d done the school proud. Once all the congratulations were over, we headed out of the committee room and towards the Chamber for a brief tour. It was really interesting to see a room where so many important decisions have been made. But once we left parliament and made our way back onto the tube, there was only one thing on everyone’s mind. Not success, not politics, but food. About half an hour later (at 9p.m., the time we were meant to be returning to Ely…) we walked into the fluorescent interior of McDonald’s. The scents of bland cheese and potent onion felt like a blessing, as many of us had not eaten since break or lunch. Four ice-creams, seven portions of fries, five cokes and one hundred chicken nuggets (yep, I did the maths) later, we finally boarded the train back to Ely. The following two hours were pure chaos. Between us, we consumed more food than I’ve probably eaten in the last year, while laughing at literally everything. The sugar high we gained from a super healthy combination of icecream, milkshakes, fizzy drinks, apple pie, Maoams and chocolate somehow managed to last the entire train journey - that, and the post-performance buzz from the debate. Climbing into my mum’s car afterwards felt like stepping back into the normal world after a day of London havoc. Overall, the debate was an incredible experience. The event itself was very enriching, and gave everyone involved a sense of pride and accomplishment. It was also lovely to spend time with students in other classes and see the city for a day. Perhaps next time I go to London, though, I won’t buy quite as many chicken nuggets...
Political Poetry By David Makale na The last two weeks have been full of grief Labour vs Conservative; lots of beef Things have been said that insulted a few Hopefully they’ll join together and follow-through. Let’s start with Labour, down in Brighton Welcome Jeremy Corbyn: the Red Titan Back in May, Labour won a lot more Corbyn said that the Conservatives are done for. Theresa May promised a ‘strong and stable’ Britain The consequences look like that may have to be rewritten Coalition times have just begun now Labour has a good stance in Parliament. Wow! Jeremy presented the party as a place of unity ‘Voting for us would be a great opportunity’ The young are on board but the old not so much Discussions of Grenfell added a nice touch. The public supported the London disaster A Labour government would help out much faster If you're living in a house and paying rent Increasing prices is what Labour promises to prevent. Working will be improved too; soon you’ll have a bigger voice Under a Labour government, workers will have more choice Corbyn sent punches flying towards the Daily Mail Accusing them of making Labour seem frail. Now let’s turn to the elephant in the room; Brexit needs attention Labour vs Conservative; different methods, same tension Jeremy says that Labour are the only ones who can unite us Conservatives have no idea what they're doing, especially Liz Truss. Labour also promises to scrap the public sector pay cap Poor vs Rich; Labour pledges to reduce the gap University tuition fees are large and they terrify Corbyn wants to kick them away saying ‘Bye Bye!’ All in all, Labour’s conference went okay although some would say excellent Corbyn made Conservatives look like they were covered in excrement But just a week later up in Manchester, Theresa May fired back Trying to persuade Conservatives that she doesn’t deserve the sack. Tensions were high when May entered the room With a bad voice, negative thoughts continued to loom It was upsetting that from there, things just got worse Malfunctions and prankers; Theresa was under a curse. Let's start with her policies, some quite important news Excuses for why back in May Theresa did lose She said that her tagline was ‘too presidential’ She did not realise that it would be so consequential. The Conservatives also promised to do a review of mental health To help absolutely everyone in the entire British Commonwealth Theresa said she still has a desire to follow her policies through Thinking back to Cameron’s speech it sounds like déjà vu. May declared that more houses are going to be built To make sure that the British population does not begin to wilt Enticing them as well is a cap on expensive energy bills Giving people more money to spend on their thrills. Unlike Labour they are not going to cut tuition fees Later on in the speech Theresa started to wheeze Her bad voice had broken her hard and things weren’t going well The collapsing background made sure that everyone else could tell. But then Theresa May started to thrive Until a prankster handed her a P45 Boris had been humiliated and Theresa tried to recover Theresa talked Brexit but there was nothing new to discover. The most important thing to take out of this speech was Theresa’s active immunity Her main policies were forgotten; all she was trying to do was form unity Both parties had their problems; some of their speeches were like a dump But just be glad that our Prime Minister is not Donald J Trump.
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COntents Opening Culture Creative S
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Opening Miss Fletcher Head of the I
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Katie Kirkpatrick Xavier St John Ed
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Page 11 and 12: Picture this: the night of Septembe
Page 13 and 14: 6) ‘Wonder Woman’ The only posi
Page 15 and 16: 6) Rick and Morty Season 3 This hil
Page 17 and 18: vourites TV Shows 10) The Great Bri
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Page 23 and 24: An Oscars Prediction By David Makal
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Page 27 and 28: Music ‘Do They Know It’s Christ
Page 29 and 30: e he hurriedly pushed the offending
Page 31 and 32: Salt to the sea book review By Lo r
Page 33 and 34: Beneath the music By Gemma Bridges
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Page 42 and 43: "Undeni territo was Apo Professor S
Page 44 and 45: Turkey Farms Dedicated to lewis cha
Page 46 and 47: “ Four days that shook my world
Page 49 and 50: Chr istmas: Religious or Co mmercia
Page 53: Christmas Mince Pie Recipe By Miss
Page 56 and 57: By Owen Crisp
Page 58 and 59: French voting ended nobody had won
Page 62 and 63: Careers post 16 As young people, we
Page 65: Part Time Jobs By Miss Boyle From s
Page 68 and 69: Interview in Industry Katie Empett,
Page 71 and 72: Year 11 Sixth Form applications Han
Page 73: Sports can often be dismissed as co
Page 76 and 77: On the British side of the Cham man
Page 78 and 79: SVC Sports Round Gemma Bridges Sinc
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Page 88 and 89: An Uplifting By Jenn As part of hel
Page 90 and 91: Maths Ch By Miss Afford
Page 92 and 93: SVC EVENTS recap The Christmas term
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