I wasn't nervous, I was more apprehensive

I wasn't nervous, I was more apprehensive. Today (Friday 26th April) was the first interview that I had conducted in about 5 years. One of the last ones was with a councilor from Boston, England. We talked about waterworks for a report on BBC Radio Lincolnshire, I was 15 at the time and manageress to persuade my headmaster to let me out for lunch to meet the councilor  I owned a Nokia 3310, which had three phone numbers on it, My own, My home number and the number of my school.

The very last interview that I did was with Jake Humphrey, I so wish that I had the original recording.

Fast forward to today, I'm now twenty, and I work for a independent youth newspaper. I'm sat on the train looking over the questions while adjusting to the pressure of the tunnels that come up, all while making my way through the every one of The Who tracks that I have on my iPhone, the one with a hundred contacts from those who I met very briefly during the course of my business, to my best friends some of whom I have known for about eight or nine years.

But back to the train, I'm (was, its now Thursday  on my way to Bite the Ballot HQ to meet with there founder and director, Mike Sani. I met Mike last week at the Why Should We Care? Event in Harrow last weekend and we had a good chat, but of course we both busy men, I mean, he runs a huge organisation, and I write about people.

Mike is a very interesting man, and I really want to delve deeper, but I need to stay on topic, I need to talk about Bite the Ballot, although I can afford my self the luxury of sneaking a few questions about his career at the end of  the interview. Let me put it this way, he studied Business Management and Finance in Southampton, became a banker in America, gave it up, when traveling for a year and then became a teacher and later set up Bite the Ballot.

Of course being the complete idiot that I am, I arrive at Southwark and hour and half early. How did I pull that one off? The journey was meant to take 3 hours, it took 90 minuets. I'm impressed, I felt like I have just outrun The Flash.

With 90 minutes to kill, I did the only sensible thing a person like me could do, I got coffee.

I decided to turn up 20 minutes early, that I feel is a sensible time to turn, early enough to show that I'm professional but not late enough to say 'oh my god, taxi'

The rest is here: http://www.shoutoutuk.org/2013/04/29/bitetheballot

I know, I should have put this post up when the interview go published, but I have been really busy. Please forgive, I have Cookies.

Why should we care?

Those who regularly read my blog will know that for the past few months I have been working with a organisation called Shout Out UK. There purpose is to give give young people a voice who are otherwise ignored by traditional media. 

I have also been working on the 'Why Should We Care?' event (ran by shout out uk) which aims to get politics onto the national curriculum and to show people that it is more then just arguing in parliament, it is about them.

This Saturday (20th april) I got to finally see the launch of the campaign and see a lot of hard work start to pay off. Of course the work has only just started, and this event will be the first of many. I wrote about the event on the Shout Out UK website, which can be viewed here.

The event started off with a simple networking session for everyone to get to know each other, then everyone took there place in the chambers and after a short film were welcomed by Marsha Thompson. The debate then started. Everything about the debate is in the article so I don't need to go into details here, but the main talking points were, the rise in tuition fees, the loss of the EMA, the relationship between media and politics, the cost of travel for young people and the role of the UKYP.

It was clear that everyone was passionate about the days issues, but there was also a great deal of respect between different parties, Of course there were times that I forgot that I was reporting on the debate and I had to join in, but before you give me that look, I did manage to plug Shout Out's twitter.

The debate lasted almost two hours before it brought to a close, and it was clear that we all could have talked all the way into next week.

I got involved with this campaign because I know that the young people of this country are fantastic, and they have the ability to change the world and make it a much better place, they just need a little nudge and the right tools. This campaign will give them those tools to get involved with politics and change the world.

One of the most stupid things that you can say is, 'I don't care' or 'I don't find it interesting  because it will not make you immune to the governments. Politics is not like football or a soap opera, you can't just ignore it. You should know how your country is run, and what the people running it are doing, that way you can hold them to account when they step out of line.

This bit is the blogging equivalent of a YouTube end screen. The bit that is in the background while you choose the next video.

If you want more information about the why should we care campaign you can go to shoutoutuk.org

You can follow Shoutout on twiiter or facebook

If you want to get involved with ShoutoutUK or want to help spread news on issue which affect or interest you, or if you want to launch your own campaign, send a email to editor@shoutoutuk.org 

You can also follow me on twitter

Why Should We Care, event planning so far.

I am on a roll today.

The planning for Why Should We Care? Politics in Schools launch event is going so well, and we are two days away.

But why am I investing my time and energy into this, simple, young people have been ignored by Politicians, demonized by the Media and never really been given a chance to speak up, So I joined Shout Out UK and decided to do something about it. Politics is part of everyone’s life, saying “I don’t find it interesting” won’t make you immune to the government’s laws.

Why Should We Care? is taking place in Harrow Council Chamber, if you can make it, it's free, more details are here. As well as Twitter and Facebook.

You have been invited.

I love being able to do awesome things, with awesome people and on Saturday 20th April 2013, I'm going to be doing just that.

But I want to do it differently, I want to take each and everyone of you with me.

I am helping to organize The Politics in Schools campaign run by ShoutOutUK. As the name suggests, this campaign is going to try and get politics into schools and working for young people. This is our chance,and we should not waste it.

More details are available here, for you lovely people to peruse over.

If you can make it, I would love you forever. If you cannot, you can still support us by following us on Twitter and Facebook

I will also be writing about the event for our website (that is being reconstructed), and blogging a bit on here as well. I know, get me.

p.s. I love the word peruse.


   

This title has no meaning.

I've neglected this blog for too long, my bad, I wanted to do a short post every day and a big post on Sundays, of course, life has found a way to blow up your world, I shan't go into details here.

But I have good news, I've just finished a article on the Russian Asteroid that exploded over the city of Chelyabinsk, I go into some detail about where Asteroids come from, and what caused it to come our way. I finish off by asking why no one saw it coming. I realize that this summary makes it sound really boring, I really hope it isn't. It was really good fun to write.

Also in April I am going to be working in the politics in schools campaign run by ShoutoutUK. This is a cause that I honestly believe in. The current voter registration in the United Kingdom is below 50% and I believe that this is due to a lack of political education in our schools. I am so looking forward this, I can't wait.

Today is also my un-birthday, so happy un-birthday to me.

I was in a hotel last week, I was given the choice between firm and soft pillows, I took a long time to come to a decision. Clearly a first world problem that shows that I need sort my priories out.

I really need to get working on my alien protocol article. That's going to be fun to write as well. The weird thing is that if you had told me a year ago that I would love writing things, I would have most likely unleashed my secret superpower on you. Spider-man eat your heart out. Now it's opening up all of these opportunities for me that I am incredibly grateful for.

I'm thinking about setting up a WordPress site. I'm thinking I need somewhere to put articles that I write and have something professional to show any future employers. I of course will still keep this blog going, in fact I will use it for what a blog is for, I will blog my life. If you have used WordPress before; What tips do you have? How did you use it? And would you recommend it?