I was lucky enough to be in the audience for the BBC Politics Show's live debate at the Labour Party Conference in Manchester recently.  There were a few prominent people on the panel: John Prescott, Charles Clarke and Polly Toynbee.  The debate focused on issues such as whether or not Labour should hang on to Gordon Brown as their leader (most people thought they should) and whether or not people with a higher income should be taxed more (everybody thought they should).

It was a great chance for me to meet lots of people who are active in politics, and I learnt a lot from them about how I could get involved.  I really enjoyed the debate.

I went back to my local constituency meeting the next day, and am now the new Youth and Student Officer for my local area!

To see the debate, please visit: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/7627998.stm

I am really excited to have won a place in the Away to Remember competition and will be going to France and Belgium in November.  I have had to set up another Radiowaves account for this so that I am on the same channel as the other winners.  I will still be using this account for general stories and blogs, but to read about / hear / watch what happens on the Away to Remember trip, please look at my other account.  I think the link to it will be: www.radiowaves.co.uk/r/Bex_Bailey
Please follow what happens on the trip on my other account as it should be really interesting.  I can't wait!

I have launched a campaign to encourage fair trade as part of Channel 4's Battlefront project.  The 10 campaigns with the most votes go through to the next round and the winning one gets TV coverage and professional help with running their campaign.  Please vote for my campaign at: http://battlefront.co.uk/campaign/trade-is-bananas/

Here is what I have written about my campaign:

You spend 15p on a banana. The farmer who grew it receives around 2p of that. Is this really fair? Farmers are getting a poor deal and receiving pittance for their hard work. But, by buying fairly traded products, you can put an end to that and change lives! Fair trade could reduce world poverty. You can support farmers by buying products that have been fairly traded. Companies need to give farmers a fair deal. I want to encourage companies to engage in fair trade and encourage people to buy fairly traded products. This way we can support those people who are living in poverty as a result of unfair trade deals. We can help the poorest communities to get health programmes and build schools and roads, just through fair trade. Together, we can pull people out of poverty. All you have to do is BUY FAIR TRADE!

Please, please vote for it!  http://battlefront.co.uk/campaign/trade-is-bananas/

Hi all!
I am currently standing to be a Member of the UK Youth Parliament, so please vote for me!  My manifesto is:

"I can offer a unique combination of experience and fresh, original ideas to the UK Youth Parliament.  I won the National Youth Parliament Competition in 2007 and 2008, and through this gained much expertise in politics.

 

"One of my aims, if elected, is to break down the negative stereotypes of young people, put an end to the prejudices we face.  We are looked down on by society, but we have a voice and I will use that voice to bring about the changes that you and I want to see.  I will consult and listen to the views and concerns of my constituents.

 

"I will fight to get our views heard on the issues that matter to us: crime on our streets; the environment; education; the National Health Service; poverty in Third World countries.  I will make a difference and campaign for change.

 

"Vote Bex: let your voice be heard."

You can vote for me at: http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/youthzone/youthzone-gettinginvolved/representingyou/nottsmyps/mypelection2008/nottsyouthmps-form.htm

So much has happened since I last wrote a blog on Radiowaves.  Unfortunately I haven't had access to our Radiowaves equipment for a while so I haven't been able to make any audio reports, and I have been so busy that I haven't really had much time to write articles for Radiowaves either!

This summer I have done a week's work experience at the Citizenship Foundation ini London, which was really good fun.  I went to the awards ceremony for the National Youth Parliament Competition where I got to meet people like William Hague and Jon Sopel.  Gordon Brown, Jack Straw, Nick Clegg and Bridget Prentice were among the other people there.  I got to see Prime Minister's Question Time as well, which is something I had always wanted to do!  I absolutely loved it!  I went to France for a couple of weeks with my family, and spent another week in London with my friend.  Then I went to Leeds festival which was one of the best experiences of my life.  My favourite bands were The Killers and Babyshambles, and I also loved Dirty Pretty Things, Metallica and Editors. The atmosphere was incredible: electric.  It is amazing how everyone talks to each other and I think people should be more like that in the 'real' world!

This summer, I also found out that my school won the national prize in the Citizenship Foundation's Giving Nation competition, because we did lots of Citizenship/charity work.  This means that I will now be going to the rainforest in Cameroon to help the Rainforest Foundation there, which is literally a dream-come-true!!!  I can't wait for this!

I also got my GCSE results which I am pleased with.  Next year (well, it's this year really) I am staying on at my school's Sixth Form to study history, English literature and language, sociology and critical thinking.  I will also be teaching myself politics out of school (because my school doesn't offer it and there are no evening courses available) and doing a politics AS/A2 level.  Should be fun.

Stay tuned because I am going to be making lots of reports this school year!  I apologise for writing so much in this blog entry, but I thought I had better get everything up-to-date!

My last exam finished about an hour ago, so now I'm free!  This should hopefully mean I'll have much more time to make some Radiowaves reports!  Good luck to anyone else who still has exams!

I am very happy to say that I won "Best Press Officer" in the National Youth Parliament Competition 2008!  I feel totally ecstatic and I can't wait for the awards ceremony in London!  I will probably record a piece for Radiowaves about the day in London.

I just have a few more exams left and then I will be free to make some more Radiowaves reports!

I'm currently in the middle of sitting all my GCSE exams, so I might not be quite as prolific on Radiowaves as ususal. They will all be over by the middle of June, though, so then I'll get back to making radio reports! Good luck to everybody who has exams!

We have recruited lots of new reporters to our Radiowaves station! These are exciting times and, between us, we hope to cover lots of important issues and keep you up-to-date with what's in the news!

Stay tuned!