The latest in my life, and the world

Hello!

This will just be a quick one; I just thought I ought to update this blog on some things that have been happening lately. I sometimes see things and think, 'Ooh, I ought to write about that...' and then something happens and I don't. It's really bad, isn't it?

I will start off with some good news. In my last blog I discussed spikes that were being put up around the country to prevent homeless people sleeping there, a measure which I needless to say disapprove of. I am happy to announce that due to the outcry, many of these have now been removed. I'm really pleased about this. I think we talk so much about bad things that go on that it goes unnoticed when actually, a public outcry is successful, as this one apparently has been.

Talking of public outcries, on 21 June there was a huge anti-austerity demonstration in London. I couldn't actually go as by the time I found out about it, I had already committed myself to something else (I'll talk about that below), but I am glad that such events are still taking place. I sometimes worry that we accept the status quo too much, and these things give me hope. What does concern me is the lack of footage that the BBC have given it. I feel as though this is a tactical way of minimising the amount of anarchy this country has. I don't especially like feeling that way especially as I try to give people the benefit of the doubt whenever I can, but I feel that on this occasion I have no choice, as there is no other reason that I can think of for this to happen. What I do find laughable is how people still complain that the BBC are very left-orientated! Seriously, I think that the BBC ought to be completely fair in how it deals with things. This does not mean making sure that both sides of a debate get an equal amount of coverage when science has proven one to be far more accurate, but it does mean not sitting and obeying the status quo.

What was I doing on that day? I was here in Bristol, promoting Global Education Partnership and petitioning Justine Greening to uphold her pledge to commit £525 million (yes, I did a double-take as well, but it is actually a very small percentage of our total budget - which we spend on garden parties and the Royal Family whilst there are people that can't afford to heat their homes). I was surprised at how unsuccessfully this particular event went actually. It seemed that very few people were actually willing to talk to me and my colleague, and I think we only got about five signatures in the whole day. Although I have heard that whilst this day was rather a fail, the campaign as a whole actually went really well, and I was recently informed that the funding has gone up by 50%. I think it's a really important campaign actually - it's not necessarily the sort of thing I generally get actively involved with, but when you actually consider it, there would be violent outcries (quite rightly so) if there was the merest hint of a suggestion that this country could not afford schools. So yes, I certainly think that we should be helping promote global education for all.

I have more projects to talk about, but I think they will have to wait for a later blog. This was just to briefly update on the sort of political work that I have been doing lately. Will be updating more soon, take care all!