#ukyp

[cumbriacrack]

Eighteen Cumbrian hopefuls for the UK Youth Parliament The UK Youth Parliament (UKYP) Elections take place on Monday 30 March, and eighteen candidates from across Cumbria are busy campaigning as they seek election to become one of three new Members of Youth Parliament Full story: https://www.cumbriacrack.com/2020/03/11/eighteen-cumbrian-hopefuls-for-the-uk-youth-parliament/

[cumbriacrack]

Cumbria elects three new Members of Youth parliament The wait was over today for eighteen young hopefuls, who have spent the last few weeks campaigning to become one of three newly elected Members of Youth Parliament Full story: https://www.cumbriacrack.com/2018/03/16/cumbria-elects-three-new-members-youth-parliament/

[cumbriacrack]

Eighteen Cumbrian hopefuls for the UK Youth Parliament The UK Youth Parliament Elections take place in March, and eighteen candidates from across Cumbria are busy campaigning as they seek election Full story: https://www.cumbriacrack.com/2018/01/26/eighteen-cumbrian-hopefuls-uk-youth-parliament/

[districtlightsforever]

Day Thirty-Seven

Friday, November 13th, 2015

So since I didn’t go to work yesterday for class, I got to go in today. Jonelle and I took up the U.K.’s Youth Parliament with was kind of cool but also long. Then did a DOD briefing which focused on the recent airstrike the killed Jahadi John.

6:30am - 1:30pm, 7 hours (297 hours total)

[yourvoteuk]

Teenagers in the world of politics

The mention of politics to many teenagers nowadays is an easy way to disengage them and switch off immediately, ask them if they are aware of the fact that our country is being governed under a coalition and they’ll no doubt just try to change the subject. But ask them if they think they should have more rights when it comes to buying alcohol or cigarettes, or perhaps if they agree with being taxed at the age of 16 - then you’d never be able to have the last word. But hold on a second… surely that’s politics, as well?

This is not a way of getting at teenagers, I am one myself, but the question is, have teenagers switched off from the world of politics because they feel as though it does not concern them, or is it just because they are oblivious to it? Is it true that teenagers just don’t know enough about politics, that when the news headlines involve David Cameron or Ed Miliband they look the other way or switch over to the earliest soap? But, in my opinion, this is more due to the fact that teenagers underestimate themselves and turn a blind eye to the world of politics because they believe that it is too complex for them, despite debatable issues concerning each and every one of us.

That’s the thing about politics. You may think that it’s confusing, and that it’s not relative to us at all. But, this has really got me thinking, if teenagers can succeed in writing amazing, gripping and thoughtful pieces of work then shouldn’t we consider involving teenagers in the real political world? I’m not expecting David Cameron to be reading this, but if so, Mr. Prime Minister, do you think that we could give it a go? The bottom line is, as teenagers, we don’t get a say in whether or not the death penalty should be legalised or whether or not the UK should be a part of the European Union, but if we can show the world that we care about these things, then perhaps we might just earn a better reputation.

Many say that 16-year-olds should not have the vote because it doesn’t affect them yet; others say that they shouldn’t because they just don’t really want to. Is this right - are we actually bothered? Not many of us are perhaps. It would seem, then, that not all teenagers really want to vote, but here’s my argument, if we were given the vote, then maybe we would take on the responsibility to find out about what we are actually voting for and take it more seriously than many adults do.

Something that really bugs me, is that instead of being politically aware, many teenagers tend to listen to politics only when forced into conversations with parents or other adults who, naturally enforce their own views onto us ‘children’. In fact, many teenagers’ first and only exposure to the world of politics is through parental perspectives, leaving opinions to not be truly reflective of personal opinions. As a teenager who will be voting in upcoming elections (unfortunately not in 2015, missing the voting age by just one year - one year), I know that my vote will be cast only after long thought, watching many fiery political debates and paying very close attention to the news.

Although democracy is all about political participation, I would also say that when voting it is important that people understand who, and what they are voting for. Allowing teenagers to vote would not mean that it would be compulsory, but giving them a choice as opposed to none at all. We know that the UK is also suffering from a participation crisis because fewer people are getting involved in politics generally. For example, in 1959 there was a turnout of 80% and in 2010; there was a turnout of just 65%. Surely by allowing young people the opportunity to take part in General Elections it would help to increase this, so long as teenagers became more implicated to learn about political affairs.

At some point, teenagers must learn that there is more to life than Kim Kardashian’s fashion sense, or Lady Gaga turning up to the MTV Music Awards in a dress made of raw beef. In a world where technology has advanced to a new, unimaginable level; maybe checking their BBC News app in the morning instead of checking their notifications on Facebook is not too much to ask - I just hope this happens sooner rather than later.

By Victoria Asimaki 16

[slide-away-columbiana]

Runaway Thoughts #13

So… I know that it has been quite a few days since I last posted, as I say in every single on of my posts im sorry that its late, things just get in the way its tough to find the time to sit down and write my thoughts up. But right now im on a fast train from Euston to Glasgow Central and I still have a decent chunk of the journey left, so I might as well use the time well.

What have I been listening to recently? Well, if you have read or if you do read through my last few posts then you will be able to see me mentioning kerrang radio and more progressive rock/metal type stuff and to be honest I am just developing on from that, finding select artists that I like. At the moment there is this song called End Of Me by A day to remember which is reallllllly good. It got this sort of steady but like ferocious beat that keeps the song alive while going alongside these quite calm vocals. The rest of the bands stuff is not so good, its very much proper metal with the shouty screamy vocals and unless im seriously pissed off its not really something I can handle. But some of its good all the same.

Deaf Havana. Quite a small band I guess, they have like 4,000 followers on Spotify, so people know about them, but I think they are hugely under rated, I managed to listen through pretty much every song by them multiple times over the space of a few hours yesterday. They have one quite popular track called Lost A Friend which is actually quite good, but I was listening to Kerrang and I came and the song 22 by them was played and I instantly loved it, so I would really recommend them.

Much to my dismay I have even gone down the route of total death in the form of You Me At Six, I have always condemned anyone who listens to them, so yes I am pretty much a massive hypocrite, I don’t love them, I don’t really get the massive hype that surrounds them, but they were decent enough, better than I expected they would be.

I also really like the song by Iron Maiden called Run To The Hills. Coupled with some more old school type stuff like Mettallica and jacking the volume up to 100 on my laptop has pretty much burst my eardrums, but damn is it worth it. These kind of tracks are those songs that are just timeless rock, they’ll never go out of style. Not for me anyway.

On this train journey despite wasting about 10 pounds of the free wifi, bringing a portable radio and two sets of headphones, I am effectively disabled when it comes to listening to anything. I have one single song on my itunes, which is called Chase The Tear by Portishead, who used to be one of my dad’s favourite bands. It is pretty good that is granted, but for 3 hours on repeat, its starting to kill me. It better than no fucking music though.

I am actually on the way to this massive youth politics event in Lancaster, called the annual sitting, ( I have actually already come back by now that ive posted this) It was really fantastic, I met some amazing people, you know who you are, and well yeah it was really good. Just for the record, I also managed to download illegally some music once I got there, so I had three songs on repeat on the journey home… Lucky me.

Anyway thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed. Probably pretty disjointed but still!

‘We’re up all night to Get Lucky.’

^^ Stands as my favourite pop song of a time

Columbiana Music Signing Out.

[artful-biscuit]

[worcestershireyouthcabinet-blog]

Make Your Mark - King Charles I School

At King Charles, everyone this year has been able to have their say in UKYP's 'Make Your Mark' Campaign 2013. The campaign was delivered in a special assembly on the lower site, and incorporated into tutorials and citizenship lessons on the upper site over the two weeks of voting. The school also showed there creativity by inviting all the students at the school to cast their vote online. Speaking about the campaign, Craig said "I'm delighted that students at King Charles got so involved in this year's campaign, and that alone is a success for youth voice in the area" The Learning Resource Centre, the research and study hub at King Charles also got involved in this year's campaign and through the traditional ballot paper system collected 90 replies.