'A friend is a brother who was once a bother' - Author Unknown

So, the brother who tipped the Labour leadership race has given his first major speech. It came across as old thoughts on what is wrong with Britain. There weren't many solutions offered in the speech. Still, I will be watching Ed Miliband closely and don't think we can afford to ignore him because he does have strong convictions about the centre-ground. There were parts of the speech that I agreed with too.

My thoughts are:

1. He mentioned 'centre ground of politics' a few times. It is a challenge to the Lib Dems. Ed, during the leadership campaign, spoke more about the working class voter but has now switched tact. To win the centre ground from Lib Dem he has to demonstrate why Labour didn't practice equality and fairness during their 13 years in government.

2. 'Not bound by fear or ghosts of the past'- Ed was an important part of the Labour Government which made a mess of the country's financial systems, didn't close the gap between rich and poor and made our schools worse. He also was part of the Government in the Iraq war but distanced himself from it. He can't distance himself anymore because he is leader of the very same Labour party. History is important. We can't break away from history and start new without thinking about the past.

3. Forgemasters- Ed accused the Coalition of withdrawing support from important industries but Government cannot bail out every company. There's no money. Also, as I understand it Forgemasters had access to a loan which they didn't take up.

4. 'Middle and lower class voters didn't cause the recession and need protection' - I support Ed on this. I hope the spending cuts will address this point too.

5. 'Enterprise and small business- Ed wants to make Labour a party of enterprise and small business. I don't want Labour to make everyone think that they can all start small businesses. Labour did that with encouraging young people to go to university and there are now lots of young people facing huge student loan debts and no jobs. We don't want people taking bank loans to start companies and not being able to pay off these loans.

6. 'There's nothing good about opposition'- Ed misses the point that being in opposition has given him the chance to become leader now. Also, opposition will allow Labour to decide on what is 'Next Labour'.

7. I support Ed for his positive remarks over Gay people.

8. Trade Unions are important especially because they help people at grassroots level but I hope Ed doesn't allow Unions to become so over important that they spoil the chances of those people they represent.

9. Living wage, family friendly employment - I support Ed.

10. 'The gap between rich and poor affects us all' - I agree with Ed. As a Christian I especially see that the poverty of my 'neighbour' affects me in many ways.

11. What is 'social conservatives'?

12. The idea of' 'individual aspiration' figures in the spirit of Ed's speech. Did anyone else spot this? New Labour tried to do this but didn't apply it to schooling for the middle-classes. Instead, 'life chances' became an ideology which wasn't applied to individuals.

13. Ed mentioned Clause 4- Is this speech an attempt at his own Clause 4?

14. Ed will vote for AV-good on you Ed.

15. 'Palestinian right to statehood' - right on Ed. The attack on the Gaza flotilla was wrong.

16. I think David Miliband will leave frontline politics and take up an offer in America which will allow him to speak on global issues. If I am wrong I will be surprised.

Notable quotes on Ed:
1. "We'll have to start again as we did in 1992," a former cabinet minister says. "It's a crying shame and a miracle result for the Tories."

2. "It's the worst possible outcome," a Shadow Cabinet member said. "We should have reformed the leadership election rules years ago."

Lib Dem blogs below carry a good analysis of Ed's position:

Nick Thornsby’s Blog

Spiderplant Land by Lisa Harding

I am ill off school because I caught a bad cold while on a Girl Guides camping trip to Warwick Castle at the weekend but this has given me the opportunity to watch the speech and blog.

There was an Elephant at Conference

1. I am a child, I cannot be metaphorical and  I am being literal. There really was an elephant at conference.

The elephant made an appearance at the Blogger Award Ceremony. He won the best blog of the year and was exuberant about it.  His blog is called http://millenniumelephant.blogspot.com/. I was delighted to be nominated for best new Lib Dem blog. I have  only been blogging for 6 months and am only 11. I was delighted to even be nominated. I finally met Maureen Rigg who wrote about me on her blog after I gave my first speech at Spring conference- http://eaglescliffe.blogspot.com/. I also met Stephen Tall whom I admire.

2.The Tory party were called 'The Party of Climate Change Deniers' but they have not lived up to that name  and I am angry because I was looking forward to saying we are ' Greener than Thou'. Nuclear energy is to be part of the UK's energy mix. I think that it is more important to fight the battle of reducing emissions than arguing over how to fight it.

3. What is Liberalism? Sarah Teather called lines 16 and 17 of the Academies policy paper Illiberal. Was it Liberal to be voting  on policy when the decision has already been made? Back to the Orange book for moi.

4. Fringe meetings- the one that I enjoyed most was held by Shelter. Grant Shapps MP (Tory) suggested that I join his party when I asked a question about the state of future housing policy.

5.  Simon Hughes in his speech told the Miliband brothers to 'grow up'. This was bad advice because the Miliband brothers appeal to middle class voters. 'You don't hear the bullet that kills you'-seen on man's t-shirt at Liverpool Station.

6. How can cuts be fair in an age of austerity?  If you are in an age of austerity than you have to make cuts which are unfair. Hurrah to Bob Russell MP for pointing this out.

7. I gave a speech on the Economic and Social effects of Gendercide at the debate on ' Accountablity to the Poor'. Thankyou to the people who congrtulated me afterwards.

8. Footwear- the high heels, the polished shoes. Where were the sandals? Are we too posh now that we are in Govt?

9. Big Society is Liberalism. I did suspect this during the election but I would have been shouted at. I apologise to the Tory boy I heckled during the election about the Big Society being 'my ar**'.

10. Goodies from the stall- I am thankful for being a child because I was given 25 bars of credit crunch chocolate. I have eaten 5 in 3 days. I also collected bags, sweets, pens, pencils, plasters and placemats.

Cardinal Newman = Religion + Politics

Cardinal Newman wrote an essay called 'An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent'. His essay is divided in to two sections.

1. Can I believe in what I don't understand?

2. Can I believe what can not be proved?

Yes, you can believe in what can not be proven because people invest their beliefs in God even though he can not be proven to exist.
I am an Anglican and I agree with Cardinal Newman on point 1.I don't understand all of the Bible but I still believe in Christianity. On point 2 my faith in God can not be scientifically measured but it is something that makes me feel strong and loved. Scientific standards cannot be applied to real life.
People say that religion and politics don't go together but you have to apply some faith to politics as well sometimes. The coalition cuts are complicated and at the moment people can not see the point in the cuts. I  have decided to use Cardinal Newman's reasoning on my way of looking at life and have decided to believe that the cuts being made by the Coalition will turn out well, just as I believe that God exists.

Does the Vatican care about women and children?

 I have never been as angry at the Pope as I am now.  He says that the child abuse commited by Catholic Priests was a 'grave crime'. This is very true but then he said that  whoever ordains a woman would be excommunicated as they would be commiting a 'grave crime'. To put these two actions on the same level is absoloutley shocking to me. From a child's point of view when I go to church and am given communion by a woman I hardly notice and if I do it doesn't matter. However, if I was abused I would be so upset and distraught I certainly would have minded to the deepest extent. This just shows you how I feel about the two diffrent actions. The Catholic church now needs to demonstrate that it does value women and children.

Rethink international aid

NO END IN SIGHT FOR GLOBAL CHILD POVERTY!
It is time to look at new models for international aid.

Stop Haranguing Hague!

Mr William Hague

Since my speech at the Spring Conference 2010 I have been compared to William Hague quite a few times. As a result, I have started to pay more attention to him and I've come to really like him. I was curious as to why he had no children. I am nosey about these things the way adults are nosey about what their friends are up to. I assumed that Hague and his wife were a high flying couple people who had no time for children. I'm sad to read that this is not the case and, in fact, is quite the opposite reason. Politicians have a right to private lives. Should we be concerned as to whether he is gay or not or what his marriage is like? If the press continue to pester the politicians then it will stop talented people from coming into politics because they will be afraid of being exposed and criticised for things that don’t concern the public.

When is our Future Determined?

A false picture is given when people say that your future is determined by your GCSE and A level results. I think it is determined when you sit your entrance exams for secondary school. It starts this young because there’s a fight to get into the best secondary schools whether it be a grammar or private one. This is because they provide the best education, quite unfairly, to enable a child to get into a red brick university from which employers tend to recruit.

I am worried about the path ahead of me and what it brings. Firstly, I am worried because of the shortage of University places even for students with A’s or A*’s.

Education has two purposes:

1. To give you qualifications that will help get you a job so you can earn a reasonable living.

2. To help you understand the world around you E.G Politics and Art.

Secondly, even though I am already achieving the benefits of point two I am worried about point one because of the shortage of jobs and houses. The London Evening Standard has carried a report on youngsters sleeping in tents, caravans and mobile homes in traveller sites because it is the lowest cost housing they can afford. Is this the future for young people? I do believe that the Lib Dems have a real commitment to providing for children but I worry that the cuts will set back this agenda.

Happy Birthday to Me!

It will be my birthday on 25 August. I am blogging today because I will be hyper from here on from overdosing on sugar. Those who have children or are children will know what I am talking about –being unable to concentrate and feeling sick afterwards. My best birthday present so far came about when I installed ‘Blogger Stats’. I have hundreds of readers in the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand, China, Russia and most parts of Europe. Imagine my excitement – and at the age of 10 only. I want you to tell me who you are because people aren’t leaving comments or following my blog. It would be very nice to have your comments and make contact with you. It's been a hard and tiring year so far and I need to revive myself before starting school and attending Conference which is always fun but exhausting.

How Long Is The Road To Homelessness?

How close in distance are you to a homeless person? Have you noticed the increase in the numbers of them? Last year in London alone there were 3, 673 people sleeping on the streets. The road to becoming homeless is decreasing in size and it could happen to anybody.

Have you ever spoken to a homeless person to understand their situation? Years ago my family were lucky enough to be able to help a homeless man. His name was Andy and he used to work as a builder. He fell down a ladder and broke his leg. He couldn't work anymore and had no income. He couldn't afford to pay for housing and became homeless. This shows you that the road to homelessness can be as short as falling down a ladder. You can create a whole ladder of opportunities but fall down it so quickly.

As Liberals we have a responsibility to help those who are in need. In the Orange Book, David Laws wrote about how breaking the cycle of deprivation is part of 'Social Liberalism'. To me being a Liberal Democrat means helping others to help themselves. My family were able to help Andy by providing him with a new wheelchair because the wheelchair that he was using had a bent wheel and the other wheel was missing. He was using all his strength to drag himself along and wasn't able to get anywhere. The new wheelchair provided him with social mobility. In no time Andy was able to get himself to the Big Issue office where he became a seller. Then he was able to get to hospital where he underwent physiotherapy. He moved on from the area finally because the council was able to house him.

The Government does need to intervene to help those who cannot help themselves but I think that as individual members of the Liberal Democrat party we have the power to help people in need. Let's get out there and demonstrate the party's values and HELP.

Work or Kid?

The Westminster Civil Service play scheme, which I have been attending for the last 6 years, is due to be shut down. The play scheme is subsidized by the civil service who have decided to cut it. The Government is meant to be making family friendly decisions but with this closure what will the parents who use this play scheme do with their children during the school holidays?
It is known that women are the main users of public services so it is mothers like mine who are hardest hit by this decision. Since the Government is trying to get women to become more involved in the workforce this decision will not help the Government's intentions.
Good and affordable childcare is very important to a working mother and if it is not there mothers may have to make decisions between work and staying home with the children. This is why women leave the workforce.
The Government has always set an example in family friendly workplace practices. With the closure of this valuable play scheme I dread to think what other companies will do.
After the coalition Government was formed there was so much hope that the Lib Dems would bring their family friendly policies into power.