I was at Occupy Toronto

I was at 'Occupy Toronto' last Wednesday (19 October) and spent 3 hours filming, walking around and talking to the protestors. What you will see in these videos is my view about the 'Occupy' movement and a general look around the park where they are camped.
It is all too easy to dismiss and criticise these people and to walk by them with your self-righteous nose up in the air. These people are intelligent with points to make. Stop and listen to them. At least they are making a stand. What else are the rest who are affected by the banking fiasco doing? We hear people complain everyday about how bankers put us in debt but we put up. The 'Occupy' movement is about helping make everyone's lot better.
The movement has been criticised for not having a point to make. They do. It is the '99%' message. Global inequality is huge. The 1% are getting richer and the 99% are getting poorer. The 99% are getting further into debt through borrowing and credit card use. The Governor of the Bank of Canada, Mark Carney, said, the movement was due to the increase in inequality and that the less well educated have been hit the hardest.
What I saw in Toronto was a desire for social mobility. Some people I spoke to just didn't have the opportunities to do so. They were either jobless or homeless. I think the world needs to start paying a lot more attention to the 'Occupy' movement. This is a revolution of a global movement without a human leader. Their leader is a cause. This is a leaderless revolution. It is BIG.
I watched Ezra Levant on the Sun news channel mock these people in Toronto. I disagree. Ezra, you are wrong. They may not read books from the library and they may not be as well read as you but they have a passion and a point.
If you are a part of 'Occupy Toronto' please bring this blog post to the media tent's attention because I promised them that I would write about my experience.
Go Occupy Toronto, Go.

Piers Morgan flying Brit Flag in North America

I am in Toronto, Canada attending a conference (more on that another time) and have been fascinated by the British news and personalities making the headlines here.
The first of the pick has to be Piers Morgan who showed a fantastic British disregard for authority by trying to make Hermain Cain feel foolish for saying that Gay people choose to be gay. Piers did his interview the day after the Republican presidential candidate debate, which I watched. Herman is in the running but Piers wasn't letting Herman get away with homophobic views.
Simon Cowell is on billboards everywhere too. Should we be embarrassed that an export consisting of people who all think they can sing and dance their way to a fortune overnight is the big Brit thing?
Dulwich Gallery received a four column article in the 'Globe and Mail' (main newspaper here) for hosting an exhibition on Canadian art. Golly, I have never been to the Gallery and i have friends in the area whom I visit!Liam Fox got a big mention in an article titled 'Minister quits in best man scandal'.
Lastly, Alistair Campbell, Yes, Alistair because he used a rude work when he tweeted about the Blackberry breakdown. I can't tell you what the word is because I am a child so you will have to look at his tweets.

The Cafe Latte Generation

Alex White, Matt Downey, me and Huw Edwards.
(Matt and Alex are talented liberal youth who are my good friends)

I have discovered something new about myself and it isn't often that this happens to people. Thanks to George Alagiah and his series on Mixed Race Britain I am part of the new growing colour mix of people. The surprising thing is that I don't feel any different or special compared to single race people.

However, I do think that the history of how mixed race people were treated is important because if we do not understand this then, as a society, we cannot progress. What amazes is how much racism and shame was associated with being mixed-race. Brown babies were put into orphanages because their white mothers were shunned by society. The Nazis conducted experiments on children like me to find out the DNA make up of these children.

I don't know what challenges lie ahead of me as a mixed-race child. Will there be genetic inheritance problems or will society start to view people like me differently as a result of the publicity for mixed-race people? Surprisingly, when my Asian mother was pregnant with me she was told that I would have a hard life because of my cultural mix. This was only 12 years ago. This shows, till how recently, racism was still in existence. I am pleased to say that I have not faced racism at all and being mixed has not held me back.

The BBC is featuring footage and history of how hard life was for mixed race children and their parents. By contrast I am grateful that I was interviewed recently on the BBC News 24 during conference by Huw Edwards. My colour did not even come into it. Integration has come a long way. However, people may not care about my heritage but I have been asked many curious questions by the press about my 'pushy' mother. It is assumed that because my mother is Asian she is forcing me to do things that children my age would not be doing. This partly comes from the memoirs of the Tiger Mother, Amy Chua, who pushed her daughters to excel. I don't have a pushy mother but she does encourage and help me to achieve my best potential. She is a Huffington Post blogger and you can read about her parenting style at:   

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/jane-chelliah/the-malaise-of-middle-cla_b_954366.html

Jumping On The Bandwagon of Cats



My Cat :)

 You thought this was going to be a post about Theresa May and the cat and the Human Rights Act didn't you? Everything has been debated to death already so I thought I would just post a picture of my cat, Sarah. I wanted to be a part of the debacle but in a different way.  

Feminism's Footprint in the Front Line

Today David Cameron apologised for appearing to make sexist comments. He claims that what he said came out wrong and that he is not a sexist man. When David Cameron said 'Calm down dear' he was just quoting from an advert and he did not mean it in a sexist manner but the way the male MPs reacted it seemed as if they were promoting sexism and this is terrible.

It is important for the Prime Minister to say that sexist jokes are wrong because it shows strong leadership and it sets the trend for a non-sexist society. Prime Ministers always need to be very careful about what they say, this is not the 1800s (or even past then) where sexism was accepted and no women were allowed into the House of Commons. We live in a modern and free country where feminism is coming into action. The Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, is known for having really bad attitudes towards women. We don't want that.

I don't understand why the MPs reacted so much when David Cameron said that Nadine Dorries was 'extremely frustrated', she was talking about abortion, a very sensitive subject and she has the right to get angry about it. Lots of male MPs get frustrated in the House of Commons and they are not jeered.

Leave Rory Weal Alone

Rory Weal is the 16 year old boy who spoke at the Labour conference two days ago and is now being attacked in the press, in blogs and on Twitter for his speech and his circumstances. Rory said:
"I owe my entire well-being and that of my family to the welfare state ." He said this because his family had hit hard times and had to rely on the welfare state to get through.

At first Rory received praise for giving a speech at his age. Then, in true British style, he was villified mercilessly because the press found out that Rory used to go to a private school and lived in a very expensive home and now goes to a Grammar school.

I am going to stand up for Rory because in my previous blog post I said I would speak up on child issues (but even I didn't realise that it would be to defend another child who speaks at conferences). I was featured in The Observer magazine on 11 Sept in an article titled 'Spot the Future Prime Minister' along with other Liberal Youth. The youth from Labour and the Tories were featured too and Rory is in the magazine.

I don't know where to start because I have so much to say. Firstly, does a child have to come from an underprivileged background to go into politics? Rory was telling the truth as his situation is now. The family lost their wealth. He is a true example of how the welfare system should work i.e someone who has lost their job through no fault of their own then depends on the welfare system to help them get back on their feet.

Rory gave the impression that he came from a disadvantaged background when he spoke about using the welfare system. Why do middle class people always get attacked when they talk about a working class situation? Social mobility usually means to move up in the class system but people forget that social mobility also means that people can move down. This is what happened to Rory by the looks of it.

I believe him when he says that the family struggled financially. He may not have been poor but when has poverty been a requirement to speak about politics? Private schooling is used as a weapon to beat people away from the world of politics. I go to a private school but remember children don't have a choice of where they go. I don't want to be ridiculed for going to a private school.

Also, not every child who goes to private school will end up ruling the country and not every child who goes to a comprehensive will end up unemployable. The riots showed that there is an overlap. Children from rich backgrounds and private schools rioted too. Where you went to school should not be a barrier to a child's future. This whole wealth creation debate forgets that the middle class is growing. The middle class covers a whole load of people. It is the largest layer in society.

Also, I can't understand why a capitalist country (UK) always ridicules the symbols of capitalism like private choices over schools. It is as if we want capitalism but only in a way that suits our political ideology.

In summary, leave Rory alone. During the riots people spoke about the useless young who don't do anything. When a young person does they are thrown to the wolves. Stop.

Clegg's Conference Call

The bounce back at our conference from the defeats of the local elections and electoral reform vote was phenomenal. We are the Jack-in-the-Box pop up political party. The sense of unity and optimism was astounding but I still think that we are struggling about being in Government.

Take my personal experience as an example. On Saturday when I got to the ICC there were two armoured cars. Someone had told me that George Osbourne was at the conference so I immediately assumed that the cars were his. A few minutes later I realised that  it was Nick Clegg's cars. Him being the Deputy Prime Minister. That is the paradox. We are in power now but sometimes the Lib Dems behave as if we are still a party in opposition. Thank goodness we aren't but even Nick Clegg seems to get it mixed up occasionally. Take this line from his closing Leader's speech

"We speak up first and loudest when the establishment lets people down.'

Isn't Government the biggest part of the establishment? Our slogan for this conference was 'In Government, on your side'. Slightly confusing. Maybe this is because Nick Clegg is still having to convince party members about the decision to go into coalition. This is a shame because valuable time is being spent explaining past decisions rather than looking forward.

"We proved something about ourselves last year, when we faced  historic choice: whether or not to enter Government in coalition with the Conservatives."

We have always been the party that shouted in protest at the Government of the day and now we are the Government and are having to make decisions. I sensed this myself during debates and at fringe events that Lib Dems still feel a need to apologise for being with the Tories and have not reached the stage where we feel comfortable justifying the decision. This is a negative tactic.

The Tory bashing at conference was unhelpful because it took debates nowhere. Stalemate. We have to work with the Tories till 2015. Of course we need to stamp the Liberal Democrat personality on issues and causes but not by taking cheap shots otherwise electors will ask us why we stayed in coalition at all and for 5 years, at that, if the Tories were that bad.

When we face reelection our decisions will be challenged by voters on the grounds that they were made as part of a coalition. Lib Dems will have to be a strong party that can explain and justify everything we have done when the next election occurs in 2015. What will we need for this? Our local party base has always been the glue that holds us together. At the next election if we don't have enough grassroots support then we will be in big trouble.

"We do not serve and will never serve vested interests"

Localism is our vested interest. Traditionally we have been the party that operates at local authority level. This was our strength. Now I see a tension between the localism agenda and the centralism agenda. This was especially apparent to me during the debates on free schools and academies. Lib Dems are against anything that takes away power from local authorities but free schools actually give power to parents over choices in education.

Finally, I take great pride in having a strong stake in the party because of Nick Clegg saying the following:

"...Britain is our home. We will make it safe and strong. These are our children. We will tear down every barrier that they face..."

This is a party fighting for a better future for children and I will carry on feeling justified in writing about what affects children. That will be Libdemchild's voice in the party and personal manifesto.

Pre-conference musings

It's that time of the year again, conference. It's the only good thing about the end of summer. I have been thinking about what the party ought to achieve from this conference.

There's a good quote in The Times today in the article written by Philip Collins: "In 2010 no party was in the right place but the electorate brilliantly conceived a coalition as if to say "now, that's what we meant and try not to forget it"."

I still don't feel as if the Lib Dems have worked out our position in Government. Ok, people must have voted for something we stood for. We want to be Liberal, which is about giving people choices and options, but then we switch to paternal Liberalism. We give our leadership a hard time without really understanding their role in Government. The leadership seems miles apart from the ordinary members of the party like me.

Does anyone agree with this or do you think I am being negative?

On a personal note I will be speaking at a fringe event on Monday night at 8pm on the Education Bill, Hyatt Regency, Dolce Room. Sitting on the panel with me will be Christine Blower, head of the NUT, Paula Keaveney, Liverpool Council, Liberal Democrat Group Leader, Naomi Phillips, British Humanist Association and the event will be chaired by Kavya Kaushik, Liberal Youth Scotland.

Libdem child ranked 7th in the world among teen bloggers

http://www.babble.com/kid/kids-activities/website-best-kid-blogger-young/?page=7

I have been ranked 7th in a top 10 list of child bloggers globally. I feel humbled, excited and grateful. Thank you for all your support in reading my blog and leaving comments, especially JohnM, Goodknight, Frank Little, Philip Blond of ResPublica and LeftLiberal.

There are two other bloggers in this list who are of interest. One is Madonna's, the pop singer, daughter Lourdes who comes in at 10. The other is the daughter of the Tiger Mother who comes in at 9th.

Also to the right of this blog post is an interview that I did with Winkball.com who are interviewing some LibDem bloggers in the lead up to our conference. Winkball reporters will also be present in Birmingham so please be nice to them because they are a great company.

The use and abuse of children is evil

This is a photo that is currently doing the rounds on Facebook and on blog sites (eg Daily Maverick). I don't know if this picture is a fake or not. I do hope the child is pretending to be dead and wasn't really shot by the man in the photo or someone else. However, fake or not it demonstrates how children are used and abused all over the world.