Gillingham politicians address the “movers and shakers of the future”

Politicians from across the defunct political spectrum addressed year 13 students at the Rainham School for Girls.

The event started with a question and answer session involving Labour MP Paul Clark, Conservative G&R Chairman Brigita Amey and Liberal Cllr Andy Stamp, in which several students left hugely disappointed by Mr Clark, and disgruntled by his views on certain topics, however were left largely uninspired by Mrs Amey and mainly unswung by Cllr Stamp.

Perhaps it was that it was politics, or perhaps it was the dull monotony of the censored questions being asked at the compulsory event, which included Howard and Rainham Mark students, that made the session, and indeed the subsequent, more intimate sessions with Green Party and UKIP representatives quite boring.

The Green Party spun half-truths about the new Kingsnorth Power Station. UKIP’s Bob Oakley told one group not to trust anything in the media, whilst complaining to another group of a matter in which he had only been informed the BBC’s version of events.

The Mayor of Medway, Cllr Val Goulden, and her Escort, Cllr Tony Goulden, provided, in my opinion, the best session of the day. She spoke about the role of Mayor and how the Mayor is selected (I refrained from telling her that her predictions for the Party with the Mayoralty were, in fact, wrong according to my own calculations, though).

Overall it was, for me, a highly informative, and very interesting day. For most others, it was a waste of several hours. And Cllr Stamp? Maybe the Alan Collins brand of sarcasm wasn’t really to his liking. Sorry, Councillor.

Editorial Update, 11/02/08 23:46

I have left it a couple of days before making a full editorial comment on this event. I decided that it would be best to properly hear the views of others before making my final assessment, whilst trying to make the above article as objective as possible.

Most people left the event largely unimpressed by Paul Clark. In fact, that is something of an understatment. The chances of Mr Clark having won too many votes are slim to zero. He acted completely disinterested when anyone but he were speaking, and even shook his head when Brigita Amey stated, factually, that all politicians had the same aims: to improve the Country.

Brigita Amey won broader support. The Conservative views on taxation (42% of our income, are you mad?) and ID Cards (why should the government have the fact that I have had a speeding ticket on a tiny datachip on a card?) were hugely popular with many students. And whilst they were looking for someone youthful, I was looking for someone who actually spoke sense, so Brigita was certainly, for me, the best of the speakers.

Andy Stamp connected with most of the students. He was not too much older than them, but sometimes sounded quite naive, and his principles were, well, self-interested. I’ve already said it once to him, but try this principle out for size: people are looking for politicians who will listen to them and their needs and act upon them, not remain stubbornly on one, negative track and never mind anyone else. Did the last Lib Dem government not learn that lesson? Oh, wait…

The rest of the day doesn’t even bare writing about. Comments after the event were made about how scruffy the Green Party reps were, how annoying the UKIP guy was and how someone so ill-informed could become an elected representative (I’m not going to say who, though, because I like them).

As I said previously, I did enjoy most of the day, regardless of what my fellow students thought. I learnt a lot of useful facts (all handily scribbled down for reference) and many new topics for possible future blog posts are now floating around in my head. Which feels like it is about to drop, so I shall have to leave it there – I still have a last email to write before I go to sleep.