X marks the ballot paper: General Election 2010 #GE2010

It's official. The much-anticipated British General Election 2010 is coming. The BBC is primed and ready. In four weeks' time, on May 6th, voters will leave their mark on ballot papers and elect the government for the next five years. 

Brown, Cameron, Clegg et al are probably hoping that #GE2010 as it's been dubbed on Twitter will see unprecedented levels of voter participation. Surely there's nothing like a recession to make people vote? 

But why on earth should we bothered at all? 

GE2010 is likely to be a closely fought election. Despite the fears of a hung parliament or a coalition government, an election with no clear winner from the beginning of the campaign season is hugely interesting. 

The last two elections have been a shoo-in for Labour, even the Foot and Mouth catastrophe of 2001 and the Iraq debacle which overshadowed 2005 didn't really unsettle TB and New Labour. This time the future looks a lot more uncertain for Brown and his compadres.

The UK meets GE2010 in more turbulent times to the affluent noughties. The economy may be recovering but the recession is hardly over. People are still feeling the strain of falling house prices, redundancies and bankruptcies. 

A generation of young people are beginning to find their voice and speak out. Whether it's against the rise of extremist parties like the BNP or to criticise the main parties, there appears to be a growing number of twentysomethings preparing to cross their ballots. 

For the first time in decades the Liberal Democrats could get a sniff of success. The chance of Nick Clegg walking through Number 10's doors on May 7th is, let's face it, unlikely, but 2010 could be the year his party get off the starting blocks. As a generation of disheartened, displaced and disenfranchised people realise the potential of their vote and use it, this could be the year of change.

Surely the British public will be inspired by the American Presidential election of 2008. Everyone dreamed that perhaps, just perhaps, the first African-American president would be elected. It might have been a closely fought battle but gradually it happened and millions of people watched as maps of America turned blue that November day. If this hasn't roused a discouraged electorate, what can?

It's been almost impossible for the last month to go anywhere without being faced with some reminder that there IS an election this year and YOU NEED REGISTER to vote. Bus shelters, TV, radio, even spotify. So what are you waiting for? Register. (You have to be on the electoral register 11 days before polling day to have your say.) Then sit back and wait for the rallies, the fights and the primed photo opportunities and make sure you go to the ballot boxes. Who knows what the next 30 days hold?


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I know it's been quiet around these parts recently but over the next few weeks I plan to document what looks to be one of the most enthralling elections of recent times and definitely of my lifetime.

As General Election 2010 creeps upon us amid a tornado of party political broadcasts and morale boosting rallies up a down the British Isles, face-to-face media combats and a generally public slanging match this blog will attempt to comment on the developments. At the very least there should be comment on the latest politician to receive an egg to the face. (My money's on Nick Griffin.) 


Stay tuned. To quote Terry Pratchett, "we live in interesting times." 
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Brown, Cameron and Clegg image taken from independent.co.uk 

Lord Arthur Savile's Crime - Sheffield Lyceum: Any Murder Will Do

Ben Kenwright's production of Oscar Wilde's Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, based on Trevor Baxter's adaptation and directed by Christopher Luscombe, sees Any Dream Will Do winner Lee Mead take to the stage in his comedy drama debut. Alongside Gary Wilmot, Louisa Clein, Kate O'Mara and Derren Nesbitt, Mead's performance at the Sheffield Lyceum's opening night as Wilde's Victorian London aristocrat, Lord Arthur, proves he is more than just a pretty boy with a good voice.
 
Lord Arthur Savile is due to marry Sybil Merton (Louisa Clein) but a palm reading by the esteemed clairvoyant, Mr Podger (Gary Wilmot), foresees Lord Arthur will commit a murder in his future, leading the young gentleman to postpone his wedding.
Fearing he will kill his future wife, Lord Arthur considers which of his distant elderly relatives he could do away with instead. Enlisting the help of Mr Podger, Lord Arthur hatches various outrageous plots and plans to commit his crime before marrying Miss Merton.

Much of the press focus has been on Mead and his transition from the musical stage - which he does very well - and this is in danger of overshadowing what is a brilliant production. The play bounds along at a great and enjoyable pace full of Wilde's humour - which has succeeded in transcending time and culture - and some fantastic acting. 

Kate O'Mara performs brilliantly as the frightfully wonderful London socialite Lady Windermere and David Moss plays a convincingly eccentric and confused Dean of Chicester. But it is the genius pairing of Mr Podger (Gary Wilmot) and the explosive German Herr Winkelkopf (Derren Nesbitt) that embodies Wilde's humour and carries the comedy through the darker moments. From curtain up, Mead perfectly executes his part, complete with Victorian London gentry accent and comic timing, showing he has got what it takes to be a well rounded stage actor.

The performance is enhanced by great set design for a travelling production, placing us in the heart of upper class Victorian London, and quality musicians, Anna McNicholas and Matthew Wycliffe, who sit on stage throughout, with Wycliffe making a brief entrance as a cockney copper patrolling Embankment. 

Notable moments of opening night:
Lee Mead's wonderfully comical expressions.
Louisa Clein's off-stage violin duet with Anna McNicholas.
Gary Wilmot's punctuated egg and soldiers breakfast.
Derren Nesbitt's Herr Winkelkopf's Zorro-like entrances and exits. 

Showing at Sheffield Lyceum for one week only until January 23rd 2010.
Box Office: 0114 249 6000 www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk

Learning to be a bridesmaid

Tonight I was asked a very important question by one of my longest, closest friends.

She asked me to be her bridesmaid. I naturally squealed at her and said yes. After all I've been secretly habouring a desire for her to ask me ever since the over-excited 'phone call when she announced she was engaged.

After the initial excitement and teasing died down, there was a moment of terror as it dawned on me. I haven't got a clue about what my new found role as bridesmaid entails. I could hazard a guess that there's a definite need for me to be massively organised. Something that I can do, although it doesn't come especially naturally.

But seriously, what does a bridesmaid actually do? She must be glamourous and look the part, but not so much she overshadows the bride. She's the glue that holds the bride together as she flits about the morning of her wedding. That's what the movies would have you believe.

The bridesmaid soothes, she calms, she is the voice of reason, she is the emotional support. She holds the dress up while the bride pees. Right ok, I can do that.

However a little bit of research courtesy of www.confetti.co.uk suggests that the role of bridesmaid goes much further than this. Not only have I got to hold my best friend's dress up when she pees, if we were living several centuries ago, I would be a shield against evil spirits which may attack the bride. 

Then there's the whole predicament of whether I am chief bridesmaid or just a general one. My friend hasn't yet specified. She has confided that she has no idea who else she wants to ask. This bride is an only child, so there are no sisters to be an obvious choice. I somewhat think that by default I could land this additional title. And with it the additional responsibility.

I continued my research and discovered that aside from organisation and calmness I must also be enthusiastic about the wedding, focussed, in control of the day and ready to deal with even the most ludicrous of tears with a compassionate ear. This means understanding my friend's hysteria when the table cloths she wanted to be orange turn out to be lime green.

Is it too late to say no?! I wonder. According to confetti there are only five acceptable reasons for refusing this great honour of bridesmaid-hood.

Feeling I don't know the bride well enough. 
No, that one won't do. I've known the bride since I was 13. That's over half my life. We have many a shared tale and adventure, not all suitable for the public domain.

Pregnancy.
I'm not and I'm not planning children into my life anytime soon.

Illness or disability.
Frankly I don't think I would let that stop me if they were an issue. I am a fit and healthy 24 year old however and bar some serious accident in the next 12 months I should be more than capable of assisting my friend in her big day.

A previous liaison with the groom.
Interesting one this one. I can safely say that this one also doesn't apply. My friend and the groom had been together at least a year when I first met him and I'm not that kind of girl.

A prior engagement.
With over a year's notice for my friend's wedding this is unlikely to be an excuse I can use even if I wanted to.

That settles it then, I'm going to be a bridesmaid. So help me God. 

What would Jesus Tweet?

Everyone’s tweeting. Stephen Fry, Lily Allen, Downing Street and The White House. Even churches are tweeting in 140 characters or less.

Celebrities use it, ordinary people use it, churches use it. Even the Church of England is on Twitter. What’s more, some churches are using Twitter to connect with people and inspire them before, during and after church. Unless you’ve been living in a cave in the depths of the Himalayas for the last year, you’ll know that Twitter is the latest social networking fad spreading across the world faster than Swine ‘Flu. Just to refresh your memory, the object of Twitter is to tell everyone what you’re doing in a mere 140 characters, known as “tweets”. You can “follow” other “twitterers” - people who use Twitter - and others can choose to “follow” you. 

 

For churches with large, growing congregations, Twitter is the perfect way to keep connected. It can help to bring those on the fringes into the core. It is an easy and relatively effective way to update people on what’s happening, which helps to develop a sense of community. Twitter is even being used to encourage churches that has done just that. In June 2008, Westwinds,- knowing that through podcasts, videocasts and other online resources, they reached vast numbers of people via the internet - decided to set up a screen in their church solely to stream tweets sent to their Twitter account, westwindsseries, during the service. 

 

John Voelz, pastor at Westwinds, said, “I have seen life-altering small groups formed and forged through Twitter. I have witnessed theological discussions, seen prayer answered and much more because of Twitter. It’s helping people to feel like they belong at church and like they have a role to play.” 

 

It’s not just American churches embracing Twitter. Hope City Church and Abundant Life Church, both in the UK, are using Twitter to encourage their congregations and promote community. Hillsong Church, based in Australia and with churches in England, Kiev, France and South Africa, uses Twitter to unify the congregations. Even the Senior Pastor, Brian Houston, tweets, although he’s banned his key team from tweeting during services. 

 

Twitter is strengthening communities in an age where it’s easier to connect with someone of the other side of the world than with our next door neighbours.

The real cost of recession

Nine years ago, 189 nations agreed to take action to reduce the number of people around the world living on less than 80p a day. But as the recession shows no signs of slowing down, what impact is the economic crisis having on the war on poverty

Days before the G8 Summit met in July in L’Aquila, Italy to discuss the economic crisis and international development, a UN report warned that current progress in eradicating poverty and hunger is too slow to meet the agreed 2015 targets. The targets, agreed in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), aim to improve worldwide development. The report also estimates that up to 90 million more people will be living in extreme poverty by the end of 2009, undoing the progress of the last nine years.

On the same day, Douglas Alexander, the UK’s International Development Secretary, announced details of a new white paper, Building our Common Future. It promises to change the way the UK provides funding and a renewed commitment to contributing £9bn a year to international development by 2013 - roughly 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI).
According to UN statistics, in 1990 1.8 billion people across the globe lived on less than 80p ($1.25) a day. By 2005 that figure had dropped to 1.4 billion. This, the UN stated, was due to the success of the Millennium Devel¬opment Goals (MDGs).

In light of the UN report, the Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, said, “We cannot allow an unfavourable economic climate to prevent us from realising the commitments made in 2000, The global community cannot turn its back on the poor and the vulnerable. Now is the time to accelerate progress towards the MDGs.”

Last year development fund¬ing dropped for the second year in a row, raising concerns about the impact the global economic crisis. In addition, gains made in the eradication of hunger re¬versed due to increasing food prices and rising production costs.

Tom Morrison, from the Department of International Development (DFID) said, “The current recession is having a huge impact on the MDG targets. For farmers in developing countries especially, the cost of production is increasing at a far greater rate than the rising price of food. So although they are making more money on the food they produce, it is harder and more costly to produce.”

Furthermore the financial meltdown in many western economies has affected developing countries trying to export their produce in order to independently finance their own development programmes.

In 2005 at the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, leaders of developed countries committed to increasing their development aid. However the shrinking global economy threatens to reduce the total figures commited as many countries express their contribution as a percentage of GNI.
Last year the UK contributed approximately 0.4% of GNI, 0.3% shy of the 2013 target of 0.7%.

Douglas Alexander said, “We have made great strides over the past decade in tackling global poverty but there is much still to do. The economic downturn has had a devastating effect on the developing world. The economic crisis has highlighted as never before the interdependence of nations, rich and poor, across the world.”

Purity Rings: Shoulda put a ring on it

There’s no denying it, sex sells. Which must be exactly what the makers of the new iPhone Purity Ring application were thinking when they launched it in July this year. But in a country that still manages to have the highest teen pregnancy rate in Europe, are purity rings the answer?

In 1995 Denny and Amy Pattyn decided something needed to be done about the increasing number of teen pregnancies in Arizona, USA, so they launched The Silver Ring Thing (SRT), a programme promoting the value of abstaining from sex outside of marriage. Nearly 15 years on, SRT has grown, reaching 8 other countries, including the UK. Its popularity continues to rise with celebrities like the Jonas Brothers wearing purity rings and declaring their commitment to chastity.

The Silver Ring Thing isn’t the only purity programme – there are other church organisations doing similar things, especially in America - but it is the most well known. In 2003 the BBC ran a documentary on the work Denny and Amy were doing in America. Heather Playfoot, one of SRT’s UK Directors, watched the programme and got in touch with the Pattyns.

“I saw the UK was facing the same problems and issues as the Pattyns had seen in Arizona, so I contacted Denny and asked about bringing the show to the UK and starting a branch of SRT over here,” she says.

Based on Biblical principles the SRT programme breaks the large multimedia show into four separate sessions covering temptation, boundaries, the consequences of sex outside of marriage and God. Students meet in groups of the same sex and age to cover the course. At the end of the course students can decide whether they wish to make the commitment to abstinence and if they want a ring.

“We’d love to take the programme into schools,” says Heather, “but we just don’t have the resources. The government don’t want to give us money so we rely on unpaid volunteers to run courses across the country.”

Without funding the availability of the course in the UK is limited. There are currently plans to develop a home study pack, enabling people to do the programme on their own and for SRT to become part of the National Curriculum for sex education.

Many of the UK SRT courses are aimed at teenagers in local churches but there has also been an interest from people in their 20s and those who aren’t Christians.

So what about the Purity Ring application? For a mere 59 pence you can download the application to your iPhone or iPod Touch, accept a pledge and show the world your plans to save yourself for marriage by a spinning purity ring on your screen.

Island Wall Entertainment, the company behind the new application, believe that the digital Purity Ring will reach a whole new audience of young people and encourage them to save sex until they are married.

Company Director, Henry E Bennett said, "This is an exciting opportunity to reach a whole new generation of people, on a platform that has never been used to spread this important message."

Thank you Mr Speaker

This Saturday morning I was fortunate enough to gain a private audience with the recently elected Speaker of the Commons, John Bercow. He was, unsurprisingly, a very pleasant man.

He arrived at the Bell Hotel in Winslow fresh from a coffee morning with the local Age Concern, ready to talk politics, tennis and David Bowie's ability to reinvent himself - a skill that every politician must wish to perfect. As well as controlling the chaotic circus that is Parliament on a daily basis, he is also quite an ordinary bloke it seems. He has a wife, Sally, and three young children. And drives a people carrier.

John spoke of his desire to be known as the man who reformed Parliament, moving from its archaic roots into the 21st Century.

I am now in the process of writing up my jolly little conversation with one of the political men of the moment into a beautiful feature for my dissertation magazine. I shall leave you with this tantalizing morsel:

Freddie, his three year old, apparently said as John left for work recently, "Goodbye Daddy, Speaker of the House." How frightfully sweet.