Lazing on a sunny afternoon, in the... winter time??

So politics first, for a change. I'm currently in the middle of a 'debate' (I'm right, he's wrong, 'debate' is just me being polite) with a guy on Twitter over Michael Gove's plans to teach languages to children as young as five. My fellow politics student - whose favourite topic happens to be education policy -  believes that while languages are important, 5 is too young to be learning them. A person is most receptive to learning between the ages of 3 and 5 years and the New York Times has reported that anyone who starts speaking a language after the age of 10 will never be as proficient as those who begin learning before that age so why shouldn't foreign languages taught from primary school?

I actually wish I had been taught languages from an early age, I didn't start French until I was at school and I didn't enjoy it because it was taught from a textbook.Although I hope to learn Russian through university this year I feel I would have been better equipped for it if I had started learning earlier. Plus I was always envious of other schools in my area who got to choose other languages at secondary level beyond the standard French and German. As Chris Bryant said French is a 'useless' modern language.

Just had another tweet containing the phrase 'or Latin as Gove would have it!', this now leads me to believe that a small part of his dislike for the policy is class-based and there is a perception someone that the Tories want everyone to learn Latin (I realise some - Boris Johnson for example) do.

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On a personal note, my mother came to visit bearing cake that her friend had gotten up especially to bake for us this morning. Needless to say chocolate cake with whipped cream and raspberries was very well received by all my housemates :)

Spent the day with my mother shopping and drinking a ridiculous amount of liquids because the weather this year has decided to fuck us over. Just as all the shops and getting out jumpers and coats the weather goes 'fuck that shit' and turns the temperature up by about 20 degrees. Well bugger that weather, I like jumpers! Give me back my normal British winter of snow and ice!

Please...

I will survive

Managed to waste the entire morning by not waking up til gone half twelve. I really needed to get up and put together the IKEA chest of drawers I bought so I could unpack before my mother arrives tomorrow, not such luck clearly! She's just have to deal with the fact her daughter can't unpack!
When I did get out of bed I found that no-one had washed up (again) and got ridiculously angry but as a pathetic English person didn't shout at my housemates I just washed up for them... I still refuse to clean the worktops or the oven though.

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Had my induction at work which wasn't so bad. There's six of us new people, five women and a bloke, and apparently we'll get 3-4 shifts a week which is good considering it's seven quid an hour. God love council work :D I'm hoping I can work as many shifts as possible, mainly because the money would be nice but also so I can avoid nights out because I'm busy :)

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I would usually be watching BBC Question Time but I really can't be bothered so if anything interesting happens (which I doubt) do please let me know :)

I would walk 500 miles...

Okay so maybe not 500 miles but it does seem like I've done a lot of walking in the last 24 hours. After protesting all day that I didn't want to go to a house party I eventually gave in (damn persistent housemates) and so we walked the 25 minutes to their house. I had realised even before the end of my street that sandals were not the best option but it was that or heels so I went with what I perceived to be the better option. 4 hours of drinking later someone decided we should walk to ASDA; a good half hour (uphill) walk seems a lot less after a bottle of peach schnapps :/ Then we had to walk the hour back to our house by which time the housemate and I collapsed in a pile and didn't consider moving for a good while.

The same housemate and I thought it would be a good idea to trek into town (uphill) this afternoon in jumpers because although we may be heading for one of the warmest Octobers on record we were a bit hung over and therefore weren't thinking properly. So we walked another hour+ round trip, this time in the boiling sun, to get a parcel from the Post Office depot and set up our TV/Internet/phone with Virgin.

I feel like we deserve some kind of alcohol for our walking efforts, unfortunately we drank it all last night :|

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One housemate has to be designated the main tenant for the property we're living in, unfortunately the one who volunteered is an utter failure when it comes to organisation of any kind. She is incapable of being firm with a landlady and given that we've lived here one month and we've only had a dozen hot showers between us because we only had hot water for a 6 day period it is fundamentally necessary to be firm with her! The landlady insists on getting people she knows to come fix things so so far two plumber mates have come to look at the boiler only to tell us we need a gas-electrician and they aren't qualified to do anything. Her excuse is that we didn't tell her these things (even though we have) and I'm getting very close to the point where I just start shouting at people. We're written an official letter to her and given a copy to the lettings agency so they can keep one but if it doesn't get sorted soon I may well just move into a hotel. Luckily I got a job this summer so I can afford to do that even if I'd rather not, this is unlike the lead tenant who pisses money she doesn't have up the wall like it's going out of fashion and who had to extend her overdraft and borrow from her parents to pay the rent and then went out and spend half the weeks rent on a build-a-bear and a jumper.

So if you hear of a student going on an angry rampage in Leicester from a lack of hot water and unpaid bills that's probably me...

Moonpig.com

I couldn't manage more than 24 hours in the house before I cleaned up. I filled a bin bag with magazines, letters, general paper, bottles and other crap the housemates had left all over the living room floor, tidied the eight - 8!! - pairs of shoes that were hanging around and did the week's worth of washing up that had been piling up in the kitchen. I refused to clean the kitchen worktops or the cooker which are covered in bread, cheese and grease respectively but no doubt they won't disappear before the next time I snap and clean up after everyone.

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We've finally met our neighbours, well three of them, and they seem quite nice. I must admit we were hoping for some attractive men who could be called upon to open jars or kill spiders from time to time but they seem like nice girls. We've been invited round for drinks tonight but we're too poor to go out out so pre-drinks then going straight back to ours while everyone else goes out seemed a bit miserable!

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My evening thus far has been spent Goolging pictures of topless men in the hunt for pictures for my mate's birthday card. The miracles of Moonpig mean he is now going to received a card detailing his past relationships with Russell Tovey (naked photo), Danny Miller (strategically positioned towel), Colin Morgan and Bradley James (clothed, unfortunately) before showing a current picture of him clinging to a lovely Gaydar Angel wearing only some time silver pants at Manchester Pride a few weeks back. Along with the US Queer as Folk box set I've bought him as a gift, I feel I have probably bought the best present I could conceivably have come up with :D

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I feel like I should chuck the odd bit of politics in today after a slight lapse post-LibDemConf. Apparently 57% of people don't see Ed Miliband as a credible Prime Minister and I must say I also fall into that category. While he appears to be one of the more reasonable members of the Labour Party, his inability to control the tribalism of his shadow cabinet - see Ed Balls - or the members of his party in general doesn't fill me with confidence for his political future.

It could be suggested that Labour's reforms with regards to the shadow cabinet, the move from appointment by the Leader rather than internal elections, will help give Ed control but I don't think it it bodes well that a political party has decided elections are an undesired event. They have also suggested that non-members should be allowed to play a part in the party's leadership elections which I can only assume were suggested by David Miliband and adopted by Ed under the influence of alcohol. There is no way Ed would be in the position he is now if non-members had more of an influence over the leadership!

This conference will once again have an undertone of sibling rivalry. David has said he doesn't want to detract attention from his brother, merely to help the party, but by popping in and out of the spotlight he draws more attention to himself and the failed leadership bid than he would have if he had simply entered the shadow cabinet alongside his brother. One finds it difficult to believe David thinks his leadership hopes are over and it's hard to shake the sense he would happily step in, should his brother fail.

Anyways more politics tomorrow! Mili-E steps up to the podium to make his keynote speech and I shall be listening intently (and trying not to fall asleep)

Boredom central

So erm no post yesterday either but all I did was catch up on TV I'd missed while I was at conference. Today me and the best mate managed to miss a shit load of trains and yet somehow only arrived in Sheffield for a conedy gig half hour later than expected! The minutiae of my life are of very little interest today I'm afraid!

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I'm writing this blog post off for today, my life is not interesting eough today! Hopefully something exciting happened tomorrow lol

Failure to communicate

Apologies for the lack of a blog post yesterday but I get distracted by having to get a train home from conference that split in two at Shrewsbury and I had a rather large fear I would end up in Wales :/

I didn't and I'm in Chester visiting mate number two for the weekend :D

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Yesterday was pretty fun though, good morning debate on the Liberal response to the Arab awakening followed by Michael Moore's speech which I must admit I drifted off in the middle of and started reading the paper. The Q&A on international issues was good though, I get picked first yet again to ask someone I admire a question! Luckily Paddy Ashdown is much less terrifying than Nick Clegg - it's the favourite grandad kind of image I think - and there were considerably less people in the hall given it was 1030am the morning after Glee Club!

The rest of the day was dominated by Mr Clegg's speech which I thought stuck the perfect balance between painful honesty over the economic situation and hope for the future with the odd joke thrown in to cheer us up!

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I'm trying to write this whilst watching Question Time and suffering extremely because of it. Harriet Harman is becoming increasingly fixed in my mind as a shrill woman who for some strange reason thinks having a separate conference for women helps deliver equality. Ian Hislop, as much as he is a very witty man, cannot be asked for an opinion on economic recovery! The leader of Mumsnet should not be listened to any topic unless it involves rusks or baby-gro.

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One thing I have been taught this week is that journalists are infinitely capable of twisting quotes to the point where they are almost unrecognisable. I was already aware of this fact but having spent a week at conferece and sat through and listened to many if not most of the speeches and debates in question I was unable to sit and read the papers or watch Paxman or Dimbleby quote speeches back at politicians in an entirely different context to which they were said. It's so irritating! It has certainly increased the amount of shouting I've done at the tv this week!!



Starstuck

There are many things that I would love to share about how fantastic the conference was today but I don't think I currently have the wherewithal to write it all up. Pretty much the only thing in my mind right now are the phrases 'I met David Laws' and 'David Laws signed my Orange Book'.

It has already been pointed out by me in this very blog that I have a ridiculous amount of respect for David Laws and finding out he was speaking at a fringe event I wanted to attend today did make it even more appealing. However I'm not a particularly forthright person; once you get to know me I'll probably never shut up again but I find it have hard to make the first move towards conversation. But the second fringe event I was attending this evening was in the same room as the first so I hung around after the first one finished, waiting for people to leave so I could sit down again. David Laws was chatting to a few people and I wished I was brave enough to just do that, then I realised a follower of mine on Twitter who shares my admiration for the man would never forgive me if I didn't make something of the opportunity so I thought 'bugger it, I'm off to say hi'. Turns out I'm not as shy as I thought, he's perfectly lovely and was happy to chat and didn't at all mind (as far as I could tell) obliging my geeky request for him to sign my copy of The Orange Book :D

This clearly put me on a bit of a roll as after the second fringe I chatted to the chair of the joint LGBT+ Lib Dems/Stonewall event I went to yesterday and thanked him for it then congratulated one of my MEPs who was speaking at the event on his defection to the Liberal Democrats after a regrettable period of Conservatism.

I'm sure other things have happened in my day but I'm far too excited to remember any of them!!

What have you done today, to make you feel proud (AKA the day my face was on BBC One)

An exciting, if terrifying, day 3 at conference.
I submitted a question to Nick Clegg's Q&A on a whim this morning and didn't expect them to call me in a million years. It's my first conference and I've never spoken before so I wasn't prepared but I think somewhere in my mind I knew I had a good question, I sat deliberately at the end of the row in case I needed to get to the intervention mike for example. But nothing quite prepared me for Andrew Wiseman reading my name out in front of a conference hall full of people then promptly introducing Nick Clegg and leaving me quick terrified in front of a mike-less intervention mike (quickly remedied luckily but it didn't help my nerves!). I'm sure I was blushing and speaking in a ridiculously shakey voice but hopefully, with the first public speech out the way, I'll get better!

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When I did A-level politics we looked at US party conferences and it was said they performed very little practical function but served to bolster the commitment of the masses. With the level of democracy Liberal Democrats exercise our conferences are never going to be merely decorative but I never expected to feel so inspired by the debates, speeches and fringes! For someone who lives in a Labour town and moved to a Labour city, someone whose only work on a political campaign ended with a loss followed by a candidate defection, someone who as a student had to face off against so much anger over tuition fees being surrounded by people who share your ideas and beliefs is incredibly uplifting :D

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I have yet to develop a cool and calm attitude when faced for politicians and news personalities I see around the ICC. Today I've seen Chris Huhne, Nick Clegg, Vince Cable, Jeremy Paxman, Nick Robinson, James Landale, Andrew Neil, Lynne Featherstone, Paddy Ashdown, Tim Farron, Ming Campbell, Brian Paddick (more about him below) and many more and I still can't keep casual about it. Actually I hope I'm never casual about it! The utter geeky pleasure I get from seeing these people reassures me I'm involved in a party I love and studying a subject I adore and I don't ever want that to go away!

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One event I particularly enjoyed was the Stonewall and LGBTLD fringe this evening which focused on increasing LGBT representation in politics, media and sport. The panel included Ben Summerskill, Simon Hughes (even if he was terribly late!), Stephen Williams, Belinda Brooks-Gordon and 2012 Mayoral candidate Brian Paddick. And I must admit it does appear that the latter was almost certainly the most popular with the audience there and on a personal note I do love the man. There's just something about him that is so distinctly un-politician like about him that I just think suits London and suits an elected mayor, I'm committed to giving up as much time as I can and travelling to London and campaigning for him because he's brilliant. The event was very inspiring and my determination to further gay rights I spoke of over the weekend is strengthened yet again :)

Tomorrow, MSM blood ban unfairness!

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Quick P.S. I've just watched Newsnight from the conference and I am fantastically proud of every Lib Dem in the audience because they took no shit from Paxman, even when goaded, they defended the coalition and our role within it and they showed Britain we are not Tory lapdogs and we CAN make a difference to this country!

P.P.S My face was just on BBC One, listening while Nick answered my question. I wish it hadn't been! Luckily they didn't show me asking the question, probably owing to the amount of shaking I was doing at the time :|

And thus continues the weirdest week of my life

I believe I am possibly too tired for my brain to function but I shall give this blog a go!

No-one needs a blow to blow account of the conference but I can say absolutely that I have heard some of the most inspiring speeches I'll probably ever hear. Every time I hear him speak, I get more reassured the voting for Tim Farron as Party President was a great decision. He is funny, witty and reassuringly Liberal because unlike other high-ranking party members he doesn't have to take the feelings of the Conservatives into account.

Danny Alexander's speech was also remarkable. He's young and refreshing yet bolshy enough to stand up for the Tories and provide a strong Liberal Democrat influence in the Treasury. Yet however brilliant he is and however much he protects our interests I can't shake the feeling that it shouldn't be him giving the speeches, it should be David Laws. That's nothing against Danny, he's marvellous as I've said, but Chief Secretary to the Treasury is David Laws' job and the only reason he isn't doing it is that he did the honourable thing and resigned to protect the party and the department from his mistakes. And they were mistakes that a less honourable man would have ignored in the hope that they went away and no doubt they would have. Laws could easily have survived with his job in tact but the reason he resigned was because he valued the work the Liberal Democrats were trying to do and didn't want to distract from it. So as fantastic and inspiring as Danny Alexander's speech was, I was watching with a slight twinge of regret.

The debate on drug policy was enlightening, with speakers making very personal remarks that persuaded those who weren't already in favour of a drug review that it was most certainly necessary, but an interesting point was raised across the twittersphere. Not one person who spoke in favour of the motion or amendments spoke from a position of freedom; all supported the motion because it would cut crime or increase the safety of drug but no-one it seemed was brave enough to suggest we should decriminalise drug possession because we as Liberals belief in a person's right to do with their body as they will so long as it doesn't negatively effect the health or well-being of those around them. Perhaps if the debate had been on drug legislation an not whether or not to have a review into such, the point would have been raised.

Lunchtime fringe was rather interesting, as was the evening one I attended even if the latter did require me to spend the first ten minutes standing while extra chairs could be found to accommodate the demand and then, once I was seating, realising I could no longer see any panel member except Jeremy Browne (not that that's a bad thing to have to look at :p) and had to make do with looking vaguely in their direction and merely listening.

Now I could and probably should have stayed later and gone to a fringe about the HS2 rail system but I was far far too tired so I can only apologise for missing it and hope to catch up with all relevant information as soon as possible!

As so I leave you as my desire to attend an early morning fringe means I need to get a 7am train :'(

I'm definitely coming again next year...

Day One of my first ever Liberal Democrat Conference! Since I'm crashing in Michael's spare room he offered to come into Birmingham City Centre with me and show me where everything is (and by everything I mean the ICC) so I would be able to find my way round alone in the dark. We tried to go for lunch in Wetherspoons but they'd had a power cut so couldn't cook any food but did kindly recommend a pub down the round where I was amused to discover every single person was either wearing a Lib Dem lanyard or an Aston Villa shirt because the football was on!

I left Michael in the pub and headed off to the ICC. Got into a lovely chat with an old man in the queue for the security checks; we chatted away about which areas we were from, what I was studying at university and what he used to teach and then he said I must go to the First Timer's Drinks in the evening because he was giving a small speech about his first conference. I got into the conference hall much quicker than expected however so I had a lot of time to kill. Mooched about the exhibitors and yet somehow failed to find the DELGA stand which was a minor irritation but I'm here all week so I'm sure I'll find in eventually!

The opening speech was dealt with, as were the Reports from the FCC and FPC, which was the first point in the day I felt like it would have been better if i had attended my first conference with someone who had been before because I had very little idea what was going on. The Lords Reform debate however I did understand (even if I did forget to pick up the Conference Daily so I had to guess what the amendments were) and found rather interesting. I've always been quite conflicted because, as a Liberal, the idea of entrenched privilege and unaccountable decision making unsettle me but a tiny part of my brain finds the idea of the lofty and posh House of Lords quite pleasing (I blame Jane Austen novels) but now I am committed to an at least majority elected second chamber :D

Lynne Featherstone's speech though was a highlight. She is clearly very passionate about what she does and it's quite inspiring. A week ago (ish) I blogged about what I wanted to do in the future and Lynne's speech - which is here if you wanted to read it - has nudged me (at least for today) towards working for the promotion of human rights abroad, especially gay rights. Her announcement that the Government is set to consult on gay marriages in March was warmly welcomed but I was annoyed by the obvious delay! Why does setting up a consultation take six months, why can't a bill just be introduced, debated and voted on? After venting this mild annoyance on Twitter it was pointed out to me by a follower, and Lib Dem councillor who listening to the speech, that we are having to take the Tories with us on this policy and it is obviously something a lot of their MPs, Lords and membership aren't exactly jumping for joy about.

After that speech I grabbed a quick sandwich, jumped on a train back to Michael's house, had a speedy shower and hopped on the next train back for the First Timer's Drinks Reception. This did cause another moment of desire for a friend who knew what they were doing because I managed to miss the rally and Nick Clegg's speech because I didn't know it was happening!! The drinks reception was fun though, found everyone friendly and chatty and had some good conversations with other newbies. The old gentleman from the morning queue did make his speech but it wasn't until he was introduced that I realised I'd met him before; William Wallace, Baron of Saltaire and I met one day campaigning for my local candidate at the 2010 General Election and I was hoping to meet him again. He recognised me from the morning and came over for a chat afterwards which was nice.

I've now reached the point where I've realised I want to be at the ICC for 9am tomorrow morning and there are no trains so I'm going to have to get a taxi so I should probably go to bed!

Night folks :)

I've run out of quote/song-lyric/poetry inspired titles...

Completely forgot to post yesterday! Mainly due to the excitement of watching the final episode of Torchwood with an over-excited housemate who forced me to watch the 5 episodes I was behind in one afternoon so that I would be ready to watch the final episode at 9pm. It was totally worth it though; John Barrowman got his kit off, Rex survived and I managed to ignore Gwen's shrill voice so all was well :) This was followed by what can only be described as THE most boring Question Time I have ever watched; monotone voices and boring questions combined to make it very difficult to watch/stay awake throughout!

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Today however I was up bright and early (having panic packed yesterday), showered and took delivery of some drawers the housemate and I had orders to compensate for the lack of storage space in our uni house. Booked taxi to the train station and apart from my bag strap breaking as I was on my way out the door I managed to get to my Liberal Democrat Conference accommodation (my mate's sofa) without too much trouble. I've planned all the ICC and Fringe events I want to go to so now all I have to do is read the policy documents for the debates I'm going to and contact my home party and see when they're about so I don't feel so ridiculously alone!

Makes it sound so simple ay?

Will be reporting back tomorrow on opening speeches, Lords reform plans, a speech by Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone and the Conference First Timers welcome drinks :)



I need a dollar, dollar

Finally had a wander into town having been in Leicester for over a week. 

Firstly, a hideous encounter at the City Council building when an overweight man with dubious body odour stood far too close behind me to be socially acceptable then I had to wander over the road to the Admin Office and try and say a name of foreign origin through a dodgy intercom without sounding racist. I think I probably failed :| Although when I finally got into the building I was reassured that my worrying lack of passport doesn't mean I'm losing any shifts in my new job as the guy who decides when I can start work is on holiday. They have my driving licence and national insurance information so all they need now is my passport and I can start working. As a liberal I feel that this is a worrying amount of information a council needs just to prove I am allowed to work in the country, especially since that's what I've been doing for the last three years, but you never know, theatre bar staff may become a national security risk in the near future ;)

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Nothing much on the news has caught my eye today but that's probably because I haven't read the paper or watched the news. I did see the unemployment figures but I'll be the first to admit my knowledge of economics isn't the greatest so any comments I make would almost certianly be ill-informed and unhelpful. On the other hand I do know that the BBC's continued blanket on reporting George Osbourne's dominatrix-cocaine issues is causing me no end of laughter. Do they think it's not important enough to even worth mentioning or something?

Every sinner has a future

I seem to have found myself thinking about my future all summer; not in a deeply philosophical way, just in a 'what do I want to do with my life?' kind of way which I'll admit is pretty important nevertheless. Pretty early on after I picked my degree subject I realised that being a politics student meant every single person I meet with automatically ask 'So you want to be an MP?'
No.
No I don't.
Not even close.

I don't want to build my adult life on such a fluid job; the idea that I would probably have to move my political beliefs to a more electable centre ground to get anywhere coupled with the chance that five years down the line I could be unemployed hardly makes for attractive job prospects does it? On the other hand, the idea of working behind the scenes in some kind of capacity is very enticing to me. So far I've come up with

1. Lobbyist
2. Charity Work
3. F&C Office / DfID / Diplomatic Service
4. Party Work

The first two kind of go together: I'd like to lobby for issues I care about and recently I've found myself being drawn to gay rights charities like Stonewall or Kaleidoscope which launched today. I'm also passionate about working in other countries, I aim to learn Russian this year, so working for Kaleidoscope or any of the #3 departments would be amazing for me. Since the election last year I've paid close attention to DfID's work; I admire the way Andrew Mitchell has set about his job with determination and planning and I realised that although British politics can be incredibly disillusioning, the idea of spreading democracy and basic human rights around the world has a strong appeal. My final option is some party work: I would love to be able to work towards strengthening and increasing party support plus I have a love of speech writing that I've always wanted to develop so working for an MP or Lord in some kind of research assistant capacity sounds like something I'd enjoy.

All of this needs to be decided fairly soon which terrifies me slightly. I'm almost certain now that I want to continue education beyond the end of this degree though, probably working towards a Masters at a different University if possible. Leicester is all well and good but it's not the place I see myself spending the rest of my life!

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Positive news!! My Lib Dem conference pass has arrived!! Now all I have to worry about is getting lost, missing something I really want to go to, looking like a lonely nutter because I'm going on my own and the guy I'm staying with trying something on with me because he's been trying for years and now he's giving up his bed for me for 5 nights.

Oh and I've lost my passport. That was yesterday's panic that hasn't quite subsided yet.

So not much panic then!!

A low, dishonest decade

I'm in one of those moods where I'm noticing every little annoying or stupid thing the people around me do. Like a housemate panicking that she didn't know what the numbers on the oven dial meant; increasing numbers on a dial on a device designed to generate heat, What The Fuck do you think it does! Even if you're never used a gas oven before it can't be that difficult!

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A side effect of this mood is that I become very sarcastic, moody, argumentative and confrontational. Probably a bad day to pick a fight with the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party then. I saw an article this morning about the Labour Conference having an event where men were not allowed to attend - with the exception of Ed Miliband - and issues such as maternity leave and childcare were to be discussed. I tweeted the link to the article, tagging Ms Harman and saying she had a lot to answer for. As a women, I find of lot of her proposals for gender equality derogatory; forcing the Labour Party to have a woman as either leader and all-women short lists are two examples of plans for equality that Ms Harman supports but that I feel merely reinforce the belief that women are not capable of becoming successful without help. Harriet Harman unexpectedly responded to this tweet saying women's only conferences will not be needed 'when women & men [are] on equal terms in [the] Labour party.' Now this isn't something I can agree with:

1. Discussing issues such as these at a women's only event surely reinforces the gender stereotypes that men are unable or unwilling to participate in child-rearing which is hardly conducive to gender equality and,
2. Gender equality (and a harmonious party) are hardly likely to come from making party policy whilst excluding the opinions and ideas of 50% of the population

While I did my best to convey these messages through Twitter's 140 character limit and Harriet Harman did reply for a couple more tweets I feel I probably did little to change her mind. It did however make my day slightly more cheerful; it's not every day you get to chat with the Deputy Leader of Her Majesty's Opposition!

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While that would have been a marvellous ending to a blog it's 9/11 and I feel some comment is required. Mass outpourings of grief has always made me feel uncomfortable; grief is such a personal thing that I feel the big crowds at Ground Zero and the constant documentaries and press stories border on morbid fascination. That is not to say that the friends and families of the victims shouldn't be able to visit Ground Zero and mourn but the endless press coverage, conspiracy documentaries and wall to wall news coverage of the memorial service just indulges some peoples unhealthy obsessions and cheapens the true feelings of people who actually suffered.

I've already been told off for expressing this opinion once so I hope it's not too offensive to anyone, I just find public outpourings of grief distasteful.

Hopefully more politics/ less my moods tomorrow :D

That odd melancholy feeling

I've actually had a bit of a miserable day. Not for any specific reason either; nothing terrible has happened but I've just been a bit down. You know that kind of general feeling of shitty, can't be bothered to move just want to curl up in bed sort of feeling? I have no motivation to do anything, including unpack, and I've just sat around the house all day not doing anything. Well I cooked a lasagna but that was a bit of a failure too; the cheese sauce wouldn't thicken and I've probably ruined my pan in the process but Jenni ate some and she hasn't dropped dead yet so we'll assume while it wasn't my best lasagna, it wasn't altogether a disaster.

Tomorrow I WILL

• unpack - I've been here a week so it's a bit pathetic that I haven't done it yet
• sort out my job forms - I need to wait until Monday though as the medical form they emailed me won't load and there's no way I'm putting my passport in the post
• finish writing my letter to Liz Kendall - I haven't got a strong desire to work for a Labour MP but living in Leicester where the council is 52 Labour, one Tory, one Lib Dem and all three MPs plus the elected Mayor are Labour there isn't a fabulous amount of choice!

I'm also a bit fed up with my (lack of) social life. I hate clubs and drinking outside of pubs so I never go out; I'm not the sort of person to do something I don't want to do because everyone else is doing it, but as a result I seem to have a lot less friends than everyone else. The guys I live with are always talking about people they go out with and I'm just sat there thinking 'I've no clue what the hell you're talking about'. Plus my best mate has an ex that she's not sure about texting her and yesterday said she was grateful for my advice; baring in mind I'm the only permanently single person she knows. My advice is apparently very good but I've no idea how because I've never actually been on a date so god knows where this agony-aunt genius has come from!

Apologies for the downpour a misery; I just needed it out of my system!

On the plus side MY MOTHER HAS POSTED MY CONFERENCE PASS <3 <3 <3

And it's Monza tomorrow :D

Silence is golden

Both flatmates (I have three but one hasn't moved in yet) have headed out for the evening and as a result of my dislike if alcohol and general antisocial nature I'm rocking about the house alone. It's not as depressing as it sounds; I have Sky+ and the Internet so I think I'll survive.


A result of this Sky+ though is that I've spend a good few hours today watching LA/Miami Ink and now have a rather strong desire to get some tattoos. I had this desire already but now I've actually started putting proper thought into it. Stars on my wrist and something on my shoulder blade but I'm not sure what yet.


I also almost set the house on fire but that was entirely accidental! We've got a gas oven but I dropped the jacket potato I was cooking which then rolled into the flames and proceeded to scorch quite dramatically. Luckily I switched it off quick as anything and prized it out using the kitchen tongs that were just lying around on the side.


I feel like I may have over-egged this potato story but it really did scare the crap out of me. That and thirty seconds later the landlady wandered in without any warning. Luckily she wasn't earlier otherwise she'd have caught me with my head in a gas oven which could have prompted some odd questions :/


So the rest of my night consists of checking out TV packages for when this one ends, googling tattoo designs and panicking slightly over the fact our landlady has just told me we're behind in out rent :|

Failure to launch

I woke up this morning to the news that the government are repealing the blanket ban on MSM blood donation. Obviously this is a fabulous move in the right direction but a) it's nowhere near enough and b) it comes a week before the Lib Dems were going to going to debate it at conference. I realise we still can, the ban is still discriminatory and not 100% based on science, but I still feel like we're been robbed of something.

Finally managed to get the housemates to understand the urgency of visiting the bank to get our house account set up only to get there and have the manager tell us we needed to make an appointment a week in advance. Hopefully by next Thursday we'll be in a position to pay our rent but somehow I doubt it! There is a possibility that if Jenni and I had managed to get out of bed before noon we may have sorted more things out today but what can you do when your housemate gets into your bed at 10am dressed in a tiger onesie? She doesn't half look cute with it on bless her. I really should unpack though as I have lived in the new house now for three days and I've so far only unpacked textbooks and DVDs :|

One result of the lack of organisation on behalf of my housemates is that I have had to fund a TV licence off my own back. Now this isn't a problem as I actually went out this summer (and last) and got a job and earned money that I save and don't spend on copious amounts of alcohol but I can't help but think I'm going to have to remind them to pay me so often that I'll sound like I'm just demanding money from them :/ They are perfectly happy to watch TV without one but my paranoia about breaking the law coupled with my love of the BBC and need to fund it in some way meant I just couldn't deal with not having one. Now we have TV channels we don't pay for (don't panic, someone else does) that we finally watch legally.

Meaning they best not want to watch anything tonight as I'm watching BBC Question Time!!

Late night musing on the world stage

First blog post and it's being written while I'm revising for an exam I passed months ago. Technically I'm hoping someone else, who forgets when their exam is!! I had planned to go to the pub tonight and go round to his tomorrow for the whole day to help him revise but now him and his boyfriend are sat in my living room talking about the legitimacy of humanitarian interventions and the risk to international relations of climate change and nuclear weapons. Who said students don't have intellectual debates!

On a political front, Parliament today voted down the Dorries Field amendment to the new Health Bill. Thank God! I'm a Liberal so I have absolutely no problems with someone saying they want abortions limited or banned or whatever and would frankly actively defend your right to say that but I absolutely contend Nadine Dorries' definition of 'independent'. Saying the only 'independent' counselling services are ones which themselves do not offer abortions is ridiculous, if they don't them it's more likely than not to be for religious reasons so how is that independent! In addition to that, Dorries claims to be pro-choice. I am pro-choice and I do not want to be clubbed together with that woman. She claimed 'no woman ever wants an abortion': bull shit! Not all of the 200,000 women who had an abortion last year were forced into it, a small percentage were possibly pressured but I doubt extra counselling would have helped. At least it was voted down - with the largest ever majority on an abortion vote as well.

Slightly aside from Westminster politics by Liberal Democrat conference pass hasn't arrive yet and I'm starting to get a bit angsty about it. I thought it would arrive in late August so I put my address down as my home address but now I've come back to uni, my mum promised to post it to me but I'm worried it won't arrive it time. What the hell do I do if it doesn't turn up?!? :/

I've just realised this background looks a bit ultra-nationalist. Worried now that it gives out a quite UKIP-style message, not exactly what I was looking for!