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!

.........

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!!