Politics
When the Opportunity Knox...
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 In a first for Cranleigh School, an Upper Sixth Form Politics student put himself up as a candidate in May’s local elections. Until about five years ago, the age at which you could vote and the age at which you could stand as a candidate for public office differed (18 for the former, 21 for the latter). But one of Blair’s final reforms as PM was to bring the two into line at age 18. This gave Alex Knox the idea to run as an Independent candidate in the Waverley Borough Council elections. Unlike for Parliament, where a £500 deposit is required, for local councils no such fee applies. Alex also worked out that if he ran in Cranleigh West, the local ward where the School is situated, he and many of his fellow year group would be registered to vote for him. So at the start of April the Knox for Cranleigh campaign started. With the main aim of engaging his fellow Sixth Formers in the democratic process, he set about getting himself nominated – needing 10 signatures from registered voters in the ward. This was relatively easy as all the East borders were eligible to sign his papers and, hey presto, Alex was an Independent candidate. Mike Mockford, Alex’s campaign manager, and he produced a double-sided A5 leaflet which they delivered around Cranleigh with six other Sixth Formers in the Easter holidays, explaining why he was running.
Polling day came and he managed to get about 50 of his year group to go down and vote for him, along with some members of Common Room! This was the day that democracy and young people came together in Cranleigh. When polls closed at 10.00pm, I was allowed to take Alex to Haslemere, where the vote counting would be happening all evening. After what could only be described as a very long night the results in Cranleigh West were as follows:
Election date: 5th May 2011
Electorate: 3062
Ballot Papers Issued: 1705
Turnout: 55.7 %
Richard E Cole Liberal Democrats 402
Brian Ellis Conservative Party 929 Elected
Anne P Ellis Conservative Party 975 Elected
Alexander G Knox Independent Group of Councillors 317
Christopher Tew Liberal Democrats 338
So, although Alex came last he still managed to get 317 votes in what is one of the safest Conservative wards in the country. He and I are still wondering where those votes actually came from! Overall, I would like to congratulate Alex on this venture and say publically what great company he was in this whole venture - particularly at 5.00am on that Friday morning at Haslemere Leisure Centre!
FTH
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 On Tuesday 1st March, 28 Lower Sixth Politics students had the excitement of going to Westminster to have a look around Parliament at the invitation of Baroness Sharpe (Liberal Democrat Member of the House of Lords). The day consisted of a tour, a question and answer session with Anne Milton Conservative MP for Guildford and junior minister, and a brief session with Baroness Parminter (newly appointed LD Peer) before going into Lords’ Question Time.
Our tour around the palace included a look inside both houses and was a chance to see the difference between the green benches of the Commons and the red benches of the Lords – it also allowed for Sixth Formers to see bicameralism (an important feature of the UK parliamentary system) in action.
The Q and A session with Anne Milton was very interesting and Anne talked mostly about the difficulties of being bound by collective responsibility now she is in government. We then met Baroness Parminter, who was made a Peer only in July 2010 and is unusual that she is not only an ethnic minority woman, but also relatively young for someone who sits in the upper house. That said, her expertise on environmental issues makes her an ideal choice for the Lords. Whilst speaking to us in the corridor we saw John Prescott make his way into the Lords, as well as Lord Sugar.
Lords question time was a raucous affair, with Lord Prescott making a very forceful point about the dominance of the Murdoch press.
Our day concluded by walking out of Parliament past Alan Sugar’s famous car, complete with that Apprentice-style number plate ‘AMS 1’. A great day was had by all and a lot was learned about the way in which Parliament functions. Big thanks must go to HBF, RMAS and SLW for staffing and organising the trip, as well as to Baroness Sharpe, who, although could not be there, made the whole day possible.
 FTH
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Cranleighans get political in Washington DC and New York
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While some people were having a nice relaxing time during the recent Long Leave, Mr Hardee (FTH), Mr Block (SAAB), Mr Boggitt (DRB) and Mrs Burns (HKEB) took 30 Sixth Form pupils to Washington DC and New York on a week-long Politics and Economics tour to the United States.
After finally getting through the US security and immigration at Washington Dulles airport Cranleigh Sixth Formers were treated to seven long days of hard political and economic activity (and that didn’t just include the shopping in New York!).
Washington DC
The first three days were spent in Washington DC, where Cranleighans got to go around the Supreme Court, the Capitol Building (with a special tour around the House of Representatives), the Newseum (a history of US political journalism), and the Washington Monuments by night (a tour given by a Vietnam Veteran and a former school head teacher), as well as attending two economics lectures given by a senior official at the US Treasury and HKEB’s brother, who works at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
 In addition, for those that wanted to, there was an afternoon dedicated to working for the ‘Re-elect Jim Moran’ campaign for the congressional mid-term elections. Angus Peters, Sophie Shearer, Nicola Hardwick and Emily Coleridge got particularly excited about their role as sign-wavers at traffic lights!
New York
After we had exhausted the opportunities that the US capital had to offer, we made our way to the Big Apple for more economics and politics-related activity. On the way we stopped off in Philadelphia to visit Liberty Bell and the US Constitution Museum. Once in New York, the group were treated to dinner in the Hard Rock Café off Times Square, a night tour up the Empire State Building, a visit to the Statue of Liberty, an audio tour of the United Nations HQ, more economics lectures and a tour around Wall Street, as well as catching the New York Knicks opening home NBA basketball game of the 2010-2011 season in Madison Square Gardens.
We did also find enough time to squeeze in a little shopping, when Cranleighans managed to use their economic know-how to take advantage of the favourable exchange rate.
Although it was very tiring, all those who went on the trip had a fabulous time and learned an awful lot about both the economic and the political systems of the United States. Thanks must go to all those who helped make this trip possible.
FTH |
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Dame Shirley Williams wows Cranleighans.
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 Baroness Williams of Crosby took time out of her busy Liberal Democrat election schedule to come and talk to Sixth Formers and staff about the importance of the 2010 election. After the Director of Studies, Martin Allison, introduced Shirley Williams to all those assembled, Baroness Williams gave a short 15-minute lecture on the state of British Politics. She commented that Britain was at a crossroads and that the two things that all politicians need to deal with after the election will be the state of Britain’s financial crisis and the reform of the British Political system in the wake of the expenses scandal. She advocated a cross-party group to be formed on financial stability after the election and the changing of the voting system that actually rewarded parties with seats in proportion to the way people voted.
 Shirley was then joined by Sue Doughty, Guildford’s Liberal Democrat Candidate at this election, to answer questions from Sixth Formers. Despite only a further fifteen minutes Cranleighans managed to ask questions on the economy, education and training, the possibility of a ‘balanced (or hung) Parliament’ and about Britain’s nuclear deterrent. Mr Allison finished off by thanking Shirley and Sue for their attendance and encouraged all those Sixth Formers who can vote for the first time, whichever party they support, to use their vote in eight days’ time.
FTH
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