Which one??

My name is Lamees Yousif; I am Walaa Idris’ youngest (and favourite) daughter. I am getting prepared to vote in the next general election. I’ve done it before once for the EU election but it doesn’t seem to have the same appeal as the current one. My mother is a very strong conservative activist who from time to time could do with being a little less excited about the whole politics’ thing. The only true understanding I have about politics at the moment is that it prevents me from watching the shows that I want to watch. If she isn’t watching Sky news, she’s watching The Daily Politics, when that finishes she goes back to Sky. My television time has been completely infiltrated with Adam Bolton and Andrew Neil that I’ve been indoctrinated to believe that they are apart of my family. But with all that aside it’s nice to see her happy and excited about the “election that will result in change” her words not mine

It’s a little hard to stray from her political views when she takes them so seriously however I do try to encourage my mother as much as possible. It is hard to do so when the leader’s actions towards each other are unkind. I understand that it’s all in the fun of competition and even better when you make your opponent lose as bad as possible but sometimes it is a bit of an eye sore to see the continuous display of disrespect being spread across London as publicity for your own party. Believe me I am the biggest comedian in my family and I know a joke when I see one, but as representatives of their party you would at least expect David Cameron and Gordon Brown to have a certain level of awareness of each others feelings and the impact it might have on the people who idolise and strive to be like them one day.

I go to the Grey Coat Hospital in Pimlico and as unexpected I can barely find anyone in that school who shares in my conservative view who isn’t a little weird. Many of my friends are shocked and highly disgusted at my political choice and continue to question my views when I don’t really mind theirs’. When I did ask why I should vote for Labour over Conservatives one of my friends picked up her latest metro and showed me a picture of Gordon brown and said “look how cute he is” (the last thing a 59 year old man is, is cute). On the other hand, when she did throw the question back at me I realised I had no real reason. I did not know any of their manifestos or policies, I did not have a true understanding of what Gordon had done previously to cause such havoc upon our nation, and I didn’t understand why everyone was taking this election so seriously, all I knew was that if my mum votes for the conservatives then so did I because she surely can do no wrong. So I took a stand, I postponed revision for one day and decided that I’m going to sleep today knowing who I’m going to vote for.

So I read all three manifestos paying special attention to their actions towards universities as for the next 4 years that is where I will be. Firstly I looked at the liberal democrats because after the first round of debates (which I predicted would work well for them) I thought it would be useful to give their manifesto a once over as before I probably wouldn’t have bothered. Even though Nick Clegg can successfully talk himself out of a battle it certainly does not have the same effect on paper. All politicians have voiced how important a university education is for the future generations not only in the workforce but in the classrooms but the liberal democrats focus on a fairer society which as an 18 year old I completely understand the idea of living in a fairer country and the consequences of living in a communist government, it wont work. I’m not calling Nick Clegg Stalin but the whole Idea of fairness and freedom seems a bit to 70’s for my liking, however they are taking on board a lot of financial pressure which shall backfire in our current economical state. If they do stick to their guns and decided to take away the burden of tuition fees from us it can only end badly. They could either pay £3225 for 1.2million people and fork out a massive 3.87billion pounds or they can scrap that fee all together and reduce the standards of teaching at universities which doesn’t seem like a great idea. When money is lost motivation is lost, books are lost and resources become a minimum. Money does make the world go round, if he does decide to spread it over six years then the amount of money is just spread for longer (and their government might not last 6 years). Will we incur interest? At the rate the economy is going we probably will. The manifesto it self wasn’t subdivided very well its seemed rushed and lacking in true understanding of the needs of students. Plus university is an independence leap for student there are several financial plans for people who are unable to pay for their fees which gives students independence and life skills for the future. We can not continue to spoon feed them everything.

The labour’s manifesto featured a lengthy description of what they will do but somehow the stuff that they did do emerged into the stuff they will do which just made it very confusing. In the red corner Yes it’s great that they are giving university students a chance by building new universities and funding a further 20,000 places but it seems too little too late. The current student upheaval is about student finance and paying for uni before we even get there it would be nice if there was a focus on that situation. I have one friend who applied and went to uni in 09 and had only received his student finance in Easter 2010. The Labour party has been in power forever yet did nothing to try and help the situation. In the blue corner the conservative’s abolishment of quangos and school inspections (I can’t remember the last time we weren’t inspected), improvement for research and an early repayment bonus has placed labour off the mark. The conservatives are covering the whole university life as apposed to labour just getting you in and leaving you there. The improvement in these key areas not only strengthening a student’s knowledge but has a light at the end of the tunnel scheme with the repayment bonus which can reduce the chances of certain students scrapping money from their overdraft and enhance their ability to save. Even though I’m gutted to be leaving school when they begin a nationwide talent show (because I have impeccable star quality) I am more excited to be in university whilst a good government is in power.

So to conclude the blue corner has indeed won this round as the Conservatives feel like the better choice. Their attention to detail for every student in every year shows real compassion to fix a broken Britain. To get better we do have to start from the bottom and I think it is important that we do give a new government a chance so I am excited and ready to cast my vote on the 6th may 2010 and in the words of bucks fizz ‘trust your inner vision, don’t let others change your mind’