The first part of the day involved a student competition, called ‘It ought to be a law.’ KEVIGS had been shortlisted to the final three. These three schools and colleges made a presentation to a packed lecture theatre and the winners were decided by the audience voting through an app. It was exceptionally pleasing that King Edward’s won, with a proposal to ban protesting within 500 meters of abortion clinics.
The first keynote speaker was the MP for Hull North Dame Diana Johnson on “The Labour Future”. It was a very thought-provoking analysis of Labour’s defeat in 2019 and offered a path for re-election. Afterwards there were lectures in 4 Breakout rooms on topics like “Liberals and conservatives: Enemies or Friends?” and “Parliament: too powerful or too weak?”. This lecture was given by Lord Norton of Louth.
There was then also a presentation about studying politics at Hull University and after lunch there was another breakout session and I went to a presentation entitled “The USA, China and Global Leadership in the 21st Century”.
At end the event there was a Question and answer panel with Diana Johnson MP, Councillor John Fareham, leader of the Conservatives on Hull City Council, Councillor Michael Ross, Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Hull City Council and Dr Ian Kelly, Chief Executive, Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce. During this session any student could ask a question to the panel who all answered the questions and occasionally had a jab at each other.
I would certainly recommend this trip and it was thoroughly enjoyable and I would also like to thank Mr Jeffery for organising it and driving the mini-bus.
By William Pridgeon Year 12
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