Community: Real Life

The big smoke


Luke

Luke is 17 years-old and from Hastings, East Sussex. As an active member of his local community and Member of UK Youth Parliament (UKYP), Luke's fighting for better rights and services for young people. We follow our young activist on his political path and find out how he manages to fit everything into his crazy schedule.
Entry: 2

Luke heads up to London to meet up with the Electoral Reform Society before preparing to go back to college to catch up with mates and sit those dreaded A-level exams.

It's been a busy week and things don't seem to be showing much sign of slowing down. I had my last AS-level exam for economics on Friday that involved a particularly difficult question, but thankfully inspiration soon kicked in and I didn't sit staring at the paper for too long. I'm not sure how I've done, but I always think there's no point worrying about exams after you've sat them. I just felt sorry for the people who had to do more than one in a day because by the end of it my hand was killing me!

After the exam I plodded down to the police station and began preparing a few bits and bobs for the meeting I had with the Electoral Reform Society the following day. The meeting was about the national Votes at 16 campaign that I'm involved in as the elected MYP for my area, Hastings and Rother. "If you suspect it, report it", rang through the station every few minutes as I fumbled through the mass of jumbled-up papers in my bag. For some reason, the police recording always reminds me of something from the author George Orwell, with the constant reminder to make you suspicious and to feel that you aren't completely at ease about getting on a train from Bexhill to Hastings.

"It never ceases to amaze me how often I get lost in London... even with the help of a map it took me several wrong turnings and a number of calls to the office to actually find my destination."

The meeting on Saturday went very well; it was good to hear of the progress that's been made so far and to link in the work that UKYP is doing with the national campaign. I hope that our national survey can get a big response to kick-start the Government into some action, which is all very exciting stuff.

I was up in London again later in the week at the UKYP head office to assist in writing the national Sex and Relationship Education report following a staggering 21,000 responses to our survey earlier in the year. It never ceases to amaze me how often I get lost in London... even with the help of a map it took me several wrong turnings and a number of calls to the office to actually find my destination. It was a bit like the time I walked with my girlfriend to the Tate Modern, only to realise after 20 minutes of walking we were going the wrong way down the Thames. Always a guaranteed way to end up in the dog house!

After a few days' rest at home after some much-needed study leave, I'm looking forward to going back to college tomorrow and seeing my mates. It's been a long time since we've all been able to sit and talk without worrying about stress of exams. I'm also especially looking forward to the meeting I have with the leader of the council on Friday about getting funding for a feasibility study about getting a town centre youth hub in Hastings, which would basically be a massive youth club with all sorts of facilities. Fingers crossed it all goes to plan.


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