National Youth Debate - Liverpool

Regular readers & followers will know I'm currently on a leadership programme with UpRising. On Thursday night they held a National Youth Debate across 11 cities in the UK 6-8pm. It was a chance for 16-24 year olds to ask questions to local politicians about topics that matter to them. What the political parties stand for, why you should be voting for them. It was open to anyone, so you didn't have to be part of UpRising to attend. The Liverpool one was held at Camp and Furnace.

On the Liverpool panel we had Louise Ellman - Labour MP for Riverside (we questioned her when we went to London the other week), John Pugh - Lib Dem MP for Southport (he was the other MP we questioned when we went to London), Martin Dobson - Green Party candidate for Riverside, Norsheen Bhatti - Conservative candidate for Walton, Steve Flatman - UKIP candidate & Ciara Brodie - former member of the Youth Parliament for Liverpool. John Pugh was actually late admitting he'd lost his car keys before he set off to get to the venue! His stand in was Paula Keaveney - Lib Dem candidate in Sefton Central. UKIPs initial planned speaker candidate for Wavertree Adam Heatherington had to pull out for health reasons.

 It was chaired by BBC Radio Merseyside presenter Roger Phillips. 

Roger wasn't very good though, I think he might be a little deaf as every time someone was asking a question he would say speak up, we can't hear you when everyone else could & didn't let me finish what they were saying. I would've chose someone else to be the chair as well as being a presenter for BBC Merseyside most young people wouldn't have had a clue who he was. Someone younger & more well known would have been better.

The first hour was pre set questions with 4 themes - Health, Economy, Education & Employment. This gave all of the panel to have their say on each of the topics, where their party stands for each of these issues. 

The conservative MP seemed to be reading a script when she was answering the questions. It was as if David Cameron has written it for her to say. She wasn't really the best representative if I'm being honest with the way she was answering the questions. She even threw a question back at the audience at one point & gave us her life story which was irrelevant. 

The next hour was questions from the floor that anyone could ask to the panel. This gave young people the chance to grill the MPs. 

Some really interesting & important questions were asked. There was a question about legal aid that was asked to the Green Party but he had to apologise as he couldn't remember their policy for legal aid!

Ciara Brodie was the stand out speaker of the night from the panel, only 16 was the most popular with the crowd. Saying how young people just aren't being represented in politics that it's important for politicians to go to schools to talk to young people & that they are talking but not voting as they don't know enough. She spoke about wanting more creative subjects in schools as once you leave school you don't leave with the skills you need for employment. Young people are important as "we are 100% of the future."

She said afterwards: "It was only when I joined my school council at 14 that I realised there was a platform for young people to be empowered in politics. I was very pleased with the reaction I got. It was refreshing to see so many young faces because I feel we are not very well represented in politics."

UKIP as expected wasn't popular with the crowd getting boos when Steve Flatman spoke about immigration & Britain being part of the EU. At the end there was a large crowd surrounding him but fair play to him for staying at the end to speak to people. Even though we did think he might not leave there alive.

It was a great night with a great turnout with nearly 300 young people turning up! The #MyVoiceMyVote hash tag was trending 3rd in the UK when the biggest news of the day was Zayn leaving One Direction & the Battle for Number 10 with Paxman on at the same time! Well done to Tom Belger (who was on Sunday Politics with me) for organising the event!

I got a photo with Ciara who recognised me & said how good I was on Sunday Politics North West after her being on stage with 5 well spoken MPs! You can still watch it on the iPlayer for the next 15 days HERE (51 minutes in if you want to see me!)

You can see more photos that the "pro" photographer took on the night on Flickr.
You can also follow UpRising on tumblr HERE 
The article in the Liverpool Echo HERE

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Is fish vegan?

Yes Hannah asked that today when we went to a little vegan & vegetarian restaurant/cafe in Woolton Village.

  

Kelly copied what Danielle was ordering.

Vanilla milkshake - £2.75 & Falafel, hummus & chutney (ve) - £3.95

I got an orange juice - £1.50 & a toast BLT - £3.95

Hannah got the ‘Tuna’ mayonnaise (ve) - £3.95 sandwich

We've never actually had lunch in Woolton Village before considering it's only a 10 minute walk there for me & local for all of us. It's nice to support local independent restaurants rather than going out to town. It was busy when we went at 1 & the guy even said if you came earlier you would have been served quicker cos it was dead, surprisingly busy now. Even though Hannah suggested we should go to Subway or Costa... 

Mine tasted just like normal BLT but the bacon wasn't real bacon I don't actually have a clue what it was made from but it did look like bacon, had pretty much the same texture but tasted more like bacon crisp. Hannah was expecting to be getting actual tinned tuna as she didn't realise that vegans & vegetarians don't fish cos it's clearly a plant... She wasn't too amused when it came & she was smelling, examining it before she ate it. It was weird because it was gritty & tasted a little fishy. We didn't know what it was made from either but whatever it was they've done a good job making these alternatives to be like what it's meant to be. Like you could probably get away with saying the bacon is actually meat maybe not quite with the tuna.

It was a nice catchup as we're all going away over Easter at different times so not sure when we'll see each other. I've booked a last minute holiday to Crete with my cousin Sindy. We only booked it Sunday morning 9-16th April I can't wait I'm so excited to go! We're full board & the hotel looks so nice with a gym, PT's, yoga & pilate's which of course I'll be making the most of! I'm killing myself now in the gym to try & get my beach body abs! Less than 3 weeks it's not happening ! :(

Yesterday was the first day of Spring & today did look like Spring didn't really feel it even though I wore my leather jacket for the first time. It was chilly but warm in the sun. I'm looking forward to the warmer weather & to be tanned!

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BBC Sunday Politics North West

If you follow me on Twitter or Tumblr you will have seen me mention that I was on BBC 1 this morning on Sunday Politics North West! I was on as a first time voter & talking about how young people aren't interested in politics. How more should be done to educate young people.

You can watch it HERE
The North West show starts 37 minutes in & I come in at 51 minutes!

I got a phone call on Thursday evening sking if I was free on Friday to go to Media City in Salford to be interviewed for the Sunday Politics show. Luckily I had the week off work booked & was free to go! I went down to Media City with Tom who is the coordinator for the younger group of UpRisers. 

I spelt my name out W I N G to the girl on reception & she still spelt it wrong!! 

We got to Media City around 3pm & went into I think it was Quay House where BBC Sport, BBC 5 Live, BBC North West is based. I was pretty excited to be in the BBC & definitely know that is exactly where I want to work! As you know I want to be a TV presenter so being in the BBC is a big deal the ultimate dream!

We got taken up to the 2nd floor & was prepped about what was going to happen. There was going to be 2 MPs Esther McVey Conservative for Wirral West, the Minister of State Employment & Lisa Nandy Labour for Wigan. I didn't know they were going to be on the show too I thought it was going to be just me & Tom. I thought we were going to be on longer than we were especially on the train there me & Tom planned what we were going to say.

We went into the studio at around 4:15pm & had a bit of a nightmare trying to get the mic on me as I didn't really think when I planned my outfit!

I don't think the presenter Afif Ansari was being fair to me as when I said I wasn't sure who I was going to vote for he "well you've got some research to do then haven't you." Then at the end he asked me who'd I'd vote for between Esther & Lisa in which I just swerved his question & didn't answer it. It's one of them things you don't ask people who they're voting for, when we left the studio the other producers, people working, the 2 MPs & Tom said he shouldn't have put me on the spot like that but I did good & didn't panic. Apparently I'd make a good MP swerving his question! I was surprisingly not nervous at all considering if never been on TV before. But I think if there was a live audience I probably would have been. You don't notice the cameras being there as you just look at the presenter like you would in a normal interview. 

I wish we did get longer to talk but that's how TV works you don't always get the time to say what you want to say but it was a really good experience!

I didn't actually realise that Blue Peter was here in Salford & that the Blue Peter Garden got moved as well. Anyone who knows me that there's nothing I want more in life than to become a Blue Peter presenter!! I want to be the first Chinese presenter to ultimate dream. It would be the best job ever!!

Shirt - New Look

Necklace - New Look

Skirt - Gap

Cutout Boots - Zara

Coat - H&M 

Scarf - New Look

Bag - Zara

I didn't get to watch it when it was on TV this morning at 11am as I was back in work after 9 days holiday! But I made sure I recorded it & downloaded it on iPlayer.

You can watch it HERE on the BBC iPlayer. Watch from 37 for the start of the North West show but if you want to see me I don't come in till 51 minutes in!

Let me know what you think by commenting, Twitter @Juki_W or any of the links below or email!

I would like to say a big thank you to UpRising for letting me be on the Sunday Politics show! You don't realise how happy I am that I made it onto BBC 1, that thousands of people have seen & heard me voice! I've now been on BBC Radio (Merseyside) & TV it's been regional but hey baby steps next I'll make it onto national watch this space! I've also been on live Channel 4 but I didn't get to speak I was just in the audience & you couldn't really see me but still I was on TV, it still counts!

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