Welcome Back!

Hello everybody. We all hope that you had a great Easter holiday, and now that we're all back it's now time to (finally) update you with some news. It's been rather busy lately, with dissertations due we really let the blog fall a bit out of date. Here's a news summary, and pictures will follow shortly!

Mark Wallace and Ranil Jayawardena

A big thanks must go to our guest speakers last term, Mark Wallace (campaign manager for the Freedom Association) and Ranil Jayawardena (Chairman of the Blue Sky Foundation). We are very grateful to them for taking the time out to come and talk to us up here in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and look forward to seeing them again!

Alan Duncan Visit - April 25th

Thank you to all those who turned up to greet Alan Duncan and help campaign around Newcastle City Centre. A few photos should hopefully be up soon.

The Newcastle Union Society Awards 2007

It gives us great pride to announce that Newcastle CF received an award for "Most Improved Society" at the Union Society's awards ceremony. We'd like to thank all of those who have helped us out with socials and campaigns this year and we hope to continue our success next year!

Inter-mural Debating Competition - 14th March 2007

On Wednesday 14th March Newcastle Conservative Future entered a team into the Inter-mural Debating Competition and were Runners Up, losing out in the final debate. Congratulations go to David Codling and Keir Gravil - more information and pictures shall be posted tomorrow (Monday).

Green Action Day - 10th March 2007

Today NUCF met up with Durham University CF and helped Tynemouth Conservatives with their Green Action Day event. We went along to Briar Dene in Whitley Bay to help out with a local project that they have going there. We helped landscaping the area with the local Friends of Briar Dene association, as it is their quest to make improvements and add to the variety of plants and wildlife in the area, not a task to be taken lightly.

It was a good day and fun was had by all - it's amazing what a bit of hard work can do to team spirits, even if it was an early morning. A lot of work was done removing some overgrowing bramble patches and helping to plant new trees in the area.

NUCF on Question Time in Newcastle upon Tyne

It was good to see some NUCF members in the audience last night on Question Time. The video can be viewed here.

NUCF on University Challenge

Congratulations must go to Neil Archibald (Campaigns) and David Codling (Treasurer) for getting selected to represent Newcastle University on University Challenge. Well done guys!

Thatcher! The Musical

Newcastle CF went to see Thatcher! The Musical on Thursday 1st March at Newcastle's Northern Stage. It was a thoroughly entertaining night and the musical was brilliant - even if we didn't always agree with how things were being portrayed. One thing that struck us was how well all of the women playing Margaret Thatcher pulled off her voice - it was very convincing.

The musical begins with Margaret Thatcher appearing in a giant handbag - Narrator Maggie as she is known in the programme - and guides us through her life from birth until the present day. There are nine different Maggies dressed in attire that resembles the point in her life that was being focused upon: for example during the Falklands War scene (Military Maggie) she was dressed in a camouflage dress.

At one point one even comes around to play the audience - Gordon, one of our members fell victim but was looked upon kindly as Britannia Maggie said he had a "soft voice". Unfortunately Naima didn't get off so lightly and was told she was "dressed like she was French". It was all light-hearted fun however - and the quips about Tony Blair were good too.

The play provoked mixed reactions upon us all - Keir stating that he thought it was "pretty well balanced" and that "a lot of people wouldn't pay money to see a play that was too pro-Thatcher for various reasons. Considering it had to appeal to as wide an audience as was possible it was fairly flattering towards her." Others remain more sceptical, Barney was particularly disappointed at the portrayal of her character, of which he thought it was pretty much against her.
Hopefully we'll have a few more opinions from members up here soon, but in the mean time a few songs can be downloaded from the website:
http://www.thatcherthemusical.co.uk/audio.html

The Nuclear Debate

Newcastle Conservative Future and Newcastle Liberal Democrats Society have organised an evening of debating, including the main motion:

"This house believes in the Nuclear Weapons Disarmament of the UK".

This is booked for Wednesday 7th March in the Function Room of the Students' Union at 7:30pm. The Function Room is located on the 2nd floor of the Students' Union, at the opposite end to the MLK Cafe.

If you would like to take part in the debate itself please email our Deputy Chairman (Political) on:
b.e.g.baber@ncl.ac.uk

It's all light-hearted fun and anybody is welcome to join in, if you don't fancy debating then there will be a large audience there so feel free to come and watch (the more the better). There will be the opportunity to ask questions to those taking part too.

In this weeks Courier - Boris Johnson: the Tory poster boy who has news for us.

An interesting article in this weeks Courier by Stephanie Grant - an interview with Boris Johnson MP.

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Sometimes controversial, sometimes entertaining, he's one of those politicians that everybody either loves or hates. Boris Johnson talks to Stephanie Grant about tuition fees, what the future holds for Cameron's Conservative Party and presenting Have I Got News For You.

Do you think that students were right to be concerned about top-up fees, or does the increase in University applications vindicate the decision to increase fees?

Look at the numbers, you've got a 7.2% increase in applications in England alone, the average is a 6.4% increase. It's an astonishing vote of confidence by students and potential students in the value of doing a degree. There will be some students who decide after they've got their degree that it wasn't really relevant to what they went on to do, that the whole thing was a waste of time, whatever. In my view these people will be in a tiny minority. I think students have spotted that the deal this year is pretty favourably structured: you don't pay anything back until you earn fifteen grand or more, and even then you only have to pay it back over 25 years at a very modest rate indeed. I do think that the fears were overdone, and I do think that people should be confident about going for a University course. But I want to stress that like everything in life it can go wrong, it's not for everybody, but it's overwhelmingly likely that it will be a good idea.

Do you think that the current Government's target of having 50% of 18 to 30 year-olds going into higher education is a realistic one, and is it worth it? You yourself have commented on "loony degrees" in subjects like windsurfing - would people doing those subjects not be better off getting a job?

My views on that have changed. I've been round a lot of Universities and talked to a lot of people. Look at Media Studies for instance: it's one degree everybody says is completely useless, but if you look at the employment rates and the salaries that they get when they start, it's a pretty serious job. I don't think it's the business of politicians to go round deciding tat this or that course is no good. Students are smart, they're going to work out what's a good investment and what isn't, and increasingly they're going for the subjects that are going to deliver real intellectual stimulation and get them proper qualifications. I think guys like me should just watch and listen. People must do what they want to do, an that's exactly the same point as I would make about the 50% quota or target. I don't want a target at all - let people decide. I don't see any particular advantage in trying to force people into higher education when they're not suited to it or don't want it. Official Tory policy is to scrap the target but encourage people to go.

"I don't see any particular advantage in trying to force people into higher education when they're not suited to it or don't want it."

What about Tony Blair's recent announcement that for every £2 donated to Universities the Government will give £1? Is it a good idea or will it just increase the gap between the elite Universities and the rest?

That is obviously a concern. The way the proposal is structured tries to deal with that concern by suggesting that the Government gives £1 for every £2 raised by Cambridge, but it's one for one in the case of a newer University. You're absolutely right that that is a difficulty with trying to encourage more donations to Universities, and that some Universities will tend to have a more affluent alumni base, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't start. The top ten British Universities have a total cash endowment of £6 billion; the top ten American Universities have a total cash endowment of about £58 billion. I don't see any reason why we shouldn't start to encourage people to give more to their Universities in this country, and if it needs a little bit of matching funding from the Government to get it going, I thing that's quite a good idea.

The big discussion recently has been about David Cameron and what he got up to when he was at school. How much do you think it really matters?

I don't think it matters a bean. I don't think people give a monkey's frankly, what someone did at school. Looking at the polls, if anything it seems to have helped him. I say, well, bollocks to that, frankly. It doesn't seem to have shaken the stock market, does it?

Do you think politicians are entitled to the "private past" that he talks about, or is it natural that they are subject to the same scrutiny as any other well-known personality?

I think they are entitled to a private present, not just a private past.

Will David Cameron have failed as Conservative leader if he doesn't win the next general election?

It's not a possibility I contemplate. I hope we're going to win.

Is there a strong confidence within the Party that this is the best opportunity in ten years to win?

There certainly is. I've fought three elections now, and we've been whopped every time by Labour, and I'm getting thoroughly fed up with it. It's time to win. We need a change; these guys have been in for a long time and we've got a totally different party, a totally different approach. We're going to enormous lengths to make clear that a lot of the old perceptions of the Tory party are wrong. We're going to be a party that governs in the interests of the entire nation. We're there for absolutely everybody in this country.

Do you think that with taking that approach there's a risk of alienating the party's traditional core support?

I don't think so. The things we're getting attacked for at the moment - being too pro-green, soft on gays - millions of natural Tory voters have been yearning for these messages for years. The green message is very Conservative - I think it was a great mistake of the Tories not to talk about this before. The other point is that I haven't really seen this great migration of Tory activists away from the Tory party to UKIP - it's just not happening. People were waiting for a new message, they were fed up with the old message, and I think Cameron's getting it right.

What's it like as a politician to be sent up in magazines like Private Eye? You have your own section, 'Boris the Menace': is it an honour or an insult?

I'm beyond insulting. I find life so bizarre. It's always pretty good-natured, as far as I can make out.

Have you any plans to present 'Have I Got News For You' again in the future?

I don't know. They haven't invited me, put it that way! But you never know. I think I've now made a hash of it so many times, it can't possibly go worse.

David Willetts MP - Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Skills

Today, Newcastle CF was visited by David Willetts MP to discuss the issue of education and skills. David had a tour of the Marine Science and Technology Department and looked at the resources and apparatus available to students, and afterwards had a discussion session with students. A summary of some of the main points is shown below. Again it is paraphrased from memory so don't take this as an exact quotation - I wouldn't want to get anybody into trouble.

Alex Le Vey asked:
'With the UK recently being ranked at the bottom of Unicef's survey of the best place for children to grow up, what can be done to improve our education system? Does our curriculum need to be overhauled? And do you believe in city academies?

David responded by saying:
He thought our curriculum was fine as it was. He stated that he was a traditionalist and didn't think that the curriculum needed to be overhauled, or even changed. However, he did accept Alex's reasoning behind the motion that vocational education should be offered at the age of around 14 instead of being forced to persue more academic studies; whilst not agreeing them. On city academies Mr Willets' said that he was in favour of them, and stated that he believes Labour have undertaken some good work in the education system - but manipulated statistics have hidden a number of declines in education at all levels since Labour took office such as reading standards for children.

David Codling asked:
How will the Conservative Party increase literacy skills in children?

David Willetts answered:
David suggested moving away from formalised literacy and numeracy hours, allowing children a great deal more space to explore the world and to enjoy reading. Whilst Children are able to read the pieces of text given to them they take no enjoyment from it and rarely read a book cover-to-cover.

David Mundell MP - Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland

Newcastle Conservative Future was priviledged to to host an evening with David Mundell MP, which proved extrememly informative and interesting. David spoke on a variety of issues including the position of Scotland and the SNP, the environment, Britain's place in the EU, etc. A summary of the main points are below (it's paraphrased from memory, so don't take this as an exact quote):

On Scotland and the apparent rise of feelings for Scottish Independence:

David commented that he feels that there is no such rise, and that people are merely tired of Labour. David commented on the fact that people who want a change of Government vote for the opposition, as was the case in 1997. The SNP make up the main opposition for Scotland, and it is this wish to oust Labour that means people would vote for them.
On the apparent rise of Scottish Nationalism, David commented that people in Scotland are confused as to what 'Independence' actually means; whether it merely means greater autonomy within the Union, or complete independence altogether.

On tuition fees and the inconsistency between English and Scottish Universities:

David stated that tuition fees in Scotland have not been abolished, and have in fact been postponed until after graduation. One worry that Scottish Universities have is that when top-up fees are introduced in England, they will be at a disadvantage, because they will not have the same resources as their English counterparts.

On the future of Britain's involvement in the EU, and also the apparent increase in support for UKIP:

David stated that David Cameron and the Party are Eurosceptic, but that the Party is not committed to a withdrawal from the European Union. People who switch their support to UKIP risk seeing Gordon Brown pursue a pro-European agenda and another Labour victory. David said that he supported a referendum for an EU constitution in Britain.

On public transport in Britain and the state of the railways:

David acknowledged that privatisation of the railways was handled badly, although ultimately was the right course of action. The privatisation of the railways in the 1990's was done in such a way as to leave the railway industry over-complicated and difficult to run. David also stated that the Conservative Party is investigating high-speed rail links within the UK including the possibility of a mag-lev train, and also networks such as the Shinkansen in Japan and the French TGV. Another point which David raised was the use of the railways for freight, and that independent freight lines should set up to ease congestion.

On the smoking ban in Scotland:

As an MSP, David told us that he voted against the smoking ban as he "doesn't like banning things" however he admitted that despite his opposition, his mind has been changed and he now sees it as a good thing. He did say that it has set up a more al-fresco culture within Scotland despite the weather. One area that is suffering is the Bingo industry who are struggling to maintain customers within their venues due to the ban.

On reforming the House of Lords:

David stated that in Parliament, it is the House of Lords that help bring in serious legislation within the UK, and it is the House of Lords that make sure it is examined with a fine-toothed comb. Although he supports an elected House, David told us that it was not the Lords that was the problem but the Commons, especially when people like Blair hold the Commons with such contempt. Most of the labourious work nit-picking and fine-tuning policy was done in the Lords and we're lucky to have them.

On Menzies Campbell:

David was very fair on Ming, he said that his performances at PMQ's are largely down to the fact that as a QC, the Jury didn't heckle him like in the Commons and he wasn't used to it. Also his position in the Commons means that he sits opposite some of the more aggressive Labour MP's. However, he did point out that at some point Menzies is actually going to have to comment on some form of domestic policy for a change, and he won't get away with such silence forever.

On the relationship between Blair and Brown:

David pointed out that their body language shows their loathing for each other quite clearly in the Commons. There is no small talk and they barely even look at each other, and when Blair is answering questions on cash-for-peerages, or Iraq then Gordon does not turn up and leaves him to it. However, David accepts that Gordon Brown will be the next Labour Party leader as any other decision would split the Labour Party. David stated that it is always difficult for someone to follow such an omnipresent figure as Blair and gave examples of Attlee after Churchill and Major after Thatcher - the analogy of Gordon and Major is striking.

NUCF with David Mundell MP

NUCF's New Blog

Welcome to the Newcastle University Conservative Future blog, a place for all NUCF news on events and campaign days. Keep checking back for updates.