Cllr Pearl Lewis

Archive for the ‘Current Issues’ Category

Every seat is going to count in this election, as the Conservative Party need the biggest swing since the war to gain a workable majority. Therefore, when the Conservative Future asked me to join their Regional Action Day in Winchester yesterday, I thought it might be good way not only to canvass to win back the seat there for the Conservatives – Steve Brine is the PPC, who only has a 6,000 Lib Dem majority to overturn – but it would also be a great way to meet some younger people in the party, and enjoy the spirit of the election with a crowd of excited supporters all hitting the streets to talk to voters and remind them that they should vote Conservative on May 6^th if they really want things to change in this country. The weather was incredible too yesterday – glorious sunshine and not a cloud in the sky – and we had about 70 people turn out to help!

Canvassing In Winchester with the Conservative Future

Canvassing is brilliant fun – there is nothing more democratic than physically going out there trying to win votes, talking to voters about the issues they are concerned about, and reminding them how their vote does count – especially in 2010.

There is an interesting article about canvassing here on the BBC News website, take a look, and join us if you really fancy it!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/8605756.stm

On Thursday 11 March, the Right Honourable John Bercow, Speaker of the House of Commons and MP for Buckingham, lectured at the University on five of his personal heroes and heroines: William Wilberforce, Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, Margaret Thatcher and Aung San Suu Kyi.  John began by explaining his three criteria for being a hero: beginning from a point of prior weakness or adversity, displaying immense courage and passion in achieving your goal, and choosing a goal that is of moral purpose. His five examples show all these traits, as I summarized for the University website:

Aung San Suu Kyi - A true 21st Century heroine

Wilberforce campaigned relentlessly (and successfully) for the abolition of the slave trade, despite heavy opposition and his weak power as a back-bench MP. Churchill’s time in politics gained him a number of enemies, but his performance and courage as Prime Minister during the war earned him the legacy of being one of the greatest wartime leaders. Mandela, who spent 26 years in jail for his anti-apartheid work and campaign for one nation, forgave his enemies, and served as the President of South Africa. Thatcher’s heavy opposition in her own party at a time when women were a very small minority of MPs did not prevent her from taming the power of the trade unions, winning the Falklands war, standing up to the Soviet Union and privatising the state industrial sector. Aung San Suu Kyi’s struggle for freedom and democracy in Burma has seen her put under house arrest, separated from her children, and refusing the tempting offer to be released if she commits to never returning.

John Bercow reminded the audience that we should not use the word ‘hero’ as lightly as we do. For real change in our troubled world, we need true heroes like those he described.