A night to not remember

It was a chilling moment last night when the country gathered around TVs, radios, laptops and iPhones to see the first exit polls suggest that the Liberal Democrats might not blow away the two stagnated, backwards-thinking and barely distinguishable old parties, after all.

April 16 saw Lib Dem supporters enjoy unadulterated euphoria as a few optimistic tweets and yellow-dominated polls after the first televised debate marked the beginning – and the beginning of the end – of the Lib Dems’ very real chance of securing power.

“What happened?” is the thought flashing through the minds of stunned progressives, as the party that just a few days ago was set to win a record number of seats ended up in much the same position they started from.

It was probably naive of me to think that voters who switched to Lib Dem because Mr Clegg looks better on TV would stick with us until polling day. The general air of mourning was perhaps as much for the deflating results as for our now-bruised idealism which let us dare hope that 2010 would be the year to make a real difference to the country.

Britain has spent decades caught between the desperate clutches of a Labour party that has abandoned its grassroot socialist ideals, and a Conservative party whose reactionary core is disguised by a brazen re-enactment of 1997 Blairism.

The only plausible explanation for the Lib Dems’ failure to change this is that British voters got last-minute cold feet.

Pleas of the public to vote tactically and endless discussions about our flawed electoral system would have confused even the most knowledgeable of voters. Is it really surprising that the general consensus was “Oh, well, Cameron will do”?

To all those people I would say no, David Cameron will not do. And neither will Gordon Brown. Immigration, education, environment, NHS, Trident, income tax, inheritance tax, national insurance tax, VAT -- the list of past disasters is endless and I have no doubt that a Tory government will make failure after failure of half-hearted attempts at fixing them.

Perhaps it’s OK for some people to hang around for another three, four or five years, hoping for the best, but something tells me that won’t be necessary. Watch this space: I predict a revolution. But then I predicted a Liberal Democrat landslide so maybe I’m not the one to ask.

One hour left. Are we making a difference?

I got up this morning, put on my #iagreewithnick badge and went off to vote for Caroline Lucas. In real terms.

Tactical? Foolish? Outrageously disloyal? Probably insignificant, realistically, although I do love to preach the power of every vote to anyone who will listen.

Facebook is telling me that way too many of my “friends” have decided to stay home and press F5 time and time again as opposed to walking to their nearest polling station and actually doing something about everything that’s wrong with this country.

I think that the best idea was undoubtedly for me to spend the night in a university newsroom playing journalist with a bunch of idealistic students that believe we’re doing a worthy deed for society and democracy.

Those of you who know me will not be surprised to read that I am writing comment.

I’ve been told I must have opinions. This is not a tough task for me. But I want to read yours! Tweet @sirenabergman or comment below to help me out. The more opinionated the better. Thank you!

Brighton Pavillion: how do I vote?

Getting me to miss a law lecture is a tough job, but I have to say that my excitement over an hour and a half of politics, journalism and debate won over my conscience on Tuesday afternoon.

The Independent Live debates began in Brighton Pavillion, where those of us lucky enough to get a ticket drank free wine, ate free canapés and then proceeded to get a rare chance to put our candidates in the spotlight.

The panel - which included representatives from the Conservative, Labour, Lib Dem and Green parties - had the chance to give a brief opening statement each and then proceeded to answer questions about education, Afghanistan, nuclear weapons, banks and immigration, amongst other things.

But did this actually sway anyone’s vote? Well, although traditionally averse to such per personality-driven campaigns, it seems the British public is getting a taste for these events and I would not be surprised if more than one floating voter left last night with a clear idea of who the MP should be.

Here is my take on the candidates.

Conservative – Charlotte Vere.
Away from home turf, the Tories perhaps felt their presence was almost a token gesture on behalf of the Independent. A few cynical laughs and ‘boo’s are the most memorable element of Charlotte’s contribution, and she was nowhere to be seen after the debate, when the rest of the panel was mingling with he audience and answering more specific questions.

Lib Dem – Bernadette Millam
Unfortunately for all the Lib Dem voters in Brighton, Bernadette put on a sorry show on Tuesday, barely identifying a single policy, fumbling over notes and generally appearing uncharismatic and dour. Of course few politicians would end up gleaming after ninety minutes trying to take on Caroline Lucas, but even Charlotte held her own better than our Lib Dem candidate. The ultimate mistake came when a member of the audience asked about the situation of the working class. Her answer was “I've been out cleaning lavatories to put food on the table”. Yes, lovely, but what are your POLICIES?!

Green Party – Caroline Lucas
Member of the European Parliament, Party Leader, and soon to be the first Green Party MP? She put the other speakers to shame by eloquently and officially setting forth important party policies - such as the introduction of a living wage, a reformed electoral system and a new generation of council housing. As far as I can see the competition is between her and Labour candidate Nancy Platts and it looks like the seat is going to everyone's favourite tree-hugger!

Labour – Trevor Beattie
No this is not a typing mistake. Neither the current MP David Lepper nor the candidate Nancy Platts were there, leaving the Labour Party representative to be a marketing executive with little apparent knowledge of policies, local issues or public speaking. Given that Mr Beattie is not a politician or candidate I don't feel his performance can be judged in comparison to the other speakers. However I would say that if Labour is hoping to win over any Green voters they need to get their act together and start at least turning up to opportunities like this to recruit valuable voters.

You can download a complete podcast of the event here.

Is Nick Clegg the new Barack Obama?

The first time I heard of the Liberal Democrats was during the run up to the ’97 election. There were those big posters of the party leaders in the Tube stations and I remember asking my mum who they were. She told seven-year-old me about John Major and Tony Blair (he was the "good guy" back then), but when I asked her about Paddy Ashdown in the middle she said: “They're the Liberal Democrats, no one really votes for them.”

And she was right. Despite having Paddy's face splashed all over the Underground, the Lib Dems got only 16.8% of the vote in that election. The following year I would leave the country for a decade and return assuming the “middle of the road” party was just as insignificant as it had been before. Yet in the intervening years, the Lib Dems had raised their votes to 18.2% and then to 22%. If the figure rises exponentially we are looking at the very least at a hung parliament this May.

But does this mean that the Nick Clegg actually has a chance at being Prime Minister? There is certainly a lot of hype surrounding the possibility. With recent announcements that he will take part in the UK’s first televised “prime ministerial” debates, it’s not hard to make a case for a Lib Dem vote no longer being a wasted one.

Re-winding couple of years to the US primaries I can remember the “is it really possible?” excitement that fueled every political discussion in the world. If I had had a say, I would have voted for Hillary Clinton as leader of the Democrats. Not because I like her policies, her hair, her husband or the thought of an ex-president’s wife being the new Mrs President. But because I thought that America was not ready for Barack Obama, and that by nominating him, I would have been giving the Republicans the election.

I have learned my lesson. And I like to think that so has the rest of the electorate. In Nick Clegg’s party conference speech last week he consistently hammered “change” and “yes we can”; told sweet little anecdotes about his children; and attempted a slightly higher than average number of jokes. Is this Obama all over again?

The parallels are undeniable: young, arguably naïve promises of “new politics”, Clegg's tax reform to Obama's health reform, the impassioned speeches about a new political system... But is the UK ready to do away with the old and in with the slightly younger and better looking?

Today Obama's emblematic health reform bill was passed by the US House of Representatives, making medical coverage available to 32 million Americans in a drastic shake-up of the system which previously denied health care to those who couldn't afford it. This landmark event seemed almost as unlikely two years ago as the US people voting in a black president.

But will Nick Clegg's tax reform have quite the same emotional impact? He is definitely trying to make it his trademark and he's doing it very well. He's taken “change” and made it “work for you”. As far as I'm concerned this is a great campaign, albeit an unoriginal one. He is articulate, honest, enthusiastic and fresh-faced, and the people like him.

There is no denying that the British public is as disenchanted with politics as it is disengaged, yet it seems like there has never been a better time for the Lib Dems. While Labour is busy slating Cameron and the Tories are busy slating Brown, I'd say to them both: “Look out Old Politics. There's a new kid in town.”

And I thought the BBC couldn't get it wrong again...

Anyone that knows me will know that I go through phases of spending a lot of time in the kitchen. Unfortunately, not many of my culinary experiments are hugely successful, but I enjoy myself tremendously. I also end up feeding a lot of local homeless people on my cakes which have either risen too much, or not enough, or are too sweet, or to salty, or I've just got bored of the recipe while I was making it and have no desire to eat the result.

However, for the last month or so I have drastically reduced the time I spend in an apron. This is because my housemate decided to take his radio, which has always lived in the kitchen, back up to his bedroom, leaving me immersed in the cold and lonely sound of the extractor fan.

And what was it that I had on in the background? Well there was BBC Radio 4 quite often and the occasional bout of Gay Rabbit Station, which was kind of fun. But mainly it was BBC 6 Music. Not from any great loyalty to the station or because I consciously thought it was the best, but it is very listenable, it has an interesting variety of music and it makes your ears prick up every so often.

The news that my favoured radio station faced closure left me rather disconcerted as I walked to the train station this morning, especially as it came with the unpleasant news that the BBC plans to slash its online budget by 25 percent.

I have to say that the thought of “quality over quantity“ does appeal to me. In fact, if I were asked my opinion I might suggest cutting out BBC 3 altogether and allocating the funds to making BBC 4 available during daytime hours. But cutting 6 Music and the relatively innocuous Asian Network seems like a preposterous plan that will do nothing more than shift the public outrage from one aspect of BBC incompetence to another.

I am a fierce defender of the BBC. I believe it is a journalistic treasure and I only wish more countries would adopt the same government-funded model. I bear no resentment at paying my license fee and I even actively defended the exorbitant salaries that employees were getting paid – possibly to the detriment of my future credibility. However, ever the most unwavering of loyalties can be challenged and I cannot see a way around saying that this is simply a step too far.

Within months of a general election, the idea reeks of political interests and barely hidden commercial appeasement. In one fell swoop the BBC has short-sightedly cut out a huge demographic of consumers, obviously deciding that it is not necessary to cater for the very people they aimed to reach eight years ago when 6 Music was launched, along with other digital and online incentives which have subsequently been adopted by practically every private broadcasting company in the country.

Luckily as of yet nothing is set in stone, and I think we have the power to change the outcome. By all means, join facebook groups, email the BBC (trust.enquiries@bbc.co.uk), march outside the headquarters if you have to. But please show them that we do care, we do matter, we do vote and it would be a huge mistake for the BBC to underestimate us.

Food for journalistic thought

Last Thursday I blustered my way from my warm and cosy room in Brighton to the windy, rainy streets of London for the Future of News Meetup Group which my dad was very amused to hear took place in a pub in New Oxford Street.

Not knowing exactly what to expect but hoping for at the very least some intelligent conversation I was pleasantly surprised. The strange mishmash of people – from students to lecturers and retired columnists – made for a refreshing feeling of acceptance that took a while for me to pinpoint. There is something extremely rewarding about finding a large group of people with ideas and opinions on the subjects that you practically live and breathe.

Bizarre characters were what I was hoping for and I was not disappointed. There was a beer-enthusiast and radio journalist who told us about his trip around the world, an audio-tech guy in jeans and a T-shirt who runs the most successful forum in his field, a Canadian girl with a surprising interest in Starbucks and myself, among others.

The meeting – or perhaps the wine – also had the pleasant side-effect of causing me to spend the whole train journey home talking about the evolution of news and the possibilities for print journalists in the current situation. Needless to say I didn’t see the light and answer all the industry’s questions but I was extremely satisfied and probably smiling like a lunatic when I got home that night.

I recently read a book called One Day by David Nichols (£2.99 with the Times one Wednesday – some good cross-promotion going on there, but I’ll leave that subject for another day), in which one of the main characters expresses his disgust at the late-80s student culture of sympathising with every cause, having an opinion on every issue, needing to change the world, to be an activist, to fight for what you believe... Somewhere along the line the Dexter Mayhews of the real – as opposed to fictional – world found perfection in the form of a generation in which no one cares about anything much more than what they are having for breakfast tomorrow.

I don’t expect Che Guevara T-shirts or campus marches against every war, but some sort of passion for what we are studying should be an underlying common ground, shouldn’t it? It is quite sad that in order to feel like I can comfortably talk about journalism without being considered pompous or precocious I have to go to a meeting full of middle-aged men.

Moving on from my digression into bitter student mode, I have to applaud the event as a relaxed, interesting and free platform for anyone interested in journalism and news. Bring your opinions, your enthusiasm and your knowledge and I can assure you, it will not disappoint.

http://www.meetup.com/Future-of-news/ Future of News Meetup Group
http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23fong Future of News Twitter page
http://apps.facebook.com/meetups/smallbiz/2605/ Future of News Facebook page

How I am going to pass Magazine Journalism (maybe)

I picked Magazine Journalism because the alternative was Photo and Video Journalism. I know this isn’t the noblest reason but it’s the truth. Although I both admire and envy those with photoandvideo (in my mind it’s just one word) skills, I would like to pass my degree, thank you very much. Ergo, magazine stand here I come.

Not that I have anything against magazines. In fact, when I lived in Spain I used to get my dad to post me (yes, post!) issues of Mizz and Sugar. But having outgrown them, I certainly don’t read enough current “grownup” magazines to reasonably expect to get a good mark in a module all about understanding them. Although in fairness, that would probaby bankrupt me.

When I found out that the assignment required “working in groups” I got that horrible feeling that I became all to acquainted with in primary school PE classes. You may know the one I mean: your heart beats a little faster; your eyes seem to find your trainers to be the most fascinating thing in the world... Then you fast-forward a few minutes to when your excited classmates are all paired up and the teacher says: “OK, who wants to work with Sirena?” Cue everyone shuffling around the football pitch / lecture theatre muttering about their group being full.

In actual fact, I am happily grouped up and excited to create what seems to be some sort of cross between the New Yorker, Cosmopolitan and Vice Magazine. Sound bizarre? As well it should – I’m involved. But who knows? Maybe this time next year I’ll be rich! Or maybe I’ll just be re-taking the module. Either way suggestions are welcome!