| MP Discusses Student's Concerns |
| Friday, 18 April 2008 | |
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Southport's MP John Pugh met students at KGV college this week to discuss some of the concerns raised in his recent questionnaire. Dr Pugh's wide-ranging survey covered topics such global warming, immigration, crime, and perceptions of bias in the media, and the MP today returned to the college to present the results.
He also agreed to field questions from some of the students involved - and says he was "encouraged" by the level of interest shown. "The motivation for performing this survey in the first place was to find out why so few young people take an interest in politics" said the MP after the meeting, "It's highly encouraging therefore to meet students taking an interest in the issues affecting them, especially when they are as well informed as those I met today." John was grilled on a range of topics, including the controversial invasion of Iraq; asked whether he thought the war was illegal, the MP replied that in his opinion it was: "I think it's difficult to make the case for our intervention in Iraq meeting any of the criteria for what could be termed a 'just' war. The justifications given at the time - which I personally wasn't convinced by even then - have since been proved to be wildly inaccurate. In my view our actions have caused more harm than good." When asked why he thought students were consistently 'switching off' to Politics, Dr Pugh replied that the rise of single issue campaigning could well be a key factor: "Research shows that young people are far more likely to get involved over individual issues that they maintain a deep interest in. The challenge for political parties such as mine is to encourage young people to develop this interest into a deeper commitment to a whole range of issues." Finally, the MP was asked his opinion on how young people are often portrayed in the media: "I think the view that all young people are 'yobs', and that any group of young people out and about is inevitably up to no good, is one that should be challenged at every opportunity. It is not just these stereotypes themselves that are unfair, but also the fact that they so often go unchallenged." KGV Principle Hilary Anslow described the survey as "a fascinating read", whilst Dr Pugh claimed to have "thoroughly enjoyed" meeting the students and responding to their concerns. The MP also promised to give some of the first year students at the college a tour of Parliament when they visit Westminster later this summer. |