The time is nearly upon us to hold our Annual General Meeting once again

This year the date is March 3rd and the meeting will be held in the upstairs room of The Borough, Lancaster.

The main purpose of the AGM is to elect a new Executive for the next year, all the positions bar ‘Exec without Portfolio’ are up for grabs. See the ‘About’ page and our Facebook group for more details. If you wish to stand, please submit your nomination to Sam Thurgood, our current Chairman, by March 2nd at the latest. You can do this through a private on Facebook or by emailing him at s.thurgood@lancs.ac.uk or samuelthurgood@me.com.

Hope to see as many members there as possible.

Last week Lancaster Conservative Future had our annual Fleetwood Action Day, alongside Eric Ollerenshaw MP. Throughout the day we assisted members of the local Fleetwood branch in delivering hundreds of ‘Intouch’ newsletters for County Councillor Stan Leadbetter in Fleetwood West. The main enemy of the day was not hostile socialists but the bitter February cold, though a portion each of Sadie’s legendary hotpot went a long way to ease the pain.

Leafletting is one of the key campaigning activities we do in Lancaster CF as it is the primary form of communication between elected officials and their constituents. A regular flow of information ensures constituents can feel their representatives are actually working for them; if they know we’re working hard they are more likely to put the come out and vote for us when the time comes. As good Conservatives it is our responsibility to hit the pavements in support our MP and our Councillors.

Fleetwood may be a fairly long trip but we gave an important helping hand to the branch and left with comfortably full stomachs as a reward. All in all a rather successful day.

A couple of weeks ago Mr Sam Thurgood put on his dancing shoes and danced the Charleston at the Ballroom Dancing Society’s Charity Showcase, organised by LCF member Andrew Pickup. The event was organised to raise funds for Cancer Research UK and made over £1700!

The night featured performances from LUBDS and LUDanS accompanied by the Music Society Big Band but the highlight of the night was ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ featuring various campus celebrities including LUSU President George Gardiner, Josh Bancroft from Labour and our own Chairman Sam Thurgood. For those who missed the event I can present video evidence of Sam’s smooth moves.

The following video was filmed by Karen Lowe, whose quick thinking means  you all get to appreciate Sam’s hard work.

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On the one hand, Margaret Thatcher won three landslide elections, triumphed in the Falklands War and got Britain out of a recession. However, she is also remembered for the Miners’ Strike, milk snatching and the poll tax. Either way, her premier was an eventful time, but you would not know this from watching The Iron Lady.

The majority of the plot takes place as an elderly Maggie (Meryl Streep) suffering from dementia begins to clear out her late husband, Denis’ (Jim Broadbent) belongings after his death. As she does this, it triggers a series of flashbacks as she looks back on her life.

When making a biopic about someone, you would expect the film-makers to focus on the most momentous time in that person’s life. Clearly, director Phyllida Lloyd and screenwriter Abi Morgan disagreed. In The Iron Lady, the highlights of Thatcher’s life are gone in sixty seconds. Alexandra Roach gives a convincing portrayal of Thatcher during her early years but there is no mention of her time as a chemist or her training as a barrister.

Key historical events like initiating the Falklands War and the sinking of the S. S. Belgrano receive hardly any screentime at all: a surprise as I expected this to take up the bulk of the film.

Initially, I considered that the reason for this may have been they did not want to portray her in a positive light by highlighting her achievements. Nevertheless, the rise in unemployment and her turbulent relationship with the cabinet, which led to her downfall is extremely underwritten.

Instead of writing a film about what we know about Margaret Thatcher’s life, Abi Morgan decided to write a film speculating about the severity of her dementia. The scenes where Thatcher is talking to Denis’ ghost are purely hypothetical – we do not know whether her condition is as severe as this – yet it takes up the majority of the film. Portraying Margaret Thatcher as a weak, frail old woman, and then naming the film “The Iron Lady” is an oxymoron.

It is not a complete disaster. The scenes that take place in the House of Commons are shot very well and convey accurately how it was for a working class woman involved in politics.

The performances are on the whole, strong. Anthony Head is particularly convincing as Geoffrey Howe. I was a little more disappointed with Jim Broadbent as Denis, who depicts him as a baffoon which is far from the truth.

The Iron Lady has one major asset: Meryl Streep. Her performance is one of the best I have seen in a biopic. It goes beyond an impersonation: she does not merely imitate Thatcher, she embodies her. Many doubted (myself not included) that an American actress would not be able to play such a British role. But Meryl Streep is brilliant and it will be a gross injustice if she does not receive her third Oscar.

Margaret Thatcher’s life could have made a fantastic film. Phyllida Lloyd’s The Iron Lady is a waste of a great performance and interesting concept. With the best actress they could have had playing Margaret Thatcher, they truly wasted what they had. * *

I read this article this morning:

blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/ianmcowie/100013939/baby-boomers-with-80pc-of-uk-wealth-shouldn’t-feel-guilty-about-younger-generations-problems/

Normally a baby boomer (someone born between 1945 and 1964) saying all our generations problems are our fault makes me angry as it is their generation who created the economic mess we are now in. However, some of the points in the article highlight that we don’t help ourselves. This blog is also prompted by recently being criticised by a friend for saving a small proportion of my salary instead of always spending all that I earn on enjoying myself. It concerns me when I am considered odd for saving a small amount of money each week, I spend allot of money on drink and entertainment. I can and probably should save much more than I currently do.

I am not suggesting we should become a generation of misers and never enjoy ourselves, simply that if we want to own houses, retire before we are 70 and not be in poverty from then until we die, then once we in full employment we should start saving a proportion of our salary and sign up to a pension when the opportunity first comes along. As Ian Cowie said in the link: “Youngsters who say savings and pensions are boring should ask themselves how exciting poverty in old age is likely to be.” The reality of never thinking about the future in case it never comes, is that the large probability is you will live a long life and have nothing to fall back on apart from the state, when you are incapable of looking after yourself. More immediately it means that unless we are prepared to save for a few years it will be impossible to become home owners unless we are lucky enough to have parental help – the days of 100% mortgages are over.

Former Labour Work and Pensions secretary John Hutton is known for his current work for the coalition government on reforming pensions for state sector workers. He also reformed private sector pensions in 2006 meaning that private sector employers will have to contribute 4% of salary to all employees pensions by 2017 if the employee makes a 5% contribution. He also created the NEST scheme, for companies that don’t want long term liabilities, which means that you can have your own individual pension pot with different employers contributing to it throughout your career. Recent studies have shown that millions of people look likely to opt out the scheme, seeing a 5% personal contribution as unfordable, something I find hard to believe is actually true.

As a Conservative I can’t support more than very basic state provision for a generation which is being given the means to all make provision for ourselves. I understand that some people simply can’t afford to save much but it is a lie to say this is the reason for most 21-40 year olds not saving. Last year I preferred to spend all the money I earnt doing open days etc on beer and a holiday in France, hopefully I have learnt my lesson. I don’t want to sound like a prig, I simply don’t like the idea of hard working taxpayers paying for the consequences of other peoples irresponsibility, its why I am a Conservative.

1. Spring Forum in Cardiff: “I’d rather be a child of Thatcher than a son of Brown… BOOM!” and meeting Liam Fox.
2. Winning the Scotforth East seat for Billy after a 5am start of campaigning.
3. Fincham’s disgraceful dancing winning us a bottle of champagne in Yates’s.
4. I wasn’t present myself but I’d expect that the Right Honourable Nigel Evans MP coming on to Kyle belongs on this list. Also the fact that he and Eric were in Sugarhouse.
5. Champagne Social and the overwhelming amount of freshers that turned up!
6. Question Time drinking game – GWAN DEBS! Miss Swindell summed it up nicely: “We love Debra and hate Mary.”
7. The realisation that there once was a “Thatcher the Musical”.
8. Seeing Rebecca Rollinson down a whole pint of Guinness in one go at Pub Golf 2011.
9. James Calder vomiting out of a Cardiff taxi with Ally repeatedly saying, “You legend…”
10. “Are you a bit gay or proper gay?” No need for a further explanation.

Just a few there. If anyone has anymore to add, post them in the comments below. Happy New Year, everyone! We’re looking forward to many more highlights in 2012

Handing in essays day has arrived, final exams tomorrow and then everyone heads their separate ways for the festive season. On behalf of the Exec may I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thanks to everyone who came to our socials this year and made them amazing, and I look forward to seeing yourselves, and many more members next year.
We have some exciting events planned for next year so keep your eyes peeled to the blog and the Facebook group and see you then!

Merry Christmas!

Ok, so ive been pretty terrible this term on the gossip front… well that doesnt mean there hasnt been gossiping ive just been too busy to document it!!

Ive woken up this morning after another tory night out, feeling rather fragile, and thought that i could put off revision for a smidge longer by doing this

SO here is an overview of the term thus far….

FRESHERS… where did we find you lot… WOW i have to admit this year has been one of the best for new tory meat and i am very pleased to announce youve all made quite good minions
Becka – new levels of alcoholism, probably the most drunk Tory i know, (old gossip alert: we’re pretty sure she slept with a certain arrogant tory that emma rather dislikes in Hustle on the first social ever… scandalous i know
Leighton: awesome at secret santa gift giving, yet to see him paraletic thought and as an exec member, let alone a tory, this is unacceptable and WILL be rectified next term.
Tory will be ‘proper gay’, Eno will be world leader, spreadsheet will produce spreadsheets, Mostyn will continue to make everyones day with his epic booming laugh (see video of our impressions of this for details) and the rest of you are all wonderful but havent done anything note worthy enough to gain a nickname and a mention yet – better luck next term

The freshers have also had an averse effect on the oldies! a little birdie that saw their walks of shame at 7am on friday morning tells me that after the question time drinking social (that i left at a reasonable and respectable time) they all piled back to pauls waking poor emma and proceeding to turn the flat into an illegal drug rave where the sickos got high whilst watching finding nemo… (so most of that was a lie apart from the nemo bit but im getting bored and wanted to jazz it up… soz )

Last nights pub golf was, as usual, a success. JJ wasnt half as annoying as i remember and you all made rather an interesting impression on christopher.. especially Joe the raving catholic trying to get him to recite prayers in latin and hugging him rather alot… VERY amusing

Sugarhouse became hustle as it appears the cheese just follows the tories wherever we go! All in all guys a pretty awesome evening… ALTHOUGH WE DO APPEAR TO HAVE MISPLACED OUR CHAIRMAN AT SOME POINT DURING THE EVENING… IF FOUND PLEASE RETURN… thanks

In conclusion, its been a pretty amazing term.. roll on term 2!!!

much love minions,

Becca xx

My opinions on Europe are quite euro-skeptic but I don’t think we should try and use the current turmoil in Europe to hold it to ransom. Yes it is important that we protect our interests but it is not the right time to negotiate our relationship with Europe in a fundamental way. My approach would be this “as long as a new treaty won’t harm us, you guys get on with it”. We need to make sure that other in the treaty would mean our industries were effected. I am mainly talking about the financial sector that makes up 11% of all the UK’s tax revenues and creates over 2 million jobs, including my own. We need to allow this situation to be resolved in a timely manner and simply get guarantees that we shall not be adversely effected. Let them get on with it.

Now is not the time for fundamental changes, this kind of renegotiation can be had when we have a Conservative majority and are not in a financial crisis, doing it that way may actually mean we get it right as well.

There is also no need for a referendum if a new treaty would mean either more sovereignty for the UK or a similar level of sovereignty. The untrained people do not need to be consulted when a treaty is only benefiting us, especially as UKIP or similar could use it as a springboard for an EU exit campaign.

So protection for our Industry and no new powers from the UK to Brussels, apart from that go and get on with it Europe.