Common Endeavour » Elevator Pitch http://commonendeavour.org In Place Of Fear Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:41:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0-alpha en hourly 1 The Elevator Pitch: Paul Burgin http://commonendeavour.org/2009/05/08/the-elevator-pitch-paul-burgin/ http://commonendeavour.org/2009/05/08/the-elevator-pitch-paul-burgin/#comments Fri, 08 May 2009 14:00:51 +0000 Sadie Smith http://commonendeavour.org/?p=995 Welcome to the Elevator Pitch, where we give a Labour blogger two minutes in an elevator with a Minister or Cabinet Minister of their choice and instructions to keep it in line with the Queensbury Rules. This week Mars Hill's Paul Burgin takes Douglas Alexander on over the "Education for All" initiative.

Paul Burgin is the moderator of Mars Hill and is, amongst other things, a volunteer press officer for the North East Hertfordshire CLP and training for the lay ministry in the Methodist Church. The blog post he is most porud of is the one where he demanded Pater Hain's resignation because of the interest it generated and because he says he tried to be balanced about it. Another favourite is his post on women bishops.

Paul [to International Development Secretary, Douglas Alexander]: What are we doing right now with regard to the campaign for "Education for All" by 2015, how are we going about it with regards to the Fast Track Initiative, and what are the contingency plans? Given some of the ttething problems, would it not be better to take advice from the World Economic Forum and for the next Budget to put more money into helping the Fast Track Initiative?

]]> http://commonendeavour.org/2009/05/08/the-elevator-pitch-paul-burgin/feed/ 0 The Elevator Pitch: Don Paskini http://commonendeavour.org/2009/02/20/the-elevator-pitch-don-paskini/ http://commonendeavour.org/2009/02/20/the-elevator-pitch-don-paskini/#comments Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:09:22 +0000 Sadie Smith http://commonendeavour.org/?p=539 Welcome to the new Friday feature: The Elevator Pitch. Each week a blogger will be given a hypothetical lift, their choice of Minister, two minutes, and strict instructions to keep it clean. This week we're to proud hustle Don Paskini, who blogs at don-paskini.blogspot.com and liberalconspiracy.org,  into an enclosed space which he'll share - for two hundred glorious words - with Communities Secretary Hazel Blears.

Don Paskini: Hi Hazel, I'm sure you've met the Young Mayor of Lewisham, and that like me you were really impressed when you heard about what they do. They have their own budget to spend on young people's priorities and support staff, and at the last elections more than half of 11-18 year olds voted in the elections - that's a higher proportion than voted in the local elections.  They recognise that standing for election is a brave and worthwhile thing to do, so  andidates who aren't successful get the chance to be part of the Youth advisory council, go along to the UK Youth Parliament and so on.  And a much wider and more diverse range of people get involved than the people who stand to be MPs.

So why not get all councils to elect their own Young Mayors, with proper budgets and support staff?  In many areas, only a very small number of young people have the chance to get involved.  They could all have their elections on the same day as the next General Election. Unlike elected mayors, it's something which has been a real success
wherever it has been tried, and which would help to increase the number of people involved in democracy and over time build up a much wider range of people who have experience of representing people.

If you would like to nominate someone for the elevator pitch, or you'd like to do it yourself, drop us an email.

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