Pupils grill Theresa May about politics and Bitcoin
Chris Hillman
ON Thursday 4th February, Theresa May, Maidenhead’s local Conservative MP visited Waingels, not in person but virtually on Microsoft Teams.
Year 12 students, members of Waingels Student Council and Year 10 Citizenship classwere privileged to put forward questions to Mrs May about her political career.
These included a variety of topics such as Mrs May’s time as Prime Minister, fair representation of gender and race in Parliament, her biggest obstacles and challenges aswell as Donald Trump and the rising of Bitcoin.
Mrs May described her time as Prime Minister as “a huge privilege and huge responsibility.”
SadlyMrs May didn’t deliver the Brexit deal that shewanted to but focused on other areas thatwere successful in her time of office: “We set up and established the modern industrial strategy, the newdomestic abuse act – which is going through parliament bill at the moment.
“I legislated for net zero emissions by 2050, so there are lots of thingswe have done butweren’t often seen because Brexitwas the big issue that everybody was focusing on”.
Year 10 student Danielle asked about fair representation of race and gender in Parliament.
Mrs May said: “It’s become more representative in terms of gender, that’s been improving.
“Diversity in others senses has got better but there is more to be done by encouraging more people from a multiplicity of communities towant to come into Parliament”.
Mrs May extended this answer to say: “We need to encourage a fairer representation of peoplewith more diverse experiences and background into Parliament – there is always an awful lot of lawyers, we haven’t had many nurses, teachers or doctors”.
I asked Mrs May about the biggest obstacles she had faced during her political career.
With some thought Mrs May replied: “The initial challenge is actually sometimes the hardest thing- getting into politics.”
Head of Year 12, Mr Pembroke couldn’t resist asking Mrs May her views on Donald Trump.
“Hewas a businessmanwho came into politics, so he approached everything in a differentway than everybody else.
“He and his Presidencywere more unpredictable and I would say the Biden Presidencywill go back towhat I call ‘normal’ Presidency.
“I do thinkwhatwe sawtowards the endwith the storming of the capital should give rise to concern.
“I think it is so importantwe and the US and thosewho believe in values of democracy, rule of law, freedom of speech, equality, reassert those values andwork to protect those values.”
It was very interesting to hearMrs May’s views on Bitcoin.
“I have a slightly different view compared to many others. I am concerned about Bitcoin, I think Governments need to worry about these pseudo currencies as they are not backed by anything, a £10 note is backed by the Bank of England.
“When Bitcoin was getting started it tended to be the currency of choice for a lot of organised criminals, there is an aspect there that is problematic.”
After two 45-minute sessions with Year 12 and then Year 10 I felt I really learnt a lot about Mrs May’s political career, views and opinions.
We all have differences in our opinions; I do have some different views to Mrs May however I also believe that appreciating those differences is one of the things that makes us special.
As Scott Peck said, “Share our similarities, celebrate our differences.” As a member of the Waingels Media
Team, it was a privilege to ask Mrs May about the obstacles she has faced in her political career.
I would like to thank Mrs May for giving us her time and answering our questions. We hope we can welcome you back to Waingels soon.
THE British Modern Military History Society (BMMHS) is to hold another afternoon virtual
meeting nextweek.
Taking place from 2pm on Tuesday, March 2, Bill Steadmanwill focus on The Intelligence, Deception and Communications for D Day.
It will explore the intelligence picture prior to D-Day and the deception operations staged to protect the truth of Operation Overlord in June 1944.
The society uses the online meeting platform Zoom, and the session opens from 1.50pm, with the talk following and then a questions and answer session afterwards. It will last around and hour-and-a-half.
The society can offer help to peoplewho are newto Zoom to get started.
Entry is by donation, which goes to the cost of the talks, which includes speakers, insurance and also contributions to military-related charities.
The suggested donation is £5 for a single talk, £20 for a block of five talks and £40 for a block of 10 talks. Payment can easily be made by bank transfer into BMMHS account or via PayPal.
Formore details, email info@bmmhs.org or log on towww.bmmhs.org
The BMMHS Team
bit.ly/wokingham lovesmusic
FOR people of a certain age, the modern technology is still space age stuff.
. The mobile phone in our hand is more powerful than the computers used to send a man on the moon. And it’s possible to record our own music at home using a laptop and the right leads.
One such person who has made the most of lockdown is Katie Ellwood, who created her debut single at home.
Her song, The Only Thing, heads up our Wokingham Loves Music soundtrack this week.
You can listen for FREE, via Spotify. There’s a special page set-up at bit.ly/wokinghamlovesmusic
Katie Ellwood – The Only Thing
A debut single that shows the talents of this musician and composer from Wokingham being totally written, recorded, produced, played and sung by Katie at her home during lockdown.
She has played cello with orchestras from a young age and has a place studying a Music Technology degree at the respected Birmingham Conservatoire of Music. With this single having a wonderful atmospheric and electronic dream-pop feel, Katie clearly has skills across many musical genreswww.katieellwood.com
The Lost Trades – Hummingbird
This one was recommended by local photographer, Andrew Merritt, as he was impressed with them when they visited the area to play at The Acoustic Couch before lockdown. The trio of Jamie R Hawkins, Phil Cooper and Tamsin Quin are all solo singersongwriters in their own right and they have also joined forces to form The Lost Trades. Their new single shows what a great idea that was with the beautiful three-part harmony highlighting how well their voices work together – thelosttrades.com
Red Tape Resistance – Hollow
This Bracknell-based band will be releasing new material very soon and while we wait for that, here’s their single from early last year – www.facebook.com/ redtaperesistance
Rachel Redman – Against the Tide
Rachel has played at Wokingham Festival and here’s her new single which she describes
as ‘a reflective tale of dealing with life in lockdown and all the chaos and frustration that comes with it.’ www.facebook.com/ rachelredmanmusic
Third Lung – Falling Stone
The band describe themselves as ‘emotive, evocative and enchanting’ and will be streaming a live online performance from Generation Studio on Saturday – www.facebook.com/ThirdLung
Milan Webb – It Never Snows in Spain
The new solo single, mixed by Dean Nelson, from the man you’ll have seen as ‘Carlos’ at Oye Santana shows at Wokingham Music Club (WMC) – www.oyesantana.com
Marc Woosnam – Silver Lining (Piano Version)
Check out Marc’s beautiful new single and listen out for the wonderful string arrangement from WMC sound man Spencer Brooks – marcwoosnam.com
Edward Naysmith – Fit Within Your Life
A great song from a singer / songwriter who has visited both Wokingham Festival and WMC – www.facebook.com/ EdwardNaysmithOfficial
Strawbs – Lay Me Down
The Acoustic Strawbs played a set of classic tracks from The Strawbs extensive musical history at WMC early last year. Here’s one of their most famous tracks as a reminder – www.facebook.com/strawbsweb
Astralasia (featuring Icarus Peel) – Green Man
Taken from ‘The Darkest Voyage’ album. Astralasia have had releases on local Magick Eye Records, while guest Icarus Peel has appeared on releases on local Mega Dodo Records – astralasia.co.uk