Apologies to my loyal followers for the lack of my blog lately, I know that you have missed my wonderful words and monthly dose of fun, but have no fear – I’m back and ready for action… And lucky for you, I shall fill you in on what I have been doing, and subsequently, what you have missed out on.

In the past month I was selected to become one of the 15 young people, across the country, to become a member of the National Scrutiny Group (NSG), which is made up of young people who will work with Government Departments and ministers to ensure that young people's views and needs are taken into account when developing policies that affect them.

At the beginning of the month I attended our first meeting, in London, which involved many selfies and wise discussions with young people, ranging from Young Mayors to Members of UK Youth Parliament, who share a passion similar to me. We drank lots of coffee and had many discussions about how to change things for young people, which is always very refreshing and enjoyable.

On the first day of the event we took part in several ice breakers from which I found out that if I were to be shipwrecked I would die due to my poor survival skills. After introducing ourselves we got down to the serious business of what we think the NSG is and what we aim to do which prepared us for the next day where we, a group of young folk aged 13-19, would find ourselves in the Cabinet Offices at Whitehall. To say the least, I was very excited!

The next day I, like a phoenix out of the ashes, arose after doing my bed time reading which consisted of health and transport reports that we’d be focusing on when the ministers, we were meeting, would be present.

During our day in the Cabinet we scrutinised these reports and formulated several questions to ask the ministers. Once we received their answers and responses, we regrouped and wrote our findings in reports which will soon become publically available.

From my first meeting with the group, I can confirm that, I am more than excited to attend the next meeting – it’s really great knowing that a group of young people are in a prominent position with regards to policies and have the power and the chance to make a change… And the whole group is fabulous – if there were more people like them in the world, it would, for sure, be a better place!

Later on in the month I attended a ‘Women in Democracy’ event at Bournemouth Town Hall with Bournemouth’s Mayor - Councillor Dr Rodney Cooper, Connor Burns MP, Annette Brooke MP for mid-Dorset and North Poole, Cllr Jane Kelly representing Boscombe West and Mandy Payne, President of the Bournemouth Chamber of Trade and Commerce.

During this event, Conor Burns gave a moving tribute to Lady Margaret Thatcher, which was followed by a series of questions from those who were fortunate enough to attend this event. I raised the question regarding the lack of Youth Parliament in Bournemouth due to the saddening and horrible cuts that occurred nearly two years ago to the democratic services.

From this, MP’s Annette Brookes and Conor Burns seemed to be quite compelled by the lack of this within our area and Councillor Kelly agreed to take this issue further to see what can be done about the absence of this beneficial service.

Furthermore November has been a really enriching month for me because; IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY and I have been given the privilege to start to make a change for the young people of both Bournemouth and the country from my local and national involvement.

I’m proud to represent the young people of today, because there are some people who can’t, or won’t speak up to change what they feel is wrong, yet I pride myself in being able to say I try to spread their words to make these changes - Oscar Wilde once said “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.”

Which I feel is exceedingly applicable and relevant to my goal of helping out the young folk of the day. Young people are the future yet no one seems to be truly recognising this, instead they make the cuts from young people to benefit others, which isn’t acceptable. Young people need to be considered more with regards to what will affect them in the very near future, which makes me happy to say “I’m your National Scrutiny Group representative”.

Thank you for reading, I bid thee a good day, good Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza and other festivities that I may have failed to mention!