An interesting ‘spirits of the age’ story from Russia.

Shoppers in a Moscow supermarket were left scratching their heads recently when a group of 30 activists staged a mass ‘lie-in’ in-store, remaining prone on the floor for some minutes. The activists, who are members of the group The Truth About Food, were protesting the number of harmful additives found in many retailers’ products.

Read more…

If you are a long-term reader of this blog you might recall our “Power to the (young) people” post from February this year. That post was an introduction to our involvement with Bite the Ballot – an independent organisation  created by and for young people, working within schools and youth groups to encourage young people to engage with the political system and voice their frustrations, giving them direct access to the decision-makers who affect their every day lives.

Last month Bite the Ballot, with backing from the cabinet office, launched a new initiative “Rock Enrol” and embarked on a tour of schools across Britain to attempt to get young people enrolled on the electoral register. To help their efforts, we worked with a core team from BTB to design and produce an event pack, detailing activities for young people to assist them to make the association between what they care about and how they can play a role to positively influence the decisions that affect them. Read more…

I find myself constantly frustrated by politics and politicians. I’m frustrated by the apparent ineffectiveness of those I seem to agree with, and by what seems to me to be a lack of passion and drive, and those I don’t agree with frustrate the hell out of me on every level pretty much every time they open their mouths! It always feels like nobody is addressing my concerns and issues. I remember when I was in my late teens and early twenties this feeling was multiplied a hundredfold – if politics seems like the preserve of an elitist few to me now, back then it felt like something happening on another planet altogether. Little wonder then that 18 – 24 year olds represented the largest group of non-voters in the last general election with around 60% failing to cast their vote. And this at a time when people across the globe are dying in an attempt to secure that right for themselves. It’s not that young people are apathetic – the student protests and riots of last year are testament to that – it’s that young people feel completely alienated and ignored by politics and politicians. For a huge number of young people in this country today politics is about “other people”.

Bite The Ballot are trying to change that. They are an organisation created by and for young people, working within schools and youth groups to encourage young people to engage with the political system and voice their frustrations, giving them direct access to the decision-makers who affect their every day lives. Read more…