No tags yet.
From the 19th to the 29th of March, 16 young member of the Camden community will participate for a chance at becoming their boroughs Youth MP. The candidates will create four policies and a short one minute clip to highlight issues within Camden. The three main candidates; Athian, Baneen & Asma, have released their policies stating how there can be improvement.
Athian, one of the representatives of Hampstead School, suggests that we should tackle cuts to the NHS and the ‘end of the war on drugs’. Although they are valid topics of interest, they seem to be too ambitious from his position. However, Athian brings up his final policy which is the end of knife crime, a very important distress. With more than 17,000 moped crime reports in Camden and poorly treated support to youth offenders, we can understand that this must be dealt with. Yet, the question remains can we trust a leader who doesn’t know its borough’s problems?
Asma , a passionate born and bred resident of Camden, states that ‘Mental Health issues, Gang violence and knife crime’ are the issue and how ‘Mental health facilities from organisational charities’ and ‘Youth clubs and community clubs to prevent gang violence’ will help. Through a thorough video and impressive persuasion, we understand that she knows what to do. She is fanatic passion in the reformat of Camden through a depressing time. However, we find that she isn’t too influenced in Camden’s issues suggesting whether or not she is capable of formatting ideas.
Baneen, a student of Haverstock high school, brought a unique policy in ‘support before during and after when moving property’. Although this is an different idea, in her interview she quite vague as to how she shall attempt this. However, her social media status has earned her reputation in the election, ultimately deciding her voters. The question comes up whether the election is for the benefit of the borough or a popularity contest.
A frequent and important topic throughout the campaign has been mental health. With the second highest prevalence of serious mental health issues, it’s safe to say that it’s a current problem. However, a problem in our community has been poverty, specifically in children. With 35.2% of children in poverty in Camden, actions need to be implemented in prevention of greater scale. Because of this we must ask ourselves, what next? Is awareness enough? Can problems like these be solved through small actions? Make a difference by voting in this year’s Camden Youth MP Election.