The Politics department continues to flourish as the large AS group prepared themselves for life- after-Tony Blair, with barely a flicker of a tear as Brown took over whilst Yr 13 students got to grips with climate change, the war in Iraq and their favourite topic – the OSCE

In December, the students attended the annual one-day politics’ conference at Westminster Central Hall. The star turns were Jack Straw [Mel Astbury’s favourite politician] and Hazel Blears who both received a surprisingly good reception despite the unpopularity of their party at the time. Yr 12 students followed the trip with a long wait in the rain before visiting both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

Later in the year, students in Yr 13 attended a CIVITAS conference on the European Union where Ken Clarke and Lord Pearson argued out the relative merits and problems of EU membership.

On a lighter note, Yr 13 students joined the Media Studies department for a joint visit to see Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. We didn’t learn a lot about the rising significance of former Soviet States in the global economy but Vicky Robinson now knows the whereabouts of Kazakhstan.

Alex Di Mascio deservedly won the Politics prize but I would like to thank all the politics students for making the year so enjoyable for me.

Simon Keable-Elliott