political parties: The Conserva-tives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats. For those of you somewhat in the dark about their policies, and lets face it, even some of the people who work for the parties themselves don’t seem to have much of a clue what they are, I have taken the liberty of making a basic outline for each. Please under-stand though, the key word is BASIC. If you wish to research each party’s policies in more detail go to their websites, listed below.

Yes indeed, it’s that time again. That time when you find strange men and women at your door that won’t seem to go away until they’ve talked to you about some leaflets they’ve got. That time when you see new posters of ugly balding men go up on billboards instead of the much easier on the eye near naked women you usually see. That time when Tony Blair seems to have a stutter on the word ‘education’. Yes, it’s election time again.

Now, just saying ‘politics’ is usually enough to send most either into a rant, or to sleep. However, once every four or five years we are forced to take an active interest in it, whether it be because you have the right to vote in the actual General Election itself, or because you have to vote in your school’s own version of the election, a version which we here at Tallis will once again be holding soon. Our election here at Tallis will be involving only the three main

Conservatives: Party Leader - Michael Howard MP School Representative - Not Yet Confirmed

• Tougher controls on immigration.

• More police on the streets and more discipline in schools

• Lower Taxes

• Against tuition fee’s, however supporter of war in Iraq. Oppose EU constitution but support a referendum on it

Labour Party: Party Leader - Tony Blair PM School Representative - Not Yet Confirmed

• Introduction of ID cards and tuition fees

• Keeping the economy strong

• Higher living standards and faster NHS treatment

• Propose introducing tuition fee’s, supporter of war in Iraq and want British people to back EU constitution in referendum.

Liberal Democrats: Party Leader - Charles Kennedy MP School Representative - Not Yet Confirmed

• Higher taxes for those earning over £100,000 a year and replacement of council tax

• More personal care for the elderly

• Greater emphasis on cleaning up the environment

• Against tuition fee’s, the only major party against the war in Iraq and support EU constitution. Party websites: www.conservatives.com www.labour.org.uk www.libdems.org.uk

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

- Top Story

Election Special

1

- Question Session

with Nick

Raynsford MP

- How to vote

2

- Film

- Editor’s Note

- Philosophy

- Essential Tip

3

- Advertisements

- Sport

- Comic

4

ONLY 10P

2 5 . 4 . 5 V O L U M E 1 I S S U E 2

Peeping��tom�The�

Election time … Go Selecta!!!!

———— Henry Henry Henry Henry

Election Special

P A G E 2

If schools and

hospitals are

improving, what

about MRSA?

MRSA has been

exaggerated by the

media and Greenwich

has a very small amount

of cases.

Nick Raynsford MP

LabourLabourLabourLabour

Q & A

Nick Raynsford MP Comes To Tallis On the 18th of April, Nick Raynsford, the Labour MP of Greenwich, visited our dear little Sixth form Centre and had a conference with quite a large collection of 6th formers, pre-dominantly year 13. Expecting angel-l ike, future labour-supporting faces inquisitive of their new right to vote for their leader, Raynsford got almost exactly what he asked for. With

an excellent turn-out of stu-dents and staff alike, the com-mon room at period 3 was buzzing with questions. Though not all being expected or hap-pily answered, the ‘superb’ questions varied from the Is-rael and Palestine conflict, to the rebuilding of our school. Interesting debates were started by the fiery few, from which we were able to deci-

pher things we had never known before, particularly this being the first year that some of us have come of age to vote. In the heat of the moment, I was luck-ily able to briefly jot down some of the points that were covered in the discussion (below). But well done to all those who at-tended and really made the most of his presence as politics really does influence us all!

ing each of the three main parties; Labour, Conserva-tives and Liberal Democrats. Each leader will have a dep-uty and will be supported by a number of students from an AS Government and Poli-tics class. The leaders of the elected party will have to carry out decisions using actual policies, and will be using posters, flyers, leaflets

As you may have heard, Tallis is holding a mock election dur-ing the period of the slightly broader general election. Quite a few people expressed a request for some information about what is going on. So here’s a basic round up of what you need to know!

Firstly, there are 3 candidates from year 10 who will be lead-

and assemblies to propagate why they should be elected by you. Everyone will have 1 vote, and on election morning (May 5th) students will be sent down to one of the halls to be registered and given a ballot paper. When all the votes are in, it will be up to the AS Government and Poli-tics class to count the votes. This should be very interesting to say the least!

Yes. But I would then have to leave the government. As all repre-senting it should support the same views. How can a party like “Labour” propose things like ID Cards and House arrest, when these are typical hall-marks of a totalitarian regime? Firstly, ID cards are not a hallmark of a totalitarian regime. People have forged IDs in the past and this is an efficient way of making sure people are who they say they are and not terrorists. As far as House arrests are concerned, they are only justified in the most extreme circumstances. Many schools are becoming oversubscribed. We have a commitment to increase school places by means of re-using former industrial land and opening a new school in Wool-wich. To contend with staff shortages, 20,000 teachers are being trained. Why Vote Labour over the Liberal Democrats? Liberal Democrats have only 50 seats. A party needs 300 to come into power, which only Labour and the Conservatives have.

Firstly, the MP went through the current, future and past policies and projects of the Labour government. This in-cluded information on The Greenwich School Rebuilding Program, the development of Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the fact that they have doubled the amount of International Aid to meet the UN’s target of 0.79 GDP. Nick Raynsford also Most importantly, he focused on the 3 policies of presidency in the G8 Group of nations. 1. Third World Debt 2. Middle East Peace Process 3. Kioto Agreement

Would you vote against the government if you dis-agreed on something?

P E E P I N G T O M

Film

P A G E 3 V O L U M E 1 I S S U E 2

John Travolta returns as Chili Palmer in ‘Be Cool’, a sequel to the original comedy smash hit, ‘Get Shorty’. In ‘Be Cool’ , Chili abandons the movie business to bring his signature brand of wise-guy skills and negotiation tactics to the mu-sic industry. This star studded sequel features A-list celebs such as Uma Thurman (Edie Athens), Harvey Kartell (Nick Carr) and Christina Millian (Linda Moon) with guest appearances from Danny De Vito (Martin Weir), Steven Tyler (as himself) and the ‘Black Eyed Peas’. It offers up a variety of gen-res which include comedy, crime

and occasional musical perform-ances. In our opinion, despite being slated by critics, this film is still worth seeing on the big

screen. With a fair amount of good but predict-able humour, this looks to be an increasingly successful sequel despite not living up to the expectations of its original hit predecessor. Until next time, here’s the current UK Top 10.

1. The Interpreter 2. The Amityville Horror 3. Sahara 4. Valiant 5. Hitch 6. Be Cool 7. Robots . The Ring 2

9. Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous 10. Der Untergang (The Downfall)

Democracy is like two wolves and ninety-eight sheep voting on

what to have for dinner. The good news is that there are three or

four choices on the menu. The bad news is that each dish includes

mutton, although alternative methods of cooking may be employed.

[The wolves' strategy involves writing the menu, bribing a minority

of sheep for their support, making fraudulent claims, and relying on

sheep acting like sheep...]

— Steve Withrow

forward to. Secondly, you may

have noticed several columns

from the last issue have been

removed. Mostly this is due to

this issue being an election spe-

cial. However, some have been

permanently removed due to

inactivity. In other words, these

columns either received negative

feedback or no replies at all, so

they seemed pointless, I guess.

By the way, thanks very much for

all the feedback received through our PT

Diplo bag, it is very much appreciated and

taken into consideration, as you see… We

hope to receive a lot more where they

came from in the near future as it isn’t all

the time when you have such an excellent

opportunity to voice your opinion. Don’t

forget, we are always on the lookout for

more writers and adverts… so GO FOR

IT!

Hey people… Hope you’re en-

joying this issue of the Peeping

Tom - Election Special. I decided

to add this section due to public

request and so I can talk you lot

directly! So, first of all, there are

quite a few changes in this is-

sue… For a start, every penny

made from this issue onward, will

go towards our end of year cele-

brations, and as I said last time,

that really is something to look

Uncommon Sense

Absence Tip # 1

More handy tips next fortnight from our

intelligence correspondent

Phortnight Philosophy

To fake illness so as to be able to miss school the next day, drink a bottle of bleach...

Editor’s Note

— Rizwan Rizwan Rizwan Rizwan

— Peter G + Jem + SachinPeter G + Jem + SachinPeter G + Jem + SachinPeter G + Jem + Sachin