Spoke in a visiting speaker’s slot at the Farmor’s Sixth Form about voting and politics – in particular why young people should care and how they can maximise their influence.

Improving the quality of citizenship education and encouraging people, particularly young people, to be an active part of the democratic process are things I strongly believe in. If the nation wants to maintain a successful democracy it needs to invest in its voters.

Just shouting louder at one another isn’t obviously helping the quality of politics in the world. We need to improve understanding of what politics is, how it works and what it can and can’t achieve. It needs us to encourage people to debate different points of view, develop critical thinking skills, resist echo chambers (esp. social media) and understand how political campaigns work to influence you. Can’t fit all that into a one hour talk but it’s a start …