At Conference

Wow....quite a few days. It was my first conference and I definitely made the most of it.

Having been in Greece for a wedding last week, we landed at Gatwick on Sunday lunchtime. Promptly picked up the mutt from the parents and then endured the 4 hours drive back to Macc, getting home about 7pm. I then packed, did a few bits of work, and got to bed ASAP.

All this in order that I could rise at 5am to start the journey down to Birmingham, desperate to make the most out of the conference. Going to the breakfast fringe events did seem like a good idea, and I stuck with the plan for all three days. But being at conference for over 12 hours every day did turn out to be just a little bit tiring - especially as I had a cold as well.

My first event was about air-freighting food which seemed like it would be quite straightforwad - although it did turn into a bit of a free for all about climate change. Aside from this, some really interesting points were raised especially from left leaning nutters claiming that we shouldn't buy produce from developing countries because we don't pay them a fair wage. I disagree with this - because if we're paying them more than they can get elsewhere then it's fair to them, even if it doesn't seem fair to us. It's all relative.

The fact that the fellar from greenpeace can offer the concept that by not dealing with these countries would help them terrifies me: I thought that everyone knew that free, fair trade is how entities (people, cities, countries) get themselves out of poverty for good.

The Economy sessions in the main hall were excellent - really in line with my view of the problems we now face and the reasons that have caused them. It was interesting to contrast this with the city of london fringe in the evening which seemed to be much more sympathetic towards bankers.

The plans for a new voucher based school system were very intriguing. I'll stop short of saying I'm excited because I need to research and understand more about how the system will work. I have examined first hand the problems caused by part-competition and part-parental choice we have in the present system and it's poor. We either need full parental choice or none at all, the system we have at the moment will generate endless painful TLC style reviews which are no fun for anyone

Welfare reform ideas were thoroughly exciting. This is an area in the past where any attempt at reform has left us open to attacks for being the "nasty" party. I think Chris Grayling made the case well, saying that the state will be there to support you but we expect you to pull your weight if you can.

Nearly didn't make it into Cameron's speech. I knew that I'd have to queue, but the queue was filling up about 2 and a half hours in advance whilst I was still thinking hard in a fringe session. I'll have to forgo that next year to get a better seat which seems like a shame. Surely those who work hardest should get the best seats, not those that work less?! ;-)