{"id":227293,"date":"2010-01-25T10:54:43","date_gmt":"2010-01-25T15:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.oxfam.org.uk\/applications\/blogs\/pressoffice\/?p=10153"},"modified":"2010-01-25T10:54:43","modified_gmt":"2010-01-25T15:54:43","slug":"make-your-mark-on-the-general-election-on-may-6th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/227293","title":{"rendered":"Make your mark on the general election (on May 6th?)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>There\u2019s been a second slip of the tongue from a government minister<\/a> this weekend and bookmaker\u2019s Coral have suspended betting.\u00a0 Yes, the likely date of the next general election – 6th May – is now the worst kept secret since Victoria Beckham\u2019s third boob-job.<\/p>\n

So are we excited?\u00a0 Well we should be.\u00a0 General Elections are as rare as comets*, they come complete with their own rituals and traditions (Peter Snow\u2019s swingometer for one) may include moderate violence<\/a> and always result in a lot of kissed babies.\u00a0 There will be intrigue, there will be spin, there will be promises and there will be airbrushing (allegedly).<\/p>\n

And if you want your role in this to be more than putting an \u2018X\u2019 on a piece of paper, then you need to get onboard with Oxfam\u2019s campaigning and really make your mark.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

The election campaign is about\u00a0the whole country debating how we want to live. It is an opportunity to be listened to, to demand that our fears and hopes be heard, and to look towards the future. Together, we need to make sure that international poverty is a big part of that national debate up to and beyond the election.<\/p>\n

And for that to happen we need you to get involved. This could be anything from talking to local candidates, organising an election event in your community, being a media spokesperson in your local press or online campaigning. Basically, we need you to be ready to make your concerns heard.<\/p>\n

The world is facing a perfect storm: The food crisis, the financial crisis, the increasing effects of climate change and new and existing conflicts are increasing poverty and suffering.\u00a0The new government can and must make a significant contribution to tackling these challenges and here is where you, the voter can make a difference.<\/p>\n

And this election is a little bit special too.\u00a0 Whether or not we see a change in government, we are certainly going to see a whole load of new MPs enter the commons.\u00a0 Boundary changes, MPs retiring, and the probable gain of quite a few Conservative seats mean that there are going to be hundreds of new people filling the green benches. We need to make sure that they hear us.<\/p>\n

If you’re interested in seeing what you can do, or applying for some of our voluntary positions, please send your name, postcode and contact details to me on kawright@oxfam.org.uk<\/a> and we can start hatching plans together!<\/p>\n

Find out more about campaigning with Oxfam<\/a><\/p>\n

*The BBC science site assures me that on average, you can see a comet with the naked eye every five or six years.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s been a second slip of the tongue from a government minister this weekend and bookmaker\u2019s Coral have suspended betting.\u00a0 Yes, the likely date of the next general election – 6th May – is now the worst kept secret since Victoria Beckham\u2019s third boob-job. So are we excited?\u00a0 Well we should be.\u00a0 General Elections are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4543,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-227293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4543"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227293\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}