The History Trip - London 2009
The much anticipated London trip did not fail to live up to expectation. The comical element matched the educational value of the trip right from the start, when after the long flight one of us, upon arrival in Heathrow, somehow managed to shatter a glass bottle of orange juice at the train station.
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Day two, because of the way our schedule panned out, involved a depressing day of shopping. Armed with extensive shopping lists from wives, girlfriends and mothers, we made our way to the Westfield shopping centre. Another thing on the agenda that day was paying the deposit for Belgo’s the restaurant at which we were going to celebrate the last dinner of the trip and also Timothy Caruana’s birthday. Mr Sene of course, entrusted the ever organised Dhiraj Nagrani with the deposit and sent the one who presumably knew the way to the place with him, yes that’s me Tim Azopardi. “Yeah that’s right give the money to the one who’s more likely to get mugged”…(PD-oh how those words would come back to haunt him). Yes, I did manage to lose my wallet that day, good old Karma! Later that evening we were fortunate enough to attend the musical Les Miserables. This was a very fitting musical for a history class to go and see, it was also extremely enjoyable. You will soon notice that fine dining was a main theme of the trip and it all kicked off with a juicy steak at the Angus Steak House after the show.
Day three; a visit to the Natural History Museum. I feel obliged to be one hundred per cent honest and therefore I must tell you that it was by no means the most interesting part of our trip. Having said that, it was very useful and relevant to our coursework component, which concerns Darwin’s work and his impact. Our research and understanding of his importance was enhanced with a visit to the famous cocoon which has been constructed inside the Museum, a bank of information that’s second to none. However, drama seemed to plague every day in some way. Thanks to resale ticket companies and uncooperative, inconsiderate ticket re-sellers, three of the students were unable to attend the fascinating cocoon experience. The poor lads and Mr Edmunds found themselves tied up all day on a wild good chase for their Snow Patrol tickets. The lads Matty, Richy and Robbie would like to again thank Mr Edmunds for sacrificing his day in order to help them. For lunch that day we managed to find a quaint little old pub off Carnaby Street, some nice hearty British pub grub to fuel what would be a very exhausting day. That night the group split as the majority made their way to the Royal Albert Hall to watch Snow Patrol and the rest of us were off to Wembley, where Michael Mcintyre was to grace us with his humour.
Day Four was by personal perspective the most interesting day of the week. On paper it sounded like a bleak, long tour of some old building where old men in gray suits shout at each other (yes we were at Parliament). In reality it was a light hearted and extremely informative tour exquisitely guided by the MP Lindsey Hoyle’s private secretary. While at Parliament we were crossed by Sir Geoffrey Howe and while in the House of Lords and House of Commons we learned about the most ridiculous traditions that politicians adhere to. After our tour Philip Dumas and Timothy Perera were fortunate enough, thanks to Mr Albert Poggio from the Gibraltar House, to attend Prime Minister’s Questions (there is a separate article on this event). Meanwhile the rest of the crew followed our appetites as far as Fleet Street in search of ‘Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese’ supposedly one of the oldest pubs in Britain and famous for its lack of natural light…The fine dining continued. The Afternoon involved a long romantic walk along the embankment, along which we passed the Globe Theatre. It was, in the language of love, ‘ Tres Romantique’ – shame that we were in a group of 15 guys. Cultural immersion continued that night as we were off to see the musical ‘We Will Rock You’ based on the songs of the band Queen. This musical was then followed by some more chowing down; Garfunkel’s being the venue that night.
Our fifth and final day saw us experience a jaw-dropping tour of Gibraltar House. Here we were given a tour by Mr Poggio himself, whom we must again thank for his much appreciated help in organising the tour of Parliament, and for procuring the two tickets for PMQs. While in Gibraltar House Mr Poggio was kind enough to explain what it is exactly that he does and this includes lobbying MPs.That afternoon we visited Covent Garden where we were later to return for our final supper at the Belgian style restaurant Belgo’s.
This trip was by far the best school trip I’ve ever been on. Not only was it educational but also entertaining, it provided a welcome break in a heavy term and made 2009 go out with a bang. On behalf of all the students who went on the trip, we’d like to thank the Legendary Mr. Sene and Mr Edmunds for a trip which by virtue of the ‘in’ sayings of today would be described as ‘truly EPIC!’
Prime Minister’s Question Time – by Philip Dumas
Firstly we would like to thank Mr Albert Poggio of Gibraltar House for giving us the opportunity to attend Prime Minister’s Questions. It was a truly eye-opening experience which has certainly helped us to deepen our understanding of British politics, which is central to our History and Sociology courses.
What struck us first was the traditions that still play an integral role, such as prayers before the day’s business can commence. As has become almost customary since the beginning of the Iraq War, the session started with the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition paying tribute to yet another fallen soldier and sending their sincere condolences to his family.
Many of the questions followed a very formal approach with MPs focusing on the pertinent issue of the Cumbria floods, looking to ensure the safety of their constituencies.
Arguably the most controversial issue of the day concerned David Cameron’s claim that an Islam extremist foundation (ISF) had established two schools after securing a total of £113,000 of taxpayer’s money. The Prime Minister claimed to be unaware of this and assured it would all be looked into, but Mr Cameron persisted with the issue of extremism. However, his claims were brought into disrepute at a later date as he had been citing misleading evidence.
The tension these claims aroused between the parties culminated in backbench rowdiness, which had to be calmed by the Speaker...”Order!” The rest of the session was less animated as further questions covered issues such as the pending Iraq War Inquiry and the (then) upcoming Copenhagen Climate Change Summit.
The whole experience helped develop in us both a greater understanding of the workings of a multi-party democracy as well as pressing current affairs.
