2nd May - Get ready for the local elections!

There's just one day to go before this years local election madness in England, Scotland and Wales. With various media reports predicting a close and competitive election in many wards, and plenty of speculation on how these elections will affect local politics, it's a great chance to get your voice heard and have your say. If you've registered to vote, then check out www.aboutmyvote.co.uk for more details about how to vote in your local area.

2 April - Rappin' Rove

OK, this isn’t directly related to changing our democracy, but we thought we ought to flag this up, given how ridiculous it is. As far as we know, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl ‘MC’ Rove isn’t known for his rap career, but that doesn’t seem to have stopped him becoming one of the YouTube’s most popular videos last week.
It’s not the first time politicians have attempted to get ‘street’, and it probably won’t be the last. We’re all for injecting a healthy dose of humour into politics, but lets make sure its backed up by a real desire to engage with young people, not just headline grabbing stunts!

Click here to watch this lunacy, courtesy of youtube.

29 March - Free Training on Local Democracy in Scotland and Wales

If you want to get into local democracy and want to know how it works, then you might be interested in a series of training courses being run by the British Youth Council. If you're interested in taking part and you live in Scotland or Wales, then check out the On Your Doorstep Workshops web site to find out more. the workshops will be running on the 14th of April in Glasgow and Swansea, and your travel will be paid for!

Stay posted for news on similar opportunities in Northern Ireland and England soon!

19 February - Young People's Question Time, 6.30 pm Wednesday 21 February: your chance to get heard!

If you live in the london area, here's a chance for you to put your questions to the people with the power on the theme of youth, faith and diversity.

Panelists for the event include:

Jennette Arnold, member of the Greater London Assembly for Hackney
Lal Hussain MBE, Muslim Community Radio
Ed Bateman, Chief Superintendent of the Diversity unit, Metropolitan Police
Jonathan Essex, Green Party and Christian Ecology

It'll be chaired by Nick Devlin, the national youth Debating Champion, and it's taking place at Rich Mix, Bethnal green Road, E1 6LA 6.30-8pm If you want more information, then check out www.the-event-07.org.uk

9 February - X-Change to talk to young people in Winchester

The X-Change team will be in Winchester on monday to talk to young people from Hampshire region of the UK Youth Parliament. If you're going to the meeting, see you there!

20 January - Want Votes at 16? The Government needs YOU!

X-Change and the Votes at 16 coalition are looking for young people aged 15-17 to talk to MP Harriet Harman, the government Minister who's responsible for finding ways of getting young people interested and engaged in politics. If you want to be able to vote before you're 18 and fancy a chance to say this to the people in power, then contact us at x-change@electoral-reform.org.uk!

22 December - Merry Christmas!

Merry christmas to all our members, supporters and young people interested in politics!

The X-change team are getting festive and ready to wind down for the Christmas break. We'll see you in the new year, when we'll be developing a new website!

The Welsh Secretary Peter Hain has ruled out fairness for the people of Wales in a speech to a Labour conference in Cardiff.

The conference allowed Labour Party members to approve policies for next year’s Welsh Assembly election campaign, but Mr Hain said there was “no way” Labour would introduce a fair voting system for local elections. By saying this it looks like he's ruling out a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, whose leader in the Welsh Assembly said a fair voting system would be a condition for his party joining a coalition.

In Scotland, local elections next year will use the fairer Single Transferable Vote system that gives power and choice to the voter – this was one of the conditions of the Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition after the Scottish Parliament elections.

Tuesday 7 November - UK Youth Parliament launches TV site

The UK Youth Parliament has launched a new area of its website called UKYP TV.
They feature a number of short films produced by elected Members of the Youth Parliament (MYPs) over the last year, looking at issues like knife and gun crime, sex education and fair-trade.

Soon they hope to be able to let any young person submit short films on topics they feel passionate about.

Wednesday 25 October - Essay competition Shortlist

Thank you once again to everyone who entered our joint essay competition with Make Votes Count. And thanks for all your patience waiting for the results. MVC coordinator Malcolm Clark had asked me to let you know that the full results would be available yesterday, Tuesday the 24th of October, and we are all waiting for him to announce the winners.

In the meantime, we have the shortlist of entries that made it through to the final round of judging. Well done to all of you for entering, and thank you all for your patience. If you have any queries regarding the judging, please contact MVC coordinator Malcolm Clark; malcolm@makevotescount.org.uk

The shortlist for the under 18's age group is as follows -
Lucy Butterworth
Sam Langfield
Sam Trevelyan

The shortlist for the over 18's age group is as follows -
Ian Rickard
Liz Davies
Ronald Ramo

Thursday 24 October - Have you got the next big idea?

Are you 11 to 25? Do you have an idea that will benefit your community? The Big Boost gives awards to young people of between £250 and £1000 (11-16) and £500 and £5000 (16-25), to help them you get your ideas off the ground. It's all on behalf of the Big Lottery Fund. If you're interested click this link to get more details and find out if you're eligible, or, you can phone The Big Boost on 0845 410 2030.

Thursday 31 August - Conference season is on the way...

Here at the X-Change offices we're getting ready for conference season and the start of the new academic year. Ben and Jon, the X-Change coordinators will be at the Liberal Democrat, Labour and Conservative Party conferences, if you want to arrange a meeting, let us know when you'll be there!

Thursday 29 August - New easy guide to politics aims to 'cut through the crap'and mentions voting reform

Politics graduate Bali Rai has written a new book aiming to get young people interested in politics and a copy landed on my desk today. While it's great he doesn't shy away from trying to tackle traditionally stuffy and dry political issues, he does spoil it all by getting overly cynical about politics. For a good review, check out New Politics Network's review.

Our essay competition is now closed! Thanks to all those of you who sent in your essays, we should be announcing the results of the competition before the end of August, so stay tuned!