Girls Know Nothing - S3 Ep1: Mete Coban: ‘Give An X' & Young Voter Registration For The General Election

Episode Date: June 16, 2024

Welcome to a special episode of the Girls Know Nothing podcast! As the general election approaches, we thought it was super important to do a dive deep into why it is so important that young people register to vote! So we invited Mete Coban, Hackney Bourough Councillor and the CEO and Founder of youth organisation My Life My Say.  Subscribe for more insightful episodes, and don't forget to like and share this video with your friends! 🗳️ Give An X: https://qrco.de/giveanx Key Deadlines for the UK General Election: 🩷 Deadline to register to vote: 18th June 2024, 23:59 (You can register when you are 16+ but must be 18 to vote, for anyone who turns 18 between the date of registration and 4th July) - https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote 🩷 Deadline for Postal Vote: 26th June, 17:00 - https://www.gov.uk/apply-postal-vote  🩷 Deadline for Proxy Vote: 26th June, 17:00 - https://www.gov.uk/apply-proxy-vote 🩷 Deadline for Voter ID: 26th June, 17:00 - https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate Girls Know Nothing Social Channels: Https://linktr.ee/girlsknownothing  Instagram: @girlsknownothingpod  Tiktok: @girlsknownothingpod TikTok: @girlsknownothing #GeneralElection #Politics #GirlsKnowNothing #Podcast #GiveAnX #SharonGaffka

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Just text water to 64,000. That's water to 64,000 for your two free gifts with purchase. W-A-T-E-R to 64,000. By texting 64,000, you agree to receive recurring automated marketing messages from Pocket Hose. Message and data rates may apply. No purchase required. Terms apply. Available at pockethose.com slash terms. You just realized your business needed to hire someone yesterday. How can you find amazing candidates fast? Easy. Just use Indeed. Stop struggling to get your job posts seen on other job sites.

With Indeed Sponsored Jobs, your post jumps to the top of the page for your relevant candidates, so you can reach the people you want faster. According to Indeed data, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed have 45% more applications than non-sponsored jobs. Don't wait any longer. Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed. And listeners of this show will get-K-A-T-Z 13. Just go to Indeed.com slash P-O-D-K-A-T-Z 13 right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need. My only experience of politics when I was younger was my local MP coming into an all-girls school to try and talk to young girls about politics but he was sat on his phone the whole time yeah and then when I actually spoke

to him recently and I meant I brought up the fact that he was on his phone the whole time his phone went off and he stopped having this conversation with me to go on his phone and I was like so glad that you're not an MP anymore my parent uh came here in the 90s from Cyprus I can't speak English brought up in one of the poorest neighborhoodss in London. I think seeing young people take ownership of their lives, for me, gives me a lot of satisfaction. You don't like going to the polling station?

No, I do. I'm just not going to be here. I love going to the polling station. It's just something that just feels good about it. Like, even the pencil, you know, feels like... Okay.

Welcome back to another episode of Girls Know Nothing we all know that july the 4th is a huge date in the political calendar with the up-and-coming general election i've had so many dms from people asking how to register to vote people saying they're not sure which direction to vote in or even if their vote means anything. Well, today's episode is with CEO of youth-led organisation My Life, My Say and Hackney Borough Councillor Mete Koban. Consider this episode a voting 101, focusing on how young people can figure out which direction they want to vote in and what to do if they don't know where to start. But I just want to preface this by saying that this episode is about neither of our own political affiliations and it doesn't matter what your political standpoint is, it's always important for you to register and get out to vote. So welcome to the studio, Mete. Basically,

I wanted to have this episode and this conversation with you because even though I don't have very many men on the podcast, you should feel privileged. Yeah, I know, I do feel very privileged. Lots of people obviously very nervous about the upcoming general election for a lot of different reasons and a lot of people feel like they can turn to me for all the answers and I

don't have all the answers I feel like you do I have an answer for everything whether it's correct is a different story so obviously is somebody who kind

of founded and spearheaded the given X campaign or it would make sense together with you yeah but it was your baby I just was the pretty face but no I'm joking but basically um obviously a lot of young people were reaching out to me after they registered to vote last time and we And we did get, I think it was 150,000. So 153,000 people. Yeah.

113,045 aged between 18 to 34. Yeah. And just over 100,000 aged between 18 to 24. And 75,200 of those came directly from our links. There you go then. See, I don't even need to do it. Or I should just let you talk to the camera for 30 minutes. But like, obviously that's insane obviously it doesn't account for all of the 4.5 million young

people that were missing from the electoral roll but that's why trying to do national vote registration day this time around is so much more important than it was last time around because it's the big general election yeah and I feel like when you look at social media now and you look at the news people are so desperate to like get out there and vote but they're so unsure of what they want to do or if a lot of young people are experiencing voter guilt if they vote and then it doesn't go the right way or if they vote is it even going to count towards anything because of the way that our electoral system works so we're just going to like talk it out this is going to be the time to like convince young people that voting is really important on the 4th of July or before if you're postal voting

or prop. Yeah. Yeah. Postal vote before. I've got to remember to do that. Postal vote. Yeah. You don't like going to the polling station? No, I do. I'm just not going to be here. I love going to the polling station. It's like a two minute experience. It's very quick. It's just something that just feels good about it. Hi, I'm Richard Karn, and you may have seen me on TV talking about the world's number one expandable garden hose.

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your super light and ultra-durable pocket hose Copperhead is backed with a 10-year warranty. What could be better than that? I'll tell you what, an exciting exclusive offer just for you. For a limited time, you can get a free pocket pivot and their 10 pattern sprayer with the purchase of any size copperhead hose. Just text water to 64,000. That's water to 64,000 for your two free gifts with purchase. W-A-T-E-R to 64,000. By texting 64,000, you agree to receive recurring automated marketing messages from Pocket Hose. Message and data rates may apply. No purchase required. Terms apply. Available at pockethost.com slash terms. You just realized your business needed to hire someone yesterday. How can you find amazing candidates fast?

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Terms and conditions apply. Hiring, indeed, is all you need. Maybe it's because you're going to the polling station in London, whereas out of London it's not that glitz and glamorous. Yeah, I mean, the polling station I go to

is not really glamorous, but even the pencil, you know, feels like... Okay. Mete, why is it crucial that young people register to vote in the elections? So I think it's really important that young people register to vote in the elections?

So I think it's really important that young people register to vote in the elections, not just in this election, just generally, because ultimately what moves politicians is knowing that there is a constituency of people who they have to pitch for. And when they know that, for example, if they know that young people are registered to vote en masse, even if you don't end up voting, and I shouldn't be encouraging that obviously you should vote then politicians

know that when they formulate policies when it comes to elections they have to pitch stuff to you the reason why they always pitch stuff to older people is because they know that they're one registered to vote and they're more likely to vote so i think the very minimum you can do is is letting your presence be known to politicians so that they can't just get away with like treble intuition fees they can't just get away with like scrapping the EMA they can't just get away with for example not having the right adequate mental health provision like all of the things that are really important to our generation and future generations they have to act on it because they know that if they don't there is a political

consequence for them. So what kind of inspired the creation of the given x campaign yeah i guess what inspired the given x campaign and like you were really at the heart and center of it is that we wanted to do things different because we know that young people care about issues we know that they care about whether they've got a decent roof over their heads or a job that pays them basic respect or dignity the problem is they don't see traditional forms of politics as a vehicle to address the issues that they care about so you know when we were talking about this right from the start what we wanted to do was really around how do we make politics more fun how do we go to where young people are what do they do in their day-to-day social digital lives how can we connect with them in those spaces and you know

some of the really exciting parts which which I know we'll get into, but, you know, like working with like Ben and Jerry's, giving out free ice cream to encourage young people to register to vote. Like the line bikes, you know, like we know that a lot of young people, especially in London or like in urban cities, will use the dockless bikes, the line bikes,

to get around to go visit their family, friends, to go shop. And, you know, whilst they're doing that, they can also register to vote. Or if you're going to the pictures to watch a movie, for example, you can quickly register to vote just two minutes before so it was just about making it much more accessible more fun and more relatable in a way that people can really it's like what you do with this podcast right it's like taking big issues of the day

and making it relatable to your audience and that's what we're trying to do with the given x campaign why do you think it's taken till now and like the creation of the given x campaign for politics to go where the young people are because I think unfortunately you know it always takes a group of people to start something yeah and I think the way we know this right like people like me and you aren't really represented in politics and for a long time it suits suited people for politics to work a certain way or for only for a group of people and it's going to need people like me and you and others who are watching this podcast who come from underrepresented backgrounds to say you know what we need to do things differently because we understand the people that we're trying to represent and the

people that we're trying to sort of engage in the system so you know it has to start somewhere you know like Nelson Mandela's movement to sort of change South Africa started somewhere like no one done it before. And he was the big driver behind that, you know, Martin Luther King, you know, Barack Obama, he didn't sort of sit there and say there was never a black president before he had to be the first one. And you know, there are many people who led to him going on to be in the first black president, but someone has to start this work. And, you know, this is hopefully the start of something that's going to really transform young voters in this country for the next decades that we see it does really well for my ego when you're like talking about people like Barack Obama and then me yeah well you can well you can be no like you know

obviously you've got a very powerful voice in terms of how you use your platform to really engage like young women particularly young women of colour. Class plays a role in it, and it's a powerful voice, and you should definitely use that. I mean, that wasn't me fishing for confidence. She paid me to say that. Yeah, that's true, actually. You should probably have put disclaimer on that bit.

But, you know, I registered to vote such a long time ago, I think I literally remember the moment, because you can register to vote when you're 16, but you can't actually vote until you're 18. So I think the moment I was eligible to register, I registered because it was so normal to me to like register to go and vote. But so what actually is involved in the process?

Because I haven't done it for a long time. So it's very easy. Like literally you can like just go on google and just put register to vote or gov.uk forward slash register to vote um and it's it's literally an online form like it's like official government website takes you like literally like up to five minutes depending on how fast you can work the the system but you can even do it in two minutes and you just put your name your address your date of birth um you know how long you lived at your address your national insurance number that's all you need um and then it registers to vote so it's very very simple

uh to do um i think the issue is is that they've changed the law like probably about five six years ago where it meant that traditionally like let's say you registered to vote when you were 16. If you don't reconfirm your details, you just automatically fall off the electoral roll. Yeah, that happens. Which is why we have more than 4.3 million young people who are currently missing from the electoral roll. Okay.

Because a lot of people aren't even aware that they have to keep re-registering. And we also don't have a system. Like right now, you as Sharon Gafka can't go on Google. If you're like unsure about whether you're registered to vote there's no system that tells you whether you are registered to vote or not okay so if you're unsure about whether you're registered to vote yeah to be on the safe side you just re-register to vote which is bonkers but that's one of the things that we want to

campaign to change in the long term which is basically that we need to you know make these sorts of things more accessible to young people um or not just young people but everyone generally i mean you were saying that i've got a lot of questions and i was like oh he's probably going to answer them before i even asked you've literally answered most of the questions no you just make my job so much easier so it's fine that boring that you haven't got any other questions to ask me i have a lot of questions like politics is one of those really, people think it's a really dry subject, but it's actually something that's so important to be able to just sit there and talk about it.

And, you know, I've been interested in politics for a long period of time, and I'm sure you have as well, because of the things that our families have had to go through, as opposed to like actually being taught it in schools. And like, this is probably an opportunity for a lot of people.

I mean, even myself included at the age of 28, to actually sit down and ask people the questions about why voting is important to me. How do I know? Like so many people, you were saying, so many young people are interested in politics, have a lot of issues that are important to them. When Dan, your colleague, and I went to a school in London, every single person in that classroom had issues they cared about. But why does that not translate from issues they cared about but why does that not translate from issues they care about to the polling station because I think the problem is is politics isn't accessible so I think when you start using like the jargons like you know like

when you even say the word politics people get put off yeah because it comes with a lot of you know like negativity to young people so for example like firstly we're not educated about politics in this country yeah so it's not that people don't care about the issues but they can't relate the political institutions or they don't see the political institutions as agencies to change because no one's ever said to you hey by the way if you're really upset about for example the way your transport system works or the way your bins are collected this is what you have to do or this is why you vote we live in a democracy what is a democracy what is politics what is voting why do we vote how do you continue to engage with your like we know none of that

through school so I think firstly education is a big factor and if you come from a lower socioeconomic background you're more likely to be disadvantaged because if you've got parents for example who went to university who could teach you this stuff at home because you don't learn at school you're more likely to sort of know how to get about but if you're someone like me for example his parents didn't go to school can't speak english uh for example um then it's like i'm not really going to get much from them yeah i'm also not going to get much from my education because they don't teach me so i think education is one second thing is is representation that we spoke about like you know so much research shows and not just in terms of voting but if there are like it's like a company if it doesn't look

there's no one there that looks like you or sounds like you you're less likely to engage in it and the reality is is that politics is still dominated by older white men um the average age of a councillor when I first stood was 66 um which is you know bonkers uh if you ask me the fact that you know just so that's one thing and then the other thing is obviously um scandals don't help so you know not to get too political but you know if you're saying to people that you should stay at home uh during covid and you should stay at home during COVID and you should sacrifice not seeing your family, friends, your loved ones, but then the prime minister's having a party

in Downing Street, people obviously are going to say, well, why should I engage in a system where people are making up laws that they're not even following themselves? Or why should I engage in a system that doesn't work for me? Because the reality is, again, is that a lot of young people are facing a there's a crisis around mental health there's a

crisis around the cost of living crisis there's a crisis around like the standard of living just generally there's a crisis around our NHS and our health system in all of these areas and it's like nothing works in this country no more so it's like why should you engage in a system that doesn't work for you so I think that's the reason why you don't really get people going to the polling station because they don't believe that the system can make a change for them.

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By texting 64,000, you agree to receive recurring automated marketing messages from Pocket Host. Message and data rates may apply. No purchase required. Terms apply. Available at pockethost.com slash terms. You just realized your business needed to hire someone yesterday. How can you find amazing candidates fast?

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visibility at indeed.com slash P-O-D-K-A-T-Z 13. Just go to indeed.com slash P-O-D-K-A-T-Z 13 right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need. It's like I'm trying to explain to a lot of people and a lot of my followers that the only way the system can be changed to work for you is by showing up to the polling station. 100%. But then a lot of young people are saying to me, well, because of the way that our electoral system works,

so if people don't know, we have a first-p a first past the post system where you vote for your MP. And then that makes up the majority of the part, like the biggest party makes government. But then like, as opposed to PR, whereas everybody's vote means something. So how can I turn around to my followers and tell them to go to the polling station and say that their vote will actually amount to something yeah there's always enough voters that can make a difference yeah the problem is if every one person thinks that your vote doesn't make a difference then like you know that I think there was this interesting stat in 2019 which is that there was more people that didn't vote than that voted for the conservative party or the Labour Party yeah like there were some seats like um I think there was one in I think it's Stirling in Scotland where like the MP won by

two votes uh Kensington the MP won by like 20 votes or 23 votes or whatever it was um there's always more people that don't vote than that votes so I think you know the reality if you think that then obviously your vote is not going to make a difference I think like you say it's like you have to start somewhere the problem is it's like we live in like a consumer driven world yeah where like you know for example you you buy an iPhone you go into Apple and you buy an iPhone you either get it instantly or you get told when you're going to get it like whether it's a week two delivery whenever right politics doesn't work like that so it's not like you vote instantly or you get told when you're going to get it, like whether it's a week, two delivery, whenever, right? Politics doesn't work like that.

So it's not like you vote and instantly you get something back. There's a process for engagement and nothing stops at voting. So I think, you know, and that's why education is important is because people, because they don't understand the system, because we're never educated about it, they have like unrealistic expectations of what sometimes politicians can deliver or they don't know what to ask for. so I think you know all of these things are interlinked but I think the very minimum that we can all do is be registered to vote so that they

know politicians know that they have to trust or they have to deliver for our people um so when it comes to voting apart from people listening to podcasts like this, or like tuning into the news, which we know a lot of young people don't want to do because they don't want to engage with mainstream media because of the mental health crisis, what other resources are available for people like me when it comes to looking at candidates and parties? Like, how do I know what I'm voting for without watching the news? Yeah, so there isn't a lot, which is a shame. But there are some stuff

like for example democracy club uh there's like i think it's like where do i vote the org i've got that really wrong by the way but so i'll put all the like links somewhere but it is at democracy club like they have this thing where it tells you like your polling station and it tells you who all the candidates are it doesn't tell you what they stand for but it tells you who your list of like candidates are um i think for some time there has been like there is some stuff ad hoc stuff that you could find constituency based where like it'll be you know who's standing for what and i'm sure as we get closer to the elections when also like when you know the manifestos are announced soon to like it will be announced by the time

it's the 19th of june it will be yeah so it'll be announced very soon um you know people will have ways that they can disseminate that information um I think the danger is is like there's a lot of like there's going to be a point at which like there's just going to be so much information and that confuses people even more and the the whole misinformation, disinformation thing is a whole different realm as well. And all the AI stuff that's coming out. Exactly. But I think you've got to vote based on your values

and what you think. Sometimes you're going to look at a manifesto, you're not going to agree with everything. But you need to look at, for example, what are your values, what are the party's values and decide ultimately which one do you think closely aligns to your values and what you how you want to live your life and who's more relatable to you or it could be that you vote for who you think is going to be a better MP for you yeah you know so I think you've got to think of it in a very

local context because I think I think maybe that's where people go wrong they don't think about politics in a local context they only think about it like nationally yeah but um a lot of young people have said to me that one of the things they're most worried about is like having voter guilt is that they go to the polling station they vote the vote goes in their favor and like whoever they voted for makes up government but then the country's in a worse off position or like things that they voted for they didn't they didn't deliver on their promises in the manifesto and they that's it gives them fear and I don't know what it is about young voters that like have that fix I've never heard like my parents say they have that fear yeah but I've only heard young voters say they've got that fear I think they've got that

fear because they've been cheated that there is a sense of resentment like I mean I've been so I first became when I first turned 18 so I couldn't vote in 2010 because my birthday's in July and the election was in May okay so I missed out by two months to vote in 2010 and like since then it's got like bad to worse like as I say tuition fees like troubled EMA I mean luckily I was the last year I benefited from EMA the educational maintenance allowance uh Brexit happened yeah like it's just you know like the the budget that messed up the economy like the impact it had on like mortgages and rents and all that sort of stuff like there is so much like I think the problem is is people haven't seen good come from the system yeah so therefore like naturally

um they do feel a sense of like guilt but i think the key thing is here is is like as i said earlier it's not just about voting voting is like the very starting point of it it's more about how do you continue to engage with your you know like your representatives how do you you know get involved in consultations how do you for example like how do you demand change in a different way that isn't just about voting? And I think if you pitch everything about, the problem is we pitch everything about the voting. And because everything's about the voting,

it sets this weird expectation that basically the world's going to change overnight after the vote. And it's not. I mean, I went to like, I'm going to ramble on now, but I was in Tunisia. and I was talking to this like to this guy like he's like he must have been like 23 or something and um I basically said to him they was gonna have the local elections for the first time

and I said to him you're gonna vote and he said to me no and I said so why why won't you vote and he goes to me because he was very decisive and he said to me Mete why won't you vote? And he goes to me, because he was very decisive. And he said to me, Mete, he goes, we literally had a revolution and nothing changed. You know, like when they had the Arab Spring, it was literally a revolution. And he felt like nothing changed after. Things were still the same for him. And I guess we live in a very different context

to what they do in like, say, in Tunisia or other parts of the world where democracy isn't as strong. But I guess point I'm trying to make is it's like you can't just look at those things as like one moment so you have to think about what is the best way to continue engaging and that's the role for organizations or people like us is to make sure that young people do have a vehicle in which they can continue to engage yeah no of course I was gonna this wasn't on my official list of questions and I mean if you don't want to answer you don't have to but um obviously there are pledges or conversations about pledges about lowering the voting age yeah how do you think that like it's going to impact like campaigns like given x do you think like lowering the voting age is going to be a good

thing yeah 100 because I feel like what research shows you is so example, if you voted when you were first eligible to vote, let's say you were like 18, 19, 20, whatever it was, you're more likely to carry on voting. Like once you're of eligible age, it's a habit. Yeah, it's like growing a habit. So if you can capture people between 16 to 18, because obviously they're in like sixth form college or whatever it is, and they're more likely to vote,

then the research shows that you're more likely to keep them voting as they get to the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and whatever. So I think, you know, like, I mean, the arguments are so clear for it. You can do all sorts of things when you're 16. You could be working, you could be like joining the army, all of those sorts of things. I find absolutely insane. Yeah, but you can't vote.

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warranty. What could be better than that? I'll tell you what, an exciting exclusive offer just for you. For a limited time, you can get a free pocket Pivot and their 10-pattern sprayer with the purchase of any size Copperhead hose. Just text WATER to 64000. That's WATER to 64000 for your two free gifts with purchase. W-A-T-E-R to 64000. By texting 64000, you agree to receive recurring automated marketing messages from Pocket Hose. Message and data rates may apply. No purchase required. Terms apply. Available at pockethose.com slash terms. Hi, I'm Richard Karn, and you may have seen me on TV talking about the world's number one expandable garden hose.

Well, the brand new Pocket Hose Copperhead with Pocket Pivot is here, and it's a total game changer. Old-fashioned hoses get kinks and creases at the spigot, but the Copperhead's Pocket Pivot swivels 360 degrees for full water flow and freedom to water with ease all around your home. When you're all done, this rust-proof anti-burst hose shrinks back down to pocket size for effortless handling and tidy storage. Plus, your super light and ultra durable pocket hose Copperhead is backed with a 10-year warranty. What could be better than that? I'll tell you what, an exciting exclusive offer just for you. For a limited time, you can get a free pocket pivot and their 10 pattern sprayer with the purchase of any size copperhead hose. Just text water to 64000. That's water to 64000 for your two free gifts with purchase. W-A-T-E-R to 64000.

By texting 64000, you agree to receive recurring automated marketing messages from Pocket Hose. Message and data rates may apply. No purchase required. Terms apply. Available at pockethose.com slash terms. I think actually I was the last, I was in, how old was I? I was in school when they tripled tuition fees. So like the people that just left school, they just about got in.

Oh wow, you're way younger than me. You always make out I'm really old. I missed it. I missed it. I missed the tuition fees by a year. So I was lucky. All right. Keep putting salt in my wounds. I'm the tuition fees by a year. So I was lucky. All right. Keep on selling my rooms.

I'm one of the free grounding people. When you think about your first time voting, if you, if older you or you now could talk to the person who was voting for the first time, what would you like say to that person? I would say, I know that like, you know,

you want to see the world change. And I know that you want to, you know, and believe that, you know, you want to see the world change and I know that you want to, you know, and believe that, you know, set your expectations high because ultimately that is, your job is to set the,

as a citizen, you should always aspire to the best and the role of politicians is to serve you and to make your dreams a reality and you should never forget that. They're there to serve you, not the other way around, right?

But also, the very minimum we can all do, like play your part, right? Don't, don't, like we have a campaign called Don't Sit on the Sidelines. Yeah. Don't sit on the sideline.

Like the minimum you can do, and literally only takes you like a few minutes, is register to vote, yeah? Because once people start seeing the polling, the registration figures and they think oh my god you know we've got 153 000 people that was a breaking the record for local elections yeah if we get like a million or two million young people registered to vote people are going to be like you know politicians can't just ignore that when they bring out their

manifestos they're going to have to say hey like we need to actually make sure that we've got something for these people. Otherwise, they're going to vote somewhere because if they're registered to vote in the last two or three weeks, they're not just going to sit at home and not vote. Most of them will vote. So where are these 750,000 voters

or the million voters going to go? And they're going to have to bring out pledges. So play your part and don't send the sidelines. And more importantly, you're not just letting yourself down by not voting. you'll also be letting down your whole generation of young people but that's like when parents say I'm not angry I'm just disappointed do you know what that's what the lecture just fell through then I'm not angry I'm just disappointed yeah and like I hate the whole thing about like if you don't vote don't complain I used to hate when people used to say

that to me yeah but there is a logic to it yeah which is that like ultimately like pitch yourself as a politician yeah like and you probably will be at some point but if you've got two events and you've got half an hour like you're only half an hour you've got two events one is with like 50 people that is going to vote and one is with 50 people that most likely ain't going to vote yeah and you need that 40 votes to win. Where are you going to go? Yeah, of course. Do you know what I mean? It's not that you don't care about the other group.

It's just that, you know, like realistically, you're going to go somewhere where you're more, like there has to be a benefit for you. Otherwise, why would you? So I don't like the saying of like, if you don't vote, don't complain. But there is a truth to it.

And it's like in other countries, people face mad barriers to get the rights that we have like it literally takes you a few minutes to just like sit sit there and just like register the vote so like don't miss out i feel like it is the fact that at the moment we do take for granted that we do live in a democracy obviously national voter registration day for the general election is the 18th of June yeah and the party manifestos are on the 19th of June so do we think right now that political parties are sitting there anticipating an increase in registration from young people 100% yeah there's I mean like the

work we've done I think we've really sort of like shaped the political system a little bit and loads of people heard about our campaign and I also think you know like the fact that we're getting loads of like brands and celebrities on board I think it's an indicative of that and loads of politicians that are interested in our campaign I also think there's been some really interesting polls that shows that like a lot of young people especially like you know like the Rishi Sunak announced the whole like national service and I feel like in a weird way like those sorts of things gets the conversation going because it's like what is the offer for young people and there was a poll that came in on the back of that when he made the announcement and he said that reckon numbers of young people are expected to vote because like that clearly motivated people one way or another whether they support or not

to think oh like I'm gonna go out and have a say because I either don't like this thing yeah I don't want it to happen or I support it or whatever, whichever way it is. So I do think, you know, like that there is a, there is going to be an appeal to young people in this election because, you know, I'm very confident that there's going to be like over a million people who's going to register for it in the next like couple of weeks. I think that it'd be really interesting to know if people in CCHQ or like the Labour Party headquarters headquarters whatever are going to be sitting up at midnight after National Vote Registration Day is done rewriting their manifestos to try and get all the like pledges for young people in or they might just do like a you know they might not be able to rewrite a manifesto

but what they might do is is they might like you know there's nothing stopping them from making a further announcement so for example like they could be like like a week later like maybe we need to announce you know this or that I mean it's interesting because like you know you've already had one leader who's announced the votes at 16 yeah and then you've had another leader who's announced you know like the national service so like those are two big things for young people whether it's bad or good yeah that's a different conversation but yeah what was the most rewarding part of seeing young people become more politically engaged through the given x campaign and for me it relates back to like my story because you know like my parent uh came here in the 90s from cyprus um can't speak english brought up in one of the

poorest neighborhoods in london um brought up in one of the poorest neighborhoods in London, brought up on a council estate where you often felt like you just, no one cared about your voice. When my youth club shut down, like no one lifted a finger. And I think seeing young people take ownership of their lives for me gives me a lot of satisfaction

because it sort of like, it goes back to the roots of why I do what I do which is you know like it's all about giving people who look and sound like me or who come from similar backgrounds or shared experiences and really thought you know what I'm not going to wait around for people to take you know ownership of my life or like to pick me up take me somewhere I'm going to actually take ownership and you know we can all play our part so for me that's the biggest satisfaction that I get out of it yeah I guess like for me it's always about when I my ballot paper is going to be all well majority they're all male they're

majority white yeah so like for me that's zero representation and I think one of the big things that like the reasons why I wanted to get involved in giving access because I was always told politics is not a place for someone like me yeah and that there is no like I shouldn't really matter because it's just not an environment I belong to but like being at the next gen conference and seeing how many young people 500 700 okay seeing 700 young people that resembled something a little bit more like me listening to somebody that resembled more like them. Because my only experience of politics when I was younger was my local MP coming into an all-girls school to try and talk to young girls about politics.

But he was sat on his phone the whole time. And then when I actually spoke to him recently, and I brought up the fact that he was on his phone the whole time, his phone went off and he stopped having this conversation with me to go on his phone. And I was like, so glad that you're not an MP anymore but it's like what motivated you to actually because we don't want to talk about either our political affiliations because you want this to be politically neutral and trying to encourage young people to vote no matter what their opinions are but like coming into the UK or like growing up in the UK and not

seeing yourself represented how did you want like decide yeah I want to be a councillor or i want to go down politics like the political route i didn't really decide that i wanted to be a councillor political route there's a lot of paperwork involved so you must have had to like no but it's kind of like for me it's like what i'm interested in is the issue the vehicle that helps like i will pursue any vehicle that i think can help me tackle like help me like help help my aspiration of like tackling like social inequalities tackling like climate change all the issues that are like making democracy more accessible all the issues I very much care about so like it wasn't like I was like when I first stood to be a councillor I was 20 I turned 21 when I got elected but I didn't think to myself like when I was 19 oh my god I'm gearing up to be a councillor I didn't even know what a councillor was you didn't want

to be a life like a career politician yeah it just happened to be that like I was an activist in my community and someone said to me oh like maybe you should consider standing for your local council then I was like what is a councillor I don't even know what like I genuinely didn't know and I was someone who was engaged right yeah which shows you like the lack of education that we have. And for me, it was like being a counselor was important because I wanted to have a role in shaping my community because I knew that Hackney had changed so much because, you know, it used to be the place where I had the highest crime in the country,

one of the highest levels of child poverty. Whereas now, like 20 years later, you know, it's like hipster part of London. Yeah, it's like very up and coming. Yeah, it's like home of the, like people now want to come to Hackney for a night out like that is crazy which is wild to me yeah like because when I was growing up it wasn't like that yeah it was like people used to get away wanted to get away from my borough and like I feel like a massive sense of pride but I want to make sure that it actually works for people who are from the

community that's why I got involved so when like I had a chance to be a counselor to help that aspiration, a hundred percent, you know, like I was going to like pursue it. So for me, it's like, I didn't really grow up to think, oh, I'm going to be a politician. And also like, like you said as well, like. Hi, I'm Richard Karn. And you may have seen me on TV talking about the world's number one expandable garden hose. Well, the brand new Pocket Hose Copperhead with Pocket Pivot is here, and it's a total game changer. Old-fashioned hoses get kinks and creases at the spigot, but the Copperhead's Pocket Pivot swivels 360 degrees for full water flow and freedom to water with ease all around your home. When you're all done, this rust-proof anti-burst hose shrinks back down to pocket size for effortless handling and tidy storage.

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Time is precious and so are our pets. So time with our pets is extra precious. That's why we started Dutch. Dutch provides 24-7 access to licensed vets with unlimited virtual visits and follow-ups for up to five pets. You can message a vet at any time and schedule a video visit the same day. Our vets can even prescribe medication for many ailments and shipping is always free. With Dutch, you'll get more time with your pets and year-round peace of mind when it comes to their vet care you rarely get people that look like us who dare so yeah i kind of like fell into it by luck and who knows like i might like not do it or i might do it it just depends on what happens give a next campaign ambitions national vote registration day what's what's the big goal

because i know in the my Life, My State office, everyone's probably running around like a headless chicken, trying to get everything over the line. This is going to come out just before National Vote Registration Day. So like, what is the goal? So I had a conversation with my team about this. Before coming here? Yeah.

Okay. And they were like, you know, they asked me that question when the election was called, like, what is the goal? And I said to them a million you want to get a million on the 18th or just

okay a million people I best get myself ready yeah so we've all got a big role but I think we can do it

100% maybe okay maybe like you know a million in one day is like might be a bit too much but at least a million in a week I believe we can do it yeah I think a million in one day is like might be a bit too much but at least a million in a week I believe we can do it yeah I think a million in a week's doable yeah people

that don't know Mette is the reason why I didn't have any sleep on national voter registration day last time I am the reason yeah your it's your campaign too obviously I care about it but I was coming to London to do a nice leisurely women's hour 12 hours later I'm still in London doing Andrew Marr we appreciate you that's all right that day you've done a lot of like media I think do you know what it is it's nice to have people do media or like be in media that isn't going to cause more drama than reality tv because no I think one thing that was really like kind of switching me off from politics and I'm someone that's really engaged is the fact that politicians are trying to make everything a joke or battle it off against each other.

No one cares about your inter-party drama. It's not Love Island. Just crack on with whatever you're supposed to be doing and stop trying to wind each other up. That's just my hot take on it. After James Cleverley's comments on Good Morning Britain today. What did he say? Ed Balls asked him if the removal of the European Human Rights Convention

was going to be included in the Conservative Party manifesto. And he accused Ed Balls of clickbaiting him for social media views because Ed Balls was attached to the Labour Party. But he was asking a genuine question. He didn't answer, obviously. But that's just my hot take on it. I don't like James Cleverley anyway. He knows I don't like him.

Is he from your... He's not from your... No, but you can Google my name and James Cleverley's name and it's just... I'm going to do that on the train back to the office young people that are listening or people in general that are listening to this it's mostly young women that listen to girls know nothing but young people that are listening to this episode and that are still unsure about whether they should register to vote whether their vote actually matters yeah what like this is like your time to pitch them the reason why they have to be registered to vote no pressure no pressure

like there's one million people that you have in your brain that you want to be registered to vote. No pressure. No pressure. Like there's 1 million people that you have in your brain that you want to get registered. I feel like you're a much, you could do the pitch much better. I've done the pitch. That's why you're a spokesperson for the campaign. I know, but you're the head of the campaign.

So, you know, you have to get involved too. So look, I think the reason why it's so important that you register to vote is whether you care about, you know, like as I say, whether you've got a decent roof over your head or a job that pays your basic respect to or you care about your family, your friends, your neighbors, anyone and whoever you care about is so important. The minimum you can do is register to vote. Takes you literally a few minutes to do that. And it's just about

making your presence be known to all of those people in power it might not make a difference in terms of you know like you might not immediately for example see the difference of your vote but believe you me is people in positions of power will know that they have to pitch to your community when they know that you're registered they can't ignore you because they know that you could turn up on the 4th of July and you can vote one way or the other way. So if you're in the field playing the game, then they know that they have to pitch to you. If you're not there, then they know that they don't have to pitch to you.

Did I do all right? Yeah, no, you did fine. I mean, there's a reason why I get chased up the high street with people trying to hand out pamphlets and it's because they know that I'm registered to vote. Yeah, exactly. So there's a reason why they're interested in talking to me and what I have to say yeah it's fine after this election we can focus on getting 16 year olds to vote to vote there's so much more to focus on but

this is the first step and it doesn't stop that's the other bit as well it's like it's not just going to be like don't I know it like it's not going to be like oh we've had this election now and that's it like let's just shut shop and then wait till five years later. This is like, actually, okay, what can we do? You know, what's the next bit? And then how do we build up to even get 2 million people next time around? Yeah. And about teaching people

how to actually engage in the political system. Having these conversations is really important because no one else is having them for young people. And I know that My Life, my say is doing a lot of work behind the scenes of next gen with given x and with their commercial partners and actually it's when i went to a panel and we were talking about influencers in the up-and-coming general election and people people that follow traditional politics think that they don't have any importance or relevance and actually we know they do because brands are ever more becoming more

political and outspoken about the things that they believe in because that's what their consumers believe in and they want to represent them. So, you know, we need, I think traditional form of politics will die out when the Instagram generation comes in and we're going to see more personality politics and crossovers on social media.

So young people are the way forward there's your uh pitch yeah there you go it's all right thank you for coming thank you for having me really enjoyed it time is precious and so are our pets so time with our pets is extra precious that's why we started dutch dutch provides 24 7 access to licensed vets with unlimited virtual visits and follow-ups for up to five pets. You can message a vet at any time and schedule a video visit the same day. Our vets can even prescribe medication for many ailments, and shipping is always free. With Dutch, you'll get more time with your pets and year-round peace of mind when it comes to their vet care.

Time is precious. And so are our pets. So time with our pets is extra precious. That's why we started Dutch. Dutch provides 24-7 access to licensed vets. With unlimited virtual visits and follow-ups for up to five pets. You can message a vet at any time. And schedule a video visit the same day.

Our vets can even prescribe medication for many ailments, and shipping is always free. With Dutch, you'll get more time with your pets and year-round peace of mind when it comes to their vet care.