Over the weekend, I organised a campaigning session for London Young Labour with Rushanara Ali, who is Labour’s parliamentary candidate in Bethnal Green and Bow. You can see my photos here.

In spite of the miserable weather, several LYL members turned up and it was a fantastic day of canvassing. We spent most of the day door-knocking in Wyllen CLose Weight Exercise/”>Lose Weight Exercise where the main issues seemed to be anti-social behaviour, graffiti, noisy neighbourhoods and vandalism. Several residents complained that teenagers openly smoked drugs on the pavements.

LYL member Lynne Wells suggested that Rushanara organise a walkabout with the Safer Neighbourhoods Team and the local police in order to identify and tackle these issues of concern in the neighbourhood. Rushanara agreed that it was an excellent idea and I have spoken to her campaign organiser about including some LYL members in the walkabout when it takes place.

During our lunch break, LYL members asked Rushanara about her background in politics and the process of putting yourself forward as a parliamentary candidate. She explained the selection process and the hustings that potential candidates have to face before a final decision is made. It sounded quite challenging but exciting at the same time!

At the end of the day Rushanara suggested going to see the historical photographic exhibition of Bangladesh 1971 at Rivington Place. I visited the exhibition with my family last week but decided that it was definitely worth going again. The photographs and documentaries portray a very vivid view of the Bangladesh Independence War and I would recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about one of South Asia’s most significant political events.