On Monday 7th of December, I went to the AGM of Gingerbread, the national charity that supports Single parents and their families.
I went because I wanted to meet David Cameron leader of the conservative partywho was the main speaker.
He delivered a very professional speech which seemed well scripted, and this had mix reactions.
He spoke a lot about the family, letting children enjoy their childhood and also about tax for married couples.
Stephen Timms, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, accused Mr Cameron of being in an "utter mess" over the issue of tax breaks for married couples. "He says he's deadly serious about marriage and intends to spend billions on a tax giveaway to wealthier married couples. Then he tries to deny to an organisation of single mums that he intends in any way to discriminate against them," he said.
After David Cameron’s s main speech, he asked for questions from the audience, and I managed to ask him this question “What was his party going to do help smash the stereotype and negative images portrayed about single parents and their families” His reply "I think we all have a role in trying to make sure that we portray things in a more reasonable way and a less black-and-white way."
Well he did not give me the answer I wanted to hear but I felt privilege to be able to ask the question. I found it interesting the next day to read how the various newspapers interpreted what went on in the meeting. This just helped me to realise that we are all different and can have different interpretations of the same event.
The full extract of his speech for anyone interested in finding out more is on the Gingerbread website http://www.gingerbread.org.uk/portal/page/portal/Website