Tuesday 17th November 2009
Michaelmas half-term is the traditional time for the Tonbridge Politics and Economics trip to America and, sure enough, a group of politically minded Tonbridgians could be spotted at terminal 5 one early morning this October. We were decked out, of course, in fetching blue ‘trip hoodies’. On the first day in New York we were focussed on the Economics side of things. First stop was the Financial Times, moving onto JP Morgan and ending on a high with a trip to The Wall Street Journal. Here we were spoken to by Robert Thompson, the Editor in Chief (and former Editor of the Times) on his role in ‘the great Australian media conspiracy’. Our other economic visits included a very impressive visit to Deutsche Bank. In New York we also visited the US headquarter of Opus Dei as well as marching along the tourist trail. In the evenings we had a wide variety of entertainment from a basketball game and a Broadway show to a reception hosted by New York based OTs. Our trip to Washington was equally momentous and impressive. We met the Senator for Indiana when we had a tour of Congress, visited the Democratic National Committee and had a tour of the US Supreme Court. On Sunday we visited the Capitol Hill Baptist Church and had a fascinating question and answer session. We also visited the Georgetown Law School and were privileged enough to have a session with one of the US’s foremost experts on the judiciary. Thanks must go to Mr Bird for his organisation skills (and, at times, patience) and to all those OTs and parents whose contacts gave us the opportunity to have such an excellent trip.
