The youngest candidate in South Yorkshire is hoping to be elected to Rotherham Borough Council tomorrow.
Dominic Beck,19, is hoping to secure a seat for Labour in the Wales Ward in Rotherham.
Beck says that to be elected by the people of his home community would be a dream come true.
Beck also expressed how youth today in Britain are under-represented in politics.
The former Wales High School student is studying Business Management at Sheffield Hallam University and working full-time for social care providers Hughes and Hughes Developments.
Beck told the BBC that he would run his own business after he got his impressive A-level results last year.
“Instead of playing pool, I’m talking to the older blokes about business.” He said to the BBC.
Beck is facing competition from two other candidates in the Wales ward. He is up against Jill Shaw who is the Conservative candidate and Dennis Slynn who is running for UKIP.
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has attracted widespread condemnation for his bloody repression of the rebellion in Libya, but one family in Sheffield believes he is still a good leader.
The Hamid family: Supporters of the Gadaffi regime
Sgeyer Hamid, a Libyan visiting the UK, said the West has created a misleading picture of the dictator and claims he still attracts fervent support in his homeland.
“The western media portrays the situation wrong. It is all lies,” Hamid said, referring to the media reports of protests against the leader of the North African country in the past two months.
Hamid claims the western media has a political interest in damaging the reputation of Gaddafi, who has ruled the oil-rich country for more than 50 years.
“There are no protests in Tripoli or in Zawiya. There is a bit in of trouble in Bengazi, but it is caused by outsiders, not Libyans,” said Hamid.
“The protesters are a few young boys with guns supplied by foreigners. Gaddafi should take care of the troublemakers and prosecute them,” father and daughter, Amani S. Hamid, agrees.
Several media organisations have reported the numerous protests in the past months. Video footage has shown large-scale demonstrations and fighting in the capital and other cities in Libya.
Miss Hamid also objects to the perception that the Libyan people are protesting against Gaddafi. She says: “All Libyan people love Gaddafi.”
The Hamid family come from Tajura, 15 km east of Tripoli. Miss Hamid is doing a PhD in physics at the University of Sheffield and has received a scholarship from the Libyan government. Her parents came to visit on February 21st and will return soon.
A question of oil
“The Western governments all changed their minds on Gaddafi. The UK, France and many other countries had good relationships with Libya and Gaddafi for many years,” said Hamid who argues that it is the West’s interest in oil that has caused the change in position.
Numerous media reports confirm that many western countries, including the UK, have had long and close relationships with Gaddafi but have terminated these as a result of the latest developments.
“Change should happen in a good way, not by means of violence,” said Hamid, pointing to his head, suggesting intellectual power should be used instead of military intervention.
Western governments, such as France, UK and US, have talked of a no-fly zone over Libya to avoid Gaddafi using war planes in his efforts to stop the reported street protests, but this has not yet been enforced.
A faulty reputation
The Hamid family is thankful of everything Gaddafi has achieved in his tenure.
“Libya used to be a poor country and less technologically developed than the UK for instance, but Gaddafi has improved everything. It has definitely changed for the better since he came into power. He built companies and created insurances for people,” said Hamid.
“Before, all the petrol was shipped out of the country, but Gaddafi got the foreign oil companies out.”
The Hamid family emphasised their belief that the standard of life has improved remarkably since Gaddafi came into power in 1969.
“Gaddafi supports teaching and education and awards scholarships to thousands of young people every year. He just signed a contract to send even more people abroad to do both undergraduate, graduate and PhD’s,” said Miss Hamid.
A leading Liberal Democrat has said he had advance notice of a letter signed by senior councillors in his party attacking the Government over the cuts.
Deputy leader Simon Hughes says that he was aware of the letter before it was published but was not able to release any details.
According to Hughes, who represents Southwark and Bermondsey, Labour councils are using the spending cuts to make a political point.
Hughes said that in some instances councils were cutting jobs unnecessarily, singling out Sheffield as an example of a council that had only made a small number redundancies. He said that the Labour-led councils of Manchester and Liverpool were cutting jobs as a way of politicising the spending review.
A leading Liberal Democrat has said he had advance notice of a letter signed by senior councillors in his party attacking the Government over the cuts.