On Tuesday 31st April, Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee came to St Swithun’s to give a talk entitled Dogma and 
Disarray.
After joining some of the sixth form politics students for dinner, over which they discussed issues such as Margaret Thatcher, feminism and the Leveson Inquiry, Polly spoke in the performing arts auditorium about her experience of living on the minimum wage and the effect on social equality of the current government’s policies.
Following her talk, Polly debated with the audience and gave her opinions on other issues, such as education, electoral turn-out and the economy.
Upper sixth politics pupil Lizzie Farrington from Gosport said ‘I enjoyed listening to and debating with Polly. Whether in agreement with her views or not, her talk provided a valuable and thought-provoking perspective on a series of issues which are rarely addressed in the media’.