GLOBAL politics was on the agenda for 12 students from The John of Gaunt School, Trowbridge when they took part in the Model United Nations conference at Kingswood School, Bath.

The international conference attracted 700 students from countries including the United States, France, Germany and Kuwait.

John of Gaunt students began work on Friday night and continued throughout the weekend.

They were mainly involved in the Middle East committee and the human rights committee.

Alex Mellors, who is in Year 12, was so inspired by the event that he plans to go to the next Model United Nations conference at Cornell University in the USA.

"It really opened up my eyes to the political world," he said.

Major issues were discussed at the conference including Iran's nuclear policy, bird flu, Aids and good governance in Africa.

In a surprise democratic twist the US delegation were voted out of the chamber by the other countries due to their actions in the Iraq war and the establishment of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp.

The US delegation countered this by saying that in real-life, as the UN headquarters are situated in New York, they would have cut off the electricity to the assembly.