The World of JR

Week One

2009-07-09T11:32:00.002+01:00

I've been a sabbatical officer for one week now, and it's been a very exciting week!

Last Wednesday we went down to the Cheshire campuses to have some photos taken and meet the staff down there. Thursday and Friday we were in the Manchester building with introductions to the staff and departments that we can resource.

The highlight of the week was the sabbatical residential, held in a lovely cottage in the Lake District. We were told to meet at the Pencil Museum in Keswick at 12:45pm on Saturday, wearing the rubber gloves that were provided. We had to complete various tasks to gain points; and what do points make? These tasks included the whole team running a pub, and a scene from a comic book where Alex (VP Student Activities Manchester) was about to be run over by a train driven by Joe (VP SA Cheshire)!

Sunday saw us attempting to solve a Lego puzzle without talking to each other. We'd each been given a part of the task and each part had to be adhered to. We got there in the end.

Our next problem was transporting an egg along the nearby stream by building a vessel out of tin foil, straws, a part of toilet roll holder, cupcake holders and string. We were split into two teams and would race against each other to get our boat to the finishing line. My team built a pasty shaped boat with the egg packaged inside, whereas the other team built a raft with the egg perched on top. Chaos ensued!

On Monday we left the cottage and onto a Go Ape adventure trail, through trees and so on. All completed the course in good time, although some had scrapes and bruises from landing very amusingly at the end of the zip lines, onto the bark shreds provided. Back at home on Monday night, I slept like a rock!

On Tuesday we headed to Preston to attend the NUS regional reception. This was a good opportunity to make contacts and colleagues from other unions in the North West and to get up to speed with NUS's Funding Our Future campaign. Obviously, no NUS event would be complete without a stop at the pub before we left.

So work has started in earnest, and I'm lovin' it!

JR

0% Rise?

2009-07-01T21:22:00.003+01:00

Gordon in today's PMQs ...

Is this some new definition of rise? Next he'll be telling us of negative percentage rises!

JR

MMUnion Challenges - One Year On

2009-06-27T19:43:00.001+01:00

Twelve months ago, I set five challenges to the new band of executive officers at MMUnion. With a brand new team taking over from them in the next week (including myself as the new VP Welfare), I thought this was a good time to assess the challenges and ask, where do we go from here.

I don't mean to be over-critical of the current officers in this post, but simply mention how I would have handled the situation. I believe the officers have done a great job this year and I can only hope to carry on their good work.

Big-Up Student Forums

Now, as it transpired there wasn't any Student Forums this year. I very much understand that the union was going through a transition period after the new governance structures were approved by the Board of Governors in November. My preferred scenario would've been for Student Forums to start after Christmas. This might have avoided the situation with the "protests" outside the union by the Viva MMU group over those very same governance structures.

Clearly the way forward is to set the first date for a student forum, say in the second week of term, and push it like crazy. I'd still like 100 students at every student forum, and preferably double that at the first one.

Ensure Effective Communication

This has always been, and will continue to be, one of my major qualms with union officers; not just at MMUnion, but all over the country. It's been ... better! The new website is now live, but there still isn't any blogs from the sabbatical officers (clearly this will change on my part at least).

In the last year I've discovered twitter. This micro-blogging medium will only get bigger in the future after a number of major publicity coups, such as it being the No. 1 way of getting information out of Iran during the current problems there after the presidential election. Many unions have set up their own twitter accounts to announce campaigns, and keep people up to date with meetings and so on. I intend to set up such an account for MMUnion as it is perfect for small announcements which don't require a full story. The feed can be put on the front page of the union website for those that don't have twitter accounts.

PULP. Is it working?

I've been pleasantly surprised with PULP this year. Holly has done a pretty good job with the magazine, but there are some big changes around the corner.

PULP will now be part of a new media sub-group (likely to also include MMU Radio) which, although will be convened by an officer, won't have a dedicated full time editor like it has previously. Instead the grouping will decide who is to edit the magazine, which could be a different person for each issue. I've been informed that I got this a bit wrong. There will be a full time editor, but it will be a member of staff.

I'm still in favour of joining up with Student Direct in the long term, but I'm keen to see what will happen under the new sub-group structure before pressing the matter.

NUS Governance

Re-branded as NUS Reform, this was certainly the best result of the year. Over 90% of delegates to the second extraordinary conference voted for the proposals, including all delegates from MMU. As a union, we must continue to involve ourselves in NUS and encourage our members to get involved also.

Achieve 10% Turnout in Elections

Well there was a number of reasons why the turnout wasn't great. The highest number of votes for any single position was 685, with the total turnout being around 1100 (or just above 3%). I'm certain the problems with registration accounted for a few hundred voters, and there are a number of operational issues which need to be addressed; however this is not a time to look back.

Yet again I'm challenging ourselves to get a 10% turnout. We can and should be reaching this number.

And finally ...

This year, I will always try to do my best. Only if I do will I feel that I have done my job well.

Do come in and see me. My door is always open.

JR

Toxic Cleansing

2009-06-21T02:29:00.005+01:00

As spotted by Tory Bear; this is what the DJ in a Brixton nightclub was wearing last night ...

Could it be that it's cool to be a Tory again?

JR

Harman Unable to Distinguish Between the Tories and the BNP

2009-06-15T19:47:00.007+01:00

A friend of mine who gave his email address to the Labour Students group at his university in September, but saw the light before actually joining the party, has just dropped me a facebook message saying he got an email from Harriet Harman today pleading him to re-join (even though he was never a member) the Labour Party.

All well and good, but one of the lines used to try and gain my friend's membership fee was this ...

"You can’t ride the fence when the Tories and BNP are gaining power."

This reminds me of the words of a candidate of the Green Party for the European elections, who said in a student hustings, "If the BNP won a seat in the European Parliament and the Conservatives won the General Election, I can't think of a worse thing for women in this country."

Both these quotes give the impression that the Conservatives are on a par with the BNP. This sort of scaremongering is totally unacceptable. The candidate for the Green Party was just being politically naive, but this sort of thing should never come out of the Labour offices, especially when the words are from the Deputy Leader!

Would anyone with a continence re-join the Labour Party because of this email?

JR

Update 22:10 - Iain Dale has also had someone send him the email and he's published it in full. As I published my post beforehand though, I'm claiming the exclusive on this one!

Electoral Reform: Voting Indecision

2009-06-12T22:07:00.006+01:00

Last night I had a discussion on twitter with @MarkReckons, a Lib Dem activist and former student at MMU, about electoral reform and the pros and cons of proportional representation in Westminster elections.

I feel that breaking the link between a MP and their constituents would be a mistake, which with a truly proportional system would be the only option. Fortunately, my tweeting compatriot also agreed that a party list system was not a good idea.

We went on to discuss my own constituency of Manchester Withington. At the last election Liberal Democrat John Leech was elected over the Labour incumbent, however in my humble opinion Mr Leech hasn't been a good MP. He was quoted as saying that people can't tell when a woman is shouting rape because students make so much noise! Very politically naive, at best.

Under our current first past the post system, if I wanted to vote against John Leech then I would probably have to vote for Labour's Lucy Powell as the Tories were way behind in 2005, on just over 10%.

I want our current consistency system with AV voting. The Alternative Vote (AV) enables the voter to rank the candidates until they become indifferent, and then if no candidate has over half of the total first preferences then the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated and their second preferences are redistributed. This continues until a candidate has over half the total votes.

Under AV, I could vote for the Conservative candidate as my #1 preference, and then Labour #2 and then not bother raking anyone else. I've voted for who I want to win, and my vote wouldn't be wasted. If I didn't know who came second, third and so on, last time then I could've ranked as many or as few candidates as I wanted; the upshot being I wouldn't be disenfranchised by choosing my preferred candidate.

@MarkReasons' argument was that I could be represented by a Conservative MP if there was muti-member constituencies elected using STV. He has done an explaination on his blog on how this could happen in Manchester Withington and surrounding seats by having a five member area. However in my opinion he has selected seats that would never be together; two from the City of Manchester, and three from the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport.

There are five seats in Manchester that would more likely be put together; Manchester Central, M'cr Gorton, M'cr Blackley, M'cr Withington and Wythenshawe and Sale East.

If you take the votes that the Conservatives got in those seats in 2005 and add them together, the total Tory vote would be 21012. The total turnout from the five areas was 159620, so the Conservatives polled just over 13% of the vote. The quota would be 26604, so therefore there would probably be no Conservative representation in the five seat constituency as they would be around 5600 votes short. Worse still, John Leech would also be elected as an MP because the Lib Dem vote would probably get them two seats.

The argument is that voters could choose not to support a candidate even if they wanted their party to win by choosing a further candidate in the same party, and ranking their undesired candidate further down the list (or not at all). The problem is that parties would only put up as many candidates as they could hope to win. In the above example, a back of a fag packet calculation finds that the Lib Dems would need a swing close 15% from Labour to get a third seat, meaning that they'd only put two candidates up. Indeed the Tories haven't got a chance of winning more than one seat, so they'd only have one candidate.

I've probably lost a lot of you, which doesn't surprise me. Herein lies another problem with STV. Unless you're a bit of an elections geek (like me), it is unlikely that you'll understand the electoral system and how anyone could be elected with 214.57 votes over the quota after they've received transfers from an elected candidate. See!

The public must have trust in the electoral system. They must have the ability to change their MP. They must be able to change the government, and indeed choose the government.

I'm not saying that FPTP is the best system ever, but it surely is simple to understand, simple to use, and simple to decide the winner.

JR

Funding Our Future

2009-06-10T16:50:00.008+01:00

Today the National Union of Students launched their blueprint for the future of higher education funding.

OK, I won't be able to put this any better than the NUS website, so I'll leave it to them ...

Proposals in the Blueprint would end the very notion of a course fee or price, and shut the door on a market in fees, making it a fairer system for all students.

Progressive graduate contribution
At two consecutive Annual Conferences, NUS members resolved that, if graduates should contribute to the future costs of higher education, they should do so according to their actual future earnings, so that those who benefit the most from university by earning more will contribute more. Today NUS is proud to be delivering a system that meets this central principle.

A graduate contribution would be paid into an independent fund – a People’s Trust for higher education – which would be built up over time and eventually deliver considerable additional resources for universities in the future. It is important that any future funding model delivers a sustainable higher education sector, and NUS has worked hard to ensure that these proposals achieve this.

Fair deal for all
By abolishing all up front fees for part-time students, this system would initiate a new era for non-traditional learning and continuing education through life. We also envisage a route that allows for voluntary employer contributions, so that employers could support far more employees to study than ever before.

Flexibility for learners
In designing this model, we have created a funding model that encourages learners to be able to switch between full and part-time modes of study, creating enhanced flexibility in the sector. We believe that through increasing flexibility in this way, we open the doors of higher education to a wider audience, and provides clear ways for increasing access to higher education for learners from non-traditional backgrounds.

This is something, in my opinion, the Conservatives should support. It is important to mention this will not effect those that are currently at university, as they will continue to pay back their student loans.

I would be appreciative of your feelings on the proposals, which the NUS website has in more detail.

JR

We Need Positive Politics to Defeat the BNP

2009-06-09T20:53:00.005+01:00

On Sunday night, the BNP had two MEPs elected to Brussels. Less people voted BNP in these elections than had done five years ago, when we last elected our MEPs. The difference is less people voted in the elections this time around, so the BNP gained a higher proportion of the vote. They won because the electoral system worked on what proportion of the vote each party got, not on how many votes they got.

This was not the breakthrough that the BNP are claiming, but a failure of mainstream politics, and the major parties especially, to promote positive politics. Just imagine you're the kind of person who thinks it's a good idea to vote, but not worried if you don't remember or aren't available to. You watch the party political broadcasts and see the main parties attacking each other. They tell you why not to vote for the other lot, and what you end up deciding is that they're all as bad as each other, and not voting at all.

It is those people, who haven't thought about the BNP, who would never consider voting for the BNP, who have become dissolutioned with mainstream politics; those are the people that we need to convince to vote again. Negative politics will only drive away more people from voting. We need positive politics to push up turnout.

Unfortunately, today Nick Griffin was attacked by a group of members from Unite Against Facism when he attempted to hold a press conference on college green, outside the Houses of Parliment. I really do understand what the protesters were trying to do. I am a proponent of no platform for the BNP and other racist groups; however they thrive on publicity, and the press conference would've had a ten second stint on the evening news, if that.

What was guaranteed by the demonstration was a wall to wall coverage all afternoon on the news channels, with live interviews for Griffin on the BBC and Sky. Griffin himself summed it up by saying it was a massive own goal. It made it look like Griffin and the BNP were the victims, and was a huge negative for the anti-racist campaign.

As I mentioned above, the BNP's vote actually decreased in these elections, we're not going to get anyone else to stop voting for them by continuing with negative politics. All the parties need to tell the electorate why they should vote for them, and show why their policies are right, and in a positive way. Until we do that, the BNP will continue winning seats when they stand in elections.

Lets be positive to beat the BNP.

JR

Labour: Can't Even Organise a Coup Properly

2009-06-09T08:55:00.001+01:00

Monday night's Parliamentary Labour Party meeting was supposed to be the best chance for backbench MPs who were unhappy with how Gordon is leading the Labour Party to shame him into leaving. As it was only a few managed to say anything bad about him, and when they did there was silence from those who agreed.

There are apparently anything up to 100 Labour MPs who want Brown to step aside, but much less with balls to put their name to it.

Labour is clearly divided. As a case in point, lets look at a couple of well known members of the Labour Party (and good friends of mine) in student circles; the President of NUS, Wes Streeting, and the outgoing National Treasurer, Dave Lewis.

Both have commented about their views on GB's predicament on their respective twitter feeds. They are very close friends and colleagues, and see each other most days; however their views on what should happen to Brown are polar opposites.

Wes first. He tells us ...

En route home from a fun end to an evening at times uncomfortable. Hope the Party can move on quickly under GB

... whereas Dave let it be known what he wants ...

1) Gordon resigns. 2) Leadership election. 3) General Election. The only actual chance for Labour to renew, and build for a fourth term

I think that says it all.

JR

PS: Apologies to Wes and Dave, but I hope you can see what a good example it is.

JR Hartley Makes a Comeback

2009-06-07T01:53:00.003+01:00

For the first time since 2002, the character of JR Hartley makes his return in an television advertisement. This time it's not for the Yellow pages, but for a company called Thinkbox.

Want to see the ad, well here you go (occurrence at 40s).

Anyone who still doesn't understand why I'm called JR?

JR

In a New Domain

2009-06-06T23:23:00.003+01:00

Yes it is true. I have moved my blog to http://www.worldofjr.co.uk/

Please update your bookmarks.

JR

The Unbelievable Sexism Over Caroline Flint

2009-06-06T19:51:00.004+01:00

Maybe she did resign because she didn't get the job she wanted; maybe she just wanted to twist the knife in Brown's back a bit more; but what is totally unacceptable is the sexist language being used against her by those who don't like what she's done.

Caroline Flint resigned from government yesterday, citing Gordon was just using her and other woman members of cabinet as "female window dressing". She was described by a number of politicians and journalists as having "a bit of a strop", or as described by Michael White of the Guardian on Sky News last night (according to Iain Dale) "a hissy fit".

Could you imagine those words being used about a man? No, you'd hear something like "he was very angry" or "he'd had enough".

Now clearly Ms Flint is a very good looking woman, but just because she's a woman it doesn't mean she can't be annoyed at the way she was treated.

Next we'll be hearing, "don't you worry your pretty little head over it".

JR

All Brown Can Do is Change the Window Display

2009-06-05T21:16:00.000+01:00

The local election results are in. Labour have lost control of the four councils they were defending, and over 250 councillors.

Labour's national share of the vote is worse than ever before in living memory, and to cap it all off there's just one council that has a majority party and isn't controlled by the Conservatives.

So what can Gordon do with his cabinet reshuffle? Not much really.

His problem is mainly that not many want a job in the government at the moment. The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills will merge with the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform to form The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Why have they done that?

I think the answer is simple. Brown couldn't find anyone to take on the DIUS portfolio, i.e. nobody wanted the job, so he asked Mandy if he'd add the job to his department. There's no logical reason to merge the departments otherwise.

The ultimate indignity today was while Gordon was holding a press conference to announce the new cabinet, when Europe Minister Caroline Flint resigned stating she was being used by Brown as "female window-dressing"!

The pressure is building on Brown.

JR

Like a Pack of Cards

2009-06-03T13:31:00.005+01:00

Smith, Blears, who will be next?

As I confidently predicted on Monday, before the high profile resignations, Gordon can't have long left. After the results of the elections this Friday and Sunday, the Labour Party have to decide whether to back or sack him.

There are reports of a backbench move to force him out and replace him with Health Secretary Alan Johnson. An email is being circulated among the PLP members that asks for support in ousting Brown, and if enough MPs sign up to it, surely the PMs position will become untenable.

But before then, assuming Gordon lasts long enough, there will be a reshuffle in the cabinet. The big question being asked is if Alistair Darling will remain as Chancellor. Effectively Brown is in the classic catch 22 situation. If he gives Darling the boot then the implication is that Alistair wasn't doing a good job and there needs to be a change of tac; however if Gordon keeps Darling in post then it could be seen as being weak when faced with a tough choice, and leading to some saying that Brown has bottled it, again.

But will that matter in 10 days time? Will Labour come down like a pack of cards?

JR

Who should I believe?

2009-06-01T17:25:00.008+01:00

UKIP want Britain to pull out of the European Union because it costs too much to the British taxpayer. Their leader, Nigel Farage, has been one of the strongest critics of MPs who have dodgy expenses claims. However, Mr Farage has taken over £2 million in expenses since being elected as an MEP, on top of his £64,000 salary.

Mr Farage is calling on the public to punish "greedy Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem MPs" by voting for the UK Independence Party in the European Elections on 4 June; however, clearly he is just as guilty as anyone at Westminster for claiming excessively.

He says he hasn't "poketed" the money but instead used the "very large sum of European taxpayers' money" to help promote UKIP's message that the UK should withdraw from the EU.

The party also had one of its MEPs convited and jailed for fraud, and another facing prosecution for alleged false accounting and money laundering relating to his EU expenses.

When I attended a recent hustings for the Euro elections at the University of Manchester Students' Union, I was presented with a UKIP flyer from their candidate, Mick McManus, that said police could seize your iPod to check for illegal downloads under planned European law. Eh?

Leaving aside the obvious scaremongering, it would be impossible to tell if any given file was obtained illegally by checking the contents of an iPod! I was informed a few days later that the flyer almost certainly wasn't an official one, but it was still given to me by a UKIP MEP candidate. Do the party not check what their candidates are distributing?

The candidate himself acted like a complete nutter throughout the hustings, comparing the EU to "those people in t-shirts who chase you down the street asking for money for their charity". I tend to find that saying no to them usually does the trick! He was quoted as saying after the meeting that because he was young "we were able to speak to [the students] in a way the other parties couldn't". Well he's right, but not in a good way!

Who would vote for these jokers?

JR

Brown: I'm Staying On as PM

2009-06-01T13:29:00.007+01:00

Well there you have it. Clearly all bets are off as Gordon has unequivocally stated he's not going to quit.

Far from it, I say, as there wasn't any reason for Gordon to make that statement now. Clearly a lot of people from politicians to the public are calling for a general election, but as far as I'm aware there aren't many asking Gordon to resign (at least not yet).

Has Gordon had a word in his ear from a cabinet colleague? Have members of the PLP given him a warning they might go for him in their meeting next Monday, if the election result is as dire as predicted?

Gordon is certainly feeling the pressure from somewhere, otherwise the statement of his position was completely pointless!

I'll give him until the party conference, and that's being generous.

JR

Stop The Pigeon

2009-05-31T12:16:00.004+01:00

Jacques Rudolph gets one up on Dastardly and Muttley!

Amazing!

JR

Running Blog #4: Completed

2009-05-19T22:10:00.004+01:00

On Sunday I attempted and completed the Bupa Great Manchester Run in a time of 1 hour, 17 minutes and 46 seconds. It was just shy of my 1h 15m target, but my excuse is the strong headwind on the last 4k.

What an experience! During training there were times where I was running for about 20 minutes and my shins and calves were stinging and I was thinking to myself how on Earth was I going to run 10k. When you're out on the track with all the other participants, and the crowd cheering you along, and the bands and DJs playing for your enjoyment, it becomes a whole lot easier.

When I crossed the finish line, I felt a great sense of achievement and still had the adrenaline going, thinking I could run another few kilometres. Glad I didn't though! I am still feeling a bit stiff now; over 48 hours later.

Of course the reason why I ran 10km on a Sunday morning was to raise money for Christie's Cancer Hospital in Withington, Manchester. You can still sponsor me by visiting my justgiving page, especially if you were waiting until I completed the run before donating money.

Will I be back to do it again next year? Who knows!

JR

Cameron Plays a Blinder

2009-05-15T16:38:00.006+01:00

This is what will replace the Conservatives' next party election broadcast.

Cameron gets it right.

JR

Make Your Vote Anti-Racist on 4 June

2009-05-04T19:11:00.004+01:00

On 4 June, Europe goes to the polls to elect members of the European Parliament, and the fact of the matter is that the major parties are unlikely to loose or gain many seats. The very real threat is that of the British National Party gaining it's first MEP.

"So what?" You might ask. "The BNP will clearly only be a minority party and the vast majority of people won't be interested in what they have to say."

"Yes," I reply, "but if they were to gain a seat then they'd have access to funding. For example, they could claim for staff of up to £250,000 a year!"

These staff can obviously do whatever they like with the money they earn, including donating it to a political party. Essentially, your tax will be going to fund an openly racist and fascist party.

Because of the way the European elections work, the BNP only need a small rise in the percentage of the vote to win a seat. Because the Euro elections have historically low turnout, there is a very real possibility that the BNP's share of the vote will substantially increase by only getting a few thousand more votes.

The National Union of Students are supporting a campaign by Searchlight called Hope not Hate. The NUS, and I, believe that getting out the student vote in these elections will stop the BNP from gaining elected office. Remember; when students vote, racists lose!

Wes Streeting, NUS National President, has more on his personal blog.

Below is a video that was shown at the NUS Annual Conference about the Hope not Hate campaign;

So, please vote in the European elections on 4 June. Make your vote an anti-racist vote.

JR

Please Note: To emphasise, these are my personal views on my personal blog. These are not the words of organisations of which I am a member.

Running Blog #3: The Final Lap

2009-04-28T23:32:00.006+01:00

Just three weeks to go before I line up for a 10km run through the streets of Manchester: The Bupa Great Manchester Run.

Today I got my runner number (29926) and info pack from the Great Run people. I'll be setting off at 11:20am in the pink wave.

Come down and support me if you can, and don't forget to sponsor me as I'm running for Christie's cancer treatment centre in Withington, Manchester. My target is £1,000 and currently I'm only about 10% of the way there.

Please, please sponsor me at http://www.justgiving.com/jrgreatmancrun/

Don't forget to gift aid your donation if you're a UK taxpayer, or will be a taxpayer this year (for all you students graduating this year).

JR

You're in the Wrong Party!

2009-04-18T20:45:00.006+01:00

Something I get told on a regular basis by a number of my friends is that I'm a member of the wrong political party.

Granted I come from a single parent family and a socio-economic group of C2, plus my mum is on a low wage (she works in textiles, skilled but low paid). I am also fairly socially liberal and a self confessed wet (although I believe in small government as I will explain later); or to be more contemporary in that context, I'm a believer in One Nation Conservatism.

If I was American then I'd currently be supporting the Democrats, and would have certainly voted for Obama; although I'm more than likely to be a floating voter usually.

I understand the value and usefulness of collectivism, however I'm not a fan of trade unions, or more correctly, certain trade unions.

All that aside though, the major reason for my membership of the conservatives over Labour or any other political party is the ideal of realising an aspiration, without having to jump through hoops or finding there's a penalty when I get there.

Under today's Labour government you are penalised for; living with a partner, earning between (about) £5,500 and £18,000 a year, wanting to buy a house costing just over £250,000 (and then the inheritance tax you'll have to pay to pass it onto your children when you die), buying a car two years ago with average to high CO₂ emissions (rather than in the future), and not being very good at filling in forms!

Now I understand the theory behind redistribution of wealth. The idea is a sound one, except in the 21st century it's very easy to avoid paying so much tax, by moving to another country with a lower tax rate! If the planned increase in income tax (to 45%) for those earning over £150,000 takes place, then what you end up with is some people who earn over £150,000 not paying any UK tax because they've become ex-pats. You can't redistribute wealth that isn't there. It's much better to close loopholes for those who pay less tax then their cleaners and chase those that use creative accounting (obviously proper accounting that is perfectly legal and above board isn't a problem).

Parents don't need to be told how to raise their children. If they did then everyone would be up a creek that rhymes with Brit. They do need support, advice and guidance, but the nanny state that Labour have created means that parents are expected to raise their children in a pre-set way. You're not allowed to clip your child around the ear or give them a short sharp slap on the wrist any more. Such a sanitised society means that some children don't have the discipline or respect that they should.

Why is the state intervening in almost everything we do? Humans learn by making mistakes, but slapping a compliance form on individual tasks is diminishing people's ability to judge right from wrong. Risk should be judged beforehand and controlled, in the same way the scouts have to before an adventurous activity; in almost all circumstances, the activity should go ahead with the inherent risk accepted. The problem is we are become so risk-averse that children are growing up without the necessary life skills to see that risk for themselves. It's ridiculous that adventurous activities aren't allowed to happen because someone might get hurt; like boys playing rugby at school!

Enough of my whining for the moment, let me talk about collectivism in the context of students unions. It is important when leading, or carrying out the duties of, any union to show a collective front; one message, not a confused message; otherwise you don't get anywhere. Whilst in the meeting to decide your policy, however, that is the time for you to speak your mind and voice any reservations you have with a proposals. Furthermore, you should make your own mind up rather than vote in a particular way because you've been told to by someone else.

Once the decision has been made though, everything changes. Whatever your views beforehand, it's imperative that you accept the collective responsibility of the policy that has been created. Much like a whip in the House of Commons, you should keep with what your union has agreed; there are only so many rebels an organisation can deal with, and if you are seen to be divided then you won't be taken seriously. In my role as Vice President (Welfare) of MMUnion next year, this will be my philosophy.

I'm not, however, going to tell students what to do, what to think, or what to say. It is for individual students to make individual choices. If they want to march for free education then I'm not going to stop them joining a demonstration.

Returning to my membership of the Conservative Party; as you can see above, I've put myself on the left of the party, more or less the only MP that is further left is Ken Clarke. I believe in compromise and tolerance. I'm open to the idea that the Tories can sometimes get it wrong, and Labour get it right. It was right, for example, that the government took shares in the banks when public money was used to bail them out.

It is these values of social, liberal conservatism that have shaped who I am. I see the strength in unity but reject the authoritarian stance of the Labour party. None of this, however, will affect my role as a student union officer.

JR

Conference Report

2009-04-06T18:07:00.006+01:00

Blackpool was the setting (as usual) for the National Union of Students' Annual Conference. Three days of drinking, debating, campaigning, voting and ... er, drinking. Here are some of the highlights, and lowlights, of this year's conference.

The entertainment kicked off at 1:12pm (late, of course) on Tuesday afternoon, and after the usual pleasantries the debate started with the Education zone. As you might expect, the big debate was over our education funding policy. Yet again the argument over free education was brought from the hard left. I've already blogged my views (this time last year). Conference voted to reaffirm our commitment to "Bin the Broke and Broken Funding System" (i.e. change the way education is funded; or failing that, keep the cap on tuition fees).

Those of you who have been to NUS conference will know about the guillotine; for everyone else, you should be aware that there's only so much time for policy debate at conference, so each group of policies (or zone) is given an amount of time in which to have debate. You can extend that time by a delegate challenging the guillotine and conference then voting in favour of the extension by a two-thirds majority. There was a number of challenges to the guillotine throughout the conference, but I was the only one to extend it successfully. My claim to fame for Conference 2009! I was also the first to challenge, which might also have something to do with it.

Then there was the issue of card votes. I should explain that this is probably only interesting for NUS hacks, but there was a motion to abolish the card vote (where the delegation leaders vote of behalf of all their members by casting a number of votes equal to the number of full time equivalent students at their institution). Just for fun, some delegate leaders decided to ask for a card vote on the vote to abolish card votes. Unfortunately not enough delegate leaders agreed, so we went to a normal vote, and the motion was passed. Card votes are no more!

Obviously such a card vote happening would have been a really bad idea (apparently they're close to living hell), but the idea was really funny! Take a look at a video of the best bit. The people in shot are members of the national executive committee who wanted to get to the bar before 2am (and therefore didn't want a card vote)!

Day two saw the full time executive elections, or as I like to call them, the forgone conclusions! All the non-mad candidates won by a country mile. Wes Streeting was re-elected as President with 81% of the vote! See the election results.

Wednesday night is when the bulk of delegates find themselves in Flares nightclub. This is where I took my one and only photo whilst in Blackpool. It's of me and Block of 12 executive member (and block of 15 candidate) Ed Marsh.

As you can see, Ed and I are sporting a huge amount of stickers for block of 15 candidates, the election for which was on the following morning. I'm not saying that the only reason for going to Flares is to campaign for election, but it's certainly high on the agenda!

As some of you already know, I was supporting Benjamin Gray for the block. Ben was a independent candidate, but a member of Conservative Future and all round nice guy. Unfortunately he didn't get enough votes to be elected, but there was a few things to take out of it.

Firstly, Tory is no longer a dirty word around the NUS. Quite obviously the hard left despise conservatives, and Labour Students aren't the biggest fan of CF; but, as Benjamin Gray writes:

The response of delegates who knew I was Conservative Future-affiliated was not hostility, but curiosity, and in some cases outright support. In private many believe that the Conservatives are going to form the next government, and want to know what we would offer them. They also want CF involved so that they can have a means of making their case directly to the party.

Not only that, but Wes Streeting was quoted (by himself) as saying in a fringe event ...

We need more Tories on the NEC!

... which seems to back up Mr Gray's claim.

As it happens, there won't be any members of CF on next year's NEC, but whose fault is that? Undoubtedly it's the fault of CF themselves. One person can't run a campaign to be elected at NUS, they have to have backing, either from a faction or a small army of friends and assorted others.

Even then it's very hard; Dom Passfield failed to get elected to the block this year, and that's after running a very good campaign. He was a genuine independent candidate, and had a dozen or so people campaigning for him, but if he was in a faction then he'd have a much greater chance of being elected. My conclusion, as I have always believed, is that Conservative Future should organise within NUS.

Back to the conference itself; the last day will be remembered for the censure of Rob Owen and Hind Hassan for their outragous actions at NUS Extraordinary Conference 2 in January. They tried to defend their actions by arguing that people were trying to silence the radical left. In reality they weren't prepared to apologise for what was an unaccessible protest and did nothing to promote their cause. If they had apologised for their actions, which as officers of the national union they should have realised were unacceptable, then I'm confident that conference would have avoided their censure.

Finally, what a powerful leaving speech from the outgoing (and last ever) National Treasurer, Dave Lewis. He has put a copy of the text on facebook, but that doesn't put into context the passion and emotions displayed to those present, especially when he talked about losing his best friend at the age of 19. Hopefully you can read his note on facebook, even if you aren't his friend. If not then maybe he'll post it on his blog in the near future, and if he does I'll update this story with the link.

Well, that was Conference 2009. Please let me know what you think, especially about the issues surrounding CF within NUS.

JR

It's that time again ... NUS Conference

2009-03-31T01:07:00.005+01:00

Yes it's here. Students from all around the country descend on Blackpool for the three day solid ~~drinking fest~~ debating chamber that is NUS Conference.

From now until Thursday, there will be arguments, name calling, bitter rivalries, new friendships and plenty of socialising that can only be found in the seaside town every Easter.

Can't be there? Missing out on the fun? Missing out on the debates? Missing out on Bar Red? Never fear, I will be twittering from conference every day on my trusty (cracked and dust infested) mobile phone. You can follow my tweets on the right of this page (click here if on facebook) or by visiting my twitter feed.

Alternatively, you could shop around a bit and try one of the people listed on the Technical Faults blog. They will all have their own views on conference, so you can get a cosmopolitan feel!

However, if you're lazy and don't want to keep flicking between twitter feeds then have a whirl with the hashtag #nusconf. It's just an easy way to find NUS conference related tweets.

Can't be arsed with any of that? Well I'll give you all a full report at the end of the week.

Have fun!

JR

Earth Hour: Vote Earth

2009-03-28T21:17:00.005Z

Tonight I've switched off the lights in my house for an hour from 8:30 tonight, in an attempt to save the Earth. Now I grant that's rather far fetched to say that I've saved the world (something that won't be lost on Gordon Brown), but as Tesco say, every little helps.

For some reason I decided to cook my tea just beforehand and therefore had to eat it in the dark! Not an easy thing to do, even with the light from the telly offering some small illumination.

For those of you who have worked out that there's more than one 8:30pm around the world, I must point out that the idea was you switched off the lights at 20:30 local time, so if you're in the Americas then you haven't missed it yet ... unless you have missed it. Oh you know what I mean!

Has it worked? We'll only know when the energy companies tell us if there was a dip in electricity usage between those times.

Did you take part?

JR