Category Archives: Student Politics

I’m getting tired of this, but not in a personal way

by maxattacks

Last night I thought I’d be incredibly sad and watch as much as I could of the final Guild Council of the academic year being streamed from GuildTV. I missed most of the first half of the meeting (most of the motions and preamble) due to work. What I did catch was primarily the Guild Officers leaving speeches and I’ll say this now. After listening to the speeches I respect all the Guild Officers so much more (but no change on actual agree and disagreement with them). Probably the most thought provoking and even moving speech was the outgoing Guild President’s, Mark Harrop. I do believe he will have a fair fewer ‘haters’ after last night. Though there was one area of the speech that I did find a problem with, the not so ever present “silent majority”.

I’d like to nip this in the bud now. To say this is a personal attack on Mark (as some short-sighted individuals claimed my tweet from last night regarding this claimed to be) would be hugely misleading and would be over-flattering of our outgoing Guild President. There’s a very small select group of individuals I feel comfortable attacking personally and Mark certainly doesn’t feature as one. As someone who genuinely cares in determining what is true I find it entirely comfortable criticising absolutely any idea. I find it entirely reasonable to point out to individuals when they believe the wrong ideas (given the right circumstances) they are then able to recognise their mistakes, because we are all stupid on issues at some point in our lives. I’m incredibly stupid when it comes to understanding cricket, art, pop culture references and popular music. As I’ve already said, I have a great deal more respect for the outgoing President and all the other outgoing Sabbs after last night. Mentioning Mark in my tweet and this post is not a personal attack as some individuals may claim, it is an attempt to make him and many others realise the flaws in the idea of the “silent majority”.

Moving on, the “silent majority” idea invokes my own personal love/hate fallacy of argumentum ad populum. In a nutshell, the level of popular support has absolutely no bearing on what is right or wrong, true or false. If we’d always bend to the will of the “silent majority” homosexuality would not have been decriminalised in the UK in the 1960s and desegregation in Southern US Schools in the 1950s would have also never have happened. Or at least without it, introduced both far too sooner.

You may ask how this is relevant to the wider Labour party, NOLS and BULS. Sadly far too much. Too often do I hear 60% believe x, 80% support y. So what?! This has no absolutely no bearing on the truth! This personal distaste for argumentum ad populum has been particularly tested over the Diamond Jubilee and to be honest, I’m becoming incredibly tired of hearing it. More often than not, the “silent majority” fallacy is too often produced to legitimise truly false or morally wrong policies and ideas. As someone who cares about the truth and its ultimate pursuit, I hope we would all speak out against such basic yet widespread fallacies.

Max

Substance Abuse – Tackling the Real Problems of Selly Oak

by areeqchowdhury

As a Birmingham resident for almost two years now, I can’t help but find that not enough is done to tackle recreational drug use in the city. Although the problem exists in Edgbaston as well as a number of other areas of Birmingham, I am going to talk mainly about Selly Oak, where I currently reside and where a large number of our students live. It is an issue that, I find, has often been overlooked and swept under the carpet rather than being prioritised. For all the highs that can be offered with these substances, there is potential for serious, long-term, negative impacts on your health. In Selly Oak, illegal, recreational drug use is discreet, but widespread. Access to drugs is unbelievably easy and not enough is done to tackle this in our community.

Cannabis use, in particular is quite popular with a lot of students of Edgbaston and Selly Oak, as well as some permanent residents of Selly Oak. But other drugs such as cocaine, ketamine, MCAT, and MDMA are also just a phone-call away. And if that number is engaged? Well there’s about ten other numbers you can try. I guess this blog-post is really a call-to-action for local MPs Steve McCabe and Gisela Stuart, as well as local Councillors, the West Midlands Police, and the University of Birmingham Guild of Students to work together and seriously tackle the issue. Matters such as recycling, burglary, and even poor broadband service are generally prioritised in Selly Oak, and understandably so, but why not drugs?

The negative ramifications that drug use can cause are serious and sometimes irreversible. Whether that be damages to your mental health, your physical health, or even just the increased likelihood of bad things happening when you’re intoxicated, in the long term, substance abuse just isn’t worth it. And financially, take it from an economist, none of this stuff is actually worth the prices that they are sold at; the reason they are priced so high is because they are illegal. The money would be better spent on clothes, books, or even food rather than blindly investing money with questionable characters. A lot of extremist groups and terrorist groups are known to be funded by narcotic drugs trade – another reason right there to tackle the issue.

A lot of people take drugs though in Selly Oak, even people you wouldn’t normally suspect, and it is a very tough problem to tackle, of course it is. However, I am only going to suggest one method for these community powers-at-be to use, and that is to educate students about the negative effects of drugs. In my view, education is often a remedy to a lot of the world’s problems and I think education in this situation could do a great deal of good. Ideally, I would like there to be termly anti-drugs campaign weeks at the University as well as public information campaigns in Selly Oak. A lot of people won’t pay attention, sure, that is to be expected, but even if one or two people are turned away from substance abuse, it would be worth it. As it is now, there simply isn’t enough being done.

This isn’t an exaggeration or an over-dramatisation of the issue, it’s real and it’s happening. I want to make it clear, however, that this isn’t any kind of moral judgement on my behalf, no one is perfect, and I am certainly no angel myself. It is a serious issue in Selly Oak though, and I am positive that the problem is replicated in other areas of Birmingham. In schools, children are educated about these sorts of issues, and rightly so, but at University, where students are most exposed to the problem, there is next to nothing in terms of education and campaigning. Substance abuse can have short-term, medium-term, and long-term negative effects on individuals, and I guess I hope that the local council hopefuls, our Parliament representatives, and our upcoming Guild of Students Officer Team prioritise this issue in the coming years. Even if helps just one person.

By Areeq Chowdhury, Secretary-elect.
@AreeqChowdhury

Going too far on multiple fronts

by maxattacks

Birmingham University successfully obtained a high court injunction to ban 'occupation-style' protests. Photograph: Martin Bache/Alamy

This isn’t exactly fresh news but it may not surprise you that the University of Birmingham have never been one for true free speech. Now it seems they’ve taken it one step too far with the recent high-court injunction banning all occupation style protests on the entirety of campus.

This is a move that has been described as “aggressive and censorious” as criticisms have been voiced by Liberty, Amnesty International, the NUS, University of Birmingham Liberal Democrat’s Chair, Will Mieville-Hawkins and the University of Birmingham’s apparently sole UKIP member, Dave Glenwright (that’s right, this s**t just got real).

Now, there are without a doubt members of BULS who don’t support the aims of many of those in occupations throughout campus. There are many more who don’t agree with methods used by those occupying (occupying a shed at North Gate, really?). But I’m sure many BULS members will oppose the University’s crack down on free speech and expression.

Putting this aside, it turns out the University of Birmingham’s Vice-Chancellor (VC), David Eastwood, has awarded himself yet another obscene pay rise from £392k to £419k a year…plus all the added bonuses (free chauffeur, house, etc). That’s right, while lecturers, cleaners and lower management staff are having a real-term cut in pay and having drastic changes to their pension plans  forced upon them. It seems our VC seems it acceptable to award himself the largest VC salary in the country.

Now you may say he deserves it, which is something I got into a debate with a BUCF member around six months ago. This may or may not be true (though I personally doubt it) but if you believe the VC deserves a substantial pay rise because of the “good work he does”, then you have to apply the same rule for lower paid staff on campus. And personally I believe the cleaners, the lecturers and the lower management have also done a good job and deserve the same rewards.

So David Eastwood and University of Birmingham higher management, take a long hard think. Because this time, you’ve taken it too far.

Max

No confidence

by maxattacks

This is just a quick post before bed (IMF, economists and the wider economy tomorrow, don’t worry). But unless I have been completely mislead, the Universities Minister, David Willetts has suffered a motion of ‘No confidence’ against him in Guild Council today.

Oh no! Not the University of Birmingham Guild of Students (ever so slightly sarcastically) you might say. But, do not underestimate the power of collective action. Moves against Willetts are happening all over the county with even his former University tutor following suit. So here we have it, a year into the Tory-lead Coalition and already two Ministers of suffered votes of ‘No confidence’ from influential organisations (correct me if I’m wrong on that particular point) with Willetts soon to follow.

It seems Vince Cable was right, the Coalition is clearly being too Moaist.

Max

BUCF AGM

by maxattacks

FYI

As I guess most people who read this blog wont pay much attention to our Tory opposites, BUCF who had their AGM yesterday.

The full results are as follows:

President: Rosie Anne Hatch

Vice-President: Emily Hidditch

Secretary: Christopher James

Treasurer: Edward Trafford

Publicity Officer: Owen V. Williams

Apart from Owen, this a completely brand new committee in the sense that none of them had had previous committee experience (not saying that’s a good or bad thing at all as the current BULS was in a similar position when we started back in January). On behalf of BULS I congratulate the new committee as we look forward to working with them particularly with the potential return of the inter-partisan pub crawl and BULS vs. the Coalition football match in the new academic year.

Max

Bring it

by maxattacks

I don’t often blog on events, never mind upcoming ones. But, given this is literally a complete and utter first, I thought I’d just like to mention that the University of Birmingham will play host to its first ever Inter Partisan Pub Crawl. That’s right, BULS will be pitted against BUCF, UBLDY (Lib Dem Youth) and Take back Parliament Society (well it is a Lib Dem organised event after all). The event can be found here (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=168183629896915). We will be meeting at Joe’s for 8pm.

If you want to psyche yourself up for the big occasion, here’s a little inspiration:

Don’t forget to wear your finest red as BULS fights for pride as the new political society for students.

Max

Hold on a minute

by maxattacks

Anyone who knows me knows that I have (at least until recently) taken very little interest in regards to the inner workings of the Guild and Guild Council. But unfortunately, becoming Vice-Chair of a prominent student society means that you kind of have to take an interest. Consequently, I have come across two totally obscene motions for Guild Council this Tuesday.

Before I get onto them, anyone who knows me well enough knows that I don’t take a particular side on the whole Israel-Palestine conflict, I’m equally not a friend of Israel as I’m not a Friend of Palestine. Consequently, I’m very glad the Guild of Students has a motion to renew its policy on not having a position on the whole conflict, so before I become quite peed off, there’s a note of positivism.

The first is a motion to fund £600 of Guild money to send off 3 delegates to attend a Holocaust Education Trust trip to Auschwitz each year. Now don’t get me wrong, the Holocaust is an event in history that should never be forgotten, it signifies the very essence of contempt and hatred for other races and different people literally on an industrial scale. I also humbly attended the Holocaust memorial day in January which I give much credit to Joseph Moses for organising. But consequently, why are we not paying for delegates to go to Rwanda, Armenia, Assyria, Greece, Dersim and Burundi? They are just as equally as significant are they not? This is not to mention £600 at a time when the Guild budget will probably be cut, that means, not only services at the Guild will be cut but also wider Societies will loose out. Yes, the Holocaust is important and should be remembered, but shouldn’t every other in genocide in turn?

The second and far more worrying motion is one that is without a doubt, a knee-jerk reaction to the events last January with Mike  Prynser. This was something that was raised a huge amount at the last Campaigning and Political Mini-Forum in which myself and Oli Cosentino attended. Effectively, if a speaker is approved by the Guild and the University itself (including our very own Vice-Chancellor, David Eastwood) with the full background checks by the respective society, the Guild and University, but, then essentially gos hay-wire (so to speak), the respective society will take the blame. Now, don’t forget, background checks are made sufficiently and they prove to be ok it is given the total go ahead. But, if something does go wrong, consequently, through no fault of its own, the society will be the scapegoat. This will mean a major loss of trust between societies and the wider Guild if this goes through.

I urge Guild Councillors to vote against these two particular motions!

Max

Lib Dems

by maxattacks

FYI:

Lib Dem AGM was held this evening and the results are as follows:

Chair- Will Mieville-Hawkins (carrying on from last year)

Vice-Chair- David Franklin

Secretary- Matthew Key

Treasurer- Oliver Ingamells

BULS hopes to work with the new Lib Dem committee, particularly with the upcoming football tournament.

Uni’s Not For Me

by labourluke

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-12324225

It took me a long time to decide which issue to discuss on my first blog for Birmingham University Labour Students, as there are a myriad of things to be angry and anxious about at the moment thanks to the Con-Dem coalition. I pondered the dismantling of the NHS; the upcoming AV referendum and the scrapping of EMA, however an article which popped up on the BBC News website meant it had to be the tuition fees rise and its ramifications – BULS is, after all, a university society.

The latest development in this sorry saga is today’s latest UCAS admissions figures for 2011 entry, the last year before the trebling of fees in many instances alongside the ten per cent rise in salary of our Vice Chancellor. They reveal the stark reality that – despite what the government assures us – people are being turned off the idea of higher education in large numbers, most of whom will undoubtedly be from less privileged backgrounds. In the year that was supposed to be the ‘boom’ year of applications to beat the raising of the threshold in 2012, the number of applications only rose by five per cent, which in comparison with recent years and predicted trends is a sharp decrease in interest in degree courses.

Most disturbing of all was the plummeting of applications to -2 per cent in December, as the protests raged in central London and the heir to the throne’s wife was nudged with a stick. A brief fillip this may have been, but it demonstrates clearly that sixth-formers and school-leavers are seriously reconsidering their futures, weighing up whether it is really worth that much in debt only to come out jobless at the end of it. Just like the growth statistics, the figures are shocking, but not surprising considering the coalition’s arrogance and dogged determination to see through their most regressive and unpopular policies – which affect the poorest hardest – before the public realise what has hit them.

By Luke Jones, Communications Officer-elect

Two wrongs don’t make a right

by maxattacks

Protesters outside Parliament

Right, I’m not going to really focus directly upon the vote today on  tuition fees, enough has been mentioned upon that area recently. Yes, it is disgrace it passed, but what is arguably a bigger disgrace, is the violence that ensued in the capital today.

If you want to change a government’s opinion and policies, the biggest asset you could ever have to achieve this, is public support. We still have that support (well at least a few weeks ago), with 60% opposing the trebling of fees. But as I was debating (so to speak) with BULS’ Former-Fresher Officer, Dan Harrison on facebook, he pointed out the important point of the the police’s unprovoked and aggressive attacks.

Now, this may well have happened (can’t completely say as I’ve been safe in Brum) and it is certainly something that can not be condoned. But, fighting fire with fire just results in, well….more fire. Two wrongs don’t make a right and most importantly of all, don’t stoop to their level. But, far more importantly. If, the police had acted in this way and the students had continued to protest peacefully, the whole news the next morning would’ve focused upon the police’s violence and public sympathy would have begun to swing behind the students. This would have been in very much the same way public and international sympathy swung behind Martin Luther King’s peaceful demonstrations in the 1960s. But what everyone will remember is the burning of rubbish tips, the first police cavalry charge in around twenty years, the attack on the Treasury building and the Supreme Court and the iconic photo of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall’s car being attacked on the way to the Royal Variety show.

If anything, if the police where acting inappropriately, this would have aided the student’s cause. What has happened is that the chances of the government reconsidering the hike in tuition fees have now diminished.

Max

Sam’s Voting Record

by smurphy2010

How I voted as the Campaigning and Political mini-forum representative on the Guild Council on the 18/11/2010

In the interest of transparency I have decided to publish how I voted in the motions at Guild Council on Thursday. All items listed below were the only ones which were starred, which means they got debated in council, the un- starred ones got passed automatically.

Motion: Cuts and Fees vs. Motion: Birmingham Students say NO to cuts and fees (later carried)

I voted for the 2nd motion, (Birmingham Students say NO to cuts and fees)

These two items were taken together, in the interest of sparking debate within Guild Council. This is the NUS line and keeps representatives of the Guild in University meetings and committees, which if we directly challenged the university on things like the Brown review, we would not have a voice in. Better to be inside the meeting arguing students case than being a fringe party on the other side of the door; shouting not being heard.

Motion: Changing the name of the HSBC room to the Harvey Milk room (carried)

I voted in favour

This motion got amended slightly to include the room being used for student purposes in the future and to withdraw the clause to denoting some kind of capitalist agenda with calling it the HSBC room in the first place. It was called the HSBC room because no one had put forward an alternative name. It seemed sensible and it allows a great man to be honoured in our Guild.

Motion: Ethical Investment (not carried)

I voted against this motion

This motion proposed to include tobacco, alcohol, gambling, arms manufactures, and pornography into the guilds ethical investment policy, excluding the Guild investing its surplus in these industries. I thought students would find it hypocritical of the Guild to sell a lot of these items within the union and then have an investment policy against that. With arms manufactures as well, some students with engineering degrees etc will be looking to work in these sorts of legitimate industries and the guild would then be hypocritical to let them on campus in the jobs fair for example.

Motion: Guild Council frequency

I voted against this motion.

This motion called for more Guild Council meetings in the term similar to what the Guild Council did before the referendum. I voted against this motion because it would be contradicting the referendum where nearly 2000 students voted in favour of changing the structure of Guild Council to have less formal meetings replaced by open forums where any student can come along and express their issues and concerns. This is to give the average student more of a voice in the Guild, in theory. I think students would like to let this policy bed in, no matter what there view on the referendum; seeing as there have only been one round of open forums as of yet, it would be premature in before changing anything.

Motion: Amendments to the suppliers list (carried)

I voted against this motion.

This motion called for the RA’s suppliers list to become a recommended list rather than a mandatory list of companies that they can work with. This is to drive down costs and make sure RA’s are not being manipulated by companies. I voted against this motion although it went through because it was evident there had been problems with the suppliers list previously but the officer team seemed to have reformed the list prior to the motion going to Guild Council. Reforms such as if a company can give a cheaper cost; they can be placed on the list instead of another etc. This motion might be subject to legal issues in the future due to the University demanding things like a mandatory suppliers list in financial audits.

Motion: Disability policy (carried)

I voted in favour.

This bill was amended and re-named the mobility and access policy. The motion calls for the Guild to establish a mobility and access policy working group, to monitor access to the Guild and its events and to ensure all disabled facilities are working.

If anyone has any issues with the way that I voted please get in touch at the committee e-mail address or my number 0752513519.

Full detailed minutes of the meeting will be published on the guild website soon.

Remember that know your world is next week on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Sam Murphy

Rumblings in the NUS

by suzannahrobinson

Click photo for the source

The University of Kent has tonight voted down a suggestion to abolish the Men’s Officer on the Union’s strong team.

The official NUS women’s movement has a problem with this.

The point of liberation positions is that those who are normally under-represented get a chance to be heard. In the case of women’s officer it’s also about promoting sexual equality, disproving stereotypes and encouraging a post-structuralist view of gender. It’s an issue of mutual respect.

Men’s Unions formed within the NUS have typically been reactionary irreverent organisations, including one that included “playing pool and drinking beer” among its written aims.

With LGBTQ organisations doing a brilliant job at representing the gay, bisexual and transgender men out there, it seems unnecessary to require a separate men’s officer. All we can hope is that the elected man will work with the women’s officer to promote gender equality.

Suzy

A great opportunity turned sour

by maxattacks

student_demo_ap1

There’s always someone who takes it too far. I do it far too often, but less said about that the better. The march against the proposed raise in tuition fees to £9000 a year was very well planned and timed for, DC was out of the country in China so Cleggy was taking questions at PMQs instead meaning he would be ridiculed for his U-turn on tuition fees. As for the vast majority of those who went there it was a very successful event, peaceful and making a very good point (would explain further but I’m back home up north and consequently not there, so I wouldn’t know the details).

But, someone always has to spoil the moment, someone has go too far. It is one of the cruel realities of life and the protest today in London was no exception. It was estimated by the NUS that 30k-40k students converged on London today, but it is estimated that mere 1k people were involved in the incident at the Millbank Tower.

Now don’t get me wrong, I can very much sympathise with the idea of smashing CCHQ. This is in very much the same way any Tory might sympathise with the idea of smashing up Labour’s HQ. But, it is certainly something neither side would condone. What happened here today was that a small number have completely ruined what would’ve been a peaceful demonstration, with even one ‘save EMA’ campaigner on the news giving the example of meeting an OAP who was out there on the behalf of her Grandchildren.

Unfortunately, what everyone will remember and what the headline papers will be tomorrow, is the grotesque violence seen at the Millbank Tower. In fact, it was widely regard that those at Millbank Tower, were not students per say but rather a hijacking by various groups such as Anarchists, far-left Socialists and the oh-so subtle SWP.

We all know that one person who doesn’t know the limits. And today, they did it again.

Max

Minutes/Info from Mini Forum Meeting

by smurphy2010

Autumn 2010 Campaigning and Political miniforum minutes 19.10.10

Attendees:

Matt Lamb – VPSAD

Jo Ormond – Student Activities coordinator

Benjamin Mee – Atheists, Agnostics and Humanists

Labour Students – Sam Murphy

United Nations – Anna-Kaisa Polojarvi

Socialist society – Vicky Taylor

Debating society – Rachael Twumasi

Take Back Parliament – Charlotte Galpin

  1. 1. VPSAD introduction to his role and miniforums

 

Matt explained that mini forums are a chance for groups of similar interests to discuss issues, ask questions and be given information from the Guild.

 

  1. 2. Open Forums

 

Open forums have replaced Guild council and are a less formal way for groups to bring issues/motions/feedback to the VPSAD. Two representatives from each miniforum will be elected to attend Guild Council on behalf of the miniforum

 

Student Groups:  Thursday 21st October, at 6.30pm; venue to be confirmed

19th Guild – 5.30pm,– for any issues relating to the Guild as an organisation and/or building

20th Education and University– 5.30pm,– for academic issues

21st Sports– 4.30pm,– for anyone involved in sport, at any level from occasional gym user to club captain.

22nd Welfare– 4.00pm,– any welfare issues.

 

  1. 3. Challenge VPSAD / Feedback from groups: activities so far/coming up; successes and challenges/issues

Socialist – Focus on Fees and would like as many societies as possible to get involved.  Providing transport to the Education Action Network national conference and rally if anyone wants to join us 31st October. (Matt also suggested getting in touch with Rob Hunter VPEA about fees campaigns).

 

UN – Have a yearly theme related to the Millennium Development goals.  Have events for climate event in Mexico and Stop Violence Against Women day.

 

Take Back Parliament – We’re a new group and we campaign to change the voting system.  At the moment we’re focusing on getting membership and have a couple of events lined up.

 

(Matt mentioned that the box office space outside Spar is now bookable by student groups and is an ideal place to promote your society / have a bake sale etc.  Book through reception.)

 

Labour – Have an event planned with Lib Dems, a trip to Brussels for European Parliament.  Want to start a living wage campaign (Take Back Parliament would like to work with Labour on voting reform.)

 

Atheists, Agnostics and Humanists – Have a screening of The Life of Brian on Thursday, also have events with Aston Humanists and Birmingham Humanists.  Have had some problems with paperwork with uni room bookings – Matt asked for details to be emailed to him so he could follow it up.

 

Debating – Had a public debate on the day of the Browne review.  Also have a debate on Thursday ‘This House would abolish the Monarchy’.  Also have debates coming up on Afghanistan and God.  Please email us with any suggestions for debates that you would like.

  1. 4. Know Your World promotion; need replies by Fri 22nd.

 

  1. 5. Get Involved (brief mention, not in detail, initial sign-up for interest

 

  1. 6. Guild Council elections

Standing candidates:

Anna-Kaisa Polojarvi

Sam Murphy

Rachel Twumais

RON

 

Brief summary of speeches:

 

Anna

  • Have experience of attending Guild Council and good perspective of what’s going on.
  • Feel that the new system will improve the way Guild Council runs
  • Believes it is very important to have representation at GC
  • Not running just to fill my CV – we need to raise issues concerning our groups
  • Will ensure good communication between groups
  • Also recognise there will be differences of opinion between C&P groups

 

Sam

  • Believe GC should expand to deal with campus wide issues
  • I am transparent, open, amiable, not scared to represent the needs of the miniforum
  • Experience of councils: local council and campaigning and representation

 

Rachael

  • Good at putting forward what people want done
  • Have responded to feedback from members within own society
  • Have experience of attending GC and have drafted a motion
  • Able to take a neutral stance

 

Sam Murphy and Rachael Twumasi elected

 

 

  1. 7. Any other business/comments

Anna – a what’s on calendar on the website with everything that’s going on across campus would be really good

Matt – I am on the working group to rebuild website and this is definitely something we want.  We are also trying to get some temporary measures in place.

 

Brilliant Vince

by suzannahrobinson

Am I missing something here? Vince Cable is a lauded financial genius who has lectured in economics, worked as an economics advisor, written books about economics, and is generally credited for having predicted the credit crisis in Britain. Pretty watertight experience and skills comprised there, you might think.

Equally, he is the lauded champion of students, signing the NUS Vote For Students pledge himself with alacrity and encouraging other MPs to sign it, promising to abolish tuition fees and repeatedly asserting that his party’s budget proposals were comprehensive, well thought out and realistic, he has now literally U-turned and declared that the party will not be voting for the cap after all.

So what went wrong? Could there have been a miscalculation? Or simply dishonesty? He is quoted as having said that he has changed his position because “We are not in an ideal world.”

Clearly.

Suzy

Why it still matters

by suzannahrobinson

The month is April 2010. The location is Joe’s Bar in the Guild. A lively debate is taking place over four pints of beer.

“So you’re trying to tell me that the Conservatives are anti-poor, anti-gay, anti-women, anti-public services.”

“Basically, yeah.”

“Well then you’re full of **** because I heard Cameron’s speech on the NHS and he says he’s gonna protect it! They haven’t mentioned anything about punishing the poor either, you’re just making that up, cos we’re all in this together. And they have gay front-benchers, and JUST in case you’ve forgotten Thatcher was a woman.”

How many times have we experienced this rebuttal? This battle for hearts and minds, with us hungover in scruffy jeans on one side and Cameron’s big air-brushed face on the other?

And how many people came back to us over the following months and said “Mate, I’m sorry, if I’d known they were gonna cut my cousin’s benefits I wouldn’t have voted for them.”

But by then it’s too late. We need a shorthand, to unpick all the rhetoric, all the speeches, all the elaborate policies with questionable motives. Left and Right.

To say that a party is right wing is to know its history. Its history of opposing measures for the greater equality of gender, race and sexuality. Its financial backers in big business, its think tanks and advisers comprising the bigoted, the religiously extreme, the regressive. Its instincts to offload responsibility, make a profit, and favour choice over health and happiness. How it will respond in a crisis, where its priorities will lie, what it wants to achieve and the kind of country it’ll leave behind as its legacy.

Right wing and left wing speak for themselves.

And once you understand the divide you can read between the lines of speeches, because you know the place they are coming from in the first place. Ed Miliband declaring that he’s not in the pockets of Unite isn’t going to scare the Unions because they also know that they share a common, left wing, goal with Ed to defend workers against cuts. Whereas Cameron promising not to include the NHS in his cuts was a plea to those old enough to remember the last Tory government for another chance.

Right wing and left wing are more important than election promises. Years after everyone has forgotten that speech that leader made at conference the backbone of the party is still the same, and will react to each new problem in an essentially typical way. Giving credit to the Tories for cutting child benefit for the relatively wealthy is to silently acknowledge that it’s a surprise, that it’s essentially out of character, that it’s even a little bit left wing, because the true right-wing instinct would be to just scrap it altogether.

But that would make them unelectable.

Suzy

Modern bullying, homophobia and self-esteem among the young

by suzannahrobinson

Tyler Clementi – the victim of murder? Involuntary manslaughter? His own low self esteem, thin skin and inability to take a joke? Gravity?

Livestreamed by his room mate from a hidden camera, Tyler was exposed on the internet having sex with another man. His subsequent suicide, declared in his final facebook status, is a tragedy for him, for his family and for our generation. The media is labelling this as just another instance of cyber bullying, but the perpetrator could get several years in prison.

So what’s the problem here? The easy access to publicity that makes total humiliation simple? The latent homophobia that made it an even better scoop for his room mate? Or original low self esteem and a feeling of isolation that affects so many freshers and other young people? Our generation needs to prove that we’re better than this.

Suzy

BCF AGM

by maxattacks

For those of you who don’t know, Birmingham Conservative Future (BCF) held their Annual General Meeting (AGM) today. I don’t have all the results but here we are:

President: Sophie Shrubsole

Vice-President: Adam Jenner (Internal) & Tim Hasker (External)

Blog Editor: Max Genoni

Publicity Officer: Owen V. Williams

We congratulate everyone who stood and welcome the new committee and hope BCF will rejoin the Guild and become BUCF once more!

Max

BUCF de-recognised

by maxattacks

While I know this is a bit late but hey. If you aren’t aware already, Birmingham University Conservative Future (BUCF) has been de-recognised by the Guild of Students, I personally have no idea when or exactly how this happened. But, it has been heard that one of the reasons was over the fiasco of BUCF’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) which was an understandable grievance though I doubt this could have been the sole reason.

Many in BULS still don’t know the full details so it would be great if someone from BUCF could clarify. While no one in BULS is making a judgement now, we do wonder the fact that everyone else manages to deal with the Guild’s regulation and rules.

Max

It’s the little victories that count

by maxattacks

Today saw Boy George (George Osborne) going to the business school on campus today. BULS was planning to have a protest, but unfortunately, not enough people turned up (only me, Dan and Maise with Kieran and Jake turning up after he had gone). Thankfully though, we did manage to get a little victory, which made our day. After covertly sneaking in, acquiring some discarded name badges as effective disguises (I was called Tom), past BUCF who were wearing suits (again) and managed to catch Osborne himself, where Dan managed to get a photo with him.

Enjoy

Max

There is nothing wrong with Guild Council that cannot be cured by what is right with Guild Council

by suzannahrobinson

My comrades….let’s get down to business

The whole incumbent officer team have volunteered to have wet sponges thrown at them for Kids Adventure on Friday 7th May.

After prompting the President acknowledged Debating Society’s achievement of a well balanced and well attended though controversial “Free Palestine” debate. He also announced his intention of establishing better provision for colour printing.

The VP Housing and Community was commended and reported that discussions about the proposals to turn Aitken Wing into Post Grad halls are taking place tomorrow. He also warned GC that a spate of non-violent night time muggings against lone girls is ongoing in Selly Oak, but that police have been liaised with and the culprit will probably soon be caught.

The Disabled Students Officer was also commended and the VP Student Activities and Development was commended twice! Suggestions were made both to censure and commend the VP Democracy and Resources but both were rejected. However he extended his thanks to all who got involved in the Officer Elections and reiterated the improved turnout and how much he himself enjoyed it.

The VP Welfare was commended and answered questions about the reported Hunter Court suicide by stating that a student died over the weekend but the investigation is ongoing. Everyone affected has been offered help.

Motions were passed to: 1. Implement a new streamlined and accessible student group constitution 2. Increase disabled students’ involvement in Guild nights by improving wheelchair access and access for the partially sighted and increasing awareness of disabled issues within the Guild 3. Make the housing process easier for students by improving information to prevent the November “rush”, improve and enlarge the SHAC and promote the positive impact of students on the local community 4. Open Joes for Election watching in May following the success of a similar event in 2008 where the bar was kept open for the US Presidential elections and food and drink were served.

The next Guild Council will happen on Tuesday 4th May. Do go along, unless you can’t spare the time from the Labour Party that close to the election!

Suzy

BUCF derecognised, again

by maxattacks

BREAKING NEWS!

It was recently learnt that the Birmingham University Conservative Future (BUCF) was derecognised yesterday. This isn’t the first time the BUCF has been derecognised (http://bulsonline.org/2008/12/06/buls-inside-i-didnt-recognise-bucf/). However, this time little is known (on my part at least) what were the reasons for this. From what I know directly from BUCF members is that they received an email of constitutional breaches (not sure if it was the Guild’s or their own constitution though) and not to mention the ongoing fiasco over their AGM. I do know from a particular source in BUCF that they had been considering voluntarily derecognising for some time as they haven’t received a grant from the Guild in a couple of years.

Whatever the reasons, I’m sure they’re far better than last time (essentially no one was sent to a Guild Council meeting for months on end). Obviously, the full story so far is not known so this presumption may well be wrong, but every other society manages to get the grant, why not BUCF? I sincerely wish they could sort out their problems and get back into the Guild, but whatever happens, we wish them the best of luck. And if anyone from BUCF wants to fill in the details it would be much appreciated.

Max

Lib Dem AGM

by maxattacks

Breaking news!

The UB Lib Dems have held their AGM not too long ago, the only result we have heard about is that of their Chair, first year Will Miéville-Hawkins beating RON (who gets around a lot) into second place. To be fair, the Lib Dems are going to be a lot more vocal, with an actually active blog and the distinct possibility of a hung parliament, this is going to be an important year for UB Lib Dems.

Max

What’s the story in Guild-a-Council, wouldn’t you like to know?

by suzannahrobinson

The fifth Guild Council of the academic year was the worst attended so far, probably because of the snow and it being reading week.

Communications were made to the effect that: a Food Action Group has been set up for interested students, that security for certain speakers and certain rooms in the university can cost from £100 and the ways to avoid these costs, that a “Homophobia is Gay” bar crawl has been organised by the LGBTQ association for the 26th February, that next week is Student Volunteering Week and that the Guild Awards will take place on Sunday 21st March.

All motions were passed without discussion, including a motion to advertise the hearing loop in the Guild Council Chambers so that deaf students feel confident attending, to increase the publicity of jobs suitable for disabled students and ensure that disabled students are supported more generally, to disallow balloon launches on guild property in lieu of the environmental concerns, to lobby Spar and educate students on the issue of animal testing and to increase the number of companies from which the Guild will buy condoms in order to cut costs.

A review of the democratic structures has returned the recommendation that Guild Council meet only once a term and with fewer delegates, that the Student Groups Megaforums will deal with more issues, and that more referendums will take place to involve more students.

As West Midlands representative to the Student Loans Company Johnny Davis (Welfare Officer) consulted with the Student Loans Company and reported back about the problems earlier this academic year. The Hopkins Review has made recommendations for improvements to the service this year, including greater publicity for deadlines and working alongside UCAS. Meanwhile 36,000 disabled students are still without their full loan.

The President, EEO, LGBTQ Officer, Welfare Officer, VPSAD and Ethnic Minorities Officer were all commended.

The next one is on 25th March, come along if you think you’re hard enough

Suzy

What a bunch of tossers….

by suzannahrobinson

My fellow Labour Students….

Guild Council tonight censured the President and VP Democracy and Resources for insufficient blogging, while the VP Welfare Johnny Davis refused to accept a commendation unless Ed Sparkes the VP Housing and Community was also commended,consequently both were rewarded.

The title of my post refers to the censuring of the Ethical and Environmental Officer Ed Bauer, proposed by a representative of the Law school in response to a blog written by the EEO which brought Guild Council into disrepute. After an interesting debate Ed Bauer was censured but did not receive a “no confidence” vote. Among others he was defended by Dora Meredith, who praised his enthusiam, engagement and hard work.

The motions I mentioned in my last post were passed with the exception of the National Covention Against Fees and Cuts motion, which was removed from the agenda.

Joseph Chamberlain was the first chancellor of the Univeristy of Birmingham, and gave his name not only to “Old Joe”, the clock tower, but also to our beloved Guild bar. Following a student vote Joe’s Bar will maintain its name.

The NUS’s VP for higher education Aaron Porter urged the Council to vote in the general election, but only for PPCs who pledge to maintain the cap on tuition fees. In 2005 only 35% of 18-25 year olds voted, compared to 63% in the wider population. With 7 million students in the UK we can and should have a much louder voice in the upcoming election.

Divers other issues were discussed, such as poor Virgin Media provision in Selly Oak, muddy car parks, access to exam and essay results on WebCT off site and Residential Association committees being distanced from excessive money handling and nightclub culture.

Snacks were provided as ever, the independent chairs were helpful and friendly, and there was plenty of passion, discussion and democracy.

Suzy (Guild Councillor)

Oh, what’s occurring at Guild Council?

by suzannahrobinson

Here are the motions which are coming up at Guild Council on Thursday:

a) For the February National Convention against tuition fees and cuts to higher education to be advertised and transport organised within the Guild and on my.bham, and for Brigid Jones and other members of the council to attend and report back.

b) To sign the pledge against sourcing minerals from the Congo and lobby the University and electronics firms to do the same. For more on the ratinale behind this see http://www.raisehopeforcongo.org/conflictminerals_pledge This motion may prove controversial with students who are hoping for a career in electronics, or those who consider global conflict issues to be outside our remit.

c) For Fairtrade Fortnight 22nd February – 7th March to be observed this year and every year by the Guild, through quizzes, events and  promotion of fairtrade drinks in Joes.

d) For fairtrade products to be promoted to a greater extent in general.

e) For mitigations to be extended to those who have trouble attending their classes at Birmingham University due to visa delays.

f) For the student body to have a say on the democratic structures within the Guild through a referendum.

I have the option to star any of them (ask to have them discussed), and essentially vote yes or no. I can also make speeches in favour or in opposition oif any, and submit my own motions. I’m there on behalf of you guys, so let me know what you want me to do!

Suzy (BULS Guild Councillor)

Society Constitution

by maxattacks

Now, I wouldn’t normally blog on a change to the format to the Website, but in the name of transparency (and due to the fact barely anyone will have seen it), I have finally, after 3 and a half months put the Society’s Constitution (well, its most up to date form since the People’s Revolution of ’86) up under the new heading “About us and Society Constitution”.

Try to enjoy,
Max, Website Editor

Guild Council Report

by maxattacks

This report is to let you all know what the Guild’s Officer Team have been up to and what motions are being discussed.

Guild Council on Thursday was interesting, informative, well attended and better organised than last month, as evidenced in the relatively early finishing time of 8.30pm.

Motions were passed to ban Delta Force Paintballing company from advertising on campus (the paintballing society have informed us that cheaper, safer and better qualtity paintballing is always available through them), and to request the University to install more water fountains and extend Honey Pot funding to postgraduates.

Questions were asked about the future of Sociology and Brigid Jones the Education and Access Officer informed the Council that the University are currently considering six possible options, one of which would mean closing the department, but five others in which it would be merged or maintained.

Johnny Davis the Welfare Officer attempted to dispel some of the rumours surrounding the tragic death of a second-year law student in Alton Road. The thoughts of the Officer team, and all of us, are with his family and friends at this sad time.

A motion was passed (and an amendment rejected) to strengthen the power of Guild Council censure. The Home Students’ Officer has resigned following two censures, but attention was drawn to the fact that the Council do not currently have the power to actually fire Officers. Guild President Fabienn Neuner will be taking further action.

Questions were also asked about the re-naming of Joe’s Bar and the necessity of every society and school having compulsory representation. Both points are currently under review.

One frustrating admin error was the omission of Dora Meredith’s motion for pay-as-you-go gym membership, to replace the current termly/yearly fee. But we have been assured that the Guild are already in talks with Munrow Sports Centre.

Overall it was progressive and engaging, and I felt as if I was part of a wider movement intent on making a difference.

If you ever want to come along I’d recommend it. Snacks are provided.

By Suzy

Guild Council Update

by joshualt

Getting back into the spirit of student politics came as a refreshing shock last night in the form of Guild Council. Having attended numerous meeting for what now seems like a tiny tiny organisation called Exeter College Students Union I had a fairly good idea of what to expect. Lots of talk about dreary issues that we had no power to implement or desire to do so from the students. However once in the Guild Council Chambers, with a little electronic voting card in my palm, I couldn’t help but feel like I’d got involved with something that could actually make some exciting changes. Any sense of cynicism that had built up over the course of last year left me and I waited, flicking through the agenda, for the rest of the councillors to take their seats. However personal impressions aside, what was it that was actually discussed and decided upon at last night’s council?

The guild has decided to sign up for the 10/10 campaign. This is a pledge to cut its emissions by ten per cent by 2010. The major political parties have signed up for this already, as have a thousands of individuals, businesses and organisations such as O2, Royal Mail, Comic relief and of course NUS! This is a great way to educate people about climate change and suggest simple ways they can cut their emissions. You can sign up at http://www.1010uk.org/ and take the challenge.

The guild also agreed to implement new policy which will promote blood donation on campus but oppose the archaic rules that the NHS has in place which do not allow gay or bi men to donate if they have had sex with a man in the last 12 months or for woman who have had sex with a man, who has had sex with a man in the last 12 months.

Among other things there is to be greater transparency between students and the Ethical and Environmental forum, the minutes of which are to be made available and consultations between students and the officer compulsory. This is great news as the more consultation we have with students the better our decisions will become.

Guild council was not all good news. We decided to allow shell oil to advertise in the guild. This is a serious ethical issue and I’m certain that if most students knew the implications of supporting such a company they would be appalled. Shell have pursued an anti-union policy and have drastically effected the environment in Peru where they recently installed several new oil platforms. Not to mention attempting to dump obsolete oil storage platforms in the North Sea Trench.

Guild council meeting 29/10/09

by maxattacks

Hiya, just to let everyone know here are some recent titbits from Guild Council:

- Shell oil are now allowed to advertise in the Guild following a Guild policy change

- A banner campaigning for decisive action on climate change at Copenhagen is being made to hang in Mermaid Square

- The Guild Council chambers are to be renamed the “Mark Terry Council Chambers” to recognise a former Birmingham student who campaigned against apartheid

- As part of the building work Joe’s bar is to be re-located, as are the ARC, Student Development and the Job Zone – The Guild has pledged to cut CO2 emissions by 10% by 2010

- A book exchange is up and running and needs more publicity!

- There is an ongoing campaign to allow LGBTQ students to donate blood when the donation van comes back.

Comments/queries?

By Suzannah Robinson, BULS Guild of Students Council Representative

BULS exclisive: Trots making fools of themselves

by Birmingham University Labour Students

Yesterday something momentous happened in the NUS: the Governance reform so badly needed for so long was finally ratified. Not all delegates were enthusiastic about this though, and chose to express their dissatisfaction on this constitutional issue by staging a protest about, erm, Gaza.

This exclusive footage was shot by dismayed delegates to this year’s second NUS extraordinary conference as they watched in exasperation as thirty Trots occupied the stage to disrupt proceedings for over an hour. If you want to know why the hard left gets a bad name, check out them disrupting democratic proceedings, which Unions had paid huge amounts and put in much effort to get to, below, as the chair battles on heroically with the conference.

Protest was followed by counter-protest and a rallying call from President Wes Streeting for us to keep going. After an agreed five minute statement on Gaza the protesters vowed to stay there until the NUS took a position on the issue, and for all we know could still be there in Wolverhampton. By being on stage shouting they surrendered their opportunity to vote against the ting they had turned up for in the first place, and the vote went through by a huge margin. There is a time and a place for protest, and disrupting proceedings on a vote that was completely irrelevant to this issue and demanding the NUS take an official stance on a hugely divisive issue when quite frankly they had their own fish to fry was not it. Full credit to the NEC and chair for handling it all so well, and let us all rejoice in the fact that the NUS has a brighter and hugely promising future ahead of it thanks to their hard work.

It was right to help the Tories…

by Tom Guise

A few people have expressed disdain at my decision to lend a helping hand to the Conservative Future Society on campus.  You will know that they faced de-recognition in the Guild.  A week has passed and hopefully tempers have calmed down a little, so I wanted to set out exactly why I did what I did.  Just to put at rest the minds of club members, this was a personal decision, and in no way does it affect how the club operates. ie: we’re not becoming the Tory society.

There are three fundamental reasons;

Firstly, I believe it is essential that the Guild represents a political plurality, a cross-section of opinion on matters relating to the students we represent.  Anyone who argues against that is not fit for reasoned democratic discussion.  Surely, we make much stronger policy by listening and taking into account all sides of the argument.  When I argue, on these pages or in person, with the Tories I find my own beliefs become much more asserted.  What they stand for is exactly what I try to fight against.  That kind of zest from a debate is what I would like all our members to experience.

Secondly, I believe, from what I’ve been told, that BUCF has been let down consistently by the Guild and their own past committees.  I’m confident that the current chair will do all he can to ensure that his successors continue a close working relationship in the Guild for the benefit of the whole society.  The blame does not rest on one person, or one organisation, but now BUCF have been given a final chance to make amends and I believe they will try and do that.

Thirdly, losing the Tories does BULS no favours.  At the moment, many people believe Labour own the Guild, a view I find ridiculous.  But if we had stood by and let BUCF slip away then that view would have been further cemented.

BUCF, represent a special case, a strong and active society that has been left to drop out of the Guild inner-sanctum.  I would have done the same for other societies, had I known the details of their circumstances and had they been like BUCF’s.  But I didn’t, and like I said this was a purely personal decision.  Ofcourse, I informed our committee and let them aware of what I was planning, but this was in no way a BULS effort to rescue the Tories.  So members of our club fear not, it’ll be a long time yet before I seek to sign BULS up to the Thatcher doctrine, or allow BULS to be part of the Cameron Marketing Department.

Strengthening the Minimum Wage

by bensemens

Over the past term , BULS has been running a campaign on the equalisation of the minimum wage. Our aim is the elimination of the 18-22 age bracket and leveling the wage of those in that age bracket up to the full £5.73 an hour.

We had a fantastic response from all students and managed to collect over 600 signatures with many more too come.

Last Friday , Gisela Stuart MP for Edgbaston, came and spoke at our first public meeting and showed support for our campaign.

Gisela started off the night with a talk on how the minimum wage came into effect and why it was so important. We all agree, the national minimum wage (NMW) is one of our cornerstone achievement as a party and government , it is an achievement that makes us proud to be labour.

Contrary to some economic positions , unemployment is bad, it excludes individuals from making money firstly. As well as ostracising them from the rest of society. This exclusion can lead to a cycle of dependance on the state, social depravation and even poverty. But, a NMW allows individuals to earn more than state benefits , it promote social inclusion allowing them to maintain good mental and physical health. It makes an individual feel part of the wider society.

Yet , how can we still have such an arbitray age bracket that actively discriminates against a worker due to their age?

No benefits discriminates like this, No company or individual would get away with paying over 65′s a different rate, yet if you are under 22 you can be paid at a lower rate to your colleagues over 22, even in the same position.

The next step in the campaign is to bring it too a wider audience, its positive reception at Birmingham alone is proof that this campaign is wanted and with more support we can eradicate this unnecessary age bracket and deliver equality to all those effected.

Ben is the newly elected BULS freshers’ officer- Ed

Matt Strong-ly denies Birmingham Labour Students love-in.

by Birmingham University Labour Students
Matt Strong during the Labour Students disco in Sheffield

Matt Strong during the Labour Students disco in Sheffield

Matt Strong, National Secretary of the National Organisation of Labour Students (NOLS), has strongly denied rumours that his favourite Labour Club is infact Brum’s own BULS.  BULS has long been considered a thorn in the side of NOLS and the claim will surely damage Mr. Strong’s personal credibility with his NOLS colleagues as well as his former club in Manchester – who have expressed severe unhappiness at the rumours.

It is alleged that Mr. Strong confronted Tom Guise, Chair of BULS, in a car-park in Sheffield and told him the news.  Reasons given were superficial but nonetheless important, Mr. Strong very much enjoyed BULS’ ability to outlast over 130 Labour Students in the bar the previous night (with Ben Semens, Tom Marley and Guise himself all lasting past 5am), thus winning the strong endorsement from NOLS office.

In a press release from BULS HQ, Guise expressed his keen desire for BULS to continue impressing the national office in such ways at future events.  BULS is making preparations to last passed 6am at the next national event to be held in London in December.

Mr. Strong’s lawyers have refused to comment on his behalf and it is thought that Strong has gone into hiding North of the border.

It’s all about people power

by Tom Guise

The core tenet of the Labour Party is that by the strength of our common endeavour we can achieve more together than we can alone.  Conference season beckons and as the National Policy Forum showed us, the organised youth and student movement within the party can affect real positive changes for young people across the country. 

Giving more young people a real say in politics, by extending the franchise, is not a patronising ploy to boost turnout – but a necessary progression in the development of our healthy democracy.  It is  another tick-box in our quest for true equality and self-determination.

Long before this summers NPF, and long before I joined the party, I was encouraged to campaign and speak up for votes at 16.  This Labour Club has a long history in supporting progressive policies that it hopes the party will ensue, and I hope we can continue that tradition. 

Adopting the policy at conference won’t deliver an election victory, and might not even deliver many more votes.  Yet, that shouldn’t stop us.  The Minimum Wage was almost an experiment, people on both sides of the divide erred on the cautious stance.  Yet the NMW is a moral imperative, giving people a fair start and chance in life is what the party is about.  Extending the franchise is also a moral imperative.

Our goal as young members of the party should always be to drive change towards a policy direction that delivers for young and student members of our society.  So I plead for all supporters of this campaign to register their interest and support by visiting this website.  Together as both socialists and democrats we can affect change.

BUCF go solo

by Brigidjones

Our less liberal counterparts, Birmingham University Conservative Future, announced today that they plan to leave the Guild of Students. Since they have decied to disable comments on this issue, I have decided to write a blog on it here. I hope they won’t be too offended.

Their decision to leave saddens me, although it does not surprise me. Conservatism does not lend itself naturally to unionism, but the decision to disaffiliate seems to me unfortunate as it is based on what I believe to be a severe misconception of the nature of the Guild.

The first reason given is

Last week the previous chairman Theo Lomas informed me that BUCF had been given a stark ultimatum: play a more active role in farcical Guild politics or be de-recognised.

Every student group at the Guild is required to send one representative to each meeting of Guild Council. This is a body of elected students which meets eight times a year to debate and create Guild policy and to scrutinise the work of the executive committee. The complaint to BUCF would have been made on account of their failure to send either a representative or apologies to a significant number of meetings. While there is a debate to be had over whether societies should be required to do this, if BUCF had a problem they could have very easily proposed a motion to change it. Or they could have taken the BULS route- we have simply sent apologies to the last few meetings.

The next assertion made in the post is

It is my opinion and the opinion of much of the student body that the Guild is far too cliquey and is filled with power hungry and self righteous individuals who claim mandates of a pitiful portion of the University electorate.

This debate has been had many times on both blogs, and I doubt this will be the last. My question: if BUCF is as involved in Guild politics as they previously asserted, how on earth would they have been around enough to discover this? There is a perception amoungst many of a clique, and this is a real shame. The reality is that a lot of us who attend Guild Council get along. We have similar interests, we are all there for the same reason and naturally, we are friendly people who chat to the people next to us in meetings and in Joe’s afterwards. We tend to get along. Whatever people may perceive, the existance of a closed circle is a lie. People come, people go, people get involved, that’s it. It’s a really sad misconception and it always makes me sad that people are put off by it; and that some are too stubborn to come along and see what it’s really like.

I’m not going to go over any of the same old tired arguments again. But today I went along to Guild Council training. I’ve been on it two years now, but I thought I’d pop my head in to see what they were getting up to. There were loads of first time Guild Councillors there. The ones I spoke to were all enthusiastic, all wanted to learn how to get things done, and all had things they wanted to change. Many complained about the Guild in many ways, be it lack of communication from the Guild and their Guild Councillors, a lack of information on how the Guild operates or a specific issue, like fairtrade food or better facilities for students. They learnt how to write and propose motions, how to communicate with their constituents and how to engage in debate at a Guild Council meeting. They learnt how to scrutinise the Executive committee on what they’d been up to and how to change things. It was really positive and I left early, feeling really enthusiastic about the new intake of Councillors.

It’s a shame BUCF have decided not to be part of this new wave and to jump ship. I have always believed you have to be in something to change it. BUCF will acheive very little by disaffiliating, expecially not the change they long to see- nor will they be able to redress their prejudices from the outside. They will also lose their Fresher’s Fair stall, grant money, the right to use rooms and Guild facilities, and any right to vote to change the things they so despise. So long, guys. And good luck.

Last night’s Guild Council – a lesson in humanity

by Tom Guise

With apologies to our non-student readers

Last nights Guild Council proved, yet again, our ability as an organisation to remain insular and reject outsiders.

Guild Television (GTV) wanted to change their name to Birmingham University Student Television (BUST). This requires a change in their constitution, which can only happen with the approval of Guild Council. The proposer stood up, for her first time, and made a good and sensible case about why her committee felt it necessary to change the society’s name. This was recieved by certain Guild Councillors, with a torrent of attacks, of a senseless and petty nature. We were told, laughably, that BUST was sexually discriminatory, we were told that their solution (which they came up with to suit the needs of their society) was inappropriate and ill-thought out and we were told that BUST was inaccurate as it didn’t coincide with the University’s own re-branding, to the University of Birmingham.

This process has deeply embarrased me and the involvement I have had with the Guild. It seems to me that every time a student wants to change something, they go to the basement and ask advice, and get told to go to GC. Then they sit, very patiently through a long and tedious meeting, awaiting the discussion on their motion. GC then insists on nit-picking, badgering and criticising whatever motion they put infront of us.

We witnessed this last year with CVG who wanted to petition the Guild to build a games room, CVG now no longer turn up to Guild Council because of the abuse they recieved. As we discovered during the 25 minute debate (on something as insignificant as a name-change) none of those who raised objections had emailed or approached the committee to seek mutual resolution. Instead, they awaited until the discussion, to ambush and publically humiliate those who sought our help to ensure their society continues to grow and move forward.

Why do we persist on navel-gazing and questioning why we don’t have proper student activism? The answer is obvious, we turn them off!

Once GC becomes a proper body of mature discussion, where we open our minds to new ideas, then we will get proper student level involvement.

Shameful.

 

 

Sometimes I really hate territorial politics

by Brigidjones

 A potentially controversial statement; allow me to explain.

 In student politics, more specifically elections to union or guild executives, the usual system of having one official candidate from each party does not apply. For the second year running, there are two BULS members running for our Guild presidency. Also, both the candidates for Vice President Welfare are Labour Party members. For many other positions, there are no Labour members on the ballot paper. This makes it impossible to pick candidates along party lines- something I would refrain from doing anyway in non-party political elections.

 Picking candidates based on religion also is a shit reason to pick people. I am an atheist, and I was raised in a Christian based society and educated in a CofE school, but would still happily elect a Muslim, Jew, Bhuddist etc over an atheist or a Christian if I thought they would do a better job. I would never, ever expect someone to support me in a student election just because I carried a party membership card, came from a particular religious background, because of my gender, sexuality or the colour of my skin, and I think to do so shows a severe weakness of argument and character.

 I know an awful lot of people will disagree with me very strongly on this, and some will think I am having a dig at particular people- I really, really am not. I just can’t help but get frustrated sometimes though at the rubbish reasons a lot of people use to choose who to vote for. It should be about who can deliver the best policies, and nothing else.

Election Eve

by Brigidjones

 Tomorrow morning at 9am, campaigning for this years Guild Executive elections kicks off, and for those of us involved in campaign teams or running for election, tomorrow marks the official start of two insanely busy weeks. At times it’s going to be fun, stressful, cold, and emotional.

 I still can’t believe some of the key sabbatical posts are unopposed- a friend at another Uni expressed astonishment when I told him, asking where were the socialists, the Respect candidates, the Tories to run against them? The answer is I guess we’re just not that radical here at Birmingham- these groups just don’t dominate our union politics like they do elsewhere. What says the most to me about the nature of Birmingham is that probably the biggest faction (if it can be called such) on our Guild council is the Paintball society. Birmingham has a reputation as being a bit conservative (small c), but to me it just seems a-political. When compared to other unions on this, I think we are very lucky. Candidates here are sometimes Labour-esque or People&Planet-y, but so much more revolves around the personal differences than off-the-shelf ideologies.

  This is what makes campaigning in these elections so refreshing. While a number of BULS members are standing for positions, it could hardly be called party-political. I am about to surrender my next two weeks of spare time to campaign for a friend who isn’t in the Labour party and strongly disagrees with me on a ton of issues, but to me, all that is irrelevant- I firmly believe he is the best person for the position he’s going for and will make a real and hugely positive difference for students, and that’s all that matters to me. It makes a lovely change from Labour Party campaigning, not because I don’t love spending cold Sundays shoving leaflets through letterboxes, but because each candidate is standing on a personal set of goals and values rather than toeing the same old party line. This is campaigning for a person, not a party, and for specific jobs, rather than general representatives, and this is what makes it special.

 All the best, to all the candidates…

The problem with BUCF

by Tom Guise

I don’t think I’ve ever been referred to as a left-winger in my entire life.  So I was honoured to see this post on the “award-winning” Birmingham University Conservative Future blog, accusing us comrades of harbouring secret left-wing tendencies.

The problem with BUCF is that they mostly appear to spend all their time on their own blog, or on other people’s blogs.  Another problem is they get very upset when you call them Thatcherite.  They shouldn’t be ashamed of it.  I spend an incredible short time on their blog, but what I do see is truly harrowing.  Borderline racist, homophobic and anti-disablist comments can often be seen (please don’t make out that I’m blanketly calling them all racist/homophobic etc. I’m far from it).  It’s just evidence of how out of touch I believe they are and how shocking it is that they represent the “future” of their shameful party.

They claim to be part of the changing party.  Supporting a party that believes all married couples should be given that little-extra tax break (because being married is so worthy of state support).  That’s not being the party of change, that’s being the party of rigid, dictatorial and traditionalist dogma which is trying to instil unto us that if you’re from a single parent household, you’re going to be somehow damaging the state of our country in such a way that the Government must step in to control this unruly rabble. 

We have a different approach in BULS, we go out and campaign, in our Guild and in our local area, and I will walk the streets until I am without shoes to ensure that a Conservative Government remains a thing of the past and never a thing of the future.

Ghettos for Students?

by Brigidjones

Over the last week a Facebook protest has sprung up over a motion passed by Bristol City Council concerning Houses of Multiple Occupation, or HMOs. The motion has created a lot of controversy as the City’s Student Unions believe it unfairly targets students, the majority of whom live in HMOs.

In Bristol the motion seeks to regulate where new HMOs, including student houses, can be created, in an effort to promote a “harmonious community”, and to improve relations between “local residents” and students. However, the Unions have hit back saying that the motion panders to the stereotype of students as “nuisance neighbours”, and fails to recognise students as legitimate residents of the city. There are also fears that the motion could be used to create student-only “ghettos” and be used to keep students out of certain areas.

There is an Early Day Motion being put to Parliament covering similar ground, which has gathered a number of signatures, including that of Selly Oak MP Lynne Jones. The difference here though is that rather than talk about HMOs in general, it applies only to students. As a student resident of Selly Oak I am no stranger to the issue of student housing. The local economy is almost entirely dependent on students and Selly Oak Ward is approaching (I believe) 50% student population; in term time the place comes to life, in the vacations it seems to die. While I can see that we are no doubt having an effect on the non-student community, I strongly resent the implication that we are necessarily “nuisance neighbours” and believe we are the victims of unfair stereotyping. While I appreciate that a house of students will have different lifestyles and concerns to, say, a young family, our lifestyle is in no way less valid. A student is no more likely to play loud music than your average teenager. A group of students returning home late from a club is no more disruptive than a night-worker returning home in a noisy car (or than a parent on a school run is to my lie-in!). Another popular concern in Selly Oak is rubbish, often blamed on students. However, the Guild of Students at the University of Birmingham has campaigned for years for wheelie bins and a different rubbish collection day to improve things, to no avail.

If we are living lifestyles that are disruptive to other residents, the key is not regulation, but positive engagement between different community demographics. Put “retired persons” or “families”, heck even “non-British”, in the place of “student” in that EDM and it would be unthinkable. While I understand that there are tensions in areas of high student population (particularly regarding desertion out of term time), simply regulating where students can and cannot live is painfully discriminatory and is not the answer. It’s going to take work between all members of communities to sort out any problems a community may have- and like us or not, we students are part of the community too.

Bullseye? How to engage students in politics…

by John Ritchie

One of my members recently reminded me of a quote by Henry Kissinger, that, “University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small.” The member was standing to be delegate to a student conference, so naturally dismissed the statement, but it did get me thinking about what we should do with our student political movement.

I was a student before I became a member of the Labour Party, but I was a member of the Labour Party long before I ever became interested in student politics. Even when I did become involved in student politics, I saw it as my mission (perhaps not quite so Kissingeresque) to get the message out to students that they should be concentrating on forming a positive and progressively socialist agenda for the country, not necessarily spending their time shouting about typical “student” issues. I had no interest (and must say I still have none) of using my self-perceived status in the student movement to climb the greasy pole of party politics – it is this mindset that often gives student politics its proverbially-bad name.

The old mindset is one that I still find difficult to dismiss, however. I have met many, many committed people in the student movement, whose fight on behalf of their fellow students and those who have yet to follow is commendable. There is, of course, the others who are more intent in either forging their own political career, or simply gaining some glory for themselves. The one thing that appears to unite many from both groups is their blinkeredness to other political issues, the issues that affect “real people” outside the education system, or even people who are in the education system but are not necessarily being effectively represented by a system which is undoubtedly biased towards Redbrick Universities and against colleges and other universities.

But exactly what do we do about this problem? The reason any decent person becomes involved in politics is surely because they see something wrong going on around them. Groups form because their members share a common goal (as is the case with BULS), or perhaps just because their members are part of a similar social grouping (it is rumoured that Conservative Future, for example, are attempting to convert the entire membership of Darts Clubs at some Redbrick Universities to Conservative Future clubs by hijacking their committees). The principal reason is, of course, that people mobilise against a perceived injustice or wrong – it’s why millions protested against both the Poll Tax and the Iraq War. But the question still remains for students – what are the issues that should be resonating across campuses? Should we be restricting ourselves to moaning about top-up fees, or should we be out campaigning against things affecting real people? Should students be concentrating on trying to narrow the gap between the rich and poor and fighting for the vulnerable in our society? Or is it right that we don’t let our campaigns extend beyond parochial self-interest? Perhaps it’s enough to restrict the politics of the real world to a giggle over the latest Daily Mail columns after a tough game of darts?

Campaigning in Birmingham University’s Executive Elections is happening over the coming few weeks, and the issues that candidates campaign on will obviously determine their success. It will be very interesting to see which, if any, candidates decide to base their campaigns at least partly on issues that aren’t perceived as directly affecting their campus electorate.

John Ritchie is Chair of BULS