Damian Green: 'ello 'ello 'ello!

I'm led to believe that if a member of parliament is to be arrested for an offence such as breaking the law about misconduct in public office, then it is usually given authorization, or at least condoned, by a senior member of the government. Therefore when Conservative shadow minister Damian Green was arrested yesterday afternoon, over allegations that he was involved in leaking information from the Home Office to the press, someone in the government must have known about it (or the Metropolitan Police are even more stupid than we thought).

Leaks from Whitehall have happened under all colours of government ever since the photocopier was invented; none have ended with a MP being questioned by police. Why? Well, 99.9% of the time (including the information in this case) the details were in the public interest and the government just didn't want anyone knowing; therefore disclosure of information to the press in this case is the job of any opposision MP who finds out about it!

I'm taking bets on who authorized this arrest! My money's on Mandy!

JR

NUS: Should Conservative Future Walk Away?

This is a comment I made about this post on the blog of Conservative Future NME member, Owen Meredith.

Indeed we should and must fight. A good step would be for CF to formally back the NUS Reform package that is currently going through. I believe that this is a step in the right direction for NUS, and will mean that constituent members won't have quite so much of their money "pissed up the wall" (as Bubble so eloquently put it).

But I also think our representative on the NEC needs to take NUS more seriously than he has done recently. He wasn't at Extraordinary Conference last week, for example. This gives CF a bad name in NUS and makes it much less likely that we'll get someone elected to the block in the near future.

Hopefully many more members of CF will stand for election to be NUS delegates from their unions this year, but they have to be mobilised now.

UPDATE: with a further comment I made to this blog post of Donal Blaney, a right-wing political commentator.

Lets take a look at NUS:

NUS gets invited to parliament committees more or less every time something effecting students comes up. They are listened to, although sometimes ignored; much the same as anyone else who gives evidence to the committee's is.

NUS was given credit for slashing Tony Blair's 167 seat majority to just five when the bill on Top Up Fees was debated in 2004.

NUS is sliding more and more to the right every year. The only time they take a jump to the left is when the UK is suddenly involved in a war somewhere in the gulf or there's a issue like an apartheid to sort out (when the trots get more people jumping on their bandwagon).

CF do a lot better in NUS than certain factions, notably Communist Students (grand total of four votes in April's block election) and ENS, but we don't use our (albeit small) influence to its full effect. Perhaps we should officially put our support in the reforms currently going through the national union. Perhaps our representative on the block should turn up to NEC meetings more often (or even at all) rather than just collect the £290/month for doing no work for NUS.

Just like a computer, if you put rubbish in, you get rubbish out. Put in something of note into NUS and you might be surprised what you get out!

UPDATE 22/11: And a further comment on the Tory Bear blog, relating to this post.

CF have as much influence as the Lib Dems, and more than many other factions within NUS. Why don't we use it?

Tom Stubbs makes noise on behalf of the Lib Dems but our rep on the block almost never turns up to NEC meetings or other NUS events; he was notably absent from Extraordinary Conference early this month.

Just like a computer; if you put rubbish in, you get rubbish out. Lets put something into NUS; you might be surprised what we get out!

JR

Half of UK population think "children are starting to behave like animals"

This shocking but real dialogue that features in this film gives a clear indication of how the UK today is demonising children.

Barnardo's has launched a new campaign to highlight what it calls "disturbing intolerance" of children.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7730219.stm

JR

My First Vlog

Something I tried today. What do you think?

This is just a welcome vlog (or video log) but look out for more soon.



JR

81% of Delegates back NUS Reform

That's right, delegates at the NUS Extraordinary Conference voted for the proposals on NUS Reform by 4 to 1; but that's not the most important thing about the event ...

IT FINISHED ON TIME!

No word of a lie, all the amendments were debated and voted on, the vote for the main motion came at 16:50 and was counted by 16:57. Closing remarks were duly taken by the National President and the event closed at 17:00, as scheduled!

Remember this is only the first reading, ratification has to take place either at a further Extraordinary Conference, or at Annual Conference in April.

My guess is that 25 unions will call for a further Extraordinary Conference within the next fortnight, to be held early in 2009. Obviously some unions, like Northumbria, will argue that they simply don't have the money to be sending delegates to a further EC and I have some sympathy for them; however it is completely out of both their hands and the hands of the NEC. Perhaps the conference could be held in the North East (like Gateshead or Newcastle, or maybe York) to help out Northumbria.

Anywho, back to project work for me got to write about 20 pages before Monday.

JR

Back To The Future: NUS Reform Rides Again

Today I'll be bombarded with flyers, speeches and other assorted propaganda, because I am a delegate to NUS Extraordinary Conference in Wolverhampton that has been called to discuss NUS reform.

At this time I'd like to point out that I am a democratically elected representative of the students at MMU, and by cross campus ballot at that; and not just plucked out of the ether like some members of the left would have you believe. (See the comment on this post.)

Other tactics that will used by the hard left to derail the proposals include saying that normal students (or "rank and file members") weren't consulted over the proposals, when in fact they were ... twice. Most replies went something like "I don't care!" or "Why are you asking me, isn't this something my union should be sorting out." Well, fair enough!

There will also be talk of how we should follow the example set in Venezuela!!! Stop me if I'm wrong but I think the left are talking about Hugo Chávez's election in 1998 that took power away from the centrist parties. Now, at what point is that supposed to be engaging in debate and putting forward viable alternative views, in the context of NUS reform?

Now I have no problem with the left saying they're against the proposed reforms because they don't believe in capitalist constructs, but throwing in a line that basically says we hate most of you doesn't help anyone, including their own cause. It is unfortunate that many hard left leaning delegates are swayed by the who's shouting the loudest theory, but the answer is to persuade those delegates with coherent arguments and not letting those that just want to blow the proposals out of the water gain the moral high ground, but at the same time make every effort to facilitate the debate for those that wish to have it.

Tricky, but lets see how it goes. Full report tonight.

JR

President Barack Obama

I'm calling it ... the next President of the United States is Barack Obama.

Projected electoral college votes: Obama 355, McCain 183.

JR