Seven Candidates For VPHE

Yes you read that correctly. There are no less than 7 candidates for the NUS VP Higher Education. They are as follows;

Michael Payne - Lancaster (Ind Labour)
Kit Friend - Arts, London (Conservative Future)
Usman Ali - NEC "Block of 15" (FOSIS)
Charlie Leyland - York (OI)
Emmanuel Akpan-Inwang - London School of Economics (Ind)
Chris Marks - Hull (Education Not for Sale)
Mark Bergfeld - Essex (Socialist Workers)

and there may be even more that I don't know about.

Totting up the scores there looks to be three or four main contenders. Usman is an obvious choice as a current NEC block member, and a pretty good one at that; Charlie has the backing of one of the big factions (that's big in influence, not size); Mark Bergfeld is probably the hard left's front runner as he comes from the SWP's flagship union (for the time being); and Kit is worth a punt as the first serious Conservative NEC candidate in a long time.

Here are my odds (don't phone in, it's just for fun);

Michael Payne 33/1
Kit Friend 8/1
Usman Ali 2/1
Charlie Leyland 7/2
Emmanuel Akpan-Inwang 15/1
Chris Marks 33/1
Mark Bergfeld 6/1

The cliché is that the transfers will be what decides the outcome of the election, but it's truer than ever in this race.

JR

PS: See the full list of known NEC candidates here.

Vote For Students

From the MMUnion Sabbatical Officers Blog ...

A general election will be called this year, to be held on or before 3 June 2010. We are asking students to use their vote in the forthcoming general election to support candidates that would vote against any increase in fees in the next parliament – and would pressure the government to introduce a fairer alternative.

Nationally students compose 15% of the electorate but are traditionally a low participation group in elections. As a result of low participation rates student issues are often neglected.

At present we don't know when the election is going to be held. Calling a General Election is the right of the sitting Prime Minister. The election needs to take place between now and 3 June 2010. However, the precise date is unknown.

What you can do ...
Register to Vote
You need to register to vote in the upcoming general election. Find out how ...

Sign the Pledge
Pledge to support candidates that will vote against an increase in fees in parliament. Sign the Pledge ...

Support the Campaign
Are you on twitter? Why not add a Vote For Students twibbon to your profile picture. Twibbon up here ...

Vote at the Election
When the election is called you should recieve a polling card with the details of your polling station. You don't need the card to vote. Go along to the polling station on election day and cast your vote.

JR

Time Delay - Tories Got Talent

I'd forgotten about this.

Here was my speech at the Tories Got Talent event at the Conservative Party Conference way back in October. I spoke on the issue of Higher Education Funding, promoting the NUS Blueprint.



As it was I tackled a very unpopular subject within the party, and the votes didn't go my way (not helped by the STV style system that was in place, very strange for a Conservative Party event), but that wasn't the reason I made the speech.

Hope you liked it.

JR

Mental Block?

Yes it's another NUS post. Although there are clearly plenty of people running for the full time positions on the NEC (especially VP HE), the part time "block of 15" members have a surprisingly low amount of declared candidates.

Obviously there's plenty of time to go before the close of nominations for the block (over seven weeks), but I only know of two candidates that have publicly said they're running, and a couple of others that are going to stand but have decided to hold back on the start of their election campaign.

Could the huge number of full time candidates be at the expense of those for the block, or (as I suspect will happen) will there be a surge of block candidates towards the end of this month. One thing is for sure, nobody knows what's going to happen for sure ... except me stating the bleeding obvious!

Don't forget I'll continue to update my candidates list as and when I find out about new candidates. Anyone from the left want to fill me in with their peeps?

JR