As the candidates bed down for a bit of sleep, and as I start knocking back the coffee for the essay all nighter that lies ahead, a quick commentary on Day 1 of the election itself. With most people now thoroughly shattered, thoroughly exhausted and - quite possibly - thoroughly beyond the point of caring, the voting started.
According to sources over 2300 people had logged on and casted at least a vote for a candidate in a category by shortly after 3pm. How this compares with previous years is difficult to estimate. Who does a high turnout favour? What does this mean for voting through the evening (traditionally the busiest time) over night, or throughout day two? Will people actually care by the end of day two, or will they just say "I've already voted" to every leaflet they are offered tomorrow?
Lunch time outside the main library brought a real host of candidates - some in differently coloured T-Shirts, some who weren't. Also on offer was this year's best campaign gimmick - Will Searle & Frankenstein. This really brought something different to the election. Also amusing that Gordon & Ben chose the same coloured T-shirts from the many on offer; H&M must be doing very well from the many T-Shirts bought, and I'd be surprised if you could get a yellow one anywhere in Edinburgh!
This evening, Pollock Security decided not to allow any flyering outside the JMC, so it was door-to-door knocking for all the candidates, including Stuart, KT, Anna and various members from other campaign teams. How effective is doorstepping? We'll wait and see.
So the questions begin - will MyEd run ok tomorrow, or will the servers crash? If so, when? Will the Registry problem that plagued last year's Sabbatical results happen again? What results will come first? In fact, what time will the first results appear?
Debating Hall, starting sometime after 8pm, is where you'll find out first. And if you're really lucky, I may do some live blogging of the results, and quotes that start coming out.
But that depends on this essay going well ...
Wednesday, 28 February 2007
Voting Open
Whilst the talking continues for a bit, the polls are now open.
Go to https://www.myed.ed.ac.uk and VOTE
Go to https://www.myed.ed.ac.uk and VOTE
Turning for Home
Having negotiated the Presidential Debates, the candidates have less than 36hrs to convince the electorate that they are indeed the right people for the job, as they turn for home in this marathon race.
First off - congratulations to Tim Goodwin and the current Sabbs for a very successful Presidential Debate: the Debating Hall was full, there was something of an atmosphere, but the one problem that still remained was that the majority of people in the room already knew who they were going to vote for. The question remains, how to get "non-hacks" involved and interested.
So what happened at the Debates? Well to be brutally honest, not much. The debates lacked the fiery passion and biting comment between the candidates that one might have expected. In fact only one particular thing stands out - Tom French admitted that he cannot deliver on his manifesto: after being questioned by Tim Gee about the promises he has made (many of which are already being delivered), Tom said that his manifesto was more or less undeliverable. It's a statement like that, that the electorate should know about, and it is a shame that the majority won't.
The other candidates last night all performed, but special mention must go to Chris Williams: I came to the Debates not knowing much about him, and quite sceptical about all he stood for - but the way Chris spoke last night about certain issues, put him far ahead of Adam Ramsay & Josh MacAllister. Chris realised that standing is not about being a EUSA Hack, and that it is about getting involved and getting "ordinary students" involved. Adam, however came across as rather patronising and attempted to put Chris down at every opportunity.
In the VPAA battle, you still couldn't separate them with a cigarette paper - all have very similar policies, and their performances last night were all very similar and I for one can't call the elections.
So, the candidates have negotiated the "country three" fences, and there don't appear to have been any real fallers (other than maybe Tom French) - six fences out, and the long home run in, its going to be an interesting race.
First off - congratulations to Tim Goodwin and the current Sabbs for a very successful Presidential Debate: the Debating Hall was full, there was something of an atmosphere, but the one problem that still remained was that the majority of people in the room already knew who they were going to vote for. The question remains, how to get "non-hacks" involved and interested.
So what happened at the Debates? Well to be brutally honest, not much. The debates lacked the fiery passion and biting comment between the candidates that one might have expected. In fact only one particular thing stands out - Tom French admitted that he cannot deliver on his manifesto: after being questioned by Tim Gee about the promises he has made (many of which are already being delivered), Tom said that his manifesto was more or less undeliverable. It's a statement like that, that the electorate should know about, and it is a shame that the majority won't.
The other candidates last night all performed, but special mention must go to Chris Williams: I came to the Debates not knowing much about him, and quite sceptical about all he stood for - but the way Chris spoke last night about certain issues, put him far ahead of Adam Ramsay & Josh MacAllister. Chris realised that standing is not about being a EUSA Hack, and that it is about getting involved and getting "ordinary students" involved. Adam, however came across as rather patronising and attempted to put Chris down at every opportunity.
In the VPAA battle, you still couldn't separate them with a cigarette paper - all have very similar policies, and their performances last night were all very similar and I for one can't call the elections.
So, the candidates have negotiated the "country three" fences, and there don't appear to have been any real fallers (other than maybe Tom French) - six fences out, and the long home run in, its going to be an interesting race.
Tuesday, 27 February 2007
Rocky Territory
You should always know where you're standing, but it seems Anna Davidson made a slight error on this part yesterday, a source has told me.
In a Geology Class yesterday, she said "As most of us here wont be working with our degrees i will campaign for transferable skills"... unfortunately for Anna, Geology is one area where most people do work in their degrees - according to the same source, "90% of 2:1 or better and 75% of 2:2 students work in postgrad, the industry, teaching or other related industries".
Dodgy ground it seems for Miss Davidson.
In a Geology Class yesterday, she said "As most of us here wont be working with our degrees i will campaign for transferable skills"... unfortunately for Anna, Geology is one area where most people do work in their degrees - according to the same source, "90% of 2:1 or better and 75% of 2:2 students work in postgrad, the industry, teaching or other related industries".
Dodgy ground it seems for Miss Davidson.
Something Bigger ...
It appears the elections may have taken a turn for the larger scale, if the story in the link below is true. Commentary on this issue to follow.
http://www.holyrood.com/nav/news/stories/story.asp?story=elec1187
http://www.holyrood.com/nav/news/stories/story.asp?story=elec1187
Sunday, 25 February 2007
Boring Husting ... Exciting Debate?
By this point on the Sunday before election days, two hustings would have come and gone. This year its different. In a bid to "bring some excitement" to these elections, Tim Goodwin and the other Sabbs are having an "Presidential Style Election Debate".
Hustings are not places where you can win elections, but you can lose them - so I was once told by a EUSA hack, and I remember Ruth Cameron doing exactly that on her VPAA election campaign three years ago. The Presidential Debates could revolutionise this, with real debate between the candidates. It could also be a complete flop - but things must be tried if progress is to be made. I've made comments before about the need to get your questions in beforehand if you want them asked - e-mail president@eusa.ed.ac.uk - but I am also disappointed that the event has gone upstairs to the Debating. Last year's event lacked atmosphere, and was a real poor show compared with the more intimate and more exciting Underground venue, where a bar and the gallery really enhanced the event.
The Debate has the chance to be any of the three "country" fences in this race: it could be the point where a tired candidate has his (or in Anna's case, her) head down and falters, a la Beecher's Brook; it could be a simple and easy jump in the path to the electoral results (with the occasional falter), a la Foinavon; or it could be the turn for home, a la Canal Turn.
Which is it going to be for the 12 candidates come Tuesday night?
Hustings are not places where you can win elections, but you can lose them - so I was once told by a EUSA hack, and I remember Ruth Cameron doing exactly that on her VPAA election campaign three years ago. The Presidential Debates could revolutionise this, with real debate between the candidates. It could also be a complete flop - but things must be tried if progress is to be made. I've made comments before about the need to get your questions in beforehand if you want them asked - e-mail president@eusa.ed.ac.uk - but I am also disappointed that the event has gone upstairs to the Debating. Last year's event lacked atmosphere, and was a real poor show compared with the more intimate and more exciting Underground venue, where a bar and the gallery really enhanced the event.
The Debate has the chance to be any of the three "country" fences in this race: it could be the point where a tired candidate has his (or in Anna's case, her) head down and falters, a la Beecher's Brook; it could be a simple and easy jump in the path to the electoral results (with the occasional falter), a la Foinavon; or it could be the turn for home, a la Canal Turn.
Which is it going to be for the 12 candidates come Tuesday night?
Another Day, Another Flyer
The Sunday before election day brings out its usual round of "Pollock Drop" campaigning. With Adam & Tom (the usual double act/couple) already staking claim to the JMC on Saturday Lunch (and with rumours now circulating of them breaking the rules to go canvassing on Saturday), a number of other candidates were also seen out and about in Pollock - all armed with the trusty flyer, and the spiel to give to candidates.
I ask one very important question: this evening, Tom French claims to have visited each and every room in Pollock. Thus far he has had three hours of campaigning/door-to-door time in the blocks and there are over 2000 rooms in Pollock. Either he is super human or he has broken the rules: which is it? Yesterday Adam & him were in the JMC flyering, and had to be removed ... will Graham Boyack finally act and do something decisive about this rule breaking?
Also seen on site were KT, Ben and Anna in the VPAA battle and also Chris Arnold in the VPS race. With less than 4 days left til the polls close (and I'm beginning to think that it can't come soon enough), its beginning to hot up another notch.
I ask one very important question: this evening, Tom French claims to have visited each and every room in Pollock. Thus far he has had three hours of campaigning/door-to-door time in the blocks and there are over 2000 rooms in Pollock. Either he is super human or he has broken the rules: which is it? Yesterday Adam & him were in the JMC flyering, and had to be removed ... will Graham Boyack finally act and do something decisive about this rule breaking?
Also seen on site were KT, Ben and Anna in the VPAA battle and also Chris Arnold in the VPS race. With less than 4 days left til the polls close (and I'm beginning to think that it can't come soon enough), its beginning to hot up another notch.
Saturday, 24 February 2007
New Circuit ...
To continue with the analogy (and to somewhat stretch it), having completed the first circuit of the course, navigating through the water jump that was the Fresh Air interviews on Friday (the smallest fence of the course, but the one likely to cause the odd problem), the candidates head out for the second circuit of the course.
This morning sees Tom French & Adam Ramsay (are they really a couple? - you see one, you see the other!) giving out leaflets to first year voters on their way out of Brunch in the JMC in Pollock Halls. An interesting take on these two candidates - has anyone else noticed that their posters don't appear to be pasted onto cardboard, but on plyboard. Now as election rules prohibit candidates from purchasing materials to put their posters on, you've got to ask - where have they got the wood from? And so much of it too? And both candidates have the same wood it appears ... more questions than answers.
Speaking of Adam, he too has a YouTube video. At nearly 4 minutes, its much longer, has some cringe worthy "endorsements", and I question: will 'ordinary' people sit through it all and watch it (yes, I know I have, but then I'm a bit of a hack), whereas Will Searle's video - albeit for a different position - is a great deal shorter and much snappier. Thoughts, as ever to the Comments button below.
A number of posters from the other candidates also look to be suffering - but that was a result of the constant rain on Thursday rather than any other reasons. However, this weekend will see a renewed effort with no doubt even more posters going up - the question is (especially in Bristo Square): where are they going to put them up? Photos to follow.
This morning sees Tom French & Adam Ramsay (are they really a couple? - you see one, you see the other!) giving out leaflets to first year voters on their way out of Brunch in the JMC in Pollock Halls. An interesting take on these two candidates - has anyone else noticed that their posters don't appear to be pasted onto cardboard, but on plyboard. Now as election rules prohibit candidates from purchasing materials to put their posters on, you've got to ask - where have they got the wood from? And so much of it too? And both candidates have the same wood it appears ... more questions than answers.
Speaking of Adam, he too has a YouTube video. At nearly 4 minutes, its much longer, has some cringe worthy "endorsements", and I question: will 'ordinary' people sit through it all and watch it (yes, I know I have, but then I'm a bit of a hack), whereas Will Searle's video - albeit for a different position - is a great deal shorter and much snappier. Thoughts, as ever to the Comments button below.
A number of posters from the other candidates also look to be suffering - but that was a result of the constant rain on Thursday rather than any other reasons. However, this weekend will see a renewed effort with no doubt even more posters going up - the question is (especially in Bristo Square): where are they going to put them up? Photos to follow.
Friday, 23 February 2007
Fresh Air - VPS
And onto the Vice President Services candidates ... well two out of the three of them. I don't know if Tim Johns forgot about Chris Arnold, but he wasn't there leaving Tom & Stuart to answer the questions. Irony of ironies, he asked them if they came from different part of the political spectrum - which neither could answer ... because they've both been members of the Labour Club.
Usual bank of weird questioning - including one about Rust. And Tom admitted to smacking children with a paddle ... again make up your own minds.
So Arm Wrestle time ... and Stuart was victorious ...
Usual bank of weird questioning - including one about Rust. And Tom admitted to smacking children with a paddle ... again make up your own minds.
So Arm Wrestle time ... and Stuart was victorious ...
And that's that ... obviously the VPAA candidates are of no interest to Fresh Air, because it seems none of them were invited ... or Tim forgot! Still, he has been up for the better part of 24hrs.
Do donate at www.freshair.org.uk and www.myrednoseday.com/radioday
Fresh Air - VPSA
After the President candidates (excluding Chris Williams), it was on the VPSA Candidates - Gordon & Will.
More slick questioning for Tim & his team, with some really rather issues surrounding cheese on a stick & the Potterrow Shop, and what piece of meat they'd rather be.
More slick questioning for Tim & his team, with some really rather issues surrounding cheese on a stick & the Potterrow Shop, and what piece of meat they'd rather be.
Then came the obligatory arm wrestle - with Gordon apparently victorious.
Fresh Air Showdown - President
Live Blogging - across on Fresh Air Tim Johns is doing a 24 hour radio day for Comic Relief. Some people may have heard me making a fool of myself on air yesterday for charity on Blind Date, which was a good laugh. So please, go to www.myrednoseday.com/radioday or go to http://www.freshair.org.uk/ and donate.
This morning, as part of his final three hours he has the EUSA Candidates on. Listening online and watching the webcam has proved for some very amusing moments. First off, congratulations Tim - you've got Josh & Adam in a room together. That's worth a donation itself.
After some 'interesting' questions (including one I got posed on Blind Date about rubber chickens, washing up liquid and a screw driver - which Josh answered much better than I did), we had an arm wrestle - make up your commentary, it was just very funny.
This morning, as part of his final three hours he has the EUSA Candidates on. Listening online and watching the webcam has proved for some very amusing moments. First off, congratulations Tim - you've got Josh & Adam in a room together. That's worth a donation itself.
After some 'interesting' questions (including one I got posed on Blind Date about rubber chickens, washing up liquid and a screw driver - which Josh answered much better than I did), we had an arm wrestle - make up your commentary, it was just very funny.
Thursday, 22 February 2007
News, Gossip and Rumours
A quick posting before I sleep, nearly 5 posts in one day should keep all those who read this blog happy!
Posters are coming up ... and down: Lots of candidates had their posters up today, including the first major tranche of posters from Kwan Ting Chan, Bruce Golding & Josh MacAlister, and a second batch of posters from Adam Ramsay. Photos to follow. However, the afternoon brought more disconcerting news as it appears that Josh's posters have come down in Pollock, whilst all the posters on the West and North sides of George Square suffered the same fate.
The Anti-Labour Webpage seems to be causing a stir, but at the same time are people just not bothered?
Manifesto Detail: One sources has told me that the reason that Josh is delaying his website's detailed manifesto because Adam hasn't been bothered to launch a proper website yet. However, this evening brings signs of a manifesto on Josh's site. Is Adam really bothered by a website or is he just relying on a P&P vote?
Real candidate gives his views: In what is surely a first in the EUSA Elections, Will Searle has decided to go with a web interview on YouTube (and syndicated through his website and Facebook group) to explain to people who is really is. A really new an innovative idea and something no other candidate can do without just seeming to be copying. No doubt this is a vote winner. Kudos where its due for the new idea.
Funny story of the day: I was in Tesco's this evening, which is itself not unusual. I was recognised by the check out assistant who thought I was standing in the elections - after I had corrected her (and told her she was a year late), she asked for my thoughts on this year's race. After mentioning some of the candidates she asked me about Tom & Adam .... asking if they are "always together" and if they are "together". I asked if she meant that they were working together on the same 'team'. Apparently not - she was asking if they were an item, because people only ever seem to see them together. Seems EUSA has its latest couple ...
Posters are coming up ... and down: Lots of candidates had their posters up today, including the first major tranche of posters from Kwan Ting Chan, Bruce Golding & Josh MacAlister, and a second batch of posters from Adam Ramsay. Photos to follow. However, the afternoon brought more disconcerting news as it appears that Josh's posters have come down in Pollock, whilst all the posters on the West and North sides of George Square suffered the same fate.
The Anti-Labour Webpage seems to be causing a stir, but at the same time are people just not bothered?
Manifesto Detail: One sources has told me that the reason that Josh is delaying his website's detailed manifesto because Adam hasn't been bothered to launch a proper website yet. However, this evening brings signs of a manifesto on Josh's site. Is Adam really bothered by a website or is he just relying on a P&P vote?
Real candidate gives his views: In what is surely a first in the EUSA Elections, Will Searle has decided to go with a web interview on YouTube (and syndicated through his website and Facebook group) to explain to people who is really is. A really new an innovative idea and something no other candidate can do without just seeming to be copying. No doubt this is a vote winner. Kudos where its due for the new idea.
Funny story of the day: I was in Tesco's this evening, which is itself not unusual. I was recognised by the check out assistant who thought I was standing in the elections - after I had corrected her (and told her she was a year late), she asked for my thoughts on this year's race. After mentioning some of the candidates she asked me about Tom & Adam .... asking if they are "always together" and if they are "together". I asked if she meant that they were working together on the same 'team'. Apparently not - she was asking if they were an item, because people only ever seem to see them together. Seems EUSA has its latest couple ...
Wednesday, 21 February 2007
Election Debate
I don't think the following has been made clear by the current Sabbaticals, and so I'm posting it here in the hope it can reach more people ... and if all the candidate put this in their respective Facebook Groups, then maybe it will have an impact.
Unlike in previous years where you could turn up and ask questions to the all candidates on the night, you can't do that in the debate, which quite frankly is a big loss. Instead you've got to think about your questions before you've heard any of them and then e-mail them to president@eusa.ed.ac.uk who will pick the best and use them in the questioning of the candidates.
A change ... now lets see if it is a good one.
Unlike in previous years where you could turn up and ask questions to the all candidates on the night, you can't do that in the debate, which quite frankly is a big loss. Instead you've got to think about your questions before you've heard any of them and then e-mail them to president@eusa.ed.ac.uk who will pick the best and use them in the questioning of the candidates.
A change ... now lets see if it is a good one.
Poster Politics (2)
Later on I'll do a serious post about posters. For now, the funny side.
With any candidate being persecuted for flyering during the quiz, there should surely be a Life of Brian joke added in here ... unfortunately, I'm not witty enough to make any.
Adam Ramsay's poster campaign hasn't moved on from when I last crossed the subject, but clearly there are people who think its worse than I do (for those who can't read it clearly - let me introduce Harry Potter & The Bad Election Campaign):
Better still, is Tom French. Tom's being supported by P&P in these elections, which makes this poster - seen outside Teviot - on Saturday night even more amusing:
Yes, P&P managed to stick one of their own posters on top of a Tom French campaign poster. Better still, the posters have "Defective by Design" in the top corner ... that's irony.
And a final point - don't annoy Johnny. Our resident Quiz Master likes keeping Politics out of the quizes:
With any candidate being persecuted for flyering during the quiz, there should surely be a Life of Brian joke added in here ... unfortunately, I'm not witty enough to make any.
Manifestos In
And so, with the manifestos in, the runners and riders have taken Beecher's Brook on the first circuit. (Admittedly this was at 4pm on Monday when the manifestos were published). For those who aren't fans of the Grand National, Beecher's Brook is a large fence, where the landing is upto 2 feet lower than the take off: for the horses its a leap into the unknown ... and for many of the candidates waiting to see what the opposition has put in as their pledges is that same leap.
Over the next few days I'll be reviewing the manifestos, comparing the content and giving my thoughts on what I feel is good ... and not good, about them. There'll also be more commentary on the websites.
Over the next few days I'll be reviewing the manifestos, comparing the content and giving my thoughts on what I feel is good ... and not good, about them. There'll also be more commentary on the websites.
Negativity & Labour
It had to happen at some point, and its a commentary I've been noting in my previous posts. Ruth Cameron noted on the EUSA Forums that a website has been set up with its explicit aim of "Stop Labour in EUSA": http://www.freewebs.com/stoplabourineusa
At this stage, I'd be interested in seeing what kind of momentum such a site will generate: the Stop People & Planet website got a real backing behind it and was clearly used by a number of people to influence the vote. Negative campaigning is here to stay ... one wonders if Ruth Cameron's decision to kick off the Anti-Boris/Anti-Tory campaign (notably supported by Josh & Adam) is where this all started.
One big can of worms opened ...
At this stage, I'd be interested in seeing what kind of momentum such a site will generate: the Stop People & Planet website got a real backing behind it and was clearly used by a number of people to influence the vote. Negative campaigning is here to stay ... one wonders if Ruth Cameron's decision to kick off the Anti-Boris/Anti-Tory campaign (notably supported by Josh & Adam) is where this all started.
One big can of worms opened ...
Looking at ... The Unions
After a three day hiatus in the posting on this blog (for which I apologise, but hey, this is my blog...), I'm back with more comment. Continuing the final bit of the triple post from Saturday, I'll take a look at the Unions - I'm not going to look at Manifestos in this post, that'll come later.
First up is the Senior Member. After last year's interesting race between Steven Hill and Peter McColl (8 more votes anyone?!), this year sees a three way race. Ben McNab is a regular to the Unions having spent much time in the last few years working on nights such as the Indie Club's Something for the Weekend in Teviot Underground. Up against him is the current incumbent Iain Murray. Iain's been on Committee of Management for the last three years, and apparently he was involved in the Unions before that. A stalwart of the Committee, Iain has seen it all before and maybe this will provide the crucial edge with the electorate. The third candidate is Paul O'Neill - his simple no nonsense approach to a website is very refreshing and might actually engage the voters. Paul comes with hands on Union experience as a bar staff in Pleasance and has worked two festivals. Each candidate has an edge - what makes it difficult is to work out which one will win.
Union Executive is a really quite tight battle. With originally 8 candidates going for 3 seats, the field has been slimmed down to 6, with Nick Ward & Ondrej Nenadl withdrawing. The 6 who remain will be involved in a slug fest: top of the ballot is Pete Harris - returning Sabb from Canada, who apparently wants your votes to secure his release from the mounties. If anyone has any sense, they'll give the mounties an award and leave him locked up! Stewart Martin is a perennial candidate, and his website isn't up as yet - my best guess would be more of the same.
Take out Ondrej, and you have Ellie Price - a returning candidate, elected as the first year representative in the by-elections: she's got a strong P&P background, which may explain why she is allegedly the founder of the paraody of this blog. Katherine Sellar - the newly returned Societies Convenor - also provides for an interesting element in the election: as President of FilmSoc she no doubt has some name recognition, which can't hinder her. George Thomas steps up to the plate as a first year and as the new Freshers' Week Co-ordinator ... rumours are abound about why he chose to stand, especially as his forms went in so late in the day. Completing the revised line up is James Wallace. As has been noted before, the much touted VPS campaign was pulled, and James is standing on what will no doubt be a mini-VPS ticket. Nick Ward has also decided to downsize, and is no longer contesting this one.
Committee of Management is a larger beast - 12 candidates, 3 positions. With Stewart Martin, Katherine Sellar & James Wallace both double ticketing (standing for this position & the one above), the field begins to shrink. I've said before that I'm not a fan of the current Sabbaticals returning to give the new Sabbs hell, and I'm also concerned about the possibility of them limiting the other candidates to even fewer seats and a smaller chance of election: Tim & Tim (Gee & Goodwin) obviously have a higher than normal chance with the name recognition alone. Tom French too will have a very large VPS campaign to support him in this in case he loses - but then I lost the CoM race in the final transfer despite being a Presidential candidate.
That leaves us with 6 candidates - topping them is Rosy Burgess. A very good friend of mine, Rosy is bar staff in Potterrow, and could bring a different spin to the 'politik' of the members of CoM that has taken place over the recent years - the amount of arguments I've lost with her over things, means she'd be no push over and the variety of different views means that it'd shake up the Committee. Stephen McFadden's candidature is an interesting man - also standing for T&L Convenor (like Ondrej) means that there could be a claim against them all of splitting their energies and focus. I can't claim to have heard of John McQuade and look forward to reading any interesting policies he has. The remaining two candidates are both "EUSA hacks" - Alasdair Thompson (taking the step down from Union Exec) and Nick Ward. As if tipifying the elections - one is Green and from the Adam Ramsay camp (Alasdair) and the other is Labour and from Josh's camp (Nick). Maybe that's where the battle will play out.
Rounding off the Unions are two elections in the Debates world. The staff can't remember the last time Debates Convenor was contested and the contest between the two - Ed James and Silviu Tanasie - could be a hard one to call. In the Debates Committee its 7 into 5, so election addresses will be the key point, as none have websites.
More commentary to follow.
First up is the Senior Member. After last year's interesting race between Steven Hill and Peter McColl (8 more votes anyone?!), this year sees a three way race. Ben McNab is a regular to the Unions having spent much time in the last few years working on nights such as the Indie Club's Something for the Weekend in Teviot Underground. Up against him is the current incumbent Iain Murray. Iain's been on Committee of Management for the last three years, and apparently he was involved in the Unions before that. A stalwart of the Committee, Iain has seen it all before and maybe this will provide the crucial edge with the electorate. The third candidate is Paul O'Neill - his simple no nonsense approach to a website is very refreshing and might actually engage the voters. Paul comes with hands on Union experience as a bar staff in Pleasance and has worked two festivals. Each candidate has an edge - what makes it difficult is to work out which one will win.
Union Executive is a really quite tight battle. With originally 8 candidates going for 3 seats, the field has been slimmed down to 6, with Nick Ward & Ondrej Nenadl withdrawing. The 6 who remain will be involved in a slug fest: top of the ballot is Pete Harris - returning Sabb from Canada, who apparently wants your votes to secure his release from the mounties. If anyone has any sense, they'll give the mounties an award and leave him locked up! Stewart Martin is a perennial candidate, and his website isn't up as yet - my best guess would be more of the same.
Take out Ondrej, and you have Ellie Price - a returning candidate, elected as the first year representative in the by-elections: she's got a strong P&P background, which may explain why she is allegedly the founder of the paraody of this blog. Katherine Sellar - the newly returned Societies Convenor - also provides for an interesting element in the election: as President of FilmSoc she no doubt has some name recognition, which can't hinder her. George Thomas steps up to the plate as a first year and as the new Freshers' Week Co-ordinator ... rumours are abound about why he chose to stand, especially as his forms went in so late in the day. Completing the revised line up is James Wallace. As has been noted before, the much touted VPS campaign was pulled, and James is standing on what will no doubt be a mini-VPS ticket. Nick Ward has also decided to downsize, and is no longer contesting this one.
Committee of Management is a larger beast - 12 candidates, 3 positions. With Stewart Martin, Katherine Sellar & James Wallace both double ticketing (standing for this position & the one above), the field begins to shrink. I've said before that I'm not a fan of the current Sabbaticals returning to give the new Sabbs hell, and I'm also concerned about the possibility of them limiting the other candidates to even fewer seats and a smaller chance of election: Tim & Tim (Gee & Goodwin) obviously have a higher than normal chance with the name recognition alone. Tom French too will have a very large VPS campaign to support him in this in case he loses - but then I lost the CoM race in the final transfer despite being a Presidential candidate.
That leaves us with 6 candidates - topping them is Rosy Burgess. A very good friend of mine, Rosy is bar staff in Potterrow, and could bring a different spin to the 'politik' of the members of CoM that has taken place over the recent years - the amount of arguments I've lost with her over things, means she'd be no push over and the variety of different views means that it'd shake up the Committee. Stephen McFadden's candidature is an interesting man - also standing for T&L Convenor (like Ondrej) means that there could be a claim against them all of splitting their energies and focus. I can't claim to have heard of John McQuade and look forward to reading any interesting policies he has. The remaining two candidates are both "EUSA hacks" - Alasdair Thompson (taking the step down from Union Exec) and Nick Ward. As if tipifying the elections - one is Green and from the Adam Ramsay camp (Alasdair) and the other is Labour and from Josh's camp (Nick). Maybe that's where the battle will play out.
Rounding off the Unions are two elections in the Debates world. The staff can't remember the last time Debates Convenor was contested and the contest between the two - Ed James and Silviu Tanasie - could be a hard one to call. In the Debates Committee its 7 into 5, so election addresses will be the key point, as none have websites.
More commentary to follow.
Monday, 19 February 2007
Updates
I know that this blog has achieved quasi-cult status in some quarters, and so I'm loathe to disappoint people with a lack of updates today (Sunday 18th). However, I'm wading through a pile of Uni Work (and other things ...), so some more posts will follow once the work is cleared later today and I've had some sleep.
Yes, sleep. I do in fact need some ....
Yes, sleep. I do in fact need some ....
Saturday, 17 February 2007
Looking at ... The SRC
Continuing on the theme of looking at the bits of the Students' Association, next on the ballot paper is the Students' Representative Council. Starting on a very poor note is the fact that three of the convenorships are uncontested.
Whilst I'm not surprised that Postgraduate Convenor (or the Maggie Chapman Memorial Seat as I've called it before) is uncontested. The fact that External and Academic Services are unchallenged bothers me. Had I not been graduating, Laura Baker would have faced a fight on her hands from me. I also struggle to believe that AS has no competition, whereas Teaching & Learning has 5 people standing - I realise the two are not equal, but it is a shame that possibly so many good candidates may miss out. I'm disappointed that Thomas Graham has got the job. As far as I'm concerned, he has shown a great deal of arrogance at the SRC this year (not least with his very personal attack on me in January - both uncalled for and unnecessary) and I worry how this will translate onto a role on the Executive of the SRC. Both Thomas & Laura are 1st years, and so how this will translate to a stable SRC Executive waits to be seen - and both (interestingly) are aligned with the Labour Students group: it's a point I'll come back to later.
The Teaching & Learning race is surely going to be very interesting. Emma Chapman (the current incumbent) who has done a job this year that was always going to be hard in the wake of Ross Neilson and Tim Cobbett, takes on four young pretenders. Leah Volger - despite only being a candidate for two days - is the one I have heard the most chat about. And despite us all wanting to be an issue about the issues, all I have heard so far is about her looks - even Emma commented that this what she had heard. Clearly it is going to be a vote winner with the men, and noting how few female candidates there are this year, this could be a focal point. Still looking beyond Emma & Leah, the three candidates are all well versed in EUSA. Stephen's (also coming from the Labour camp) website is straight to the point, as is Ondrej, whereas Stewart's site is still to come. With so much at stake, one of these candidates will be looking to step forward soon.
Welfare Convenor is also looking like a very messy race. On the EUSA Forums there is plenty of discussion and mud slinging going on. It appears that Nick (Labour camp) and Adam are taking pot shots at each other through the medium of their supporters. I can't claim to have read either websites in detail or the forum thread, but Adam's simple snappy website (complete with requisite puns) takes on a very airy fairy website from Nick - he seems to be more interested in photos that policy. SRC Editor is an election between SRC stalwart, Guy Bromley (Labour camp) and Ross Cullen. I don't know anything about Ross, and the lack of website plays very well for Guy - although his site is just a shell currently. It'll need more progress from both candidates before people will really care.
In the officers section, Accommodation is a three-way battle and includes Greta Dargie who went up against Grant Management. Simple name recognition could do the trick here, although it has to be noted that her two opponents - Sam Hansford and Fiona Jarvie - both have websites to help their support and campaign.
Community Officer - well I've mentioned that I think Joe Calvert's candidacy is a joke, because people who haven't done anything shouldn't be re-elected. Joe hasn't done anything and it beggars belief that he's standing again. With both Jude Harrison & Sarah Nash, I simply don't know enough about them. I've heard that Jude either sits in the Tom/Adam camp or the Josh/Labour camp, but I'm not qualified enough to say which - although I think it may be the later, as Joe seems to be supporting Tom, and I doubt Tom/Adam would allow two of "their people" to stand against each other. Either way, manifestos will be important.
Equal Ops Officer - a position that was to be done away with in the Constitutional Amendments that have twice not been passed by a quorate General Meeting - is also a three-way contest. All seem to be supporting the same sort of ideals and I'd be interested in anything any of them can say which is fresh and new.
Down the School Reps list, elections are taking place in Biological Sciences (only two candidates have website, but all are in the same year), History & Classics (with Ben Politowski putting in his parachute here), Law (with a massive 5 candidates), Management & Economics (with an even more massive 6 candidates), "Philosophy, Psychology & Language" (with 5 candidates) and Social & Politics studies (with Josh MacAllister also putting in his parachute). Pleasingly, every school bar one has a representative.
The real battle will be in the Ordinary member elections - inevitably with such a large field (some 30 candidates), there is a lot of double ticketing. A quick glance of the candidates show that something like a third of them are standing elsewhere on the SRC ballot, which dramatically shrinks the voting field (obviously something we will only find out post election). Also in the mix are four current/past sabbaticals, which will have its own dynamic on the electoral result.
With so many elections, Thursday 1st March's count looks to stretch long into the night.
Looking at ... The Association (Sabbs)
So with the nominations closed, and whilst the candidates are furiously working away touching up their manifestos before the Monday deadline, and everyone pouring over the details in everyone else's battle plans, now is the time to consider the election at hand. Who's standing, what does the initial out look mean, and the rest.
So President first. Well, whilst I'd like to suggest it would be a three way battle, Adam & Josh do have the front running ground. Josh's teaser campaign might leave it late for him to show who he really is, but I've no idea if there are sufficient hits to his website to make up for this. Adam's website is "still coming" (I was in this position last year, so won't throw too many stones), but it does currently look like an extention of the Mark Ballard factory. It looks tacky, and compared with what has been so far a very poor poster campaign (more of which later), it must be hurting. Chris Williams - well, who is Chris? No website. No posters - although there are some rumours circulating about why. Chris however has one key advantage - no political slime that comes with Josh or Adam. If he can get a message out to the voters that he doesn't have the messy political background of the two "heavy hitters" this may play well with people who are sick of EUSA hacks.
Vice President Academic Affairs comes next. It is still very difficult to split any of these candidates. KT's website is now online, and is looking very smart and sleek. No posters are up as yet, but the website makes up for this - especially a very interesting section showing his comparative perfomance against the other candidates. Anna's site is more bare bones still - flash driven, it'll no doubt annoy a few people, but it does lack in content. Bruce's site is also now online, and is very simple, but very effective. There's a lot of stuff about Bruce and its presented in a simple easy manner (like KT's) which will make a lot of people a lot happier. Ben's site is moving slowly, and now includes the yellow used in the Joshesque Teaser posters.
Vice President Services - well this is where it gets dirty. Tom French seems to be having a go at anyone and everyone on the EUSA forums, and whilst this won't play out on a larger scale, the more people that become interested in the elections the more will find out. His website is up, and it is already causing controversy. There is so much on this that needs discussing, I'm not sure where I should start, so this time round I'm going to simply say that using photos of Tom and current Sabbs almost seems like endorsement from them (especially on the front page), and that using supporting quotes makes it seem like the hard sell. I'm not sure. Stuart on the other hand looks to be winning a softer kind of vote, with his interesting slogan. I've seen some of the forthcoming publicity, which does look interesting and could be a vote winner - how good it is can't be judged yet, and if it really will engage people at all is more difficult to guess. However, Tom & Stuart are ahead of Chris Arnold, who's website isn't up as yet, but is promised by this weekend, along with a manifesto thereafter. However - much like the other Chris - if it is a non-political student people want, then Chris is the choice. However much Tom bleets on about not being a Labour member, the choice is stark between "Green-Labour" (Tom), "Tory-Labour" (Stuart) or something non-Labour, non-party poltical.
Vice President Societies & Activities is probably the most difficult to really work out. Gordon's website is still coming - all we have is all we've seen for nearly two weeks with "Flash Gordon". Will Searle may have stolen a slight lead with a fresh looking, very different website. Although not much is there, it looks a lot cleaner, and I can imagine some content will bring it to life.
Societies Convenor has been returned unopposed, which means Katherine Sellar won't have a tough race like Tom French & Steven Lauder did last year. That means no surprises either.
Finance Committee is a mixture. For the first time in years, there is an election for Senior Member of Finance Committee, and with the previous post holder no longer able to stand, the man who took his place at the Bye Elections will face off against the Sabbatical who is probably disliked the most in recent times. Neil versus Tim Cobbett will be interesting - as I've said before the influence on "Diana" on this election will be a deal breaker. What is really disappointing is that for the Finance Student Members, there are only 5 people standing, compared with 10 last year. There's a distinct lack of Sabbatical candidates taking this as 'fall-back' option and so this will be a tight race.
This being the top of ballot, there's going to be an awful lot of development and it will no doubt happen very quickly.
So President first. Well, whilst I'd like to suggest it would be a three way battle, Adam & Josh do have the front running ground. Josh's teaser campaign might leave it late for him to show who he really is, but I've no idea if there are sufficient hits to his website to make up for this. Adam's website is "still coming" (I was in this position last year, so won't throw too many stones), but it does currently look like an extention of the Mark Ballard factory. It looks tacky, and compared with what has been so far a very poor poster campaign (more of which later), it must be hurting. Chris Williams - well, who is Chris? No website. No posters - although there are some rumours circulating about why. Chris however has one key advantage - no political slime that comes with Josh or Adam. If he can get a message out to the voters that he doesn't have the messy political background of the two "heavy hitters" this may play well with people who are sick of EUSA hacks.
Vice President Academic Affairs comes next. It is still very difficult to split any of these candidates. KT's website is now online, and is looking very smart and sleek. No posters are up as yet, but the website makes up for this - especially a very interesting section showing his comparative perfomance against the other candidates. Anna's site is more bare bones still - flash driven, it'll no doubt annoy a few people, but it does lack in content. Bruce's site is also now online, and is very simple, but very effective. There's a lot of stuff about Bruce and its presented in a simple easy manner (like KT's) which will make a lot of people a lot happier. Ben's site is moving slowly, and now includes the yellow used in the Joshesque Teaser posters.
Vice President Services - well this is where it gets dirty. Tom French seems to be having a go at anyone and everyone on the EUSA forums, and whilst this won't play out on a larger scale, the more people that become interested in the elections the more will find out. His website is up, and it is already causing controversy. There is so much on this that needs discussing, I'm not sure where I should start, so this time round I'm going to simply say that using photos of Tom and current Sabbs almost seems like endorsement from them (especially on the front page), and that using supporting quotes makes it seem like the hard sell. I'm not sure. Stuart on the other hand looks to be winning a softer kind of vote, with his interesting slogan. I've seen some of the forthcoming publicity, which does look interesting and could be a vote winner - how good it is can't be judged yet, and if it really will engage people at all is more difficult to guess. However, Tom & Stuart are ahead of Chris Arnold, who's website isn't up as yet, but is promised by this weekend, along with a manifesto thereafter. However - much like the other Chris - if it is a non-political student people want, then Chris is the choice. However much Tom bleets on about not being a Labour member, the choice is stark between "Green-Labour" (Tom), "Tory-Labour" (Stuart) or something non-Labour, non-party poltical.
Vice President Societies & Activities is probably the most difficult to really work out. Gordon's website is still coming - all we have is all we've seen for nearly two weeks with "Flash Gordon". Will Searle may have stolen a slight lead with a fresh looking, very different website. Although not much is there, it looks a lot cleaner, and I can imagine some content will bring it to life.
Societies Convenor has been returned unopposed, which means Katherine Sellar won't have a tough race like Tom French & Steven Lauder did last year. That means no surprises either.
Finance Committee is a mixture. For the first time in years, there is an election for Senior Member of Finance Committee, and with the previous post holder no longer able to stand, the man who took his place at the Bye Elections will face off against the Sabbatical who is probably disliked the most in recent times. Neil versus Tim Cobbett will be interesting - as I've said before the influence on "Diana" on this election will be a deal breaker. What is really disappointing is that for the Finance Student Members, there are only 5 people standing, compared with 10 last year. There's a distinct lack of Sabbatical candidates taking this as 'fall-back' option and so this will be a tight race.
This being the top of ballot, there's going to be an awful lot of development and it will no doubt happen very quickly.
And the tape's up ...
So the field has been finalised, the starter has let them off and the tape's up as the runners and riders head off "into the country" on the first bit of this marathon race. (I promised a Grand National analogy every now and again - if anyone has any ideas how I can work in 'Open Ditch', 'Beecher's Brook', 'The Chair' or 'The Water Jump' let me know ...).
Taking a look at the bare numbers makes for an interesting comparison:
174 Candidatures this year, down from 181 last year
109 Candidates standing this year, down from 110 last year
25 Positions Elected, equal to the 25 Positions last year
50 Seats Contested, up from 47 Seats Contested last year
31 Seats left vacant, up from 21 Seats left vacant last year
From this, it seems that not much has changed in the top few lines (in fact, considering I stood last year for 5 candidatures, the stats are near enough identical). The only real disappointment is the fact that there has been a 50% rise in seats left vacant this year, because there is more competition in certain areas than ever before. I'm sure the Association Exec (the Sabbs) will feel disappointed that so many more seats are left unfilled, but they can be pleased that involvement in the elections hasn't significantly dropped: after all, last year's election came on the back of a pretty divisive EUSA anti-Tory/anti-Boris campaign which enraged a lot of people to the extent they stood.
The list of extra candidates on the last day is too numerous to mention here, but its interesting to see that there are elections in areas where you wouldn't expect it - like Senior Member of Finance, Senior Member of Committee of Management, Debates Committee and Debates Convenor.
And for those of you who were trying to work out how many Ordinary Members of SRC were going to stand - the answer is 32 (although one is now elected elsewhere, and one has withdrawn). Time to start working out your top 30 in order ...
Taking a look at the bare numbers makes for an interesting comparison:
174 Candidatures this year, down from 181 last year
109 Candidates standing this year, down from 110 last year
25 Positions Elected, equal to the 25 Positions last year
50 Seats Contested, up from 47 Seats Contested last year
31 Seats left vacant, up from 21 Seats left vacant last year
From this, it seems that not much has changed in the top few lines (in fact, considering I stood last year for 5 candidatures, the stats are near enough identical). The only real disappointment is the fact that there has been a 50% rise in seats left vacant this year, because there is more competition in certain areas than ever before. I'm sure the Association Exec (the Sabbs) will feel disappointed that so many more seats are left unfilled, but they can be pleased that involvement in the elections hasn't significantly dropped: after all, last year's election came on the back of a pretty divisive EUSA anti-Tory/anti-Boris campaign which enraged a lot of people to the extent they stood.
The list of extra candidates on the last day is too numerous to mention here, but its interesting to see that there are elections in areas where you wouldn't expect it - like Senior Member of Finance, Senior Member of Committee of Management, Debates Committee and Debates Convenor.
And for those of you who were trying to work out how many Ordinary Members of SRC were going to stand - the answer is 32 (although one is now elected elsewhere, and one has withdrawn). Time to start working out your top 30 in order ...
Thursday, 15 February 2007
Top Gear Thursday - Hour One
Without a lecture this morning, I've just had a look at the EUSA Election Site, and it appears a very busy first hour this morning.
No new Sabbatical candidates, but there are some key additions to the field, as the candidatures pass the 100 figure. On the SRC Exec, the Teaching & Learning field becomes more crowded and even more competitive, by the addition of Leah Volger. Noting herself as the international candidate, the German-American lists her past times and a number of photos. The cynic in me says that this could be interesting for the male vote splitting between Emma and Leah. But then, I'm not that much of a cynic ....
Greta Dargie, who last week brought the Grant Management motion to the General Meeting (or the GM Motion to the GM, as one man from Student put it to me) stands for Accommodation Officer ... surely this is a sure vote winner, and this is someone who really is going to be getting involved.
Societies Secretary has seen it go from no candidates to two in under an hour ... but the issue on most EUSA people's mind is the return of Tim Cobbett. Standing for Senior Member on Finance against the current incumbent, this could be an interesting election. Anyone for the umpteenth Diana bid?
No new Sabbatical candidates, but there are some key additions to the field, as the candidatures pass the 100 figure. On the SRC Exec, the Teaching & Learning field becomes more crowded and even more competitive, by the addition of Leah Volger. Noting herself as the international candidate, the German-American lists her past times and a number of photos. The cynic in me says that this could be interesting for the male vote splitting between Emma and Leah. But then, I'm not that much of a cynic ....
Greta Dargie, who last week brought the Grant Management motion to the General Meeting (or the GM Motion to the GM, as one man from Student put it to me) stands for Accommodation Officer ... surely this is a sure vote winner, and this is someone who really is going to be getting involved.
Societies Secretary has seen it go from no candidates to two in under an hour ... but the issue on most EUSA people's mind is the return of Tim Cobbett. Standing for Senior Member on Finance against the current incumbent, this could be an interesting election. Anyone for the umpteenth Diana bid?
Election Distraction
For anyone who's reading this blog, and especially for the candidates - I spent two hours this evening laughing very hard at the new Simon Pegg & Nick Frost movie, Hot Fuzz. If you enjoyed Shuan of the Dead, its funnier. If you didn't enjoy Shaun of the Dead, its less gory and much more funny. Don't believe the Student review - its much better than the 2 stars they gave it ....
It is such a good film, and there are so many jokes - complete distraction and a good break from the heady world of EUSA Elections ... take a break and go and relax.
It is such a good film, and there are so many jokes - complete distraction and a good break from the heady world of EUSA Elections ... take a break and go and relax.
Closing Soon - Final Furlong (1)
With less than 10 hours til nominations close and the runners & riders are confirmed for the second part (lap?) of the marathon that is the EUSA Elections, I'll be genuinely interested to see if there are any more big name nominations, or just anything that will cause a stir. With James Wallace out of the VPS race (a fact that I was asked not to mention immediately, so that he could make the announcement first to his team/supporters), I wonder if there are actually going to be any more Sabbatical candidates.
Let's hope that there are more people standing, that the SRC seats get filled, and that we have some genuine contests in some areas.
Let's hope that there are more people standing, that the SRC seats get filled, and that we have some genuine contests in some areas.
Wednesday, 14 February 2007
Improper Conduct - Update
I'm led to believe the investigations into the two candidates are ongoing, and as such I'm not going to comment on that. What I do want to say here, publically, is that I hope the Returning Officer takes a strong stance, and does his job properly. All too often there have been complaints of weak action, weak responses or just ignoring the problem.
If we are going to have a free and fair election, then we need a strong Returning Officer who isn't going to tolerate any rule breaking. And this must happen each and every time a rule is broken. Whoever the candidate is.
If we are going to have a free and fair election, then we need a strong Returning Officer who isn't going to tolerate any rule breaking. And this must happen each and every time a rule is broken. Whoever the candidate is.
Quiet Wednesday
Traditionally the last day and a half of the elections is when it really hots up. Really really hots up. More candidates stand. More people are nominated. Not today however - just a mere 7 candidates.
The biggest news from today is Chris Arnold - http://www.freewebs.com/chrisarnold - standing for VPS. A Potterrow regular, Chris is someone I know very well from my work in Accommodation Services. VPS now has a "non-EUSA" candidate which will really shake up the elections. Tom French & Stuart MacLennan now have some opposition which 'ordinary, non-EUSA' people might well connect with and steal crucial votes. Chris can also tap into the lucrative 1st Year voting market, and this will be a shaping factor in the elections.
Elsewhere its been a quiet day, and I have to say I am really surprised at why people aren't standing. With nominations closing 4 hrs earlier than normal, are there going to be lots of seats unfilled in the SRC? That would really be a disappointment, and I hope that the push of me and others to get these seats filled does pay off.
A footnote to this is something that was pointed out to me by a friend. As things stand, there is only 1 female candidate for Sabbatical. Looking down the list, there are moderately few female candidates. Now, this isn't something that is going to deeply scratch my soul: I've always believed that the best candidates will make up their own decision to stand, and will do so regardless of gender or any other discriminator. I'm only mentioning this here, because someone else mentioned it to me, and it may spark some debate or interest.
The main message is this: if you aren't standing, and think you might want to, then do. You'll only regret not getting involved. The clock is ticking - forms are available online at the EUSA Election site, and nominations close at 12noon sharp. Get involved.
The biggest news from today is Chris Arnold - http://www.freewebs.com/chrisarnold - standing for VPS. A Potterrow regular, Chris is someone I know very well from my work in Accommodation Services. VPS now has a "non-EUSA" candidate which will really shake up the elections. Tom French & Stuart MacLennan now have some opposition which 'ordinary, non-EUSA' people might well connect with and steal crucial votes. Chris can also tap into the lucrative 1st Year voting market, and this will be a shaping factor in the elections.
Elsewhere its been a quiet day, and I have to say I am really surprised at why people aren't standing. With nominations closing 4 hrs earlier than normal, are there going to be lots of seats unfilled in the SRC? That would really be a disappointment, and I hope that the push of me and others to get these seats filled does pay off.
A footnote to this is something that was pointed out to me by a friend. As things stand, there is only 1 female candidate for Sabbatical. Looking down the list, there are moderately few female candidates. Now, this isn't something that is going to deeply scratch my soul: I've always believed that the best candidates will make up their own decision to stand, and will do so regardless of gender or any other discriminator. I'm only mentioning this here, because someone else mentioned it to me, and it may spark some debate or interest.
The main message is this: if you aren't standing, and think you might want to, then do. You'll only regret not getting involved. The clock is ticking - forms are available online at the EUSA Election site, and nominations close at 12noon sharp. Get involved.
Tuesday, 13 February 2007
Improper Conduct?
Didn't really take long did it? Just under a week and the first serious allegations are in to the Returning Officer, regarding one of the candidates. Apparently there has been a number of rules broken - and whilst the investigation against this candidate is ongoing, I'm not going to name and shame.
But those who've been involved in EUSA politics for a while will not be surprised that this candidate has broken the rules - I hear that odds were being quoted on the candidate being DQ'd.
Also (and as an aside), I hear that this blog is being parodied by a member of P&P who's not too fond of me ... any truth in this? Feel free to comment!
But those who've been involved in EUSA politics for a while will not be surprised that this candidate has broken the rules - I hear that odds were being quoted on the candidate being DQ'd.
Also (and as an aside), I hear that this blog is being parodied by a member of P&P who's not too fond of me ... any truth in this? Feel free to comment!
Quirky Tuesday
If Monday was busy, Tuesday was definitely quieter. With the main 'action' happening in the Law Council, it was only the very end of the day that brough some 'real' action with a bit of a surprise.
Chris Williams (previously of Student Newspaper) fame, is standing for President. No website as yet, so a trip to the paper's website shows some very varied and quite interesting commentary on a variety of issues. Some of my sources are suggesting he is running as a joke candidate, but could this be the person that people who hate Labour, hate P&P/Green or hate "political students"/"EUSA Hacks", turn to? Or will there be another Presidential candidate? Word has it that there could well be - and I'm quite interested in what's still to come. Student issues have to come first, and I was worried that if it was just "Red" Josh v. "Green" Adam, politics would be the only thing discussed.
Finance Committee now has an election (including Guy Bromley now involved ... can he do better than his poor performance in this last year?).
The only two other interesting nominees are Peter Harris - who was promised yesterday - will be standing for the SRC Ordinary positions (further worrying me about Old Sabbs taking over the 'ordinary' positions) and Emma Chapman making a brave move for re-election. It's not often that you see Convenors take a second bite of the cherry (except Maggie Chapman, but that's a different story), and she is moving into a very crowded election. How many T&L issues are there?
Less than 12hrs of the EUSA office being opened before nominations close. What shocks are in store?
Chris Williams (previously of Student Newspaper) fame, is standing for President. No website as yet, so a trip to the paper's website shows some very varied and quite interesting commentary on a variety of issues. Some of my sources are suggesting he is running as a joke candidate, but could this be the person that people who hate Labour, hate P&P/Green or hate "political students"/"EUSA Hacks", turn to? Or will there be another Presidential candidate? Word has it that there could well be - and I'm quite interested in what's still to come. Student issues have to come first, and I was worried that if it was just "Red" Josh v. "Green" Adam, politics would be the only thing discussed.
Finance Committee now has an election (including Guy Bromley now involved ... can he do better than his poor performance in this last year?).
The only two other interesting nominees are Peter Harris - who was promised yesterday - will be standing for the SRC Ordinary positions (further worrying me about Old Sabbs taking over the 'ordinary' positions) and Emma Chapman making a brave move for re-election. It's not often that you see Convenors take a second bite of the cherry (except Maggie Chapman, but that's a different story), and she is moving into a very crowded election. How many T&L issues are there?
Less than 12hrs of the EUSA office being opened before nominations close. What shocks are in store?
Monday, 12 February 2007
Poster Politics
This year, the posters from two candidates have gone up earlier and at a speed I've not seen before. With 10 Sabbatical Candidates declared, I thought I'd have an early look at the posters.
First up the Presidential duo. Josh is running a teaser campaign - this evening saw his second run of teasers on red half (or third) A3. Simple posters, which now suggest Smart Thinking. Cheap Drinking going to be the next ones?
First up the Presidential duo. Josh is running a teaser campaign - this evening saw his second run of teasers on red half (or third) A3. Simple posters, which now suggest Smart Thinking. Cheap Drinking going to be the next ones?
Compare and contrast with Adam Ramsay's #1 for something-or-other. Printed on white paper, I have to say they are a little dull, and I'm surprised Adam isn't going green with his Green Party Credentials to match Josh's Labour Red.
Adam's posters are a mug shot, and a bad one at that - much like my election publicity from last year. They also seem to suggest he is God's gift to the electorate by being #1 at everything. I do wonder how many of his posters there are. They also seem to be up everywhere, including in Pollock Halls where he covered every lamp post on Sunday late afternoon. They seemed to be doing less well in the overnight rain.
Anna Davidson has indeed gone for the pretty girl image on her VPAA posters - although they seem heavily photoshopped and the image quality seems to suffer from it.
Tom French - well his posters are across the whole of the central area and they seem to have 101 different pledges on them. For a VPS candidate, its interesting to see they are all set infront of the non-Union building that is McEwan Hall. I think people are going to get quickly bored of the posters, and I wonder if he's got more of them than he knows what to do with.
3 weeks is a long time in poster politics.
Busy Monday
The Second week of nominations seems to have opened with a big bang, with 20 candidatures from 10 candidates going in for a variety of positions across the scale. This first post will cover the new additions to the runners and riders (makes me sound a bit like Peter O'Sullivan before the Grand National - its an analogy I'm sure I can work in many times in the next three weeks).
First up, at the 'top of the ballot' Will Searle (VPSA Candidate) has a Website up - http://www.willsearle.110mb.com/ - although its currently a holding page, with the interesting slogan of Give EUSA the Searle of Approval. Opposite him in the 'red corner' is Gordon, whose Facebook Group (this year's must have accessory) tells us that his website is "nearing completion". More on Facebook Groups later.
Also near the top of the ballot is the first Finance Committee candidates. Traditionally a hot contest, this year its been a slow start but now there are two candidates - Jonathan Hogg (also standing for PG Convenor) and Ondrej Nenadl who's involved in a busy T&L race within the SRC seats. As we get closer to the close of nominations, I'd expect this race to become very crowded with Sabb candidates and other EUSA Hacks filling the spaces.
SRC Executive hasn't really moved on from last week, with the exception of Jonathan Hogg taking over the Maggie Chapman Memorial Seat as PG Convenor - I don't expect there to be a fight for this seat, but stranger things have happened. Time will tell, I suppose. Across on the EUSA Forums Tim Gee seems to have issued a flat denial that he will stand for SRC Editor, and I await with interest if that is the case when the fat lady sings at noon on Thursday.
SRC itself has a slew of nominations - with Rosy Burgess in Bio Science Rep & Ordinary Member, Stephen Allison in Law Rep & Ordinary Member, Hannah Crichlow for Ordinary Member. What is most interesting however is that Tash Shotton and Tim Gee have both decided to stand for Ordinary Rep. With the rumour on the grapevine that Tim Goodwin will be joining them in standing, the three Sabbs look likely to be returned to the SRC next year: and the debate continues to rage about Sabbs continuing to get involved post-term in Office. I'm more concerned that if they take 3 of the Ordinary Member seats, it leaves only 7 for other students, which is not ideal at all. Having said that, looking as things currently stand a number of the candidates would be returned elsewhere. With the number standing at 13, what's the latest in the sweepstake?
In many people's eyes they are the minor elections, and currently the School Councils have only attacted 4 candidatures from 3 candidates - whether this will pick up waits to be seen.
Down at the bottom of the ballot is the Unions, and here there is also looking likely to be more 'old-Sabb' involvement, because Peter Harris is back from his year in Canada (don't you wish they just kept him there?) and is standing for UnionExec. Rumour is that his 'election agent' is Tim Gee (conspiracy, anyone?), who is standing for CoM. I get the feeling that whoever next year's VPS is will have a tough time of it. Also standing for CoM is Rosy Burgess (who works at Potterrow) and for both CoM and Union Exec, James Wallace is throwing his hat into the ring. It is interesting to see how many people are 'double ticketing' for CoM and Union Exec, a point covered before and on the EUSA forums.
With 2.5 days left, its cetainly becoming more interesting.
First up, at the 'top of the ballot' Will Searle (VPSA Candidate) has a Website up - http://www.willsearle.110mb.com/ - although its currently a holding page, with the interesting slogan of Give EUSA the Searle of Approval. Opposite him in the 'red corner' is Gordon, whose Facebook Group (this year's must have accessory) tells us that his website is "nearing completion". More on Facebook Groups later.
Also near the top of the ballot is the first Finance Committee candidates. Traditionally a hot contest, this year its been a slow start but now there are two candidates - Jonathan Hogg (also standing for PG Convenor) and Ondrej Nenadl who's involved in a busy T&L race within the SRC seats. As we get closer to the close of nominations, I'd expect this race to become very crowded with Sabb candidates and other EUSA Hacks filling the spaces.
SRC Executive hasn't really moved on from last week, with the exception of Jonathan Hogg taking over the Maggie Chapman Memorial Seat as PG Convenor - I don't expect there to be a fight for this seat, but stranger things have happened. Time will tell, I suppose. Across on the EUSA Forums Tim Gee seems to have issued a flat denial that he will stand for SRC Editor, and I await with interest if that is the case when the fat lady sings at noon on Thursday.
SRC itself has a slew of nominations - with Rosy Burgess in Bio Science Rep & Ordinary Member, Stephen Allison in Law Rep & Ordinary Member, Hannah Crichlow for Ordinary Member. What is most interesting however is that Tash Shotton and Tim Gee have both decided to stand for Ordinary Rep. With the rumour on the grapevine that Tim Goodwin will be joining them in standing, the three Sabbs look likely to be returned to the SRC next year: and the debate continues to rage about Sabbs continuing to get involved post-term in Office. I'm more concerned that if they take 3 of the Ordinary Member seats, it leaves only 7 for other students, which is not ideal at all. Having said that, looking as things currently stand a number of the candidates would be returned elsewhere. With the number standing at 13, what's the latest in the sweepstake?
In many people's eyes they are the minor elections, and currently the School Councils have only attacted 4 candidatures from 3 candidates - whether this will pick up waits to be seen.
Down at the bottom of the ballot is the Unions, and here there is also looking likely to be more 'old-Sabb' involvement, because Peter Harris is back from his year in Canada (don't you wish they just kept him there?) and is standing for UnionExec. Rumour is that his 'election agent' is Tim Gee (conspiracy, anyone?), who is standing for CoM. I get the feeling that whoever next year's VPS is will have a tough time of it. Also standing for CoM is Rosy Burgess (who works at Potterrow) and for both CoM and Union Exec, James Wallace is throwing his hat into the ring. It is interesting to see how many people are 'double ticketing' for CoM and Union Exec, a point covered before and on the EUSA forums.
With 2.5 days left, its cetainly becoming more interesting.
Sunday, 11 February 2007
After One Week ...
Firstly, thanks to the number of people who have started reading this blog, and also to those who have given me some comments on it ... I'm glad people are reading it, and also finding out more. In an ideal world, I'd like to see these elections with a great turn out, and I hope that in some small way, this blog will help it.
So one week of the four is down. Its been quite a week it seems for all the candidates, and I hope that the remaining four days of nominations will brings lots of nominations from people across the spectrum. I've heard rumours of another two presidential candidates, another two VPS candidates, and lots of people who are thinking of standing elsewhere. Let's see what this brings.
I'm sure there are lots of people who are already shaping their voting patterns, their agendas and their manifestos. This Blog will look at the candidates in each of the main elections, comment more on the voting trends that may be occurring, and also will look in depth at some of the key players in the election.
Keep the comments coming in - the next 18 days are going to be a bumpy ride.
So one week of the four is down. Its been quite a week it seems for all the candidates, and I hope that the remaining four days of nominations will brings lots of nominations from people across the spectrum. I've heard rumours of another two presidential candidates, another two VPS candidates, and lots of people who are thinking of standing elsewhere. Let's see what this brings.
I'm sure there are lots of people who are already shaping their voting patterns, their agendas and their manifestos. This Blog will look at the candidates in each of the main elections, comment more on the voting trends that may be occurring, and also will look in depth at some of the key players in the election.
Keep the comments coming in - the next 18 days are going to be a bumpy ride.
Saturday, 10 February 2007
Burning too early?
Most people know that Adam Ramsay & Tom French have forged a 'strategic' alliance - some have even commented that Tom made his pact with Adam after agreeing not to run against Adam for President, as long as Adam (and P&P) pulled Alasdair Thompson from the VPS race to give Tom a clear run.
I'm just intrigued at how soon these two have started: Tom was flyering outside the EUSA GM on Wednesday and their posters are already up. Tom sent an e-mail to societies on Friday night asking them to tell their members about him. Their posters are up in George Square earlier.
I'm just intrigued at how soon these two have started: Tom was flyering outside the EUSA GM on Wednesday and their posters are already up. Tom sent an e-mail to societies on Friday night asking them to tell their members about him. Their posters are up in George Square earlier.
(Apologies for the poor quality photo - it gets the point across)
Will they run out of resources soon?
A Week is a Long time ... (Unions)
Most of the chat within the Union elections (see EUSA Forum) is about multiple candidtures. All 5 people standing are standing for senior positions elsewhere in the Association (SRC Executive/Soc Convenor), and you've got to wonder about publicity budgets, and what they really want to commit to.
I'll be the first to admit that I've stood for SRC Exec and Unions at the same time, and have (in my many defeats) submitted candidtures for both Committee of Management and Union Exec, so whilst I shouldn't throw stones in glass houses, I will. Its not ideal to have people standing for both - remember last year Union Exec were returned unopposed - but could this be people really wanting to get involved in the way the Unions run, both day-to-day and strategic. It is very difficult to postulate when I haven't seen the manifestos and what appears online currently is either non-existent or very little.
It will be a debate that won't die soon.
I'll be the first to admit that I've stood for SRC Exec and Unions at the same time, and have (in my many defeats) submitted candidtures for both Committee of Management and Union Exec, so whilst I shouldn't throw stones in glass houses, I will. Its not ideal to have people standing for both - remember last year Union Exec were returned unopposed - but could this be people really wanting to get involved in the way the Unions run, both day-to-day and strategic. It is very difficult to postulate when I haven't seen the manifestos and what appears online currently is either non-existent or very little.
It will be a debate that won't die soon.
A Week is a Long time ... (SRC)
Whilst the Association Exec seems to be ticking along, the SRC jobs also appear to be filling up.
The SRC Exec has a number of candidates (many of the Labour ilk it appears), with some interesting rumours abound. Take SRC Editor - currently two candidates: Guy Bromley and Ross Cullen. The word on the vine (if you listen to certain sources - and remember this Blog is just putting all the information it hears out there) is that Guy was told not to stand for VPAA this year as the field is crowded, and no one would want a Labour Slate ... which is interesting seeing as Bruce Golding is now standing. Listen more closely and you'll hear that Tim Gee is wanting to stand for this position too - firstly because he isn't too fond of Guy, and also because he likes being on Exec. This brings up an interesting debate in how much former Sabbs should be getting involved within the Association - should they be giving their successors more room to breathe?
T&L Convenor is also getting busy: 3 candidates so far, and having spoken to the current incumbent (Emma Chapman), it appears that she will run too. This is sure to be a technical race, as the candidates all appear to be qualified in various ways, and all have different skills. I'd be interested to read the manifestos.
I'd be disappointed if Nick Ward, Thomas Graham and Laura Baker all get an upposed race, as we need real debate. Laura and Thomas are first years, and I'd contest that they may not be the best people for such a job, especially Laura for External. However, I'll wait to pass judgement until I know more.
On the officers, the most interesting is Community Officer. Now, I'm going to be blunt here: what has Joe Calvert done? He appears to have done nothing in the SRC all year, and so I'm going to ask - why is he standing again? I'm not Joe's biggest fan (cards on the table and all), but seriously, why? His opponents could be very able to challenge him, and again mainfestos should make for a competitive election.
I'm also tempted to start a sweep on the number of SRC Ordinary Candidates.
The SRC Exec has a number of candidates (many of the Labour ilk it appears), with some interesting rumours abound. Take SRC Editor - currently two candidates: Guy Bromley and Ross Cullen. The word on the vine (if you listen to certain sources - and remember this Blog is just putting all the information it hears out there) is that Guy was told not to stand for VPAA this year as the field is crowded, and no one would want a Labour Slate ... which is interesting seeing as Bruce Golding is now standing. Listen more closely and you'll hear that Tim Gee is wanting to stand for this position too - firstly because he isn't too fond of Guy, and also because he likes being on Exec. This brings up an interesting debate in how much former Sabbs should be getting involved within the Association - should they be giving their successors more room to breathe?
T&L Convenor is also getting busy: 3 candidates so far, and having spoken to the current incumbent (Emma Chapman), it appears that she will run too. This is sure to be a technical race, as the candidates all appear to be qualified in various ways, and all have different skills. I'd be interested to read the manifestos.
I'd be disappointed if Nick Ward, Thomas Graham and Laura Baker all get an upposed race, as we need real debate. Laura and Thomas are first years, and I'd contest that they may not be the best people for such a job, especially Laura for External. However, I'll wait to pass judgement until I know more.
On the officers, the most interesting is Community Officer. Now, I'm going to be blunt here: what has Joe Calvert done? He appears to have done nothing in the SRC all year, and so I'm going to ask - why is he standing again? I'm not Joe's biggest fan (cards on the table and all), but seriously, why? His opponents could be very able to challenge him, and again mainfestos should make for a competitive election.
I'm also tempted to start a sweep on the number of SRC Ordinary Candidates.
A Week is a Long time ... (Sabbs)
Firstly, apologies for the tardiness of the last two days without so much as a posting.
The political shape of these elections has changed dramatically in the last 48hrs, and now the mud really is starting to fly. A quick look at the EUSA Election website (http://www.eusa.ed.ac.uk/elections) shows that there are over 51 candidtures, but worryingly only from 28 people. There must be a drive to get more students to stand, to make sure that people are involved - whatever their backgrounds are.
Sabbatical wise, the VPAA race is becoming very interesting, with the biggest field for the seat in its existence. Bruce Golding (http://www.brucegolding.net) was the second candidate to declare, and his website is firmly under construction. Known as a member of SRC for a while now, the only other details that I really know about Bruce is that he is a heavily involved Labour Party Member, appearing most recently in a Party Political Broadcast for them. Next up in Ben Politowski (with the aptly titled http://www.poliwhat.com) - I've heard his name before, I believe he is left leaning, but I await his policies with interest. Joining the field most recently, (on Friday) is the much expected candidture of Anna Davidson (http://www.freewebs.com/annadavidson). Anna will - as I no doubt told her last weekend at the Politics Away Weekend - most likely pick up a vote simply by being the old girl in the field and depending on how she plays it could do well a la Sabrina Russo. With KT Chan in this field, this could be the election that interests a lot of people.
Across in the VPSA race, the real interest is by Will Searle. I can't claim to know Will, and without a website as yet, I have nothing to go on. I'm obviously pleased that Gordon Aikman isn't being given a free ride to the position, so an interesting and exciting election could be in prospect.
More to follow no doubt - I really do hope we have some more Sabb candidates.
The political shape of these elections has changed dramatically in the last 48hrs, and now the mud really is starting to fly. A quick look at the EUSA Election website (http://www.eusa.ed.ac.uk/elections) shows that there are over 51 candidtures, but worryingly only from 28 people. There must be a drive to get more students to stand, to make sure that people are involved - whatever their backgrounds are.
Sabbatical wise, the VPAA race is becoming very interesting, with the biggest field for the seat in its existence. Bruce Golding (http://www.brucegolding.net) was the second candidate to declare, and his website is firmly under construction. Known as a member of SRC for a while now, the only other details that I really know about Bruce is that he is a heavily involved Labour Party Member, appearing most recently in a Party Political Broadcast for them. Next up in Ben Politowski (with the aptly titled http://www.poliwhat.com) - I've heard his name before, I believe he is left leaning, but I await his policies with interest. Joining the field most recently, (on Friday) is the much expected candidture of Anna Davidson (http://www.freewebs.com/annadavidson). Anna will - as I no doubt told her last weekend at the Politics Away Weekend - most likely pick up a vote simply by being the old girl in the field and depending on how she plays it could do well a la Sabrina Russo. With KT Chan in this field, this could be the election that interests a lot of people.
Across in the VPSA race, the real interest is by Will Searle. I can't claim to know Will, and without a website as yet, I have nothing to go on. I'm obviously pleased that Gordon Aikman isn't being given a free ride to the position, so an interesting and exciting election could be in prospect.
More to follow no doubt - I really do hope we have some more Sabb candidates.
Thursday, 8 February 2007
Hurry Up. And Slow Down.
After a manic opening two days, the third day of the campaigning brought a much slower paced day. Only one new candidate (in any category), who is my close friend, Kwan Ting Chan, who is taking a second crack at the whip to win the VPAA battle. His website - http://www.ktchan.info - is under construction, and things will no doubt progress quickly thereafter. He faces a challenge from Anna Davidson, and possibly a further two candidates.
Elsewhere, the EUSA General Meeting created Tom French's opening publicity shot, handing out leaflets to those entering. Is it a case of too quick, too soon? Will he use his resources up quickly, and be left stranded with nothing at the end? Will his posters - up in Bristo Square - survive three weeks of Edinburgh's weather, and the snow.
Time will tell - but the pace has definitely dropped, except behind the scenes where all the candidates appear to be regrouping and plotting their next moves ... for some, this is deciding when to put in their nomination form!
Elsewhere, the EUSA General Meeting created Tom French's opening publicity shot, handing out leaflets to those entering. Is it a case of too quick, too soon? Will he use his resources up quickly, and be left stranded with nothing at the end? Will his posters - up in Bristo Square - survive three weeks of Edinburgh's weather, and the snow.
Time will tell - but the pace has definitely dropped, except behind the scenes where all the candidates appear to be regrouping and plotting their next moves ... for some, this is deciding when to put in their nomination form!
Wednesday, 7 February 2007
Up and Running
Well, its been the busiest opening two days in EUSA's election history according to the office, and the main talking points have been Sabb candidates and Facebook.
First thing first, Sabb candidates. On Monday, Adam Ramsay made the Presidential race, a race, by deciding to stand against Josh, in the most predictable, most 'known-in-advance' race in a while. Adam's website - http://www.adamramsay.org.uk/ - is not up and running yet, and all that it currently shows is who's hosting his domain.
Whilst Facebook tells you about the election candidates before they declare, Tuesday brought the 'official' declarations from Stuart MacLennan and Tom French - New Labour versus 'not quite' New Labour. The most Tory Labour candidate versus the Green Labour candidate. Label it however you want, all that is clear, is that the battle is going to be a tough one. Tom has taken the very unusual step of unveiling his manifesto now (and not waiting until the manifesto deadline), allowing everyone a good view of his policies, including allowing the undeclared James Wallace a chance to take an attack on them. I'll go through Tom's Manifesto later.
Website wise: Tom French's http://www.tomfrench.org.uk has a place holder of him outside McEwan Hall with his strap line of Better Unions. Delivered. Stuart has gone for Pints not Politics, which is an interesting choice, although his website (at http://www.stuartmaclennan.co.uk/ ) is much more developed and seems to contain a lot of information, although he too originally had a photo of him outside McEwan Hall.
Facebook is a new ball game, being underused by the candidates last year, and only now really seeming to be effective. I've been invited to all three VPS Facebook groups although no Presidential ones.
Other candidates are starting to declare, which I'll cover in later posts.
First thing first, Sabb candidates. On Monday, Adam Ramsay made the Presidential race, a race, by deciding to stand against Josh, in the most predictable, most 'known-in-advance' race in a while. Adam's website - http://www.adamramsay.org.uk/ - is not up and running yet, and all that it currently shows is who's hosting his domain.
Whilst Facebook tells you about the election candidates before they declare, Tuesday brought the 'official' declarations from Stuart MacLennan and Tom French - New Labour versus 'not quite' New Labour. The most Tory Labour candidate versus the Green Labour candidate. Label it however you want, all that is clear, is that the battle is going to be a tough one. Tom has taken the very unusual step of unveiling his manifesto now (and not waiting until the manifesto deadline), allowing everyone a good view of his policies, including allowing the undeclared James Wallace a chance to take an attack on them. I'll go through Tom's Manifesto later.
Website wise: Tom French's http://www.tomfrench.org.uk has a place holder of him outside McEwan Hall with his strap line of Better Unions. Delivered. Stuart has gone for Pints not Politics, which is an interesting choice, although his website (at http://www.stuartmaclennan.co.uk/ ) is much more developed and seems to contain a lot of information, although he too originally had a photo of him outside McEwan Hall.
Facebook is a new ball game, being underused by the candidates last year, and only now really seeming to be effective. I've been invited to all three VPS Facebook groups although no Presidential ones.
Other candidates are starting to declare, which I'll cover in later posts.
Monday, 5 February 2007
More "First Candidates"
Seems my last posting was either a premonition, or jumped the gun. Either way, in the time it has taken me to post that, Gordon Aikman is standing for VPSA - his website will be http://www.gordonaikman.com/ - and it seems his theme is likely going to be Flash Gordon ... plenty of jokes could be made, but lets just see the policies first.
Now ... all we need are some more candidates and we could have an election. We could also do with some non-EUSA hacks, and some non-Labour party affiliated hacks, otherwise Stop People & Planet might come back with a new name and a new flavour!
Now ... all we need are some more candidates and we could have an election. We could also do with some non-EUSA hacks, and some non-Labour party affiliated hacks, otherwise Stop People & Planet might come back with a new name and a new flavour!
First Candidates
2hrs 30mins, and already the first candidates are in. At a broad brush stroke, its the 'Labour' Candidates, and whilst Nick Ward, Thomas Graham & Katherine Sellar are interesting - the one of real note is Josh MacAlister, who is standing for President.
It is not a great surprise. Josh standing (against a likely candidture of Adam Ramsay) has been on the cards for many months now - he has a proven track record as External Convenor and Accommodation Officer, but questions have been asked over his politiking throughout the process of his many campaigns. Questions that may well dog him over the next few weeks.
A cursory look at his website - http://www.joshmacalister.com/ - shows some interesting Flash Design creations, including what appears backing by former Sabb Jenny Murdoch and possible future Sabb candidate Gordon Aikman, as well as from the Edinburgh Uni Cheerleaders! His about me section is very interesting, and it isn't a surprise he makes use of his successes in this section. The crucial tag line: smart thinking ... cheap drinking.
Let's see who else will stand.
It is not a great surprise. Josh standing (against a likely candidture of Adam Ramsay) has been on the cards for many months now - he has a proven track record as External Convenor and Accommodation Officer, but questions have been asked over his politiking throughout the process of his many campaigns. Questions that may well dog him over the next few weeks.
A cursory look at his website - http://www.joshmacalister.com/ - shows some interesting Flash Design creations, including what appears backing by former Sabb Jenny Murdoch and possible future Sabb candidate Gordon Aikman, as well as from the Edinburgh Uni Cheerleaders! His about me section is very interesting, and it isn't a surprise he makes use of his successes in this section. The crucial tag line: smart thinking ... cheap drinking.
Let's see who else will stand.
So it Begins ...
Today is the opening day of nominations for the Elections 2007. Months, Weeks and Days of talk will finally begin to end, when the papers start going in and people start standing for the roles that they want to stand for.
I've already had plenty of people asking what I am going to stand for, or if I am even going to stand. We'll see - for now, lets see what's going on with the candidates as they come in. This blog will debate the issues, debate the candidates, debate the positives, debate the negatives and won't shy away from talking about the informal gossip. These elections are already looking like they could have a number of high quality, high calibre candidates, and are (unfortunately) looking like they could be a very messy set of elections, with mud slinging.
Let the fun and games begin and lets see where it ends up on March 1st 2007 at the Count. It's going to be an interesting few weeks. Just lets try and keep in clean.
I've already had plenty of people asking what I am going to stand for, or if I am even going to stand. We'll see - for now, lets see what's going on with the candidates as they come in. This blog will debate the issues, debate the candidates, debate the positives, debate the negatives and won't shy away from talking about the informal gossip. These elections are already looking like they could have a number of high quality, high calibre candidates, and are (unfortunately) looking like they could be a very messy set of elections, with mud slinging.
Let the fun and games begin and lets see where it ends up on March 1st 2007 at the Count. It's going to be an interesting few weeks. Just lets try and keep in clean.
Old Website
Before this blog gets underway, just to let you know that my old Presidential Election Website from 2006 continues to be available from:
www.freewebs.com/jordandias
Look on this archived site to see some of the issues that affected and shaped my campaign one year ago, and see if things have changed or the issues are being rehashed.
www.freewebs.com/jordandias
Look on this archived site to see some of the issues that affected and shaped my campaign one year ago, and see if things have changed or the issues are being rehashed.
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