Many people have asked me over the last few days for my thoughts, predictions and other ideas for the races that are going to happen in 12 months time. It's a hard one to really scope out.
Thinking back to twelve months ago, the money then was that I was would run again this year - against Josh & Adam - in a re-run of last year's External Convener battle. People suggested that Tom French & Steven Lauder would slug it out against Sara Bodle running for VPSA. No one would have mentioned Ben, Anna or Bruce for VPAA and Kwan was fairly unsure if he'd stand again. And Chris Arnold was as anti-EUSA as you could get, let alone thinking about a stab at VPS. Twelve months ago, so many varied names were being suggested from within those elected back then, that you might have put money against any of them.
To use the Grand National analogy a final time - predicting this far out, is like attempting to predict the runners in that race, without seeing what they do in between, knowing their form in the mean time, knowing their handicaps and their advantages.
In twelve months, EUSA could be a very different political animal, and the forthcoming year's Sabbs (those who have just been elected) could turn people on or off to EUSA depending on what they do.
Looking at it objectively, you can pick anyone on CoM or SRC Exec or in SRC and say "they will run because ..." and make your own reasons. People like Katherine Sellar, Nick Ward and Guy Bromley are inevitably going to be linked with standing next year. People who've just been elected for the first time may also be linked with a possible race next year. The issue is - as I say above - what will the next 8 months bring before people begin to make their minds up?
What about the people who aren't "EUSA people" currently? The likes of Will Searle, Chris Arnold and Chris Williams - people who before the beginning of February most people hadn't heard about, and most people would never have imagined standing.
What I want to see is a completely different thing (forgive the political sounding-ness of what follows). I want to see elections for Sabbaticals that are well challenged and where the electorate has a big cross-section of people to choose from. I want to see people from outside EUSA stand, and take part in elections. And I want to see new ideas in the election campaigns. Of course there are people I'd like to see stand and then go on to win, but this far out, I don't know if they will stand come next February.
Put simply - to predict now would be foolhardy, and the merits of it would be very questionable. Feel free to comment.
Showing posts with label Chris Williams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chris Williams. Show all posts
Friday, 9 March 2007
Friday, 2 March 2007
Post-Race Analysis - President
So as the dust begins to settle in the 2007 EUSA General Elections, the first (possibly of many, but lets see how it goes) part of the analysis into the race. This isn't going to be a Grand National style race re-run to see where the runners and riders fell, but more or a look at the results.
Josh's win over Adam was less of a surprise - simply because for many the race was too close to call throughout the contest, with the two neck and neck. The margin of victory though was a surprise - I wouldn't have expected a 600+ vote win, and would have thought that Chris Williams' transfers would have come into play. However, a turn out in excess of 4700 for the Presidential vote is unheard of, and that really would have affected the way that voters cast their vote (Josh won with nearly 900 more votes than Tim Goodwin did last year). I wonder what a couple more candidates would have done - especially if they were none EUSA hacks, who would have brought some more uninterested and normally non-participating students into the Elections. Josh also is the second Labour-based President, following Tim, and the question now has to be asked - are we in a Labour era, following the three P&P Presidents (Will Garton, Steve Cockburn, Ruth Cameron)?
Where does the win leave EUSA? Well I believe that Josh will have a postive effect on EUSA - his policies seem to have some sound backing behind them. He does need to ensure he represents all students, as I believe Tim Goodwin has done, and does not lead EUSA down a merry Party Political path like Ruth Cameron. Josh may well be a Labour student and be proud of it, but he will no doubt get a lot of stick from some of the defeated Green elements - anyone at the count last night will have been hard pushed not to notice Tim Gee's body language when congratulating Josh on stage: it could not have said "I don't like your win" any clearer or louder.
Josh will have a tough year ahead: he will be working with Mark Ballard as Rector - a man who has made it quite clear that he supported another candidate in these elections; and Josh will also have to deal with the fall out from the Holyrood Elections. If Labour retains power, I hope Josh uses the Political Capital he has for the benefit of students, rather than for himself. Josh also will have to deal with a couple of other factors that will spring up during the year, and I haven't even mentioned the VPS yet.
As for Adam - a year back in the backbenches, taking a step down from External Convenor. Adam has two options: he can continue his fight from regularly turning up to the SRC sub-committees, and push for the policy he can actively engage with; alternatively he can take a route take by many defeated Sabb candidates (Pat Hannon, Gill Dunn, Sara Bodle spring to mind), who get quickly bored of the SRC and don't engage. Adam also has the option to run again next year, if he feels it's the right thing to do - or will it be a different P&P candidate? The choice is his.
Josh's win over Adam was less of a surprise - simply because for many the race was too close to call throughout the contest, with the two neck and neck. The margin of victory though was a surprise - I wouldn't have expected a 600+ vote win, and would have thought that Chris Williams' transfers would have come into play. However, a turn out in excess of 4700 for the Presidential vote is unheard of, and that really would have affected the way that voters cast their vote (Josh won with nearly 900 more votes than Tim Goodwin did last year). I wonder what a couple more candidates would have done - especially if they were none EUSA hacks, who would have brought some more uninterested and normally non-participating students into the Elections. Josh also is the second Labour-based President, following Tim, and the question now has to be asked - are we in a Labour era, following the three P&P Presidents (Will Garton, Steve Cockburn, Ruth Cameron)?
Where does the win leave EUSA? Well I believe that Josh will have a postive effect on EUSA - his policies seem to have some sound backing behind them. He does need to ensure he represents all students, as I believe Tim Goodwin has done, and does not lead EUSA down a merry Party Political path like Ruth Cameron. Josh may well be a Labour student and be proud of it, but he will no doubt get a lot of stick from some of the defeated Green elements - anyone at the count last night will have been hard pushed not to notice Tim Gee's body language when congratulating Josh on stage: it could not have said "I don't like your win" any clearer or louder.
Josh will have a tough year ahead: he will be working with Mark Ballard as Rector - a man who has made it quite clear that he supported another candidate in these elections; and Josh will also have to deal with the fall out from the Holyrood Elections. If Labour retains power, I hope Josh uses the Political Capital he has for the benefit of students, rather than for himself. Josh also will have to deal with a couple of other factors that will spring up during the year, and I haven't even mentioned the VPS yet.
As for Adam - a year back in the backbenches, taking a step down from External Convenor. Adam has two options: he can continue his fight from regularly turning up to the SRC sub-committees, and push for the policy he can actively engage with; alternatively he can take a route take by many defeated Sabb candidates (Pat Hannon, Gill Dunn, Sara Bodle spring to mind), who get quickly bored of the SRC and don't engage. Adam also has the option to run again next year, if he feels it's the right thing to do - or will it be a different P&P candidate? The choice is his.
Thursday, 1 March 2007
Live Results - President
This is it the big one ...
after Bio Science, Josh is leading Adam 375-229 (3 Schools)
after Education, Josh is leading Adam 550-351 (6 Schools)
after Health & Wellbeing, Josh is leading Adam 891-580 (9 Schools)
after Infomatics, Josh is leading Adam 1162-181 - Chris Williams is on 197 (12 Schools)
after LLC, Josh is leading Adam 1571-1148 (14 Schools)
With 6 Schools remaining, Josh is leading 1598 to Adam's 1175
With 5 Schools remaining, Josh is leading 1696 to Adam's 1231
With 4 Schools remaining, Josh is leading 1807 to Adam's 1281
With 3 Schools remaining, Josh is leading 1943 to Adam's 1391
With 2 Schools remaining, Josh is leading 2291 to Adam's 1651
Josh MacAllister is the next EUSA PRESIDENT, winning 2471 votes to Adam's 1809 and Chris Williams's 470
Congratulations to Josh. His winning tune was D:Ream's Thing's can only get better as used in a certain election in 1997 by a certain red party. Glad that I had some hand in choosing that music!
after Bio Science, Josh is leading Adam 375-229 (3 Schools)
after Education, Josh is leading Adam 550-351 (6 Schools)
after Health & Wellbeing, Josh is leading Adam 891-580 (9 Schools)
after Infomatics, Josh is leading Adam 1162-181 - Chris Williams is on 197 (12 Schools)
after LLC, Josh is leading Adam 1571-1148 (14 Schools)
With 6 Schools remaining, Josh is leading 1598 to Adam's 1175
With 5 Schools remaining, Josh is leading 1696 to Adam's 1231
With 4 Schools remaining, Josh is leading 1807 to Adam's 1281
With 3 Schools remaining, Josh is leading 1943 to Adam's 1391
With 2 Schools remaining, Josh is leading 2291 to Adam's 1651
Josh MacAllister is the next EUSA PRESIDENT, winning 2471 votes to Adam's 1809 and Chris Williams's 470
Congratulations to Josh. His winning tune was D:Ream's Thing's can only get better as used in a certain election in 1997 by a certain red party. Glad that I had some hand in choosing that music!
Wednesday, 28 February 2007
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.
Friday, 23 February 2007
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.
Saturday, 17 February 2007
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.
Tuesday, 13 February 2007
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?
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