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 Katherine Sellar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Katherine Sellar. Show all posts
Friday, 9 March 2007
Saturday, 3 March 2007
Post Race Analysis - CoM/Union Exec
The last part of the Analysis is in the Unions, sitting at the bottom of the ballot paper. With three distinct categories, there were three very interesting results.
In the Senior Member battle, Ben McNab took home the bacon, polling over half the votes in the first round, and winning by a clear majority. I'm sure that Ben will do a good job, but I am disappointed he got elected. Paul is a good friend of mine, so I would have loved to see him on the Committee, especially as he heavily uses the Unions, and was until the end of the last festival one of the senior staff in the Pleasance (the proper Pleasance, not Pleasance at Potterrow). Iain has been doing a damn good job for the previous three years and I think he too would have been a great continuance in the role.
What however annoys me the most - and why I gave Ben the lowest preference - is that he wants to "resign" at the end of each year to fight his seat again, in a John Major-esque put up and shut up. The point of the Senior Member is that they are there for three years to provide continuity and a guiding hand in a Committee which has its membership change annually. Ben's rather odd decision is jepoardising the stability of the committee, which isn't big, isn't smart and really isn't rather clever. Also by resigning each year (something he would have to do well before nominations open), would mean that Committee of Management would be short of a Senior Member for upto 3 of its 8 annual meetings.
Looking at the Union Executive, and again, it is full of the returners - not a single new person elected; although at least this year the members of UnionExec have a mandate, after the 3 being returned unopposed last year. Ellie Price's "upgrade" from 1st Year Union Exec member is to be congratulated, and gives the Green's a continued voice. Pete Harris makes his return from Canada - although I'm wondering if we can keep our Moose, and if that will keep him there (see his website for more info): he's not caused us any trouble this year, and I quite would like that to continue. James Wallace also makes a return for a 3rd Year on Union Exec - quite an impressive run of results, and something that rivals the Senior Members for continuity. However, with James possibly off to Texas for 2007-2008, will his stay be a short one to the end of May, with the seat coming available again in the October Elections. If so, expect it to be highly contested, and a chance for the losers to get in.
Commitee of Management was a much tighter election with the final two positions being elected at the death, in a battle that looked to go any way depending on who was dropping out. With Tom French "elected elsewhere" (and how many of those in the room wish he wasn't) and James Wallace elected above, the field was cut to 10. It was a surprise that the polling numbers came in as they did. Rosy's excellent performance in the first round is testament to a good clean campaign, a good facebook group, an excellent website - which related to what she was standing for (unlike Nick & Katherine) - and probably because she asked lots of people to vote for her for this position, rather than spending time asking them to vote for other people or vote for other positions: I'm guessing this is what happened to Katherine, Nick, Stewart, Stephen, Ondrej and Alasdair.
All suffered really quite badly, and peformed a lot worse than expected. Tim Goodwin was in the lead from the start, and to be honest that is what you expect from a Sabbatical, so Tim Gee polling lower numbers than Rosy is surprising - no doubt this is in part due to the Green vote being split between himself & Alasdair. Having a total of 3 Sabbaticals on the CoM will be tough next year, and having two former VPSs as well as the current one will also be interesting - especially as Pete & Tim Gee both "supported" Tom this year. It is therefore upto the rest of the Committee to ensure that he does not get away with blue murder or just putting things through. Of the 6 ordinary members who will make up the Committee until after the October elections, only Rosy is the complete new comer to EUSA politics, and Commitee of Management: best of luck, because it's going to be a tough year.
In the Senior Member battle, Ben McNab took home the bacon, polling over half the votes in the first round, and winning by a clear majority. I'm sure that Ben will do a good job, but I am disappointed he got elected. Paul is a good friend of mine, so I would have loved to see him on the Committee, especially as he heavily uses the Unions, and was until the end of the last festival one of the senior staff in the Pleasance (the proper Pleasance, not Pleasance at Potterrow). Iain has been doing a damn good job for the previous three years and I think he too would have been a great continuance in the role.
What however annoys me the most - and why I gave Ben the lowest preference - is that he wants to "resign" at the end of each year to fight his seat again, in a John Major-esque put up and shut up. The point of the Senior Member is that they are there for three years to provide continuity and a guiding hand in a Committee which has its membership change annually. Ben's rather odd decision is jepoardising the stability of the committee, which isn't big, isn't smart and really isn't rather clever. Also by resigning each year (something he would have to do well before nominations open), would mean that Committee of Management would be short of a Senior Member for upto 3 of its 8 annual meetings.
Looking at the Union Executive, and again, it is full of the returners - not a single new person elected; although at least this year the members of UnionExec have a mandate, after the 3 being returned unopposed last year. Ellie Price's "upgrade" from 1st Year Union Exec member is to be congratulated, and gives the Green's a continued voice. Pete Harris makes his return from Canada - although I'm wondering if we can keep our Moose, and if that will keep him there (see his website for more info): he's not caused us any trouble this year, and I quite would like that to continue. James Wallace also makes a return for a 3rd Year on Union Exec - quite an impressive run of results, and something that rivals the Senior Members for continuity. However, with James possibly off to Texas for 2007-2008, will his stay be a short one to the end of May, with the seat coming available again in the October Elections. If so, expect it to be highly contested, and a chance for the losers to get in.
Commitee of Management was a much tighter election with the final two positions being elected at the death, in a battle that looked to go any way depending on who was dropping out. With Tom French "elected elsewhere" (and how many of those in the room wish he wasn't) and James Wallace elected above, the field was cut to 10. It was a surprise that the polling numbers came in as they did. Rosy's excellent performance in the first round is testament to a good clean campaign, a good facebook group, an excellent website - which related to what she was standing for (unlike Nick & Katherine) - and probably because she asked lots of people to vote for her for this position, rather than spending time asking them to vote for other people or vote for other positions: I'm guessing this is what happened to Katherine, Nick, Stewart, Stephen, Ondrej and Alasdair.
All suffered really quite badly, and peformed a lot worse than expected. Tim Goodwin was in the lead from the start, and to be honest that is what you expect from a Sabbatical, so Tim Gee polling lower numbers than Rosy is surprising - no doubt this is in part due to the Green vote being split between himself & Alasdair. Having a total of 3 Sabbaticals on the CoM will be tough next year, and having two former VPSs as well as the current one will also be interesting - especially as Pete & Tim Gee both "supported" Tom this year. It is therefore upto the rest of the Committee to ensure that he does not get away with blue murder or just putting things through. Of the 6 ordinary members who will make up the Committee until after the October elections, only Rosy is the complete new comer to EUSA politics, and Commitee of Management: best of luck, because it's going to be a tough year.
Wednesday, 21 February 2007
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.
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