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.
Showing posts with label Tim Gee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tim Gee. Show all posts
Saturday, 3 March 2007
Post Race Analysis - SRC
So, with the Exec/Officers covered, who else was elected to the SRC. And how could they affect the policy outcomes. With many more school reps & ordinary members the situation is slightly different, but I'll take a look at who might be shaping the decisions.
Looking across the schools, its great to see that all schools bar one have members filling seats, and are therefore represented - I hope that the October election see a top up with the remaining seats filled. In amongst the mix are a number of returning members, and it is good to see continued involvement - the likes of Adam Apostoli in ACE, Stephen McFadden in Chemistry, Stewart Martin in GeoSci, Ben P in History, Bruce Golding in Maths, Ondrej Nenadl in Physics to name some.
Equally pleasing is the number of new names in the school seats, many of whom stood on manifestos which obviously really engaged with students and got people in their respective schools to vote for them; people like Rosy Burgess in BioSci, Karen Apitzch in Management or Gabriel Arafa in PPLS (even if Gabriel has been on the fringes for a while).
Going onto the Ordinary Members, this is a bit of an old hacks convention. With Tim Goodwin, Tim Gee & Tash Shotton all making the cut in the first two rounds, and Pete Harris joining them after a 14 round slog (surely he should have done better?), this part of the ballot really doesn't have too much new. The first round however did bring the surprise of the massive total for Hannah Critchlow, who's only campaign credentials seem to be her green-ness. Also elected in this round was Adam Ramsay. On the night, I'm sure that this didn't seem like an important win, but this gives Adam the chance to put something back into the SRC, and to what extent he does, depends on how much he feels like re-involving himself, as I noted below. So after 5 candidates being elected in Rounds 1 & 2, it took 'til round 11 before another, and I'm sure Stephen Allinson's fairtrade stance no doubt won him a few votes along the way - as well as being top of the ballot paper; a similar sentiment can probably be attributed to Ellie Price's victory a couple of rounds later. Also joining Pete in the final round were George Thomas and Anne Clark.
So who are these "ordinary" people? Well - the majority seem to be Green or Labour, with only a couple of independents thrown in. Most are hack, and are heavily involved in EUSA. What it may mean is that the debates in SRC are going to be heavily polarised. It could also be highly "intelligent" debate. We'll wait and see.
Looking across the schools, its great to see that all schools bar one have members filling seats, and are therefore represented - I hope that the October election see a top up with the remaining seats filled. In amongst the mix are a number of returning members, and it is good to see continued involvement - the likes of Adam Apostoli in ACE, Stephen McFadden in Chemistry, Stewart Martin in GeoSci, Ben P in History, Bruce Golding in Maths, Ondrej Nenadl in Physics to name some.
Equally pleasing is the number of new names in the school seats, many of whom stood on manifestos which obviously really engaged with students and got people in their respective schools to vote for them; people like Rosy Burgess in BioSci, Karen Apitzch in Management or Gabriel Arafa in PPLS (even if Gabriel has been on the fringes for a while).
Going onto the Ordinary Members, this is a bit of an old hacks convention. With Tim Goodwin, Tim Gee & Tash Shotton all making the cut in the first two rounds, and Pete Harris joining them after a 14 round slog (surely he should have done better?), this part of the ballot really doesn't have too much new. The first round however did bring the surprise of the massive total for Hannah Critchlow, who's only campaign credentials seem to be her green-ness. Also elected in this round was Adam Ramsay. On the night, I'm sure that this didn't seem like an important win, but this gives Adam the chance to put something back into the SRC, and to what extent he does, depends on how much he feels like re-involving himself, as I noted below. So after 5 candidates being elected in Rounds 1 & 2, it took 'til round 11 before another, and I'm sure Stephen Allinson's fairtrade stance no doubt won him a few votes along the way - as well as being top of the ballot paper; a similar sentiment can probably be attributed to Ellie Price's victory a couple of rounds later. Also joining Pete in the final round were George Thomas and Anne Clark.
So who are these "ordinary" people? Well - the majority seem to be Green or Labour, with only a couple of independents thrown in. Most are hack, and are heavily involved in EUSA. What it may mean is that the debates in SRC are going to be heavily polarised. It could also be highly "intelligent" debate. We'll wait and see.
Friday, 2 March 2007
Post-Race Analysis - VPAA
It's hard to critique a race in which all four of the candidates were running and standing on nearly exactly the same issues. With the candidates all approaching the race with the same stand point, and the real lack of tension between them (come on, have you ever seen such a bunch of nice opponents), the only thing going for this race was the fact that four people were standing. That and perhaps the old/new Labour battle: Bruce is a senior Labour Club member, appearing in a party broadcast (as seen on YouTube) for the Labour Party, so it was perhaps a surprise that the majority of Labour Club members were on Ben's team ... or more crucially that Ben was on Josh's team, something I had seen when he went into a Josh campaign meeting on Tuesday night.
The fight itself played out like the Presidential race from last year, except that this time new Labour (Ben) didn't defeat Green (Anna). Anna's win obviously was a shining moment for the Green/P&P group (contrast Tim Gee's reaction with Anna, with that of Josh), and I'm not too surprised she won. As I said to her 4 weeks ago at the Politics Away Weekend, she was always going into this race as odds-on favourite, more so especially as the only female sabb candidate. She went for the Sabrina Russo Method: pretty picture on the posters, combined with a strong manifesto. I doubt it was all down to this, but in an election which didn't set the pulses racing, it's hard to tell.
It'll be an interesting year in the next SRC, with Bruce returned to Mathematics and Ben to History & Classics, it'll only be Kwan not at the SRC, which is a step down after 2 years of heavily committed time on many EUSA and Uni committees. I would like to see Kwan make a return - hopefully in the October elections as Physics Rep, and I am sure that Bruce & Ben will continue to do a damn good job in their respecitve schools.
The fight itself played out like the Presidential race from last year, except that this time new Labour (Ben) didn't defeat Green (Anna). Anna's win obviously was a shining moment for the Green/P&P group (contrast Tim Gee's reaction with Anna, with that of Josh), and I'm not too surprised she won. As I said to her 4 weeks ago at the Politics Away Weekend, she was always going into this race as odds-on favourite, more so especially as the only female sabb candidate. She went for the Sabrina Russo Method: pretty picture on the posters, combined with a strong manifesto. I doubt it was all down to this, but in an election which didn't set the pulses racing, it's hard to tell.
It'll be an interesting year in the next SRC, with Bruce returned to Mathematics and Ben to History & Classics, it'll only be Kwan not at the SRC, which is a step down after 2 years of heavily committed time on many EUSA and Uni committees. I would like to see Kwan make a return - hopefully in the October elections as Physics Rep, and I am sure that Bruce & Ben will continue to do a damn good job in their respecitve schools.
Live Results - SRC Ordinary
The SRC Ordinary Results are ongoing - they have been for a while.
So far, the three returning Sabbs have been returned - Tash, Tim & Tim, alongside defeated Presidential Candidate, Adam Ramsay and Hannah Crichlow.
We are currently redistributing votes in the middle order with people who haven't achieved quota. Its a slow business.
Joe Calvert has just lost his third election and as such does not have a seat on the SRC next year.
Stephen Allinson has now been elected. Nearly half of the votes he collected at this stage didn't have a further preference, so we are in for another long haul.
Ellie Price has now been elected - getting quota by 3, and with 3 places left. A rare victory for the Greens tonight.
Sarah Clarke, Pete Harris and George Thomas have all now been elected, thereby completing this stage of the proceedings.
Four returning Sabbs and a few other interesting people, basically.
Couple of school results follow - Management and something else.
So far, the three returning Sabbs have been returned - Tash, Tim & Tim, alongside defeated Presidential Candidate, Adam Ramsay and Hannah Crichlow.
We are currently redistributing votes in the middle order with people who haven't achieved quota. Its a slow business.
Joe Calvert has just lost his third election and as such does not have a seat on the SRC next year.
Stephen Allinson has now been elected. Nearly half of the votes he collected at this stage didn't have a further preference, so we are in for another long haul.
Ellie Price has now been elected - getting quota by 3, and with 3 places left. A rare victory for the Greens tonight.
Sarah Clarke, Pete Harris and George Thomas have all now been elected, thereby completing this stage of the proceedings.
Four returning Sabbs and a few other interesting people, basically.
Couple of school results follow - Management and something else.
Live Results - CoM and Finance
So, whilst the Tom French debacle rumbles on in the debating hall, more results have been announced.
Union Exec sees the return of James Wallace (maybe he will put some sense in to Mr French), Ellie Price gets upgraded from 1st Year Rep to full member and also Pete Harris in his return appearance from Canada.
Next up are the "junior" positions on Finance for full time students. Winning this are Guy Bromely on a massive first preference lead, followed by Monisha and completing the trio is Jonathan Hogg who had a massive battle with Ondrej Nenadl, with the 3rd position swapping between them.
And then comes Committee of Management. Winning here, with the largest first preference vote is Tim Goodwin, followed by Rosy Burgess and then Tim Gee - although the process was quite slow with a small amount of transfers each time. I'm thrilled Rosy is on CoM, and I know that as Bar Staff she'll make a great impact.
Still to come SRC Ordinary and VPSA.
Union Exec sees the return of James Wallace (maybe he will put some sense in to Mr French), Ellie Price gets upgraded from 1st Year Rep to full member and also Pete Harris in his return appearance from Canada.
Next up are the "junior" positions on Finance for full time students. Winning this are Guy Bromely on a massive first preference lead, followed by Monisha and completing the trio is Jonathan Hogg who had a massive battle with Ondrej Nenadl, with the 3rd position swapping between them.
And then comes Committee of Management. Winning here, with the largest first preference vote is Tim Goodwin, followed by Rosy Burgess and then Tim Gee - although the process was quite slow with a small amount of transfers each time. I'm thrilled Rosy is on CoM, and I know that as Bar Staff she'll make a great impact.
Still to come SRC Ordinary and VPSA.
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.
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.
Monday, 12 February 2007
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.
Saturday, 10 February 2007
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
