So, the Tories have won Henley, no real surprise there then !  Anywhere that voted in Boris Johnson ( I know what you're thinking and yeah , ok he's better than Ken and his Cronies) has to have been a conservative stronghold!   - what I think is more important from the by-election is the huge blow to Labour coming fifth- as most of you know I'm not a big fan of Labour, but for this major party, however inadequate, to be beaten by the British National Party is a real disgrace, and a worrying display from upper-middle class England. 

Labour was also beaten by the green Candidate, a result in which Mr. Blackall I'm sure will share my delight. I can see why people would be annoyed that the greens achieved such a high level of votes, as they are often seen as a single-issue party. However I don't feel that this is comparable to the BNP's proportion of votes.   -  Now I'm trying to write this in a way that doesn't make me sound like the more passionate delegates at a NUS meeting, but How can people be so dissolutioned by  migration that they are led to vote for a party who have racist views?  

I have two theories, Firstly. the way in which the BNP have glamourised racism, making it seem acceptable to 'respectable middle class families' - no longer hailing it's 'vanguard' of skinhead yobs as heroes, but taking a more sinister and dark path of seemingly 'gentle' racism, with an image of 'tea and sandwiches' with the vicar.  This,  twinned with the McCarthyist Hysteria that is Xenophobia today.  I've said this before in previous blogs, so go there for more information, but Multiculturalism is a GOOD thing! 

Bush in his state of the Union Adres stated both that the USA  was 'leading the World on Climate Change'    ( was this from his pollution-ridden hummer at the front . it would be quicker...)    and that  Iran is enriching Uranium , creating a weapons threat. this was denied by his own report released just before christmas.  

 Bush clearly, as usual is relying on neo-conservative fueled hysteria to create yet more 'war nation' feel for the upcoming presidential race, where Republicans would benefit from a strong, nationalist (Christian) position . Statistics show that had America been free from the shackles of the 'War on Terror' then Kerry would have been elected, but Bush was seen as the better wartime leader.  

 Frankly the State of the Union is pretty Dire, and the new President could not come quickly enough  

Incidentally, as an afterthought.  I was watching a documentary on BNP wives, (youtube it  theres a lot of fareham in it)  and led me on to thinking, how much is the BNP's support based on Nationalism and how much is it based on Xenophobia?  

We cannot deny that Britain is multicultural. I am proud of that, I myself am a 2nd Generation immigrant, and I feel that Multiculturalism one of the pillars of a  civilized society. However, as we all know there are those out there preying on the fear many feel when posed with the 'threat' of foreign migrants. 

But how much of this is Britain's desperate plea for a national identity?  America is well known as a 'melting pot society' , but yet retains it's world status of the 'leader of the West'. perhaps this is a result of it's status during the Cold War. Since a number of Factors, including Britain's retreat from the Suez canal with it's tail between it's legs, have dumbed down Britain's idea of national unity.

 I believe that Britain should pride itself on it's ability to be such a diverse and inclusive nation, and this liberty to think and feel what you believe is one of the most important factors in combating terrorism. Terrorist organisations love nothing more than to see states clamp down on their citizens with reactionary curtailing of civil liberties. 

I am not advocating the preaching of any hate on our streets, but I do feel that Britain should be the Jewel in the West's crown as the nation that can co-exist as an island of the peoples of the World, which would be a change from the adamant spreading of 'liberal democracies' around the World. Capitalism itself breeds inequality, and if Britain is able to show that it is able to understand and accommodate all views and ideas, I believe it can once again be the ideological and political capital of the World as it has been before. 

This rant is partly inspired by the news that the image of Britannia is to be removed from 50 pence coins.  I think this is a huge step forward as it represents England's maritime dominance of most of the world and it's part in the inexcusable promotion of the slave trade.  While I can understand the idea of a national symbol of pride, and the Historical pride held in the British Empire, this empire has been glorified throughout history in a bid to conceal the inexcusable human atrocities it committed. In a conversation with Ben Norman today, his wise words were :  "it was traditional to burn witches in the middle ages, but we don't do that anymore do we"   and I think that applies here,  yes, British people have a proud history, but Britain is no longer a power that controls over 75% of the World's population, but instead welcomes it and incorporates it into it's society. 

If the Future is written, I haven't read it, and I really believe that with enough momentum and people, we can ensure that the higher education system is not Privatised. The first step to achieving this is the Protest on the 2nd February in Southampton. Essentially, yes, this is a shameless plug, but at the end of the day it did look like it was going somewhere... but it is just to encourage people to come down for a bit of activism. If you need more information contact Ben Norman or me !  

www.upsu.net/fightthefees  

Before I have a mini-rant can I just let anyone who's about in Portsmouth know that on Sunday the 6th at the union there is a socialist student anti-fees meeting, so if you're bored come along :)  ... right....


Is it me ,  or is the London Underground designed to be the most confusing place in the world, ever. 

Coming back from Peterborough , I have to travel from Kings Cross to Waterloo. For those experienced in 'the ways of the tube' It's simple enough, Victoria line to Euston then Northern line to Waterloo. Well I'm not 'tube savvy' and it's a bloody nightmare. Once I'd managed to lugg my hugley heavy bags ( yes I overpack, but it's better to have too many clothes than none at all) down to the actual tube station, established which route I was taking ( that's after finding the places i wanted on the most complicated map in the world!) The added complexity of Northbound/Southbound came up... I wanted to go South so seemed easy enough.....Then I found out that there are actually two parallel lines running south on the Northern (irony?) line.

Now English is my second language and those of you that know me are aware I'm pretty Englishy, but say I still only spoke Polish, I'd be buggered with all this Northbound/Southbound dual line malarkey. Nevertheless, armed with my mastery of the English Language,it took  me an hour of running between platforms, asking hundreds of people where to go, even befriending a respectable, but really very drunk lawyer trying to get to London Bridge station, getting stuck in those silly gate things with big bags to get to Waterloo, and it is one of the most hectic things I have done for a while.

My New Year's Resolution is to not go on the Tube again if I can prevent it. 

So,  just got back from the NUS extraordinary conference, and I regret to inform you all that NUS democracy has died today. 

 For those of you that don't know, the NUS decided at it's last NUS annual conference that the structure of the way the NUS is rusn is archaic and outdated and voted in favour of 'governance review' . The result of the ensuing action is an 84 page review that intends to replace the current constitution. The NEC had called an extraordinary conference in order to push through their agenda, and to ensure that their future place as New Labour MPs are secure. 

After extensive and heated debate on various amendments to the review, a motion was put forward that all other amendments were bypassed and a vote on the governance review was called. The delegates voted in favour of the governance review, by a majority of nearly 4:1  

 The result of this governance review completely rewrites the way in which the NUS is run, and not necessarily for the better. Under the review, what used to be the highest decision making body in the NUS, the annual conference, is now no more than a celebration of NUS achievements, and decisions will be made by a small board of six, unaccountable, external trustees, highly unrepresentative in comparison to a national conference of students. this board would have the power to veto any other body of the NUS, meaning anything passed by any other body can be struck down by an unaccountable board. 

There will still be student bodies, but in the form of fragmented zonal conferences, and there will be no vote in these as it is at the discretion of the chair to bring items to national level.  these will be less accountable and less representative of student opinion.

The Governance review is based on models of charitable organisations. organisations that decide how to spend the donations given to that charity. the NUS has a membership FEE and by my reckoning, we , as paid up members of the NUS have a right to say how our membership fee is spent, not leave it to a small board to decide. 

My biggest concern is the fact that the NUS extraordinary conference, because of it's immediate nature, was not fully representative of student opinion, merely the opinion of the students who's universities were able to have a cross-campus election in time to attend todays conference. surely, on such an important issue, the whole student population should be heard through its delegates and not just those that were able to attend today.