Tallie, Ben and Elle have all just been in touch to let me know that The NUS Governance review has been defeated by a very, very narrow margin - the review needed 717 votes to be passed, but only received a (scarily-close) 692.

While I am a lot less opinionated on matters of student governance than some of my colleagues - a conscious decision to avoid a heart attack before 30 - I have to say I wholeheartedly disagree with the way in which bluster, rhetoric and speculation have been used as the main selling points of a "reform" process whose single biggest change appeared to be the abolition of the NUS Conference which, for all its faults, has served for many years as a vital proving ground for policy review and direction-setting by democratic consensus.

What happens next remains to be seen, but I sincerely hope any similar attempts to review and restructure the NUS are carried out with a significant amount more openness, honesty, and consultation with the students' unions the NUS is responsible (and duty-bound) to represent.

(As always, anything here is my tuppence-worth and not the views of the Union as a whole, or of anyone apart from myself!)

(This post isn't endorsed by anyone apart from me... ;o)

I just couldn't resist this:

Housemate Jen told me Chargrilled - the "humourous" t-shirt and hoodie company - are selling navy hoodies at half price today (April 1st... Yes, I know it's April Fool's day), as well as their "buy two, get one free" t-shirts deal - I've just chucked £100-worth of stuff in the shopping cart and the subtotal weighs in at... £57.

Bargainous :o) Check them out today - chargrilled.co.uk (and they're on Facebook, too).

As I said before, this post is entirely my own work, is not endorsed by the Union (or anyone else), and should something go horribly wrong with any orders you place with any outside companies and you end up losing your home, your car and your family, I'll deny any knowledge. So there... ;o)