Lech Sikorski
The BNP have been accused of committing the worst forms of quasi-intellectualism, narrow-minded racism, tactical yoking and shameful incidents of conduct – race exclusive membership – to have pervaded Britain’s shores in recent times. There appears to be a consensus amongst political commentators that the BNP is deliberatively malicious towards ethnic minorities, in their attempts to ‘cleanse’ Britain of multi-culturalist attitudes under the banners of “real British identity” and “sustainable demographics.” Whilst there is an agreement about the controversial nature of the BNP, there is a disagreement about how best to confront it’s recent popularity.
The recent decision to allow the BNP on Question Time has brought fury to those who claim that we shouldn’t give the BNP a national platform. Personally, I believe that maximum exposure of the BNP would assist in the process of dragging their muck politics out of the gutter and being held to account by the court of public opinion. Bonnie Greer, Jack Straw, Chris Huhne and as of yet unknown representative of the Conservative party have the opportunity to deftly discredit the BNP brand and should seize it as a responsibility to do so. The arguments that the BNP propose must be proved to the people, like any political party in a democratic system, to be demonstratively wrong, illogical and unworkable. An appearance of Question Time will help to speed up the de-masking process.
Should the appearance of BNP leader Nick Griffin on Question Time be allowed to happen? Is this a failing of current party politics? The Politics Society welcomes and encourages all views. Tell us what you think.
Order, Order
Jon Ridge
On Sunday the 21st of June, Michael Martin left his position as Speaker of the House of Commons, and resigned as an MP.
On Monday the 22nd, MPs attended the House to hear a series of speeches by the 10 candidates for the position of Speaker, followed by a Secret Vote.
Using a system known as Exhaustive Secret Ballot, which removes the candidate with the lowest number of votes, or those with less than 5%, from each round until one candidate is left with at least 50% of the vote.
Continue reading ‘John Bercow elected Speaker of the Commons’
On Thursday 14th May, Manchester University Students’ Union hosted a hustings event with candidates from the main parties running in the European Parliament elections for the North West for on 4th June.
Velida Pudic
With the European elections on the 4th of June many of us are trying to decide who to vote for. So what better way to decide than a hustings with (nearly) all the parties that are running! Well, er, actually no. The event didn’t enlighten us as to the EU’s future, what its underlying goal is or even help distinguish the parties running. But it certainly provided a few laughs and some memorable quotes…
Continue reading ‘European Elections (North West) - Who do I vote for?’
Velida Pudic
There is a disgruntled atmosphere amongst Manchester University Law Students. In an
undergraduate law lecture on Friday the 20th of March, an academic member of staff hinted
that the law school was proposing to cut lectures from 30 to 20 per module. Exactly a
week later the entire law undergraduate received an email from the head of the Law
school, Frank Stephen, that these proposals had been voted on by the Board of Law. To put
it lightly, students were not pleased. How had this decision come about? Were students
consulted? What could we do?
As there has been much confusion, protest and general inaccuracy concerning this issue
this article aims to provide a comprehensive and accurate account of what these decisions
mean and how students have reacted.
Continue reading ‘Law students protest at contact hours cuts.’
Velida Pudic
Student apathy struck again today with the General Meeting failing to meet quorum with just 127 students in attendance.
The first item on the agenda was ‘The Fight For Democracy: No Need To Shout!’ which hoped to change constitution so that students who are too busy to attend General Meetings can vote online. For this to be debated a quorum of 1000 was needed. Naturally there was little hope of meeting quorum. Hence the first item on the Ordinary General Meeting was ‘The Fight For Democracy: Always Have a Back Up Plan!’ which proposed an online poll to be put to students on whether they wanted to pass the motion ‘Fight for Democracy: No Need to Shout!’
The other four items on agenda were ‘Increasing opportunities for accountability, transparency and participation in the union’, ‘Reclaim the Uni’, ‘RBS Funding Climate Chaos’ and finally, ‘NO2ID.’
All interesting topics, all enthusiastically campaigned about. Yet a poor turn out once more.
The speaker invited attendees to participate in an informal debate about tackling student apathy. Ironically, the hall emptied.
Naomi Brandon
On Wednesday 18th March, Manchester’s HOPE not hate campaign was launched in Manchester Cathedral.
Representatives from the various faith groups in Manchester and students from the University of Manchester joined together to sign a pledge to fight against the BNP in the forthcoming European elections.
HOPE not hate is Searchlight’s campaign against the British National Party and other racists and fascists. HOPE not hate recognises that people, communities and society as a whole face problems, but the BNP is not the answer and would only make everything worse. They work to expose the truth about the BNP and, by democratic means, to prevent it gaining electoral success. HOPE not hate’s current campaign aims to increase turnout in the European election on 4 June 2009 so that the BNP’s percentage vote falls short of that needed to win seats.
Find out more about HOPE not hate
The North West is particularly under threat from the BNP, as their leader, Nick Griffin, is standing for one of the North West’s European Parliament seats. The electoral system means that Griffin only needs a small percentage of the vote to win a seat.
Therefore, it is essential that the students turn out to vote on the 4th June to eliminate this chance. Together we can make a difference.
If you are not yet registered to vote in Manchester, please do so now by clicking the link below.
https://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/register_to_vote/electoral_registration_applica.aspx
And turn out to vote on June 4th to stop the BNP.
Jon Ridge
It was a tense night in the Students’ Union as the long days of tireless campaigning, lecture shoutouts and colourful promoting came to an end, finally, in Biko’s Café.
Not content with the palpable tension in the air, the powers that be kept everyone on their toes for an extra hour, with the first results coming in at 8:30. This ensured there were no fingernails left for any candidates and that the Union Bar was having an exceptional Thursday night of takings.
Continue reading ‘Election results night’
The results of the UMSU elections were announced on Thursday 12th March in Biko’s cafe.
Executive Elect
Academic Affairs: Kate Little
Campaigns Officer: Laura Williams
Communications Officer: Thomas Fairhurst
General Secretary: Gabriel Hassan
Student Activities: Jacques Graves
Student Direct: Jennie Agg
Welfare: Vicky Thompson
Womens Officer: Hazel Kent
Continue reading ‘Results of the UMSU Elections’
