Please see my page for the Alternative Salford News Service as a place where news, events, meetings and ideas will be placed for others to comment on and ‘discuss’ away from the Salford Students’ Union forum.

Please keep in mind when posting ideas and comments that a basic condition of this new ’society’ is that it’s objectives would have to be suitably different to those of Student Direct, it would not be a direct competitor of SD and that it would not be a hyper-critical of it either.  We will have to demonstrate that, via our constitution, what we are offering is something that broadens the range of student activities on offer at Salford.
If this is done correctly it could work side by side as another form of media for salford students, along the same line as Shock Radio.

I will leave the comments open for the time being, but I do not want this to become a breeding-ground for insulting the current Communications Officer or the current editorial team.  This area is purely for your thoughts on the project and how it can be moved forward.

The second half of the event was held in The Pav (Salford SU’s licensed premises) and proved to be a sweat-fest of a night. The Pav was the hottest and most sweatiest that I have ever known it to be, but it was a blinder of a night.

Or at least that’s what has been the main subject of discussion between Claire, Holly, Steve and I. You see, we have decided to get a house together next year at Waterside Village. It’s a residential estate that was originally built for students, but now is open to anybody. The rent is a little more that Castle Irwell would have been, but there’s a lounge, a huge garden and a double bed. I say bar humbug to Castle Irwell and I will be glad to see the back of it.

We’re getting a rabbit as well and Steve has posted some rules on his website. This should be interesting!!

In all fairness, I am really looking forward to living with these guys, although I have only known them a short time, they have become some of my best friends that I have met whilst in Salford.

On the whole, my exams were okay…there was one that I did not have a clue on any of the subject matter, so I just didn’t do it…..ah well.

Roll on the resits

I’m not going to go through 3 days worth of motions passed and policy wording, but I always think that the really controversial stuff is always what people want to read about. Jo Salmon’s blog really sums up what the main/controversial motions were at conference, so here is a copy from her site:

NUS Extra
This was passed and as of this September, students will continue to get free membership of their students’ union (and therefore NUS) but in order to get their discounts, they’ll have to pay ten pounds for the NUS Extra card. Some of that money will be given to the students’ union, some will go to NUS and the rest will be used to cover the admin costs. For more information, go to www.nusextra.com

Coca-Cola
As you’d expect, we had a massive debate about whether or not to boycott Coke and, in the end, conference decided to engage in constructive dialogue with Coca-Cola rather than an outright boycott.

Hizb ut-Tahrir
NUS has a no-platform policy with certain groups whose views are incompatible with our commitment to equality, such as the BNP etc, as well as Hizb ut-Tahrir. A motion was put forward to this year’s conference to remove allow Hizb ut-Tahrir back into NUS but conference rejected the motion and Hizb ut-Tahrir continue to be no platformed by the national union.

Holocaust Memorial Day
Now you wouldn’t think this would be controversial but there were some at conference who had a problem with HMD – and one NEC member (Jamal El-Shayyal) tried to take parts on a line mandating all members of the NEC to attend an event for HMD 2007. When proposing the deletion of this line, he said something along the lines of: “one death is as much of a tragedy as many”. I took a speech against and conference voted with me, which was great, but I wish I’d said this in my one minute rant: “if one death is a tragedy, then what’s 6 million? What’s 15 million?”. We won with a massive margin anyway, so I don’t know what I’m fussing about!

I really must thank Jo for all her support that she showed to the Jewish students during the debate on Holocaust Memorial Day. I felt sick to the teeth with the idea that a member of the National Executive had wanted to make it optional to attend an HMD event. Jo stuck up for what was right and that is greatly appreciated.

The first thing that I would like to do is to thank several people who have been supporting me all the way through:

• Holly

• Claire

• Zoe

• Joey

• Steve

These guys have given me amazing support. I’m really proud of them and it meant a hell of a lot to me when Zoe and Joey turned up to help me campaign, when I didn’t even ask them to.

Next, I’d like to thank those that were so supportive last night, the majority of them will probably never read this, but I have already thanked them in person:

• Charlotte

• Ruth (what you said to me last night meant a lot and I respect you so much for saying it)

• Hannah (You deserved it more than anybody)

• Gemma (you didn’t need it, but you look fabulous)

• Jess (sorry that my voice wasn’t up to scratch)

• Alan (well done)

• Heather (well done)

• Jenny

• Matt (Pingu)

If I have missed anybody, I’m sorry…..there was so much happening last night that it was all a bit of a blur.

I would next like to say a very big thank you to my friends and the sabbatical officers of the union, Alex, Hannah, Tracey and Steph. They have always supported me and throughout the elections have still remained my friends. Alex, if you do read this, please do not give up hope…..my quote of the week for you is “The trouble with democracy is that every silly bugger gets a vote”.

Anyway, enough of the Oscars speech!! On to the philisophical crap!!

I have been thinking about my loss over night. I can honestly say that it was a suprise, but I am quite happy at the same time. I can look back and say that I gave 110%. I was out of my house everyday at 08:00 and everyday I was getting back in past midnight, one night not until nearly 03:00 in the morning. I have encountered bad feeling, I have been told that I was not being voted for because of my religion and I have been told that I should not try and get votes in certain places that were thought of as ‘home ground’ by supporters of my opponent. I have been there in support of friends that were also running, asking the people that were campaigning for me to campaign for them instead. I have been the candidate that has been at every event, every ballot and has been outside canvassing in all weather without complaint. In my head I have still won, I know that I have not officially, but even my opponent was shocked.

I’ll still be there, I’ll be on Union council ensuring that the elected officials keep to their mandated promises that were in their manifestos, I may stand for a position on the E&D committee and I will definately still be heavily involved in Student Representation.

I keep going, nothing stands in my way. Today is a new day and the start of my campaign to run for president next year.

Keep smilling,

Martyn

Well, I thought that it went pretty good. I think that my speech was well received and that I answered the questions really well.

You can view the transcript of my speech on my election website.

So now we are entering into the final phase of the elections, with voting starting this week and results being announced on Thursday night, it all seems so surreal.

For me, the most exciting point so far has been the amount of activity happening on the Students’ Union forum. Where there has been a lot of debate and many questions asked.

I’m very tired today as I was in work at 07:30 this morning and then went out and flyered/postered all the Halls of Residence, bar Castle Irwell – that equates to about 1650 students who were targetted today. I hope that it pays off!!

Anyway, as a quick update, I have also added the voting timetable to my website, so check it out and get down to vote.

Martyn.

Well, today was the first of two hustings. For those that are unsure, hustings is an event where political campaign speeches are made. Each candidate is given 3 minutes to make a speech and then can field up to 3 questions from the floor and/or the current executive.

I really enjoyed this event. I was given the opportunity to explain why I wanted to be voted and what I would do in the role of Welfare & Education Officer. I’m proud of myself and I think I did really well. That’s the kind of feedback that I got from other people at the event, anyway.

The other bit of good news is that my competitor for the position did not turn up, not did he submit a speech to be read. In fact, nobody knows where he was. Hopefully this will benefit me and my campaign. I like to think that this role needs somebody who is dedicated and hard working, and todays events surely proved that I am just that!!

Well, the next hustings event is tomorrow night (Thursday) at 7pm. It’s at the Students’ Union entertainment venue, the Pavilion. This is probably the most important out of the two, as you are talking directly to the people that go to events put on by the Students’ Union.

I have to say that I am really really looking forward to it!!!

After tomorrow’s event, I will put the text of my speech up on my website www.m-redstone.co.uk for the benefit of those that could not attend either hustings.

So, for now I shall leave you with a soundbite from today:

“Union means to unite”

- well done Hannah (president candidate) for coming up with that one, that is probably the best line in regards to the Students’ Union that I have ever heard.

So, we got some great positioning around the place, library windows, canteens (maxwell and chapman) and University House to name a few places.

Unfortunately, at some point this morning all of the posters on the windows of the library coffee room were cleaned of posters, never to be seen again. Okay, that hasn’t really stopped me as I have put some more up. The library staff have said it wasn’t them.

This has also happened in the Maxwell cafeteria, where I have had some posters taken down.

I suppose it’s all part of the race for positions really. The more I want this position, the more I shall run around the Uni like a loon putting posters up everywhere.