After it was exposed that Nottingham Student Union President Nsikan Edung had abused his taxpayer funded trip to China, TB's sources have confirmed that he was last night officially censured by the student council.
A motion of censure was put forward and 28 voted in favour, 3 against and 1 abstention. The matter has now been referred to the Union executive for investigation.
+++Developing - more later+++
So just as Tory Bear was getting into a good ol'chat about the whole email leak thing on the
Just when he thought that the Liberal Youth elections couldn't get any more farcical, TB is laughing on so many levels at this leaked email. Once the initial surprise passed that a member of the Liberal Democrats actually has an opinion on something, just how damaging this email is, began to sink in:
Rumours were flying, speculation was mounting, but now TB can confirm that Ed Hallam, of
This open letter just caught TB's eye on Facebook. Is it a precondition of being a Liberal Democrat to have faux piety pour from your mouth at the drop of hat? What's with the whole holier than thou bullshit coming from the Bagshaw campaign? Both camps are as bad as each other.
The outrage felt on campus has spread to those outside the university who hate to see money wasted in such a ridiculous fashion. Tim Aker, Grassroots Coordinator of the TaxPayers’ Alliance and Nottingham Graduate, said: “This is a ridiculous use of the University’s funds. With his union’s members struggling to pay their bills, it’s wrong that this supposed student leader is partying on the other side of the world at taxpayers’ expense. Students are being forced to pay costly fees to go to university, but it seems some academic institutions are happy to throw money away on free jollies.”
CF and YBF's Christian May, slammed Edung’s jaunt as a complete waste of money. “Did this trip, paid for by the university, add any value to the education of ordinary Nottingham students? I very much doubt it. These are the kind of publicly funded jollies that must be stamped out during a recession. People are very loose with money when it isn’t their own. Just look at Derek Simpson of the Unite Union – living in luxury whist his members lose their jobs.”
Edung went on to boast that he planned to “check out some house parties, ruin diplomatic relations and spend a night in a Chinese cell.” A source close to Nottingham University Student Union claims that plans are underway to hold Edung accountable for his “inappropriate boasts” and to press university authorities to take further action. The source added, “this is what happens when union officials get too big for their boots.”
TB has been trying to get a straight answer out of the university all day. Firstly the President is not taking calls or returning emails. The university press office refused to comment on whether they paid for the trip and referred to it as a union matter. The union press officer was equally unhelpful. She stated firstly that she would look into it, then that she couldn't find out who had paid for the trip, or what it's purpose was. Finally she admitted she wasn't going to give out the information.
TB reckons they know they have cocked up here. His sources have confirmed that the trip was paid for by the University, so out of essentially public money. They seem to be determined to brush it all under the carpet.
You've got some explaining to do Mr President...
It seems that Sara Scarlett, the heckler of Harrogate, has been getting some flack for her very public outburst against her opponent for Chairman of Liberal Youth:
It seems that
Since she quit the Conservative Future National Executive last October, very little has been heard of the controversial and divisive Anastasia Beaumont-Bott. She disappeared under the radar, but continued to be in charge of the Social Action network. However in a brief and blunt email sent a 2am on a Saturday night, it seems ABB has had enough of the political game playing for good. When such a master of the dark arts herself decides to call it a day, you have to wonder what she was eluding to...
So the slow motion car crash that is the Liberal Youth Chair elections has taken another painful and excruciatingly embarrassing twist. The toys are really being thrown out of the pram in all directions and the dreadful candidates are seemingly using every trick in the book to make themselves look like a pair of two bit, jumped up, amateurs.
This week has seen claim and counter claim at just how badly the current Chair, who is seeking re-election, mundane Elaine, has done. Her website until recently had a section that countered claims that 18 members of her team had resigned since July. She claimed it was actually only 15, so that made everything alright. The section has mysteriously disappeared in the last 24 hours. While she might be keeping up her smile, a source was less then charming about Elaine's campaign style; "She's just thrashing about in the shallows trying to hit something - anything to make her feel better. She reminds me of one of those whales in Australia."
Though it's not just bad news for Elaine, her opponent Sara Scarlett might have made a bit of a cockup at the first day of the Lib Dem Harrogate mini-conference yesterday. Things kicked off when Elaine yeah-but-no-but Bagshaw was giving a speech. TB will let some Lib Dem blogging gimp
"The trouble occurred when Elaine Bagshaw, the Chair of Liberal Youth, took to the stage. She spoke well – no oratorical leaps and bounds, but well nonetheless. Unfortunately, when she reached a passage in her speech describing Liberal Youth’s achievements over the past year, a voice rang out, sharp and clear, from the crowd.
“You’ve done nothing!”
This was a major speech, during an important part of conference – which, I believe, was televised. It wasn’t as if it was a little fringe event, squirreled away in some forgotten corner of the Harrogate Holiday Inn. It was a central event for the party as a whole, and a focus of media attention during conference. And this attack wasn’t some drunken prank by footsoldiers of Elaine’s opposition.
It was Sara Scarlett. Sara, who campaigned so hard for the position, and who seemed, for a time, about to win. Now she faces only ostracism, her erstwhile loyal supporters sporting “Backing Bagshaw” badges in the hotel bar"Girls around the country are lamenting this weekend, as they woke to the news that TV's
So this week Obama was rude to the British, or should we say, Michelle Obama was rude to the British and her
Now TB understands that getting a job in Parliament can be tough at times, but it seems John Redwood is really upping the stakes. Think you've got what it takes to work for the Wokingham wonderboy? Then you better get drafting a letter to a constituent outlining "John’s views on EU directives about food supplements." That should set you up nicely for a job that
So the Mundell campaign didn't go quite to plan, but it was an interesting election none the less. With 6500 students voting, a 25% turnout made it the highest student election vote ever. All the candidates slaved their guts out for the last two weeks and the turnout is testament to how well they got people fired up. Although he was involved in a rather minor way and wasn't running for any position himself, that was sadly the last of student politics for this bear.
If he was ever to write a novel though, TB reckons a biting satire of politics in this country, told through the eyes of a losing student campaign, would be pretty damn funny... Maybe one day, but for now it's back to the dissertation.
Why did young people join the Conservative Party in the 1950s eh?
Apologies for the lack of blogging, TB has been a busy bear and has a lot on his plate.
The dissertation is coming on nicely (big stack of papers, beginning middle and end etc etc.) Normal service will resume soon, though things will be hectic for the next couple of weeks.
If you are at Edinburgh University in the mean time though, TB has a message for you:
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