Wes called me on the first morning of regionals and referred to me on the phone as the “eastside commander” I liked this title a lot as taking half of the NEC on a trek from Kingston to Essex, to Nottingham to Newcastle, then all the way back to London is indeed a bit of a mission! My team consisted of Julian, Joe Rukin, Ellie, Wesley, Judith, Daniel Randall, Peter, Kat Louis, Jamal and Benson, not everyone could be with us every day but everyone contributed the time that they could make it.

This week is generally exhausting and stressful but this time, although knackered and ill by the end of the week, I actually had a really good laugh on the road. Julian and I shared all the driving (first a people carrier but then we had too many people and not enough luggage room and had to swap to a mini bus to stop Jude, Wes and Kat L being squashed – see photo) and everyone got on, made jokes, sang (sometimes a bit too much) and did fabulous impressions (Wes and Julian particularly) we hardly talked about work and found out a lot more about each other, I think its fair to say that we bonded…lets see how long that lasts shall we?? But seriously, thank you to the eastside NEC you were all fabulous!

The day (repeated four times, yes it does get a little bit dull hearing the same thing repeatedly) was jam packed and we constantly we trying to make up time as we either started late or overran a session, but in general I think it was a good balance of campaigns, issues, reform, democracy and elections. I was really pleased with how the democracy guide (link) and the report and plan (link) went down and I was really impressed by Jamal and Peters session about the Glees Report and how we as the student movement should respond to the London Bombings. Peter highlighted the absolutely ludicrous nature of some of the notions in the Glees Report and some of the recommendations that Glees made and how we really need to engage with and not isolate Muslim communities at this time and that by being united is the only way that we can defeat terrorism. He also spoke about the Terrorism Bill going through Parliament and the need to defeat certain aspects of it, it really built on the things I had heard at the United Communities meeting and I am definitely going to the lobby, although I have found out that my new MP in Camden is Frank Dobson so I guess he’ll be voting against it!

Some really interesting feedback came out of the MORI session that I hope will help us get a good report from them that will help NUS form a strategic plan and formulate options for change.

I think on the whole the progressing NUS reform paper went down well, there are some really interesting questions about our structures in the paper that really need addressing especially around a more formal, accountable management committee structure. The paper is attached to the bottom of this blog, do read it and start to think about reform motions your union can put into NUS annual conference, deadline 2nd December 1pm!

What I think came across to the delegates is that the NEC don’t fight all the time, we actually quite like each other really even if we disagree politically on different issues we can get on on other levels.

The drive back from Newcastle to London on the Thursday was hellish and took us 7 hours, by this point I was hysterical with tiredness and couldn’t wait to get into bed. Believe me life on the road as an NEC member is not that glamorous, traveling til midnight most nights, getting lost in random cities, eating junk food on the run and sleeping in dodgy hotels but actually I think regional conferences are really important in conveying our campaigns and our work, ensuring regional democracy and allowing our members to hold us to account.

One of the things that really stood out to me this week is that in every region we elected an FE National Councillor this hasn’t happened for as long as I’ve been on the NEC and really shows how much work NUS has done for FE over the past two years that has empowered our FE officers and included them in our democracy and our campaigns. Well done Ellie and Kat for all your hard work.

I was really proud of the Eastside team this week and I’m also almost looking forward to the next round when we swap sides and become the Westside team, I just hope we’re all being as nice to each other by then, or else the NEC funbus is not going to be so much fun!!

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