In January I worked on a variety of things, including the co-op housing project. This is a really exciting piece of work looking at developing an alternative to pfi halls of residence, and means lots of trips to Manchester to meet our consultant and Sarah and Amelia from MMU and UMU. You can read much more about the work we’ve been doing at www.nusonline.co.uk/co-op, including a 100 page report for those of you who are particularly keen.

I’ve also been working on the ‘good health’ campaign for free prescriptions for students. Too many students are unable to access the healthcare they need because of costs that they cannot afford. Healthcare should be free at the point of need and these charges should be abolished for students. I’ve organised for an Early Day Motion to be submitted in Parliament. You can see it here: http://edm.ais.co.uk/weblink/html/motion.html/ref=619. Please, please, please take 5 minutes and write to your MP to ask them to sign it. I have emailed over 500 MPs but this is not enough! Find out more about the campaign at www.nusonline.co.uk/goodhealth.

I spent a lovely night at Bournemouth Uni doing a sponsored sleepout for the Tsunami Appeal. It was absolutely freezing but quite entertaining, and well done to the students who organised it and to the Chaplaincy for providing much needed bacon sandwiches in the morning!

At the end of the month, I was privileged to be invited to 2 ceremonies to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day. The event at ULU was wonderful and very moving, and I hope the plaque outside will be a reminder to all students of the importance of remembering and of standing up to ensure that nothing like the Holocaust ever happens again. I was also invited to the national commemoration at Westminster Hall. It was a real honour to be there together with so many Holocaust Survivors on the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. It was a day I’ll never forget, and I think it’s amazing that so many unions around the country hosted events to commemorate the day. It still amazes me that a genocide that vast happened within my grandparents lifetime and I think we all have a duty to keep remembering and keep campaigning against every incident of bigotry and prejudice. It might not be fashionable to quote Tony Blair, but I think he put it brilliantly: "We must never forget the victims. We must never dishonour their memory by allowing the ugly poison of racial prejudice and hatred to hold sway again. We must remember above all the holocaust did not start with a concentration camp. It started with a brick through the shop window of a Jewish business, the desecration of a synagogue, the shout of racist abuse on the street." www.holocaustmemorialday.gov.uk

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