As I'm sure you're all aware, James Knight, President of UCMC/NUS Wales resigned at the start of October. If you want to know why, you can read his resignation speech over at Wes's blog.

Apart from being a NOLSie comrade, JK was also a good mate and in NUS terms, we go back a long way. I don't remember the first time I met him, but between us we spent weeks engineering the (successful) revival of the NUS Wales LGB Campaign. Not long after the first conference for years, where I was elected as the LGB Officer, the motions document for the NUS UK LGB summer conference was published. About a day later I got a phone call from JK who wanted to know what I thought about this amendment or that part and what we could do to make sure that got passed but that this was deleted...

At the time, his energy and enthusiasm just scared me, but as I got to know him, I realised that he applied that same energy and enthusiasm to everything he did, whether reading the motions document the minute it was published or organising an event or getting students involved or writing a response to a government document before most of us had finished reading it...

Over the following months, we became friends, and although we had our fair share of arguments and rows, that friendship never diminished. The year I was a sabbatical for NUS Wales was tense and quite difficult, but despite our disagreements, we were always able to distinguish between the political and the personal – something for which I was extremely grateful. With hindsight, I doubt I would have finished that year if it hadn’t been for JK. No matter how much we argued, he would always take the time to sort it and was my reliable smoking companion, outside in the cold – even though he didn’t smoke! We always made the time to chat and put the world to rights and that made all the difference to me and how I felt.

Once I was elected to the NEC and moved to Oxford, we didn’t spend as much time chatting, but JK remained a mate. Forget politics, when someone like JK comes along, the one thing you don’t do is lose that friendship.

I know how unhappy he was and how ill the situation in Wales made him, and I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder of him than when he made the decision to put himself first for once. I miss him and wish he hadn’t resigned, but I’m glad he did.

It’s just a bit weird, that’s all. As I said, we “grew up” together in NUS and I can’t believe that I’m still here but he’s not.

So this one’s for you, my friend. Good luck for the future – I know that you’ll excel at whatever you decide to do, so get ‘em!

Jo xx

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