Over the past few weeks I have been travelling all over the country, attending various events.

On the 28th of October I attended my second BUSA Exec meeting, which included a presentation on the Participate campaign by Sian, and the opportunity to learn about integrated league structures. I was relieved to see that I wasn’t the only one in the room who looked confused by the current leagues and qualification for further competitions. The new proposals look much easier to understand on paper, but may raise issues for institutions with high quality second teams.

The following week we set off for regional conferences. Having completed all of my education in Scotland, I had never experienced the English regional conferences, although the novelty began to wear off after hearing the same presentations at least three times over!

Back south of the border for the following Monday so that I could attend the SWD Sports day. This is one of the best events I’ve been to in a while, and I think its because I, and many of the others attending, left with a feeling of having not only become more aware of the issues surrounding disability sport, but of how to initiate disability sports on campus, and where to look for guidance. We also had the opportunity to participate in some sports played mainly by visually impaired athletes, including goal ball and cricket.

The NEC meeting on the 8th of November saw the discussion of various legal situations, including the situation in Loughbourgh, where the local council has granted planning permission for residences, with a clause prohibiting students to from living in them.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending my first ever National Council. I was disappointed that the biggest debate seemed to be around the NEC writing blogs. I do appreciate the importance of blogs in terms of the accountability of the NEC to the membership, but are they really the most important issue facing the student movement?

Outwith the world of NUS I also took the opportunity to attend the baptism of a friend from Uni. As an atheist I very rarely find myself within places of worship, but I decided to go as it meant a lot to my friend. Even when in a church I don’t participate in prayer, and since this ceremony included quite a few, it gave me time to think about a situation I was in a few weeks ago on the tube. A man in robes got on at the same stop as me. He sat two seats away on the same side of the carriage. Across from him was a man in his thirties, and across from me was a young woman. All was quiet until the man in robes took out his bible and started preaching. The man opposite started being quite rude and abusive. After a brief ‘discussion’ between the two men, the man started being quite threatening, until eventually the man in robes got up and moved to the next carriage. And what did I do throughout all of this? I sat there and said nothing. You might think this is dreadful, but I was actually debating where I felt right and wrong lay in the situation. I felt that the man being abusive was out of order for being rude and threatening, but I also thought the man in the robes was out of order for assuming that all of us wanted to be preached to. I am not religious, and I object to people who try to convert me, after all I’m not going to go about saying that religion is wrong and everyone should be an atheist like me! So not wanting to seem to support one man or the other I said nothing (I also considered my own personal safety), and neither did the woman opposite me. The situation highlighted to me both the lack of tolerance for religion that exists, and a way that some people of religion aggravate the situation.

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