It’s hard to believe, but it’s that time of year again. The time of year fraught with speculation and backroom deals, where seeing someone in a particular city can start all kinds of rumours, yes, you guessed it, its midseason transfer time! I have to admit to ignoring what’s going on in any leagues other than the Scottish ones, but still, it’s a tense time waiting to see if Hearts will sign Hackett from Oxford Utd., and whether Rangers will actually sign anyone?!

Staying on the football theme, in the time since my last blog I had the opportunity to play in a charity football match organised by Labour Students to raise money for the Terrence Higgins Trust. The match was a highly competitive fixture between Labour staff and Labour Students, and whilst the staff may have scored more goals, the students definitely had the best supporters! The match was organised as part of the Labour Students ‘Sex, Lives and Politics’ Campaign, which aims to pressure the Government into delivering on the promises made in the Choosing Health White Paper to improve the provision of sexual health care, and to raise awareness of the importance of a responsible attitude to sexual health amongst students. Labour Students are campaigning on this by lobbying MPs to sign the Early Day Motion 1155, which was tabled by Celia Barlow on behalf of Labour Students in support of our campaign, and by gathering petitions which call for the Government to deliver on the promise of a 48 hour maximum wait to be seen at a GUM clinic. On a local level, Labour Clubs are also holding stalls on campus and proposing motions to promote safe sex and encourage SU’s to campaign on sexual health issues respectively.

For more information on the campaign go to http://labourstudents.org.uk

More information on the THT can be found at www.tht.org.uk

In addition to playing football, I also attended STADIA in Liverpool, which was a great opportunity to meet other student officers interested in student activities, and to listen to what you would like NUS to do for you. I also attended NUS Scotland Council as an observer, and took the opportunity to talk to Scottish Officers about local issues. And finally, I also graduated from Aberdeen University with my Masters Degree. The day was really good fun, and was both a celebration of finishing the course, and a good bye party for many of the international students on my course.

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