They say time flies when you are having fun and I for one am not going to disagree.

It’s now mid-Feb and I can’t work out where the year has gone so far, it has been all systems go and busy busy busy. This could be to do with the fact I now work Friday nights and Saturday nights, coaching Cricket and working behind a Bar, as well as doing NUS stuff.

I am really enjoying being on the Block of 12 due to the freedom that it allows to work with different Unions on different projects and be able to go in and support and advise Students’ Unions. Some say non-portfolio positions mean people can get away with doing very little but I actually think it allows you to work on what you want to do as well as feed into areas that with a portfolio you may not be able to at other times.

So the big ticket things that I have been up to for the last couple of months range from Keep Wednesday Free research and work with Unions, through to attending the TUC Young Members Forum, and attending referendums, as well as the odd lobby thrown in for good measure.

Keep Wednesdays Free research has thrown up some interesting things. Most Universities do have a policy of free Wednesday afternoons, but no single institution who responded said that every one sticks to it. The odd seminar here, compulsory lab session there and ‘optional’ lecture thrown in mean that for many students Wednesday afternoon is not free at all. And this obviously throws up some huge issues when we talk about the ‘Student Experience’. Students are being forced to not play sport for the Union, cut down volunteering time, and for those in the workplace Wednesday afternoon is a great time to get to work and earn that much needed money but it is being increasingly taken away. We have to challenge this so that Wednesday afternoon is ‘Free for All’ to get that much needed time in the library, to experience sporting and cultural activities, and to earn.

Derby Students’ Union are running an excellent campaign on this and Bath Spa are currently lobbying hard to make Wednesday afternoons free in their institutions.

Keep Wednesdays Free is going to be part of a broader campaign about student friendly timetabling that we are currently developing.

If any other Union wants information or has some stories on this please email me: bubble@nus.org.uk

I attended the TUC Young Members Forum in January, where the Young members Rep from each Trade Union feeds into what is going on at the TUC and this specific meeting was also about developing their Annual Conference. I was able to report on what NUS was doing with the protocol agreement and find out about what some of the Unions specifically CWU want to develop with us. The TUC will be sending a delegation to Annual Conference and we will also be attending the TUC Young Members annual conference and reporting on NUS and our developments with the Organising agenda. This relationship is key so that when our students are in the workplace the right people are representing them to stop them being exploited and also we can develop the organising agenda and make it student focused to ensure stronger Students’ Unions with more engaged members.

I have attended the two referendums so far this year at Royal Holloway and at Sussex. Both were won with huge percentages, but the main thing that I got from the referendums was the chance to talk to students about what NUS is and what it does. Both referendums were alongside sabbatical elections so it was also good to see the ideas people were coming up with and their thoughts on NUS and what we do. I personally believe we need to do much more ‘out and about’ work on campuses not only talking about NUS but also about what the local Students’ Unions are doing. If you are able to raise awareness to even one person who gets involved in some way then it is a victory in my opinion, and something we as an NEC need to look at. The Admission: Impossible road show started this and it is up to us to develop it so that we can get on the ground and make people more aware that we are more than just a discount card, or something that they are not involved in.

SEANUS had an excellent lobby of Parliament on the issue of South East Weighting on Weds 7th February. It was excellent to be able to talk to MP’s about the issues that students face both in the South East and nationally. I personally have a connection to the South East Weighting campaign as we started it last year when I was SEANUS Convenor but it was excellent to see what the current exec had done and how far they had taken the campaign forwards from my days lol. Important questions were raised and it highlights what Area organisations can do with so many students from the region in a room discussing the regional issue and being able to get public support for their cause.

As I said at the start of the blog, I really enjoy being on the Block and whilst at times it is very difficult, especially financially, the good always outweighs the bad.

I shall leave you with a quote from a certain NEC member from Regionals; can you guess who it is? (Answers on a postcard please, or an email)

“Don’t put the Block that high up; they are the lowest of the low”

Cheers,

Richard ‘Bubble’ Budden

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