| What do NUS Extra, Kinga the Minger and Saga Holidays have in common? … Taking Action on Finance! |
| 09/08/2005 |
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In this Blog…
Kat Fletcher tried to poison me. It’s the only explanation as to why I’m feeling so rough today. It can’t be because of the amount of wine I drank at her housewarming BBQ yesterday. Having spent a week listening to sessions about Corporate Social Responsibility and sensible drinking, I obviously practice what I preach… But then judging by some of the antics I’ve been hearing from Action through Advocacy, I really would’ve expected better from our welfare and education officers… So, anyway, I thought that while I’m sitting here feeling hungover ill, I thought I’d let you know what I’ve been up to recently… Taking Action on Finance – 2nd to 4th August What happens when you put a bunch of student officers together with a delegation from Saga Holidays? Not what you think – I can tell you – as that’s exactly what happened this week at Taking Action on Finance… Pensioners trying to get us out of the bar area at 6pm(!) where we were working cos they wanted to start getting on it! 6pm?! I don’t think we’ll be taking any more crap from the media about pissed-up students… It’s the pensioners you have to watch these days (as anyone who saw the Channel 5 programme ‘OAPs on ASBOs’ can testify!). Last week I went along to provide NEC support up in Leicester, with Joe Rukin. Our role at these events is to support and facilitate the workshops, answer any of your questions about policy issues, pass on our own experiences and generally do some donkey work! I really enjoyed it. It has to be said that the idea of a week of finance training didn’t really float my boat. I was expecting a week of number crunching and bad jokes about double-entry book keeping. What I found instead was a stimulating and useful course that covered the basics of being an officer in charge of union finances as well as a series of issue-based workshops. The officers who attended the course were a really top bunch of people, which contributed to a great atmosphere throughout the course. I was asked by someone on the course to blog about one particular event in great detail, so here goes: Joe and I went around the rooms to hand out our rights and responsibilities sheets. One of the groups (the loudest group) demanded sweets. Joe and I didn’t have any. So we went downstairs to get some. Then came back and gave them the sweets… Why this requires so much detail, I don’t know, but this is what I was asked to do, so there. Other than that, other interesting moments from the course included an excellent workshop on promoting cheap drinks vs. promoting sensible drinking by Kris Talikowski from Plymouth, as well as oustanding presentations on the challenges facing students financially and the financial challenges facing students’ union from Jon Berg, the GM up at Teesside. There were some other comic moments, but you’ll have to email me if you want the full gossip! The only final thing to reflect on was that news reached us during the course about Kinga the Minger’s antics in the Big Brother garden. Kinga: what were you thinking?! For anyone who’s interested, I’m not supporting Makosi anymore. She’s got too many faces. I’m torn between Anthony and Eugene, leaning towards Eugene as I think it would do his confidence good, and I’m nice like that! NUS Extra: The North West Trial about to begin! One of the other topical issues that came up this week was NUS Extra, which was a favourite topic of mine last year. I’ll be honest and say that I was never a fan of the project and spent a lot of last year as a National Council member putting up hurdles to getting it approved; it was my motion to National Council that meant it had to go to NUS Conference for a vote in the first place, for example. However, for every objection I threw at the project last year, last year’s National Treasurer Martin Ings, who constantly reviewed and adapted the card proposal to improve it, provided a new solution. I now feel that the NUS Extra Card is not just a way for unions and NUS to make money, but an excellent product for students in itself, something that will make our students’ lives that little bit easier by making the things they need cheaper. The product is about to put on trial in the North West and already people are getting a bit nervous about it. There can be no doubt that this year will be difficult:
But what we need to remember is that this is a TRIAL.
This year there will be challenges for NUSSL, NUS and unions in the North West. But if this is going to work, we need to work together to make this work. There are huge potential benefits in this project, but in order to realise them, we can’t get cold feet now. In just three months, NUSSL have succeeded in bringing on board a range of new and enhanced discounts on everything from clothing and electrical goods, to local and national transport, theme parks and toiletries. This week has been no better example of how small setbacks can result in shaky nerves… At the beginning of the week, Comet came off the card because of logistical problems. However, by the end of the week Sony and Superdrug have come on board. It’s all swings and roundabouts, so let’s do our best to ensure a smooth ride. As a member of the Finance Team, I’ve committed to Joe that I’m willing to help and support any of you in the North West, with anything from simple questions to going out on your campuses to help with publicity, so please don’t hesitate to contact me on wes.streeting@nus.org.uk or 07946 840 167 if you need a hand with anything at all. Also remember that Joe, Derfel (our NUSSL rep on the NEC) and the team at NUSSL are here to support you. General Roundup on what I’ve been up to… I was going to write another rant about some of the debate points from this week, but I think I’ve soapboxed enough for one blog! Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been completing some project proposals for the next NEC meeting, been allocated my responsibilities within the Education team (which I had to miss as I was at summer training) and had a really productive meeting with Joe Rooney and Andy Wilford up in Birmingham about my plans for the year as the NUT Scholarship holder and WMANUS’ priority campaign on PGCE top-up fees. We’ve put together some good ideas in what should be a really good campaigns, which Julian and I will be supporting this year. So life on the Block continues and I have to say that I’m really enjoying it! I’ve got quite a lot coming up during the next month, including consultations on my student teachers campaign, submitting proposals to our August NEC meeting, LGBT Committee, public speaking training (though I think I could do with some silence training!!!), a conference in Poland and NSLP! Competition time By the way, I won Dan Randall’s quote competition, but here’s a competition of my own… The lucky winner will receive a Wonka Bar and a chance to win a golden ticket: 1. What is the name of our new finance officers’ training? 2. When will our FREE and exciting campaigns launch be taking place at the TUC in London? 3. And finally, which NEC member literally sent sparks flying by falling into a BBQ at Kat and Sian’s housewarming party? I don’t know how many of you read my blogs… But feel free to get in touch with me any time: wes.streeting@nus.org.uk / 07946 840 167. Hope you enjoy August! The Blogs on this site represent the individual views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the policies or practices of the National Union of Students. All links in blogs will open in a new browser window. The permanent URL for this specific blog entry is: http://www.officeronline.co.uk/blogs/wesstreeting/271182.aspx |
