Tuesday 6 March 2012

Ben Haines: The elections and “The Fear”


Hiya.

Apologies to all of you who over the last week were pestered, harassed, shouted at, flyered, postered, written on and so on and so forth.  Anyone who doesn’t know why this was needs to have a word with themselves.  The RUSU elections 2011/12 took place last week and were a serious success.  The funny thing is, though I just apologised… I’m really not sorry.  Not a sausage. I’m sorry that I’m not sorry.  The elections are magic. 

How did we do?

Here we go jargon and serious face time: Within one week more students take part in a democratic process than any other time during the year.  Nearly 3000 handsome and well-groomed Reading students got online and voted for who they want to lead their student union next year.  More, ladies and gents, than ever before.  If you were part of this, cheers.

Like Kelly Rowland, usually I’m down for whatever  - but in particular I’m down for democracy.  It’s a nice feeling knowing that though on the outside people tend to seem apathetic and a bit sluggish to get involved, they do care about this stuff!  Even the nice young lady who came and sat down and said to me “You do realise I’m only doing this because I want free pizza.” The fact she then sat down and took the time to look at the candidates and work out who she wanted to vote for is a success.

So, who have you got coming in to replace me next year? I know what you’re all thinking…how do you replace the irreplaceable? STOP IT you flirts! Ceri jones, Nick Cook, Cara Swift, James Fletcher and Sophie Davies all did really good campaigning, and off the back of this they are going to be your Student Officer team for next year.  And what a pleasant and amusing bunch of cats they are.  I for one will be happy to hand over my office to Ceri , your new VP for Democracy and Campaigns, secure in the knowledge it’s in safe hands. She’s nice and that.

The Fear

One other thing I wanted to talk about is “The Fear”.  I remember this time last year, when The Fear hit me.  It comes to a point in the year when everyone panics about work, and people become irrational.  The remote gets lost for the TV and there’s a Cluedo-style witch hunt for whose fault it was.  Someone doesn’t do the washing up and they’re now “just the worst guy”. 

Listen Colonel Mustard/ Miss Scarlett! Put the lead piping down and take a little breather.  This time of year is stressful. You need the people around you, like your friends and housemates, to be the ones helping you to calm down.  Make sure you give people some slack, because come exam time you’ll be relying on them to keep you sane.  In the meantime, don’t peak too soon.  Get in some time for R & R, make time to go out with your mates and enjoy the weekends. You’ll feel much better about work when you know you’ve got something to look forward to!

I love feedback.  So… even if you want to just come and have a nag at me about last week, my office is in the RUSU hub.  I’ll provide biscuits and a cup of tea for anyone who does, like the good host I am. 

Finally, I can be followed on twitter! For all things democracy and campaigns follow @rusu_vpdc or for the more exciting stuff without the watershed follow @benjhaines.

I’ll write again before Easter about some really exciting stuff we’ve got coming up in the summer.  In the mean time, I’ve missed you guys.

*flame rekindled, walks away slowly, looks back over shoulder and smiles*

See you all soon
Ben

P.S Campus Central now sells hot-dogs. Quality right?! Another huge win for students, get in there and give them a try, they’re DE-lish.

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