What are we paying for, anyway?

Everyone who knows me will be able to attest to the fact that I have the body of a God. The God of vanilla lattes, biscuits and a sedentary lifestyle. Armed with this vessel of greatness, I think I can be allowed to pass comment on perhaps the biggest event to hit Britain in 2012 – The Olympics. 

Comprised of 26 sports, The Olympics promises over two weeks of almost non-stop sporty goodness. Britain will be overtaken by thousands of eager tourists who have paid hundreds, if not thousands of pounds for the privilege of watching some live sport that they probably don’t even understand the rules of.

But why have the festivities already appear to have started? I saw a 2012 Olympic games shop in Stansted Airport in September last year. LAST YEAR! I’m sure you’ll all be as pleased as I was that it was entirely devoid of customers, yet stuffed to the brim with stuffed toys of those bizarre mascots of ours. I have no idea what those things are, but the chocolate version of them are delicious. 

However, I have a bigger gripe with the Olympics. I am absolutely sick of everyone trying to tell us how fantastic it is for the country. One of their biggest arguments for this is how children will be inspired to take part in sport. I was threatened with detention for a month if I didn’t actively take part in my twice-weekly PE lessons and yet I still managed to go and find a tree to hide behind twice a week.  Children aren’t inspired to play more sport by seeing their country being overtaken by Olympic fever in the same way that they’re not inspired to go and steal cars and pick up prostitutes after playing Grand Theft Auto. I have a bit of an idea though – while Britain is gripped in what is too frequently described as an ‘obesity epidemic’, how about we don’t make the official sponsors of the games McDonalds, Cadburys, and Coca Cola? I might not be athletically inclined, but I’m pretty sure the people competing didn’t get where they are today by shovelling that stuff down their throats. How about using the games as an opportunity to help improve nutritional standards, and not just further profits of three major trans-national companies? 

I also take issue with how we’re all supposed to be impressed with the regeneration of East London. Now, I originally hail from south London myself, and I can attribute to the fact that London is quite a long way away from Swansea. Yet despite this, and the fact that the majority of us will never get to get anywhere near these new facilities, we’re still paying for it. 

And this is my last major complaint – the cost. So far, estimates for the whole cost of the games are around £24 billion, including public transport upgrades. Do you realise quite how much that could buy you? That’s 12 billion cider and blacks in JC’s, or 60 million new iPads. The best part is that all the private sponsors have disappeared, leaving the government to cough up for the entirety of it. I think it’s incredibly unfair that we’re all paying through the nose for something that we only wanted so that the French didn’t get it, especially at a time of recession. 

Simply put, the Olympics is expensive, we’re surrounded by propaganda, and if you dared to have had a baby after having bought your tickets, don’t try and bring it with you, because you won’t be allowed. Yet there is one silver lining on this grey cloud of misery – whenever I see the official logo, all I can see is Lisa Simpson doing something naughty, and that can only improve my day. 

MTV's The Valleys: a review.

When I was an innocent child, I was plucked from the normality of south London, and brought into the land known as the south Wales valleys. Twelve years later, I’m still adapting, but whenever someone asks, I’m proud to say that being a valleys girl is lush. Phenomenal, in fact (hint, that last bit should be said in the strongest valleys accent that you can muster).

So it is with great disgust that I find MTV are out to humiliate yet again. I can near guarantee that Essex has not benefitted from ITV’s The Only Way is Essex, nor has Newcastle’s reputation been vastly improved by Geordie Shore.  All that MTV is achieving with this travesty of faux-reality television is embarrassing the places where these people live, and turning the characters into parodies of real human beings.  

It isn’t even as if I’m a reality television snob – Jeremy Kyle is incredibly ego-boosting, and don’t even get me started on how much I love BBC3’s Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents and Don’t Tell the Bride – I just don’t want to see another group of people becoming fodder for trash magazines. When looking at the Twitter feed for the show (@MTVTheValleys), the majority of it seems to be plastic looking girls excitedly blathering on about how they’ve submitted their applications. What happened to real ambition that doesn’t involve five minutes of fame or becoming a WAG?  It’s perhaps the fake Twitter account that gets it right when it comes to what the reactions will be, asking for ‘wannabe glamour models with bad hair extensions’ to get in touch.  

Do you know what? If you want to know what the valleys are like, watch Gavin and Stacey. Everyone here’s got an Uncle Bryn and a Doris living next door. But even if you haven’t, ask me nicely and I’ll do my Nessa impersonation for you; that’ll be far more entertaining than any embarrassing programme MTV could ever come up with. 

The Problem with Equalities Officers: my response.

The problem with being a feeble woman sometimes is that we're always a bit of a slave to our emotions. We are far too obvious. You all know what I mean - when something's wrong with a man, they tend to shrug it off and work through it. When something's wrong with a woman, you will know about it. You will definitely know about it.

So it's with this logic that I present to you that we all knew I'd writing this blog post the second Eleri came out and wrote a little blog post on the Students' Union website, explaining why the best change that could happen to the SU would be wrong.

But before I can continue, I need to lay down some groundwork to explain myself.
Clearly, I am female. I am a straight female. Although I don't technically affiliate myself to any political party right now (this is a point that I may explore in another blog post at some point, but only once I've had some gin and I'm angry), I'm far more leftwing than people may expect of me. I believe in big government and state provided services that support people, not punish them for being of a different class, gender or ethnic group. I believe wholeheartedly in Keynesian economics, and I'd love to have afternoon tea with Gideon Osbourne; by afternoon tea, I mean that I'd like to bash him over the face repeatedly with a brick until he learnt economics. Or his face became unrecognisable and full of mush.

What I'm trying to get at is that firstly, it is not just my peers who vote Conservative that hold this view. I come from a household where I've grown up reading The Guardian and my mother has worked in the third sector all my life, having gone to university because the state used to provide decent grants. I know how unfair the benefits system is. I know how ridiculous the laws on Legal Aid and basics like divorce are - this isn't just because I've sat there and read about it, I've dealt with it myself. This isn't a sob story, this is an explanation that sometimes, a progressive, reformist, lefty such as myself can want change that might shake things up a bit. This is particularly true of universities and students' unions, which I feel should be representative of developments within society. By maintaining the post of women's officer in place of redeveloping it into the post of equalities officer, we are failing at this.

ANYWAY.

Let's play my favourite game: Why is Eleri so wrong (again)? It's a game for all the family.

1. "During our recent Students’ Union Elections, I was disappointed to see that out of the 4 candidates standing for the position of Women’s Officer, 2 stated their wish to change the role from Women’s Officer to Equalities Officer."

GO ON MY SONS. PROGRESSIVE CHANGE THAT WE CAN ALL BELIEVE IN <3

2. "Now, this change in job title, despite what students may have been told – is not one which can be made by a single person anyway, even if they happen to be the person who wins the Election. It would be undemocratic and wrong for a single person to do so."

Oh Eleri. I understand. It's difficult to change. There's a tonne of lobbying that would need to be done. Lots of consulting. A referendum to be undertaken... But guess what? That wouldn't put me off. I'd see it as a delicious challenge, just as those two candidates would have, too. Yes, you may have support from your fellow officers, but they are also subject to our scrutiny, and should be fulfilling the wishes of the student population - for what it's worth, I'd like to request that we can have pandas on campus and some frappes from JCs that actually have coffee in. A frappe is NOT a glorified milkshake.

3. "I am currently the only Full-time Women’s Officer in Wales, and one of only 6 in the UK. This is not because the role is outdated or unnecessary, but because of the failings of our media, rife institutionalised sexism, and because unfortunately, although it is 2012 – women’s rights and their representation is under constant and continuous attack."

Arguable. Yes, the world is a sexist place; women constantly receive the short straw, but lets have some context, shall we?
It is constantly argued that women are underpaid in Britain. The main reason for this? Women perform the vast majority of care, even when we're working full time, which may require time off from work. This is unfair, but it's just what happens. Also, I'm not entirely sure if you're all aware, but women have wombs. These wombs are usually used as excuses for why we're angry for around a week a month, but they can also be used to grow babies. Having said baby is not something that you can do whilst you're in your office, so you have to take time off work for that too. Then what happens is that women decide they want to actually bond with and care for said defenceless offspring. This requires more time off. In case you hadn't all realised, you don't get different pay scales for men and women advertised in job listings, it is simply that women have fulfilled their biological criteria. I am aware that this opinion makes me sound like I don't care about this issue - I do, I just don't care for the constant battle cries of "we're underpaid!" If you take a break in your career, you can't expect to get back into it as quickly. If a man took six months off from his career, I can guarantee he'd earn less, too.

4. "One of the advantages of Students’ Unions having a Women’s Officer (especially if she is employed Full-time), is that half of their students receive proper representation. If an SU Sabbatical Team implements a Women’s Officer, they ensure that at least one member of the team leading the Union is a woman. With Equalities Officers, the role is invariably non gender-specific which means it’s more likely, statistically – to have a man in post."

I'm sorry, but am I reading this right? What I think this is trying to get across is 'we need equality!' but what I'm actually getting from this is 'men can't do it like women can!'. I can understand that it would be ridiculous to have a disabled students officer who wasn't disabled, the same way that an LGBT officer should identify as one of those categories so as to be able to relate. However, attaining equality is not gender specific, and I think it's unfair to say that women's issues would be ignored just because it may be a man in post who is also tasked with identifying issues for other students who may be discriminated against.

5. "Here at Swansea, we are lucky to have 5 Liberation Officer Positions. These include: (Full-time) Women’s Officer, (Part-time) LGBT Officer (Women’s Place), LGBT Officer (Open Place), Students with Disabilities Officer and Black Students Officer."

I, and others I have spoken to on the subject, all believe that the Students with Disabilities Officer and the Black Students Officer should not be part-time positions. If we have a full-time Women's Officer, does this not then establish that women are of more importance than these other two categories? This then brings up the argument of perhaps there should be a part-time position for men. Yes, I understand how this may be an abhorrent thought for many, but honestly, what about those men who have issues that a woman may not understand? Who are they to turn to? 

6. "Currently, only 21% of Student Union Presidents are women. Only 38% of Sabbatical Officers overall are women, despite women making up over half of University students... In our recent SU Elections, discounting the 4 women running for Women’s Officer, we were left with 4 women running in our elections, against 18 men."

 Oh why oh why is this so? Perhaps it's because a lot of us have a lot better things to do with our lives than want to get paid to get angry and write weird blogs for a living, wait... What? I have seen this argument on so many different topics; engineering and science students, the numbers of female MPs and judges... Have people realised that perhaps the problem is that we just don't want to do it? Woman are biologically, and mentally different to men, perhaps part of this issue is just that we don't feel the need to go out there and parade ourselves in the public spotlight. As for MPs - why have people not realised that attempting any semblance of family life with such a job is impossible? The second a man leaves a family for the majority of the week to work as an MP, he's applauded. If a woman does it, she's hailed as some kind of ball-breaking freak.

And lastly...

7. "Changing Women’s Officers into Equalities Officers is not only a naïve, ridiculous and sexist move, but is a giant step back for the women’s movement for equality, and reduces support for Liberation campaigns. We need Full-time Women’s Officers in every single Union, in order to support, represent and fight for the women who are so often marginalised or forgotten about entirely."

Changing the role is none of these things. We are not marginalised or forgotten about, and whilst women make up more than 50% of the university population, we won't be. However, it is incredibly unfair to discount the changes that so many of us are calling for. 

(All parts in italics were taken from http://blogs.swansea-union.co.uk/womens/2012/04/19/the-problem-with-equality-officers/)

There were several options I had for this blog post. I know of problems that have occurred doing this officer's term of office that I have chosen not to refer to in the interests of not getting too personal, especially when it comes to this country's fabulous libel laws. 

In short, I remain true to my previous post's point on this topic, whereby I established that despite my beliefs, I do not believe Eleri represents me effectively. Nor do I believe that whilst the Women's Officer post is effective, she could ever. We need to change this post, not only to represent everyone in the university to the same extent, but to represent the changes in society, and the law, that have occurred.

Students are a disgrace, and several other things I'd like to clean up.

The South Wales Evening Post recently received this letter, from our very own Disgruntled, Swansea.

"MY wife and I frequently go through Swansea University campus, either to visit the Taliesin or by bus on our way to and from town.
Six months ago the large lawn in front of Fulton House had to be re-turfed after marquees had been sited there, turning it into a ploughed field.
 Re-laying the lawn must have cost the university thousands of pounds.
The university attracts young people from all over the world.
What, I wonder, do these foreign visitors think of our propensity to throw litter everywhere?
During the recent very hot weather the lawn has been a disgrace, on occasions it has been ankle deep in litter with students lying among the debris.
Also, litter is strewn all around the campus again costing the university thousands of pounds to clear.
Other people have expressed their disgust at the mess created by students, especially as there are plenty of litter bins everywhere.
These students are the future of our country.
Why do they show such contempt for their university campus and for the environment in general?
It does not bode well for the future.
Surely the university could take disciplinary action against some of these litter louts?
There are plenty of CCTV cameras everywhere. If a few of them were suspended or fined the others might not be so lax in their habits.
M R Stroud"

(Taken from: http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/Students-disgrace/story-15677430-detail/story.html)

 Oh, I do love a good angry member of the community story!

Firstly, why is Mr Stroud quite so upset that we had to re-turf the front lawn after the freshers' marquee was taken down? Would he rather that the university left it as a swamp? I know that the budget for science related subjects is the only one to be saved, but giving them their own swamp to use for research purposes seems a little over the top. Anyway, there's enough pond life to analyse in Swansea.

Also, I think Mr Stroud is a little confused as to how much some new turf actually costs. Doing my own research - because I'm a proper grown up these days, I can use Google!* - I've found that actually, it wouldn't cost anything like as much as Mr Stroud proposes. Oh no, at Homebase you can get 60 square metres of 'Classic Fresh Turf' for a very reasonable £225! And Nectar card points too! Now I know that there would have to be labour costs for ripping up the old turf, disposing of it, and making sure the new stuff doesn't just disintegrate, but this is what social science students are for - we've nothing to do. I have six contact hours a week and a high score on Mario Kart Wii. Are you understanding me? I've got time to kill.

Speaking of the front lawn, I can't be the only one with mental images of students making rubbish angels, in amongst the 'ankle deep' litter? Quite a lot of things are ankle deep, Mr Stroud, unless you have ridiculous proportions. Yes, the fact that people can't be bothered to take home their litter is incredibly annoying, but I do wish people wouldn't embellish unnecessarily. It was hardly the aftermath of Reading festival out there.

As for the rest of campus - where are all of these rubbish bins and CCTV cameras? I would argue that there aren't enough bins on campus, and the ones in front of Fulton are regularly filled to the brim. Perhaps a few more wouldn't hurt.

Leaving your cider can behind does not mean that the future of the country is at threat, Mr Stroud. I'd argue that it's our binge drinking culture and lack of employment opportunities for when we graduate.

On a more serious note (yes, I have these occasionally), I'd like to remind us all that it is our responsibility to keep things clean and tidy, not just on campus, but on our streets. Walking home amongst discarded bin bags because you can't remember what colour bin bag week it is, is disgusting. If you get it wrong, take it back in, don't leave it in the street to distribute bin juice all over the pavement. As much as I appreciate the teams of students who go out and clean up our streets for us, they shouldn't have to be doing it in the first place, you lazy sods.

Other things I'd like to clean up:
Swansea University, I love you. I really do. But oh gosh do we suck this year. How many times have we been in the national press this academic year?

• Posters on how to use toilets: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-16983788
• Bitey exam lady: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-16521157
• Racist Tweeter gets his comeuppance: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-17515992

Incredible, guys. Just incredible. Would it kill some of you to save some kittens from trees or something?

And now, to cheer us up, here's a miniature turtle booping a grape with his miniature turtle nose:

*Seriously guys, have you heard of Google? It's INCREDIBLE. You can find stuff out FOR YOURSELF, meaning you don't have to go and post a stupid status on Facebook asking ridiculous questions! Just put the question that you were going to waste said status on into the Google search bar and boom! Answers!

Things I'd like to see.

As I sit here at my beloved laptop - everyone, PCBunny, PCBunny, everyone - I ponder about writing you a post on the budget that was delivered today by everyone's favourite child-Chancellor, Gideon Osbourne.

Then I realised that that would be incredibly depressing, no one would care, and ultimately I wouldn't get any more hits on this new baby of mine; by the way, we're over 600 at the moment. Thank you everyone for sharing my post on Facebook and sending people to look at it, it makes me feel all smart and special :)

So I thought I'd do a more interesting post: things that I'd like to see occur, both within Swansea (which means foretelling the election results, obviously) and in the wider world.

Firstly, I'll cover the topic of elections:

Tom Upton creates a Facebook status that doesn't get about 25 likes, and is uncovered as an alcoholic, womanising git, with a video of him surfacing in which he threatens several members of staff to a death match for not realising who he is.


Millie Balkan is uncovered as the scariest feminist in the world and bans all men from campus.

Zahid Raja fails to get into the position of education officer and is instead forced to go to medical school. He gets the highest marks in the history of the university and saves millions of lives without trying. Forty five years later, he is still upset that he never got to parade around outside Fulton House with placards calling for new books and an increase in the number of careers advisors.

Jon May and Becca Taylor don't pick up on a wrong spelling of Students' Union on a candidate's literature and are forever expelled from the Waterfront Office for their failures.

Candidates realise that accosting me on the way to the world's most boring lecture is not the best way to secure my vote, and allow me to walk into Faraday from the library freely.

And the best thing I've already seen this election period: canvassers seeing the sign my housemate put up, and not knocking on my front door

  

 (Thank you, Matt Edwards, you absolute legend).

And everything else:

Train companies refuse to let you get on a train if you're not well-versed in earphone etiquette - if I can hear your music over mine, then you're doing it wrong. They also decide to separate people, allowing them to sit in the carriage that corresponds with what newspaper they read. The Guardian carriage is going to be full of Kettle Chips and Chopin, with informed debates over the Kony situation and how to remove gender inequality from the workplace. The Daily Mail carriage will be full of bile and vitriol, with catty comments about how fat celebrities look in their bikinis. There will be no snacks as they all give you cancer.

Drivers will learn how to indicate properly on roundabouts. They will also learn how not to use the outside lane when you're going all the way around it.

Seagulls will stop flying into my bedroom window when I'm delicately applying eyeliner first thing in the morning.

Bacon will be one day viewed as a basic human right, and will be heavily subsidised by the government on the basis that it makes everyone hapy. Even vegetarians.

And lastly:
David Mitchell will see the light and choose to marry me, rather than Victoria Coren. I think we all know that I'm the superior choice. Sob.


Readers: what would you like to see? And what would you like me to write about? I have a fair few ideas, but it would be nice to get an idea of what you'd like to see covered :)

Swansea Students' Union Elections - Womens' Officer.

For all of you unfortunates who don't have the luxury of coming to Swansea University with its sea views and fog covering them up about 90% of the time, you may not know that it is currently elections week.
Normally, this means that you take the long way into uni, just so as not to be accosted by over-eager candidates trying to barter for your vote. This week is my version of the week-long fitness regime.

However, this year, it's getting particularly dirty. It's scandolous, and I LOVE scandal. Oh yus.

This year, the the post of womens' officer has four candidates running for the role, but there is one in particular who seems to be the source of much contention.

Lets look at her manifesto:
My name is Millie and I believe our Union must identify with the needs of its students. The current position of Women’s Officer is outdated and needs to be replaced with an ‘Equalities Officer’. If you vote for me as Women’s Officer I will transform the role into a position that promotes equality to all social groups as the current position only identifies women. Every inequality should be addressed – not just one. Black, LGBT+ and students with disabilities are currently under-represented and unheard in this position. If you elect me, I will represent these people with integrity, respect and urgency by:
- Working closely with all ethnic minorities to guarantee integration and respect.
- Meeting with the LGBT+ and Feminist Networks on a regular basis, uniting them for the greater cause and giving them a greater voice.
- Ensuring that facilities for those with disabilities are constantly improved and expanded upon.
- Embracing cultural identity and awareness of all religious beliefs across campus.
- Helping women fight against domestic violence, and offering friendly advice about abortion, contraception and pregnancy.
- Co-operating with all other elected part, and full-time officers to stamp out discrimination.
One Union, One Cause, One Love. 
(Taken from the Swansea Students' Union website).

Firstly, I completely agree that the post of womens' officer is completely outdated and illogical; and for that matter, I don't agree with elections where at least one elected member has to be female. I don't care what sex you are as long as you can represent me to the best of your ability in a fair manner; for what it's worth, I identify as female, left-wing and a feminist, so I'm not holding that this is a view held solely by right wing middle class men. My argument lies in that all former discrimination laws have been unified under the Equality Act 2010, so why can't the Students' Union take a similar position? The Equality Act 2010 encompasses all forms of discrimination, whether it be gender, race, or age based, as well as disability, transgender, and maternity & paternity rights.

The big bone of contention is how Millie is running her election campaign. Millie is basing it on the stereotypical idea of the woman in the home - cooking, cleaning, ironing, and looking after small fluffy animals. Now, whilst the majority of us can understand that this is obviously a bit of tongue-in-cheek humour, there are some people who don't seem to be able to take a joke. And this is where this lovely note from Facebook comes in from Steph Lloyd, NUS Wales' Womens' Officer.

First off, why does she feel that it is appropriate to be judging a candidate in this fashion? Yes, I understand she believes Millie to be sexist, but honestly, if she can't understand that this is a campaign designed to make you think again about the role women hold, then I'm concerned.

There's also this gem from the current womens' officer within Swansea Students' Union, Eleri Jones:

"Email from Eleri

Dear all,

I am writing this email with deep concern regarding a candidate who is in the process of running for Women's Officer in my Students' Union. Currently, she has not been told that her manifesto breaches any laws, or any of our SU Policies. I have not been in contact with the candidate, but have voiced my concerns to our General Manager, who seems to think this candidate is allowed to run in these elections, due to the fact that her campaign seems legal.

The candidate in question has submitted her manifesto, which allegedly involves the following:

1. The slogan "Keep women in the Kitchen"

2. Policies on free cooking and ironing lessons for women students only

3. Her campaign team is going to be wearing aprons rather than campaign T-Shirts during campaign week

4. Her team will be using brooms and dusters as props in her video

As I am the current Women's Officer, I am not allowed to see this candidate's manifesto. I am also openly supporting another candidate, which means I am biased. However, my concerns are due to three specific areas:

1. I believe that her manifesto and the tone of her campaign may breach our 'Equal and Non-Discriminatory' Policy which states that: "[the Union] will not publish or make use of any promotional material that degrades, unjustly hurts or discriminates against the identity of its members." And further that: "the objectification of women's bodies has significantly contributed to the degradation, disempowerment and oppression of women that the civil rights movement has campaigned against for many years." I would like to make it clear that we have been contacted by a concerned student who has seen the full manifesto, and believes it to be both offensive and sexist to women.

2. In my job description/remit, it states that: "The Womens' campaign believes that women should be treated as equals and that a society without discrimination is beneficial to all." And further that the Key Roles include:

-Responsible for running and co-ordinating campaigns relating to women's liberation including; Equal pay, Employment Opportunities, Anti-Domestic Violence, Personal Safety, Womens' Health, Pro- Choice, Pregnancy and Harassment etc.

-Work towards combating discrimination to women within the University and wider society.

3. I have spoken to the two chairs of the University's Gender Equality Working Group, and they have categorically stated that a Women's Officer who has publicly displayed sexist views would not be allowed to sit on the following University Boards:
- The Gender Equality Working Group
- The Equal Opportunities Working Group

Sitting on these committee boards is a huge part of the work of the Women's Officer. It is an essential part of the job. If she were unable to fulfill this post, the Union and student representation would suffer.

4. Here at Swansea, we have a Union-wide Zero Tolerance Policy, which states that sexism, in any form, is unacceptable. I believe this campaign would go against this policy.

My additional concerns include the following:

1. That if she runs in this election, some women students may no longer consider my role to be serious and/or important
2. By making a public joke of the Women's Officer position, it puts Liberation issues in jeopardy within our Union
3. That my concerns and worries are not going to be taking seriously by the Union, due to my openness about being a feminist and the fact that this campaign is for my position.

I genuinely believe that by allowing a candidate to run for a Liberation position such as this, especially being as we hold the only Full Time Women's Officer role in Wales. we are putting the position under threat, as well as allowing sexism to have a platform. By allowing a candidate to breach two policies, and run for a position which she clearly believes to be redundant, we are being immoral and not considering our members and their representation.

We would never allow a racist to run for the position of Black Students' Officer. We would never allow students to openly enact sexist roles and wear costumes which re-enforce objectification and sexist views. We do not allow our ENTS team to promote sexist events, and yet this case is apparently non-problematic. However, I am currently on my own in this, and need some advice and support.

Our elections begin on the 15th of March. Looking forward to your response,


Regards,

Eleri Jones | Women's Officer/ Swyddog Menywod "

 I honestly do not feel represented by Eleri, the officer who went round Freshers' Fayre demanding society members remove their hoodies as they have innendo-based slogans on the back of them (such beauties include 'Geographers do it in the field' and 'Psychologists do it on the couch'). I am not going to have my right to make a sandwich based joke taken from me, and I certainly don't believe that these two have the right to tell a candidate what they can, and can't put into their manifesto, especially if it's satirical. (Yes, I realise that there is a line, but I don't believe that Millie is crossing it whatsoever, and I will argue that 'til I'm blue in the face if I have to). 


What is evident here is that Eleri and Steph are trying their damned hardest to cling onto a position which is outdated and detrimental to the union. The position of womens' officer screams that men can't care about womens' issues too, and it removes the chance to establish equality for all within the university, and NUS Wales. 


With that, I fully intend to back Millie's campaign. She might be contentious, but she certainly knows how to get her campaign noticed, and it's this kind of activism that we need within the union.

Glee, One Born Every Minute & Teachers review.

Today, I’m prepared to potentially lose a lot of readers in only my second article. I’m not scared, but I’m barricading myself in my room with some bottled water and a stockpile of Marmite based products and chocolate. Why? Because I am about to insult some of the most famous and loved shows on TV today. Then I’m going to reverse and go for another angle – I’m going to prove yet again that old series are still the best.

Do you know what makes me happy? Music and television combined. I’m talking Jools Holland, old school Top of the Pops, even the odd music video. Do you know what I loathe? Glee. It fills me with anything but. Glee is the kind of television show that’s reserved for mindless teenagers and single female nut jobs with more cats than ex-boyfriends. It manages to mix the twee reworks of songs alongside the coming of age stories we all go through. Except that if any of my friends went through them in the same way as that, I’d have to punch them all in the face until they realised that a good night out down Wind Street will fix almost any woe. For this reason, I’d appreciate it if all the ‘Gleeks’ who try to change my attitude towards it would just gluck off.

Another thing that makes me happy is babies; little chubby happy babies, giggling away. So why is it that every week I put myself through the trauma of One Born Every Minute? I can only hope that they’re using it in sex education at schools now – move over Marie Stopes, there’s a new contraceptive in town, and it’s visual! However, for all the disgustingness in the show (did you know that in the American version, midwives wear protective glasses in case of ‘splatter’?), there are some genuinely beautiful, heart rendering moments. What I love most about this show is the realness of it – no scripts, no prepared scenes, just the stark reality of how much hard work there is to be done within a busy maternity ward. Of course, this doesn’t mean I’m ever going to understand why expectant mothers allow themselves to be filmed for national television. That’s just crazy.

Speaking of absolutely infantile beings, this week’s recommendation of an old series goes to Teachers, all the way from 2001. The programme follows the adventures of several teachers in a Bristol secondary school, both at work and within their extra-curricular activities – a lot of which seems to revolve around going to the pub and discussing which celebrities or colleagues they’d sleep with. However, I argue that Teachers manages to present those in the profession as human beings dealing with the same issues as everyone else, not just those faceless beings who present you with a tonne of homework on a Friday night. It’s ridiculously funny, it’s interesting, and it’s one of the best series that British television has ever managed to come up with. The first three series star Andrew Lincoln as Simon who spends the majority of his times using the same excuses as his students to explain why he hasn’t done his work; possibly one of the most likable characters in existence, yet if you found out that he was teaching your kids, you’d immediately send them to boarding school. I was hooked from the first episode, and I will bet you my first born that you will be too.

All four series of Teachers can be found on 4oD. One Born Every Minute is on Wednesday nights at 9pm on Channel 4. I’m not telling you when Glee is on.