I’m Chris Jenkinson, the Academic Affairs Officer at the University of Manchester Students’ Union.
I don’t think politics is or should be a dirty word. This category contains my thoughts on political issues affecting modern society.
Posted in Education, National politics on May 27th, 2008
Another review of the Liberal Democrats’ policy on higher education funding has come up and it’s vital that we maintain our commitment to higher education being accessible to all regardless of background. With an increasingly debt-averse society, it’s clear that the only way to do that is with access to education funded through general taxation.
There’s [...]
Posted in Education, Student politics on May 7th, 2008
I’ve written a guest article for the University of Manchester Politics Society titled “Winning a free education” - here’s a snippet:
We need a policy which enables campaigners and activists to reach out to less politicised students and allows them to take ownership of the campaign, engaging them and ensuring that even small actions taken are [...]
Posted in National politics on May 4th, 2008
Apparently, to quote Dave Sewell on his blog Complex System of Pipes:
I think the message to take home is this: in Manchester, Birmingham and Sheffield, where we could effectively canvass and reach out to people, Left List did very well. In London, no-one had heard of the new name, and still looked for Respect; where [...]
Posted in National politics on Apr 30th, 2008
I thought I’d put up a photo of the house of the election agent in Withington (south Manchester) for the Labour candidate (I live in the same house). Liberal Democrats winning here!
Posted in Books, Economics, International politics on Apr 12th, 2008
I’ve just finished reading the book “The Undercover Economist”, by Tim Harford. Definitely an informative book and well worth reading carefully and critically. It rightly makes the point that those of us who are “capitalists” do not defend “big business” (which want limits on competition) but instead defend open and free markets (which ensure competition). [...]
Posted in National politics on Mar 24th, 2008
Backing a plan to bring in supplementary vote (having a first and second preference in an election) is hardly radical, as Jack Straw and the government seem to think. Supplementary vote suffers from many of the problems moving away from first-past-the-post should intend to avoid - many ballots will not be counted (in FPTP, any [...]
Posted in Student politics on Mar 17th, 2008
I just thought I’d mention that I’ve been elected as the new Academic Affairs Officer for the University of Manchester Students’ Union for the 2008/9 academic year. The post is to represent students, individually and collectively, within the University, to advise students on education/academic issues, and to inform students about education issues.
It’s a full-time position, [...]
Posted in Student politics on Mar 11th, 2008
Not able to gracefully admit defeat, learn the lessons and move on, several members of the Socialist Workers’ Party at the University of Manchester have started attacking students for democratically booting them out. Dave Sewell, one of the few SWP members who will be on Union council next year has written a rather bitter message [...]
Posted in National politics on Feb 3rd, 2008
The public transport company Stagecoach, including one of its brandnames Magic Bus, dominate the student-heavy Oxford Road bus route in Manchester. Unfortunately Stagecoach isn’t a nice friendly company providing low-cost, environmentally-friendly public transport that students might assume, as it is owned by a man named Brian Souter. Brian Souter is well-known for donating between £500,000 [...]
Posted in Student politics on Nov 20th, 2007
If you don’t want a motion to be debated or passed at a meeting, is it right to walk out of a meeting so that it no longer has quorum? I would generally say no, but on the other hand, is it right that turning up to vote “no” may actually lead to the motion [...]
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