Off The Record
Tim Ngwena to run for second term
Off The Record can exclusively reveal that YUSU President Tim Ngwena is reportedly seeking a second term at the top of the Union tree, according to several sources within YUSU.
If my basic YUSU history is up to scratch, Tim – who beat Tom Langrish by 1308 to 1190 votes last year – would be the first YUSU President to serve two terms if he won in March.
I would assume Tim’s pursuing a second term in order to bolster his CV. Most people Off The Record spoke to tonight guessed that was it – I certainly haven’t seen him shown any real desire to re-run thus far, and by all accounts I don’t think he’s hugely in love with the job.
Incumbents running for second terms is a rather new phenomenon. Matt Burton ran in 2008 and won, though his stewardship of the Courtyard Project meant many potential challengers chose to run for other positions instead. Rory Shanks tried to follow suit in 2009, but failed against a far more populist candidate in Rhianna Kinchin, and in my opinion Tim would need to ignore the vast majority of his YUSU duties during campaign fortnight (something Rory honourably did not do) to beat a similar challenge.
Charlie Leyland also ran in 2009 for a second term, won with flying colours, and if she could run this year, I’m sure she’d prove victorious again. John Major put paid to that.
One thing is for sure – the other candidates lining up for a run at the Presidency will be taking note. David Levene, Chair of YUSU Council and I think – prior to Tim’s potential candidacy – the most qualified of those interested, has been clear of his intentions for months now, but many think he wants a desk in the office more than he wants the President’s job – so might settle for something else if he’s unwilling to take on an incumbent. Academic Officer is most likely.
Then there’s Matthew Freckleton, who has been cagey about people knowing of his intentions, but would certainly benefit from enhancing his exposure to the general campus. One assumes he’ll run regardless of Tim, however. I hear he has a video campaign set up already.
Ollie Hutchings and Roberto Powell, Alcuin and Halifax Chairs respectively, are yet to make concrete decisions, if most sources are to be believed, though of the two Powell is perhaps most likely to run at the moment. Hutchings has been vocal with his criticism of Uni and Union bureaucracy, and one wonders if he could stomach 12 months in the job. My bet is that he’ll run if he thinks the alternatives aren’t up to scratch.
And Dan Hunter – a name that’s been bandied about by some – is apparently considering a run as a joke candidate, to complete the pack thus far.
Please do let me know if I’ve missed anyone.
elections@nouse.co.uk
The opinions expressed above are not representative of either those of Nouse, or of YUSU. They are the speculations and personal views of the author who is not a member of the editorial team, and should be treated as such.
YUSU Elections 2010 – Here we go again
What a difference an election term can make.
A year ago, Tim Ngwena was running around organising cast lists and fundraisers for Fusion, Rhianna Kinchin was busy ‘training’, and Lewis Bretts’ dream of a fruit and veg stall were simply dreams. Alas, in the latter’s case, they still seem to be. Two years ago, Tom Scott was just a nerd with a pirate fetish, who enjoyed experimenting with damaging musical instruments and cared little for University Senate. Perhaps next year’s Glorious Leader is currently doing something similarly hilarious.
Welcome to the new, elections-focused, Off The Record blog. Unshackled from my Editorial chains and yet still refusing to quietly skulk back to my desk and the ever-growing mountain of books that await me, my aim is to chart all the rumours, counter-rumours, scandals and surprises from the 2010 YUSU Election cycle, and hopefully equip voters with all they need to go to the polls in Week 9.
This is all too early, you may scoff. Quite – I’d certainly agree with you. But I can’t control Presidential hopefuls who are already buttonholing potential rivals for ‘chats’ in The Courtyard, or warn would-be AU Presidents that broadcasting their electability so soon might bore the electorate to death come March.
For some, this year’s vote has been 3 years in the pipeline. YUSU careerists, those earth-shakingly-boring few, want to nail their colours to the mast as soon as possible, having dreamt of the trappings of office since their first trip to the buliding they hope to call ‘home’. Out to derail their lofty ambitions, the have-a-go-heroes with nothing to lose and a student loan to pay off fight policy with glossy posters and gimmicks.
Some fail valiantly, some fail abysmally, and some defy conventional wisdom. Note to candidates – claiming that you’re rich enough not to need a salary is an awful idea.
For the next 6 weeks or so, this will be the place to track the rise and rise of your next YUSU squad, and commend the also-rans.
Got a rumour, or want to plug yourself? Fire me an email at elections@nouse.co.uk and it might just make it in.
Some might seem far-fetched, but let’s face it; if students at a Top 10 University can elect a pirate as a President, surely anything can happen. Stay tuned.
YUSU Elections – Provisional timetable
Information Meeting for Potential Candidates – 1800 18th February (Wk 6)
Nominations Open – 1200 Monday 15th February (Wk 6)
Nominations Close – 1200 Friday 26th February (Wk 7)
Compulsory Candidates Briefing (Loc. TBC) – 1800 Monday 1st March (Wk 8 )
Campaigning Begins – 1200 Tuesday 2nd March (Wk 8 )
Voting Opens – 0001 Monday 8th March (Wk 9)
Voting Closes – 2359 Friday 12th March (Wk 9)
Exit Polls Released – 1800 Saturday 13th March
Results Announced from 2000 Saturday 13th March
Campus chatterboxes
Nick Davies’ exposure of illegal methods undertaken by News of the Screws journalists is one of those infuriatingly difficult stories for an Editor. Journalists within the Guardian and further afield go crazy at this sort of scoop. Take the BBC’s coverage of the story, for example, which almost rivalled its posthumous MJ addiction. The public, however – minus perhaps the celebrities and politicians who found out through Davies’ front page, rather than the Metropolitan Police, that their voicemail inbox had been under NOTW surveillance – either don’t understand the complicated story fully, mired as it is in political motives thanks to the Guardian‘s strong dislike of David Cameron, or miss the important point.
Have the public just assumed that illegal means are commonplace in modern tabloid journalism? Is there, perhaps a darker side – do readers enjoy Sunday morning exposures of John Prescott’s new ‘lady-friend’ too much to condemn the practices involved in sourcing such attractive tripe? Or are we all just to preoccupied by Jackson’s supposed homosexuality or Swine Flu hysteria?
I loved the story. It was nice to see a quality paper, with an investigative front page, score a body blow against one of the Kerry Katona-loving tabloids. We’ll have to see what happens when Coulson and Wade go up in front of the select committee to testify. How hacks across the country – especially those working for doomed local titles – would love to see Murdoch up there with them.
Moreover, it got me thinking about our campus press at York, and how it operates. Now I’m pretty sure that none of campus’ journalists engage in illegal practices to source stories, and the reason is simple: we don’t need to. The stories and leads that come from those in the know not being able to keep their mouths shut make up the vast majority of articles in Nouse and Vision‘s news sections, and to a certain extent – though less so in recent times – EasyNews‘s online articles.
Campus hacks don’t need to snoop around YUSU officers, or break into society chair inboxes. Freedom of Information requests or hours spent trawling through committee minutes are rare – and when used only ever target the University. There’s just no need, when sensitive information is broadcast so liberally by those trusted with it. With journalists in every year and every college, plus large number of eavesdroppers who love to think of themselves as campus deepthroats, big mouths make big news.
This brings me quite neatly around to the large debate surrounding our page three article in the last edition surrounding the recent ISA elections. The story, I remember during Production Week, was a murky one – and I struggled to get my head around it at first. Until – after some great work by Jim Bulley – some people involved in the election furore came forward to spill the beans to an eager dictaphone.
My answer to the commenters – many of whom are friends and/or colleagues of Adam Malik’s – who have so quickly rushed forward to lambast this newspaper for its reporting, is that no newspaper worth its salt would ever run a story without quotes from both sides. I wonder if those calling for Nouse to reveal its sources – something the YUSU Media Charter and PPC Guidelines prohibit – have ever been anonymously quoted in the press?
Are the campus press always right? No. Do they only ever use what campus gives them? Yes. It’s simple really, if you want to stay out of the press, keep your mouth shut. Only when all of campus’ chatterboxes and loudmouths adopt a vow of silence will the voicemail hacking begin. And then you’ll really be in trouble.
The Fun Spongers are coming
If you thought Asbestos was bad for you, I’ve got something a whole lot more dangerous: health and safety legislation.
Stacks of papers ready to go up in a blaze, cables just waiting for an unsuspecting leg to wrap around, powerleads triple-stacked and – of course – the evil Mr A. lurking behind the ceiling tiles.
The proverbial book is being thrown at us. And, while Nouse and Vision quietly and carefully duck and dodge the metaphorical projectiles, YSTV took it straight in the face.
Social Sec Anna Bucks, before she ran from the asbestos-riddled dangerzone, arms flailing, emailed:
“YSTV can NOT be accessed until further notice. The officials are inspecting the asbestos at this precise moment, and if they find it present in YSTV, YSTV will need to be closed for the next few weeks until it has been dealt with. Once they have finished inspecting YSTV, they are going to give me a ring to let me know what’s going on. Until then please don’t enter YSTV.”
In case you missed the point, she was referring to YSTV, which, in case you read it literally, was not actually exploding. Minutes later, however, Bucks threw some water on the non-existent fire:
“Further to my email, we are now allowed to enter YSTV again. They haven’t found anything, however we need to be very aware of what we can and can’t do. I assume Tom will sort this out regarding drilling stuff in to walls etc. Apologies for the scare mongering”
So, the end is not necessarily nigh just yet. But it might be around the corner. According to official emails, if Tom Gregory and his TV-producing chums don’t stop nailing things into the asbestos-riddled walls and throw out some of what Peter Kidd calls ‘clutter’ – and YSTV call ‘necessary technical equipment’ – it might be curtains after week 10.
And no-one wants that, especially The Yorker’s Come Dine With Me – or should it be renamed ‘Come Dine with WHO?’ – which YSTV (and Nouse Officers as cameramen) counter to Vision’s claims, are currently filming. Allegedly, however, it won’t be finished until after week 10. Which, assuming The Yorker’s normal summer sabbatical, means it won’t be screened until next term. Ouch.
A race against time
Tomorrow morning may bring the opening clashes of Europe’s largest inter-university sports competition, but for some it brings the latest battle in the war for York’s hits and clicks.
In 2007, only Nouse provided round-the-clock coverage of the event, while in 2008 crack teams from both Nouse and EasyNews made the trip across the Pennines to cover the event in real-time. This year, Vision Online will complete the triplet. OR WILL THEY…?
As I type, Grant Bradley – YUSU Presidential also-ran and X-Factor wannabee – is in the Vision office across the corridor with Editor Mike Regan (who told me today that he “probably will not run for Editorship again” – leaving the door open for Pearse and Hewitt, one imagines) putting the finishing touches to their Beta site.
Bradley, however, admitted his worries to OTR about the timeframe involved in switching the domain name www.yorkvision.co.uk from YUSU to Vision. Without the domain, the site will either have to run from grantbradley.co.uk – where it currently resides – or not at all.
Grant didn’t look too positive as Webmeister Northwood explained their rather precarious time situation. Nouse.co.uk will be live from 0930 with a brand-spanking blog system that will blow your mind. No refreshing needed. It’s wonderfully sexy.
The Official Roses 09 site has accidentally gone live as well – a couple of hours early. Looking good. Let’s hope the York side of the cup fills up first.
Let the blogging commence…
Satire, satire, every where, and all things banal did shrink
Who checked their email today? If you didn’t, I’d suggest you scroll to the bottom of this post.
Campus, it seems, is too satire-free. Moment of Zen and The Sketch, for years the staple diet of the University’s wit-addicts, are no longer satisfactory. ‘Banal campus news’ is all Vision and Nouse can muster, it appears – and they’re under threat.
Can you hear the satirical rumbling on the horizon? Or is that just the perpetual beeping from my phone as hundreds of ‘Calling all budding journalists and satirists’ emails roll in throughout the day. If anything, it was an awfully impressive PR roll out.
But was it a roll-out at all? Where was the publicity? I’m a little confused. The email contains little clues. They originated from a number of lecturers – no doubt abusing internal mailing lists – and did not reference the publication, referring to it as only ‘a new, independent newspaper at the University of York’, with ‘satire as its backbone and provide a monthly alternative to the existing campus publications’.
Hmmmmm, I mused. Independent. As in from YUSU? Or just from the cruel banal dictatorship of Nouse and Vision? Perhaps the University are part-financing a satirically-disguised samidzat to launch a phoney war against YUSU towers. Or has someone struck a deal with a bankrupt graduate recruitment company?
The only calling card – a Hotmail address – increased my interest further. ‘Who are these jokers?’ asked one person who forwarded it to me. I’m afraid I don’t have the answer. Or, perhaps more to the point, do I know if they are indeed jokers or not. Though I suppose they must be, being satirists and all.
But wait – I’ve heard this before. The Lemon Press, a remarkably similar satirical magazine start-up that was mooted last term. Their description: ‘York University’s number 1 satirical magazine, offering a piquant blend of humour, creative writing and miscellaneous insight’ looks awfully similar to the mysterious email. But their Facebook page says issues will be ‘Termly’. The email said ‘Monthly’. The LP’s roster looks pretty full – even Nouse‘s own Dr Shergold (whose wit, I must vouch, get sharper with every netball match) is on the team – but the mysterious email wanted to recruit all of its editorial. So, I assumed we had two new magazines on the cards.
Is campus large enough for two wannabe Private Eyes? Are there enough good writers? Or, indeed, enough things to be satirical about?! It’s a mystery. If anyone has any answers, please let me know.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for creativity, and for enhancing York’s position as the country’s student media hotbed. And look – no whinging – I’ve even publicised them here. But more in bemusement than backing.
If this anonymous emailing is a (perhaps too satirical) Lemon Press tactic, then I wish them all the best. But a competitor? I fear for an epidemic of wry smiles and bleeding hands with all this cutting satire flying around.
–
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:49:56 +0100 (BST)
From: ——-@york.ac.uk
To: hjf503@york.ac.uk
Subject: Calling all budding journalists and satirists
Hello,
A group of us have secured funding to start a new, independent newspaper at the University of York and are looking for scores of people to help with the September 2009 launch and production of this exciting new project.
The paper will have satire as its backbone and provide a monthly alternative to the existing campus publications, avoiding banal campus news and taking a more light-hearted and off-beat tone.
We are looking for
Managing Editors (an opportunity to run the show)
Sub Editors
Section Editors
Satirists
Writers
Proofreaders
Illustrators/Cartoonists
Designers
General Helpers (distribution, editing, marketing, PR)
Salesman on commission
Sections will include:
Satire
Politics
Arts
Music
Sports
Film
Fashion
Please write to yorkstudentnewspaper@hotmail.com if any of the above roles are of interest, or just to register your interest in this massively exciting project.
Best,
The Team!
An orangey anticlimax
Well what a let down that was. I spent 5 weeks waiting, hoping, watching, refreshing – though I knew McCluskey’s ‘Off for Easter’ story would taunt me throughout – until 00.01 this morning to see the brand spanking new Yorker site . Alas! Where are the ‘exciting new developments’ I was promised?! Such a tease; even the ‘Round-up story’ seemed outdated. Which is funny, really…
If anything, it showed what a empty Easter it would have been for Nouse, and a short round-up for the Yorker, without the tragic disappearance of Claudia Lawrence. While local, national and international news providers write whatever they can to keep the story on the front page, the police seem to be following that lead, releasing titbits of information every few days to keep the investigation in the public eye.
Talking of releasing titbits – The University has jumped aboard the Twitter phenomenon with an account of its own: UniOfYork. Since creation, at the beginning of this month, they’ve averaged one a tweet a day, which isn’t bad, but is nowhere near Will Heaven standards.
What’s perhaps less impressive is the paltry number of followers: 37. There’s the familiar faces in there, who I’m sure at benefitting from such interesting 140-word exclusives as: ‘York expert in chimpanzee communication wins major honour’, ‘Higher York help for local economy to weather recession’, and ‘Climate change prompts concern over farming health risks’. Still, if that’s your thing, get following. Garner and his chums will be chuffed.
I’d bet that all heads of media societies can’t wait for Roses to begin. Not to enjoy three days of passionate sport, show-off their society’s talents, or enjoy a spirit of community finally envelope campus, but to stop receiving emails every morning from the timetabling team. No names – everyone that needs to know, does – but for God’s sake, can this please be the last ‘Sorry for all the fucking about with the timetable that’s been going on’ new timetable? I’m not counting on it.
And to bring things to a close, Brian Cantor has allegedly been giving YorkSport supremo Alex Lacy a few lessons in croquet, so that he doesn’t embarrass the big man in front of Lancaster’s finest. YUSU have described the encounters as ‘just a few sessions’. Let’s hope he’s training him well…
On the YUMA-mill
Big plans are underway, OTR hears, for the recently-neglected York University Media Awards. Rory Shanks, campus media lover and YUSU spin merchant, has set his sights on a crowning event for the journos of the Uni.
After last years’ shambolic organisational attempt from Nicky Woolf, who – drunk – was practically ordered to take on the responsibility, and then promptly shirked it, the YUMAs were in danger of disappearing forever into the darkness of Kennedy’s basement.
Who can forget the 2001 event, where the ‘Soldiers from Hell’ scooped URY’s bizarrely-named, I would assume, ‘Best Mainstream Show’? Or 2004’s party, held (during the day, it appears) in the scenic Next Generation Gym, which descended into what looks like a complete hoot – despite James Alexander not quite getting the joke. Unbelievably, I don’t believe the strangely underdressed Lord of the Rings extra didn’t break into the local politics scene.
If the rumours are true, Shanks’ plans include guest speakers, sponsored awards, inter-media competition for prizes and a late licence for the campus-based event – which would save us hacks having to trek to Toffs, as it was back then, for the ‘afterparty’.
Further afield, Cardiff’s SU certainly know how to reward their media types. Their event, held at the city’s Hilton Hotel and hosted by DJ Huw Stevens, promises a champagne reception, three-course-meal AND an afterparty. Still, it’s £36 for a ticket, and you’d be lucky prising that from any journalist, let alone a Welsh one.
OTR assumes tickets will be on sale at the start of term, YUSU bureaucracy pending. Watch this space.
Easter surfing
Statistics – love them or hate them, they usually tell the truth. The numbers for this Easter break on nouse.co.uk certainly make enjoyable reading for the current web team, with total pageviews up 115% on last year to 61,258 over the past 4 weeks. Absolute unique visitors are up too, with just under 25,000 individual viewers – 75% more than 2008’s holiday. It’s not a patch on termtime interest, but shows how staying live can make for an interesting website, rather than a 5-week long snapshot of the last week of term.
Of course, the ongoing Claudia Lawrence investigation and the G20 protests certainly contributed to these figures, but Nouse stayed switched on and ready to go in order to get this content out to visitors. As a result, 300 freshers found out that the Police were searching their rooms while they were away, and lots of interested commenters got stuck into a nice debate about God and science.
Needless to say, it also helps not having any competition.
Talking of competition, who’s making Vision’s website? And when will it go live? No-one seems to know. Answers on a postcard please, or rather editor@nouse.co.uk.
For those at the back, Vision had a decent website in the pipeline a few years back, before their coders got a better offer and jumped ship to form The Yorker. A few aborted Facebook apps later, and one of the most awarded student newspapers in the country still doesn’t have a website. I hope those back-stabbing CompScis that switched to EasyNews, in a garish orange that even Stelios would commend, are proud of themselves.
And when it does finally go up, there’ll be yet another forum for campus’ biggest keyboard-bashers to dominate. That’ll really put the strain on Rose, Taylor, Northwood and Mitchell – three websites, running similar stories, all crying out for comments. Let the moderation commence.
Elsewhere, I’ve always been impressed by URY’s website. It’s super-functionable and doesn’t look too bad either. Which is more than can be said for YSTV’s. A re-design was promised 12 months ago, but it’s still clunking along in gruesome grey and purple. Still, they do have a section devoted to fun stuff, which is undoubtedly the reason for their huge recuritment successes at Freshers Fair.
One website that has stuck to a deadline is the soon-to-be-launced Roses 2009 site, which is looking rather impressive, thanks to Matthew Tole and YUSU’s new design genius, Sam Town.
This is completely off the record, right?
Granted, this is not the most auspicious time to be entering the blogosphere. Guido Fawkes , two weeks ago a morally-dubious miscreant who even the Tories were a little bit afraid of associating with, is now a household name; and Damian McBride, once the darling of New Labour’s media monstrosity, is saving Jacqui Smith’s place in the Job Centre queue. It seems that in the dark, shadowy world of blogging, even the lefties are not safe. Furthermore, that social yardstick, The Guardian, has been bitten by the bug. 14 Down in yesterday’s G2 crossword; ‘Person posting personal thoughts on the Internet (7)’. ‘Recently unemployed’ didn’t fit.
So, please excuse my timing. Hopefully the bandwagon will be less crowded now, anyway. This blog will be concerned by all things campus media, from breaking big stories, to national success, campus reputations and good old journalist gossip. York has got the best student media in the country, and some of the most promising young talent around. And, pedants and finger-waggers, I’ll be including The Yorker too, because I’m nice like that.
But what better time to do it? Vision’s Godot-like website has, and I whisper, been promised to us at the beginning of this term. The Yorker have a re-design ready to roll out, with the rumours suggesting a less news-focused approach. Nouse has just revamped its newest web offering and – of course – award season is near. Stay abreast of all the movers and the shakers here.
That said, rest assured that this blog won’t descend into the badly-researched and barely literate shit-slinging between campus media that some of you might find exhilarating. I’ll leave that to Fawkes, Derek Draper, who amazingly still has his ‘job’, and the unlikely bridge between Dan Taylor and Claire Hazelgrove, Donal Blaney.