End of Year Message 09:30

They Think it's All Over...It is Now! 

Phew! What a year! Once again Aberystwyth University Labour Students has proved itself to be one of the most active and engaged Labour Students  groups in Wales (if not the country)! Battling geographical isolation every step of the way; AULS this year has shown you don't have to be at a big Uni to REALLY make a difference. 

Whether it was in the Police and Crime Commissioner Elections or at the Cardiff South and Penarth By-Election AULS members were to be found right on the front line of Welsh politics. Of course there's more to come we're really looking forward to carrying on the fight next year at the European elections. 

AULS members also carried our voice to conferences great and small as well as to the Labour Students Political Weekend. Of course Aberystwyth didn't just go out to the world, the world came to Aberystwyth with big names like Rebecca Evans AM, Vaughan Gething AM and the Shadow Wales Minister Owen Smith MP visiting AULS this year. 

In between all the serious business AULS managed to have a great variety of socials this year, hats off to the boat racing team who defeated all the other parties at the Cross Party Social! We also put on socials to cater for all tastes including a Coffee Social and a Cinema Social just in the first semester! Not forgetting our posh dinners at Christmas and the End of Year. (Great chance to dress up!) 

On a more downhearted note we'll be saying goodbye to long term members Adam White and Siobhan Cannon who have graduated as well as saying auf wiedersehen to our New Member's Officer Lewis Hudson who is moving Uni's to Manchester Uni to do German. Our Liberations Officer Betty Ritson is also taking her year abroad and I wish her all the best. 

It's been a real honour serving with Hywel, Tom, Adam, Andrew, Bridie, Betty, Josh and Lewis on the committee this year and I look forward to the new year with our new Chair Zoe Clark! 

Hope to see you all next year for more thrills, spills and socials! 

Till then comrades! 

Matthew Bold 

Campaigns and Membership Officer

Still Waiting 14:59

STILL WAITING

Why AULS voted to Censure Labour Students

On the night of the 13th of February AULS voted to censure Labour Students. For the reasons behind this we must think back to the start of the academic year 2011/2012. When AULS managed to win a nationwide competition run by Labour Students for the best Fresher Fayre. There was significant pride that such a small club was able to win such a competition and we were excited that soon we might get a Shadow Cabinet Minister visiting right here in Aber! We did not presume that Ed Milliband would come rushing to sample the pleasures of Pier and the Union! However we did expect someone to come, at some point. A promise is a promise right?

The old committee worked, sent emails and protested to Labour Students for a year, while the club grew and got involved in campaigns run by both Labour Students and local CLP's, both inside and outside election time. As an ordinary member I simply assumed that one day the pledge would be honoured and that Labour Students would come good in the end. However when the new committee was elected we were still short a Shadow Cabinet Minister. This year has seen continued lobbying behind the scenes that has not appeared to make much difference. This is a source of frustration for all of us, hence the Censure Motion. It was not passed with joy nor with malicious intent, but with a profound sense of regret that this outstanding issue has not been resolved. 

A part of this sadness for me is that as this committee moves towards its final few months I realise that the last member to have worked upon that stall will soon be leaving us without the Labour Students pledge being fulfilled. Abi Kas, Tom Regan, Gilly Reynolds, Stuart MacNaughtan,  these aren't just names, but friends who've left university without receiving the recognition and reward they deserved for their hard work and this is deeply saddening for a member of an organisation which has campaigned on the issues of fair remuneration and the honouring of pledges.  

This sense of a missed opportunity has been compounded by the fact that others have independently decided to visit Aberystwyth in the mean time, for instance Vaughan Gething AM gave a quick talk and a Q&A session in November and Owen Smith, Shadow Secretary of State also came down to visit us within the last week, an event for which we had a great turn out and was thoroughly enjoyed by all!

This is why Aberystwyth University Labour Students voted to censure Labour Students for their failure to arrange a Shadow Cabinet Minister visit to Aberystwyth and their failure to apologise to those members who have graduated in the mean time. When all is said and done, we're all on the same side, no one is individually to blame here, these things will happen within a large organisation, it is inevitable. But I hope that this motion will prompt Labour Students Committee to move to keep this pledge as quickly as possible and to do the right thing. The bottom line is: no one loses when a promise is kept.

Matthew Bold

Vice Chair

This post was edited at 09:44 16/06/2013 

Mr Smith Goes to Aber! 14:53

 Mr Smith Goes to Aber!

Last week AULS was really honoured in having our first Shadow Cabinet Minister visit in the form of Owen Smith MP for Pontiprydd Shadow Secretary of State, who came to have give a talk to the members and take some questions. It was a brilliant evening for all involved, a great success with an even greater turn out. (Even if the evening didn't come off entirely without a hitch!) The AULS Committee would like to thank Owen Smith for coming down to visit the society, giving us a great speech and answering our almost inexhaustible supply of questions!  We hope you can visit again in the future.

Thanks again!

AULS Committee



Upcoming Events 09:21

COMING SOON TO AULS 

RIGHT, there are a couple of outstanding events coming up in the next week and a bit, so here's a round up of some the most important! 

Committee Meeting- 20th February 

 All members welcome to attend the fortnightly committee meeting which will be taking place in the top floor of the Arts Centre at 6.30 pm Wednesday!

Weekly Social- 21st February

Kicking off at Scholars at 8pm a slightly sedate number this week! No theme or dress code just bring yourself and some sparkling conversation and we'll enjoy the best of what Aberystwyth has to offer on a Thursday evening! 

Owen Smith MP Visit!- 22 February 

Forget Lianne Woods! THIS is the most important political visit to Aberystwyth this year! As the one and only Owen Smith MP is coming to town! Tipped by the Independent as a potential future leadership hopeful, the MP for Pontypridd has agreed to attend a meal at Brynamlwg club and then give a speech on the topic of "One Nation Labour" to AULS. New and prospective members welcome! If your thinking of coming and want to know more please join the Facebook event here ! This is an absolutely fabulous chance to meet one of the biggest figures in Welsh politics! Starts at 5.30 pm.

Cross Party Social!-Wednesday 27th February 

It's time to fraternize with the enemy! A week next Wednesday it'll be time to make peace with the opposition (at least for the evening) and come together with people of all the political tribes (and none) to celebrate being a student in Aberystwyth! The theme is "Traffic Light", that is you should wear attire that indicates your relationship status. Red for in a relationship. Yellow for its complicated. Green for single. Should be a great night of drinks, fun and getting to know people from all the different political camps! We'll be starting at Harry's at 8pm. Click here for the Facebook event! 

Hope to see you all at as many as possible! 

p.s The hoodie's should be done by the Cross Party Social so hopefully they will be distributed ASAP. 

A Fresher in the First Semester 12:24

A Fresher in the First Semester.

By Lewis Hudson New Members Officer

Being a fresher in the first semester 

entails great discoveries of the many 

fascinating and delightful surprises that 

Aberystwyth provides. The first namely 

being the spelling of “Aberystwyth”. The 

number of unruly consonants

that can be forced into a signal place name is just

 staggering to the innocent fresher. The second surprise is

 how flexibly the word “nightclub” can be 

applied to include any establishment which plays stupidly loud music, serves 

alcohol in stupidly large quantities at stupidly early times in the morning.

The third surprise being how enthusiastically fellow Freshers of Penbryn 

BlockFour make use of the fire alarm system. I must say I have found myself 

in a state of joy at the prospect of the screaming, wailing shriek summoning

 me to the wetness of the car park in the early hours of the morning. My 

favourite fire alarm occasion occurred in November (I think…there were so 

many.) where some jolly good chap set the alarm off at about 02.00, 

prompting the miserable exodus outside to the waiting wind and cold, with 

only pyjamas for protection. Then a few hours later, just the right amount of 

time for sleep to begin again, the same or possibly a different jolly good chap

 had another go! 

The car park exodus with the wait occurred again. Then a few hours later the

 fire alarm was set off again. This was about 07:30. Again we all went out to

 the car park. To discover that this was a drill, 

started on the whim of our 

lovely accommodation people. Whom I love. They

 are great. Fantastic. They took the time to 

carefully ensure that everyone evacuated, and 

took the time to find those who had not. Then

 one very nice woman took the time to tell us

 with a loud speaker, (which could barely be

 heard due to the wind) to make sure our pots 

and frying pans were cleaned due to the fire risk 

(We are a catered block.) And to evacuate when 

the fire alarm goes off. (We who had evacuated 

were now in danger of freezing to death in the 

car park.) This was a very thoughtfully conducted procedure.

However my best discovery was the Labour Society. The fact it is worth 

walking up and down a massive hill in the pouring rain to go and sit around a

 table in Harely’s to talk about policies, was the last and biggest surprise of 

the year. I've really enjoyed being a part of the society which has allowed to

 be involved in politics while having a great time with some great people.

 Getting elected as New Members Officer was also a high point and I'm really

 looking forward to representing the New Members at committee meetings and

 across the year. If you've got any problems please feel free to get in touch 

via email at leh23@aber.ac.uk or speak to me at a social! 

Christmas Message! 12:23

And That's a Wrap!
What's Happened and What's Happening in AULS 

So, we've come to the end of a very exciting and successful semester at Aberystwyth University Labour Students! There have been thrills, spills and  some very, very boring meetings along the way but we have made it to Christmas and everyone has now headed back home for the holidays. So now is probably the best time to look back at the time we've had this year (now the Chair's too far away to get me). It began with a crazy Fresher's Week, which included an evening of ice breaking, a.k.a. a pub crawl. Thursday nights have continued in this vein for most of the semester, great evenings that have led to me actually looking forward to going out with AULS (shock, horror!) Of course we're not all about drinking, far from it, we've worked hard in the last semester to have more non-alcohol events than ever including a treasure hunt, two trips to world famous Commodore Cinema and a coffee social held in the cultured surroundings of Aberystwyth Arts Centre. 

I would count our excellent quiz as a non-alcohol event but then it was held above the Cambrian Pub and the Death Stars served there is many things but non-alcoholic they ain't! We also had a member go toe to toe with representatives of the other parties when the Debating Society hosted  a Question Time event with Andrew our resident Scotsman/Norwegian/Dane (apparently he could claim a Dutch passport as well...) giving a gutsy take on Union politics. There was further fraternization as we clubbed together with the International Politics Society and the Lib Dems  to hold a fireworks night on South Beach, an added bonus being the fact that no one got arrested. We were also visited by the AM for Cardiff South and Penarth Vaughan Gething who proves that being Chair of AULS is no bar to achieving things in life (hope for you yet Tom!) Last but not least was our Christmas Meal which was a really nice gathering in The Scholars with good food and good company. We will of course be having another meal at the end of the year! (Providing Tom promises to bring a better speech to this one...) 

So far as campaigning goes we have once again proved ourselves one of the best student groups in Wales for putting our noses to the grindstone of Welsh politics. Loads of people helped in Christine Gwyther's valiant Police and Crime Commissioner Election. In Cardiff South and Penarth we even outnumbered the Cardiff students at times, so well done to all! 

Congratulations to young Lewis Hudson on his elevation to New Members Officer. (Though he still needs to learn how to drink VK's responsibly.) If your a New Member with a problem you can contact Lewis on leh23@aber.ac.uk. Further congratulations to Bridie Sedgebeer for being elected to the Young Labour Welsh Executive Committee. 

Of course so far as the year goes we not even half way there! (Wherever 'there' is.) We've got a wide array of events coming up. There are hoodies to look forward to. (Still time to order...) Hopefully Owen Smith THE Shadow Welsh Secretary will be visiting on the 15th of February. Also Welsh Conference will be opening on the 22nd of March in Llandudno which we will hopefully be looking to send people along to. March will also be the month in which we will be saying bye-bye to poor old Tom and electing a new Chair (or saying hello to him again and re-electing him for another term). This position is open to anyone within the society and it would be great to have as fierce and as well mannered contest as there was last year! On a personal note I'm looking forward to seeing our secretary Andrew Gordon turning up to a social in tartan (dammit that bet still stands!) I'm sure our social sec has got a lot of good socials lined up for the next semester, but feel free to email him any idea's you have at adw6@aber.ac.uk.  

New Members vigorously debate whose round it is...

All in all its been a great semester and its been the New Members (*freshers*) who've made it so! Really looking forward to the New Year and seeing you all more involved in the society next semester! Old hands it has been great to have you back... try not to make too much  trouble! With that it falls to me to wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all! And to raise a glass to a Labour majority in 2015! 

Matthew Bold 
                                                                                             
Vice-Chair                                                                          

Caucuses, and why they are relevant to us! 02:10

Josh James

All the worst arguments start with “that’s how Nazi Germany started” so I’m purposefully avoiding that amusing but clichéd introduction. But the phrase coined by the great John Stuart Mill is as appropriate here as anywhere: “the tyranny of the majority was at first, and still is… when society is itself the tyrant -- society collectively over the separate individuals who compose it”.

Mill was not necessarily calling normal people tyrants, and neither am I. But what happens when the views of those in a minority are not represented as loudly as the collective voices of the majority, is that they effectively get trampled on.

My view of caucuses is simple; not only are they widespread in many political forums as a fair and equal way of making sure all voices are heard, but they are an incredibly effective tool, for education, progression and justice.  Democracy has always been said to come in many different forms, a very flexible political system indeed: Democracy can be used in different ways to best reflect the social need it is required to fulfil. From, Germany’s safe coalition system, to Britain’s theatrical and adversarial politics, many different forms of democracy can be seen to work all over the world, none of them “less democratic” than the next. Even the union went through a democratic overhaul, it is no more democratic now than it was before, but it is a democracy that better suits the needs of the student body, or so some believe. One thing is for sure, we shouldn’t be scared of changing our system if it’s going to suit us better as a society.

Caucuses can help the voice of the smallest be heard, and usually the majority in modern society are interested in what they have to say, and so they should be. The actions of the majority in fact often greatly affect the minority yet the opposite is rarely true. E.g. a policy to become a republic state affects everybody in the UK, yet a policy for equal marriage only really affects the LGBT caucus. Similarly, policy that has an impact upon caucuses can only justifiably voted on by those who self-identify because otherwise it would be akin to all political parties voting in a Labour leadership election. Not only would it drown out the voice of those with an interest, rendering the Labour voice pointless, they would also be the ones who would have most to lose.

Furthermore, the caucus itself, although anonymous, can act as a vital support group for those facing very real challenges in day to day life that the average person on the street can rarely comprehend. In real terms, with the University and local authorities cutting student welfare bodies, the support can be invaluable. Not to mention the huge advantage it gives to that golden word; inclusivity. People always feel more welcome if there are people who understand them better.

Politically, caucuses should not be looked at with suspicion or as a threat. A disabled caucus with a voting right is not about to vote on things that do not directly concern disable issues, nor are they going to plan a coup or uprising. The thought that caucuses could or would undermine democracy is a dangerous one, as it deepens the gap of us and them, and creates a feeling of hostility (and that is how Nazi Germany started).

Caucuses can add a lot of democracy to an organisation; if democracy is meant to be the voice of the people, then the voice of everybody should surely be held independently and equally.

If you have any arguments against what I have written then please post below, I am happy to start a reasoned debate.

 

This piece represents Josh James' view on the situation, not that of AULS. If you have a piece you'd like to contribute, or reply to this post, email tdk@aber.ac.uk.