On motions.

'You laugh, he said, you think you're immune, go look at your eyes, they're full of moons.'
Joni Mitchell - The Last Time I Saw Richard

Did you ever wonder what happened? I was having a look, comparing Guild Council motions this year to Guild Council motions last year up to December. It was, to be quite honest, depressing. By this point a short twelve months ago we had discussed where you could use your hub-grub card, persecution of Islamic students, had our first Gender Neutral Toilet debate and whether animal tested cosmetics should be sold on campus. This year, we’ve been a lot more internal, most of the big debates, council tax for PhD students, students with children, have come from the exec rather than the representatives on GC. Most of what GC has discussed has been on a smaller scale still, society forms, locker rooms, procedural motions… this is all important too but it’s having a range of topics that engage more students that allow the motions we pass to make us more representative. I for one found it pretty depressing that a motion like the debate on whether the BAE should be allowed on campus withdrawn. One motion about pressuring the Uni into making the Vale less muddy has far greater an impact for students than how long the basement is open in the evening but both are valid. So, for January, can we please do both? Can we discuss the Guild not only as a building with services and groups but as a representative body that is capable of lobbying for you on this campus outside of its own walls?