In just a couple of weeks, I'm going to be sitting down to my first exam on Global Governance. Then I have one exam per week for five weeks, which means that in a few weeks time, I'm going to be totally exhausted. Of all the exams I have to do, I'm really not looking forward to my EU politics exam. If I were really good at the subject, I would be able to recite all the names of the 10+2 accession states in English, French and German and give a quick rendition of the Ode to Joy afterwards for good measure, but sadly it is hard enough the remember the key dates and details of each treaty.

Extra-curricularly I've had a bit of success, though its down to lots of other hard-working people too. Unfortunately, though I would love to break the news on this blog, I can't say what exactly it is, though it's in the area of international social justice.

If a thunderbolt of inspiration for a political post comes, I may find some time to write it, but until then, I'll leave you with this personal post. Read More...

Tags: university, exams, revision, fairtrade

The past three weeks have been my busiest of the year so far. Starting with Fairtrade Fortnight, I was desperately trying to get all the events and information stalls in order. It went pretty well in the first week. There was a debate about Fairtrade, which was well attended and had some good questions. We also managed to get a few stalls going on the ground floor of the Union.

However, week two was slightly less successful. I stood in the Union Executive elections, so instead of being able to supervise the Fairtrade Fortnight events, I had to wear a fluorescent yellow and pink T-shirt and hand out flyers for my campaign. It paid off, I'm Officer Without Portfolio-Elect, and the rest of the people on my slate all got elected as well. What didn't happen were the Fairtrade stalls that were due to take place. I'm a bit miffed that people didn't take the initiative and run the stalls themselves. Anyway, what's done is done.

The only slight problem with spending so much time on elections and the Fortnight was that I, sort of, forgot about my academic work. Hence, week three has been spent hurriedly writing and submitting course-work. I'm not sure its my best work, but it is in, and hopefully will get a decent mark.

So now I get to rest for a week or so, before exam revision takes over. Read More...

Tags: fairtrade, students' union

I’m quite excited, as on Tuesday, the ballots open for the Students’ Union Executive at my university. I’ve been thinking of different ways that I can campaign. Fortunately, I am standing unopposed, but after the 2007 general election, I’m never calling anything definite again.

The biggest problem that I think I’m going to face is just being able to put in enough time for campaigning. Next week is week two of Fairtrade Fortnight, so I have stalls and a film night to co-ordinate for that. I have classes all week that I can’t miss, and some assessed work to hand in the week after.

I tried making a rosette for the campaign, but it just ended up looking like a Lib. Dem. rosette. I don’t quite know why the slate picked yellow, but I suppose I can probably manage to find a wooly jumper and a cup of tea and just go with the liberal flow.

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Tags: elections, fairtrade, campaign

Is it just me, or was there an easing of the pressure to make environmental issues take the fore in 2007? 2006 saw the Stern Report; a mass re-branding of organic and fair trade products; and what can only be described as green issues becoming adopted in the mainstream. 2007 didn’t really seem to hold any setbacks for green issues (except the disappointing Scottish general election result), but it didn’t really seem to have many leaps forward either. Read More...

Tags: green, environmentalism, fairtrade, ethical consumerism