Desh, Girlfriend of Simon Douglas

You think Simon will win?

Im not answering any questions that may incriminate myself.

What will you do if Simon does win?

Hopefully go to sleep!

Jeff Courtney

How do you feel?
"Well at the moment Im still happy enjoying the adrenalin, and enjoying taking part. When it all comes out Im gonna have to find something else to do."

What do you think your chances are?
"Im still very confident of winning. I think that people realise Im a good candidate"

What will you do if you lose?
"Hopefully go into a doctoral program somewhere doing philosophy of science."

Anything else....?
"Gonna enjoy the evening for what it is and see how things look in the morning."

Edward Chevasco - Comms candidate

"I have enjoyed the campaign. I have enjoyed tonight. I hope to not be humiliated AND GET REALLY DRUNK!"

Simon Douglas on campaigning in Houghton Street Today

This is Simon Douglas' account of campaigning in Houghton Street for the past two days.

Street campaigning is exhausting. People who think that we take student politics lightly should spend 10 hours on the street. Today, I got in to LSE at 8am, left at 6.30pm (half an hour before close of polls due to an agreement between the Comms candidates) and left the street only to flyer carious computer rooms and the Brunch Bowl. I even ate my lunch while campaigning. It. Was. Hard. Core.

And it’s not 8.30 and I have no idea how it all went. Was it worth it? I have to wait another five or six hours to find that out; and I have to say that this waiting is even harder than the campaigning. Here’s hoping…

Comms: Job description

Principal Responsibilities:

Running the SU website, communicating the activities of the Union to students, finding advertising revenue for the Union, dealing with the outside press, promoting the UGM, working with the Media Group (Beaver, PuLSEfm, Script and LooSE TV), chairing RAG week, chairing Global Week, producing SU guides, handbooks, fliers and posters, promoting SU elections, promoting SU campaign weeks. Fulfilling all the other duties of a Sabbtical Officer in running the Union day-to-day.

Extras:

Is a full time position and will often mean long days and sometimes weekend work. Will mean attending, reporting to and answering questions from the UGM, going to Execm C&S, F&S and Admin and Staffing Committees and attending some meetings with the School. Some with high level figures.

Qualities Required:

High knowledge of the SU workings and what is happening accross the School and SU. Good relations with the Media Group. Need to be hardworking, creative, with design skills. Proactive, as the job description is rather vague as the job was only created in 2004.

Notes:

The Communications Officer takes office on July 1st and serves until July 14th the following year.

Pluses of the job:

Fantastic work experience running a large organistion. As a trustee, you will be managing staff, making strategic decisions for the SU as well as handling a large a varied portfolio, with lots of freedom. The pluses are you get your own office and get paid £22,000 and technically have no boss (except the UGM, which can't be taken for granted). Sabbatical positions really allow you to make a difference to the Union and to students and can be incredible fun.

Communications Officer's job description
1. who shall be responsible for obtaining advertising and sponsorship for areas of Union activity,
including the publications of the Union and, upon request, Union societies.
2. who shall have primary responsibility for the Students' Union Handbook, as set out under the
Codes of Practice.
3. who shall have primary responsibility for the Alternative Prospectus, as set out under the
Codes of Practice.
4. who shall have primary responsibility for the RAG Week and Global Week Guides, as set out
under the Codes of Practice.
5. who shall be responsible for liasing with other Officers and ensuring that the Union, the
activities of the Union, and the activities of Union societies are communicated to the whole
student body.
6. who shall be responsible for weekly publicity for Union General Meetings.
7. who shall be responsible for convening and chairing the Global Week and RAG Week
Taskforces and who shall be the primary officer responsible for organising these events.
8. who shall be responsible for displaying the minutes of Executive meetings.
9. who shall be responsible for assisting the Returning Officer in publicising elections.
10. who shall assist the General Secretary, the Education & Welfare Sabbatical, and the
Women's Officer with publicising campaigns and providing information for students.
11. who shall be responsible for the preparation of brief descriptions of the non-executive posts
for distribution to candidates in Union elections.
12. who shall be responsible for assisting the General Secretary, upon request, with press
releases and external publicity, including the wide dissemination of information concerning
external campaigns that the Union supports.
13. who shall be the Convenor of the LSESU Media Group as set out in the LSESU Media Group
Protocol.

Comms Race: Dan Sheldon

I'd like to be your Communications Officer because I believe I have the combination of political activism and technical competency this Union needs.
TURN ON AN SU CAMPAIGNING FOR YOU
There is a strong campaigning tradition at LSE, and this works best when the goals are practical, achievable and will make a real difference to the world around us. I have a proven track record of social justice campaigning: Living Wage, TfL student discounts and keeping the cap on top-up fees. I believe the SU should be at the forefront of student activism at LSE, and as Comms offer this will be a priority.
TURN ON A FUN & ACTIVE STUDENT LIFE
I see the role of Comms - and the SU in general - as overseeing all student activity on campus, whether that be Badminton, Brazilian Society or the Beaver. I will make it my business to make sure you have a fun time at LSE by letting you know what's on and co-ordinating events around campus. The keys to this will be comprehensive society training, an easy to digest events guide and a proper website for the AU.
TURN ON SMARTER & GREENER TECHNOLOGY
We could harness new technologies like blogs, wikis and social networks to make the SU run more efficiently, use less paper and make promotion easier for society events. I want to lobby the School on technological issues such as increasing our email inbox size, upgrading WebCT and using more open source software. As a professional web developer, I admit that I am a bit of a geek but with my knowledge and the SU's bargaining power, we can make a practical difference to our day-to-day student experience.
Please email d.j.sheldon@lse.ac.uk for a full manifesto.
VOTE SHELDON: TURN THE UNION

Comms Race: Simon Douglas

Although I have a vast experience of work in the Union and the Media Group, I strongly believe that the candidate who wins should have the best policy, and I believe that person is me:
Media Group: It should be easier for people to get involved in the Media Group, so I will foster closer co-ordination between the different branches; I will use the Media Group Forum to produce a long term plan for LSESU media.
Website: I want to form a team of students - who may be paid - for keeping the website updated and relevant on a day-to-day basis, while the Comms officer retains overall control and responsibility.
Campaigns: Once campaigns have been mandated by the UGM - indicating that the Union cares about them - I will follow up on these with material support, using my design skills to produce booklets, leaflets, flyers and more.
Marketing: I will create a Societies’ Forum for different societies to share best practice in gaining sponsorship; I will lobby potential sponsors early in the Summer, before most societies and other Unions are able to speak to these companies and their graduate recruitment budgets are allocated away from the LSE; I will operate a preferential pricing policy for ethical companies and those we don’t usually see sponsoring and advertising around the LSESU - making the LSE environment more diverse and stimulating; I will produce an AU handbook, with the AU Comms Officer, for Freshers’ Week so that new students are more likely to get involved with sports.
Accountability: I will mandate myself to explain exactly what I’ve done with each of these pledges - and more - at the UGM, meaning I will have to follow through on every promise.
Simon Says… Vote Simon Douglas for Comms.

Comms Race: Edward Philip Roland Chevasco

CHEVASCO Stop the War, SWSS, Respect; No Fees, No Racism, No War. Why I want to be elected: I want to transform the way the LSE student union does things. I believe we can make huge amount of progress by introducing referenda for all students on all critical school decisions and appointments. I want the LSE to foster participant student democracy and encourage radical student activism.
A strong Campaigning, Engaging
Communicating Student Union
A believe that the students union can be a force for good and progressive change, improving the lives of not only LSE students but also fighting for a better world. History has proved that student activism works, and LSE has a proud history of student activism. It is only when united that we have any influence though, and so as Communications officer I would work hard to get more students to the UGM, encourage greater student activism and campaign to give every student vote in matters that affect our lives at university. Everyone should have a stake in students politics not just professional hacks
Free Education:
I want to campaign to make free education a priority for the NUS. I like many other students was on the demo in October to scrap tuition fees, but to stop the government from raising the “cap” on Top Up Fees, we need more student activism and pressure from both LSE SU and NUS as a whole. We in the LSE union need to campaign as hard as possible for the Universal Human Right of Education
Stop the war- Free Palestine –Don’t attack Iran:
And where has the money for education gone? Into fighting Bush and Blair’s bloody and illegal war and into building nuclear warheads. If elected to the student executive I would continue to campaign against the war on a

Comms race: Kayt Berry

I’m Kayt Berry. This year I have been Station Manager for PuLSEfm and one of the main controllers of the media group. This role has given me a great experience in running a team and promoting events, brands and campaigns. I also know how the SU works.
The Communications Officer should build a bridge between student government and the Media Group, and publicise events and services administered by the SU. My experience in promotions and media makes me an ideal candidate for this role. But it hasn’t just prepared me to work within the Student’s Union. It has also given me the knowledge and drive to change it. Too often are crucial issues dominated by the same few committed people, because of a lack of effective publicity for the Union.
The UGM is the heart of student democracy but currently sparsely attended; it needs to evolve. I propose simple measures to change this with the use of a bell on Houghton Street to announce the beginning of the UGM, an A-board to advertise, sponsored incentives to attend, themed society weeks and encouragement for society motions.
Increased use and development of web-use is the way forward for the SU. I will build up a healthy working relationship with OnCampus to ensure it is working the best it can. Advances that I would propose include refining an SU news feed, creating personalised calendars, and designing a payment scheme for SU events and society membership drives.
I’m looking into separating Global and RAG week to divide the Communication Officer’s workload more efficiently.
I also have a brilliant working relationship with all SU staff already and this is vital to the role of Communications Officer.
Because BERRY CAN COMMUNI-KAYT – vote Kayt Berry No. 1 for Comms.