Ed Miliband Visits the Students’ Union

Ed Miliband MP, the Cabinet Office Minister and Labour Party Manifesto Coordinator, visited the University of Manchester Students’ Union on Tuesday for a Freshers’ Week event hosted by Manchester Labour Students. He gave a speech followed by a question and answer session.

The event was well attended by around 200 students who asked questions including how the Labour Party should go about its 4th term election campaign, student finance and LGBT rights. The evening also included brief speeches by Chair of Manchester Labour Students, Mike Joslin and Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Manchester Withington, Lucy Powell.

The Politics Society has written an article about the event which includes more photos:
http://www.manchesterpolitics.co.uk/articles/2008/an-evening-with-ed-miliband/

Manchester Labour Students are very grateful that Ed took the time to talk to students in the Steve Biko Building and hope that this marks the start of a successful series of events in this coming year.

John Denham Visits Withington

John Denham MP, the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, campaigned on student roads in Withington with Manchester Labour Students on Saturday. He visited Withington to hear the views of students on the doorstep.

Manchester Labour Students were also promoting their campaign in favour of the Manchester Congestion Charge, which will result in very significant public transport improvements that will benefit students in return for a charge that students are highly likely never to have to pay.

It was great that John Denham took time out from Labour Party conference to acknowledge the large student population in South Manchester, giving students a chance to put their views directly to him, especially with the Higher Education Funding Review coming up in 2009.

Freshers' Week Team

Meet the Manchester Labour Students Freshers’ Stall team all sporting their brand new Manchester Labour Students Membership Cards:


From left to right the team are: Danny, Matt, Ian, Rob B, Richard, Alex, Mike, Jason, Rob P and Jonathan.

We are all looking forward to an exciting week and meeting new members at Freshers’ Fair. We will have stalls inside the hall and outside at UMSU and inside the hall at mmunion. If you would like anymore information about the goings on in Freshers' Week, take a look at our website or email us at freshers@manchesterlabourstudents.org.

This year we will also have membership packs on our stall, which will include a t-shirt, Ethernet lead (for students needing to connect to Hornet in their halls) and badges. These will cost £5.

At the University of Manchester membership to Manchester Labour Students will cost £1.

We hope to see you at Freshers' Week and look forward to the rest of the year.

Put Up or Shut Up

In recent months there has been increasing speculation about the future of the Prime Minister Gordon Brown. In the last few days it seems several MP's have begun openly calling for a leadership election.

This recent activity seems disjointed and sporadic with little planning or forethought, with some MP's getting over excited and expressing their own opinions without considering the dire consequences.

David Miliband, the most plausible challenger to Brown, has already said that he will not challenge Brown at the upcoming Labour Conference. He is arguably the only MP with the ability to mount a coup of this type and he has stated repeatedly his reluctance to do so.

Therefore this continued speculation is highly damaging to the Party, our electoral prospects and Britain, and it has to end right now before things getting out of hand and Gordon Brown's own electoral prospects are damaged beyond the point of no return. Without the presence of an organised plot, nothing is gained what-so-ever from challenging a sitting Prime Minister. We risk destroying ourselves and looking out of touch, we risk seeming more interested in our electoral chances than steering the country through these challenging economic times, which will be the nail in the coffin for this Government if we cannot rise to the difficult challenge.

Instead of allowing Gordon Brown to impose himself, his politics and his agenda, backbench MP's seem intend on savaging the PM. By doing so we are savaging ourselves and we need to stop looking like a bunch of clown's trying desperately to cling to power.

Instead we need to be uniting behind the Prime Minister and asking the real questions that need to be asked.

We need to be asking why David Cameron's party claims to be the party of social justice when they opposed the minimum wage, every penny of Labour's record investment in our schools, hospitals and transport system and why he wants to be as radical as Margaret Thatcher, the Prime Minister that plunged millions of working class Britons into a vicious circle of poverty.

We need to be asking Mr Cameron why he is proposing someone as Foreign Secretary who described the minimum wage as the single most dangerous piece of legislation in history. We need to be asking the Tories how exactly they are the party of social justice, when this government has built over 200 new hospitals, a 1000 new schools, guaranteed a minimum income for the poorest people and redistributed massively to ensure that all of the people share from all of the wealth that exists in Britain and we have been opposed every step of the way by Mr Cameron's small state, tax-cutting, backward Conservative Party.

Unless the rebels put up a credible challenge it is time for this reckless speculation to end. Labour Party Conference should be the opportunity for us to showcase the legacy of 11 years of Labour investment; but I fear that unfortunately if this talk carries on all we will be able to do is destroy ourselves.

Ed Miliband MP

Ed Miliband MP, Minister in the Cabinet Office and Labour’s Manifesto Coordinator, is coming to the Students’ Union (Steve Biko Building) to discuss the future for the Labour Party and for Britain in an event hosted by Manchester Labour Students.

This event will take place on Tuesday of Freshers’ Week (23rd Sept) 5:30-6:30pm and anyone who is interested is welcome to attend.

Here is the link on Facebook for more details:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=21872619725

This is a chance to hear from a man at the heart of Labour’s campaign for a fourth-term. There will be an opportunity to ask questions. We will have refreshments.

This event is part of the Manchester Labour Students Freshers’ Week programme which will mark the start of a number of exciting events planned in this coming Semester, we hope to see you there.

What ever happened to television journalism?

So the American Election is in full swing and I’m addicted to following it to the point where the domestic news channels can’t quench my political thrust. It leads me to watching American news channel when I can; mostly CNN and Fox News.

I find it particularly difficult to watch Fox News without throwing something at the screen and promptly destroying the TV. I mean, ITV News is mindless biased unnewsworthy drivel, but Fox News is really bad mindless biased unnewsworthy drivel.



The increasing rightwing biased of the American TV media has had a huge part to play in the so-called “politics of fear”, which along with the politics of discrimination towards LGBT people and anyone that is pro-choice, helped to give George Bush a second term (the first term he actually won). When I watch Fox News it is as clear as the light of day that they are trying to pull the same trick again this time.

What also is becoming more noticeable is that the style, methods and political bias of channels like Fox News are making their way more and more into the UK. Yes obviously with Sky News, since it is the British sister channel of Fox News, this is hardly surprising. ITV News is following suit on political bias and pointless human interest stories, but then it has done for years. I just don’t want the TV news to be the equivalent of a trashy tabloid for people who cannot be bothered to read – surely I can’t be the only one.

You almost have to laugh at the appalling nature of some of the so-called news of the rightwing propaganda-pedlars but then if you think that some people take it as read and actually believe it, it's quite scary. Perhaps you’ve got to laugh at it; otherwise I guess you’d cry.



Anyway, that’s my little rant done. I guess that leaves me with the BBC News Channel, which isn’t too bad although I swear that they vary the autocue speed depending on how fast a news day it is...

Current Members - Don't Forget to Rejoin!

The new university year is right around the corner and you might be thinking about what you’d like to get involved with this time around. We really hope that you’ll consider rejoining Manchester Labour Students and getting involved in 2008/9. If you're a current member, your membership of Manchester Labour Students last year was only valid for 2007/8 so with the new academic year your membership will lapse if you don’t rejoin.

So why get involved with Manchester Labour Students this time around?

Bigger, Better and More Frequent Events

This year we plan to have our best ever programme of events, kicking off with Ed Miliband MP coming to talk to us about the Future of the Labour Party on Tuesday of Freshers’ Week (23rd Sept). We are planning debates, discussions, Ministerial visits, film screenings, as well as socials with the obligatory trips to the Curry Mile to name just a few! We also hope to hold events focusing on the American Presidential Election in the run up to November 4th.

Fun and Rewarding Campaigning

Manchester Labour Students has a history of being a campaigning force both with the Manchester Labour Party and within our Students’ Unions. This year will be no different. We plan to hold campaign training for anyone who doesn’t have any experience with campaigning and wants to get involved for the first time. We’ve travelled to many areas of Greater Manchester to help out in the campaigning effort which is always a rewarding experience and often a great laugh.

Activities all over the country and beyond!

We don’t just venture out of Manchester for by-elections! There will be opportunity to go to National Labour Students events including Conference, National Council and Political Weekend. Manchester Labour Students also have sent members onto the continent for the European Congress of Socialist Youth Summer Camp. As far as campaigning goes, we hope to have campaigning days with Cabinet Ministers as well.

The best way to rejoin is to sign up again at Freshers’ Fair; we plan to have a stall inside the hall and outside this year. If you can’t make it to Freshers’ Fair, then please come to one of our events where you will be able to rejoin, alternatively drop us an email at freshers@manchesterlabourstudents.org. Membership for the year only costs £1!

Freshers’ Fair is Monday 22nd – Wednesday 24th September for UMSU and Wednesday 24th – Thursday 25th September for mmunion. 

For more information on rejoining, please feel free to get in touch or visit http://www.manchesterlabourstudents.org/rejoin.

Sarah Palin - Big Mistake

When I first heard that Sarah Palin was John McCain’s choice for the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate for his ticket I was surprised. Initially it seems like it had the potential to take the wind from Barack Obama’s sails after a brilliant convention speech in Denver.

But actually, when thinking about it, it seems to me that Sarah Palin is likely to be a terrible mistake for John McCain. Incidentally that is not a bad thing; anything that improves Obama’s chances is fine by me.

Firstly let’s look at Palin’s 17 year old daughter. Oh dear, she is 5 months pregnant and unmarried. Don’t worry though, the gun-wielding anti-choice Alaskan Governor will ensure there is a shotgun wedding. Now while it would be fair to say that family should be off-limits, the reality is that the electorate in America will take it until account. Palin would have been partly chosen because of her appeal to the socially-conservative Republican base that McCain has struggled with. This doesn’t help.

Palin is very inexperienced. She has only been the Governor of the population-tiny Alaska for 2 years – which is next to nothing. The Vice Presidency is the role which is almost solely in existence to assume the Presidency should needs be. McCain is 72. Now that is old and presents a very real chance that if he were elected, he would die in office. Given that, people will take a close look at the running mate, being inexperienced is unlikely to do his campaign any favours. And you have to admit, when you see the two together, next to the 44 year-old, McCain does look old.

The inexperience also presents another problem: being terribly under-qualified and a woman, leaves McCain open to accusations of tokenism. Some people voted for Hillary not just because she was the first woman with a chance but because she was the first woman who was able to fight for the Presidency on her own merits and was qualified. McCain looks like he is grabbing for Hillary voters with a cynical and cheap punt at female votes. Many, rightly, will just be insulted.

The truth for McCain is that he was doing quite well, but now, he has been blown off course and most of that is his own fault.