LIVE BLOG: First Candidates’ Debate

22.10

21.02

VP sports went on a bit, nothing really important, some ideas good, some bad. Liked the free gym idea. A few things we’ll have to chase up but bring on tomorrow and all the re-run sabbs and the heavy weight match up between Sam and Simon. See you back here at 5pm for all the coverage….

21.00

And that’s it. 4 hours later and it’s over

20.59

Debate concluded. Same time tomorrow for VP Academic Affairs and Union Presidents. See you then

20.56

VP Sports Development debate coming to a close…

20.56

Dean finishes with another agreement statement. Predictable much?

20.56

This is pretty boring  now. We’ve been here since 5. and we’ve got another debate tomorrow. Stop going round in circles and wrap this all up…….

20.50

One more question. THANK GOD.

20.49

Looks like VP Comms will be working closely with the AU next year and therefore more Wessex scene sports bombardment….

20.47

Frankie Fry looks like she wants to go home

20.44

Wake up Dean

20.44

Glad that the important meaning of sport has been acknowledged by the candidates.

20.41

Going round in circles here….. If only they’d been allowed to criticise in the earlier debates…..

20.40

Shame Tom couldnt make the debate tonight, hes putting himself on the back foot against his opponents seeing as the whole of Southampton Uni will obviously be tuned into this debate right now.

20.39

Dean wants club captains to take responsibility for team welfare

20.37

More input from Shiny Dave: What are your views on the focus sports program and it’s dieting angle?

20.35

Sion clarifies his position, wanting to change intramural costs so they are relevant to the  area you use, rather then charging football teams £125 for a few weeks use of a pitch

20.33

Laura discussing Sion’s idea of splitting the cost of different types of memberships; intra-mural, competitive and recreational, may create expensive hurdles for all the new members.

20.33

The debate is stagnating despite the question about bad policies

20.32

Sion is worried about proposals to get rid of recreational sport

20.32

Dean continues with the trend of agreeing with virtually everything that all other candidates have said. Really standing out here.

20.31

Chat about minibuses is breaking my heart

20.30

Question via twitter trying to instigate some debate: what is your least favourite policy of all the candidates?

20.30

Wessex scene not working again, or at least in here so stay with the tab for all your live blogging needs…..

20.29

Can we really compete with the meatheads at Exeter?

20.29

Dean asks individual AU teams to work out the percentage of funding that they will need. Useful…? Each club will say 100%. Even Badminton when they only need shuttlecocks.

20.28

Dean wants more exteral funding – apparently a lot of clubs have lost their big sponsors. More communication with Manzils is needed in that case!

20.27

Looks like whoever is VP Sports next year is going to have lots of work on their desk from the get go trying to work out who should be allowed what money. So glad I don’t have to be present for those discussions….

20.26

Laura arguing for better communication between the AU and the clubs

20.25

Question: apparently the AU has had the same budget for the last few years. What would be your strategy for splitting money between clubs? This seems to be the crux of the debate

20.24

Everyone in agreement that we need more facilities, Laura is talking now

20.24

Let’s turn the Maths Tower into a climbing wall

20.24

Unbelievable rifts occurring within the Tab group here at the Bridge. “Boat wankers” Bridget and Ben will not stand for this…

20.23

Jonny has a survey out saying “What do people want?” Nice and specific. I’d like a mansion personally, is that within the Sports remit?

20.23

Laura makes the point that 1st year students paying £9,000 a year from autumn 2012 will have university-allocated £300 funding to help pay for course fees, sports equipment and memberships, the sports part of this currently capped at £50. She would like this to be dropped, giving the freshers more free reign over their funds.

20.22

Boat wankers getting their token mention now. Want to enlarge the boat hard for more boats is greeted positively by our rowing fwends

20.22

It’s always good to listen to candidates talk about healthy eating and sport when you’re sitting down blogging with chips from the cafe and a pint.

20.19

If SportsRec get an guaranteed income of a few million a year, surely they could then build a bigger gym??? And not everyone with a sportsrec membership would actually use it……

20.19

So footballers are limited to the football pitch and not any other SportRec resources.

20.18

Apparently people arent healthy because they dont have SportsRec (according to Sion). They arent healthy perhaps because for every 10 minutes of treadmill time you spend an hour standing around waiting to get on a machine.

20.17

Apparently it’s not fair to the student body to give them free gym membership as part of the £9000 they’ll be paying a year.

20.16

Question: should SportsRec actually be given to all students? We aren’t all jocks on steroids!

20.16

Dean wants to further committee training so that clubs will be able to manage their funding/cash flows better in future.

20.15

Dean says that small clubs often don’t know about what they’re entitled to – probably a fair point

20.15

Laura says the uni are thinking of giving out free iPads. Shotgun

20.15

Sion wants a reserve pot of money. Where are all these pots of money we keep hearing about? This is England, not Ireland!

20.13

Sion wants to make SportsRec free – if only.

20.12

Speaking of Manzils – Tariq or Tandoori? Let us know in comments!

20.11

Anyone in the AU looking forward to bombing along the motorway in a minibus covered with advertising? Maybe MaccyD’s should get involved, they’re sponsoring every other big sporting event this year!

20.11

Sam brings up the point that some clubs find it difficult to get funding through sponsorship and he will provide help, and will also rally for university support in this matter.

20.10

He wants to use revolutionary email technology to contact local businesses for sponsors. I thought Manzils sponsored all AU clubs?

20.09

Sion recognises that funding is a very touchy issue, especially when you’re dealing with a load of raging rugby players

20.09

Glad that Laura has acknowledged that some sports teams require more than others – boats are more expensive than pom poms.

20.08

Laura with a key point

I think funding needs to be very adapted to the needs of each club

 

20.08

Quote from the current president there () that could apply for each and every debate tonight.

20.07

Sam says that Varsity could bring in a load of dollah for the AU

20.06

More stuff about funding.

20.06

What preperation did you do to listen to the groups of students being talked about in the debate before elections?

 

20.06

They were chatting about healthy eating and there are Maccy Ds adverts on the screens all over the Bridge

20.05

Onto budget and funding.

20.04

Dean kicks off the “I agree” fever.

20.03

So now we need covered pitches, that traditional British weather staple – rain – is too much for some teams to cope with…  Hadn’t realised our sports teams were made up of premiership football wusses who can’t get wet

20.02

Laura on healthier food in the cafes – Is she questioning the nutritional value of a 10 item breakfast?

20.01

Sion Roberts proposing idea for an online ‘gym buddy’ service; clearly he’s never been to the gym at peak time (8-9am, 5-7pm) when there’s barely space for 1 person on a treadmill for 20 mins let alone 2 ..

20.00

Oooo gym fwend

20.00

Talk from Sion about the new Wide Lane gym – How many people will actually use it? Question mark over its cost effectiveness.

19.59

First question: how would you promote healthy living at uni?

19.58

Laura wants taster sessions – I thought there are already……

19.56

Laura’s up now and she wants more sports taster sessions. Viva la revolution

19.56

Intramural sports, one of the biggest intra-mural competitions should not get access to facilities according to Tom. Not everyone in SUSU wants to compete and intra-mural is a brilliant way to get involved and active, might alienate a lot of people with that…..

19.55

Rifle guy Sam is next up, he wants to streamline the AU

19.54

Dean doing the first introduction and he’s started well

19.53

Tom compares intramural football to “a kick about down the park”

19.50

Anyone watching at home? Don’t turn off. Yes this is starting to get ridiculous. Surely they knew the main questions to be asked, why not break this into bite sized chunks?

19.50

Tom going for the “more speeches to put you to sleep” vote.

19.49

Despite the fact that he’s not actually here, Tom’s made some good points so far – naming and shaming the Vixens for getting more money than they deserve. Hear hear.

19.48

Tom’s up with a recording he made earlier, he’s in France at the moment. We’re only hearing him narrating his manifesto

19.48

Tom criticising Jonny – Getting a bit whiny…

19.47

Already missing one candidate, Tom utilising the huge SUSU media behemoth to give an audio recording of his manifesto and explaining what he wants to do if he gets in…..

19.44

Sports development – bring it.

19.43

And here’s their live coverage cos they asked nicely. But it’s not as good as ours so don’t stay on there for too long…… (wessex scene live” blog)

19.38

This break is dragging on now. We’ve gone to commiserate our colleagues at Wessex scene for their technical issues and noticed the pile of equipment in the room. Maybe that’s where Chloe greens pots of money went……?

19.20

Another break as our team head for some nourishment and beverage.

19.19

And the VP welfare debate is a wrap. Frank the winner in our eyes. The others sort of promising too much over too long a period. A definite contender now

19.15

New rule for the drinking game: next time Chloe mentions “close to my heart”, consume 2 fingers.

19.14

Chloe singing Nightline’s praises: little does she know that one member of our Soton Tab team is joining the Nightlife  crew this year!

19.14

Frank daring to disagree with Chloe over the University’s spending power

19.12

Chloe ‘just happens’ to have to hand the figures on the waiting list and no. of NHS councillors available. This is a bit of a joke as she’s now in the middle of another massive rant. Everyone, including the other candidates starting to look bored

19.12

Chloe I think you forgot to mention the Wednesday walk-in service for counselling

19.10

And now for the set up question from Chloe Greens bf about mental health. Chloe has the troops well drilled here for providing questions to make her look good.

19.09

Aaron Bali posing a question ; has Chloe manipulated this? Boo hiss once again.

19.08

Ooh argument times. Or not. Not allowed to directly attack each other. Boo hiss SUSU

19.07

Chloe actually making a good point about bursaries – most people are unaware of what they are owed. Also the logic behind both English students (7 hours a week) and Medics (28 hours a week) being charged £9,000 from Sep 2012.

19.06

Chloe’s actually got a decent point for once, with 9k fees and only 8 hours a week we’d be pissed off too

19.06

Frank coming across very well here. Realistic aims, small steps that could actually happen rather then fuzzy promises that will die a death the first time the university gets hold of it! Rome wasn’t built in a day after all…..

19.05

Chloe says that the uni underspends on it’s bursaries. Apparently we could get access to pots of money

19.04

Its ok, Bridget Clay is back from the loo.

19.03

Most of our team have gone to the bar

19.03

Apparently a lot of Frank’s friends pay for everything using credit cards.

19.02

Moving on to finance now – next year will see the first £9K freshers so this is a massive issue

19.01

Nick wants Winchester to be a bit more independent which seems like a pragmatic solution, though it won’t be popular

19.01

Boom and Chloe green takes the bait. Out she comes the I did story about a drugs campaigns at Winchester. Big woo, artistic students do drugs. I’m shocked…… (poor frankie fry is stood in the room watching Chloe green take credit for her year of Sabb work)

19.00

Chloe reckons that all of Winchester are on drugs because they need it for creativity. Perhaps Wessex Scene should move to Winchester?

18.59

Someone in Chloe’s campaign asks a question and sets up the ball for an easy spike……

18.59

Difficult to come up with anything original here. Short of moving the campus to Burgess Road, Winchester is always going to be excluded

18.58

Question about extending welfare to Winchester

18.57

Blue sky thinking from Chloe and Simon about the power of blacklisting from SUSU – Frank provides a welcome realism that quite frankly students will still use these outlets that might have been “blacklisted”. Bravo.

18.57

“we’re going to blacklist people on our agency and that will put them off from treating students badly” erm no. Don’t quite see that working Chloe. There’s too many students and not enough good housing. All the candidates really not getting the point of the two questions

18.56

Not sure whether SUSU will be able to compete with the almighty STUDENTNOFEE who seem to own the whole of Portswood

18.55

The Tab‘s own Tom Steadman has stepped up to ask about how the housing blacklist would actually work

18.54

Awkward question just being asked: how are you actually going to carry out 50% of the things you’re claiming to do….? (i.e.: dodgy landlords)

18.54

At last someone has remembered studentpropertygossip.com, a site which we advertised months ago

18.52

From Ben who asked the original question about housing rights

Nick and Frank were the only two who answered the question

18.52

I think these candidates are forgetting that many landlords are independent and are not affiliated with an agency- mine is! What’s going to happen if there’s not an agency to let rogue landlords go!?

18.50

Who’s going to ‘tell off’ landlords though guys? The police? An agency can only give a slap on the wrist surely?

18.48

All students get hundreds of spam emails from SUSU and their schools over a year. PG must get the same. Why would they want more? Bombarding people with emails isn’t the be all and end all

18.48

Surely making a separate Postgrad rep. on most societies just enhances the ‘segregation’?

18.48

Onto views on post-grads now, Simon wants the JCR to get involved with them

18.44

University students aren’t just geeks and nerds.

18.43

As an international student, Frank ‘Da Tank’ Sondors’ take is refreshing!

18.41

Erasmus clique – that’s one I’ve not heard before!

18.40

Liking Eyles’ propositions for postgrad and international students – and he’s got better plans for freshers’ packs.

18.40

I agree with Chloe – this is becoming more like our main image then anyone expected

18.39

Isn’t there meant to be time limits on this? Or does Chloe get to buck the system?

18.38

Chloe getting a lot of microphone time, favouritism much?

18.37

Sensible point from Chloe, email out Freshers’ pack as a PDF. Shocked that doesn’t happen already. International students apparently don’t know about the NHS!

18.37

Chloe thinks PDF freshers’ packs are the way forward – because having to print 30 pages yourself is a great first impression for SUSU.

18.37

Chloe discussing international students. Apparently they don’t all get freshers packs because they don’t all live in halls! This is disgusting.

18.35

On to communities. We’ve forgotten what the question actually was…

18.34

Shiny Dave fails second time round, and the interview swiftly moves on

18.34

Question rejected by the MC because it is too specific and long winded

18.34

Nobody understood his question…basically he reckons the AU aren’t giving out the right message about food by supporting controversial diet plans

18.33

Was that a question or what?

18.33

Miss Green mentions that eating disorder is down to body confidence or lack of. Ban Cosmo anyone?

18.33

Shiney Dave is on the mic, tearing it up. Another moment in the spotlight for him!

18.33

That last quote was from Chloe Green, who is has gone on to attack the uni for being too preoccupied with academic affairs

18.32

According to Chloe there is a system already in place for dealing with these problems – it’s called SRSH and we’ve never heard of it.

18.32

Eating disorders have little to do with food

18.31

Simon wants to raise awareness about eating disorders.

18.30

An aside, it may say comments off on our homepage but they definitely are not!

18.30

Frank wants to put more info on the SUSU website – would anyone actually read this?

18.29

Eating disorder- you can cut the nervous tension between the candidates with a knife!

18.29

Nick Johnson showing his ignorance about SASSH

18.28

Good old shiny Dave making himself known to the room after asking about eating disorders.

18.28

That was a very long sentence from Dave Howells

18.28

Shiny Dave introducing himself to the world- enjoy your 15 minutes son

18.28

A question via Twitter about working with Sports to tackle issues about eating disorders.

18.28

We think Southampton landlords are pretty dodgy. Here are a couple of stories: Scourge of the Letting Sign, House from Hell

18.27

Apparently, freshers should start house-hunting in October, before they’ve made real friends….

18.26

Nick calling for coordination with JCRs

word of mouth is sometimes undervalued

18.26

Frank and Simon agree with Chloe about scaremongering from tenancy companies.

18.24

The welfare candidates

18.24

Lots of Corden/Adele-esque interruptions from the interviewer!

18.23

That’s ‘dedicated’ twice now – another finger on our drinking game.

18.22

Got to give it to her, she’s the first one to admit that she’s doing this to get a job (can’t get one anywhere else)

18.21

Chloe is actually quite funny:

I did an English Lit degree, oops!

18.21

She’s used the word passionate already and she’s been talking for less than a minute – 2 fingers !

18.21

Chloe summing herself up in exactly the way we would. Superlative

18.20

Chloe Green’s turn- let’s be honest it’s the moment we’ve been waiting for!

18.20

Simon looking to bring students into the local (god forbid non-student) community more.

18.20

Simon wants to introduce a way to get home when you have no money. So, he’s either trying to re-invent walking or claim Frankie’s student taxi idea as his own

18.19

Struggling to see how easily welfare & comms VP will be able to crack down on scummy landlords.

18.19

Tough talk on the Landlords from Simon Eyles – It’s like bashing the bankers.

18.18

Welfare candidates introduce themselves. Frank Condors opens with student debt and housing ideas.

18.16

Nick Johnson coming across very well so far.

18.14

Still no sign of Michael Fisher, editor of our friendly rivals the Wessex Scene

18.10

Dave Gilani takes the time to answer our Editorial Independence question in person. Good lad

18.05

And on that note – just time to remind you of our article on Equality and Diversity officer candidate Amanda Li. We hate to say it but we feel that there is a call for RON. Read it here

18.04

Time for a quick break – as everyone bundles towards the bar for a refreshing beverage its time to prepare for potential main event VP Welfare. Simon Eyles, Frank Sondors, Nicholas Johnson and of course Chloe Green.

18.03

So I think we can safely conclude that you should vote Chloe – Because she agrees. Or, alternatively, vote David – Because he agrees.

18.00

We’ve got a ten minute break then it’s welfare. To the bar!

17.58

And now for a nice (and once again deafening) break.

17.57

Gilani claims that if he wins this position he will “let the media do its own thing”.

17.57

Well that’s them gone. On to the next

17.56

re: Editorial independence: Gilani’s scared of getting sued

17.56

We’ve flustered them with that question. Can’t believe they weren’t expecting that!

17.56

Moving on to “editorial independence”. Chloe claims it “depends on the situation”

17.53

Very bold claim to boost turnout by around a third

17.53

Chloe aiming for 10,000 votes.

17.52

STOP AGREEING WITH EACH OTHER!

17.52

Shiny dave’s thumbs can move faster than lightning.

17.51

Apologies to Shiny Dave for whispering too loudly. We can see you typing furiously into your tablet, we didn’t mean to distract you

17.50

Chloe talking about sites. She wants to bring students from other campuses into the SUSU fold

17.47

Debate moving on to postgrads – Chloe claiming postgrads aren’t interested in getting involved socially. Gilani agrees . Snooze..

17.46

It is hot in here! Good job there’s a bar in here

17.46

Chloe proposing interesting idea of merging the numerous AU societies with SUSU media.

17.46

Favourite comment so far:

When are they going to start slagging each other off?

When indeed.

17.45

Gilani wants to introduce ‘media taster days’ in an attempt to break the infamous SUSU clique

17.45

Question: how do you plan to get people more involved with SUSU media?

17.44

He wants to encourage people ticket touting on the SUSU facebook page

17.44

Gilani proposing to encourage annoying pre-freshers week facebook adds.

17.43

David isn’t so confident about facebook etc and wants to take a more personal JCR based approach

17.43

Question about what the most vital medium is for SUSU- Chloe rightly stresses the importance of social media

17.41

Big love for international students from both candidates… more love love for Li Li?

17.41

Surprise, surprise Chloe agrees…

17.41

He makes a good point about involving international students- they’re often marginalised

17.40

Gilani wants to get freshers involved from the end of the summer as soon as they get their A-level results and their place is confirmed. Doesn’t this happen already?

17.40

David agrees with Chloe about face to face contact. He wants to badger freshers from results day onwards.

17.39

One tweeter, , says “Soton Tab>Wessex Scene. Let’s face it” Always nice to meet a fan

17.38

Too much about marketing, Chloe- more about policy please!

17.37

David reckons that too many new ideas are a bad thing.

17.36

Chloe is arguing quite successfully that she’ll bring a fresh approach to the role

17.35

David: the experience is really useful because it’s allowed me to get to this stage and develop my passion

17.34

A question about prior experience

17.34

there are 4 types of student media that you can get involved in: Wessex Scene, the Edge, SUSUtv, Surge radio

#awkward what with the 8 Tab members making up half the audience.

17.34

Chloe wants to have a team of oompa loompas to hand out copies of the paper and ask whether people enjoyed it

17.33

Gilani’s talking about marketing so students actually know the WS exists…

17.33

If you want to save the environment, why not try some alternative uses of your Wessex Scene?

17.31

Question:

is it necessary to print the Wessex Scene?

17.31

New rule: Take a drink every time the candidates agree

17.30

Chloe: “Great way to meet like minded people”

17.29

Dave: “Great opportunity to get involved in media” Strangely, not mentioning the best media outlet in Southampton: us here at The Tab!

17.29

“What is the point of student media?”

17.27

Dave speaking now. Where we are, we can’t actually see the candidates. Oh well.

17.26

Chloe’s lovely Sheffield accent is music to my northern ears.

17.26

If you’re playing along with our drinking game, watch out! They’re listing policies!

17.25

SUSUtv are live now! Let us know if it sounds as bad for you at home as it does for us in here. Candidates are introducing themselves.

17.24

First up, the two comms candidates Chloe Richardson and David Gilani. Whilst not deafening us with Maroon 5, we’re being blasted with microphone feedback. Surely against a Geneva Convention or two?

17.17

Chris Pate, the host of elections night, is currently struggling with the sounds. Hopefully the tech will be OK

17.14

They’ve stopped trying to deafen us with Avicii now, maybe the debate will start soon

17.14

Starting to fill up in here now. Not many “normal” students though, all gaudily dressed campaigners and, uh, us.