Spotted: Baskerville in sit-in protest

So it appears our future great leader of OUSU simply can't leave politics alone and was part of the student lockdown in the Bodleian.

Great work Stefan, I'm sure you're going to have a fantastic time negotiating with University authorities next year, as well as having alienated a good proportion of the university population.

I can't wait for next year,

xoxo

Morcos makes his move...

Well, well, well. Some things you don't forsee, and this certainly took me by surprise.

A little birdie has told me, boys and girls, that Peter "respect my human rights" Morcos has decided to join in the OUSU Presidential race, and has convinced Jake "sorry I spelt your name wrong" Leeper to run as his VP (C&C). Good move Jake, you never really stood a chance for President anyway...

But all this brings so many unanswered questions. Will Iwu run Morcos' campaign? Can Morcos make the transition from campaign manager to candidate? Who else is going to run? Don't forget to e-mail in any more goss.

You know you love me. xo xo

Fumblings under the mistletoe

Hello my beauties. I hope you didn't miss me. After all the excitement of last term I had to spend a long time in sunnier climes sipping cocktails, far from the internet and Krishna Omkar's Facebook notes.

Just as well I came back in time for noughth week. A handful of JCR presidents and various nobodies have been busily plotting away in anticipation of November's election.

The big news is that Paul Dwyer, currently VP (AcAff), wants to rule the roost. Only problem is that the rules say that current sabs can't run for President (ask a gimp, they'll explain). Expect a rule change motion soon.

Also keen to be the big boss is LMH's JCR President, Sourav Choudhury. Many years of Union hackery have won him the support of Luke 'FAIL' Tryl and Anna C* Williams.

But Choudhury's JCR VP, Jake Leper, who didn't even make it on to Seccie's, is throwing his hat into the ring too. The insubordinate little brat. Leper wants the St Peter's JCR pres, Sanjay, to be his AcAff. Go for it, Sanjay - if you want to lose. Although this lot do have the backing of Lewis 'I have a dream too' Iwu.

And can you believe it, despite the credit crunch even more people want this poorly paid job. Like Laurence Mills, Magdalen JCR pres, who also wants to take up the illustrious throne once held by such characters as Alan Strickland, Martin McCluskey and other prospective Labour parliamentary candidates. Laurence's got the backing of Baskermate too after hacking for him with Jessica Jones. Unofficially. Of course. Univ JCR President Alex Bulfin is going to be his AcAff.

Lots of fine men fighting over my vote. I am a lucky girl.

But who am I? That's one secret I'll never tell, even in a Facebook chat to Krishna.

xoxo

* what is the C? Answers on a postcard.

Baskerslate victory

Stefan Baskerville has won the OUSU Presidency. Congratulations to him.

Given Maher had 57 activists in comparison to Baskerville's 228, being within a couple of hundred votes was a valient effort by the American.

It has been fun these last few weeks. I hope you've been kept entertained. I certainly have.

xoxo

OUSU codes. People are still without them.

I've just been emailed by a voter claiming that they have still not received their voter code. Word on the street is that there are still many more who are having to email the RO for codes this morning. Is this really the case? If so how on earth can OUSU be so useless?

But in the mean time, who will win tonight? My money is on Baskerville or Maher, though it's far too close to call...

xoxo

Still no codes...

Some people have been ever so kind and e-mailed me to tell me they still didn't have their voter codes around 3pm this afternoon and are having to e-mail the RO. I'm not sure if this has been resolved yet but I see it as being unlikely.

I'd be prepared to wager that some people still won't get their codes before 6pm tomorrow. Rerun fun all round... maybe good ol' Jonny M will run for President this time? :)

xoxo

OUSU Elections Committee. What a joke.

So most of the day members of the OUSU Elections committee were seen parading leisurely around Oxford ripping illegal posters down and fining students (I always thought that OUSU was meant to help students. Hmm.)

But why weren't they trying to fix the voter code problem? Where on earth does OUSU's RO priorities like? OUSU Gossip has always been a fan of OUSU but this has just been a joke and a disgrace.

Given RO Maddy's letter of the law approach, the constitution clearly dictates that the election must take place over 72 hours. It has not. It seems it will not. People are still reporting they have not received codes. Surely there is no other result than the election to be declared null and void? Surely Baskerville, Maher and Tryl will appeal at the end of the election otherwise?

How on earth was this "cool, new, modern OUSU, let's turn people out online" system not tested? Heads must roll...

xoxo

OUSWho?

Despite repeated assurances that online voting would work, it doesn't. Most students are yet to receive their voter codes this morning even with the extra week to "tweak the system"

Can Maddy save this from turning into an utter debacle? Only time wil tell...

xoxo

ps. stay indoors if you want to avoid the three day hackathon.

Alternative hustings??

Unfortunately a prior engagement precluded me from going to the Alternative Hustings.

So can anyone tell me, was it a success? Was it a failure? Email in, I want to know all the deets!

xoxo

Hackdaq: Baskerslate -5%

It's funny. I gather some people on Elections Committee think I'm biased even most of them know me well. But how can I be biased when reporting fact? Last night, Maddy fined Stefan 'Pinocchio' Baskerville a further 5% of his budget after he "disseminated a misleading statement" (in English, that's lying) at a recent hustings.

When answering the question "how many posters have you put up of the members of your slate?" Baskermate answered "very few" when it appears the correct answer was none. Baskermate's feeble excuse for lying was that he claims not to have been told by his campaign team. Maddy rejected his dubious contention with great gusto:

"Mr Baskerville is responsible for his agents’ behaviour. ... it [the rule] does imply that candidates are responsible for whatever agents do, whether or not the candidates know about it. Therefore the contention that you didn’t know what your agent was doing should never be an excuse."

The delicious irony is that the answer of "very few" is now even more likely to be true.

Hackdaq's view: sell Baskerville, buy Medland (if you don't know what Medland's running for it is probably because he does not have any posters up. Or maybe he just has "very few"...)

Not long now till the OUSU-Union hack-a-thon...

xoxo