The Executive, Media and RAG elections took place in March and seemed to be one of the most controversial elections at Royal Holloway for some time. It began with low voter turnout and nearly ended with June re-runs of the elections, perhaps you’ve been oblivious to the entire affair…Fear not, as here are the key points along with a bold suggestion for the next set of elections.

The elections did not reach quota, which the SURHUL Constitution states as ‘10% of the full membership of the Students’ Union for any cross-campus election’. Furthermore it states that if this quota is not reached then ‘a quorate General Meeting (GM) shall confirm the validity of the election.’

At the subsequent GM the ratification of the elections became a starred item but was ‘unstarred’ and discussed by those present. As such, it went to a vote for the 40-odd people who were present at the GM with 22 votes overturning the 700 students who voted for their respective candidates. This meant that the elections had not been ratified and that the positions would be re-elected alongside the currently unfulfilled positions in the June by-elections.

This led to an ‘uproar’ amongst the now de-ratified election winners and an unquantifiable amount of the student population on Facebook. A formal written request with 61 signatures led to an Emergency General Meeting on the last day of term. The GM vote was overturned and the elections were ratified preventing the need for a post-exam election re-run.

Hurray, you might be thinking – democracy wins again! That was essentially my overwhelming sentiment until I considered the fact that under 10% of the student population decided to vote in these elections. It could be because students didn’t know about the elections or perhaps they felt that none of the candidates were the right choice for them.

We could take the ‘easy route’ which so many students take and blame the failings of the current Students’ Union to attract voters – but I personally don’t think that’s the problem. Maybe the trouble isn’t with a disinterested student population – maybe it’s the voting system that the Students’ Union have inherited.

Let’s look at some of the problems within the current system.

Over one week students were able to vote for their candidate of choice, and the vast majority were made aware of the candidates by the campaigners. There really were plenty of campaigners, hassling students around the Store on Campus, Windsor Building and Bedford Library.

Whether you were on your way to work in the library, wanting to buy some lunch, or just trying to get to a lecture, they were there! You probably tried to avoid these areas – I know I’ve pretended to receive enthralling text messages on my phone just to avoid talking to the campaigners. Many students don’t want campaigners treating them like children; being pressured to vote straight away at the nearest ballot boxes. Informed decisions take a while to produce. Few people are going to talk to a campaigner for 30 seconds and immediately decide to cast their vote!

An alternative to talking to campaigners is by looking at manifestos. These were hard to find – the only copies that I could find were at the voting stations and on the various Facebook groups that appeared. If the two student publications were allowed to print information about the candidates and their aims, this could increase awareness of the elections and subsequently increase voter numbers.

I’ve been on the other side of the fence if you like – this year I was involved in two election campaigns and campaigned outside both theWindsor Building and Bedford Library (sorry!). However many students simply ignore you and walk on by. I don’t blame them – if I were in their shoes I wouldn’t want to talk to a campaigner whilst on my way to a lecture or to meet friends. A lot of the students I did talk to didn’t know that elections were under way, let alone the names of the candidates or the positions they stood for.

The current system, whereby a candidate can select up to 10 campaign team members, could be reconsidered. Instead of having students harassed and put off by loud campaigners during one intense week, maybe we could extend the voting period, but get rid of the campaigners. A bold idea? Maybe not get rid of all campaigners, but limit it to three per candidates and stop the campaigners from clogging up our walkways with large banners and small pieces of paper highlighting the positives of their candidates.

How would students know who to vote for? Well The Orbital and Insanity Radio publicised the Sabbatical elections to great effect, so what if The Orbital and Insanity were given more information about each candidate, in equal measure?

Insanity Radio did run a candidate session for these elections but this needs to be treated with the same importance as Candidates’ Question Time in the Students’ Union Building Main Hall. It would mean that voters would be able to assess their candidates and see what they would do for them and for the Students’ Union. The reform of our elections is already under way with proposals to include internet voting next year as done in other universities across the country.

There could be a deadline for candidates to announce their intention to stand, then a week for their manifestos and other information to be publicised, and then a two week period of voting. Some potential hurdles would be that the Students’ Union would have to monitor the candidates for a week longer in order to make sure that no rules were broken in canvassing, and there would be a need for more ballot box volunteers.

With increased coverage from the various student media outlets, as well as an increased voting period with fewer campaigners there is the potential for increased student awareness of the elections, increased voter turnout (to avoid being unable to reach quota again) and fewer campaigners infuriating us as we try to go about our student lives. Just some food for thought…

It took only 45 seconds to level Port-au-Prince killing 200,000 and injuring 250,000 with the number rising every day. For those that have survived the outlook is bleak. It is estimated that 1.5 million have been left homeless with nowhere to go and no one to care for them-only one hospital remains standing.

Many will never know the fate of their loved ones as bodies are thrown into mass graves to stop the spread of disease and children presumed to be orphaned are airlifted out by international adoption agencies without checks to see if they have any surviving family.

As the dust settles and the damage becomes ever clearer we must ask ourselves – was this simply a natural disaster, or was it a man-made catastrophe?

In 1989 an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter Scale hit the wealthy Bay Area in California, and despite it being densely populated only 63 people lost their lives. The endemic poverty that plagues Haiti has meant that construction was never regulated, allowing whole shantytowns to be built using cheap cement.

It is estimated that 2 million people were living in these poorly built compounds, resulting in whole families – even whole communities – being wiped out when the earthquake hit. The incompetent and corrupt government failed to offer the most basic guards against such natural disasters and should be held equally accountable as nature itself.

As the rescue teams pack up to go home and the job of reconstruction begins, we should remember that whilst we cannot stop natural disasters from happening, we can minimise the damage they cause. A general pattern has emerged which disregards the long-term safety of the country, instead seeking to return to normality as quickly as possible no matter what the cost.

This fast turnaround means that houses are rebuilt using the same inadequate materials and thereby crumble just as fast. Instead, the money pouring into Haiti at the moment from generous donations, should be used to carefully rebuild the country’s infrastructure in a way which will protect it from having to bear witness to this scale of disaster again.

Geologists predict that this earthquake is simply one in a sequence that of larger tremors that will hit the Caribbean over the next 40 years. For Haiti to be anything but meaningless we must take this as a warning of what is to come, and make sure these vulnerable countries and communities are protected to the highest of standards – starting with Haiti itself.

It was New Year’s Day, and I was drawing up a list of New Year’s resolutions. My feet were still sore from those beautifully crippling 6 inch heels and I could still smell the Smirnoff and Coke that managed to make its way into my hair. Still, never mind the sticky hair, I’m talking about the start of 2010 – with a great group of friends and a loving family. I was also seeing a handsome and successful guy, and in the process of making a list to ensure that I became the perfect person in the year to come.

Then I get a phone call. After a few minutes, things have ended with the guy I was dating. As I reach into the back of the cupboard for the chocolate, I realise I’m bound to break every resolution I’ve just made in the next 24 hours alone. A great start to 2010.

Angry, alone, and worst of all, in Egham, I threw my list of resolutions in the bin, tearing it up for dramatic effect. Then I made a new resolution. Screw giving up cigarettes, chocolate, and procrastination. I’m giving up men. I made a promise to myself not to get into any kind of relationship for the next six months. No dates, no flirting, no chasing… not even thinking about men – at least not in a romantic sense. No sex until graduation.

It’s hard to be in any type of relationship and keep it separate from the rest of your life. Ever since my late teens I’ve always been in a relationship or chasing some guy, either literally or mentally. Then my first two years of Uni came around and, apart from a few incidents, I stayed away from men. This wasn’t intentional, but I’m sure I’m not the only one who finds it hard finding romance at Royal Holloway.

Then last term I met Tom, and it was exciting, being with someone again. However, because we don’t live in a world where relationships work out for me, things inevitably ended and I was left feeling rejected, lonely and depressed. My plan of making an early return to Egham in order to start my dissertation very rapidly degenerated into watching Jeremy Kyle and moping around feeling sorry for myself.

So, no men for six months. I’ve realised they are just too much of a distraction. They were getting in the way of things I needed to achieve – passing my degree, getting a good job, becoming very rich and powerful, and so on.

It’s not just men that are a distraction, but sex too. Think about it, the pursuit, the stomach-churning anticipation – let alone the actual time IT takes – major distractions. All that time spent shaving legs, finding matching underwear, painting your nails, blow-drying your hair, batting eyelashes at a tall handsome stranger in a bar. Nearly every time I went to a bar or a club (even the SU) I seemed to be convinced that I would find someone who was worth the trouble. At our SU? Why do I delude myself?

So, after all this, you finally ‘connect’ with someone. Whether it’s physically or mentally, there’s always an aftermath. If you like him, you’re in trouble… talking about it with your friends, wondering if he’s going to call, wondering if you should call him first… If you’ve realised he isn’t all that, then there’s the ‘how do I let him down without seeming like an easy, in-it-for-one-thing, super-skank?’, as well as the embarrassment of possibly bumping into him ever again, especially if it’s a fellow student.

Yes, when it’s good, it’s good. But when it’s not, it can really mess with your mind.

I’m assuming the average student reader will not be at a point in their life where they are looking to settle down for good. So, if we’re ok with that, why do we still feel the pressure to date and continually search for someone to be with? Why not embrace this stage, where it’s ok to be single? We’re at a point in our lives when not everyone is getting married, having kids and opening joint accounts.

So, if you’re like me, and have too many books and archives to sift though, why not take sex off the menu in favour of something that will pay off come exam time?

In the words of Holly Golightly, ‘I have made a very serious decision. No longer will I play the field.’ It’s about time I got my priorities right, and I’m afraid sex just isn’t one of them.

Yeah. Ask me what I think of that decision in a month.

The amount of times the s-word was said at home this Christmas was unreal. If we had a swear box, there would be enough in there to go to Hawaii by now. By the s-word, of course, I mean snow. I remember how excited I would be when it snowed only seven or so years ago, because it meant a day off school. Now, however, it’s just a nuisance and only ‘beautiful’ on the first day.

For those of you who were lucky enough to have escaped the UK for sunnier horizons over Christmas, we had two heavy snowfalls in December and January in the South-East alone. Britain was battling the worse snowfall in twenty-three years (or fifty, depending on what paper you read). We were ‘paralysed’, ‘disrupted’ and ‘in chaos’. It seems it takes very little to bring this country to a state of paralysed chaos. Debates over inches, feet and salt were rampant, probably the only time the Salt Union (I kid you not!) ever really become major players in Britain.

We were bombarded with stories of people trapped in their cars for twelve hours, cars being deserted in their hundreds, trains and buses having to suspend service and (shock horror) horse racing that had to be abandoned at Southwell and Hexham. I’m sure everyone knows of someone who had to abandon their car and walk home, or even had to do it themselves.

Luckily, being quite a cautious family, we followed the popular advice of not travelling ‘unless absolutely necessarily’ and were spared a cross-country hike through the snow drifts of Hertfordshire. Of course, that didn’t necessarily mean that you are guaranteed an uneventful January. A friend of mine had stayed at home, and still had her parked car rammed by someone who didn’t heed the advice.

The national papers are, naturally, an important part of the event and help us get into the mood; from the classically cheesy headlines like ‘BRRRITAIN!’ (Daily Mirror) and the stoic nostalgic, blitz spirit of ‘WE’LL COPE – AT A PUSH’ (The Daily Mail), the papers always have the monopoly on melodrama. The prize has to go to The Times who made an attempt for sanity by relating the snow to some real news, Iceland refusing to repay its loans. This non-snow news was second only to a piece assuring us that Doctor Who is not anti-ginger, which I’m sure brightened the day of many stranded individuals.

The argument is understandable at least – Britain doesn’t get much snow, so we do not have the procedures in place to deal with it. At least, we don’t get much snow in the South-East or anywhere near London. Scotland, which is frequently buried in snow, is apparently fighting for survival on its own. But, for those of us who are London centric, we’ve suffered two years in a row now… maybe it’s time to reconsider what a British winter entails?

There has been heavy snowfall three times in two years and they have always been accompanied by uproar on BBC Front Page. It’s as though, while being trapped at home by the snow, the only plausible activity is sending photos to the BBC. The ‘Your Pictures’ section was flooded with pictures of snowmen, snow covered streets, snow covered animals… The Guardian website even had a ‘SNOW DAY LIVE BLOG’ with up to the minute information on the snow, with reports from people writing in with the relevant photos and videos. Like you can’t get enough pictures and videos of falling snow. Also included an audio file (the title of which I quote directly because I simply couldn’t believe it myself) – ‘Radiokate has just recorded the ‘grrauchhy’ sound of walking through snow in Walthamstow, north-east London’. Presumably for people living in places where it hasn’t snowed and are missing out on the fun. I, frankly, had more than enough of the ‘grrauchhy’ sound of walking through snow while sweeping the driveway in December.

While I don’t want to seem blazè about the fact that the snow has caused some dreadful problems for people over the last two months, I have to ask if I’m the only person who finds this all a little embarrassing. Our somewhat morbid fascination with snow – both the wonder and the dread of it is probably looked on as a little ridiculous by countries like Russia and Switzerland. Since I don’t want to get into a rant about Global Warming and it’s (blatantly obvious) effects on our weather, I’ll just say that snowy Decembers and Januarys seem more and more likely in the future. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for our white Christmas to become old news.