The Year So Far

The Politics Society have been busy creating a society we hope politics students and enthusiasts can be proud of. At the beginning of the academic year we thought it important to host Caroline Lucas, Sussex University’s representative in Westminster. Aware that not everyone is interested in politics, it seemed vital for students and staff to hear what their representative stood for, and what she had achieved in Parliament in the year since she was elected. The event on 21st October was attended by around 80 people from the Sussex community and touched on everything from cycling in Brighton, to the economic crisis, and her experience of being a lone Green MP in the Commons.

This year we have also set about creating an institution that we feel can appeal to a wide audience and bring those interested in politics together, this is Polsoc Film Club. Our film club has screened films such as The Wave, Enron: The Smartest Guys in The Room, and Lefties: Property is Theft. Our most popular screening “The War You Don’t See” by John Pilger, highlighted the media’s coverage of war and lead to some heated debate in the room!

On 7 March we hosted a Politics Society Pub Quiz where, while we put to test the bright minds of Sussex, I begged and pleaded for donations to the Clock Tower Sanctuary - a local charity that helps homeless 16-25 year olds. After a successful night at East Slope Bar, and a morning of counting alcohol-soaked pennies, we had raised £85 to help people our own age get off the streets.

April sees the beginning of an exciting new term for the Politics Society. We have worked hard to organise some interesting talks, beginning on 9th May with Mark Serwotka of the PCS Union, who will address students on trade unions and politics, and the future of unions under the coalition government. On the 24th May we host David Lammy, the MP for Tottenham who recently released his book “Out of Ashes: Britain After the Riots.” This should be an interesting insight into explanations and after effects of the August Riots in Britain. We have also organised a debate which we have called “Is Socialism Dead?” to take place on 24th April, featuring Paul Richards of the think tank Progress, editor of International Socialism Alex Callinicos and the department’s very own Luke Martell.

With the French Presidential elections set to dominate the news in April, Politics Society are helping to organise a round table on the elections on 25th April. With the first stage of the two ballot election taking place on 22nd April, we will be able to take a detailed look at how the election is playing out for Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy, as well as far-right candidate Marine Le Pen.

We would love to see Euroscope readers at some of our upcoming events! Anyone interested in getting involved with the society can find us on Facebook, Twitter or by e-mailing politicssoc@ussu.sussex.ac.uk. The Politics Society committee were pleased to find out that we have been nominated for “Most Improved Society” at the Student Awards, so keep your fingers crossed for us.

(To be published in Euroscope Summer edition)

Norman Baker MP on the Coalition Government

On the 25th of February Norman Baker, Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes and a newly appointed transport minister, gave a talk on the coalition Government for the Politics Society. With the current government such a contentious issue at Sussex, and across the country, we felt it important to hear the views of someone who believed in that government.

On the walk to Fulton A, Norman asked me if he would face ‘angry students’ or whether on a Friday afternoon it would instead be ‘one man and his dog.’ As we entered, there was a moderate turn out of around 30 people, and no dog.

Norman began the talk by introducing his career, noting particularly his past party positions and his presidency of the Tibet Society. Then I’d asked Norman to address an issue I was sure would be on everyone’s minds - why had he become a part of the ‘con-dem’ government, agreed to work with a party that he’d once so vehemently opposed. Mr Baker asserted that that his party lacked a public mandate, and in the event of a hung parliament had agreed to talk to the party with the most votes first. Therefore forming a Lib-Lab government, as the left had fantasised, was never an option.

By the very first question from the audience, Norman’s joke about students had come back to haunt him. Encapsulating the mood in universities across the country, the first question addressed the issue of tuition fees, as did a large percentage of those to follow. This initial questioner talked passionately on tuition fees and fiercely accused Baker of being ‘spineless’ for abandoning his belief in free education. Norman chose to respond to accusations with a focus on the ‘65%’ of the Liberal Democrat manifesto that had apparently been achieved in government. As well as putting forward the ‘shaving off the edges’ perspective. The perspective that though higher education policy was not proving popular, without the Liberal Democrats, bursaries, and other concessions for poorer students would never have been proposed.

Baker justified Conservative policies with Lib Dem success: the ‘pupil premium’ and the AV referendum for example. Though, the AV electoral system is desired by neither the Conservatives nor the Liberal Democrats. Mr Baker maintained an insistence that coalition governments have to involve compromises, throughout the event, though the rebuttal was that principles should come before political manoeuvring.
Norman was then questioned on how he would deal with the conflict between his government position and upholding his celebrated parliamentarianism (for example, forcing the eventual resignation of Peter Mandelson.) Mr Baker told the student that he still held the same ideals he always had. He stressed that he would continue to campaign on issues he felt strongly about but perhaps in a different manner now that he represents the government.

An interesting question on the ‘big society’ prompted Mr Baker to admit he wasn’t sold on the phrase, but nonetheless agreed that local people taking charge of projects was positive. Here he cited a Railways forum he had set up in his constituency town of Lewes as a victory of these ‘big society’ values.

Overall Norman Baker coped well with impassioned questions from ‘angry students’, and with tuition fees rising to £9000, ‘angry students’ are probably something he should get used to. Like any MP, Norman Baker put forward professional and persuasive arguments. But as hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets, the coalition government will remain controversial.

Sussexstudent.com/politics
Twitter.com/sussexpolsoc

- As published in Euroscope (summer edition)