The Radish

Hello Everyone. !

Davisandrian — Wed Mar 28, 2012 12:31 pm

Author: Davisandrian

Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 12:31 pm

Hey! Davis here. I am also a new member on this board and I hope I could find and share useful stuff here also. I'm positively looking forward to the forum and its members, hope all will guide, share and help me to increase my knowledge on different topics.

Weird old Woman

samlauncher — Tue Feb 07, 2012 6:15 am

Author: samlauncher

Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 6:15 am

He frndz i want more discussion on this topic plz....

The Radish Issue 5 (March 9, 2006)

samlauncher — Tue Feb 07, 2012 6:13 am

Author: samlauncher

Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 6:13 am

He frndz i want more discussion on this topic plz....

Fat Gold Chain

samlauncher — Tue Feb 07, 2012 6:12 am

Author: samlauncher

Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 6:12 am

He frndz i want more discussion on this topic plz....

Film Screening: Camp For Climate Action

samlauncher — Tue Feb 07, 2012 6:12 am

Author: samlauncher

Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 6:12 am

He frndz i want more discussion on this topic plz....

Gary Hughes

Anonymous — Wed Mar 30, 2011 5:45 pm

Author: Anonymous

Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2011 5:45 pm

What a nob he was

Ventura Film Festival

venturafilmfestival — Thu Mar 19, 2009 10:54 pm

Author: venturafilmfestival

Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 10:54 pm

The Ventura Film Festival, which was started in 2004 by Jordan Older and his father, has recently concluded its

first event of 2009 at the Majestic Ventura Theater in Ventura, California with the Ventura Film Festival "Fun Day"

on February 16, 2009 at 2pm.

The Ventura Film Festival is a combination online and traditional film festival requiring all submissions to be

uploaded online and submitted via traditional means. The Ventura Film Festival has maintained that one of it's main

goals is to give a large part of any proceeds to forest and ocean preservation efforts. The Ventura Film Festival

features independent films from around the world and from local film makers focusing on environmental issues such as

forest and ocean preservation, humanitarian issues, surf, skate, extreme/action sports, sports, martial arts, and

music films.

The Ventura Film Festival opened it�s 2009 events on Monday February 16, 2009 at the Majestic Ventura Theater in

Ventura, California with a �fun day�. The event marked the 6th anniversary of the Ventura Film Festival which was

started by Jordan Older and his father in 2004. The Ventura Film Festival board of directors were present to show

their selection of currently received entries for the 2009 Ventura Film Festival. The festival board includes

Hollywood film makers Dustin Dean and U.S. Olympian John Godina who is the most decorated shot putter in U.S.

athletics history. Ventura Film Festival is a green organization and accepts entries and submissions online at the

festival�s official web site, Part of the profits from the Ventura Film Festival

will go directly towards environmental issues such as forest and ocean preservation. The �fun day� served as a warm

up for the main event of the 2009 Ventura Film Festival which takes place on July 5th.

The Ventura Film Festival gives out no awards. We prefer not to have competition and to simply celibrate great

films as works of art and enjoy a fun event that provides support for environmental issues such as forest and ocean

preservation. From time to time we may give notice of special recognition to certain films.

The Ventura Film Festival has become a partner with the world's biggest film festival marketing organization

Withoutabox. The partnership was on request of Withoutabox executive Sara Nixon-Kershner on Feburary 18, 2008.

Withoutabox provides submission and marketing service to over 200,000 filmmakers in 200 countries as well as manage

submission receiving, judging, and notification, schedule publishing, and the ability to sell tickets using targeted

ads on well known film site IMDB.

Submitting to the Ventura Film Festival is a two step process. BOTH STEPS ARE REQUIRED!!!

1) upload your submission to
2) Submit via Withoutabox using this link:
withoutabox-logo

Submissions that are not uploaded to will not be considered.

Charity Debate for Breast Cancer Research

lesley — Tue Dec 23, 2008 10:37 am

Author: lesley

Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2008 10:37 am

Ok, I am worried about my breast cancer. But, I am also curious as to why breast cancer gets more attention than any other cancer, like say prostate cancer. I think that prostate cancer, and other men's cancers, are being highly ignored and improperly treated, while breast and other women�s cancers are getting more attention. I also believe September is prostate cancer awareness month, and that breast cancer is still getting more attention. Not to offend, but what ever happened to equal rights?

I wanna spam this msg board

fairgroundsr — Mon Jan 21, 2008 6:28 am

Author: fairgroundsr

Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 6:28 am

evil
bad
evil

Guild Governance (Yawn!)

Anonymous — Sun Dec 16, 2007 8:08 pm

Author: Anonymous

Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2007 8:08 pm

Ownership and control, are such an important marker for how much people care about something. That;s why people like owning their own house, their little piece of the world that that they have control over. It's one of the few things that ordinary people (I use this term loosely, as I am well aware that in global terms it is very much a minority who can own their own home.) feel they have some measure of control over. Ownership and control are inextricably linked. Marx argued that this meant that for workers to be truly free that they needed to own the means of production. While the enacting of this principle was never truly realised, representative organisations (unions) and co-operatives among other things are run (at least in theory) by their members. For representative organisations to be truly representative they need to be run for their members by their members.

This is especially the case for student unions. Student Unions represent the interests of and provide for their students vis-a-vis Universities and Governments. They can only do this if they are run by their members. Where student unions differ from other types of representative organisations, is the extent of control exerted by the institutions in which student unions represent their members. Thanks to the 1994 Education Act, Universities have a massive say in how student unions run themselves. In every other walk of life this would be unacceptable, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) does not have control over the Trade Union Congress (TUC). So while workers can run their own representative organisations without help from their employers, students apparently cannot be trusted to look after their representative organisations.

This state of affairs has its most chilling embodiment in the 2006 Charity Act, this brought Student Unions into line with other charities in needing a legally compliant Trustee Board. Now while I am sure most students are all for making sure Student Unions are well-run organisations, the current progress goes beyond that. Student Unions now have to adapt to the new legal climate, however, here's the crux ladies and gentlemen, because under the 1994 Education Act any University has the veto over any constitutional changes of its student union, only University approved solutions to the the question of Good Governance will be allowed.

Now what constitutes good governance is entirely subjective, and yet it has been bandied about as if it is some sort of scientific formula. Our university believes good governance is achieved by having half student and half non-student members on the Guild of Students trustee board. Because apparently, students cannot be trusted to run their OWN organisation, it's not like we've had three years or more at what is supposedly one of the best Universities in the world or anything, ya know! While the experience of lay trustees can be valuable, they do not need to be given HALF the seats on a student union board. What's more, the university's view of what is good governance, flies in the face of what is NUS best practice, that is to say 2:1 student majority. There are those who say that this trustee board is irrelevant, that it doesn't matter, that it is just one committee, that it will just rubber-stamp. However, it has the ultimate say on any financial and legal matters in the Guild, so that'll be everything then. And why would the university have been so adamant to have at least half the trustees as lay members? If it is just a meaningless committee. The Charity Commission website itself says that a trustee is responsible for the management of a trust's activities. Seems pretty important to me.

These arguments are ones that have been hashed and rehashed for at least a year now. Everyone involved in them at the Guild seems to either have now got tired, bored, or resigned to the supposed inevitable. Either way there is a generally feeling among the Guild political clique, that they just want it to be over. This conservatism (with a small c) is something which has been part of the Guild ethos since its founding, and comes from the conservative nature of the University itself. It was this feeling that seemed to dominate the mindset of Guild Council as on 6th December it decided to approve one variant of a 50-50 split. There were only different types of 50-50 splits available to vote on, because it was argued, this was all the university would accept, and that if we did not change, the university would not give us extra funding in the future, blackmail by any other name. Universities are not supposed to pressure student democratic processes, yet this is exactly what they have done.

So there we have it, the new constitution including this trustee board is hurtling towards referendum in the first week of February, everyone has accepted that this is a good thing, and we'll all be much better off afterwards. The dis-enpowerment is palpable. Except, the referendum still needs to be won, or lost. For those that believe that student union should have a student majority on its ultimate board, for those that believe that universities have no right to force student unions into accepting what universities want, through use of their veto and financial clout, for those who believe in a Guild of Students run for students by students, then there is still the chance to make a stand against these proposals at referendum. It could be a final stand of romantic idealists, or the start of something bigger, the start of a movement, a movement for truly strong democratic student unions. It's up to you!

Flag Flying - racism?

Anonymous — Thu Jul 26, 2007 6:03 pm

Author: Anonymous

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 6:03 pm

if i thought it was necessary to reclaim the flag from fascists, which i don't, i'm not sure it would matter whether or not the guild flies it.
the vast majority of people are able to see that a union flag does not denote racism and xenophobia, and the few that aren't make me far more inclined to fly it anyway.

My exec report in full

Teapotboy — Wed Jul 25, 2007 7:38 pm

Author: Teapotboy

Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 7:38 pm

Sazzle wrote:

Teapotboy wrote:

JulienP wrote:

OAfter Vale Fest why don't we ask Nick as well while we're at it

Exec (not) at Vale Fest disgusted me. And I have a strong stomach

Here's a novel idea - maybe the exec were working or maybe they didnt want to attend an event out of hours?

I think its harsh to criticise they work for practically nothing and work long hours - give them a break once in a while )

Sorry haven't been on here for ages... I'm sure they would have managed to not be working if they'd had training to do, or a university bigwig to meet and be told what to do by... two things which are IMHO less important than this fantastic charitable event, which should have been supported by the figureheads of the Guild. Regardless of their feelings about the running of it, it achieved more in a single day than the Guild ever will...

Dodgeball arrives in Birmingham

ukdodgeballer — Sat Jun 23, 2007 12:47 pm

Author: ukdodgeballer

Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 12:47 pm

Join in the fastest growing team sport in the UK!

Birmingham Dodgeball League starts on 22nd August 2007.
7:30-9:30 at Small Heath Leisure Centre.

Teams are 6-a-side (squads can be larger), 3 balls in play and matches are played to UKDBA rules.

For more information call 01536-526487

Climate Change Draft Bill

steven — Tue Jun 05, 2007 12:12 pm

Author: steven

Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 12:12 pm

As part of my new role with Friends of the Earth (for which I'm not getting paid, so don't be too happy for me), I'm very much pushing the Big Ask campaign, which is calling for a stronger climate bill. The draft from the government isn't strong enough - we want an 80% reduction in CO2 emissions (3% a yaer until 2050), annual reports to hold government to account, and to include aviation and shipping in the total targets.

FoE have helpfully created an online form to help you submit your response to the draft bill nice and easily - it can be found, along with more info, at http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/press_for_change/climate_bill/.

It would be a great help to the world if you could take ten minutes out of your day to put your thoughts down (if you haven't already) and send this off, so we can let the government know that we want serious action. The idea is then to work on getting MPs to support individual amendments to the bill to achieve these strengthenings.

May GC

francesn — Fri Jun 01, 2007 9:32 am

Author: francesn

Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 9:32 am

Yes but sometimes no-one knows what's going on....and then we have to halt the meeting and find out. I would rather do that than press on regardless.