3 March 2011

On Aaron Porter stepping down

It's being reported that Aaron Porter is stepping down in response to popular student pressure on him for not fighting hard enough against the university cuts and tuition fee hikes. This is false. Although they probably represent the view of the majority of students (certainly the majority of the country as opinion polls show), those opposed to tuition fees do not have anywhere near a large enough voting bloc to seriously pressure the NUS President. The truth is that Porter was effectively de-selected by Labour students because they wanted a more right-wing candidate. Porter was on the left of Labour students believe it or not, which mostly comprises of careerists fully behind the fee hikes (and the corporatisation of Britain in general) and think Porter went too far in opposing the government and wasn't hard enough on their opponents.

Not that this matters too much as the NUS is irrelevant anyway. Much better to work outside them. Who wants to be chained to a corpse?

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