Well, the inevitable period where my Uni work - particularly my final year project became my main priority has finally arrived. But fear not - I've not dropped off the map quite yet; I've just become shamefully slow at blogging. Here's a breakdown of what I've been upto these past two weeks.

GOG and Guild

GOG was last Wednesday, few things discussed here and there, with a good effort from Johnny as chair. Although my motion on non-sabb support was purely operational and not for Guild Council, I had a chance to discuss it at GOG. The result is a planned meeting between myself and the VPSAD about how to seriously improve things for next year's exec.

If GOG was any indication, a prominent theme of November GC is going to be the matter of censuring and no-confidence votes for the Officer Team; something I felt strongly about after October GC. There are two motions that have been proposed (1, 2); hopefully by the end of tonight's GC they'll somehow merge and yield in a sensible disciplinary policy for negligent officers in place.

LGBTQ Association

Events going on as usual; the coffee afternoons seem to have become very popular to the point where more chairs are needed, and it was good to see new people show up over the past few weeks. As always film night has fairly good attendance and the films we show - and post-film discussion - helps raise awareness of common LGBTQ issues with our members.

Our website has seen a lot more activity in terms of updates and one or two upgrades; particularly our events and recent news, which now includes information from gay-friendly societies and friendly within the Guild and University. We've also included local and national events,

Links with the Chaplaincy

This year the Chaplaincy and the LGBTQ Association have enjoyed a good relationship, starting with their support over the "give blood because we can't" campaign. With a great deal of help from the methodist chaplain Kara Cooper - now a welcome regular at our coffee and film events - we've organised a faith and sexuality discussion event on Monday 30th November in the Chaplaincy's Oasis Lounge (free meal provided!). Kara was good enough to extend an open invitation to all of the chaplaincy events, which are now advertised on the LGBTQ website events calendar.

Homophobia is Gay 4

The long-awaited event of the year for many LGBTQ students has met with some opposition from the LGBTQ committee unhappy about the contribution of the Lib Dem society in past HIG barcrawls. After discussions across three seperate committee meetings, a compromise was reached.

Homophobia is Gay is an ongoing national campaign by Liberal Youth. The LGBTQ committee will provide stewards for the barcrawl and will help with online advertising, but the ball is in their court; they are responsible for planning and organising. However, in my "seperate" capacity as officer I will be helping the Lib Dems organise and advertise the event however I can, as it's highly recognisable to LGBTQ students past and present.

HE Fees Campaigning

Edd Bauer spearheaded a focus group and campaigning efforts after the post-FlashMob fees meeting last week which I've latched onto. As our efforts are starting to see some fruition - in terms of the support we're getting from our networks of contacts - we've started to involve Fabian and Brigid as the Sabbs with invested interest to co-ordinate all efforts.

Climate Change Campaigns

As a bit of a recycling freak I'm particularly interested in this, thus attended a few of Edd's climate change events in Mermaid Square and outside Natwest; particularly towards the "How old will you be in 2050" campaign. Although an eco-concerned software engineering student may seem like a contradiction in terms, more than a few of us lot are strong advocates for the development of energy efficient power supply units for laptops and computers, as well as clean and renewable energy sources. Significant progress has been made to that end over the past three years with modern laptop batteries and power supplies becoming noticeably more efficient, which is good news all round.

LGBTQ Careers and Employability

I want this to take off over the next few weeks as my main campaign/pet project of the year. My interview with RedBrick gave me the opportunity to reflect on the issue of workplace discrimination, and careers/employability is an issue for every student.

Kitten and I both have invites to the Birmingham and Solihull NHS Trust "Peak Performance" event this evening in Moseley - "an evening of celebration supporting Diversity Week with a focus on the contribution of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans staff". The event is supported by Stonewall, the West Midlands Employer Coalition and Advantage West Midlands. I'm looking forward to the chance to meet with representatives of these organisations and seeing how we can work together to the benefit of future LGBTQ employees.

More on the Blood Ban

I've been in touch with fellow officers at Birmingham City University and Coventry University regarding Donation Not Discrimination campaignining; we're all interested in joint campaign events during LGBT History Month this year. While I've put a hold on all DND action campaigns in light of the blood ban review, I'd love the chance to get the West Midlands coalition back together (involving Warwick, Aston and Wolverhampton too) for some awareness campaigning.