The Presidential Debate – Live Blog from the Bridge

21.49

If you want to watch the debate back, SUSUtv have already got it online! Visit http://www.susu.tv/2013/02/presidential-debate-live-2013/ to re-live the evening.

19.44

It’s just Jo here blogging now – so it’s goodbye from me, Ellie, Tom and Sam. We hope you’ve enjoyed the debate.

19.43

Anyway, thanks for tuning in! Remember to stick with us for the next week – we’ll be covering all the major events and news stories to keep you up to date.

19.43

Everyone is getting ready to leave now and we’re thinking of doing the same….The debate has sparked a lot of conversation, people seem to have a lot to talk about!

19.41

Thanks to all of you who’ve tuned in. We think it all picked up in the second half of the debate…do you agree?

19.41

So, that’s the debate over! What did you think? Has it helped to make your mind up about who you’ll be voting for? Let us know, tweet #votesusu or directly to us at @wessexscene.

19.41

The Chair has got the biggest and final laugh of the night. We’re leaving wondering whether Dykes is a joke candidate or not, and whether Michelle feels let down by the proceedings. She certainly needs someone to blow her valve before she leaves, as she’s rather deflated.

19.39

Other unsung hero of the night: Alastair ‘Mic Runner’ Mogford.

19.39

Huge round of applause for all candidates – James states all are ‘freaking nuts’ and is met by laughter.

19.39

Thank you very much for sticking with us. James Binns hopes you all have a better idea of who you are voting for now.

19.38

Michelle, on her first day: Spend her time kissing people for free, as a bit of a motivation for people voting for her.

19.38

James Dykes: On day one of presidency, he would say what’s going on and tell everyone to get involved and take what you want and maybe get something back.

19.38

Peewee: “Actually communicating with students. Union needs to be more accountable and transparent, and then we can start training officers.”

19.37

David Gilani- I say day one, I empower students, encourage everyone to think bigger and support them. We can all achieve a lot more.

19.37

Ellis says: Day one, you are instantly a member of SUSU. He focuses on making things better cheaper and smarter for you.

19.37

Sophie Bradfield, about her first day: I’d say I’d want to be a true representative of the student body. It must represent you, the union should work for you, and I’d work for you.

19.36

James Dykes, ‘I’ve never been involved with SUSU so I have no idea about staff issues’ one thing I haven’t been let down by is the fact that my Council Tax form went through automatically- Thank you’

19.36

Candidates are asked to look deep into the camera…

19.36

Ellis thinks there’s been a lack of accountability – funding etc. this should be solved by pushing power down to sabbaticals and not by people who don’t want to do it.

19.35

Ellis responds to the question about staff, and says Crew are frustrated about moving to and from venues. It’s ‘silly’ – staff and student training needs to be pushed forward. Troubles came during his involvement with paperwork, which should be replaced by a localised authority, with relationships with RSA’s immediately.

19.34

Peter: Since I’ve been here in first year people have been complaining about minibuses and performing arts. There have been  improvements, but that amount of time it takes to get things done in SUSU is shocking. This needs to improve

19.33

Peewee dives into the relationship between staff and student groups, and bemoans the lack of communication sometimes prevalent in that relationship. Says staff members say very few people come to see them above the Stags.

19.33

Ignore the previous post!

Sophie feels let down by the non-neutrality of the Sabbs during the NUS Referendum. She says she remained neutral to help break the record for the number of students that voted, and offered students their own choice.

This was a heated topic of debate during the referendum, with the majority of Sabbs on the YES Team for the Referendum.

19.32

Audience member: I’ve wondered what you would change in SUSU? For David, what would you have done differently?

Sophie feels let down by the non-neutrality of the Sabbs during the NUS Referendum. She says she remained neutral to help break the record for the number of students that voted, and offered students their own choice.

This was a heated topic of debate during the referendum, with the majority of Sabbs on the YES Team for the Referendum.

19.30

Sophie Bradfield says staff need good training to be the best, and therefore the best support for students. They need training in project management, which helps students and therefore means they will be highly appreciated.

19.29

Michelle thinks that some of her manifesto points could be put into place and some of the positions could benefit her life along with those of others. One area she feels let down in, is that she hasn’t been elected for anything yet and people don’t seem to realise how beautiful she is

19.29

A lot of love for curly fries on twitter…

19.29

Aaaand Michelle derails the debate again. Goody.

19.29

Gilani says staff are expected to do things by themselves which means they have no allegiance. He wants to get a ‘team feeling’ for the staff this year.

19.28

Gilani says we have a higher turnover of staff than other Students’ Union. CMT got involved over Fresher’s Week, which they loved – it’s beneficial. The staff should see the changes they make and the differences they make.

19.26

Question from the floor: “Lots of staff have been leaving in the last few years. How do you feel that the staff can support the students, and how can we stop the staff changeover to support students in the long term?”

19.26

Andre Pusey tweets:

Honestly… I think more people would care about the curly/sweet potato fries thing more than clubs and socs. #votesusu

19.26

The audience are much quieter now, it seems that things are getting a lot more interesting now the debate’s heated up. Everyone is responding to questions better now.

19.25

Ellis says that we should not just be taking money off products but say for example the sports teams, 1/3 of their budget is going on transport, they want things cheaper, all students want things cheaper

19.25

This seems to be turning into a chat about curly fries and normal fries…what do you prefer? #votesusu

19.24

David Gilani says that 5,000 people turned out to vote in Referendum, problem is that we asked the same question twice

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Remember to keep tweeting @wessexscene or use #votesusu

19.24

Gilani goes for the all-important sweet potato fries/curly fries demographic.

19.24

David defends the success of voting numbers for the NUS Referendum – he says if we find out what students want with a referendum, it shows you can be involved in political events without being political.

19.23

Peewee suggests that many of the points in David’s manifesto weren’t addressing what needs to really be solved at the university.

19.23

Peewee says that we should be focusing on Minibus hire and money for clubs

19.22

Peewee is talking about the Referendum-gulp

19.22

James Dykes won’t say who he likes least, and didn’t read the manifestos as they were all too long. He says he doesn’t like Ellis’s point about price. Things shouldn’t be cheaper – areas of the union should be privatised and more money would be generated if there was a starbucks.

19.22

David Gilani’s manifesto did clock in at over 6000 words, so Mr Dykes has said something vaguely relevant.

19.21

David’s Policy he doesn’t like: Ellis’s policy of making things cheaper, such as taking  5p off a pint at the stags, should not be the priority of a union.

19.21

Michelle Dando thinks it’s interesting that the serious candidates have started attacking each other rather than the joke candidates

19.20

Applause for Peewee’s point

19.20

Gilani agrees with Peter and says that he’s only saying he has worked extremely hard and cites is volunteering as an undergrad.

19.19

Peewee Ward: Being a Sabbatical Officer does not mean that you put in any more time or effort than any other student involved in SUSU

19.19

David Gilani defends his experience policy. He says it says ‘here’s my role and this is what i’ve done with it’ and that he loves SUSU.

19.18

Ellis: This is not about making things cheaper at the expense of ethical considerations.

It’s not about the profit for the Union, it’s for students every day.

He’s been asked what policies he doesn’t like. He doesn’t like David’s policy that he’s right for the job because he’s got the experience. Ellis is now being asked for a more specific policy point. They’ve moved on from him now..

19.18

Binns brings the SMACKDOWN

19.18

Binns: Who’s policies do you not like Ellis?

19.17

Sophie replies to the question from Shane apologises for attacking Ellis and says should not be making the Union cheaper at expense of ethics

19.16

“what is your least favourite manifesto point from any of your competitors?” Shane Murphy from the floor

19.15

Binns suggest union council is not best way to engage students. Gilani says it’s not the ONLY way.

19.15

Gilani wants to talk about the Arlott Bar. The Bridge has made a huge amount of profit because SUSU renovated it properly

19.15

Michelle feels the debate have overrun. Essentially SUSU should reinvest but only on things that benefit her and her beautiful students. Mirrors for everyone and an air pump to keep her perky and plump!

19.15

I don’t know where any of this laughter is coming from. I think it’s canned.

19.14

Ellis says he’s not saying The Bridge Bar should not have been renovated just that it was a very expensive thing to do compared to the Arlott Bar renovation

19.14

Peter Ward both agrees and disagrees with Gilani. He states SUSU shouldn’t pay for drainage at Wide Lane, the University should.

19.13

Jack Kanani tweets:
@WessexScene the amount that people use it and the quality of the finish shines out at how effective the money was invested.

19.13

David Gilani justifies the money spent on the Bridge with the 460% profit.

19.12

Sophie just addressed James Binns as ‘Jamie’. That disrespect will not go unpunished.

19.12

James Dykes thinks that the money should be reinvested and agrees with David.  He says there should be some money saved up for a building, or AU. But if we start splashing money out on societies straight away, it won’t benefit everyone in the long run.

19.12

We asked: The Bridge renovation, worth it or not?
Grace tweeted:
@WessexScene Of course, look how busy it is every single day, all day.

19.11

Sophie Bradfield: Ellis, you asked why the Bridge cost so much? Things cost money.
Ellis: It’s money. We don’t have the money to spend 400k or whatever it was.

19.11

*£400,000 sorry

19.11

There’s a bit of an argument breaking out…

19.10

Peter Ward says some money should be reinvested. It’s important. It needs to be saved, but we also need to do more for the students too. He says ‘yes and no’. He points out the surplus is there for a reason…in case things go wrong.

19.10

Ellis: The Bridge cost £300,000 to renovate, why?

19.09

Ben Soper on Twitter: “I’d be happy with joke candidates, you know, if they were actually funny”

19.09

Ellis: ‘£150 to Fish on Toast for the year. £70 to Connaught JCR. What is going on?’

19.08

Ellis states that it should be reinvested into our students: we are paying too much for too little. Each club is paying more and more for less, such as the Vixen Cheerleaders with no training space. He says this is ridiculous.

19.08

Sophie Bradfield: Maybe a tiny part of the money should go into the work that students do. If the student wants an investment in the opportunities outside the student Unions then this should be allowed.

19.08

Binns bringing the debate back to order with an iron fist. He’s like Paxman on steroids!

19.08

Jade Head tweets:
Joke candidates are good in the elections I think! #votesusu

19.07

Next question: do you think SUSU surplus should go back into the union?

19.07

Is it all about the money, money, money?

19.06

Gilani: Candidates get money in the elections to campaign, joke candidates are costing SUSU money

19.06

There does seem to be a small pocket on the right of people enjoying Michelle and James at least.

19.06

Sophie Bradfield does not think joke candidates are pointless. She says it says it’s a reflection on what they think of elections and David Gilani agrees…

19.05

Ellis: Joke candidates have a role, but there is a danger that they can take away from the actual debate.. in getting anything done.

19.05

Still struggling to see where the ‘humour’ these joke candidates are bringing is.

19.05

Peter Ward says it shows how disengaged students are with SUSU

19.05

Quite a few people in The Bridge put their hands up in agreement

19.05

Peter Ward says joke candidates are indicative of the way students see the SUSU debates.

19.04

Chloe Green from the audience: “Joke candidates are good if they’re actually funny”

19.04

Who thinks Joke Candidates are actually good for the election? Hands up?

19.04

Grace Tweets:

‘Well done Gilani, good contributions. Nightlife is important. Just needs a decent rebrand for Friday nights. #votesusu’

19.04

James Dykes agrees, and has decided to attack the idea of lengthy, unachievable manifestos.

19.03

Alice North says that joke candidates are important and says Michelle was encouraged by Sam Ling. She says they are beneficial – and thinks Michelle is perfect.

19.03

Harry Warwick wants to ask our joke candidates whether they are helping to engage students or are in fact detrimental?

19.02

David Gilani: The Stags is popular and the Bridge holds constant Societies events, and Quiz and Curry is popular. Nightlife has a massive impact throughout the week, it’s just Fridays that are the problem.

19.02

General consensus on Twitter is that joke candidates should not be receiving the same attention as the serious ones.

19.02

Michelle Dando believes we should have a monorail up Church Lane to help students with a hangover get to their 10am lectures

19.01

*Sophie – apologies, speed typing hampers our spelling occasionally!

19.01

Sorry Ellis we wrote ‘Ellie’ instead earlier, our apologies

19.01

Sophoe Bradfield disagrees with Ellis and says nightlife provides a rounded experience at SUSU.

19.00

Ellis: There’s no need for a regular event at the Cube. SUSU doesn’t need to do Nightlife. ‘A lot of people think it’s like a school disco.’

19.00

On a side note, Ellis has admirable mic control. Very alternative.

18.59

James Dykes: ‘I think that we are wasting our time with Nightlife. Since I’ve been here it’s been ‘Kinki’ then ‘Twisted’….all sorts of crap.’

He says he goes once or twice a year and thinks it was rubbish.

Dykes wants a nightlife that makes SUSU money, if not then develop a system for societies to just use the bars to make themselves money.

18.59

Does this guy have anything to say but “Yeah, I want to shut the Cube”? Jesus, you’re not a joke candidate… just a joke.#votesusu – Andre Pusey

18.58

Still waiting for James Dykes to say something funny. Don’t hold your breath.

18.58

Peter Ward, on what we’re doing wrong. He’s talked to a promoter from Oceana. He says the space is too big for the number of people. He doesn’t think that the staff at SUSU have the expertees to run the nightlife nights. He advocates a private company coming in, along with them guaranteeing a certain number through the doors, and a deal being made from this.

He doesn’t believe that a Radio 1 DJ is really what students want and believes that we should listen to the professionals in the business to help run the Cube nightclub.

18.58

Thomas Fummo tweets:

‘I dislike the ‘nightlife’. I wish there had been more bouncy castle-centered events when I was a fresher. #votesusu’

18.56

Things are much better now we have a new microphone!

18.55

Ellie states he thinks Gilani’s answer is ‘fluff’ – freshers need the support and welcome – unsuccessful few years are down to competing with popular clubs in town, who ask people what they want there and then. More than the cube: more accessible, and down to earth.

18.55

Some obvious friction developing between David and Ellis. Not sure they’ve agreed on a single point so far

18.55

David’s answer: I don’t know. We’ve done surveys and reacted to these giving bigger acts, less often.

If it’s costing money that could be used elsewhere then should we continue with nightlife.

David’s citing that 681 undergrads filled in the survey on where nightlife should go, and so it was a good turnout for a survey of this kind.

18.55

David’s very insistent that people want Nightlife to be successful. At least there’s nobody who’s set on Nightlife failing.

18.54

Gilani: I don’t think we have to be a night club, but the fact that so many people have told us that they want us to be a night club means we should pursue this

18.53

@WessexScene @yoursusu @SUSUtv how do the candidates feel they should engage with sites like Winchester or Malaysia now we’ve lost VP Winch- Jack Kanani

18.53

The next question is: should SUSU have a nightlife at all? Gilani up first.

18.53

The Debate is back on

18.52

Who is your favourite candidate just from this debate alone? How are you finding the debate? Let us know @wessexscene

18.52

@WessexScene @yoursusu I can’t tell if the fake candidates are making me less engaged/ruining the debate. – International Editor Jack Kanani

18.51

Some audience members are wondering whether there’s an issue about Alice North sitting in the place of  Peter Shaw with the Michelle Dando doll. Would this ever be accepted with a serious candidate?

18.49

Alistair Steward tweets:

‘as long as the channels exist for students to engage with susu the actual quantity of students engaging is fairly negligible #votesusu’

18.48

Elliot Hughes has tweeted:

#votesusu Candidates need to solidify what they will do to make SUSU feel relevant and interesting. ‘Engagement’ means nothing on its own!

18.48

The break will take place to sort microphones – fingers crossed we’ll hear them better after this! Keep tweeting #votesusu and contact us @wessexscene

18.47

The general agreement that student engagement is important. Drinks break!

18.47

Gilani: If we’re not engaging students then we should change what we’re doing

18.47

We’ll be taking a five minute break soon, apparently…

18.46

Sophie: it’s about square pegs and square holes a fit for the students

18.46

Sophie’s microphone is working well. She says we should have ambition.Engagement is key, and students should care about SUSU since it’s there for us, to enrich our life and degree at uni.

18.46

Sophie’s all about buzzwords.

18.45

There are complaints from the audience about the microphones. There are a lot of angry tweets too…

18.45

Ellis wants students to be able to do things themselves using what SUSU provides for them.

18.44

Michelle is all about the beautiful. We’ll let you know if anything else pops up from her.

18.44

This is very much a debate of two halves between the serious and fake candidates. Do you agree that the two sets of presidential candidates should be interviewed at the same time, or do you think it makes a mockery of the process?

18.43

James Dykes has lost his track of thought. Hopefully he’ll get back on track!

18.42

Big praise for the unsung hero of the evening so far: debate chair Mr James Binns.

18.42

Sophie says there is an issue with communications with all societies, not just sabbaticals. All methods of communication should be covered.

18.42

Candidates on general agree that face-to-face contact is important.

David took a bit of stick after Ellis is claiming that he’s never seen him walking on campus as a Sabb. David maintains is has been done, while Ellis wants Sabbs on campus at 1pm every Wednesday.

18.41

Gilani: I agree that these are things that are important but I don’t think being on concourse will make things better

18.41

Sophie sites the quality of contact not just quantity. consultations and conversations are used as examples.

18.40

Ellis- every week get on that concourse

18.40

Michelle Dando keeps being tactically inflated while the real candidates are talking.

18.40

Gilani says we should keep going until we get it right

18.39

Michelle (or Alice North) says politics isn’t  as important as her.

18.39

Jade Head has tweeted:

‘Sophie says sabbs need to be more approachable. Sabb office is very out of the way- do you know where it is #votesusu’

18.38

He wants specific teams to go out there and find out what people want. If people want, they can ask him directly.

18.38

James Dykes thinks students only care about politics for elections week and getting face to face with students will help.

18.37

Peewee thinks Sabbs should have more of a presence on campus, a view shared by Sophie Bradfield.

18.36

Ellis Sims thinks that people should be able to do what they want to do without having to rely on Sabbs and alike

18.36

Sophie Bradfield wishes to set an example of integrity, and will focus on students rather than SUSU politics.

18.35

David states that when you have to ‘think big’, only focusing on the next twelve months does not make for long term change.

18.35

Peter Ward says that the university should provide change for the student that is already here.

David Gilani counters that projects as President cannot all be done within the short term of the president.

18.33

First question from the floor – Josh Cox asks what presidential candidates will do to help our students rather than ‘pissing them off’

18.33

Sophie Bradfield: Uni should be a fun, safe and supportive environment. To empower students.

18.32

James Dykes wants to abolish SUSUtv and Surge radio. what to the people listening / watching think?

18.30

Michelle’s being blown up again, but we’re hoping that this doesn’t stifle the debate between the more serious candidates.

18.29

Gilani – ‘its about making sure the students are better for the rest of their life, not just about now’

18.28

*about, sorry!

18.28

Peewee: if all the students want is just to have a good night life, that what it should be aboue.

18.27

Does Peewee think you have to wear make-up to be a beautiful person?

18.27

Michelle’s answer focuses on ‘beautiful people being beautiful’ – to celebrate them and to improve ‘ugly’ people.

18.26

Next question is what the candidates think is the purpose of the student’s union….

18.25

Peewee says he thinks it has the potential to turn nasty, but he hopes it won’t.

18.25

Jim Dykes isn’t sure who he wants to pick on out of the other candidates just yet. I bet it’s gonna be Peewee.

18.25

Everyone seems to be having a bit of trouble hearing all the candidates….

18.24

David Gilani answers saying he doesn’t think it has to be – and Ellis agrees – he hope’s its about policy discussion.

18.23

Candidates are all prepared for the elections to ‘get nasty’. That’s reassuring.

18.23

The first question is: do you think this election campaign will be nasty?

18.22

Remember to keep tweeting using #votesusu

18.21

From left to right on your SUSUTV feed, the candidates are as follows:

Peter ‘Michelle Dando’ Shaw – Alice North is speaking on behalf of Michelle.
James Dykes
Peter ‘Peewee Ward’
David Gilani
Ellis Sims
Sophie Bradfield

David Cattermole has not yet arrived.

Check out the candidate manifestos here by clicking on their faces.

18.21

It might be a little difficult to hear people….people are a little bit quiet. But everyone seems enthusiastic.

18.20

The debate is about to begin….silence fills the Bridge (or sort of silence, at least)

18.19

Even graduates are getting involved. We have a tweet from Andre Pusey:

‘I must admit, while I’ve been trying to avoid the SUSU Elections this year, I am locked in ready to enjoy the presidential debate! #votesusu’

Enjoy, Andre!

18.19

We can confirm that Peewee’s ‘squash’ is actually scotch

18.18

David Gilani is blowing kisses into the crowd….is he trying to seduce the audience?

18.17

18.17

Turns out Alice North likes Super Noodles for breakfast….revealed for us for the soundcheck! We want to know what flavour…

18.14

Surge have just joined our page, so if you fancy listening in as well as reading our blog AND watching the live stream, you can! Media overload! But we love it.

18.11

Peewee, David and Ellis have all taken their seats….they’re looking pretty confident.

18.10

All presidential candidates have just been summoned to the stage – looks like it’s about to begin!

18.08

Don’t forget to tweet us @wessexscene or use #votesusu throughout – we want to hear your thoughts and questions!

18.06

Marcus Burton appears to be very excited about the impending debate. He’s tweeted:

“It’s 6pm, and guess what?! I’m in the Bridge about to watch the #VoteSUSU Presidential debate.”

18.04

Hopefully it won’t be much longer now!

18.04

There’s a great atmosphere in here right now – things haven’t started dead on 6pm though.

18.00

Presidential Candidates!*

18.00

Inflatable candidate Michelle Dando being her perky self and looking across the room at me. She’s having to get up as all presidential engineers are being called to the sound engineer!

17.55

The sofa moving has ended! Plenty of recognizable faces taking their seats with five minutes until we begin.

17.55

Five minutes to go, the countdown begins…

17.55

17.50

SUSUtv are sound-checking

17.46

The Bridge is filling up and we’ve got our coffee and cake. Ready for an intense debate.

17.42

By the way, the SUSUtv stream above you won’t work until 6pm, when the debate starts. So don’t panic if it’s not working just yet!

17.41

Hi everyone! Jo, Ellie and Tom are here at the Bridge waiting for the debate to begin. Stick with us throughout the evening for the latest updates.