UCLU Conservative Society

All over the UK at the minute the public are being exposed to two poster campaigns the first being the ‘We can’t go on like this….’

The second of these posters relates back to the video in the previous post, the ‘I’ve never voted Conservative before…’ which depict a variety of everyday scenes then a reason relating back to a Conservative Policy.

Both of these posters have lead to a spate of parodies appearing more or less everywhere on the internet (examples of which will follow). While this can be annoying and sometimes very offensive to the people that have been parodied in the posters it does however mean that David Cameron and the Conservative Party are constantly in the public eye and the posters do make the news. Especially when real life billboard have been publically defaced, which could lead to us picking up a few more votes in the next General Election.

The results of yesterday’s AGM have been calculated and next year’s committee is as follows:

President of the Society – Will hall
Treasurer – Brian Middleton
Outreach officers- Jon woodcraft
Vice-President- Emily Cheah
General Secretary Sec & Campaigns – Matthew Gibbard
Social  Secretary- Marta Krokosz
Publicity (Website) – Laura-Rose Saunders
Caerulean  Editor- Jon Canty

Congratulations to those who have been electer, commisserations to those who stood but were unsuccessful and a huge thank you to this year’s committee for all the hard work.

Don’t forget! Tomorrow (March 9th) at 19:30 in the G08 Sir David Davies LT, Roberts Building is the Conservative Society AGM.Who will be the next Society President? Who will be your Treasurer? Come along and vote! Only YOU can decide!

This term the Society has held a few events that are a little different to our usual programme and Tuesday’s was perhaps the most different so far as all members were asked to attend in their PJs. A first, I think, in society history! The aim was not to discover who has the snazziest PJs but to relax after the Alumni Dinner and watch In the Loop together with sweeties, crisps and various other snacks.

In the Loop follows the events surrounding a potential war that the US President and UK Prime Minister want to start. However not everyone agrees that this is the best plan of action. The US General Miller doesn’t think so and neither does the British Secretary of State for International Development, Simon Foster. But, after Simon accidentally backs military action on TV, he suddenly has a lot of friends in Washington, DC.

So Simon heads to DC to try and get in with the right people, while his entourage of one try to get in their with the right intern. While also trying to stop the Prime Minister’s chief spin-doctor Malcolm Tucker rigging the vote at the UN. If this all goes wrong Simon can always sack the Director of Communications Judy, who he never liked anyway and who’s back home dealing with voters in Simon’s constiuency who have blocked drains and a man who’s angry about a collapsing wall.

For those of you who have yet to see the film I will not give away the ending and tell you whether Simon can prevent the war, stop Malcolm from, well being Malcolm Tucker and solve the problems back in his constiuency. I will tell you that In the Loop is one of the funniest political films I have seen which contains such classic lines as;

‘ No, no, no, you needn’t worry about the Canadians, they’re just happy to be there. [pause]  Yes, well, they always look surprised when they’re invited.’,

‘”Climbing the mountain of conflict”? You sounded like a Nazi Julie Andrews!’ and
‘I can’t stand to see a woman bleed from the mouth. It reminds me of that Country & Western music which I cannot abide.’

A fun night was had by all then it was off to the Union to show are fellow UCLers that yes our Society is slightly mad but we know how to have fun.

Our next event is the AGM Tuesday 19:30 in the G08 Sir David Davies LT, Roberts Building. Anyone wishing to stand MUST submit their name to Kieran by NOON TOMORROW. Only Society members can vote on Tuesday so if you are not a member and want to vote Join the Society beforehand!

Two quick but important notices:

*** UCL Union Elections Open ***

Use your vote to elect officers that represent your views. Remember to vote for all the categories including the NUS referendum.

Voting closes Friday at 10am. It is a tight race for many candidates so please do remember to vote – why not do it now?

*** Our AGM***

So, AGM time!! Kieran needs nominations by Friday Noon so he can circulate an agenda and make ballot papers.

So far only 3 people have put there names forward!

In the interest of maintaining an experienced committee we are going to copy Debating Society a little bit!!! You can put your name down for upto 2 committee positions. It means that good candidates who fail to get their preferential position can still help run the society.

See you Tuesday at 19:30 in the Sir David Davies Lecture Theatre.

At last the wait is over, I can announce the details of our ‘Mystery Conservative Event’. After all of the excitement of the Alumni dinner we will be having a more relaxed session and  rather than having a talk from a political guest we will be holding a film showing of the Oscar nominated political film ‘In the Loop’.

For those who did not read the last post about this film it was created by Armando Iannucci, the man behind “The Thick of It”, “I’m Alan Partridge” and “The Day Today” – this film is a sharp satire on British and American politics showing what happens when The US President and UK Prime Minister fancy a war, but not everyone agrees that it is a good thing….

In another twist we have decided that as it’s winter and it’s cold everyone must come dressed in their pyjamas or at the very least a dressing gown. Wine and popcorn will be provided but feel free to bring along anything else that you fancy eating, cushions or anything else that takes your fancy. The event starts at 19:30 will either be in Haldane Room this Tuesday 2nd March. Hope to see you all there for our first ever political slumber party style event!

Friday night was the much awaited Annual Alumni Dinner that saw current members get the chance to mingle with past members, swap annecdotes and enjoy a lovely three course meal while dressed to the nines in either dinner jackets or sweeping, stylish dresses.

The night began with a champagne welcome reception before moving into the Churchill Room for our three course meal, which started with Red Mullet Terrine, then Cornfed Chicken and wild mushroom rissotto, and finally Vanilla Panna Cotta. Accompanied of course with a glass or two of wine.

Once we were all fed and watered Douglas Murray gave us his after dinner speech. Murray is no stranger to speaking at UCL events and once again gave an excellent speech and even complimented us on how we seem to be more house trained than the majority of students. This was then followed by a vote of thanks from Patron of the Society, Tim Barnes.

After the dinner it was off to Just St. James where we continued to party long into the night. It was wonderful to see so many of our Alumni turn up and also to see so many of our Society members looking gorgeous in their black tie. A huge thanks to all those who helped to organise such a wonderful and successful event.

Members!

Ms Cash has got in contact with the society asking for our help to obtain the Westminster North Constituency. To find out more, please see her facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=7809647666&ref=ts

Also, please could all members wishing to go on the Brussels trip this June please hand in the lump sum of £150 asap (cheques payable to ‘UCL UNION’) to Emma, Brian, or Iain, or into the Conservative Soc pigeon hole, CSC, 2nd floor Bloomsbury building. Our original deadline was Fri 19th, which was extended, so as time is moving on we need them in quickly so we can get the best deal accomodation and travel wise.

Many thanks,

Emma, Brian, Iain

This is just a quick reminder that our next event is our Annual Alumni Dinner at The Carlton Club (69 St. James Street, London, SW1A 1PJ), starting at 19:30 sharp with a sparkling wine reception then followed by a three course meal. This event is black tie so dust off your glad rags and we’ll see you there tomorrow!

The election draws ever closer – and there are teams going out every night in the next week. If you fancy heading out and helping our local Conservative council candidates and George Lee then the timetable and contact details can be found on the left hand side  of the page under ‘upcoming campaign days’.

Campaigning is great fun, you meet some of our association members and generally ends in the pub.