Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Quotes

I love a laugh based on stupid things that people have said or things that have been said at really inappropriate times, so have put together a short list of my quotes I have said over the last few weeks.

"I'm really bad at making speeches so I'm going to shut up now."
This one really went against me. I was at an NUS conference, standing for the NUS national council - I thought they needed a little less left wing domination. This was how I ended my election speech. Nobody voted for me (well, apart from myself).

"The vast, the overwhelming majority of Muslims are perfectly rationable and law-abiding citizens."
This was during a debate on whether or not academics should spy on Muslim students. I think I'd had a bit of a democracy overload that day (it was the same day as the conference) and got to the point where I didn't know what I was saying so just started making up words to get my point across.

"Surely the people aren't going to care if we're being pedantic about every bit of grammar and whatever."
This was a week later. I was in the middle of our composite meeting and decided, completely at random, to dis the entire point of composite. I felt so stupid.

"I know this is really controversial but can I suggest that the motion with the most votes is the one we pass?"
Well, I'm not too sure what is so controversial about some sort of majority voting system but everyone else in composite thought I was an idiot for suggesting such a thing. One day I will get the hang of this democracy thing, but until then the world will have to get used to me coming up with such ideas.

"My stance on this debate can be best described by my choice of drink."
Still in composite - the fun we had that day - we were debating how to word the motions that were submitted concerning Coca-Cola. It started a huge debate, however, on where we all stood on the debate because some of us chose to turn up with Coke (and some of us with other soft drinks). I was among those who had chosen their drink just because it was what I wanted to drink but my stance was reflected in my choice of drink.

"Speeches at Craft? I must have missed that one. Why were we making speeches?"
This was at a Craft Society social last Wednesday. A few of us stayed behind for drinks and we got into an interesting conversation about how one of the exec members had made a speech during our regular meeting. I couldn't remember the speech so had to enquire as to why she had made a speech. I could not believe it when the society's president told me that, not only was I there that week, but I also made a speech. I had made a speech as this person's opponent!

"Thanks, and I'm really sorry if I gave you freshers' flu during, like, week 2."
This was at Top Banana (a club night) this Monday. Some random guy came up to me, though I had met him in week 2 during my efforts to give freshers' flu to everyone (that should read "get people to vote for me in week 3's council elections") and asked me if I ever did get onto the council. That, I thought, was really random for week 8. I had to apologise for giving him freshers' flu - probably something that will haunt me forever more!

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Randomly surfing

I came across this. It says Blair's legacy is a word in the English dictionary named after him. I love the definition!

"To blair" (verb): To make an intentionally false statement, tell a lie or lies.

I wonder if Iraq and the WMD that could be fired in 45 minutes has anything to do with it?

Sunday, November 05, 2006

The next PM

What I would really like to know is what on earth has happened to democracy in the Labour party. I have just read that it is highly unlikely that there will be a leadership election when Tony Blair stands down. Gordon Brown is the only person standing.

This is bad enough for a party in opposition - I would have liked to see someone stand against Howard in 2003 (or whenever it was, I can't remember) - though it's not a complete travesty of democracy. For the party in government, however, there should be at the very least a proper leadership election with at least 2 candidates and, especially if the new leader has completely different policies to the previous leader, a general election within the year.