SelfNomination for South East Regional Administrator Officer

[azrael]

I hereby officially put myself forward to stand for the position of Regional Administrator Officer for the South East region.

The South East has had two great administrators, and peterbrett and AndrewTindall will be hard acts to follow.

I'd like to take this opportunity to sincerely ask anyone else in the South East considering standing for this to put themselves forward. It would be great to have a proper contest and give the SE members options.

I would ask all SE members to take a little time to think on the role of the RAO, and think of some questions to ask me. You'll probably get the RAO you deserve, so don't vote for me until you make sure I can do the job you want me to do!

Rather than just waiting on questions, I'd like to outline some of the actions I'd anticipate the RAO (of any region) should be taking.

• Divide the region into areas based on a combination of geography, transport routes, and membership distribution.
• Recruit deputies to be responsible for each area. Anyone raising their heads above the parapet to ask me questions might well get targeted as a deputy. If I lose to a better candidate, I'm not too proud to help out and be a deputy to someone else.
• Liaise with universities and colleges officer and produce a detailed list of SE universities and 'development' plans for each.
• Compile a list of all SE constituencies and record their general election results, focusing on margins of victory. Identify target seats for next election, a candidate, ratify them, and plan a schedule of publicity. (liaising with campaign team)
• Identify upcoming local election wards, and suitability of putting up candidates, if only as part of a publicity campaign at constituency level. (liaising with campaign team)
• Look at last EU regional election results, try and identify candidates to ratify for next election. (liaising with campaign team)
• Look at information dissemination at regional level and see if it can be improved. Do we need a regional information strategy?

If any of you are on facebook, you might know that I was responsible for the creation and maintenance of the PPUK SE facebook group which was replaced by the facebook page which I was also responsible for creating, and I am currently maintaining. If you are not currently suffering the handfull of updates I post weekly, and want to, please visit http://www.facebook.com/ppuksoutheast and fan/like/whatever it

[PeterBrett]

You live in the SE corner of the region, which as we've discussed in the past has poor transport links to the rest of the region, particularly the northwestern extents around Milton Keynes and Oxford. How do you plan to cope with this issue?

[azrael]

You live in the SE corner of the region, which as we've discussed in the past has poor transport links to the rest of the region, particularly the northwestern extents around Milton Keynes and Oxford. How do you plan to cope with this issue?

An excellent question Peter, and this is a serious issue. I guess to some extent every region will have bits of it that are harder to get to than others and potentially have the same problem.

I certainly am able and prepared to put in the time to travel to further away places within the region, but that doesn't necessarily mean I'll have the money to do so. Would be nice if PPUK picked up the tab but first we need to find some millionaire donors.

I could remedy this by picking my own city, Canterbury, as an occasional venue saving me money which would then let me spend twice as much on travel for the next meeting, but this would only be practical if others could make it. No point in me saving money and everyone else put to excessive additional expense!

A much better solution to this would be to arrange sub-regional meetings on behalf of other members even if I can't be there regularly. Having a few well spaced-out (geographically) deputies might make this easier. This is actually why I'd like other SE members to nominate themselves for the RAO position, so that not only do members have a real choice, but so the eventual winner has the identity of others who are willing and able to step-up and get involved and be potentials for deputisation.

One obvious first step would be for the eventual winner to approach each SE-based member individually and identify what they want to get out of membership, and what they are prepared to put in. Some members, legitimately, may want to pay their yearly fees, vote for us if given the chance, and otherwise not get involved. While we must try to encourage further involvement we can't force it and must respect and appreciate whatever limits they set on involvement. After identifying members who are prepared to be more involved, I would establish how far they are prepared and able to travel, and try to arrange meetings that were convenient to as many as possible. I would also try to build up a personal rapport to minimise the attending facebook event problem where 10 people sign up as attending and then are no-shows! I may or may not threaten to kill kittens for each no-show.

Even if I could attend meetings in any location, I would still want to work towards a point where there were so many members that we could easily have several meetings per county, running simultaneously, that were well attended.

At that point the role of the RAO becomes one-step removed from what we currently envision it, changing to oversee a team of AOs working in each sub-region. Exactly what would constitute a sub-region would depend, I guess, on how things unfold. I predict/hope that RAOs in collaboration with the University and Colleges Officer get student pirate parties set up at Universities - at which point each University with an active society can become a hub around which sub-regional activities take place.

If we could get 10-20 students forming a society at each University and hold open (to non-students) monthly meetings, then I think it is reasonable to expect non-student members of the PPUK to visit the closest University (or pub near-by) in order to attend regular PPUK meetings.

To prevent the risk of earning Andrew's totally erroneous appellation for me I'll hope that answers the question, and end there.

[JohnB]

You live in the SE corner of the region, which as we've discussed in the past has poor transport links to the rest of the region, particularly the northwestern extents around Milton Keynes and Oxford. How do you plan to cope with this issue?

An excellent question Peter, and this is a serious issue. I guess to some extent every region will have bits of it that are harder to get to than others and potentially have the same problem.

<snip>

Even if I could attend meetings in any location, I would still want to work towards a point where there were so many members that we could easily have several meetings per county, running simultaneously, that were well attended.

At that point the role of the RAO becomes one-step removed from what we currently envision it, changing to oversee a team of AOs working in each sub-region. Exactly what would constitute a sub-region would depend, I guess, on how things unfold. I predict/hope that RAOs in collaboration with the University and Colleges Officer get student pirate parties set up at Universities - at which point each University with an active society can become a hub around which sub-regional activities take place.

Yes, please. Constituency, probably, below region, though if Area officers made sense in particular cases then that would be something for the RAO to recommend.

The SE region is an early one to face this, because you have both a good number of members, and an unusual geographic shape, where all of you can (relatively) easily reach the (also large) London region and activities.

My suggestion would be that if the RAO is in the west of the region (and able to cover up to Oxford, down to Southampton, etc), then the shape of the SE region indicates that you need a strong deputy in the Maidstone/Canterbury/Folkestone/Dover/Deal corridor where there are also members. Or vice versa... if the RAO is located in that corner of the SE region, then you need a strong deputy able to cover Guildford, round to Reading and Oxford, and down to the border with the SW region.

And in whichever case, this is a region that should work closely with London members and the RAO they choose, as you all have (relatively) easy access to each other.

One thing to bear in mind... these divisions are arbitrary, and lead to odd effects sometimes. However, the boundaries and the regions we are organising ourselves within fit the elections we will fight in future, and in particular the strategic objective of fighting European elections. It also works below that, as these map a defined set of Parliamentary constituencies, and local council wards within that, so we can work both from a "top-down" and a "bottom-up" perspective like this.

[azrael]

Yes, please. Constituency, probably, below region, though if Area officers made sense in particular cases then that would be something for the RAO to recommend.

<snip>

And in whichever case, this is a region that should work closely with London members and the RAO they choose, as you all have (relatively) easy access to each other.

One thing to bear in mind... these divisions are arbitrary, and lead to odd effects sometimes. However, the boundaries and the regions we are organising ourselves within fit the elections we will fight in future, and in particular the strategic objective of fighting European elections. It also works below that, as these map a defined set of Parliamentary constituencies, and local council wards within that, so we can work both from a "top-down" and a "bottom-up" perspective like this.

Absolutely agree that the goal must be to eventually have constituency parties. Also agree that working closely with London is a good idea. We have before considered using London as the primary venue for SE meetings, and/or having them take place simultaneously with London meetings. This would create for larger and more active gatherings (I hope) but could also be a backwards step in terms for the SE if it then becomes seen as indistinguishable from London.

Personally as I like to attend the London meetings, I wouldn't be opposed to a percentage of SE meets being held in conjunction with London (maybe every third) - however that decision would need to be taken after careful analysis of where is best for the members who are prepared to turn up and thorough consultation with them.

[VJ]

If we could get 10-20 students forming a society at each University and hold open (to non-students) monthly meetings, then I think it is reasonable to expect non-student members of the PPUK to visit the closest University (or pub near-by) in order to attend regular PPUK meetings.

This is a good idea in theory; however, Southampton - where I live - has two Universities, but I don't believe Basingstoke or Andover even have one; the closest would be Winchester Uni, not exactly a hotbed of political radicalism. We should certainly try the idea out, but perhaps as well as Unis look around the region for university colleges (the old polytechs) & other HE institutions that might actually be more suitable than some Universities. Sorry for the skepticism, but I work in FE with strong links to a local Uni and know that students aren't always as political as we'd hope (although many are).

[azrael]

You're absolutely right vj, we need to take advantage of any clumps of support whererever we can find them. I focus on Universities (though you are right this should more accurately be FE/HE - I wasn't meaning to ignore colleges) because we have a Universities & Colleges Officer whose work with FE/HE we should be able to take advantage of

I suppose there is a chicken/egg problem of getting activity started and with enough momentum at FE/HE institutions, but hopefully that's something the UCO will work on

[scuzzmonkey]

Basingstoke

the 'grad has 2 Colleges, Queen Mary's and BCOT, both do pseudo-uni courses, as well as art foundations, G/NVQs etc.

[azrael]

After my landslide victory against my opponent, re-open nominations, I'd like to express my thanks to all members of the South East, especially to those that voted for me. I am near speechless with the deepest emotions that this resounding support means. I will strive to live up to each and every expectation that those 22 voters had for me when they placed their mark against my name, and I will endevour to overturn every doubt and misgiving held by the 1 voter who sought to re-open nominations.

With the election behind us, and the vote won, I seek to unite both sides of this great debate, for together we are strong, and through unity and common purpose we will move forward and reach goals that individually we would never be able to even aspire to!

This victory wouldn't have been possible without the help and support of my family, and I extend particular thanks to my mother and father without whom I would not be here today.

In gratitude to all those who have helped me achieve this great office of state, I extend an ever open invitation of a free cup of tea to any and all who come and visit me in my office*.

As my first act as Royal Autocratic Oligarch I would like to bestow life peerages on my predecessors Andrew and Peter in recognition not only of past services to their region, but for current and future inspiring activities being undertaken for the future success and glory of the Party.

My second act will be to contact, as soon as possible, members of the South East and strike up a dialogue to stimulate ideas, inspire activity, to seek out new life forms and new civilizations (and hopefully recruit them to the party), and to boldly go where no split infinitive has gone before!

With final heart-felt thanks, I will now allow the network to cut to a scheduled advert break.

*Offer applies during work hours only, on days I am not out of the office nor in meetings, and where supplies of tea/milk/sugar are available. In case of tea/milk/sugar related allergies please consult a physician before taking up this offer. Tea makers take no responsibility for injuries of death caused by their tea. Other conditions may apply.

[borgs8472]

^ ^
Reopen nominations was robbed!