What are you waiting for, come on get your read on

Random title I know, but seeing as I'll be very busy in the coming weeks with extra hard revision for Law of Tort, I figured I'd spice up the blog with a catchy title... I bet it worked!

Lately, what have I been going through you may ask? Well to put it mildly, a lot! Oh yes a lot of nothing... sorry to burst your bubble there, but a lot of nothing has been happening to me and around me... The reason is everyone is on their essay or exam mode so conversations that used to be 'hey what you doing this weekend' now sound like 'how many essays are you handing in on Monday' or pick up lines like this :

(scene: A club, somewhere in Leeds on a Friday night)
Guy: Hey, have we met?
Girl: No, but I'd like to meet you if you buy my next drink
Guy: What you drinking?
Girl: Apple Martini please, and one Cosmo for my friend too

Exam times now make em sound like:
(scene: Level 1, Library in Bradford on a Monday night)
Guy: Hey, when is our next dissertation meeting?
Girl: It's tomorrow 2pm, btw are you going to Sainsburys?
Guy: In 5 mins, why?
Girl: Could you please get me a bottle of water and 2 cans of Red Bull, I'm doing an all nighter

The human body is engineered to go hours without recharging, I've noticed from observing people's study patterns, some can go close to 48 hours refuelling with water, red bull and relentless... I'm sure shopkeepers can't wait for exam time to come around, cuz that's when they sell almost anything and everything. Some students smoke packs of cigs to get by, some stuff their faces with wine gums, others guzzle bottles of Ribena, pretty much everything gets sold in corner shops during exam times.

Moving on, I couldn't help but pause in utter shock when I overheard a passer-by say, 'sometimes, I wish I were back in prison'.  He was comparing his life in the two worlds and the life behind bars gave him a roof, good food, TV, gym and a bed and ironically the 'free' life gave him nothing but anger, hopelessness and a wish to return to the pen.  The government ought to sit up and ask why? Why would a free man prefer life in prison? Something must be wrong with the system outside, and I mean something must be really really wrong. Well, Thursday is less than 48 hours away and the election race could not get any hotter! DC is as cocky as Jose Mourinho (before and after his Chelsea days), NC is playing it cool and not getting 'bugged down' with the 'Cleggmania' while Mr. PM, GB (ironically Great Britain) is calling for 'strategic voting'.  Obvious signs of fear and desperation, I'd say.  But good luck to all the candidates, it is interesting to read their manifestos, even the BNP manifesto made a good read at times, other  times it was just a laughing stock and an indication of an absence of logic and an ignorance of REAL LIFE.

I'm sorry to say but many football fans are more concerned about this weekend's result than the election result. We want to know which set of fans have 1-year bragging right, we want to know who showed class, composure and a clear head on the final day when it mattered most. We want to know who finishes fourth in the hard fought race.  We already know what Arsene Wenger will be saying 'I feel for the fans especially, they deserve more' blah blah blah for 5 years they've constantly been deserving more... Arsenal are a great team when they win and a bunch of Sunday league kids when they lose. They never seem to have an in-between, they rarely do and I think the excessive shrewdness of Monsieur Wenger is to blame for their dusty trophy-less cabinet.  Their London neighbours, who live in Craven Cottage, might  be tasting glory this season and I hope they do, for 'Lord' Hodgson's sake. He is a true gentleman, a role-model sportsman and a fine manager.  Bobby Zamora, looks a different player now, Clint Dempsey turned from a nobody to an American Idol.  When they said there aren't any good British managers they must have been suffering from memory loss.  Even Steve McLaren has proven his critics wrong, he went abroad and conquered and he is now a Dutch title winner.  Football managers, today has become overly scrutinized and criticized when in reality the players should be partly blamed.  Like one manager said recently 'when they cross that white line, there is little I can do for them', which is very true because even the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson, Fabio Capello know that when it is all said and done the 90 minutes the players spend kick and running defines the game a lot more than the team talk.

Well, it is time for me to hit the sack now but before I go here is a random statement I once heard a young man say 'I don't want to get married, cuz I don't want to get divorced'.  Wow! society must be breaking down if marriage and divorce come together... I shall talk about that next... (remind me)...

Good Night!

RE: Letter from the Prime Minister

Well, well... it's been a whole 9 days since my last blog, I sincerely apologize.  I've been pretty caught up with reading books on politics and social change and rounding up an essay on the collapse of apartheid in South Africa.  When I started the essay, I wasn't to sure if I could really write 4,000 words of logic and sense but after research and reading and several toilet and water breaks in-between I finally ended up with an essay I'm very confident in.
Well let's move on from the essays, yesterday I came home from a pretty long and interesting day to open my mailbox and I received a letter from Mr. Gordon Brown, that's right, the Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party as he so eloquently put it in the letter.  Writing about it, it kinda reminds me of times at home in Holland when the fax machine pours out several letters claiming they are from the President of Nigeria, difference is though, the fax letters were scams from 419ers telling us about several unthinkable millions of dollars that needs a bank account to be stored in.  It makes you wonder, are there really people out there that receive such letters or emails and actually fall for the unbelievable claims they make?  Cuz even the lottery just doesn't work that way, but I guess the saying 'money is the root of all evil' is so very true for people to be so greedy.
Well let's get back to the Prime Ministers letter, he opens like this 'Dear William Obubo, Since I last wrote to you...' Let's get the facts straight here Mr. PM, you've never written to me so please don't flatter me by sounding all friendly and familiar but I do commend the personal touch nevertheless.  He goes on to talk about how 'we' are going tough financial times; we? really you and I? Mr. PM, I'm sure you've never checked up on my Tesco shopping or offered to cover my Sky bill or T-mobile bill or even given me £2 to take a bus to the School of Management, so no, I disagree, we haven't been going through tough times together, I have, you haven't.  The truth of the matter is, you have seen several people like me go through tough times, there are even people worse off than myself and they have been immensely affected, so I'm sorry but I'd say the 'we' thing is grossly patronising and might be offensive to some people.
I'd be straight up with you Mr. PM, the attempt to win people over now with just about a week before the elections could not have been more dented by the 'bigotgate' as the media have so kindly named.  The question and answer sessions have done a lot to prove that there is a huge void between the electorate and the politicians, especially the leaders.  The only time they (the politicians) run to us really, is when they need our support or our votes. Once we are done voting, we are dumped on the streets like left over fish'n'chips... If a democracy is a government of the people, by the people, for the people then I'm sorry to say Mr. PM we aren't in a democracy.  The best leaders are the best servants, and simply put the country is lacking any.
So here is my reply Mr. PM;

Dear Gordon Brown,

Thank you for your last letter, it was very kind of you to write.  The events of the week ahead will help me decide how I'd vote.

Yours sincerely

William P. Obubo
Student and Member of the Electorate

Adieu!!!

PS: I'd scan the letter and post it soon....

Bradford ACS Election Shambles

The Afro-Caribbean Society in the University of Bradford has long had a strong following from the students particularly the undergraduates in the first two years.  Being a member of the executive team has been a prestigious affair and the roles come with no manuals but a load of testing points.  I have had first hand experience on the running of the ACS and all the effort put into campaign strategies and publicity. I ran for President in March 2007 and I won with strong and overwhelming  support from across its members.

The 2007/08 term has been one of best years in the history of the ACS in the university and I would say it was down to the team of executives I had and the support of the students.  After all, they are the judges on our performance. 

We delivered on numerous occasions after a shaky start but the real test was the End of Year Ball.  We coined the name 'One Night Only' after the Dreamgirls song.  In essence, we wanted to stress on the fact that for one night only and maybe only for that night in their student lives our members will feel like royalty with celebrity status.  For this and several other reasons when it was time to hand over to a new executive team competition for the positions were high and hard fought.  I remember 3 candidates for the Vice President role that needed one winner, such was the zeal to carry on our good work.  Slowly that fire has been burning out with no one to fuel it.  Our successors had a fairly good year but failed on the real test they were unable to deliver an End of Year Ball and had conducted elections that were grossly marred with corruption and sheer lack of professionalism and respect for one another.

Being a very vocal member of society and a reference point for the ACS executives I stressed my point that the moment we turn a blind eye on corruption and disrespect for rules and constitution we fail the ACS as a whole.  My warning was not heeded and my fears are now reality.

The current crop of ACS executives have failed to carry on the good name of ACS, they have failed to fly the Bradford flag high.  With no intention to disrespect their persons, they have given into complacency and a backward mentality of a care-free attitude.  To illustrate my point, the manifesto night and the elections were held yesterday, to my shock and disbelief, there are 8 positions to run for and there are 8 candidates running, one for each post.  This already breeds carelessness, the lack of competition for a position is a strong disincentive to begin with because the candidates will win the post by default, the availability of re-opening the nominations is there only for the sake of formalities.  I do not see the members coming back with deadlines and exams fast approaching to re-cast their votes.  Furthermore the candidates who were running were generally ill-informed about the duties of their posts or bore an air of arrogance and cockiness which did not go down well with the electorate and elder statesmen of the ACS.

I am, however, an opti-realist so I am hoping and wishing that there will be real content and character should they win the elections and I wish for an overhaul of the manner in which the way the ACS carries its name and the image of the ACS in Bradford and around its neighbouring universities. Gone are the days Leeds ACS looked to us for direction.

I reserve my judgement for the new executives and will see how next year's elections are run but so far the elections this year have been a mockery to the term election and utter shambles.