A group of York students has won the opportunity to have their very own I-phone application developed after winning The App Challenge final, held at the Ron Cooke Hub on Wednesday, January 18.
YUSU Welfare officer Bob Hughes has warned students to be vigilant after a student loans phishing scam has been revealed.
Her Majesty the Queen will be visiting York on Maundy Thursday, 5th April, as part of the 800th anniversary of York’s Charter for the traditional “Royal Maundy” ceremony.
A flood caused by a heating system “failure” forced the university IT services to shut down many essential systems on Sunday night, causing problems for many students on the eve of their exams and assignment due-dates.
Mike Evemy, an ex-York student who has been a councillor for 14 years, spoke first, explaining how the Alternative Vote system works and why he believes it is a fairer and better system. He revealed that 2/3 of MPs gained less than 50% of the votes in their area in the last general election, indicating the unfair system which allows MPs to take a seat without being backed by the majority. Evemy described this referendum as “a chance for historic change” to the voting system.
Greg Dyke was then introduced by Alan Belmore, a second year politics and economics student at York who helped to organise the event. Dyke read politics at York before going on to have a distinguished career in broadcasting, including roles at TV-am, Television South and as Director-General of the BBC for four years. In 2004 he became Chancellor of the University of York.
Dyke has recently appeared on Newsnight and has given various other talks on the AV referendum. He has always been a supporter of political reform, on which he published a pamphlet in 1997. He agreed to speak at the event at Central Hall, organized by the ‘Yes to fairer votes’ York activists.
Speaking about the failings of British democracy, Dyke highlighted the 2005 election as a key example of the current unfair voting system: Labour won the election with 36% of votes while the Conservatives, despite gaining 37%, won fewer seats. A government was formed which was supported by only 1/3 of the country and for Dyke, this is unacceptable.
Dyke also stressed the importance of the public, especially young people, getting involved in politics and changing an “out-dated” system, which “needs to be reformed to be effective in modern society”. He feels there is “more distrust in politicians than at any time in our history and it’s getting greater year by year” but a new system will make MPs work harder for their votes, due to the significance of second preferences, and this will make each individual vote count.
Dyke concluded by saying that it is “important to prove the population wants change” and if the vote is lost, the Conservatives will argue that no change is needed, and the chance to change things will perhaps disappear for another decade. Dyke hopes the referendum will see a ‘yes’ vote pass and that a change to AV will be the first step on the path to fairer politics.
In a one-on-one interview with The Yorker before his speech, Dyke revealed his concerns about Britain’s current voting system, saying “it’s a system set up before eighteenth century but it doesn’t fit now”. Dyke added that he hopes one day to see Proportional Representation used but the introduction of AV is for now a “small step towards the change” the country greatly needs.
A growing discontentment with politics is one thing Dyke believes will encourage people to support the ‘Yes to fairer votes campaign’ as he believes “universally, people are fed up”. He stressed the importance of “making politics relevant and getting people interested again” and moving to create a fairer voting system.
“I think we’ll win the referendum but no one knows” Dyke admitted to The Yorker. Polls conducted by ComRes in February reveal that 41% of the population want the new system but 41% also don’t, showing how closely balanced it is. With only eight weeks left before the referendum on May 5th, there is still plenty of campaigning to be done by both sides.
For more information or to get involved, go to http://www.yestofairervotes.org/.
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