My week: 8th to 14th November 2010

On Monday I did AHS work, before going to a meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group in the House of Lords on ‘Public Services and the Localism Agenda’ – essentially on the Big Society. BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson spoke, as did Richard Exell of the TUC, Pragna Patel of Southall Black Sisters and Sanchita Hosali of the British Institute of Human Rights. Lots of MPs coming and going.

On Tuesday I was at the BHA, and did the media review, more stuff on that church, some work on the Census, and work on the Bishops in the House of Lords. On Wednesday I again did the media review, experimented with Google Alerts, looked into the EHRC‘s triennial review, and then went to Alexandra Palace to see Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem. I’d seen Hot Chip before in Oxford in 2008, and would have seen them a second time in February except that Think Week came along so I had to sell my ticket on! I’d seen James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem do a DJ set at Fabric as well, back in 2007 (he played his remix of Over and Over, funnily enough), and shook his hand afterwards. I’m not sure which band I prefer, but seeing them back to back, I can safely say that LCD Soundsystem were better on the night.

On Thursday I did AHS bits and bobs, and finished watching Black Books, which I must have burned through in about a week and a half! Only 18 episodes I suppose.

On Friday I was in the BHA and did the media review, a story for the next BHA News, updated the BHA Faith Schools table, and looked into a Government consultation.

On Saturday I started reviewing the results of the AHS’s magic society finder tool (we reckon we now know about basically every student society in the country!), which I finished on Sunday. I also got the new strategy doc off to the Board. On Saturday it was also Andrew Copson’s birthday drinks, in the College Arms by the BHA Office. I spent most of Sunday hung over in bed… :/

My week: 1st to 7th November 2010

On Monday I did AHS work – bits and bobs, really. That evening we had a 2 hour Cabinet meeting – the first since we got a full team, and very productive – followed by a 3 hour exec meeting – so 5 hours in total!

On Tuesday I was in the BHA, working on the media review, Pepper FOI stuff, some stuff on some church I can’t talk about and researched and wrote a news item. On Wednesday I did the media review, another news item, a bit on bishops in the Lords, some more stuff on the church I can’t talk about, some stuff on some religious political group I also can’t talk about… (I try and talk about things euphemistically so that I can remember, reading it back, what was going on, but I don’t reveal anything I shouldn’t. Sorry!) That evening we had another Cabinet meeting, to devise a plan on one specific event we’re planning for next February – watch this space! On Thursday I did more AHS work – in particular, working on strategy.

On Friday I was at the BHA, doing the media review, more church stuff, more religious political group stuff, more on bishops in the Lords and some United Nations stuff. It was a bit weird because after Pepper went home at 2.30, I was the only person on any of the 9 desks on the second floor! That evening I went to my friend (and BHA Choir conductor) Chloe’s birthday party – the fireworks at Clapham Common followed by cocktails in the Loft on Clapham High Street. However it went a bit wrong in that the tube took an hour instead of 20 minutes and wouldn’t stop at Clapham North or Clapham Common so I had to get out at Clapham South and walk. But walking got me nowhere because once I got to the agreed meeting place I couldn’t find anyone. But by this point the fireworks were basically over so I decided to head to the cocktail bar. Except my phone wasn’t working (because of the number of people there) so I obliviously walked straight past it. Once I finally found my way back to it I found that Chloe still wasn’t there – although many of her friends were, who all seemed to have had similar problems!

Thrilling stuff. On Saturday I did AHS work – more on strategy, and somewhat rewriting a guide we are currently working on. On Sunday I did more bits and bobs, read some book, watched Black Books (which I never managed to watch at the time…!) …zzz

My week: 25th to 31st October 2010

Another week goes by. On Monday I followed up on the merger of Oxford Atheist Society and Oxford Secular Society to Oxford Atheists, Secularists and Humanists – it’s never straightforward, and the whereabouts of Sec Soc’s assets is not easy to track down.

On Tuesday I was doing BHA work – the media review, and returning to Pepper’s FOI task – but then the afternoon was taken up with the first AHS Board meeting! Featuring my predecessors as AHS President, Jenna Catley and Norman Ralph; BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson; European Humanist Federation President David Pollock; BHA photomonkey and Questival saviour Andrew West; and Alex Gibson, who suddenly is in the same Oxford society as myself and Jenna (Andrew C has promised to join and David will join when we vote the 60s Oxford University Humanist Group in as well). After the meeting we went down the pub – it was good to catch up with people.

Wednesday saw more BHA work – some on the Census Campaign, some on Pepper’s FOI task, and the media review of course. That evening I went down the pub with Andrew West (who was in the office in his role as a ceremonies intern) and we had dinner in China Town. Good to have a proper catch-up!

On Thursday I played through the entirety of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge Special Edition. When you’ve played it hundreds of times before it’s quite easy (that and err they’ve added a brilliant hint system) – it was good to revisit an old favourite with updated graphics and I hope they keep remaking the early LucasArts games. That eve I did some AHS work too.

On Friday I did the media review, finished my task on freemasonry, and then we had the monthly campaigns meeting. I had to leave this before the end in order to dash to the Battle of Ideas to set up the BHA’s stand, and then dash to Paddington to get a train to Oxford.

I was in Oxford from Friday to Sunday, hanging out with my friends, eating a ridiculous amount of meat, and generally having fun. I returned to Wimbledon on Sunday evening to do yet more AHS work…

My week: 18th to 24th October 2010

On Monday I worked on stuff for the upcoming AHS Board meeting (the first one!) – writing briefings for the Board, including a long one on our new member society strategy. On Tuesday I was in the BHA, working on European Humanist Federation stuff (I finished my summer-long task!), the Census Campaign, and responding to enquiries. On Wednesday I continued to work on the Census Campaign, and there was also a staff meeting. That evening I went to see Sile Lane from Sense About Science talk about the Libel Reform Campaign at the Central London Humanist Group, before going down the pub.

On Thursday I went to the launch of Geek Calendar with BHA admin staff Blakeley. Who was there? Simon Singh (whose two year old did a great interview on Libel Reform), Brian Cox and Gia Milinovich, Imran Khan of the Campaign for Science & Engineering, Jenny Rohn of Science is Vital, Padraig Reidy of Index on Censorship, English PEN, Sense About Science, James and Liz from the Pod Delusion (I got interviewed), (some of) the Central London Humanist Group, Carmen D’Cruz and Alok Jha.

Friday in the BHA Office saw a busy media review, more Census Campaign work (prettifying documents for the new campaign tools section) and, bizarrely, work on Freemasonry! I learned some of the lingo. For example, it turns out different Freemasonry groups are known as jurisdictions, and are made up of organisations known as Lodges, governed by a Grand Lodge. Different jurisdictions hold different beliefs (known as landmarks). They also recognise each other depending upon whether they share beliefs or not. Those a jurisdiction chooses to recognise is said to be regarded by that jurisdiction to be regular, whereas those a jurisdiction chooses not to recognise are said to be irregular.

Right, with all that said! That evening I went to Oxford, and went for cocktails and then out to dinner with my friends (steak), the reason being I was graduating the next day! My parents, aunt and Grandma came for it on the Saturday as well. AHS Webmaster Tom Gibson-Robinson was also graduating, as was former OxAth President Janette’s boyfriend, and a number of other friends of mine. We started off getting into our graduand gowns (I had an MCompSci one which is identical to a BA gown – long black with a detachable black hood, the hood having white furry trimmings), which we wore for about 7 hours straight. Then there was sherry in the Senior Common Room of my college (St Catz) followed by a very, very fancy lunch with tutors on the High Table in Hall (in four years there I’d never eaten on the High Table once!), complete with original Catz cutlery (quite the privilege). This was in turn followed by a march across town en masse to Examination Schools for Graduation. Unfortunately the Sheldonian, the usual home of graduation ceremonies, was shut for roof repairs – this change in venue was also why I was wearing my graduand gown from the start, instead of the usual tradition of starting in my scholars’ gown and then having a changing ceremony in the Sheldonian-adjacent Divinity Hall half way through the ceremony. However I was told by parents that had been to ceremonies in both that graduating in Exam Schools was better for them at least, because the seats were comfy, not pew-like!

After graduation we headed to cocktails, then to dinner with our families (steak), then to the pub. The next morning we had a sausage-and-bacon-heavy breakfast (known round these parts as “Meatfest”), then I headed into town for the very conveniently-timed OxAth EGM at which we changed the name from “Oxford Atheist Society” to “Oxford Atheists, Secularists and Humanists” – see the AHS’s news item. The EGM took three hours! After that I headed back to Wimbledon (which also took 3 hours). I spent the time since cleaning up the mess left behind by said EGM, getting Secular Student issues onto the AHS website (see news item above) and then writing the AHS Newsletter!

My week: 12th to 17th October 2010

On Tuesday I was in the BHA Offices, doing a mixture of things such as the media review, responding to queries, writing a news item and looking at a new Quango publication. I also met with Alex from the Finnish Prometheus Camp Association, who was in the UK for an open week at SOAS. On the way home I felt like I was coming down with a cold, and at 8 pm I fell asleep! I woke up 12 hours later and emailed Naomi to say I wasn’t going to come in on Wednesday, then spent the day recovering. Thursday was a mix of AHS work – I seemed to spend the day sending emails, receiving more as fast as I sent the previous lot. Friday was back in the BHA office, with the media review and European Humanist Federation work.

On Saturday I went to a Camp Quest UK meeting for people looking to get involved next year – not to say that I am, I was more curious, and felt like I should hold up the Questival end. Director Sam Stein was of course there, as was Alex. AHS Board member Andrew West was also there, and East of England Regional Rep Jens Christensen is one of the CQUK organisers as well.

After a trip down the pub I went to TAM London for the Tim Minchin show, which you could get tickets for separately from the rest of the weekend (and hence relatively cheaply). Support came from Amateur Transplants (of London Underground song fame), Jon Ronson (great stuff about the Insane Clown Posse’s subliminal evangelism) and Chris Cox (meh). Tim played three songs – a brand new one (he forgot the words at one point), Cont/Context (a la Relief-o-Matic) and the Pope Song (ditto!) We were then treated to the world premiere of the animated video of Storm, and it was a bit brilliant. This was followed by an extended Q&A with Tim and two of the creators (Director DC Turner, and producer Tracy King, whose idea it was in the first place – she was also the organiser of TAM London). There was a lot of skeptic-spotting to be had; Cory Doctorow, Evan Harris, James Randi (duh), Susan Blackmore, PZ Myers, David Allen Green, Chris French, Rebecca Watson, Sid Rodrigues, Adam Rutherford, and Oxford SITPers Iszi Lawrence and Andy Lewis. I think Bob and Blakeley from the BHA had gone home by then though

On Sunday my parents came for lunch, and I spent a while doing AHS work. That is all.

My week: 4th to 11th October 2010

See also: My write-up of the IHEYO 2010 General Assembly on the AHS website

On Monday I did a load of AHS work. On Tuesday in the BHA Office I finished off the second FOI task and then on Wednesday I did European Humanist Federation work. There’s not much more to say about work, I was very glad to get the FOI stuff done as I’d been working at that second one in particular for weeks.

On Tuesday evening I went to the UCL Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society‘s freshers’ drinks, at University of London Union. There were about 20 people there, which was amazing, seeing as how they weren’t even able to book into their freshers’ fair, being brand new (they did manage to hand out leaflets outside though). ULU is cheap, and the conversation was great – a very nice bunch of people, who I’m optimistic will form a committee soon, and a great new society, at that Godless Place.

On Thursday I went to the somewhat less Godless Oxford, to help out with freshers fair. It was fun to be back; I spotted a few old faces on the other stands in the religion room, and many people in my year were just starting DPhils and so were, bizarrely, fair attendees! This year OxAth got 320 sign-ups, down from 520 the year before (largely attributable to the relatively poor location of the stand this year) but up from 265 the year before that (again, stall location dictates all).

On Friday I went to the IHEYO General Assembly in Krakow (see my write-up on the AHS website), and didn’t get back til today! I have a mountain of about 70 emails to work through… :/

My week: 27th September to 3rd October 2010

On Monday I spent most of the day in Oxford hanging out with my friend Paddy (I beat him at Conqueror for the second time in two days, hehe) before that evening going to see BHA Faith Schools Campaigner James Gray talk to South West London Humanists about the proposed faith school in North Kingston. It was an excellent event giving a good overview of the problems associated with faith schools, as well as looking at issues specific to that area.

On Tuesday in the BHA Office I worked on both big FOI projects the BHA have been working on over the summer, and Wednesday was consumed in essentially the same way. On Tuesday evening I went down the pub with OxAth Secretary Ben Krishna and the BHA Choir, and on Wednesday evening the AHS had a Cabinet meeting – the first since the officer applications process concluded.

Thursday was spent getting a lot of AHS work done (emails, emails, emails…) whilst on Friday I was in the BHA again. Fridays are meant to be my European Humanist Federation day, but I decided to swap it for a day next week because I wanted to get the second FOI project finished – I almost did, and should get it polished off early next week.

On Saturday evening I went to a pub with some school friends just off Tottenham Court Road, before moving to China Town for a much too large dinner and then another pub in Soho. I got completely drenched on the way home – it was less than helpful when I got to Piccadilly Circus to find the Bakerloo Line not running, and so then had to walk to Leicester Square to get the Northern Line.

Sunday was spent doing yet more AHS work, amongst the general feeling that things are kicking into a higher gear now. Hopefully this is reflected in the amount of announcements the AHS have this week, and the colossal – unprecedented – level of society activity currently occurring.