In the news again

My last few days as President of Imperial College Union saw a flurry of media activity in the aftermath of the London bombings.

First, the Guardian’s Education supplement got all excited about universities allegedly being infested with Al-Qaeda brainwashers.

Then Peter Taylor’s documentary, “the new Al-Qaeda: jihad.com” was aired on prime time on the BBC. Apparently I featured on this for one minute explaining that actually universities aren’t that infested with Al-Qaeda brianwashers. I say “apparently” because I didn’t actually see the programme. I’d forgotten about it (my interview was filmed in March/April time) and it didn’t click that this was the same documentary until people started sending me text messages to remind me that I needed a hair cut back then! I’ve heard mixed reports as to how I came across and how my words were used though it seems the programme did not portray Babar Ahmad in a very positive light. I shal reserve judgement until after I have seen a copy.

The day after Taylor’s documentary was broadcast, the Washington Post’s Eurpean bureau in Berlin got in touch me. They later ran another less than friendly piece on Babar.

And then, on a lighter note, Josh got into a hissy-fit about Imperial College invoking the right to award degrees under its own title (as opposed to degrees awarded, at present, in the name of the University of London). None of the other KCLSU sabbaticals seemed to care but Josh decided to send emails left, right and centre across the University and media circles. Unsurprisingly, only the Guardian were really interested who some how managed to turn one overly dramatic article into two!

Anyway, it’s unlikely you’ll be hearing much more about me in the near-future. I’m no longer in a political position and, in many ways, that feels rather nice! Though I expect I’ll be back, at some point.