https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceCOhdgRBoc

Al Jazeera have started a series investigating the influence of Israel on British politics and the first episode highlighted the links between those who support Israel and student politics. I'm sure you can immediately see a bias in who is reporting it but it did seem to focus on direct quotes and explain how each person is linked together.

My experience is that student politics is often a contest where the biggest (personal popularity) campaigns win rather than looking at the ideas of each person. It's where the wrong people (career politicians) increase their influence, build their connections and push forward views that don't represent the student campus, for example banning the Sun when it's the most bought paper, or don't serve their campus best, for example "no platforming" a speaker.

There also seems to be a lot of questionable behaviour (the Cardiff Uni Conservatives pointed out that the Cardiff Uni Labour party was allowed to use Union money to go to a Labour conference not so long ago) or actions which are so organised and targeted (labour societies agreeing to block vote for a union candidate no matter what their members individually think) that make the whole experience feel a bit weird.

This seems to be confirmed by former NUS people describe the current president as "nasty" because she has opposing views and secret meetings to oust her. The definition of "moderate" seems to mean "pro-Israel" for those who are filmed. The idea that anti-antisemitism in student unions can be investigated (with no apparent mention of conflict of interest) by someone who has such clear links with the Israeli embassy is a strange one.

As ever, there is no doubt the same thing going on for the other side of the fence but it all seems so nasty and organised.