GIVEN Campus Times's not entirely unsubstantiated view that there are a lot of Fianna Failers cluttering up USI and its constituent colleges at the moment, the results of the recent British general election indicate that the National Union of Students may not be immune to political preference either.

No fewer than six former NUS presidents are among the Labour MPs elected to office, including the new Home Secretary, Jack Straw, who was president of NUS in 1969-71; Charles Clarke, the new MP for Norwich South, who was the 1975-77 NUS president and Phil Woolas, president from 1984 to 1986.

Most interesting of all is the fact that every NUS president since 1990 is now a Labour MP: Stephen Twigg (1990-92) had the honour of ousting Michael Portillo from his seat; Lorna Fitzsimons (1992-94) is the new MP for Rochdale South; and Jim Murphy (1994-96) was elected for Eastwood in Glasgow, formerly the safest Tory seat in Britain.

Which should be a source of hope to USI's Colman Byrne Colin Joyce of the DIT, UCD's Cormac Moore et al, among the current crop of FFers in sabbatical positions. To borrow a phrase from the Sun would the last one out of the country please turn off the lights...