The Year Ahead

The CF exec has been fairly busy so far, but the big challenge is the set of elections happening in May. What is CF going to do?

I would hope that we will have sorted the basic stuff. Knowing who our members are, introducing ways of getting things done quickly and easily and having some idea of what we are trying to have achieved at the end of this year.

The perennial problems of the CF NME are likely to rear their heads. In the thick of the hard work that comes with the job, every exec has a tendency to only focus on lurching from crisis to crisis, rather than projecting one, two or five years ahead. Years of muddling along in this way seem to have marginalised the role of the exec and this year we may see a radical restructuring imposed from above rather than developed from the grassroots.

Now is the time to seize the initiative.

• Firstly, find out who our members are and fill any blank gaps in the party structure.
• Secondly, have clear communication between the various levels of our membership. This should be led by the NME with a strong focus on developing the regions and encouraging localism. Also, sorting out the bulletin and website will help massively.
• Thirdly, what is CF for? A simple question, but since being elected I have heard lots of conflicting opinions. We need to fix our priorities and find ways of achieving them
• Finally, CF needs to be busier. At the moment things happen on an ad hoc basis. Why can't this organisation, with it's wealth of enthusiastic people, start planning in advance what we are doing and why, across every part of it.

Any comments on what CF should be doing? Feel free to post them on the blog.