You don't get me, I'm part of the union

I really should have mentioned this a month ago, but my slight shock at events overcame my instinct to report them.

At our October AGM, I had the honour of being elected chair of the Oxford & District NUJ Branch. I’ll be following in the experienced footsteps of Peter Cann, who I’m glad to say will be staying on the branch committee as vice-chair. (In other words, we’ve effectively swapped roles.)

It’s quite a responsibility, especially with such big shoes to fill, but I’m confident that Oxford & District will remain a strong, active branch. We have around 400 members in newspapers, radio, television, magazines and books, and we punch above our weight in the NUJ nationally.

Thursday’s public meeting on reporting the cuts will be my first meeting as branch chair, so I’m very much hoping it will be a success.