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While the left wing of the student movement is right to highlight the lack of real financial accountability in the National Union of Students ("NUS faces split over cash crisis", THES , July 6), this is strangely at odds with its behaviour at the NUS annual conference only weeks before.

Deliberate time wasting and filibustering by the left, among others, meant less time to hold the leadership to account or scrutinise finances. While issues raised such as renationalising the railways and defending council housing may be important to some activists, the chances of the NUS implementing any of its policies are minimal as long as the organisation is undermined by a lack of democracy, transparency and accountability.

Challenging this must be the real priority if the NUS is to be relevant to its members and effective at representing their interests.

Paul Leake
Durham Students' Union