With only a few months remaining of the year, and of the Royal College of Science Union's existence, President Stuart Davis has resigned. In an widely distributed e-mail he wrote that "I do not wish to remain involved with the political or organisational sides of the Union any longer and as such I am resigning as RCSU President."

Mr Davis has offered his resignation once before under murky circumstances at the beginning of the year, but at the time it was widely believed to be a bargaining manoeuvre in the same vein as John Major's "back me or I quit" move. His actual resignation is not the first loss the RCSU team has suffered, after Vice President Lara West resigned in November last year. This time he appears more serious. "Last week was not a good week for me," wrote Mr Davis. "Within four days I was hit by a car and someone tried to mug me. One effect of all this was to make me think hard about what I wanted to do and, more importantly at the moment, what I don't want to do." Mr Davis then went on to say that "I believe the interests of the RCS students would be better served by someone with the motivation to work on their behalf."

Mr Davis is unlikely to be missed among the other Constituent College Unions, who he had succeeded in alienating by passionately arguing for their abolition. Few C&GCU officers had any harsh words for him today, however. In reality the sole significant effect of this move may be to deprive him of the position of Last President of the RCSU - something that will probably now fall upon his successor, whomever that might be.