bathimpact Issue 7 by bathimpact

You’re fired!

Distraction tips

Revision fashion

Comment page 6

bite, pages 2-3

bite, pages 8-9

bathimpact The University of Bath Students’ Union Newspaper

Volume 12 Issue 7

Monday 17th January 2011

www.bathimpact.com

Inside bathimpact

Andrew Harding - PhotoSoc

Dumbed down degrees? Are degrees now worth less than they used to be? Does the increase in First Class degrees mean that the 2:1 doesn’t mean as much anymore? Hannah Raymont, Deputy Editor, discusses this issue. To read the full article flick to turn page 2 of News

Key demo dates

As the library becomes the new home for many Bath students, bathimpact brings you all the best revision and procrastination advice

Referendum to decide fate of sabb team Simon O’Kane News Contributor

ollowing a review, the Students’ Union is considering reducing the number of sabbatical officers (sabbs) from six to five. Since this proposed change targets the heart of the Union and alters the way in which it operates, the Students’ Union’s Board of Trustees is asking members of the Union to make the final decision in a referendum next month. All members will be eligible to vote online; this includes any and all students who study a course with the University of Bath. This decision will affect all students whether undergraduates, Masters, PGCE, MPhil, PhD, Division for Lifelong Learning or Foundation Degree. In the last five years the Students’ Union has only held two referenda, the last of which covered a number of wholesale reforms to Union governance two years ago. These are rare and important opportunities. At the beginning of ReFresh Week on Monday 7th February, the exact proposal will be published by BUSU’s Board of Trustees. Students will be able to submit amendments to the proposal until midnight on Wednesday 9th February; the alternative proposals will be published the following day. The exact referendum question

will be debated at an open meeting at 12:15 Monday 14th February, where people will be invited to lead and participate in campaigns for and against the proposals. The final decision on the exact question for the referendum will be decided by the Board of Trustees following this meeting. Campaigning and online polling will take place during the second and third weeks of semester 2. The plan is to change the sabb team to better balance the workload. The roles of the President and VP Activities and Development are to be altered, and a new role with wider responsibilities will replace VP Welfare and Diversity. The role of VP Communications (VP Comms) will be dropped; at the beginning of this academic year responsibility for the Union’s website www.bathstudent.com was transferred to a new member of staff, so the role’s remaining responsibilities are for communications strategy and the student media groups - bathimpact, CTV (the student television station) and 1449AM URB (the student radio station). It is perhaps unreasonable to expect that an elected representative should have the technical expertise and professional experience to manage the Union’s communications. For this

reason, the Board of the Trustees has decided to recruit a new senior manager with specialisation in marketing and communication. The role will replace the senior manager responsible for commercial operations, which have been transferred to the University. Under the referendum proposal, much of VP Comms’ responsibility for communication strategy will transfer to this senior manager. Responsibility for the Media groups will fall under the President, who will work closely with the senior manager on the Union’s message. The President spends much of their time attending official functions and meetings in the Bath community. While this is important, it prevents the President from taking an effective lead in student representation and coordinating the Sabbatical Team and Students’ Union as a whole. VP Activities and Development currently has too large a workload in co-ordinating Societies, Arts, Volunteering, Training and Enterprise. For these reasons it is proposed to widen the scope of VP Welfare and Diversity to include “community relations” - which will include volunteering. The name of the post will be changed to VP Community and Diversity to reflect this. These proposals, if passed, will

reduce the number of student representatives. It has been suggested this could weaken the strength of the student voice within the Union. It has also been suggested that this attempt to rebalance workloads could backfire, as the slightly reduced workload of six sabbs is spread among five. As elected representatives bring different skills and experiences to their roles, the reduced flexibility of a five-person team may reduce its effectiveness. The new VP Community and Diversity role is untested, so could suffer from the same overwork as the current President and VP Activities and Development. There is also concern that the new role will lose a focus on the important welfare issues. Sabbs will be able to answer any further questions and more information will be made available on bathstudent.com closer to the time. Official alternate proposals will not be accepted until ReFresh Week. Any students who want to have an input into this revision of sabb and Union structure should submit their proposals. Any students thinking of running to be a sabb should get in touch with the current holder of the office and David Howells, VP Welfare and Diversity, who has taken the lead on the review. Sabb elections will be taking place next semester.

The decision may have been made to up tuition fees but the fight continues. Sports Editor, Joe Dibben reports on the speculated dates of more student demonstrations against funding cuts and tuitions fee rises. Turn to page 3 of News to read the full article along with other interest local and student news

Chocolate aids productivity In Science this week Bruce Fanshawe explains the benefits of eating chocolate during revision, explaining how the calories can help your brain to function better. Need an excuse to pop to the vending machine? Now you have it! Head to page 11 of Science to read Bruce’s piece and another entertaining articles

I’m a student, get me out of here! Liz Lightfoot explains the educational and economical benefits of studying abroad with many courses being taught in English. For this and other international articles, flick to page 8

Monday 17th January 2011

News bathimpact Editor-in-Chief Gina Reay editor@bathimpact.com

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Letter from the Editor-in-Chief

Deputy Editor Hannah Raymont deputy@bathimpact.com

International Julia Lipowiecka international@bathimpact.com Science Sam Lewtas science@bathimpact.com Sport Joe Dibben sport@bathimpact.com

bite Editors Caroline Leach features@bathimpact.com Rowan Emslie ents@bathimpact.com Publicity Officer Julia Lipowiecka publicity@bathimpact.com IT Officer Jack Franklin it@bathimpact.com Secretary Nick Hill secretary@bathimpact.com Treasurer Rebecca Stagg treasurer@bathimpact.com Advertising Enquires Helen Freeman H.Freeman@bath.ac.uk 01225 386806

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The opinions expressed in bathimpact are not necessarily those of the bathimpact editors nor of the University of Bath Students’ Union. Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the information contained in this publication is correct and accurate at the time of going to print, the publisher cannot accept any liability for information which is later altered or incorrect. bathimpact as a publication adheres to the Press Complaints Commission’s Code of Conduct. Please contact them for any information.

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Dumbed down degrees? Real value of First and 2:1 degrees questioned Hannah Raymont Deputy Editor deputy@bathimpact.com

Chief Sub-Editor Sam Foxman subeditor@bathimpact.com News Katie Rocker news@bathimpact.com Comment David James comment@bathimpact.com

bathimpact

Gina Reay Editor-in-Chief editor@bathimpact.com

elcome back students and Happy New Year from bathimpact! I hope you’ve all had an enjoyable winter break and that the post Christmas/pre exam blues aren’t kicking in just yet. The ever-growing bathimpact team have been working our woolly Christmas socks off to bring you Issue Seven, the Revision Edition. So take a break from your workload, grab a cup of coffee and put your feet up and indulge in our wonderful 36 pages of procrastination goodness. As usual, we’re keeping you up-todate with all interesting local and student news. This fortnight we’re getting to grips with the upcoming referendum and what it means to you. We’re also bringing you all the latest sports news and results as well as some wonderful Comment, International and Science pieces to keep you amused and entertained during this difficult time. We’re now celebrating our third issue of bite, the Features and Entertainment supplement we came up with in 2010. This fortnight’s issue is themed around exactly what you’re doing right now, exam distraction. So for all our best tips on how to boss your exams and enjoy yourself at the same time, take a hearty gulp of this issue’s mouth-watering bite! What most Bath students don’t realise is just how easy it is to get involved with bathimpact. I’d like to take this opportunity just to let you all know that if you fancy writing for us all you have to do is pick up a pen! You don’t need any experience, we welcome any article ideas you have and getting your name in print is a great attribute to put on your CV. If your New Years resolution is to become more creative, get more involved at uni or even just to boost up your CV, bathimpact can certainly help. Our team are great friends, we have a lot of fun and we do something we love. If you fancy joining and helping to make the paper even more amazing than it already is, email editor@bathimpact.com. Don’t forget it’s not just writers we need, we also have teams of committed photographers, sub-editors and web designers who contribute just as much.

ot so long ago, a First Class degree was a rare achievement. However, as the latest figures have revealed, over three-quarters (76%) of Bath students leave with a ‘Damien Hirst’ (First) or an ‘Attila the Hun’ (2:1) compared to just over a third (35%) of students graduating in 1970, four years after the University as we know it came into being. Bath was a mere few percentile points below Imperial College London and Warwick, both of whom awarded 80% of their graduates either a First or Upper Second Class Honours last year. In terms of students being awarded Firsts alone, the institution which topped the table in 2010 was Imperial, with 29% of their recent graduates walking out clutch-

Over three-quarters of Bath students leave with a First or Upper Second ing the coveted classification. In spite of this relatively high proportion, it is worth noting that this is only a little more than the proportion of graduates (20%) leaving the same prestigious university with the highest degree honours 40 years ago. This slight increase, compared with the sharp increases witnessed by other institutions such as Warwick, Bath and Cambridge (all awarding 23% of their graduates with Firsts according to most recent data, up from 6%, 8% and 13% respectively in 1970), has been attributed to Imperial’s specialisms in science and engineering, subjects which generally award more Firsts, as well as their especially strict entry requirements, which favours students likely to go on to achieve

high results in their degrees. In line with Oxbridge and other leading universities, Bath’s entry requirements have noticeably become more stringent in recent years, with many undergraduate degree descriptions featuring a blacklist of certain A-Level subjects, as well as increasingly asking for A grades across the board. However, does this ‘weeding out’ of the least able

“

There has been the most extraordinary grade inflation

”

Prof. Alan Smithers applicants explain the sharp increase in the number of Hirsts and Huns on graduates’ certificates? Not according to Prof. Alan Smithers, director of Buckingham University’s centre for education and employment research and a fierce critic of “falling standards” of education. “There has been the most extraordinary grade inflation [...] As the system has expanded and a wider ability range has taken

degree courses, the universities have altered their standards. He went on to add: “Institutions are under pressure to improve their place in league tables and also need good results to compete for research grants.” The job market has also notably responded to this trend, with reportedly around 80% of major graduate employers now only seeking new recruits in possession of a 2:1 or higher, seemingly setting this as a benchmark rather than regarding the achievement of a degree by itself. “There has been compromise across the system and employers no longer fully trust degree results, and tend to look at A Level results as a more reliable indicator,” Smithers explained. Bath was among 20 institutions surveyed, the majority of whom showed an increase in the proportion of Firsts and 2:1s awarded to its graduates. Clearly, not all institutions displayed this same pattern, with notably the University of Portsmouth bucking the trend and actually awarding fewer Firsts and 2:1s last year than in 1997 and Royal Holloway remaining consistent at 69%. DeviantArt

Happy graduates - but are their degrees worth as much?

Sayonara, Dr Anderson Ioannis Costas Batlle News Contributor

“

Old McDonald had a farm. And on this farm, he bred cows”. Thus started my first lesson with Dr Eric Anderson, and, without a doubt, what instantly went through my mind (and my classmates’) was that this guy had lost his marbles. It took only another lesson to realize that I had it all wrong – Anderson knew full well where his marbles were. It

was everyone else who had lost them. Unfortunately, this lecturer who broke the mould of the stereotypical academic has recently left the University of Bath. His methods of teaching were both unique and engaging; the main premise of them to challenge his students’ beliefs and perceptions. Even if it meant pissing them off. During his six years at Bath, he taught the sociology of sport, masculinities, sexuality and homophobia to his Coach

Education students. There is no question that he will be thoroughly missed. However, those who will probably miss him most, paradoxically, won’t be aware of it: next year’s batch of Coach Education freshers. If you wish to open your mind, I strongly urge you to read some of his award-winning books (found in the library). Even if you are simply curious, you might want to poke around http://www.ericandersonphd.com

Monday 17th January 2011

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News

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Demo dates Dr Faith Butt in New Years Joe Dibben Sports Editor sport@bathimpact.com

arliament may have already voted in favour of raising tuition fees and education cuts, but students look set to continue their campaign in 2011, with some key dates coming up at the end of this month, The Guardian reports. Wednesday 26th January looks likely to see the fourth ‘Day X’ demonstration to protect the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), according to the Education Activist Network (EAN). Previous Day X demonstrations have seen police clash violently with protesters, tens of thousands of which turned out for the most recent event in London on December 9th. On Saturday 29th January in Manchester, the National Union of Students (NUS) and University and College Union (UCU) will be joining the Trades Union Congress (TUC) for a large-scale rally dubbed ‘A Future that Works: National Rally for Young People’. The aim of the protest will be to further highlight issues particularly relevant to young people, such as access to education,

youth unemployment and Government plans to scrap EMA. Simultaneously in London, The National Campaign against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC) and the EAN are organising a demonstration in London to resume their struggle against tuition fees and funding cuts. NUS leader Aaron Porter has however spoken out against the “unhelpful” protest, which comes on the same day as an NUS-backed event in Manchester and which he said risks dividing students and alienating it from the Trade Union movement. Nearly two months later, on Saturday 26th March, The NUS will join the TUC national demonstration against spending cuts at Hyde Park, central London. Protesters will march from Victoria to Hyde Park before holding a rally to call for a “Robin Hood” tax on the banks, an end to tax loopholes and fresh policies to boost jobs and green growth. It seems inevitable then, that student opposition to rising tuition fees and education cuts will continue to be a recurring theme in the New Year - watch this space.

Honours for Learning William Wan News Contributor

r Faith Butt has been awarded an OBE for her services to local and national higher education. She has been actively involved in the STEM Project, which aims to recruit more young people from disadvantaged backgrounds into Science and Technology undergraduate programmes, and with the 14-19 Diploma providers, who have supported progression from

“

She is a fearless innova-

tor in higher education

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Prof. Glynis Breakwell vocational level 3 qualifications to undergraduate study and research. In the past year, she supported HEFCE on funding methodologies for work-based learning. She also

founded the chair of the Western Vocational Lifelong Network (WVLLN) and established activities such as the Swindon Science Forum for Year 4 students. She has been the Director of Lifelong Learning at the University of Bath since 2003. The department offers help to people continuing their studies later in life and alongside a career. University Vice-Chancellor Professor Glynis Breakwell congratulated Faith on her OBE. ‘Faith has made an immense contribution to the work of employer engagement and widening access to higher education.’ She added, ‘She is a fearless innovator in Higher Education which has been of such benefit both within the university and well beyond. It is fitting that this has been recognised in this way.’ When asked about her OBE, Faith replied, ‘I am delighted that my work has been recognised in this way and thank all those who have collaborated in the various

projects for their contributions. “Widening participation in Higher Education is of national importance, particularly for researchintensive universities, and I am grateful to the university for its vision and support in enabling the division which I lead to make such a significant contribution to the national agenda.”

Border Agency to change student visas Gina Reay Editor-in-Chief editor@bathimpact.com

he United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA) is currently consulting on sweeping changes to student visas following proposals announced last month. The plans, which form part of a wider strategy to reduce migration in UK, include a number of options to radically tighten conditions on student visas, prompting fears over the impact of a reduction in international students on universities. Institutions and individuals have been invited to submit responses by 31st January 2011. Foremost amongst the proposals is the suggestion that the Tier 1 Poststudy work visa should be scrapped, or at the very least heavily restricted. International students can apply for these visas upon graduation, which allow them to live and work in the UK for up to two years. The closure is intended to ensure the number of international students leaving the country is broadly similar to those entering, and may in part be motivated by a concern for the state of the graduate job market. UKBA also argues that a much higher proportion of Post-study work visa holders are employed in low level jobs, rather than using their graduate skills to contribute to the economy. The only compromises currently suggested are

limiting the system to those with a PhD, or to STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects. Unlike much of the proposals, the changes to Tier 1 will directly affect current students, with plans to implement the changes for all those graduating after April 2011. There is also considerable concern that this will discourage employers from offering

UKBA is considering requiring students to go home before applying for new visas for new courses industrial placements to international students, a problem that already exists. The implications for courses such as Pharmacy, which requires students to work for a full year after graduation to fully qualify, also remain unclear. For the University of Bath, with both a very high number of international students (23%) and a reputation built on quality courses with employment experience, the damage could be considerable. Students wishing to continue study in the UK rather than seeking jobs may also be affected, as UKBA is considering requiring students to go home before applying for a new visa for any new courses. UKBA is seeking to limit the rights of students to work while here. At present those on a student visa are en-

titled to work up to 20 hours per week. UKBA wishes to ban international students from working during the week, except on campus. Students will still be entitled to work for any employer at weekends and during holidays. The lack of flexibility will undoubted hamper their employment prospects, with many employers commenting that the new proposals would put them off employing international students entirely. What exactly constitutes ‘on campus’ has yet to be clarified. Other changes include the limiting student visas to those applying for university level degrees. Certain institutions, given ‘Highly Trusted Sponsor’ status by UKBA, will still be allowed to sponsor international student visas for courses below this level. However, this still has implications for those prospective students that in the past would have studied qualifications in the UK necessary to apply to university. In line with other efforts to curb the number of students working in the UK, the rules on dependents (spouses, civil partners and children) are being tightened. Students will only be able to bring them to the UK if their course lasts at least 12 months, and they will not be entitled to work. Worst affected are likely to be postgraduate students, especially at PhD level. Perhaps most controversially, aspects of the proposals include differ-

ential treatment of ‘high risk’ and ‘low risk’ students, some of which may go as far as to require exemption from equalities legislation concerning race. The proposals cast doubt on how much the Government values international students. In her ministerial forward to the consultation, Home Secretary Theresa May said of international students, “In principle, such diversity is welcome. But it also raises questions about consistency and the quality of international students,” and went to conclude, “I am concerned that the UK is attracting students who aren’t always

The proposals cast doubt on how much the government values international students the brightest and best.” At present the UK is the second largest educator of students from outside its borders, second only to the USA. The UKBA consultation branding of Tier 4 international student visas as a non-economic route seems to largely ignore the vast economic benefits international students bring into the country, contributing £2.2 billion to universities on top of the money spent in local economies on living costs. The only major proposal likely to be welcomed by students is the raising of English language requirements

for those wishing to study here. It is argued ensuring higher English standards will protect international students from being accepted on courses they are not equipped to complete, and could improve integration. However, both universities and the National Union of Students have condemned the proposal as UKBA interfering in what should be academic decisions. The University and the Students’ Union will be submitting formal responses. When asked, David Howells, SU Vice President Welfare and Diversity said, “The proposals represent another Government plan which will severely damage students’ experiences, this time international students. I am afraid of the general impression it gives of how welcome international students are here, and the effects of closing post-study work on our students, especially those already here.” He continued, “The concern about placements is particularly important at this university. I would agree with HE organisations that say the proposals completely dismiss the immense value international students have as a part of our student community.” The consultation document can be found on UKBA’s website. The Students’ Union is asking for student experiences and comments on these proposals in an article at www.bathstudent.com/isa/ukbaconsultation

Monday 17th January 2010

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Comment

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So what the hell is the Footsie? You know the economy is bad when the FTSE drops more points than West Ham Utd

o what actually is the FTSE (pronounced ‘footsie’)? Most people have no idea. To them it’s ‘that economics thing’ or ‘that thing in London that goes up and down’. When I posed the question to my housemates the responses came thick and fast: ‘FTSE. Isn’t that a new deodorant?’ and ‘What’s FTSE stand for? The Foundation of Totally Scary Economics or Fluffy Tortoises Suck Embryos?’ Well no, not exactly. The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 (the ‘FTSE’ 100) is an index measuring the share price of the 100 largest companies in the UK such as Tesco, Vodafone and HSBC. In 1984, the values of the UK’s 100 biggest companies were added up and the index, in that year, was given the value 1000. As those firms grew in size the index grew with them, showing the percentage increase in the growth of the 100 firms. So when in 1997, the value of the index was 4000, it showed that the total value of these

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100 companies had increased fourfold. So in reality, whilst the total value of these 100 firms had risen from around £625bn to £2.5trillion(!), showing it move from 1000 to 4000, in index form, instantly shows economists that it’s risen by 400%. Thus, putting this all into an index such as the FTSE 100 shows the vast changes in the value of these 100 firms as an easy percentage. But then again, listening to the BBC News at 10 o’clock, Fiona Bruce read out ‘The FTSE 100 sank by 94.03 points to 3,780.96 completing a miserable day where it’s fallen by 11.0%’. So Fiona, what an earth do you mean by that? The reason why the FTSE has grabbed so many headlines is because it’s risen by nearly 9% and fallen by an even greater amount over the last few months. Extraordinary changes relative to past years. Yet, if one company out of the 100 falls in value, then the index doesn’t really change as the other companies

haven’t changed in value; but if all the firms fell then the index would substantially decrease. Therefore, when Fiona reads out that the FTSE fell by 11%, this is a huge deal (!), as it means that each of these 100 firms has, on average, fallen in value by over 10%. Considering that these companies are lucky if they grow by 5% over a whole year, an 11% shrink in a day is enormous! So next time someone suggests that the FTSE stands for ‘Fantastic Turks Sell Ecstasy’, perhaps you could put them straight and show that the FTSE 100 index and the stock market as a whole isn’t as confusing as you might think.

Liberal Egalitarianism Politicians may pose as Robin Hood, but they are just Sheriffs of Nottingham in suits Elias Nosrati bathimpact contributor

enceforth, liberals seem to care for the poor. Don Foster’s presentation of the tuition fee issue which took place on Friday December 3rd in the University Hall actually based itself on the argument that removing the £3,290 cap is a measure necessary to aid those from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. The apparent paradox of this assertion is smoothly covered by the objective of alleviating the burden on the tax payers of having to pay for the education of the well-off. Consequently, the government cuts are to be seen as an egalitarian reform… The amplitude of the budget deficit serves its purpose of underpinning this line of argument. The cuts in the education sector are, as the Vice-Chancellor at the University of Bath firmly asserted on Wednesday December 9th, imminent and definitive – there is no return and nothing we can do about it. This (apparently) unassailable “fact” is henceforth our

“Haha! The peasants, oh I mean students, are revolting! “ point of reference. Consequently, the commodification of education has been neatly facilitated but remains at all times under the guise of an egalitarian spirit. Thus constituting student loans as the ker-

nel of higher education funding, the state is firmly neglecting the fact that debt aversion is a class issue. The vote ended as expected: the remoteness of the government aim (ever since New Labour

entered the scene in 1997) to substantially widen HE participation, in particular that of the poor, has never been greater. The amount of evidence brought forth by various social

scientists which unambiguously suggests that Higher Education institutions serve as agents of social reproduction is ample: ever since their creation universities have helped to reconstitute and solidify hierarchical social structures. Apparently the only thing the system lacked to reach its functional zenith was a raise in tuition fees. Nevertheless, the liberals appear genuinely concerned about the “equity” of redistribution – that is, after having reduced tax progressivity and shamelessly amputated numerous public services and social benefits. Both royals (Camilla debacle) and ministers (Clegg’s walkabout hijacking incident) have had a taste of student revolts. Nevertheless, the paralysis of protest is complete: the voicing of disapproval across the country has, in true accordance with modern ‘democratic’ procedures, quite skilfully been reduced to some sort of practical behaviourism, a harmless negation which the status quo easily digests as part of its healthy diet.

Monday 17th January 2010

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Comment

You’re fired!

bathimpact contributor Jack Penrose examines the previous series of The Apprentice

think it says a lot about me as a person when I turn down such lucrative offers as to go out on a Wednesday night, as throughout last semester I preferred to stay in and watch The Apprentice on BBC. This season did not disappoint as you’d imagine – it was entertaining, divisive and ever so slightly educational. The Apprentice is a wonderful learning tool for people as to how not to do business, besides it being a giant ego trip for Sir (now ‘Lord’) Alan Sugar. You only need to look at some of the spellbindingly fatal mistakes made by some of the contestants to learn from their misfortune so that you don’t end up repeating them in your future career; whether it’s pitching a bread roll to a bakery at £1.82 per unit (well done, Melissa), or deciding that truffles are worth £2000 per kilo, and then paying £200 for just 56 grams (congratulations, Laura). I for one will never use a child as the focal point

of a marketing campaign for a product which ‘must be kept out of reach of children’. You might think people would be smart enough not to commit such mesmeric errors, but I was pleasantly surprised when they kept happening. The Apprentice is a useful programme to see the catastrophic errors that the candidates make. It is entertaining, not just for Lord Sugar’s belligerent ruthlessness or his terrible one-liners, but also for the utter tripe that comes out of some of the contestants’ mouths. Enter Stuart Baggs, the Brand, and Dr. ‘Dolittle’ Shibby Robati, and you have at least one hour of unleaded guilty pleasure. Everyone has their favourite Baggsy moment, mine is torn between the “field of ponies” speech and the dressing down he received from pit-bull interviewer Claude Litner. Some other comedy moments came from the legend that is Nick Hewer, and the new sharp

aide Karren Brady certainly filled the big shoes of Margaret Mountford. Lord Sugar’s gags were always welcome even if they were occasionally tumbleweed-inducing. The point is that the show was just plain hilarious with some golden moments of pure comedy. This series the eye candy improved significantly. Chris Bates’ piercing blue eyes and monotonous vocals won over a few female viewers, while a lot of the male audience will have surely been completely bowled over (sorry, Aussies, for the cricketing pun – I couldn’t resist) by the gorgeous Liz Locke. Aside from the better-looking, more arrogant, more clueless contestants, we did have one actual shining light in the form of industrious Stella English who deservedly won the show against all the odds of her turbulent and colourful background. Despite her limited creativity and innovation, she more than made up for it

with hard-nosed, shrewd decisionmaking and drive, and she also adapted well to every test that Lord Sugar sent her way. For the next series, I’d say bring on another set of “Britain’s sharpest business minds”, complete with more candidates who possess through-the-roof arrogance, mindnumbing stupidity and absolutely no business acumen. Except this time, perhaps a few more genuinely credible candidates wouldn’t hurt, as when it came to interviews – Lord Sugar had either already let go some of his best and brightest (Liz and Christopher), or he found that the people he still had left in the show didn’t have any depth to them (Jamie, Joanna, Baggsy) and weren’t actually as talented as the field of ponies they had so desperately promised. Not to be conspiratorial, but I think that Lord Sugar often sacrificed more talented candidates for good television. Keeping

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Ben was fairly modest about his scholarship to Sandhurst

Stuart Baggs ‘The Brand’ had a field of ponies to offer Stuart Baggs in the process seemed to be more for entertaining TV than a sage recruitment decision. It’s also worth mentioning that some of the candidates have alleged criminal backgrounds including fraud, racial abuse, and links with organised crime. It’s certainly been quite a spicy series. The Apprentice delivered another great series of an excellent programme. We all may have our queries on who was fired when and just how much bigger Lord Sugar’s ego can become, but we certainly all had fun watching this gripping series.

Redefining revision

Revision: Everytime I do it it’s like I’ve seen it all before Sian Barnett bathimpact Contributor

evision: the act or process of revising. Helpful definition there Mr Collins Dictionary. Let’s try again. Revise : Change or alter, to prepare a new edition of previously printed work, to read something several times in order to learn it in preparation for an examination. Aha, fourth time lucky. Or unlucky as the case may be. The word that we all have and, I’m afraid, will utter with resentment and despair for the next however long, has reared its ugly head once again. I can’t decide whether dissection of this tiresome process is worthwhile or if we’d all just be better popping it in the ‘ignorance is bliss’ faction of our minds. As a cocky, revision-free placement student, the latter category suits me just fine. But, if you’re reading this, chances are you’re a fully-fledged Bath student, sitting on campus in

that swanky new Student Centre us invisible 3rd years have heard so much about and are actually having to deal with this dreaded noun. Hmmmm, guessing we’re going to have to break it down after all. As the name suggests, re-vision requires the notion of seeing something more than once, i.e. implying that when you come to open a textbook to ‘revise’ – you have actually already seen that de-

Poor little old Revision, he is, after all, only the helpless lovechild of Mr Study and Mrs Degree lightful theory, concept or process before. Now, this is where I interject with the likelihoods that this is not necessarily possible, or in fact, true. I, for once, prefer an Americanism in this case. ‘Studying’ is perhaps a more accurate description for these depressing periods

of the student civilisation as we know itr ceasing to exist. ‘Studying’, according to our reliable source Mr Collins is to be engaged in the learning or understanding of a subject, which I think suits more of our approaches towards examination preparation. Whether this is because our engagement is self-promoted or forced is another question all together. This said, I can’t help but wonder whether Mr Revision gets a disproportionately rough time. Poor little old Revision, he is, after all, only the helpless lovechild of Mr Study and Mrs Degree. His pushy parents have hermit-ed him away from his peers never letting him interweave with them. Whoever said that Revision didn’t actually want to be with his counterparts, Miss Socialise, Master Sports and Master Call-of-Duty? Maybe it’s about time we shake the convention and pre-supposed conceptions of Revision and invite

him to mingle at the metaphorical cocktail party of activities? Who

Revision should leave the party early and go and stay with his big brother Master Library knows, Revision could be the first to arrive and the last to leave, buying countless rounds of Study-bucca shots and Essay-bombs for everyone and even challenge Master Life and Miss Soul of the party to a swot-off. He could, however, be the liability in the corner, dampening Miss Fun and Master Games and not allowing our old friend Mr Hangover come out to play at all the next day. Maybe after all, Revision should leave the party early and go and stay with his big brother Master Library for the next few weeks and just hang out with Mr Knowledge and Ms Cram to please his mother. Tough life Revision has, but someone, or indeed us all,

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Monday 17th January 2011

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Study abroad benefits Liz Lightfoot bathimpact Contributor

magine being debt free on graduation day and heading off for a Master’s degree costing just £1,400. Think of studying in a small university town with historic buildings, a river and cobbled streets where the main source of transport is the bicycle. Too good to be true? Well it is, at least as far as the UK is concerned. But cross the Channel and such bargains are waiting at Maastricht University and other universities on the Continent, and you don’t even have to speak a foreign language. Universities in The Netherlands and several other European countries are offering bachelor and Master’s degrees conducted in English. It is an interesting development for UK students who as EU citizens must be treated as home students under European law. They pay a fraction of the cost of fees to international students from outside the EU. Incredible as it may seem here in the UK, undergraduate and Master’s fees for Dutch domiciled students in the Netherlands are €1,672 or £1,407 a year. PhD students are considered members of the research staff and paid a salary. Undergraduate fees in Germany are £870 a year and France charges a token £157 a year for a bachelor’s degree at its statefunded universities. British students are known for their reluctance to leave the shores of Blighty – around

500,000 international students come to the UK each year while the flow in the other direction is less than 20,000, many of them on language courses, according to the British Council. However studying abroad is likely to become a more attractive option in the coming years as swathes of state subsidy are removed from Higher Education in the UK. The Government’s decision to reduce the number of places alongside a surge in applications led to around 200,000 prospective undergraduates being turned away last summer. Applications for 2011 are at a record high as students turn their back on gap years to get in before the huge fee rises planned for 2012. As the cost of a university degree is switched from the state to the individual, students could be facing debts on graduation of between £30,000 and £40,000, all of which will have a knock on effect on recruitment to post-graduate courses. Even under the present system, students such as Callum Biggens often think twice about a Master’s degree in this country and its associated costs. For Callum, who graduated from the University of York with a degree in economics and history, the London School of Economics was the first choice until he discovered the fees for the year-long MSc in international relations were a staggering £15,000, even for home students. “One night one of my housemates at York and I decided to look into Europe. To this day I

do not know how this happened. We decided to have a race to Europe and I somehow came across Maastricht University,” he said. Callum, who started the course in September 2010, says a bonus for him was the broad racial and cultural mix at Maastricht. Settling down and making friends is no harder than it is as a fresher in the UK, and perhaps easier because nearly everyone is having to adapt to a new country, says Callum. “Initially I was placed on the outskirts of the city, right on the border with Belgium, nearly an hour’s walk away. The first week was not so much tough as lonely. On the welcome day I met other people and ended up sharing their accommodation closer to the city centre. I live in a three bedroom flat with a shared kitchen, shower and living area and TV so I can watch Match of the Day on Saturdays! The “problem based learning” system across the university encourages friendships because students work together in groups of around 10 to explore solutions to questions and challenges set by their tutors. Generally students are said to work harder and play less in the Netherlands than they do in the UK despite the thriving social scene in Maastricht with its huge selection of bars, cafes and restaurants. The lower cost of living also helps– most monthly rents are between £250 and £330 – and there are plenty of cheap food shops, the opposite to costly cities like Bath and London.

Studying abroad has another big advantage – it is popular with employers. Luc Delany, 29, the European policy manager for Facebook, originally from Hull, chose Maastricht over UK universities for his undergraduate degree in European Studies. When hiring, he looks positively on studying abroad: “A university degree probably means that applicants can read and write but it is the extra things that people do that distinguish them from the crowd. Taking the bold decision to uproot and study in another country will at least get them noticed.” For general advice on studying abroad: http://www.ukcisa.org. uk/student/ukstudent/index.php

As scenic as Bath, but with a cheaper price tag

Maastricht University website prospective students page: http://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/web/Main/ProspectiveStudents.htm.

E ntering

the 2011 Shine! Awards? Send your “letter home” application to

international@bathimpact.com

and

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it!

Zapping Zapatero Daniel Pannell Foreign Correspondent

he Socialists in Spain have achieved a minor victory this year - the introduction of a smoking ban stricter than the one we have in England. The mutterings of discontent can be heard all over : “Fascists!”, “Socialists my arse!”. It is a small victory in a big war, and seems almost irrelevant when the general opinion is that the economy is going to be the big issue in the March 2012 general election. The PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers Party), on the other hand, are also patting them on the back for the latest ETA declaration. Assuming the members of the Basque separatists keep to their promise of a ceasefire, that could also be another victory claimed for the ailing Lefties.

The Partido Popular (PP), the Spanish Conservative Party, is sharpening its swords for a tough battle. The leader of the Opposition, Mariano Rajoy, is on the brink of power having waited almost 7 years for what ‘should have been his’ when the PSOE spectacularly snatched victory from him in 2004. It also seems that the PSOE is ready for a change. The Spanish PM, Zapatero, is beleaguered with problems that stave from a still worsening economy and talking to people - they really do hate him and his policies. There are rumours of a change of leadership, and the Vice-President Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba seems the ideal candidate. The Spanish don’t seem to like Rajoy either - he’s a symbol of a time long ago. Assuming the PSOE get rid of Zapatero and take up Rubalcaba, they might just be in with a chance.

Monday 17th January 2011

bathimpact

International

www.bathimpact.com

Bonjour Brussels: life in the rainy city

Foreign Correspondent Andreea Alecsandru searches for serendipity in Europe’s hectic capital.

t all got off to a great start! However, flirting with the idea of moving to work in Brussels somehow did not encompass the practicalities of actually doing it. So when it came to developing a loving relationship with the city, there was no escaping from issues like bureaucracy, dreadful weather and the incredible pace of life, which are commonplace all over the world and yet seemed so very pronounced to me! The process of becoming a respectable resident proved to be significantly more challenging than one would have envisaged and without the much coveted piece of signed paper, there was no opening of bank account and payment from my employer. I waited for another three months before the elusive certificate finally made its appearance. And then, of course, there was the house-hunting! This activity should, under no circumstances, be considered a one-weekend activity with a few visits and one selection. In fact, even today when I hear the

words ‘État des lieux’ (i.e. a fully detailed inventory) some cold shivers go down my spine. Despite all this, for a Politics student like me, Brussels soon becomes the new Mecca - with its wholesome sexiness rapidly transforming the city into a sweet and addictive drug. As the famous Virginia Woolf put it, Brussels is one

of those special cities whose very vibe gets stuck to you, like a spider’s web, “ever so lightly, but still attached to [your] life at all four corners”. On a different note, the habit of incessant networking is prevalent everywhere and it is one of those addictions that has the power to take over your life. Everyone seems

Brussels has as many surprises as Manneken Pis has outfits

to have a business card going with the constant exchange that makes one reminiscent of childhood collectible-cards games. It would thus appear that ‘you ain’t cool if you ain’t got one’ - which sadly is the case for the intern that is me. Paradoxical as it may sound, business lunches end up being the only time when one can truly enjoy

the food - in the peace that would otherwise be considered a luxury amidst the daily grind when one has only time for a sandwich in the lift or is too ‘wired in’ to eat at all. Politics, politics, politics – even the clubs organise “Eurocrats parties” and all the jokes are political. And of course it goes without saying that, if one finds the jokes beyond their comprehension, they should still feign understanding or face the wrath of being a sudden outcast. Ever since I came to Brussels, I haven’t managed to ‘book’ a full day for myself and explore the city properly, but still – it has been my ‘home’ for the past 5 months. However, with a bit of luck, you might even find something that can fascinate you: the beautiful GrandPlace, the marvellous Magritte museum – not to mention chocolate and Tintin. A stroll around the city is akin to serendipity’s journey: a flea market with some precious chic brooches or an old movie theatre, you will be amazed at what Brussels has to offer. Just…give it some time.

New year, new you, new language! Need a resolution for 2011? Why not learn a new language? Simon O’Kane looks at the language opportunities available to you through the FLC.

The University’s Foreign Language Centre (FLC) offers free foreign language tuition to all students. Whether you want to learn a new language from scratch or improve upon an existing one, there are courses available in French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese and Mandarin Chinese at a level to suit you. The FLC also runs evening classes open to the general community, where you can learn the above languages plus Russian, Arabic and Greek. This year I opted to learn a brand new language: Mandarin Chinese. There are several different Chinese languages, with different spoken forms but all sharing the same written form. Mandarin, as the official language of both the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China, is the world’s most spoken language; over 800 million speak Mandarin as their first language, with 500 million more having it as a second. The rise of China as an eco-

nomic and world power makes Chinese an increasingly useful language to know. My own personal motivation was based on a desire to integrate more closely with the University’s vast Chinese community – many postgraduates in particular have Mandarin as their first language. Our class was taught by a native Mandarin speaker. She started by teaching us how the language was pronounced. Like the languages of south-east Asia but unlike most other languages, Chinese is a tonal language – the tone in which a vowel is spoken as central to the word as the vowel itself, or the consonants around it. In addition, there exist a few consonant sounds that do not exist in English, so it is important to take time to master the pronunciation before proceeding. Next we moved on to basic grammar and vocabulary. Although the writing and pronunciation are complex, the grammar is far simpler than in most languages – our teacher told us several times that “Chinese is so simple and logical, unlike

other languages like English.” After four months studying the language, I’m starting to think she has a good point. As you might have guessed, the writing is the most difficult part. As such, you won’t be doing much of it during the first year, but you will be introduced to some of the characters – plus in most places the textbook writes the characters alongside the phonetic pinyin script, so you can learn characters quicker if you wish to. The writing is also the most rewarding part – all the Chinese languages share the same written form, while Japanese also uses the Chinese characters in addition to its own phonetic script. I am really enjoying the class, eager to continue next Semester and already trying to learn more using a bilingual dictionary and by speaking to my Chinese friends. I’ve just confirmed with the FLC that there are places available on Chinese and all other languages next semester. So come see them on Wessex House Level 7 or email flc@bath.ac.uk. What have you got to lose?

Monday 17th January 2011

bathimpact

Science

Monday 17th January 2011

bathimpact

Science

www.bathimpact.com www.bathimpact.com

Nature or nurture? The current scientific theories on homosexuality

Is UK drug legislation as mad as a hatter?

Katy Glazer and Jess Bean investigate - just as two friends working on the same article of course!

omosexuality has long been a controversial topic. For years homosexuality

has been condemned by religious leaders and the wider public alike, with homosexual sex in England and Wales illegal until 1967 (in the Isle of Man it even remained illegal until 1992). Homosexual people in some cases still remain attacked and vindicated for a personal ‘choice’, although how much of a choice is it really? The ‘nature vs. nurture’ debate has raged in science for decades, as scientists continue to investigate if homosexuality is in fact genetic. Historically, homosexuality has been regarded

as ‘unnatural’, however it is not confined to the human population homosexual acts have also been ob-

served in more than 450 species of animal, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, molluscs and worms. This article aims to sum up the recent findings of scientists in this field – is there genetic evidence for homosexuality? In actual fact, there is a considerable indication that homosexuality has a genetic basis. Since the early 1900s it has been noted that homosexuality tends to exist in higher levels in some families, compared to levels in the general population. Homosexuals tend to

have more homosexual siblings than heterosexuals, and twin studies also show a link. There is a higher concordance of sexual orientation in monozygotic (identical) twins than dizygotic (fraternal) twins. If homosexuality is in fact nurture, then fraternal twins (twins with different genes born at the same time) should have a similar concordance of sexual orientation. There is a paradox with this conclusion though. In biology (according to Darwinian evolution), genes which increase the reproductive success of an individual should be passed on through generations, whilst those that do not should be lost. Homosexuality is biologically a disadvantage. Along with the usual hazards of sexual intercourse such as increased risks of predation and infection, homosexuality also has none of the reproductive benefits. Therefore biologically there should be no reason why homosexual genes are still around today. However this is obviously not the case - 3% of a population sample in America considered themselves homosexual or bisexual (Conron et al., 2010). Homosexuality in the animal population is equally prevalent. If the genes responsible for homosexuality remain in the population, they should offer some counter-balancing benefit elsewhere. So what are the benefits? Well there are a couple of main hypotheses. An early hypothesis on homomexuality was the Kin Selection hypothesis. This basically stated that as homosexuals reproduce less; this diverts resources to their siblings instead. By increasing the chance of their shared genes being successfully carried on, this is essentially in everyone’s interests. Unfortunately, despite the appealing theory, little evidence has found any significant difference in care levels of relations in homosexuals and heterosexuals. A more quantitative theory that partly explains homosexuality is the Balanced Polymorphism theo-

ry. Normal male or female development is dependent on whether or not testosterone defeminises the neuroendocrine and behavioural potential of the brain. It is thought that abnormal testosterone exposure may result in homosexuality (Roselli and Stormshak, 2009). The Balanced Polymorphism theory states that homosexuality is polygenetic (caused by many genes) and results in altered hormone levels during development. Having all, or many, of these genes may result in homosexuality (fitness disadvantage) but having a few of these might be an advantage. Each gene is thought to relate to traits such as sensitivity or kindness which in moderation could produce a kind, heterosexual male. These males would likely be preferred by a mate-seeking female. The benefit of having a few of these genes could account for their existence within populations, whilst their cumulative deleterious effect prevents them spreading throughout the population. It was thought similar genes may account for lesbianism. Additionally, a quite influential

ublic opinion has always scolded harshly those who take drugs outside the norm – demonising it as unnatural, unhealthy and damaging to everybody. There’s been opposing public pressure from a few different people though, such as political party ‘the Legalise Cannabis party’ whose manifesto consists mainly of… well, does exactly what it says on the tin. Governments have classically taken a hard line on drugs and have always been keen to add a stamp of ‘I say no to drugs’ to their image. Some high ranking scientists are now questioning the rationale behind The Misuse of Drugs Act in the UK though, with many believing it to be shock legislation associated with the psychedelic days of the 60’s. In http://tinyurl. particular, Professor David Nutt, com/5tr8fqz who was sacked for questioning the scientific basis for Gordon Brown’s reclassification of cannabis from class C to B, has been campaigning hard for an overhaul of the current system, encouraging a more evidence based approach. Creating his own system that looked at the harm to the user and harm to society, alcohol was ranked the number 1 problem drug, causing more harm hypothesis has been put forward to society than any other, with LSD, named the Fraternal Birth Order ef- ecstasy and mushrooms all in the fect. Studies have found that having bottom four. Whether society is ready for all older brothers increases the odds of homosexuality in later-born males by 28-48%. One of the most prominent explanations for this finding is the maternal immune hypothesis. The maternal immune response is thought to occur through foetal cells entering the maternal circulation during childbirth. Foetal cells from males have been shown to include substances which only occur in or on male cells, in which case the mother’s immune system he consequences of devourwill recognise these as foreign and ing several bars of chocoproduce antibodies to act against late in a single sitting weigh them. Once this immunisation ef- heavy on the mind, especially on a fect has commenced any subse- Tuesday morning; however calorie quent males she mothers will be af- intake aside, the advantages of regfected by these antibodies crossing ular chocolate consumption could the placental barrier and entering improve brain function. Recent rethe foetal brain. It’s thought they search into flavonoids, chemical then act to somehow divert sexual compounds found in high concendifferentiation from the typical trations within chocolate, tea, vegmale pathway, with effects being etables and a number of other food more severe in subsequent sons. It sources, has revealed that they can is thought this may account for be- interact positively with proteins in tween 15% and 29% of cases of male the brain, hence their ability to imhomosexuality. prove memory. Previous research

out legalisation is a big question but with new scientific research surrounding illicit drugs coming out every day and a growing trend

of thought that many of the drugs aren’t as bad as originally thought, we may soon see changes in UK legislation on drugs. Flickr

Sam Lewtas Science Editor science@bathimpact.com

Genetically modified pig poo on the horizon Gina Reay digs up the dirt and serves up this shocking breakthrough

ow we all know that pigs aren’t the cleanest of animals and I’m sure over the Christmas break you may have heard the phrase “your bedroom is like a pig sty” a fair few times. However, farmers have made an astonishing improvement to a certain species of Yorkshire pig. Researchers have designed a genetically modified ‘enviropig’, a cheaper and more environmentally friendly breed of pig. This GM superpig has friendly poo, this means that its manure contains less phosphorus than your average pig slurry. For this reason, it is less dangerous when it enters a water supply through rivers or lakes. The idea began over a decade ago with researchers working out

how to make their dream a reality. The superpig, nicknamed Frankenswine, could be the first genetically modified to enter the food chain. Normal pigs excrete a large amount of phosphorus-rich waste which can be a huge risk when it enters water. The toxic substance can poison fish and other aquatic life. Enviropigs have been invented to produce their own phytase which can break down a pig’s phosphorus before excretion, reducing the amount of it present in a pig’s poo. For now, the superpig is being bred in Canadian laboratories. Although a long way off from entering the food chain and appearing in our pork sarnies, the discovery could be extremely important for the environment.

Chocolate - the golden ticket to exam success Bruce Fanshawe explains why chocolate is key for helping your memory in these deskbound times, and how our most indulgent nosh is about to get a whole lot tastier…

highlighted the ability of flavonoids to act as anti-oxidants and

protect cells from oxidative damage due to free radicals; evidence

now suggests greater functionality, so you needn’t feel as guilty when

you reach for that Ferrero Rocher. What’s more is that within the last month the entire genome sequence of the cacao tree (Threobroma cacao) has been published. Not only will this enable the possibility of increased chocolate production through genetic engineering (even more chocolate to eat!), but may also allow tastier chocolate varieties to be produced through analysis of the concentrations and types of chemical compounds produced in cacao seeds. Rewarding oneself in the midst of examinations has never looked so, so delicious...

Procrastination Monday 17th January 2011

Procrastination Procrastination Procrastination

Procrastination

Monday 17th January 2011

EDITORIAL

Editor Gina Reay editor@bathimpact.com

Welcome to the third issue of bite. Our theme this fortnight is one that you’ll all be familiar with: Procrastination. We know that when you’re reading this you’ll probably be knee-deep in lecture notes and practice papers so why not use our excellent articles as a way to fill your well-deserved break? We’ve got fascinating articles from a range of writers (which could include you) in this edition. We’ve got tips on how to stop procrastinating, or if you think you’re a lost cause, some excellent activities to try out instead of your usual hum drum pastimes. Our lead article also gives you a never-before-seen insight into how we at bathimpact spend the hours before a deadline. Even our fashion section has got in on the action with some stylish examples to follow if you want to add a touch of class to your procrastination. If you like what you see or fancy writing for us yourself then please get in touch; either by using the email addresses on the left or by coming along to one of our contributors’ meetings which take place fortnightly. Search for bathimpact on Facebook for more information.

Deputy Editor Hannah Raymont deputy@bathimpact.com

bite Editors Caroline Leach features@bathimpact.com Rowan Emslie ents@bathimpact.com Publicity Officer Julia Lipowiecka publicity@bathimpact.com Chief Sub-Editor Sam Foxman subeditor@bathimpact.com Advertising Enquires Helen Freeman H.Freeman@bath.ac.uk 01225 386806

bathimpact Students’ Union University of Bath Bath BA2 7AY 01225 38 6151 Printed by Harmsworth Press Ltd.

Contents

bite-bathimpact

Procrastination: the top 10

www.bathimpact.com

Written by Caroline Leach Now you might think you know all about procrastination. Maybe you produce enough food to feed a (virtual) army every day on Farmville. Perhaps you’ve got the tidiest, most accurately colour co-rdinated sock drawer in the history of sock drawers. You might even have a Neopet. But we here at bite have something to say to you, you ain’t got nothing on us. What follows is a photo diary of an average Wednesday in the bathimpact office. For those of you that might not know, every second Wednesday is the most important day of the bathimpact fortnight. This is the day before the next issue goes to print. The day when we should be focussed, busy, getting on with our tasks. But as any student journalist, or in fact any student in general, knows, it is an extraordinary phenomenon that the time when you’re supposed to be working is the least likely time for any actual work to be taking place. So journey with us as we lend you an insight into our lives, and who knows, maybe it’ll entice you so much that you’ll want to get involved. You could even use it as your very own procrastination activity. Just look us up on bathstudent.com or Facebook to find out more.

Features Procrastination: The top 10. Pages 2 & 3 Procrastination is my vice. Page 3 Restaurant reviews: Wagamama and Ask. Page 4 Productive procrastination. Page 5 Never have I ever.... indulged in sexual procrastination. Page 5

The Guide Upcoming gigs, comedy, films and exhibitions near you.Page 7

Fashion

1. Listen to/read whatever weird stuff we’ve been sent re-

cently. Bath Style - Our brave photographer visits a bunch of people ‘revising’. Pages 8&9

Jonas Brothers anyone? No? Maybe you’d prefer Humanzi?

Winter sales online are the way to go. Page 8

Fashion at Bath 2011 casting call. Page 9

Technology

Flickr

University based browsing. Page 10

Music The music industry online. Page 11 Sink days into a discography and revel in your encyclopedic knowledge. Page 12

Television ‘One more episode won’t hurt.’ Reality TV is just irresistible. Page 13

Literature Proust is the master of time, learn from him. Page 14

Puzzles

2. Watch something pointless yet slightly amusing on iPlayer QI will do nicely.

Monday 17th January 2011

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www.bathimpact.com

4+5

6 7

3. Bury ourselves in back issues

4+5. Eat and drink

6. Read the newspaper

7. Check our webmail

The proximity of the Student Centre shop and Plug bar make this one unavoidable

Sometimes it’s our very own bathimpact (which we’ve already read about 5 times) or sometimes we torture ourselves by reading other student newspapers and comparing them to ours.

Then we check it again, and again, and again, and again...

It’s surprising how much fun can be had with a few hundred copies of a newspaper.

Procrastination is my vice

Written by Anishka Gheewala

If you say you are, and always have been a model student, a completely focussed individual, with great concentration skills, I think you are lying. We have all procrastinated, don’t deny it. Whatever our vice is, we have spent hours doing absolutely nothing useful just to avoid work. These are just a few of my own vices and how I’m combatting them this exam period: 1. Facebook: So what did I do? I went ahead and gave it up for the exam period. Yes I am attempting the impossible.

9. Origami

As you can see this isn’t the activity that we spend the most time on.

It’s very soothing, particularly when deadlines are looming.

2. Making tea and coffee and not even drinking it: well I gave up caffeine too. This may be extreme but another option would be to buy a thermos and take it with you so you have no excuse to go down and make another cuppa because yours has gone cold, then you meet your housemate on the stairs and it all goes downhill from there. Flickr

8. Tidy Up

3. Making a colour-coded sticker-filled revision timetable: I already did this so…moving swiftly on. 4. Watching T.V.: If you watch T.V. during your breaks of revision, you will end up watching the whole episode of Friends, you think that one more won’t hurt, then you can’t stop and your whole day is lost in a world of Chandler and Monica’s wedding. 5. Reading the Daily Mash or equivalent: It is an online newspaper dedicated to making fun of the news. If you didn’t already know about it, I apologise for increasing the procrastination options. 6. Having a catch-up with some friends: tempting as Starbucks in town seems right now, don’t give in, instead get them to your house for a meal (as we all have to eat) or get them over for some revision sessions. 7.

10. Staring out the window It’s quite a nice view from the top of bathimpact towers (if you like concrete and metal bars) and gazing out across it seems to calm us down, even after 4 red bulls.

Naps: JUST DON’T LOOK AT THE BED. It’s the only way.

8. Lastly, sorting out irrelevant things. As an example, yesterday I spent the morning sorting out my socks and finding the missing ones. Yes, it is a useful thing to do in general but not at this moment. So from now on, I will prioritise. I’m going to leave you with some advice, if you need it, which is to organise your revision day how you want it to go. Add in some structured relaxation time like a nap or one hour of T.V. so that you don’t end up wasting a day watching Jeremy Kyle, and mix it up a little by revising with other people so you don’t get bored. The more interesting you keep your day, the easier it is to avoid procrastinating.

Monday 17th January 2011

bite-bathimpact www.bathimpact.com

Food: fancy an Italian? Just Ask! Written by Gina Reay

ere at bathimpact we love our food. When organising our annual Christmas meal there was a lot of debate over which restaurant we should choose, French, Chinese, Indian or Spanish we asked? A three-course banquet or a quick and cheap burger and chips? Bristol or Bath? When I floated the idea of going for some Italian grub to everyone, the team reluctantly agreed it was the best choice. We therefore decided to head to Ask. Tucked away at the end of George Street, not everyone knows Bath is home to one of these yummy Italian restaurants. After a wonderful Christmas meal there, I can say it’s one of Bath’s loveliest eateries, with great service, sumptuous Italian munch and a fantastically chilled out ambiance. Perfetto! We arrived at Ask a little late, but we were welcomed by our hostess Amy with a friendly smile. She showed us to our table at a nice quiet side of the restaurant and made sure everyone was looked after for the rest of the evening. The menu was spectacular with a range of choices for the mildly peckish to the extravagantly ravenous. Our IT Officer Jack couldn’t wait to order his regular, the meat calzone, which he had clearly been looking forward to for a while given his enthusiasm. All dishes were reasonably priced, perfect for a student budget and the waitress did mention in conversation that Ask often boast special offers and printable 241 vouchers on student websites. Our team of committee members, editors and reporters enjoyed the stress-free atmosphere and the attentive service. On reflection, one of the best things about it was that we could actually talk to each other without the usual loud, intrusive music. The team had enough space to move around and many found themselves swapping seats

to socialise more widely, we weren’t all packed in like sardines. For main course I selected the Spaghetti Carbonara, which was very tasty however when I craved a little more cheesiness our waitress Amy obliged happily to grate yet MORE fresh parmesan on my creamy pasta, delicious. The portion sizes were almost buonissimo, leaving just that little bit of room for the exquisite honeycomb cheesecake which most of us indulged in, leaving no leftovers and a very very full team. Our night of cheesy pasta and cheesecake was funnily enough followed by cheese night, at Moles, where we danced off the calories to the corniest of Christmas anthems, a great way to finish a really great night, finishing 2010 off in journalistic style! Thank you to Amy, Tasha and everyone else at Ask, Bath for making our night so enjoyable. If you fancy a little break off your revision or you’re looking for somewhere to host your next society meal, why not head there for a meal? I promise you won’t be disappointed! Also, if you’re interested in joining bathimpact and coming on our 2011 socials, email editor@bathimpact.com, it could be you writing our next restaurant review!

The bathimpact team at Ask for their Christmas meal

Refuel for revision at Wagamama Written by Caroline Leach

agamama is one of my all time favourite restaurants I was asked if I fancied an all expenses paid trip there to review their new winter menu, I did not think twice. Especially as the evening coincided with a visit from my mum; what better way to impress the parentals than with a parade of your journalistic skills? (existent or otherwise) To begin our evening I decided to sample one of Wagamama’s new cocktails, introduced especially for the party season. I went for a harajuku which consisted of vodka, honey and thai basil with fresh pineapple juice. At over £5 a pop I wouldn’t recommend drinking them all night but it was delicious. It wasn’t too sweet, and the gradually developing flavour of the basil leant it a pleasing freshness. Wagamama is known for its exotic mix of asian-inspired dishes and the varied menu was not a disappointment, showcasing dishes influenced by cuisine from all over the Asian continent. Wagamama is also known for a very democratic way of dining. You sit on benches at long wooden tables, which means you could end up sharing your evening with another party. This makes for great people-watching and it really gives the restaurant a lively feel without being too busy. However, it might take the romance out of a first date! This is not really a problem when you’re there with your mum. They also have a very egalitarian menu, which has no starters but side dishes instead. As everything is cooked fresh to order, dishes can arrive at different times. As it happened, all our dishes arrived very quickly and all at roughly the same time. The big portions made it all a little

overwhelming to look at but we resolved to do our best. I ordered what seemed to be the only new main dish, the teriyaki chicken donburi. The contrasting colours of the carrots and pea shoots made the dish very attractive to look at, and it was just as tasty. The chicken was glazed in an orange sauce which was just sweet enough and for those who like a little extra spice it came with spicy kimchee on the side. My mum went for the teriyaki soba with salmon, a noodle based dish packed full of crispy vegetables that contrasted nicely with the squishiness of the noodles. As a side order we ordered the duck gyoza, rich deepfried dumplings with a sweet cherry sauce. They were delicious and I could have happily eaten twice as many! We also ordered a portion of salted edamame beans. They were such a ginormous portion that we couldn’t manage them all, and of course we wanted to leave space for pudding. From the dessert menu we ordered the two new dishes; frozen yoghurt in three flavours and the Japanese cherry cheesecake. My favourite frozen yoghurt flavour was the chocolate with ginger and chilli as it was an interesting twist on the norm. The chilli wasn’t too strong but just added a kick to the richness of the chocolate. The cherry cheesecake was just as delicious. All in all, dining at Wagamama makes for a lovely evening. There’s great food, with big enough portions to make the prices worth it, a fun and lively atmosphere and the service is brilliant. See you there! If you fancy writing a restaurant review? Just get in touch at editor@bathimpact.com.

The duck gyoza with a sweet cherry sauce

Monday 17th January 2011

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Pondering the possibilities of productive procrastination Written by Sîan Barnett

ccording to psychologists Schraw, Pinard and Wadkins, an activity must be “counterproductive, needless and delaying” to be classified as one of procrastination. Although, I’m not sure if this cut-throat definition is just a little too limiting when discerning procrastinating activities. A few of the most common ones; whilst “delaying” that essay/revision/application you should be working on, are not necessarily able to be classified as “counterproductive” or “needless”. Cleaning/cooking/exercising are all activities which have a necessary purpose and which one will inevitably have to do at some point, so why not now? “Ahem,” The Conscience replies, “Quit fooling yourself. Your reading/cover letter/dissertation is of much higher priority - put down the dumbbells/spatula/ hula hoop and get back to it.” Humpf - always ruins everything does The Conscience. So, I suppose those “productive” activities are just as much procrastinating as sitting and staring/ making paper swans/coming up with your superhero name, as the end result, i.e. no result at all, still prevails. I am a hypocrite, as I should be getting on with various mentally straining activities, but do as I say and not as I do. Give yourself a shake, and get off Facebook/Sporcle/FitFinder (no, researching the hottie opposite you in the library does not count as work. Neither does listing all the Pokemon characters, for that matter) and just get down to it. Or, if you’re not going to do any work at all anyway, you might as well procrastinate properly. Hit the sofa with Holly & Phil, Ben & Jerry even Bert

2 weeks with those dumbbells and this could be you

& Ernie and while away today doing sweet F.A. Okay, not only am I a hypocrite but now I’m a bad influence too. The gospel of Wikipedia informs us that “chronic procrastination may be a sign of an underlying psychological disorder”. This psychological disorder, as my mother calls it, is known as B.B.I. (Being Bone Idle). This, I feel, is somewhat harsh. If we procrastinators have any “underlying psychological disorders” it is the inability to concentrate combined with the ability to find anything but that which we should be doing completely and utterly interesting. Quite impressive really. “Psychological disorder” my foot. “exceptional talent” more like. Okay, okay, denial aside, procrastination can yield some positive outcomes. Had Isaac Newton not been avoiding his lab work and sitting under that fateful apple tree, he would not have “discovered” the notion of gravity. Had Fleming not left his petri dishes to become mouldy, he would not have discovered penicillin. Had Simon Cowell not put off putting Liam Payne through to the final stage of X Factor in 2008, One Direction would not exist as we know them today. Okay, I’m not getting so far ahead of myself into a delusive state in thinking that the invention of a new corridor game will inadvertently create a cure for cancer, or that working your way up the BlackBerry Wordmole leaderboard will enable the disintegration of conflict in the Middle East. However, maybe not all procrastination is unyielding. Maybe it is something I should go and ponder with my dumbbells, spatula and hula hoop...

Never have I ever… indulged in sexual procrastination Written by bite’s sex columnist

ne of the most dangerous distractions to a revising female can be the revising male. Therefore, it would be a wise decision to spend the entire exam period celibate, getting wrapped up in research rather than satin bed sheets, surviving on strong and powerful coffee, rather than the temptation of a strong and powerful man. Early mornings and late nights plus the added bonus of staring at computer screens and textbooks all day can have a damaging effect on the love life. It’s important to remember that exams are only temporary, us women have our whole lives ahead to indulge. After a Christmas period full of being spoiled, the post-climactic dry spell has now arrived. A chocolatefree, fun-free and sex-free month. Who knows it might do you good? Although I can’t guarantee that sitting in the library fantasising about the gorgeous young man opposite you won’t distract you just as much as the act of intercourse itself. However I’m a firm believer in that old saying: absence makes the heart grow fonder. Abstaining from intimacy could make the end result even more intense, meaning that post-exam celebrations will, quite literally, go off with a bang this year. Sports players are always bragging about the benefits of celibacy before a football match, maybe the same thing will work for exams? All the pent-up sexual frustration will aid focus and help us to jump through the examiners’ hoops. Look how successful the Jonas

Brothers have been in life with their sex-free mantra! Your man can be the light at the end of the tunnel. Why not organise a romantic getaway for inter-semester break? It is commonly known that sex in a hotel room is always better than sex in your own bed. A chance to escape student living for a few days after the great depression of essay and exams before second semester starts could do couples the world of good, giving you something to focus on during the difficult time. For the single ladies amongst you, the first night out after exams is always a prime opportunity to get some action. Most students are in high spirits and celebration often means a fair few bevies, prime time for searching for a new lover to welcome in the new semester with. There’s no point hoping that you’ll meet your dream man during exam time. The most eligible of bachelors will be cooped up in their rooms doing exactly what you should be, revising. Going out on the lash does not count as procrastination, in my books, it counts as failure. But hey, rules were made to be broken right? The truth is no one can control how much or who little revision you get up to over the next month. It is time for us women to empower ourselves and FOCUS. For once in my life I’m under the impression that sex won’t make this situation any easier! So come on girls, let’s not use our men as procrastination machines, let’s boss these exams instead.

Keep your thoughts on books, not beds

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The Guide

Monday 17th January 2011

Donald Sutherland (left) and Elliott Gould (right) showing everyone the horrors of war in Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H. Catch the Big D in The Mechanic later this month.

Music

Theatre/Comedy

Exhibitions/Film

Sea of Bees – The Fleece, Bristol – 2nd February This band blend dreamy west-coast folk with Japanese pop. We’re not really sure what else anyone would need to be convinced to catch these guys when they come down to southwest England. If you like Beach House or The 5,6,7,8s then you’d probably enjoy it. If The Eagles did that ‘Woo Hoo’ song from Kill Bill it would sound a bit like this. We can’t think of anymore descriptions. They’re almost certain to be plaguing adverts in the next year so go and see them before you get sick of them. We also have free tickets for this show so get in touch! Andy McKee – St George’s, Bristol – 9th February The Youtube sensation (The Guide hadn’t heard of him either) is coming out of the land of interwebs to tour the UK. His brand of incredibly technical acoustic guitar and guitar/harp playing is quite mesmeric, blending intricate melodies with baselines and percussive beats that he plays on the body of the instrument. He also has a cracking beard, as all slightly strange virtuso musicians should, that, if online commenters are to be believed, was gifted to him by Chuck Norris. What’s not to like? Get in touch with us if you’d like a couple of free tickets to go see him perform. Everything Everything – O2 Academy, Bristol – 15th February As you guys are all a bunch of hepcats and trendies (as The Guide believes the kids are saying these days) you’ll have heard of this band already. Hyped out of all proportion by journalist not at all in the pay of PR companies, Everything Everything have been plastered all over the press as the ‘sound of the future’ for the coming year. As this sort of predictive journalism worked out so well with Ellie Goulding we’ve gone ahead and procured two tickets for their upcoming Bristol show so feel free to ask us for them. NB: If you do want any of these tickets we do normally expect reviews of the gigs but we can talk about that when it comes up, soemtimes the gig might not fit with the bite theme. We give lots of tips!

Tim Clare – Old Vic, Bristol – 27th January The author, comic and musician is bringing his massively acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe show to Bristol for one night only. Billed as a dark comedy stand-up/poetry ‘Death Drive’ deals with Tim’s depressed decision to return home to live with his parents, touching on his excruciating teenage experiences, his performance is said to be extremely physical as well as very amusing. We’ll admit that we know very little about this guy but it is all quite intriguing if you’re into your strange dark comedy. As this comes straight from the cutting edge of live performance so should be a fascinating evening out, go and have a look. Avenue Q – Theatre Royal, Bath – 2nd-12th February The mischievous lives of people and puppets in downtown New York will be bringing their raucous political incorrectness to the sleepy streets of Bath to hopefully provoke a barrage of complaints from society types who expect more gentility at the venerable old institution in the middle of town. If you enjoy South Park, Hair or The Muppet Show (the 70s incarnation, of course, when it was cracked out by LSD taking hippies rather than the insipid remake of more recent years) then this show should have you cackling in the aisles. LOL (lots of love) – ICIA Arts Theatre, Bath – 12th February Fancy a bit of ‘witty and profound dance-theatre’? Of course you do. We are in no doubt that, like ourselves, you have all been tearing out your hair because you just couldn’t find any dance-theatre at all. Well the good people at the ICIA have decided to scratch that itch for you and bring it to your campus. This particular show is an exploration of how social networking and the internet have impacted on our lives. The Guide hopes the dance element in no way involves wheelie computer chairs but can promise nothing. The show is also said to contain some provocative humour so we assume that LOLCats will also be incorporated into the proceedings. Starts at 7.30pm.

Class Wargames – ICIA Art Space 2, Bath – 19th January - 26th February There is nothing quite like participatory performances of social experiments. Led by Guy Debord, Class Wargames are a group of artists, academics and activist who seek to expose how consumer capitalism and media saturation has entirely changed how societies function in the last three decades – since the heady beginnings of neoliberalism under Reagan and Thatcher. The performance/exhibition includes multi-media, discussions, art and many more vaguely voguish things that might make your head explode. But, you know, in a good way. It’s free and everyone is welcome so get out of the library and get involved. The Mechanic – Cinemas, Everywhere – 28th January Seeing as the cast list for this film is headed by Jason Statham and the synopsis describes his character as a ‘well paid assassin’ you could perhaps forgive The Guide for thinking that this movie would turn out to be a whole boat load of rubbish. However, after a little more investigation (reading the rest of the cast list) we noticed that Donald Sutherland is in the film. This guy is a complete hero. We’ll even forgive him for making Kiefer – I mean, come on, have you guys seen MASH (the movie not the god awful series)? It’s amazing! Frankie & Alice – Cinemas, Everywhere – 4th February Ok so this is a film about a mixed race woman with multiple personality disorder. The twist is, one of her personalities is racist and is trying to takeover. Can you imagine pitching that as a movie idea? Sometimes movie executives make us very, very happy. “A Jekyll and Hyde film about self hating racism, you say?” Thoughtfully puffs on a cigar, “Hell why not? Definitely can’t see that concept turning into a ridiculous film. Greenlight it.” This better not turn out to be a heartrending masterpiece or we’ll be extremely embarassed.

Monday 17th January 2011

bite-bathimpact

Monday 17th January 2011

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Fashion: Our brave photographer visits a bunch of people ‘revising’

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Photos and interviews by Harriet Tangney

Holly Narey, 1st Yr Biology

Tom Brennan – 1st Yr Chemistry

Ed Fletcher, 1st Yr Chemistry

Esther Mensah, 1st Yr Chemistry

How’s the revision going? Uhh no comment. I’ve decided against revision for the moment, decided to focus on more esoteric pursuits. I’ve been reading old pulp stories from the 20s and 30s. The comics are so sexist.. why is the heroine always topless? To make up for the crappy writing? That’s a point, they are quite predictable.

Whatcha watching? In the last 24 hours, I have watched every Star Wars movie in a row just so I could find an internet joke funny. So was it funny? I LOLed, and then I ROFLed. You kids and your crazy web lingo...

Learnt much today? I taught myself how to knit fairisle, always useful for a chemistry degree! Also, I found out that the plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets, who knew? Probably the QI Elves knew. They know everything. Yeah, citing QI basically wins every argument. I wonder if you’re allowed to put it down as a source in essays?

Facebooking much? Farmville might possibly fail my degree for me. Though I just bought a new harvester, harvesting is now 4x more efficient! If only it counted towards a real degree. I know right? Maybe it does if you do farming at an agricultural college. It’s bound to work like that....

Winter sales online are the way to go Fashion at Written by Holly Narey

inter sales come but once a year, and for that I can only be thankful. For me, the only purpose they serve is that, due to their rarity, they are a feasible excuse for giving up on revision for a day. Unfortunately, they never seem to really feel like breaks; it is just a way of exchanging one sort of stress for another. The frantic crush of sales seems to imitate the confusion and crowding of thoughts often brought on by the inevitable pre-exam cram; the feeling when you find a gem at the back of the sale rail is very similar to the rush felt when you realise you’ve memorised the glycolytic pathway, so it’s unfortunate that these two events coincide. The scramble for savings seems even more frenzied this year with the rise in VAT and forecasts that shops are going to be raising their prices by up to eight percent; it could be the last opportunity for a long time to get some real bargains. When it comes to avoiding revision, however, there is a far bigger sale-related danger; with so many of us glued to our laptops or computers desperately reading through articles and notes on moodle and various websites, it’s easy to let your attention lapse for a moment with the whole of the internet at our fingertips and that’s it; you’re lost in an endless cyberspace of half price clothes, shoes and accessories. A five minute break can easily overrun, and budgets can just as easily be blown in seconds. This makes internet sales doubly hazardous; not only are they a distraction but also with phrases like “up to 70% off!” plastered colourfully across every page and the bank accounts full of our next lump sum of loan it’s easy to delude yourself that you’re not spending real money, and that it doesn’t really count. The internet brings the ability to browse the sale pages effortlessly and add to the basket with just one click; movement from one online store to the next takes mere moments and removes the nuisance of the winter weather; all of the chaotic and

exhausting sides of sale shopping vanish and before you know it ten pounds has become seventy pounds and you’re left at the checkout either with a lot of wasted time or with a lot of spent money. This all has a cost, not just financially, but also in terms of results. It comes down to whether you would be happy with knowing that you might have got a 2:2 (or a ‘Desmond’ as completely hilarious people like to call it) as opposed to a 2:1 in that exam, but at least you’ve got a nice new coat and a pair of boots, and for half the price! Maybe it’s a good idea to stay off those websites altogether, or if you can’t resist, download a blocker extension for your browser to limit the time you can spend on them each day. It’s true that by the time our exams are over so will the sales, and with higher prices and the debt mounting shopping will be more painful than ever before, but this may be a case of choosing between missing out on the sale price or paying the price, because this method of procrastination will leave you with a physical reminder of how much time you wasted, arriving in the post in three to five working days. Now don’t get me wrong, delving into boxes from the magical depths of the internet is a joyous occasion. You can have yourself a second Christmas, opening up all those presents (from me to me) and showing them off to the people around who silently seethe with anger and jealousy. That’s pure joy. It’s just that nagging voice that tells you that an eccentrically dressed, icy hermit did not get you all of these pretty things will drive you mad. Perhaps if everyone renames Santa Claus, calling him ‘Captain Overdraft’ instead, and accepting that his character is full of retributive fury that will ensure you only eat tins of beans for weeks then everything will be fine. We’re all bound to continue to live through the internet anyway – especially during procrastination week – so at least buying cut price clothes will force us to go and open packages and get away from the screen for a minute or two.

Bath 2011 T Written by Anneka Klapwijk

his time last year the Fashion at Bath team were working hard to bring you another of the University’s most significant charity events and this year won’t be an exception. On Wednesday 16th March, our models will be back on the catwalk in the elegant Assembly Rooms showcasing the biggest trends from shops and boutiques around the city of Bath. A night of special performances, high street clothing and designers including Republic, Warehouse, Office and many more, this event is not to be missed! Last year, over £3,000 was raised for Sue Ryder Care, our chosen charity. Interested in being a part of Fashion at Bath? What are they looking for? Male and female models Where and when and how can I apply? To the casting on Tuesday 8th February between 10am and 3pm in Elements. Do I need to have any sort of experience? No previous experience is necessary. Is this strictly for architecture students and people in arts societies? Will you spurn me because I’m a physicist? Of course not! All Bath University students are welcome! It’s a really fun event and a good chance to meet new people, have a good time and gain some model experience.

Calling all Bath Fashionistas Are you a budding designer? Are you addicted to hours of seeking out that perfact bargain buy? Do you despair at the sight of thousands of identical outfits crowding the lecture halls of our dear University? Then we want you.We want all of you creative types to come out of the woodworks and tell us all what’s in and what’s out (although, of course, in the bathimpact tower we consider ourselves to be pretty snappy dressers...). • Do you follow all the fashion blogs the rest of us are far too indolent to get through? Then you should be giving us your insider knowledge. • Anyone out there who personalises their clothes or who, even, makes their own should let us know so we can photograph your achievments and you can give us all tips on how to do the same. • Appearing in these pages will be quite an honour. Do you think you’ll make the cut to join our style luminaries on this double page? Or maybe you have a particularly swish friend - the public deserves to know! • We are desperate for photos all over this section so if you want to get involved in the photography/design side of things we’re also really interested in getting your input. • Maybe some of you are a bit controversial and think fashion is a frivolous, expensive waste of time - tell us your reasons why. As ever get involved by dropping in to our office (Norwood Level 4), sending us an email (ents@bathimpact.com) or by accosting one of us in a public place if you happen to know what we look like.

Monday 17th January 2011

bite-bathimpact

Monday 17th January 2011

bite-bathimpact

Fashion: Our brave photographer visits a bunch of people ‘revising’

www.bathimpact.com www.bathimpact.com

Photos and interviews by Harriet Tangney

Holly Narey, 1st Yr Biology

Tom Brennan – 1st Yr Chemistry

Ed Fletcher, 1st Yr Chemistry

Esther Mensah, 1st Yr Chemistry

Winter sales online are the way to go Fashion at Written by Holly Narey

Bath 2011 T Written by Anneka Klapwijk

Monday 17th January 2011

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Tech: University based browsing www.bathimpact.com

Written by Jack Franklin

The top rated girl (Secret Girl) on Younilife’s ‘Hot or Not’ photo section is from the University of Bath......

But we’re pretty sure that the bathimpact editor’s prospective entry would take that crown easily.

s we’re entering exam times, we thought we would help out all those procrastinators out there by giving them two fantastic websites to browse and use, both related to University. So they don’t really count as procrastinating, right? Set up two years ago by Bath Spa student Hagen Christoph, Younilife (http://www.younilife.com/) was founded out of a need for a site where past & current students could rate their university experience online to provide prospective students with actual ratings from people there - not the flashy, bells & whistles approach taken at University open days. “I wanted to get independent advice on Universities to help prospective students” says founder Hagen, “I also felt students should be given a chance to share their views about their University of choice.” From there the site has continued to grow & grow and now receives around 31,000 visits every month, mainly from the UK but also from abroad. The rating service is very popular and includes league tables of Universities based solely on student ratings. Starting here Younlife has grown into a larger website with a lot more features, such as the accommodation service for any major UK city, aimed at all of you first years (myself included!) who will be moving out of Halls next year and also can be used by landlords to advertise their properties at a very good price, all done with incredible ease. And if you’re just looking for a quick read past exam papers, Younilife has a blog with student news and also some bizarre - but funny - student stories. Younilife have also just launched the “Hot or Not” competition, aiming to find the hottest students around the country! All you need to do is log onto the website and upload your picture. Alternatively, if you’re a budding musician in a band, you can submit a song to Younilife to enter the “Student Charts”. University radios across the country work hand in hand with Younilife and the best songs get played out on University Radio, including URB, which participates in the scheme. If you wish to find out more about the site, go to www. younilife.com and check it out. It really is a valuable resource, this article has barely scratched the surface of the amazing things the site has to offer. Our second favourite is UniSport (http://www.unisportonline.co.uk/), a website keep you up to date with all University Sport fixtures and results. They also have articles discussing recent sports news from all over the world, not just at University level. If you wish to find out how Bath are doing specifically, you can browse a list of all the Universities and click on Bath. If you want to see how your friends else where are doing, the list of Universities has all the bigger Universities on there. One thing we would like to see is more Universities being included here. And for all you budding photographers out there there is also a “Picture of the Month” competition where you could win some UniSport goodies just by uploading a picture relating to student sport. The website also boosts a video section (currently featuring our very own Andy Crawshaw taking on the “Golf Challenge”) but it’s best feature in my opinion is the huge list of fixtures & results. You can view fixtures for any of the teams at the Universities on the site, and view past results as well. So if you’re wondering when any of Bath’s teams are back in action, this is the way to find out. Once again, the website for UniSport is http://www. unisportonline.co.uk, and it’s the number one resource for Uni Sport news on the internet, a truly fantastic site for Uni sport lovers. Now, obviously checking such resources is in no way as bad as trolling youtube and facebook so, really, using these sites is something that you can be proud of doing. Honestly.

bite-bathimpact

Monday 17th January 2011

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Music: The music industry online By David Fawthrop

NB: This article is a response to Dan Eagles’ article in bite from 13th December entitled ‘The music industry is homogenized and it’s all the fault of the internet. Writing such responses is Grade A procrastination, we salute you sir. he first thing I want to make clear is that there is a fundamental difference between ‘music’ and the ‘music industry’. I always felt this distinction was an obvious one, but it’s one that many seem to miss. ‘Music’ is the product of a creative process which uses the medium of sound to encapsulate thought and emotion and to express feelings; it has been a part of human cultural heritage for tens of thousands of years. The music industry on the other hand is a recent phenomenon concerned with the marketization of this creative process, turning it into a profitable venture for managers and promoters, and sometimes musicians. The music industry IS a business like any other. Like any other business, the music industry is there to make a profit. This in many cases creates a conflict of interests between musicians and the music industry because, whilst they aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive, financial viability will always take priority over creativity and originality. Throughout the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and into the 90’s the music industry was the gatekeeper to being a professional musician. The record labels owned the means of production and distribution. The studios, the record factories, the PR and marketing departments. All of which were prohibitively expensive and inaccessible without their financial backing. If there was a time that music was homogenised, this was it. The huge financial investment required to make a musician profitable meant that record companies would err on the side of caution and invest their money in bands and artists most likely to have wide appeal and give them a return. The upshot of this being that the music being filtered through the music industry into the mainstream media became repetitive and unimaginative, as successful formulas were reused time after time until they were no longer profitable. The manufactured pop groups of the 90’s are perhaps the most notable example of this trend. But in the last 15 years or so, the relationship between musicians and the music industry has radically shifted. There are, in my view, two main reasons for this. Firstly, the cost of the technology required for music production has fallen dramatically. Secondly the internet has made it possible for anyone to get there music heard and to promote themselves. Far from homogenising the music industry, the internet has blown wide open the power and control and constraints that the music industry placed on musical creativity. The result has been a huge increase in the availability of diversity of music as musicians blend existing genres and styles using new technology to create original and exciting kinds of music. No longer needing to recoup a large investment or needing to be profitable to a mass market, music has become much more esoteric with a huge range of subgenres and styles catering to an ever more sophisticated and musically literate audience. I don’t agree that the internet has increased the pressure on people to conform to social norms. I would argue that the opposite is true, by allowing people to find music they like and to find people with similar tastes to them and form communities, the internet has liberated people from the values of their immediate social surroundings, and with it, concern over how society perceives them. The internet has revolutionised our relationship with music, by-passing the music industry and putting us directly in touch with the creativity and talent of musicians around the globe. This is a golden age of music and its thanks largely to the internet.

Not even the might of the internet has been able to stop the return of Take That

The Arctic Monkeys are one of the many bands to have found fame through the internet

Monday 17th January 2011

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Sink days into a discography and revel in your encyclopedic knowledge www.bathimpact.com

Written by Fabiana Giovanetti

discography is a listing of musical recordings of a specific singer or band, which can be one CD long or an endless list of whatever a singer/band has released. Even if iTunes and the new music trends are now changing the way of listening to music itself, there are still some strange examples of these “discography listeners”. They can be divided into two categories: the aware listener and the unconscious one. The former is usually groomed into this way of life by an audiophile relative or friend and their extensive collection of vinyl or audiotapes. It may begin with the curiosity of discovering whoever put a guy wearing a school uniform on the cover of a CD, or it can simply be the older brother legacy; it doesn’t matter that much. Sure enough, it always ends with the most complete list of LPs, demos, live performances, bonus tracks of the Lithuanian edition and whatever has been released from the first EPs recorded in an old cellar to the triple Greatest Hits. The aware discography listener can be both the most annoying person to talk to about music and the most useful source of information about that specific band. Counter-indications and collateral effects: his obsession can become out of control and his room a personal temple devoted to “Them”. This type is, let’s face it, normally male. The unconscious discography listener is the one who has been listening to a band from the beginning and simply follows its steps without realising that, at least until

they’ve spent most of his their following them on a three month European Tour, breathlessly going from one location to another until they find themselves stranded in Ukraine with no budget to get home. I am obviously using two extreme examples but they still make me think over the good and the bad of the discography itself. As I said before, listening to complete discographies is an old-fashioned trend which is slowly vanishing. It’s universally recognised that the price of the LPs is still pretty high and the priorities of a university student, who survives thanks to the Sainsbury’s basics, are different. Instead of buying a full album, you can easily buy the single hit that has been stuck in your head on iTunes. Angus Young, legendary Aussie frontman, said after the release of the latest Ac/Dc album: “Some people say we have thirteen albums that all sound the same. That isn’t true. We have fourteen albums that all sound the same.” This sarcastic reply to the critics leads me to another negative aspect of the discography: some of them seem endless. If you want to listen to all the albums of a legendary band like Pink Floyd you have to find enough time (and energy) for more than fifteen albums – live CDs or extras excluded. This can lead even the most willing listener to breakdown in a pile of sleeve notes, blubbering about repeated chord progressions and lyrical refrains. If we want to simplify matters, we can say that the

discography is the history of the singer/band so far. It helps you to understand how they have evolved during the ages, what has changed or what the undeniable identity of the artist it, the thing that means you recognise them from the first few notes. What can beat the pleasure of being at a live concert singing all the lyrics, knowing exactly when there’ll be that breath taking guitar solo? It’s not a moral duty, it’s a way for the listener to create a link with the band, being able to accept that some albums are good, some others are not. Remember that nobody expects you to like and listen again to all the albums – the “del” button on your keyboard is there for a reason. The reward for listening to so many songs may be to find a “hidden track” you didn’t know that’s able to replace that old hit stuck in your head. Plus, it’s also a good way to keep you updated about the bands you’re really into and discover what’s going on behind the scenes. Yes, I’m guilty of delving into discographies as both an aware and an unconscious listener. I have the right of deleting what I do not like and I also have the right to stop listening to a singer as long as it ceases to be my cup of tea. Being fair, this is also a good way to justify your procrastination and start knowing something more about that band your boyfriend keeps speaking about. Put on your earphones, open a random page of your notes and start listening. It has never been so easy, hasn’t it?

Pink Floyd: a band with an enormous, varied discography that can be tough to get all the way through even for the hairiest middle aged men out there.

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Monday 17th January 2011

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“One more episode wouldn’t hurt...” Reality TV is just irresistible.

he TV. The box. The little (or big, if you like to show off) red, green and blue pixel producing wonder that has its own place in virtually every living room in Britain. Great, ain’t it? However, it would be nothing but for those ever so slightly low-brow broadcasts that continue to reel in millions of square-eyed couch potatoes, and yes, people like you and me; students that are meant to be (ahem!) especially hard at work at this time of year. Nevertheless, when the alternative means us actually facing a book as opposed to flicking through endless photo albums on Facebook, most of us would still prefer some kind of fun distraction. What could be better, then, than feeling smugly superior while a pint-sized spoilt little sod throws an outrageous hissy fit because her parents revealed her brand spanking new Lexus (and in the incredulous words of an generic American high school drama character: um…hello?!) before her actual birthday party, witnessing the callous crushing of a little old lady’s ego before she is stitched, nipped and tucked within an inch of her life (and of course accessorised with awful, too-white dentures) or even watching Z-list celebs choke on crocodile testicles in the jungle? In short, you a good do a lot worse than an indulgent slob in front of the telly, watching hours upon hours of horrendous but highly entertaining reality trash. Sitting in front of a device which has become almost affectionately known as ‘the babysitter,’ (as it can unknowingly hypnotise us, as well as it can boisterous children, into remaining still and speechless for hours) has become a favourite past-time for Brits, with ourselves (and interestingly, the Portuguese) clocking up more minutes in front of the idiot box than the average nation, with 4 hours a day as typical, according to research carried out last summer. In normal circumstances, I certainly do not spend that much time in front of the television and cannot think of many people who do, but then again I don’t have a television in my house in Bath. The wide-reaching popularity of YouTube, along with BBC’s iPlayer and Channel 4’s online streams (4OD) has led to our computers becoming a multi-tasking, tireless entertainer, allowing us to simultaneously tweet, talk and type witty and narcissistic Facebook statuses (or is it ‘stati’?) while Sir/ Lord/King Alan Sugar’s voice snarls in the background during that episode of The Apprentice that you missed last week. A computer however, and Facebook for that matter, generally require us to put in a little more effort for us to be entertained. What use is Facebook if you actually don’t add everyone you’ve ever met and then clogged up their feeds with all your irritating updates from Farmville? And when you watch television on the internet, you have to actually seek what programme it is you want to see instead of just what first appears on the screen. As far as the good old-fashioned television is concerned, it’s essentially all about the convenience of instant gratification, of entertainment provided for us without us lifting a finger (except to change the channel). I never had a television in my own bedroom as a teenager but religiously watched Neighbours curled up on the sofa when I got in from school, a comforting but not particularly intellectually rewarding ritual that continued right into my second year of university (I’m sorry, but it’s just not the same since it moved to Five) but television has left little imprint on my life since then. However, things took a turn for the worst when I went back home over the holidays. Honestly, I was full

Nicky Hambleton-Jones: Saving us from boredom, but stopping us from actually studying.

Written by Hannah Raymont

of good intentions, my suitcase weighed down with notes and books instead of a few extra pairs of shoes. I walked into my old bedroom, which had has finally been adorned with what it has always been craving: a gleaming, widescreen dream of a brand new television. The light danced off of its white glossy finish, shining like an angel heavensent to save lost student souls like mine from the boredom and pending doom of long, long essays. Although the television was really meant for my dad so he could watch the cricket or Top Gear while my mum watches Strictly Come Dancing downstairs, I relished being able to lie on my old bed and switch off for a moment while drawling dunces threw chairs at each other on Jerry Springer, or their British equivalents on Jeremy Kyle stared dumbly in disbelief after hearing their lie-detector test results. In a desperate bid to avoid facing my assignments, I even resorted to watching shopping channels in between repeats of Friends (yes, even the countdown auctions!). Yet, no matter how many times I watched them, I was still plagued with the same question: who actually buys this crap? Of course, Christmas is probably the time of year where we consume the most television and it was no exception in my house, although the habit has, well, kind of stuck. Instead of the box, however, it’s YouTube that’s been my downfall. Virtually any TV show you could wish for to…er…break up your revision is on there. I have

become hooked on old episodes of Gok’s Fashion Fix, a makeover programme that’s more light-hearted and a lot less extreme than 10 Years Younger (which is rubbish now Myleene Klass presents it anyway), which I’m somehow justifying watching by the fact that Gok helps me find ways I can spend less on looking individual and…er.. therefore helping me save money…? Well, he’s certainly not saving me any studying time, that’s for sure, although I am endlessly amused by the way he seems to like boobs a bit too much for a gay man. Another reality TV programme which I am thrilled to see back on our screens when we’re all meant to have our eyes glued to our textbooks is One Born Every Minute, which, of course, is all about people having babies. However, although it’s heart-warming to see people become new parents, the real entertainment comes from couples bickering and the midwives gossiping, and there is always a really annoying family member or partner who you want to slap in every episode, as well as the appearance of the stern receptionist who always seems to be eating. It is also happens to be set in the same maternity hospital where yours truly was born, so perhaps I am hoping to see someone I know… Anyway, that’s enough for now, I must get back to work, but I must, absolutely must watch another clip of talking animals from BBC’s hilarious Walk on the Wild Side. Or maybe two. Good luck in your exams!

Monday 17th January 2011

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Literature: Proust is the master of time, learn from him Written by Rowan Emslie

arcel Proust spent pretty much all of his life writing one book – ‘À la recherche du temps perdu’, normally translated as ‘In Search of Lost Time’. In fairness, it is a massively long book, weighing in at a mighty 1.5 million words and spanning 7 volumes, it is one of the longest novels ever published. Just to give you an idea of how long that really is, it is almost three times the length of Tolstoy’s epic ‘War & Peace’, a book that, in English translations, is normally about 1400 pages long. It is by any standards a hefty read. What really sets it apart from other monstrously long books – most of which are sci-fi epics or serials written by multiple authors – is that it is lauded as one of the most important works of literature in the Western canon for many reasons but, most famously, for introducing readers to the concept of ‘Proustian memory’. There is a famous passage where the narrator, upon eating a French cake called a Madeleine, is thrown into a memory of his childhood which becomes the basis of an extremely long dissection of how he grew up including what events shook him or have stuck with him throughout the years. This idea that memory is associated to sensation – in this case, taste – is a theory that Freud touched upon at a similar time but there is no evidence of Proust having read or been influenced by his work (or Freud having read Proust for that matter). This invention opens up the novel, allowing the narrator to dive from one part of his life to another without the intervention of action or plot. At the same time what triggers such memories and what associations the narrator makes when indulging these flights of

fancy introduces an unbelievably nuanced series of clues about the narrator – things that maybe he is unwilling to say or doesn’t even know about himself. To modern readers the idea of an ‘unreliable narrator’ is quite common – it is even haphazardly employed in Stieg Larsson’s ‘Millenium Trilogy’ although the results of it are much less laudable – but, particularly in the early parts of the 20th century when Proust was first being published, the method by which he introduced this element into the story was completely revolutionary. Because he is able to combine incredible, synaesthetic passages of prose poetry but he is able to structure the book and build on the depth of the narrator’s character all at the same time. Getting to grips with this book is a task which would put you in some highly esteemed company: Virginia Woolf was an avid fan (and ripped off many of Proust’s devices for her own literature), as was mid 20th century literary giant Vladimir Nabokov. I’ve been grappling with it, on and off, for a couple of years now and have the final three volumes still to go. Various bits of it have travelled with me all over the world, remaining a constant companion from the summer of 2008 to now. It has been a comfort at times – reading it on a memorably dangerous coach journey in East Africa is a memory that often comes to mind, looking up from the dizzyingly complex prose every so often to see the vehicle swerve on pot-holed roads taken at far too great a speed while a chicken pecked at my feet was pretty surreal. It is challenging, as most modernist literature is, but because it is separated into seven volumes you get the opportunity to take long breaks from it. I’ve found that even gaps

of six months isn’t too much because the richness of detail evident on each and every page immediately descends on you as soon as you pick it up again, completely immersing you back into his mind and his life without missing a beat. Actually I think that trying to read them all in one go would sour the experience because of its worthiness and intensity. The last 200 or pages of Volume 3 are about one dinner party (taking in Proust’s thoughts on body language, class and etiquette as well as the histories of several fictional families). You’d be mad not to take a break after that. Writing it actually finished the man off. He died in 1922 without completely finishing the last three volumes. He was an incredibly sickly man who spent the last decade or so of his life in a cork lined room in Paris so as not to aggravate his asthma. This book was what he used to pass all those hours, most of them spent in complete isolation because of his poor health, and you can absolutely tell just how much time he poured into it. The balance and the density of his prose is masterful. It is a difficult, time-consuming process to read it because of the amount of references he makes and the delicate way in which he moves along the story it is easy to lose your bearings and have to start the paragraph again. This isn’t something that feels like he wants to challenge you – as probably his only contemporary equal James Joyce often did – but techniques that necessarily exist to keep the enormous web of plotlines, characters and ideas all together. In short-ish doses, however, it is one of the most rewarding books I have ever encountered; it is absorbing to unbelievable degree. Take that first plunge and embrace an experience that can last years!

A pretty good image of the terrors of road travel in East Africa. The potholes never end. Nor does the threat of head on collisions. It’s probably character building

FRIDAY

Monday 17th January 2011

Procrastination Central

bite

Darius G

www.bathimpact.com

Handily placed on the back of bite, ready for your emergency coffee break and perfect for de-stressing between coursework or revision sessions.

Across 5. 6. 7. 8. 10. 11. 14. 19. 20. 22.

23. 25. Yeast extract spread 26. 27. (7) 28. Western US state 29. (10) Dirty, thick liquid 33. (6) 35. Ravenous (9) 36. Religion (5) Hot or cold flask (7) 39. Had a short rest (6) 41. 42. Outline (6) 43. Tool (9) 45. Nothing (4) 46.

Scarlet woman (10) Chilly (4) Small bite (6) Officer (slang) (6) Messy (6) Tiny village; play (6) Artificially illumi nated (8) Chased (7) Foxglove drug (9) Implied (8) --- for tat (3) Say quietly (7) Cross (8) Scare (8) Complain (6)

Solution for last issue

Down

16. 17. 18. 1. Clothe (5) 2. Distance between two peaks 19. 21. (10) 24. 3. Untrue (5) 30. 4. Concerned (7) 31. 9. In time order (13) 32. 12. Tiny (9) 34. 13. Create (6) 37. 15. Hit; fruit drink (5) 38. 40. 44.

Easy

Leisure time, break (7) Confuse (6) Crop (4) Crumple (7) Tease (4) Temperate (5) Glass balls (7) Inky sea creature (5) Forecast (7) Hand out (10) Fear (6) Stumble (7) Erase, eliminate (7) Newspaper (slang) (3)

Darius G

Puzzles by Katie Rocker

Hard

Monday 17th January 2011

bathimpact

Science

Katy Glazer and Jess Bean investigate - just as two friends working on the same article of course!

as ‘unnatural’, however it is not confined to the human population homosexual acts have also been ob-

hypothesis has been put forward named the Fraternal Birth Order effect. Studies have found that having older brothers increases the odds of homosexuality in later-born males by 28-48%. One of the most prominent explanations for this finding is the maternal immune hypothesis. The maternal immune response is thought to occur through foetal cells entering the maternal circulation during childbirth. Foetal cells from males have been shown to include substances which only occur in or on male cells, in which case the mother’s immune system will recognise these as foreign and produce antibodies to act against them. Once this immunisation effect has commenced any subsequent males she mothers will be affected by these antibodies crossing the placental barrier and entering the foetal brain. It’s thought they then act to somehow divert sexual differentiation from the typical male pathway, with effects being more severe in subsequent sons. It is thought this may account for between 15% and 29% of cases of male homosexuality.

Is UK drug legislation as mad as a hatter? Sam Lewtas Science Editor science@bathimpact.com

Science

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Nature or nurture? The current scientific theories on homosexuality omosexuality has long been a controversial topic. For years homosexuality

Monday 17th January 2011

bathimpact

out legalisation is a big question but with new scientific research surrounding illicit drugs coming out every day and a growing trend

of thought that many of the drugs aren’t as bad as originally thought, we may soon see changes in UK legislation on drugs. Flickr

Genetically modified pig poo on the horizon Gina Reay digs up the dirt and serves up this shocking breakthrough

he consequences of devouring several bars of chocolate in a single sitting weigh heavy on the mind, especially on a Tuesday morning; however calorie intake aside, the advantages of regular chocolate consumption could improve brain function. Recent research into flavonoids, chemical compounds found in high concentrations within chocolate, tea, vegetables and a number of other food sources, has revealed that they can interact positively with proteins in the brain, hence their ability to improve memory. Previous research

highlighted the ability of flavonoids to act as anti-oxidants and

protect cells from oxidative damage due to free radicals; evidence

now suggests greater functionality, so you needn’t feel as guilty when

Monday 17th January 2011

bathimpact www.bathimpact.com U n i versity

Bath

Students’

U n i on

STUDENT

14 4 9 A M

1449am URB wish you a Happy New Year and explain why you should get involved in 2010...

m edia W Come Dine with

n the final Thursday of last semester Ctv filmed the final night of our new show ‘Come Dine with Ctv’. It was a wonderful evening, hosted by two of the bathimpact team, Gina Reay and Rebecca Stagg. Gina and Becca hosted the evening at Becca’s house, arranging a three-course meal for the their opponents, David and Nick from URB and Matt and Ann, from the Sabbs team. The night was the third and final evening in the competition, so the

Ctv

Media

URB BLURB

University of Bath Students’ Union

elcome back to Bath from all of us at URB. We would love to liven your revision period with quality radio, but unfortunately, due to building work, the URB studios will be out of action for January. But don’t worry, semester two will be packed with entertainment. Last semester’s favourites, including our current affairs show Buzz and The Guide, will return, as well as brand new comedy and of course the best new music, competitions and banter. Stay tuned at ww.1449urb.co.uk.

University of Bath Students’ Union

New Year, New You? Did you make a new year’s resolution to try something new, to be more confident, or to meet new

people? Whatever your hopes for 2011, joining URB could be a great way to kick-start your year. By becoming a member of the radio station, you can challenge yourself with live broadcast journalism, boost your confidence with your own radio show or learn new skills in production, IT and engineering – all of which look very impressive on your CV! What’s more, there are always friendly, welcoming people around the studio, and regular socials, so joining URB is a great way to get to know people from all years and courses. For more information, visit www.1449urb.co.uk or email James at urb-training@bath. ac.uk

Congratulations to the winning C a m p u s Te levis io n team. Unfortunately you’ll have to

pressure was on for Gina and Becca to host the best night so far, with the Sabbs and URB already having hosted two magnificent dinner parties. The night went spectacularly, despite a few hiccups in the kitchen, Gina and Becca served three courses - Goats Cheese Tart, Prawn and Chilli Linguine and Lemon Cheesecake. The Ctv team were around to film the highs and lows AND to eat the leftover pasta in the kitchen without anyone knowing.

wait to see the final episodes which we’re hoping to release in ReFresh Week. Here at Ctv we’re working at cutting down the hours of wonderfully entertaining footage we have and we hope to host a Come Dine with Ctv premier so our fans can watch the first episode, watch this space for more details! Also, if you fancy being in the next series, get in touch.

WHAT’S HOT ON URB:

THE CHARTS At the end of last year, URB put together their Top 100 of 2010. Thank you to the URB music team for collating the list of URB’s hottest songs. Don’t forget to tune

into 1449am URB in 2011 to educate yourself with this years hottest melodies….Here are the Top 20 of the list compiled by the team and played to you last year

1 Lady Gaga 11 Ellie Goulding Bad Romance Starry Eyed 2 Cee Lo Green 12 Glee Forget You Don’t stop believin’ 3 Plan B 13 Bruno Mars She Said Just the way you are 4 B.o.B feat. Hayley Williams 14 B.o.B feat. Bruno Mars Airplanes Nothin’ on you 5 Eminem feat. Rihanna 15 Flo’ Rida feat. David Love the way you lie Guetta 6 Owl City Club can’t handle me Fireworks 16 Katy Perry 7 Rihanna Teenage Dream Only girl in the world 17 Roll Deep 8 Katy Perry Good times Firework 18 Adele 9 Taio Cruz Make you feel my love Dynamite 19Example 10 Duck Sauce Kickstarts 20 Magnetic Man feat. Barbara Streisand Katy B Perfect Stranger

Monday 17th January 2011

bathimpact

Sabbs Corner

www.bathimpact.com

Quiet please! Sabbs share their wisdom...

ast year the library trialled a SILENT STUDY policy during revision week and the exam period. Feedback came back that students found it productive so they have decided to run it again. This applies to ALL LEVELS except the social study area by the photocopiers on level 2. With this in

mind, the library is asking everyone to respect the silent areas. Please spread the word (obviously doing it quietly if you’re in the library!) and respect that even though your exams may have finished, others may still be trying to study, especially towards the end of the second week of exams.

Our six sabbs share their revision hints and tips with bathimpact so for those of you who need some motivation, read on!

“

Scheduled frequent breaks (do the SoS Survey maybe!). It’s always good to find a group of friends studying for the same exam. Head to Level 2 of the Library and work through past paper questions on the whiteboards. I used to learn more from teaching others than reading something over and over again to myself

SOS we need you!

very year the Students’ Union runs the SoS to find out what you think is important to your student experience. We want to know how you prioritise the work we do, so we can set the top issues that we will work on for the year ahead. . We would really appreciate your time, it won’t take you long, and by the end of it you will be able to say

that you have influenced the future direction of your Union. You can win some awesome prizes (iPod, Jamie’s Italian and Superdry vouchers are all up for grabs). You could even do it when you’re looking for reason to procrastinate during revision. The survey can be found by a link on the BathStudent.com homepage. Come on, you know you want to!

No stress!

ou may be interested to know that every year timetabling is improving and fewer students now face that horrible scenario where they have heavily bunched exams. Through the Students’ Union’s continued work with the University this year only 10 students have three exams in two consecutive days compared

REFRESH WEEK (7th Feb13th Feb) Kick off your new semester with lots of amazing events; Pub Games in plug to include a 6 track giant room sized scalectrix; Mega Pub Quiz night; Open Sabb meetings; Score Kick-Off; Acoustic Night; Back2School Party; 5-a-Side Football Tournament; and Film Night showing Toy Story 3. For more info check out the the BathStudent website.

“

Give yourself short deadlines and a reward at the end. Fed up of facebook or don’t trust yourself to only be on it for five minutes like you promised? Use mytomatoes.com and get a tomato every 25 minutes. Be honest and dont cheat yourself, if you get distracted squash the tomato and start again!

to nearly 200 students four years ago, and the number of students who have two exams in one day has dropped from 537 to 294 in the last three years. We know it’s not perfect but it’s getting there, but if you have any problems please pass your concerns on to your Academic Rep or to VP Education directly in the Advice & Representation Centre.

What’s coming up? e have lots of things to look forward to next semester. Here is a taster of what you have to look forward to…

”

Sabbatical Structure REFERENDUM: There could be a big change in this year’s Sabbatical Officer Elections. In mid-February we will be putting to referendum a model of Sabbatical Officers that drops from six to five. Because this is such a big change we have put together the proposal for a structure that we think is the best way forward, but we want you to vote on it. More information will be available in the near future, but for now, if you are thinking of running in the elections to be a Sabb next year, please feel free to talk to any of the team to see how this may affect you. More information on the REFERENDUM and RUNNING FOR SABB in the election can be found online.

”

“

Don’t kid yourself that you’ve done a whole days revision when you spent it playing internet flash games! Take proper breaks, get out, get fresh air, then knuckle down to work

”

“

If you can trust yourself and want a game to play, I love “Robot Unicorn Attack”. I just love it for the backing track really.

”

“

Forget energy drinks. Your brain is 25% less efficient if it is just 5% dehydrated! Drink water! Lots of it! It might make you pee lots, but that gives you a natural revision break!

”

“

Repetition, Repetition, Repetition.... “...Repetition! “

”

Monday 17th January 2011

bathimpact

Activities

www.bathimpact.com

Howell heralds the New Year ...in Activities. After all, didn’t you have a resolution to try something new in 2011? Read on!

A day in the life of.. a Salsa dancer

around the country and will include various workshops and games. I am very much looking forward to the BAMSA night on the 18th March. n Saturday 4th December 2010, 10 salsa dancers from Bath University The show will include various forms made the trip up to Birmingham to join an inter-university fundraising of Asian Culture. BUST have their event held by Dance Club Latino of the University of Birmingham, where Black American play Blue Heart we took part in dance workshops, competitions, and an evening black-tie Latin 24th – 26th March in the Museum ball. Overall the event made over £1000 for charity- The Norman Laud Associaof Bath at Work! tion who provide care and support services to children and young people with disabilities were the main beneficiaries, and a fantastic time was had by all who Activities Awards attended. Nominations for the Activities The Bath group left early in the morning with a mini-bus picking us up from Awards working group are still be- campus at 8am for the three hour drive to Birmingham. Despite taking a small ing finalised. We had a large number diversion (read: never trust a satnav!) we arrived on time and began our day by of high quality applications this year attending the morning workshops. With three hours of workshops, and five dif– this will hopefully result in the ferent styles of dance being taught in each slot there was plenty to chose from Awards being an incredible night! and members of our group tried their hand at advanced Salsa, Brazilian Carnival They will be 11th April in the Ban- Samba, La Rueda and Bachata - to name but a few of the choices on offer! queting Room of the Guildhall. Nominations for the Awards will open 28th February and close on the 14th March. All events that fall within 25th March 2010 and the 14th March 2011 can be nominated for an award! Newly revised awards criteria can be found in the Societies Area of bathstudent.com. So, get thinking about the groups/events you can nominate!

ellooooooo 2011! Welcome back everyone to the first issue of the year for bathimpact! I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday and you are now getting ready for your exams….My holidays were fantastic I joined RAG in their trip to the Edinburgh Hogmoney celebrations where we collected money for Cancer Research! We have a fantastic article in this issue about the trip so please check it out. Bath RAG collected the highest average amount beating many other RAGs from around the country. In this issue we have more great articles on events from last semester such as the Salsa Ball in Birmingham, the Cheerleading Competition, Islamic Society Awards, the BEST lecture in the Assembly Rooms as well as BUSTs “The Craving”. Last week I enjoyed some trips to the movies! JSoc (Jewish Society) met the Little Fockers and BUFS (Film Society) saw the Kings Speech – both of which I loved! Semester two fun times! We have two big volunteering weeks to look forward to this semester! Student Volunteer Week is a National Volunteer Week 2127th February! More information will be released soon on the various projects being organised. The week is aimed at all students not just those that use the Volunteer Centre so make sure you get involved! Many fantastic events are planned for RAG Week 7th-11th March, so far these include: Speed Dating, Silent Disco and the Bierkeller. I know that throughout the week the Sabbs are excited about raising a lot of money for Charity having their own mini-competition to see who can raise the most! The lush RAG Fashion Show will take place once again in the fabulous surroundings of the Assembly Rooms. The money will go towards Sue Ryder Care and their fantastic work! Other event highlights to get involved with or go and see include: Ch&os’ Recital on the 19th February with lovely music, wine and cheese. Gravity Vomit have their annual juggling convention, Upchuck, on the 26th February. The Founders Hall will be inundated with jugglers from

Activities Calendar

Jot down these dates in your diary...

FEBRUARY

2 – 12 Trips to see Avenue Q at Theatre Royal Bath 12 Fondue Shabbat / JSoc 18 Careers Talk – CESA 19 Ch&os Recital in Uni. Hall 21– 27 Student Volunteer Week 25– 27 Scottish Model UN Conference - BUMUN 26 UpChuck / Gravity Vomit in Founders Hall & Uni. Hall 26 Western Classics Competition / Cheerleaders

MARCH

Nominations Open: Activities Awards Ladies first: Bath’s sassy salsa girls audition for the new Sure ad Following the morning workshops we took a rest during the competition section of the day whilst watching performances in the inter-university group dance section from the universities of Birmingham, Nottingham and Warwick. A treat was to come next in the form of a professional show by Element Dance, presenting a fusion of Latin, Hip-Hop and Contemporary dance! The competition section ended with several open rounds in Salsa beginners and advanced, Cha Cha Cha Sorry, did you just say wine and Rock n’ Roll. Sean Buchan and Emma Lonnen from Bath competed in the and cheese?! bathimpact is sooo Advanced Salsa and Cha Cha Cha, placing 5th in the cha finals. going to that one! After the competition we all headed off to the afternoon workshops, which inAnn’s not revising... cluded opportunities to take a Ballet class with a guest instructor from the Royal ...So what is she doing? Academy of Dance, and to learn exciting Strictly Come Dancing styles such as Well….there is lots to be going on Acrobatic Rock n’ Roll and the Paso Doble. with at the moment. I am still looking at the structure of the Societies Area and the new Codes of Conducts that will need to result from this…. This week I will start planning society one-to-ones as well as chasing various groups up on certain things. Checking 85 bank accounts, webpages, meeting attendance and development plans will be a mission! I’m looking forward to it so I can really find out what everyone has been up to. Changes will be taking place in the organisation of mass trips to Bristol so in the Activities Office we will be finalising all the details for Smooth operators: Mmm, wonder if these guys accessorised their suits with a vodka martini? Salsa’d, not stirred, of course... this. There are also lots to do regarding the Music Soc Bandroom, This amazing day of dance ended with nothing less than a crescendo, in the moving pianos to more convenient form of the black-tie ball held in the university great hall. The venue was absorooms and keeping up to date with lutely enormous, and beautiful- but not to be outshone everyone was dressed in progress on the Arts Complex…all their best dress or tuxedo and we danced the night away to the live salsa band are a ‘watch this space’ scenario! ‘Robin del Castillo’ and stopped occasionally to take in a couple more shows- from Best of luck with all the exams the winners of the inter-university competition and a professional performance of and revision! Argentine Tango. More news after the Inter-SeWhen we tumbled into our minibus at last at 1.30am to make the drive back to mester break! Bath most of us were so danced-out we could barely stand! But I think that if you asked anyone there, they would tell you that they would do it all again.... such is with Activities Love, Ann the life of a Salsa dancer!

3 Annual Ball in the Assembly Rooms / Pharmacy Student Association 7 -10 RAG Week 16 Fashion Show in the Assembly Rooms / RAG 12-19 Singapore World Model MUN Conference / BUMUN (Model United Nations) 18 BAMSA Night (Bath Area Malaysian and Singaporean Association) in Arts Lecture Theatre Nominations Close: Activities Awards 19 Cardiff Competition / Pole Soc 19 Concert of British Music / Ch&os (Choral and Orchestral Society) at St Matthews Church 24 – 26 Blue Heart – BUST (Bath University Student Theatre) – Museum of Bath at Work

APRIL

2 Chamber Choir Easter Concert at St Michaels Church 11 Activities Awards in Banqueting Room at Guildhall

Monday 17th January 2011

Activities

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Muslims win Regional Awards

ere at bathimpact we are excited to be congratulating the Islamic Society (BUIS) on their awards won at the Annual FOSIS (Federation of Student Islamic Societies), Regional Dinner in Cardiff. The two awards were ‘Most Improved Society’ and ‘Best Community Relations’. VP A&D Ann Howell caught up with Mujeeb, their chair, to find out more about the awards and how they won them! What other Societies were there? M: The FOSIS Wales and West region Other Islamic Societies include; Bristol, Cardiff, Glamorgan, UWE, Swansea, Swansea Met and Newport. How did you receive the award? M: The event was a dinner in Cardiff SU and we were called up on stage to receive our awards. What was your reaction? M: My reaction was ‘I’m happy’ because I was happy. It was good to be recognised for our hard work last year and hopefully we will build on this. We have a better committee now and things are looking up. The first committee meeting afterwards, I congratulated last years committee but reminded the committee of the purity of our intentions. Quoting the verses

The BEST of times

s part of the ‘International Economics week', BEST held our annual Taysom Evening off campus for the first time, at the stunning Bath Assembly Rooms. The event was sold out and filled with excited economics students and scholars eagerly awaiting the lecture from our special guest speaker David Smith. David Smith is Economics Editor of the Sunday Times and he expressed his delight to be able to speak to fellow economics enthusiasts. His speech revolved around where the global economy is after the biggest financial crisis in the post-war era and what kind of world economy we can expect in the future (see his website economicsUK.com). This was followed by a Q&A session where both students and staff racked Smith’s brains on various economic issues. All the guests then sat down to a delicious three course dinner. The evening was enjoyed by all and we are very thankful to David Smith for attending. We are also extremely grateful to John Taysom for making this evening possible. The BEST society now has over 300 members and have already had two epic socials to Bristol – we offer good value for money! We aim to make our society even better; meaning more socials to Bristol and hosting our Economics Summit where we have attracted some phenomenal speakers. Basically, we are going to keep proving that we are the BEST society. Hannah Moran

bathimpact

From The Quran Chapter 92, Verse 19-21. What did the Society actively do to for consideration of the awards? M: The Islamic Society did nothing actively to gain the attentions of the award guys in FOSIS to warrant the awards. They knew of our good relationship with the Islamic Centre in the city. Not many Islamic Societies have that relationship for whatever reason, and so we were commended. What does this mean to the Society? M: This means quite a lot for some people in the society. We saw an excellent Chairman, Fawaaz Saket take the SU awards for most Improved Society three years ago and things have not been the same since, so this is a sign of improvement.

New Scots on the block A

s you may (or may not) have been aware, Tuesday 30th of November represented the celebration of Scotland’s patron saint, St. Andrew. To mark the occasion, the university’s Scottish Society organised a whisky tasting event on campus. The evening represented the society’s first official event since gaining affiliation with the SU. Referred to as “Scotch” in the rest of the world, Scottish whiskey represents 20% of Scotland’s manufactured exports. This gave us a fantastic opportunity to bring together two of nature’s finest creations: students and alcohol! I feel at this point I should however stress that our society is not all about drinking, rather education and mutual appreciation. We were privileged enough to be joined by professional whisky taster Alan Scott, who flew down especially to give a presentation on the intricacies and history of one of the world’s favourite drinks. As I’m sure everyone who attended would agree, the presentation was both highly informative and very entertaining. We learned about how whisky developed from a medicinal drink brought to Scotland by Irish monks to one of the best selling

spirits in the world. Scotland has over 100 whisky distilleries, each one producing many different types of single malt, that’s a lot of variety for a drink that only consists of three ingredients: barley, water and yeast! Can they really be that different and would amateur student whisky drinkers like us be able to appreciate the differences? We were invited to sample whiskies from the four distilling regions of Scotland: Auchentoshan from the Lowlands; Balvenie Double Wood from Speyside; Bowmore Surf from Islay and a cask strength Old Pulteney WK499 from the Highlands. From what we had learnt, we were then able to tell that the Balvenie had spent two years maturing in sherry casks, hence its dark colour. The Bowmore was a true Islay malt, with its smoky, peaty aroma and taste. The Auchentoshan

was a lowland and rather mild a with a honey-like flavour. The Old Pulteney’s 52% proof was evidence that the whisky had not been mixed with water before bottling and was therefore a cask strength, one that those of us who are not used to sipping Absinthe struggled to contend with, although I felt that my own creation, a “vatted malt” made with 2 parts Old Pulteney to 3 parts Bowmore Surf was a real winner! The Scottish Society is a new society, started this year to give Scotland greater representation within the university. It is open for everyone to join, the only requirement being an appreciation for what we consider the best small country in the world. The society aims to run various Scottish themed social events throughout the year. Look out for our Burns night celebration this year, which is likely to be delayed from its traditional date of January 25th due to the exam period. The night offers to be a superb opportunity to sample the delights of Scottish cuisine in the form of haggis, neaps (turnips) and tatties (potatoes). I’m sure we’ll also be sampling some more whiskies so if you missed out this time fear not.

Hogmonay? No, HogMONEY! T

After Bath RAG stormed Scotland with their amazing fundraising skills, they came back buzzing. Here’s their story...

he evening of December 28th saw two worn out travelers stagger into a pub in Leith, Scotland, collapse into chairs, shed several layers of winter clothing and order whatever food would take the shortest time to cook. We had just endured 11 hours on a coach from Bath to Edinburgh...and we were about to enter Hogmoney. Hogmanay is an annual celebration marking the New Year in Scotland, synonymous with music, parties, food and drink, fire, and Vikings. HogMONEY on the other hand, shares these elements, with one major difference. Hogmoney (shortened to HOG) is the umbrella term for an event which includes 3 days of charity fundraising for two important charities: KidsCan, a children's cancer charity, and Cancer Research UK. With all its associated antics, including swordfights, furry cows, fried food,

Irn Bru, kilts and haggis, it makes for an explosive new years'. And yours truly along with Ann Howell, VP Activities and Development, and RAG Vice Chair Alex Brown, were set about making sure Bath had a presence. One of the main things about an event on the scale of Hogmoney is the variety and number of people that you come into contact with. On day one of Hogmoney, I went into Glasgow to collect for KidsCan. The weather was gloomy, and after a few hours I encountered one of the issues with street collecting: you need to keep your enthusiasm up throughout the entire day, whether still affected by travelling fatigue or not. The first day of a megaraid, especially in such a change of scene as Scotland, is the hardest, but by day two of Hogmoney, we had found our rhythm. In Edinburgh for Cancer Research UK, Ann and I were on the

Royal Mile, a street in Edinburgh that extends right from the castle to Holyrood Abbey. It was strangely quiet, and after only two hours we were disheartened by the fact we could still see the bottom of our buckets. Day three: again Edinburgh, for the same charity. One of the advantages about having raided the same city before is that you become accustomed to the people and the environment. What struck me was how generous people were, right up to the afternoon, when many of the shops etc. were closing to prepare for that night’s celebrations. That generosity and friendliness is the main pull for any raid, reminding you of the contributions you can make as an individual. But of course, another perk of attending Hogmoney is the associated celebrations; all collectors had free entry into the infamous New Year’s street party. There was no denying that Hogmoney/ Hogmanay 2010/11 was the best way to see in the

New Year so far. After our three days collecting, Bath RAG finished with a grand total of £1577 between three of us, earning us the title ‘top RAG’. The megaraid itself raised over £10,000 from the combined efforts of the various RAGs, which means we added over £10,000 against a disease that pervades society and affects so many people. Outcomes like this are why, after my first Raid and barely two months at uni, I put myself up for election, was elected Raids Officer, and get to do collections like this (though on a much smaller scale) nearly every single weekend. To get involved in RAG, check out the pages on bathstudent.com, come to a weekly RAG meeting at 6.15 in 1E3.6, or if you think raiding could be the way to go, email raids@bathrag. com. Plans for Hogmoney 2011/12 are no doubt underway, and you can guarantee Bath RAG’s presence for what is undoubtedly one amazing experience.

Monday 17th January 2011

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Sport

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Futsal is a keystone of Spain’s footballing philosophy

Futsal is the future! Dan Eagles bathimpact Reporter

cross playgrounds, streets and football fields everywhere, the ‘beautiful’ game in England is far from pretty. While Brazilian and Spanish footballers are produced like bottles of water on a factory line, the ‘home of football’ has seen a stark halt in young talent, ability and flair - indeed, everything that football should be. The worryingly high number of foreign players in our English Premier League is certainly no accident, neither is it from a lack of potential among our British youth. The British game has become focused on mere efficiency, and the mundane, one-dimensional football that comes with it. Children are taught to dribble from one cone to another before being discarded at sixteen as if never existing, while the few that miraculously make the grade still fail to compete with more-developed foreign counterparts. The answer to this deterioration of English football, I believe, lies in ‘futsal’. Futsal is similar to football in many ways. The aim of the game is still to put the ball into the opponents’ goal more times than the opposing team can, and yes, the ball is also round, and kicking it is still the primary way in which to achieve your team’s aim. But (and it’s a big but!), the gameplay itself could not be more different to what is commonly seen on grass pitches up and down the country. As well as the smaller ball and smaller goal frames, futsal, through fast, flowing, technical play, is what our footballing nation has been missing. Let’s take a look back at England’s humbling defeat by Germany in the 2010 World Cup for example - you know, the one where they played us off the park right before the majority of Brits unleashed a verbal assault on the manager and the referee for caus-

ing such a result. Germany, not even known for its flair and technical brilliance, played the game with speed, precision, creativity and with a freedom that has not been associated with an England shirt since Paul Gascoigne chose to focus on his other ‘hobbies’. The English players moved slowly and robotically in their regimented formation, never daring to burst out of their soldier-like shells. Any possession on our behalf was merely flitted away by long direct balls up to an overlydisciplined, lifeless Wayne Rooney, or dragged out into perhaps the least ambitious, most frigid, frightened displays of passing I have ever had the misfortune of witnessing. This, I’m afraid, is English football in its entirety. Spain went on to win that World Cup and rightly so. As well as Spain, Brazil impressed throughout, as did Holland and Argentina. Indeed, it is no coincidence that these nations - who rely merely on a footballing philosophy of playful creativity and flair - consistently produce world-class players and successful national sides, regardless of their significantly lower government investment into the sport. It is also no fluke that these countries are passionate about (and, in fact, extremely good at) futsal.

Futsal was the game that helped to develop the likes of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Fabregas from an early age The nature of futsal means that every player plays everywhere on the court, as there are no positions as such - thus providing every futsal player with experience and technical ability within every aspect of the game, whether it be shooting, dribbling or tackling. Each side only ever has four outfield players on the court at any one time, inevitably allowing each player to spend a longer amount of time on the ball throughout the course of the game

when compared to an 11-a-side football match. Perhaps most importantly of all, the small indoor courts used for futsal make fast, precise passing and movement crucial for keeping possession and scoring goals. Through playing futsal, I believe that English football, and our athletic youth, which has been damaged by a suffocated and joyless spirit, can be revitalised - paving the way for a more creative, free and fun philosophy towards football. Maybe, and I say this in hope more than in expectation, futsal may instead be our nation’s pride and joy in the future.

SPOTY: Comparing the incomparable Jack Penrose bathimpact Reporter

don’t care what anyone says about British sport, 2010 was a good year. We had world class athletes in several disciplines earning success. The issue is comparing so many unique sportspeople’s achievements to find a winner. Let’s not take anything away from AP McCoy, who gained the most votes of the public to win the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY) award, and does deserve recognition for an illustrious career as a jockey. My problem with it is comparing the achievements of someone like Jessica Ennis (World and European Heptathlon Champion) with Phil “The Power” Taylor (15 times World Darts Champion). Both are World Champions, but one plays a sport, and the other plays in a pub activity which does not require much in the way of exercise. Taylor is to be commended for his astounding achievements – very few have dominated their profession in the same way as he has done for years. I think the problem is that we are comparing a lot of special people with each other when their achievements are incredible in their different ways. I think that SPOTY has become a little farcical. Jessica Ennis, a heptathlete, came third to a darts player and a jockey – that’s a bit of a joke in my view, and while David Beckham has gone above and beyond the call of duty as a footballer, I can’t help but feel that a Lifetime Achievement Award was not only very premature, but also quite inappropriate considering he’s not even 40 yet. What is encouraging is that we still have world class performers in different sports, even considering the drastic failures of our footballers, rugby players and other popular sports professionals. Graeme Swann became the best spin bowler in the world, Graeme McDowell and Lee Westwood helped

AP McCoy won SPOTY 2010 bring home the Ryder Cup, and the University of Bath’s Amy Williams became Great Britain’s first Winter Olympic Gold Medallist for thirty years. All of those are fantastic achievements. Deciding who should win requires a comparison of sorts, and I think it is time that the BBC had a different setup, where they can each receive recognition from the BBC in their own sport or activity (e.g. BBC Cricketer of the Year). 2010 was a good year for British sport, and 2011 promises to be even better. We have the Ashes already in the bag, a good chance at the Cricket World Cup, and at the Rugby World Cup, as well as promising signs in World Championships in other sports. Even if our footballers continue in their mediocre, adulterous ways, we will still have some sportspeople we can be proud of.

England’s new golden age Joe Dibben bathimpact Sports Editor

ust how good is the current England cricket team? There is no doubt that this current generation of players, under the erudite leadership of captain Andrew Strauss, is truly blessed with an abundance of ability. Last week’s crushing victory in the fifth and final

Ashes test in Sydney sealed a comprehensive 3-1 series victory, and was typical of the sort of performance that we have come to get used to from our cricketers. A transitional Australian side had their problems of course, but make no mistake, England still fully deserved their first Ashes series victory Down Under since 1986/87- Aussie batsman Shane Watson wasn’t far off when he said that his side had been ‘totally outplayed’, having suffered three innings defeats. The England players have stood up in this series time and time again, and pinned their opposition down psychologically so that they had them right where they wanted- in my lifetime, such pure dominance in Ashes cricket has only ever been displayed by the Australians. Yes, we’ve won the last two series in England, but on neither occasion was our superiority on the field so brutally obvious. There was some rather porous Australian fielding to offer assistance throughout the series, but that shouldn’t distract us from the facts England excelled with the bat. Recording their highest ever innings average for a series in Australia, they signed off with a colossal 644 in last week’s final test. The man that stands out has to be Alastair Cook, who with five centuries (including an innings of 235 in Perth), recorded a series total of 766- the second-highest haul of an English batsman in any series. Messieurs Trott, Pietersen, Prior and Strauss also of course deserve a mention for all having averaged at least 40. It was a similar story with the ball, as Jimmy Anderson and company terrorised their opponents- after all, who can forget Australia’s humiliating 98 all out in the first innings in the Melbourne test. Anderson himself took 24 wickets, making him far and away the top wicket-taker for the series. He was accompanied by a more than able cast, with the deadly quartet of Chris Tremlett (17 wickets), Stuart Finn (15), Graeme Swann (14) and Tim Bresnan (11) all playing their parts admirably (I particularly thank Bresnan for emphatically taking out Ponting’s middle stump in the second innings of the Continued on page 19

The sky is the limit for the England cricket team at the moment

Monday 17th January 2011

bathimpact www.bathimpact.com Continued from page 18 fourth test- my personal favourite moment of the series). A special mention should go to Paul Collingwood; he brought his test-playing career to an end on the highest possible note after last week’s final match, having scored well over 4,000 runs in 63 tests. He perhaps didn’t excel at the stumps in this series as much as we know he can but Collingwood has been a huge figure in his eight years as part of the side, and is probably one of the best catchers of the ball in the modern gameI’m glad that we will still see him as captain of the one-day and Twenty20 sides. It was the type of dignified exit from the test cricket stage that will now seem distant to Aussie captain Ricky Ponting. These years, ladies and gentlemen, are golden for English cricket, and we should truly saviour them. We have already clinched the Twenty20 World Cup, and we will fancy our chances at the ODI World Cup later on this year in the subcontinent. As for the test side, having won two consecutive Ashes series in a row for the first time in more than twenty years, the visit of Sri Lanka and then world number one team India in the summer will provide England with the opportunity to really show that we are at the peak of the longer form of the game once more. And consider one thing- captain Andrew Strauss believes that this current side hasn’t even hit their peak yet.

When is an upset not an upset? James Pomeroy bathimpact Reporter

he first weekend in January is always a highlight in the English footballing calen-

dar. Except, that is, if you’re a Premier League team. On the back of a gruelling Christmas schedule, with four games in under two weeks, the last thing that any team wants is to traipse across the country to play against a team struggling three leagues below you; just ask Newcastle United. The FA Cup is the stalwart trophy that at the beginning of any season gives any team the dream of a giant killing, the chance to play at Old Trafford, Anfield or Stamford Bridge and cause an up-

Should we be so shocked?

set, the chance to live the dream. For Notts County and Stevenage players, this season that dream has already been realised, but should this be classed as a ‘cupset’ anymore? The theory goes on the hunch that the depth of the Premier League teams’ squads mean that they can rotate their teams and have enough quality players to make the difference when push comes to shove in the FA Cup. However, due to the money at stake in the Premier League, rotation for the cup seems to be the norm. Blackpool and West Brom openly shuffled their respective packs for the third round, and both ended up on the losing side, but will they care? For teams in the lower echelons of the Premier League, survival is a must. The value of a place in the top tier, plus any potential gains from finishing higher in the league, is so valuable to teams that the FA Cup is now nothing more than an irritant. Teams such as West Brom probably won’t win the FA Cup so playing the extra games as an aside is just a potential risk to injury and/or suspension. So, with teams willing to play the kids or reserve team players against opposition from lower leagues, should we be so surprised if these so called “cupsets” become more of the norm? In many cases, they’re not even upsets at all.

Basketball- 2010 review Ioannis Costas bathimpact Reporter

s is customary at the end of a year, many see it fit to summarise the significant events which took place during it. Therefore, I deemed there was no reason why the same thing couldn’t be done with the University’s basketball teams. Yes, for all of you out there who get a high from picking out minor technical mistakes, we are now in 2011; reviewing stuff from 2010 is so last year. However, as a wise soul once said, things are better late than never. Well, maybe except gonorrhoea. By the time the Christmas holidays rolled in, the women’s team found themselves perched right smack in the middle of Conference 2A. The five team league saw Bath accumulate two victories and two defeats during the first term; both losses courtesy of the squads currently tied for first place: Southampton Solent (with a match in hand) and Plymouth. Playing the numbers game, Solent appear to be the favourite for promotion as they are averaging 59.3 points a fixture, roughly ten more than Bath and Plymouth. All that shines is gold though, much

in the same way that no statistic is a guarantee of anything in sport. Proof enough is that Bath was only edged out by a mere five points when they faced Southampton away. Now the squad has had time to gel (three quarters of the members are rookies), there is no reason to doubt the women’s potential for an assault on the top of the table. On the men’s side of things, the Gladiators, at present, form part of a three-way tie for 2nd position at five wins and four losses. Six-team Conference 1A is led by the College of St Mark & St John, sitting relatively comfortably on a six-point cushion over Bath. Nonetheless, a quick look at the stats

would suggest the team at the top better check itself before it wrecks itself. Whereas they rank as the best offensive side, scoring an average of 81.6 points a game, the Gladiators tail them at a terrific 78.5. Switching the conversation to dE-fense (as the folks down in Texas would say), Bath again boasts the second best record, giving up 70.1 points a game, 1.2 less than St Mark & St John. There is no question about the Gladiators’ talent as time winds down for this term’s action. If they manage to consistently perform at this level, the University of Bath could have a glistening new trophy come the end of April.

Some women’s basketball action from earlier in the year.

Sport

UoB’s Shooting Club continues to hit its targets

Club Captain Daniel Stephens takes aim for Bath. patterns to make sure that as many Michael Patrick clays as possible were obliterated bathimpact Reporter from the sky. It was the first time utstanding success in Mon- that many of the new shooters (and mouth has helped give the indeed some of the more experiUniversity of Bath Clay Pi- enced shooters) had taken part in geon Shooting Club a flying start to such an event under competition the New Year. Thanks to another im- conditions. On the day however, all pressive acquisition of medals, the rose to the occasion magnificently. From there, the shoot moved on club has once again proved itself to be one of the most formidable uni- to individual shooting of 50 clays versity shooting teams in the South across eight stands, and once the smoke had settled, the last clay had West. Shooting success throughout the fallen and the last gun had fallen 2010/11 academic year had by no silent, the club gathered together means been assured, given the large to compare their results. The men’s number of senior shooters who had first team, comprising James McGargraduated the previous summer. ley, captain Daniel Stephens, James Nevertheless, their places had been Garlick and Burt Jones had achieved filled by a large multitude of fresh- third place in the men’s category faced and enthusiastic recruits, all with outstanding scores of 42, 45, eager to build on the successes of 40 and 42 respectively. Also notable the past. Sharing this desire was a were Phil Egan and Richard Hartz younger generation of club commit- from the second team, with 45 and tee members, headed by new chair- 40 respectively. Achieving second man James McGarley, who on a cold place however in the ladies’ category and damp Winter morning, led his was the ladies’ first team, made up club right into the heart of Southern of Lisa Thomas, Becky Statham, Liv Wales to join battle with nine other Crellin and Hannah Parsons, with university clubs for victory, pride respective scores of 41, 22, 27 and 21. and (most importantly) prizes! He Lisa Camm and Alice Walters from took with him a record twenty-five the second team also both scored a shooters from Bath, sixteen of whom strong 27, and with her phenomenal were new to the club. These shooters score of 41, Lisa Thomas, following were split into four men’s and two la- on from her BUCS success in 2010, dies’ teams. This was the first time was once again the competition’s in its history that the club had been top-scoring female shooter. These results are a tribute to the able to field more than one female team and it will most certainly not hard work, dedication and enthusiasm, not just of the more experibe the last! The competition opened with a enced members of the club but also 100 clay flush. In this exciting event, of the younger members as well. 100 clays would fly in quick succes- The annual BUCS Championships in sion through the air in batches of five February will soon be upon us and or six. Each individual team had to our club can go into them confident shoot simultaneously at these clays, that we have a strong team of excelstrategically picking their targets lent shooters, who are capable of and synchronising their reloading competing with the very best.

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Is there more to come from the England cricket team? Comments, p19 Monday 17th January 2011

Amy Williams back in action The University of Bath’s Amy Williams was back in action on Friday for the first time since winning skeleton gold at last year’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver, taking part in the World Cup event in Ingls, Austria. ‘It feels a little bit strange, my last run on the ice before I got here was at the Olympic Games’ she said. ‘I’ve had quite a chilled out week before the other competitors get here and I’m looking forward to competing again.’ Williams received an MBE for her services to sport just before Christmas and was also short-listed for the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award.

Inside impactsport Sharp shooters aim high The University of Bath’s Shooting Club have been in action in a regional universities’ tournament in Monmouth, Wales, as they continue their preparations for the 2011 BUCS Championships in February.

See page 19 to find out more about how they got on

2010 Basketball at Bath- reviewed

Badminton and Netball take ‘Clubs of the Semester’ honour »»Teams of the Semester: Rugby Men’s 2nds and Lacrosse Men’s 1sts

Andy Crawshaw VP Sport

he University’s badminton and netball clubs have been crowned ‘Clubs of the Semester’ for the first half of the 2010/11 season, while the Rugby Men’s 2nds and the Lacrosse Men’s 1sts took the ‘Teams of the Semester’ honour. The announcement came at the pre-Christmas Snowball, which was one of the most successful events in recent years. For the badminton club, the ‘Club of the Semester’ title was richly deserved, seeing as their five teams only lost two games between them throughout the entire semester. The Badminton club are hugely underrated, and have been one of the top performing clubs at the University for the past ten years. The club itself has moved

from strength to strength, and has had substantial success on the court. The University’s netball club shared the honour with the badminton club, sharing an identical record of having only lost two games so far between all five of their teams. The netballers should be very proud to have such strength in depth and are finally showing their true potential all the way down through the club. Both the netball and the badminton clubs may have a slight advantage, in that they can rely on the support of full-time coaches employed by the Department of Sports Development and Recreation coaching their top teams. However, this should take nothing away from the hard work and commitment of their players and representatives. They are certainly two of the biggest and strongest

clubs at the University and should both be congratulated. Elsewhere, the two ‘Teams of the Semester’ were the Rugby Men’s 2nds and the Lacrosse Men’s 1sts. The Lacrosse Men’s 1sts added the honour to the ‘Team of the Week’ award which they won in week three but achieved consistently excellent results throughout the entire semester. The Rugby Men’s 2nds were

again consistently strong during the whole term and have only lost one game so far this season. In other news, the final ‘Team of the Week’ award of the year (for week ten) was shared between the Rowing club’s Men’s 1st VIII, who managed to beat Bristol University by a massive 12 seconds in a race just before Christmas, and the Hockey Womens’ 1sts after their strong performance against Brunel University.

First semester 2010/11- who won what CLUBS OF THE SEMESTER Badminton and Netball TEAMS OF THE SEMESTER Rugby Men’s 2nds and Lacrosse Men’s 1sts TEAMS OF THE WEEK Week 4- Rowing Men’s 2nds and Lacrosse Men’s 1sts

Week 5- Basketball Men’s 1sts Week 6- Hockey Women’s 5ths Week 7- Jiu Jitsu Week 8- Kickboxing Week 9- Netball Women’s 3rds Week 10- Rowing Men’s VIII and Hockey Women’s 1sts

Ioannis Coastas looks back at the performance of our UoB basketball teams so far this academic year and looks ahead to the second semester. Are Bath looking good for some silverware this year?. See page 19 to read his review of the action so far

Your sports comments Looking for light relief from revision? Check out your news and views on all the Christmas sporting action and much more. Go to pages 18 and 19 and see what you think

impactsport needs you! Do you want to write a match report for your team? Do you have something to say about sport at our university? Interested in sports journalism, design or photography? Or even just passionate about sport in general? Get in touch! impactsport wants to hear from people like you! Contact the bathimpact Sports Editor (jcd22@ bath.ac.uk) to find out more details about how you can get yourself involved and get your team, your views, your designs or your photography seen.