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Monday 26th November 2007 Volume 9 Fissue 6 www.bathimpact.com
impact student
SUP Josh Cheesman News Editor impact-news@bath.ac.uk
FOR THE second year in a row, Bath University’s student radio station 1449AM URB has taken home the ‘Best Marketing and Branding Award’ at the Radio 1 Student Radio Awards. At the ceremony, which was held at the New Connaught Rooms in Central London, URB beat off fierce
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competition from Edinburgh’s ‘Fresh Air’ and Southampton’s ‘SURGE’ to take the prestigious award, which was presented to the team by Radio 1’s Mark Goodier, one-time host of the chart show. URB committee members Tim Dye, Tim Ayres, Mark Farrington, David Board and Steve Ash were on hand to collect the award. The judges described URB’s winning entry as “slick and professional”, and “an example of
how an already successful station can effectively build upon its own past achievements. An effective written submission detailed how the various initiatives had been conceived and executed, and the accompanying audio was wellproduced and gave a clear sense of the station’s mission; to serve its audience”. URB station manager Tim Dye said that it was “great that URB has been acknowledged for all the hard
Radio 1 DJ Edith Bowman presents the URB team with their award.
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work that our members put into the station through branding and marketing.” URB was also nominated in two other categories: ‘Best Student Radio Station’ and ‘Best Scripted Programming’ for Steve Ash’s sketch show ‘Meanwhile’. Other winners included Cambridge’s CUR1350, which was named the best student radio in the country. The evening was a star-studded event, with Radio 1 presenters Jo Whiley, Scott Mills and Edith Bowman among those sharing hosting duties. Steve Lamaq and new boy Greg James also put in appearances, and there was a DJ set by Tim Westwood. In addition to its award, URB also has the distinction of hosting the SRA national student radio conference on campus, which will take place during the Easter holidays. Students from all across the country will be coming to Bath to hear presentations and workshops from professionals in the radio industry. On a final note, while the URB team were in London receiving their award, Head of Music at URB Olli Billenness was on national radio, making an appearance on Steve Lamacq’s ‘Round Table’ music panel show on 6 Music, alongside Phillipa T. J., presenter of the 6 Music chart show. If you want to get involved in URB, whether it be on or off the air waves, check out www.1449urb. co.uk or pop into the studio on the second floor of Norwood, next to the SU shop.
Johnny on the spot. SHAG Week, Page 10
Glowstick Nightmare Lucy Saunders
FRIDAY 9TH November was a rave Guppy to remember for one particular firstyear, whose night ended in glowing pain and a thrown-in trip to casualty. The calamity occurred near the end of the luminescent-filled Guppy, putting a slight downer on the otherwise successful night for that particular individual. The first-year student was innocently doing up her shoelaces, obviously loosened by some hardcore raving, when the second-year acquaintance she was standing with cracked open a glow stick and emptied the contents onto her head. The intended luminescent effect was, however, short-lived as the liquid quickly ran down into the girl’s eye, leaving her temporarily blinded and in huge amounts of pain. Security responded quickly, taking her to the nearby hospital in Bath where she was treated in A&E with a saline eye wash. The student was then kept in hospital until 6:30am to ensure the treatment had worked, before being discharged back to her University lodgings. The student is now fine and describes the experience as “horrible” at the time but “looking back, it was quite funny”. The University have since contacted the firstyear about the incident, but no action is to be taken as she feels it was an accident and no harm was done.
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TeamBath boss chats to impact. Sport, Page 30
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GRAHAM RUSSELL’S winning landscape f r o m I C I A’s S t u d e n t Photography Competition. See Arts (Page 6).
In impact this week... Big interview: the VC speaks.
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News
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Black Students” Alex Hawyard News Contributor US CIVIL rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson has claimed that the University of Oxford’s integrity is under threat if it does not start recruiting more black students. Reverend Jackson was in Oxford last week launching the Aspire campaign to encourage more black students to apply to the University. According to the programme, only 1% of Oxford students are black, and in 2006, only 26 out of 151 applicants won a place at the prestigious university. Similarly, the success rate for the 31 Caribbean applicants was only 16%, compared with an average success rate of 28% among the total 13,000 undergraduate applications. The programme aims to find out not only the reason for this lack of success, but also why so few black students apply in the first place. Reverend Jackson claimed that the reason why few black students apply to the University is rooted in its historical elitist attitude, arguing that such a distinct lack of ethnic variety is simply not representative of the way we live; “The absence of black students does not represent something that’s natural, it represents something that is abnormal. Now we must challenge that”. The project will focus on research to identify the stumbling blocks preventing young students from applying to university, and the programme’s researchers will complete a study of black teenagers in London over the coming year and beyond if they are able to secure funding. In addition to this, black students will be invited to summer schools at Oxford colleges in order to get a taste of university life and encourage them to apply.
RACIAL EQUALITY? Oxford University are trying to attract minority students. The Chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, Trevor Phillips, has also expressed concern that universities are becoming increasingly segregated, with black students concentrated in certain London institutions, and almost a complete absence of black students in the elite Russell Group universities. In 2006, there were more black Caribbean students in one post-1992 institution (London Metropolitan University) than there were in the entire Russell Group (which includes Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial College London and London School of Economics).
Myra Blyth, the chaplain of Regent’s Park College (one of the institutions behind the initiative), said: “We are tapping into what is a nationwide issue but looking at it from the Oxford perspective. It is a major problem, not only in this country, but as Jesse Jackson is highlighting, in the States too.” Reverend Jackson used the occasion of receiving his honorary fellowship at Regent’s Park College to promote the launch of the programme, giving a public lecture to mark the 200th anniversary of Britain’s Act to abolish the slave trade.
Commenting on the University’s website, Head of Communications Tony Trueman said “The web strategy published last year called for our website
to become one of the best in the UK higher education sector in its use of new media. The shortlisting for these awards is a sign that we’ve achieved that.”
University in New Media Nominations Matthew Hartfield Deputy News Editor THE UNIVERSITY of Bath media department is up for two awards which aim to promote the best use of ‘new media’ in its work. The CorpComm national awards nominated the University for its work in “using new media to demonstrate our work in science, engineering and social science”. The other nominees for this award are the British Antarctic Survey and HBOS, with the winner being announced on the 28th November at a ceremony in London. Alongside this, the University has received a nomination from the European Excellence Awards for the use of podcasts to promote its research. The podcasts have proved to be popular, with 188,000 viewings recorded by people in 50 countries over the last year. All of them were made in-house at the University.
CODCAST AHOY: The University aren’t koi to carp on about their success.
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News
Every... We Have a Cunning Plan... Climb Abbey?
Charlotte Towerton News Contributor
LAST WEEKEND the University’s marketing chiefs held an exhibition for local residents upon the proposals of possible expansion to the University’s campus. The plans show a number of possible areas where building and development could take place. The exhibition hopes to gauge any problems with the sites in question before formulating more detailed proposals. The current plans are in their primary stage, considering comments and discerning key issues with the proposed sites. Since the University was first opened in 1965 the site has undergone several redevelopment and expansion projects. These proposals are the next phase of a continuing growing environment. The most recent Masterplan evolved in 2001, which assessed spatial requirements for the next five to ten years. The first projects included the Sports Training Village, the 3 West North lecture block, and the Solsbury and Marlborough accommodation blocks, to name a few. There is now a need for a new Masterplan to take the campus into the next decade. The University has now established a masterplanning project group. While major developments have built up the campus, the Parade remains at the heart of it and will continue to
do so. The University benefits from the proud landscape and physical environment of Claverton. This expansion and the scope of the campus are justified by its commitment to the community, via the STV and adult learning. The proposed sites for development include north of the site, near the Westwood Complex; the outside tennis courts; the sports pitches; east of the STV, near the lake and south campus amongst various others. The planning team have now left it to residents and students to suggest the best places for the construction to take place. Impact spoke to Peter Reader, the University’s Director of Marketing & Communications, who was excited about the new proposals and upcoming exhibition. Mr Reader explained the issues and debate of improving social and study space: should there be new and more residences instead of a new arts complex, or is it better to build more off-site residences, such as John Wood and Pultney Courts, to facilitate other areas on the campus? For example, not building more residences will enable more social and common areas, or another library. The exhibition was attended by just fewer than 100 people over the two days; it was a mix of local residents from close to the Claverton Campus; Bath and North East Somerset
Bath Gets Down to Business
SWIMMING WITH SHARKS: Students meeting business high-flyers.
Hadleigh Roberts Deputy Comment Editor
ON FRIDAY 16th November, 200 young entrepreneurs from all over the UK gathered at the University of Bath for the National Student Enterprise Conference 2007, giving them the opportunity to hear from business experts and make contact with organisations that can help them launch their ideas. The main speaker, Mr. Gavin Eddy, argued that making money and being happy should not be mutually exclusive. Dr. Sophie Kain, self-proclaimed ‘girlgeek’ and ex-Apprentice contestant was also present, and talked about the ethics of business. BANTER, The University of Bath Entrepreneurs Club is running the conference as part of the Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) initiative. In
addition to organising the event, the conference included an “Elevator Pitch” competition. Entrants were given two minutes to sell their idea to a potential investor, with a prize of £5000 to invest in their idea, provided by the sponsor UnLtd. In the official press release, Siobain Hone, the Student Enterprise Coordinator in the Students’ Union, declared that the conference was “not just about business ideas, we have lots of students interested in starting social enterprises.” So far projects have ranged from organising volunteer schemes with charities in Bolivia to distributing fruit in rural India. The event also included workshops, a networking reception and business fair at which students were able to acquire skills and information in order to help them develop their ideas.
Matthew Hartfield Deputy News Editor
FISHING FOR IDEAS: The University is angling to get your views. councillors; some residents from Oakfield Park; and representatives of other organisations too. Peter Reader had the following to say: “The consultation was well received, with many people saying they would comment through the website. We will be accepting comments until Monday 17th December, and in the New Year we will produce a report on the comments received, which will be published. “The same exhibition is on display in the Library foyer currently. We have been much encouraged by the interest shown by our students in the future of their University”
Upon reflection of the issue Bath is a great campus but there is vast scope to improve, which the Masterplan addresses. There is a need for a bigger library, more accommodation and more social space - everyone can recall a tussle for a computer, or the mammoth queues at Pitstop. The University wishes to gain as much student involvement as possible. The Masterplan can be viewed online at www.bath.ac.uk/masterplan2007 until Monday 17 December 2007, and views and comments can be emailed to masterplan2007@bath.ac.uk
Sometimes, no news is bad news.
Know something interesting that’s happening on campus? Think everyone else should know? Send us your news, and your story could be featured in the next issue of impact. Contact us at impact-news@bath.ac.uk
CLIMBERS IN Bath are being given the unique opportunity to try their hand at scaling a novel precipice; that of the Bath Abbey. The climb, which is only being offered on Saturdays so far, gives the public a chance to ascend the Abbey, at a cost of five pounds. When the top is reached, which will take about ten minutes, climbers are promised an unparalleled view of Bath’s historic city centre. If this pilot scheme goes well, then a spokesperson for the Abbey believed that this could form the genesis of a permanent church-climbing attraction at Bath Abbey.
Appeal for Witness to Assault in Bath Josie Cox Features Editor impact-features@bath.ac.uk
THE POLICE have asked for the witness to a brutal assault to come forward, as they could be the key to catching the perpetrator. A man and a woman in their twenties were walking up Widcombe Hill at 2.30am on Saturday 10th November when the man was subjected to a vicious, unprovoked attack that left him with serious head injuries. He was later admitted to the intensive care unit at Frenchay Hospital. Police are keen to trace a Good Samaritan who chased the attacker away, and who may be able to assist them in their investigation. The woman thanked the passer-by for his help. A man in his twenties was arrested in connection with the incident, but has been released on bail. Anyone with any information is urged to call Bath Police Station on 0845 4567000.
Uni Network Downtime Planned for December Josh Cheesman News Editor impact-news@bath.ac.uk
BATH UNIVERSITY Computer Services (BUCS) are planning engineering work for the weekend of 15th and 16th December. As a result, students will not be able to access the university computer network on these dates, essentially meaning that no one will be able to use the computers that weekend. For more information, visit www.bath.ac.uk/bucs.
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All Your Questions Answered with impact HAVE YOU ever wondered whether cats dream when they sleep? Or how about who would play a musical instrument called a tiktiri? Any Questions Answered - AQA - is that company you text when you have a really random question you are dying to know the answer to… Who wrote Wuthering Heights? Who invented the steam engine? It’s a classic way to cheat at pub quizzes… and it’s one of the main reasons you can’t take your phone into your exams. But what about all the funny, dumb or filthy questions which get asked? Is there somewhere they’ve collated all these questions into one place? Why, of course there is! It’s a book called “Any Questions Answered” and it’s on general release this month… but impact are offering one lucky entrant the opportunity to get hold of a free copy of this little gem! It’s a great stocking-filler, and is really useful for using as a quizbook with friends or family. All you have to do is send an email with your course and name to impactdeputy@bath.ac.uk with the subject line “AQA” and I’ll enter you into the prize draw. As a little aside, the company
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Your Union Needs You!
AQA have asked us to request some help – some of their infamous as-yet unanswered questions. These are real questions which have been texted in to the company, and after too much searching and scratching of heads, the answer still eludes them! If you know the answer to any of these, send them an email at hello@63336.com and who knows, perhaps there’s a job there for you! Q. WHAT connects rainbow warrior, Westminster Abbey, Eiffel Tower and Blackadder? Q. WHAT have the following got in common: Guinness, the Bee Gees, One Foot in the Grave and Carling? Q. CLUE, time to choose, time to play. Which male celebrity? Q. I was old before I was young, I’m in a story that was never told. What am I? Q. CAN you solve this riddle? What has 6 arms, 11 legs, 2 heads, and is round? Q. WHAT is lean, green, round and a living machine in your living room? Q. DITLOID: O 8 T O A S O A. What is the answer? Q. WHAT is 100 z of q?
Congratulations to last issue’s winners, Justine Dattani and Heather England, who win The Rosetta Stone Box-set and The Reader’s Digest Computer Book respectively!
Andy Burton VP Communications YOU MAY think that the SU doesn’t really affect you. However, that is probably not the case. The newspaper that you are reading now, the sandwich you had from Pitstop, the bar that you are going to later, all of your societies and sports clubs are part of the SU. As well as all of these obvious ones there are hundreds of other things that the SU organises and provides for you, including representation of your views and needs to the University and also at a national level. As the SU is run for students it is important that it is doing what you
Win a Free Consultation with Dr. Karl Kennedy! (and a pair of tickets to see his band, too!)
ALAN FLETCHER, aka. Dr. Karl Kennedy from Neighbours, is one of the Britain’s best loved celebrities. This winter, ‘Fletch’ and his band, The Waiting Room, will be performing their fifth tour of the UK. Naturally, Bath is on the schedule – Dr. Karl will be playing in the Bath Pavilion on the 6th of December in front of a crowd of diehard fans. impact have been in touch with the organisers of this fantastic event, and we have managed to wangle ourselves an interview with the doc himself! Now, here at the impact office we are always busy with writing news,
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columns and articles – we could really use someone to go and interview Alan Fletcher for us! If you and a mate want to be in with
a chance to talk with the good doctor, simply send an email to impactdeputy@bath.ac.uk with your course(s), your usernames, contact number, and the subject line “I love Karl Kennedy”.
If you win, we’ll also automatically throw in two tickets to watch Karl’s gig on the 6th of December! This is a seriously cool prize, and a rare opportunity to meet a real star of a long-running classic show, but the timeframe is short! If you’re interested, make sure you send your entries in by midday on Monday 3rd of December, and make sure you are free to do the interview on Thursday night! For those of you who don’t win, tickets are still available at the Pavilion box office (01225 330304) and on their website, www.pavilionshop. co.uk.
want. The Student Opinion Survey is your chance to help us to help you, and the results will be used to set the future direction of the SU. It is therefore really important that you spend a few minutes this week completing the survey, which you can do by clicking on the link in the emails that you received on Tuesday and Friday last week (if you don’t have them anymore you will receive another one this week). If you complete the survey you have the chance to win one of the excellent prizes including an iPod Touch, a Casio Digital Camera and a Nintendo DS with a game. After the survey has finished next week, we will be looking at the results
and seeing what you have told us you want us to be doing. We will then publish a review of the results that will explain what you told us and what we are proposing to do about it. You will then have a chance to vote in a referendum to confirm that you agree with our proposals; if you do they will be incorporated into the future plans of the SU. Remember this is much more than a satisfaction survey; it is your opportunity to set the future direction of your SU. For more information on the survey visit www.BathStudent. com/SOS and to complete the survey click the link in the emails that you have received.
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Arts
And the Winners are...
The results of a bumper entry to ICIA’s Student Photography Comp: WITH OVER 300 entries to ICIA’s Student Photography Competition, the judges’ decision was harder than ever. The standard of this year’s entries was remarkably high, meaning the winners really have produced some outstanding pieces of work. There were three categories in the competition: landscape, documentary and portraiture, and students were able to enter up to three photographs in total. Three winners were selected, one from each category, with seven runners up. All winners and runners up will be exhibited in ICIA Art Space 1 from Thursday 6 December 2007 until Saturday 16 February 2008, with an exhibition opening – which is free to all – on Thursday 6 December at 5.30pm. The competition was judged by Dr Daniel Hinchcliffe, Head of Visual Arts, Owen Bryant, Media and IT Designer, both of ICIA, and Michael Grogan, Chair of Photosoc. Winners: Portrait: Alisa Itskova, Economics
CARP A LOAD OF THIS BEAUTY: Alisa Itskova’s winning portrait. Landscape: Graham Russell, Computer Science Documentary: Ekaterina Gerasimova, IMML Staff: Tom Hall
Runners up: Myrela Bauman, Claire Thompson, Justin Etherington, Shifaan Thowfeequ, Victoria Slee, Kirsty Goodman
of performances this year, with seven societies taking part. The show opened with a bloodcurdling scream as BodySoc took to the stage for a performance of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. I have been told that 70-odd dancers were involved in this piece; quite how they managed this is beyond me, but the piece was bold and beautifully themed. A fantastic, hairraising start to the show indeed. Special mention must go to Gravity Vomit for their ingenious jugglingrelated parody of Scooby-Doo. Everything was there, from the brightlycoloured Mystery Machine, to the
Scooby Snacks, to the villain being revealed at the end (and he would have got away with it, too). The likenesses to each character were uncanny, although Velma’s hairy legs were somewhat off-putting. We were treated to fantastic performances by BUSMS, BUST, ChAOS and Salsa (which was particularly amusing), and the breakdancing section was undeniably brilliant. Reuben Cox’s Nosferatu-inspired song entitled ‘Slaughter the World’ (a parody of a song from The Little Mermaid) also deserves a mention for its rib-tickling execution. For me personally, this Show in a
Week stands out from those in past years because of the sheer quality of the performances. To put together such a slick show in just seven days is remarkable. Those behind the scenes should also be commended: KnitSoc for their costume design, BUMPS for their music, and of course Backstage for making sure the entire event went off without a hitch. I was left thoroughly impressed by the dedication and passion that went into this production; it resulted in a superb-quality show that I’m sure many would agree was the finest Show in a Week yet.
throw, whilst those with experience can enjoy developing their skills. On Day Two, ‘turn’ your newly made work. More ambitious students can try combining forms to make composite pieces. Return the next week to learn about glazes and oxide decoration of the fired pieces. Participants must take part in all three days.
bath university student theatre
come and get involved; you’ll find there isn’t a nicer set of people on the planet! For more information log onto: www. bustonline.co.uk
Exhibition Opening: Thursday 6 December, 5.30pm7.30pm, ICIA Art Space 1 (opposite the library). All welcome, refreshments provided.
A Wonderful Week’s Work Una Owen AS I made my way towards the ICIA Arts Theatre, I noticed that the whole building was lit up in an eerie green glow, and at this point I knew that I was in for something special. Show in a Week is always a fantastic experience; observing the product of a week’s manic rehearsal is thrilling, not least because any number of things can potentially go wrong on the night. The audience (some of whom had got into the true ‘spirit’ of things by dressing up in some frankly quite disturbing garb) were treated to a great variety
Bath University Student Theatre Presents ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ by William Shakespeare Thursday 6 - Saturday 8 December, 7.30pm & Saturday Matinee, 2pm ICIA Arts Theatre Tickets: £5 BUSU, available from the ICIA Box Office (1 East 2.1) WIDELY CONSIDERED to be one of Shakespeare’s best comedies ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ seeks to answer the most fundamental of questions – what is the true nature of love? Through much wit and verbal sparring, Shakespeare’s characters remind us that in the end love is simply the thing that gives us the strength to triumph over adversity, whether of our own making or the work of others.
Throwing on the Wheel Saturday 8, Sunday 9 & Saturday 15 December, 10am-4pm Studio 2, ICIA Arts Complex £35 BUSU, book in advance at ICIA Box Office (1 East 2.1) THIS INTENSIVE workshop in a small group enables you to focus on throwing pots, with close tutoring as required. On Day One, beginners learn how to
Choral Society and Orchestra Saturday 8 December, 7.30pm St Mary’s Church, Bathwick Tickets: £3 BUSU, available from the ICIA Box Office (1 East 2.1) THESE TWO groups join together to present a mixed and enchanting programme of sweeping orchestral score and traditional choral music.
Wind Band & BUBBA Sunday 9 December, 7.30pm ICIA Arts Theatre Tickets: £3 BUSU, available from the ICIA Box Office (1 East 2.1) A DOUBLE-BILL featuring the resonant sounds of the University’s Wind Band followed by swinging numbers from the forty-strong BUBBA Big Band.
BATH UNIVERSITY Student Theatre is a theatre company run by students, for students. Our aim is to perform, produce and direct great theatre, and to bring our art to the students of Bath. BUST put on up to four productions a year and get involved in much more, including the Arts Union’s Show in a Week and ICIA’s Fundraising Gala. The society uses a range of venues, including the ICIA’s Arts Theatre, The Mission Theatre, The Rondo, The Little Cinema and The Museum of Bath at Work. Recent productions include ‘Howard Katz’, ‘Henry V’, ‘The Trial’ and ‘An Ideal Husband’. BUST also runs regular workshops. These take place on most Wednesdays in the ICIA Arts Theatre at 7.30pm, and run for two hours. They cover a multitude of themes; previous themes have included Shakespeare, directing, movement, improvisation, devising, mask, clown and comedy. So if you fancy yourself as the next John Gielgud, Sam Mendes or Eric Bana then
chaos - choral and orchestral society CHAOS IS a large music society composed of four main groups: Choral Society, Orchestra, Alley Barbers and Wind Band. We also strongly encourage the formation of other student ensembles (known as Chamber Groups). The Choral and Orchestra Society exists to allow members of the Bath University Students’ Union to participate in a range of musical activities, regardless of previous experience or musical ability. We are here to let you enjoy developing your talents and skills through practice and performance, as well as meeting and socialising with people sharing your interests in music. As a student society we believe that our musical activities should mainly be run by students, and we aim to increase awareness of student music as an art among other members of our community (on and off campus).
The Panto’s in Town... Oh Yes, It Is!
WITH THE festive season fast approaching (although I was shocked this year to see Christmas decorations appearing as early as October), I think it’s a good time to talk about a particular art form that always catches my eye at this time of year: the pantomime. Panto is one of those wonderful British winter traditions, an evening of family entertainment that people tend to either love or hate. Kids love it, of course, but as long as there’s plenty of subtle adult humour included, it can go down very well with an older audience as well. Think of a pantomime, and I suppose you’re likely to conjure the image of a B-list celebrity (perhaps an ex-soap star) camping it up in a dingy theatre in some unfashionable seaside resort. These days, however, panto is big business, attracting some very well-known names and faces. Sir Ian McKellen playing Widow Twankey a few years back comes to mind, as does the performance of ‘Dick Whittington’ at the Barbican last year, which was written by playwright Mark Ravenhill and featured a disgruntled Roger Lloyd Pack as Sarah the Cook. This year’s big panto player is the Old Vic, which is hosting a version of ‘Cinderella’ written by Stephen Fry (and featuring music from an Oscarwinning composer, no less). Whilst this production sounds like it will dazzle audiences with its high-quality writing and production values, I cannot help but hark back to the days when I was a young child, and being treated to a low-budget, washed-up-celebrity-studded winter spectacle. Whilst it would have won no prizes for theatrical brilliance, there was never so much fun to be had as screaming “HE’S BEHIND YOU!” at the top of your lungs while jumping up and down on your chair (usually as a result of eating far too many sweets). Tom Newman Arts Officer
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Comment
Are Human Rights a Matter of Perspective? Timothy Leigh AFTER SEPTEMBER 11th, one body made a decision. This decision was to knowingly contravene international law through a campaign involving kidnap, torture and secret detention. This body was the United States Government, more specifically the C.I.A., and the campaign is a programme known as extraordinary rendition. The rendition programme originally came into existence in the mid 1990s as a way of removing terrorists from foreign countries to countries where they were wanted for trial. At the outset its aim was merely to remove suspected terrorists to countries where they could be tried, in essence to get people the C.I.A. believed to be dangerous off the streets. All that was required was a sympathetic country, which would allow the C.I.A. to apprehend the suspect, and a country where the suspect could be transported for trial. Minimal assurances that the suspect would be treated according to the rule of law were all that was required. Rendition, in this form, does not necessarily breach international human rights law, and was considered by the U.S. Supreme Court and also several NGOs to be legal in certain circumstances. Post-September 11th, however, the rendition programme assumed a more sinister aspect. Suspects were now not being apprehended so they could be subject to a judicial system, rather they were being taken so they could be put outside any judicial system, transported to secret prisons or “black sites” where they could be held without trial and questioned using charmingly-termed
“enhanced interrogation techniques”, or to phrase it more bluntly, tortured. To achieve this aim, the C.I.A. seems to have been in collusion with several European intelligence agencies, most notably MI5 in the case of Bisher Al-Rawi and Jamil ElBanna. They were on their way to Gambia but were stopped at Gatwick Airport on 1st November 2002 and held for 48 hours while being questioned about a suspicious device Mr Al-Rawi was carrying. They were released when police finally decided it was a standard battery charger, available from Dixons or Argos. In the meantime, however, MI5 had sent an e-mail to the C.I.A. containing the incorrect information that Mr Al-Rawi was an Islamic extremist in possession of equipment that could be part of a home-made bomb. This was, of course, the infamous battery charger. When the two men were finally released, they returned home and reorganised their trip to Gambia for 8th November. When they landed in Gambia, they were arrested
and handed over to the Americans and both spent time at a secret facility in Kabul known as the “Dark Prison”, used by the C.I.A. to hold victims of rendition, before being transferred to Bagram airbase and
later to Guantanamo Bay. Mr Al-Rawi had previously worked with MI5 in helping them peacefully arrest Abu Qatada, yet when he was on trial before the combatant status review tribunal, MI5 refused to send over the witnesses he asked for and refused to acknowledge any link with MI5. As of Autumn 2006, Mr Al-Rawi was still being held at Guantanamo Bay, nearly four years after being arrested for carrying a battery charger and seemingly directly because of a reprehensible lack of communication between MI5 and the C.I.A. According to Louise Arbour, the U.N. High commissioner for Human Rights, the secret detention of people outside judicial systems constitutes a form of torture. Therefore the CIA’s rendition programme in the form it has been used since September 11th means that the U.S. has knowingly contravened the European Convention on Human rights in ten documented cases, and makes George W. Bush’s claim that the U.S. does not engage in torture false. According to a senator for the Council of Europe, the C.I.A. has constructed a “Global spider’s web” with which it can, with the documented aid of countries including Italy, U.K. and Germany, kidnap suspects and transport them to secret detention centres or “Black Sites” for extreme interrogation, or transfer them to countries where they will be tortured, all done with complete disregard for International Law and Human Rights legislation. I ask one question, does this make the world a safer place, or does it merely give the people who claim we in the west are hypocrites and torturers the ammunition they need to carry on recruiting?
‘Reality’ TV: Is it Really that Real? Emma Simmons Deputy Comment Editor
STAND UP if you’ve never found yourself sat in of an evening watching a reality TV show and wondering why it is that you actually care about what happens to this group of people whom you’ve never even met? If you are now standing up, I believe that, unfortunately you will be in the very small minority! Personally, I am the perfect target for Reality TV shows, I get emotionally involved and find myself really caring about who is going to get ‘voted off’ or meet some other, equally horrific fate! Or at least this is how I used to be. When the first Big Brother series was televised, it was a new and exciting concept; it was interesting to watch these (fairly) normal people interact and cope with living in such an alien environment. I know that I would have (and did) do everything in my power to ensure that I did not miss a show, and to some extent this lasted into series two and three, and today I still spend the occasional evening (when I have nothing else to do) watching ‘X Factor’ or ‘Big Brother 412’ or whatever series it must be by now! However, as time has gone on, more and
more reality shows have appeared on our screens, from the tackiness of ‘Celebrity Love Island’ to the deluded idea that is ‘Beauty and the Geek’. In reference to these two examples in particular, I find it scary that anyone employed by ITV and Channel 4 actually came up with either of these concepts, and I find it even scarier that they were not alone in thinking that they were good ideas (i.e. they got the backing of their colleagues and superiors)! As these shows become more and more numerous, so the have to come up with new ways of keeping the public interested, and it seems that the most popular way of doing this is to simply have contestants who are, in various degrees and forms, mentally unstable. Big Brother has welcomed sexists, racists, a plastic-surgery-obsessed woman, a man claiming to want to commit suicide and a girl with an unhealthy interest in becoming Victoria Beckham, to name just a few! The craze quickly extended to music shows and many associated with the music industry, from fans and artists to recording companies, perhaps stand in strongest opposition to the growing influence of reality TV. It is claimed that shows such as ‘X Factor’ and ‘Pop Idol’ are ruining the
industry. ‘If these people were good enough artists then would they not have made it into the charts through their own talent and hard work?’ is the question on the lips of many, and in my opinion this is a reasonable question to ask, as I’m sure that former and current music stars did not achieve success without perseverance and a set-back or two along the way, however, in the end they got the recognition that their talent deserved. Why, therefore, should the charts be dominated by people who have received fame because of a show and not because of their musical ability? As a former fan of reality TV, I find myself becoming further frustrated by the lack of new dramas, documentaries, and sit-coms on television, as the hours are filled up with series upon series of essentially the same shows, OK so it may be another year, and another random collection of individuals but is ‘Big Brother 10’ really going to bring something to our screens which we haven’t already seen in series 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 or 9? I think not.
Grandma, this is Charlie. She’s a slut tonight.
Josie Cox asks whether it is necessary for us students to dress up whenever we leave the house. GOING HOME for Christmas has certainly adopted new connotations since the days when we merrily rocked around the Christmas tree and decked the halls with boughs of holly. In true tradition however, this year like every year, will provide the occasion for grandfathers to unite with their grandsons, great aunts to tell you how much you’ve grown (and they hopefully aren’t referring to your waist-line), and distant cousins to realize that you’ve matured out of the habit of urinating in their sandpit. Then on boxing day, when everyone is finding excuses to avoid having to tidy up the mess left by hung-over Uncle Bob the night before, there will inevitably come a time when you are forced to tell tales of your life at University. Whether you are scrutinized by the geeky, prepubescent son of your aunt’s third husband, or whether it’s just your mother investigating the chances of a potential son-in-law being on the scene, you will have to share some of the antics which shaped the past few months of your life. Photographic support is thereby unanimously appreciated. Even requested. But hark, ‘tis not the herald angel singing, but a minor problem arising: you realize that your only source of any photographs, depicting your life of ‘higher education’, stem from the omnipotent pages of facebook. So let’s take a look at the photographic records of your frolics. “This, grandma, was the night I was a tart… here I am a kinky police-woman...On this picture I’m a playboy-bunny. This is my friend Charlie. She’s a porn Star, and this is Johnny, he’s wearing Gemma’s thong as part of his Hugh Hefner costume.” Aside from contributing to your granny’s premature coronary arrest, it should also make us pause for thought. Why, these days, does every wretched party need a theme to make it worth going to? Is it a call of desperation from the host, declaring that they are scared that an unthemed party would lack conversation starters? How old are we anyway? Often, when I see people gravitating towards house parties, birthday bashes and pub crawls, I wonder whether the theme merely provides an excuse for
MASK:There’s something fishy about this.
the ladies to wear belt-resembling skirts, and the gentlemen to enjoy the sight of ladies’ booties in belt-resembling skirts. However, if this hypothesis is true, I would probably hesitate to grant these party-goers the status of ‘ladies’ and ‘gentlemen’. Have we no self-respect? Of course I hear your rebuttals and claims that it’s all for a laugh; but doesn’t it ever make you wonder where the hype of dressing up has actually come from? Is it an innate desire to be something that we are not? Are we taking the chance to mask our true selves, in order to break down the barriers of selfconsciousness that tame us by day? Can’t we just be ourselves? Or are we simply totally gung-hoe for Halloween and therefore try to recreate it every week of the year? Frankly, I’m rather surprised at how avidly people still follow this dressingup craze. The enthusiasm which was displayed for dressing up during my Fresher Week, already took me by huge surprise. Never had I dreamed, however, that halfway through my second year, people would still be disguising themselves as tarts, vicars, cartoon characters and beach bums on a weekly basis. I’m getting sick and tired of always seeing policewomen in fishnets and knee-high boots, nurses in butt-skimming skirts and animals regularly downing a pint or two. I know that we students often have the urge to resort to animalistic behavior regarding personal hygiene and habits, but can’t we at least wear our clothes in the style that ‘normal’ humans should? Then again I’m aware of the fact that normal is always relative.
DEAR EDITOR...
Re: “Why Transport Drives Me To Desperation” (Issue 5). Matthew Butler seems to have succumbed to the disease of ‘Complaining Blindly Whilst Proposing Zero Solutions’. Yes, transport in Britain is imperfect. But train tickets to London can be bought for less than a tenner if you plan ahead. Butler also hates the fuel escalator and taxation of air travel, dismissing them as “eco-babble”. This babble must have convinced some smart people; our own Professor Anil Markandya recently winning the Nobel Prize for his part in “efforts to build up and disseminate knowledge about man-made
climate change.” Mark Lynas writes “despite small uncertainties regarding the specifics, the larger scientific question regarding causality has been settled for a decade at least”. Why has Butler not figured it out yet? Ridiculously under-taxed aviation and car travel contribute massively to climate change. If they were taxed more we could afford the “affordable and efficient public transport system” he says he wants, as well as helping to avoid planetary catastrophe and what Lynas calls “mass death”. It’s possible that this is more important than poor Matthew’s troubles getting around.
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Comment
Use Correct Change Only: The Iron Chancellor is Still Take, Take, Take Hadleigh Roberts assesses the government’s true colours, only to find so many different shades of Brown. So will this monocrome cabinet have any effect on his “vision”? GORDON BROWN has literally not stopped since moving into Number 10. Rumour has it that while most of us are asleep, he is grinding through a mountainous in-tray and calling ministers at 6am to demand action. While he has yet to set about changing the country, it is evident that he has changed the way government works. For years, there have been four main jobs in the government: Number 10, the Treasury, the Foreign Office, and the Home Office. Now however, Brown has successfully dismantled any obstacles to his agenda. In the very early days of his premiership, he proclaimed that he wanted a “government of all the talents” meaning that he would call in civil servants, diplomats, anybody, to serve as a GOAT rather than politicians. His second alteration was the mimic the intrepid Sarkozy, by calling in a few opposition ministers, thus expanding the big tent. For all this expansion though, there has been contraction. The Foreign Office has been weakened by the creation of ministries for International Development and the
European Union while the Home Office has been dismantled by the introduction of the Ministry for Justice. The most important thing to look at though, is the Treasury. The Treasury has always acted as a brake for overambitious plans. In the old sitcom Yes, Minister the PM asks, “How do I get the Treasury to agree?” to get the response “You must get the Chancellor to agree.” “But how do I get the Chancellor to agree?” “You must get the Treasury to agree.” Brown has finally defeated the dragon. After ten years expanding the remit of the Chancellor, blocking (a great deal of) Blair’s madcap antics, he has relegated the Chancellor of the Exchequer to something of a mere Finance Minister. Alistair Darling, appointed for his loyalty and solidity, is a simple puppet. The Prime Minister’s strength is also one of his greatest weaknesses. Blair already had the formidable Iron Chancellor; Robin Cook was famous for ripping John Major’s government to bits, and Peter Mandelson was once known as a most sneaky strategist. Cameron
has an accomplished team of George Osbourne (who earned his stripes over the inheritance tax row), William Hague (with party leadership experience) and David Davis (David Davis has seen off three home secretaries and is vying for a fourth). Labour’s Fantastic Four has consolidated to Labour’s Big One. This asks a very serious question; is it even possible that Brown did not know about the recent scandal, in which illegal immigrants were cleared to work as security guards at various locations including, incredibly, the car park for the PM’s Jaguar? In Prime Minister’s Questions on November 14th, Cameron inevitably asked when Brown was informed. He was asked three times, but the PM did not waver, and his clunking fist slammed down, “I am sorry that the Leader of the Opposition thinks everything should go through No. 10; the Home Office was responsible, and it took action!” The problem for Gordon Brown is that so few people understand him. Politics moves faster than business, and as such the language is constantly
Matthew Butler
honour and keep” one another “for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part”. Although neither has known any material poverty, the Queen’s reign has been marked by extraordinary social change during which she has unstintingly executed her commitment with the indefatigable dedication to duty that mirrors that of her wedding vows. Just as her wedding vows demanded of her to commit herself selflessly and uncomplainingly to a lifelong union of matrimony, so in her coronation oath she devoted herself to a life of service to the British people. What a contrast this is with the devastating erosion of such noble values and especially the institution of marriage; the moral and social decay that has marked her reign. Today’s world is one in which the very idea of marriage is almost unfashionable. Couples are expected to cohabit before tying the knot, and those who sensibly shun ‘living in sin’ (as it was known until recently) are scorned. If a wedding goes ahead at all, it will probably be an obscenely expensive extravaganza that is more about beating the Joneses (the average cost of a wedding is now £25,000) than about making a solemn pledge to spend the rest of one’s life together. If it goes wrong later, not to worry: the indissoluble union is becoming ever easier to dissolve, with two in five marriages now ending in divorce. At the heart of this degradation of marriage is the profound selfishness that has gripped us since we abandoned the timeless wisdom of traditional morality in the cultural
revolution of the 1960s. We now want all the emotional fulfilment of a serious relationship without the duty of commitment. We recoil from the notion of selflessly devoting ourselves through thick and thin to the protection, nurturing and steadfast love of our partners that marriage demands. Swallowing the loathsome, twisted propaganda of the 60s reformers ‘that marriage is a form of slavery designed to lock women into exploitative relationships’ we increasingly form casual, ephemeral relationships. With no commitment, no rules and no stability, these are far more exploitative than marriage ever was. Try telling the young woman whose boyfriend has walked out on her after she became pregnant that she is really better off without the security of marriage. Despite the overwhelming weight of evidence that shows that the children of married parents do better in every walk of life “from physical and mental health to educational performance and propensity to commit crimes” we are heading rapidly towards the point at which 50% of children will be born out of wedlock. Marriage is not perfect. But it is the best institution anyone has yet invented to balance passion with responsibility, and to provide both the couple and their children with stability, self-sacrifice and comfort. As we salute the royal couple for their outstanding example, let us consider whether we are in danger of destroying one of the most precious cornerstones of human civilisation.
God Save the Queen, and the Institution of Marriage
WHEN THE Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh walked into Westminster Abbey last week to celebrate their Diamond Wedding Anniversary, we were given an opportunity to reflect upon the shining example of dedication and commitment that these two remarkable people have set by their marriage of 60 years. They married in 1947, in a Britain so different from how it is today that to people of our generation it would be almost unrecognisable. Still wounded from the devastation of war, it was an austere land of rationing, cold winters and compulsory military service, where television broadcast for a few hours a day and the Sabbath-day quietness of town and city centres was broken only by the pealing of church bells. Yet, threescore years on, in our era of 24hour news, vast shopping malls, material abundance and political correctness, their marriage is still going from strength to strength. As the Prince himself said, when asked about the success of his marriage, “The Queen has the quality of tolerance in abundance.” In the Queen’s words, the Prince “has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years, and I, and his whole family, and this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim or we shall ever know.” The vows they took in the sacred setting of Westminster Abbey were those of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. They promised to “love, comfort,
updating. We heard a lot about the word ‘trust’, which has since been replaced by ‘change’, which has since been replaced by ‘vision’. The ‘vision’ argument is an interesting idea. It is also ironic, since Brown’s vision is impaired literally; he lost the sight in one eye during a rugby match, and politically; since it is in a language most people don’t understand. David Cameron was furious after the Queen’s Speech, claiming that the Brown Agenda ‘lacks vision’. This is of course utter nonsense, but the problem is that because people do not look beyond the ‘big ideas’ of the day, his speciality day-to-day legislative programmes go unheeded. One of Tony Blair’s genius traits was that he was able to present incremental changes as revolutionary, compromising while crusading. Cameron, who was brought in to be ‘Blairer than Blair’ can do this too, and can attract progressives despite lurching to the right. Brown does not have such articulation, and finds it difficult to understand that his audience has such little background knowledge. Some measures are genuinely radical.
The leaving age of education will be raised to 18, and the introduction of diplomas is designed to bring the United Kingdom into line with other European countries. Of course, this comparison will not be widely publicised, since the British are prone to irrational antiEuropeanism. The house-building scheme is ambitious, albeit the minimum required. Nobody can deny that Gordon Brown has vision, but sometimes it is necessary to participate in a committee reporting to a think-tank regarding ‘universal progressivism’ to find it. Labour does have a number of talented individuals, but they have yet to prove themselves. David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, can project beyond Westminster although his political talents are currently engaged in seeing off his Africa minister. Ed Balls, the schools supremo, has the requisite intellectual and mental toughness as well. Whatever the case, Captain Brown will only succeed if he takes his lieutenants over the top with him.
GORDON AND ELIZABETH: An unhappier marriage.
Current Comment from the Comment Editor RE: ID Fraud blunder, announced 20/11/07
AS I turned on the news last night I was not expecting another potential catastrophe to add to the growing list. Firstly there’s the ever-underlying threat of a bird-flu outbreak (the abbreviation H5N1 is all too familiar) - against which I seriously think there should be vaccines made for all, not just for ‘5 million essential workers’, which is the order for which the government has currently put in for. Then we have the just as serious, (and again constantly poking the back of our necks) issue of global warming to contend with. We have the ever-rising interest rates and with them the idea that young people will be living with their parents until their forties due to inability to grasp hold of the first rung on the housing market ladder. Furthermore there’s the continous presence of British soldiers in Iraq,
Afghanistan and wherever else, and the threat of terrorist attacks here in the UK. We had the mess of the Northern Rock crisis in September of this year, which the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, attempted to mop up. Now, to top everything else Darling has had to apologise on behalf of HM Revenue & Customs office, for carelessly losing the records of 25 million Britons! No wonder we’re all so stressed out. If you worried about all the above simultanesouly you’d never leave the house. The recent ‘ID blunder’ is not comforting but there’s not really much one can do about it. Just go with the not-at-all reassuring flow. But who is to blame? Who do we trust? I sadly find it hard to trust the government . They’re not always to blame, but they don’t help themselves when it comes to making us feel safe in their hands.
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SHAG Week 2007
Whose Pants?
AWARE: Sells More Than Just Condoms!
Want free guest list entry for you and a friend to every Funky G u p p y, S c o r e a n d Elements of Laughter for the rest of the academic year for 50p?
THAT’S THE prize for winning ‘Whose Pants?’ All you have to do is work out who the six pairs of pants below belong to. All the models are either members of the Sabb team, Union Council, Sports Association Exec or the Societies Combined Exec. A full list of the potential models along with mugshots, to make it easier for you to work out who they are, can be found at www. BathStudent.com/Pants. All the money raised will go to the Terrance Higgins Trust, the leading HIV and AIDS charity in the UK, and the largest in Europe. To enter simply go online to www. BathStudent.com/Pants and download the entry form, fill it in and take it into AWARE (1 East level 3) with your 50p before 5pm on Friday 7th December and if you’re right then you’ll be entered into the prize draw. The draw will be made in the Plug Bar at 12.40pm on Saturday 8th December before Aston Villa take on Pompey in the Premiership on the big screen. The winner will be posted on www.BathStudent.com straight after the draw and will also be informed via email.
So What Exactly is SHAG Week? Eddie Bell VP Welfare & Campaigns MONDAY 26TH November signifies the start of SHAG week 2007, which sees the release of the first ever SHAG Mag and SHAG Funky Guppy. SHAG stands for Sexual Health Awareness and Guidance. Throughout the week AWARE volunteers will be running a variety of different events aimed to raise your awareness of different aspects of sexual health. For example, they will be selling red ribbons for World AIDS Day, which is on Saturday 1st December, all week, with the profits being donated directly to charity. Keep your eyes peeled during the following week too, as there will be a few organisations coming in and running stalls at the bottom of the stairs to the Plug Bar at lunchtime. The highlight of our events this year is a SHAG Funky Guppy on Friday 7th December. Sorry to disappoint all of you lads, but unfortunately this doesn’t
mean some sort of mass orgy... Instead, Guppy will be taken over for a night of promotional SHAG events including: - ‘Test your SHAG knowledge’: Questions about sexual health and safe sex. Just how effective is a condom?
- AWARE’s dancing giant condoms: Get yourself inside their giant condom suits and get your photo taken; now there’s a Facebook profile picture opportunity right there! - SHAG Tag: Someone take your
fancy and you’ve not got the guts/had enough drinks to tell them? RAG will be giving everyone a number on entry and all you budding Romeo & Juliet’s will be able to leave an ode on their section of the SHAG Wall. - A pair of male and female torso shaped shot luges (pictured). In addition to these events; when you buy your ticket you’ll receive a free copy of our SHAG Mag. Containing features on STDs, Sex Stories and how to make that first time more than just a fumble under the sheets with the lights off, the SHAG Mag will educate and entertain. Hopefully you’ll find it informative, interesting and downright amusing. Other features include some hilarious quotes; do you know who said, “women might be able to fake orgasms. But men can fake a whole relationship”? Inside is also a first hand account of a Student’s first trip to a GUM Clinic, which definitely makes for worrying reading!
IT’S TRUE. AWARE is well known for selling condoms at cost price but did you know they have a wide variety of condoms and they also sell other forms of contraception as well. They are so good that they give away pregnancy test for free so if you have any problems with your contraception then pop along to AWARE to get your test completely gratis.
Regular Condoms: Bags of 3: 30p Bags of 10: £1 Variety Bags: 60p Ribbed (3): 50p Non-latex (3): £1.50 Dams (2): £1 Lubricant (3 sachets): 30p Pregnancy Test Kits: FREE
Pants 1 Pants 2 Pants 3
Pants 4 Pants 5 Pants 6
WELL ENDOWNED? AWARE have condoms to suit all sizes.
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Features Santa Angst Disease? Snowy And Dull? Millionaires of the Future? Nope, it’s Seasonal Affective Disorder! Psychology student Rosanna Pajak explains that it’s not just the Grinch who hates Christmas (well, at least winter).
AS WE enter December the nights will get even longer and the days shorter, and we’ll throw ourselves into the Christmas spirit in order to fight off the winter blues. Almost everyone gets that sinking feeling once the clocks go back and we have to queue for the 418 in the dark, shivering, at 5pm. It’s a vast difference to how we feel in the summer months, those halcyon days of pints in the sun down by the lake. Yet whilst it’s normal to feel a bit glum in the winter months, for some people it’s almost unbearable, and their feelings reach a different level. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) affects 1-3% of people in the UK: they feel a severe depression during winter, despite being fine during summer. From around October until March, sufferers feel lethargic, depressed, anxious and moody; they overeat, lose interest in sex, have trouble sleeping, and withdraw socially. We rarely question exactly why we all feel more miserable in these dull, dark months. If asked, we might relate it to not being able to enjoy outdoor activities, or feeling cold all the time, but that’s pretty much all we come up with. If I’m honest, the reason my heart sinks when I look out the window and see grey rainy Bath is not because I was planning a picnic that afternoon. The link between the gloomy weather and our gloomy moods is actually a little more scientific… Researchers have proven that the amount of light outside actually makes a big difference to our brain chemistry. Your brain works hard to control your daily rhythms and moods, and is affected by the amount of light that enters your eyes. As night falls, the pineal gland in your brain begins to produce a hormone, melatonin, that tells your body clock that it’s night-time. As the sun rises, the light signals to your pineal gland to stop secreting melatonin, so you wake up. This happens all the time, without you realising it – even though we now use electric light, it is your melatonin levels that moderate your body clock. During the winter we all get less light, so our melatonin levels are generally higher. As this is the hormone that usually makes us sleepy, it’s understandable we feel lethargic and down in the dumps – is it any wonder we find it hard to get out of bed and go to lectures? Yet it remains hard to work out exactly why some people suffer so badly from SAD and the rest of us can cope. People with SAD have been found to produce much higher melatonin levels in winter than other people, despite having normal summer levels. However, suppressing their melatonin levels doesn’t totally cure them, so there must be other factors involved. Serotonin is an important neurotransmitter, a chemical in the brain that governs mood. Levels of serotonin are lower in depressed people during winter, so it’s likely that serotonin might not work properly in people with SAD. No one really knows what triggers SAD, but it has been linked to events
such as childbirth, hysterectomy or other hormonal upheavals, as well as to bereavements or serious illnesses, which are common triggers of depression. It appears to be more common in women than men and can start at any age, although most commonly between eighteen and thirty. Yet children can suffer from SAD and often end up being labelled as lazy and difficult: if it’s not recognised as the cause, SAD can seriously affect the child’s life and future. As you might expect, SAD is much more common in some countries than others – it’s very rare in people who live within 30 degrees of the equator, as it’s just too sunny there! Research found that in New Hampshire 10% of the population suffer from clinical levels of SAD, compared to just 2% in Florida. People who move from the tropics to more cloudy climates tend to be much more at risk of developing SAD symptoms. Luckily, people who suffer from SAD don’t have to just sigh and wait for spring… they have a variety of options to help them deal with the winter months. They could take antidepressants to regulate their serotonin levels, and hopefully shift their low mood. Cognitive behavioural therapy is also recommended, to give sufferers the skills and strategies
they need to cope with their depressed feelings during the winter. The most common treatment is so simple it’s almost genius – phototherapy. The common lightbulb is not enough, but SAD sufferers can buy or rent lightboxes: they simply sit before the very strong light for about two hours in the morning, and the light inhibits the production of melatonin by the pineal gland. Phototherapy has been found to help about 80% of sufferers, and fast - often only after a week. But what about the rest of us? Our winter depression may not be severe, but I’m sure we’d all agree that its there. Sitting in front of a lightbox would probably turn us into giggling maniacs, so what should we do to cheer ourselves up when it’s grey outside? Well, it’s important not to stay in the house, as some sunlight is better than just artificial light, even when it’s overcast. One research study showed that a daily one-hour walk, in the middle of the day, could be as helpful as light treatment for coping with the winter blues. It’s also important to try to avoid putting yourself under stress during the winter months, so listen to what your body is telling you and take it easy. On the other hand, you could just give up on this wet, gloomy, miserable country and emigrate to Australia…
Siân Lewis interviews Chris Spencer, project leader of the SIFE conference that was held recently on campus. impact: So, what exactly is SIFE? Chris: Well it stands for Students In Free Enterprise and it’s a conference for students from all over the country, encouraging original ideas and starting new businesses. It aims to teach students about enterprise and how it’s actually a valid career choice.
Chris: Yes, this year we had the Elevator Pitch competition - you have to talk about your business idea in an lift for 2 minutes - and we gave £5,000 (donated by UnLtd, a foundation for social enterprise) to this year’s winner, Chris Skilton, from Nottingham University, for his idea of setting up an apiculture (bee keeping) scheme in Ghana.
impact: What kind of activities does it set up?
impact: Why should students join SIFE?
Chris: Things like personal career workshops, CV surgeries, and talks from young businesspeople - this year we had Sophie Kain from The Apprentice and Fraser Doherty, an 18-year-old prodigy who supplies big-name supermarkets with sugar-free jam.
Chris: It’s fun, it’s different, and it helps students with ambition get started and get support. There are also lots of volunteering opportunities, and the social side is excellent! The reception this year was amazing; it was held in the Roman Baths and was attended by SIFE members from all round Britain, the Chairman of the Council, and even the president of the SU of the University of Alicante! Find out more at www.sife.com
impact: Does it fund young entrepreneurs’ business ideas?
NO SMALL FRY:Big business comes to Bath.
Photo: Lynette Lan
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Features
What’s on the Cards for CathSoc? CathSoc, the SU Society of the Year 2007, led by President Jon Wagner, continues its successful programme of events encompassing a healthy range of faith-based activities and non-religious socials. Matthew Bewers tells us the story. MASS EVERY Sunday on campus, arranged by Father Bill, OSM, our Catholic Chaplain, offers the opportunity to participate in music in a friendly and spiritual environment. To emphasise the universality of the Catholic faith within the University, we have an International Mass twice a year with prayers, readings and hymns in different languages. And if that’s not enough, bring along some of your own native cuisine and share lunch. So if you would like the opportunity to share your native language with others, come along to our next one in Semester 2. On the same weekend is our Ceilidh: a night of traditional folk dancing. It is an elaborate evening to dance the night away at Level 1 Cafe and tuck into a tasty ploughman’s supper. You don’t have to be a Latin Ballroom expert and if you make a fool of yourself, it’ll only add to the spectacle for our performing band, “Haywire”. They really are as crazy as they sound. Our regular talks and debates happen every Thursday night. These are lively (and sometimes heated!) and are based on current affairs. This year, we have hosted the 7th Meriol Trevor Lecture on child slavery and the actions of PREDA, a Christian charity. This organisation was set up by Fr. Shay Cullen, a missionary priest from Ireland
and has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. It aims to protect children from unjust imprisonment and prostitution in the Philippines. The talk was attended by university students and people from Bath city centre. A lecture on Fair Trade was given by Dr. Severine Deneulin. He emphasised CAFOD’s Live Simply ideas for Christians today. Other gripping talks have included Mastermind and Brain of Britain contestant, Amanda Hill, who gave a witty presentation on British Saints and National freelance writer and journalist; Joanna Bogle who engaged enthusiastically with insights into the role of Women and the Church. Our next few talks will be on Ecumenism and a talk by Alice Hogge, winner of the Dimplex New Writer of the Year Award - comparing the divided loyalties of Catholics in the 16th century with Muslims in England today. CathSoc supports the French tradition of Taize Prayer on the first Thursday of every month: a time to relax, experience Taize music and meditate. Jon is also organising a trip to the International Taize meeting in Geneva on 28th December, showing enthusiasm for the spiritual and global significance of Taize. Not all of our events are confined to the Ecumenical Chaplaincy Centre on Campus or to the Catholic
Chaplaincy Centre in South Parade down in Bath. We have had some trips away, one of which was to Downside Abbey, a famous monastery not far from Bath. Our next outing is our weekend retreat in Nympsfield from 23rd -25th November in Gloucestershire. This offers a complete break from routine in peaceful reflection, pleasant time together and good food. And yes, we’ll be doing another one in Semester 2, should you wish to avail of this unique opportunity. External to the main CathSoc activities is the community
Student Energy Competition: Reduce Your Carbon Footprint Sometimes hugging a tree just isn’t good enough. Siân Lewis tells us about the University’s annual energy-saving competition. IF YOU occasionally feel the need to do your bit for the environment - using cloth bags instead of plastic for food shopping, having showers instead of baths, etc - but you lack incentive to really start living in an eco-friendly manner, the University has launched a new competition to help you get there. Run by Peter Phelps, Bath University’s Energy and Environment manager, the competition is targeted at people living in student accommodation, on and off campus, and the winning block will be rewarded with a free meal, a tree named after their complex, and of course the big fuzzy feeling of having done their bit for the planet. Trialled last year, the competition is running until May 2008, and should save a lot of energy and money - Last year the winners were Derhill, and altogether the University saved 60 tonnes of CO2 and £13,000. Each week, the energy used by every accommodation block will be measured, and progress will be viewable online. The winning complex will be the one that uses the
least energy in comparison to figures from their building last year, and in recent weeks. So how can you do your bit for the environment? It’s very simple - turn off electrical appliances that you’re not using. That’s it. No need to never wash and live in a tree, just turn your computer, stereo, TV, play station, mobile phone charger, etc off at the plug when they aren’t in use, and turn off lights if they aren’t needed.Not convinced? Sustainability is a big issue here, as every year the University spends around 4.5 million pounds on energy, and produces 22,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from gas and electricity use. That’s enough to fill over 4,000 hot air balloons. Reducing and controlling the current amounts of emissions produced will ensure a clean, environmentally-friendly campus and save a lot of money, which can be spent on facilities, societies and sport. All you have to do is flick a switch. Find out more at www.bath.ac.uk/ accommodation/green/competition. shtml
work carried out by SVP Soc (Saint Vincent de Paul Society), founded by Fredrick Ozanam, a university student in Paris in 1833. Led by Matthew Bewers, activities include Faith & Light, an evening with storytelling, music and simple prayer for adults with learning difficulties, which is immensely enjoyable. Also helping out at the Julian House homeless centre and the old people’s home, Smallcombe House, offered us the opportunity to contribute to the lives of those less fortunate than ourselves in society.
Last but not least, the festive season is upon us and we have the perfect tonic: a traditional British Christmas meal on the 7th December hosted by Fr. Bill’s parish in Combe Down that is just too mouth-watering to resist! CathSoc not sitting back on its laurels from its award, but is finding new confidence in what it does and for what it exists. We invite you to come and share your gifts, faith and personality; you don’t have to be a Catholic but you’ll be surprised at how like-minded you will feel you are among all of us.
HOROSCOPE Madame Soufflé
GREETINGS FROM the heavens, my star children. I am Madame Souffle and I will traverse the astral planes and helicopters in order to guide you through the year. I have looked into my crystal balls and have seen the unforeseeable. Let me take you on a tour into the week awaiting us… CAPRICORN (22 December - 20 January) You’re going to discover that the borrowers are living in your wardrobe and then you’ll destroy them all in a hilarious misunderstanding.
LEO (24 July- 23 August) You’re going to have a very strong urge to try and achieve something with your life. Fight it at all costs because you’d most likely fail anyway.
AQUARIUS (21 January - 19 February) Aquarians will be pleased to know that the rash they have wont get any worse and that it should clear up in a couple of days.
VIRGO (24 August - 23 September) You’re going to have an itch in a really uncomfortable place and won’t be able to scratch it for about an hour. Don’t think about asking a friend to get it for you, I said “uncomfortable” not “hard to reach”.
PISCES (20 February - 20 March) Pisces can expect a visit from Mr Miyagi this fortnight. Lucky them. ARIES (21 March- 20 April) A monk is going to ruin an important relationship for you. Do yourself a favour and hit as many monks as you can find. TAURUS (21 April- 21 May) A bonsai tree will fall on you.
LIBRA (24 September - 23 October) Your favourite sport is going to become your second favourite sport as you discover the joy of Tiddlywinks.
GEMINI (22 May- 22 June) This fortnight you will realize that it’s not just the mirror. Your arse really is that fat.
SCORPIO (24 October - 22 November) You’re going to give someone some really bad advice and they’re going to become grievously injured because of it. Not to worry though as you don’t like them too much any way.
CANCER (23 June- 23 July) Like the crab, you walk in straight lines when drunk. This ability will help you greatly when drunk and on a narrow ledge.
SAGITTARIUS (23 November - 21 December) This fortnight you’re going to get a life. But don’t be surprised if you lose it pretty quick.
MONDAY 26TH NOVEMBER 2007
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Features
Guardian Student Media Conference 2007
Laurence Cable and Josie Cox delve into journalism in the Big City. They tell us how they experienced an unforgettable and adventurous day in the heart of Bethnal Green... despite Cathy Newman’s absence.
AFTER WE had negotiated the lovely walk along Bethnal Green Road from Liverpool Street Station, we were welcomed with a free copy of… The Guardian! Following the guzzling of some free orange juice, a session entitled ‘Introduction by Janine Gibson’ kicked off in the absence of Janine Gibson, executive editor of Guardian Unlimited. Nevertheless, Matt Wells (Guardian Unlimited’s Head of Audio), City University’s Professor Roy Greenslade, Times columnist Caitlin “still drunk from last night” Moran, Jemima “blogger” Kiss and Anna “I’m not a journalist” Pickard had a lively debate about journalism and ‘new media’ – the main conclusion of which seemed to be that blogs were “where it’s all at.” Mr Wells spoke of the ecstasy he feels each time he gets a byline in the newspaper. “You get a kick from seeing your name
above the article. The closer to the front of the paper, the better it gets – and having it on the front page is positively orgasmic!” This was followed by the disappointing absence of BBC Sports Editor Mihir Bose (in South Africa covering something to do with the 2010 World Cup), and Laurence’s keenly awaited Channel 4 girl Cathy Newman, who was reportedly in the Commons grilling MPs over the personal details “cock-up”. Nevertheless, the seminar, billed to turn us into master reporters, went ahead, chaired by the Guardian’s Media correspondent Owen Gibson. Both Stephen Brook and the entertaining Hugh Muir shared their vast experience, spanning broadsheets and tabloids, including the cheery subject of deathknocks (that’s knocking on the newlywidowed’s door to get first digs about the deceased). Frequently interrupted by our rumbling
tummies, we then sat through Sky News’s presentation about the future of TV news. As with most things today, Facebook seems set to shape the future of news reporting. The recent rise of the slightly obscure virtual environment “Second Life” has also been tapped into by news channels – much to the dismay of the young audience. Questions like “what’s the point?” and “couldn’t the money be better spent?” rang around the room, foreshadowing the petering out of the session. Lunch. And the first possibility for networking of the day. Surprisingly, considering that these people will be running the British press in 30 years’ time, very little mingling was going on. The only acquaintance we made over lunch was with our colleagues from sporting nemesis Loughborough – whose Union had, much to our jealousy, paid for eight of them to travel to London, and for a meal with drinks!
Tummys still rumbling – but now from the crayfish sandwich – we went in the for the main talk of the day: Newsnight Editor Peter Barron. He shared with us his on- and off-screen experiences with Jeremy Paxman, proud of the fact that our ‘man with the iron fist’ PM had shied out of a grilling from Mr Paxman. Following this was the entertaining quartet of Malik Meer (editor of the Guardian’s events guide), Jeremy Langmead (Esquire Editor), Heat’s editor Mark Frith and the eccentrically amusing Stephen Moss. Quote of the session undoubtedly came from our man at Esquire: “Most lad-mags have a B-list celebrity with her tits hanging out on the front, so if you have it on your desk it looks like you’re about to go for a wank.” Thus, Esquire is now a sophisticated magazine that men are “proud to read”. After a feeble attempt at more networking,
the final speech of the day was from none other than Mr Guardian himself – Alan Rusbridger. From his experienced viewpoint, he gave some interesting thoughts on the future of journalism, especially how he felt print journalism would never be able to turn around from the losses it is currently making. After leaving the Richmix Centre, and a hasty retreat from the not-so-green streets of Bethnal Green, we crammed onto the Central Line to witness London’s rush hour in all its glory. Our conclusion was, however, that it was a lot less stressful than the Bright Orange buses… After Josie had a disheartening experience with a rotten banana, and Laurence, not to be outdone, fought hard with a packet of raisins, we relaxed on the 20:00 from Paddington only to be faced with journalism’s real challenge: producing copy with a deadline looming…
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Features
Imagine...
Josie Cox imagines her life if it were on the big screen (because all TVs seem to be ridiculously big these days). DESPITE REGARDING myself as fairly literate, I still chew on certain words in the English language, which have completely different literal and actual meanings. Like ‘toad in the hole’. No one would ever expect to hear a guttural riiiibit when extracting this innocent snack from the oven. If the flesh of a red snapper revealed itself to be a deep cherry colour, we would probably think that something fishy was going on; and spotted dick… need I say more? Not only in the realm of food do we have these crazy absurdities though. Take TV for example (and before you read on, for those of you who are familiar with my column, yes, this just another one of my socio-critical rants about “our consumerist society”). If reality TV really did have something to do with ‘reality’, then I would be a bowl of porridge, gradually morphing into a banana around mid-morning. I would be dating a can of Dr. Pepper, having lunch with a bar of chocolate before rapidly transforming into a jacket potato. After all, I would be what I eat.
Olympic event. Aside from a plethora of other oddities in the container habitat, I’m still waiting to meet someone who has chickens running around their back garden. Moving swiftly onwards, let’s cast our attention towards talk shows. On second thoughts, let’s not. I wouldn’t want to be responsible for you having to recover from living through the imaginary scenario of recently having found out that your ex-boyfriend’s sister is actually a hermaphrodite who recently impregnated your 13-year-old cousin with a disabled monkey (yes, I know that hermaphrodites are infertile). Instead, perhaps less disturbingly, take the ample selection of shows which the oracle of MTV has to offer. If reality TV corresponded to its name, then more than one house in the world would serve as a home to a canine imp, being screamed at by a senile Goth and his plasticised wife, not forgetting their two darling children: one who looks like he has repeatedly placed his finger in a electric socket, and the other with the fashion sense of a confused zebra.
After a somewhat convoluted introduction, I therefore launch into this week’s fictitious scenario: a life in a world in which reality TV really is reality. I estimate that for about half of you, the two words that spring to mind when reality TV is mentioned are ‘Big’ and ‘Brother’. The first time I gained an exclusive glance into the lives of a group of allegedly randomly selected people attempting to co-habit, I was initially shocked, then amused, then confused and finally pretty damn bored. Whether it’s a social experiment or a slightly less fascinating alternative to watching grass grow, I think I would find it odd, to say the least, if every time I left my house, I would be met by a pregnant lady called Davina and about half a million people who would definitely have a pretty good chance of winning a medal, if screaming were an
But it doesn’t matter, because every morning we would wake up to the melodious tune and ingenious lyrics of the theme song: ‘Let’s learn how to love and forget how to hate’. Of course, if we could witness reality on our flat screens, then it would be the norm for couples to be considered “newlyweds” after 2 years of marriage and simultaneously dating two guys would not be considered slutty. It goes without saying that asking them about their sexual fantasies would be considered an ideal icebreaker. Best of all however, if I actually did live in Albert Square, I would cherish the opportunity to take a moment to think when my fiancee deserts me at the altar. I would be grateful that an advert for Heinz Baked Beans gives me a chance to gather my thoughts and decide how to confess to my mother that I’m a latent homosexual… in 57 varieties.
Bolivia, isn’t that in Africa?
Despite the big efforts and even bigger budgets of many charities and organisations, we know surprisingly little about the world’s poverty stricken peoples. The title above is a slightly amusing but scary example of this, as James Courtney details. BOLIVIA, FOR those of you who are still pondering the opening statement, is in South America. Despite its breathtaking beauty (and believe me, it beats the hell out of the Quantocks) there is severe poverty. CEPROSI is a charity trying to help. Its main concern is women’s welfare, primarily working with victims of domestic violence. While other charities cunningly interrupt your daily episode of Hollyoaks in order to squeeze a meek two pounds out of your beer money, CEPROSI is not able to fill your telly with these images of despair. Instead,
it is a charity that, with the help of Esperenza Economica (a SIFE project), is setting up a trade link to the UK in order to enable the women they support to work their own way out of poverty. If, on Monday, you saw a stall on the parade laden with intricate handmade products, you have witnessed the first step in getting this trade link up and running. You might have walked past this stall on your way to Topshop or Marks and Sparks, thinking that these goods fall into the same category as the T-shirts and posters sold by the slightly dodgy-looking local traders.
Next time, stop and have a look. By buying these goods you are saving and rebuilding lives. Plus they are a damn sight cheaper than Jolly’s! www.sifebath.co.uk.
BOLIVIA: is on SIFE’s list of projects.
Fresher Fest and One of the Many Uses of a Multi-purpose Fishing Net
On Wednesday the 14th of November, the Rec was the place to go if you wanted to witness over one hundred Freshers chasing each other with long poles. Josie Cox did; and contrary to what she expected, it didn’t all end in tears. ASIDE FROM knowing that Fresher Fest was one of largest University Lacrosse tournaments in the South, and that the majority of the players had been playing for less than 6 months, I didn’t really know what to expect when I made my way down to the Rec on Wednesday afternoon. A guttural cheer arising from the pitches, as I turned into Great Pultney Street, triggered me to paint myself a mental picture of the battlefield which I was approaching. When I got to the Rec though, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the testosteronedominated pitches had not yet become the scene of too much outwardly expressed machismo. The atmosphere was relaxed and, despite the crisp November chill, the Freshers playing in the two simultaneously run games seemed focused and dedicated. I was quick to identify the smell of grilling burgers, drifting from the clubhouse, and a glimpse inside confirmed that the bar, courteously run by the staff of the Assembly Inn pub, was almost as bustling as the sidelines. Feeling a bit invisible, I began strolling around the pitches, in an attempt to gain a proper feel for the event. The reason the Fest had appealed to me was the concept: a national tournament that provides inexperienced players with a chance to gain a taste of lacrosse, as a diverse and competitive sport, in a social atmosphere. Admittedly I was somewhat intimidated by over one hundred sweaty Freshers divided into 11 teams. I nevertheless made my first successful attempt at speaking to players just after Bath had secured an assertive victory over the boys from Southampton. In an attempt to cheer up the defeated squad, I warily asked them for their feedback on the day so far. Fresher Ben Woods was keen to give me a meticulous account of the past 30 minutes. After praising captain, Charles Adlington, he briefed me on their inexperienced goalie, “T”, who had attempted to pick up the ball with his hand. Over the resultant cackle of laughter from the whole team, my instinct was to check whether he still had all fingers attached to his hand. Before becoming totally overwhelmed
by the gradually accumulating group of guys, who seemed to be aiming at getting as many ‘hilarious’ quotes into my notebook as possible, I made a quick escape. Cardiff was the next team to be subjected to my journalistic bombardment. Before embarking on their next game, against Northampton, Field captain James Gibson and player Dave Ross both conveyed their excessive pride for team mate Nick Mahoney. Having only played two games of lacrosse ever, he scored twice and thus gained a well-deserved reputation as a natural talent. This, however, was not the only time that I was fortunate enough to witness exceptional team ethos and brilliant spirit that afternoon. Unfortunately Bath didn’t manage to secure a place in the final. However, this did mean, that first year BBA student and proud captain, James Elgeti, had time to fill me in on his growing passion for lacrosse, and how he was enjoying the day. After breaking his nose while playing rugby, he had dared to step on the lacrosse pitch for the first time at the beginning of this year. He was drawn to the sport because of its diversity and ability to offer any type of person a chance to play. “You don’t have to be aggressive”, he assured me, before convincing me that even I would make good form on the pitch. Agree to disagree. All players with whom I chatted throughout the day, as well as declaring that they liked lacrosse for being able to “hit people around the head” (which is technically against the rules, I later discovered), didn’t fail to compliment the smooth organization of the tournament. Both on the day and throughout the preceding weeks, organiser James Courtney showed immense dedication. As an avid lacrosse player and former captain, it took him a great deal of effort on Wednesday to resist the temptation to have a chuck about. Dependent on a crutch, he is still recovering from a knee operation, brought on, ever so truly, by
lacrosse. My last burning unanswered question revolved around the infamous reputation which the university lacrosse team hold. I wanted to know how much truth lay in the claim that lacrosse players are womanizers, boozers and big partygoers. Elgeti didn’t attempt to hide the fact that the socials were often an incentive for joining the club, but also assured me that it wasn’t all about carousing around the pubs of Bath. “We do like our ale though” he concluded, with a slightly mischievous smirk. As the players savoured the last chilly rays of sunlight, and Cardiff and Northampton prepared for competing in a momentous final, I noticed that the beers began flowing more generously, ultimately causing that long-expected machismo to surface. With the closing cheer and breezy tip-off of the gripping final imminent, I furtively made my way out of the Rec. I think that after two hours of mingling amongst Freshers carrying long poles, I do tend to suffer a bit of testosterone overdose. There’s only so much a girl can handle. In conclusion, no one can argue that it was not a successful day for the sport, the players, the organisers and the spectators. Even the weather played its part… and the social shenanigans that took centre stage when the final whistle was blown, will remain undocumented herein. Booze, I predict, didn’t just feature on the sidelines of the untamed playing-field of the night.
MONDAY 26TH NOVEMBER 2007
IF I asked the general British public to describe a student, the response will most probably be one of two things: a hungover, scruffy, baked-bean eating individual who spends all day in bed watching TV, or something resembling one of those studious types that you see on University Challenge. The image of a politically motivated, articulate young adult shouting on the streets would be far from their minds. Let me put that in a language students will understand: if a contestant suggested this on Family Fortunes the survey would say “ee-uur” and a large cross would appear on the screen. Not so in France. Here, political protest and students are as natural a combination as croissants and apricot jam. Although preferably the apricot jam should have left-wing tendencies. One of the first things that I noticed about university in Aix was the presence of a Young Communists party, who leave various traces about the buildings, mainly in the form of graffiti, or
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Features
Scant’s Regard: Defining a ‘Blocage’(n.)
Every issue Laura Scantlebury reports on the perils of spending a year abroad in Aix-en-Provence. This fortnight: why political protest and students are as natural a combination as croissants and apricot jam. posters that proclaim “21st Century: Capitalism has had its day!”. They organise protest marches to the town hall, waving red flags and booming into megaphones, but most significantly at the moment they form part of a wider movement demonstrating against the current government’s funding policy for universities. In August, the newly elected French government introduced a law that will allow private funding into universities. Potentially, it could mean more money invested into France’s tired university system, but as critics point out it could allow the government to reduce its own spending on higher education, leaving students and academics at the whim of private interests. However, if rushing a law through during the summer holidays was an attempt to avoid a negative reaction from the student population, it failed. As a result, the word blocage became part of my vocabulary. Here is a quick definition. Blocage (n): a wall of tables and chairs, stolen from the classrooms and balanced expertly – French students are somewhat practised at this – on top of each other so as to create an impenetrable barricade in front of entrances and staircases. These
barricades are patrolled by students who spend most of their time explaining to perplexed foreigners that a blocage means they cannot go to class, a fact accepted with resignation by the natives. If the blocage leads to damage to the university building, occasionally the university administration will officially shut the campus until further notice – which is what happened in Aix over a week ago. The blockades, according to the groups who put them in place, are the only way of forcing the government to listen. Recent similar actions, for example in 2006, have succeeded in forcing the withdrawal of unpopular policies. History shows that strikes and demonstrations work, and consequently the students blocking the university will not give in. Due to the closure of the site, a General Assembly during which hundreds of students gathered to debate the situation, took place outside in the freezing cold. Proposal after proposal was examined in minute detail, before one student suggested breaking into the University building and continuing the meeting there. A vote was taken, the proposal accepted, at which point myself and a Scottish friend made a
Guest Internet Intermission
Max Watson has the honour of being Adam Luqmani for one week only... well, at least he’s getting a chance to give us his shot at Internet Intermission. Check out www.notbeansagain.com.
THE MYTH of student cookery is one of a dirge of pasta and pot noodles. In reality many of us want to eat more healthily, even if we often do not succeed. However, many still feel daunted by the process of preparing food despite the abundance of celebrity chefs on the television. Often I find that the problem is in the preparation; if I spend the time to consult the Internet or a cookbook to find a recipe, the ingredients required are always things you don’t already have and so are required to go out specially and shop. This can be difficult when a trip to a supermarket will take an hour no matter how little you want to buy, and you have other commitments. So help may appear to be at hand. The free London evening rags now publish recipes for their readers for those on their way home after work, drawing together everyday ingredients to create a meal for the uninspired. Similarly, notbeansagain.com aspires to bring last-minute meals to tables everywhere. Whilst the newspapers clearly target this at commuters, notbeansagain seems to lean towards students; even the name conjures the tired stereotype sneeringly pushed upon us by elders. Notbeansagain has two main functions. One is the absurdly titled ingrediometer where a user may enter up to five individual ingredients. The website then searches its database of recipes for the nearest match of ingredients. The other is for users to enter in recipes, competing with each other to find the cheapest recipe possible. Rather breathtakingly, users have the enormous privilege of being crowned the “King of Thrift” if they achieve this monumental task. So, I enter in a few ingredients that I have found we actually have in the house. The result is a list of recipes that largely contain only one of the ingredients. However, they are diverse, especially if you limit the amount of ingredients and include chicken. I liked the sound of the smoked mackerel kedgeree (although not to all tastes) and the chilli and red pepper soup. Instructions are clear, relatively fool proof and fairly quick to cook, you’ll be glad to hear. Other illustrious recipes include “Chrisotto” and “Kim’s Breasts”... A great idea, yet rather awful in practice. The recipes are unimaginative, eurocentric, unhealthy, and seemingly largely contributed by “Chris”. I don’t know about you, but people with that name almost certainly seem entirely unqualified as food gurus. Would Gordon Ramsay have reached notoriety with such a name? Honestly, a Chris is almost a Dave. Dave Ramsay? Definitely not. Quite apart from the magnificently tempting “Chrisotto”, the website also tempts the user with other such classics as “Chilli Con Chris” and my personal favourite “Cheesy Beans”. Cheesy Beans incorporates three essential ingredients. Perhaps the name should really be “Cheesy Milky Beans”. I find it rather insulting that anyone would suggest that humankind should be subjected to this utterly revolting foodstuff and, more importantly, that there should instructions on how to prepare this monstrosity to further insult the intelligence of the reader. Instead it should read thus: Beans. Milk. Cheese. Whilst the website is sometimes useful, if following a recipe, it is always better to consult a reliable source rather than a Chris.
speedy exit, not wishing to be involved in anything resembling criminal behaviour. Yet later the forced entry is reported in a French national newspaper, Le Monde, as “repossession”. Even in the press there is a suggestion that the university first belonged to the students, that they are within their rights to reclaim it. However, all this seems rather futile. The law has already been passed. New President, Nicolas Sarkozy has been given a mandate for reform and is as unwilling to surrender as the students are themselves. True, they may not have voted for him - much in the same way that the majority of students did not vote in favour of the blocage but nonetheless are prevented from attending lectures because it was decided during a general assembly by a show of hands. It’s nice to see democracy at work.
THE FRENCH: Notorious protesters.
In any case, the blocage is not supported by all students. Of the three faculties in Aixen-Provence, the arts faculty is the only one affected. Students from the neighbouring law faculty treat the protest with a certain disdain: there is a feeling that this sort of behaviour is only to be expected from arts students. Other students within the faculty condemn the blocage, organising their own petitions and demonstrations for the reopening of the university. Now, in other words, students protest against student protests. As for myself, with access to the library impossible – as well as being English and therefore apathetic – I must revert to that stereotype of a student who spends all day in bed watching daytime television. At least I can justify it as French listening practice, though.
MONDAY 26TH NOVEMBER 2007
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Phortnight in Photos
Photos taken by: Lynette Lan - Enterprise Charlotte Green - Children in Need Helen Britton - Show in a Week S. Almon - Nemo Ekaterina Gerasimova - Fridge / Freezer
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MONDAY 26TH NOVEMBER 2007
Interview
The VC impact Treasurer Laurence Cable spoke to Professor Glynis Breakwell, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bath League tables and their importance in the job market Assessment THE VICE Chancellor spoke of how important it is for the University to hold onto its top-ten league table ranking, despite describing some of the criteria as ‘very strange’. The University was ranked ninth in the Times’ league tables in September, and shares that position with Loughborough in the Guardian equivalent. When asked whether the overall league tables were an important factor when job-hunting, the VC was adamant that they were vital, even though employers might not always understand how the particular tables are formulated. She said: “I think there is a problem
that employers might not be as familiar with the structure of the criteria as I am. “They get an impression of the University, which in our case is fortunately very good, but it’s not an impression which is based by and large on a deep understanding of how the league tables are put together. “There are, I know, certain employers - often large-scale multinationals - that will choose a group of universities that they really focus on in order to draw their new recruits, and part of the criteria that they would be using would be the position of the university in these overall league tables. Those companies are really very concerned with the
Freedom of speech on campus STUDENTS AT the University reacted en masse last year when it was announced that British National Party leader Nick Griffin was to make a speech at the University during exam time earlier this year. Rarely has a single event seen to mobilise the student body over the last few years, so I was keen to understand the University’s eventual decision to block the lecture. The VC explained that the initial decision to allow the talk was not in fact a final one. “Part of this is to realise that the original acceptance was conditional, and I think
people perhaps lost sight of that a bit. It was conditional, and when the conditions were not met, and could not be met because of the safety implications, then we made it clear that we would not go ahead with allowing that presentation. “The approach that we adopted was very clear: a student member of our academic community wanted to invite a controversial speaker, and we set certain criteria that had to be satisfied before we were willing to allow that lecture to take place. “The majority of the criteria were
status of the university, as opposed to the individual department.” Smaller firms, she said, would be looking more specifically however. “There are other companies that tend to be the smaller and more specialist in their areas of recruitment that will be really concerned with the status of a particular department, because for them it’s critical that they have the best student going in. “Essentially, for people coming out from an undergraduate programme into the job market, the overall position of the university is very valuable. It’s quite important that we as a university do retain our position, even though the criteria are often crazy!” satisfied by the student concerned, and what we did was to say that if these criteria are satisfied then the thing can go ahead, if they aren’t, then it can’t.” “It’s the norm that we would seek to support freedom of speech, and certainly academic freedom. “There has to be a real focus on ensuring that there is freedom of speech within the law. We can’t break the law in order to uphold freedom of speech - or at least I don’t think we can or should! We have two imperatives really, being compliant with the law of the land, and then ensuring as far as possible that we allow freedom of speech and academic freedom.”
the University is listening to students, and making changes accordingly. “My major message is really how PERHAPS THE most important part of a degree course is the assessment of hard we’re trying. We can’t deliver it, and hence the final classification. things instantaneously – this is not The VC highlighted the need to ensure Star Trek where I could say ‘beam that people were made aware of how it down’ – but we are really trying to the assessment of their particular listen and prioritise, because we can’t course worked. do everything at once. “It’s valuable to us if the student “I think that we have to accept that different disciplines require body are telling us what they want different forms of assessment with and need. different periodicity and that’s really “I found the National Student Survey (NSS) not something that I find particularly “This is not Star satisfaction ratings important, surprising. Trek where I could really “The key thing in and we have tried, terms of consistency say ‘beam it down’ in the space of the year, to bring has got to be that – but we are really last about change in people understand how the assessment tr ying to listen those areas where our students were procedure is and prioritise.” saying: ‘There’s working, they s o m e t h i n g have accurate and appropriate feedback and they know wrong here, it’s not good enough’. how each of those assessment units Assessment and feedback – those fits into their overall examination areas that were really being pinpointed marks and then finally the class of in the NSS, we have brought about change at individual department degree. “It seems to me that we will have levels. “The latest results from the NSS variability in the form of assessment, what we shouldn’t have is much have us very much improved in these variability in the way in which people areas, and it’s interesting that people are understanding that and the way in are perceiving that changes have been which we are legislating for it to be occurring. We need to continue that, put together.” and I’m keen to make sure that in Importantly though, she stressed that listening, we bring about change.”
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Campus social space SOCIAL SPACE on the campus has long been an issue of debate, as more and more students join the University. However, the VC highlighted a number of projects that took place
“We need to be ver y clear that we recognise that the Students’ Union’s claims to further space are justified.” over the summer which the University hope will help alleviate the situation. “The converted spaces in 5 West and 4 East, previously cafeteria areas, have been completely refurbished so
Bus queues WHERE SHE seemed less optimistic, was the eternal subject of the bus service to campus. Afternoon queues regularly stretch from the bus stop up the steps by 6 East, and the VC outlined her concerns. “We can’t have failure to deliver people to their lectures, and we can’t really have them hanging around here, that sort of queueing, it’s not acceptable. “We arranged a meeting with First Buses to try and sort that out,
we’ve made a move [to create more social space] - we said we would, and it’s been completed. These spaces are now available for any students to use. “I think there’s been an increase [in capacity] as a consequence of the way they’ve been refurbished.” She also made it clear that the needs of the Students’ Union would be taken into account when consultation for the masterplan took place. “I would say that we need to be very clear that we recognise that the Students’ Union’s claims to further space are justified. In the time between now and Christmas, we’ll be asking a series of questions about what people think we should be doing on campus, where the major pressure points are, where the opportunities for development are.” which took place this week, between the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, the Director of Estates, First Buses, and the Students’ Union. “We need to be very proactive
“That sor t of queueing, it’s not acceptable.” in representing the interests of our community, and it needs to be quite clear that this matters to us, and it does matter, a lot!”
Town and gown relations THE BATH Chronicle website played host to a heated debate earlier this year over the impact that students have on the Bath community. One of the points raised was the continued building of new residences, and the knock-on impact this would have on the town’s housing. Earlier this year, the VC told impact that it was the plan to use Woodland Court to house first years who might otherwise have been housed in towncentre residences, thus freeing the latter up for others to use. The University is currently undergoing masterplanning consultation for how the campus will be developed over the coming years, and residences will form a critical part of this. “You can see with the new residences being built that another 350 or so beds on campus which obviously changes the demand that we place on the local community,” she said.
“Certainly as part of Masterplanning we are going to be asking both our own students and also the local community what they think we should be doing in terms of the density of student residences on-site, and the relative proportions in the town. “It’s true that the more we have on-site, the greater the proportion in town in later years.” She also highlighted work that the University is doing with the council to improve town-and-gown relations. “We’re doing an enormous amount with Bath and North East Somerset Council to explain the contribution that the University is making to the community as a whole. Not just the economic contribution we make as one of the biggest employers and as one of the biggest spenders in the area, but also in terms of our cultural impact on the community, our sporting impact on the community, the sort of provision we provide for small children right the way
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Interview The University’s environmental “We have thermostatic valves on the footprint
radiators in residences, so instead of WITH RISING fuel prices and an being stewed, as people often have in the increasing volume to heat, the University past, they can control it for themselves is working hard to make its operations - a fantastic and obvious thing to do. “We’ve got a thing called a ‘combined more sustainable. The VC explained some of the things the University is heat and power installation’ that’s been doing. installed for the STV, and what that “Last year’s incentives to get the does is generate electricity and also different residences to compete with allows waste heat to be pumped into the pool. So each other worked, it “The problem that swimming did reduce our energy what we’re doing consumption. It also we have is not is we’re reusing had a significant impact nergy that we simply building ealready used. The in terms of raising awareness across the awareness, it’s new buildings are campus. constructed to also getting people being “The problem that this higher standard we have is not simply to change what of environmental building awareness, which they do. Attitudes excellence, it’s also getting people covers every to change what they do. don’t always link e l e m e n t o f t h e Attitudes don’t always from its up to behaviour.” building link up to behaviour. design stages “The other side of it is the technical onwards, even the process of construction innovations that have been introduced in conserves the use of energy, that should the space of the last year or so. transform the lifecycle analysis of the “Some of the things we’ve been building. doing are installing intelligent lighting “There’s an enormous amount going systems in all buildings so that these on, and we have teams of people who have movement detectors. This is understand it all, and are making sure really simple and doesn’t rely on people that we optimise our sustainability into changing their behaviour. the future.”
Keeping the entry bar high EACH SUMMER sees the debate over the supposed ‘dumbing down’ of GCSE and A levels. The VC explained how, as a top university, Bath is dealing with the increasing numbers of pupils getting A grades. “I’m not suggesting that there hasn’t been a drift in the percentage of people achieving the highest grades, I recognise that if you look at the statistics that’s the case. “What’s happened over the recent years in this university - and it’s not happening in all universities - is that we have sequentially increased the grade requirement that we have, and
so as the drift has occurred, we’ve become more and more selective. “I think that the introduction of the A* at A level is a significant innovation, and we have made it very clear that we are supportive of that extra grade. We do feel that we will be taking advantage of it. “Something like 40% of people are coming in with 3 As now, so we need to be very conscious. I know that some other universities including Cambridge are looking at other types of assessment that would differentiate further between applicants, we will keep a watching brief on what they’re doing.”
through to octagenarians. “We are making a much clearer statement for those people who wish to listen.” However, she pointed out that students do have a responsibility to be good neighbours. “We recognise that we as a community, and this includes our students, have to be responsible in the way in which we are
working with our neighbours. “It’s not all one-sided, yes we are telling them how good the University is, and we’ve had various meetings throughout the summer with the Council and with our neighbours, but the truth of the matter is that there is also a responsibility on us to be friendly and responsible when we are part of a community. It’s a two-way stream.”
The rise to VC
2006 Becomes Chair of Higher Education in the South-West. 2004 Becomes Honorary Professor at University of Shandong, China. 2001 Appointed ViceChancellor of the University of Bath 1995 DSc from University of Oxford 1994 Appointed ProVice Chancellor of the University of Surrey. 1990 Appointed Head of Department of Psychology at the University of Surrey. 1978 MA by Special Resolution from the University of Oxford. 1976 PhD from the University of Bristol 1974 MSc in Research Methods in Social & Development Psychology from the University of Strathclyde. 1973 BA(Hons) Psychology from University of Leicester.
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Science and Technology
Science & Technology News In Brief Liam Mason Co-Deputy Science Editor SKIN CELLS CONVERTED INTO STEM CELLS IN A discovery that many scientists insist will revolutionise stem cell research, both Japanese and American scientists have successfully utilised viruses to insert genes into skin cells which convert them into stem cells. This is a significant step away from the older, more controversial method of using and destroying embryos to culture stem cells, and should remove some of the
Japanese and American scientists h ave s u c c e s s f u l l y utilised vir uses to insert genes into skin cells which convert them into stem cells.
cultured. Many other scientists have celebrated the findings but warned that more research must be done to end the reliance on viruses for gene insertion.
barriers which have been hindering stem cell research in some countries. Stem cells have been a hot topic in bioethics for many years, and despite the arguments that stem cells could vastly revolutionise medical science, US president George Bush has twice vetoed legislation that would allow research on a federal scale. R. Alta Charo, a leading bioethicist, commented that “It [the research] holds a great deal of promise for freeing this whole area of research from those two main sources of friction.” The breakthrough comes after researchers managed to culture heart cells from skin cells which began beating after being
INTERNET “OVERPOPULATED” DUE TO the ever expanding internet population, a new study warns that latency will get progressively worse if an effort is not made to upgrade broadband networks – a move that would apparently cost billions. As UK broadband usage soars, with 88.4% of net users choosing broadband, the future looks bleak for streaming websites which require high bandwidth transfer. The media and online video sharing industries have been booming for some years, and websites such as Youtube will require better networks for adequate streaming.
UK broadband, however, has recently been criticised for its inability to live up to advertised speeds. 62% of Britons found that they got around half the advertised speeds in internet speed checks. In response to this, the government is considering stepping in to speed up the process of improving the infrastructure of broadband in the UK: “Today we face a new challenge. Other countries are starting to invest in new, fibre-based infrastructure, delivering considerably higher bandwidth than is available in the UK today”, a government spokesman said. ENORMOUS BUG FOUND FOSSILISED THE GIGANTIC creature, coming in at around 8 foot, was found fossilised in a
German quarry. The monstrosity, named Jaekelopterus rhenaniae, is 390 million years old. In evolutionary terms, it is thought that such huge sizes were a result of copious amounts of oxygen being available in the atmosphere. Then natural selection stepped in, preferring a small size to avoid predation. Before these insects went extinct, however, they had advantages over vertebrate animals, and many scientists comment that they were involved in an “evolutionary arms race” against other larger organisms such as fish. In such an oxygen rich atmosphere, giant flies, cockroaches and millipedes would have likely existed. “This is an amazing discovery”, Simon Braddy, a University of Bristol palaeontologist comments. Braddy also elaborated that the bug was driven to extinction in just 10 million years, and was most likely aquatic.
BIG BUG: Don’t worry, it’s extinct.
WORLD HIV PREVALENCE OVERESTIMATED THE AMOUNT of people infected with HIV dropped by 7 million this week. This, of course, was primarily because of improved techniques to estimate the spread of the deadly virus. The biggest estimation blunder was in India, where HIV prevalence dropped from 5.7 million to 2.5 million. Additionally, the UN has officially revised its estimate of how long AIDS suffers have to live upon contracting the virus. Due to new drug cocktails and overall better treatment, an average AIDS sufferer will live for 11 years and not the original estimate of 9.
UNAIDS, the UN AIDS agency, has emphasised that the number of people with AIDS, newly estimated at 33 million, is still overwhelming, and more effort must be put into fighting the disease. Peter Piot, UNAIDS Executive Director, comments that, “with more than 6,800 new infections, and over 5,700 deaths each day due to AIDS, we must expand our efforts in order to significantly reduce the impact of AIDS worldwide.” Another reason for the overestimate, a report insists, is that the number of new infections is actually decreasing. The UN has put this down to AIDS prevention efforts around the globe.
Think Without Thinking Catherine Luckin Science Contributor WE ARE not encouraged to use our instincts all that often, but when you consider the thousands of years over which they have evolved, you may wonder whether they are more developed than we give them credit for. Malcolm Gladwell believes so and in his book ‘Blink, the Power of Thinking without Thinking’, he presents a thought-provoking account of why. Long before we consciously consider an event or experience, our mind has started dealing with it: analysing and assessing how it affects us. Through a selection of fascinating examples, Gladwell will guide you through the intricacies of our subconscious instincts and the power they hold, and why they sometimes allow you to know something, without knowing why. Gladwell explains how the Pepsi Challenge you may remember from the 90s sparked an entire re-design of Coca-Cola, and an expensive one at that. The resulting new Coke was not popular. It was met with such hostility that Coca Cola were forced to abandon their investment and revert to the original recipe Coke. The Pepsi Challenge was based on
HOW: can people be so tall and rich? one small taste of both products and based on this snap judgement, more people preferred Pepsi. However, we don’t buy 10ml cans of Pepsi, we buy 330ml cans, and, by the time they reach the end of it, more consumers prefer the taste of Coke. He presents a survey of half the
companies on the Fortune 500 list, which found that most of their CEOs were, perhaps not surprisingly, white males. However, they were also almost all tall, which might be more unexpected. In fact, 58% of the CEOs of these companies were six feet or taller, a figure rather a lot higher than the 14.5% of men in the US population who reach this height. In fact, research has found that an inch in height is worth $789 a year in salary. So those lucky members of the “six feet” club are earning over $2300 a year more than their averagely sized, five foot nine, fellow US citizens. So what do we think when we see a tall person? That they are somehow more competent at taking charge of a large company? Not consciously I shouldn’t think, but clearly somewhere, subconsciously in our minds, is the belief that a tall person may well be more able to take on this responsibility. Gladwell explains how our instincts serve a purpose and that trusting them may aid your decision making. Furthermore, he argues that they can actually be trained and improved, and that this has powerful implications. Like the fireman who entered a building to fight a fire and just didn’t feel right about it, removing his crew just before the floor collapsed. The
fire was in the basement; he didn’t know how he knew, he just knew that he did. The car salesman who has trained himself to ignore his first impression of whether someone is able to buy a car or not, and consequently topped the sales chart for months. The art expert who spotted a $10 million sculpture fake from the ‘intuitive repulsion’ it provoked in him. The far reaching applications of training our instincts are varied and if Gladwell is right, it may well mean that you buy his book.
Science Shorts: How Do We See? Sally Nall Co-Deputy Science Editor THE POSITION of our eyes at the front of our heads betrays our treedwelling ancestry, as well as our status as predators, but how exactly do our eyes work? First of all we need to take a trip inside this marvellous organ in order to even begin to understand its workings. At the front we have the cornea, which actually does more to focus images than the lens. Behind this is the colourful iris and the black pupil. The pupil isn’t really black, it just appears that way because it is a hole and the absence of anything to have a colour makes us see the pupil as black. The pupil changes in size depending on the amount of light there is in the surrounding environment. When there is plenty of light the pupil becomes smaller, and when light is scarce the pupil becomes larger, all due to tiny muscles which surround it. At the back of the eye is the retina, and this is where the image which has come through the lens is focused. The image displayed on the retina is actually upside-down, but nerve cells convert this image into electrical impulses, which are sent down the optic nerve to the brain. Here it is processed and turned the right way up.
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Words from Pints and Pulsars at the Science Cafe James Dacey the Sci-Ed Science Contributor Matt Ash Science Editor impact-science@bath.ac.uk
SPACE HAS long been a mild interest of mine. I first noticed it when I looked up towards the sky as a toddler. It was dark with white dots, sort of like the inside of a dragon fruit only inverted, and I liked it. From then on my space interest went from strength to strength. Visits to the London Planetarium, watching Red Dwarf … and eventually studying (a small amount of) Space Science at University. I am therefore extremely proud to present an entire page dedicated to Space. When space exploration is discussed, aliens often tend to crop up. Interest in aliens seems to surpass interest in any other aspect of space, and why shouldn’t it? It would be fascinating to discover what other beings have come up with, or what evolution has come up with. We could compare our theories of motion to theirs…or something. But what if aliens are driven by similar urges as us? More specifically, the urge to conquer. If it turned out that we were technologically weaker than our little/big green counterparts, how would they to react to us? I’d expect they would react the same way we have to lesser creatures: by hunting, eating or caging us. I’m just going to go and uninstall SETI. You read on…
FORTY YEARS on from her famous discovery of pulsars, the Raven pub in central Bath played privileged host to astrophysicist legend Professor Jocelyn Bell-Bernell. She was the special guest at this month’s ever-vivacious Science Cafe. The concept behind these events is to engender public interest in science by dragging it from the ivory tower and plonking it in pubs and cafes. You could be forgiven for thinking a talk about science on a cold Monday evening may not exactly pull in the crowds, but you’d be surprised. The place was stacked to the rafters with bright-eyed Bathonians all eager to quiz the astronomer about life, the universe and everything. As Bell-Bernard introduced herself, the ad-hoc nature of the science cafe was immediately apparent through the ramshackle speaker system. Over the squeals of feedback, the evening’s compere could be heard: ‘errr… maybe you could just… project your voice’ And so we scrapped the microphone and got on with it. Through her introduction we found out some fascinating things about the astrophysicist extraordinaire. Born in Belfast, Dame Bell-Bernell failed her eleven plus before being carted off to boarding school by her concerned parents. Once there, she quickly discovered her passion for science and went on to study for a bachelors in physics at Glasgow University. Being the only girl in a class of 50 didn’t deter her and she excelled, graduating top of her year and winning a scholarship to
+ Q. Dear Professor Science,
study at Cambridge. It was in Cambridge, whilst carrying out routine measurements of scintillation (the twinkling of stars), that Bell-Bernell ‘inadvertently’ discovered pulsars. Pulsars are rapidly-rotating, magnetised neutron stars which are constantly emitting electromagnetic radiation. We detect them each time their signal sweeps in line with earth - making them like spherical lighthouses perched in the cosmos. Baffled by this strange new signal with its short time period and ‘unnatural regularity’, Bell-Bernell’s team speculated that this could be an attempt at contact by extra-terrestrial life. Pulsars were initially nicknamed LGM1 - Little Green Men. After giving her introduction, the night was then opened up to the floor. We were invited to ask ‘anything’ we wanted ‘space related or otherwise’. This opportunity was relished by the audience. Amongst the blitzkrieg of questions, we heard: “what would aliens look like?”, “will the universe continue expanding for ever” and “do you ever look at other researchers and think ‘eegits’?” From her responses it was obvious that Bell-Bernell knows a lot about a lot. She’s unusual in that she’s studied the cosmos across the whole electromagnetic spectrum
– from x-rays, through microwaves, to radio waves. In 2006, she also led the meeting of the International Astronomical Union which demoted Pluto from its planetary status. But she’s not only a scientist. BellBurnell expounds the importance of holding interests outside of science. After intense study, she needs to balance herself by ‘doing something manual’ like tending to her ‘jungle of a garden’. We also found out, she’s a lover of poetry and a practicing Quaker. “I don’t feel fully rounded… it’s like bits of me are missing. I’m not a 24 hour scientist.” Several emptied pint glasses later, the inevitable request was made. “So, could you share some poetry with us?” Rising to the challenge, she indulged us with a rendition of “Delay” by Elizabeth Jennings; a poem that borrows cosmic imagery to encapsulate the crippling desire to meet with a lover at an unattainable point in space and time. So, whether you’re a cutting edge scientist, a pub philosopher, or you just enjoy the craic of a few pints, come along to the Science Cafe next month. Visit www.cafescientifique.org for details.
For ESA Jolly Good Agency Matt Ash Science Editor
FORGET NASA, ESA is where it’s at. ESA is the European Space Agency and it’s time to appreciate. The agency’s achievements run far and wide, and in particular, their space exploration achievements are something to behold. The widely appreciated Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a collaborative effort between NASA and, of course, ESA. Capturing images of captivating cosmic phenomena including galaxies of billions of stars, nebulae lightyears across, massive supernova explosions and Pearl Jam album covers. The HST has even helped estimate the age of the Universe. A more delicate subject is the story of the Beagle 2 probe, carried on the Mars Express mission (which also included a successfully deployed Mars Orbiter), which was unfortunately lost in space. The fate of the Beagle 2 probe is unknown. All we know is that contact with the Beagle 2 was lost upon its separation with the Mars Express. The Beagle 2 was expected to broadcast news of its successful landing on Christmas day. It is worth noting that ESA’s Mars Express Orbiter is still working its magic.
THE PRAWN NEBULA: Aptly named? A year later, ESA struck back by successfully landing a probe (the Huygens probe, carried by the Cassini spacecraft) on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. Titan was of interest to the scientific community because of its unusually dense atmosphere (for a moon, that is). Taking 7 years to reach the beloved ringed planet, the Cassini-Huygens mission was ambitious to say the least. The Huygens probe’s data has allowed scientists to drive models of Titan’s atmosphere, which have shown that Titan has many similarities to Earth. So, in the past, ESA have evidently run
successful exploration missions, but what does the future hold for the agency? ESA’s currently planned planetary exploration missions include BepiColombo, a mission to explore Mercury’s origin and evolution. It will begin its 6 year journey to the smallest of terrestrial planets in the second half of 2013. If you remember this article in 12 years when it eventually reaches Mercury, don’t forget who told you about it! Recently, candidate missions for future planetary exploration were selected by the Space Science Advisory Committee (SSAC).
Among those selected is TANDEM, a grand mission to Titan and Enceladus (another of Saturn’s moons) to investigate their astrobiological potential. Another exciting prospect is Laplace, a mission to Europa (another moon with an atmosphere) and Jupiter (big Jay). And finally, are there any plans for the human exploration of the Moon? But of course! Namely the Aurora Exploration Programme. Aurora aims to initiate European robotic and human exploration of the Moon and even Mars. Preparations for the human exploration of Mars have already begun in the form of ExoMars, a mission to Mars which will include a Mars exploration rover and an orbiter to relay the rover’s data back to Earth. The mission will explore the feasibility of Mars human exploration by improving knowledge of the Mars environment and identifying potential hazards. The programme also hopes to inspire the younger generations of Europe to take greater interest in space science and technology. Do you want to go to Mars? Perhaps you could begin your quest by studying for an MSc in Space Exploration and Development Systems, which is supported by ESA as part of the Aurora programme.
Uh oh, I’m stuck in an enclosed space and can’t turn off my vacuum cleaner… what happens to a person in a vacuum? Yours Sincerely,
Andrew Mazing, aged 41 Dear Andrew,
I think we can all sympathise with your plight, and, despite my regular letters to Downing Street, Mr Dyson’s death traps still lurk ominously in most of our homes. As such, I think it would be highly useful to look at what happens to the human body in a vacuum in addition to giving you some relevant reading material for your last few moments on this mortal coil. Disappointingly, despite what science fiction has told us, the exposure of meaty beings like ourselves to the harsh, airless environment of space results neither in any head exploding nor blood boiling. In fact, as long as one’s exposure is brief, a short spell in vacuum is eminently survivable. There are several cases of people surviving similar events to Andrew’s, including that of a NASA technician who in 1966 found the air accidently sucked out of the room he was in during a space-suit test. The unfortunate individual remained conscious for between twelve and fifteen seconds and, when pressure was restored after approximately thirty seconds, awoke with no apparent injuries. Although your eyes will not pop out and your blood will not boil, water vapour forming in your soft tissues will cause them to swell to as much as twice their normal size. As such, take comfort in the fact that although your blood pressure will drop until your circulation all but stops, you will pass from this world looking like the Michelin man. The best advice for those experiencing rapid drops in pressure is not to hold your breath. Divers ascending from the deep need to exhale constantly to expel the expanding gas from their lungs. Holding your breath during an aptly named ‘explosive decompression’ event would quickly lead to the rupturing of your lungs with almost certainly fatal results. I hope this has been of some comfort. Yours sincerely,
THE PROF
Got any questions for Professor Science?
E-mail them to:
impact-science@bath.ac.uk
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Entertainments
Work Hard, Party Harder
CAN YOU believe it? It’s already issue six of your beloved impact and we are only a month or so away from the end of the first semester. I’m sure, like me, you all have deadlines creeping up on you, and I am confident that over the next few weeks many an all-nighter will be pulled by students all across the University. Surely though, this cannot be right? Consuming a litre of Relentless to keep you going before lunchtime surely equates some kind of hazard?
Practically living in the library in the wee small hours during the Christmas period has to equate to a sanction under the Mental Health Act? Well to be honest, yes it does. Anyone in the library at such unseen and obscene passages of time is either a) in possession of one sick, twisted body clock, b) putting the finishing touches to an assignment due in less than a hour, or c) absolutely stark-raving, nail-on-head barmy. To the persons who fall into the latter category, we salute you.
However, all work and no play isn’t good for the old noggin. Sure, you’ll be ahead with assignments and such, but spending every weeknight slaving over a half-century old journal is certainly not what the doctor ordered. Strange tales haunt the corridors of the library at night – the ghostly fearful whispers of students’ past, the ‘ping’ of a light which comes on for no apparent reason, the words ‘REDRUM’ inscribed in issues of ‘American Economic Review’ (ok, maybe not).
Yet despair not, dear reader. They (whoever ‘they’ are) who say the above also say another thing – a healthy work/ party balance is necessary for a happy student. Basically, don’t overload yourself, unwind a little, and everything should come up smelling roses. And that is where we come in. Well not directly, but as you can see across these here pages are random reviews, previews and such like to hopefully give you a break from what other academic high-brow stuff you were reading and trying to understand. For instance, how would you like to win the chance to interview the man, the legend, the one and only Alan Fletcher a.k.a Dr Karl Kennedy? See page 5 for more details. If you glance your eyes to the grey box on the right and you’ll see previews of the fortnight’s two biggest films; ‘Hitman’ and t’other one with the huge title. We also have the North-East’s funniest man Ross Noble reviewed by Josh Cheesman, and another comedian, Rob Newman, given the impact treatment by Matthew Hartfield. Elsewhere,Sian Lewis looks at ‘The Salmon of Doubt’ and Gina Reay gives the live yay or nay to Kate Nash Sean Lightbown Entertainments Co-Editor
HITMAN AND JESSE JAMES: Both clearly thrilled with upcoming deadlines, but can offer you a study-respite over the fortnight.
Single: KT Tunstall Saving My Face Out Now Virgin Records SAVING MY Face, Tunstall’s second release from her critically acclaimed second album, Drastic Fantastic, is a social commentary on the plastic surgery boom: she says herself that the single was inspired by a television documentary in which “50-year-old women [were] trying to look like teenagers.” The single itself seems to be somewhat of a departure from the folksy flavour present in her debut, Eye To The Telescope, than her previous singles. In spite of this, Tunstall holds her own and delivers a powerful pop song with a pertinent message. Known for her sometimes outspoken opinions (she has in particular expressed her ardent intolerance of television talent shows), she equates the salvation of youth with loss: “I’m losing my memory, I’m saving my face.” Accompanied with a thoughtful video, it’s certainly a welcome break from Britney and her ilk. There is no doubt that KT Tunstall’s sincerity in her performance and song-writing marks her out from the (unfortunately ever expanding) sea of bland singer-songwriters and this is certainly evident in Saving My Face. Fervid fans of the Scottish songstress will not be disappointed, though some will inevitably whinge that she is following a tried-and-tested formula. HHHHP Hannah Raymont Contributor
Noble Art
impact-ents@bath.ac.uk
Movie Preview: Hitman Out 30/11/07 FANS OF the game version of ‘Hitman’ need no introduction. For the unaware and uneducated, Timothy Olyphant dons the Jonny Cash suit and bald head to become agent 47 - the nameless gun for hire. Political scandal leads to 47 being chased across Eastern Europe by the Russians and Interpol. Add in the cameo appearance of the trademark silenced pistol and you have, my friends, a film which cannot be missed.
Movie Preview: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Out 30/11/07 SEEMS LIKE murder is the theme in the movie previews this week - yet despite the ridiculously long name, ‘The Assassination...’ looks set to be one of the biggest films of the year. Brad Pitt plays the role of the infamous outlaw, who has been idolised by Robert Ford, played by Casey Affleck. Although you can probably guess where the plot ends up, the film already has a pedigree having won Pitt Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival. Could be one to watch come Oscar time.
News Editor Josh Cheesman reports on a night with the Geordie comedy king. Ross Noble - Nobleism
Hammersmith Apollo, London 02/11/07 SO I went to see Ross Noble the other day in London, at the Hammersmith Apollo. The Apollo’s great; you don’t get many venues that are named after a Roman god. It’s hard to walk in there without picturing Eddie Izzard coming out and bellowing “HAMMERSMITH APOLLO!” Where was I? Oh yeah, I was going to see Ross Noble in London. I’m not really sure what I make of London. You just seem to spend loads of time being herded about in a huge, scurrying crowd. It’s like in War of the Worlds, where everyone’s running away from the tripods. It was terrible at the fireworks. Not that the fireworks were bad, mind, and it was at Alexandra Palace. There’s nothing better than explosions at the birthplace of broadcast television. What was I talking about? Oh yeah, War of the Worlds. How come the films are always set in America, but the book was set in Woking… Don’t worry; I’m not losing my marbles. I’m just trying to give you an idea of what it’s like watching Ross Noble do stand-up. While hilariously funny, Noble’s non-linear style can be a tad hard for some to follow.
‘Nobleism’ is the eighth tour by the surreal Geordie comic, and is very much in the same vein as his previous tours. Don’t think that this makes it formulaic though – not only is each tour unique, Noble’s talent for improvisation makes every individual show different, relying on members of the audience for inspiration. The show I went to was no exception. In fact, Noble relied less on scripted material than ever before, spending most of his time riffing off the audience. The first ten minutes was entirely based around a security guard in a luminous jacket standing at the side of the room. This can be something of a double-edged sword - while it is fantastic to know that you’re seeing something truly unique, you can’t help but wonder if Noble has funnier scripted material, or if he even has a script at all. It has to be said though, for every audience member who found the friendly piss-taking tiresome, there were three more actively encouraging it. Noble has a reputation now, and people go out of their way to get noticed (it took him quarter of an hour in the second half just to get through all the things people left on the stage during the interval). The audience themselves become the show – Noble joked at one point that they had more catchphrases than him, and notable contributors received their own applause at the end of the show.
NOT SO WORTH IT: Noble failed in his audition for the L’Oreal adverts. The other trademark of a Ross Noble show is his propensity to go off on tangents about anything and everything. As I said earlier, you really need to pay attention to keep up with Noble’s train of thought. In ‘Nobleism’, even he seemed to lose track of everything, having to rely on the audience to remind him of what he’d missed (my girlfriend was adamant he was going to forget to explain why he wanted sponge feet as a superpower). But it never took long for Noble to get back in his stride, going from Jackie Chan-style sex to his ideal funeral without missing a beat. It was also good to see him specifically avoiding old material, even when prompted by fans. It should probably also be mentioned that this was without a doubt Noble’s lewdest show yet. While actual swearing was nowhere near the level
of some comics (although there were a few strong words for latecomers and a frequent toilet-goer), there was definitely a pushing of the boundaries of taste and decency, with topics of conversation including sweaty bollocks, beating up fat kids and the many uses of saggy breasts. All in all though, Ross Noble is still one of the funniest men in Britain, and had me in stitches throughout. There’s a genuine excitement to knowing that you’re as much a part of the show as he is, even if you stay silent the whole night. Besides, where else can you hear tales of grease-secreting chavs, shaking hands after sex, and knock-adoor-running 10 Downing Street? HHHHH Josh Cheesman News Editor
MONDAY 26TH NOVEMBER 2007
IMPACT
Born to McFly
Gina Reay releases her inner teeny bopper to gush about a guilty pleasure. Greatest Hits McFly Out Now Island Records
IF, LIKE me, you share a secret (or perhaps public) passion for the legendary pop/rock band Mcfly, you will simply love this greatest hits collection. The album contains ten of their most well-known tracks, seven of which have topped the UK charts. And we have also been treated to three brand spanking new tunes, which aren’t bad at all and seem to point towards the more mature, contemporary rock sound that the band may be leaning towards now, three albums of teenage boppery. The track order is flawless and the ordering of songs from Mcfly’s three albums seems to compliment each tune perfectly. Starting with the song that made it all happen, ‘Five Colours In Her Hair’ will put a smile on your face instantly. Other highlights include the newer tracks ‘Star Girl’ and ‘Transylvania’ - these two songs will have you reaching for the volume control straight away. (Hopefully to turn it up rather than down!) But seriously, with lyrics like ‘I was afraid when you kissed me, on your intergalactical frisbee’ how can you fail to love this terrific band? Mcfly’s new single certainly does stand out from the other up tempo tunes. ‘The Heart Never Lies’ is a quality rock ballad, said to demonstrate the band’s ‘continual evolvement’, this it certainly does. I only have two negative criticisms of this fantastic album. One of them being my least favourite track. Even though my
Single: The Hives Tick Tick Boom Out Now Polydor SWEDISH GARAGE rockers The Hives aren’t known for their modesty. The aptly-named lead singer Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist is known to have once claimed in an interview that ‘we are quite possibly the best-dressed band in the world’. One might say that this blissfully arrogant aura fits their semi-ridiculous music like the spiffy matching black and white suits that they are known to don; and their latest single ‘Tick Tick Boom’ is no exception. It is the first offering from their recently released LP ‘The Black and White Album’, which claims producer credits from none other than Pharrell Williams and Jacknife Lee. Disappointingly though, it is no different from what we have come to expect, as Almqvist howls’ meaningless lyrics over jubilantly spastic guitars. Only worth a listen if you’re in the mood for some joyously pointless rock; otherwise, give it a miss.. HHPPP Ben Cohen Contributor
MCFLY: Sharpened up and in vogue. teenage sister once deemed it ‘better than Queen’s version’, I still cannot understand how ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’, arguably one of the greatest song’s of all time, was allowed to be covered by the boys. Although I love Tom Fletcher as much as the next Mcfly worshipper, hearing him fail to compete with Freddie Mercury’s vocals is cringeworthily painful. My second complaint is that the album is too short! Here we have 13 awesome tunes, but what about all the others? ‘Friday Night’, ‘Surfer Babe’, ‘Sorry’s Not Good Enough’? I would certainly recommend you to buy the special addition CD2, ‘All The Greatest Hits’ cos’ for a few pennies more you get nine more poptastic songs! I only hope that now they’ve released their Greatest Hits album, that Tom, Dougie, Harry and Danny don’t part ways. Wouldn’t that be an end to the modern pop world as we know it?!
Elliot Minor
Anson Rooms, Bristol 24/10/07 I WALKED into the, rather spacious, Bristol Anson Rooms planning to stand at the back and enjoy my vodka red bull whilst forming an opinion on whether these guys from back home are just emo wannabes, or whether they’re actually well talented. However I found myself fighting the urge to throw the plastic cup into the air and fight through the crowd to the front, where I could swoon, with the rest of the femaledominated front row, at drummer Dan Hetherton, who was topless at this point. But it wasn’t just the sexy ruggedness of the five band members that I enjoyed, the music wasn’t bad either. Best track was definitely ‘Parallel Worlds’, a tune catchy enough to be branded by my gig partner “better than Fallout Boy”. Dan (the drummer) and Ed (the bassist) both said to me afterwards that this was one of their best gigs yet on the tour, which they are currently halfway through. These two brothers are from my hometown York. Before getting signed, Elliot Minor
Entertainments regularly frequented my favourite gig venue in the ‘dirty North’, ‘Fibbers’. However in a venue five times the size, with ten times as many people, they certainly delivered. We saw none of the arrogance that a lot of modern bands seem to possess nowadays, none of Johnny Borrell’s walking onto the stage playing a few chords and walking back off again. This was pure raw talent. This band put in the effort and evidently thrived off the electricity of the crowd. I can’t put into words the sound I heard when lead singer and former choir boy, Alex Davies, started blasting out the words for new single ‘The White One is Evil’. This band might not be your cup of Yorkshire Tea. However, I did initially expect a Busted-esque pop/rock performance, and it was far from that. Look them up at www.myspace.com/elliotminor and form an opinion for yourself. But one thing’s for sure, with Radio 1 all over them right now, these guys could be huge. HHHPP Gina Reay Contributor
Theatre Preview: The Comedy of Errors Theatre Royal, Bath 27 Nov - 1 Dec
ONE OF the finest of Shakespeare’s comedies, ‘The Comedy Of Errors’ revolves around a couple sets of identical twins and the mishaps which occur due to them. Utterly hilarious, and certainly an excellent starting point for would-be theatre goers.
Album Preview: Kylie Minogue X Out 26/11/07 ‘TWO HEARTS are beating, together...’ - this ridiculously catchy refrain from Ms. Minogue’s latest single, ‘Two Hearts’, has left her fans eagerly wanting more. They’ll get their fill after ‘X’ comes out, if the single is anything to go by, Kylie could reclaim her crown of ‘Pop Princess’ in no time.
Live Preview: Annie Mac Moles, Bath 1/12/07 THE UNDISPUTED queen of the airwaves at the moment, Annie Mac and her bandwagon roll into town to kick off the Christmas month in some style. Expect some of the freshest and dirtiest beats around in house, electro and dance from the pride of Public Service Broadcasting
HHHHP Gina Reay Contributor
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MINOR THREAT: ‘What do you mean you’ve only given us three f*cking stars?’
This Comedy’s far too Crude Matthew Hartfield learns a chuckleworthy lesson on how oil explains it all... A History Of Oil Robert Newman Out Now IF I were a lazy writer, then I would use this opening paragraph to describe how Robert Newman is an entry in the “Where are they now?” file. I would describe how as a stand-up he made his name working alongside David Baddiel and performing in one of the most successful partnerships in recent times. Their tours sold out stadiums and overnight comedy was hailed as “the new rock and roll” based on their act. Then a very public split occurred, and little was heard from him since. I’m not a lazy writer though, so I won’t say any of that. After years in the wilderness he’s back, louder and angrier then ever. His long hair gone, he’s reinvented himself as a passionate anti-capitalist, environmental campaigner. History of Oil, which was first broadcast on More4 last year, is a comedic attempt to explain how the last 100 years of history has revolved around the pursuit of this fossil fuel, and how it can only be understood as such.
(“Not all of you are coming with me on that one; that’s OK, don’t worry” he jokes to his audience as he sets up this hypothesis). On the surface this may seem like another piece of trendy, opportunistic comedy. This is not the case here, as Robert Newman forms an intelligent, passionate, and above all very funny polemic. Invoking the spirit of Lenny Bruce and Sam Kinison, Newman has a fantastic knack of explaining his unorthodox body-politic, with a tendency to go off on extremely colourful and surreal asides to expand on his main points. A particularly memorable moment is where, in order to explain the financing of global oil markets, he uses an analogy of Salvador Dali becoming a decorator in North London. Like the best satirists, Newman also uses sarcasm to his advantage, utilising it to cut down counterarguments coming his way. Was Archduke Ferdinand’s death really the cause of the First World War? “No-one is that popular” he retorts, before riffing off on a fictional situation where the Archduke becomes everyone’s best mate. When watching this though, I felt niggled. After a wonderful set-
piece comparing America’s relation with the world to a Bronx streetfight, the conclusion was that the recent Iraq war helped America keep the Dollar strong. As a politico, I thought: is this the case? For me, the misguided agenda of spreading neoconservative values to the world seems a likelier explanation. That’s the rub; sometimes the keenness of explaining his alternative agenda obstructs the existing facts that provide a better explanation. Considering that this is an attempt to explain the ‘actual’ history, this is quite a problem. Then again, for the most part we
have a stand-up show which manages that rarity; a modern, clever act which doesn’t patronise the audience and makes you think; all wrapped up with Robert Newman’s amazing wit and delivery. Despite its flaws you wish for more performances like this, if only to keep your brain that little bit more alert. HHHHP
Matthew Hartfield Deputy News Editor
FISHTORY?: Cracking comedy, but do the facts add up in ‘A History of Oil’?
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Single: The Courteeners Acrylic Out Now A&M Records “YOU’RE JUST like plasticine being moulded into a libertine dream” – this song will have you hooked from this opening line. It’s like a drug, but much better for you and 100% legal. This is indie rock at its best, addictive guitar riffs and catchy lyrics which rival anyone in quality. That isn’t to say The Courteneers aren’t Mancunian legends already: worshipped by NME and Radio 1, after only two single releases. Comparisons to indie royalty such as Liam Gallagher and Pete Doherty are to my mind, indisputable, based on this single. Give them a listen, and if you’re personality is as addictive as mine, you’ll be craving your next fix. HHHHH Gina Reay Contributor
Single: The Kissaway Trail 61 Out Now Bella Union HAVE YOU ever heard of Thomas, Soren, Daniel, Rune and Hasse from The Kissaway Trail? No? Well me neither, Until I asked to review an indie rock band and was given the opportunity to listen to the latest single ‘61’ from the Danish band who gained exposure following their discovery on myspace. I really enjoyed listening to them straight away, mainly because of the powerful vocals and drums. In “61”, the drums alone have the power to carry the single home. The sweet sound of the piano in b-side “La Mia”, reminded me of a lullaby. If you like bands such as Arcade Fire or Modest Mouse, you will certainly really enjoy listening to The Kissaway trail. HHHHP Lina Husani Contributor
Single: Make Model The Was Out Now EMI THIS GLASWEGIAN six-piece are being hailed as one of the most exciting new acts in the UK, or as one critic stated, ‘a bunch of genius folk bastards’. On the evidence of their second single ‘The Was’, for once the critics might not be too far off the mark. Lead singer Lewis Gale’s heavily reflective lyrics are contrasted to the happy-clappy sounds emanating from the band. ‘The Was’ is effectively the result of throwing Andy Warhol in a blender with the Arcade Fire, Franz Ferdinand, a dash of the Flaming Lips and a smattering of Broken Social Scene; suffice to say it is a promising release and may just be a pointer for what’s to come.
IMPACT
Kiss Me Kate
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Entertainments
Gina Reay reports on how Miss Nash got the Anson Rooms all loved up... Kate Nash
Anson Rooms, Bristol 10/11/07 I NEVER realised that going to see a Kate Nash gig would be like going to the theatre. Or the circus if you include the wacky support act: the electrotastic Metronomy. Sometimes at gigs there can be a lot of waiting around in suspense, but not at this one. As soon as we stepped into Bristol Anson Rooms, Kate Nash ran on stage for a millisecond to introduce her poetryreading best friend, Dockers MC. Her poems were unusual to say the least, but interesting nonetheless, pretty much like Kate Nash lyrics, read very dramatically with no music. Then came Metronomy. Three guys wearing what looked like Ikea glow lamps on their chests. But it all worked, even when combined with the crazy dance moves that the band did in sync around their instruments! The quality electronica sounds of ‘Radio Ladio’ and ‘Heartbreaker’ reminded me of ‘Late of the Pier’. But I cannot describe enthusiastically enough how amazing it is to see these kinds of bands perform live. After condemning electro music for two years, this band have converted me! OK, so on to the finale. Kate Nash
bounced on stage after about a ten minute wait, enough to grab a few snakebites from the bar and secure a position in the crowd fairly close to the front. It was, as mentioned earlier, like going to the theatre: 1970s musical tunes were played as we waited for her to come on stage and the backdrop was blue sky with clouds painted on it. This was not your average gig. Not that I expected it to be, judging by the quirkiness of Kate’s album! After a lengthy debate on the train about whether her hair really is ginger, and whether this affects her overall gorgeousness, we were given the answers YES and NO. We found out exactly why Kate has been rated number 7 in NME’s cool list 2007. She was a breath of fresh air, grinning sweetly and waving modestly as the girls in the crowd shouted ‘we love you Kate’ and one particular guy shouted ‘will you marry me Kate?’ She sat down at her piano and began to bang out one of my favourite songs from her ‘Made of Bricks’ album, ‘Mariella’. Her voice sounded so flawless it was almost hypnotic. She also came across as a very skilled pianist, putting her heart and soul into every note played. After a couple of songs, she picked up her guitar and played some of her more acoustic, slower songs, such as ‘Birds’ and ‘Dickhead’. The whole
KATE NASH: Sick of floundations, she goes hunting for cracks in the pavement. crowd seemed to sway. And when I looked around, even the most macho men (who by the looks of it had been dragged along by their missus) were smiling sweetly and even mouthing some of the words. It is hard to explain, but Kate seemed to have a positive influence over every single person in the room. As she sat back down at her piano, she sipped tea rather than vodka. She confided in the audience, saying things like ‘This was the first song I evah wrote’ or ‘Guys, it’s a Saturday night, that means we all get a nice long lie-in tomorrow!’ Then she upped the tempo. Playing ‘Mouthwash’ and ‘Shit Song’ and the
Quality Beyond Question
Siân Lewis gives us the lowdown on Douglas Adams’ lesser known and unfinished book, ‘The Salmon of Doubt’, a necessary read for any ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide’ fans. I’M SURE most students with any appreciation of sarcasm and wit have read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams’ worldfamous story of intergalactic adventure, hysterical robots, philosophical bowls of petunias and small furry animals from Alpha Centauri. While Hitchhiker was probably Adams’ masterpiece, his writing was never confined to science-fiction, and although he always wrote with
humour, from gentle wit to laugh-outloud-on-the-bright-orange-bus-jokes, his pieces on more serious topics, such as atheism, technology and planet conservation, have the same calibre as his more popular pieces. After Adam’s death in 2001, aged only 49, he left behind on his beloved Mac computer his fragmented, unfinished final novel, The Salmon of Doubt, which was probably intended to be a final book in the Hitchhiker’s
Guide series. Also retrieved were various essays, newspaper articles and musings on interesting, moving and downright silly topics, including his thoughts on the letter ‘Y’, a rant about the idiotic lyrics to the Sound of Music’s “Do, Re, Mi” and his experience trekking to Mount Kilimanjaro in a rhino suit. The published edition of The Salmon of Doubt, which unites all these fragments and includes a touching foreword written by Stephen Fry, deserves more recognition then it currently receives. While I wouldn’t recommend it if you haven’t read Hitchhiker’s Guide (if you haven’t, go and read it, you have no excuse!), it is a book you can dip into and reread, with thought-provoking, often hilarious ideas and very individual opinions, and it is worth reading at least for the final feeling of completeness of having, as the cover states, “hitchhiked the galaxy one more time”.
HHHHP
audience, as she’d requested, had a ‘bit of a boogie’! And finally we heard the famous ‘Foundations’ and I think the entire audience were shouting those unforgettable lines, ‘You said I must eat so many lemons, cos I am so bittah… actually I’d rather be with your friends mate cos they are much fittah’. Kate was unbelievably charismatic, and in a strange way it was like watching your best friend perform. One word to describe this gig… lovely. HHHHH Gina Reay Contributor
Single: Athlete Tokyo Out Now Parlophone AFTER DEBUTING with the cheerful Vehicles and Animals and establishing themselves with the commercially successful ‘Tourist’, it would be fair to expect ‘good’ from the London based band Athlete. ‘Tokyo’, however, fails miserably. This second single from Athlete’s third studio album is banal and painfully rigid. A weak, formulated beat coupled with unaffecting guitar riffs plod pathetically into a frankly rubbish attempt at an anthemic chorus. The uninspiring beginning descends into a mundane, basic structure with Joel Pott’s lyrics rousing absolutely no interest whatsoever, roughly two minutes of unrivalled disappointment pass and the track fortunately finishes. The mother of this degenerative spawn is the self-produced album ‘Beyond the Neighbourhood’ a worthless disc that holds few merits and deserves little praise. Berating aside it is not difficult to envisage the musical future for Athlete; ‘Tokyo’ characterises the monotonous, melodic boring indie rock sound that they seem glued to. HPPPP
Ben Cohen Contributor
BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT: Yup, sure looks like a salmon...
Sian Lewis Deputy Features Editor
Daniel B. Nightingale Contributor
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Entertainments Bombshell King Creosote Out Now 679 Recordings FROM THE poetic heart of Scotland and more specifically the beautiful, historic town of Fife, King Creosote has sat in his self created empire, in his attic, recording music for many years and releasing well over 20, mainly self produced, albums to his neighbouring surroundings. Pioneer and figurehead of the Fife-based folkinfluenced Fence collective, Kenny Anderson, the artist underneath this crown, is prolific, brilliant and busy. An insightful realisation almost a decade ago gave Anderson the spark to form a completely independent organic collective with its roots firmly set in the fishing village of Anstruther. A successful growth proceeded with Fence now the haven of talented musicians ranging from the delightful James Yorkston and his 2006 release ‘The Year of the Leopard’ to Jenny Gordan and her fetching moniker HMS Ginafore. Alongside this KC manages and performs in the annual Fence ‘Homegame’ festival in Anstruther and has begun to allow a wider audience to appreciate his music by vacating from his peninsula to London to record his second album, on the larger 679 recording label. Bombshell is folk wrapped up in pop sensibilities. The album is a complete cohesive unit with gentle fluidity throughout. The bold opener ‘Leslie’ and the closing respectful remembrance of ‘And The Racket They Made’ sandwich the composition. The filling is voluptuous. An intoxicating batch of tunes riddled with self depreciation,
MONDAY 26TH NOVEMBER 2007
Biffy are a bit Iffy
Co-Ents Editor Phil Bloomfield thinks the Scottish trio may have hit a brick wall along with their success... Biffy Clyro
Academy, Bristol KING CREOSOTE: ‘Chillaxing’
18/11/07
humorous remarks and layered rhythms. Each song is an expression of a feeling, a delicate pronunciation of his thoughts. ‘There’s None of That’ and ‘Nooks’ are brilliant demonstrations of this seemingly effortless lyrical ability that King Creosote exhibits. The album showcases Anderson’s musicianship, with sparkling guitar on ‘Cockle Shell’, and his inaugural instrument, the accordion, lovingly placed in ‘Cowardly Custard’. Scottish singed vocals permeate the album, adding to the heartfelt tone of the music. But he’s not just a one trick pony; a quicker tempo is utilised in the upbeat ‘You’ve No Clue Do You’ and the tumultuous ‘At The W.A.L’, the latter being a marvellous montage of sound. Bombshell deserves attention. Containing a plethora of well-written, interesting and appeasing tunes it is some of Kenny Anderson’s finest work. As the folk revival proceeds and the Fence collective’s folk community grows, this Fifer continues to please.
TWO YEARS is a long time, in terms of music. It’s the time it’s taken Glaswegian underground heroes Biffy Clyro to complete latest album ‘Puzzle’. Coincidentally, it’s also the last time I saw Simon Neill and co. live. It’s a glass of red wine, carefully perched on a bass cabinet by a roadie, which catches my eye. I can’t remember ever seeing a glass of red wine on stage. But then, given the Glasgow boys’ idiosyncratic nature, I shouldn’t be perturbed. However, it’s this idiosyncratic nature that is so sorely lacking in their performance tonight. ‘Puzzle’ is the album that’s ushered them into the public conscience, after literally years existing on that knife edge between underground and mainstream. Yet that transfer has come at a cost: Puzzle gets rid of much of the band’s individuality. Gone are the experimental flashes that characterised earlier albums, and similarly, the raw emotion that Biffy once channelled is much diminished. Opening with “Saturday Night Superhouse”, a perky yet generic pop punk style number, tonight is, for this fan, a demonstration of a band having a personality crisis. Are they here to please old fans? Or to welcome in the new? “Justboy”, from the bands first album, is given an emotional airing early on, but the set lapses, as song runs into song with little
HHHHP Daniel B. Nightingale Contributor
Taking Libertines
Releasing a ‘Best of’ after only two studio albums got right up Sports Editor Adrian Dalmedo’s nose... Time For Heroes The Libertines Out Now Rough Trade BEFORE I fetch my pipe, put on my slippers and have a moan, I want to state one fact: I actually like the music The Libertines managed to produce. From the expletive-ridden track ‘What a Waster’, used in ‘Football Factory’, to their number 2 chart placed ‘Can’t Stand Me Now’, The Libertines’ work was always of a high standard (no pun intended). However, and it’s a big however, how a band can think they can release a greatest hits only 5 years after releasing your first album just takes the piss. Remember they only actually released 2 studio albums anyway; it’s like Wayne Rooney releasing an autobiography aged 20. Oh, hang on… Is it pretentious? Not compared to that twat from the Young Knives who decided t**t his name is not Thomas, so now his birth certificate actually says ‘House of Lords’ on it. Honest. Why don’t you learn how to dress yourself mate? Are they broke? Don’t think so. All the
original band members seem to have forged decent careers; Pete with Babyshambles, Barat and Powell in Dirty Pretty Things, and even bassist John Hassall has found himself a new band in the form of Yeti. Does Pete need cash to buy drugs? Again; I don’t think so. Now I know how much Pete’s word is worth, but in a recent NME interview he seems really focused on staying clean. That, and he knows what will happen to him if he goes back in the slammer. I simply can’t work out the need to release this; most of the material is on their
self-titled album anyway. They may as well have just redesigned the album cover. I’m not going to buy this, and the fact that I’m a tax-dodging student who would download it anyway doesn’t matter. So come on lads, release a few more albums (The Beatles managed 12) and then come back with a greatest hits when you actually have enough material to warrant one. HHHPP Adrian Dalmedo Sports Editor
CHEEKY CHAPPIES: Releasing a ‘Best of’ after two albums is just not cricket.
A BIT IFFY CLYRO: Simon (left) searches in vain for their lost individuality. definition. Songs like “ A Whole Child Ago” and “Love Has A Diameter” may press all the right buttons, but they do it in the wrong order. Even an old favourite, the emotive “All The Way Down”, fails to ignite me the way it once would have done and falls rather flat live. It’s not all bad news though. A fantastic rendition of “Kids From Kibble and The Fist Of Light”, showcases the band’s technical nous: crunching guitar breakdowns married to fiddling spiralling solos, all as some bearded Scottish nutter yelps into the mike that he’s ‘in a rage’. And then there’s the crunching FooFighters-gone-critical of “Toys Toys Toys Choke Toys Toys Toys”. For want of better, more family-friendly words: ‘Fucking brilliant’. But, looking round, most of the audience appear bemused. It takes the epic “Living Is A Problem…” to really push the message home. One of the few genuinely exciting cuts from ‘Puzzle’, it’s easily a match for most of the band’s back catalogue. Live,
it’s simply stunning, as the band perform the chanted Gregorian intro themselves. What’s more, the audience seem to know the words to this one. And that’s the other half of the problem. It’s not just the lacklustre material: the audience doesn’t care as much as they used to, simply because there are more of them. Time was, you’d step into a Biffy gig, and everyone there would not only know all the words, but they would sing them in perfect harmony and unison, along with the guitar lines. Ending on the heartwrenching “57”, the chorus is depleted, but not defeated: “I DON’T BEEEEEEEEEL-IEVE THERE’S LOVE ANYMORE! IT’S ALL INSIIIIDE!” There’s hope yet, and that’s a satisfying thought for me, as I scream once more for old times’ sake. HHHPP
Philip Bloomfield Co-Entertainments Editor
Ex-Voto EP The Duke Spirit Out Now You Are Here IT SEEMS all that hard work of the past two years since the release of successful debut Cuts Across The Land has paid off. What we have here is 4 tracks (11 minutes and 10 seconds to be precise) of pure British rock talent, a collection of truly brilliant tracks which showcase Liela Moss’s unique voice to perfection. The band certainly sound a lot more self-assured in comparison to their first offerings. They have developed a more distinct sound, but by no means does this mean that they have become less experimental. Masca and Dog Roses in particular stand out as tracks which are nothing like (at least in terms of quality and sincerity) anything else offered by anyone else at the moment. Masca, a track with virtually no musical variation throughout, is still irresistible when held together by Liela’s sweet vocals. Meanwhile, on Dog Roses, intermittent percussion accompanies a beautiful, clumsy piano and lays the foundations for Moss’s heartfelt lyrics and a tumultuous ‘chorus.’ In ‘A Wild Hope,’ produced by the band themselves in London, there
GOOD BAND: Just don’t touch the hair.
is a much tougher sound. Though a relatively short track, it bursts with electric energy and provides somewhat of a respite from the calmer, ‘arty’ adjacent tracks Dog Roses and Masca. However, the outstanding track of the EP has to be the energetic opening Lassoo, with riffs so powerful you can feel them strike clean within just as if the ‘Spirit were there performing in right of front of you. With an uplifting chorus and Moss’s attitude, this track shows the rest of the Brit rock pack how it should be done. All in all, an impressive EP with a good taster of what The Duke Spirit have yet to offer. Liela Moss sounds like a ‘buttered angel,’ but a gritty, talented one at that, too. HHHHP Hannah Raymont Contributor
MONDAY 26TH NOVEMBER 2007
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MONDAY 26TH NOVEMBER 2007
Football
TeamBath Bow Out of FA Cup Marcus Haydon Sports Reporter
TEAMBATH’S RUN in the FA Cup was brought to an abrupt end last week after a dogged Chasetown side stole the show in front of a bumper crowd at Twerton Park. The Southern League Midlands side produced an excellent team performance to overcome their higher league opponents to reach the second round for the first time in their history. There was a real buzz amongst the 2067 strong crowd pre-match, particularly in the bar as the dozen or so students inside were completely outbantered by over a hundred away fans. The TeamBath ‘Ultras’ situated themselves behind the goal armed with air horn, Stella Artois and ticker tape, courtesy of a destroyed copy of the Yellow Pages. However, despite this enthusiastic backing, it didn’t take long for the students to fall behind. A long free kick from ‘keeper Lee Evans was nodded down by Kyle Perry to Vaughan Thomas. The centreback swivelled quickly and expertly fired a low volley past the helpless Darren Chitty in the TeamBath goal. It was a real sucker punch for the home side who had looked more than comfortable in the opening exchanges. TeamBath’s response to falling behind centred mostly around top scorer Sean Canham, who became the target for most of his side’s direct style of play. It was a contrast to the fluidity of the performance shown against Weston Super-Mare
during the qualifying rounds, where they had outplayed their higher league opponents with some excellent passing football. Other than headers from Canham and Dean Smith, TeamBath had little to show for their efforts before the visitors doubled their lead on the half hour. Lee Parsons laid the ball off to Craig Holland who fired home an unstoppable 25-yard drive to send the visiting support into raptures. The second half brought yet more frustration for the students, with the away side more than happy to defend their lead by putting men behind the ball. The Ultras behind the goal became more and more restless, and took to venting out their frustrations on ‘Town goalie Evans. Lee Evans may have looked as though he had cut his own hair whilst drunk, but his goalkeeping skills were definitely up to scratch and he pushed away a rasping volley from sub Steve Abbott late in the game. The final whistle provoked jubilant scenes of celebration amongst the players and fans of the away side. TeamBath’s players looked visibly devastated at the conclusion of their run in this year’s FA competition. They have a lot to be proud of having reached the 1st round proper; however they did not do themselves justice in their most high profile match since they last reached this stage in 2002. Speaking to VP Sport Rich Howell after the game he was obviously disappointed with the result, but proud that the team had got so far in the competition. “I’m devastated… I had dreams of a trip to Old Trafford or something!”
Upneet Thandi spoke to Ged Roddy about TeamBath FC’s fantastic cup run and the TeamBath brand as a whole.
FOR THOSE students who don’t know you Ged, can you explain to me your position at TeamBath and how TeamBath came about? I am the Director of the Department of Sports Development at the University of Bath. Some years ago we came up with the name name TeamBath because we wanted to create an identity for sports at the University and we wanted that identity to recognise the excellence of student sport and the fact that student sport was unique in the country. We’re the only university that provides free access to the facilities and we wanted to package what we do. In addition to what we do with student sport and recreation, we also have the elite athletes and a massive community programme. As a result of these three elements coming together (student sport, elite sport and community sport) we have become a focus of interest for people nationally and internationally because of the approach we have adopted here. People are not just interested in there being some Olympic medallists here but they are also interested in the fact that we manage to do all that sort of stuff and still deliver so many community programmes and keep the facility open for the general public too. Talking about the Chasetown game, what did it mean to TeamBath FC to be in the FA Cup? It means an awful lot to us. Again, it demonstrates that this university is capable of doing things that perhaps other universities can only dream about. I think
Moles Hammer the IDFC Scoring Record
Moles 18 ElecEng 0 Adrian Dalmedo Embarrassing. No other word can describe this performance from the ElecEng side. We got nil, and we were damned lucky to do so. With only eleven players ten minutes before kick off, ElecEng were never going to be challenging the perennially excellent Moles side. We don’t have space to describe all the goals in detail, instead let’s talk about how the ElecEng boys tried hard, put loads of effort in and Moles were completely flattered by the scoreline. Or we could tell the truth. Moles were simply breathtaking. They passed the ball well, were clinical in front of goal, and defended boldly. Jon Soderberg scored four, and Roberto Ciaschi and Tom Brend both scored hat-tricks. Furthermore, Charlie Twyman, Michael Balling and James Pople all got a brace, and Ben Lambert got his name on the scoresheet too.
The record-breaking 18th goal wasn’t actually scored by a Moles player however, as ElecEng forward Chris Gammond forgot just which penalty box he was in, and expertly chipped his own ‘keeper with only a few minutes left. Chemistry 9 CompSci 0 Joe Stewart Chemistry against Computer Science never had ‘classic’ written all over it, but if you were there, you would have experienced what could only be described as unbelievable. After some early pressure from Computer Science, Chemistry hit them on the break with a Wimbledon style attack. A long goal kick from Andy Houckum confused the defence and Rupert Cape raced through to put the Chemists 1-0 up. Computer Science battled valiantly, but where one team took their chances, the other failed. 1-0 soon became 3-0 within fifteen minutes and it looked like three points were firmly on their way back to 1 South. By half time it was 5-0, with two from Luke Evans, one from Sean Goggins and Cape adding another to his ever-rising tally. With the majority of the play, it was just the cutting edge and accurate finishing that let Chemistry down. Late in the game Stuart MacDonald and
Tom Williams helped themselves to one each, before Rupert Cape rounded off a sublime performance with an expert lob and an opportunists’ finish to make it nine. Mechanical Engineering 2 Physics 0 Jack Phillips Mechanical Engineering secured their first win of the season when they beat Physics last Friday. Goals from Hayden Phyo and Adam French resulted in a 2-0 victory. The match started brightly with both teams playing fast attacking football, but it was MechEng who took the lead when a speculative shot from striker Phyo was spilled from the Physics goalkeeper. The goal seemed to galvanise MechEng who stepped up a gear and deservedly increased their lead when Adam French finished off a nice passing move down the left flank. The second half was completely dominated by MechEng with chances falling to Jack Phillips and Nick Saunders but no further goals were scored. Education 5 Beast 2 Phil Curtis In a high tempo game, Education came out on top against a BEAST side who came into this game on form after producing an eight-nil thrashing two weeks ago. It was BEAST who took the lead after ten
that’s what’s unique about here. Coming back to the match – you have been in this position once before, how did it compare to this time? It was very different this time. Last time we were playing a football league team and nobody expected us to win, but this time I think it was a different atmosphere and the lads felt a lot of pressure. Never the less, it was a fantastic day and I think the overriding memory for everybody will be the disappointment of having come so far and having got all the students out in such large numbers to support us, which was fantastic. I know the lads are disappointed but that’s the nature of sport. What did you all do to prepare? We did pretty much what they normally do. I mean you try not to overcook things but that at the same time we’ve been to watch Chasetown to make sure we knew what they were all about, but they changed a number of their game approaches on the day and executed it very well, so we have to give them credit. What could you have done better? Well, if we had a bunch of players who had been through the experience before then they would have known what to expect and that would have given us an advantage. As it was, it was the first time for our lads and they are all very young. How has the football programme developed in the past few years and where do you see it going in the five years to come? The football programme has developed tremendously in the last nine years, both minutes with a neat finish from a one-onone with the ‘keeper, but Education came back all guns blazing and soon found the equaliser. Then, just as the teams were preparing for half time, a long ball over the top from the Education ‘keeper caused trouble in the BEAST defence, and from the clever flickon, they made it 2-1 going into the break. The second half saw Education start stronger but they squandered many chances in front of goal. A double change seeing both strikers taken off paid dividends as both substitutes added to the goal tally, putting them into a comfortable 4-1 lead. BEAST pulled it back to 4-2 with a closerange header, but Education made sure of the result with about ten minutes to go. Education manager Phil Curtis has promised more attacking football and results that will make everyone stand up and take notice! “Education will settle for nothing but winning this year’s tournament, and we plan on doing it in style.” TeamMaths 3 CompSci 0 Geoff Littler TeamMaths have been rebuilding this season after losing several of the victorious 2006-07 side and as such, in this, their second game, they had several players who hadn’t played together before and others asked to play in unfamiliar positions. Despite this hindrance TeamMaths flew out of the traps with a great passing
in terms of excellence and also student participation. There are currently five men’s teams, two women’s team’s, 28 junior teams and over 500 children engaged with the TeamBath Tribe soccer tots. So it’s a big undertaking, there is lots of football going on and that’s good news. We do our best to make sure we provide all the facilities to develop this programme for men, women and children. The biggest explosion has been in women’s football with a great amount of students participating now. How do you see Teambath’s role prior to and during the 2012 London Olympics? I feel we have got a huge responsibility. At Athens over 80% of the British Team were university students so by 2012 we think that as many as 90% of the British team will either be students or former students, Now given that we think we’re the premier sports university in the country we clearly have a significant responsibility to ensure that a large number of those 2012 athletes come from our campus. I think the Olympics in 2012 provides us with the opportunity to try and inspire people to get involved in sport not just for an Olympic medal but for their health and the sheer joy of being involved in sport so we are busy trying to put together loads of ideas and things we’re likely to do between now and 2012. What do you do to relax away from work? I’ve got three boys who are four, two and nine months old and they are all Teambath fans, be it Netball, Hockey, Football, etc. And I take them to all the games so I guess I spend all my time with my kids to relax. What would you say is your best attribute? Tenacity What’s your favourite guilty pleasure? It’s got to be Haagen-Dazs ice cream.
display and good work down both flanks created several first half chances, with pacey forward Keith Mackerel scoring twice to give TeamMaths a deserved 2-0 half time lead. The CompSci captain clearly said something right during the break as they came out in the second half with much more drive and invention and had most of the attacking play as TeamMaths struggled to get their passing game going again. However, thanks to some solid TeamMaths defending, the best efforts of CompSci were repelled and TeamMaths killed the game off in the closing minutes.
MONDAY 26TH NOVEMBER 2007
Bees Batter Bristol Bath Killer Bees Bristol Barracuda
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IN MONSOON conditions at the Sulis Club on Sunday the Bath side, armed with flippers and snorkels, absolutely hammered a Bristol team who were certainly not as bad as the scoreline would suggest. Head Coach Pat Snooks was absolutely delighted with the performance and was quick to let everyone know that this was Bath’s biggest ever win in their 16 year history. With the conditions more suitable for a game of waterpolo than American football, Coach Snooks voiced his pleasure in how we were able to score so many points. From the first play of the game Bath took the lead and they never looked back. Matt Styles, who was stifled by a tough tackling UWE defence in his previous game, ran in pretty much untouched from 70 yards out. It was a career game for Styles, as he ran in four touchdowns on the day. To give an indication of just how
well he did, a pro NFL running back would be more than happy to gain 100 yards in a game, and Styles managed to rack up over 200 yards in the first half alone: he simply had too much pace and trickery for the Bristol team to cope with. Bath’s other main running back, Anders Bengtson, also weighed in with 3 touchdowns and a display of power running and tackle breaking which disguised the fact that this was only his second game for the club. At half time Bath led 37-0 and both teams headed off to the changing rooms to try and warm up and dry off, which was pretty futile as the rain remained incessant throughout the second half. Bath were brought back to earth with a thud at the start of the second half, as Bristol’s 2007 League MVP running back Dave Egbosimba scored. That was about as good as it got for him, as he was completely shackled by the Bath side for the remainder of the game. Bath’s defence was solid throughout the game, characterized by disciplined strong tackling, particularly from their brick wall defensive line (combined weight 4 African elephants) of the fleet footed Ian Pinder,
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Jack Chueng, and Paul Jaggers, who did his best to flatten any Bristol player he could get his hands on. With Bristol unable to run the ball they attempted to pass, but succeeded only in throwing interceptions as Jack Goodfriend picked their QB off twice, and Chris Gammond made it two in two games. Two further Bath scores made the score 50-6, and at this point Bath rang the changes, getting their younger players on for some game experience, and this tactic clearly paid off. First year running back Alex Devonald scored from 6 yards out on his first ever touch of the ball, and rookie quarterback Matt Miley threw his first touchdown pass for the team to Jim Oatley, who was also scoring for the first time. It was a crushing victory, and it leaves Bath firmly on top of their division after only two games of the season. Lots of respect goes out to all those who braved the conditions to watch the game, particularly the cheerleaders, who resembled Eskimos due to the number of layers they all had on.
TeamBath Netballers Represent England Upneet Thandi Sports Reporter SIX TEAMBATH Netballers featured in the 12 - strong England Squad for the World Championships that took place in New Zealand on 10th – 17th November. England’s netballers lost the bronze medal play-off to Jamaica by a shattering 52 goals to 53 and had to settle for fourth place overall. Australia won the title, beating arch rivals and reigning champions New Zealand 42-38 in the final. TeamBath players Pamela Cookey and Geva Mentor played the entire final match for England, with University of Bath student Cookey scoring 23 goals from 29 attempts at
Tim Leigh went to see Bristol take on Stade Francais as they prepare for an epic West Country derby...
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IN A game played out in true English conditions, an outstanding team effort from Bristol saw them deservedly crush the tournament favourites who came over expecting an easy win. The Memorial Stadium was packed and raring to go, the Bristol fans confident the rain, wind and near freezing conditions would give them a chance to record a truly remarkable victory over Stade Francais, who had left four internationals back in France, a display of arrogance bound to upset the Bristol boys. That still left them with a back row of Bergamasco, Remy Martin and Parisse, French international David Skrela at fly half, and the other Bergamasco paired with the 17-stone Brian Liebenberg in the centre, but all of these famous names were completely shut out by ferocious first-up tackling from Bristol, with their back row strengthened by the return of Dan Ward Smith at number
Cheesy music and promotional Red Bull got the crowd buzzing, while the PA announcements provided hilarity as the group stage games got under way. Each team was permitted one experienced captain on the pitch at any time as a game-maker, this player not being allowed to score or save goals. Nail-bitingly tense semi-finals unfortunately sent Bath’s last two teams out; the ladies lost 2-0 to Southampton, whose Open team then ousted the Bath Open 3 team, 4-0. By 4pm Warwick and Southampton had only each other to beat to win the prize in both competitions. Warwick squeaked the trophy 1-0 in the ladies’ final, then it was the turn of the men to show us what they’d got. The Thunderbirds theme started a fantastic final; end to end they chased and shot, blocked and tackled. Scoreless at half time there was the potential for extra time, but early in the second
half Warwick sent a stinger past the Southampton keeper’s blade. Southampton fought back, but their counter-attacks were well defended and the cheers rose as the klaxon signalled Warwick’s clean sweep of the trophies. After a quick presentation in the Parade Bar, praise came in droves. “I’ve had so much fun” was as common a phrase, as was “We’re definitely coming back next year!” The Canoe Club hope to build on this stunning first competition in coming years, with next year’s event being bigger and better. The plan is to open it to all teams, not just those from universities. Roanne said, “It went better than I could have hoped, everyone was brilliant. I hope that this event has inspired the players to take the sport further, to push themselves towards league tournaments and most of all to have fun playing canoe polo into the future!” With thanks to Freddie Nightingale for the photos of the event.
goal attack to take her overall total for the championships to 128 goals. Tamsin Greenway came on for the last two quarters at wing attack with England were 43-32 down with one quarter remaining. They were 53-46 behind with just three minutes left on the clock, but despite a late fight back inspired by Cookey, they couldn’t quite do enough to claw England back into the medals. However, all six Teambath players (Sara Bayman, Jo Binns, Pamela Cookey, Tamsin Greenway, Jo Harten and Geva Mentor) who saw action for England in the World Championships demonstrated impressive performances and maintained fitness and discipline on court throughout the championship.
Bristol Gearing Up for Bath Bristol Rugby Stade Francais
Canoe Polo Continued...
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eight and who completely dominated their more celebrated opponents. The first half was a tense affair; the conditions hardly amenable to free flowing rugby. But it was Bristol who made their pressure count with two penalties from David Hill, who taught his opposite number a lesson in kicking in difficult conditions. The second half saw the French side come out with more ambition, and they did look dangerous when running with the ball in hand, but again les doigts de beurre broke up their best moves at the worst times, and two missed penalties from Skrela, combined with the antics of the deplorable Remy Martin, who must have broken the record for number of times caught offside in a match, hardly helped matters. David Hill slotted a third penalty to put Bristol a score clear, and with time running out Stade had to go for it, culminating in a Brian Liebenberg pass being intercepted on halfway for Neil Brew to settle matters with a try. Hill missed the conversion but did kick another penalty late on to seal it.
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TeamBath FC - 30 IDFC - 30 American Football - 31 Netball - 31 Ged Roddy - 30 Rugby 31
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Canoe Polo Host First Ever Beginners Event BOTH TEAMS are absolutely pumped up for the kick-off. They line up facing one another from opposite ends of the pitch, to a man determined to defend their goal to the end. Hushed, tense silence as the players watch the referee, whistle in mouth, ready to start the match. Then the whistle sounds, everyone releases their held breath and the battle begins… This will be a familiar situation to most sportspeople, even those who are new to their game, but in the fastpaced world of canoe polo time is limited and there is little room for an inexperienced player in a competitive game, where every split-second of reaction time counts. Many beginners take months to feel confident enough in their boat and of their ball skills to represent a team in this highly charged and challenging game. Her own experience as a beginner last year is why Roanne Perrin, Polo Captain of Bath University Canoe Club decided to host the country’s first ever Beginners Canoe Polo Tournament, which ran in Bath’s STV pool on Sunday 18th November. With an emphasis on fun, the idea was to allow the sport to capture and hold the enthusiasm of new university paddlers, by offering the opportunity to experience competitive polo without the pressure of a league tournament. She certainly succeeded. With the assistance of over twenty members of the Canoe Club and support from the National Canoe Polo Committee, 100 players from six universities were welcomed to Bath for what was widely described as “awesome” and “the most organised tournament we’ve ever been to”. Continued on Page 31...
Minister for Sport Inspired by STV Steve Ballinger Matchtight MINISTER FOR Sport, Gerry Sutcliffe, said he was inspired by his flying visit to the University of Bath’s Sports Training Village last Tuesday. The Minister was making his first visit to the Sports Training Village. He toured the facilities with Ged Roddy, Director of Sport. They were accompanied by Jim Clarke, Sport England South West Regional Director, and Heather Crouch, Vice Chairman of the South West Regional Sports Board. Mr Sutcliffe said he was impressed by the facilities and commitment of athletes and staff he met during the tour, and he plans to come back for a fuller visit. “It’s very impressive to see the commitment, the different range of sports and the professionalism of coaches and athletes here,” he said. “I’m inspired by what I’ve seen.” “There is a commitment here that goes right the way through to students and the local community who use the facilities.” “Sport has the power to change people’s lives. It keeps people active and healthy,” he added. Asked whether he felt the University of Bath would make a suitable preparation camp for Team GB in the run-up to the London 2012 Olympics, he said that was a decision for the British Olympic Association, and added: “The facilities are certainly here and the commitment is here.” During the tour, Mr Sutcliffe saw the fully equipped fitness suite, indoor running straight, indoor 50m pool, eight-court indoor tennis centre and the GB modern pentathlon team’s high performance centre.
Photo: Phil Searle/TeamBath
Formal Opening of New Hockey Pitch Photo: Phil Searle/TeamBath
THE NEWLY refurbished hockey Astroturf pitch was formally opened last week, as Olympic gold medallist Paul Barber, member of the victorious men’s side from Seoul in 1988, came to help perform the duties. Jan Baker, Vice President of England Hockey, had the honour of cutting the ribbons, declaring the pitch open. Hockey Club Chairman James Christmas and Hockey Development Manager Nick Kendall were also in attendance, with Nick extremely happy with the development. “The new sand-dressed pitch is a big step up for us on the hockey facilities we’ve had here in the past. The old pitch has served us well, but it’s great to have the new surface.” TeamBath Buccaneers certainly enjoyed their first game on the new pitch, hammering Chelmsford fivenil in the Slazenger England Hockey League Division One.
Photo: Phil Searle/TeamBath