impact student
Monday 4th February 2008 Volume 9 Issue 9 www.bathimpact.com
Inter-Semester Break to Return as University Rings the Changes
• ISB back in two years • Lectures to start on the hour • University feedback system to improve Matthew Hartfield Deputy News Editor
STUDENTS WILL be relieved to hear that the University of Bath has agreed to restore the weeklong break between semesters one and two, albeit in 2010. The break will be one of several changes to be given the go-ahead by the University over the next semester. Other changes will cover the rearrangement of timetables, improving feedback for students, and giving official recognition to extracurricular activities. The Inter-Semester Break, which traditionally gave students an extra week’s holiday after exams were completed, was scrapped in 2006 as it was seen to be pointless to have time off so soon after Christmas. Following complaints from students exhausted after exams, academics swamped with marking, and administration staff who wanted time to plan the next semester, the University has agreed to restore it. Speaking to impact, the Union’s Vice President for Education Tom Milburn explained that the break would restart in 2010 because the University prepares its timetables a few years in advance; this was the earliest that it could be reintroduced. Another change that the Union and the University will be working
on together is the modification of lecture times. The plan would be to start lectures on the hour, instead of at quarter past. The reason given for the move is to ensure easier video linkup with other departments outside the University, who generally start meetings on the hour. Raising the question of whether this will interfere with students coming on the number 20 bus (which arrives at the campus every quarter past the hour), Milburn assured impact that were any troubles to arise from the move, the University would be in talks with First buses to ensure they will best serve the students. A major change which will be finalised over the semester will be an overhaul to the method of giving feedback for coursework. The motivation arose out of recent findings from the National Student Survey, a review undertaken by final year students, which found that one of the biggest frustrations was with the lack of feedback given. A proposed model, which is currently used by the Southampton School of Medicine, is being discussed via the “SpeakOut” forum in which students request what areas they want detailed feedback on, such as quality of argument, use of citations, and so on. Reports from this will be discussed with the University’s
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Learning and Teaching Committee later this semester. Milburn revealed that the current reaction has seen a 50:50 split between support for and objection to the proposals. It is ultimately up to individual departments to find the best way to engage with students, rather then implement a
universal feedback policy. “It is up to the departments to find the best way to deliver [feedback], so the students know they are getting help,” he said. But the VP Education acknowledged that this could take time, as these alterations are part of a “culture change rather then a regulation
change… dialogue is the key.” As well as improving feedback, the Union are pushing to improve the personal tutor system; it is seen that uniform support is not received from personal tutors. After a review last semester, a report on the matter is being put forward this semester.
England Rugby Coach Brian Ashton enjoys a bit of light reading on a break from training on campus last week. See Sport (back page). this week...
From Tanzania with love. Features, Page 8
Our special TeamBath Netball pullout. Pages 13-16
“Snails are known to go through long sessions of copulation.” Science, Page 17
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student impact Editorial Calling All Final is brought to you by... Editorial Team Year Students! Editor Deputy Editor News Editor Deputy News Editor Comment Editor Deputy Comment Editor Features Editor Deputy Features Editor Science Editor Deputy Science Editors Ents Editors Deputy Ents Editor Sport Editor Online Editor Photo Editor Treasurer Chief Sub-Editor Proof Reader
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Tom Milburn VP Education sueducation@bath.ac.uk
SO THE exams are over, the dust has settledandwe’realreadybackinthethick ofdailylectures,noInter-SemesterBreak required (apparently). I sincerely hope you all did well on your exams and wish you the very best of luck for results day. The start of Semester 2 also means the return of impact. We’ve had a hugely successful year so far, producing eight top-quality issues, as well as a week of mintyFresh back in September, and have loved every minute of it. But the beat don’t stop, and after this issuewe’vestillgotanotherfivetobring out between now and May. It’s going to be an exciting time, with the imminent Sabb elections sure to be dominating everyone’s thoughts. Nominations are open now, so why not throw your hat into the ring? It is also now officially Celebrating Diversity Month, so let’s go out and celebratethefactthatwe’realldifferent from each other and do something really diverse. If you are up to anything interesting, by the way, please do tell us aboutit;we’realwayslookingforstories. Email me at impact-editor@bath.ac.uk or call 01225 386151. That’s the beauty of impact: we really are open to any student who wants to get involved. Every single person who puts together the newspaper you’re reading is a full-time student here, and that means you can play a part too. Whether you want to write an article, editandlayupapage,takephotosorhelp design our website, now is the time to do it:you’llneverhaveabetterchancetoget your name and your work in print. Ifyou’regoingtobeherenextyear,you could even think about taking our roles on the editorial team. Most of the current team will be graduating or heading out on placement next year, so we’re looking forkeenstudentstofillourshoes. After nearly four years with impact myself, Icantellyouit’sgreatfuntoworkaspart of a team producing something concrete, something physical that you can show the grandkids. It doesn’t half look good on the old CV, either. If you’re interested, do come along to one of our open meetings – every Monday, 6.30pm in elements – and talk to me about it. In the meantime, please enjoyourstupidlyearlyValentine’sissue (the joys of fortnightly publication!). All the best, Jack
IT IS that time of year again when Universities across the country begin to launch the National Student Survey to find out what final year undergraduates thought about their time at university. Bath is no different, and both the SU and the University will be looking to build on last year’s impressive return rate, where a whopping 73% of final year undergraduates completed the survey. That put us in 3rd place nationally in terms of response rate, which tragically was behind Loughborough who finished second. The survey is going live from February 4th and you will be emailed the relevant links to the survey. Reminders will be sent so that we get as many students answering as possible. The NSS is a short survey that has been running nationally for the last 3 years and was introduced for two reasons; as a way of current students informing school leavers what they thought of their university; and as a way of enabling universitiestoidentifyhowsatisfiedtheir students are. The NSS has proved so successful that it will soon include taught Masters students,andasetofoptionalquestionsat theend,(thiswillnotbeputinplaceuntil next year.) This will contain questions that the University can pick and could include questions on placements and feedback. This year there will be a combined
effort from the SU and the University’s Learning & Teaching Enhancement Office (LTEO) to promote the survey as much as possible and try and get Bath to the top spot in the response rate table. TheNSS isvital totake partin because the results are taken very seriously and usedbytheUniversitytobenefitstudents. It is your chance to evaluate your time here and it is important that you have your say because it will affect what the University does in the future. All departments now produce NSS Departmental Action Plans where they outline how they will respond to student feedback. This often involves departments talking to students and working closely with them to improve the experience of future students. The changes that have been implemented as aresultofstudentsvoicingtheiropinion through the NSS are countless, and range from minor departmental amendments such as Moodle use, to University-wide changes such as a new feedback policy. Itis onlya veryshort surveywith just 22 questions in total and will not take you more than 10 minutes to complete (although it will probably be more like 5). The survey covers topics from the facilities here at Bath to the academic support you have received. The impressive record of the NSS over the last 3 years of bringing about student led change is something that all current final year undergraduates should be heartened by and they should grasp their opportunity to have their say and help the University to improve.
Nominations Now Open for Sabb Elections Andy Burton VP Communications sucommunications@bath.ac.uk NOMINATIONS ARE now open for the 2008/09sabbaticalofficerelections,and will close on Wednesday 20th February at 12 o’clock. Sabbs are students that takeayearoutoftheirstudies,orayear after they graduate, to run the Students’ Union. There are six positions to be filled and each one has a different job description. All six of the Sabbs are responsible for representing students’ views and communicating them to the University, and also nationally to the NUS. They also work on the strategy of the Students’ Union to develop the servicesandopportunitiesthatitprovides for all students. Any student can nominate themselves, it doesn’t matter whether you are an undergraduate or postgraduate, UK or overseasstudent,firstyearorfinalyear; you can stand in these elections. You have until the 20th February to
submit your nomination, and after that there will be two weeks of campaigning whenallthecandidatescanpublicisetheir aims for the year and why they think you should vote for them. Every student then has to opportunity to vote and make a decision about whom they want running their Students’ Union. Being a Sabb is your chance to make a real difference to how the Students’ Union is run, and also influence the University decisions. It is also an excellentopportunitytodevelopskillsthat all employers look for when recruiting graduates including communication, people management and teamwork skills. To find out more about the six different Sabb roles and how to submit your nomination have a look at www. BathStudent.com/RunForSabb and download the candidates’ information pack. Remember, if you think you can improve the Students’ Union then submit your nomination now.
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Cursory Glances Cause Missed Bursary Chances
Josh Cheesman News Editor impact-news@bath.ac.uk
MILLIONS OF pounds set aside by universities for financial support are going to waste because students are not claiming their bursaries. That’s the finding of a new report by the Office for Fair Access (Offa). Offa found that while UK universities had estimated spending £115m of their top-up fee income on bursaries, only £96m was actually spent. Their research shows that as many as 12,000 students were eligible for bursaries they failed to claim. That’s 15% of the total number of students eligible, a figure which has raised many questions about just how well financial support for poorer students is promoted. The main explanation that Offa gives for this is simple oversight. When filling out the local education authority means-testing form that calculates their eligibility for a grant, many students do not tick the box granting their permission for this information to be passed on to their university, which in turn means that the university cannot assess whether they qualify for a bursary. Some students who do tick the box then fail to actually claim their bursary when they come to university. An overestimation of the number of
MISSING YOU: Students certainly don’t seem to be motivated by a love of money when it comes to claiming bursaries. students needing financial support is also cited as one of the reasons. Offa’s report has implications beyond simple errors and miscalculations. Their revealing of the proportion of the top-up fee income universities are dedicatingtofinancialsupporthasledto criticism that institutions are not doing enough to attract students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. In 2005, before top-up fees were introduced, 89,050 UCAS applicants were from lower socio-economic backgrounds; this fell to 87,946 in 2007. The report ranks each university by what proportion of its top-up fee income is actually distributed to students as bursaries. The University
Your Starter for Ten...
of Central Lancashire is the highest placed university at 40.8%, despite thefactthatithadsetitselfatargetof 69.4%. New universities dominate the top of the table, although University College London and the University of Oxford are highly placed. The University of Bath is ranked 52nd, spending 20.1% of its top-up fee income on bursaries, a shortfall of around £111,000 from the predicted amount of 20.8%. impact asked Prof. Ian Jamieson, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Learning and Teaching at the University of Bath, to comment on the issue of Bath’s financial support. Jamieson attributed discrepancies to the difficulty of
estimating the social profile of students applying to the University. The amount of money dedicated to bursaries is directly proportional to the wealth of students entering the University, so richer students will mean less bursary support. Jamieson said that the University is proud that its bursary spending has closely matched its predictions. Jamieson also points out that the University of Bath will retain its predicted top-up fee expenditure at 21%, while other universities are reducing the amount of money provided as bursaries. Finally, Jamieson adds that bursaries are not the only financial support offered by the University. Scholarships, the Alumni Fund and donations by private sponsors all contribute to providing financial support for students from a lower socio-economic background. Additionally, some universities have countered claims that they are short-changing students by noting that they charge lower top-up fees to compensate. Leeds Metropolitan University, for example, is the lowest ranking university in terms of the proportion of its top-up fee income spent on bursaries, but this is due to the fact that it only charges students £2,000 instead of the usual £3,000.
Richard Anstey Sponsorship & Advertising Administrator suadvertising@bath.ac.uk
DO YOU have good general knowledge? A lightning-fast buzzer finger? Perhaps more importantly: do you have a burning desire to outwit Jeremy Paxman? If your answer to any of these three questions is ‘yes,’ then you could be just what your University is looking for, becausethetelevisioninstitutionthatis ‘University Challenge’ has asked Bath if it would like to enter a team for its next series. In the past few years, Bath has not managed to enter, and we think it is about time that this changed, and that Bath was given a chance to show off its
intellectual prowess to the world. If you think that you can cut the proverbial mustard then put your name forward; both undergraduates and postgraduates are welcome and if you think you have got the brains for it why not give it a go? The final decision on the team will be made by SU President Dave Austin and so if you would like to be included in the trial stage, email him at supresident@bath.ac.uk. The deadline for registering your interest is 11 February. For those of you that would prefer to participate in more of a viewing capacity, keep your eyes peeled; some of Bath’s elite minds could be hitting a TV screen near you in the not too distant future…
News Proof Bath Needs Us!
Siobhan Chan News Contributor
DESPITE THE disapproving looks that most students receive from the residents of Bath, it seems that graduates are now being encouraged to stay in the city. A report by Bath and North East Somerset Council has shown just how valuable the 15,600 students of the University of Bath and Bath Spa University really are, bringing over £100 million to the local economy every year. The everexpanding student population also boosts employment in the area, and allows investment in multi-million pound facilities which are available to everyone. The Student Community Partnership, where representatives from the two universities and B&NES Council work together to improve “town and gown” relations, has been addressing the impact that students may have on the community, and have highlighted transport, housing and social issues as their main concerns. Nevertheless, it’s clear that Bath can thank its student population for making it such a busy, vibrant and cultural city.
Ray of Sun for Computer Users The Student
Experience
LOUNGING ABOUT: One of the new e-lounges on campus. COMEON,COMEON: University Challenge had trouble spelling ‘Bath’ last time.
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Josh Cheesman News Editor impact-news@bath.ac.uk ANYONE WHO’S ever been frustrated by tryingtofindafreecomputerinthelibrary has reason to celebrate. As you may have alreadynoticed,therearenowseveralnew SunRaythinclientsonthesecondfloorof the library, and in two new e-lounges. The Sun Rays are different from normal computers in that they have no processing power of their own, and run programs on the network server rather than on the computer itself. You don’t have to log in to us them, which means that students can walk up to one and use it straight away. As of this moment, they can be used for most of the same functions as the normal PCs, including browsing the web, using Windows applications and checking webmail, and a Linux desktop is currently
in development for them. Students can access their documents on the server, but they are unable to print. In addition to their placement in the library, Sun Rays have been placed in two new e-lounges, which can be found in 4E3.22 and 5W3.36. These e-lounges also have tables, vending machines and laptop docking points. “There was a big problem with space in the library, so we’ve put these Sun Rays in more locations, giving students more accesstocomputers,”saidnetwork/systems administrator David Mayo. “We already have 500 Sun Rays in operation, and we have 120 more on the way, which should be in place by the end of July.” Proposed sitesincludetheTerracecafe,theSports Training Village and several teaching blocks. Formoreinformation,visithttp://www. bath.ac.uk/bucs/tools/sunray/
THE FOLLOWING is a policy approved by the University Council, entitled ‘Guiding Principles for the Student Experience at the University of Bath’: 1. The University of Bath acknowledges thatstudentsplayavarietyofrolesinthe University and that all should receive support. These roles include: learner, universitycitizen,localresident,colleague, consumer, scholar and ambassador. 2.Studentswillbeencouragedtofulfil their potential personally, academically andsocially.Thiswillbeachievedthrough a mixture of both challenge and support. 3. Students will be encouraged to take bothindividualandcollectiveresponsibility fortheirownaffairsandtoparticipatefully in the life of the University. 4. The University aims to develop an inclusive institutional culture that recognises and capitalises on the intellectualandsocialbenefitsofhaving a diverse staff and student community. 5.TheUniversitywillencouragestudents to express their views on all matters relating to their university experience. 6.TheUniversitywillprovideaccurate, consistent and timely information to students about the life and work of the institution.
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Comment
Valentine’s Schmalentine’s but I suppose a well-chosen greeting card nearly hits the mark. In Europe it is generally celebrated, if at all, on the 14th of February but the date of equivalents in other parts of the World vary, as well as the rituals associated with them. For example in Brazil, the ‘Dia dos Namorados’‘Boyfriend’s/Girlfriend’s Day’. According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated 1 billion cards are sent at Valentine’s Day (in the USA) each year, an extortionate amount considering at Christmas 2.6 billion are sent. The earliest surviving ‘valentine’ is a fifteenth-century rondeau written by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his “valentined” wife, which starts with;
Charlotte King Comment Editor impact-comment@bath.ac.uk
NO SOONER have the decorations been taken down that the shops are erecting the life-size pink hearts and teddy-bears big enough to sit in. If there were such a thing as Valentine’s Day music then I’m sure our ears would be bombarded with it on a very large scale. Althoughitisa bit early to be talking about it in the 4th of February edition of Impact, this does seem to be in-keeping with the time-scale in the shops. There is nearly half an aisle in Sainsbury’s dedicated to the stockpiling of the perfectly pink possible purchases that, although may touch a heart string for the first two minutes that they are possessed, after that time are pretty much useless. But don’t get me wrong. I’m quite a romantic at heart and I am in a longterm relationship so am not bitter because I want someone to spend Valentine’s Day with. I like the mushy things but I don’t like the way that everything is materialistic and about making more money. I would resent buying something like a valentine’s bear. Most men, I expect, would rather receive something useful, like a CD or DVD (or even a blu-ray disc).
Valentine’s Day has been celebrated since the ‘High Middle Ages’- the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries, but became popular in Britain around the 17th century. At these times I am sure that a husband would not have presented his wife with a life-size bear. I am sure a simple love-note scratched into some parchment by a feather sufficed. But, sadly, since the 19th century, handwritten notes have largely given way to mass-produced greeting cards. I would much rather receive a romantic note etched onto some goat’s skin on my pillow in the morning (or would I?),
Je suis deja d’amour tanné Ma tres doulce Valentinée… (Charles d’Orléans, Rondeau VI, lines 1–2)
Although written in old-style French, it can be roughly translated as ‘I am already beaten by my love for you, my very sweet Valentine’. (If anyone has a better translation then please feel free to email me!) Valentine’s Day is another moneyspinner for all those criminal card companies. I wouldn’t mind buying the cards as much if they didn’t cost around £4-5 for a reasonably-sized decent one.
I don’t necessarily want it to sing but I just want it to be of good quality with some well-chosen words and some white space for me to fill. Unless you want to buy a postage-stamp-sized one or visit a cheap shop where ‘every card is 99p’ then you might have to fork out the equivalent of nearly an hour’s worth of your well-earned minimum wage money. In all honestly, it is a nice idea for there to be a day in which we show our appreciation for the one we love but this doesn’t have to mean spending stupid amounts of money. I like receiving presents as much as the next person. I also love buying them for someone if I think they will like it and find use for it. But I refuse to buy useless objects that will sit and gather dust on top of a wardrobe. Then there’s the other issue of flowers or chocolates. I have never actually received either of them, but I don’t think I’d like a box from Thorntons with every different variety, as there are only about 4 that I actually like in the box. I suppose I’d prefer a box of Maltesers or hand-made chocolate cake with my name piped onto it, but I don’t think the latter is going to happen… As for flowers, they are potentially a difficult thing to buy. There are the old
faithful varieties like carnations that are cheap-looking (maybe because they are cheap) and don’t smell good, which everyone seems to buy. I suppose a bunch of roses would be perfect but these are expensive and wither away within days unless lovingly pressed. But, if I was presented with a bunch of flowers and a box of chocolates I suppose I wouldn’t mind. Overall, I don’t think Valentine’s Day is totally pointless and worth scrapping, but the frills that go with it need to be trimmed. Let’s lose the pink heart-shaped pillows and write love notes and exchange hand-made gifts and all live happily ever after… well let’snotgothatfarbutlet’susetheday as a time to appreciate the people we love, which doesn’t necessarily mean showering them with perfectly-pink presents.
All Loved Up Bush’s Last Emma Simmons argues that there really isn’t anything to moan about on Valentine’s Day and that every Valentine’s cloud has a silver (or pink) lining. Emma Simmons OKAY, SO it doesn’t require an indepth study to reveal the trait that people who like Valentine’s Day have in common. A graph would show almost perfect correlation between being in a relationship and looking forward to February 14th. On that note, funnily enough, I’ve been with my boyfriend for 18 months; I enjoyed last Valentine’s Day and am looking forward to this one a lot more than I have done for the last 17 years (well, to be honest, when I was under 10 years old I wasn‘t so bothered, but being a card-less teenager was never fun!). However, there are so many reasons for people, single or ‘coupled-up’, to enjoy this day. First of all, it’s February, I mean what else happens in this month? Christmas is gone, summer is a distant dream, and even Halloween isn’t approaching to provide an excuse for a good fancy dress party. So, along comes Valentines Day to save us all from the monotony of February! It might not create such a furore as Christmas does and you
don’t meet many people who count down the days til the 14th (no offence intended to anyone who is right now opening a door on their home-made Valentine’s advent calendar!) but still what real reason is there to dislike the day? I agree that waking up on Valentine’s Day and thinking that perhaps, possibly, just maybe there is going to be a bunch of roses waiting for you, only to find that the only post for you is a phone bill can be a little depressing, but at least Valentine’s Day rarely fails to provide a good bit of gossip. I’m a self-confessed gossip-queen, I can’t deny that if there’s something going on I HAVE to know. So what could possibly be better than a day which is made for new relationships, revealed crushes, and proposals? Therefore, even those people who don’t discover that they have a secret admirer might have something fun to discuss on the 14th. For those people who are lucky enough to have someone special to spend Valentine’s Day with, it’s a perfect excuse to get all dressed up, go out for a fancy meal, and hopefully
(hint to my boyfriend) get a little prezzie too! Essentially, I can see why some people don’t love Valentine’s Day but truly there is no reason to hate it. A tip for all those people dreading the 14th, is to be happy for the smug, smiling people who sit counting up their cards, and just enjoy the day for the fact that you may get a good themed party out of it. Then, if you need another reason to smile on February 14th, simply gather together your other single friends and curl up with a tub of ice cream and a seriously cheesy chick flick and make the most of the fact that you don‘t have to go through the trials and tribulations of the love-sick characters because you‘re young, free and single!. The ‘chick-flick tip’ may be aimed at the female population, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea for any unenlightened men to tune in to Love Actually, Bridget Jones or Pretty Woman, and pick up some tips, and with any luck all you boys will have a Keira Knightley equivalent by Valentine’s Day 2009, and all you single ladies will have your own Mr. Darcy (if you want one!).
Stand? Hadleigh Roberts Deputy Comment Editor GEORGE W. Bush has recently given what is expected to be his last State of the Union address. This is not a political obituary, but with all the coverage currently being given to the presidential race, it seems as if the Bush clock has already expired. The tone of the address was much different to last year. The message before was “We need more troops” while this year it has changed to “The surge is working.” The number of mentions given to Iraq is particularly interesting. 0 in 2001, 2 in 2002, 22 in 2003, 24 in 2004, 27 in 2005, 16 in 2006, 34 in 2007, 38 in 2008. By way of achievements, it is fair to say that on average Americans pay less tax; this is a promise on which he has delivered, broadlyspeaking. He also promised reforms of the pension scheme as well as the immigration problem, but both have failed miserably. In a wider sense, the entire campaign for the social conservatism agenda, a sentiment fuelled by his core supporters, including restrictions on the access to abortions as well as gay rights, have really amounted to very little. His real “success” has been in
the Supreme Court. Ronald Reagan appointed three judges in his time, two of which turned out to be rather unreliable conservatives. George W. Bush has appointed two solidly conservative Supreme Court justices, Samuel Alito and John Roberts. The Supreme Court is responsible for making hugely important decisions, including a constitutional reexamination of ‘the right to bear arms’ later this year and as a result of Bush’s appointments, the Court moves from the centre ground and now leans to the right. In a year, Bush will be gone, but his judges will be around for years and possibly even decades. Nevertheless, Bush seems to be fading away, like a radioactive substance going through the halflife process. Due to his political toxicity, the Republican presidential candidates are constantly trying to identify and compare themselves with Ronald Reagan instead of backing up Bush. Ultimately, this is not necessarily Bush’s final State of the Union address; in the past, some presidents have decided to add in another burst of rhetoric just before the inauguration of their successor, but nobody really expects the USA’s 43rd president to bother.
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Lies, Damn Lies and Nutrition
In retort to Amira Fathalla’s feature on what food to eat in the exam period, Matthew Hartfield discusses the science behind those ‘magic’ molecules... Matthew Hartfield Deputy News Editor
FOR THOSE who missed it, the last issue of Impact contained a substantial section on how to make the best use of revision time. Most of it was common sense; don’t stress out, take some exercise, that sort of thing. Unfortunately it also threw up the same howlers, the scientific urban myths, about which items will suddenly make you smarter. As a scientist, this gets me really miffed. There was advice on what food to eat during revision to learn better. Amongst the good suggestions, the old chestnut of Omega-3 oils reared its ugly head, making a cameo appearance as a ‘brain-food’. Now don’t get me wrong, Omega-3 is good stuff. Looking at the British Medical Journal – yes, I do have way too much time on my hands – there’s substantial evidence that it reduces the threat of heart disease, as well as nascent
studies to suggest that it can stave off Alzheimer’s disease. One thing it isn’t linked to though is making you smarter. Studies done so far on this have been inconclusive. Well, not quite. A lot of flimflam was made over a year ago when school kids in Durham were given Omega-3 oil to see if it improves performance. This was, in essence, a massive advert for Equazen’s EyeQ pills. It wasn’t even performed as a rigorous study; there was no placebo group, and the only data released was via select testimonials on their website. Guardian science columnist Ben Goldacre tried in vain to obtain the actual data; none was forthcoming. Nothing was published overall, but this didn’t stop Equazen plugging their product. You could walk past your local pharmacist and see adverts for Eye-Q tablets and their claims on how it’ll improve children’s performance at school. That is until
they were burned by the Advertising Standards Authority and were told to remove claims that their product was “proven by science”. It also hurt me to see a declaration that “Classical Baroque music is meant to increase your intelligence”. Guess what? It won’t. Like the Omega3 story above, it is based on sloppy evidence. The claim came to the public eye about 10 years ago when a study showed that a small group of children could perform a simple test better after listening to classical music. Again, there was no control group but still, it’s nice middle class music so it must work, mustn’t it? BBC’s Tomorrow’s World decided to test this theory out using a beautifully simple experiment. It took three groups of children of equal ability. The first group did a test with no music; group two did the same test after listening to classical music; group three did the test but after listening to some phat beats provided
by Radio 1. The classical group did better then the normal group, but the pop group (‘scuse pun) performed the best overall. So where were the claims that Oasis will make you smarter? It was likeliest that listening to music before the test acted as a mental placebo, relaxing the subject so that they will perform and learn better. Most of the other comments reflected this, with suggestions to listen to calming ambient music which one wouldn’t dare listen to outside revision time. Why would so many people suggest Moby for these circumstances? I should make it clear that overall there was a lot of good advice in general. Eat your greens, lay off the kebabs, don’t distract yourself, and so on; all the stuff your square mother tells you to do. These issues above are particularly important to pay attention to as they are just a handful of examples of how far pseudo-science, and trial by tabloid,
has become ingrained in our society. It also highlights the worrying trend of the desire to find miracle cures wrapped up in a pill, instead of actually combating the root cause of ill-health. Because if you’re stuck in a rut with no education and no job prospects, are you really inclined to go to the Green Park market for some kippers and a Mozart CD?
EYE-Q:But does it help with the IQ?
Night Out or Early Night? Let’s Do Both!
Letter of Praise For Bath Students
James Wilson
We have been meaning to write to you for the last 3 years- soon after we moved into the Moorings!
BEING A student, fatigue, tiredness and lethargy are three things I just hate and will do anything to avoid. So it’s not surprising then that in my first term at university I didn’t go to a single Monday student night. With an 8:15 and 9:15 lecture the next morning, I found it to be just not worth the effort to be up five hours beforehand when I could be in my nice warm bed. But then, why should it be worth it? Some might just advise me to leave early, but that’s not fair as I would be paying the same admission for less time and a worse atmosphere. After my eighteenth birthday, I quickly learned that many clubs (and Funky Guppy - RIP - was definitely an offender of this) play music that I have never heard before until
thelasthour. Thisisbizarreasit’smuch easier to enjoy music you know and love. When the good stuff does come around, I’m often not there as I have an 8:15. Fair enough, you might say. After all, they have to finish on a high. But hang on, why shouldn’t they finishearlier,especiallyiftheystarted earlier? Let’s face it, what sort of civilised person is up at 2am? If we finished lectures at 5:05pm we could have our dinner and be in town by 7. Then we would then have a great time until 11 and be in bed before midnight. Easy! I expect some readers might think that they have to be drunk to have a good time, but if you think about it nightclubs are for dancing and generally partying. The alcohol (for those who drink it) is just an added bonus. So there is no
logical reason why a nightclub should be attended in the depths of the night. I want to go out and enjoy myself. I should be able to do this in the early evening. But I cannot. No one goes to nightclubs in the early evening as no one wants to be in an empty club-I for one certainly don’t want to be dancing by myself. But if everyone thinks like this the problem doesn’t go away; people will only turn up early if they have to get there a certain time before it closes! If some nightclub in town were to take a risk on an “Early Opening, Early Closing” night, they might just be surprised at the turnout (or I might be a minority of one). What does our readership think? I’d love to know, especially if there’s anything (and there is probably lots) I haven’t considered.
Dear Sir/Madam,
This is just to express our very sincere thanks to the constant kindness and courtesy shown to us by students’, as we travel on the “bendy-bus.”
We are almost unfailingly offered seats near the entrance, we are allowed on first and are never hustled, even though we move increasingly slowly.
Others at the Moorings and at the bus stops have also commented on how unobtrusively helpful our Bath University Students’ are. Your consideration makes all the difference to our ability to keep mobile- even at 90! We wish you all a happy, healthy and successful New Year and a bright future after you graduate. Yours sincerely, Eileen Sutherland & Margaret Morris.
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IT IS only one week until I leave Aixen-Provence and since returning to France after the Christmas holidays life has been a sort of limbo – my body is in Provence, my mind looking ahead to Spain and as for my soul, it can’t really keep up with it all. A three week sojourn in the south of France may sound lovely, but the average winter holiday does not involve the stress of revision and exams while attempting to tie up the loose ends before departure. Yet at the same time the sun is shining, the sky is deep blue: how could anyone ever want to leave here? Four months in Aix is not enough. Even in the past two weeks I have made new discoveries that I am not going to be able to benefit from, including a chic little café that sells the délice blanc – a soft dough ball with white chocolate inside that seems a strange combination but is somehow the perfect
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Scant’s Regard: Bitter Farewell to the Land of Exquisite Desserts... Au Revoir! After spending four months in a country “unable to comprehend the concept of good organisation”, LauraScantlebury waves goodbye to useless boilers and sporadically appearing landladies. balance between sweet and savoury. I fit in here: the lady in the bakery at the end of the road knows who I am, and looks suitably perturbed when I ask for anything other than my usual baguette. I am beginning to learn how to walk out in front of cars, which is quite safe,indeed accepted, pedestrian behaviour; how to give the bises without an embarrassing accidental lip-brush or nose-bump. Finally, I have worked out the quickest route to the take-away pizza stand…only to be unable to put this knowledge to good use. Where is the justice? Aix-en-Provence is in a beautiful area of France, apparently springtime is particularly impressive, not that I will be able to witness that for myself. An hour away from the sea, nestling amongst several chains of vine and lavender-covered hills, and with easy access to the mountains for skiing, it has been an ideal location for a year abroad. Although it has to be said that I didn’t actually make it to the snow: after spending 15 euros on a train ticket and 10 on a pair of snowboots on sale in
Carrefour, I woke up on the morning of the trip feeling rather queasy so spent the rest of the day not discovering the Alps but getting better acquainted with the contents of my stomach. And that is typical of France – the fact that even the best laid plans have a tendency to be thwarted at the last minute, that however organised you are, France will always find a way of throwing everything into complete disarray. Unsurprisingly, part of me is relieved to be leaving a country where it is acceptable for exams to be dumped on you with only two weeks notice. I don’t want to have to spend an entire morning waiting for the landlady to come to sort outthebills,asarranged,onlyforherto fail to turn up. Nor do I appreciate being disturbed at 9pm the next evening when the letting agent arrives, unannounced, to collect the money on her behalf. When water started pouring – once again – from the pipe leading to our boiler and the remainders of our washing up water – once again – decided to make its presence known in the bottom
Tanzania: How you can Spend a Great Summer the African Way Emily Smith spent last summer as a volunteer in Africa. She tells impact about her experience and how you can get involved too. THE ONLY way to comprehend what lifeislikeinacountry,istoexperienceit firsthand. Thisdoesn’tmeanstayingina hotelin atourist area but living amongst the locals. Through volunteering with ‘Village-to-Village’ in Uchira, Tanzania lastSummer,Iwasabletotrulyunderstand ruralTanzanianlife. ThemonthIwasthere for had such a huge impact on me that I knewIwouldreturn. Thisarticleisaimed atencouragingotherstoenjoyasimilar,yet individual experience. WhenIdecidedthatIwantedtovolunteer in Africa I was conscious of ‘gap year’ companies charging huge amounts of money for this privilege. It made me wonder how genuine the experience would be. After talking to many people I came acrosstheregisteredcharityVillage-toVillage where the cost of the visit was only £1500 which covered a £600 donation tothecharityandflights, food and trips taken throughout the month. Whilst I was in Tanzania I saw exactly where my money was going and felt I had a truly authentic and fulfilling experience. The month I was in Uchria, there were thirteen volunteers from the UK, China, Norway and Namibia as well as a few locals. Welivedtogetherinabasicbutlarge house in the village. I spent most of my timeteachingmathsatthelocalsecondary school and English at an adult education class set up by the charity’s volunteers. Classesattheschool have about 50 pupils ineachandarealltaughtinEnglish. Asa
volunteerIwasabletoactivelyhelpyoung Africanchildrenreceiveabettereducation, increasingtheirchancesofalifewithout poverty. The adult English class was successful,notonlyinhelpingadultsgain abasicunderstandingofthelanguage,but also in giving them a sense of purpose. Although the majority of people spoke poorEnglishandwespokelittleSwahili,it was amazingly easy to communicate with each other through gestures and some help fromthelocalEnglish-speakingvolunteers. I intend to specialize in teaching again this summer; but if teaching isn’t your thing there are many other volunteering opportunitiesincludinghelpingtoestablish a Cultural Tourism Centre, setting up small enterprises and working with groups alreadyestablishedbythecharityaswell as helping with HIV/AIDS awareness and orphanage visits. The placement is incrediblyflexible,allowingvolunteersto contributetheirownideasandspecializein areas they enjoy.
Thelocalareaisrenownedforexcellent safaris. There are numerous other attractionsnearby,includingrestaurants, bars and nightclubs in the nearby town of Moshi. A night out in Moshi is guaranteed to be an eye-opening experience, unlike any one back home. The tropical paradise ofZanzibarisonlyashortferryridefrom Tanzania and would make a spectacular addition to any African experience. My life changing month in Tanzania gave me a terrific insight into the real Africa. I made friends from all over the world and am incredibly excited about seeing them again this summer as well as strengthening connections previously made. I cannot think of a more enjoyable and rewarding way to spend the summer. If youareinterestedinvolunteering,pleasedo not hesitate to contact me on ecs21@bath. ac.ukandIwillbepleasedtomeetupwith youanddiscusspossibleopportunitiesfor a placement in more detail.
of our shower, my housemate and myself exchanged a knowing look and a nonchalant laugh. It doesn’t matter, we are leaving next week. After all, there would be no point in trying to get it sorted: our heating has never worked and despite repeated complaints, the letting agent only managed to provide us with a small blow-heater last week. Useful.
So, in the few days before I say farewell to France, my feelings are mixed.Iloveithere,butatthesametime Ihateit.Thelandofexquisitedesserts, produced with astonishing attention to detail, is also a country unable to comprehend the concept of good organisation.Paradoxical,certainly,and frustrating, yet somehow amusing and intriguing. That is France for you.
Imagine...
...if we lacked all human intelligence. Josie Cox imagines life the simple way. THINKING ABOUT it, numerous elements come together to make our soapoperatic student-lives interesting. We are intelligent people, with the capacity to reason, plan, problem-solve, think, comprehend ideas, use language and learn. We are rational and logical. Blonde jokes aside. Regardless of taking the risk of sounding like Rosanna is her psychology column, this week I am imagining what life would be like if we lacked human intelligence. It all started off when I collapsed on the couch after spending a never-ending day at the library. Picking up the remote and channel surfing, I began to slip into one of my socio-critical moods with regards to TV: Diet Doctors, What not to Eat/Wear, Deal or No Deal, Countdown. You name it.Why? Why do we eat more than we need to? Why do we do things thataresuperfluoustooursurvival?After eliminating all the unnecessary things aboutlife,Irealisedthattheonlythings we have to do to survive, are nourish ourselves,restandreproduce. Eat,sleep and have sex. Consume, snooze and copulate. And the other thing I realised was that the only reason why our lives are so full of drama, is because of the seven deadly sins:lust,gluttony,greed,sloth,wrath, envy and pride. (Has anyone else noticed the inconspicuous connection between there being seven deadly sins and Snow White having seven dwarves?) If, like animals, we were merely guided by basic intelligence and instinct, we would be sin-free, innocent individuals.
We wouldn’t be greedy: we wouldn’t under-eat, we wouldn’t over-eat, we wouldn’t play the lottery or go on gameshows, we wouldn’t want to change the way we look, we wouldn’t go to the gym, we wouldn’t have relationship problems, we wouldn’t have to study, we wouldn’t booze and we wouldn’t take drugs. Heath Ledger might still be alive. Rest in Peace. Pondering what conclusion to reach in this article, I put my laptop down and wanderintothekitchen. ListlesslyIopen the fridge. Sainsbury’s seedless grapes beckon me to reach for them on the bottom shelf of the fridge. I put two in my mouth before putting the kettle on. Passing the mirror as I mosey back to the couch, I catch a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror. My hair needs a wash. Before turningmyattentionbacktothisarticle, I give my mobile a fleeting look, hopeful that he may have texted me back. Merely wishful thinking. Then I read over what I’ve just written.Perhapsitispreciselyallthese complications which make life worth living. And suddenly I am massively grateful for having the capacity to enjoy eating a grape even when I’m not hungry; noting that my hair needs washing even if not doing so wouldn’t kill me; and getting butterflies from a text message despite not wanting to have his babies. So what have we learned today? The seven deadly sins are actually what make our life worth living, and I am therefore damn grateful for being more intelligent than a goldfish.
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Never Alone with Nightline If you’re interested in volunteering and not sure how to get involved, Nightline may be just the place for you. If you don’t even know what Nightline is, read on and let this anonymous Nightline volunteer explain it to you. HAVE YOU heard of Nightline? It’s the student-run nighttime listening service. People can ring on 01225 38(3030) or drop in to the AWARE lounge 1 East Level 3 if they want someone to talk to at night. Nightline also gives out information like taxi numbers and sells cheap condoms. Their opening hours are 8pm-8am Wednesday to Sunday but they need to recruit lots of new volunteers to stay open regularly. It doesn’t matter what course you do or how old you are if you are interested in volunteering. Nightline asks you to commit to volunteering for one night every three weeks after training. You are allowed to sleep during the night! (There are
WE ALL take risks occasionally, and more so when we’re away from home. Looking back at our first term at Bath, we can probably all remember doing things a little out of character. Alcohol probablyhelpedthingsalongalittle,but with our newfound sense of freedom comes an increased tendency to push the limits and do stupid things, without much thought of the consequences. It can often be the same with travelling, when we are far away from our friends and family, surrounded by new people and deliberately trying to be open to new experiences. Just a few months ago I hired a motorbike on the hilly, rock-strewn ‘roads’ of Ko Pha Ngan. I didn’t even know how to start it, or where to put the petrol in. Figuring it would be much the same as riding a regular bike, I nearly killed myself (and my poor friend on the back) about a hundred times before we had a really scary moment sliding backwards down a steep slope. We shakily returned the bike and went back to something we were good at, lying on the beach sipping strong cocktails… It wasn’t the cleverest decision I’ve ever made, as my friend pointed out through her tears! Psychologists have long been interested in risk-taking behaviour. Evolutionarily, we have a fundamental need for safety, so how can we explain
NIGHTLINE HELPS: So that your teddy bear isn’t the only one to talk to. sofa beds in the AWARE lounge so you just wake up when the phone rings.) Also, you always do a night with another volunteer. For further information just contact us at nightline@bath.ac.uk.
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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. Relieved that exams are over? Sick of not having anytime to do anything but revision? Enjoy your newfound freedom by embarking on a brand new university term. Beware though, not all is fun and games! CAPRICORN (22 December - 20 January) The tea leaves predict your future will be brown and squelchy.
GEMINI (22 May- 22 June) Your condom will break and two pounds of cocaine will hit your stomach lining.
SCORPIO (24 October - 22 November) If she says “It’s not the size, it’s what you do with it,” she’s lying.
AQUARIUS (21 January - 19 February) I’ve lost my crystal ball so your guess is as good as mine.
CANCER (23 June- 23 July) Money troubles? Go on the game. Or for the less attractive, rob a bank.
SAGITTARIUS (23 November - 21 December) You’re going to miss a fantastic opportunity. Tough luck.
PISCES (20 February - 20 March) Your favourite colour is cheating on you behind your back.
LEO (24 July- 23 August) Do everyone a favour and stop showing off that growth you have on your hip.
ARIES (21 March- 20 April) The tarot cards point to an imminent disaster but on the brighter side there’s always Orange Wednesdays.
VIRGO (24 August - 23 September) That piercing you’ve been thinking about;yes,itisanunattractiveplaceand no, it wont make it look any better.
TAURUS (21 April- 21 May) Congratulations, you’re famous. Unfortunately it’s on YouPorn.com
LIBRA (24 September - 23 October) The world is your oyster. Unfortunately you’re allergic to shellfish.
Motorbikes, Skydiving, Binge Drinking and Other Risks in an Average Student’s Life
Psychology student Rosanna Pajak reveals her own risk-taking habits and questions why students get a kick out of doing things which are downright dangerous or simply stupid. Perhaps this is one to read before taking the risk of asking out your heart-throb on Valentine’s Day? the decisions that go against this? Are the people who take big risks illogical, or even mentally ill? When we push ourselves to our limits, our body responds. Even just the perception of the risk triggers a cascade of physiological changes. Our heart beats faster and it’s harder to breathe. Cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline are released. Our pupils dilate so we can see what we’re doing better, and blood rushes to our limbs so we are physically ready to act. In this state of heightened arousal we are more equipped for survival, but this physical anxiety can feel pretty horrible. Even when faced with a non-physical risk, like an exam, our body responds like this, and it’s not much fun. For some people this feeling is desired in itself, or is put up with
in order to feel the exhilaration of survival: skydiving is so brilliant precisely because of how terrifying it is. Yet obviously a lot of risks don’t necessarily involve that level of physical danger: psychologists are of course interested in more common behaviours like smoking, binge drinking, drug abuse and unprotected sex. These are all risky behaviours which have well-known, long-term, negative consequences. We know that that tenth tequila shot will result in a shocking hangover, and leaving those condoms unopened in the bedside drawer could mean a horrible STI or an unwanted pregnancy. So why do so many people, young people especially, decide to engage in these risky behaviours? One theory, suggested by Weinman
in the eighties, is that people have inaccurate perceptions of risk and their susceptibility to the dangers that they face. This unrealistic optimism is especially characteristic of students today. We take risks because in essence, we believe we are young, strongandinvincible. It’sthatattitude of ‘it won’t happen to me’, which counteracts our knowledge of all the possible negative consequences. This means that the government can try to educate us about the dangers involved, but until the negative consequences actually hit us – or someone close to us – we do just have a tendency to ignore them. Our decisions are not rational, we are very selective in what we choose to listen to and to believe. A second possible explanation is that those of us who more commonly take these risks have what psychologists call an external locus of control. This means that they tend to regard events as uncontrollable by them, in the hands of fate or of others. We are constantly hearing scare stories about the myriad of health risks involved in the foods we eat and the products we use, and there are also genetic predispositions to certain conditions. Is it any wonder that some of us have the attitude that if the binge drinking doesn’t kill us by the time we are fifty, something else probably will? If we believe our health is ultimately out of our control, we are more likely to take the risks that could damage it. Psychologists have actually compiled a profile detailing the type of people who are most likely to engage in these risky behaviours. It is thought to account for about 40% of the people who participate in health risk behaviours such as
drug-taking, and tries to explain what leads people to try things that may be illegal or dangerous. Risk-takers are willing to risk their physical wellbeing and to defy social conventions. Combined with their generalised acceptance of risk they have elevated sensation-seeking needs. They are more likely to be young people and to be extraverted, which means that they may be sociable optimists who love parties, take chances and have many friends. Risk-takers tend to assess health risks to a lesser degree than other people, and this, combined with an easygoing party attitude, may lead them to take even greater risks. If this describes you, it is possible you may want to rethink your decisionmaking processes. My ridiculous motorbike adventure is a good example of the fact that I’d become very relaxed during my placement year, and was perhaps feeling a bit too invincible by the time I reached Ko Pha Ngan. I’d tried many new things, most of them perfectly safe, but like most people, I wouldn’t regret even my more dodgy decisions. Sometimes they were fun, but most of all, I learnt from them. In our day-to-day lives, we all inevitably take risks in everything we do. In reality, every aspect of life involves a cost-benefit analysis, and everybody’s decision-making processes are different. It is therefore onlyrealistictoadmitthatthedecisions we make will not always please others: ever tried to defend student binge drinking to a GP? Maybe all we need to do is aim to please ourselves, take the time to really find out about the risks before trying something, so we can be satisfied with the decisions we make.
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Features ARE YOU AWARE?
Worse than Bad Sex? Bad Sex Scenes!
Sian Lewis Deputy Features Editor
Bad sex scenes in movies are cringeworthy, but in the media of written language they reach a new level. Chris Bowden introduces us to the Awards for Bad Sex in Fiction.
LIFE, AS Elbert Hubbard put it, “is just one damned thing after another”. While university life is usually composed of damned good things: parties, friends, fancy dress parties, jelly fights, foam parties, coffee in Parade, um, more parties… it is true that you can’t get the good without the bad (and would the good be so good without the bad?). We all have to face the evils that are exams, essays, break-ups and arguments. But when these things come to try you, do not stress! Go and see AWARE. The AWARE centre, on 1 East level 3, is an informal, friendly room with big squishy sofas and helpful, knowledgeable staff. They listen and give support as well as practical advice, and work with local companies and charities to make sure you get exactly what you need. Student-led support groups are also run through AWARE, such as Global Group, Student Parents, LGBT, Mature Students and Nightline. You can tell them about how annoying your housemate is, get legal advice, talk about exam results you’re not happy with, buy personal attack alarms and, of course, very cheap condoms (come on, they are a student staple and a rip-off in the supermarkets). AWARE is open from Monday to Friday all year and you can just drop in and see someone when you need to. If you feel like putting something back into the student community you can also volunteer to help out at the AWARE centre with one of their support groups or campaigns. Find out more at www.bathstudent. com/aware or ring 01225 38 6906.
ARE YOUR nipples gribbly? Would you describe your skin as “glazed in a roast pork sweat”? David Mitchell might. He is author of Black Swan Green, a book containing exciting new adverbs such as judderily and Man-from-Atlantisly (no, seriously). More notably, it was one of the books shortlisted for last year’s Bad Sex In Fiction Award. It’s an annual award from the Literary Review which was set up with the aim of discouraging authors and publishers from including cringeworthy sex scenes in novels. Like the Booker Prize, except itrewardstastelessnessratherthangreat prose. Past nominees include Salman Rushdie, Will Self, A.A. Gill, Marlon Brando & Donald Cammell, Ben Elton, Paul Theroux and Melvyn Bragg. The 2006 winner, Iain Hollingshead, gottocollecthisaward(“Asemi-abstract trophy representing sex in the 1950s” - best left to the imagination) from Courtney Love in a lavish ceremony in London. It is all in good humour and the winners collect their prize with a smile except Tom Wolfe. He argued that the judges were missing the irony in his work; though his argument came a little too late to be thoroughly convincing. You can judge for yourself if you like. This is an excerpt from I am Charlotte Simmons, by Tom Wolfe: “Slitherslitherslitherslitherwentthe tongue, but the hand was what she tried to concentrate on, the hand, since it has the entire terrain of her torso to explore and not just the otorhinolaryngological caverns - oh God, it was not just at the
Internet
border where the flesh of the breast joins the pectoral sheath of the chest - no, the hand was cupping her entire right - Now! She must say ‘No, Hoyt’ and talk to him like a dog...” Make of that what you will. If you wish to read previous winning passages you can find them on the Literary Review website (literaryreview.co.uk/badsex. html). Obviously they are crude, disgusting and utterly hilarious. It’s hard to believe that each passage was written in all seriousness. This year’s winner will be announced in the coming days. The shortlisted authors include David Thewlis (Lupin from the Harry Potter movies) and Jeanette Winterson. But my money is on Christopher Rush for a passage which starts: “O glorious pubes!” Enough said.
Have a Day Off from Life
Siân Lewis explores the world beyond lectures, libraries and exams… and it’s like a breath of fresh air! EXAMS ARE over, all-night camping sessions in the library are no more, and I have ritualistically burned my revision notes. And yet I have a strange feeling of anti-climax, and keep feeling guilty about the fact that I am not studying. What to do? Most of us have done the obligatory getting ridiculously drunk at the last Funky Guppy, but sometimes dancing madly to Summer of ’69 and then wanting to die during all of Saturday due to copious amounts of tequila doesn’t reallycutitinthe“relaxedandforgetten about exams” stakes. Thus I have come up with some alternatives that you may want to try to use to wind down, and that don’t involve the hangover from hell. 1. Have a do-whatever-youfeel-like-day. It makes a really nice contrast to spending life in the library eating cheese sandwiches. Last Saturday, Josie (Features Editor) and I ventured into town and had a hideously over-priced but delicious lunch in the Brasserie Chez Gerard, (The Empire, Grand Parade, Bath, BA2, Tel: 01225 461140). We felt very posh and stylish as we discussed trivial things like men, fashion and life, while discovering that grilled mushrooms with goat’s cheese are a good cure for hangover. We walked around Bath pretending we could afford the world and spent some of our hard-earned student loans on stuff we didn’t need but which was pretty, tasty or smelt nice. Our shopping bags rapidly filled up with chocolatey treats, bath treats and silly hats. Needless to say we went home feeling very pleased,
2. Go on a road-trip. My friend Adam and I drove in his stylish red, beaten up Ford Fiesta to the Badbury Rings Hill, a beautiful Iron Age fort in Dorset. Listening to The Kooks and eating stale Christmas cake in a tiny smelly car definitely beats exams. The Badbury Rings are pretty awesome, with three huge ditches encircling a wooded hill that, according to Wikipedia, from 800BC to AD43 would have been a settlement from which the locals could defend themselves from invaders. Today you can run up and down the hills andshoutalotsincethereisalotofwide open space. This is very cathartic.
3. Go on an impromptu trip abroad. Okay, so this option is pretty manic and probably expensive but it is also one of the best ways to chill out and really get away from everything. Right now Easyjet’s website is offering flightsfromBristoltoVenicefor£15.99, to Alicante for £20.99 and to Rome for £23.99. You can be classy and sightsee and visit all the museums or you can be studenty and drink away your exam stress in all those lovely foreign bars.
EuroSoc Intermission By Natalia Marczewska & Jack Mitchell
impact welcomes Deputy Editor Adam Luqmani back into the regulars slot for the return of Internet Intermission!
HI FOLKS, welcome back to Internet Intermission. This week, I’m taking a look at finding some fast and free entertainment on the web - something other than YouTube - and there’s plenty to be found at addictinggames.com. As the name suggests, this is a website devoted to games, free and purely for your entertainment. First off, a quick review of the website’s user interface. The menus of the site are simple and well organised. The games are sorted into various categories such as ‘action’ ‘puzzle’ and ‘sports’, and you can sort the individual categories by popularity. Also useful is the ‘featured’ games for each section, where the creme de la creme of the games tend to be found. However, if you are looking for a specific game (or you want to try out some of the ones that I amabout todiscuss), then look no further than the ‘search’ tool. The site has really opened up my eyes to the world of what we can expect from a well programmed web game these days. Gone are the times of simplistic clickand-shoot, two-minute games; these are
very smug and not unlike the way we did when we used to dress up in mum’s high-heels at the age of six.
times of heavyweight, graphics-intensive games featuring more conventional controls, popular music, and excellent gameplay. This site also has its share of crap games, and I will discuss a few of the heroes and villains of addictinggames below. Some of the best: Seed-This is a really innovative game, completely original and very relaxing. The idea is that you are a cyber-gardener, and you plant seeds of many types of and just watch them grow and share genes. Your goal is simply to make beautiful flowers! Sounds dull, right? Just try it for yourself and see why this game is so highly rated. Whack Your Boss - This is not so much a game as a silly form of entertainment. Just use various objects fromaroundtheofficetobrutallydestroy yourboss. Iratethisgamemostlybecause of the incredible amount of gorethatthey manage to get out of simple stick men! Avalanche - This is probably my favourite game on the site at the moment, and again, it’s very simple. You are a
rectangle. Youarestandingatthebottom ofapit,intowhichblocksstartfalling, Tetris-style, on top of you. All you have to do is jump up on top of the blocks to stay clear of the rising water that comes from below. A really great game. And the worst: 10-Count Recount v2 - You just know that when the second version of a game still has typos in the main menu, the game might not have been tested too much. The goal of the game is to click on the numbers 1-10 as they pop up on the screen. Admittedly, a bad premise to begin with. I love the fact that the programmer has tried to spice things up by adding some more “interesting” elements such as (and I quote) “Circles with a green cross give you 100 points. Cirlces with a red minus sign take away 100 points. Don’t get too caried away becasue losing a level will cost you 150 points”. Doom Rider - Let’s just say that anyone who has ever played Gran Turismo would laugh out loud at a “racing game” that you can win without
actuallysteeringatall. Youaresomekind of skeleton man, riding a bike through a landscape of… well, red gradients. Your ‘competing’racersarethereintheformof otherbike-ridingskeletons,andtheywill appear at random ahead of you, making it impossible to actually win the race. Really, avoid this game if you can. Irecommendthatyoutakealookatthis site;it’sgreat forfillingafewminutes you would otherwise spend gazing at Facebook. There are some real gems tucked away here, and there are some laughs to be had at the expense of the less… developed games.
IT’SNOTtoolatetobagyourticketsforthe massivenightoutattheBristolnightclub Panache TONIGHT – that’s Monday 4 February. The trip, organised by the European Society, is an MLES course social but open to all. There are limited spaces, and the remainingticketsareonsalethislunchtime outsidethelibrary.Forjust£5–or£4for EuroSoc members – a coach will whisk you toBristolandbackforPanache’slegendary student night, complete with cheap drinks offers. Therearetwopick-upanddrop-off points; the coach leaves campus at 8pm and, at 8.20, will pick up students on the LowerBristolRoad,nexttotheSainsbury’s garage. When the mayhem is over, we will be leaving Bristol at 2.30am and dropping students at the same points. Ifyou’restillnotconvincedbythesupercheappriceandpromiseofatopnightout, check out EuroSoc’s website at www. bathstudent.com/organisation/6853 or the Facebook group: MLES/EuroSoc Social in Bristol! And don’t forget EuroSoc’s regular Nights of the Foreign Tongues, every other Thursday in the Huntsman from 8pm, which are a great opportunity to practise your language skills, meet people on your courseandgettoknowdifferentcultures.
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MONDAY 4TH FEBRUARY 2008
Features
SNOWSPORTS BATH: MORE THAN AN ICE-BREAKER
Hit the pistes... but not head first: Oli Hallam reveals that snow, socialising and other high-altitude shenanigans can be combined to make a damn good holiday.
BATH SNOWSPORTS is the biggest sportsclubattheUniversityofBath,with over 500 members signed up for a year of snow, sun, races and partying. This year, their winter trip sold out in record time, with all 240 Snowriders booking in just three weeks. This is unsurprising, given thatthedestinationwasthefantasticVal Thorens, the highest resort in the French Alps. Any fears that snow conditions in the Alps are getting worse were put to rest on arrival, as well-groomed snow, beautiful weather and a relatively empty mountain combined to make brilliant conditions for bombing down the pistes, avoiding the odd drunken student where necessary! For those new to skiing and snowboarding it was the perfect introduction to the pistes, and they were soon bigging up their progress at après ski – ‘Hey man, did you check out that gnarly green I did?’ VT was a popular choice, with several other universities in resort at the same time, ensuring the resort was buzzing, and the biggest club in the Alps, Malaysia, was packed out every night. Bath’s apartments, situated in the centre of town, twenty metres from the piste, made for an equally stress-free stumble, whether carrying ski gear or wearing inappropriate clothing. Bath’s renowned enthusiasm for fancy dress gave the locals some interesting sights, though
they probably could have been spared some of the tight and bright costumes – you know who you are! The notorious inter-uni Valley Rally, an all-mountain ski race (with extra shenanigans!), gave Bath a chance to show off their chat and put the others to shame. They finished highly, but were narrowly beaten by the frankly revolting and underhand tactics of the likes of UWE. Overall, the week was a resounding success, with students giving it the sought-after accolade of ‘best week EVER!’ and already planning their trip for next Christmas! If you came to VT you know exactly how awesome a week with Snowsports can be, but if you missed out – never fear! The fun is not over yet… You can now book your place on the Easter Trip ’08. This time Bath is heading out for a snowy fun-athon in Saalbach, Austria from 28th March to 5th April. Although less well-known than the big French resortsithasallthenecessaryattributes for an amazing week of more snow and partying, with the added bonus of the legendary Austrian hospitality. The vibe will be very similar to the Christmas trip, with universities from all over the UK in town for the British Universities Snowsports Championships (BUSC), which gives this trip an extra dimension. If you want to compete for
What type of club member are you?
Bath, there is the chance to enter almost every discipline at a variety of levels, with a few BUSC specials thrown in such as ‘King of the Mountain’ – 100 people at the top of the mountain, first one down wins! If you don’t fancy racing you won’t miss out, as you can take lessons or simply do your own thing. Whatever you decide, everybody will be able to enjoy the amazing atmosphere, with packed-out bars and big name acts! Sound good? Damn right it does! Go visit the website, www.bathsnowsports. net, for more info and to grab a place before it’s too late!
All Fun and Games at BUNAC
Wallace Leung explains that there are alternatives to bumming on the beach for three lazy months. WITH EXAMS over but the seemingly never-ending wet winter still looming over us, I could take comfort by thinking about the summer ahead. Where and what are you thinking of? Sunbathing in the Mediterranean? Sleeping under the stars while on a safari? Experiencing the culture in South East Asia? Well, what about doing something different, something remarkable in the USA? I did just last summer. I went with the British University North America Club (BUNAC) who helped to place me in a children’s camp in Minnesota and I could not have asked for more. I had never done something like this before, and naturally I was excited but had numerous concerns. Fortunately though, BUNAC was able to assist me. Working in the remarkable position of general counsellor, I looked after seven 7- to 11-year-old kids. ‘Looked after’ is probably an understatement. A more appropriate way of putting it would be living, eating and teaching them 24/7. With this I was their brother, dad, mum (in some instances), coach, teacher and adviser. Furthermore, being at camp also meant that I got to do things I would never have done in the ‘real world’. For one thing, I got to act like a child without anyone asking questions. Also, I would definitely never have sung a song by Take That in front of the whole camp! In addition, I made new friends from all parts of the globe and being in close proximity, it felt like everyone had known each other forever. I now have at least a place to stay on every continent! After camp, myself and three others who I met at camp bought a second-hand van and went on a road trip for 3 weeks. During this time, we experienced the beauty of Chicago, the enormity of the Niagara Falls, the adrenaline rush of skydiving, a film-like college party, the culture city of Montreal, the ‘Big Apple’ and many others which I have no room to document here. The thirteen weeks that I spent in America not only enhanced my CV but has also provided the memories that I will always cherish. No doubt, at times, it was hard work and I just wanted to get away from it all, but thinking back, it was worth every minute. Seeing how ‘my’ kids had grown over the summer provided tremendous satisfaction that I have never experienced before. If you are interested, come and speak to me at the BUNAC store in the fair on Thursday and I will answer all your questions, or search for BUNAC Bath group on Facebook, or go to BUNAC’s website www.bunac.org for more information. Go on… have a little peak!
1. When faced with a steep and icy black piste you: a) Cling to the nearest attractive man and wangle yourself a piggyback to the next restaurant, b) Grin delightedly and proceed to carve it neatly in two, c) Finish off the contents of your hipflask, cross your fingers and hope like hell, d) Give it an unimpressed look, before dropping off the cliff to the side. Piste is so last year! 2. At a Snowsports social you’re most likely to be found: a) Hanging round the President’s neck, b) Organising the next boat race. Competitive? You? c) On the dance-floor, beverage in both appendages, dressed up like a twat, d) With a transceiver, probe and shovel. 3. You hit the slopes wearing: a) Beautifully co-ordinated pastels and fur, b) Tight and bright lycra, with a matching faceguard, c) Valley rally’s finest – utterly impractical, but quick and easy to remove, d) Goggles bigger than your head,
beanie and trousers with a crotch down to your knees. 4. Strapped to your feet you have: a) This season’s most popular ladies model – they have the best graphics after all, b) 2m long iron-hard carvers, c) Who cares? So long as you can get down the mountain, d) Twintips, fatter than a pregnant mammoth. If you answered mostly: As – you are a COMMITTEE GROUPIE You’re a young, blonde and beautiful snow bunny with a penchant for men in ski boots (and only ski boots…) Bs – you are a RACE DEMON. You rip the piste quicker than a marmot on speed. You’re never happier than when you’re zipping towards a well-earned jagerbomb. Cs – you are a ‘SOCIAL’ MEMBER. The life and soul of every Snowsports social, you prefer being on the piss to on the piste. Ds – you are a POWDERHOUND. The thought of untouched virgin powder is what gets you up in the morning. You carry more equipment than the ski patrol and have a tendency to fly past beginners backwards.
MONDAY 4TH FEBRUARY 2008
www.bathimpact.com
impact student
Netball Superleague Special
Girls Gunning For 3rd Title Upneet Thandi Sports Reporter
TEAMBATH ARE reigning Champions of Netball’s Superleague for the second time after defeating Mavericks 53-45 and successfully defending their title earlier last year. The triumph crowned a 24-match unbeaten run for TeamBath, who won all of their Superleague encounters last year, and who are now pursuing a third consecutive title in 2007/08 to fulfil their Superleague ambitions. TeamBath Netball participate in the Superleague every year - an
elite national competition. Thisisthepeakofclubcompetition and consists of the top 8 teams in England, who compete for the most prestigious Championship. It features all of England’s squad players as well as international players from Fiji, New Zealand, Wales and Scotland. TeamBath is home to the UK’s first full-time High Performance Netball programme. The athletes and programme are under the leadership of former New Zealand international player, captain and coach, Lyn Gunson, who is now Director of Netball here at the University of Bath.
TeamBath’s next two home matches:
Monday 4th February: Team Bath vs Team Northumbria, starting at 8.00pm. Friday 8th February: Team Bath vs Loughborough Lightning, starting at 7.00pm. STANDING TALL: TeamBath’s Gemma Fletcher stretching for the ball.
Inside... Squad Profile... Who’s Who?
Calling All Students! Special Ticket Prices
Pages 2-3
Page 3
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Netball Superleague Special
MONDAY 4TH FEBRUARY 2008
Netball Special The Season So Far... Brought to you by... THE UNIVERSITY of Bath side has had itsfairshareofhighsandlowsbutoverall it’s been a good season for TeamBath Editor Adrian Dalmedo so far. Deputy Editor (Content) Upneet Thandi TeamBath began their 2007/2008 Super Contributor Steve Ballinger (Matchtight) League Campaign last October with their Many Thanks also to Phil Searle for provision of opening match against Mavericks – the photography for this pull-out. sidetheybeatinbothofthefinalsinthe past two years. The young TeamBath side narrowly lost by a disheartening single goal 29-28. Phone - 01225 38 6151 After the game TeamBath’s Head Coach Fax - 01225 44 4061 Jan Crabtree said: “We had a young team Email - impact-sport@bath.ac.uk playing last night. It was a really tough initiationandtheyneedtolearnfromthat Web - www.bathimpact.com experience and move forward. If they come through this they will be so much Address Student Impact stronger. Thiswasjustthefirststepfor us,” she added. “We need to increase Students’ Union our work rate and take advantage when University of Bath opportunities arise.” Bath TeamBath started the season with BA2 7AY a lot of new and young players, with If you want to write, design, take photos or otherwise the average age of just 19, and with six contribute to impact, come along to a Contributors meeting, players away representing England at held every Monday in Elements at 6.30pm, get in touch with the World Championships and another international out for the season the Editor, pop into the office in Norwood House level 4 or England through injury. Indeed, none of the eight log onto our website (www.bathimpact.com) players who featured for TeamBath in last
season’sfinalwereavailabletostartthe opening match. However, the young team certainly moved forward and came out strong in the followingmatchagainstBrunelHurricanes securing a victory of 36-33. In the next two matches, TeamBath struggled against a physically strong Northumbria side and then lost to LoughboroughLightning. Inspiteofthis, young players Serena Guthrie and Kirsty Delves,aged18and17yearsrespectively, made their debut in the Cooperative Super league and can only get stronger. 1st December 2007 saw England internationals Tamsin Greenway and Jo Binns return on court and with 18year-old Serena Guthrie producing some outstandinginterceptionsatwingdefense, the team collectively out-maneuvered the opposition, driving TeamBath to a 64-27 win over Leeds Met Carnegie, giving out a warning to the rest of the Cooperative Super League. The back-to-back Super League Champions yet again came out on the top afteraccomplishingthreemoresuccessive wins since then including matches against Northern Thunder and Mavericks, in the
company of England International and UniversityofBathBusinessAdministration student Pamela Cookey, returning to Cooperative Super league action. “We’ve got some big games coming up, but we won’t be taking anything for granted,” said coach Crabtree quite rightly. With the International players having taken position on court again the team strength has doubled and TeamBath is much excited and eagerly looking forward to playing the next two home games on 4th and8thFebattheSportsTrainingVillage.
become part of the Superleague winning side in 2006/07. Name: Rachel Dunn Position: GS Int. Hons: Netball Europe Open & Full Squad Rachel was part of the England Squad that won a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006, and also a member of the squad for the past two seasons. Name: Eboni Beckford Chambers Position: GK, GD, GS Part of the squad from last season,
Eboni has recently been selected for the full England Squad after good performances at U17 and U19 levels. She is currently studying Law. Name: Gemma Fletcher Position: GK, GD Int. Hons: England U21 Gemma was member of the England U21 Squad which won a silver medal at the World Youth Championships in 2005, and represented England at the Netball Europe Open competition in the same year, where she won a gold medal, and was a member of the Superleague-
winning TeamBath squad for the last two years. Name: Sam Perry Position: GD, GK Int. Hons: England U17, U19 and U21 Sam was the Vice Captain of the England U17 squad at the Netball Europe competition in 2004 and 2005, and broke into the U19 squad for the same competition in 2006 and 2007. She is now part of the U21 squad and was a member of the Superleague-winning TeamBath side last season.
Editorial Team
Contact Details
Meet The Players...
TEAMBATH NETBALL includes 5 players from the Senior England Netball Squad that represented England in the World Championships in New Zealand last November, where England finished fourth. Nevertheless, all the players demonstrated impressive performances and maintained fitness and discipline on court throughout the Championships. Tamsin Greenway, Rachel Dunn, Pamela Cookey, Geva Mentor, Jo Binns,
Sara Bayman, Sasha Corbin and Eboni Beckford-Chambers are all current England Squad players. Name: Sara Bayman Position: WD, C Int. Hons: England U19 / U21/ Open & Full Squad Sara was the captain of the England U21 Squad which won a silver medal at the World Youth Championships in 2005. A winner at Netball Europe in 2005, Sara returned from a year in New Zealand to
COACH CRABTREE
MONDAY 4TH FEBRUARY 2008
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Netball Superleague Special
Get in ‘The Tub’! Weapon of Choice? INTRODUCING TO you ‘The Tub’ – the new exclusive student area around the Netball Court… TeamBath has created a new exclusive student enclosure, ‘The Tub’, set up for all Bath University Student Netball supporters. Located at the far end of the Superleague Court in the STV with a capacity of 40 students, you’ll have the advantage of getting the best view of all the action on court, benefit from a half priced ticket and the opportunity to unleash your vocal enthusiasm on the day. For this reason, we’re looking for students willing to create a lively and supportive atmosphere for the Team, whether it’s with painted faces in blue and gold TeamBath colours or just bringing along your game faces and creating loads of noise at both the home matches on the 4th and 8th Feb. In addition, the TeamBath vs
Name: Jo Binns Position: WA, C Int. Hons: England U21 & Full Squad Jo won her first full cap with the England squad in Fiji in 2006 and was part of the U21 squad which won a silver medal at the World Youth Championships in 2005. Name: Pamela Cookey Position: GA, GS Int. Hons: England U21 & Full Squad Pamela was part of the England squad who won a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006 and prior to that won a silver medal at the World Youth Championships in 2005. Name: Sasha Corbin Position: WA, C Int. Hons: England U19 , U21 & Full Squad Sasha was part of the England U21 Squad which won a silver medal at the World youth Championships in 2005, having previously played at the Netball Europe U19 & open competitions. Sasha is studying for a degree in Sports Performance.
Northumbria match that’s taking place TODAY (4th February) is being televised on Sky Sports. This should be another incentive for all you good looking students to be present in ‘The Tub’, getting all that national television coverage because, who knows, with all your impressive crowd pleasing skills you might become the main focus of the game and the camera. JOIN ‘THE TUB’ -Hottest ticket in town! -Be a TV star for the day and raise the roof! -Launch night special. -½ price ticket: just £2.00 -Only 40 spaces available
Interested? If so, contact Upneet Thandi on 01225 38 4288 to buy your tickets and secure a place in ‘The Tub’.
Blue TeamBath Horn!
Upneet Thandi Sports Reporter AS A TeamBath Netball enthusiast, I can testify that, along with the enjoyment of watching brilliant performances by world class athletes on court, comes the newly discovered banter that can be had with the awesome blue TeamBath horns! During the last home game between TeamBath and Mavericks, I honked a horn throughout the entire game keeping up the spirit of the occasion, competing with a bunch of whippersnappers sat near me who, as you’d expect, failed to out-do me in the ‘making the loudest noise’ competition! TeamBath won the match by a score
of 49-35. I’d like to think I played a small role in that night’s victory with all the supportive honking done on my part. Hence, I am taking this opportunity to encourage all students to come and watch the next two home matches in the Sports Training Village. The girls have worked very hard and need a good atmosphere with lots of support. So grab a TeamBath Horn, available at the entrance, and help cheer on the girls and keep up the competitive spirit with the youngsters I came across during the last match – I suspect they will have more troops lined up this time! See you there!
TeamBath’s next two home matches:
Monday 4th February: Team Bath vs Team Northumbria, starting at 8.00pm. Friday 8th February: Team Bath vs Loughborough Lightning, starting at 7.00pm. Name: Kirsty Delves Position: GS Int. Hons: England U17 and U21 Kirsty was a member of the U17 Netball Europe squad in 2005 and 2006 before joining the England U21 team where she was part of the squad that toured South Africa in July 2007. Name: Megan Feltham Position: C, WD, WA Int. Hons: England U17, U19 & Open Squad Megan has been part of the England setup since she joined the U17 squad in 2001 as a 15-year-old. She has also competed at U19 and Open squads at the Netball Europe competitions. Name: Stacey Francis Position: GK, GD, WD Int. Hons: England U17, U19 and U21 Stacey has represented England at U17, U19 , U21 levels and more recently as part of the England A squad that played in the test series against Australia and New Zealand, and the full England squad. Name: Tamsin Greenway Position: WA, GA Int. Hons: England U19 & Full Squad
Tamsin was part of the U19 squad that won a gold medal in the Netball Europe competition in 2001. Name: Serena Guthrie Position: WD, C Int. Hons: England U17, U19 and U21 Serena was part of the U17 squad at the Netball Europe competition in 2006 and then went on to play with the U19 squad before recently breaking into the current U21 squad. Name: Rachel Henry Position: C, WA Int. Hons: England U17 and U19 She has represented England at U17 and U19, playing two matches at each level, and was a winner of the Alex Barlass Trophy in 2006. Name: Geva Mentor Position: GK, GD Int. Hons: England U17 / U19 & Full Squad A member of the Full England Squad since the age of 16, Geva was part of the Squad that won a Bronze Medal at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006. Name: Sam Perry Position: GD, GK Int. Hons: England U17, U19 and
U21 Sam was the Vice Captain of the England U17 squad at the Netball Europe competition in 2004 and 2005. Name: Natalie Seaton Position: WD, GD, C Int. Hons: England U19, U21 & Full Squad Natalie was a member of the Superleague-winning TeamBath side last season and has represented England at all levels, including -more recently- the England A side. She was captain on the England Open squad that took part in the Netball Europe Open competition in 2007. Name: Alexandra Sinclair Position: GK, GD This the first year with the full TeamBath squad for Alex who was part of the youth setup last year. Name: Asha Tett Position: GA, GS Int. Hons: England U17, U19 Asha returns to TeamBath after a year playing in New Zealand for the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic side. She was part of the TeamBath Superleague squad that won the inaugural Superleague Title in 2005/06.
DO YOU have any rituals before a match?
‘I am a bit of a freak to be honest! I don’t have a set routine for how I put my kit on but if it feels wrong I have to take all my kit off and start again by putting my right sock on and then the left. IfIleaveitanditfeelswrongthen we’re definitely going to lose according to me.’ Sara Bayman, TeamBath and England international player.
‘I WOULD like to thank all supporters for their support so far it’s really helped the team in pressured moments especially this year as the squad is young. The support has been great and keep it up because we all love it!’ Serena Guthrie
WHAT IS your netball highlight so far and what are your ambitions?
‘Winning the Super Cup with TeamBath for the first time in 2004 and the first ever Superleague were really special. As for my ambitions, I just hope to continue playing at the highest level possible and see what happens.’ Tamsin Greenway, TeamBath and England international player.
‘You have to stay focused in a match. If you make a mistake, forget it and get on with the job.’
MONDAY 4TH FEBRUARY 2008
The Results So Far...
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Netball Superleague Special
5th Nov TeamBath 36-33 Brunel Hurricanes 10th Nov Team Northumbria 45-27 TeamBath 26th Nov Loughborough 41-27 TeamBath 1st Dec TeamBath 64-27 Leeds Met Carnegie 7th Dec Celtic Dragons 44-25 TeamBath 5th Jan TeamBath 80-33 Northern Thunder 12th Jan TeamBath 49-35 Mavericks
Current League Table...
BBC West Winners THE TEAMBATH Netballers and University of Bath Director of Sport Ged Roddy won two of the top awards last December at the BBC West Sports Awards ceremony. The netballers won the coveted Team oftheYearawardfortheirimpressive feats on court, while Ged Roddy won theawardforOutstandingContribution to West Country Sport. TeamBath received the award for an outstandingseasonthatsawthemretain thenationaleliteSuperleaguetitlewith a 100 per cent record – winning all 16 of their games. “We weren’t even expecting to beshortlisted,particularlygiventhe caliber of some of the other teams in the region,” said TeamBath player Tamsin Greenway. “It was a genuine shock to us all when it was announced thatwe’dwonit. Wealljustsatthere andlookedateachother. Itwasreally amazing’’. “It shows how far netball has come,
because a few years ago we wouldn’t even have been invited to an awards ceremonylikethat,”sheadded. “We’re allreallypleasedtohavereceivedthe award.” The TeamBath players were presented with award by Mark Alleyne, head coach of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club. Ged Roddy collected the award for Outstanding Contribution to West Country Sport. Ged joined the University of Bath as Director of Sport in 1992 and has overseen an expansion of sport that has made it one of the country’s top sporting universities. He is also manager of TeamBath FC and chair of Sport England’s South West Regional Sports Board. “I was surprised and delighted by the award, and I was particularly pleased to see TeamBath’s netballers receive the recognition they deserve at the same awards ceremony,” he said.
Remaining Fixtures... Monday 4th Feb Team Northumbria Home @ 20.00 Friday 8th Feb Loughborough Lightning Home @ 19.00 Saturday 23rd Feb Leeds Carnegie Away @ 16.00 Friday 29th Feb Celtic Dragons Home @ 20.00 Saturday 8th Mar Northern Thunder Away @ 15.00
From Left: Coach Jess Garland, Jo Binns, Tamsin Greenway, Mark Alleyne and Pamela Cookey.
Bath Beat Brunel TEAMBATH’S NETBALLERS put in a spirited last-quarter performance to beat Brunel Hurricanes 52-34 away in their last game. TeamBath were just two goals ahead at 33-31 going into the last period of play in the Cooperative Superleague fixture in Guildford. But the reigning Superleague champions showed their mettle with a determined performance to stretch their winning margin to 18 goals. The result reinforces TeamBath’s third place in the Superleague table. It also sets things up nicely for two big games in the space of five days next week, with TeamBath hosting second-placed Team Northumbria on Monday (4th February) and top of the table Loughborough Lightning on Friday (8th February). “It was a very physical game
tonight, but we expected that,” said Jan Crabtree, TeamBath’s head coach. “There was a real determination when the team went out for the final quarter,” she added. “They knew what they had to do and they delivered. “I’m really pleased that we’ve come away with the win, and particularly the way we went about it in the final quarter.” Brunel were ahead at the quarter and halfway marks, but TeamBath overhauled them in the penultimate quarter, before putting in a terrific final spell to seal victory and extend their winning run to five games. England international Pamela Cookey was outstanding in the shooting circle, while TeamBath’s defence limited Brunel to just four goals in the last quarter. Quarter scores vs Brunel (TeamBath first): 9-12; 11-11 (2023); 13-8 (33-31); 19-4 (52-34).
MONDAY 4TH FEBRUARY 2008
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Science and Technology
Get into Bath Research: Love Dr. Fox Science Consultant
“Love doesn’t make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.” Franklin P. Jones IT IS time to delve into the animal kingdom, my kingdom, to see how animals exercise their right to court. If on Valentine’s Day you are stuck for ideas on how to woo yourself a partner, or maintain your partner’s interest, perhaps the following can give you a few ideas. I’m Dr. Fox, PhD, and I reside in the University Of Bath Department Of Love. For many years I have studied the animal kingdom and how it presents the emotion of love. My findings are interesting, I think you will agree. We begin with the unlikely dung beetle. One might be forgiven for thinking that an insect which shovels shit is no good when it comes to showing love. One is wrong, and I might forgive you. Not all dung beetles roll up pieces of poo, some just live in it. The species that do, however, are blessed with a rather courteous bunch of males. When a
Samantha Cooper
ARE YOU interested in film-making, photography or web design? Then the world’s premier student technology competitionisafantasticopportunityfor you to take part in. Microsoft’s Imagine Cup is a way to encourage young people to apply their imagination, passion and creativity to technology innovations that can help find solutions to real-world issues. In 2007, more than 100,000 students from over 100 countries took part – this year could be your chance! The theme for 2008 is to “Imagine a world where technology enables a
couple know the mood is right, they will bury a ball of dung for brooding purposes. However, before they can do this they must find a suitable place. You wouldn’t start a family in Hull would you? So the search is on, during which time the male laboriously rolls the (sometimes massive) ball of crap, with the female in tow. Now that’s working on a relationship. Sticking with the insect world, we arrive at the bush cricket – the absolute insectification of love. Bush cricket
males are true gentlesects. During copulation, the male presents the female with a nuptial gift called a spermatophore. The spermatophore provides the female with an important source of food but also, cheekily, detriments the female’s ability to control the insemination process, allowing all the male’s sperm to be unwittingly received. If we ignore the negatives of this, we can see that a simple gift of food is often well received; chocolates, for example. Snails are the real world cupids. Despite being hermaphrodites (mostly),
MALE DUNG BEETLE: showing us how it’s done.
snails do not self-fertilise. Quite the opposite, in fact. Snails are known to go through long sessions of copulation. The real love, however, is in their ‘love darts’. Many snail species fire hard, sharp darts at potential partners to show their affection. The romantic truth behind the love dart is that it is one snail’s way of securing his/her paternity. Received sperm is stored in the female reproductive system of the snail for use over a number of months; however, much of the sperm received during copulation is lost to digestion. Love darts temporarily cause an area of the female reproductive system to contract in such a way that the sperm has a better chance of survival. Whilst male humans aren’t so concerned with securing long term storage of sperm in their partners, gaining a long term
partner is the same principle. If you are looking for that long term partner, why not try firing darts at her? Don’t really though, this article is entirely tongue-in-cheek. You may have spotted a recurring theme in this educational article: it always seems to be the males that are doing the work. Well, this Fox wants to be proven wrong. To all the ladies out there, I put it to you that 2008 is the year the world changed. Come Valentine’s Day, wouldn’t it be nice if you bought your partner, be they male or female, a nice bunch of flowers…or perhaps you could shoot them with a dart. Happy St. Valentine’s Day everyone. Wow, I got through this entire article without having a go at those smelly old (ex) fox hunters. Oops.
Science Shorts:
Where would insects be without bacteria? sustainable environment”; there are so many environmental problems to solve, lotsofinnovativetechnologytohelpdoit, andlotsoffantasticideasinyourhead! The competitioncomprisesofseveraldifferent categories, including games development, IT challenge, photography and short film sotherewillcertainlybesomewayforyou to get involved! You can win amazing prizes, such as work experience in Seattle alongside the Popfly team, cash prizes, and high spec computing and photography equipment. Simply by registering for more information, you are entered into a competition to win an Xbox 360! Visit www.imaginecup.co.uk for more!
Sally Nall Science Contributor GENERALLY, WHEN we think of disease, we forget our insect forebears and concentrate on ourselves. Insects have been around for over four-hundred million years, and as such they have had far more time than us humans to develop relationships with bacteria, which can be found in every ecological niche on our planet. Like us, insects need ‘good’ bacteria to fend off ‘bad’ bacteria and other nasties such as fungi.
The best way to study the effect of a bacterium on an animal is to remove it and see what happens. This has been done a lot with locusts, which, when stripped of their bacteria, are known as ‘germ-free.’ Through this research we have found that insects are in big trouble without their ‘good’ bacteria; without them they can fall prey to many bacteria and fungi that would not have a chance of establishing an infection in normal locusts. Indeed, some bacteria in the guts of locusts can take parts of the plants eaten by the insect and turn them into chemicals that fend off or kill
‘bad’ bacteria and fungi. The most amazing thing these ‘good’ bacteria can do, however, is to actually change the locust’s behaviour. Bacteria within locusts are the producers of pheromones which locusts put out when swarming, to sense each other’s presence and keep the swarm together. Pretty good for something that’s only one cell big.
Read impact? Think you could do a better job? We’re still looking for writers, editors, photographers, proof readers and web designers. Come along to one of our open meetings: every Monday from January 28th, 6:30pm, elements.
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It Started With A Mix. VALENTINE’S DAY is upon us. 24 hours when we all try and be original, and end up buying some shrivelled roses from the petrol station and a box of chocolate liqueurs from the off license because we got home late the night before and forgot all about the fact that plump, rosy cheeked cherubs will descend from the sky and shower us all with candy kisses and pink hued arrows. The day when Clinton Cards looks like the New York Stock Exchange on Black Tuesday, as if someone had released hordes of gibbering apes into the building. Valentine’s Day has come to mean a lot. And it is with this in mind, that I proudly present the Official impact Guide to The Fine Art Of The Mixtape™. Cheap, personal and timeless, a good mixtape is the perfect present from the man or woman who’s run up a giant overdraft due to attending too many gigs, seeing too many films, or visiting Fopp (R.I.P.) one too many times during the sales. It’s the premise of the speccy nerd, the sensitive new romantic, the creepy stalker and the lovelorn sweetheart. But, while Thom Yorke may have said “Anyone Can Play Guitar” (A fact I now know to be true, following my house’s acquisition of Guitar Hero 3) he never said that anyone could make a mixtape. So, pen and paper at the ready, romantic crusaders….
Film Preview Definitely, Maybe Out 8/2/08 RYAN REYNOLDS, previously of ‘Van Wilder’ fame, stars in this romantic comedy with a twist. He plays a political consultant who has to explain his relationships and impending divorce to his 11 year-old daughter. Told pretty much entirely in flashbacks, this film would seem to have that little extra than your usual Valentine’s fodder.
Film Preview Juno Out 8/2/08 WITH FOUR Oscar nominations, it would be folly to miss out on this comedy drama, another refreshing anecdote to your usual February fare. It is the story of 16-year-old Juno (Ellen Page) who gets pregnant by her friend Paulie (Superbad’s Michael Cera). Facing the decision to abort or not abort, Juno tries to reach a decision amidst the pressures of being a teen. Essential viewing.
Live Preview Justice Carling Academy, Bristol 17/2/08 OR, INSTEAD of the movies, why not go listen to some of the filthiest beats and dirtiest hooks ever to come out of France? Electrohouseistheorderofthe day in what will surely be a valentines treat. One thing is for sure, you will certainly be doing the D.A.N.C.E.
Fix up, look sharp - Appearance matters. Write those liner notes and Thank You’s. Designing your own cover is an absolute must. However, do try and avoid the cringeworthy “this song reminds me of that time we rammed our tongues down each other’s throats in the back of your Ford Fiesta”. Yeah, impact has been there. Don’t. Express yo’self - Be a little bit original. Use a tape instead of a CD (the magnetic spools represent the attraction between you and your desired one). Why not make a video or YouTube mixtape? Setlist - Order matters, often more than the tracks. Don’t put a heartbreaking Smashing Pumpkins track after a spritely dance number by those wags the Chemical Brothers. Try and work in a gradual switch between styles and genres, to avoid a jumpy sounding mixtape. Listen to each outro and intro and for the love of all that is sacred, listen to the whole thing before you send it! Songs for Lovers - Any of the following should, generally speaking, have no place on a mixtape for a loved one: -Thrash Metal/ Grindcore -Free Jazz/ Free Noise -Albanian Folk Music -Tibetan Throat Singing -Gangster Rap
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A MIXTAPE: The start of something special or a recipe for disaster? -Anything by James Blunt. Just no. -Anything in the Key of D Minor, the saddest of all keys. You don’t want to make them cry. However, impact recommends anything which is: -By an emo band. If you can’t tell, look at their haircuts and see if you can see all of their faces. -Likely to have been heard before by the receiver. -Likely to not have been heard before by the receiver. -Written by My Bloody Valentine. (Don’t let the name fool you)
Nothing Lasts Forever (except the mixtape) - This last point is more of a warning than a hint. The mixtape has a horrid ability to transform your favourite tracks into bitter reminders of all that is worst about love and lust. So think before you tape, and naturally, don’t drink and tape. Happy mixtaping, and Happy Valentine’s from your resident cupids and casanovas at impact HQ. Phil Bloomfield Entertainments Co-Editor
Single Elliot Minor Still Figuring Out Out Now Warner Brothers Records
THE TITLE of this new Elliot Minor track rather epitomises my present thoughts on itwhilstattempting this review. Having grown up with two of the band members, IshouldreallybigitupasmuchasIcan. The group are about to embark on their second UK tour and this track perfectly encapsulatestheirunusualmusicalgenre. Emotional Pop/Rock mixed with classical vocalsandasprinklingofIndiecatchiness, aninterestingrecipethatmaynotappeal toeveryone’stastes. Thetrackincludes some fantastic vocal harmonies which show off the group’s choirboy roots as well as some catchy chord combinations which sound similar to tracks by Fallout Boy, Yellowcard and All American Rejects. However, I can’t say that I am crazy about the quartet’s new tune and muchpreferredtheband’sliverenditions ofthesingleswhichavoidedthepop/rock, Mcfly-like sound. Althoughsaying that, the band have been heralded by Kerrang, Radio1and14yearoldgirlsallacrossthe country,soeventhoughI’m‘stillfiguring out’howIfeelaboutit,thatdoesn’tstop you giving them a listen! HHPPP Gina Reay Contributor
There’s Life In The Old Dogs Yet Ents Co-editor Sean Lightbown thinks the Coens are back to their best. No Country For Old Men Directed by: Joel & Ethan Coen Out Now
NAME AN award in the grand old world of cinema this year and chances are this Coen brothers’ adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel of the same name has been nominated for it. Shortlisted for nine Baftas, eight Oscars, and two Golden Globes already in the bag, the mantelpiece at casa de Coen could be very full by the summer. Having not read the book previously, I went into the film knowing only the ridiculous hype over this film and an apparent stellar performance by Javier Bardem. What transpires is an apparent drug deal gone wrong; a bloodbath leaving only bags of dope and $2million in cash, stumbled on by local hunter Llewellyn Moss. After scarpering with the money, an attack of the conscience forces Llewellyn back to the scene, when he is forced to go into hiding as other interested parties take a shine to his newfound riches. What follows is the deadliest of two-hour cat and mouse games, with bounty hunters, police officers and psychopaths trying to track Llewellyn for their own reasons. More importantly, it is bloody brilliant. If anything, No Country For Old Men at least dispels the myth that the Coens have gone off the boil permanently since the nineties heydays of The Big Lewboski and Fargo. From the opening scene, where Tommy Lee
SWEETASCHIGURH:Though I doubt many girls would want to be his valentine... Jones’s dulcet tones ring out solemnly in the Texan backroads, we are greeted with a film of sheer honesty and beauty. The lack of music allows every whistle of the air, every step of Llewellyn’s riding boot and every hiss of Chigurh’s oxygen tank to be ten times as impacting. The dialogue, blurted out mainly in rough Texan tongue and less so in Chigurh’s mumbled, Mexicanaccented English, is a testament to McCarthy’s ability as a writer. Take Chigurh’s chance meeting with an unfortunate gas station owner. In a few moments, with nothing more than a few lines of conversation, we go from the normal situation of a man paying for his petrol to a man calling a coin toss for his life. It is done so
concisely and expertly that you can hardly believe what is transpiring, yet it is so captivating it draws you in with hooks of suspense. It takes great acting to pull this off, and this movie has it in spades. Tommy Lee Jones is excellent as Officer Wild, a retiring sheriff questioning the changing times. Josh Brolin is heart-stoppingly good as Llewellyn, a man who goes from unprecedented luck to being the most wanted man in Texas. His on screen wife Carla Jean, played by Glasgow-born Kelly Macdonald, cuts a worried and caring character very well indeed. Even Woody Harrelson’s short turn as bounty hunter Carson Wells lights up the screen. Yet these are all blown out of the water by Javier Bardem’s
Anton Chigurh, a man who embodies evil like no other I have seen on screen. His gruff voice, though sparsely used, carries the lines remarkably well. The wry smiles he gives to the characters he meets sends shivers down your spine; it makes you think that he could only seem more evil if he was painted red and had two horns and a tail. Yetthescariestthingofallishis cool, calculated nature. Where you’d normally expect him to be all screams and evil laughs, having a villain who is so merciless with his killing yet so precise, so calm, so…human in his actions makes him infinitely scarier. Put it this way, a character that kills two innocent people within the first fifteen minutes, and can still draw empathy from the audience. Initially I walked out of the film feeling a sense of bewilderment, unsure how a film without an actual plot-based finish even worked. Yet the fact that this dilemma has stuck with me since I saw it has made me question whether an ending is needed. In essence, the film isn’t about tracking $2million, but instead about how characters deal with the unexpected – be it pure evil, changing times or blind luck. It’ll send your head spinning, swear the devil has human form, and yet you will laugh like a hyena. All in all, pure class. HHHHH
Sean Lightbown
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Explosions In The Sky,
Anson Rooms, Bristol
24/01/08
PEOPLE WHO talk continuously at gigs like Explosions In The Sky really wind me up. Why would they pay £12 to come and see a magnificently atmospheric and dynamic band, only to talk about whether they’d ‘bang her’ or not. Now I’m not a complete git, and sure, a gig is a social event, but I am an economics student, and paying that much and then talking so much that you completely destroy your own experience (and that of those around you) at a gig where the band relies on quiet sections of introspective and shimmering guitar tones seems to make little financial sense. So naturally, I told the six or so lads behind me to kindly shut their traps after fifteen minutes of their continuous and inane babbling. Leaving the moaning behind, the Anson Rooms tonight is happily buzzing with anticipation. Yet when Eluvium takes to the stage quietly, the crowd barely seems to notice. The classically trained pianists’hauntingdelay-andreverb-laden compositionsaresadlylostinavenuelike the Anson Rooms. It’s beautful music, but thelackofareal‘live’elementtoEluvium’s soundletshimdown,despitethewonderful final track which features a drum lop that sounds like bombs exploding, complete withchestshakingbass.No-onedoubtsthat Eluviumissomethingspecial;layeringwall uponwallofguitarfuzzontopofeachother to create epic Eno-esque soundscapes, yet
you wish he would show just a little more stagecraft. Stagecraft is never something that Explosions In The Sky have lacked. Their mountainous wall of instrumental melancholy is always going to sound better when being blasted into your skull by a large PA system, and thankfully, the school hall like Anson Rooms makes up for its appearance with an impressively clear andloudsound.Andit’sreassuring,given last year’s cancelled gigs, to hear Munaf
borrowed from such luminaries as Mogwai and My Bloody Valentine. But whilst thelatterinparticularreliedheavilyon distortion,thereisanattractivelyclean quality to the EITS sound, whereby each instrumenthasit’sownrecognisableplace in the kaleidoscope like mix. But while the band admirably show their ability to create atmosphere in a venue which sucks the life from most acts, there is a still a niggling doubt regarding how similar much of their work is. To those
EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY: Well Rayani drawl out a very Texan welcome. These are the only words we hear from the banduntiltheveryendoftheperformance, but when you have songs like ”Remember Me As A Time Of Day” and “Day Six”, words are superfluous. Both of the above arereproducedliveintheirentirety,yetit’s almostpointlesstoshoutaboutsinglesongs atagiglikethis:thisisaperformance,as opposed to a recital where you can sing along. The band ebbs and flows between skullcrashingheaviness,anddelicatelysoft guitar washes, guided by Chris Hrasky’s poundingpercussion.Severaltimes,Rayani downs his guitar to pick up drumsticks and add doubled-up percussion to the band’s enveloping walls of sound, a concept
actually only clouds... unfamiliar with the band, it could all get too tedious, too quickly. For the diehard fans, the omission of their early works is disappointing, and even a bone crushing renditionof“YasminTheLight”feelslike amerenodtotheirolder,louderdays.That said, when a band opens with the breathy tones of “First Breath After Coma”, and ends with the emotionally stirring “The Only Moment We Were Alone”, the latter ofwhichnearlyreducesimpact totearsof sheerjoy,there’spreciouslittlecriticism which you can level at them.
Meet The Eels Eels Out Now
DreamWorks/Universal OKAY, SO when I saw this album lying on the top of the latest CDs to arrive for review, I knew that destiny had sent it to me. Inoblytookituponmyselftoseetoit that the album got the review it deserved. First,alittlebackgroundonthegroup… American band Eels are a classy act of ever-changing band members. They formed in 1996, and the only thing that has stayed constant about them is front man Mark Oliver Everett, aka ‘Mr E’, who sings vocals and plays guitar for the‘band’. It’shardtoclassifyEels. I guess the most accurate tag would be the incredibly overused “alternative” pigeonhole, but these guys really are alternative, with jazzy-trip-hop-rockbluegrass-type-stuff which is hard to get your head around at times. Their music has a universal appeal and the tracks on this best-of collection are among their best (I kid you not!). They have included songs in chronological order, and it’s easy to tell how strong
their back catalogue is when you take a look at the variety of albums the tracks are drawn from; with “Novacaine For The Soul” from Beautiful Freak, “Last Stop: This Town” from Electroshock Blues, “Flyswatter” from Daisies of the Galaxy, “Fresh Feeling” from Souljacker, “Saturday Morning” from Shootenanny, and “Trouble With Dreams” from Blinking Lights and Other Revelations. Thechancesarethat,evenifyouhaven’t heardoftheband,youwillrecognisetheir music – it’s heavily used on TV in such programmes as Scrubs, Monkey Dust, as well as in all the Shrek films, Road Trip and Hot Fuzz. The sheer variety of sounds and moods created by the band gives a vast number of applications for their music with moving pictures,soIsupposeitisunsurprisingto findtheirportfoliosoimpressiveinthis regard. WatchoutforEelsinaplacenear you as they are going on tour around the UK starting in London on February 25th! HHHHH
Adam Luqmani Deputy Editor
HHHHP Phil Bloomfield
EELS: Not quite as slippery as these ones, though...
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Entertainments
Hollywood - Blockbuster or Plain Bust? With the Oscars approaching fast, American Gangster has two nominations, yet I Am Legend has none. David Binder wonders how Hollywood can hit the mark with one film, yet miss with the next... American Gangster Directed by: Ridley Scott AMERICAN GANGSTER. ‘Oh no’ you may utter, not another graphic, ‘shoot em’ up’ guns-a-blazin’ film about crime and such, trying to imitate greats such as The Godfather. Yet you’d be wrong to assume that Ridley Scott’s contemporary offering follows this familiar formulaic structure;one wouldarguethat,despiteitstitle,itis rather unique, and all the better for it. Not least, rather than detail the power of Italian Mafioso, American Gangster is about the ruthless rise of power of one Frank Lucas, played well by Denzel Washington, a black drug lord, taking on the power of the big boys in supplying his own ‘pure’ heroin, thus crafting a unique niche for himself in the market, and -predictably- making him very rich indeed, providing him with a pretty latino wife, and making him the bane of the NYPD. Lucas’ main adversary in the film is Richie Roberts, an honest, uncorrupted cop who is tasked with bringing the Lucas Leviathan down. Russell Crowe’s performance is particularly worthy of mention here. Crowe ably manages to portray
Made In The Dark Hot Chip Out Now EMI WHEN I first put Made In The Dark into myCDplayer,Ihadtodoabitofadoubletake. Imadeagrabforthesleevetoconfirm I hadn’t picked up something by Gary Oldfield or Kraftwerk by mistake, and my fears were compounded by the slapping bassthatkickedintotheelectronicsontrack 1, ‘Out at the Pictures’. These fears were shortlived, however, once the vocals kicked in. The sound was indisputablythejust-the-right-side-ofcamp Hot Chip. These boys have come a long way since theyformedin2000. TheWarning,released in May 2006, made it to number 34 in the charts, and single ‘Over and Over’, while literallyplayedtodeathoverandoveron commercial radio, made it to 27. Mass media is really taking a liking to them too; they popped up on ‘Friday Night with Jonathan Ross’ recently, and brightenedupanepisodethatwasblighted byaself-righteousRingoStarr. Infact, giventheairplaythatcurrentsingle‘Ready ForTheFloor’isgetting,you’dhavetosay it’sashoe-inforatop10place,atleast. But is this album actually any good? Have they turned their back on what made thementertainingandquirky?Havetheyall gone on some sort of ‘Fear and Loathing’style,drug-takingbender,andcomeupwith somethingthatcouldbepiratedbyrubbing your fingernails down a blackboard? Thankfully yes, no, and definitely no. The tracks on the album jump between the fast and the slow. For example, the three-minute track ‘Made in the Dark’ is about as polar to the crashing ending of eleventh track ‘Don’t Dance’ as you could
Roberts’ personal struggles away from his police work - his battle for the custody of his children, for instance - thus giving the character of Roberts a realistic and compelling edge. In fact, comparisons can be drawn between Crowe’s Roberts and ‘Bud White’ in the epic L.A. Confidential. Thus, whilst the subject matter in this offering may be unsurprising (drugs, graphic violence etc.), Scott succeeds in translating to the audience the rich and compelling textual dialogue, which gives the two main characters in this film wholly dynamic personalities, rather than taking the easy option of simply giving them one-dimensional demeanours. Indeed, it is this aspect of the film that gives Scott’s latest offering a unique edge. Washington’s Lucas is neither a predictable, depraved killer, nor is Crowe’s Roberts a ‘streetwise cop’. American Gangster, in summary, is an entertaining, unique and enjoyable watch. And whilst it may not be in the same league as such films as The Godfather, it is still very good indeed. One would wholeheartedly recommend this film when it comes out on DVD. HHHHP possiblyget,andthereisagreatmixofHot Chip showing off how they can produce an electronic pop album which can still sound cool. They even find enough time to have a bit offun,too,onthetrack‘Wrestlers’.Anyone who’s either watched the spandex-clad WWF when they were younger, or more shamefully, recently, will have a little chuckle to the line of “Why did you have to go and fight dirty? Why did you have to hit me with a chair?” Some might have expected Hot Chip to come back with an album full of tracks which bounced along at high tempo, in whichcasetheymightbeabitdisappointed. Made In The Dark shows that they’re not going to simply make 13 carbon copies of ‘Over and Over’, and I, for one, am pleased that they’ve had a go at producing somethingdifferent. NowallIgottadois getmyselfsometicketsfortheirgigatthe CarlingAcademyinBristolonthe24th,and seeiftheysoundthisgoodinperson(andno, I haven’t been paid to plug the gig!). HHHHP Adrian Dalmedo Sports Editor
HOTCHIP: They’re incredible hulks.
I Am Legend Directed by: Francis Lawrence ADAPTATIONS FROM book to film are nothing new, just ask Stephen King. I Am Legendcontinuesinthesamevein,adapted from Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel with the same name. Would the conversion frompapertopicturebesuccessfulinthis instance?Well,directorFrancisLawrence (Constantine) has a big Hollywood budget andawell-establishedactorinWillSmithas thebedrockofhisfilm,andconsideringthe ‘interesting’specialeffectsofConstantine one could expect to be ‘dazzled’ with special effects here. The basic plot of the film revolves around a man-made virus which we learn haswipedoutnearly4.5billionofEarth’s population, and leaving approximately 500millioninfectedasaggressive,lightfearing zombies, who come out at night lookingforgoodoldWilly-andhisfaithful Alsatian assistant Sam- to eat. As one of onlysurvivorsleftinadesolate,near-future Manhattan, Smith’s character Neville has taskedhimselfwithfindingacureforthis truly horrid virus. One somewhat impressive aspect of the filmisindeedthespecialeffects,thescene whereNevilleandfaithfulSamarecruising in a brand new red Mustang in a deserted
WHEREISTHELOVE?Will is not happy with David’s review. Two stars? Pfft. Times Square, overgrown with green shrubberycompletewithgallopingsafariesqueanimals,isparticularlyeffectivein capturing the audience’s imagination, an objective that Lawrence probably had in mind when directing. Other crucial parts of the film are unfortunately left wanting, however. Although Neville cruising around in his Mustang hunting for a Gazelle amuses for a while, one was left wondering where the next turn in the plot was going to come from. Until that moment came, however, theaudienceweresubjectedtosuchscenes asNevillebustinghiswonderfulbicepsas he undertook his daily task of push-ups. In addition, although the zombies were indeedscary-lookingandwellcrafted,one wonders whether the certification of I Am Legend as a 12 means that it struggles to appeal to die hard horror fans looking for
HHPPP
David Binder Contributor
Single Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong Lonely Buoy Out: 18/2/08 Mercury Records
Do You Like Rock Music? British Sea Power Out Now Rough Trade THE SMALL pleasures in life are one of those areas that don’t seem to get the attention they deserve in music circles. Unrequitedlove,drug-inducedsing-alongs and being cool are all fair game, but only one song I know of enthuses about climbing up the Bulbarrow Hill, the highest point in Dorset. Theseformtheraisond’etreofBrighton’s wonderful British Sea Power, a band whose main lyrical influence is the former Poet Laureate John Betjeman, and who have previously written love songs about the ice shelf Larson B. They have a knack of writingmajesticsongstakingintheworld around them. For their third album Do You Like Rock Music?, the group have takentheirgrandideastothenextlevel;it was recorded mostly in Canada, with one of the producers being the co-founder of post-rock pioneers Godspeed You! Black Emperor. This is quite a gamble; such slick production can either greatly enhance or wreck an album. Thankfully it works in their favour. There’s a general feeling of reviving Britain’s past on this album; furtherrecordingoccurredinanoldfort, and you get a sense of the deep history in the opening track, which sounds almost ethereal,asifachoirissingingatyoufrom thepast. It’sclearthattheproductionis theretoenhancetheatmosphereratherthan to add some gloss. What follows is a string of gripping pop songs, with ‘Lights Out For Darker Skies’ delving straight into an immediate guitarintro,fillingyouwithatinglingof excitement reminiscent of hearing the
some genuine blood and guts. Regarding the cure to the virus, which is revealed to us at the conclusion of the motionpicture,thisreviewerfeltthatthe ending and the explanation of the cure forthedeadlyviruswasallratherrushed. Without wanting to give away the plot, theline‘It’sinyourblood’arguablyfails to satisfy. Inclosing,IAmLegendshouldbeatleast creditedfortheadmirablespecialeffects, especiallyofthedesertedManhattan.It’sa shametheplotwasonthewholeforgettable, bland and in places implausible. In fact, forgettable pretty much sums it up.
BSP: Finding love or scouting for girls? ArcadeFireforthefirsttime. Thissense of wonder is kept buoyant throughout all twelve tracks, such is the energy put into the recording. These grandiose soundscapes are mixed with the group’s trademark charm and songwriting skills, covering topics that few other bands touch. ‘No Lucifer’ is an upliftingsongsurprisingbuiltaroundbike riding and former wrestler Big Daddy’s chantof“Easy!”. Inaflourishofhumanity, recent single ‘Waving Flags’ welcomes Eastern immigrants and their love of alcohol,whilst‘Atom’isasheercacophony fittingtoitssubjectmatterofnuclearenergy. ‘No Need to Cry’ is a beautiful highlight towardstheend;asongofcomfort,anaural arm around your shoulder. Thealbumendsasitstarts,withthesame airychorusseeingitout.Withitgoestheend ofwhatcanpossiblybeoneoftheearliest contendersforthealbumoftheyear.British Sea Power have been building a reputation as one of the most imaginative bands to have come out the recent rock resurgence, and I sure hope they keep it up. HHHHH
THREE WORDS: Love this band. They’ve been busy, busy boys up until now, only just finding time to release a commercial single after months of constant gigging, supporting legendaries such as Kaiser Chiefs and Babyshambles. ‘Lonely Buoy’ is a laid-back melange of casual guitar rifts, light vocals and random lyrics expressing paranoia (‘my jacket wasn’t meant to be touched/why did they touch it?’) and what I can only assume is drunken jubilation (‘the sweat surrounds us all’). Joe Lean’s stunning voice is almost as beautiful as he is, and having been introduced to the world as NME’s 37th coolest person of 2007, I can only assume that he’ll go far in 2008. So feel free to jump on the bandwagon early, I certainly have. Myspace has cunningly revealed a few other quality tracks (‘Lucio Starts a Fire’ and ‘Tough Terrible’), so join with me, and look forward to a flawless album of frivolous melodies that puts fellow up and comers ‘The Courteeners’ and ‘One Night Only’ to shame. One can only hope.
HHHPP Matthew Hartfield Deputy News Editor
Gina Reay Contributor
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Entertainments
Back to Bedlam... Happy Campers Phil Bloomfield takes on ex- impacters and rates the latest Mars Volta.
The Bedlam In Goliath The Mars Volta Out Now Universal Records THE MARS Volta and impact have a fairly torrid history. Y’see, exentertainments editor Kate Hamblin really did not take a shine to the otherwordly designs of Cedric Bixler Zavala and Omar Rodriguez Lopez and their ad hoc ensemble of jazz musicians, acid freaks and generally bent out of shape band members. One of the most renowned tales of impact folklore (yes, we do have our own folklore) is that of the three page handwritten stream of vitriol directed at Miss Hamblin from a hardcore fan that arrived at impact HQ after her review of their live “Scabdates”. Said sheet of spittle flecked and bloodstained paper has sadly vanished since that incident. The buck stops here, though. Not only is this album being reviewed by someone who is a fan of The Mars Volta, but it’s also a remarkable return to form for the former At The Drive-In members. So, fans, you can put down your poison pens and stop wrapping those letter bombs: impact is going to be positive about The Mars Volta. The accusations levelled at Cedric and Omar have been multitudinous, and not without truth: their music can be bloated, unnecessarily complex and written primarily for 15-20 year olds discovering ‘prog’ and narcotics. Amputechture was the elephant in the living room for The Mars Volta’s army of fans: everyone knew it was a badly written album; all overindulgent flourishes and unnecessary fret artistry, but were too loyal or scared to admit it. And there were some, myself included, who listened to the screeching ‘rapping’ Cedric attempted on “Tetragrammaton”, who held their head in their hands and thought we’d finally lost them to rock and roll insanity. That’s not to say The Bedlam In Goliath is a sane album, by any stretch of the imagination. The songs are shorter than any Mars
MARS VOLTA: Looks like more than a few volts went through that hair... Volta tracks since Deloused In The Comatorium, which makes the album far more listenable, yes. But this is still The Mars Volta. Opening track “Aberinkula” nearly throws you away from the speakers with a burst of howled vocals and cacophonic percussion, before the backwards Miles Davis-esque brass, which The Mars Volta are renowed for, kicks in. And well it should shock a little, given that this album is based on a Ouija board purchased by Omar in Jerusalem which subsequently haunted and tormented the band on tour, until it was buried in the middle of the Texan desert. The return to a ‘concept’ album suits The Mars Volta; the music is tauter and leaner, the lyrics remain as indecipherable as ever and the percussion is frankly incredible: on “Wax Simulcra” (which clocks in at a remarkably short 2:39), new sticksman Thomas Pridgen sounds as though he has sprouted eight arms and dosed up on amphetamines. He sounds less like a human being and more like an organic metronome-cum-drum machine. It’s not just the drums, however. Omar’s guitar work has returned from the wilderness it so frequently
wandered into. Hearing a riff repeated for more than 30 seconds at a time shouldn’t be a novelty, even in a prog rock record. The screeching tones and wailed vocals of stand out track “Goliath” show that they haven’t forgotten how good De-Loused In The Comatorium was, and the lazy yet soulful drone of “Tourniquet Man” shows that they still have new tricks up their sleeves. That is not to say that this is a perfect album; for every intense burst in “Metatron” or “Cavelettas”, there is a worryingly pointless feature, like the manipulated a cappella intro to “Ilyena” or the pointless scrawlings found in parts of “Ourobos” and “Soothsayer”. Yet in all, it is very difficult to pick a single bad song on the album: there is always a fantastic section to be picked out from any track, be it brass, vocals, guitars or drums. And that’s the secret of The Mars Volta, in the end: You may not like all of it, but that which you do will most likely blow your mind. Have at ye, Hamblin.
Hold On Now, Youngster Los Campesinos! Out 25/02/08 Wichita
THE CARDIFF University-based seven-piece have been knocking on the door of wider appreciation for a good year or so now – or at least, since I heard the bonkers, six minute piece of genius that is ‘You, Me, Dancing!’ They’re the complete antithesis to the bands that smash guitars and scream their feelings and half their saliva content into a grimy microphone, favouring thejingle-jangleofbells,choralstrings and beautiful harmonies to make their voices heard. Oh, as well as the utterly danceable guitar hooks, which makes ‘Los Campesinos!’ a fantastic breath of fresh air, as well as a nightmare for MS Word with that exclamation mark. Hold On Now Youngster, their debut album, is essentially a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The guitars and sounds which make you want to bounce up and down like a loony disguise the fact that at the heart of this album lies quite poignant heartbreak. Think of Arcade Fire on their last dosage of happy pills and you’re there. Merely judging from track names we can see that the band have a bit of a negative view of themselves. ‘Death to Los Campesinos!’ opens the album with a cracking ’do-do-dodo’ rhythm, yet the
ALL SMILES: Shiny happy people.
lyrics traverse such joyous topics as war economies, father fuehrers and petty theft. Clearly, these boys and girls want to have a good time despite all the bad things in the world, big or small. Their primary motive indeed seems to be to make you dance and cry at the same time. ‘Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats’, ‘Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks’, ‘Don’t Tell Me To Do The Math(s)’. Allgreat,danceabletunes,all ofwhichhideafragilecore. Thiscorecan be seen in lead singer Gareth’s vocals, whose strained, restrained squawk bears more than a passing resemblance to those of Win Butler. This is juxtaposed by Aleksandra’s sweet, sincere vocals, giving a counterbalance which really pays off. The stand out track on the album however is ‘This Is How You Spell. “Hahaha, We Destroyed the Hopes and Dreams of a Generation of FauxRomantics’. As well as having a ridiculously long title, it winds up beautifully with an effects-driven keyboard to a caucaphony of bleeps, whistles and guitar thrashing. It all sounds so hectic, chaotic and full of life that you want to burst into frantic movement, yet the mournful strings maintain a level of calm, and Gareth’s impromptu monologue about being wrong and sorry remind us that Los Campesinos!, for all their talent and chaos, seem to be a stuck record. It’s a first album that dares not be too adventurous due to its own fears, and this stops it from reaching a level that their talent deserves. However, even when it means they are stuck playing songs likethis,itwillbealongtimebeforethe listener gets bored of it. HHHHP
HHHHP Phil Bloomfield
LOS CAMPESINOS!: A bit cosy...
Sean Lightbown
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MONDAY 4TH FEBRUARY 2008
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MONDAY 4TH FEBRUARY 2008
Arts
Jungul Time
I Am The Mighty Jungulator with guest artists: VEXKIDDY Saturday 9 February, 8.30pm Elements £3 BUSU Box office: 01225 386777, Web: www.bath.ac.uk/icia
THE FIRST of a series of events entitled ‘Underground Live’ takes place at the University of Bath’s campus, bringing cutting edge electronic sounds to a clubnight format on Saturday 9 February, 8.30pm. PromotedbyICIA,theseriesislaunched by the Bristol based supagroup I Am The Mighty Jungulator (IATMJ), renowned for their genre-splicing audio visual spectaculars. Vexkiddy ‘cabarave’ also head the line-up with guest DJs and VJs. I Am The Mighty Jungulator is a live band and multi-media collective, renowned for working across the audio/ visual/performance spectrum. With a core of four people, and another three or four when they go live, IATMJ combine a range of musical influences, from techno and drum’n’bass and trashy-punk to classic cinematic influences. Using bass andelectricguitar,mixedandmanipulated by their own ground-breaking Jungulator software, they steer the music in any number of directions. They transform live and sampled sounds into a heady and intoxicatingliveperformance,withunique visualsthatturnthespaceintoanimmersive audio-visualspectacular. TheirJungulator
audio software has been described as ‘the sonic philosopher’s stone’ by Future Music magazine. Selected by the Diesel Nu-Music Awards as best new electronic act in 2004, the band have been building up their fan base with appearances across theUKatthemajorclubsandfestivals,the Tate Britain and for the BBC. The night includes guest legendary Bristol dance-music act, Vexkiddy, whose ‘cabarave’isameltingpotofcuttingedge breaks,hardcorebeatsandclassic90srave soundscapes presented in an engaging cabaret style. Traditionally club-based electronic music has lacked a strong visual performance element. Plenty of modern DJs and electronic musicians use laptops and synths live, but lack a visual element. Vexkiddy’s answer to this is to dress up as Victorian time travellers. Performing in a semi-live environment with the ability to move and interact with the crowd, as well as perform musically, they perform as the duo Cuthbert & Strangeways. The live show includes big screen projections and various other characters that are introduced along the way, as well as inflatables and a number of ‘narrative-driven’ props. Underground Live is set to be an alternativetothemainstreamclubnights, offeringlivemusicandstagevisualswith a difference. As organiser Clive Radford from ICIA says, “we’re bringing the best of Bristol’s live indie electro- scene to Bath Uni in a one-off unique event; it’s going to be an inspiring night.”
Carol Brown Dances Saturday 16 February, 7.30pm ICIA Arts Theatre £5 BUSU, available from the ICIA Box Office (1E 2.1) or on the door FOLLOWING A decade of performances around the world, Jerwood Award winner Carol Brown wrote to the dancers,
architects, designers, composers, filmmakers and visual artists she has worked with and invited them to send a memory of their experience. She moves through their memories, re-drawing a map of choreographies from Philadelphia to Finland, from Cork to Calcutta, performing the archive and making audible its hidden stories. Carol has worked internationally as a performer and guest choreographer, with a reputation for creating dance that crosses art forms through her many collaborations. Sheinvestigatesbodies, their histories and inventions through writings, film, digitisation, buildings
and sounds. Poignant and emotive Dancing Aloud is a poetic, eloquent performance of real and unreal bodily presences.
Making Large Scale Work Saturday 16 & Sunday 17 February and Saturday 1 March, 10am-4pm Studio 2, ICIA Arts Complex £28 BUSU, available from the ICIA Box Office (1E 2.1)
the garden or for interiors. Make a minimum of two pieces over two days, allowing time to construct something really substantial in size. On day two explore surface decoration, and return in two weeks (time for the work to dry and be bisque fired) to glaze and complete your decoration of the work. Participants must take part in all three days. Tutor: Sue Ford
THINK AND make big! Use handbuilding techniques to produce either large pots or sculptural pieces for
society factfile: bell ringing THISISourfirstfullyearasauniversity society. We now have our own practice nights, 7pm-8.30pm every Thursday at Widcombe Church. All are welcome to the practice, whether you have never touched a rope before or were put on the end of one before you can walk (yes, it does happen!). Look for the gate in the wall off the main road and then head for an open door at the bottom of the tower.
Why join? 1. All the lessons are free. 2. You get to ring huge bells, some of which are 300 years old. 3. It’s addictive. 4. Once you’ve learned, you can do it just about anywhere in the British Isles. Turn up to a random towers practice night and they’ll welcome you. For more info, email hcb22@bath. ac.uk.
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Sport
Bees Do The Double Over National Champions
MINE!! Both brave Bee and bold Bullet battling for the ball.
Bath Killer Bees UWE Bullets
9 0
THERE WERE real concerns going into this fixture over the state of the playing surface following the deluges that the West Country has suffered over the last few weeks, but these initial fears amounted to nothing as fair weather in the two days leading up to the game meant it got the go-ahead. The scoreline suggests a game dominated by defensive play, and so it was. Moving the ball and scoring points proved difficult given that Bath hadn’t actuallyhadafulltrainingsessionafterthe exam period, and they weren’t helped by the extra two stone of Christmas fat their linemen were carrying. Defensively, Bath produced a display which will definitely make the stronger teams in the league take note, and head coach Pat Snooks was quick to praise them both as a unit, and in an individual
capacity. “That was a real hard game today and these boys stepped it up a gear when they had to, particularly defensively.” Although offensively Bath started slowly as running back Gareth Booth fumbled on the opening drive of the game, it was not an omen of things to come. In-form and injury-prone receiver Steve Leonard was a constant threat, contributing 4 catches for 68 yards, including an important 3rd down catchand-run, before amusingly limping off the pitch and cramping up on the sideline. The only points of the first half came viathesteady/shakinglikeatumbledryer boot of final year kicker Adrian Dalmedo, as he slotted home a 29 yard field goal as time expired for half time. As much as the first half was a hard foughtbattle,sowasthesecond. Theonly Bath score came from the occasionally accurate arm of quarterback Matt Brookes as he slung a 5 yard pass into the right corner of the endzone, where a grateful
Marc Vincent was waiting to make the catch under the nose of the UWE defender to make the score 9-0. Powerful and determined running from pizza-loving Gareth Booth (he has Domino’s on speed dial) earned him the title of offensive man of the match, as he fought and pounded his way to being the most effective of Bath’s running back trio. Time and again, UWE were unable to make any sort of forward progress with theball,astheBathteamattackedtheline of scrimmage with unmatched speed and aggression. FirstyearplayerColinDewar picked up the defensive man of the match award, as he was making tackles literaly everywhere. Bath stifled the UWE team all game, and made the Bullets coaching staff question whether they had star running back Michael Adams out on the pitch, or his 37 year old namesake - Britain’s number one chess grandmaster. The only time UWE ever threatened to score was through a missed field goal that sailed wide of the left hand post and into
HAVE THAT: QB Matt Brookes hands the ball to Running Back Ben Wiltshire. the trees behind, and indeed Bath almost scored a safety (two points awarded for tackling a ball carrier in their own Endzone) as UWE quarterback Ian Hugo was taken down two blades of glass away from the whitewash. It wasn’t the free scoring performance
WIDE OPEN: Even butter-fingered receiver Tim Williams was able to take advantage of the space and make the catch.
Who Says the Magic of the FA Cup is Dead?
Marcus Haydon Sports Reporter EVEN IN this age, when the location of major silverware is becoming disappointingly predictable, the FA Cup can still supply us with stories such as the one that unfolded at Anfield last week. Blue Square South outfit Havant and Waterlooville, a club with more letters in their name than season ticket holders, led twice at the home of the five times European Champions Liverpool, making a mockery of the cataclysmic gulf in resources between the two clubs. A set of players, many of whom have never even tasted League Football, forced such an uncomfortable sweat amongst Liverpool’s glut of global stars that Liverpool’s very own Kop faithful gave them a standing ovation as they left the pitch at the end of the game. A memory which I’m sure left winger Tony Taggart will enjoy recalling, as he goes about his daily task of collecting
rubbish from the streets of Havant every weekday morning. Whilst Liverpool’s players start their days at around 10 o’clock, trundling their way through a couple of hours training before heading home for a healthy dose of DVD watching and Playstation practice, the Havant players will be back at work, whether as a binman, a van driver or a primary school teacher and fitting in a training session in an evening. Despite the fact that we know that one of the big four will, more than likely, go on and win the Cup, it does stillpossesstheabilitytoproducethese unbelievable situations where David makes Goliath look rather silly. Money has amplified the divide between the big and the small, and yet this Cup can still produce moments which can simply take your breath away. Lots of people like to watch Cup ties involving the big clubs; they involve top players who produce top football. What fans really love about the Cup, though, is its capacity to produce these atypical
that beat Bristol 65-6, but it got the job done and kept the Bees undefeated on 40. As impact goes to print, Bath hope to play the Plymouth Blitz in a double headerfollowingapostponedfixture,with victory all but guaranteeing a play-off place for the 4th year in a row.
situations, where the little club has its big moment in full view of the nation. We see top games in the Premier League almost every week. The opportunity to see a bunch of semipros, who have normal jobs and normal houses, give it a go at Anfield is not something you can say the same for. The public can relate to these players, they go to work every day, they earn an average salary, and they are, by all means, one of their own. Let’s also not forget the fans. These are,afterall,thepeoplethatkeepaclub like Havant & Waterlooville going. These fans are used to travelling to watchtheirteamatthelikesofEastleigh, Dorchester and Lewes. The opportunity totraveltoAnfield,toseeyourclubplay the world-famous Liverpool in front of a 40,000-strong crowd is no doubt a thought that will generate widespread spine tingling amongst Havant fans for many years to come. There is little doubt that the majority of the 6,000 fans who made the trip to Liverpool were those who partake in the
jumping-on of bandwagons, however, for the true die-hards, the type that make the trip to Eastbourne on a wet Tuesday night, the performance of their side will have brought them real pleasure.
There is an expectation that the big clubs will compete for the trophy, Havant’s path to Liverpool exceeded all expectations and provided confirmation, to those who needed it, that our national Cup competition is very much still alive and kicking.
WESTLEIGH PARK: Havant’s humble home.
sport impact
The Magic of The FA Cup: 27 American Football: 27
Covering the issues that matter to students
England Rugby Team on Campus
ON THE TRAINING GROUND: 1st Team vs 2nds in a game of touch.
Adrian Dalmedo Sport Editor impact-sport@bath.ac.uk
ENGLAND RUGBY have once again chosen the University of Bath as their base in the run up to this year’s Six Nations Championship, which Head Coach Brian Ashton believes will be one of the closest competitions for years, with uncertainty surrounding who the actual favourites will be because three teams feature new coaches. In the build up to last Saturday’s titanic battle against fierce rivals Wales, Brian gave a press conference in the STV, discussing England’s chances, the surprise omission of Matthew Tait, and the two Gloucester debutants - Luke Narraway and Lesley Vainikolo. Brian believes England are a more balanced side compared to the one that featured at the World Cup, and
if they get all factors of their game right, they might have a chance of doing well, for there certainly won’t be any easy games at this year’s tournament, even if he has faith that England “have the talent to challenge the World’s best.” So why didn’t Matthew Tait get the call? It all boils down to consistency, claimed Ashton, as Matthew had been constantly changing position in the lead up to the tournament. Once Tait can get himself settled and consistently playing a regular position, he’ll be back challenging for a starting place. Ashton was also quick to deflect attention away from Iain Balshaw, whose selection at full back for the Wales game drew a few raised eyebrows. “15 is a problem position for us” said Ashton, “but I’m confident Iain can do a very good job for us, as it’s now the first time he’s been fully fit since the 2001 Lions Tour”. Regarding Vainikolo, how exactly
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does a Tongan born, former New Zealand Rugby League international (12 caps and 56 points), find himself in England’s Rugby Union side? Ashton didn’t seem too concerned – “he’s eligible and he’s been playing well enough”. Similarities have been drawn to when Jason Robinson made the cross code switch and huge pressure has been placed on Vainikolo’s shoulders to emulate Robinson’s success. Asked about the build up to this year’s Six Nations Brian refused criticise the apparent inconsistencies in the breaks offered to players from the Mangers League (where play halted two weeks ago) and the Guinness Premiership. “We know the rules, we’ve just got to live with it.” Brian and Wasps’ back row player James Haskell, who has blossomed under the tutelage of former captain and World Cup winner Lawrence Dallaglio at his club side Wasps, were both quick to praise the facilities offered by the University. One reporter asked the pair to comment on what exactly made the STV such a good base; “have you spent much time in the facility?” was Brian’s response, “it’s got everything we need in one building, except pitches!”
Bath Narrowly Misses Out on the Olympics THERE WAS disappointment recently, as MOD facilities at Aldershot were chosen ahead of those at the University of Bath to host the British Olympic Team during the 2012 Olympics. “We are obviously disappointed not to win the bid as it would have been fantastic to have Team GB in Bath”, commented Director of Sport Ged Roddy. Despite having similar or perhaps even better facilities to those in Aldershot; the state of the art security systems already in place may have ultimately swung the vote. The University is now likely, instead, to host a high profile foreign team in the run up to the games. Ged added: “It’s too early to say which team we will host... that process will be handled by the 2012 committee.” Local Liberal Democrat MP Don Foster was optimistic, “the chief executive of the British Olympic Association has given me his personal assurance that there will be detailed discussions about the role of the University.”
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