The Bournemouth Rock – Issue 13

Rent scheme snubbed

OPINION Osborne gets a downgrade

P9

FEATURES

Poetry on display at The Winchester P18

SPORT Bournemouth Council’s new landlord accreditation scheme hopes to give tenants confidence when picking a house to rent

Tazz Gault

NEWS EDITOR A new gold standard mark for landlords to help protect tenants from poorly maintained properties has yet to be widely implemented by property officials.

The Dorset Register of Accredited Landlords was launched on

February 8, but major property organisations still seem unaware or have declined to join.

Bournemouth University has chosen not to adopt the Bournemouth Council scheme, and instead will continue to use its own system, rather than using Bournemouth council’s initiative.

Estate agents in Bournemouth were also unaware about the register.

Steve Day, Bournemouth council’s Private Sector Housing Enforcement

manager, said: “Letting agents should be aware of the register and we will, in the future, work towards making them more aware of the benefits of it. “[Letting agents] could promote it by offering some sort of discount to accredited landlords which would be beneficial for all parties and is something we will be working on.

“What we don’t want is for landlords who use lots of different

CHRIS FAY

agents to become accredited, as this would defeat the point of the scheme.”

The council also hopes to extend the current scheme so that accreditation will incorporate letting agents, rather than just private landlords.

BU Letting Service was set up four years ago, as a response to the increase in issues expressed by students about poor management in the private sector.

Continued on page 3

Seaborne confident for Cherries P31

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Thursday 7 March 2013| The Rock

Bucket List by event students THURSDAY, 7 MARCH, 2013

News

Eastleigh vote: views from the town

6

Opinion

Can you be too old to have a baby?

12

Features

Pistorius and Pryce put justice on trial

16

Sport

Ex-England Moody backs success

32

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Bucket List aims at inspiring students to think of what they want to gain before death BU BUCKET LIST

Julia Denni

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Event Management students will be launching the BU Bucket List on Tuesday at Bournemouth University.

Macmillan Caring Locally inspired the project, which aims to encourage

people to make the most of their lives and create a legacy for students to come.

Takara Patrick, the Design and PR manager for the event, said: “The core message of Macmillan Caring Locally is to enable patients and their families to enjoy the time that they have together. The event will open minds to the importance of living life to the

fullest and grabbing the opportunities that are presented to them at university and throughout their life.”

Created and designed especially for and by students, the list of activities and aspirations intends to inspire and encourage reflection on what we want to accomplish in our lives before we die. Takara said: “This will give students the opportunity

to discuss death more openly, as it is an inevitable part of life, and to think about planning ahead and be certain of the things they want to achieve before they die.”

The event organisation consisted of three stages; the first stage involved gathering primary research from the students regarding what they think the Bucket List should include.

The second stage included a presentation to a panel of senior lecturers, the Student Union president and other influential role models at the university, and explained the Macmillan Caring Locally ethos behind the Bucket List and how a legacy can be created for Bournemouth University.

The third and final stage will be the launch of the BU Bucket List itself.

For the final poster Takara says the organisation wants: “a mixture of BU based tasks, Bournemouth/UK one and world-wide bucket list tasks.”

A raffle will be organised on the day and students who take part in the event will be giving out free bucket list posters, free key-rings, selling cup cakes and also giving students the chance to sign up and get information about the things on the list.

The group wanted to generate awareness via word of mouth about the BU Bucket List as well as through social media.

The launch will take place on March 12 in The Atrium.

For more information, you can find them on Facebook and Twitter @BUBucketList.

#itscoming posters stir interest Julia Denni

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Mysterious #itscoming posters around Bournemouth University’s Talbot Campus have stirred the curiosity of students wondering what it was all about.

After speculation on social media, we are ready to reveal the answer: Nerve FM is back for its bi-annual fortnight of live broadcasting from Monday 11th of March to Sunday 24th.

The aim of the campaign was to try to build a buzz around the broadcast and to get people talking about it on social media.

“We had crowds of people asking what #itscoming was as soon as we started down on Bournemouth beach”, said Charlotte Gay, Station Manager of Nerve Radio.

The team is thrilled to get the chance to be on air for a second time this year. Anushka Naidoo, Head of News at the station, said: “The Nerve News team

enjoyed a successful Freshers’ FM last September, culminating in a record number of news sign ups due to students hearing our broadcasts.

Nerve News has also generated interest from locals who frequently email me as Head of News to ask if we can cover or at least spread the word about local events.”

Charlotte described the fortnight as a great occasion for students to showcase their creativity to a much wider audience across Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch on the frequency 87.9FM. She said: “We use the fortnight to really focus on creating amazing radio, which due to busy schedules, we are not able to do as adventurously during the rest of the year.”

Anushka added: “This FM in March is about showcasing the best talent from news and having a larger team to cover local events that we ordinarily wouldn’t be able to do with a smaller team, which puts both locals and Nerve News firmly on the map with interviews, features, bulletins and discussion shows. I have every faith in my news team and am proudly looking forward to showcasing what Nerve News can do.”

Joe Tattersall, Nerve Media

Nerve mascot gears up for another live week of student radio SUBU Coordinator, said: “We want to give the students involved the best experience of working for an FM radio station possible and give them the opportunity to broadcast to a far wider audience than they may have in the past. We will be broadcasting everything from classic

daytime radio with the breakfast and afternoon shows, news and discussion on the topics that really affect students and young people, and a huge range of specialist music shows.”

To get involved with Nerve Radio, get in touch through their website.

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The Rock | Thursday 7 March 2013

Accreditation scheme slow to catch on

Bournemouth Council created the landlord accreditation scheme to help tenants

Continued from page 1

Martin Maidment, Deputy Residential Servicers Manager at BU Letting Services, said: “We require landlords to sign up to the BU Code

of Practice prior to us marketing the property.

“Broadly speaking, this encompasses the requirements of the relevant associations the council refers to, and

CHRIS DOWNER

many of these landlords may well already be accredited [to this.]”

According to Mr Day, Bournemouth University does not have any procedures to use just

accredited landlords as it felt that, “it may be too restricting at the present time,” whereas the Arts University Bournemouth “uses the accreditation scheme, as it only advertises properties for its students, and does not manage any properties itself.”

He said: “It would make sense for a joint scheme [between us and Bournemouth university] but as I understand, the University accreditation goes into more of what the landlord is providing by way of WiFi and equipment furnishing for students, as well as standards.

“This would not work with our scheme as it is more education based for landlords to know what they should be providing.”

BU Letting Service said that they have always had a good relationship with the council and have been involved in the consultation process, regarding the initial proposals from the council.

Mr Maidment said: “It is worth noting that we have relatively few complaints from students about individual landlords, however, dissatisfaction is more often expressed about letting agents, which is an area I have raised with the council.

“Perhaps there could be a possibility of an agent accreditation or something similar in the future.”

Bournemouth, Poole, East Dorset, Purbeck and Christchurch Councils have all signed up to the register.

The National Landlords Association, Residential Landlords Association Accreditation Scheme and the National Landlord Accreditation scheme all meet the criteria to be a ‘Recognised Landlord Accreditation Body.’ If a landlord

is accredited by any one of those schemes they can then apply to be included on Bournemouth Council’s register.

Mr Day said: “You go to an estate agent who charges a 15% fee, but someone down the road will do it for 5% - that’s what we are targeting at the moment.

“The further out you go, what you get for your money is much better because they have got to do that to entice students to travel out that little bit further.”

The accreditation scheme will be like an educational system where landlords can collect points in order to become accredited.

Mr Day said: “Each year [landlords] would have to collect points. For example, you would get one point for every hour you spend in education, which will be from conferences, liaison meetings and other workshops and meetings we will conduct.”

The scheme will also give landlords benefits. They will have access to online development modules and courses, as well as discounted HMO (Houses of Multiple Occupancy) licence fees, grants for insulation work, advertising on the website and priority in setting up a self-service system with Bournemouth Council’s housing benefit section.

The council hopes this scheme will succeed, but admits it needs more promotion so that landlords know to sign up.

Mr Day said: “As this is a new launch, the website is still under development and the list of landlords will be on there soon if they are not on at present.

Council takes action against child poverty Joe Nerssessian

A new welfare fund is set up to reduce poverty

JOHN CLARK

More than 30 per cent of children are living in a state of poverty across parts of Bournemouth, according to figures released by the Campaign to End Child Poverty.

The figures show that in South Kinson, 33 per cent or, one in three children, are exposed to poverty.

The national average is one in five, however in many areas across the UK it is a lot higher.

Other Bournemouth areas with a high record include Springbourne and Boscombe, amongst the lowest are Southbourne and Tuckton where 10 per cent of children are in poverty. The overall average for Bournemouth is 19 per cent - just below the national average.

Councillor for South Kinson, Beryl Baxter, said although it is clear “child poverty is rising” it would be wrong for her ward to be singled out, and

asked people “to come and see the community spirit, with people doing things for themselves.”

The End Child Poverty campaign (ECP) believe that child poverty leads to social exclusion and creates further problems in education, employment, mental health and social interaction.

Chris Wakefield, Boscombe West Councillor, where child poverty reaches 31 per cent, appealed to people in poverty to ask for help. “We are here to support them, Boscombe has a high occupancy and rental market, a high influx of people and a high dominance of single parent families. We need to know people are in need, they need to come to us and say they need help,” he said.

Wakefield also chairs a Boscombe based charity – Springbourne Family Centre, which focusses on ensuring vulnerable families feel part of the community and empowering children.

Chief Executive of the charity, Donna Blanche, said: “We do see poverty, its all about poverty, but not just financial, its about children’s

needs not being met.”

She dismisses the UK poverty lines, set at £256 (£12,879 per year) a week for a single parent with two or more children. “Ultimately, I don’t see it as people not getting enough benefits, it’s about how people use money as well as the nature of housing and family situations,” said Blanche.

From 1998 the number of children below the poverty line had been decreasing according to ECP figures, but have started to rise in correlation with the austerity measures introduced by the coalition government.

The council has now taken action to reduce poverty in certain areas across Bournemouth. “We have set aside £1 million to establish a Local Welfare Assistance Fund to provide targeted relief in 2013/14 as needed. We have also created a new earmarked reserve of just over £500,000 to provide additional resources to help the vulnerable with potential hardship,” said Council leader John Beesley when revealing the budget last week.

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Thursday 7 March 2013| The Rock

Inspiration for tomorrow’s students Editorial Team Editor in Chief Julia Denni Editor’s Assistants Chris Fay & Alesia Robertson News Editor Tazz Gault Deputy NE Jonny Byrne Assistant NE Hailey Hammer Assistant NE Michael Seymour Opinion Editor Oliver Hill Assistant OE Sinead Lambe Features Ed Tom Beasley Assistant FE Gabriela Vlahova Sports Editor Ben Fisher Deputy SE Jack Cozens Chief Sub Maisie Buchan Assistant Chief Subs Emma Buchanan & Will Richards Head of Design N Briana Millett Head of Design O Shanae Staple Head of Design F Fran Tatman Head of Design S Rachel Currie Online Editor Robyn Montague Assistant OE Joe Nerssessian Managing Director Minee Bhise Head of PR Kelly Phelps Social Media Editor James Bayani Letters to the editor must be signed (including the course of Bournemouth University students, the working title and school for staff members, company name, or home address for individuals outside BU). Prior to the publication, letters will be verified for authencity by the editor.

Anonymous letters will not be published. The editor reserves the right to edit all letters in regard to libel law, length, taste, grammar and punctuation.

Letters to the editor: jdennirocks@gmail.com

Pupils of Talbot Combined Primary School took part in an educational day this week in aid of charity

Julia Denni

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Bournemouth University students teamed up with Talbot Combined Primary School in Wallisdown on Monday for an educational day of activities. The aim of the event was to encourage pupils across all years to read books.

The event organisers choose Book Aid For Africa, a charity based in Sunderland, to benefit from the ‘Read-a-thon’.

They felt that the charity’s ethos, "to promote excellence in education

and make a difference in the educational landscape in Africa", and aims were most fitting to the group's personal values.

Pippa Hillard, who is taking part in the organisation of the event, said: “The project aims to promote reading to children, aged between four and eleven attending Talbot Combined Primary School, raise enough funds to pay for a shipment of books to the different regions of Africa and to gain book donations from a younger age group for the African schools as the charity's previous donations have been from higher levels of education.

“The theme of books was evident

within the charity's aims as well as World Book Day fitting within the time frame of when we planned to stage our event.”

The event started on Monday with a full day of fun activities for the pupils promoting and encouraging reading. Following this, the school will continue the ‘Read-a-thon’ for two-week up until mid-March.

“The students will return to the school on March 18 to hold an assembly to thank the school for its efforts, hand out certificates to the class that donated the most books as well as the children who raised the highest number of sponsors. The event will end on the presentation of

ROBERT O’MAHONY-DORAN a giant storyboard that the children will have worked on during the day. Pippa explained that the children would be choosing which books they will read during the two-week event.

“The children will choose which books they read. We will be including book characters within the activities which are: a quiz, bookmark and bookcover making and working on the giant storyboard.

“We would like to extend our thanks to Dr Ven for his time and for all the organisation by the students who really put on an enjoyable day for all,” said teacher Daniel Carter.

Small restaurants struggle in poor economic growth Will Oxford Independent restaurants have begun to feel the impact of Britain’s poor economic growth, losing out to their corporate counterparts, which are big enough to survive the economic struggle.

The Olympics aided Britain’s poor economy by boosting growth by 1.0% during the third economic quarter of 2012.

But the economy once again declined during last year’s final quarter by 0.3%. And with the possibility of a triple dip recession looming, it appears that Bournemouth’s residents are tightening their purse strings

to the dismay of small businesses in the town.

Giuseppe Flachi, owner of Bournemouth’s traditional long-standing Italian restaurant Valentino, is one of the restaurants suffering economic hardship. He said: “We have the same number of customers, but we make less money.

“People ask for deals every day. Those who paid five pounds twenty years ago are still paying five pounds now, so we’re not quiet, we just haven’t increased our prices,” he said.

Inevitably with a loyal band of regulars, who are also close friends, Giuseppe finds it hard to ask them to pay more and he and his business are consequently suffering. “I used to make a

fortune. I used to buy a car every year, now I buy a bicycle every year,” he added.

The large amount of fast food chains and restaurants that have come to Bournemouth are managing to attract more customers in the current ecomonic climate and Giuseppe struggles to compete.

Zizzi is one of the corporate restaurants side-lining Bournemouth’s smaller restaurants like Valentino. Despite being only a recent addition to Bournemouth’s town centre, in poor economic circumstances they are successfully bringing in customers.

“In terms of the competition, we lead it. We are doing consistently better than our competitors,” said Zizzi’s manager, Mark Brown.

Zizzi is a chain of Italian

restaurants located in the UK. They are owned by Gondola Group, the same company that owns Ask and PizzaExpress.

While Zizzi may be doing better than its competitors, the problem of customer expectation and demand in an unfavourable economy in corporate and smaller establishments is the same.

“There’s a heavy reliance on the discount way of thinking and working,” said Mark.

“We’ve had some weeks where we haven’t offered any deals and they have been disastrous weeks.

“It’s something the whole industry is now reliant on. I can’t see restaurants not making deals [or] vouchers unless everyone stops, and that’s unlikely,” he added.

news 5

The Rock | Thursday 7 March 2013

Getting eating right

Exclusive: MP’s ancestors linked to slave trade

Sammy Jenkins CHIEF REPORTER

A number of lectures were held last week for the second year running to mark the National Eating Disorder Awareness week at Bournemouth University.

The aim of the week was to provide greater awareness of eating disorders within the student and staff bodies.

The most common types of eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating.

James Palfreman-Kay, the equality and diversity advisor at Bournemouth University, who set up the week said: “I think that it’s been great that we’ve been able to showcase some of the students’ work in this area and also have academics talk about their own research.”

He explained eating disorders come under mental health, and at some stage 1 in 4 people will experience some sort of mental health issue.

“I think it’s important to say that this issue would affect male and female students, it’s not just female students.”

The events covered various topics from recognising eating disorders to real-life experiences of eating disorders.

Over 300 people attended the event being held throughout the week.

The university has been working closely on this campaign

Tazz Gault NEWS EDITOR

A Dorset MP has described his outrage at discovering his family has a link to the slave trade.

Bournemouth University aimed to raise awareness about different eating disorders CHARLOTTE ASTRID with a number of experts including local charity I*EAT, specialist nurses and psychologist Dr Sarah Williams, who holds a PhD in Understanding Anorexia Nervosa.

Sarah said: “There is a statistic that 87% of people with an eating disorder never seek help for it.”

One of the sessions in the week held a talk on eating disorders and

the relation with the internet. Sarah has previously done a lot of research into people’s experiences in this area.

“Whenever we have something that we are worried about with our health, even if it’s not an eating disorder, I will go to Google first.

“The internet provides a great way for people to talk about eating disorders in an

anonymous environment, which is really important.”

There is a range of services available for students at BU seeking help including counselling services, a chaplaincy service, a specialist nurse available at the doctor’s surgery and additional learning support services if a student requires academic support.

New app gives you the best of Boris Jonny Byrne

DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR

A new iPhone app has given users the opportunity to hear the best of Boris Johnson’s classic sound bites.

Created by creative agency, 8bit Lemon, the Pocket Boris soundboard features 25 of the London Mayor’s wacky and hilarious quotes. The app, which was released on March 2, is free and already has an update in the pipeline that will increase the number of sound bites available.

Lee Giles, one of the agencies cofounders, said that the app, which is the first in a series celebrating the best of British, has had a lot of interest.

“The app had about 600 downloads on the day it was launched which was great.

Last Sunday we were 21st on the iTunes App Store’s

featured entertainment apps. When our CEO Tom [Allison] came up with the idea we initially thought that there was no way that there wouldn’t already be one available.

Once we found out there wasn’t we were worried that it was because Apple had stopped them being available, but it was just because no one had thought of it.”

Lee was reluctant to give too much away about the next in their best of British series, “I won’t say who it is, but I can tell you that it’s someone who has a great voice and says some very peculiar things.”

The agency hopes that they will be able to launch the next app in their series in a month’s time, providing that Pocket Boris continues to succeed.

8bit Lemon was founded in 2011 by five Bournemouth University students studying Interactive Media Production. Since then the agency has completed projects in over four continents and has now made it’s first steps in smartphone app design.

Boris Johnson is the subject of a new app for iPhones Annie Mole

A database produced by University College London has shown those who were paid compensation after the slave trade was abolished in 1833.

South Dorset Tory MP Richard Drax’s ancestor was paid the equivalent of £3million as he was forced to free 189 slaves.

Mr Drax said: “There is a connection to my family and it goes back hundreds of years.

“It is something that we are not proud about at all – no one is, as it was an appalling trade, but I knew nothing of this compensation and nor did my father. In fact, it’s the first we have heard of it.”

Mr Drax is descended from John Sawbridge Erle-Drax, whose Barbados sugar plantation owned the slaves.

His father now owns the plantation, but both say that they were unaware of this link.

“This is hundreds of years ago and from a very remote ancestor of ours that we knew nothing about.

“It is so historical so there is nothing more we can add.”

Ownership of slaves was banned in 1833 after Britain outlawed slave trading in 1807.

Around £20million was paid out to compensate approximately 3,000 slave owners.

Mr Drax said: “I think that most people see that if there is a distant, distant, distant, distant relation to an MP, then let’s somehow throw him in there as well.

“I can’t answer for something that happened so long ago. It was embedded in our culture and thank heavens, this atrocious trade was ended.”

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Thursday 7 March 2013|The Rock

Music magazine launches Ashley Chalmers

Two first year Journalism students, Katie Pathiaki and Elly Rewcastle have organised a new music webzine – run by fans, for fans.

Undertone covers a wide range of features, album and show reviews; interviews with bands and artists and original photography to create a professional and enjoyable online reading experience.

The magazine is being hosted on issuu.com, where an interactive full screen copy of the webzine is available to read. It is also available to download on to any smartphone, as the issue is being hosted on the Google Currents App. Editor, Elly Rewcastle admitted: “It was incredibly hard with few writers, no designers and lack of organisation to get the first issue out, but we got there and I’m really pleased with it.” Making sure the pieces were of a high quality was a labour of love for all involved in the production of the first issue, and this seems to have been recognised.

“After the first issue, we’ve had a lot more interest from people to write and design for Undertone,

The front page of music mag created by BU students UNDERTONE and more PR companies are willing to get involved.”

Managing interviews with up and coming bands and artists such as Don Broco, Fearless Vampire Killers and Clockwork Orange – Undertone shows promising potential to be as successful as more recognised publications such as NME and Kerrang.

The webzine covers every genre therefore becoming more accessible to a larger audience. Editor, Katie Pathiaki, states that the main aim of Undertone is to: “Have a free webzine that covers all genres of music for both genders, which doesn’t currently exist. We want a place where people want to get

involved and have fun with it and won’t have a fear of a genre being turned down.”

The editors are advocating “Real Journalism,” whereby those passionate enough about music are involving themselves in the creation of the project. Still in its early stages; Katie and Elly are urging anyone interested to get in touch and contribute their articles and ideas to help the project evolve and to make the second issue bigger and better than the first.

Read the first issue of the magazine at http://issuu. com/undertonezine/docs/undertone1

Britain’s oldest postbox A post box at Barnes Cross, Howell can lay claim to being the oldest still in use in Britain. The Victorian relic, situated in the West Dorset village, is celebrating its 150th birthday this year.

Classical ensemble shine in University performance Katrina Quick

The award winning Schubert Ensemble are celebrating their 30th anniversary this year JOHN CLARK

The award-winning Schubert Ensemble of London visited Bournemouth University for the first time this week.

Invited by the Bournemouth Chamber Music Society, the classical music group has been performing for more than 30 years, and has travelled as all over the globe on tour. The ensemble consists of Simon Blendis, violin; Douglas Paterson, viola; Jane Salmon, cello and William Howard, piano.

The performance began with a piece from composer Gustav Muhler - ‘A piano Quartet in A minor’.

Muhler wrote the piece at just 16-years-old. It was first performed in Vienna in 1876. The piece is melancholy and was described

by Simon, as having a “sense of vulnerability and uncertainty”. The Schubert Ensemble then went on to perform Mozart’s, ‘A piano quartet in G minor’. The piece begins with the fierce, emphatic notes of ‘Allegro’ and ends with the more joyful ‘Rondo’, bringing the work to an exhilarating ending.

After the interval, the Schubert Ensemble performed its last scheduled piece, a piano quartet by composer George Enesco. Similar to

the work of Mozart, Enesco’s work was divided into three parts. These consisted of ‘Allegro moderato’, ‘Andante mesto’, and finally ‘Vivace’.

The piece premiered in Paris 1909, within a month of it’s completion.

Hannah Lilley, a student at Bournemouth University, was helping at the event. Hannah was excited about the arrival of “professionals of such a high standard”.

Member of the audience Felicity Carter who lives in Winton, has been attending Bournemouth Chamber Music events for ten years, and said of the Schubert Ensemble: “In London, you would be paying fifty pounds per head, whereas here it is much more reasonably priced.

We are incredibly lucky.”

The Schubert Ensemble is celebrating its 30th anniversary by performing a series of concerts at Kings Palace, London, and have just returned from a tour of the USA. Over the past 30 years, the Schubert Ensemble has gained a reputation for hard work, giving over 50 performances every year, and producing more than 30 critically-acclaimed CDs. In 1998, the group was awarded the prestigious Best Chamber Ensemble by the Royal Philharmonic Society.

Despite having had a busy few months, the Schubert Ensemble has plans to travel to Eastern Europe.

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The Rock | Thursday 7 March 2013

Big hitters lose out to UKIP in Eastleigh vote Jasmin Barrass

Voters in Eastleigh went to the polls last Thursday in a by-election to replace disgraced Liberal Democrat, Chris Huhne. The party lost 14% of the vote since 2010’s election, after Huhne pleaded guilty to perverting the court of justice.

MP Mike Thornton managed to hold the constituency for Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats, although a deeply damaging sex scandal involving allegations against Lord Rennard did threaten to sabotage the result.

Despite their relentless campaigning, David Cameron’s Conservative party could only manage third place, their candidate, Maria Hutchings, losing out embarrasingly to UKIP’s Diane James.

Valerie Perrin, 66, of Hedge End has been a supporter of the Conservative party for many years, but has recently changed her political standing to UKIP. “The UK gives away £53million every day to the EU. Look at the state of the roads here. If you travel to some of the small islands off of Spain, the

A recent vote showed Liberal Democrats has lost 14% of the vote since 2010. The UK Independent Party is on the rise JASMIN BARRASS roads are absolutely pristine, that is where the 53 million is going. I’ve just had enough!” said Ms Perrin.

She also said: “I agree with the notion that people of money and success should be running the country. We need people to look up to, people of prosperity and who

believe in business and doing well.”

One of the reasons why Ms Perrin chose to go from supporting the Conservatives to the UKIP was her grandchildren struggling with employment. Her grandson was recently forced into getting a second job after his hours were cut, and this

was the final straw for her.

Thousands of people had flooded into Eastleigh to help the candidates in their election campaigns. Richard Griffiths, 42, of Aberystwyth volunteered for the Conservatives the last three weeks of the campaign.

“It’s been really exciting,” said Mr

Griffiths. “We’ve done everything we could have done so we will just have to wait and see,” he added, prior to the vote.

Labour also suffered a heavy defeat in this vote as their candidate, John O’Farrell, finished fourth over 6,000 votes behind the Tories.

Dorset’s Monkey World receives donation of nappies Michael Seymour

ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

Baby woolly monkey, Bueno Junior, benefited from a kind donation of nappies designed for premature human babies MONKEYWORLD

Monkey World has received a generous donation of 25 cases of nappies for one of its younger residents at the rescue centre.

The nappies, which would normally be used for premature human babies, have been donated to the Dorset attraction

by Attends Healthcare Group.

Three-and-a-half-month-old Bueno Junior, one of 18 woolly monkeys at Monkey World, was the lucky recipient of the kind donation.

“We owe Attends Healthcare Group a huge thank you,” said Dr Alison Cronin, the park’s director. “We asked for help from major companies that make the tiny nappies and luckily Attends Healthcare came through!”

Bueno Junior is being handreared by Dr Cronin and her specialist team after the monkey’s mother’s labour did not progress.

He was born by Caesarean section, weighing only 430g.

Bueno Junior’s birth is particularly important for the woolly monkey population, as they are highly endangered in the wild and also facing extinction in captivity, with only 37 remaining in the International Breeding Program.

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Thursday 7 March 2013 |The Rock

Harry Fear shares the Palestinian view

Harry Fear, documentary film-maker and campaign journalist, speaks about his experience reporting in Palestine and his recent worldwide talking tour CHRIS FAY/ANM

Julia Denni Chris Fay Harry Fear, campaign journalist and documentary filmmaker, has just finished his worldwide talking tour about Gaza. The 23-year-old activist stopped off in Bournemouth for a chat about his work as one of the few Englishspeaking journalists reporting from Palestine.

Fear presents himself as an advocacy journalist who broadcasts from the Gaza Strip by providing a series of documentaries on his YouTube channel harryfear.tv. He uses a crowd-funded website to finance his trips to Gaza, which allows him not to be accountable to any news organisation and to have editorial freedom. With 4,000 subscribers on YouTube and over 300,000 views, most of his videos are addressed to the Western world. He describes himself as “the foreign correspondent for the people” and an alternative to mainstream media.

Fear entered Gaza for the first time in summer 2012: “I felt there was a deficit in Western, English language video documentary reporting [from Gaza] and I felt it was my responsibility, with my skills and understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to go

and do my best to try and restore some balance.”

While there, Fear was able to document airstrikes, which no other organisations were able to do as most of them will only report from the Israel side. “I was one of the few journalists to exploit the improvement in the Egyptian

Palestinians are “subjected to various Orientalist, Islamophobic and other types of prejudicial stereotypes and much of it is down to politics

”

border crossing with Gaza, which suddenly facilitated the ability for us as internationals to go in and to document what was going on. So I tried to produce solid campaigning documentary reports.”

From Fear’s point of view, the conflict is not just asymmetric in terms of military might, but in international support. As a firm ally of the United States and by association, the Western world, Israel enjoys strong support from the Western media. Palestine however, is often pictured as the constant aggressor, something that has been accentuated by the Islamophobia

that has developed in the West since the 9/11 attacks on America.

Fear said: “Israel is seen like us: European culture, first-world citizens, same priorities; chasing modernity and the pursuit of happiness, the American dream basically. Palestinians are not seen like that. Palestinians are subjected to various Orientalist, Islamophobic and other types of prejudicial stereotypes and much of it comes down to politics.”

The campaign journalist suggested that Western states implicitly support Israel and do not speak out for Palestinian human rights.

He believes that this nurtures a culture of understanding that shows through the way the western media reports on the conflict.

He highlighted that the United Nations General Assembly repeatedly failed to scrutinise and impose sanction on the military actions of Israel. Adding that from a Western point of view, Israel’s current government “seems to be on far right of the European centre” and “opinion polls show that the majority of Israeli – over 60% – wanted the recent war to continue.”

On the other hand, nations such as Iran, North Korea and Iraq have been subject to economic sanctions as a result of breaches of UN resolutions. Israel is perceived as having breached more than 100 resolutions adopted by the Security Council between 1967 and 1989 directly addressing the

Israeli-Arab conflict. According to the General Assembly, Israel has maintained an “aggressive and expansionist” policy and practice with the support of the US, who vetoed any sanctions.

“Iraq broke two UN resolutions, and we invaded and bombed the whole country killing over a million civilians. Israel has broken literally dozens of UN resolutions but we support it.” Fear described the issue as an obvious “hypocrisy at the UN level and at the state level”.

In November 2012, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to recognise Palestine as a Non-Member Observer State. The move was strongly

has broken “withIsrael literally dozens of UN resolutions but we support it

”

opposed by Israel and the US, and its effects have yet to be fully seen.

Fear described the situation as taking two trajectories: “By 2020, according to UN and other reports, the humanitarian situation will be so bad that Gaza will be unliveable, but on the other level Israel is getting away with less.” Fear believes there has been a shift in the way the West reports on the conflict. More attention has been offered to the

Palestinian people and the unbalance has become more obvious.

The two-state configuration could be an answer to the conflict but the Palestinians would be the ultimate losers worries Fear: “There are elements of Israeli society that would prefer one state, an Israeli one...

There has been no referendum about this, but certainly in Gaza, people would prefer a one-state solution, a secular democracy where all can live in the ‘holy land’ territory, which was 1948 Palestine, but that does seem like a pipe dream.

“If you said to the Palestinian people that they could end the conflict by opting for a two-state solution, but only living on only 25% of your historic homeland, would they accept it? We don’t know what they would say.”

A two-state solution still leaves the issue of control of Jerusalem, which straddles the border of Palestine and Israel; both peoples staking claim to the location. A partitioned city, similar to Cold War Berlin, is the recommendation of Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

“That’s what the UN partition plan of 1947 said; if it was a twostate solution, there would be East and West Jerusalem.” The activist believes this partition would make matters even more complicated.

Harry Fear will be returning to Palestine this summer to carry on his work as a campaign journalist and activist to give a voice to the Palestinian people.

opinion 9

OPINION

The Rock | Thursday 7 March 2013

Editorial Britain takes a stand for Syrian rebels

Julia Denni

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Almost two years after the Syrian civil war began, more than 70,000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have fled to neighbouring countries.

Often portrayed as a mad dictator President Bachar al-Assad has once more presented himself as an

extreme character in an exclusive interview for The Sunday Times. He accused the British government of giving arms to his opposition, to “terrorists”.

In the interview, pre-recorded last week in his home in Damascus, the Syrian leader rejected any suggestion that Britain could help to resolve the conflict. “How can we ask Britain to play a role while it is determined to militarise the problem? How can we expect them to make the violence less while they want to send military supplies to the terrorists?”

Assad repeatedly attacked the United Kingdom: “To be frank, Britain has played a famously unconstructive role in our region on different issues for decades, some say for centuries. The problem with this government is that their

shallow and immature rhetoric only highlights this tradition of bullying and hegemony.” He accused David Cameron of being “naïve, confused, unrealistic” to try to lift the EU arms embargo in order to help the rebels.

But the pendulum is now swinging in the right direction with the change hapening on the Western side in response to the desperate situation in Syria. Washington promised to supply $60m worth of non-lethal aid including rations and medical equipment to help the rebels, shifting the mentality and encouraging other countries to follow.

With the situation deteriorating, it appears to be an unfair conflict and the Syrian opposition leader appeared unimpressed by the announcement. The rebels, who

have become increasingly frustrated with the lack of support from the international stage and are seriously suffering from a lack of ammunition, are hoping for a quick change.

We don’t want to repeat what happened with the delivery of Western weapons during the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, arms were then decades later reused against the US who had supplied them in the first place.

We need to find a balance between the rebels’ need of arms and the increasing human cost, and potential risk for the weapons to fall into the hands of extremist Islamist groups.

It is now up to Western countries to weigh up the risks of making a mistake but at least we would have tried to end the suffering of thousands of civilians.

AAA loss diverts attention from more pressing issues Oliver Hill

OPINIONS EDITOR

Danger

Our roads are not safe for anyone

10

Immoral Ticket touting hits an all time low

12

Email

ohillrocks@gmail.com

‘A humiliating blow’ was the media’s choice phase upon hearing the news that the credit rating agency Moody’s had downgraded the British economy from its coveted AAA status.

To some this is the government’s final warning shot before the UK nosedives into its third successive recession as growth continues to elude the current Chancellor, George Osborne.

I say, however, this has more potential to wound the Coalition than it does the economy.

In truth none of the three big ratings agencies offer more than an opinion on the economics of a country and the ratings in this instance have little significance.

That’s just as well really, seeing as the term ‘triple A’ refers to a type of battery for most people.

The ironic thing is that George Osborne used the AAA rating as a sort of self-imposed test and has always held the top notch status of our economy as the one thing that sets us apart from the fallen economies of America and France.

Now we’ve slipped from grace ever so slightly, the smug grin has been wiped from his face and it’s time to eat humble pie as he has failed his own success measure.

How embarrassing. The implications of this are far more

political than they are economic as Labour calls for the “downgraded, part-time Chancellor” to resign and it becomes harder for the Prime Minister to defend his close friend and colleague.

Or at least in theory it should become harder for David Cameron to rebuff the sneering scrutiny of the opposition party, but if you watch Prime Minister Questions this doesn’t seem to be happening.

Last week Ed Miliband went for the blindingly obvious by choosing to hit the PM on the economy and the downgrade - it was like taking

a penalty and telling the goalkeeper which corner you’re going to be aiming for. Instead the leader of the Labour Party missed a golden opportunity to knock Cameron right off balance.

As I’ve said already, the economic implications of the downgrade itself are negligible but Red Ed failed to highlight the real term fall in household income coupled with the rise in the cost of living.

This would have been an unwelcome spin on the economic debate during that particular episode of PMQs. If you delve deeper into

the report as to why Moody’s downgraded us, there is some praise of the government’s austerity regime.

I think this government is dealing with this issue in the right way.

However, the bitter pill is now starting to cause the patient tangible pain and Doc Osborne isn’t rummaging around in his big black bag, looking for some pain killers and this concerns me.

Families are feeling the squeeze, struggling to put food on the table and pay the rocketing energy bills - I predict that some form of action will need to be taken before too long.

Credit rating agency Moody has downgraded it’s AAA rating for the UK economy

@DOUG88888

10 opinion Paying for YouTube was inevitable

Thursday 7 March 2013 | The Rock

Downfall of the greats Marcin Bryszak

Robyn Montague

I remember the days when you could click on a video of a cat playing a piano and not have to wait for an advert on the latest Bieber catastrophe to load.

YouTube is allegedly planning a subscription scheme, which could cost between 60p and £3 a month,

by Easter.

This doesn’t seem much in the grand scheme of things but judging by users’ responses, the charge could drastically affect the amount of traffic the site receives.

Paying would put me off certain channels but I understand the necessity. We’ve become spoilt subscribers and feel it’s our ‘right’ to have access to such a huge variety of online content.

But like television and film companies, they can’t rely solely on advertising or sponsors to survive. People who demand free entertainment should consider getting some fresh air on their hard drive and update themselves on the reality of the situation.

It’s stupid to believe the internet is a free resource, especially with the increasing number of restrictions and regulations that dictate the web.

YouTube is just another site that wants to take advantage of its popularity and power and who can blame it?

It’s not suggesting a charge on all content and I can’t see them putting a fee on watching people attempt humour with the Harlem Shake, which if anything I should be paid to watch. Only 25 channels are estimated to be affected. It’s also been suggested that the Google-owned video services on YouTube pressured the move. The site has lasted longer than I thought before bending over for the boss, but when money is involved dignity is disposable.

YouTube CEO Salar Kamangar hinted last year that the site had talked about poaching second tier cable networks that were failing on TV to command subscription fees. I can’t see thousands of people jumping at the chance to pay for a channel on YouTube when they fork out monthly for TV and broadband.

Even though the paid subscriptions are experimental I doubt they’ll go back on their decision especially when a profit is involved.

It wouldn’t surprise me if YouTube eventually charged for all content. Everything has a price and it’s just a matter of time for them to establish the number.

Two months into 2013 and the world of sport has already had a fair share of captivating moments, including the public destruction of two sporting legends.

Olympic euphoria has long gone and attention is now turning towards stories which are more salacious and scandalous - the cases of Lance Armstrong and Oscar Pistorius. If anything, intrusion into the lives and secrets behind the success of the sports stars we idiolise has become a more thrilling exercise than just witnessing remarkable triumphs over adversity.

This year’s first notable event was the ‘confessions of a drugaholic’, the seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. In a heart-to-heart interview with the talk-show host Oprah Winfrey on January 13, the American cyclist admitted he used performance-enhancing drugs throughout most of his career, including during all of the seven Tour de France wins. The fact that Armstrong admitted to doping, however, was not a surprise, as the cyclist had faced criticism on numerous occasions during his career. The first allegations of his use of illegal substances go as far back as his Tour de France triumph in 1999.

Mounting evidence and confessions of former teammates hung over the American, until eventually he gave in. Though not revelatory, his admissions were sad to hear, as they marked the depressing collapse of an athlete who was an inspiration and an example to many who were struggling in their lives.

Entrusted with the faith of many in overcoming obstacles, Armstrong

achieved his ‘feats’ through lies and denial of doping, abusing the belief of his followers. But the most serious allegation Lance Armstrong had to face was not just the fact that he had used performance-enhancing drugs to become the ‘top-dog’ in cycling, but the persistent culture of bullying and intimidation he embedded to maintain his clean image. We, as the fans, are left to question the trust in Armstrong’s true intentions.

Worse for the sporting world, the trust of its fans has been abused by another one of its members this year, who showed that apart from feeling cheated, we should also be afraid of our idols’ actions.

Oscar Pistorius, the South African Paralympic and Olympic sprinter, dubbed the ‘Blade Runner’ is possibly the most famous disabled athlete in the world. Like Armstrong, the double-amputee was a sporting inspiration and a hope to many, showing that there is no limit to what a person can achieve when he competed against the able-bodied sprinters in the Olympic Games in London last year.

On February 14, Pistorius’ girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp was shot dead at his home. He was arrested and charged with her murder. The case will focus on whether or not it was a premeditated act. But so far, there has not been widespread condemnation of the athlete, seemingly because the fans are willing to believe in his innocence until he is proven guilty.

We are more ready to condemn Armstrong for committing serious cheating, because as fans, we were upset to have invested emotion in his fight and messages of inspiration, only to be told that our hero is a fraud. We like to be shocked, not cheated. This is exactly what we get in Pistorius’ case.

With both Armstrong and Pistorius we find that we know less about famous individuals’ than we thought we did. It looks as if the Pistorious case will be one to keep tabs on.

This year has seen the fall of many great athletes

ELVAR PALSSON

The battle for our highways Chris Fay

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Do you know what an ASL is?

Advanced stop line. That green area at the front of the queue of cars at a red light.

Did you know it is a space reserved for cyclists to advance to at stops? Don’t feel too bad if you drive and didn’t, because recent YouTube videos have shown even the police don’t understand this section of the rules of the road.

Of course they do know, as should everyone, that you do not

overtake on a roundabout, you do not park or walk in the cycle lane, and yes, cyclists can use the whole road if they want to.

Every day on my 5km commute to university, there is a near miss with either a motorist or pedestrian.

Whether its cars attempting to prevent me merging with traffic in the run up to a roundabout or a herd of pedestrians blockading the cycle lane, under the impression my bell is a decoration that I am ringing out of simple minded entertainment, something comes between me and my destination.

And I am not blaming motorists, or pedestrians. Most drivers are not tested on their cyclist awareness;

pedestrians are not told there are rules for the footpath. There is, after all, a countless number of cyclists who are unaware it is a serious offence to cycle on the footpath.

No, I blame the awful road infrastructure of this country, and the utter lack of education given. It is absolutely laughable.

Cycle lanes that stretch for a grand and mighty distance of 10 metres and road surfaces that make a country back road look like the autobahns of Germany.

Were you ever tested on your knowledge of traffic law when you hoped on your first bike as a child? “Now Timmy, be sure to give right of way before you exit the

driveway”, was said to no child, ever. A helmet and reflectors and you are ready to join traffic as the slowest vehicle on the road and the most vulnerable.

Compare our ‘network’ of cycle lanes to the Netherlands’ or Belgium’s. There is no comparison.

These are properly implemented road networks, not afterthoughts to appease the Greens.

Proper road segregation is desperately needed, and would resolve a lot of the conflicts between the three tribes of the highways of Britain. Peace can be found between the Motorised folk, the slow but dedicated Pedestrian and the sometimes suicidal Cyclist.

opinion 11

The Rock | Thursday 7 March 2013

Guilty until proven innocent Adam Trimby COLUMNIST

Maura McGowen QC, chairwoman of the bar council, has recently made statements expressing her support for granting anonymity for rape suspects. She says that those accused and rendered innocent in a court of law, spend a lifetime under a shroud of suspicion.

Not only will they endure a court process that may take years before a verdict, but they will also have to suffer media coverage and apprehension from those around them. The Home Office states that about 450 people are wrongly accused of rape each year, whereas the police and courts say the figure is closer to 1,200.

The unfortunate aspect of this whole drama stems from the fact that some people do cry rape.

Even if you take a lesser figure of 100 people wrongly accused of rape each year, surely those innocent 100 lives should not be ruined.

Many people have suggested sex offences to be of the same

calibre as murder or an act of terrorism and granted the offence is definitely just as awful.

However, the way a person can be accused of such a crime is far different. With a murder trial, accusation comes from the police through evidence and charges are made because of it - nobody has to come forward. Yet, with a rape charge, it requires a victim to make an allegation, which regrettably may or may not be true.

While rape victims are rightly given anonymity when facing trial the accused are not. The argument in favour of naming rape defendants is that anonymity would discourage women from reporting rape.

How would it deter a woman if the accused were not publicly named? The trial would go on exactly the same and if convicted their name would be made public all the same, giving women – and let’s not forget that men get raped too – the opportunity to come forward.

Surely anonymity for everyone is better. It would incur less stress on the families of both individuals and would reinforce our belief of ‘innocent until proven otherwise’.

If the name of the accused is in the papers or spread within a community, that question mark hangs over that person’s character

for the rest of their life. This is what Maura McGowen QC is saying and you can’t help but think she may be very right.

Nevertheless, five out of six rapes go unreported. How can we get this number down and how can we help the silent sufferers? This

totally deserved this award after being completely committed to her character, and even put her health at risk for the sake of the role?

The media and Hollywood are conveying a really bad message to our society during the Oscars ceremony. I believe what people want to hear are their favorite artists talking about their success and the sacrifices they had made. But all we actually get from the ceremony is who is wearing what or who is dating whom.

If I wanted to see a fashion show I would watch London Fashion Week or go to Milan. I simply wanted to be inspired and moved by some of the greatest artists in history of cinema.

Despite being nominated for two Academy Awards, Ethan Hawks said to Gotham Magazine: “Making a priority of money and dubious accolades, [is] really destructive”.

This is something we should all agree on. Hollywood puts the focus on the appearance and dictates this extremely shallow thinking which leads our society to a complete crisis of moral values.

For example, check the interview with Jennifer Lawrence, who at the age of 22 won her first Oscar for Best Actress in Silver Linings Playbook. This is more than amazing and inspiring for all of the young people at her age, but the backstage press kept asking her insignificant questions such as how she felt

when she tripped on stage. Instead of focusing on her great talent they focused on a small stumble. At least Jennifer Lawrence was smart enough to answer all of those superficial questions in a funny way, making the most of the situation.

Indeed, it is such a pleasure for the eyes to see all of your beloved artists dressed pretty, wearing fancy outfits. But the press is just making too much of a fuss about it.

The amazing Helen Hunt (nominated for Best Supporting Actress in The Sessions) definitely deserves our admiration for her choice to wear an H&M dress,

unfortunately is anyone’s guess and anonymity for the accused isn’t the right answer.

However, for a fairer society it is a step in the right direction and the opportunity for rape victims to stand up and report such a heinous act can only build upon that.

Some want anonymity for those accused of rape

DREEMWEEPER

Something of a vanity fair Marta Dimitrova

The arts are all about seeing what is beyond the visible, hearing what we haven’t been told and most importantly using our hearts, and not our minds to feel and understand.

So why then is Hollywood trying so hard to demolish the beauty of art? I am referring of course to the ridiculous vanity parade that happens every year at the Oscars ceremony.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the awards because artists should be appreciated for their creations, but I don’t really care about what dresses or suits they wear.

Sadly, this seems to be the main factor highlighted by the press.

It should be the talent the artists wear in their souls we focus on, and not the Prada or Valentino dress they wear on the outside.

During the ceremony I was watching ABC’s live commentary studio. After Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables) took her Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, and gave a pretty decent speech the only comments from the girls in the studio were aimed at the dress she was wearing. Isn’t this a bit offensive towards an actress who

while her colleagues opted to wear couture. And I only know this irrelevant information because I was forced to absorb it while waiting for the ceremony to begin. She still looked stunning and actually stood out from the other stars on the red carpet.

After all, the Oscars ceremony is an award show, not a fashion one.

We should start focusing more on the art of cinema and go into the depths of the incredible movies that those talents create. And the sooner we start paying less attention to the packaging of things the better for ourselves and the others around us.

The Academy Awards celebrate great film achievement PRAYITNO

Hilary Mantel sparks misread controversy Katie Gillingham

Hilary Mantel became the object of public hatred when she made the front pages after commenting on the Duchess of Cambridge in her essay ‘Royal Bodies’.

Kate is arguably one of the most well-known and loved women on the planet, and there have been many strong words written slamming Mantel for being ‘vicious’ and ‘unkind’.

There have been comments on the Mail online insulting Mantel’s appearance, one claiming that she looks like a ‘dead ferret’.

Prime Minister Dave even jumped in, reportedly calling Mantel’s comments ‘completely misguided’. How many people are there now on a Hilary Mantel witch hunt, more importantly, how many of those people actually read or listened to Mantel’s essay before making their judgement?

The Daily Mail headline read: “A Plastic Princess Designed to breed: Hilary Mantel’s venemous attack on Kate Middleton” . This suggests that someone has verbally abused a favourite princess which is a matter for public outrage.

The article goes on to quote Mantel out of context several times, and uses stirring devices to cause the mass hatred sweeping the internet. The purpose not being to inform – which I naively thought was the point of journalism – but instead to stir and direct hate at one woman.

Even the BBC said it’s ‘reported’ that Mantel was quoted out of context. No, BBC. It hasn’t just been reported, her words have been cruelly twisted.

Reading Mantel’s original 5,500 word essay, it is clear that she is talking about the public treatment of royals and her comments about Kate are actually regarding the way society treats royals.

The issue here shouldn’t be with the words that she wrote. The issue should be with the way it has been reported. In a time where press ethics are in the minds of a lot of people, how are they able to get away with such dire reporting?

Anyone who has read the essay themselves will know that Mantel has been quoted completely out of context, and is now under national scrutiny for saying things which she did not.

My question to everyone is this: How much longer are we going to blithely accept a national press that thinks it is ok to lie, (quoting out of context and lying are the same thing, journalists) misinforming the public and potentially ruining lives in the process?

12 opinion

Thursday 7 March 2013 | The Rock

Utilitarian family planning is not everybody’s happily ever after Abigail Brown

Is there an ideal age to have the perfect family?

Apparently yes; a recent survey carried out by Seven Seas Pregnancy of mothers and fathers showed that the ideal age to have a family is 26, as long as you are married, have bought a home and earn a combined salary of £25,000.

Most people believe that a milestone to pass before having children is to own a house and getting married.

An article published in the New York Times last year revealed that for many women under 30, most births occur outside marriage.

It is not as necessary as it was say 50 years ago but some still like to stick with tradition. In America the main group that prefers to be married beforehand are college graduates.

It is believed to be “turning family structure into a new class divide, with the economic and social rewards of marriage increasingly reserved for people with the most education.”

Nonetheless, there should not be an ideology of having to get married before being able to have children.

Many celebrities have had children before getting married or even engaged, for instance Angelina Jolie, Adele, Sienna

Miller, Natalie Portman and many more. Childless people surveyed thought that 28 was the perfect age to reproduce, which is not much different to the age said by parents.

Those who already have children claim that if you want a big family it is easier to start at a younger age.

Fears of not being able to conceive or it taking too long also have factored into parents wanting to have children earlier.

However, Steve Martin became a parent at 67, Hugh Grant, 52, Halle Berry, 41, Celine Dion, 42 and Susan

with pregnancy at an advanced maternal age, which include Down’s Syndrome. But does having children at a younger age mean you miss out on opportunities? Some people in

the survey said they wanted to have achieved something in life, savings in the bank and lots of holidays before settling down with children.

However the research indicated

that the recession could be affecting women having children earlier as it affects work prospects, so they plan children before they dive into careers.

“ Celebrities have had children before getting married ” Sarandon, 46. They have all proved it is never too late to have a child.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has said that couples struggling to have a baby should get fertility treatment more quickly and older women should gain access to IVF, according to new NHS guidelines.

The rules, applied only in England and Wales, state that any women between the ages of 40 and 42 should be offered one cycle of IVF, as long as it is their first time and they have a sufficient amount of eggs.

The new recommendation that IVF should be available to women up to 42 provides more options to women, however they should be made aware of the increasing risks associated

Seven Seas Pregnancy carried out a survey of 2,000 parents

WWW.PHOTOGRAPHYBYJOELLE.COM

Ban immoral ticket touting for good Sinead Lambe

ASSISTANT OPINIONS EDITOR

In this current economic climate people are looking for novel ways to make a fast buck. All too many of us are happy to jump at the chance to make profit at the expense of one another. It is a dog eat dog world out there with no holding back from fans when it comes to music events.

The past few weeks has seen the release of tickets for numerous gigs and festivals, most of which sold out in under an hour. Wow, what a fan base one might say, but I hasten to add that the events may not be as obviously popular as one may believe. Let me elaborate.

Whilst ticket regulations in the UK are tighter than some countries, there are still ways

to make a tidy income if you are switched on and have the disposable money to do so. When buying tickets for events such as Beyonce at the O2, the buyer is limited to purchasing six tickets. This is an attempt to stop people or corporate companies buying huge numbers of tickets to resell. But it seems that this alone is not enough to combat the market for ripping people off.

Beyonce tickets were high in demand and sold out almost straight away. Five minutes after selling out they appear on sites such as Viagogo and Seatwave. Sites such as these were originally set up to stop fraudulent tickets finding their way into music lovers pockets but it seems something quite the opposite has happened. And this is when my blood starts to boil and I plead for the government to step in. £1,000 is what a ticket was going for, almost 17 times the amount it originally cost. The sad thing is some young girl with a rich daddy will get those

tickets for her birthday while the music lover and devoted Beyonce fan weeps at home at her failure to get tickets. Glastonbury festival has taken it upon itself to regulate its

ticket resale to an extreme. You have to register in order to be in chance of getting a ticket, can only buy a ticket if you are registered and cannot resell your ticket at all. Ebay has

Some music fans want a profit cap on re-sale of tickets

GRIBICHE

supported this by banning any resale of the festivals tickets on its website.

I guess this is taking it to an extreme.

I do not wish the government to regulate this tightly, but some sort of cap on the amount of profit to be made from resale ought definitely to be put into legislation and it seems many music bosses agree.

Critics will say this will drive ticket resale underground and ultimately create a black market worse than ever before.

But with sites letting consumers lose money so easily, we might as well all admit that the industry is being run into the ground as it is.

What happened to not having to take out a mortgage to see your favourite band or artist?

Happier were the days when music was an industry that everyone could enjoy. It is sad that nowadays it really is the story that money can bring you happiness. Well, the joy of seeing your favourite artist or band in the flesh.

opinion 13

The Rock | Thursday 7 March 2013

The importance of multiculturalism Lei-Anna Aymer-Bailey

All the courses held at Bournemouth University include, to some extent, topics which highlight the need to be thoughtful about the different cultures in our society. This makes sense as a lot of us plan to work and travel abroad, plus more than 1,000 students here are international.

It is fair to say that we currently live in a multicultural society.

Multiculturalism is the coming together of people from different cultures and ethnicities, living in a place whilst being able to practice their respective cultures and religion. It has been argued that multiculturalism doesn’t work or no longer exists. This most recently seems to be in response to clashes between the Islamic faith and Christianity in Britain.

It is sad and scary the connotations we have made through multiculturalism such as; Muslims are terrorists and black males are thugs. Stereotyping in a joking manner too can sometimes be just as damaging and is often used too casually.

Done to show emphasis of nonbias it can sometimes highlight a difference unnecessarily, after all the idea is for everyone to feel at home. This being said, part of multiculturalism is to be aware, but to not make assumptions

about other cultures. Too many assumptions are made about other cultures; another reason multiculturalism may appear to not be working.

Assumptions of what is and isn’t a part of someone’s culture.

Assumptions that someone who comes to the UK should adopt all of the customs as if they were their own. Many may feel that they want to see an end to multiculturalism

but it is too deep rooted in the history of the world and essential to our society. Great efforts have been made by SUBU and Bournemouth University to promote multiculturalism but there is room for improvement.

For religious and cultural purposes some don’t attend the same social events that are heavily promoted, centralised around alcohol and flirtatious behaviour,

Adam Trimby’s article campaigning for the abolition of The Sun’s Page 3 in its present form is indeed a noble cause, but also I fear one that is already lost.

Rupert Murdoch’s suggestion that they were considering other options for the page should be viewed with dubiety. Mr Murdoch and credibility do not sit well together. It is more likely that, instead of a little less nipple inside the cover, the other options will include a lot more titillation.

In fairness to The Sun, it knows the mentality of its readership. Do people, who while ogling Lucy from Milton Keynes in all her glory, if not any of her clothes, really believe she has a worthwhile

place. Hopefully this could be considered in the new building as it would be nice to see a more central space for those who might require a place for prayer and reflection.

The world is an amazing place and a big part of multiculturalism is the ability to move freely and respectfully where ever you choose.

I implore you all to make the effort to gain knowledge of the different cultures around you.

Bournemouth University welcomed more than 16,000 international and domestic students through its doors in 2011

opinion on North Korea as a nuclear threat. Why else would they have News in Briefs?

However admirable Adam Trimby’s wishes might be, the harsh reality is that since day one Page 3 nudity has been a major contributory selling factor to The Sun and to its huge circulation.

For no other reason, any change is unlikely.

Also, in the prevailing economic climate, there is probably no shortage of Z List wannabes with aspirations to follow in the footsteps of Lucy from Milton Keynes and assume the rather dubious title of Glamour Model.

“Misogynistic ways” is a bit strong. There is no evidence that those at The Sun are women haters.

Lucy, on receipt of her regular fat cheques, would not see them as such.

Anyway, Lucy thinks Misogyny is the Scottish New Year…

CARINE06

Gay wedding, mixed reception

Sun’s Page 3 Stephen Adams from West Sussex

not that I’m judging. Promotions for alternative events need to have the same support as the standard Friday night at Lollipop.

In regards to social areas, religious space does exist on campus, The Chaplaincy in the Talbot House, but this is slightly segregated from the centre of campus. It is a lovely welcoming space open to all however many more could benefit from it if it were a more accessible

Sam Thomson from Bradford-on-Avon In the last issue of The Rock, I noticed what could easily be construed as a masterful piece of trolling on the subject of gay marriage. It was indelicately argued that the “hype” surrounding gay marriage was generated by an inherent Christian understanding amongst all people that marriage is sacred between a man and a woman.

This is supposedly the same inherent understanding that if a father sells his daughter as a slave she is never to go free as male slaves do (Exodus 21:7-9) or that if your son misbehaves, he should be stoned to death by the village elders (Deuteronomy 21:18-21).

It’s too easy to take The

Bible out of context as I just have.

Annoyingly, Christians objecting to gay marriage are doing much the same thing.

The meaning of the word ‘abomination’ - used in the Bible to describe homosexuality – has evolved over the course of history.

The word originally meant ‘uncustomary’, and later ‘unclean’. It has never been a word for sanctioned bigotry.

We live in more rational and enlightened times than those in which Christianity has its roots.

That’s why you can’t enslave your daughter, or execute your son.

Allowing homosexual couples to enjoy the same rights as anyone else is uncustomary, but I’m yet to see a rational, logical argument from anyone as to why it is unclean or offensive.

It was also argued that gay marriage would “cause confusion”.

Now, that is offensive. Given that

it has been proven that sexual orientation is partially determined at a genetic level, I can understand why some Christians might have a hard time getting their head around homosexuality. But given that genetics is part of the National Curriculum for primary school children, I’m sure any confusion could easily be cleared up.

Until now, I’ve given little thought to the gay marriage debate. The reason being, it has nothing to do with me.

Until someone shows me a rational, reasoned argument based on self-evident fact as to why gay people don’t deserve the same rights as me, I’m all for gay marriage.

Get involved...

Email our opinions editor Oliver Hill ohillrocks@gmail. com with your response

Atrium Art Gallery Bournemouth University Poole House, Talbot Campus Fern Barrow, Poole Dorset BH12 5BB

Enquiries to: Julie Herring, Curator T: +44 (0)1202 961428 E: atrium-gallery@bournemouth.ac.uk

Single Journey, Ink, acrylic and collage on paper, 122 x 183cm David Atkins

The Art of Making: Handcrafted 2D works Curated by Julie Herring The Art of potter Bernard Leach; printmaking by David Atkins, Demeter Dykes, Ruth Oaks & Poole Printmakers; charcoal drawing by Julia Polonski; and photography by Krishula Auckland and Denis Roberts

Thursday 14 February – Saturday 6 April 2013 Monday- Saturday, 9am-6pm,

free admission This gallery exhibition supports the new display of public art on Talbot Campus: The Art of Making: Handcrafted & Traditional Skills www.bournemouth.ac.uk/atrium-gallery

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The Rock | Thursday 7 March 2013

FEATURES

Justice on trial

With the dismissal of the jury in the Vicky Pryce trial, and the absence of a jury in the Pistorius murder case, one of the oldest and most divisive debates of the legal world has been reignited – are juries a help or a hindrance to justice?

Myah Guild

Trial by jury is one of the oldest rights in legal history. Its origins can be traced back to Article 39 of the pivotal Magna Carta of 1215, seen by many as the first proclamation of human rights, which says the “free man shall not be… imprisoned…unless by the judgement of his peers”.

This principle, though disputed in the past, is a fundamental aspect of English law and is

Migration

How false information can skew opinion

16

E-Sports

The gamers making their hobby a job

21

Email

tbeasleyrocks@gmail.com

generally accepted to be a fair way to judge the actions of individuals.

However, the layman status of jurors undoubtedly exposes their fallibility, especially when their lack of legal expertise is shown to threaten proceedings, as seen in the mistrial of Vicky Pryce, the former wife of disgraced Liberal Democrat politician Chris Huhne.

The lack of understanding shown by the jurors in the trial and the ten, now infamous, questions sent to Mr Justice Sweeney, were called, by the judge himself, “fundamental deficits of understanding”. This resulted in their dismissal for failing to reach a unanimous, or even a majority, verdict in the case.

Delay in time, along with cost, is one of the potential drawbacks of a jury system. The decision has postponed the sentencing of Chris Huhne following his conviction for perverting the course of justice.

He will have to wait until the end of Pryce’s second trial to find out if his perversion of the course of justice will result in a custodial sentence, though his change to a guilty plea at the beginning of his trial may lessen his chances of a prison term.

So is it therefore the fault of the layman or the expert if a legal concept is not understood? In a BBC interview, held a day after the Pryce mistrial, John Cooper QC, attributed the blame firmly at the latter’s door saying: “If the jury does not understand a point, let’s blame us and let’s blame the judge... the alternative is frightening – the alternative is not

The idea that a “ lone judge may be an increasingly more favourable option over juries is a hugely significant difference

”

being tried by our peers and being tried by a judge.”

This ‘alternative’ prospect is one that has displayed itself in the unfolding murder trial of Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius.

The absence of juries in South Africa - where these courts were

abolished in 1969 - is a legal aspect that has not gone unnoticed and its timing alongside the Vicky Pryce case has drawn some inevitable comparisons between the two.

The idea that a lone judge may be an increasingly more favourable option over juries is a hugely significant difference.

Though most criminal cases do not involve juries (they typically in the UK concern ‘summary’ or minor – offences like assault and driving

Is it sensible to allow a “ learned, and supposedly moral, expert of the law the opportunity to judge the actions of an ordinary person?

”

offences) the remaining percentage, however small, has been, up until now, heard before a jury.

Such cases, heard in Crown Courts before a judge and 12 jurors, see defendants accused of a range of more serious – ‘indictable’ – offences, which may range from murder and manslaughter, to perverting the course of justice – the offence in question in the trials of both Huhne and Pryce.

However, the British courts have not avoided trials without juries entirely. August 1973 saw the establishment of the ‘Diplock courts’ in Northern Ireland set up to combat the ‘Troubles’, and named after the lord who called for judicial action there, the trials saw the suspension of trial in front of a jury and tried 300 people a year in the 1980s.

Before these courts were abolished in 2007, Abbas Boutrab became the first non-republican case to appear in a Diplock court. The suspected al-Qaeda sympathiser was given a six-year prison sentence in 2005 for seeking information on how to bomb a passenger jet.

In South Africa, a similar type of court will determine Oscar Pistorius’s guilt.

There, a judge does not only sentence the defendant(s), but also determines the verdict - which centres on the reasonability of the actions they carried out.

The legal system of the country, which abolished its jury system due to its history of fraught racial politics, has drawn attention to the

alternative option of judge-led trials, as opposed to those involving juries.

However, the basis of our reliance on juries and the fundamental question that remains is this: is it sensible to allow a learned, and supposedly moral, expert of the law the opportunity to judge the actions of an ordinary person?

Those who say ‘yes’ envisage a system supposedly without fallibility where accountability is placed on the presiding judge, based upon years of legal training and experience.

There would be no perceived risk of corruption or ‘jury nobbling’ and there may be less restrictive reporting conditions on trials, because there would be no jury to compromise or prejudice with the material published.

Some may go as far as to argue that this would ensure a better chance of a fair trial, which is one of, if not the most important, aspects of our legal system, and, in broader terms, society.

Despite this, others have argued that juries are the epitome of fairness. It could be contended that their absence would leave our entire court system in an autocratic, and therefore undemocratic state, with ordinary people losing their right to a jury trial.

This is a situation that would undoubtedly undermine our constitution and the national sense of strong morality that has always been part of our society.

The presence of 12 people, whose genders, ages and backgrounds should range across the social spectrum, is seen as a check or a balance, and a sign that we are conforming to the idea of being judged by the standards of the society in which we live.

According to the presiding judge, the Pryce jury must now forget what came before and therefore “judge the case afresh”.

In the wake of this, the words of another judge, Lord Denning – one of the most respected and revered figures in the history of English legal system – may prove key to the overarching debate for years after they were first spoken by the prominent lawman back in 1965: “It [trial by jury of peers] has been the bulwark of our liberties too long for any of us to seek to alter it.

“Whenever a man is on trial for serious crime or when in a civil case a man’s honour or integrity is at stake... then trial by jury does not have an equal.”

16 features

Thursday 7 March 2013 | The Rock

A union of equality In January 2014 working restrictions for Romania and Bulgaria will be abolished, prompting talk of a massive wave of immigrants coming to the UK. Polina Stoyanova investigates the political situation and what the outcome will be on both sides of the debate Since Bulgaria and Romania joined the European Union back in 2007, more than 100,000 of their citizens have found themselves living and working in the UK, under certain immigration and work rules.

Bulgaria and Romania are the only countries in Europe whose citizens need to obtain a Yellow Card (work permit) in order to work in the UK. However, after January 1, 2014 the two Eastern European countries will be entitled to work freely as the transitional immigration controls are expected to be lifted.

Some reports suggest that an influx of 50,000 ‘poverty-stricken’ Bulgarians and Romanians may flood Britain prompting fears over the United Kingdom’s ability to cope.

Figures have

been produced based on someone’s seemingly random calculations and just a few weeks ago the media was bombarded with xenophobic and offensive headlines on a whole new level. Bulgarians and Romanians have even been described in strong terms as the “wretched of the earth”

by Trevor Kavanagh in The Sun. It seems that everything has been exaggerated, so it seems like a spectacle, a tragicomedy, where unfortunate stories and misinformation makes whole nations look bad and entire, undeserving groups of people are demonised.

Ralitza Beher is a Bulgarian who used to live and study in the United Kingdom but packed her bags and chose to pursue her career back in her home country.

Surprised by the negative comments of the UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage made regarding her home country, she sent him an open letter in response to his claims. In the letter, she points out what she considers to be untrue regarding the data mentioned, and corrects the false accusations Mr Farage made

whilst he was speaking about the issue on TV. After his lengthy scaremongering and insulting, Mr Farage appeared to be really understanding in response to Ralitza’s letter of complaint.

“I’m pleased my comments have helped create a debate in Bulgaria, a proud country with many well-educated people and much to celebrate. I love my country but it does not mean I hate yours.

I know many fantastic Bulgarian people and Farage: prominently anti-EU FREEDOM ASSOCIATION I have no desire to

dislike or disparage the wonderful people of Bulgaria,” said Mr Farage.

Huge numbers of Bulgarians and Romanians are acutely insulted

In 2014 Bulgarians “ and Romanians will be able to work not freely but at least without the currently required work permit

”

by the accusation that they would be stealing benefits when many would rather work 24 hours a day to support their families.

The official numbers of immigrants from these two countries contains many students, who are also not given the right to work during their studies.

This can only change after they are issued a Yellow Card, the application process for which takes up to 10 months. That leaves them without any additional income and any type of work they undertake is considered illegal.

It seems ridiculous that students from these two countries only, who were accepted to study for higher education qualifications in UK universities, are subjected to such stringent regulations.

Kristine Petrova, a Bulgarian citizen, studying at Bournemouth University, wrote on her blog: “In 2014 Bulgarians and Romanians will be able to work not freely but at least without the currently required work permit.

However, consider how the public opinion will change after this political theatre.

“Furthermore, how will companies and organisations evaluate anyone from one of those countries? Most of them decline work applications already.”

Another Bulgarian student in the UK, Aleksandra Galonova says: “I am not asking for benefits, I want a chance to be a proud EU member. I want to be treated with respect and to be called by my name, not just by my nationality.

“I want, when I apply for work, to be assessed by my achievements not passport. I want to not be used for the sake of political campaigns.

“And most of all, I want to have the same rights, not as Brits but as all other Europeans.“

But the Bulgarian Ambassador to the UK, Konstantin Dimitrov claims that there won’t be an influx as “most of the people who sought jobs in Britain have already done so”.

He also presents another point.

Why the UK? It is not the most desirable and obvious destination for other nationalities to visit.

He says Bulgarians are more connected to other European Union countries such as Germany and Italy than they are to the UK. Romanian Ambassador Dr Ion Jinga adds to the debate: “Romanians’ immigration pattern is not towards the UK but towards Spain, Italy and France, [there is a] language proximity, Romanian being a Latin language.“ There was even news about the Brits making strategies to persuade Romanians and Bulgarians to stay away from the United Kingdom once the working restrictions are eventually lifted at the beginning of next year.

These included launching a negative campaign in each of the two countries to present the UK as an

“

I am not asking for benefits. I want a chance to be a proud EU member. I want to be treated with respect and to be called by my name, not my nationality

”

undesirable place in which to live – ‘it rains and the jobs are scarce and low-paid’.

Meanwhile, in Bulgaria a community, called “Not OK for the UK “, has been launched on Facebook in response to the barrage of media clichés that have been perpetuated as part of the immigration debate.

A different perspective suggests that the ongoing storm throughout the media is a strategy meant to distract public attention from other, stories in order to create an immigration-based smokescreen over the issues.

As elections are approaching, Nigel Farage and the UK Independence Party that he leads want to win votes, exploiting people’s fear for their jobs with the repeated cry: “Vote for us as we have a plan for action!”

Commentary

“

These articles are forgetting one point. Bulgarians DON’T want to go to the UK at all.

Since the press have started this campaign there have been protests in Sofia against these stories. I live and work here in Bulgaria; there is a large British expat community here, who up until now have got on very well with their Bulgarian neighbours. There is the start of a backlash against the expats now as a result of this campaign. Bulgarians are a very warm-hearted, friendly welcoming people, and despite the many problems they have here they are also very patriotic. This campaign is so wrong in many ways.

”

Dave Brit in Bulgaria

“

I felt quite depressed because, in the media, there were a lot of articles relating to how bad Romanians and Bulgarians were. They felt discriminatory and seemed to spread only fear and hatred. I didn’t know what to believe: I knew there were a few Romanians and Bulgarians who came to the UK to steal, beg and do dirty deeds, but was it quite as bad as it was portrayed in the media? UKIP is using the bad image of Romanians and Bulgarians as political propaganda and I don’t know how far this will go into the hearts of people. I for one believe in the fairness and intuition of the British people.

”

Andrei Romanian in the UK

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The Rock | Thursday 7 March 2013

The best medicine?

Heats for the Chortle Student Comedy Award are beginning nationwide, putting university stand-up centre stage. Preparing to step up to the mic himself, Tom Beasley discusses the popularity of the art form

Adam Kay supports the Chortle Student Comedy Award IDIL SUKAN

Everyone loves to laugh and, when you’re paying £9,000 a year for a university course, you certainly need something to smile about. As such, stand-up comedy is something that goes down very well with the student population.

The monthly Comedy Nation event in Bournemouth fills the Old Firestation with a gaggle of giggling fans who return every month to see some of the best comics working on the circuit.

As well as enjoying an evening out at the local comedy night, students are often keen to dabble in comedy themselves. I have been attempting stand-up for a number of years at open mic nights in my hometown and wanted to start performing at a higher level.

As a result, I entered the Chortle Student Comedy Award – a stand-up competition for university students run by the UK’s leading comedy website. The award is currently holding heats all over the country, each with a different circuit comic as compere. I’m set to take to the stage in Southampton on March 11, to be introduced by Comedy Nation headliner and remarkable punsmith Stephen Grant.

It’s by far the biggest gig I have ever done, although I feel I may benefit from a crowd geared up for comedy rather than the musiccentric open mic audiences to which I am accustomed. For some reason, I also think that jokes about music festivals and Top Gear may go down significantly better with an audience made up almost entirely of students.

The competition is hugely popular, with many students wishing to get into comedy whilst at uni – perhaps to explore the mounds of material created by any night out.

As stand-up is experiencing a surge in popularity on television, the old maxim of “the new rock ‘n’ roll” may well apply. Live at the Apollo, Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow, Stand Up for the Week and ITV reality programme Show Me the Funny have all graced

screens in recent years, ensuring that stand-up comedians are now legitimately famous personalities outside of dingy bars.

One good television appearance is sometimes all that it takes for a comic to be catapulted from comedy club obscurity to a sell-out show at London’s 02.

Whilst once it would take years of hard slog on the unforgiving circuit before a big gig or a tour was even a remote possibility, it’s now possible to conduct a remarkable meteoric rise in the field of comedy.

For this reason, the draw of fame is

Comedians are “ generally socially awkward individuals, who are profoundly needy and require constant reassurance from strangers that they’re funny

”

likely to take talented, performanceminded students towards trying their hands at making people laugh.

Adam Kay – one half of the comedy duo behind the acerbic London Underground song – has a slightly different opinion on why students feel the need to try comedy and whether this is a good thing.

“Comedians are generally socially awkward individuals, who are profoundly needy and require constant reassurance from strangers that they’re funny. One therefore shouldn’t be surprised that comedians are well represented amongst a student population.

“Most people who try stand-up are absolutely terrible and never repeat the experience. It’s best to get this out of the way as soon as possible – so university is the perfect time.”

Cynicism aside, the Chortle Student Comedy Award is as good a way as any for hopefuls to try

themselves out and see whether they have any future in comedy, alongside getting a degree.

It would be deluded to immediately assume that a Chortle win automatically would lead to a successful career in stand-up, but it worked for names such as Joe Lycett and Lloyd Langford.

For perspective, Inbetweeners star Simon Bird was beaten in the final… twice. If the man responsible for Will McKenzie – one of the new millennium’s most indelible comic characters – can’t win the competition, then it’s clear that the standard of the acts involved is incredibly high.

Adam is a big fan of the award, calling it “an absolutely fantastic competition - one that has been a springboard for some of the best names on the circuit”. Last year’s winner, Kwame Asante played Comedy Nation late last year and is now signed onto the same agency as Micky Flanagan.

As for me, I’ve always enjoyed being on stage, even if comedy is utterly terrifying. There isn’t a feeling in the world worse than hitting a punchline, pausing for a laugh and hearing nothing but stunned silence.

People say that stand-up makes me brave, but there’s nothing brave about standing on a stage and aiming potshots at famous people.

It remains to be seen whether my comedy career will go anywhere or even whether I’ll get past the heats of the Chortle award.

I just hope someone laughs.

Thursday 7 March 2013 | The Rock

CHARLOTTE DART

18 features

features 19

The Rock | Thursday 7 March 2013

From dead poets to pub stand-up

Twitter War

Elisabeth Pontoski has been flourishing since performing her poetry live on stage at The Winchester’s Freeway event. She spoke to Julia Denni and Katrina Quick about her writing career

Elisabeth Pontoski, a Bournemouth University undergraduate, started performing her poetry in public for the first time at The Winchester, a bar, and arts and entertainment venue at The Triangle.

She was pushed into an open mic night and then was asked to perform as a guest poet. The last Freeway poetry night was only her third time performing, and she says she still finds the whole experience “incredibly intimidating”. Elisabeth

are not a bunch of “sad,Weupset teenagers; it’s a lot deeper than that ” performed the poem ‘Twitter War’ at the event and received a loud round of applause from the audience.

Elisabeth explains that in her opinion, anyone and everyone can become involved with poetry. “If people open up and realise that we are not a bunch of sad, upset teenagers, it’s a lot deeper. You can be funny, silly, but to be honest is the most important thing.”

Elisabeth moved here from the States a little over five years ago, and explains the culture differences that she discovered.

“From what I experienced, it is definitely a bit more open, a bit freer to play with, and England comes from such a rich history of poetry and prose. I think a lot of that is still very much taught and there are people who still subscribe to those sorts of ideas and romanticisms.”

The poet feels that without Freeway, she might not have had the opportunity to perform, as her confidence was knocked after she got teased and bullied for her talent.

“I sort of got found out. There was a stigma attached and I got teased for it a lot in elementary and middle school. I stopped for a while and wrote more non-fiction, tried to get more into journalism.” Coming to England however allowed Elisabeth to flourish as a poet. “Since I have been here I’ve realised that it’s perfectly fine to put whatever creative weird thought that I have out there.”

She argues that poetry, particularly performance poetry, is making a strong comeback. “Fewer people read poetry, but they actively seek out places to go and experience it. It really has become part of these weird

places where people test their talent against one another in a poetry slam, and even rap battle. It’s definitely jumped out of the pages of books into a performance arena.”

Even in this environment, there are problems. Elisabeth recognises that not everyone feels comfortable sharing their poetry. “It’s always a sort of deeply personal thing, but it’s coming out more and more as we are getting more and more confident.”

Elisabeth however does acknowledge the “weird stigma” attached to writing poetry, the idea that poets are just “sad teenagers” that write dear diary style moans and, “romantic rhyming couplets about that guy who sits behind them in class”.

The poem ‘Twitter War’ focuses on her own feelings of frustration towards technology such as Twitter and Facebook, which can prevent actual human interaction. “You get these people who sort of walk around and are complete zombies and they’re just constantly head down, checking their Twitter, texting somebody that could be right down the hall. I’m guilty of it too.”

Elisabeth gives her boyfriend as an example, saying he “actually started getting cramps in his neck and having real bad problems because he spent so much time looking down at his phone”.

‘Twitter War’ is a humorous poem that laughs at today’s obsession with technology. Elisabeth wanted the poem to be “kind of funny about it”. She certainly succeeds, with references to “hipster kids” and “Instagram skid marks”.

Elisabeth’s writing is inspired not only by everyday things such as her frustration at technology, but poets such as Dorothy Parker, who have that “sort of gin pickled honesty.

Half of the poets who inspire me are dead. One exception is Mindy Murphy, contemporary poet from the States. She is very much a free verse, spoken word, heavy on feminism, but also incredibly funny, and then Rosie Garland who performed at Freeway.” Garland was the headliner of the February event and performed a shockingly truthful poem about cancer. It is easy to identify the similarities between their poetry. In terms of structure, Elisabeth feels she has developed her style as she has grown older.

“I used to write a lot of free verse but I am starting to learn as I grow as a writer to be more structured and understand form, the more I

understand the actual logistic of poetry, the less afraid I am to play with it.”

Like many poets, she also draws on music for inspiration. “Poetry is around us all the time, we are just used to having a tune to it.” Musical artists that influence Elisabeth’s work include Joni Mitchell, David Bowie and Bob Dylan, people who “automatically incorporate a lot of poetry into their music”.

Elisabeth says of her future involvement with writing poetry: “it is definitely something that I will always have for me.”

She doesn’t expect any money from her poetry or to get it published because: “in this day and age there is not much of a market for it unless you have a full-on collection.”

However she doesn’t only write poetry, she is also a keen screenwriter, so hopes to gain exposure through entering various competitions.

She is interested in a variety genres, “I’d like to get into comedy, TV writing.”

Elisabeth doesn’t write about any subject in particular: “I have about 85 posts-its in my room of ideas that I never quite follow through. I go for whatever, pick and choose what I would like to be read out loud and just hope that it’s something people will like at the performance.”

people “whoYousortgetofthese walk around and are complete zombies and they’re just constantly head down, checking their Twitter

”

Elisabeth explains that she doesn’t feel that she has to change for the audience, “they’re fine with what may be a little more controversial, a little more touchy.

“It would be nice to see a happy medium between print and performance, where people go and experience these things and then take it home with them to write and use that inspiration.”

If you’re interested in Elisabeth’s poetry, you can

Here it is, gals and gents.

Hate to steam, love to vent.

We live in the age of mobile phones And I don’t mean to moan but For the sweet love of Christ, Get out of the street.

“Remove head from ass And then send a tweet” Look up, hipster kids.

Micro-bloggers.

Instagram skids In the digital age.

Open a book, Turn a page.

Get out of the nook, Kindle a real thing.

That’s right, a live human being.

Touch someone, Hold them near.

Put down that ridiculous App about IPA beer.

Unsubscribe from celebs Who hold guns to their heads In the wake of serious tragedy And instead, look at me.

And that cramp in your neck, Yeah, that one right there, That crick.

Why not look away from that game, Just once, you dick.

Unsubscribe from trending And instant retro cats.

Pictures of nail art and “Oh, shit. Did she just tweet that?”

Pay attention now, girls, Enough with the duck pout.

It won’t get you laid.

read her blog: http://empliddlebitpoetry.blogspot. co.uk. Freeway poetry night at the Winchester is on the 6th of every month.

Hashtag, I’m out.

features 21

The Rock | Thursday 7 March 2013

Gamer to sportsman The 2012 Olympics brought the UK’s leading sportspeople to the top of their game on the world stage in front of millions. Meanwhile, huge in South Korea and growing worldwide, e-sports is the most popular sport that you never knew existed

Star Craft 2 is at the forefront of the developing e-sports industry, which is a national sport in South Korea. It draws huge live crowds and TV audiences, making a living for its skilled players CHRIS FAY

Chris Fay

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Across the fields of a burnt out, crater-scarred landscape, the Zerg horde swarms over the horizon.

The dedicated armies of the Protoss stand ready to engage, Stalkers lurk in the shadows while Zealots prepare to charge murderously into the fray.

These alien forces clash in a violent maelstrom of purple blood and crackling energy weapons, the fate of a planet hanging in the balance. Each movement, each attack expertly calculated by the commander of the Protoss army, Laurence ‘Laurster’ Weaver.

Laurence sits at his computer, his fingers crawling across his clicking and clacking mechanical keyboard as his mouse hand moves with pinpoint accuracy, controlling his troops like a space age Julius Caesar. The victory is completely effortless, and does not come without Laurence’s characteristic arrogance.

“He was only a Diamond player.

He should have expanded ages, ago. All those little mistakes he was making, he could have won.”

Laurence is one of a new generation of athlete, gamers gone pro in the

growing world of e-sports. This world is dominated by Star Craft 2, a real time strategy game which has sold more than 4.5 million units.

Players are ranked on a graded ladder according to their skill level, starting from the rank of Bronze and continuing through Silver, Gold,

I have streams on “ nearly all day now. I’m watching too much at the moment. It makes you get better, which is why I watch them

”

Platinum, Diamond, Masters and Grand Masters. Laurence began his Star Craft 2 (SC2) carrier in August 2011, and immediately gained the rank of Silver.

“I began watching pros before I actually bought the game. My friend recommended it to me for fun. When I started I didn’t watch as much as I do now. I have streams on nearly all day. I’m watching too much at the moment. It makes you get better, which is why I watch them mostly.”

For professional SC2 players, the money doesn’t come from tournaments or sponsorships, but from streaming their game play and gaining viewers on YouTube channels and partnerships. This requires hours and hours of time playing the game.

Sean ‘Day9’ Plott is one of the earliest pro-gamers outside of Asia.

He began by playing Star Craft – Brood war, the precursor to SC2, and is now one of the biggest names in the emerging field of e-sports.

“You very much have to think like an entrepreneur. You cannot rely on templates or employment or something like that. It’s kind of funny, 99.9% of people get a job and are paid a fixed amount of money, but it never occurs to them that that money has to come from somewhere. It’s not coming from your company; the company is earning it in some way.”

Sean branched out from progaming to creating online content for gaming sites, particularly his own show, the Day9 Daily. He has since been listed on Forbes top 30 under 30 for his role in e-sports and progaming and is a main commentator at e-sports events across the globe.

“If you do something like get a team sponsorship and it gets you like $800 and you need about $2500 a month to live comfortably, you need to think how do I get that.

“And you start really trying hard to think if I stream for 8 hours a day that can get about $200-400 a month, and now I need to make that work, so you start doing coaching seasons and shoutcasts.”

Laurence realises this and has recently put in the £1,000 investment to purchase a PC capable of streaming his play.

“I’m really looking forward to doing it. The amount I’ve learned from watching streams is ridiculous,

so I want to give that back. I realised quite late on watching the player MaximusBlack: he quit his job, and got a new house, a new car and he makes that money streaming and through partners on YouTube.

“That was the first time I realised it was viable. If I could make enough money to quit my job and just get properly into Star Craft 2, I think I would like that a lot more than some retail job.”

To get the viewers, you need the name to go with it. This fame comes with tournament wins. This also attracts sponsors.

Getting to this level of play takes a lot of time and practice. So much so that it becomes all consuming. Sean Plott knows what that life requires.

“One of the hardest things as a player for one is self-motivation.

One of the hardest “things as a player for one is self-motivation. No one is actually making you do this thing

”

No one is actually making you do this thing. Because there’s not a lot of money involved in the industry correspondingly there’s not going to be someone saying ‘Dude you gotta play 8 hours a day or I’m going to fire you, or I’m going to cut you from the team or your contract requires you to practice’.

“You have to wake up on days when you really

don’t want to play and motivate yourself to make yourself play.

“But imagine if you were going to the gym and a lot of the time you would lose, you would come out less healthy than when you went it, but you know in the end this will make you better if you just keep going. That’s what it’s like being a professional gamer.

When you are at that high level, there is no-one to guide you. There is almost no one that you can trust and rely upon other than yourself.”

In South Korea, Star Craft is a national sport. Television stations broadcast regular matches and tournaments. In Korea, the gamers are kings. Known by their gaming handles, they are superstars.

The lack of acceptance of e-sports in the UK definitely holds back aspiring gamers.

“It’s tough and it won’t happen overnight, if at all. Playing professionally in a team at that level takes as much if not physical athleticism but mental athleticism as any other sport but because it’s a video game people turn their noses up at it. I really want to spread the enjoyment. There is nothing I want more than someone like Day9 being a household name.”

Invitations to high level tournaments and masses of stream viewers are only earned through hard, gruelling effort. As for money, well that may take its time to follow.

22 features

Thursday 7 March 2013 | The Rock

Photographer of the Fortnight Matthew Cooper

When did I start photography? I don’t really know as the idea of framing the world around me to create a photograph has interested me from a very young age.

I got serious about photography when I was ten during a canal trip.

With that, a city boy from Coventry suddenly saw the beautiful sights of

the countryside. I caught the ‘urge’ which I couldn’t control and all I wanted to do was take photos. From then I knew that I wanted to be a professional photographer.

I started small, taking photos of landscapes and family parties through the years whilst upgrading my skill watching YouTube videos

and teaching myself photography whilst also upgrading my cameras.

In 2009, I got my first DSLR: an Olympus E-420. Two years later, I upgraded to my beloved Canon.

Nine years on from my inspiring canal holiday, I’m currently at university pursuing my career using my skills, along with new

knowledge gained in workshops from experienced professionals in the industry.This helps me to create photographs with the same passion as my ten-year-old self.

www.flickr.com/mcooperphotography

One that inspires me I’ve never really tied myself down to one particular style of photography as it’s an everchanging format and I feel you need to be flexible in what you can produce. However, I really had a problem with fashion photography. I really love the work of expert practitioners such as Rankin and Perou and would love to be in the industry and take photos like they do. The problem was that I had never taken a single fashion photo in my entire life.

When a chance came to do fashion and portraiture photography as part of my university course, I gave it a try and was really happy with the results. I was going for a very modern alternate fashion shoot. The models were great and really comfortable in front of the camera.

I love the urban feel to the image and the expressionless faces, which add to the alternate fashion look. The photo really inspires me to take risks and to be out of my comfort zone. When I feel that something may be a risk and there may be an easier route, I go to this set of images. I now can say that fashion/band style images are a type of photography I can do, whereas before I was a bit hesitant.

One that I treasure This photo really means a lot to me and my heritage, my nan and granddad and their parents were brought up on the boats working to supply coal from the mines to factories. This image was taken under a project title of ‘Evidence Of Human Presence’ the idea to this photo was that a young narrow boater who worked on the boats took a ball of wool with him everywhere he went and would lay down the wool as a mark that he has been there.

I really like how I got the original features of the canal, like the lock under the old bridge next to the lockmaster’s house. I also like how I replicated the sepia toning to add some age to the image.

I treasure this image as it is aesthetically pleasing, but has a lot of meaning to my heritage and also my journey as a photographer. It all comes back to the canal, this is where realised I wanted to be a photographer.

The Rock | Thursday 7 March 2013

features 23

My favourite photograph I don’t really have a favourite photograph, but instead a variety. This is a recent favourite because I really love the vibrant colours and detail in this image. I prefer pictures full of detail, which you can look at for hours finding different little things. That is what this image is for me. I took this shot using a process called High Dynamic Range, which uses several images at different exposures of the same location which are then merged together to get a finished product. This then makes it possible for you to see to the back of this very deprived house, but also to give some more detail to the colours making them highly saturated, which I really like.

I love the framing and the amount you can see in the abandoned house and how interesting it is. For example, you can see the walls are falling down along with the ceiling and, when looking at the photo closely, you can spot some very quirky objects in the building.

FASHION MUSIC CULTURE LIFESTYLE ISSUE 3 IS OUT NOW www.pebblezine.com

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SPORT

The Rock | Thursday 7 March 2013

Ben Fisher

SPORTS EDITOR

Beach Soccer in town 30

The Rock has already spoken to Olympic stars including Dan Hunter and Zara Dampney, and both Paralympian Darren Kenny and gold-medalist shooter Peter Wilson will feature in the next issue. All of these are inspirational characters who form part of an Olympic legacy puzzle built on the back of London 2012.

It would seem, then, that sport here in England is looking pretty rosy, but with the news of Lance Armstrong doping his way to seven Tour de France victories and Oscar Pistorius’ unexpected court trial, it’s fair to say that, globally, sport has had better starts to the year.

In the north, news of the Don Valley Stadium closing down in Sheffield is just another blow to a legacy that is fast fading, following the already farcical fiasco of the Olympic stadium and whose hands that may end up in.

The 25,000-seater stadium was a springboard for the success Jessica Ennis and Team GB enjoyed, but it will be closed due to extensive

Unlucky number thirteen Armstrong’s public downfall has been the negative this year but there could be many more KELLY council funding cuts. That, coupled with the news of cricketer Tom Maynard taking recreational drugs which led to his early death at the age of 23, raises even further questions about the state of sport in this country. There are widespread and largely innate issues. The Surrey batsman’s death did though lead to the English Cricket Board admitting they could have and should have done more.

Look at Michael Chopra, for one, who admitted pouring years of his footballing wages into horseracing and gambling, yet he’s found his way back onto the football pitch.

It’s been a bad year so far, but you would hope it can only get better.

Adam Spencer-Hicken

Tim Taylor

As the Lance Armstrong drug saga boiled down to a shocking conclusion, this exposed the sharp reality of the biggest threat that still faces modern day sport.

Someone held in such high regard for all of his record- breaking achievements to be completely turned on its head because of drug cheating is just a slap in the face to sport. For the world’s most famous Paralympian to also be facing such charges is simply disastrous.

After all the anticipation and excitement of an Olympic summer on our doorstep, it seems the bitter aftermath has started to creep in. Iconic cyclist Lance Armstrong being stripped of all his le Tour titles is now combined with the news that Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius faces a murder trial. It seems that although we’ve seen the elegant highs over the past 12 months, sport is now making the front pages for all of the wrong reasons.

Unbeaten varsity success 29 Back to the old stomping ground 27

Email

benfisherrocks@gmail.com

Red card to cancer

A charity match will see the Bournemouth Poppies tackle the BU Varsity side in aid of the Youth Cancer Trust good cause EDHOLM

Jack Cozens DEPUTY SPORTS EDITOR

University is often seen to be the training ground of future businessmen and women, offering them a chance to hone their skills before venturing into the real world.

And so it has proved to be the case for Jill Af Edholm, Jade Clarke, Elena Jociute, Josie Pymm, Zoe Passingham and Sarah Gallagher all second year Events Management

students, who have organised a charity football match as part of their studies.

The match will be played between Bournemouth Poppies and the university’s Varsity team at Victoria Park, home to the Poppies, on March 13, and proceeds from the event will be donated to the Youth Cancer Trust, a nationwide charity based in Bournemouth.

The girls were all united in selecting the charity, and there was one motivation in particular for Jade Clarke, which made the choice a lot easier. “I’m affiliated with youth

cancer so that’s one of the main reasons we chose that charity.

“My cousin died of cancer when he was 19, and this is something that I’m sure he’d have wanted to do.”

With one in three people likely to be affected by cancer during their lifetime, the girls hope that students will support their efforts.

“It’s something we’re hoping that students can relate to, as it affects so many people nowadays,” said Clarke.

Away from the university, the event has also received the backing of AFC Bournemouth, who are one

of the charity’s sponsors.

“They (AFC) are sending us some coaches to run workshops beforehand with a number of schools in the local area.”

In anticipation of a big turnout, the trio have set their sights on raising a significant amount of money on the day, as well whilst promoting the charity in the process.

“Basically we’re just trying to raise awareness for the charity and raise a figure around £1,000, because that will help greatly to send two people away. We’re hoping to create some sort of legacy.”

26 sport Ash Hover and Jack Cozens take a look at the latest sporting champ and chump

Unfortunately, there is no other winner. Picking up the Barclays Premier League player of the month award after scoring eight goals in six games, Gareth Bale has almost single handedly spearheaded Tottenham’s quest for Champions League qualification this year.

The entire world seems to have caught Bale fever. Social media was crammed with posts lauding the Welshman’s performance against West Ham last Monday, and with Spurs drawing Inter Milan in the next round of the Europa League, Bale has a great opportunity to prove just how worthy the comparisons between him and continental masters Messi and Ronaldo are. It’s strange to think a £3million move to Birmingham was on the cards back in 2009 after he went an astonishing 24 games for the Spurs before tasting victory, and even stranger to think he used to be a left-back. With a tenfold increase in value in four years, Chairman Daniel Levy is probably quite happy he kept hold of Bale for a little while longer.

Thursday 7 March 2013| The Rock

A world of sport Six Nations

As the tournament nears its end, all is still to play for in the penultimate fixtures of this year’s Six Nations. In a game that Stuart Lancaster will be watching closely, secondplaced Wales take on third-placed Scotland, with both sides looking to level England’s total of six points. Elsewhere, Ireland welcome France and England host Italy as they look to keep their 100% win rate going.

Ash Hover examines what’s happening this week across the globe including a chance for English sides to triumph in Europe

Europa League

Anzhi v Newcastle – After both qualifying as runners-up from their respective groups, Guus Hiddink and Alan Pardew’s sides meet for their first leg tie tonight at the Dynamo Stadium as Newcastle’s French revolution looks to replace their poor league form with a European trophy.

S Bucheresti v Chelsea – After scraping through the last round thanks to a brilliant last-gasp winner against Sparta Prague, Chelsea now face Romania’s most successful domestic team in history.

Bucharest were the first Eastern European team to win the European Cup all the way back in 1986.

Spurs v Inter – Otherwise dubbed as ‘Bale v Inter Round Two’. After his stunning 2010 San Siro hat-trick propelled the Welshman’s name onto the world scene, Bale has never looked back, and who knows what damage he can do now. Milan may have lost a number of key personnel over the past year but still boast the likes of Diego Milito and Antonio Cassano.

Cricket

New Z v England – Day Three of the first test from the University Oval cricket ground in Dunedin.

After taking the ODI series via a 2-1 win, England will be looking to leave with a test series win under their belts by the end of the month.

WINNER

LOSER Luiz Razia’s time in Formula1 could well be the shortest a driver has ever spent in the sport. The Brazilian, who was drafted in as Marussia’s second driver following the team’s decision to terminate the contract of Timo Glock, took part in just two days of testing in the squad’s pre-season schedule before having his own deal torn up following missed sponsorship payments.

The events that have taken place show just how ruthless the world of Formula1 can be, with the need for funding, particularly in the current financial climate.

The move has also offered a reprieve for his replacement, Jules Bianchi, who earlier last week had missed out on what was then the last remaining seat at Force India.

Though Marussia have been keen to stress that they would welcome him back in the future, that will come as little consolation to Razia.

Active platform for disabled The Active Dorset team allows an ever increasing number of disabled to get fit through the volunteer-based programme JONES

Tim Taylor

The concept of sport is too often accompanied with competitiveness, and emotions frequently filled with rage and anger. But with the Active Dorset disability programme, the concept of negativity is nonexistent.

Formed in 1997, Active Dorset is a sport institute that aims primarily to increase sporting participation amongst people with mental disabilities. Originally set up with Bournemouth University,

Active Dorset has managed to grow increasingly with regards to participation and five years ago became an independent sporting society. The organisation, like many others, receives most of its funding through the National Lottery with the help of the national institute Sport England, which aims to provide local sports programmes such as this with financial support in order to encourage young people into physical activity.

As well as running a weekly physical and activity based training session, Active Dorset also holds a ‘Special Olympics’ event each year.

This event provides opportunities specifically for people with mental

disabilities aged eight or older to train and perform in a competitive manner against one another.

Although tangible rewards are up for grabs, the main aim of the event is to develop traits like fitness, balance, co-ordination and cognitive and technical development.

Tony Jones Pert is the man behind this now popular and prosperous small sports club. As mentioned, this sports organisation began in 1997, and Pert has been running it for over 15 years. “When I first took over there were a handful of people coming along, now we’ve got over 50 regular members.” The organisation is part of what the Olympic legacy was aiming for by

providing coaching opportunities as well as equipment and facilities which the various activities require.

Nevertheless with the requirements of the participants the programme needs to accommodate, it can be difficult to provide sufficient resources on a weekly basis. Pert said: “Because of the Olympics we have had more interest and therefore more funding and better opportunities to facilitate what we want to achieve, which is for people to enjoy themselves through sport.”

There have been notable achievements made by many who have pursued the programme across many sports including table tennis and swimming.

sport 27

The Rock | Thursday 7 March 2013

Polonia get pulverized Ben Fisher

SPORTS EDITOR

Only two months after a January transfer to Wessex BU, Tomek Lasocki returned to not only face, but beat former club Polonia. The result means the team goes through to the final of the National League Cup, where they will face division one table-toppers Northumbria.

Lasocki said: “I transferred to Wessex in January for a number of reasons. When I was there [Polonia] we reached a cup final and won national titles, so when you see they are above us in the league, to beat them is amazing. It was a big ask to even compete and compare ourselves with them.

“It was a massive game, and a really good match, and our players did well to force them through with strong tactics and our head coach, Vangelis Koutouleas, who also coached at Polonia when I was there, is a very experienced

coach.” Lasocki, who touched on the partisan atmosphere, said the final against Northumbria won’t be easy: “They’ve had help and lots of money put into scholarship programmes. They have everything you can imagine when it comes to sports psychologists. It is definitely a positive and most universities should encourage volleyball. The last few years they have produced a dominant side in the game but we beat them on numerous occasions [at Polonia] and Wessex can do the same. I’m confident.”

Lasocki, despite representing Wessex BU, works and is based in London.

“It was only my third match for Wessex. It’s good but I do a lot of travelling up and down. The match [against Polonia] was in London.

I work, so juggling my work, and living in London with my volleyball isn’t easy.”

Wessex BU won 3-0 against Polonia London (25-20,25-23,2522), and as a result of that victory will now play Kettering at the National Volleyball Centre against Northumbria.

Tomek Lasocki faced his former club Polonia as Wessex BU triumphed into the cup final LASOCKI

A casual throw or a serious catch?

Adam Miyanji

Tournament preparations have seen the team’s Frisbee fly NETT

As the varsity season draws to an end, SportBU has seen much success, with the men’s lacrosse team maintaining their 100% record, and the women’s netball team reaching the final of the regional cup and sitting joint top of their division. However a sport which has been given nowhere near as much publicity, is on the way up. A sport many would even argue isn’t even actually a sport. Ultimate Frisbee.

Ultimate Frisbee, or ‘Ultimate’ as it known, is already part of the World Games and it’s pushing its way onto the Olympic stage.

Since its arrival to universities and colleges across Britain in 2006, Ultimate has grown at a frightening pace, and in 2007 a former student founded the club.

Last year, the BU Ultimate team competed in the Indoor National Championships in Birmingham.

Unfortunately for our boys, they finished last as they narrowly lost three of their games in sudden death.

Now the squad of 20 is focussing their attention on the outdoor form of the game at the regional championships in Cardiff this weekend. This is a test they will be relishing, and they are ranked 7th out of 24 in the region. In a warm-up tournament leading to the regionals at Brunel University, BU finished third, winning five of their eight games and making it a successful weekend.

Club President and current player Nathan Barnett was thrilled with the team’s performance at the warm up tournament.

“I think it’s put us in good stead for regionals, in terms of where we are. We know we’re seventh in the region, but our aim is to get that top six spot which gets us automatic qualification for the nationals.”

He added: “Our season pretty much hinges on these regionals.

Outdoors is more of an even playing field because of the wind, so we’re going to enjoy the tournament and hopefully get what we want.”

The constant progress of BU Ultimate has affirmed the selffunded club with shared backing from SportBU and SUBU next season. Funding for entry costs in major tournaments will be one of the

biggest positives for BU Ultimate, and by the 2014/15 season the squad will hopefully become a full varsity team.

“We are trying to make it the best beach tournament in the country.”

Andrew Tate, European Gold medallist with the GB mixed team in 2011 explains the intensity and skill required to play ultimate at the highest level.

“From my perspective you require a certain level of strength to power ratio, and I would say speed is one of the best attributes. Players who have got that pace over 30 and 40 metres are going to be generally successful up field, and it’s important to have a good jump or spring.”

Former student Nick Tate, Andrew’s brother, founded the club in 2007. He was the only student to participate in ultimate frisbee at the time in Bournemouth, before the rise of the sport at a university level.

“If you see the progress from where we started up until now, it is brilliant to see. We originally tried to get that varsity status set up in 2008 but we were at a stage where we couldn’t do that, but it’s great that it’s happened fairly quickly, and not just for the sake of the club but for the sport as a whole across the UK.”

28 sport

Thursday 7 March 2013 | The Rock

VARSITY

No need for boasting Jack Cozens

DEPUTY SPORTS EDITOR

The men’s squash team are embarking on an unprecedented season which could see them win all of their league fixtures in the Western 3A Division.

At the heart of the team is captain Max Lutostanski, who has been part of the squad for five years.

Following in the footsteps of his father and brother, Max took up the sport aged six at the Roehampton Club in London and started playing for Surrey at the age of 15.

Despite the extraordinary success achieved by the side, the captain insists that there is no secret formula behind their results.

“I wouldn’t say there are any

secrets behind our success. We knew this year that we had a squad stronger than BU have had in the last five years so we had a great chance of promotion. All of us just go into each game with a positive attitude knowing that another win takes us one step closer to winning the division.

“We have great depth in our squad with our stand out player being Simon Nicholls, who didn’t lose a match in his first year or last year as well as being in the top 50 in the UK in the U19 category.”

The team’s training regime may go some way to revealing their fine league form, and shows just how much dedication it takes to be a Varsity player, as Max explains: “Our training consists of two to three hours every Saturday, a beach run every Monday, an optional training session on Wednesday if there is no match and obviously a

compulsory night out for a win.

“Most of the team also go to the gym on their own a couple of times a week. Training sessions at our club, West Hants, normally involve a warm-up with some three-quarter court, moving onto some drills, court sprints, a bit of ghosting and then some competitive matches for the last half an hour.”

The captain has however been out since the turn of the year following an injury sustained during a football match, concluding his particpation in the unbeaten side for this season.

“I underwent surgery on my knee at the beginning of December after tearing my cruciate ligament and meniscus.

“It’s very frustrating being on the sidelines, as I have been part of this team for the last four and a half years and would like to have finished the year playing all the way through with an unbeaten season.

I’m happy though, having played for the team for five years only losing six matches in total.”

With Squash in contention to join the Olympics in 2020, Max is naturally keen to see the sport added to the programme, given its reach across the world.

“We find out in September which sport out of seven the International Olympic Committee will confirm to have replaced Wrestling in the 2020 games. Squash is a global sport which now has the chance to grow in popularity across the world.

“The next six months are extremely important for the future of squash. The fact that the exworld Number One of tennis, Roger Federer, has been urging the committee to bring squash to the games shows that the sport has the opportunity to grow and become a great addition to the Olympic programme.”

Cup final stage for women’s side Jess Long

BIG RESULT Men’s Lacrosse travelled to Aberystwyth and were victorious with the final score 15-5. They won the league in the process.

Bournemouth University’s netball’s firsts have reached the final of the BUCS Western Conference Cup after a hard fought win against Swansea.

Bournemouth went out with a sense of purpose, and soon started to dominate the game.

Swansea were not an easy push over and kept credibility in the first quarter, only allowing BU to take a slim lead into the next fifteen.

The shooting duo of Sarah Riddoch and Elizabeth Ferguson continued to put goals away with ease and Bournemouth managed to increase their advantage.

The same team took to the court for the next half and as normal the third quarter proved the best for the BU girls as their lead became unattainable.

Captain Louise Cole was fighting a wrist injury but managed to take a number of vital interceptions, which were taken calmly down court by Laura Purssell and Francesca Munns.

The final fifteen was much of the same. The player of the match awards was awarded to Cole and the team are now hard at practise, preparing for the final against Bath.

Women’s BU netball team surge their way towards success following a team-talk from their head coach SPORTBU

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The Rock | Thursday 7 March 2013

Unbeaten men are soaring to the title Adam Spencer-Hicken

It couldn’t be going much better for BU’s badminton teams this year with the men’s and women’s teams first and second in their respective leagues. For the men’s, promotion is looking a foregone conclusion as they continue to strive towards the league title whilst boasting still a perfect onehundred percent record.

The runaway leaders have pushed aside all that’s been put in front of them this year and there are no signs of any let off as they near to the finish line. After being so close to promotion to the Western 1A League last season, BU varsity Badminton Head coach Martin Wells explains how last year’s disappointment has provided motivation for the team to go one better this year.

“Last year although the team finished top of the group, a countback rule meant another team

qualified instead of them, so really, they missed out through no fault of their own. This year the rules have changed though, so if they finish top they will definitely go up. I think in their minds they have a point to prove.”

With the team thus far winning every one of their seven league games this year and in dominating fashion throughout, Martin Wells believes there is no doubt they will achieve their goal as well as more success being very much a possibility.

“They should definitely secure promotion this year and they have a really good chance to win the cup.

They face a tough away game for the cup which won’t be easy but we’ll have our strongest team out so it’s definitely possible.”

The team face a tough test against Swansea in the final of the Western Conference cup on March 13 but will be hoping for glory to go with the pending triumph in the league. With all this potential achievement, coach Wells feels the strong morale within the team can bring success.

“There’s a very good strength in depth throughout the team. We’ve

Top of the table for new team Tim Taylor

A new year has brought about a new beginning for Sport BU with the introduction of our very own Table Tennis side for the first time in the university’s history.

Although the men’s first team had only been put together a few months ago, this hasn’t stopped a prolific first half to the season seeing them in joint first position with Exeter University 2nds.

Leading up to their last game, BU had a 100% record which saw

them win four games in as many matches which included seeing off both Cardiff and Glamorgan with consummate ease.

However fierce rivals and promotion candidates Exeter ended the vast winning streak but the side are still hopeful to get back on form with the opportunity to seek revenge as the two sides meet in the semi– final of the cup competition as well as the league once again in the next two weeks.

The idea form this new Varsity sport came about in the previous academic year. Head coach of the Table Tennis squad Steve Foster ran the ‘Free your Fitness’ program which encouraged students to take

got a single person in Toby Sweet, the captain, who has a really strong influence. He’s been performing the best he can all year and that’s really helped. Also the belief is there for the team as well that they can succeed.”

The team captain returned to the side this season after being on placement year last year and has been at the forefront of the squad’s successes this season.

With promotion surely a certainty for the team, Coach Martin Wells is already looking ahead to next year and what they can achieve in the higher division.

“Next year survival in the league will definitely be the initial objective.

Many of the players are in their final year so next year will see a new batch come in. This big change will mean the players will have to step up and take responsibility to do well.

You just never know the quality that will turn up at the university next year.”

Martin Wells has been coaching at BU for over three years and is dedicated to helping the Bournemouth Badminton teams be as good as they can be. He reveals

what it’s like coaching the current set of players.

“Yeah it’s good. There all very capable and train really well and they do listen to how they can develop their skills. There’s very good team spirit, they are all a good bunch of lads who all socialise together. The team morale is great.”

With head coach Wells absent from the sides recent 7-1 demolition of Southampton University in the cup Semi Final, stand in coach for the day Joe Right revealed why he thinks the team has been doing so well.

“They are a really good set of players with a good coach and a good captain in Toby. They have really good intensity and they are a really good bunch. Every year you don’t know what to expect on trial day, but we were definitely lucky this year!”

With just a couple of league games and the cup final left for the team this season, it must be difficult for the squad to not get too far ahead of themselves as they march towards title glory. But with such great support around them, their feet remain planted firmly on the ground as their focus is just to keep winning.

Coach Profile

Martin Wells Who is he?

Head Coach of BU’s men’s and women’s varsity badminton teams. He is also the national U19 badminton coach as well as a performance centre advisor around the country.

As a player “I was number one in the county [Dorset] for a number of years, and despite switching my attention to coaching badminton as I got older, I still managed to maintain being in the national top ten also.”

As a coach “This will be my third full year coaching at the university. I am also the U19’s national coach which covers all games for that age group. I’ve been a club coach locally for many years and have been the Dorset County Council coach. I have coached at every level, from beginners right to the top. The performance centre that I work for looks at the transition for top level players from competing for enjoyment to switching performance to being the main focus.”

On the future of British Badminton

Table tennis has cooly slotted into the Unviersity line-up this year SPORTBU part in sporting activities which ranged from Lacrosse to Kite Surfing. Many do get involved for the sheer fact that it has little or no cost, however a link to ‘The English Table Tennis Association’ and the enthusiasm of the BU students, it seems that this particular activity really took off.

This being the newest addition to Sport BU the squad of players can often be limited especially when travelling to away matches.

Foster said that: ”Obviously it can be hard to get our best team out every week as many have academic commitments that have to be seen to.” With this in mind, and the fact the squad is brand new to the

competitive format, the coach went onto say: “I’m delighted with the way the playing this season and hopefully we can finish strongly in both the league and cup format.”

The men’s first team faces one more away fixture in that all important cup tie against Exeter University and you can be sure that Steve will be along with others will do their upmost to get the best side out possible for such an occasion.

As the last few weeks of their first season remain the promotion and cup candidates will be hoping they can pull through and put the icing on the cake in a campaign that’s already been a hugely successful at the first time of asking.

“London wasn’t the most successful of Olympics for badminton but there were circumstances surrounding this.

It was a new transitional squad who are still learning the ropes.

The current double’s pairing are former world junior Silver medallists so there is definite capability for success there. It is a very healthy sport with a massive push for participation in schools so I’m confident for the future.”

30 sport

Thursday 7 March 2013| The Rock

Beach soccer could see an involvement at University level JONES

Dorset FA have commissioned a consultation project through Bournemouth University to develop and promote beach soccer within the county at all levels. There is a partnership between the Dorset FA, England Beach Soccer and the Borough of Poole which resulted in the installation of two permanent beach soccer pitches between Canford Cliffs and Branksome Chine. The national side have been based there for roughly 18 months.

The agreement will incorporate the potential support from SportBU with performance anaylsis and strength conditioning as well as an aim of engaging university students in playing the game.

England Beach Soccer have committed to a national tour, with Poole hosting the event on March 8 and 9.

Win it for Howsey Ben Fisher

Glenn Howes has received what he described as ‘overwhelming support’ following his horror injury that he suffered in action for Poole Town.

The midfielder is not eligible for compensation from the club, though, as commercial director Mark Bumford explained: “He’s not contracted to the club which means he is not entitled to any form of compensation but a small insurance policy which could give him a certain income. If he was a contracted player, he would get half of his wages.”

Bumford said: “He came to the

game vs Mangotsfield where he was in a leg brace and isn’t too mobile.

The players have clubbed together and donated money from their own wages. They’ve also worn shirts with the Twitter hashtag #winitforhowsey on the front with his number six on the back during the warm-ups.”

The 29-year old has received enormous backing from fans on the back of his injury: “The fans at the last couple of games on six minutes began chanting ‘we love you Howesy’, for six minutes. He is an unspoken hero, someone who is rarely singled out for high praise and neither for a lack of performance, he just gets on with it in midfield. He’s clearly an important player for us,” added Bumford.

“The bucket collection against Evesham raised £380, which is bigger than any other collection we’ve had

at the Tatnam. There were notes being thrown in, £20, £10 and so on, and there was another collection against Mangotsfield which raised over £500. It’s the mark of the man really.

“I think the whole thing has given us some focus. The players have embraced it, the win it for Howesy thing and that sort of mindset may just help them that extra bit during games.”

Speaking about how big a role the injury will play in the club’s season, he said: “The injury will play a big part, sadly, for the wrong reasons. I heard a fan say that the game will be remembered for the wrong reasons, and I agree. Before the game we were looking forward to it, travelling to play against a team who should challenge us the most. We came away quite deflated.”

Support for injured midfielder Glenn Howes includes backing through a Twitter hashtag PTFC

Training in motion How does a man get physically and mentally ready for the challenge of running 52 marathons in 52 weeks? Following his previous interview with The Rock (below) Benjamin Godbold speaks to Marcin Bryszak about 26 sport VARSITY his quest to raise £100,000

Benjamin Godbold understands that hard work and dedication are key in achieving his goal of finishing 52 marathons in 52 weeks, to raise money for four different charities.

Benjamin began training for the marathons in September last year, working towards a six days-a-week training regime. This involves abdominal and upperbody workout, aerobic exercise on a bike, and a series of small runs at different speeds, culminating with an hour-and-a-half long Sunday run.

I feel motivated. “ With each training I definitely get closer to my target

”

“On Sundays, most people have hangovers so there is nobody around and you can just run freely,“ admits Benjamin, who carried the 2012 Olympic torch for 300 yards through Portsmouth last summer.

On top of other routine exercises, Benjamin also has to practice yoga and pilates once every two weeks in order to strengthen his core. “It is a little odd when you are the only guy there,“ he adds.

Part of the preparation that the runner has was going on a strict diet and regime in order to lose weight and gain stamina.

“I eat porridge for breakfast, go out for a run and drink energy gels during the run which keeps the body going. For lunch, I eat pasta with a little amount of meat or vegetable to provide more carbohydrates. And then cottage cheese and crackers as a snack,“ says Benjamin, who admits that “it is not a luxury lifestyle“ but it brings impressive results. In the last three months, the 20-year-old has lost 15kg, going down from 75kg to 60kg. And all this while taking in around 4000 calories a day, around double the amount of calories the usual person needs.

“I have learnt so much about my body, nutrition and training regime from this challenge, and the different ways to train to test the body. Beforehand I thought I

VARSITY

England beach soccer in town

Thursday 7 February

2013 | The Rock

52marathons in 52 weeks

Putting yourself throug h months of training one marathon every to run one marath week of the year. on is hard enough Ben Fisher met one . So imagine how Ben Fisher TOUGH it is to do Bournemouth Univers people,” he says.

Benjamin aims to ity student who is cover seven different continues to put doing just that himself through continents, proa vided he receives gruelling

training schedule, enough support although in a calendar that not according to could see him run Benjamin himself.

“I marathons in Paris, enjoy running to be honest. It takes Berlin, New York and Johannesburg.

It’s a marathon, things out of my not a sprint – mind; it relieves quite literally. Benjamin stress and makes Overall target of £100,000 Crowdme feel ready to Godbold funding online platform will run 1352 miles finish the day. over just 365 Indiegogo are set to place the days in a worldwide “I know that’s not project on to quest to raise a typical thing their website which £100,000 for four for someone my different charities age to say, but it’s labels ‘world-funding platform’. itself the of his choice. true.”

“Some big companies Starting in April, He clearly enjoys at a training schedto me, which is obviouslyare talking Marathon, the Sports the London ule which sees him run Developeight great, I just on need to get some ment and Coaching Tuesdays and Thursdays miles money from them Science before now,” he chuckled student will run running a combined 52 marathons in before name25 miles on an dropping billionaire 52 weeks. average weekend.

Richard Branson Having carried the “My family and friends were a 2012 Olympic torch 300 yards bit sceptical”, he says regarding through Portsmouth, the 20-year-old his initial desire to complete such Bournea mouth University feat. “Although of student will I enjoy running to course, saying it now take on another be and then doing it are awe inspiring two different honest. It takes things challenge on his things,” he added. chest.

Benjamin will run Benjamin has linked off my mind 52 marathons in aid of Alzheimer’ Podium 2012, a higher up with s Research education UK, Clic Sargent unit which in turn UK, The Alicia has installed a Pannell Fund and link between the Leukaemia and committee and the as one of those people.

Lymphoma Resarch.

University, which could well bring The four charities are very major events to Bournemou “I wrote to Richard much Branson and th as a he replied, saying his heart. His grandmotha close to result, whilst enhancing he will help as er, Marthe reputamuch as he can, garet, suffered from tion of the town so I still have my and university.

Alzheimer’s fingers crossed on disease whilst his Benjamin turned cousin that one.”W said to Twitter via @ Benjamin regarding battled with Leukaemia David bestfoot52 – as his the Virgin momain way of ‘atfor ten guls response. years before passing tacking people’ in a bid to squeeze away at the age of 20. some money out Benjamin, who has of them to reach never ran a his competitive marathon six-figure target.

Close family friend Alicia, 9, has received donationsin his life, requires 24 hour The student added care and by his overall aim operative and Sanctuaryfrom the Cofundraising Benjamin is “to inspire other people to take hopes he Vets. Comedian Eddie Izzard can raise enough that step in their money to send has also issued a lives and that they good luck call to Alicia and her family can come over and Benjamin. beat barriers too,” to visit the magical Disneyland before joking about Despite only starting Florida. the difficulty September and injuring training last of also having to “I want to go out go a whole year and inspire his ankle ligaments late last without alcohol, year, Benjamin in dedication to the challenges ahead.

“

”

Marathon man Benjamin

Godbold carrying

the Olympic torch

SEEKER

was training quite well but I was not really concentrating on working out specific parts of my body.“ The primary objective of the marathons may be to aid charities, but Benjamin, much like any other athlete, has an instinct of doing as well as he can. “My target is to go under four and a half hours. That’s for the first one. By the time I get to the end, just to finish will be a success,“ he laughs. “I would like to do one or two under four hours but that means eight-minute miles. For me to continously do that week in week out would be quite hard.“ Since the start of his preparations back in September 2012, the runner has carried a number of injuries, such as an ankle sprain and lateral collateral ligament injury for the knee. At the moment he is not training excessively due to a near-

the time I get “ Byto the end, just to make the finish will be a success

”

tear in the meniscus disc, which has put Benjamin back a week. “ I cannot do runs longer than an hour at the moment, which is not very handy considering the marathon is four and a half hours long.“ Although Benjamin’s progress and training has been slowed down by the injury, he has no plans to slow down.

“Next week I can start running normally again which will be nice.

“I feel motivated. With each training I definitely get closer to my target. I feel stronger and and that I will be ready in time for the London marathon, which is the first race,” he says.

sport 31

The Rock | Thursday 7 March 2013

Leading from the back Dan Seaborne feels his experience can help the Cherries forward during the run-in MICK CUNNINGHAM

Ben Fisher

SPORTS EDITOR Dan Seaborne feels that his prior experience in gaining promotion can help his latest side, the Cherries, to seal promotion.

Seabourne gained four promotions in five years whilst enjoying highly successful spells with Exeter City and now Premier League side Southampton.

Seaborne said: “It’s quite a young squad here. With Miles (Addison) out for a long time and now with Tommy (Elphick) out, Cooky (Steve

Cook) is a young captain as well so it’s good to be able to draw on a lot of my experience to help the team as much as possible. It’s difficult coming in on loan but the lads have been brilliant so it makes it a lot easier to put your point across and the manager’s excellent at putting his point across as well.”

The defender, speaking about the Cherries’ squad, said: “I think we’ve got a really strong squad here. We’ve got good players, match-winners, decent defenders starting from the back and people here who want to work for the team. The manager’s really good too so all of that leads towards promotion.”

Bournemouth, though, have struggled more recently and have lost their last four games, yet the defender remains positive.

“I think the last couple of performances have been good but referee decisions, so on and so forth we’ve been a little bit unlucky. I remember we had blips when I was at Southampton and Exeter and we still came through the back of it and won promotion – it’s well within our reach,” added the defender.

“We’re disappointed with some of the recent results, but the lads are really tight, it’s a great group of lads and the manager is very good at keeping the lads going, not that

we should need it at this stage of the season, at the business end of the season.”

Seaborne was the youngest ever captain to be promoted when he lifted the Conference runners-up trophy with Exeter at Wembley in 2008 as they were promoted to League Two. The run-ins though are quite similar, said Seaborne: “Even when I was in the conference with Exeter and the other leagues with Southampton I think when you are on a good run, training kind of takes care of itself. We do different tactical bits and bobs every day but most of it is similar (at different clubs) and we’re just trying to keep going.”

Despite the Cherries’ previously sitting pretty in the automatic promotion places a run of results and a naturally tight division has pulled the club back down to the play-off places, somewhere Seaborne doesn’t wish for them to be.

He said: “We are all trying to achieve together since the manager has come in but being even in the top ten is a fantastic achievement.

But at the end of the day I don’t think the lads or myself are going to be happy unless we are fighting around at the top two.

“I think every team in the top eight now are going to be looking at the top two, it’s that tight and the team that puts the run together in the last eleven games or so has a massive chance. We need to tighten up in certain areas and using all the good things that we’ve done in the past couple of months is massive now, as we get back to basics and continue with some decent form.”

Seaborne is only on loan at the club until the end of the season and is still contracted to Premier League side Southampton. The defender though insists he is enjoying life in the third tier: “I’m really enjoying it. For me any playing time is good playing time.”

In terms of his long-term future Seaborne maintains he is only worried about the here and now.

“We will see what happens. I’m happy here for now. Now is about striving on and getting up to the Championship where everyone wants to be.”

Positives despite cup exit Tom Bennett

AFC Bournemouth’s Ability Counts side have been knocked out at the first hurdle of this year’s inaugural FA Disability Cup. They lost 7-1 against Exeter City but worked tirelessly throughout to give a credible account of themselves on the national stage.

Despite the loss, the Ability Counts team are dominating the sport throughout local counties as they sit top of both the Dorset and Wiltshire Ability Counts League

and Championship divisions after five and six fixtures respectively.

Game time has been limited this season, but manager Kate Shephard reflected positively on their current form: “Unfortunately we’ve only had one [round of] fixtures so far because everything else has been called off because of the weather.

“They lads have been pleased with their performances and I was so proud of them because they work so hard as a team and they showed that they can do it.”

The team’s involvement in the national competition has brought extra attention on the side, who have enjoyed such opportunities as using the training facilities at the

Goldsands Stadium. “The lads loved the opportunity to be able to train there and feel like a pro, going into the dressing room and doing it all properly,” said Shephard.

The boys also enjoy added benefits such as professional coaching from some of AFC Bournemouth’s backroom staff. Neil Moss, the Cherries’ goalkeeping coach and former Premier League stopper, runs sessions on Monday evenings and told The Rock: “We are trying to teach them the same basics and techniques as we teach all the others.

“Sometimes it might just be down to the fact that these lads need it told a couple of times or might take things on a little bit slower, but

other things they take on a little bit quicker.

“But it’s about making sure they get the same opportunity to excel, in this sense in goalkeeping, as every other kid.”

Football for people with pan disability differs from the professional game in many capacities. The game is adapted in time, space and certain rules to suit different players. Shephard said: “It’s very flexible and very relaxed, you just want to get them playing football.”

Exeter City will go on to face Plymouth Argyle in the southern semi-final of the FA Disability Cup competition.

A word from

Richard Hughes

Big demand During my time at Portsmouth I was lucky enough to play with some special players. The likes of Niko Kranjcar, Andres D’Alessandro and Nwankwo Kanu were so talented that they could produce a bit of magic when it really mattered to win a game on their own.

But before they arrived at Fratton Park, and the club was still in the Championship, we had Paul Merson. He was 33 when he joined Pompey, but at even at that stage of his career he could do things that other players in the squad simply couldn’t do.

Merse was imperious that season as we won promotion to the Premier League and I really appreciated what he did for the team. But I would be lying if I said it was always enjoyable to play alongside him.

He was unreasonably demanding and would want the ball at every opportunity. We had good players in that team and the likes of Matty Taylor, Yakubu and Svetoslav Todorov were more than capable of influencing a game, but Merse would still demand the ball all the time.

While it can be stressful at times to have a team-mate that has that kind of nasty streak, if they are scoring goals and winning games you can’t have any complaints.

Of course, the team always comes before individuals, and I always tried to get the ball to Merse when I could, but it always helps when they turn around and appreciate the work that goes on behind them.

Kranjcar was one of the nicest people I’ve met in football and a good example of a player who really valued his team-mates.

My career has been based on doing the so called ugly side of the game, such as winning the ball back and keeping things simple.

And I’ve never had problem with doing someone else’s running if they were going to win us the game because it’s the hardest thing to do.

At Bournemouth we have plenty of quality players in our squad, but we don’t rely on individuals.

32 sport

Thursday 7 March 2013 | The Rock

Moody calls for England longevity Tom Bennett

Lewis Moody insists that England will win the Six Nations tournament this year, but would prefer if they won the trophy next year.

The former England captain believes they need to build towards the 2015 World Cup, and says they will be better prepared to do so by winning next year’s Grand Slam instead of the current competition.

He said: “They will definitely win the Six Nations but if they win

it this year they’ve got to win it next year and the year after, which is a really big ask.

“Part of me would actually like them to win it next year so that they are building for the World Cup really nicely in 2015.”

England have stormed to the top of the current tournament pool unbeaten with wins over Scotland, Ireland and France. They will further test their resolve when they take on Italy this Sunday at Twickenham.

“The motivation and hunger will always be there but that consistency of form is a lot harder to achieve and also people will want to knock them off their peg next year.

I don’t believe it!

Lancashire not the ticket for defender

World Cup winner Moody with a hand on the Six Nations PHILLIPS “We are by far the best team in the tournament, though,” Moody said.

Moody is no stranger to success and the 2003 World Cup winner gave the current squad a taster of what it would be like to win such a prestigious crown.

“When I won the World Cup it was just epic.

“We went from being just your average rugby player to suddenly these icons that people turned out to see in their hundreds of thousands. It was just surreal.

“It was always a goal and ambition to play in a world cup and the fact that we got to win one was unbelievable.

“It was a great career and a privilege to be a part of some phenomenal sides.”

Lewis Moody was in Bournemouth as a guest speaker at the Sportsman’s Dinner and shared his thoughts about the high-flying Cherries.

He said: “I know Bournemouth are pushing for promotion this year and I’ve just met the manager – he looks far too young to be a manager. He looks like he should still be playing.

“The stadium is very impressive.

I think when you get to see new venues it’s always interesting to see how they compare to others, but I’ve been very impressed so far.”

Blackburn Rovers defender Gael Givet claims he would “kill” himself if left alone in Blackburn.

The 31-year-old has only played once since December and was left frustrated after Rovers’ bosses priced him out of a move away from Ewood Park during the January transfer window.

It seems though that his frustration is not just on the pitch. Despite being around since 2009 he has only just been able to come to terms with living in Lancashire.

“Luckily I have my wife and two kids,” he said.“If left alone in Blackburn, I would have already hanged myself.”

Not only will this not please his employers, but the Blackburn tourism board will have concerns as well.

tweet -twoo This man flu is getting beyond a joke. It’s in danger of outlasting Rafa’s reign at the Bridge (@GaryLineker)

One of the banners at Stamford Bridge reads: “Rafa Benitez, we’re just not that interim.” - that’s incredible (@FourFourTom)

Turn to page 31 for an interview with Danny Seaborne Lewis Moody smiles inbetween AFC Bournemouth management duo Eddie Howe and Jason Tindall last week MICK CUNNINGHAM

Arsenal Ladies have won 30 major trophies since their male counterparts last won silverware in 2005 #AFC (@FourthOfficial_)