Is feminism dead? page 10
Interview with Mercury Prize winners Alt-J page 25
The best day trips in the South West e2
Issue 252
Issue 255
Monday 19th November 2012 www.epigram.org.uk Bristol University’s Independent Student Newspaper
Bristol’s Mayor: ‘I am your slave’ Jemma Buckley
Jemma Buckley News Editor
Around 30 students descended on Senate House last week to rally against the University’s monitoring of international students. The demonstration - which was part of a week of protests leading up the NUS National Demonstration this Wednesday - highlighted the concerns of Bristol’s international students who have been made to check in with their faculty on a monthly basis. Organisers of the event said the monitoring of international students was a ‘violation of these students’basichumanrights,aninsulttotheirhuman dignity, and an intrusion on their private lives’. The United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA) makes universities such as Bristol - which have been granted the right to sponsor visas for international students - monitor the attendance of their non-EU students to make sure they are actively participating in their studies. continued on page 3
Navigating mud pits and boys: Bristol students take part in the Sodbury Slog
page 34
Pro-Life campaigners parade photos of dead babies on campus
Marek Allen
George Ferguson has secured a surprise victory in the race to become Bristol’s first ever directly elected mayor. An architect with a penchant for red trousers, Ferguson is also a University of Bristol alumnus and trustee of the Students’ Union. He beat 14 other contenders to the position and left Labour candidate and favourite Marvin Rees trailing behind in second place. Bristol demonstrated its independent spirit by rejecting candidates from the main political parties. In his mayoral victory speech Ferguson said that the vote represented ‘A new way of doing things’ and that he did not see it as a vote for himself, but as a ‘Vote for Bristol’. Ferguson is clear that he wants to make Bristol a city that will be recognised across the world. ‘I am fed up with explaining that Bristol is somewhere near Bath,’ he joked, before declaring himself Bristol’s ‘Servant’ and saying that people of all convictions and beliefs are equal in the city and should unite to improve it. There was rapturous applause when Ferguson talked about his desire to knock on the door of No. 10 to ask the Prime Minister for more powers and resources for Bristol. ‘We’ve delivered what they wanted, now they’ve got to deliver what we want,’ he said. Ferguson explained that he will give his formal acceptance speech on Monday at Brunel’s Temple Meads station, taking the same oath as young men of Athens once did – ‘I shall not leave this city any less, but rather greater than I found it’. The result was a bitter disappointment for the Labour Party who had been confident that their candidate Marvin Rees could win the election. If elected, he would have been the first Mayor of Afro-Caribbean descent in Europe. Rees was gracious in defeat, saying of the result ‘This is just democracy. This is just the way it works.’ During his heartfelt and engaging speech he joked that his loosing speech was better than any winning speech could have been. The result was also disappointing for Conservative candidate Geoff Gollop and Lib Dem candidate Jon Rogers who came third and fourth respectively. It appears their votes collapsed as voters who would usually support those parties looked elsewhere. continued on page 3
International students protest against new university monitoring
Independent candidate George Ferguson has been voted Bristol’s first directly elected Mayor.
Campaigners from controversial pro-life group Abort67 brought their graphic displays of dead babies and aborted foetuses to the University of Bristol precinct at lunchtime on Friday 9th November. Their demonstration and use of imagery prompted complaints to the University from disgusted students. In retaliation, sabbatical officers from UBU launched a counter-protest, using a sign stating ‘This Union is pro-choice’ in an attempt to cover up the large graphic images that were erected on the pavement opposite Senate House. Student unions in Nottingham, Cambridge and Sussex have used similar tactics to limit the impact of Abort67 demonstrations, following visits to their campuses during the same week. continued on page 4