Forge press Issue 11 by Forge Press

Bummit to Croatia Travel Page 23 The independent student newspaper of the University of Sheffield // www.forgetoday.com

Much loved student killed in taxi crash By Mina Kasherova

Inside...

Students arrested in Endcliffe attack By Rachel Blundy Six male students from the University of Sheffield were arrested last Friday in connection with an attack on a Sheffield taxi driver. It has been reported that the attack took place near the Endcliffe Student Village in the early hours of Friday, May 1. A spokeswoman from the University of Sheffield confirmed: “In the early hours of Friday morning students from the University of Sheffield were involved in an incident. “The University is currently assisting the police with their investigation.” South Yorkshire Police said: “Officers are currently investigating an alleged public order incident, which occurred around 2.45am on Friday, May 1, 2009 on Endcliffe Vale Road. “As a result of the alleged incident a 42-year-old man sustained minor injuries. Police have since arrested six men in connection with this incident.” The men have since been bailed and not charged.

Tributes have been pouring in for a University of Sheffield student from Hong Kong who died after being hit by a taxi in Broomhill. Ka Yi Wu, a second-year Business Studies student, was killed just after midnight on Saturday, April 25. The 19-year-old, who was known to friends as Joyce, was going back from the Information Commons where she had been studying. A maroon cab travelling towards the city hit her just after she got off a bus in Broomhill and was crossing Manchester Road near Tapton House Road. Joyce suffered serious head injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. According to residents in the Broomhill area, no fatal accidents like this one have occurred on Manchester Road over the past 40 years. Letters, flowers, candles, and cards have been left at the site by friends of the student, who was based at the University of Sheffield’s Management School One card read: “You will always have a place in my heart. I’ll keep smiling as I know this is what you would have wanted.” Another said: “We will always love you. Safe journey.” Her close friend Joyce Lau said: “We have the same name, we were like twins. I treated her as my sister. Being her dearest friend, I have so many wonderful memories with her, both in Sheffield and Hong Kong. Joyce was a nice person. She always laughed and was a very caring person as well. “Joyce always did things to cheer me up when I was down, always did things to make me feel crazy, and always randomly asked me to do many silly things with her.” The taxi driver, a 55-year-old man from Sheffield, was arrested and bailed on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. Continued on page 2

Friday May 8 2009 // Issue 11

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Main Photo: Adam Harley

Flowers laid at the scene of the accident. Victim, Ka Yi Wu (inset).

Fuse.

Features

Comment

The film, art and music festival hits Sheffield

Does the system punish students and miss terrorists?

Resisting the allure of convenience

Sensoria special

Fuse pages 2-3

Student visas

Pages 14-15

Crookes Tesco

Page 13

The assaulted taxi driver has been identified as Ghulam Murtaza, 42, from Sheffield. Hafeas Rehman, Chairperson of the Sheffield Taxi Trade Association, condemned the actions of the students, highlighting that a very similar incident had taken place only last year. He said: “Unfortunately, I only arrived at the scene after the incident - the taxi driver involved has been receiving counselling over the weekend and is now back to work.” In a brief message to the student community, Rehman added: “I have noticed these incidents occurring more and more. “It is a shame because taxi drivers are all CRB checked and they are there to take people home safely. They are all decent people.” Last October, two students allegedly attacked a taxi driver on Ecclesall Road.

FORGE PRESS Friday May 8 2009

NEWS UNIVERSITY

Editor

Robert Golledge

Deputy Editor Managing Editor

Jonathan Caldwell Rob Ellerington

News

Mark Duell Amy Taylor Rachel Blundy Leanne Rinne Rosie Taylor

Comment

Kyle Christie Alex Orton Michael Hunter André Nunn

Features

Daniel Baird Kate Dobinson Lucie Boase Paul Garbett

Travel

Rachel Ingram

Sport

Jonathan Caldwell Paul Garbett Oliver Hughes Matt Duncan Chris Rogan Ross Turner

Lifestyle

Sarah Barns Bethan Hill Hannah O’Connell Keri O’Riordan

Fuse

Alistair White

Fuse cover

James Wragg

Music

Helen Lawson Natasha Parker Jeremy Peel

Screen

Jamie Cusworth Natasha Lewis Mark Clement Melissa Gillespie

Arts

Laura Carlton Hannah Kirby Richard Scott Amy Smith

Games

Sam Robinson Brendan Allitt

Letters

Tom Ellis Emily Cresswell

Art

Kate Carson Natasha Maisey Kate Mitchell James Wragg

Copy

Ciaran Jones

Forge Press Media Hub, Union of Students Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TG 0114 2228646 forgepress@forgetoday.com

Forge Press is part of Forge Media Forge Press is published by the Union of Students. Views expressed are not necessarily those of the University, the Union or the editorial team. In the first instance all complaints should be addressed to the Managing Editor, although a formal procedure exists.

Sheffield criticised after planned closure of Liverpool department By Kimberley Long The University of Liverpool is to close its Politics department following a damning assessment from a panel, which included two members of the University of Sheffield’s Politics staff. The assessment carried out by the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) found Liverpool to have a rating of less than 4*. This means it has not produced any work of ‘world leading’ quality. The university has decided this falls below their standards and will cancel the programme once the 2009/10 intake has graduated. Liverpool’s Vice-Chancellor Sir Howard Newby said: “In order to take the university to its next stage in driving towards world class excellence in areas where we are globally competitive, we need to undertake reviews of academic departments where performance is not of the same exceptional standard.” He goes on to say that the four worst performing departments in the RAE - Politics, Communications Studies, Philosophy, and Statistics - should “cease to exist in their current form.” Sheffield’s politics department has been ranked joint first by the RAE, alongside the University of Essex. It was previously only one of four to receive a 5*A certification. Overall the subject has one of the lowest rankings, coming 62nd out of 67 subjects in the Times Higher Education Table of Excellence. The 59 departments in British institutions received an average of just 2.34. The Political Studies Association and the British International Studies Association wrote to Sheffield Professor Tony Payne, chairman of the RAE’s Politics panel, to complain that the ratings did not accurately reflect the strength of work in the field. A statement issued by the University said: “Leading academics from the University of Sheffield played an active role on a number of RAE 2008 panels and we are extremely confident that all our academics adhered to the RAE processes and guidelines issued by HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England). “The University of Sheffield strongly denies allegations that

Tragic taxi death Continued from page 1 Debora Green, Assistant Director in Student Services at the University of Sheffield, said: “We are deeply saddened to hear the news of the tragic death of Ka Yi Wu and offer our deepest condolences to her family and friends. “The University has offered support to her housemates during this difficult time and we will also be extending our support to the family and any staff or students who have been affected.” Sajeev Jeganathan, International Students’ Officer, said, “The death of Joyce is a tragic accident. I am sure she will be missed by her friends, course mates and many others.

Have your say Comment on this article at Forgetoday.com Send your tributes to press.letters@forgetoday.com Text us on 07765363716 “The University Student Support and Guidance staff are helping to make everything as easy as possible for Joyce’s family and her friends through this tough time.” Police is appealing for anyone who may have information about the accident, which took place near the junction with Tapton House Road, to call: 0114 220 2970.

University of Liverpool students protesting at closing departments, including Politics. Photo: Liverpool Daily Post its own Politics department served to benefit from having two of its academics on the subject panel. “It is not unusual for two academics from the same institution to sit on the same panel and the large majority of panels did in fact have two or more people from the same institution. “It was clear that the role of those academics was to contribute their specialist knowledge and not to represent their own institution. “The RAE process issued by HEFCE made a very clear distinction between the ranking of departments based on the quality of their research versus the subsequent funding allocations made to institutions. “Panel members focused only on quality of research, not on the funding decisions that would follow.

“It has become evident since HEFCE’s announcement that there is no ‘set formula’ for allocating funding based on RAE results.” Academics from several of the University’s departments took part in the RAE 2008 assessments. They say they complied fully with the guidelines set out by the RAE, with all those involved representing their academic knowledge and not their own institution. Students in Liverpool are campaigning to save their courses. The Save our Subjects (SOS) campaign will protest outside the university this Saturday in affiliation with Liverpool John Moores, where cuts to student intake are being implemented. Academic members of the Merseyside Trade Union Congress will also be involved in

the march. SOS leader Paul Athans, a second-year Politics student, said: “As students of the departments involved we feel this is a disgrace and we are committed to preventing this proposal from going ahead. “We urge the University of Liverpool to change its policy proposals and to take the views and welfare of the student body into consideration.” In contrast Liverpool Hope University have announced plans to expand their department by 40 students. They intend to increase the number of Masters degrees they offer in International Politics and History. Their Head of Politics Professor Nicholas Rees said that the decision was made before Liverpool cancelled the course, not in response to it.

Streeting re-elected president By Natalie Bowen National Union of Students President Wes Streeting was reelected in a landslide victory at the NUS Annual Conference last month. He beat opposition candidate Rob Owen by 631 votes to 140 at the Blackpool conference, a huge victory for the Labour Students faction over challengers Another Union Is Possible. Streeting had a controversial first year as president, leading the NUS to support tuition fees rather than campaign for free education. Now the Union campaigns against government proposals to lift the £3,145 cap rather than to eradicate any form of tuition

fee. He joined the NUS Executive Committee as Vice President (Education) in 2005. He said: “I have received the overwhelming mandate of 81 per cent of delegates at our Conference to lead our Union for a second term, and I relish the challenge that lies ahead. “Our members are angry because we are bearing the brunt of recession, angry because our university tutors seek to drown us in debt and angry because principals are facing a funding crisis in building colleges for the future.” Students also voted for five VicePresidents on Wednesday April 1. The University of Sheffield Union of Students current Women’s Officer, Fiona Edwards,

missed out on the position she was standing for. Aaron Porter was re-elected Vice President (Higher Education) against challengers James Haywood (119 votes) and Edwards (77 votes). Ben Whittaker was elected Vice President (Welfare) after gaining 543 votes against rival Hind Hassan’s 312. The new Vice President (Union Development) is Richard Budden, as he had three times as many votes as rival Jen Jones, with 633 against 207. The NUS created a new post of Vice President (Society and Citizenship) to reflect the structural changes within the Union this year. Susan Nash won the election with 623 votes.

FORGE PRESS Friday May 8 2009

NEWS UNIVERSITY

Editor

Robert Golledge

Deputy Editor Managing Editor

Jonathan Caldwell Rob Ellerington

News

Mark Duell Amy Taylor Rachel Blundy Leanne Rinne Rosie Taylor

Comment

Kyle Christie Alex Orton Michael Hunter André Nunn

Features

Daniel Baird Kate Dobinson Lucie Boase Paul Garbett

Travel

Rachel Ingram

Sport

Jonathan Caldwell Paul Garbett Oliver Hughes Matt Duncan Chris Rogan Ross Turner

Lifestyle

Sarah Barns Bethan Hill Hannah O’Connell Keri O’Riordan

Fuse

Alistair White

Fuse cover

James Wragg

Music

Helen Lawson Natasha Parker Jeremy Peel

Screen

Jamie Cusworth Natasha Lewis Mark Clement Melissa Gillespie

Arts

Laura Carlton Hannah Kirby Richard Scott Amy Smith

Games

Sam Robinson Brendan Allitt

Letters

Tom Ellis Emily Cresswell

Art

Kate Carson Natasha Maisey Kate Mitchell James Wragg

Copy

Ciaran Jones

Forge Press Media Hub, Union of Students Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TG 0114 2228646 forgepress@forgetoday.com

Tragic taxi death Continued from page 1 No official charges have been made yet as it is still not determined who was responsible for the accident. The parents and brother of Joyce arrived in Sheffield last week to make arrangements and perform traditional rituals at the place of the accident. As a sign of respect, the University flag flew at half mast on the Tuesday and Wednesday of last week. Debora Green, Assistant Director in Student Services at the University of Sheffield, said: “We are deeply saddened to hear the news of the tragic death of Ka Yi Wu and offer our deepest condolences to her family and

friends. “The University has offered support to her housemates during this difficult time and we will also be extending our support to the family and any staff or students who have been affected.” International Students’ Officer, Sajeev Jeganathan, said: “The death of Joyce is a tragic accident. I am sure she will be missed by her friends, course mates and many others.” Joyce Lau said: “She was always being silly, random and funny. She is my buddy now and forever. I miss her so much.” Police are appealing for anyone who may have information about the accident leading to Joyce’s death. Anyone with information should call 0114 220 2970.

FORGE PRESS Friday 8 May 2009

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Lecturers in strike ballot over pay talks By Katie-Marie Bailey Students at the University of Sheffield could face disrupted timetables during the coming months if pay negotiations between the University and a lecturers’ union are not settled. The University College Union (UCU) is proposing to ballot its members regarding taking industrial action over an eight per cent pay increase that the University of Sheffield is at the moment unwilling to commit to. If members vote in favour of industrial action, staff at the University may go on strike until a deal is struck between both parties. The University of Sheffield is currently in negotiations through the Universities and Colleges Employers Association over ‘pay bargaining,’ which is still underway, and are “deeply disappointed” that a ballot has been called for. In an email sent out to staff, Vice-Chancellor Keith Burrnett stresses that the University of Sheffield will not recognise the UCU ballot and that any industrial action taken would “undermine efforts to provide a first class education and experience for students.” Professor Keith Burnett said: “I am very disappointed by the decision of the national union to ballot its members on possible industrial action at a time when negotiations are still underway within the agreed timetable that UCU and all the other campus unions have signed up to. “I fully understand the concerns of UCU members and all other staff about job security, and I will be doing my utmost to protect jobs and avoid redundancies. “However this is not a matter for national determination, as jobs are discussed and decided at local level. I have already sent a message to all staff at the University assuring them of my commitment to doing all I can to continue to protect the student experience, our research environment, and people’s jobs.” He added that the UCU pay claim of eight per cent, given the “current unprecedented economic climate”, is “clearly unaffordable”. Steve Collier, speaking on behalf of the University of Sheffield UCU committee, said: “If it is decided

The University of Sheffield will not support lecturers if they go on strike.

that industrial action is needed I would like Sheffield University to support the people involved, but I must stress that this is a national issue which is not just affecting Sheffield University. “Over 100 campus universities are threatened with large-scale job cut backs and the UCU are undertaking negotiations to try and minimise the damage and loss this will potentially cause to this sector. “The main issue is not about pay, it is really about trying to minimise redundancies. It is inaccurate to focus entirely on the eight per cent pay raise when UCU is asking for a broad framework and structure to minimise job losses.” The UCU later issued a statement expressing their disappointment at the way that negotiations were being conducted. It said: “We would like to point out that it’s true that the original pay claim submitted about six months ago (at a time when UCEA were refusing to talk to UCU and the Retail Price Index was over five per cent) was for eight per cent, and it is also true that this claim has never formally been withdrawn from the table. “However, negotiation is a process (often drawn out) of claims and counter-offers. UCU are very disappointed with the messages being put out by employers that fail to fully explain the current situation regarding national negotiations between UCEA and the campus unions that imply UCU are balloting to strike for a pay increase of eight per cent. The statement continued: “Many employers have expressed disappointment that UCU has called for a ballot during the agreed process. However the agreed process recognises that UCU can take action at any time of its choosing.” “UCU members are equally disappointed with the current position taken by UCEA and we sincerely hope that an agreement will be reached”. The dispute comes after staff at the University of Sheffield saw their pay rise by up to five per cent last October as part of the 2006-2009 Higher Education Pay Deal. The increase, which was tied to RPI, led to fears that the University may have to cut staff positions to reduce expenditure.

Anti-BNP stance is contradictory, say students By Leanne Rinne Students are complaining that the Union of Students is undermining minority views and trying to influence how people vote in the forthcoming European Parliament elections. The controversial statement advertises the Stand up for Diversity event which is being held in the Union’s Fusion & Foundry today from 6pm. It reads: “Our Union prides itself on being a diverse and inclusive Union. It is especially important in the build up to the European elections in June with the spectre of the British National Party (BNP) winning a seat in this constituency, that our Union stands up for diversity, celebrates it and ensures that students use their vote.” A 21-year-old student wrote a

letter of complaint to the Union because she was “appalled” that they were allowed to “discriminate against people based upon their political leanings”. She wrote: “Hilarious, we include everyone except the BNP. When will people learn that the voice of the majority is not the voice of morality? “I do not wish to be named because some people will be too ignorant to realise that my protest doesn’t actually mean I’m racist.” A second student, who also wished to remain anonymous, was pleased to hear that others had taken issue with the statement. He wrote: “I have no particular interest in the BNP agenda but if there is sufficient feeling for them to organise a party then I believe they have a right to voice their opinion.” The student said he cannot understand why the Union is not

Have your say Comment on this article at Forgetoday.com Send a letter to press.letters@forgetoday.com Text us on 07765363716 objecting to Islamic or Christian fundamentalism “with quite the same vigour”. He added: “One man’s freedom fighter is a terrorist on the other side of the fence. I will make up my own mind, thanks.” Emiliebeth Arwen Caddy, an Information Studies postgraduate student, also made a formal complaint to the Union through Activities Officer Matt Fox. She wrote: “I do not support any of the BNP’s policies but

neither do I think that it is right to encourage people’s votes for or against any political party or other group. “If you had said we’re in danger of a Conservative, Muslim, Green Party member or Christian winning, then there would be an outcry. It should be policy not to discriminate against anyone, regardless of how distasteful you find them, and to do it in such an offhand way I found to be inappropriate. “I didn’t know that the Union had an anti-BNP policy or protests, and I don’t think it’s appropriate for a Union Officer to influence votes, even against a party that people don’t like much.” Activities Officer Matt Fox has responded to these complaints and assures students that the Union is “diverse and inclusive”. He said: “By inviting a range of societies and groups to this

Stand up for Diversity event we are promoting how diverse and inclusive our Union is whilst highlighting through a separate speech how the BNP are antidiversity. “We are not legally allowed to make a causal link between the two points. “That statement was published in order to promote our event and celebrate our inclusive Union. The BNP, fighting for a seat in our constituency, do not celebrate this. “Our Union does have an anti-racism policy which states: ‘This Union resolves to create an atmosphere free from discrimination, harassment and intimidation’. “By having this event, we are showing that our Union does its best to ensure that we provide this atmosphere, and highlighting that the BNP would not.”

FORGE PRESS Friday May 8 2009

NEWS UNIVERSITY

Ex-student has art on show at The Edge By Lauren Merryweather An array of A-list celebrities have made an appearance in the Endcliffe Village this month owing to the fingers of a former Sheffield University student. The exhibition of pop art portraits, currently displayed at The Edge Café, feature past and present legends of sport, film and music, including Amy Winehouse and John Lennon. The artist behind the pieces, Matt Wood, 25, studied Economics and Sociology at the University before deciding to pursue his talent for finger painting. “Over the summer before starting university I was considering how to decorate my room when I moved into halls,” Wood said. “I couldn’t find any good posters so decided to experiment with making my own.” Despite no formal art training, Wood developed a two-tone ‘photorealistic’ style, achieved with black Dulux emulsion on Foamex panels, a variety of plastic used in the sign printing industry. He said: “Friends in my halls started asking me to paint for them. People started offering me money so I spent most of that year painting. “I’ve tried to stick to painting distinguished icons that I like and have respect for because I find it more enjoyable.” Wood’s work also has star approval, his paintings adorning the walls of Coldplay’s Chris Martin and footballer’s wife Louise Redknapp. “I’m really proud that my work is on show in the place I first arrived at when I came to university,” said Wood. “It’s great to see all of my paintings together. I hope they get a positive response from the students,” he added. Wood plans to continue to develop his technique and take on a range of projects fitting around a full-time job. “The dream would be to take the art on full time, I could concentrate on more ambitious pieces. Having my own studio would be pretty good.” Wood’s art can be found at www. smartartgalleries.com.

Matt Wood, whose ‘photo-realistic’ artwork has been displayed in The Edge Café.

Interest on loans By Alex Orton Students could be paid interest on their student loans as the economy goes into recession and deflation sets in. The rate of interest on the loans is pegged to the rate of inflation. As long as the economy is growing and inflation is occurring students have to pay interest so their debt grows in proportion. If the economy is shrinking and the value of money is deflating then the Student Loans Company (SLC) should pay students interest so their debt shrinks. The SLC is unlikely to start paying interest; it has until September to formulate a new method of deciding interest payments. A spokesperson for the SLC said: “The Treasury and Department of Innovation Universities and Skills will consider the options and make an announcement shortly. “The interest rate is only applicable from 1 September 2009, so there is no need for an

immediate decision”. Falling Bank of England interest rates have already brought the interest rate on student loans down from 3.8 per cent to 1.5 per cent in the space of a year. The average student debt will soon surpass £17,500 as the first group of students to pay topup fees begin graduating this summer. Holly Taylor, Education Officerelect said: “Ever-increasing living costs mean students are feeling the pinch regardless of their financial status. “The SLC certainly do not seem to be sympathetic to students in the current economic climate. “The NUS’ (National Union of Students) predict that 50 per cent of students are now in part-time work to help fund themselves whilst at university.” Taylor added: “The big increase in the number of students across the UK applying for emergency hardship funds this year shows that a helping hand from the SLC would be much appreciated.”

No rise in student’s sentence By Natalie Thomas A University of Sheffield student who was convicted of death by dangerous driving has seen a request to increase his jail sentence rejected. Thomas Duffield, 20, was disqualified from driving for three years and sentenced to 12 months in prison at Lincoln Crown Court in February this year after admitting causing the death of cyclist Leigh Dolby, 54. Solicitor General Vera Baird QC requested an increase in the jail sentence, saying it was “unduly lenient” and referred the case to the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge. But Lord Judge rejected the request at the Court of Appeal in London after hearing arguments by lawyers from both sides. His place at the University of Sheffield can be kept open until October, but an increase in his sentence would have meant it was unlikely Duffield could return to his studies.

Computer Forensics student Duffield, who was driving his father’s car on the night of the accident in August 2007, used his mobile phone at the wheel to send a text message. Mr. Dolby was out cycling to test his lights in practice for a charity bike ride, and was using two rear lights to make himself visible to drivers.

Have your say Comment on this article at Forgetoday.com Send a letter to press.letters@forgetoday.com Text us on 07765363716 But as Duffield drove, he used his mobile phone twice to receive and then send a text message, and two-and-a-half minutes later he drove on to the A46 in Lincolnshire, out of Dunholme village, and knocked Mr. Dolby

off his bike. Trained lifeguard Duffield called 999 and attempted to save Mr. Dolby’s life, but he had died instantly as a result of the impact. It has been shown that Mr. Dolby would have been visible for six seconds before the collision, but Duffield did not see him. The student, of Sibthorpe Drive, Lincolnshire, was initially charged with causing the cyclist’s death due to the use of his phone, but pleaded not guilty to this. But the prosecution accepted a plea that the accident happened due to lack of concentration, rather than the deliberate act. Widow Ann Dolby, 54, said she was disappointed at the verdict. She said: “Nothing is going to bring Leigh back but Mr. Duffield could be out next week and able to get on with his life. “I would have liked him to have experienced a Christmas while separated from his family and friends like we have had to and will do forever.”

FORGE PRESS Friday May 8 2009

Student with severe condition raises almost £3,000 for charity

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Complaints over G20 article

By Jo Wendel A University of Sheffield student who was diagnosed with cancer in his first year is now planning to trek across Iceland to help the charity that supported him. Tom Grew is hoping to raise over £2,800 for Macmillan Cancer Support. His battle with cancer has also inspired him to go back to University to become a doctor. Every day more than 700 people in the UK are diagnosed with cancer. Tom was only 18 years old when he was told he had Hodgkin’s Lymphoma – a cancer of the lymphatic system. He said: “For a long time I hated it and wished I had never had it. Only recently have I actually started to see some of the positives from my experience - I would not be back in Sheffield studying medicine without having had Hodgkin’s.” After graduating with a BA in History in 2006, Tom spent two years working as a Pharmacy Technician. He said: “This really cemented my desire to study medicine, especially working with the people who had treated me and even helping to treat newly diagnosed patients with Hodgkin’s.” This summer he is trekking 100km across Iceland on a Macmillan Hiking Challenge. He admitted: “I don’t like walking, I like taxis and McDonalds. But that’s exactly why I want to do this; it’s a crazy idea and people do crazy things every day to raise money for Macmillan.” To prepare for the trek Tom now goes to the gym several times a week. He added: “I’ve also altered my diet to include less take-aways! “Over the summer I will be walking in the Peaks, which we are lucky to live so close to, especially to wear-in my new hiking boots.” In response to why he chose to represent Macmillan Cancer Support, Grew said: “Quite a few charities helped me through my experience but Macmillan really did stand out. A Macmillan nurse specialist was present right from the appointment when I was

Lecturer Bill Carmichael. By Natalie Bowen

Tom Grew hopes to raise over £3,000 for MacMillan Cancer Support. diagnosed. She was always on hand to answer any queries that myself or my family had. “They also help to provide leaflets and information on cancers; this was especially useful

when I was newly diagnosed as I had very little idea about what Hodgkin’s was. “I would do anything to help somebody in a similar situation. I know how much Macmillan helped

using human embryonic stem cells, and cells isolated from the human foetus. So far, the team has been successful in growing new cells in the laboratory which behave in the same way as essential sensory hair cells and neurons. There has been widespread acclaim for the team’s first five years of research, the results of which have been published recently, although Dr. Rivolta is cynical about declaring that a cure is imminent. He said: “A cure for deafness is still far away - we are walking the first steps, now we have a tool.” In the past 10 months, the team has been able to demonstrate that stem cells can indeed be grown in damaged areas of the inner ear. This, it is hoped, could lead to a restoration in hearing. Stem cell research using mice has already shown to be successful. However, research using human embryos

remains controversial. Despite a widespread belief within the scientific community that they could be used in treatments such as Parkinson’s Disease or even Alzheimer’s, tight restrictions remain on their use and various opposition groups are campaigning against such research. The problem is that these stem cells are only produced during development, and so there is no other way of obtaining them. However, by working with these cells, Dr. Rivolta hopes to learn from the cell system and translate this knowledge into less controversial procedures - for example, with bone marrow stem cells. If the team’s future research is successful, Dr. Rivolta said he “guesstimates” that a cure could. Over three million people in the UK alone suffer from either full or partial hearing loss.

Photo: Adam Harley me, so I have decided to take on this challenge and appreciate any support that anybody can give.” To donate money and sponsor Tom’s trek, visit www.justgiving. com/tomgrew.

Scientists close in on cure for deafness

By Kayley Dempsey Scientists at the University of Sheffield led by Dr. Marcelo Rivolta are making significant progress towards a cure for deafness. Until now, hearing loss has been irreversible, as the two kinds of cells necessary in hearing - hair cells and neurons - cannot be replaced. Hearing can become damaged through old age, typically beginning around the age of 50, and also from noise damage or even certain drugs, such as some antibiotics. These kinds of deafness, and perhaps even in some cases genetic deafness, could be cured in the future, thanks to Dr. Rivolta’s team. However, this does not mean that taking precautions when around loud noise is unnecessary. Dr. Rivolta said: “Nothing is better than prevention.” The research has centred on

Dr. Marcelo Rivolta.

A University of Sheffield lecturer has been criticised by students after he claimed that a female protester at the G20 rally last month “deserved a good slap” for intimidating police officers. In his Yorkshire Post column Bill Carmichael, course leader for Sheffield University’s Web Journalism MA, declared: “If anyone ever deserved a good slap, this woman certainly did”, and, “being belted by a policeman was probably the best career move she ever made.” His comments provoked angry reactions from students at the University and from other journalists. PhD psychology student, David Yates, said: “I was angered by Mr. Carmichael’s abhorrent opinion that it is okay to hit a woman who is being mouthy. “The female protester was entitled to express her opinions at the G20 protest. That’s what protests are for. “Mr Carmichael’s position at the University places him in a position of authority and he has a responsibility to the University to produce decent journalism.” The comments gained widespread attention online, with Guardian journalist Ben Goldacre commenting on the article. In his blog, Carmichael responded with: “I don’t care if Ms. Fisher (the protester) is male, female or a self-fertilising hermaphrodite. “My gripe was with her selfrighteous hypocrisy and obnoxious behaviour, not her gender. “If I suddenly discovered that Ms. Fisher was in fact a man in drag I could re-write the piece in about 10 seconds flat without altering the main thrust of the argument one iota.” The exchange between the two journalists led to accusations of libel on both sides. Carmichael has defended his opinions, arguing that every individual in this country is entitled to freedom of expression. He said: “I accept people may not agree with me and may be critical of what I write – it comes with the territory if you write on controversial topics. “Challenge and debate is a stimulating part of being at university, whether as student or tutor. “But demanding that views you disagree with should silenced, as some students have, is not a concept of free speech that I recognise.”

FORGE PRESS Friday May 8 2009

NEWS UNIVERSITY

Charity hitchhikers encounter difficulties due to English Channel blockade

Students taking part in Bummit meet at a railway station before travelling across the Croatian border. They managed to get on the train for free. By Kayley Dempsey This year’s Bummit hitchhikers faced difficulties in crossing the English Channel due to blockades by French sailors. which began on the same day as the first trip. The eighth Sheffield Bummit trip took place this Easter, with 300 students hitchhiking almost 1,500 miles to Zadar in Croatia on a maximum budget of £15 each. There were two trips of the charity hitchhike, with the first 150 people setting off on April 14,

and the second group on April 16. Each team of three had to contain at least one male student for safety reasons. Three French ports had been blockaded by fisherman protesting against European Union fishing regulations, which led many Bummit teams having to camp out in the Dover arrivals lounge. Some teams attempted to cross at Hull, only to be turned away. Unfortunately, a handful of teams had no choice but to give up.

A tracker system enabled interested friends or worried parents to follow the progress of team members. This allowed the participants to send quick messages detailing where they were and what they had been doing, which was then published to the Bummit website. The Bummit teams encountered a number of crazy escapades, including one team who managed to thumb down an Alfa Romeo. The driver turned out to be the chief apple seller to Waitrose.

The BBC had recently run a story on the dangers of organised crime groups in Croatia, advising British tourists to stay away. In protest, Croatian television interviewed some British tourists who were having a great time. This led to some Bummit teams drinking and skinny dipping on television at 11am, or even being interviewed by BBC Radio 1. Because of the blockades, the speed at which teams made it to Zadar varied enormously. On the first night some

Photo: Mel Salter teams were already in France while others were still stuck in Sheffield. A few teams from the second trip made it to the arrival party of the teams on the first trip. The committee hope to beat last year’s total of £64,000 and raise £80,000 for charities such as Stop the Traffik and Cavendish Cancer Care. The final amount raised is still being calculated. For a student’s account of the Bummit experience, turn to the travel section on page 23.

Rolls-Royce protest Cheryl Cole gets accent advice By David Thomas A group of activists disrupted a careers fair at the University of Sheffield on April 29 because some of the stalls were linked to the arms trade. The protesters, who are not attached to an official group, have been denounced by a University representative as “violent and intimidating”. They dismantled the stalls of firms such as QinetiQ and Rolls Royce, as well as military recruiters such as the Army and Navy. The activists were escorted out of the Octagon Centre by University security staff. In a press release posted on a prominent Sheffield activist website, the group said: “The University has repeatedly refused to listen to the large body of students and staff who wish to end the university’s ties with the

military and arms trade.” A student involved in the protest, who preferred not be named, said: “We wanted to draw attention to the fact that the University continues to work with groups involved in the trade. “The protest has already succeeded in raising awareness.” Director of the Careers Service, Steve Fish, condemned the action: “The protesters’ activities were disruptive, violent, and intimidating to students and employees of companies visiting the University.” The demonstration follows a previous attempt by the group Kick ’em Off Campus to ban military recruiters and companies with links to the arms trade from the University. The group’s proposals were defeated by a Students’ Union Council vote after a high-profile campaign.

By Emily Cresswell A University linguist has warned Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Cole against changing her accent to cater for the American market. Cole is planning to take elocution lessons on the advice of manager Simon Cowell, in order to soften her Geordie accent before appearing on the US version of The X Factor. Professor Joan Beal believes that Cole changing her accent would have a detrimental effect on audiences in both countries. She said: “In trying to please one audience, Cole may damage her image with another.” Professor Beal argues that in Britain, Cole is popular due to her image of being “natural and down to earth”, which is typified by her Geordie accent. She maintains that if Cole were to change her accent, her “homely”

image would be damaged, and her popularity would suffer as a result. She added: “People in the UK tend to be very judgemental toward people seen to be putting on airs and graces.” In studies exploring reactions to accents, particularly those conducted from the 1990s onwards, the Geordie accent has been revealed to be a clear favourite among the British, and is associated with ‘friendliness and honesty’. In Cole’s case, British people respond positively to the accent because it suggests that she has an interesting life-story, but comes from a normal workingclass background. Professor Beal believes that any problems which Americans have with these accents may simply stem from a lack of exposure, and being accepted by Americans would be a “matter of those

accents being there.” She added: “They never had a problem with The Beatles. Nor did they have trouble understanding the Mancunian accent of Jane Leeves [from Frasier].” In addition, Professor Beal claimed that it is likely that Cole will “tend to speak more slowly and clearly anyway” when talking to people who may be unfamiliar with her accent. She believes that it is “disappointing that even in 2009, people can still show prejudice towards different accents,” and is saddened that Simon Cowell would suggest Cole should take elocution lessons. “He clearly wants everyone to be the same. It’s a shame that anybody in any way idiosyncratic is not marketable,” she said. Professor Beal said that “it would be interesting to see how she is received” if she does not change her accent.

FORGE PRESS Friday May 8 2009

Day of action against fee increase

Shop flooded

Union Sabbatical Officers and students campaigning on the concourse last Thursday.

Freeze on intake By Lucie Boase Government funding cuts could mean that as many as 30,000 young people are refused places at university this summer. The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills has announced that no more than 10,000 extra students can be admitted to English universities for the 2009/10 academic cycle, despite Labour’s repeated pledge to get half of school-leavers into Higher Education. The move will create £400m of savings for the department and help tackle their £200m finance deficit. The news comes amid an ‘unprecedented’ rise in university applications, which are up 8.8 per cent on this time last year. The cap will lead to fierce competition for places, with an estimated 28,000 young people left disappointed. The news comes as a blow to the University of Sheffield, which has experienced almost a 42 per cent increase in its undergraduate population during the past nine years. A spokesperson from the

Helping out local firms University funding to help South Yorkshire businesses and students through the recession should be available from July, writes Natalie Bowen The University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University were awarded a £1.6million government grant at the start of April to offer expert advice and help to companies and entrepreneurs hit by the credit crunch. The money is only available for 18 months, and the two universities are setting up a ‘onestop shop and website’ to help graduates, community groups, businesses, unemployed people or those with threatened jobs. Professor Paul White, ProVice-Chancellor for Learning and Teaching at the University of Sheffield, said he hoped to have 15 months of “strong activity” and will not wait around for funding applications. He said: “We will identify particular target businesses and target groups that we know are vulnerable from local information; it won’t just be us waiting for them to come to us.”

By Kimberley Long Students took to the Union concourse last Thursday to speak out against rising tuition fees with a Higher Education Day of Action. Union Sabbatical Officers were dressed in red and campaigned from a truck in front of the Union building. Using a loudspeaker, they encouraged passing students to get involved in campaigning against fee increases. Instead of staging a protest, their aim was to actively publicise a campaign for students’ rights. The plan is to stop the Government raising tuition fees further when it comes under review next year. Students currently pay over £3,000 a year for their education, before additional living expenses. All students are entitled to a loan to pay for this, but this still leaves them with a large debt at the end of their degree. On average, graduates leave university with a debt of £20,000, a figure which then increases yearly with interest. If the cap on fees is lifted, the cost of tuition alone could go up to £5,000 a year. Guest speakers from the student Labour, Liberal Democrat and Respect parties also gave talks. They invited questions from the floor and offered passers-by the chance to voice their worries. Education Officer Rebecca Watson said: “It is conclusively found that the poor are four times less likely to attend university because they’re worried about the negative effects of debt”. “Universities want to entice more students to come so they’re going to have to think very hard about proposing graduate tax or making the fees higher. “In an economic recession I don’t know how vice-chancellors and the Government have the audacity to lean towards putting fees higher when students are leaving university without the certainty of a graduate job.” The Sabbatical Officers intend to launch a high profile campaign next year.

UNIVERSITY NEWS

University of Sheffield said: “The University remains hopeful that the cap on recruitment is a temporary measure due to the current economic climate, and that the Government’s planned expansion may resume in future years”. However, Lib Dem universities spokesperson, Stephen Williams, explains that young people are not the only ones affected by the measures. He said: “The rise in applications is coming not just from school leavers, but from older people who are bearing the brunt of this economic crisis”. According to data from the University Admissions Service (UCAS) there has been a 15.8 per cent increase in applications among the over-25s. President of the National Union of Students, Wes Streeting, is also concerned about the Government’s decision. He said: “It is encouraging to see a record-breaking number of applications to Britain’s universities, but we are very concerned about the numbers of places available as a result of the cap on numbers imposed by the Government.”

Photo: Adam Harley

New search policy By Mina Kasherova A new security policy is being introduced at Union club nights in September. Security staff at the Octagon, Bar One, and Fusion & Foundry will be allowed to check students entering for drugs, alcohol and weapons. Searches will not be performed on a regular basis but only when agreed on by a senior Union manager. Finance Officer Alex Pott said that the new security policy is being introduced because both students and staff do not always feel fully protected. Security will be allowed to do two types of checks. They can either perform random checks by searching one in every 100 people, but they can also target specific students who are known for carrying unlawful items. Pott said: “The Officer team have had concerns that students might feel intimidated by the practice, but because it will be used infrequently, I feel most students will not be affected. “At the end of the day, it is a safety method to protect their

safety, so we hope they will understand” Archaeology student Helen Reeve finds the move logical and is not worried about searches being intrusive.

Have your say Comment on this article at Forgetoday.com Send a letter to press.letters@forgetoday.com Text us on 07765363716 She said: “I don’t think most people would have a problem with being searched unless you actually are carrying something illegal. “Maybe just the fear of getting caught will be enough to stop at least some people if they know that they can’t just walk in and out anymore.” But Richard Colicott, a first year Chemistry student, disagrees. He said: “I don’t think it is necessary in the Union. I think it will hold things up, and it will make big queues.”

A leaky coffee machine has been blamed for flooding the Union Shop during the Easter break, writes Amy Taylor. The flood occurred overnight on Thursday, April 23, and the shop remained closed for most of the morning. Over 2,000 litres of water leaked from a faulty valve and were removed by cleaners from the shop floor. Some water leaked through to the Foundry venue below but damage was contained. Nigel Hallam, Union Director of Operations, said: “From a stock point of view damage was minimal, as most of it was on shelving. “Despite it being the holidays, turnover is still quite large but not too much trade was lost as the shop was reopened within a couple hours.” Temporary services were set up outside to accommodate customers while the damage was being cleared, with confectionary items and newspapers on sale.

Union award The Union of Students has been awarded a Silver Winner Recognition at the Sound Impact Awards for its positive environmental work, writes Samuel Valdes Lopez. These prestigious awards are given out every year to universities that undertake good ethical and environmental initiatives within their students’ union. The National Union of Students (NUS) raises the standard required for accreditation every year so that unions across the country will continue to improve. Their 21-point criteria include proof of environmental inspections, water saving devices, volunteering programmes, recycling, Fairtrade products, and general signs of energysaving awareness. The universities that achieved the Gold award implemented special environmentally friendly schemes.

FORGE PRESS Friday May 8 2009

Spate of ATM thefts in Sheffield city centre leaves police baffled

LOCAL NEWS

Rent and tax cuts planned

By André Nunn Local people are being warned to be vigilant when withdrawing money from ATM machines following a number of thefts have taken place across Sheffield city centre. There have been 13 incidents at different machines ranging from The Moor to Fargate. Between £200 and £500 has been stolen each time, usually between the hours of 11am and 1pm. The men responsible are following people to the cash points and standing behind them whilst they enter their PIN number. Once they have seen the PIN, the men turn the screen off and wait for the person to go inside the bank to report it. The men then turn the screen back on and go to another bank to make the maximum withdrawal available. Police and banks are baffled at how the men are managing to turn the screens on and off. People are being warned not to leave their machine if the screen goes blank. Instead, it is recommended that you stop a passer-by, explain the situation and ask them to go into the bank and report it for you. Two of the men are described as being of Asian ethnicity, and the other as white. All three men are thought to be in their late 20s or early 30s. One of the Asian men is believed to be between 5’8” and 5’10” feet tall, and of medium build. The other Asian male is 6’0” feet tall and of a big build. Union Welfare Officer Kathryn Axon said: “Students should be vigilant when withdrawing money in the city centre. “Try to use cash points inside and if you see anything suspicious report it to the bank as soon as you can.”

Lib Dem Council leader, Scriven. By Kimberley Long Residents in council-owned properties could get a rent decrease under new government proposals, despite misgivings from the Liberal Democrats who have announced their own initiative. The Government plan to half the proposed 6.2 per cent rise in rent for council tenants, which effectively results in a drop in rent costs. Sheffield City Council say, however, that as tenants have already been notified of the increase they cannot reduce it until it has been officially agreed and all tenants have been informed. They warn that the cut in income could result in reduced funding to council facilities, which will affect the tenants.

Have your say

The Moor, where cash machines have been targeted by thieves.

Photo: Sam Bennett

South Yorkshire to get super-fast broadband internet By Kyle Christie A super-fast broadband scheme will be available to homes and business across the South Yorkshire region thanks to a £90million investment. The Digital Region scheme will bring a 25-megabyte connection to Sheffield, Barnsley, Doncaster, and Rotherham by the end of 2009. It is expected to be fully completed in three years’ time. It was approved as part of the Government’s recent budget. The first area to benefit will be Doncaster, with further infrastructure following on. When finished, the scheme could potentially be the largest openaccess broadband infrastructure platform in the world. Work on fibre optic cable infrastructure is set to begin straight away. Trevor Shaw, Executive Director of Finance at Yorkshire Forward, said: “Ensuring Yorkshire and

Humber is at the forefront of digital technologies has always been a priority of ours as the region’s Development Agency and a vital part of developing our economy, which is especially important in light of the current economic climate.” The faster connection should enable more flexible working practices at home, as well as assisting in the delivery of healthcare, education and other public services. For home users the streaming of live sporting events should be much more reliable as a result of the faster connection. When complete, it will also enable broadband users to “get what they pay for” in terms of connection speed. Rosie Winterton, Minister for Yorkshire and The Humber, said “This £90million programme will provide super-fast broadband services to over one million people in this part of the region, benefiting families and businesses

The first area to receive the service will be Doncaster. Photo: Tom Walker alike as early as next year.” The scheme is being run by Yorkshire Forward and local authorities, and is being partly funded by the European Regional Development Fund.

It follows the Government’s Digital Britain report, which was published in interim form in January and envisioned the next-generation of high-speed broadband across the country.

Comment on this article at Forgetoday.com Send a letter to press.letters@forgetoday.com Text us on 07765363716 Sheffield’s Councillor for Housing and Sustainable, Safer Communities Bob McCann said that the Government changes were made without forewarning, resulting in the Council having to spend £100,000 to reprocess rents and housing benefits. “Ironically it will be the tenants, the people this initiative is aimed at helping, who will be the ones who pay twice,” said Councillor McCann. “They will lose out on housing services if there is no funding for rent costs and if the Government does not guarantee to fund the housing benefit costs.” The Liberal Democrats meanwhile have announced they will cut income taxes if they are elected at the next election. Leader Nick Clegg, MP for Sheffield Hallam, said that in a bid to help recession hit households, those on the lowest income will be lifted out of paying any income tax. Those who earn over £10,000 a year will pay £700 less a year. They intend to cover the deficit by tackling loopholes and tax avoidance used by the most wealthy individuals and big business. Council leader Paul Scriven said: “Ordinary people are struggling because of the recession. Now is the time to make a far reaching and permanent change to the tax systems that benefits those on low and middle incomes.”

FORGE PRESS Friday May 8 2009

LETTERS

Have your say Star letter: Cryptic crossword is puzzling

Concerned about fee increases

Dear Forge,

I wholeheartedly commend Rebecca Watson for her comments condemning the proposed tuition fee rises (‘Watson hits out at fee rise’, page four, Issue 10). As a student who has as of yet been unable to find part-time work, I for one am very worried about how a rise in fees could affect

I sat down to do your latest crossword (‘Coffee Break’, page 28, Issue Ten, Forge Press) and was somewhat puzzled to find it difficult to the point of physically impossible.

None of the words fitted, and the grid didn’t match the clues. I then realised you had published the previous edition’s grid with the current edition’s clues. Not wanting to be beaten I worked out what the

correct grid should have been and filled it in (see below). Yours, Paul Beauchamp Mathematics First year

Star letter is sponsored by Your Harley

Awareness has improved The week commencing April 27 was Disability Awareness Week, which was a joint initiative between the Disabled & Dyslexic Students’ Forum (DDSF), the Union of Students and various University departments such as the Disability & Dyslexia Support Service and the Library. The week has proved to be successful and highlights the importance of having a separate awareness week focussing on disability, rather than a general equality week that somewhat inhibited DDSF from getting the message across in years gone by. A whole range of events took place including a Support and Advice Fair, inclusiveness training for societies, clubs and committees, a talk from students on the autistic spectrum, and a debate in collaboration with the Postgraduate Taught Committee (PGTC) on the level of finance available for disabled postgraduate students. It is brilliant to see the Union is adapting

my financial situation. I ended the last two terms overdrawn, and am already worried about my finances this term, particularly with the pressures of finding money for a deposit on next year’s accommodation. I’m trying not to think about what may happen after I graduate, with companies slashing their graduate recruitment schemes. It worries me that university vice-chancellors would be happy to raise fees to almost, if not over, double their current amount. Students are struggling

enough to support themselves with fees at their current level. This can only lead to higher repayments over longer periods, which will ensure that this struggle is unlikely to end after university. I agree with Watson’s comments that university “should be entry on ability and not money”. Education cannot become a market, as many students will not be able to contend. Yours, Lillian Taylor Philosophy Second year

What do you think about being stopped and searched before a Union club night?

The winner receives a free meal for two and a Lock-In membership at Your Harley

Dear Forge,

Write: Forge Press, Union of Students, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TG Email: press.letters@forgetoday.com Text: 07765363716 Please include your name, course and year of study. We reserve the right to edit letters for clarity and space.

gradually to the needs of disabled students. A good example of this was the recent approval of Inclusion Officers in societies and clubs at Union Council and Sports Council. Additionally, DDSF has worked hard to raise its profile over the current academic year, which I believe has been a success, particularly amongst University departments who were clueless of our existence even as late as October 2008, a full two years after DDSF was formed. The DDSF has gained recognition as a candidate in the Activities Awards 2008/09 which again shows the progress made and the considerable work put in by dedicated members. Contrary to popular belief, it certainly is not straight forward to improve accessibility quickly; especially when structural changes to the Union building are taken into consideration. However we are working on this and the Vision 2012 plan hopefully can show improvements in this area and finally get rid of some longstanding access

problems for our students. The landmark disabled students policy passed in May 2008 has not been neglected, but it is important the next Officer team keep it high on the agenda and deliver the goods. I look forward to working with them and hope they support Union groups such as DDSF, Student Advice Centre and Mental Health Matters. It is certainly worth congratulating the work of DDSF members, Union Officers, and staff at The Source, who have been instrumental towards making the Union inclusive and diverse. They work hard to ensure that all students can participate in Union services and activities. It is a pleasure working with the Union and University to comply with basic policy and crucially going beyond this. Yours, Chris Jesson Students’ with Disabilities Councillor and Chair of the Disabled & Dyslexic Students’ Forum (DDSF)

Forge Press letters - your page, your voice If you’ve got a reaction to something we’ve covered, or if you just want to get something off your chest, we want to hear from you. email: press.letters@forgetoday.com or text: 07765363716

Jenny Tasker, English Literature, Third year

Jonathan Narcross, History, First year

Maria Garde, Modern Languages, First year

“It depends on the context and who was doing the stop and search. If it was the police, it’d be fine.”

“You shouldn’t have anything to worry about if you’re not hiding anything.”

“To be honest, I don’t mind about the Union implementing a search policy.”

FORGE PRESS Friday May 8 2009

COMMENT

Thorough checks at Union club nights have been a long time coming

Tougher security measures are not needed on premises which are safe

By Michael Hunter

By André Nunn

As I edge closer to a final year at Uni promising big workloads and bigger word counts, my nightclubbing exploits look set to take a bit of a back seat. Not that I have ever been a great proponent of saving the rave. Only whilst researching this piece did I learn dubstep is a drum and bass sub-genre and not in fact a groundbreaking urban haircut. Nevertheless, my bridled melancholy has been known to waver on sporadic if somewhat forced occasions. The problem with going to nightclubs after you’ve turned 21 is you realise, invariably, that they all provide a near-identical service. There’s always a bar where you can spend a quid on a drink you don’t like, there’s always someone on hand to knock the same drink out of your hand within seconds, and there’s always a DJ who forgot to bring any records you like or, as is often the case with me, have even heard of. But it could be worse – you could be bludgeoned to death by a VK bottlewielding maniac or left comatose on a Glossop Road kerb after dropping too many street drugs. Thankfully, Union Council have decided security staff should be allowed to give us a good frisking to ensure offensive weapons and 10 per cent pure cocaine are kept out of our club nights. And I applaud them. It would be typical if my pessimistic and abrasive attitude towards clubbing

There’s almost nothing I despise more after a few vodka cokes at home than having to queue for hours outside a club in the cold (and usually wet) weather while the people in front of me are ID’d, frisked, and eventually allowed in. In fact, after spending a good few hours with a drink in your hand and a chair to sit on, a queue is an absolute buzzkill. Going to the Union’s club nights is usually a refreshing experience because all that’s required is a flash of your ticket and you’re sent quickly on your merry way.

Stop-searches will improve security. was poetically rewarded with either an axe to the head or an Amphetamine to the brain. It comes as something of a surprise, however, that these measures have taken so long to be implemented – not that our Union should be chastised for its laboured introduction of stop-searches.

A 10-second groping from a bouncer is hardly alluring While security procedures are fairly commonplace throughout European nightspots, thorough checks at the doors of nightclubs remain a rarity in this country. So expect Union door staff

Cartoon: Kate Carson

to exercise their new powers with initial zest when they are launched in September and, as a result, admission to Fusion and Foundry could prove a touch more prolonged. And, admittedly, a 10-second groping from a bouncer is hardly alluring for the majority of Union night devotees. But surely even the most ardent Tuesday Club regular won’t begrudge holding on a tad longer to be drowned in the sound of Andy C or Toddla T or Crissy Criss for the benefit of watertight security? The threat of waking up the next morning with snakebite-drenched clothing or a takeaway-smeared face should represent a bigger, and altogether very more real, prospect.

I have never seen or heard of a weapon on Union property But all that looks set to change with the news of fresh measures to introduce security checks from September. The new stop-search policy will no doubt be an effort to crack down on those who want to take dangerous items, weapons or otherwise, into the Union’s club nights. But where is the need? Yes, the media is full of scaremongering stories about rising knife and gun crime. As part of my coursework, I followed a court case about a young dad who was stabbed to death in a Sheffield club after his attackers avoided security checks. So I understand the dangers only too well. At university though, it’s an

entirely different matter. From what I’ve read in the papers and witnessed in court rooms, the people who like to carry a dangerous weapon around are almost never at any level of education higher than college. This is because the dregs of society who think smuggling a knife into a club is a good idea are typically of low intellect. They’d have to be if they even considered the idea in the first place, and I’d like to think as a student at this University all of these lovely people were filtered out long before the rest of us arrived. Why else did we spend so long slaving over revision books and going through the painstakingly boring process of writing personal statements? As for drugs, I’m not going to pretend they’re not as much a part of the Uni lifestyle as booze and essays are for some. My problem lies with the claim implied in the tougher security measures - that people are smuggling them into Fuzz Club or Space or any other Union night to provide that added buzz, to the detriment of other clubbers. I admit there’s a slight chance that I’m too inebriated most of the time to realise what’s happening around me on a night out, but I have never seen or heard of a weapon on Union

property, or any drug usage for that matter. In the city centre it might come with the territory, but not on our patch. Or maybe we’ve been going to the wrong places and should broaden our horizons, even if, according to this latest decision, we are risking being knifed by a nutter or propositioned by a druggy in the bogs. These tougher measures are still not in force in some of the more dangerous city centre clubs and it’s hard to understand what exactly the Union Council are trying to achieve with their new plans - except for slowing up the already problematic process of getting into a club night.

Lots to look forward to in the final weeks of term Each issue a member of the Union Officer team reports on their aims, objectives and activities. In these last few weeks of term, with the mix of deadlines, a newly boosted student loan jostling for your attention and the IC turning into the place you love to hate, the Union is here to give you loads of opportunities to get involved in a whole range of activities. This past week we’ve had

Matt Fox, Students’ Union Activities Officer.

the Community Olympics, AGMs and, tonight, Stand Up For Diversity. Coming up, we’ve got numerous society events such as the Summer Sing Soc concert on May 9, the annual Gospel Choir concert on May 12, Phat Beatz, the Hip Hop Dance Annual Showcase on May 18 and much more. Give it a Go has a full summer schedule for you to take part in, and on May 19, there is Officer Question Time - an event for you to

ask us about what we’ve been up to this year. This is just a snapshot of what’s happening over the next few weeks and indeed of the vast range of activities that have gone on over the past year. It amazes me every day the amount of effort, original thought and enthusiasm that students put into their societies and committees. It will give me great pleasure to reward some of them at the Activities

Awards on the May 11 - an occasion that will celebrate the energy that gives this Union its heartbeat. We’ll be presenting the best societies and groups in a vast array of categories, including charity event of the year, best website, departmental society of the year and many more. You can see all of the nominations online. I have written before that there are huge benefits from taking part in activities around campus, and I think

that these end results that will be showcased at these events are a testament to the dedication, loyalty and talent that these groups can foster. Even during this busy period, students still find the time to help others, put on events and engage with the Union. So please make sure to check out as many events as possible - these students have put a lot of effort in to ensure that you are entertained.

FORGE PRESS Friday May 8 2009

COMMENT

Thorough checks at Union club nights have been a long time coming

Tougher security measures are not needed on premises which are safe

By Michael Hunter

By André Nunn

Cartoon: Kate Carson

Matt Fox, Students’ Union Activities Officer.

Awards on May 11 - an occasion that will celebrate the energy that gives this Union its heartbeat. We’ll be presenting the best societies and groups in a vast array of categories, including charity event of the year, best website, departmental society of the year and many more. You can see all of the nominations online. I have written before that there are huge benefits from taking part in activities around campus, and I think

FORGE PRESS Friday May 8 2009

COMMENT

Mics will turn Jessop into Uni’s Big Brother

By Alex Orton Having cameras and microphones in the Jessop West building seminar rooms and offices seems to be crossing the line of keeping an eye on students for their own safety and becoming downright intrusive. Being able to see if someone has become physically aggressive using CCTV is a sensible precaution; spending three years over-analysing books would certainly leave me inclined towards violence. But microphones? Really? Perhaps the University has a security team on standby: “All units respond to a stern talking-to occurring on a third floor seminar room.”

I feel sorry for whoever listens in to the conversations in Jessop Every time surveillance equipment appears in a new place there is a great outcry about Big Brother, the nanny state and any other phrases from the Big Book of Generic Leftie Outbursts. I should know about this; I’ve written a fair few pieces decrying the moral principle of CCTV, but there seems to be a practical reason for opposing the microphones in

the Jessop building. Many of the staff are unhappy with the teaching spaces, the lack of storage and the fact that the building seems to be a triumph of aesthetics over functionality. Should the University decide to tune into who’s saying what in Jessop West, they could quickly find out who doesn’t think that the corridors are as wide as a motorway, or who reckons the seminar rooms make the Black Hole of Calcutta look like an aircraft hangar. Another issue with the sizes of the place is the fact tall students can’t fit in the lifts. Students who eat themselves into states of monstrous girth can fit down the corridors, but anyone unfortunate to grow over the wrong side of 6’ 6” has to take the stairs. Then again I feel sorry for whoever listens in to the conversations in Jessop West. Seminars are in essence a forum for the wholly ill-informed and over-opinionated to shout down the placid opinions of people who’ve done the reading. Some poor sap who had ambitions of being James Bond, or a streetwise private sleuth, finds himself listening to someone who’s voicing their opinions on the underlying themes of Catch-22 having quickly read the Wikipedia entry on it 10 minutes before running out the door to arrive late for their seminar.

A taller student struggles to get around in the under-sized Jessop building. By the time they’ve waded through the first 20 hours of overly avid Guardian readers taking a meaningless postmodernist stance on Holocaust literature they will have probably taken the decision to burst their own ear drums. Or the University could go the whole hog and add speakers to the cameras and microphones. If we really are going to have Big Brother watching us we should be able to hear what he thinks. Seminars could be enlightened with the views of frustrated

Keep the canny accent, Cheryl By Kimberley Long Americans are notorious for their inability to understand British accents. When trying to crack the US market, Oasis had to be subtitled on shows. And while Joss Stone enjoys success her accent has turned more West Coast than West Country. To succeed in the States, the choice is ‘learn to speak proper or head home’. So when national treasure Cheryl Cole announced she was taking elocution lessons to iron out her Geordie twang, Brits gasped in horror. None more loudly so than University of Sheffield Professor Joan Beal, who was quoted in the nation’s tabloids telling Cheryl to keep it natural. The Geordie accent, she pointed

out, is considered friendly and attractive. However not all accents get such approval. A survey this year found Geordie to be one of the accents most favoured by employers. Scouse came last. Guess which I have. Accents are very subjective. People outside of Liverpool often think I’m Irish. Last year I lived in Japan teaching English, where my co-workers universally rejoiced over my ‘beautiful’ pronunciation. In Sheffield I’m either teased for being high pitched or people strike up

conversation with me just to hear me speak. To cap it all, in Liverpool I’m met with suspicion for, unbelievably, having no accent. So if Cheryl Cole heads stateside with newfound Keira Knightly intonation, the US may welcome her as another English Rose. But the honesty and warmth we grew to love whilst watching X Factor will be lost. The Americans may love her schmoozing in LA with exclamations of ‘darling’. But I know the Brits would much rather hear her say ‘pet’.

Yorkshire security men booming out of speakers. Of course the cameras and microphones could be turned to the English Department’s advantage. For Shakespeare modules students could spring into full blown thespian dialogues, with their ability to do justice to the Bard’s works being recorded and reviewed as part of the marking process. The accusations of plagiarism could be replaced by more

Cartoon: Natasha Maisey interesting cheating enquiries have males students been stuffing the front of their tights with socks before performing the Scottish play? All joking aside, listening in to the conversations in offices, where students can be discussing personal issues with tutors, is incredibly unethical. The University should stop wasting money on needless surveillance equipment in overpriced and poorly designed buildings.

Money-making loans By Kayley Dempsey The UK is in deflation for the first time in 50 years. And thanks to some wonderful economic theory, our student loan interest will technically begin paying back money we already owe. It sounds ridiculous, but until the Treasury officially changes the rules - which is probably imminent - as of September, our loans will start paying themselves back. Without mortgages and pensions and the like, we students sometimes seem a bit excluded from financial goings-on. But one thing I’m sure we are all aware of is Gordon Brown’s wonderful decision to lower VAT for a while. With my sieve-like memory, it’s

a constant surprise every time I go shopping. Like credit crunch Christmas come early. A skirt costing £4 in Primark suddenly becomes £3.91. A pair of shorts with a £9 label cost only £8.81. At this rate, I’ll have enough money for - well, at least another beer every now and again. Other good crunch news lingerie sales are up and house prices are falling. That means that first-time buyers like us might actually be able to afford something when we graduate. And to avoid high fuel costs, people are walking more and trading in big 4x4s for greener small cars with less road tax. Environment one, credit crunch nil. It may be a pretty nasty thundercloud, but at least it’s got a few silver linings.

FORGE PRESS Friday May 8 2009

Editorials Joyce’s death puts Uni into perspective As exams and coursework deadlines edge ominously closer by the day, it is understandable that stress levels increase and morale seems to have hit capitulation as many face the harsh realities of graduating during a recession. In the light of the tragic death of Ka Yi Wu (known as Joyce to her friends) it is important that we put things into perspective. The things worth stressing over in life are not footnotes, bibliographies or word counts, but experiences, love and friendship. Joyce brought a lot of joy and love to her friends, and in coming to England to study at this University she was showing a commitment to broadening her horizons, to getting a good education, and to having the

experience of a lifetime. This time of year can be particularly hard for everyone, but one just can’t start to envisage how difficult it is going to be for Joyce’s housemates, friends and family. As such, it is good to hear the University’s Student Support Service is helping Joyce’s friends and family through this period. Both the University and the Union of Students have counselling and listening services which are on hand if needed at anytime, no matter the issue. Not only does Joyce’s death remind us to enjoy life, it is a stark reminder of the devastating nature of road accidents. Our deepest feelings of regret and sympathy are extended to those close to Joyce.

First of all let’s get the facts out of the way: University lecturer Bill Carmichael is not an advocator of women beating and nor is he a misogynist. Still, his comments made in a Yorkshire Post article entitled ‘Brutal truths about protest’ have riled some students at this University. Whilst respecting Carmichael’s freedom of speech, surely it was (and still is) within his duty of care as a lecturer at a respected university not to cause offence to his students, and, as a result, cast a cloud of controversy over his department and University? It is right that he should find himself in the direction of fair

criticism; after all, as a journalist he should champion and engage in debate and discussion. However, any suggestion that his comments were made vindictively or in a malicious manner are simply erroneous. Similarly, it is worrying to think that in a Union that prides itself on promoting “diversity” and “democracy”, key figures seem to want to dictate to students who they should or should not cast their votes for in the upcoming European Parliament elections. Just because one may disagree with the ideologies of one particular party, it doesn’t mean their right to be heard should be suppressed.

The news that the University lecturers’ union (UCU) are planning to ballot members over whether they want to strike seems fairly abrupt and uncalled for. Whilst action to avoid staff redundancies is a valiant one, industrial action over wage

demands will only make vicechancellors across the country incensed. Demands for further wage increases are nothing short of ludicrous when you consider the recession and prospective government budget slashing.

Freedom of debate

Strike unnecessary

COMMENT

Students won’t be able to resist new Tesco

By Kyle Christie Despite having failed with their previous application, the persevering devils at Tesco are pushing ahead with their bid for a new store on Springvale Road in Crookes. This leaves us in a dilemma all too common in a globalised, free market world where communities remain desperate for a sense of communal identity. But also keen for cheap, decent food at convenient times. The knee-jerk reaction would be to oppose another store for Tesco, who take one pound in every seven spent in Britain, simply on principle. Monopolies rarely benefit anyone but the company in question. As in most of these cases, the real opposition is based on local factors. As a resident of Springvale Road, I’ve got two Co-ops, a Nisa, a Netto, numerous newsagents, and independent grocers and off-licences within a five minute walk. If I could be bothered, I’d be able to spend a good hour walking back home, buying some apples there, some wine here, and some pasta over there. I don’t, because even with the selection of shops I can’t be arsed to spend that long in them, but I’m hardly spoilt for that pinnacle of the high street, ‘consumer choice’. Adding a Tesco would just give me another option I don’t really need. As a cyclist, I’d rather not have to weave round articulated Tesco delivery trucks in addition to those absurdly green double-decker school buses every morning on an already busy junction. You may as well just close the road for 10 minutes for all the

New Tesco could become a focal point.

Cartoon: Natasha Maisey

disruption they’d cause, and having the ripest fruit and latest papers in there simply wouldn’t be worth the hassle. Understandably, local shops like Bennies and the Dram Shop are leading opposition to the store. But as students, our principled stand can only take us so far. Because deep down, almost all of us know we’d use the store. Whatever points are raised against it, once it is built the convenience becomes an overriding temptation. It will be cheaper than many of the independent shops and likely open longer.

Whether it for that early morning milk or midnight craving, a Tesco there could be as much a focal point for students as its sister store on West Street already does for those living in the city. That’s the beauty of the market: stores make themselves first a convenience, and then a necessity. So if Tesco get their store in Crookes despite vocal objections from the Liberal Democrat Council, then I couldn’t promise that my values would prevent me using it. Just don’t get in the way of my bike.

Officers campaign for lower fees. Photo: Adam Harley

at Uni already, with X per cent of students with part time jobs and the average graduate debt of so many thousands of pounds. They were right: going to Uni can be financially tough for students, and you will probably graduate owing a huge sum to the SLC. But moaning about it won’t make a difference. The University of Sheffield’s Vice-Chancellor has said he doesn’t think the tuition fee cap should be lifted, so Union Officers can’t petition the University. Instead, the action day was supposed to be more cerebral and more sophisticated than a simple protest. The idea was to inform students about what vice-chancellors secretly want to do, and then let them make their own decisions about it. Unfortunately, the impression was that of all talk, and a damp squib of action.

Day of Action will make no difference to fees By Natalie Bowen Union Officers held a muchtrumpeted HE Fees Day of Action last Wednesday, ostensibly to galvanise protest against an anonymous vice-chancellor survey that revealed plenty of university bosses want to charge students far more to come to Uni. Ever since their introduction in 1998, tuition fees have been a subject of fevered debate. First the abolition of student grants caused controversy, then the introduction of ‘top-up’ fees in 2006 provoked anger. I joined the NUS protest march in London and gathered support from college students against the £3,000 capped fees up from £1,150 per year. Now the BBC has revealed some vice-chancellors want to abolish a tuition fee ‘cap’ and charge what they like, perhaps even £20,000

per term. This year the NUS decided to stop fighting for ‘Free Education for All’ and focus on retaining the cap, but everything looks bleak for future university students. So our Union Officers decided to take a stand by boarding a ‘fees truck’ on the concourse, getting some people to stand with them and shout to passers-by about how they are taking a stand.

The day was supposed to be more cerebral than a simple protest I know I sound sarcastic, but I went along to the action day expecting, well, a bit more action. Placards, posters and microphones are ways to get the message across, but there was a distinct lack of interest from passing students.

The Officers got representatives from student political groups such as Labour Students and Conservative Future to talk about their views on getting rid of the cap, and even got a few students to share their views too. But there seemed to be no focus to the day, a build-up to nothing. Even Dave Hurst’s ACS protest had a march and a few people shouting slogans. It didn’t help that it was drizzling; it’s always hard to garner support when the weather’s bad. People run into the Union to get dry, rather than hang around the concourse getting badgered by people with leaflets. But not only that: the speakers on the red anti-fees truck did not seem to have any idea what they would do to tackle the issue. They just tried to score points by exclaiming how awful higher fees would be, and how terrible life is

FORGE PRESS Friday May 8 2009

FEATURES

Student visa violation Forge Press investigates how social cohesion is being severed by the weak student visa system By Kate Dobinson Immigration has been marked as a dirty word. A word whose muddy entrails have left a stinking mess under the feet of the Home Office and its advisory bodies, which is now trying to sponge up its excess after major loopholes in the student visa application process were found to have been exploited by alleged terrorists from Pakistan last month. An embarrassing blunder committed by Bob Quick, Scotland Yard’s head of counter terrorism, revealed a top secret government dossier containing plans to diffuse a supposed al-Qaida terrorist cell as he strode into Downing Street. The mistake not only cost Quick a resignation, but instigated the premature arrests of 12 men in Manchester, 10 of whom were from Pakistan and had entered the country on student visas. Those men have now been freed without charge but face deportation as they are still a security risk and threat. The plans for the major police operation were still in their discussion stages and it was undecided as to whether or not the suspects were 100 per cent suspect before Quick so haphazardly slung the dossier under his arm for the world’s press to feed upon. Not only have the Government and the police taken a beating for their apparent interventionism and supposed discrimination against Pakistan, but it has brought into question the nature of the system itself. Who is to blame for the failure of the weak visa system which sees thousands of immigrants coming to the UK under the pseudonym ‘student’, the students who are unfairly treated as suspicious and what does this violation of the process mean for the ambitions and feelings of credible students in Pakistan? When asked if credible Pakistani students would be put off from applying to the UK as a result of the negative press surrounding their entry and if they would feel

discriminated against as perceived terrorists, the Home Office said: “We want the UK to stay open and attractive for students. “But at the same time we are determined to deliver a system of border security which is among the most secure in the world. “That’s why we’re currently carrying out the biggest shake up of the immigration system in the world.” According to the Home Office, the blame is not to be placed with them.

What does this mean for the ambitions and feelings of Pakistani students? The Home Office told Forge Press that the nature of the process was fair: “All visas applications are dealt with fairly and assessed on their individual merits in line with the immigration rules. Since December 2007 all visas have required a fingerprint and we have detected over 5,000 false identities.” Nevertheless, the fair assessment is overwhelmed by the sheer number of applications which may be prone to misjudgments and misapprehensions which mean actual students can be considered suspicious. Moreover, the application process uses a fingerprint procedure which means that: “the fingerprints are checked against the police fingerprint database to identify if someone has a previous criminal history or immigration and asylum records”. Yet the system has a significant flaw in that it is useless to detect the new breed of ‘clean skins’; members of Al-Qaida who are not known to security or the police, as their fingerprints are not on file. ‘Clean skins’ are willing to undertake their first, and possibly last, exercise. This kind of discrepancy is still a problem despite the UK Border Agency’s new plans to tighten the legal infrastructure in other areas to prevent fish slipping through the net. The new rules state that all nonEU students are to present a letter

from a legitimate college that is registered with the Agency, to attend a British High commission interview and to obtain an identity card. Students who fail to report back to the university within 10 days of the start date of their course or who are absent for more than two weeks will be investigated also. However, this is not iron clad and is prone to inaccuracy. To start with, a staunch new system relies upon all of its commandeers to follow the new rules; compulsory identity cards might not be checked by the colleges and may serve as a thin and forgotten contribution. Similarly, tabs kept on foreign students attendance may waver. Interviews at the British High Commission must be implemented and insisted upon for the system to work. It is a momentous task to ascertain which colleges are spurious sponsors of immigration scams and it has recently been reported that the Home Office have failed to inspect colleges on several occasions. In spite of this, the Home Office promise that: “Under the new points based system (PBS) educational institutions must pass two tests before they can sponsor international students. “Firstly they must show that they are inspected or audited… or hold valid accreditation with one of five approved accreditation bodies; secondly, they must be licensed by UK Border Agency.”

It is too early to tell if overseas students will be put off applying to places Having said that, it is still possible for an immigrant who is of threat to go undetected. If a ‘clean skin’ presents an unblemished record to accompany their fingerprints it can then be sponsored by a reputable college who are none the wiser. It can be argued that it would be too late if the college detected an absence of study after two weeks, if the immigrant had gone off the radar in week one.

On the other hand, it is clear that many universities will follow the regulations to the best of their abilities. The University of Sheffield state that: “Until this year, with the introduction of the points-based visa system, (PBS), universities have not been required to ‘sponsor’ overseas students to get a visa. “However, last September we had an intake of approximately 1,800 overseas students for whom we wrote certifying letters to confirm that they had met the academic conditions for entry to their chosen course and had accepted an unconditional offer of a place at this University.” Will the university system feel a bigger responsibility to vet its applications from foreign students more carefully? “Applications are assessed by the University on academic merit. In 2007, the Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) replaced the old ‘voluntary vetting’ scheme. “ATAS requires universities to provide information about a student’s course of study if it is in a ‘sensitive’ subject-area. The student is then required to obtain clearance from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to study these subjects. Entry Clearance Officers and universities will check the authenticity of passport, visa and academic documents.” Does the University of Sheffield predict a decline in the numbers of applications from foreign students due to the stricter process of application and in light of recent events? “Applications so far this year do not appear to have been affected. In theory, the new regulations shouldn’t present a barrier for genuine students seeking to gain entry to the UK to study and reduce the incidence of fraudulent applications. “It is too early to tell if overseas students might be put off applying for places. However, the current financial climate and cheap pound do make the UK an attractive place to study at the moment. “The University will continue to support overseas students by providing information in its prearrival publications and updating

this information on a regular basis.” Asif Durrani, Pakistan’s Deputy High Commissioner to London claims that British Pakistanis now feel that they are subject to inequity: “It has caused heartburn in Pakistan, among the community in the UK, they have been stereotyped ... as terrorists.” With regards to Durrani it is difficult to imagine how many of these Pakistani students cannot be frustrated to be taken seriously and wish to prove themselves in a country which is suspicious and more anxious about immigration than ever. Yet it is clear that the new system will not bar or dispel genuine applications.

The system is useless to detect Al-Qaida’s new breed of ‘clean skins’ Indeed the public arrests and subsequent release of the immigrants in Manchester has served to underline the dramatic tension existing between the UK and Pakistan, the latter of which expresses a distaste for the way that Gordon Brown has branded its country as the root cause of terrorism. The recent visits paid to Pakistan by Gordon Brown have strained relations between the two countries and given cache to the comments made by Sadiq Khan, Minister for Social Cohesion, who said: “the relationship we have with Pakistan is always seen through the prism of terrorism”. 70 per cent of terrorist trials in the UK have links with Pakistan and this is an inescapable fact for the country and its police state which cannot be blamed for applying this kind of historical evidence as precautionary advice to their reactions. Greater Manchester Police police constable Peter Fahy said: “When it comes to the safety of the public we can’t take any chances, we must act on information we receive. We don’t take these decisions lightly and only carry out this kind of action if it is wholly justified”. Cartoon: James Wragg

Sensoria / The Crookes / Star Trek / The Lightning Play

Fuse.

Feature Music Arts

Games

Sensoria heightens t city celebrates film,

Screen

Feature: Sensoria Sensoria is typical of Shefﬁeld. It is after all named after a song by Cabaret Voltaire, a local group prominent through the ’80s. The band was renowned for its level of experimentation, going further than simply fusing and blending roughly similar genres. There was a strong visual aspect to the band and it is this bond between music and ﬁlm that is the main principle behind Sensoria.

Still in its infancy as a festival, the week-long event covered film, art and music, and the overlapping areas that an expected Venn diagram of the three would produce. Focused around the Showroom, the majority of the programme consisted of films with a musical focus. Documentaries about periods and individuals, both famous and low profile, from the world of music played alongside feature films that may not be of the same subject matter but are just as worthy of being part of the festival for their

particularly exceptional musical compositions. The festival, which took place between Friday April 24 and Thursday April 30, included many exclusive screenings, including The Beat Is The Law, a documentary about Sheffield’s musical output over the ’80s and ’90s, and Sounds Like Teen Spirit, a film that follows the lives of several competitors from across Europe as they fight it out in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. And on top of that, there were

even opportunities to pose your thoughts on what you’d just seen to those involved in the films with several Q & A sessions. There were live performances too, most notably by The Comsat Angels, returning after a 14 year hiatus. They may sound unfamiliar but there are some who revere the band, including Mark Kermode. The BBC presenter and film critic, who came to Sheffield to introduce the band, once described them as “the band Joy Division should have

been”. Beyond the cinema and the gigs were exhibitions and other special events. With A Wall Is A Screen, there was a chance to wander around the city with others in the pouring rain and when a reasonable sized wall presented itself, set up a projector, run a short film and then packing the whole thing up again and moving onto another spot. There were exhibitions by Pete McKee, Elvis Davis, Phil Wolstenholme, a sound installation by Dr.01 David Butler and Camilo Salazar from the Delia Derbyshire Archive, industry events and workshops, and a 360° film and music installation called My Secret Heart in Sheffield before it goes off touring the world. All in all, it was a very busy schedule for a festival taking place away from a muddy field. So with something so significant happening on our doorstep, Fuse got out their and sampled some of what was on offer, focusing on the exhibitions and special events. Take a look below to find out more.

Off the city’s beaten track of music

Fuse

Friday May 8 2009

Review: The Beat Is The Law

Having only been finished that very day, a packed cinema enthusiastically awaited the first showing of The Beat Is The Law, a feature-length independent documentary about the Sheffield music scene by director Eve Wood. It’s the sequel to Wood’s film Made In Sheffield – another music documentary that lovingly depicts the rise of Sheffield’s post-punk scene in the 1970s, featuring rare archive footage of bands such as The Human League and Cabaret Voltaire. The film won four international film festival awards and was touted as one of the ‘Top 50 music films of all time’ by Time Out London. Fittingly, The Beat Is The Law focuses on the 1980s/’90s music scene in Sheffield and the innovative artists involved, who at the time were themselves surrounded by Thatcherism, unemployment and poverty. Sheffield was once considered as a left-wing political stronghold for the working class, who were battling against Thatcherite free market policies and the closure of the mines that provided work for a large majority of the city’s population. Indeed, the industrial history of Sheffield weighs in heavily throughout The Beat Is The Law, and flows as a wistful undercurrent to the cultural and musical events that are recounted in the narrative. The story itself is illustrated through archive footage of both live performances, and the city during the 1980s. Music videos, photographs, posters and artwork, text and, most intriguingly, new interviews with the artists and musicians who were active at the time are also present. You have Jarvis Cocker talking

about failure and being on the dole, Richard Hawley describing how most of his family worked in the mines and Russell Senior (exPulp) revealing that he actively volunteered to help the miners and recalling what he witnessed at the infamous Orgreave strikes of 1984. It is impossible to overstate the importance that The Beat Is The Law places on the relationship between the political and social events in Sheffield during the 1980s and the impact this had on the art that was produced by the citizens of the city. For example, in the film it is revealed that many of the disused warehouses, factories and mills that were strewn around the city were used as band rehearsal spaces (and places to film music videos) with one particular building ending up as one of Sheffield’s most celebrated live venues – The Leadmill.

The industrial history of Sheffield weighs in heavily throughout the film Despite its current incarnation The Leadmill began life a low-key venue where artists, musicians and creative types could come together and create something original and exciting. Most important local bands were playing at The Leadmill at the time, including Cabaret Voltaire, Chakk, Hula, Pulp, and ClockDVA. The venue also played host to many ‘Coal Not Dole’ benefit gigs to raise money for the miners – a few interviewees in the film suggest that these types of gigs were impossible to avoid if you were in a band. Former in-house Leadmill musician, Martin Bedford, generously provided Wood with some of the posters he created for these gigs for the film which were, and still are, dazzling pieces of art

Part of Martin Bedford’s artwork for the film. in their own right. The Beat Is The Law also alludes to the larger impact that some of the bands from Sheffield went on to have in the music industry as a whole, despite many of them staying in Sheffield and refusing to move to the capital. For example, Pulp had a massive influence in the Britpop movement of the 1990s and Chakk’s first single ‘Out of the Flesh’ was truly groundbreaking in its unique mix of industrial and funk music which sent clubbers straight to dance floors across the nation. The film also features some interesting interviews with the people who founded and ran Sheffield’s celebrated (and now defunct) FON Studios/Records. This includes Mark Brydon (Chakk/ Moloko), sound engineer Rob Gordon, and Chakk manager/FON

Records co-founder Dave Taylor. Excitingly, Amrik Rai, a music journalist who has worked for the NME but started out writing for the University of Shefﬁeld’s student newspaper Darts (as it was known at the time) is also mentioned for his part in drawing the nation’s attention to the music of Shefﬁeld.

The Beat Is The Law is a wonderful treat for music fans in Sheffield The Beat Is The Law has an empathic and informative tone that truly reveals Eve Wood’s love for the city and its culture. Ultimately it shows her love for the amazing music that the city has produced

in spite of the testing social and political conditions, which inevitably seems to have drawn some artists closer together. Expect humour, anecdotes, honesty, and lots of information that will leave your head spinning with admiration; not only for the people in the documentary, but for the director behind it. Eve Wood was so exhausted she was barely able to stand to thank her audience at the end of the premiere; a cinema that burst into animated applause for the third time in a row. All in all, The Beat Is The Law is a wonderful treat and a deﬁnite must-see for anyone who lives in Shefﬁeld and who likes music – it’s as simple as that. Pippa Moore

Feature

the senses as the , art and music

Music Games

The pains of being secret at heart

Arts

Review: My Secret Heart @ Sheffield Independent Film 30/04/2009

Screen

My Secret Heart is an intense visual and aural installation that is currently on world tour. An installation working as a multisensory experience, it centres on secrecy and mystery, going through cycles and jumping from soothing moments to sheer cacophony. It was created by Mira Calix (electronic composer), Flat-e (video artists) and several performers from Streetwise Opera. Flat-e is a video art collective with previous experience on installations and have worked with Aphex Twin. Mira Calix is signed to Warp Records, has supported Radiohead and the Royal Shakespeare Company, and has received commissions from the London Sinfonietta.

The combination of colours, lights and manipulated noises is so mesmerising Streetwise Opera, an organisation that helps homeless people with art, commissioned the installation. Each year they try to make one big show that will involve most, if not all, of their 10 centres around England and last year they worked on My Secret Heart with Calix and Flat-e, with their 101 performers dancing along to the chilling, emotional music. The silhouettes of the performers become strange shapes, overlaid on top of each other (and sometimes inside), keeping a sombre black and white approach that turns into colours from time to time. Pieces of Allegri’s composition were sang by performers from Streetwise, with their voices sometimes treated with effects and distributed throughout the 50 minute show, with the images on the 360° screen married perfectly with the music. Allegri’s ‘Miserere Mei’ has

A still from My Secret Heart. some sort of infamy around it, with the popular myth that this choral piece, based on Psalm 50 (or 51, depending on your ﬂavour of Christianity) was thought to be so beautiful that the Vatican vetoed it from being transcribed or performed outside the Sistine Chapel. My Secret Heart gives the impression of what might be the result if Aphex Twin made a video with Bryan Louie (the graphic designer for Gnarl Barkley’s ‘Crazy’ video), using random people on the streets and asking them to strike

Photo: Helen Munro poses whilst holding glow sticks. Which isn’t as weird as it sounds, as the combination of colours, lights and manipulated noises (interpolating pieces of ‘Miserere Mei’ with voices) is so mesmerising that you really don’t feel the length of the show. Fifty minutes? Felt more like 10 minutes of very pretty lights, whispers and a few particularly strange sounds that sent a dog that a couple brought to the exhibition to go barking at the speakers. Again, the simplicity of the concept (“secrecy and mystery”

The silhouettes of the performers become strange shapes says their statement) is juxtaposed with the visual complexity. There are reﬂective moments, where the music turns ambient and the screen displays an anemone-like network of limbs that react with music, dancing like a squiggly eye

ﬂoater. It seamlessly integrates with a roundabout of faces and shapes that grow and overwhelm the audience. Then everything becomes silent and the cycle repeats itself. A truly intense experience that is on international tour and will be on Edinburgh’s International Film Festival in June and in Cheltenham’s music festival in July. It will then go to Japan, Australia, China, New York and Paris. Samuel Valdes Lopez

Review: Blue Sky Thinking @ The Forum 19/04/2009 - 10/05/2009

work seems to depict natural settings involving unnatural occurrences. This produces a surreal and witty take on life that is undeniably interesting to look at, especially as each piece is incredibly detailed. Of his album covers, perhaps the most commercially recognisable is the cover for The Orb’s 1992 album U.F. Orb. However, Wolstenholme has also produced artwork for legendary Shefﬁeld band Cabaret Voltaire, and more recently for Shefﬁeldbased band The Lovers - for which he created the two characters of a

frog and snail to represent the alteregos of the two musicians (and reallife lovers) in the band.

Asleep and snoring in an armchair: a realistic-looking gold robot Wolstenholme’s most recent work is a commissioned piece for Eve Woods’s The Beat Is The Law, a ﬁlm about the 1980s/’90s music scene in Shefﬁeld and the Thatcherism

that surrounded it. The piece is the most compelling of the collection; it is set in a stereotypically grey Shefﬁeld factory where a stylus is poised over a millstone that does not grind steel but, instead makes and plays records. Although digital art may not be everyone’s cup of tea, Blue Sky Thinking is a testament to Wolstenholme’s skilful and gifted talent at creating dynamic and contemporary art that is a feast for the eyes. Pippa Moore

Fuse

As part of Sheffield’s Sensoria festival, The Forum is playing host to Phil Wolstenholme’s exhibition Blue Sky Thinking, showcasing 14 prolific pieces of art that span his 20-year career as a digital artist. Included are timeless pieces that served as compilation album covers by Sheffield’s revolutionary independent record label, Warp Records. Worthy of note are Artificial

Intelligence I and Artificial Intelligence II, the two albums that bookended the record label’s series of “electronic listening music”. Not only were they a pioneering leap musically into the electronic era but each had a cover to match this level of innovation. For example, Artificial Intelligence I portrays a normal living room with Pink Floyd and Kraftwerk records strewn over the carpet - but a fantastical and futuristic edge to the piece comes with the figure asleep and snoring in an armchair: a realistic-looking gold robot. Indeed, much of Wolstenholme’s

Friday May 8 2009

20 years of capturing the digital era in art

Feature Music Games Arts Screen

Enamoured whispers and a sweet and crooked charm Interview: The Crookes Chances are that you’re already unconsciously familiar with The Crookes. They’re “that band named after where they live”, or “those who formed on the Fuzz Club dancefloor”. You might know their name from the posters documenting their frequent gigging around Sheffield or, given their current student status, you might even share a lecture theatre with one of them. Theirs is a story in its infancy; catching a band as the murmurs of their promise begin to spread. The Crookes are George, Daniel, Alex and Russell and, although it’s only a year since they played their first gig, they’ve got the wholehearted endorsement of indie supremo Steve Lamacq and will soon be putting out their first record. In the beginnings we find Daniel and Alex having formed a band, complete with fake names, joke songs, designs on being “Flight of the Conchords-esque, mocking all our friends”. “None of us could sing,” says Alex, “it was a haphazard way of doing things.” They firstly recruited vocalist George, who said yes to joining without hearing a note, and later their drummer Russell.

(L-R) Russell, George, Alex and Daniel. Crookes they may be, but charlatans they ain’t. And thus came the realisation that perhaps they might do the band thing properly and all be able to play an instrument. The Crookes sound like their musical hearts are owned by both a reverence for storytelling and

1960s pop songwriting, and a faint nostalgia for times gone by. They come across like a gang of dreamers who see the world in pretty sepia tones, where delicate guitar pickings and finger clicks become jangly C86-style

outbursts, topped with a lyrical streak of whimsy romanticism currently free of cynicism. Lamacq applauded their “ambition and flare”, saluting George’s “special, poetic” voice and praising them to the high

heavens after witnessing their March gig at The Stock Room. Their “amazing” manager Penny had handed him their CD, and she’d withheld the news that he would be in the audience that night. The realisation that they had someone important to be impressed in the crowd (Lamacq was stood with Jon McClure, aka ‘The Reverend’) made Daniel play entirely wrong notes for his opening guitar line, where he recounts his thoughts as “Fuck! It couldn’t get any worse!” The Lamacq seal of approval has led to more gigs; his girlfriend took a booking agent to one of their London shows and they’ll soon be heading off around the country touting their (admittedly slightly shambolic) live act. “It would be easy to say that because he likes us it’s all going to happen”, says George. “We’re just trying to play as many gigs and keep writing songs.” With a 7” vinyl release of their first proper single imminent, joining the exclusive Too Pure Singles Club, The Crookes have degrees to finish and audiences to charm. With an arsenal of unabashed loveliness at their disposal, it’d be a crowd made of stone not to hear them, smile and eventually fall. Helen Lawson

Anti-pop, inclusiveness & awesome pals Copy Haho are Joe, Rikki, Stuart and Richard. They recently released their debut EP, Bred For Skills & Magic, on Big Scary Monsters, and are about to tour with Johnny Foreigner.

a different band. By the time we were leaving school Richard was drafted in to play bass, and that’s when Copy Haho began. Around that time we were listening to lots of Pavement, Sonic Youth, Fugazi and Husker Du; lots of American indie guitar music. We’re still into that, but not exclusively so.

How did the band begin? Did you have common tastes that made you want to create your own music? Joe: We went to secondary school together in Stonehaven, me and Richard played in an improv-noise band and then at the same time Ricky, Stuart and I were playing in

You contribute to the blog Awesome Pals, along with the likes of Foals, Dananananaykroyd, Sky Larkin, Los Campesinos! and Johnny Foreigner - is it mutually beneficial to work together like this? Have you noticed an increase in exposure because of the blog?

Q&A: Copy Haho

Date on skates

Fuse

Friday May 8 2009

Competition: Win a pair of tickets for Rollerpalooza

Bands, booze and the inevitable bruises; no, not a date with Chris Brown, but a night

of musical debauchery on wheels. This isn’t any sub-Starlight Express nonsense we’re talking about either. Take seven bands with ferocious live reputations, add some of Sheffield’s finest record spinners, and enjoy Rollerpalooza at Skate Central on Saturday, May 16. We have a pair of tickets to give away for this, thanks to our friends at Drowned in Sound, Death By Shoes and Harley Live. See the likes of Black Lips, Mika Miko, The Manhattan Love Suicides, and local talent Urgent Talk for free by emailing press. music@forgetoday. com with the answer to this easy question: Who wrote the music for Starlight Express? Entries need to be received by May 13.

Richard: I think the blog’s fairly arbitrary in a sense; we’ve all been friends for a long time, so that blog is just us being silly, it’s nothing really important. Joe: The only thing I’ve noticed personally is different blogs and websites picking up on it and flagging it as a news story which I find quite hilarious. In terms of exposure and how it’s helped us; I think it’s too early to tell really, it’s nice to have a vague connection with people online. But I think starting a band and becoming popular as a main concern is kinda silly, and a blog like that makes everyone more equal perhaps. Richard: The main thing with a blog like that, apart from being silly, is it promotes this level of inclusiveness. When you go to see a band or buy a record it does seem like you’re looking in, rather than being part of something and I think that’s what all of those bands have in common, that we want to promote this kind of inclusiveness; that musicians shouldn’t be held on pedestals, it should be a fun thing.

‘Pulling Push Ups’ is the lead track on the EP but is markedly different as a catchy, obvious pop “single” to the older material, for example ‘Bookshelf’. How did this come about? Joe: I’m not sure if I feel the same now - it’s a bit cringeworthy - but it was basically the idea of playing a really catchy pop hit. We’re sort of anti-pop in a way; the lyrics question what it is to be in a successful rock band in the UK and how calculated it seems. This goes back to Bowie and Reed; even though they were writing hits they had lyrical content that either completely contradicted the music or asked certain questions, so I think the sort of anti-pop message works pretty well. It’s like tricking someone into listening to a song and then complaining about what’s wrong with pop music. What do you consider to be pop? ‘Pop’ comes from ‘popular’, and popularity doesn’t necessarily

mean it’s been manipulated to be so. Joe: The definition of pop music I think in recent years has grown into something else - pop music in the ’70s was Blondie etc... I guess each person probably has their own definition, and for me it’s a good hit. It’s not really targeted at a group of people, it’s just ruminations of someone thinking about perhaps being in a band and what that means and what impact that has on their life. I wouldn’t consider it malicious. What drew you to Big Scary Monsters? Where are you looking to go? Joe: It’s just a deal to release the EP, not a formal record deal. We’re happy, it’s a step along the way. We’ve always worked to the logic that if something makes sense at the time and feels right then it’s good. Ffion Thomas and Helen Lawson

Review: The Maccabees - Wall of Arms

The Maccabees defy their ‘cutesy’ image. brooding ‘No Kind Words’ where Weeks’ moody and much more shadowy demeanour is revealed to all. Wall of Arms illuminates a band trying to abandon the cutesy

image that made many fall at their feet. Despite this, fans need not fret. Their trademark wide-eyed romanticism is still very much at the heart of their music,

Review: Silversun Pickups - Swoon Sometimes you can get the measure of a band before hearing a single note. A case in point; absolutely no one was surprised when The Twang sounded like a bunch of lairy arseholes farting into microphones for comic effect. Silversun Pickups are no such

That’s the spirit

singer Brian Aubert’s nasal rasp as proof that the band are a carbon copy of the Smashing Pumpkins brings us to our second lazy assumption; that this is a Silversun Pickups’ version of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Album opener ‘There’s No Secrets This Year’ certainly does little to discourage this way of thinking, ably dealing in both trebly, uplifting guitar lines and dissonant, angst-thick overdrive in a manner sure to please fans of Billy Corgan’s troupe. As if pre-empting our judgement, however, the song’s outro sees Aubert conceding, “I better make sure you’re looking closely”, before segueing into a reverie of violins and swirling, muted guitars. Strings are used prominently throughout the album, but crib more from Sweeny Todd composer Stephen Sondheim than the bombast of ‘Tonight Tonight’. Which leaves us time for one more lazy assumption: does all the spiel contained within this review add up to Swoon being a pretty fantastic album? Perhaps...

Review: Delta Spirit Ode to Sunshine Delta Spirit have produced a mix of natural, atmospheric west coast rock and roll blues and laid back, authentic and honest lyricism in their latest release Ode to Sunshine, and the good news is it all works rather well. The Californian quintet manage to make every aspect of their album ooze with a sheer effortless style, from its quieter and more poignant acoustic moments through to its frequent explosions of passionate piano-driven noise. The whole album feels like one long story which we are lead through by lead vocalist Matt Vasquez. His experiences and musings from his time as a busker work perfectly when set to the

infectious and full bodied country and western rhythms that Delta Spirit seem more than capable of creating. The interruptions of clinking beer glasses and small audiences applauding brings forth images of backstreet Californian bars making the whole package seem far more natural whilst immersing us in the music to the point where you feel you know exactly how the band sound live. None of the tracks feel weak and it’s obvious that the band understand how they want their sound to come across and aren’t willing to compromise for it. Country may not be your usual genre of choice, and the moustachioed pot-bellied man gracing the artwork may put you off, but there’s something within this record for everyone to find. Ross Haymes

LA’s greatest new export.

band, and so it’s time to dispel a couple of lazy assumptions. The first: A band who’ve been trailing around the LA circuit since the new millennium – and whose sole reason for begrudgingly recording 2005 debut EP Pikul was to replace a dodgy live bootleg in circulation at the time – will more than likely produce long-players full of dirty, gig-seasoned crowd-pleasers à la Black Lips, right? As it turns out, no. Swoon is an intimate, positively anti-social record, avoiding quiet-LOUD-quiet theatrics in favour of building on subtle changes in texture and instrumentation. Often a song will stretch from a single hesitant bass line to gargantuan proportions and leave you wondering how, as best demonstrated in instant classic ‘The Royal We’. Producer Dave Cooley plays a key role in rounding off the album’s rough edges; as a result it gains a genuinely symphonic quality, steering the ear away from nifty solos and drum fills to instead focus on emotional crescendos and changes in texture. Critics’ tendencies to point to

Natasha Parker

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Subtly powerful stuff

but natural progression and experience has matured the lovable British rogues. The frantic energy that made up the likes of ‘First Love’ and ‘About Your Dress’ has evolved, making

Arts

To put it simply, the band are growing up. Since 2007’s Colour It In, frontman Orlando Weeks has developed a new-found vocal strength to contrast with the heartbreaking vulnerability that makes him so distinguishable. This comes to light in the

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Wide-eyed romanticism is still very much at the heart of their music

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If a dedicated following and kudos from comedic indie-icon of the moment Mathew Horne weren’t enough, The Maccabees serve up a dish that expertly balances refreshing melodies with familiarity and accessibility.

the creative precision in Wall of Arms evident from the first bar. ‘Love You Better’ swells up into a brass-driven euphoria which continues in crowd-pleaser-to-be ‘One Hand Holding’. The title track initially sees the Brighton-based bunch take a nostalgic look back at their previous work. Sam Doyle’s tinkering on cymbals and snare alongside Weeks’ unstrained warbling mirrors the warmth that Colour It In had, before culminating in a rumbling rhythm which is masterfully underplayed. This lays the foundations for the album highlight ‘No Kind Words’ to build on, its dark nonchalance an important milestone in this ongoing transformation. At little over half an hour, Wall of Arms is an impressive and intriguing sophomore effort that shows not only how far The Maccabees have come, but just how far they have to go.

Feature

A brave new direction

Jeremy Peel

It’s a Marmaduke joke Review: Marmaduke Duke Duke Pandemonium

out of Alex Turner’s book and do it well. Natasha Parker

Delta Spirit continue their ode to sunshine, whatever the weather.

Thieves of sound Review: Black Poets Innocents and Thieves

James Morris

Fuse

Biffy side-project is fruitless.

London four-piece Black Poets’s dark debut album sounds outrageously similar to another hopelessly gloomy band, Interpol, and their 2002 album Turn On The Bright Lights. The likenesses are incredible – Gerard Lecain’s low-pitched vocals are a near-perfect match to those of Interpol’s Paul Banks, whilst the music itself also bears a striking resemblance. In which case, it is just as well that Black Poets have written an album with enough quality songs to

stand up against these inevitable comparisons (and copyright infringement court cases). After opening with a doom-laden piano solo, Innocents and Thieves finds its direction in the form of ‘Mistakes’, with its funky bass line and smooth vocal melodies. Whilst they occasionally lose focus mid-way through the album, the slow-paced ‘Irene’ and its poignant guitars provide a fittingly despairing end to Innocents and Thieves. Original it is not, but Black Poets have made an album that is a credible alternative to, erm, Interpol’s Turn On The Bright Lights.

Friday May 8 2009

To begin, let us consider the purpose of a side project. Is it an opportunity for musicians to explore their musical talents? Maybe a chance to live out some life long dreams? Or is it simply a way for them to rake in some extra cash? All reasons are plausible, but ultimately, is there any point? These questions all came to mind within the first five minutes of listening to the musical brainchild of Scottish semi-nudist rocker Simon Neil, c of Biffy Clyro fame, and JP Reid from the lesser known Sucioperro. Fans of Biffy should brace themselves now; this outing sees them dust down the laptops, don some silly clothes and spend some quality time together under the unnecessary guises of “The

Atmosphere” and “The Dragon” whilst churning out half-hearted pieces of pop experimentation. Duke Pandemonium is the second album from Marmaduke Duke after a limited debut release circulated in 2005. Minimal, inoffensive and predictable, any potential is stripped away as each track nose-dives into a simmering pit of guitar hooks, repetitive lyrics, and uninspired rhythms. Thankfully, at the eleventh hour, the album is saved from complete disaster by a rubber clad saviour. Lasting no longer than two minutes, ‘Rubber Lover’ is the band’s current single and a slab of near-perfect disco fun. Charming and catchy, it begs the question – what went wrong? All in all, Marmaduke Duke have created an album that manages to be both peculiar, tedious and verging on the sexually ridiculous. This leaves only one thing to say; regarding side projects, if you’re going to do it, take a leaf

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Everything but the swagger Live: The Boxer Rebellion @ Leadmill 2/05/2009 The Leadmill’s Steel Stage is tonight graced with the presence of two fantastic bands, both that ooze a silent confidence that only skill can justify. Up first supporting The Boxer Rebellion are electro post-rockers Pure Reason Revolution who bring a mix of heavy rock breakdowns and infectious electro plinky -plonky rhythms. Like a heavier version of The Whip, Pure Reason Revolution start the night off fairly slowly but get into their stride after epic electro romp ‘Deus Ex Machina’ helps get the crowd moving. From here on in there’s a sheer effortless fluidity about their performance with the band able to turn everything on its head in a

matter of drum stick clicks. The only real issue tonight is lack of vocal volume with lyrics being drowned out by the sheer force and depth of the band’s music. By the time The Boxer Rebellion decide to casually stroll onto the stage in one of the least dramatic build ups possible it feels like they might not be taking the performance as seriously as you’d hope. However this lack of gravitas is exactly what makes the band so great as they prove that they don’t need to show signs of Twang-like arrogance to prove their worth as the quality of their music more than does this for them. We’re treated to the kind of musicianship that can only come through years of sheer practice and hard work. The band storm through some of their old album Exits and previous

hits including the gripping and passionate ‘All You Do is Talk’ as well as treating us to some newer tunes off latest release Union. The crowd are having such a good night that front man Nathan Nicholson gives us the option as to whether the band should leave the stage for the encore or whether they should just keep playing us some music. The crowd decide on the latter and the band blitz through a somewhat atmospheric version of ‘Watermelon’. This is partially due to its clunky guitar rhythms and brutal drums and partly due to the fact the stage lights cut out and we’re forced to watch the band by torch light. Substance finally prevails over style tonight as The Boxer Rebellion prove that practice really does make perfect. Ross Haymes

Royal rioting

Live: Amusement Parks On Fire @ Fuzz Club 30/04/2009

Live: The King Blues @ Foundry 27/04/2009

Ever get the feeling that, through some gross administrative error, a gig’s been billed in the wrong order? That’s the feeling we can’t shake throughout the fuzzy soundscapes that makes up the majority of Amusement Parks On Fire’s disappointing performance. Pulling off complexly beautiful atmospherics of the kind that usually fall flat in the live arena (aided in no small part by keyboardist Andy Wright), Swimming’s sonic barrage would be better suited to echoing from the walls of much larger spaces than our humble Foundry. The band play with nearreligious fervour, displaying a level of self-assurance that defies the meagre congregation. Unlike Amusement Parks On Fire, it’s clear that their influences extend beyond the mid-’90s – the Pornography-era spectre of Robert Smith hangs heavy over tracks like ‘Panthalassa’ . Vocalist John Sampson’s debt to Suede’s Brett Anderson is apparent not only in his fringe but also his offkilter delivery. As the otherworldly brilliance of ‘Tigershark’ clatters to a

The King Blues are a rag-tag bunch who trade in a punkedup, rabble rousing brand of rock music, which on record is easily dismissed as overly simplistic. However, they are a truly formidable live proposition; their almost criminally catchy shoutalong choruses were made for a crowded gig venue. Come the end of tonight’s gig virtually everyone is bellowing every word back at them. Led by vocalist Itch, the gig quickly takes on the feel of more a hip-hop concert, as he mounts speaker stacks, bounds around the stage tirelessly, and throws himself into the crowd, whipping the packed room into a frenzy. They set out their stall early, as Itch, the hyperactive front man, scrawled their name on a plain white sheet for the backdrop – no glossy produced banner for these boys, they pride themselves on being anti-establishment, and

Live: Master Shortie @ the Academy 24/04/2009

The not-so amusing Michael Feerwick. Photo: Matt Holland close, a second’s awed silence set begins, they fall prey to a overcomes the few early birds decidedly murky mix; something there to witness it, as if struggling like the kiss of death to a band to register the impact. that is essentially about variations At their best, Amusement in earth-shattering noise. There’s Parks On Fire can stare the a definite sense they’ve been shoes off Kevin Shields himself, upstaged and that, at least from yet tonight’s performance is a a headliner’s perspective, there’s decidedly limp affair. a lot to be said for dreary support Despite having sent bassist bands. Gavin Poole as ambassador Jeremy Peel to the sound desk before their

In spite of torrid tailoring and debatable dance moves, Master Shortie succeeded in justifying his spot as Basement Jaxx’s support act.

Hopping onto the stage in a short-sleeved off-beige suit and matching hat, there could have been grounds to think that Shortie’s get-up would stop people from getting down. Not so. Disinhibited dancing was the order of the day: standing still and rapping is anathema to Shortie. Instead, his short set stitched

Fuse

Friday May 8 2009

Photo: Fiona McKinlay

Ain’t no fun at the fair

Shortie, master of advice

Crowd pleaser: Nathan Nicholson.

Shortie demonstrates his ideal height.

Photo: Helen Williams

together the tight and vibrant sound of his band with expressive bodily contortions. The ever-swelling crowd were cohorts in Shortie’s plans, as he frequently entreated them to come closer to the stage and dance. He reminded those that were too “insecure” to let themselves go that “Marks & Spencer is still open.” Blasting through ‘Rope Chain’ and ‘Dance Like A White Boy’ (the latter of which may well soundtrack the summer, given the relevant exposure), the focus was on making sure that everyone was having a great time, though perhaps not in a way that many would see as conventional: “Those of you at the bar, put the alcohol down – it’s bad for your liver.” The message was clear: get involved, let yourself go, and dance like a white boy. Ciaran Jones

back it up with a real political conscience. This is a band intent on keeping the punk spirit alive – Itch pays tribute to the protestors at G20 and a man who “didn’t die of no natural causes, he died ’cos of the fuckin’ police” before a defiant ‘The Streets Are Ours’, and ‘Save The World, Get The Girl’ was for “anyone who’s sick to death of the way things are going in this country”, which, surprise surprise, appeared to be the entire room. Such statements seem crass in the hands of other bands (step forward The Enemy) but the sheer passion in which this band demands that every single person stands up and protests for what is right put them directly on the lineage of the original firebrand punks. The set is cut short due to “ukelele troubles” – how rock and roll – but absolutely no-one could claim to be short-changed by this thrilling display of vitriol, but set to the most uplifting set of tunes I’ve heard in a long time. Rowan Brunswick

Small, but special Live: Camera Obscura @ Leadmill 25/04/2009 When a band with the back catalogue, critical acclaim and devoted fan base of Camera Obscura comes to town it’s slightly bemusing to see them performing in the tiny surrounds of the Leadmill’s secondary Steel Stage. ‘Intimately’ isn’t the word to describe how well-acquainted the crowd end up with each other; experiencing the kind of bodily contact that you’d usually have to at least fork out for dinner to enjoy. With a move to legendary label 4AD and album number four now under their belts, the Glaswegian six-piece are completing their metamorphosis from lo-fi indiepoppers to a band embracing the timeless pop bombast of horn sections and string backings. The new-found orchestral grandeur of My Maudlin Career is replicated beautifully here; the music swells and soars behind Tracyanne Campbell’s romantic,

Vocalist Campbell. yet ironic, vocals, and the confines of the small room struggle to contain its bold ambition. The set pitches itself perfectly; fan favourites (‘Eighties Fan’) cuddling with the new, and it makes the case for indiepop’s darlings to become everyone’s new sweethearts. Helen Lawson

Games Arts Semigod, Quasideity, Almost Supreme Being and Half Heavenly Guy were rejected at the design phase. army. The fact that the game doesn’t stop for any of this keeps it fast-paced, with some games taking little over 10 minutes. Frustratingly there are some flaws in the online multiplayer which should have been the game’s forte. According to the publisher Stardock the connectivity issues are being caused by the rampant piracy of the title which has left the servers more than a little overpopulated. This is especially upsetting considering Stardock had been moving away from its more aggressive methods of DRM

that they’d been synonymous with in the past. All in all the game is great; satisfying to play with rapid level gain giving consistent improvements to your god, and a booming voice telling everyone how good you are and tallying your kill streak. Even the menu music is good; it’s satisfying just updating graphics preferences, especially since the graphics are great too. However, the game does have its limitations. The lack of a storybased single player mode leaves

major gaps in the setting and the anorexic selection of only eight maps means the skirmishes aren’t enormously varied in backdrop. Lastly, if the multiplayer problems are resolved the lack of single player could be forgiven, but at the moment the game is pretty damn good if short-lived, but nowhere near what we would expect from the developer or anything that could would lead to throwing round puns about the game being heavenly.

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A god has fallen, and this real time strategy/role player cross breed puts you in the hot seat to make a bid to ascend to true godhood. It is a simple case of proving oneself worthy by dominating other demigods to fill the void. The developers are Gas Powered Games who have their own heavenly lineage to live up to the creators of the classic RPGs Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander. The game is simplified when compared with a standard RTS. Similar to Warcraft III’s Defence of the Ancients mode in that you don’t have to worry about the bulk of your army; they get reinforced periodically and wander off to find new battles to fight without encouragement. You concentrate solely on your demigod. However, trying to turn the tide of the entire battle with one unit can be a little tricky; the demigod is in charge of everything and needs to be there to capture flags as well as be in your base to upgrade your reinforcements, building health and improve their own war gear. This all appears initially to be heavily convoluted, but since you pick it up over time it is ends up being consistently refreshing for the gamer. Gas Powered Games have provided a wide range of avatars with which to harness your divine wrath. Ranging from The Rook, a lumbering behemoth, with a giant

hammer and siege weapons on his shoulders, to the leader of men approach favoured by Queen of Thorns, a spellcaster contained in a plant bud carried by four large beetles, she relies on summoned minions and magical plant attacks to slay her enemies. That’s the tip of the proverbial iceberg, with eight very different demigods, each with their own customisable tech tree giving surprising variety in gameplay. The two single player modes thrust you straight into the action. Conquest is your standard large scale battle with the objective of destroying your opponent’s citadel and tournament mode puts you in eight rounds of eight-demigod royal rumble with all manner of objectives, from holding flags to killing a certain number of gods first. After a brief loading screen you hit the ground running, and a strong start is vital for the game. Even against the AI it’s tactical; taking certain flags around the map will benefit your entire team, gold bonuses mean that you can buy that really shiny armour with its fancy buffs, and there is an enemy portal so your reinforcements come from their base too. After just a few hours gameplay you will have developed your own playbook, mixing god domination with ground capture and army buffing in a way to suit your own style. All the gods can level up in different ways, so if you’re aiming to destroy enemy buildings it may be wiser to increase range or DPS, but in certain situations buff spells might be wiser to aid the entire

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Review: Demigod

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Only Demigood?

Mike Walden

It’s not gonna end well Terror on the high seas Review: Left 4 Dead Survival Pack

Instead you find yourself weaving in and out of the many different rooms treating the place as a giant circuit. Staying still in one place for too long on this mode signs your death warrant. Added to that is the efforts to make the game balanced and it works. Instead of a set difficulty it constantly scales the longer you live for. At the start you may get one or two special infected but as the minutes go by you find yourself fleeing a pack of hunters aided by a small battalion of tanks. At the end of the day this patch is free so there’s nothing to lose. This is a fine addition to an already outstanding game and thanks to the SDK released as well content will never die out. Download this now: you won’t be sorry. Sam Robinson

Feature: Piracy Problems

Fuse

James Cook

Friday May 8 2009

Piracy is an issue which has affected video games for many years now, but the recent Pirate Bay trial has brought it back into the spotlight. Many feel that the founders of the Pirate Bay have done nothing wrong, and are simply providing a file hosting service similar to YouTube or mySpace, while others see torrent sites as illegal, and a threat to the home entertainment industry. It’s worth noting that the ‘bittorrent’ is the latest in a long line of piracy techniques which have affected video games. While consoles have been targeted (such as ‘chipping’ the original Playstation), the majority of piracy is carried out by PC users, and seems to have got worse recently. High profile games such as Fallout 3 have been leaked onto the internet weeks before release, proving that there are security concerns even within development teams. The most extreme example came from Epic Games, where it was believed that 90 per cent of Unreal Tournament 3 users online were pirates. This represents huge losses for the developer, and a slap in the face to those who actually bought the game. Similarly, it has been speculated that up to 90 per cent of Nintendo DS users in the USA are pirates, using the R4 device. This is probably an exaggeration, but

Nintendo themselves are known to be worried about the effects of R4 on their sales. While there has been piracy, there have also been methods to prevent piracy. Some, such as Valve’s Steam service, have been successful, while others have been met with bewilderment and anger. Steam started as a simple online registration service for Half-Life 2, but has since grown to become the predominant method of distributing PC games digitally. The least successful method was DRM (Digital Rights Management), which limits the number of installs possible using one disc or activation code. This was a huge failure, because it had no effect on piracy and only served to annoy paying customers. What has to be the most irritating part of piracy is that publishers seem to have endless patience in trying to accommodate them. The first measure was to sell PC games for between £10-20 cheaper than the console versions, simply to try and persuade pirates to buy the game instead. Now EA Sports are planning to sell their PC games exclusively online. Both are significant gestures, but lowering the price point did nothing to stop piracy and exclusive online sales will probably have just as little success. The only way to truly reduce piracy will be the radical move of killing the PC as a gaming platform.

With every mountain there is an awe inspiring peak. With the recent DLC surge this peak comes in the form of the survival pack for Left 4 Dead. Better still it’s for free which is a good thing considering the amount on offer. There’s no new story, no new weapons and no new special infected. Everything the enraged forum trolls demanded has been ignored and for that Valve demands respect. Instead we get two more campaigns for versus – Death Toll and Dead Air and the all new survival mode giving the game that much need aspect of competition. But, of course, you already knew that. Playing the new maps is a mixed affair. Let me start with the good. Dead Air is without a doubt one of the most interesting maps in versus mode. As the infected there are so many different places to hide and so many different ways to ambush which helps to prolong the experience. The sheer fun you can have as a smoker on this campaign is brilliant. As the survivors a lot of places you once thought were safe have been made ten times more dangerous. The crane for instance is now a place to be feared thanks to the open rooftop facing several smoker hiding holes. Then we come onto Death Toll which sadly feels like the ugly friend who tags along on a night out. The mist that descends all around this map just adds to the monotony.

Far too many open spaces results in few places to ambush people and as such the campaign feels like one long boring marathon… With zombies. Of course this isn’t the focus of the patch, the new versus maps are the side order to survival mode. The premise to this mode is simple, you pick one of 16 maps then you last for as long as possible, there is no surviving. Of these maps only one, the lighthouse, is new to the game with the rest being the crescendo and finale events where rescue never comes. It’s bleak and breathtaking. While it may seem a massive slap in the face to be playing old content it instead adds a whole new dimension to them. Take the No Mercy hospital lift section. A normal playthrough on campaign or versus often boils down to people sitting in the corner and spamming the shove button. Try that on survival m o d e and you wouldn’t l a s t long.

continues, it becomes clear that Halloween’s haunts and scares are not only outside the house. Charlotte Jones previously worked with Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber adapting the scary story of The Woman in White, and some elements seem to have transferred from that play into this. The recurring ‘vision’ Max sees every time the TV turns itself on was quite chilling, and although

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Lightning strikes with intensity

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the revelation of what it means does not seek to shock, it is an unnerving leitmotif for anguish. The expensive rug that haunts

Review: suTCo - The Lightning Play An innocent get-together between several couples, all of them with their own issues and fears, derails into a night of revelations, shouting matches and unravelling secrets. A brand new plasma TV with a ludicrously complex remote control, a rather overpriced, dustgathering rug with a curious attraction to uncomfortable questions, kids wanting candy and

severe weather conditions during one Halloween night all enter the mix of the rather pleasingly exhausting show, The Lightning Play. Max (Todd Baker), a ghost writer for celebrity autobiographies, and his slightly disturbed, shopaholic wife, Harriet (Venetia Lambrick), organise a dinner on Halloween night at their posh apartment in Hampstead. Their guests comprise Eddie, Max’s drinking buddy and an ex-monk, Jacklyn, a weirdo new age hippie girl Eddie met in the

Photo: Jon White park, and Imogen and Marcus, a couple that know Anna, Max and Harriet’s daughter, who’s gone to do humanitarian work. Each character has a skeleton in their closet, the origin of which is explained as the action freezes during the party, due to certain keywords or phrases spoken, prompting an explanatory flashback. As the plot delves around, Max’s sardonic humour barely contains his fears and his frustration and Harriet loses her grip on reality. As the evening

Overly crude but honestly nostalgic

Friday May 8 2009

Review: Unlucky Alf by Dene Lindley

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Samuel Valdes Lopez

Max’s recurring vision was an unnerving leitmotif for anguish

Marcus, Imogen, and Jacklyn on the contentious rug.

subdued, but his facial range and his intonation portrayed the evergrowing frustration of his character, scrambling to sustain an imploding marriage whilst having a constant reminder of his lost children popping up at the television. A magnificent show.

After reading Dene Lindley’s first novel, Unlucky Alf, I have mixed feelings. The novel follows the twists and turns of Alf Hart’s youth. Alf suffers from a run of severe bad luck, starting with his name, which unfortunately sounds like ‘I’ll fart’ and this luck leads him into some sticky situations. The book ends when he is aged 14, just having discovered girls and ruining his first kiss by sneezing. There are some elements of the writing style to find fault with. At several points the commentary is overly crude, such as exclaiming ‘I was so starving at the time I would have gladly eaten pig’s dick and lettuce followed by a large portion of shit with sugar on it’, and there are various translations and explanations given which I fail to see who could be in need of, such as the in-depth explanation of what the game ‘rock-paper-

scissors’ consists of. In addition there are several references to kids ‘nowadays’ which are slightly reminiscent of my dad. However, when you read how enthused Alf is over a bike with a makeshift seat forged from an old flat cap, some might realise what they take for granted. When you get past this there is a good storyline, which is quick to read and gives a sense of nostalgia. I would also imagine it contains features many would relate to. Not having grown up as a young boy in Yorkshire in the ’60s, I couldn’t say with full certainty. The novel overall has a very honest style and there are many humorous moments throughout; in particular, an older boy telling the younger he was ‘iggorant’ made me smile. The book is selling much faster than was originally expected and Lindley is dividing all the proceeds between a number of charities after being inspired to write it

Harriet might not seem as scary, but it does involve a great twist. Similarities have been drawn between this play and Macbeth (by The Guardian) and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (by The Independent). The play does share a few elements with both of them, but these elements, mainly issues of guilt and perception, are common in literature, working perfectly for a great show. Although the cast were absolutely devoted to their parts, it was Venetia Lambrick and Todd Baker’s show, really. Lambrick was so intense on stage that it would not be a stretch to assume that after each performance she would end up being quite exhausted. Todd Baker was a little more

The titular lightning tree.

Sherman’s Bent changed my life

Testimonial

Streetwise but innocent Alf. when meeting a young girl awaiting an organ transplant who wanted something to read. Frederica Dixon

Martin Sherman’s 1979 play Bent was the first of its kind to highlight the little-known persecution of homosexuals under the Nazi regime. The story of Max and Horsts’ flourishing love after meeting at Dachau concentration camp is one that re-evaluates conventional understandings of love and intimacy. The love scenes between the two men, whilst they remain unable to touch or look at each other, are possibly the most moving and beautifully-written scenes I have ever encountered.

The play is more than a love story with an unconventional backdrop: it raises questions of personal identity and pride, revealing the content that can be found only by being true to oneself, even in the most tragic circumstances. The play’s importance in raising the plight suffered by gay prisoners, who were lower on the hierarchy of the concentration camp than any other type of prisoner, is undoubted. However the principle message is that of the importance of freedom of love to humanity. Laura Rae

Truly deep and truly silly Review: Danceworks Double Vision

and Vincent continued to present the caricatures they portray in the show as well as their own personalities, and the similarity between the two is fantastic to see. The show subverts the artificiality of modern abstract performance, mocking modern and classical performance, performers, directors and themselves in a way that is both profound and extremely funny. In a time when it is still relatively rare to see women being truly deep or silly, it is wonderful to see two women who do both with such infectious joy. Emily Cresswell

I read your poem to myself My eyes dragging, my mouth dry, My mind uncaptivated by the words. Uncultivated, snagging, lines sagging Under the dense, uncontrolled garble. Despite your well placed anadiplosis, I find it only fitting to deliver this diagnosis: You are not an artist, of that there is no question. You are certainly no wordsmith, Not a master of tricky little phrases. There’s no subtlety in your sibilance. Symbolism skulks from your pen And slumps into place, Sitting uncomfortably between simile after simile. Waiting. Not to be spoken out loud to a captivated audience. Not to whisper from lips of a lover to a lover. Not to be understood or discovered. No. As all those preceding have done, This child will falter, fall at the first. One more casualty of your inexorable curse. That hand. That left hand. That left hand schleps over your wordage. That left hand muddies your waters, Tears down your dreams and bursts your bubbles. That left hand makes ugly your children, Stretching out boundless black Oblivion in its wake.

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carefully constructed straightwoman director controls each scene with an eerie artificiality, and Aggiss’s maverick performer springs out as a perfectly ridiculous comic fool, whilst still maintaining dignity through a well-observed show of egotism, and snapping between controlled stillness and manic energy with effortless smoothness. The show was followed by an audience with Aggiss and Vincent, which, while giving a lot of insight into the show and its creators, built on the humour of the show itself, particularly with the brilliantly funny parody story of their own first meeting. Aggiss

Poem

Friday May 8 2009

Performers Liz Aggiss and Charlotte Vincent. Photo: Sheffield Union

Interview: Hannah Kirby

The chaotic yet natural relationship between performers and choreographers Liz Aggiss and Charlotte Vincent creates an atmosphere which mixes profound insight and ripping humour in their fantastically tongue-incheek Danceworks show, ‘Double Vision’. The show mixes abstract thought with shameless parody, as Aggiss and Vincent consider subjects such as seriousness, beauty and age, and then proceed to lampoon each concept with a wonderfully childish routine from Aggiss, coupled with Vincent’s hilariously understated observations. The show plays on ego; the audience is induced to applaud before the show begins, and the dialogue throughout mimics that of a high-brow artistic piece, and its self-consciousness, repeated lines and exaggerated delivery imitate and mock the pretentious artificiality of abstract performance with an infectious glee. The show is laced with parody, and the juxtaposition of the restrained build up with its controlled mockery and the sudden explosion of silliness at the climax of each short scene turns quirky humour into sidesplitting hilarity, seamlessly melding spoof self-criticism into outright ridiculousness. Aggiss’s and Vincent’s personalities work perfectly together, as Vincent’s

Smeared Black Ink by Ashley Douherty

Screen

humanity has been very religious, and that in the last fifty years we’ve essentially shrugged it off. The characters are all searching for meaning, for some kind of spirituality. They start out very disparate, but their journeys all come together. When I read Coupland’s book the story just leapt out, and I didn’t want to lose anything I could help. I had to rearrange it a little for performance, to give it clearer narrative sense, and I reduced the eight characters to four; the opera wasn’t full length, only about fortyfive minutes long, and I didn’t use a full orchestra. I tried to stay

Arts

Most opera isn’t at all accessible; that’s really why I wanted to write one. There’s so much stigma surrounding it. But it can be so emotional: if you get past the language barriers and the silly dresses it’s a very powerful medium. It’s the only one where you get theatre, music and wonderful stories all at once. I really wanted to write something about more immediate, something more accessible. Modern composers tend to

rewrite ancient stories, Greek myths for example, and they’re by nature going to be foreign to people. I wanted to tell modern stories in English, and with swearwords in them (I did manage to get a few in, which I’m quite proud of!). I wanted stories sung in language that people can relate to. My opera was based on Douglas Coupland’s Life After God, which is set around a generation ‘raised without religion’. It’s eight characters’ isolated stories, and follows a kind of spiritual journey for each of them, on the premise that for 10,000-odd years

Games

Ben Eckersley: Composer

Photo: Rich Linley

but by the end someone just sings it straight out – like the plot and the message, it becomes clearer as things go on. That sounds so together, but it took me a long time to get it out – about eighteen months all told. Although I think everything I kept was written in the last couple of months! I always work like that: I’ll write something, throw it out and think of something better. That’s probably why my PhD is taking me so long; I’m in my fifth year now. I think it’s helped being part of a community at Sheffield that supported composing – I could discuss things with people, then start throwing my own ideas around. People seemed to like what I started to write, so I gained the courage to do something different. I don’t consider myself tonal or atonal - just open to what’s around. I think we’ve reached a point where we’ve got so many palettes of sound available: who’s to say anything’s off-limits? People can just pick and choose what they like to hear now, so surely tonal classical music is back on the table. I love that eclecticism; my musical language comes from everything round me – from jazz, pop, rock and hiphop as well as classical – not sampling, but taking apart what makes that genre and mixing it around. Some composers will go to a club and then switch off that part of their brain. But I don’t see why composers’ influences shouldn’t come from everything around them, and that’s again more accessible. Music, even opera, should never be overcomplicated.

Music

Ben celebrating eclecticism on the cello.

pretty faithful to the important little bits, though: at one point I even had people singing about After Eight mints! Basically I just read, and reread, and re-read it, until the story was spinning around in my head. Like in the book, in the opera the characters’ language separates them, and puts them in their individual situations. But the messages that were universal weren’t as obvious initially, and I decided that the music I wrote would have to unite the characters – to represent their parallel journeys towards spirituality. Each started with telling a (seemingly irrelevant) little story, then narrate a personal crisis and work towards something almost religious; others didn’t quite get so far, but were starting on their way. The keys I wrote in were essential to showing what emerged as a kind of threefold transition, from mundanity to complexity; from something quite sparse, almost boring, to something quite interesting; from disunity to unity. For that, I moved from C Major (which is about the most basic chord I can think of it’s the first scale anyone learns in primary school!), then rise through different tonal centres as they continue on their paths. These followed some of the characters’ fractured lives (one of them was on antidepressants, for example; one came from a broken home; one was a drug dealer). Then, as they moved to some kind of contentment the instruments of the orchestra came together in unison. There’s also one tune that each character gets at some point: at the beginning it’s kind of cloudy, and you can’t quite hear it,

Feature

‘Music, even opera, should never be over-complicated’

Original Arts

Feature Music Games Arts Screen

Trek is a triumph Feature: Star Trek I’m not a trekkie. Luckily neither is J. J. Abrams, creator of Lost and the director of the new Star Trek film, meaning that he has taken it upon himself to reinvent the brand and create a quality new version that will appeal both to pointed ear obsessives and those of us who may have previously thought Starfleet Academy was some sort of High School Musical spin-off.

The main challenge was to leap over the legacy and source the original appeal As he explained at the UK press conference “Because I wasn’t a fan going into it I felt that there had not been a version of Star Trek that was as appealing to me as I would have liked to have seen. But what’s come before in Star Trek...it’s 43 years and hundreds of hours, amazing stuff and huge fans and just because it didn’t work for me, as it did so many other people, doesn’t mean that it’s not far better than what I could ever do, but this is just my own point of view.” Henri Matisse once said: “There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted,” and I’m sure he would have also agreed that there is no project more difficult for a director to take on than a remake of something such as Star Trek that has such a huge cult following. Abrams has already faced criticism for making a film that some fans have claimed is “a travesty” that is “too glossy” but this is not true. Instead what he has done is go back to the ground roots of the phenomenon and come out with a slick characterbased film that opens up new facets for those already familiar with the concept and tells the rest

of us why we should care about Kirk, Spock et al. As the director of Lost, Abrams knows how to combine the big and small, and his formula cleverly works by meshing psychological character-insight with action, ultimately meaning that the audience care about the big explosions more because they feel like they know those who are potentially being blown up. As Abrams approached the legacy of the U.S.S. Enterprise, his main challenge was to leap over the legacy and to try and source out the original appeal of Star Trek from the inside out. “The key to that was just the emotional way in. I’ve become a lover of Star Trek which I can’t even believe but it’s from examining these characters, getting under the skin of some of these characters. I never knew why I should care about Kirk. Now I do and it’s not because I directed it, it’s because I appreciate what Gene Roddenberry created. I mean he was prescient and amazing. We didn’t change the dynamic of the characters, we just brought them back to life, cast amazing actors and had a script that was terrific.” In the film, the audience is taken back to the beginning in the truest sense with snippets from Spock and Kirk’s childhoods. They are polar opposites. Kirk is the classic rebel, he’s not yet a teenager but he already drives cars off of the edge of cliffs and, oh yes, listens to the Beastie Boys. Spock is from the planet Vulcan, a place where the supremacy of logic has made all emotion the target of (rational) disdain. As Spock is half human, he is an outsider who must wrestle with his dual-origins and keep his humanity under control. The film has an all-star cast including Heroes’ Zachary Quinto as Spock (the eyebrows fit extremely well) and Simon Pegg as Scotty. Pegg himself was honoured to be asked to be involved, as a big fan of the TV show and selfprofessed nerd: “I’ve watched

The U.S.S. Enterprise in action for the very first time in Star Trek. the show since I was nine and I remember it being on BBC2 at 6 o’clock and being utterly beguiled by it.

Abrams has faced criticism from fans that have called the film a ‘travesty’ ‘I remember finding my sci-fi feet with Star Wars because that obviously exploded in 1977 as very much a brash lightshow and getting more into science fiction and enjoying the cerebral nature

of the original series of Star Trek. What they had to do, because they didn’t have the resources to do Star Wars in 1965 was almost like a play every week. As I got older I completely fell in love with it and as a nerd, which is what I am, I’m sorry but it’s true it’s extraordinary to be doing scenes with Leonard Nemoy.” The involvement of big Star Trek fans was important to Abrams because while he is clearly aiming to garner mass appeal, he realised it would be foolish to alienate such a solid fanbase. Nit-picking about historical accuracy in a fictional construct may seem ridiculous but Abrams was aware of how much

he needed to restrain his own poetic licence occasionally for the sake of continuity: “I think we were protected by Roberto Orci, one of the writers, who’s a huge Trek fan and he made sure that we weren’t slapping the face of the die-hard fan. We’re beholding of that person, we wouldn’t be making a Star Trek film if those people hadn’t kept it alive for so many years so it was a tightrope to walk.” It seems as if he managed to keep his balance. The outcome is a very watchable two hours of quality entertainment. Consider the frontier scaled. Natasha Lewis

Documentary in a cold climate

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Friday May 8 2009

Review: Encounters at the End of the World

Werner Herzog is famed for his examination of fascinating subjects amidst extremes, as his previous efforts have demonstrated. Grizzly Man traced the obsession of one man with the fearsome grizzly bear, but also managed to be an exposition of madness, alienation, impossible dreams and man versus nature. Encounters at the End of the World, his latest documentary, deals with similar themes, though this time the scene is not fertile pastures but the desolation of Antarctica. Herzog has that special documentarian knack of finding fascinating subjects, and even at the very edge of the world he succeeds. The film focuses on differing groups of scientists who work within the hostile climate of the Antarctic, but what Herzog uncovers is that science is not the only draw for the brave few who

As cold as ice: Warner Herzog takes his lens to Antarctica. choose to make a life there. There is the bus driver who survived an attack by Guatemalan machete-wielding tribes, the fork lift truck operator who moonlights as a philosopher, a glaciologist who believes the ice to be a living breathing organism and the

Armageddon-obsessed deep sea diver. As is often the case with Herzog’s films, the simple premise often belies the depth of what’s beneath the surface and Encounters is an apt demonstration of this. Whether the gaze of his camera

is focused on arctic tundra or on a man-made station which has no place in such an environment, the images often speak volumes more than what meets the eye. Encounters allows Herzog to flourish as a director, there are moments when you feel as if you are watching an Attenboroughapproved spin-off of Planet Earth, with slow tracking shots over vast tracts of ice, intricate studies of alien undersea life, water silently trickling over lunar rock formations and reflections on scale that take your breath away. Herzog can’t fail with a landscape as beautiful as the Antarctic, but he manages to maintain the ageless and indomitable nature of the place, heightened by his excellent choice in music. There is one scene that must last about five minutes, but feels like an age, where ominous choral music provides the backing for a deep sea dive that feels like you’ve been granted a peek at something both sacred and alien. It’s the sheer beauty and profundity of these moments that stays with you after the film. But Encounters is not a nature documentary. Herzog balances

these expansive moments with those on a human scale, he wants you to be struck by the sheer magnitude of nature, contrasted against simple human dreams. It’s the moments with the eccentric people who live and have been deeply changed by the ice where the film helps shape your understanding of the landscape, but Herzog never patronises, instead revelling in the strangeness of it all. All this is punctuated with Herzog’s dry narration which threads together all the themes of the film, but also serves as a stark warning that all this could be lost, and that perhaps fatally, it already is. Encounters at the End of the World is worth the price of admission alone for a scene involving a suicidal penguin which is probably one of the most moving I’ve ever seen. It also serves as a summation of the film; it’s a full-sensory experience, weird and wonderful. Encounters at the End of the World is part of the Showroom’s monthly documentary screenings as a build up to Doc/Fest Roshan Lal

Review: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

After X-Men: The Last Stand proved that too many mutants spoil the broth, the fact that such characters are carelessly thrown in and even more carelessly disposed of smacks of laziness. Thankfully, Hugh Jackman just about manages to hold the whole thing together, proving to any doubters that he can quite capably carry a blockbuster without the big name ensemble there to back him up. Also, Liev Schreiber as

Sabretooth delivers just the right amount of menace to qualify as a memorable villain; even if his murky motives are never truly explained. Apparently he just likes killing people. The plot attempts to explain the rivalry between Wolverine and Sabretooth, along with how Wolverine got his metal claws and subsequent amnesia. Such would seem simple, yet the various questions raised are never answered. The relevance of

Tricks and geriatrics Review: Is Anybody There?

He denounces them all as pricks and befriends ten-yearold Edward guillotine. I’ll spare you the spoiler but Clarence pulls off a hell of a show. Milner’s performance brings to mind Nicholas Hoult in About A Boy, and there are similarities in the characters: both are awkward around their peers, befriend older men and have problematic parental relationships. Clarence takes it upon himself to acquaint Edward with the living, not easy when everything around is draped in death. Overall, it is a touching film without being soppy, thoughtful without being irritatingly earnest. So, as Caine himself might advise: life is not a dress rehearsal. Choose the expensive pork pie, brew yourself a delicious cup of tea and go and see Is Anybody There? Now, not many people know that. Natasha Lewis

Damned good Review: The Damned United

Revie is the cold face of success; Clough the unabashedly self-confident walking faux-pas who “believes in fairies” and it is clear which side of the terrace the audience are sat in. Cut to 1974 and we see Clough,

Martin Sheen, as Clough, is undoubtedly the actor of the film. Within minutes it is forgotten that he is that really good actor bloke who did Tony Blair so well. Watching him pull off the lilting north-east accent is a treat and his use of a few key facial muscles portrays the mixed arrogance and ambition faultlessly. The superior moments include only a zoomed in camera and Sheen’s face, in particular the highlights of the third time Derby play Leeds, and we see Clough pacing the dressing room, unsure of the result, only aware of two goals by the cheers of the crowds right outside the window. For those who are interested, it also brings into question the state of football today, as the possibility of a lagging Championship club moving up and winning the Premiership in the space of a few seasons is, to put it crudely, nil. Mostly though, The Damned United tells Clough’s story as a man hell-bent on his own success and the demise of his bitter rival. Whether he achieved his goals or not (the closing statements make it difficult to decide) is unimportant for the film. The gripping tale comes from the uphill journey via much humiliation, self-indulgent stupidity and genuine heartache. As football films go, it’s definitely in the top one. Natasha Lewis

Fuse

Clough is an arrogant upstart with a penchant for outspoken abuse

The superior moments include a zoomed in camera and Sheen’s face

Friday May 8 2009

Revenge, they say, is a dish best served cold. Holler down the waiter to throw yourself in some side dishes of turf, terraces and the beautiful game: you’ve got yourself a cracking film. However, if you count yourself as someone less than inspired by 22 men kicking about a stitched sphere for 90 minutes then hold your derogatory chants. The Damned United may be a film set within football stadiums but it is far from a football film. Brian Clough (Martin Sheen) is a legendary football manager. More importantly for this film, he is an endearingly arrogant upstart with a penchant for outspoken abuse towards his enemies. One of these enemies is Leeds United. It’s the late 60’s and Clough is the manager of a lowly seabedof-the-second-division Derby County. Armed only with kit bags full of determination, we see him spurned by high and mighty Leeds manager, Don Revie, sparking the beginning of a long-running hatred. Clough transforms the shambolic Derby into a veritable rival for Leeds, all the while being openly critical of their dirty tactics.

driving up the M1, jumping into Revie’s warm pitch-side seat, taking on the management of a team he has very vocally despised for his entire career so far. He lasts 44 days.

We are probably all roughly familiar with the sentiment that life is not a dress rehearsal and that we should live each day as if we may fall victim to fatality any moment now but it’s always worth being reminded. What better way than with a bit of sunny morbidity. Ten-year-old Edward (Bill Milner) lives in an old people’s home. It’s not some sort of creepy Benjamin Button scenario though. More simply, his parents make their living caring for deteriorating O.A.P.s, pulverising carrots and dishing out medication. For a kid at primary school, this set up is not ideal: he’s had to move bedrooms and has developed the dark obsession of tape-recording residents’ last moments and listening back to their final breaths. As far as hobbies go, fishing and building tree houses this ain’t. The geriatrics are a colourful bunch. Each of them highlight a separate terrifying prospect of the ageing process ranging from regret about the replacement of glamorous high heels with dentures; to a compulsion for running a r o u n d outside naked in a soldier hat. E n t e r C l a r e n c e (Michael Caine) an

ageing ex-magician with Caine’s standard cockney charm (shouldn’t but would? At 76?? Sure) and the bad temper of a badger. Determined to count himself outside of the other rotting residents, he denounces them all as pricks and befriends Edward. Their friendship is reassuringly unsentimental and naturally portrayed with subtle performances from both actors and their company works for each other as an island of sanity where all around waves of madness break. In the most striking scene, Clarence puts on a magic show for Edward’s birthday and after a few spectacular but innocent card tricks, out comes the finger

Screen

Things might get a bit over-crowded, but at least Wolverine could never claim to be lonely.

Furthermore, how could any villain be stupid enough to first make someone invincible and then try to kill them? The writers obviously realised they’d backed themselves into a slight corner with that one, subsequently introducing Wolverine’s Achilles heel to create tension. However, in one of the most dreadful ‘oh, by the way..’ moments in recent memory, the fact that Wolverine can’t die (prequel, remember?) seemingly hit home and the whole Achilles heel concept was completely retracted in the final moments. It honestly makes you wonder how such a potentially great story could be so massively screwed up. Who cares if a bunch of fans on the Internet will be up in arms if several hundred peripheral characters aren’t given their fifteen minutes? When their inclusion comes at the cost of a decent story, they’re better left to the comics. Jamie Cusworth

Arts

Not only do we get Wolverine, prepare yourself for Sabretooth, Silver Fox, Gambit, Agent Zero, Wraith, Deadpool, Blob, Bolt, Emma Frost, Weapon XI and a young Cyclops. Quite the crowd. While it’s interesting to see all these different characters slog it out with their diverse range of super-powers in the admittedly good action sequences, the film completely loses focus as a result. Ryan Reynolds is excellent as Deadpool, but after his brilliant

The plot attempts to explain the rivalry between Wolverine and Sabretooth

Games

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a complete and utter mess

the Star Wars-esque ‘no, I am your father’ prologue, or lack thereof, is one such instance.

Music

As far as super heroes go, Wolverine is pretty much up there with the best. Easily the most interesting of the X-Men bunch, it’s no real surprise that he’s managed to bag his own spin-off prequel. It’s a shame then, that X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a complete and utter mess. Story-wise, it’s almost as if they strung together a bunch of loosely related plot points as a mere excuse to satisfy the fan’s requests for the inclusion of their favourite mutant.

introduction he bizarrely sits out the entire second act only to return at the very end for the final fight a complete waste of a character/ actor who would have been better utilised in a less crowded sequel or better yet, given a spin-off of his own. Of course, had Deadpool been present for the full thing we might not have had time for the flashy fight scene with Gambit or the brief inclusion of Dominic Monaghan whose purpose was….what?

Feature

Mutant party: invite everyone

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email: listings@forgetoday.com

Friday May 8 - Thursday May 21 2009

Fri 8

Sat 9

Sun 10

Mon 11

Tue 12

Wed 13

Thur 14

Film Unit: Frost/Nixon @ SU Auditorium; 7:30pm; £2 Ron Howard brings to the big screen the electrifying battle between Richard Nixon, the disgraced President with a legacy to save, and David Frost, a jet-setting television personality with a name to make.

The Hours @ Leadmill; 7pm; £7 Possibly better known for their contacts rather than their music (Damien Hirst does their album cover artwork), The Hours released a second album of their melodic and melancholic indie rock at the end of April.

Star Trek @ Odeon & Cineworld; £4.60 - £5.10

Between here… and here @ Clock Tower Gallery; 9am-4pm; free Between here… and here is an exhibition by three Sheffield-based artists, Warren Hayes, Jonathan Wilkinson, and Sean Williams, whose work is capable of evoking strong thoughts and feelings.

Hjaltalin @ The Shakespeare; 7pm; £6adv From Reykjavik, they are a nine-piece rock band that supplement their music with a clarinet, a violin, a bassoon and an accordion.

School of Seven Bells @ The Harley; 8pm; £4adv

Jerusalem: East Side Story @ Showroom; 6:20pm; £4.30 Showing as part of Cinema Palestino, a season of fims about Palestine, this documentary focuses on the divides in the city. A discussion with several key guests will follow the screening.

The School for Scandal @ University Drama Studio; 7pm; £5 A pointed satire against hypocrisy, scandal, and gossip revolving around the affluent Surface brothers and the aristocracy tied to them through love and lies. Pied Piper @ The Lyceum; 7:30pm; £7.50

Shuffle: Yuksek + more @ Plug; 10:30pm; £5adv

J.J. Abrams gives the franchise a new lease of life and goes back to the very beginning with the incredible story of a young crew’s maiden voyage onboard the most advanced starship ever created: the U.S.S. Enterprise.

Uber-chic Parisian electro tyrant Yuksek makes his Plug debut as part of Shuffle, alongside all the Saturday night regulars such as Hallam Floorfillers and LJ Freeman.

A Rare Sensation @ The Harley; 8pm; £3 A night for those who like their music a little harder and a little noisier. With alternative rockers Shapes, The James Cleaver Quintet and local band Forest Creature.

Pied Piper is an edgy and contemporary adaptation of The Pied Piper of Hamelin told exclusively in dance, with a soundtrack including original music as well as raps taken directly from Robert Browning’s poem.

ssndsp/LL @ S1 Artspace; 12-6pm; free Curated by Thom O’Nions and Haroon Mirza, Sound Spill investigates the curatorial problem of sound in the context of the group exhibition. With work by Nina Canell, Torsten Lauschmann, Guy Sherwin, and Richard Sides.

Steel Stage Presents... Battle of the Bands @ Leadmill; 7:30pm; £4 The Leadmill is hosting a battle of the bands contest every Sunday throughout May with the overall winner winning a slot at Download. This week it’s Tytania, Waking Theo, Disarm, and Jackson Caged.

Fri 15

Sat 16

Girls Aloud @ Sheffield Arena; 7:30pm; £30

Everyone’s favourite girl band are back on tour and making a few stops in Sheffield. All the usual songs crop up on the set but this tour is definitely more geared towards their most recent album Out Of Control. Only a few tickets left though so get them NOW! JuJu Club @ The Redroom; 9pm; £8adv The JuJu Club is back with Baka Beyond, one of the best known global music bands and the first band to put together African and Celtic music with amazing results. Synecdoche New York @ Showroom; 8:40pm; £4.30 The story of theatre director Caden Conrad, a man attempting to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play. A fascinating insight into a writer’s mind.

John Barrowman @ City Hall; 7:30pm; £26.91

John Barrowman, the actor, singer, TV and West End star is embarking on a 17-date UK tour, which will kick off at City Hall. The tour will feature songs from his new album Music Music Music.

Birmingham Royal Ballet @ The Lyceum; 7:30pm; £12 Led by Director David Bintley and accompanied by the world renowned Royal Ballet Sinfonia, this company return to Sheffield with an evening that features three contrasting works, demonstrating their skill and versatility. The Tuesday Club: Rusko + Daedelus + more @ Fusion & Foundry; 10:30pm; £6.50adv

The superior dreampop of School of Seven Bell has earned them the admiration of The Guardian, NME and Dazed & Confused. Twisted Wheel @ Leadmill; 7pm; £8 In 12 short months this Oldham three-piece have gone from nothing to selling out shows and having a record deal with Columbia Records. They bring their incendiary, compulsive, no holds barred live set to The Leadmill.

Saint Etienne @ Leadmill; 7pm; £16

To celebrate the reissue (with added bonus tracks) of their 1991 debut Foxbase Alpha, Saint Etienne will be performing the entire album for their set for the very first time.

Toast Special Sauce @ Bungalow & Bears; 8pm; free Acoustic girl-boy combo The Vox and Frank Mafia provide the live entertainment while SciFi Kid and the Beats and Pieces Radio DJs play records either side of the main set.

Top billing goes to dubstep star Rusko who will be showcasing his brand new live project. The line-up also includes Daedelus, Rye Rye, Rob Azlan and plenty more.

The Shrimps @ The Raynor Lounge; 8pm; £3.50 The economy is down the pan, we’re all going to get Swine Flu and Harold Bishop is leaving Neighbours. So there is no better time to turn those frowns upside down and enjoy a cracking night with The Shrimps.

Sun 17

Mon 18

Tue 19

Wed 20

Thur 21

Tinchy Stryder @ Plug; 7pm; £9adv Since first coming to prominence in 2003, Tinchy Stryder’s profile has steadily grown and he recently hit a peak with a UK number one single aptly titled ‘Number 1’.

Dan Reed @ Corporation; 7pm; £10 Dan Reed is a solo acoustic guitarist who devotes his time, energy and talent to creating positive change and singing songs that bring a sense of connection to the world around him.

Dub Trio @ Corporation; 7pm; £7

HMS Pinafore @ The Lyceum; 7:30pm; £12 A hilarious tale of love, hypocrisy and mistaken identity which unravels when the Captain’s daughter falls secretly in love with a common sailor.

Film Unit: The Wrestler @ SU Auditorium; 7:30pm; £2

How To Be @ Showroom; 6:30pm; £4.30 Written and directed by Sheffield’s own Oliver Irving, How To Be stars Robert Pattinson as Art, a frustrated musician, undergoing what he sees as a quarter life crisis. A Q & A session with the director will follow the film.

Film Unit: Anvil! The Story of Anvil @ SU Auditorium; 7:30pm; £1.80 A touching, uplifting and inspirational rockumentary about an ageing metal band, both hilarious and heart-warming in equal measure.

Ciaran Carson @ St. George’s Church; 7pm; free Irish poet and director of the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry at Queen’s University Belfast, Ciaran Carson is a winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize. His most recent poetry collection, For All We Know, was shortlisted for both the 2008 T.S. Eliot prize and the Costa Poetry award.

A faded professional wrestler must retire, but finds his quest for a new life outside the ring a dispiriting struggle. A richly affecting, heartwrenching, yet ultimately rewarding drama with a great performance from Mickey Rourke. Rollerpalooza @ Skate Central; 7pm; £3 An old style roller disco with bands playing on the roller-rink, so you can skate around them, while they play.... genius! With Black Lips, Mika Miko, Gringo Star, and many more.

Film Unit: Bolt @ SU Auditorium; 7:30pm; £1.80

The canine star of a fictional sci-fi/action show who believes that his powers are real embarks on a cross country trek to save his co-star from a threat he believes is just as real.

Shadows @ Showroom; 6:25pm; £3 Pummelling with wrecking-ball force on tunes that simultaneously embrace metal, dub, punk and reggae while pushing into dazzlingly unfamiliar areas, this dub/rock cross-over band from Brooklyn, New York shouldn’t be missed. Copy Haho @ The Harley; 8pm; £2 A very special one-off show presented by Children for Breakfast and Harley Live. Headlining are Scotish newcomers Copy Haho with support coming from Electric Tape Recorder and Sycamore. DVD Release: The Inbetweeners - Series 2; £19.99 The second series of the hilarious comedy about the highs and lows (mostly lows) of being a teenagers is just as good, if not better, than the first series.

Made in 1959, Shadows is a semi-improvised study of a group of African American musicians in Greenwich Village and was the writing and directorial debut from John Cassavetes. Bedroom DJs @ Bungalows & Bears; 8pm; free Fancy yourself as a bit of a DJ? Well every Tuesday Bungalows and Bears open the turntables up to all comers. So long as you’re not playing pure slamming bassline or ‘filthy electro house’, you’re welcome to play for a 20 minute slot.

Mr Hudson @ Plug; 7:30pm; £8.50adv After releasing 2007’s critically acclaimed album Tale Of Two Cities and writing and performing on Kanye West’s album 808s & Heartbreak, Mr Hudson returns in this spring with new material and a UK tour.

Angels and Demons @ Odeon & Cineworld; £4.60 - £5.10 The team behind the global phenomenon The Da Vinci Code returns for the highly anticipated sequel Angels & Demons, based upon the bestselling novel by Dan Brown.

Blue Man Group @ Sheffield Arena; 7:30pm; student ticket £10

No Uniform @ DQ; 10:30pm; £4 before 12pm, £5 after.

Having already captivated more than two million people in the USA, Blue Man Group’s ultimate concert experience, How To Be A Megastar, is hitting Sheffield Arena. The Harley night moves to DQ for a one-off special with one of the best upand-coming DJs in the world, AC Slater, on the bill with Squire of Gothos offering support.

Give It A Go: Ghost Walk @ Town Hall steps; 7:30pm; £4 Take this guided tour around the dark heart of the Steel City to discover the ghosts and ghouls of the past.

FORGE PRESS Friday May 8 2009

FEATURES

Anniversary of VE Day keeps the memory alive

one.” David Robinson, chairman of the Stannington branch of the Royal British Legion and vice-chairman of the Sheffield group, is keen to emphasise both the importance of supporting British veterans and a nationwide commitment to the memory of those who have given their lives. Commemorative days such as Remembrance Sunday in November and VE Day today are crucial to carrying forth the importance of striving for and preserving peace. He explained: “The two main functions of the Legion are remembrance, to keep that alive, and to look after the welfare of ex-serving members of the armed forces and their dependents.”

By Daniel Baird Today marks the 64th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, when the act of military surrender was signed in Berlin and British cities, like Sheffield, were alive with street parties and a sense of jubilation and relief. Sheffield was tragically affected by the Second World War, not only by the loss of its servicemen and women overseas but by the blitzing of the city in December 1940. On December 12 and 15 1940, in an operation that the Germans had code-named Crucible, 280 Luftwaffe aircraft descended upon Sheffield, killing 660 people and leaving 40,000 homeless. Geoff Carney Pearce, 79, was one of the 40,000 whose homes were destroyed during the Sheffield Blitz. He remembers: “About seven o’clock at night, Lord HawHaw speaking from Germany in English, ‘Germany Calling, Germany Calling.’ This particular night it was, ‘We know about the Sheffield Moor and we’re coming to obliterate Sheffield Moor.’ It was a very famous place in the 1940s, everyone would praise it for its shopping precincts.” Nazi propaganda was broadcast from Germany to Britain and had a huge audience, often rivalling the BBC. ‘Lord Haw-Haw’ was the alias of anti-Semite and former member of the British Union of Fascists William Joyce who took a position as editor and speaker in Berlin two weeks into the Second World War. Geoff was one of millions of listeners and Lord Haw-Haw’s threat on the Moor was a terrifying moment for the people of Sheffield.

We all used to get the coupons together and save for the street parties

They made into town and dropped the first wave of bombs and incendiaries “It was the Thursday night of the Sheffield Blitz in 1940. We lived in Cemetery Road then. I was about nine or 10 years old and I was in my grandma’s in Langdon Street and we saw the airplanes coming across. They were droning and they were dropping incendiary bombs to start with. We saw the people running out with the buckets, with sand and things like that, putting them out. “The bombs started dropping about seven o’clock, half past seven at night and we saw the bombs dropping and flashes going up and we started running for the shelters. Our house at Cemetery Road got a direct hit. Sheffield Moor was getting blitzed that night, all the Moor was flattened to the floor. It was absolutely horrendous. My father was killed, I didn’t know where my mother was but I knew she was buried. She was buried for eight hours. They came out with the big lifting gear and lifted the fireplace off of my mother.” The devastation suffered in Sheffield increased the camaraderie in those communities

The war memorial in Weston Park commemorating those who served in both world wars. most affected. “That’s how they used to work; they were a very close together people. It was a very close community in them days, not like it is now. I didn’t know where my mother was for about six to eight months afterwards because they just put her in any hospital they could do. All our possessions were blown apart; all I had was what I was standing in. I was an evacuee, I went down to Loughborough until they found my mother and then they brought me back. It was horrendous, the Sheffield Blitz.” For the children of Sheffield it was a particularly confusing and disruptive time during crucial formative years, as Geoff recalls. “When the air-raid sirens sounded we would be down in the cellars from 9 o’clock at night until 2 o’clock in the morning. The schools that were still accessible were being used for meetings and things. Many of us had to turn to home learning, with no

blackboards or equipment. We might go for afternoon walks or have gas-mask exercises but we missed out from not attending school regularly in those years.

I didn’t know where my mother was about six to eight months afterwards “It was ongoing for months and months, the clean up business. We used to go around picking up shrapnel and bomb bits.” Gordon Drabble, living now in Lodge Moor, was 15 years of age and living in Crookes when the city was bombed. “London had it continuously, week after week. I lived with my parents in Crookes. We were in the Anderson shelter those nights. On the first night the main problem was in the town centre. It was a bright night. There was some decoy fires out on the moors in the Derwent area but the Luftwaffe rumbled to that,

Photo: Daniel Baird

they knew what was happening. They made into town and dropped the first wave of bombs and incendiaries. “They followed the spark of the trams, the connection to the cable. When it went over the point it used to sparkle and it was a giveaway. The Moor and the High Street were absolutely gutted.” Gordon worked in a Sheffield cooperage making barrels in his teenage years before becoming involved in the war effort. He said: “I joined in early ’43 when I was 18 and most of our unit were around that age. I joined the South Staffordshire regiment and our battalion was a territorial unit so there were quite a few older people and they’d actually been involved in Dunkirk (May 26 - June 4 1940).” “A lot of us are going to Normandy on the June 6, which is the 65th anniversary of D-Day. We are expecting it to be the last we do as a nationally organised

David states that support for those who have survived warfare could be greater and astutely stressed the vulnerability of an individual when placed against the background of national and international relations and decision-making. “As a whole I think we could do more. However, I think that since Iraq and Afghanistan there is a better awareness with regards to what the armed forces do. It’s what they have to do because that’s what they’re ordered to do, let’s not forget that they don’t pick fights, it’s politicians who do that.” When the war in Europe reached its end on May 8 1945, Britain’s cities celebrated the end of what had been a horrific ordeal and looked ahead to a brighter future. However, at 20 years of age and in Ashford in Kent, Gordon Drabble was not able to truly enjoy the festivities of VE Day 1945. “We were being prepared for the Far East. After eight weeks in Normandy, our company had been reduced from 150 to only 20. There were very subdued celebrations in Ashford in comparison to London or the big cities where they were much, much greater.” Geoff Carney Pearce was in his mid-teens and living in Sheffield city centre when VE Day was celebrated in 1945. “We all had street parties. Everybody had street parties, we ganged up together, all the tables came out, all the people with the ration books. “We all used to get the coupons together and save for the street parties. We were all making the cakes. Langdon Street and Fentonville Street, all around that area. They all used to have their own things and all get together and all muck in together, in different places. “It was horrendous to live in but years that you’ll never, ever forget.” We owe it to the generations that experienced those terrible events to take on that sentiment and pass on its significance to the generations that follow.

FORGE PRESS Friday May 8 2009

FEATURES

Hobb-nobbing with Radio 1’s Mary Anne

Warz took place, if there were 20 people at Forward>> that would be a big night.” Tuesday Club used to be a hip-hop and drum and bass stronghold, but for Wait the venue is packed out with students eager for a predominantly dubstep schedule. How does Hobbs feel about the growth of the scene since Dubstep Warz had its explosive impact in 2006? “Dubstep is truly a massive global concern and yet still there’s not a single producer who’s signed a major record label deal yet. “Everyone’soperating completely independently and that is so exciting for someone like me. This isn’t just a scene it’s a whole new model for the way we can operate. Even the larger independent labels would want a very big hand in the creative process.

By Angus Hutchison It’s half past 10 and Mary Anne Hobbs is on first at Tuesday Club’s May Day weekend dubstep event, Wait. As she talks, the club night machinery is grinding slowly into action. Strobes flash intermittently and snatches of heavy bass reverberate around Fusion and Foundry, causing doors backstage to shake as technical operators test drive the system. “Tuesday Club is the best university night in the country, hands down. I’ll never forget the first dubstep set here. It was Plastician, Loefah and myself. Right from the very first night there was the most incredible reaction,” said Hobbs. “The bookers here take a lot of risks but they are very savvy, right on the money.” Mary Anne Hobbs is a Sheffield resident of about 18 months. When she informed her London friends that she was moving north this was greeted with horrified questions such as “are they rubbing sticks together to make fire?” and “do they throw spears at wild boars to make their dinner?” Although quite clearly a horrendous southern stereotype, Hobbs gives the impression that she appreciates the impression this gives of her as a trailblazing adventurer. Born in 1964, Mary Anne Hobbs was brought up in the little Lancashire village of Garstang, known as: “a ledge on the edge of the Pennines.” She left school when she was 16 years old and it was her musical passion that pulled her away from the “goats and farmers” of her minute village. Hobbs used to trawl the back pages of the local Garstang Courier for village dances which took place in barns, the Lancashire village equivalent of warehouse parties. Her passion was fired by “a couple of things which showed me there was another world out there, some kind of glittering bauble that seemed many light years away.” The enticements were Sounds music paper and also John Peel’s legendary Radio 1 show. Hobbs certainly shares her hero’s hunger to discover and disseminate the work of innovative producers. On average she’ll listen to music for 10 hours each day. “From the second your eyes open until the second you hit the pillow. There’s this sense of being possessed by music, you find yourself having less and less sleep all the time because you feel more and more committed to what you’re doing, a kind of madness that drives you constantly striving and seeking. But by the same token you always feel so inadequate, like you’re a stone skimming the surface of a vast ocean.” The late John Peel passed away undertaking the “ultimate journey”, out to the Inca Plains in Peru, with his wife. Hobbs’ eyes glisten as she recounts that this was something that “he’d always dreamed of doing”.

This isn’t just a scene it’s a whole model for the way we can operate

Mary Anne Hobbs topped the bill at The Tuesday Club’s Bank Holiday dubstep night, Wait. A sense of adventure and exploratory zeal is strongly evident when Mary Anne Hobbs speaks. She’s fascinated by the far-flung and devoted nature of some of her listeners. “One guy lives on a remote island off Peru. He’s listened for years and years and it takes him a week to download every show. The internet connection is so wack that if a bird sits on the wire he has to start all over again from scratch. “He burns the CDs and then takes them to every bar in the island because it’s the only thing they’ve got other than their traditional Peruvian music. He’d seen that I was playing in San Francisco and he’d made the journey all that way just to tell me this. That was incredible.”

There was another world out there, some kind of glittering bauble Hobbs receives mountains of music everyday from producers across the globe, but her job is as much about seeking as it is about listening, or as she describes it, “finding a pathway forwards myself to find music that I like”. Operating on her own terms is something that has defined her life and career from the beginning. She left home at 18 years old to live with a band on a bus called the ‘Blue Goose Hotel’. This was “the first step on the causeway” to her becoming a music journalist at her revered Sounds magazine. “It was a really, really tough existence, I cannot tell you how bitterly cold it

was living in a vehicle in the dead of winter and strolling down the road in January to go and wash at the public toilets”. “It was a harsh existence but I just thought I’ve gotta do it, I’ve gotta do it. I imagined that the editor of Sounds would want to see that I’d worked for a band when I submitted a CV. It was the most demented CV that he’d seen in all his life. It detailed all the adventures we’d had on tour and living on this bus. I made a great inventory listing all my responsibilities which included costume design, record sleeve artwork, lighting engineer at the live gigs and mechanics for the bus. As an 18 year old I thought, ‘he will have to see that and take my responsibilities very seriously’. It never occurred to me to do anything so simple as sending in a review.” Her impulsive nature combined with dedicated hard work saw Mary Anne Hobbs move upwards through print media to NME and Loaded magazine. In 1996, at the age of 32, she ended up at Radio 1 after presenting shows on Xfm and getting her initial break alongside Mark Lamarr on what was formerly known as BBC Greater London Radio. The biggest moment in Hobbs’ career came on Monday January 9, 2006 when she featured a twohour dubstep showcase on her show, The Breezeblock. It was called ‘Dubstep Warz’: “For a broadcaster, the opportunity to get involved in one show like that in a lifetime would be a miracle,” she said. It featured mixes and interviews with key figures from the scene and was seized by

Photos: Daniel Baird

Hobbs. Her energetic passion transmitted dubstep to a domestic and global audience. Hobbs had been ‘following the scene for a year or so’. She’d been a regular at important club nights like ‘DMZ’ and ‘Forward>>’ and had included mixes on The Breezeblock by dubstep artists such as Digital Mystikz and Vex’d before unleashing Dubstep Warz on the public: “I really felt the sense of momentum building in the scene. The producers were coming on in mind-blowing, quantum leaps and I knew they’d got the goods, they were ready to do this now.” “That night in the studio there was such a magic, I remember it as though it was yesterday. “We were so shocked. None of us anticipated the reaction we would get globally.” Mary Anne Hobbs the adventurer and traveller appears again as she conveys her excitement about the global influence of the show: “Every week somebody will come up to me and say ‘Dubstep Warz changed my life’ and that could be anywhere in the world. I could get an email from Chile or China or Greenland or I’ve got a load of listeners out on a submarine out in the Arctic Ocean.” The impact has been substantial: “Only three years ago when Dubstep

“People are putting on their own dances all over the planet, starting their own labels and haven’t needed to go cap in hand to anybody. It’s an amazing example to show that this growth can happen completely on your own terms. They’re masters of their own destiny.” Asked if she encountered any resistance from Radio 1 to the Dubstep Warz show, Hobbs said “I didn’t need to pitch it. It’s my show so I just do what I like.” It seems only appropriate that Hobbs is instrumental in a scene that is likely to continue g r o w i n g exclusively on its own terms.

FORGE PRESS Friday May 8 2009

FEATURES

Hobb-nobbing with Radio 1’s Mary Anne

This isn’t just a scene it’s a whole model for the way we can operate

Photos: Daniel Baird

FORGE PRESS Friday May 8 2009

LIFESTYLE

Taking vintage inspiration from the movies of the summer By Bethan Hill

Hot or not?

We’re all well aware that the fashion industry often takes its queues from the wardrobes of screen and stage icons. Designers all have their muses and more often than not they’re gorgeous female film stars. For example, Marc Jacobs recently bumped Victoria Beckham from her pedestal and declared that Anne Hathaway was his new muse. But there’s a new trend about to sweep the fashion world. No longer will fashion be influenced by the stars of films, but by the characters they are portraying. This summer, films are going vintage. They’re going to be detailing the lives of some of the most influential women from times gone by. And while we’re probably going to be very inspired by their attitude, morals and achievements, what we’re really going to be lusting after are their clothes. The seeds of the trend have already been sewn. A few years back Sienna Miller put in a performance as Andy Warhol’s tortured muse Edie Sedgwick.

Too many of us may not remember the film, but the fashion is still lingering. The film marked a turning point in Sienna’s style. She ditched the boho, chopped off her long, hippy-style locks and went for a sharp ’60s bob. Out went long, swooshy skirts and gilets and in came monochrome and miniskirts: and they haven’t been back since. That’s the power of the vintage star. Edie changed Sienna, and now we’re all wearing her clothes. Take a look around any high street shop and you’ll see just how popular the miniskirt still is. Then there’s the influence of The Edge of Love. Don’t worry: it’s not all going to be about Sienna. She just manages to get herself into all the biggest fashion films. This film sparked the rebirth of one of our biggest recent trends: the tea dress. No-one can deny how

Twitter It’s taken over the planet with everyone from Britney to Stephen Fry using it. Good for celebrity stalking but we don’t need to know what us mere mortals are up to all the time. Verdict: Not

pretty, easy-to-wear and above all else, classic, these dresses look. Suitable for a variety of purposes from a night out, to drinking tea with the in-laws, the tea dress is here to stay. Sienna and Keira, playing the love interests of poet Dylan Thomas, showed us how very versatile these dresses are. They wore them while they ran around the ﬁelds of Wales. They wore them while they sang on stage. They wore them with walking boots. Walking boots? Yes, they even look great toughened up with a great pair of chunky boots. But these ladies are about to be overshadowed by this summer’s fashion heroes. First, Drew Barrymore is recreating the life of Grey Gardens star Edie Bouvier Beale in a new TV movie made by HBO. That’s HBO, creators of Sex and the City. So it already has fashion credentials. The original Grey Gardens, a ’70s documentary followed Edie and her mother’s fall from grace as they lived reclusively in a crumbling mansion in New York. However, Edie’s style made her a star and a cult fashion icon. She was related to the famously stylish Jackie Onassis and it shows. Even in exile, she remained glamorous and eccentric, mixing fur coats with swimwear and often wearing her trademark headscarf. We’ve already seen headscarves on the catwalk, but they have yet to translate into our wardrobes and onto our heads. Maybe Edie can give them the little push they need. In a case of life imitating art, Drew turned up to the movie’s premiere working a look that Edie would have been proud of.

Lily Allen More great tongue in cheek lyrics in ‘Not Fair’, the second single from the album It’s Not Me, It’s You. A deﬁnite buy when it’s available on May 11. Verdict: Hot

Pedicures Our feet have been neglected all Winter, hidden in socks and boots. So now is the time to polish and pumice: be ready to rock your gladiator sandals with A-list tootsies! Verdict: Hot

Set waves and netted hat? Check. Red lipstick? Check. Fake fur? Check. Crystals? Check. New style icon? Check. Yet, despite Drew’s gallant attempts to turn our heads in the Edie direction, later this year our fashion radar will be pointed ﬁrmly in only one direction. The Coco direction. Coco Avant Chanel is set for release this year. The movie is hotly anticipated, but not just in movie circles. This is the biggest fashion movie since, erm, ever. It will detail the young life of the infamous Coco Chanel, the lady behind the biggest fashion brand in the world, and the woman who taught us how to accessorise. For those that can’t remember, she told us to always take off the last accessory we put on to prevent us going out looking like a dog’s dinner.

This summer, stop looking to the pages of Vogue for your style direction However, the ﬁlm won’t just be showing us an elaborate collection of tweed suits. While they are what Chanel is famous for today, they are not all that Coco was about. In fact, some fashionistas have suggested that we have Coco to thank for letting women wear trousers. Not just a pretty suit then. The ﬁlm also details the birth of the little black dress. When Coco realised she had nothing to wear to go out dancing, she ordered a dress maker to create a plain, black dress without a corset. This was unheard of, but Coco outshone everyone else at the dance, with their over-the-top decoration and fussy dresses. So this summer, stop looking to the pages of Vogue for your style direction and look to the movies for the best up-to-date inspiration. New is out. Old is in.

Magazines on celeb bodies Lindsay’s too thin and Jessica’s too fat... what do they want us to look like?! Give the celebs a break and maybe then we won’t feel as bad about our own bods. Verdict: Not

Coco Chanel, who was the inspiration

Edie Bouvier Beale and Drew Barrymo

’80’s fashion It’s Summer... the time for shorts and vests, not oversized baggy tops and leggings. Great for cold days and rubbish weather but it’s time to dig out a Summer dress. Verdict: Not

FORGE PRESS Friday May 8 2009

LIFESTYLE

Take a summer trip: the thrift way

My housemates and I are constantly arguing about whose turn it is to buy cleaning products. How can we save money on these things so it causes less hassle? You should look out for things you already have around the house that can be used to clean. For example, lemons cut through grease and also smell really fresh and clean. Add lemon to a dishcloth and it’s as good as washing-up liquid. Lemons are also great for getting rid of smells and cleaning microwaves and fridges.

By Hannah O’Connell The end of term means summer has properly arrived and what would be nicer, after exam stresses are over, to get away from it all and go on holiday? Of course that sounds nice, but what if your bank balance can’t support your hopes for a Caribbean cruise? Don’t despair, a cruise might not be in your sights but there are plenty of places that you can afford to go and here’s how. Don’t go when school’s out for summer. If you’re going with your friends or partner then don’t leave it to the end of July or August to go. Take advantage of the cheaper prices before they go up in peak season. The weather is still great in June and September and you’ll make big savings, plus you won’t get splashed so much from dive bombs into the pool. Last minute deals.

for the fashion ﬁlm of the summer.

Set aside a week that you can go and book last minute for the cheapest place. The element of mystery means that you’ll be looking forward to your holiday – even before you know where you’re going. www.teletextholidays.co.uk has some amazing offers under their “late deals” section – you could pick up a week’s holiday, self catering in Spain for £75. Work while you’re away. Although initially this might not be your idea of a holiday there are loads of places you can visit... sometimes for free. http://www.helpx.net is a website where people all over the world

Aunt Agony Advises

You can be in paradise for less than you might think. Photo: Rosanna Hume advertise their need for labour. www.hostelworld.com, tells me Lots of them tend to be after that in September I can stay in a people to help on a farm or in a mixed dorm in central Barcelona vineyard for a few hours each day. for only €26 a night. In exchange allowing you to live This website is a great resource in their house/chalet/caravan for because it gives ratings from people free and sometimes even providing who have stayed there so you know meals. what to expect. You need to pay a small fee to sign up to the website but then Get the best deal on your money. you’re free to start organising your trip. Shop around for your currency – you could get more spending money Stay in youth hostels. for your hols this way. The exchange rate from pound Not my idea of luxury, I hear you to euro or dollar is making our scoff, but in fact youth hostels are a holidays very pricey this year. fun and inexpensive place to stay. Companies can give different If you fancy a city break these exchange rates so do some research are ideal because there are so many on where you can get the best deal centrally located. before you buy. You are staying within walking Hopefully with our credit crunchdistance to some major sights for busting tips, you can ﬁnd your ideal bargain prices. holiday at a fraction of the price For example, a quick search on you imagined.

I’m really worried that with the interest rates the way they are at the moment, my money is just sitting in my savings account gathering dust. Can you recommend a better one for me? The NatWest e-ISA is tax-free and the interest rate is currently 3.5 per cent, a great rate in the current market. Looking online is a really great way to ﬁnd deals you wouldn’t ﬁnd elsewhere. As it’s nearly the end of term, money is pretty tight and I can’t afford to get my hair coloured at a salon. But my roots are looking awful and I can barely bring myself to leave the house. Help! It’s probably a good time to look into at-home hair colouring. A semi-permanent dye is easy to apply, will last you until summer and if you get it wrong, at least you won’t have to wait for it to grow out. Try Garnier Herbashine. It comes in 16 different shades with no ammonia, and it works in just 10 minutes. Get in touch and hopefully Aunt Agony can help you with any problems you may be having. Email problems to press. lifestyle@forgetoday.com.

Lifestyle Review: K Pasa By Keri O’Riordan

re.

Britain’s Got Talent As usual we’re hooked: dancing, stripping and ﬂame throwing! Who doesn’t love this show?? To top it off the world is still Susan Boyle crazy. Stay tuned. Verdict: Hot

As a ﬁrst year, I remember K-Pasa as the cute little Italian restaurant, which was a little bit grubby looking but still served excellent food. So when I noticed walking down West Street that K-Pasa had undergone an extensive make over I was intrigued. But would the food still be the same? There has deﬁnitely been a massive transformation on the inside. From the outside K-Pasa used to look a little bit dark and dated, but now with a new layout and furniture the inside looks open and inviting. The old canopy which used to hang over the window is gone, letting more light into the windows during the day and making the restaurant feel less hemmed in. The new bright red exterior certainly draws attention to the restaurant, when before it blended into the scenery of West Street bars and restaurants. The service was also excellent. A group were celebrating a birthday

and the manager made the experience enjoyable for the whole restaurant by making the birthday girl stand up in front of everyone and down a flaming sambuca shot. Despite having a full restaurant, our food arrived promptly, and the waitress was very polite. The food is fairly reasonably priced, with a margarita pizza costing £7 and the more expensive dishes such as steak priced at around £16. You also get value for money, with large portions which even the most hardened foodie would struggle to finish. The food is delicious and with so much to offer you’ll be spoilt for choice. Many of my friends went for pizza, which to be honest, didn’t outshine a pizza you would get from Pizza Express. To get the best from K-Pasa you’re probably best to opt for a main, or a pasta dish. You’ll end up spending a bit more money but it will definitely increase the enjoyment of your dining experience.

The new and rejuvenated K Pasa on West Street.

Photo: Hannah O’Connell

FORGE PRESS Friday May 8 2009

LIFESTYLE

Love in the time of chlamydia

I always thought the sex education we were given at school was brilliant. I’ll never forget when a friend ushered my to a corner to tell me she’d lost her virginity. As a late bloomer I felt horrifically out of my depth. I was still watching Nickelodeon, but faking it I asked confidently “did you make sure it was safe?” To which she replied “of course we used two condoms, extra safe.” Sex ed made sure we knew we needed to have protected sex; we were definitely made aware/ terrified of the risks involved otherwise. I’ll never forget the scaremongering biology teacher, as she slipped the condom over the boiling tube, she didn’t forget to remind us that this wasn’t safe sex, but safer sex. She passed round pictures of genital warts, and made us read articles about a girl who lost her virginity with her first boyfriend and contracted three different STIs. My best friend and I walked out of the room traumatised, and it was then she announced she’ll only have sex with a condom, through a hole in a sheet. My mum was the same for years, telling me horror stories about sex, and pregnancy. As I got older, the stories disappeared. That was, until I walked in on my mum telling my little sister a familiar story. As I tried to sneak out, my mum pointed at me and like a rabbit caught in the cross hairs I froze as my mum calmly said, “look at your sister, she waited to have sex and now she’s having a brilliant time.” The fact that my Mum’s stories had been replaced with the assumption I was having rampant but protected sex, made me think I preferred that boiling tube.

Weight loss: quick fix, or long term damage? By Keri O’Riordan The beach season is approaching, and as I stare forlornly at pictures of stick thin celebrities in magazines, with a ring of shame highlighting a miniscule bingo wing, the idea of me wearing my swimsuit in public seems doubtful. But I decide that maybe I should shed the love handles and look into quick and easy weight loss solutions. The weight loss industry is booming. If you type ‘weightloss’ into Google, you’ll get over 101million results. Far from promoting a healthy attitude about losing weight many of the adverts offer pills and potions which promise to shed those unwanted inches and help you get the figure of your dreams. The first three results are, ‘25 pounds in two weeks,’ fat removal surgery’ and ‘2009 Diet of the year.’ I always thought the keys to keeping trim were simply eating less, moving more; apparently I was wrong. A lot of the links seem to be offering you ways to lose weight in the quickest way possible. For example, www.howtoloseitfast. com claims to “have just discovered the best weight loss program ever.” It claims you can eat your way to slim, losing 14 pounds in the first week. The page is full of testimonials from people who have lost the weight. The theme running through all the stories seems to be that those who used the system had tried countless ways of losing weight, all of which had failed until they tried this magical system. The number of different diets you can take up in order to lose

weight is endless, from Atkins, to the Zone diet. You can cut out practically any food group in order to help you lose weight. You can choose a diet according to your face shape, blood type and my favourite, by star sign. Apparently as a Cancer I should follow a high fibre diet, because I’m sensitive and traditional. I’m not really sure how a high fibre diet ties in with being sensitive and traditional, but if that’s the diet the universe has ordained for me, then who am I to say no. It seems that the diets on offer are far removed from anything which could be called sensible weight loss. Beyoncé famously lost 22 pounds by drinking a mixture of pepper, maple syrup and water. With high profile stars getting results by crash dieting, what is stopping mere mortals such as me?

Issues with eating and food are the most common forms of mental illness I’ve had friends who’ve eaten nothing but apples, nothing but soup and a firm favourite nothing at all. But these results have been short lived; many are starving themselves in June only to find themselves bursting out of their jeans by September. At the beginning of the year, our house decided to embark on the grapefruit diet. It consisted of eating salads lean meats, fruits and a lot of grapefruit. For two weeks our kitchen was full of grapefruits. The fridge, the counters and the cupboards were full of them too. We lost interest very quickly and for months afterwards we

Beyoncé crash dieted to lose 22 pounds for a film role. were finding grapefruits in the strangest places, in different stages of decay. However we may like to pretend that just because we are losing weight quickly means we’re lucky rather than being unhealthy, but in reality these are crash diets. Although they may work in the short term the risks we inflict on our body don’t outweigh the benefits. Most of the time, the least that will happen is that you will just put all the weight right back on once you start eating normally. However you may not be so lucky, by crash dieting you deprive your body of vital vitamins and nutrients. This means that your body is weakened and you may be prone to illness. It also means that your body won’t be able to function properly. So you’ll find it harder to concentrate, and not only that but your friends might notice that you develop a less than pleasant disposition. Losing weight also means you

risk losing muscle as well as fat. This will affect your ability to lose weight in the long term as muscle burns more calories than fat. If you have less muscle you burn fewer calories so it becomes more difficult to lose weight. Not only this but more seriously it can impact on your fitness and induce fatigue. Crash diets could lead to something more serious, like eating disorders. Issues with eating and food are the most common forms of mental illness. The Union is now offering a service to those who may be suffering with an eating disorder; Biteback is a counselling service, which holds meetings to help these students. So there it is, if I want to lose weight, then I should cut back on the sweets and hit the gym. Unfortunately, as I write this I’m digesting an unnecessarily large Mr Whippy. Maybe I’ll be in the bikini next summer.

Society of the fortnight: Sheffield Dance By Vicky Shaw Sheffield Dance Society provide weekly dance classes in Contemporary, Street Jazz, Modern, beginners, intermediate and advanced Ballet and intermediate and advanced Tap. They also organise lots of socials, including theatre trips and dance workshops with professional dance companies.

Ellie Pike, a member of the committee said: “Classes are noncompetitive and are designed to help people get healthy and have fun. People of any ability are welcome to come along”. For those who want to dance competitively, the society enters a yearly competition with other universities across the country. In February over 40 dancers from the society competed in Sunderland University’s dance

competition and were successful in numerous categories; including winning first prize in advanced Tap. Dance classes are held in either the Goodwin Sports Centre or the Drama Studio on Shearwood Road. For more information and class times visit the web site: www.dance.union.shef.ac.uk. Classes are £2.50 for members and £3.50 for non-members.

FORGE PRESS Friday May 8 2009

TRAVEL

On the final leg By Danielle Appleton I only have a few weeks left of my American adventure, and time has flown by so fast. It feels like only yesterday that my plane landed in Oregon and I was thrown into American college life. After more than nine months of living here I was certain that the cultural differences would become less noticeable. In fact, it has been quite the opposite. It still causes an outburst of laughs every time I say ‘trousers’ or pronounce ‘status’ with an elongated ‘a.’ My friends still think it is crazy that I can eat Marmite, or that I put my pyjamas under my pillow in the morning instead of back in the drawer.

University is trying to implement a law against weapons on campus I must admit I find it amusing when I hear American’s say the word ‘aluminium’ and I still can’t get over the fact that my roommate eats a waffle covered in half a can of whipped cream every single morning for breakfast. However, one event in the last two weeks has truly made me realise just how vastly different these two countries are; some Oregon State University students are currently holding rallies and campaigning to maintain the right to carry a concealed gun. The university is trying to implement a law against weapons on campus but is finding it difficult because the state of Oregon allows this activity. It is beyond my comprehension why any student would want or need a gun in their bag or their pocket, especially as we officially live on the safest campus on the west coast of America.

You’ve been Tangoed. My friends insist that I can’t understand their point of view because I’ve been brought up in a country where it has always been prohibited. This is probably true, I can’t imagine this even being an issue in Sheffield. If a student wanted to carry a gun then surely they would have intentions of using it, and why is that a positive thing? These kinds of differences have been one of the most exciting parts of coming to America. I didn’t want to study in a different country if it felt just like England, because I don’t think I would have learnt half as much as I have this year. I would recommend studying abroad to anyone; it has been the best year of my life. Plus, I now get to spend this summer, and many in the future, visiting the friends I’ve made around the country, in Orange County, Hawaii, Michigan, Laguna Beach, Texas and Florida. The list could go on, but I don’t want to make you jealous.

Despite setbacks and sleepless nights, the Bummit teams remained in high spirits and reached their destination.

Thumbs up for charity hitchhike By Natalie Jones Seven days, seven countries, 1,500 miles and a budget of £15. Easy! For the past seven years students from the University of Sheffield have been begging, blagging and pleading their way to the other side of Europe all in the name of charity. On April 14, 125 students set off from the Arts Tower on their way to Zadar, Croatia. And it was not long until many of us came across our first challenge: angry tram conductors who did not want to give any free rides. Once finally on route it seemed like the day was starting to go to plan. A stop off at a Porsche garage landed us with a free ride to the service station on the M1. However, once at the service station it soon became clear that there was another problem: other ‘bummers’ who had had the same idea. The fight for lifts began and, after frantically running around the service station we managed to find a lift to a service station to the south of Leicester. However, as with many experiences on Bummit, just when you think everything is going well you’re soon struck with a blow - the M1 had been closed. Nonetheless, our plan was to carry on and try to get a lift with someone going south and hope that the road would soon be opened. Then our prayers were answered: a lift with a guy that was going all the way down to the M25. As we squashed ourselves into his little Fiesta (which also doubled up as his bin) we were soon on our travels again. Nevertheless, it was clear that as he dropped us off we were once again stranded, this time in Heathrow airport. Our only option

was to get into London and try to blag our way to Dover on public transport. Once in London we managed to get a National Express coach all the way to Dover, but then received the worse possible news. Calais had been closed. On arriving in Dover we were greeted by many other ‘bummers’ that had been stuck there all day and our only option was to wait. It was soon apparent that the arrivals lounge would be our bed for that night.

We had to convince them that we were not drug dealers At the crack of dawn we woke in the hope that the ferries would be running so that we could cross the channel. After stopping traffic at the traffic lights we were soon jumping into a lorry on our way to the ferry. However, it was not long until we realised that there were not going to be ferries that day either. After sitting for hours in the lorry watching time pass by there was a saviour; a ferry was running to Dieppe. It was miles out of our way, but our main concern was getting out of the country and onto the continent. Standing outside the ticket office scouting out potential lifts we managed to find two Dutch guys who had room in their car for us. The only problem was that we had to convince them that we were not drug dealers. After a quick search of our bags they believed that we weren’t carrying drugs and we were making our way onto the ferry. Once on the other side of the channel the Dutch guys said they’d take us to Belgium and we

were soon making good progress. However, we were dropped off in the middle of nowhere, in a little town named Gent. After finding a hotel and getting the price of the room down dramatically we were soon having a good night’s sleep in order for the day ahead. The next day we hitched out of Gent and made our way to Brussels, although it was obvious that hitching out of Brussels wasn’t going to be easy. We decided that we were going to try and catch some free trains. In Brussels station we came across other purple hoodies that were easily recognisable as other ‘bummers’ and joined forces with them. We jumped on a train to Liege and after nearly being chucked off and reported to the police we were soon nearly out of Belgium and on our way to Germany. It was in Liege station that we were rescued, receiving a ticket from a ticket officer stating that he had been on the Bummit website and it seemed ‘sérieux’. Team ‘Superticket’ was formed and we were on our way to Nuremberg. After a night of partying it was time for the second leg of our journey and we made our way to Munich. As we were ahead of time we decided to visit the English Gardens. However, we got much more than we bargained for. As we strolled around the gardens we somehow ended up in the nudist section, with a man that can only be described as having a very peculiar piercing. After seeing much more of Munich than expected it was back on the road and on the way to Salzburg. Reaching Salzburg, we decided that we were going to stop there for the night but all we could find was some sort of exorcist

hostel. Waking up to the sound of church bells we were once again on our travels and after waiting at a petrol station for hours we managed to get a lift with two very nice Austrian guys who said they would take us down to Villach. Once in Villach all we could do was wait in the train station, and it soon became evident that many other ‘bummers’ had had the same idea. However, there were no trains until 4am so the cold, marble floor of the station was the bed for many bummers that night.

Two ‘bummers’ trying to get a lift. Following a night of very little sleep it was time to make our way to Croatia. A train all the way to Zagreb, followed by a bus to Zadar, we had made it to the final destination! All in all Bummit is an experience like no other. One minute you think things cannot get any worse, but the next minute things could not be any better. However, I would strongly recommend the experience and it is something that everyone should try.

FORGE PRESS Friday May 8 2009

PUZZLES & HUMOUR

Coffee Break Will flubber save nutty education? By Kate Dobinson Eddie Murphy in the Nutty Professor and Robin Williams in Flubber make me nostalgic for a utopian university system. Albeit, both men are presented as ludicrous characterisations and plonked amid the ideal Ivy League setting for the Hollywood filmmaker, but the whiff of veneration which these ancient institutions of education prompt, reveals in its professors the potential to encounter supernatural, nonsensical and plainly outrageous plot lines. Financial blunders are overcome and the university and its students saved and united in the end. In reality, you know that our current system of education is in crisis when the seemingly best option is to suggest some flubber to tack together the cracks produced by the recession. According to fraught news reports, the world of education has lost its head. One in five students expect to

receive a job offer upon leaving university, yet course places are expected to be flooded next year. Lecturers are threatening to strike for pay re-assessments and the angry buzzwords that engender money, opportunity and job markets are being pushed upon incumbents who spit them back to students with temporary globules that will soon dry up. Job fairs, £1,000 two week post-uni finishing schools and fast track teaching diplomas have all been spurned as inadequate patches for the crater effect. Adding to the current atmosphere of chaos, it has recently been reported that UCAS are in talks to drop the rule that all applicants must follow the Criminal Disclosure Act. Although this will exempt Medicine, Teaching, Dentistry and Social Work from this loosening of the guidelines, if decided upon, UCAS will allow students with criminal convictions to hide their misdemeanours when applying to university.

CROSSWORD

The educational world as a whole is a mixed bag. The University of Georgia, Athens is missing its President, George Zinkhan. Zinkhan is on the run after committing a triple murder. This has meant that additional personnel have been called onto campus and are carrying semiautomatic rifles. Elsewhere, a much needed financial boost has been given from an anonymous philanthropist who has busily been donating a total sum of $75million to 14 universities. At present it appears that all scandal and gossip is contained within university circles. Murder mysteries, money mysteries and just plain, baffling mystery surround the future of higher education: it sounds like a botched game of Cluedo. Unlike a board game, there is no imminent solution to the recession, and it will take a lot more than a sticky green rubber to provide it. Send your postcards in: what will hold higher education together?

FROM FORGETODAY.COM mOST POPULAR CONTENT THIS MONTH:

Across 1. Snake (5) 4. Saying (5) 7. Villainous (9) 8. Way out (4) 9. Bee house (6) 12. Maelstrom (6) 13. Desiccated (4) 16. Allowed (9) 18. Trench (5) 19. Indigent (5)

Down 1. Obscure (5) 2. Wicker basket (7) 3. Prevalent (4) 4. Precipitous (6) 5. Fuss (3) 6. Composition (5) 10. Abbreviate (7) 11. Gusto (6) 12. Lacking taste (5) 14. Journal (5) 15. Stupefy (4) 17. Furrow (3)

Last issue’s crossword solutions: See page 11, Star Letter.

Picture of the fortnight

Funeral for a Friend. 1. Soldiers’ sexual exploits published in ‘Slag Mag’ 2. Live: Funeral for a Friend @ Foundry, 30/03/2009 3. Feature: Pedro Almodóvar 4. Loaded (radio show) 5. The Liam White Show (radio show)

The Union Officers relax on their Easter holiday to Sri Lanka. See your pictures here. Email press.features@forgetoday.com or send a picture message to 07765363716.

Up the wall.

Cartoon: Kate Mitchell

FORGE PRESS Friday May 8 2009

Collins in at the deep end with diving project

FEATURE SPORT

Justin Lee Collins has made Sheffield his training base for the TV challenge. Collins has taken inspiration from 14-year-old Olympian Tom Daley (pictured below). By Paul Garbett He might be nearly 35-years-old, of portly build and best known in sporting circles for his love of darts, but comedian Justin Lee Collins is hoping to make a serious splash in the world of diving. The Bristolian funny-man has made Sheffield his training base for a new television programme Justin Lee Collins is... in which he is challenged to learn diving skills from former Olympic medallist Leon Taylor, before taking to the 10 metre board for a judged competition. In other episodes of the show, Collins takes to the stage in a West End musical and tries his hand at ballroom dancing and Mexican wrestling.

Every time I see these guys going off the boards my heart is in my mouth The sport of diving is not entirely new to Collins, who admits he’s been a fan since presenting Channel 4 show The Games in 2005. He said: “I love diving, and got my introduction to the sport from working on The Games, which is how I know Leon Taylor.

“It’s always exciting, and that’s the great thing about diving. It’s over in a flash but whenever you see someone climbing those steps up to the top, you never know if they’re going to nail the dive or if they’re going to crash and wipe out. “Either way it’s incredibly exciting and every time I see these guys going off the boards my heart is in my mouth.” The presenter has lost nearly three stone in weight since beginning the TV challenge, and was due to take the plunge during last months FINA World Series event at Ponds Forge. However, Collins had to cancel his plans at the last minute after bursting his ear drum during training. “It’s really disappointing,” Collins said. “I’ve been building towards this event for the last few weeks and I’ve been coming up to Sheffield to be coached by Leon. “I’ve put a lot of training in and done a lot of dives. I must have done at least 150 now over the sessions, going from the one metre board right up to the 10. “The first time I jumped from 10

metres was horrible, because I’m actually scared of heights. I’m glad I’ve done it, and next time I want to jump head first which I’m told is actually easier.” With the sport currently being dominated by a wealth of young Chinese talent and the likes of 14 year old British star Tom Daley, Collins admits that he isn’t at the ideal age to take up the sport. He said: “I’m coming up for 35, I’m an old man and I shouldn’t be doing this, I don’t know what I’m thinking. But I’m enjoying it and that’s the main thing, you’re never too old to dive. “There’s a guy at my local swimming pool in Bristol who’s in his seventies and dives every week. “He’s chucking himself off the top board and everything. I must say though that the top board there is only five metres, it’s not a 10. If you brought him to Sheffield then he probably wouldn’t do it.” The 34-year-old has been coached by Athens silver medallist Leon Taylor and the ex-Olympian said he had been impressed with Collins’ efforts so far. “He has taken on an incredibly challenging sport and to go up to

Photo: Helen Munro

the ten-metre board and have a look off is a big, big achievement,” said Taylor. “When I was working with him last he actually went off the ten metres so fair play to Justin Lee Collins, he’s a great guy and fantastic to work with.”

You’re never too old to dive. There’s a guy in his seventies at my local pool Collins says that he is particularly impressed with the talents of Tom Daley, who recorded a personal best at the World Series event, winning a silver medal in the 10 metre platform competition. Daley came agonisingly close to winning his first individual gold medal at Ponds Forge, losing out to China’s Liang Huo by mere 0.60 points. “He’s 14 now and he’s got the world at his feet,” Collins said. “For 2012, he’s got the potential to go all the way; I’m a massive fan of him and definitely think he can really bring the sport to the attention of the British public”. The Sunday Night Project star will now continue his training regime at Ponds Forge, with a view to diving at a major event later this summer.

FORGE PRESS Friday May 8 2009

SPORT NEWS & COMMENT

Squash defeated in play-off

The University of Sheffield men’s squash seconds lost to York last Wednesday in the BUCS playoff game, ending their push for promotion this year. The team lost 2-1, despite having won every other game this year, in a close encounter. Captain Will Bennett said: “We’re really pretty gutted, especially because we had won every single other match and had high hopes for our chances in the game. York were in a different regional division to us so we hadn’t played them before, but I know their number one and we were wary of the threat they posed. “We lost the ones game but won the threes, and so it came down right to the wire in a very close seconds game which unfortunately we didn’t win it. “We should be able to repeat this year’s excellent performance next year. Our second and third teams are probably the strongest we’ve had for about four years, so while last Wednesday was disappointing we’ll have more than a chance to get promoted again next year.”

Sheffield snooker boost

Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre has managed to maintain the rights to hold the World Snooker Championships until at least 2014. The competition had been targeted by Chinese officials to move to the Far East, to mixed views of players and fans alike, but speculation has been ended with this five-year deal. The prestigious championships have been held at the Crucible since 1977, witnessing Snooker greats such as Steve Davis, Ronnie

O’Sullivan and John Higgins, who completed his hat-trick of World crowns last weekend. Chairman of World Snooker Ronnie Walker said: “We are delighted to have reached this new agreement. Sheffield has, over the years, consistently demonstrated a desire to retain and develop its status as the UK’s snooker city.”

City arena to host awards

Sports fans in Sheffield will get the chance to rub shoulders with the great and the good of the sporting world this December when the BBC Sports Personality of the Year show comes to the Sheffield Arena. Last year saw a crowd of 9,000 pack into Liverpool’s Echo Arena. It also attracted a television audience of 9.8 million. The award was won by triple Olympic gold medal winner Sir Chris Hoy, who beat Lewis Hamilton and Rebecca Adlington into second and third respectively. Ticket details have not yet been released but demand is expected to be high.

Louise is dressage champ

A first year Accounting and Finance student is celebrating after being crowned British champion in the equestrian sport of dressage. Louise Benson, aged 18, saw off competition from 60 other riders to win novice final at the Pony Club’s Dengie National Winter League. Louise’s victory on her horse Rockstar the Third means she will now step up in class to compete at elite events, with the potential for her to be selected for the London 2012 Olympics.

Wise spending will be crucial for any sides to survive in the Prem By Oliver Hughes Playoffs await Sheffield United after a valiant late push for automatic promotion ended in misery following a disappointing and lacklustre goalless draw in the capital against Crystal Palace. Only the woodwork and superb goalkeeping from Argentinian shot-stopper Julián Speroni denied the Blades victory, saving a number of chances from Northern Ireland striker Jamie Ward. However, a win wouldn’t have made a difference to Sheffield United’s automatic promotion hopes as Birmingham City ensured they secured second place with a 2-1 win over fellow automatic hopefuls Reading at the Madejski Stadium. As for the blue side of the Steel City, Wednesday’s season has been a mixed affair. Their first derby double over the Blades for 95 years was something for Owls fans to cherish, but a lack of goals, especially from midfield, left them stranded in mid-table obscurity this campaign. Regardless of having nothing to play for heading in their final game of the season, Wednesday destroyed the Premier League hopes of Cardiff City after the Bluebirds seemingly selfdestructed, leaving Preston North End to snatch the final playoff spot, albeit by a single goal on goal difference. It will, in fact, be the Lilywhites who will face United in both playoff semi final legs happening over the course of the next few weeks and there is no doubt they have the firepower to see off their Lancashire rivals, with United’s battling style akin to these type of matches. From a neutral point of view, any of the four sides left in the playoffs will be a welcome addition to the Premier League.

Blade’s youngster Kyle Naughton has been a key asset this campaign. Some may say the Blades should actually still be in the Premiership, however the rather arduous Carlos Tevez affair has been argued over and over.

If the Blades go up, they will have a tough task ahead in the top flight Both Preston and Burnley have a rich football heritage, having won the top division title twice apiece despite Preston’s last major trophy having been in the 1938 FA Cup and Burnley’s league title in 1959/60 season. A Lancashire derby in the playoff final would be a stirring spectacle and with results between the two sides standing at one win each, it could potentially be a very tight affair. If the Blades manage to

overcome the likes of Preston and Reading or Burnley, they will indeed have a tough task ahead of them in the top flight. Money will have to be spent wisely and may have to take note from Birmingham’s chairman David Gold who insisted his side would be “realistic” about spending cash. The opposite end of the Championship highlights what can happen through bad corporate management. The likes of Charlton, Norwich and Southampton are prime examples after dropping to League One only a few seasons since all three were chasing the Premier League dream. With the latter slipping into dreaded administration and the inevitable 10 point deduction which, as Leeds United proved, can have a devastating effect on a side’s quest for promotion.

Aikido club dominate Hallam at championships By Jonathan Caldwell The University’s Shodokan Aikido club enjoyed great success at the Shodokan Student National Competition at Heriot-Watt University in March. The club’s success at the Edinburgh event was Sheffield’s ninth victory in 10 years and came against six other leading universities, including Sheffield Hallam. The team of Sam Coveney, Caspar Chater, Susan Johnston, Alex Chan, Cora Fung, Emanuela Nalaskowska, Joe Adams, Ruzaini Shahrom and Andrew Helmstetter won four gold medals, three silver and three bronze in a combination of team and individual events. Hallam, the second placed team, won two gold and three silver medals. Uni club captain Coveney was named best male competitor having won the men’s individual randoori event. Randoori consists of freestyle sparring with a scoring system similar to that of judo. Johnston won the best female competitor award for her part in the team’s victory. As a result of the team’s success

at the event, six members of the squad have been selected for the British Universities squad to compete in the Shodokan World Championships in Kyoto, Japan, in September. Johnston said after the event that the team were confident of success in Edinburgh, but that Hallam and Heriot-Watt were major threats. She said: “Heriot-Watt had beaten us once during the season but our main rivals were definitely Hallam. “We train together so we know them really well. It was a toss up between us, Hallam and HeriotWatt as to who would win it. “It has been quite easy for Sheffield in recent years as we are the biggest club but the sport in growing throughout the UK and new teams are competing every year. “A lot of our success has been down to our sensei, Scott Allbright. He is a former world champion who was trained in Japan. He came to Sheffield and set up the club here similar to that in the university system in Japan.” “He also set up the club at Nottingham University. We are lucky to have him.”

The Sheffield club is the biggest and most successful university club in the country, but Johnston insists that the club is open to all comers. She said: “Most of the members are totally new to the sport when they join the club. It is really encouraging to see them doing well. It is also pleasing to see so many female members taking the club so seriously. “But we also have members with a background in martial arts. We train together regularly, but you can take part and train as much as you like whether it is everyday or just once a week.” While Johnston does not believe that the British Universities team will be quite as successful at the World Championships later in the year as Sheffield have been in recent years, she believes the British national team could compete for honours. “They have been training for quite a long time so they are obviously very good, and a few of them are students. “The British universities team obviously won’t be so dominant but it will be interesting to see how we compete, especially against the Japanese.”

The Sheffield club is the biggest in the country.

Photo: Ruzaini Shahrom

FORGE PRESS Friday May 8 2009

Sheffield students impress as 5,000 runners take to the roads

NEWS SPORT

Awards nominees announced By Jonathan Caldwell

Students, locals and athletes alike compete for both personal and charitable gain at this year’s Sheffield Half Marathon. By Chris Rogan While most of the student population were enjoying a pleasant lie-in or struggling to meet essay deadlines, a brave few University of Sheffield students sought to complete the daunting Sheffield Half Marathon on the sunny morning of Sunday, April 26. The event, which this year attracted record numbers upwards of 5,000 participants, has been a popular pastime of athletes and amateurs alike, seeking to raise money for various charitable causes. The 13 mile course, which was first run in 1982, begins and ends in Sheffield’s Don Valley Stadium, via the streets of the city centre. Leading the Uni athletes was

Simon Millett, who came 19th recording a time of one hour hour, 14 minutes and 33 seconds, only eight minutes between him and the winner Jason Ward. Millett, usually a shorter distance runner, said after the run: “This is a great race so I thought I’d give it a pop. “I’ve been running well and hoped to beat my previous best of one hour 18 minutes. I’ve done that so I’m pretty happy. “There’s always a lot of support as you go around which is really helpful, as I felt I started off a bit too quickly. It was a good day for Sheffield Athletics Club, and now there’s a focus on the impending track season.” Other good athletics performances, notably from the women, put the Sheffield Athletics

team in third place for the women’s race. Sarah McCormack led the group with a time of one hour 25 minutes and 48 seconds. Hannah Walker, a second year History and Politics student was inspired to race in aid of the Isabel Hospice of Hertfordshire, which seeks to care for patients with life-limiting illnesses, such as cancer. She said: “I am not a fan of exercise and hadn’t done any for years, but I started running a couple of times a week in November until I could run ten miles.” Although she claimed not to enjoy running, Walker managed to complete her debut official race in a respectable two hours 17 minutes and 15 seconds, raising £500 for charity in the process.

Photo: Helen Munro

“The day was really organised, and I think I will do it again next year. I’d recommend it to anyone who fancies a challenge.” Another History student, Edmund Keith, decided to run the marathon along with his housemates in aid of the renowned Sheffield’s Children’s Hospital Charity. Keith managed an impressive time of one hour and 28 minutes, all the more so due to his apparent lack of training. “There was a lot of talk of practise, but not much actually happened,” he said. Second-year Louise Cerson also ran, raising money for a Christian Mission trip she and her friend Ed Miles plan to do in the summer. Cerson completed the course in a time of one hour and 54 minutes, raising £650.

The nominations for the Sports Awards have been announced prior to the Annual Sports Awards Dinner on Wednesday, May 13. Twenty-two individuals and clubs will be battling it out for seven awards following another excellent year of achievement for the University’s sporting competitors. Sports Person of the Year will be contested between Paralympian table tennis star David Wetherill, tennis player Chris Harrison and archer Rory Campbell. The nominations for the Team of the Year award are: the men’s lacrosse side, who won every game in all competitions this season, the table tennis team and the tennis team. The Club of the Year, which is not awarded for sporting excellence but rather wider activities such as charity work will be won by one of the Swimming and Water Polo Club, the American Football Club or the Snowboarding Club. Netball’s Kate Higginbottom, tennis’ Rachel Pregun and swimming’s Sarah Christian are the contenders for Club Member of the Year, which recognises the efforts of an individual to their respective sports club. The International Student of the Year award nominees are: badminton player Kimberley Lau, archer Achim Ammon and American Footballer Wojciech Stec. The Coach of the Year award recognises the contribution of an exceptional coach. Spencer Taylor and Steve Gibson of women’s football, swimming coach Andy Scrutt and rugby league’s Herb Grey are the hopefuls for this year’s prize. The final award is for Outstanding Contribution to Club Sport. The quality of nominee for the award means that four individuals are in the running this year, and they are Mark Williams, Elliott Josypenko, Sadé Hacking and Will Platt. At last year’s awards, the ten pin bowling club were crowned Club of the Year, while table tennis champion Lisa Radford took the Sports Person of the Year gong.

Women’s football club blast appeal “shambles” By Matt Duncan An angry University of Sheffield women’s football team were left bemused after their appeal regarding biased officiating at March’s Conference Cup Final was not upheld. Club captain, Sophie Duncan has called the whole affair “an absolute shambles,” whilst maintaining that the wrong decision has been made. Sheffield lost the match 4-2, having led 2-0. The appeal was made after the match officials made a series of poor decisions and were then seen celebrating with the victorious Cumbria University team. The club complained that this constituted a lack of impartiality and that the status of the officials had not been agreed upon before the match. Duncan was angry at the way the affair had been handled. She

said: “BUCS have handled this really badly; I have e-mails from BUCS that led us to believe that the officials were going to be impartial and would be sorted by them. “Even during the match they could have asked one of our squad members to run the other line to make it fairer.” However, BUCS ruled that the officials had already been agreed upon and that the result would stand without the need for a replay. Club Sport Manager Andy Cox was disappointed at this judgement. He said: “We don’t really agree with what they have said but we have accepted it. “We don’t want to fight on any more; it would cost us a few hundred pounds to carry on with the process.” The aim of the appeal was not to get the match replayed but to ensure that nothing like this could

happen again. The Conference Cup does not have the same rules structure as the more prestigious BUCS competitions. Cox said that this puzzled him: “We have asked that the Conference Cup is given the same rules as the other competitions and that these rules are clarified properly. I can’t really understand why that isn’t the case anyway. “I’ve spoken to the girls and they never wanted a replay. They feel that going through that would leave a bad taste in the mouth. “We just want to make sure that this can not happen to another team next year.” This was the first time that a women’s team from Sheffield had made it all the way to a BUCS final. Duncan summed up the feeling amongst the team. She said: “Anyone who would have watched that match would have been outraged.”

The women’s football first team in Varsity action.

Photo: Adam Harley

SPORT

Justin Lee Collins sportsman? Page 25

Sheffield Half Marathon report Page 27

White advises change of venue after Varsity unrest

Ella White (inset) has hinted that next year’s Varsity final could be played at Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane ground. By Paul Garbett Sports Officer Ella White has revealed that talks are currently taking place with Sheffield United about hosting next year’s Varsity final, following a review of the trouble which marred April’s finals day. Speaking in her final interview as Sports Officer, White said the organising committee are likely to make major changes to next year’s programme, with United’s Bramall Lane stadium likely to replace Abbeydale Sports Ground as the venue for the showpiece finals day. The number of multi-sport hub days are also likely to be increased, while the traditional men’s rugby finale will be replaced by the men’s first team football fixture as the final event of the Varsity competition. She said: “We’ve had a meeting and said that the event has got

so big that it needs to be taken to another level. “My recommendation is going to be that Abbeydale isn’t used for the finals day next year. “We’ve already been involved in talks with Sheffield United about staging the event there, which would be a fantastic way of making the competition even bigger. By moving to Bramall Lane there’s the added benefit that they have their own security who are used to dealing with crowds much bigger than we could attract.” The move to Bramall Lane is prompted by crowd trouble at last month’s Varsity final, which left a number of spectators requiring medical treatment and lead to some supporters being arrested by police. In another proposed change to the format, the Varsity scoring system will be altered to avoid a third consecutive tie. The new system will see one point awarded for a victory in

each fixture, replacing the current one point per sport format. This will mean that sports where more than one squad compete will be worth more Varsity points. White said: “A lot of people were very disappointed with another draw. The new scoring system will make it virtually impossible to have a draw, which is a definite improvement for the competition.” White, who hands over her role as Sports Officer to Kate Rickard at the end of the academic year, said her “heart sank” as she saw fighting break out in the stand during the men’s rugby final last month. She said: “I felt like those people who caused the trouble had taken the day away from sport. I remember just watching it start to happen in the stands and my heart just sank because it was a few people who wrecked it for everyone. “Sport should have been on the

back page that day but 10 people made sure it wasn’t.” The finals day trouble marked a low point for White, in what was a fantastic year for sport at the University of Sheffield. She said: “I’ve had a fantastic year in charge with drawing Varsity and the success at the BUCS Championships. “As a university that doesn’t focus on sport, going to these events and doing so well it’s just brilliant. “The men’s lacrosse team did brilliantly to be undefeated in their first season playing as a team and I was really pleased with all the other teams that won medals at the BUCS Championships. “I think the fact that the competition was held in Sheffield made it more special for those competitors who worked so hard to qualify and I hope we can get more medals next year.” With only weeks of her reign remaining, the sports officer

Inset photo: Sam Bennett says that she is still committed to campaiging for increased investment in sport, and believes that the University of Sheffield invests less in sport than any other Russell Group university. “My main objective going into this year was to get more funding for sports clubs, and I think that was highly ambitious. “Although it has been harder than expected, I have managed to get the Usport board to agree to a benchmarking comparison to other universities and from that I hope we can encourage them to invest further and support our sports clubs more. “The comparative study we’ve been working on shows that we are definitely the most underfunded university in the Russell Group in terms of sport. “Sports clubs provide such a great university experience and I think it is something which the university should prioritise more and give more money to.”