FREE Issue 43
Friday February 17 2012 The independent student newspaper of the University of Sheffield. Made for students by students. Est. 1946.
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Get your gym refund NO REFUNDS
Uni backs down over pool refund policy following Forge Press campaign Registrar overrules S10 who refused to pay members for contract breach p.7
INSIDE
CAREERS
Interview tips, CV advice and what to do after Uni p.26-29
Uni ordered to repay mentors “In my opinion your employer owes you [over £2,000] [...] because they did not pay you at least the national minimum wage”
LIFESTYLE
Stripped bare: Men and women try out a body wax for the first time in their lives p.25
SPORT Hallam Uni take first blood in this year’s Winter Varsity ice hockey p.36
Fuse. In a special edition of Fuse we take a look at the best of Arts, Games, Music and Screen from the last year
Thousands to be paid back to residential mentors after HMRC ruling University has until March to pay or the option to fight at employment tribunal Katie Davies The University has been ordered to pay out thousands of pounds to residential mentors who were paid less than the minimum wage, Forge Press can reveal. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) issued the figures after months of investigation, writing to mentors to confirm: “In my opinion, your employer, University of Sheffield … did not pay you at least the national minimum wage.” One source revealed to Forge Press that they are set to receive approximately £2,000 for less a year’s worth of work. The 80 mentors working in the last academic year could all be set to receive similar amounts, pushing the overall minimum figure to more than £150,000. Payments may also have to be made to all mentors from previous years who have worked under the same system. The University must now decide whether to appeal the decision at an employment tribunal. “I don’t look forward to any sort of legal action,” said another residential mentor, who did not wish to be named, “I would much rather avoid it as it’s not conducive to good working relationships.” “Having said that, if legal action is the only way to ensure that low-paid members of staff are treated fairly in the workplace then so be it.”
“I believe that people should be treated fairly in the workplace, however large the organisation, so if an organisation has made a mistake it should apologize and rectify the situation immediately - at least if it wants to retain the loyalty and commitment of its staff.” The University has now reclassed all residential mentors as volunteer workers, rather than employees, for the first time this academic year. The number of hours mentors are expected to work has also risen. The law does not require the University to pay voluntary workers the minimum wage. HMRC are now also beginning to look into this new system over concerns that student voluntary workers are being expected to act like paid employees - but with none of the benefits. As in previous years, all residential mentors must live on site, either in Endcliffe or Ranmoor student villages or the City Centre campus. As they are required to live there under their contract, under UK law, the University can also include rent as part of mentors’ wages. Continued on p.7
Head of ACS, Pat McGrath
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FORGE PRESS Friday February 17 2012
NEWS UNIVERSITY
Forge in Brief Woman mugged at knifepoint A woman has been mugged at knifepoint while waiting to be served in the Co-op at the Westfield Centre, Sheffield. At around 7pm on January 22 a man walked into the shop, grabbed hold of the woman and threatened her with a knife until she gave him her money. He also made demands for money from members of staff. Nobody was hurt but were left very shaken by the incident. The man is described as white, 5ft 9ins tall and was wearing a beanie hat pulled down over his face. Police ask that anybody with information about the event contact them on 101 quoting incident number 1028. Rosanna Austin
Team miss out on place on University Challenge again Sheffield students have missed out on a place in University Challenge for the second year running after failing to qualify. It is the second year running that the University of Sheffield will be without a team, after students auditioning for the current series were also knocked out in the preliminary stage. In last year’s televised series, Sheffield reached the semi-final, where they were knocked out by the University of York. Students chosen to represent the University have to get through a tough selection process that whittles down 70 to 80 universities to just 24. Teams work together on a paper test in the first round and are then invited to an audition with the show’s production company, Granada. David Parker
Flippin’ eck: Hundreds turn up to smash pancake world record Kieran Dean
Hundreds of people from all over Sheffield turned up at the Endcliffe Village Green to smash the world record for the most people flipping a pancake. To break the record, everyone had to continuously flip a pancake for 30 seconds without dropping it. If participants dropped their pancakes, they had to put their frying pans down and they were not counted towards the final score. The record was previously set in 2008 by the Dutch TV Show Mooi! Weer de Leeuw, where 405 helped to break the world record. The University of Sheffield smashed this record by over double, with 890 people succeeding in flipping their pancakes for thirty seconds. Both students and local residents took part in order to beat the previous world record. Small children had miniature pancakes in miniature frying pans so that they could participate as well. Free food, an F1 simulator and other various attractions were also on offer, in order to keep the crowds of people entertained before and after the pancake toss. The event helped raise funds for children’s charities Asperger’s Children and Carer’s Fund (AACT), Project Buzz and Paces Sheffield. Project Buzz is located at Springfield Primary School in the heart of Sheffield, providing play, social and education activities for families, and Paces Sheffield helps children with disabilities, specifically the
Students turned up in their hundreds to help break the world record at Endcliffe Village experience of parenting children and young people with physical impairments and their related learning difficulties. After the event, there was a pancake eating competition, a pancake race, and even frying pan table tennis for everyone to enjoy. The participants also got to take their frying pans home to commemorate their participation in the world record breaking
event, they could donate them to charity. Those who took part gained a commemorative certificate to show they had broken the world record. First year Biblical Studies student Hamilton Jones, who was one of many new world record holders, said: “It doesn’t feel particularly different to be a world record holder, but it was a
Laura Drysdale
Forge TV presents:
Exclusive debate live on Facebook Afternoon Thursday 23 Feb Search Forge TV Runners will tackle the 20-story tower next Saturday
Fundraisers will be going the extra mile for charity by running a stair marathon up the 20 floors of the 78 metre high Arts Tower building. As part of National Heart Month, runners will be hoping to complete the Take the Stairs Challenge to raise money for the British Heart Foundation (BHF). The mammoth run will take place from 10am next Saturday. BHF volunteer Stuart Heslington is thrilled to be organising such a large scale event and is looking forward to tackling the 390 steps of the second tallest building in Sheffield. “When I was 15, my dad died of a heart attack and if I can
Matt Burgess
Deputy Editor Nicole Hernandez Froio Managing Editor Mikey Smith WEB EDITOR Ben Williams fuse editors fuse@forgetoday.com James Garrett Rachel Dixon
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picture editor Adam Harley News news@forgetoday.com Nicholas Carding Katie Davies David Parker Comment comment@forgetoday.com Hannah Frost Tom Geddes LETTERS letters@forgetoday.com Holly Wilkinson
Features features@forgetoday.com Lauren Clarke Rebecca Cooke Jonathan Robinson Lifestyle and travel lifestyle@forgetoday.com Ina Fischer Fay Guest Laura Davies Sport sport@forgetoday.com Jack Burnett Adam Hancock Anthony Hart
stop another 15-year-old going through that, then I’ll do all I can,” he said. Dr Tim Chico, senior lecturer and researcher in the Department of Cardiovascular Science at the University of Sheffield, will be running in the fundraising challenge. He said: “The BHF is funding lifesaving and important research. Without research, treatment wouldn’t be possible.” More than 200 people are expected to take part in the event, which is open to anyone over the age of 16. To sign up or find out more information call 01623 624558 or visit the BHF website www. bhf.org.uk/get-involved/events/ view-event.aspx?ps=1001315.
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good atmosphere. There were a lot of families, there was a good community spirit and there were lots of students there as well.”
Runners set to get their blood pumping in stair marathon
Union election question time
Editor
Photo: Kieran Dean
Music music@forgetoday.com Sam Bolton Coral Williamson
Arts arts@forgetoday.com Tim Wood Rowan Ramsden
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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.
FORGE PRESS Friday February 17 2012
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UNIVERSITY NEWS
4Lauren Platts was left with damaged eyesight after drinking counterfeit ‘vodka’ 4‘I felt paralysed. It was so bad, I had to text my housemate to get a glass of water’
‘The man in the shop said this stuff will make you blind. I laughed at the time’ David Parker A Sheffield student was left with damaged eyesight after drinking what she believes was fake vodka. Lauren Platts, a third year Biology student, bought a £5.99 bottle of vodka to share with a friend before a night out. But she said she was left paralysed for two days and since then has suffered from partial blindness and severe migraines. She has also been escorted home from work by friends, and it has even affected her ability to drive. “I went to buy vodka half way through term and it was basically just a normal night out - we wanted something to drink,” she said.
“The man in the shop said, ‘This stuff will make you blind’ - he made a joke about it and I laughed at the time, like you would, “We went to a friend’s house, and me and my friend shared the bottle before we went out. We had about half each of the bottle. “She was absolutely fine the next day. I don’t think I drank any more. I felt alright on the night out, and had no more to drink than usual. “For two days after that, I didn’t get out of bed, apart from to be sick. I felt paralysed. It was so bad, I had to text my housemate to get a glass of water. “After those two days I managed to get up but I still felt ill. I realised my peripheral
vision kept going. The best way to describe it is when you get up too quickly, and the vision goes on the sides. “I had migraines before, but not ones that affected my vision. It does come back, once every one or two weeks, it will last a few minutes and then will be on and off all day. But I’m basically fine now. “You just kind of trust the place you’re getting it from. It has put me off drink, and if I have something to do, next time I won’t go out at all. “It’s always in the back of my mind that when I drink, it could happen again, so it is off-putting. “I don’t think most students care. And after having that experience, I think they should care.”
Lauren Platts has since recovered but wants to warn others of her ordeal
Geography team reach BP semi-final Students urge recognition David Parker A team of final year Geography students have made it to the semi-final stage of a prestigious competition with one of the world’s biggest energy companies. Adam Hilton, Philip Masterman and Rachel Kerr entered the BP Ultimate Field Trip, a UKwide competition which asks undergraduate and masters students to come up with ideas for producing energy safely and efficiently. The team are one of 12 semifinalists who will be pitching their ideas to a selection panel in London next week. If successful, the team will be sent to the Gulf of Mexico on a
seven-week paid internship. The judging panel at BP have said they were impressed by the team’s ideas, involving carbon capture and carbon storage. Hilton said the team decided to enter the competition on a whim after looking for graduate schemes on the BP website. “After debating whether to enter or not we spent a few weeks arranging ideas and eventually came up with a plan resulting in us entering on the deadline day with a few hours to spare,” he said. “We chose to apply because it looked like a good opportunity to make yourself known to a big company and possibly helping your case for getting a job with
them in the future. Hilton said that the winning prize - the chance to work on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico for seven weeks - would be a once in a lifetime opportunity. “We have been preparing our presentation over the last few weeks, and we are looking forward to showing what University of Sheffield students can do with a challenge such as this. “If we win, we are hoping to gain a good insight into the working of BP. “It is also important to us that we may get the chance to experience other cultures and work in a completely new environment.”
The winners get to spend seven weeks working on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico
Photo: Geograph.ie
for award-winning teacher David Parker A petition urging the University recognise the work of an awardwinning tutor has gained more than 200 signatures. The petition, set up by Journalism graduate Emily Spaven, aims to award a promotion or pay rise to Journalism tutor Jonathan Foster. Students in the Journalism department believe Foster, who won Teacher of the Year at the University of Sheffield Activities and Academic awards last year, plays a key role in the department. But the Social Sciences Promotion Panel refuse to recognise work that isn’t part of a published journal or book, regardless of industry experience. The petition’s author, Emily Spaven, said: “Foster is the key reason why so many students enjoy studying journalism at Sheffield. “He makes lectures both fun and informative and always goes above and beyond to help and encourage his students. “He has been at the university for 16 years and has never had any advancement. I think this is extremely unjust. Foster deserves to be rewarded for all of the hard work he has put in.” The petition may now inspire a Union council motion to recognise the work of all non-academic tutors at the University. Journalism councillor Tom Donnelly has been trying to gain support for the motion after speaking to other councillors and students about the lack of
recognition for non-academic staff. He said: “Non-academic staff are often the ones that go the extra mile in terms of academic and pastoral care. “Should we risk losing one of our best and brightest teachers just because they aren’t deemed to be on a par with the academics that don’t offer anything extra? With fees increasing to 9k next year we need to find ways to offer more value for money. “In the Journalism department this goes a step further, and the tutors who don’t have ‘academic’ status are much more equipped in teaching the course as they have real life professional experience working in journalism - something that an academic simply cannot provide.” The motion has also been backed by Union Education Officer Jon Narcross. The Union have been working on a similar proposal for around a year. Germanic councillor Lucas Tomlinson, who also backs the proposal, said: “Non-academic tutors have a lot to offer students in terms of the extra amount of contact hours they allow for, as well as in the quality of teaching they provide. “As such I believe that they deserve to be recognised for the work they do and supported by the University as much as academic staff. “Both academic staff and nonacademic tutors are necessary for providing the standard of education that is expected of the University of Sheffield, so I do not see this as unrealistic and believe that it is a fair use of the University’s money.”
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FORGE PRESS Friday February 17 2012
NEWS LOCAL
National news
New powers promised for Scots if they reject independence The Scottish parliament will be given extra powers if voters reject independence in the event of a referendum, David Cameron has promised. The Prime Minister said that the prospect of Scottish independence made him ‘deeply, deeply sad, and that he believed in the United Kingdom in ‘heart, head and soul.” He also warned that Scottish independence could have serious consequences for the BBC, the NHS, the Armed Forces and Britain’s nuclear weapons.
Woman charged with murder after girl, 13, found stabbed A woman has been charged with murder after 13-year old CaseyLyanne Kearney was found stabbed on Tuesday evening in Doncaster. Kearney was walking in a local park when she was attacked, and died in hospital hours after calling 999. She managed to talk to the emergency services, but despite desperate attempts to save her, she died in Hospital. Hannah Bonser, 26, is charged with murder and two counts of possession of a knife, and appeared before Doncaster Magistrates Court yesterday.
Elmfield Park: Where Casey was stabbed. Photo: Steven Ruffles
Jordan silent over Qatada trial A member of Jordan’s monarchy has refused to comment on whether hate preacher Abu Qatada would face charges in his home country, should be be extradited from the lairdscott United Photo: flickr/ Kingdom. Prince El Hassan, who is the uncle of King Abdullah of Jordan, told the BBC “I would like to say this is a country that has never taken the life of a political opponent of the regime. He has earlier stated he believed it Islamically lawfull to kill the wives and children of any muslim who rejected islam. Qatada was released on Monday with strict bail conditions including a 22-hour curfew and a ban from using mobile phones or the internet.
Sheffield girl set for Glee cameo after leaving for Hollywood hills Rachel-Louise Gerrish Sheffield export Hayley Nolan could soon be appearing on cult TV show Glee after support from actress Jane Lynch, who plays the iconic character Sue Sylvester. After writing and starring in her own West End show, former Shooters Grove Primary student Hayley adopted the role as Sue’s daughter in an online comedy sketch, which has attracted over 20,000 views since its release in September. Jane Lynch has added weight to the campaign to see Hayley on Glee, after tweeting: “[The video] is OUTRAGEOUSLY GOOD,” before asking her followers to retweet the video. Hayley, 24, said: “I am actually amazed at the Glee fans’ reactions. Fans are always very protective of their favourite characters so I thought they would be most critical but they love the idea of Sue Sylvester’s daughter and how I played her in the sketch.” Born and bred in Stannington, the ambitious star traded the Peak District for the Hollywood hills three months ago to pursue her dream of making it big in showbusiness. “The people here are really charmed by British accents. They even think my northern twang is posh, which is hilarious,” said Hayley. She added: “Of course a cameo in Glee would be amazing – I am a genuine fan. My family are so proud, which makes me tear up every time they say it. They keep reminding me how far I’ve come.”
Hayley played Sue Sylvester’s daughter in an online video which has been watched more than 20,000 times
Ucard deposit for Taxi travel: Welfare Officer’s new safety plan Nicholas Carding Students will now be able to get home from a night out in a taxi without having to pay the driver immediately, Welfare Officer Mat Denton has announced. Denton’s scheme, which he included in his manifesto when elected last year, ensures students can get a Sheffield City taxi home even if they don’t have money on them, by giving their Ucard to the taxi driver. The driver hands the card in to the reception desk at the
Students’ Union, where the student can pick it up and pay the fare. The scheme has been implemented to primarily help students who lose their credit card or cash and feel unsafe when walking home at night. Denton said: “I was talking to some friends about how amazing the women’s minibus is, but how it sucks we don’t have the facility to help students get home from across the city, and not just the Students’ Union. “One of my friends (another
student) talked about how it would be great if we could use our Ucard like a debit card, and pay for taxis with them if we ran out of cash, and this got me thinking. “I went to a few different cities to see how the scheme worked there. “I think its one of my more long-term success, it will be around for a while. The point of it is for students to use it when they need, I’d encourage students to use it whenever they feel they need it.” The scheme was organised
together with members from Sheffield Hallam University Students’ Union, and does not apply to other firms like Mercury Taxis or black cabs. City Taxis hope the scheme can be expanded to include nonstudents as well, to provide more safety to people walking home at night. Paul Gosney, of City Taxis, told the BBC: “We would like to roll it out across the city. “We are in the initial stages of consultation for that plan.”
Blomfield felt this would have been detrimental not only to local radio, but also to local identity. He said: “Sheffield has a strong city identity, and while we’re also proud of being part of Yorkshire there is a big difference between our city identity and a regional Yorkshire identity. The original proposals for shared regional content with BBC Leeds and York would have provided less local news and views.” The decision by the trust means that BBC Sheffield can continue providing local news as well as regular football commentary for both of the City’s teams and language programmes for ethnic minorities.
Kieran Dean
from Meningitis when only two months old. Mrs Weston said: “We’ve been told by doctors that it’s incredibly rare to have two people in the same family to die of meningitis”. Ryan Sweatman’s family has set up a fund to raise money for the Meningitis Research Foundation in order to help find a cure, which has raised nearly £6,500. A spokesman for MRF said the charity was deeply saddened to hear of Ryan’s death. For more information visit www.meningitis.org/ book-of-experience/ryansweatman-59417 and www. justgiving.com/rememberryan.
Local radio cuts U-turn Hallam student dies welcomed by Blomfield unexpectedly in sleep Joshua McClean Sheffield MP Paul Blomfield has welcomed an announcement by the BBC Trust to reverse half of its original planned cuts of £15 million to the budgets of local radio stations, regional news and 5 live. Mr Blomfield said: “Today’s announcement is good news for BBC local radio.” In December last year, Mr Blomfield was presented with a petition signed by over 5000 Sheffield residents calling for the protection of local radio services. The cuts would have meant shared regional services with BBC Leeds and York, and Mr
A Sheffield Hallam student died from a vicious strain of meningitis in his sleep, just days after returning to Sheffield. Ryan Sweatman, 19, fell victim to the infection after feeling unwell over the holidays, but Gina Weston, Ryan’s mother, said that she had seen none of the symptoms of meningitis in him. Mrs Weston said: “He felt fine on the day he went back. The next day, he went to bed with a headache, but it was nothing to worry about”. Meningitis is not unknown to the Sweatman family as Mrs Weston’s son Joe also died
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LOCAL NEWS
Hallam student faces US trial Josh Middleton A Sheffield Hallam student is due to be extradited to the US later this year following a ruling by Westminster Magistrates Court. Richard O’Dwyer, 23, set up and ran the popular website, TVShack, from his student bedroom over a four year period before charges were brought against him last summer. It is alleged that TVShack infringed international copyright laws, illegally directing users to third-party websites which host pirated TV Shows and films. However, O’Dwyer’s defence team have argued that this in itself does not amount to copyright infringement, suggesting that the website operated in a similar way to Google and other search engines. O’Dwyer now faces 10 years in a US prison if convicted on two separate copyright charges. His family has vehemently defended the student, pointing the finger at British Prime Minister David Cameron for doing little to prevent his extradition. Former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell has also come out in support of O’Dwyer, suggesting that the US is overstepping the terms of the Extradition Treaty between the
UK and US. With the case now drawing international attention, America has been widely criticised for treating the student as a ‘guinea pig’ for a new crackdown on internet piracy. O’Dwyer’s case became the central topic during a recent online question and answer session for President Obama. The president seemed uncertain upon the issue, distancing himself from this individual case and saying that intellectual property must be protected in a way consistent with internet freedom. O’Dwyer’s extradition ruling has come at a time where internet piracy is a hot topic, with MegaUpload, a site that streams TV and films directly, recently closed down. The controversial SOPA and PIPA Bills have also dominated headlines in America, with many arguing they go too far in the prevention of copyright. Wikipedia was one of the notable websites to protest against the Bills, taking their website offline for a day. However, O’Dwyer has been backed by billionaire businessman Alki David, who pledged his support by offering
WORLD NEWS Gunmen storm Nigerian prison Gunmen released nearly 200 criminals after storming a prison in Nigeria, killing one of the wardens in the process. The attack on Wednesday evening happened in a jail in Koton-Karifi, a city in the central state of Kogi, and 199 prisoners are now on the run. The authorities do not believe the attack was carried out by Islamist group Boko Haram, who carried out a similar jail attack in 2010, releasing members of their gang. Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is forbidden,” wants to establish Islamic law in Nigeria.
China sends envoy to Syria after vetoing UN resolution O’Dwyer would be the first Briton to be extradited on copyright charges to pay all legal fees appealing the What’s on your mind? “trumped up charges.” O’Dwyer’s extradition papers have not yet been signed Comment on by Theresa May, the Home this article Secretary, but his family fear the online: American government will keep www.forgetoday. fighting until O’Dwyer is in USA. com
Occupy Sheffield march to new site after County Court eviction notice Holly Kiernan The Occupy Sheffield movement staged a colourful march through the town centre at the weekend after being served with an eviction notice from Sheffield County Court. Members staged a ‘Moving Forward’ march, starting from the temporary tent village outside the Cathedral, which they had been ‘occupying’ for 99 days, to the new site at the former Salvation Army Citadel on Cross Burgess Street. The atmosphere was electric as around 30 members played instruments in various forms of fancy dress, turning what could have spelled the end of the protest into a positive event. Banners were carried bearings slogans such as ‘You can’t evict an idea’, and a large cardboard cake emblazoned with ‘99%’, the proportion of people the movements claims to represent against the one per cent comprising of the so-called super rich. A sense of hope prevailed as what happens next for Occupy came into question. Josie, 34, a mother from Derbyshire who has been involved with the Sheffield site intermittently between caring for her children said: “Camping is only phase one of Occupy. It isn’t going to go away and support from the public has been fantastic.” Tom, a local socialist who has past experience with camping protests, said: “The new site is a brilliant space for future events and should hopefully keep the movement going for a long time to come.” There was even a flash of
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The Hubs is ‘ugliest building in the world’
China is to send its top diplomat to Syria in a bid to find a peaceful solution to the present crisis dominating the Middle East. Zhai Jun, Deputy Foreign Minister, will visit Syria’s capital Damascus today, just days after China controversially vetoed a UN security council call for president Bashir Assad to step down. Mr Zhai said before departure that China does not approve of armed intervention or forcing ‘regime change’ in Syria, according to the BBC. Human Rights groups say around 7,000 civilians have been killed during protests at Syria’s government.
Max Goldbart
Sheffield Hallam’s Union building, also known as The Hubs, has been named the ugliest building in the world. The building was noted for its raw ugliness and incredibly odd shape on a list of the world’s ugliest buildings on VirtualTourist.com. They described the structure as resembling a mash up of a jiffy pop package, a salad spinner, and a food processor, in a list which also named such buildings as the Grand Lisboa Hotel and the Palace of Justice in Florence. The website also provides lists of the worlds most legendary bars, and the worlds best good luck monuments.
Ugliest Buildings Top 10
Occupy marched from the cathedral Sheffield celebrity, as Tia-Anna, the Sheffield drag queen of Britain’s Got Talent fame, led the march in typical flamboyant getup. Tia-Anna said the movement was heroic, transcending
Photo: Saad Sarfraz Sheikh boundaries and giving people a voice. The occupiers have been told they can stay at the Citadel Salvation Army centre for up to a month while they negotiate with the site’s owners.
1. The Hubs, Sheffield Hallam 2. Grand Lisboa Hotel, Macau 3. M2 Building, Tokyo 4. Spruce Tree Centre; Saint Paul, Minnesota 5. Palace of Justice, Florence, Italy 6. Whitney Museum of American Art; New York City, New York 7. Industriens Hus; Copenhagen, Denmark 8. Hong Kong Museum of Art; Kowloon, Hong Kong 9. Van Gogh Museum; Amsterdam, The Netherlands 10. Plattenbauten; Germany
Photo: Maggie Osama/Flickr
Tension between Argentina and UK rises over Falkland Islands Argentina has condemned the United Kingdom after British MPs will travel to the islands in the South Atlantic as the thirty year anniversary of the Falklands War approaches. Argentina’s foreign ministry released a statement saying: “The UK has transformed the Malvinas [Argentina’s name for the Falklands] into the cornerstone of a system of military bases thousands of kilometres from London to control the South Atlantic, inter-oceanic routes, and the approaches to Antarctica.” The UK has dismissed Argentina’s claim of militarisation as absurd.
Argentina’s president Cristina Kirchner has attacked the UK’s Falklands stance. Photo: Que Comunismo/Flickr
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FORGE PRESS Friday February 17 2012
NEWS UNIVERSITY
Labour Leader comes to University Octagon Jess Pitocchi Ed Miliband MP, leader of the Labour Party, visited the University last week to speak to more than 1000 people at the inaugural lecture of the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI). The event, held at the University’s Octagon Centre last Thursday, sold out just hours after tickets were released. Miliband focused on the political and economic challenges facing the UK, the Eurozone and globally, and highlighted the need for change from the way things are today. He talked of his coined phrase: ‘the squeezed middle’ - a term which had entered the Oxford English Dictionary as the Term of the Year 2011. Miliband said: “The term represents the working people across the country who are bound together by a set of values of working hard to make ends meet, and are worried about what the future holds for them and their children.” He also admitted to the faults of the Labour Party’s decisions in the past. He went on to state that the greatest lesson to be learnt from history is that positive change can happen, telling the audience, “Anger at the old systems flaws are not enough to make change.” He insisted the audience should: “Believe in the power of politics. Believe in a time
of massive change, flux and possibility.” The Labour leader also addressed the issues of small businesses and the need for change for young people and the problems facing them, including tuition fees and housing. Miliband frequently referred to the positivity of having “young faces” in the audience, and told them it is an exciting time to be
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studying economics or politics. He showed a sense of humour, opening his speech by talking about his ‘lowest moment’ when he found that his ‘fanciability rating’ on Sky News Politicians Top Trumps was lower than that of Ed Balls, Nick Clegg and only one mark higher than Michael Gove. “He [Michael Gove] may be a lot of things,” he joked, “but fanciable is not one of them.” Miliband ran over time after answering public questions. He responded to a number of issues, including benefits for stay-at-home carers and the disabled, the South Yorkshire Police helicopter and his father’s political views and writings. Photo: “I thought it went verySPERI well,”
said Margret Millington, one of the many members of the public who attended the lecture. “I liked his arguments. He’s not a superficial man. It’s definitely improved how I think of him.” David Chapman, an undergraduate first year Medical student said: “He came across better than I expected, and I like how he referred to us as students and our University.” “I thought it was quite a typical politician’s speech,” said Ellen Logan, a second year Politics and Philosophy student. “I’m a Labour supporter and I like Ed. But it was more concentrating on the long term rather than the short term. “There was very little content in it.” Professor Tony Payne, the cofounder of SPERI, explained how the group will build on the activities of the University’s longstanding Political Economy Research Centre (PERC) and maintain the University’s position for research excellence. A SPERI conference will be held on July 16 2012 to July 18 2012 at Halifax Hall in the Endcliffe Village titled The British Growth Crisis: The Search for a New Model. The conference will aim to provide context in which alternative strategies and models of growth for the British economy can be proposed, debated, evaluated and assessed by academics and policy makers.
Milliband speaks at the first SPERI lecture which was sold out in hours
New Christian society rejected Jess Pitocchi A new Christian society has been rejected amid fears the group could be linked to radical preachers telling followers that ‘homosexuals are possessed by the devil.’ The group, named Believers’ Loveworld Society, told councillors at the Students’ Union Council that they weren’t being catered for in the current Christian Union. Applicants described their group as a means for students to ‘achieve their dreams and aspirations through lovebased activities on campus’ and distribute Christian literature. They rigorously denied any links to the Believers’ Loveworld church, stating they were not part of the organisation and that
the shared name was a coincidence. The group, which had already applied twice for society status, brought their petition which had reached over 50 signatures. Societies’ Committee had rejected their previous applications due to the overlap with other existing Christian societies, in particular Christian Union and Synergy. A vote saw the application fail by a majority vote. LGBT Councillor, Jonathan Gleek, said: “It was my decision (and also the decision of the LGBT committee) to oppose Believers’ Loveworld, as it was felt that their views were not compatible with the Gay and Trans Friendly Policy and were not appropriate to receive backing and funding from the Union.”
Algae: the new future of flight
Algae growing in the lab ready to test the bubble machine. Beth Johl Researchers at the University of Sheffield have made new discoveries into the use of algae as biofuel. Through processing oils found in the organisms, scientists are able to create renewable energy by extracting water, made possible through the use of microbubbles. The utilisation of microbubbles is cost effective and will save more energy than earlier floating systems.
Scientists hope the technology could be used to provide cheap aviation fuel. Will Zimmerman, leader of the investigating team said: “We had to develop a solution to this problem and once again, microbubbles provided a solution. “As well as being radically energy saving, the new, easier harvesting system also holds economic benefit due to the cheaper cost of installing the equipment.” A test plant is being constructed in Scunthorpe to test the new system on an industrial scale.
FORGE PRESS Thursday 17 February
www.forgetoday.com // news@forgetoday.com
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UNIVERSITY NEWS
Victory for Forge Press gym campaign
- Goodwin refused to refund members after swimming pool closure - Hundreds of students pressure University into taking action
Timeline
Nicholas Carding Members of S10 Health at Goodwin Sports Centre are now able to claim a refund after the closure of the swimming pool in November 2010, in a resounding win for Forge Press’ ‘Get our refunds’ campaign. The expiry date to claim refunds was originally September 1 2011, but the University neglected to inform the gym’s members of the cut-off date, meaning many students weren’t able to receive compensation for the pool’s six-month closure. Forge Press launched the campaign after discovering that the gym had breached its members’ contract after they failed to repay members automatically, one month after the pool’s completion, as was stipulated in the terms and conditions. And after coming under increasing pressure from the Union Council, local councillors, and Sheffield City Council, the university finally chose to allow the remaining members to claim their refunds. A letter was sent to all members in January 2012 which stated: “The University did allow members to claim for refunds between November 2010 and September 2011. “It has become apparent that not all members who were pool users during the closure were aware they could seek recompense during this period. “Sport Sheffield will now process all valid and legitimate refund claims submitted after September 1 2011.” Ben Baldwin, Sports Officer, said: “I think its brilliant, I’d like to congratulate the University for getting involved and helping students get what they deserve. “I think the right decision has been made in the end. The main thing was to ensure the members got their money back.” Members who have not yet claimed their refunds can do so by emailing swimmingpool@ sport-sheffield.com or call 0114 222 6969.
November 2010: The Cofield Swimming Pool suddenly closes without warning, due to urgent repairs and maintenance that needs carrying out. The University’s Swimming and Waterpolo club left without a venue to train. November 2010: Goodwin Sports Centre announces that students can claim refunds, but they must approach the gym directly rather than be automatically refunded. May 11 2011: The swimming pool finally reopens, two months later than first predicted by the Sports Centre. September 1 2011: Refunds stop being issued to students, as University spokeswoman says: “We felt this [10 months] was a reasonable amount of time.” But students were not informed of the cut-off date at any point in the weeks leading up to it. November 18 2011: Forge Press reveals that the gym’s contract stipulates that: “If you are unable to use the swimming pool, sauna and steam rooms or the gym due to repairs or upgrading for more than 30 consecutive days, you will receive a reasonable pro-rata credit against your Monthly/Annual Membership Fee in the month following the completion of the upgrade or repair.
Thank you for your support The University’s decision to refund all members who applied for compensation after September 1st is a great success for the students of the University of Sheffield. Our fight for the refunds has taken over six months, and is a project we have spent a lot of time on. It proves that when students really want something and are prepared to fight for it, we have a voice which cannot be ignored by the University or the outside world.
The campaign received support from everyone who heard about the story, and resulted in Sheffield City Council taking action on behalf of us. After last years’ tuition fee protests which fell on deaf ears, students may be forgiven for thinking that they are unlikely to be listened to, or fought for, but the sweetest thing about this particular victory is that we have proved the opposite. If only enough people are willing to fight for our issues, we
can achieve results, no matter how unlikely they seem. Throughout the process of the swimming pool closure we sent Freedom of Information requests, asked the University endless questions, and in general made a real nuisance of ourselves. Sometimes in journalism it pays off, but usually our efforts don’t really result in anything other than half-decent stories. That is why our victory is so sweet, and we couldn’t have achieved it without your support.
November 19 2011: Forge Press launch a campaign to make the University refund all members affected by the pool closure. December 1 2011: The story is reported by The Sheffield Star and The Sheffield Telegraph. December 7 2011: The campaign is debated by the whole of Sheffield City Council, who support it and send a letter to the University of Sheffield asking for all members to be refunded. January 2012: University announces that all members who applied for refunds after September 1 will receive compensation.
Minimum alcohol pricing will have smaller impact, say researchers
A year later: HMRC orders repayment
Imposing a minimum price on alcohol in Scotland would have a smaller impact on consumption than previously estimated, according to new research by The University of Sheffield. A report to the Scottish government has revealed that minimum price per unit, a key part of the impending Alcohol Bill, would reduce consumption by 4.3 per cent as opposed to the original 4.7 per cent if set at 45p. The Alcohol Bill will be put in place before summer of 2013, but no minimum price has yet been decided. The Scottish government has
However, national minimum wage laws mean that this ‘accommodation offset’ – the part of an employee’s pay that goes towards their accommodation cannot be above a certain amount. If an employer charges its staff for accommodation more than the accommodation offset, then their minimum wage is affected. When this accommodation offset was applied to the wages’ of former mentors, their pay fell below the minimum wage. The University of Sheffield were unable to comment as Forge Press went to print, as the entire Accommodation and Campus Services department were “on a
Rob Dillon
previously estimated that the country’s problems with alcohol result in a cost of approximately £900 per adult per year, and are attempting to combat a clear correlation between alcohol pricing and consumption to reduce the problem. The report claims that the policy will result in a noticeable fall in annual alcohol-related deaths, reduced number of hospital cases related to alcohol, reduction in crime by approximately 3,600 cases per year, and a reduction in workplace absenteeism and unemployment. For more on this story, see www.forgetoday.com.
Continued from p.1
training day.” Matthew Denton, Students’ Union Welfare Officer, said: “I think it’s a positive thing that our students can receive the money they’re entitled to by law.” The University still has another fortnight - until March 2 - to decide whether they will be appealing to HMRC or begin contacting all mentors who could be eligable for repayments. In 2001, residential officers at Leeds Metropolitan University discovered they were being paid below the minimum wage due to the accommodation offset and struck a repayment deal with University management. Payments ranged from £2,500 to £10,500 for the 21 officers.
www.forgetoday.com // letters@forgetoday.com FORGE PRESS Friday February 17 2012
8
LETTERS
Have your say
Email: letters@forgetoday.com Write: Forge Press, Union of Students, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TG Please include your name, course and year of study. We reserve the right to edit letters for clarity and space.
Lap dancers aren’t recruited The not so ill fated GP from Uni Pole Fitness Society Dear Forge Press,
Dear Forge Press, I attended a Students’ Union council meeting on December 15, 2011, in which the issue of whether to disband the Pole Fitness Society was discussed. I was hoping to defend the group but only council members were allowed to speak, so the discussion proved stressful to watch. The main argument by the objectors was a worry that a pole society could become a ‘recruiting ground’ for strip clubs in the area. Points were also raised that it would provide members with the skills necessary to become a lap dancer. Having worked as a lap dancer myself for almost a year, I can say that these ideas are false. Strip clubs do not send out staff to ‘recruit’ dancers. Clubs are inundated with new dancers switching clubs or trying out the job. They don’t need to recruit, there are plenty of women
wanting to work in the clubs already. Secondly, there are no required skills to work as a lap dancer. In fact, pole dancing constitutes a tiny fraction of a dancer’s night, maybe 10-15 minutes on stage altogether on a weekend. There is no requirement to learn pole tricks, I shall explain why. Dancers are self -employed individuals, working for commission, who pay the club a percentage of money from private dances sold. The job is a sales role. Pole skills will not attract waves of job offers since it is dancers’ people skills and ability to sell that make the club money. I thought I may as well clear that up, but mainly I was dismayed to see that the objectors went on the offensive without researching the concerns raised to them first. They were valid worries given that not many people know
how the industry works, but they should have been investigated; in this case there would then have been no cause for concern. It was clear none of the speakers knew anything about the strip industry, and that an entire discussion was held on uninformed ideas with no supporting evidence was worrying. Yours faithfully, 2011 Sheffield Physics Graduate and Dancer Note: I have withheld my name because I would rather state in the letter that I am a dancer, since it shows where my knowledge comes from. However I have not disclosed this job to everyone I know and I would rather them not read it in the paper, also the mere fact can provoke some unpleasant responses so I don’t wish to associate my name with the job in writing.
Unity achieves desired results Dear Forge Press, I am writing to commend the work of the Sheffield student population, Sheffield City Council and your newspaper for putting pressure on the University over the debacle about gym membership refunds that ensued during the Christmas vacation (University backs down over gym row and agrees to refund members, ForgeToday.com, Jan 9). The University’s initial refusal to offer refunds to members of the S10 gym for a six-month period that the gym was closed was not only morally unreasonable, but also a blatant legal
infringement. As a responsible organisation, the University had a duty to offer prompt and full refunds to all of its members, which it refused to do. Even in the face of a legal challenge against breach of contract, the University still refused to back down. Those responsible should learn from this fiasco that no organisation is above the law; just because you are a university does not entitle you to use unreasonable tactics to seek immunity from fulfilling a contract. I praise the Students’ Union, Sheffield City Council, and the campaign
launched by your newspaper, which showed that unity and fighting for a common cause can often produce the desired result. All gym members should now get the refunds they deserve. Although students and the council often come into conflict, it is encouraging to see that the local council is willing to recognise the challenges that students face, and to work together to find a resolution. Yours sincerely, Dale Griffin 2nd year Psychology Student
Your comments on www.forgetoday.com to: Bar One’s Exam Slam cancelled The Students’ Union is comparatively expensive to drink at compared to the ridiculous deals on West Street. The police should concentrate their efforts on the appauling antics that take place EVERY WEEKEND on West Street and stop trying to pick faults with a very well run and safety conscious Union. Charlie University covering its back as usual, making decisions that hurts students and their Union at a time when they already have shown they care little about the students by banning protests and charging ballooning tuition fees. And they say universities are liberal places, yeah right. LyingUniversity Ah yes, a wonderful idea. Halt all cheap drinks and all day events so that instead of drinking in a safe environment like the Union, the students will get cheaper alcohol and drink themselves into oblivion at home more than they already do. Andrew Oh hey, looks like West Street’s profits are going to go up come end of exams and not the Union’s. Students will always find a way to drink and party. Rachel
I was dissapointed and angry with regards to the article ‘GPs are ill-fated’ by Harrison Worrel in the recent issue of Forge Press.
Describing GPs as ‘overqualified administrators in work’ and a burden to the NHS is both offensive and blood boiling. General Practioners train for five years at medical, a further three to four years in hospital rotations (and soon to be extended to four or five) followed by years of work in their general community. It would appear Harrison has had a nasty experience with his own GP, but shows complete naivety in thinking all GPs do is tell you ‘all you need is more fluids and some rest’. They deal with a complex case-load ranging from the feverish baby to the 87-year-old lady with heart disease, a bad hip and diabetes. With regards to the contentious salary issue
Worrel draws upon, this month’s release of the GP Earnings and Expenses 2000/2010 demonstrated that 40.6% of GP contractors earn less than £100,000. These have additional clinical and administrative duties above and beyond your average ‘salaried GP’. Compare this to the the salaried GP average income of £58,300 in England and maybe this is a little clearer to the unknowing Forge Press reader. Yes, this does not include out of hours or weekend service. Yes, the news is rife with the latest scare scaremongering story of GP land. Indeed it seems our entire population is doomed to the misery of bad, greedy, negligent GPs. In reality, GPs spend many hours in practice trying to deal with the demands of bulging practice populations varying between 3,000-4,000 patients or more (hence your five to 10 minute consultation). Coupled with this, their practice extends
into evenings unpaid to deal with the latest QOF (Quality and Outcome Framework) indicators or other burdensome administrative tasks . Adding to this will be their newly devised roles in the GP consortium and other plans outlined in the latest NHS Health and Social Care Bill 2011. Maybe I’m being biased, but do you not think they deserve a worthwhile salary for this? We have to face the facts. We have a ballooning healthcare system, inadequate numbers of community health professionals for the future and an epidemic crisis of chronic illnesses facing 2012 and beyond for GPs and community nurses alike. Disposing of the so-called ‘over-qualified administrative workers’ to replace them with nurses won’t solve any of the problems Harrison Worrell moans about. Yours sincerely, Karl Boulton 4th year Medical Student
Ill-informed medical journalism Dear Forge Press, “Why are the coalition government ‘making a sacred cow out of the NHS’ biggest waste of money, the GP?” is an example of ill-informed medical journalism. The article highlights attendance at the GP surgery that could have been managed at home. One of the difficulties facing the NHS is making sure patients access the most suitable service. Campaigns such as the ‘choose well’ campaign at www.choosewell.org. uk and the soon to be launched 111 telephone number are attempting to address this. The implication from this part of the article is that the role of the GP is not important. Selecting the life threatening needle in the hay stack, from
those just requiring ‘fluids and rest’ should not be talked of so lightly. Also mentioned in the article were the recent increases in GP salary. These were a direct result of serious shortages in GPs, leading to the immoral recruitment of doctors from less developed countries to fill the gaps in the NHS. There has been much in the media about GP salaries; since the recent pay rise they are roughly in line with their consultant colleagues in hospitals, and also similar to other professions such as solicitors or accountants. An article highlighting the difficult decisions currently being taken regarding the finances of the NHS is very welcome, though the viewpoint more questionable. Research into the health economics
of the NHS is in fact moving towards increasing GPs as providers of community medicine. While valuing and appreciating greatly the work nurses do, their skills and training do not include diagnosis or taking ultimate responsibility in life or death decisions. Medical journalism is difficult, trying to present complicated information in a way readers can understand, but articles such as this show a lack of knowledge that can mislead readers. I look forward to improved Forge Press medical articles in the future. Yours sincerely, Paul Snape 4th year Medical Student
Help raise money for muscular dystrophy For those of you looking for a hair-raising challenge this leap year, the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign is seeking 100 daring recruits to take to the skies on February 29 for a 10,000 ft skydive, helping us raise funds for vital research into devastating musclewasting diseases. There are more than 70,000 children and adults in the UK living with muscular dystrophy or a related neuromuscular
condition. These cause muscles to weaken and waste over time, leading to disability and in some cases significantly shortening life-expectancy. The Muscular Dystrophy Campaign has been funding research into treatments and cures for the conditions for over 50 years, and has helped pioneer specialist care for patients. Aspiring dare-devils wishing to take part will
be asked to raise £400 sponsorship (£350 + £50 registration fee) for their efforts, and can choose from a variety of sites across the UK. To find out more about the Make Today Count campaign visit www. muscular-dystrophy.org/ maketodaycount. Yours Faithfully, Gary Kernahan Head of Volunteer Fundraising
FORGE PRESS Friday February 17 2012 www.forgetoday.com
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www.forgetoday.com // comment@forgetoday.com FORGE PRESS Friday February 17 2012
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COMMENT
As the Queen celebrates her diamond jubilee, Forge Press asks should Britain have a monarchy?
The Royal Family Monarchy makes isn’t broke, so a mockery of our why try to fix it? democracy
Jonathan Robinson
The prevalent opinion of the royal family is that they open ceremonies, receive flowers from easily enthused members of the public, live in castles and reiterate century-old patriotism. Of course, all of that is true, but they represent so much more. Royalty conjures up tremendous images of nationalism, pride and identity. Look elsewhere and you will struggle to find anything that stirs similar levels of jollity.
‘A royal family distinguishes us from other nations’
The Queen’s diamond jubilee is therefore a perfect opportunity for us to celebrate her service to the country. People often forget that Queen Elizabeth II took to the throne when she was just 25. 60 years on, she has gone above and beyond her duty. The Queen is an ebullient example of grace, charm and dedication, all in spite of intense scrutiny. Now in her mid-80s, she flows seamlessly through a vast workload – a tribute to her commitment. We should be grateful that we have a monarch who has captivated this country and the Commonwealth for so
long. Now I’m no avid collector of royal memorabilia - you won’t find any tea towels with Will and Kate’s faces in my kitchen – but I believe if it isn’t broke, why fix it? Yes, royalty may be our history, but they still have a place in our future. So why should we keep our monarchy in Britain? While I’m sure Republicans - and some history and politics students for that matter - would want to debate at length about how wrong I am, I just can’t see Britain without the Queen on a bank note, without the media circuses that are royal weddings and without the fanfare of God Save the Queen. Having a royal family distinguishes us from other nations. Psychologically speaking, there is also something maternal about knowing there is some stability in our fast changing world an unchanging figure that is equitable in policy. Besides, it would be a losing battle for a politician to attempt to recapture the iconic status that comes with being a monarch. A recent YouGov poll found 70 per cent of people believed that the monarchy was good for Britain - just eight per cent labelled it as bad. The main argument from a Republican stance is that the monarchy is too expensive. Do Republicans really think that a president would cost any less, that he or she would be a bargain
bucket solution? No, any Head of State comes with its baggage, its overheads and its own entourage. Why settle for less, when for the same price you can have vintage? I believe that 65p a year – the amount the taxpayer puts towards the monarchy – is probably one of the most accurately proportioned taxes we have. And if that money’s going towards the dog food of the Queen’s corgis, then so be it. But unknown to those who would rather listen to the ramblings of The Daily Lie, the government receives an estimated £230 million of revenue from the Crown Estates yearly. So in actuality, the royal family is providing Britain with a profit, and that’s before we add up all the tourism it generates. The Queen may well be our Head of State, but only as an auxiliary part in our constitutional machine. In 21st century Britain, no one would endorse heredity as a basis for leadership – but where it exists and still performs a role, then there seems no good reason in abolishing it. Our Queen does not rule in any authoritative sense, she just represents. There is no great problem here.
Joe Lo
My problem with the monarchy is not a personal matter. In fact, the Queen has done a lot of things I admire. For one, she allegedly had little time for Margaret Thatcher, and resented the acute social divisions Thatcher inflicted on her subjects. According to some reports she even persuaded Thatcher to resign, which we can all be grateful for. I don’t agree with the idea that she is a huge waste of money, or that she is Britain’s biggest benefit scrounger. The £42 million a year she costs is nothing compared to the £6 billion Vodafone avoided in tax last year, the £125 billion
cost of renewing the Trident nuclear missiles or the incalculable amounts the government lets the private sector take home every day. If the government wants to raise funds, there’s plenty of money there to do it without abolishing the monarchy.
‘The rest of the world sees us to be obessed with class’
I don’t even mind the questionable political power she holds – trusting she doesn’t use it. As apologists for the monarchy argue, she is just a symbol. My problem, though, is what the Queen is a symbol of: the disproportionate hold the upper class has on our country, and the unwillingness of any political party to mount any serious charge to change this. Of the current cabinet, 80 per cent are millionaires, 53 per cent went to private schools and 69 per cent went to Oxbridge. This pattern is not synonymous with governmental institutions; the media, big business, the police, the armed forces – all suffer from equally undemocratic hierarchies. Even Labour, the selfstyled party of the working
class, has its fair share of millionaires and public schoolboys. If this were not the case, if we were a country of equality - with a parliament full of call centre workers and shop assistants - then the Monarchy would be a charming anomaly, a cute, quaint hangover from our embarrassing class-ridden past. Until we reach such a haven, the monarchy is a glaring reminder of how far democracy and equality still have to go in Britain. Quite what foreigners must make of our Queen baffles me. Her endless travels abroad – waving her silly wave, and flashing her bling – she’s embarrassing the British people. Recent research shows that the rest of the world sees us as overly polite, respectful for authority and obsessed with class. How can we lecture other countries on their transition to democracy while leaving our own democracy halffinished? During the summer riots, Iran’s dictator Ahmadinejad criticised Britain for its brutal suppression of what he called an “AntiMonarchy Uprising”. We can laugh at this all we want but why give him the ammunition? If we want other countries to treat us as a democracy we should stop making excuses and act like one. Abolish the Monarchy, give Elizabeth a State pension and a put her in the queue for a council house.
Paisley’s thyme is cumin to an end: so is NI still a big dill? Simon Pilkington After many turbulent decades of politics and controversy, the life of Ian Paisley is finally quietening, and perhaps close to permanent rest. With his family at his bedside, the 85-year-old former First Minister of Northern Ireland is being treated in hospital after suffering heart problems. If this is indeed the end, the obituaries will no doubt reflect on how Paisley so powerfully embodied the historical forces that swept his nation. Most of Paisley’s public life is inseparable from the violent, harrowing years of the Troubles. As the demagogic leader of hardline Protestantism and unionism, Paisley inflamed hatred and deepened divisions between the sectarian groups of Northern Ireland. Whether he was hurling snowballs at moderate Irish politicians, denouncing Pope John Paul II as the Anti-Christ or organising paramilitary thugs, Paisley
stood at the forefront of the conflict between Protestant unionists and Catholic republicans that led Northern Ireland into virtual civil war. The horror of this conflict can barely be expressed or comprehended. Between the late 1960s and the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, Northern Ireland could not have resembled less the small part of a modern democratic state that it in fact was. Instead, it seemed ‘Britain’s Vietnam’ – a guerrilla warzone sinking into a grim and bloody quagmire. The events of this period were appalling in the extreme: the massacre of unarmed civilians on Bloody Sunday in 1972, the hunger strikes and excrement-smeared walls of the notorious Maze Prison, the IRA bombing campaigns, the assassination attempts on British Prime Ministers. The death toll mounted year after year; by the end of the Troubles, 3,500 lives had been lost. Paisley has to share responsibility for this tragedy. He stridently opposed attempts to establish power-sharing government between unionists and republicans, to the extent that he was dubbed ‘Dr No’. This blind obstinacy prolonged sectarian
conflict by frustrating diplomatic efforts to locate political compromise and bring an end to the violence. Meanwhile, Paisley’s mad outpourings of rhetorical invective fed constant fuel to the raging flames of hatred. But then the unthinkable happened. Though Paisley had previously rallied against the historic Good Friday Agreement, in 2006 he abandoned his opposition to power-sharing with republicans and entered government with his former archenemies in Sinn Féin.
‘The problem for this historian is how to pass judgement on such a contradictory life’
Paisley became First Minister and to the astonishment of everyone, forged a strong relationship with the Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister, ex-IRA commander Martin McGuinness. These two former representatives of opposing extremes, both of whom had previously spent time behind bars, were
soon laughing together at public events and working effectively as a coalition. The bemused media nicknamed the happy pair ‘the Chuckle Brothers’. The problem for the historian or commentator is how to pass judgement on such a contradictory life and career. Though Paisley is presently an ailing elder statesman, his persistent incitement of fear and hatred during the Troubles should neither be forgotten or forgiven. His later role in conciliation was in part the solution to a problem that he helped create. It is perhaps also right to be weary of Paisley’s motives for changing course. As a man with a raging ego, Paisley no doubt recognised power-sharing as a sure route to a place in the history books. As an experienced political operator, it is likely he recognised his obstinacy was becoming worryingly out of step with public opinion. But his motives diminish in importance when compared with the legacy of his decision. By surmounting his own opposition, he immeasurably strengthened the peace deal and helped steer Northern Ireland towards a more hopeful future. That is reason enough to wish him well.
FORGE PRESS Friday February 17 2012
www.forgetoday.com // comment@forgetoday.com
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COMMENT
Some dietary techniques are more successful than others; we think Martin (bottom left) may need to rethink his strategy
Dieting - worth the weight or a complete waist of time? Harrison Worrell Christmas: all about spending time with your family, giving and receiving presents and of course, food, lots of food. Not just any food either, we are talking high-fat, high-sugar, and high-calorie food. From the enormous turkey being heavily stuffed, to the potatoes roasted in fat - even fruit is usually covered in chocolate. As Ferdinand, the duck from the film Babe, puts it: “Christmas? Christmas means dinner, dinner means death! Death means carnage; Christmas means carnage!” Carnage in this instance referring to the one present unopened until January: the January diet. We all know of the festive phenomenon. The gold chocolate coins turn into pounds, the turkey legs turn into bingo wings, the Quality Street turn into cracked pavements. Too far? Anyway, not even a few hours of the Wii after Christmas lunch can solve this problem. For Christmas weight gain, we turn to the fad diet. The word ‘fad’ can be described as a short-lived craze, almost like the desire to diet post-December, which is probably why the two go together so well. The power these diets have is unexplainable. They turn scientific confusion into sound logic and dodgy statistics into good odds in the minds of the overweight and nobody is left untouched.
For those looking for a fast and easy diet, the January diet list includes ones to suit all. Even Tesco offer a diet plan now; from finest to value, there’s a diet made for your effort level. Each fad diet offers the obligatory pseudo-science and pledges from satisfied ex-gorgers. For example: “try the new diet based on the best nutritional enzymatic turbogastro-enhancement therapy. It helped me lose three stone in under an hour,” says Linda, 37, from Stoke.
‘If that didn’t cheer you or your festive spare tyre up, then enter London Fashion Week’
The words used are usually complex and void of any and all meaning. As a rule, the diets usually are too. They also tend to ignore the fundamental rule of losing weight: exercise and smaller portions. But that’s way too hard. Instead just have a super-protein, super-filling, one of your five a day, milkshake for lunch. However, the most interesting health tip to come in 2012 so far is from the highly reputable diet journal: the Daily Mail. The study they printed showed that chocolate cake can in fact help you lose weight. Of course this comes with the usual disclaimers rendering the assertion, and title, useless. But still, that is a fad diet that we can all get behind. But now, as we have reached the end of
January, how have we done? Apparently 42 per cent of us who started a diet with the ringing in of the New Year will have quit two to four weeks after. A staggering 80 per cent of us struggle to kick the habit of over-indulgence at Christmas and cannot stick to our diets! How sad that the hope-filled you of only four weeks ago has vanished and with it the dreams of that elusive bikini body. But have no fear, February is offering us hope. Firstly in the much smaller and less curved shape of Dawn French. Dawn popped up on the BBC last week saying that she is happy being fat! Imagine then, the tears that must have flowed as each pound of the seven and a half stone dripped off her. Poor girl. But if we ignore the weight loss completely this is a great victory for the anti-diet lobby. Why lose weight when you can be happy? Turns out seven and a half stone isn’t something completely ignored. So Dawn, you were happy being fat but then lost over 105 pounds? I’m confused, and Dawn wasn’t available to comment. Now, if that didn’t cheer you or your festive spare tyre up, then enter London Fashion Week. The festival of ultra thin waistlines and negative dress sizes. Ones stomach almost growls for them. As they make their way down the catwalk with their wanly expression, it must inspire such a motivation that could make February the diet month of the year. Alas, this is most likely not the case. At least after that we have a few months before the dreaded summer diet season
starts, but we won’t go there today. All the conflicting information, all the statistics - “I despair,” you might claim. Well, never fear. It seems there are two fool-proof ways of boosting that self esteem in the cold winter month of January.
‘Diets tend to ignore the fundamental rule of losing weight: exercise and smaller portions’
Firstly, buy bigger clothes. Imagine that feeling when you pull your trousers away from your skin to reveal a giant gap, oh how your friends will clap and clap. Not as much effort and oh-so satisfying. (Longterm satisfaction not guaranteed). The second, I’m afraid, requires more effort. But its efficacy in helping you shed the pounds is unfortunately highly formidable. It relies on the simple observation that, you cannot lose weight you haven’t gained i.e. don’t eat so much food over Christmas and you won’t get as fat.
Got an opinion on the topics discussed this fortnight? Contact letters@ forgetoday.com
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www.forgetoday.com // comment@forgetoday.com FORGE PRESS Friday February 17 2012
COMMENT
Society needs to rethink UniLad ‘joke’ culture
There is no excuse for such Terry-ble behaviour
Martin Bottomley
Paul Taylor
Emotions have been running high in the debate surrounding the UniLad rape jokes incident. In case you’ve missed it, the “humourous” website UniLad.com went a step too far with their “banter”, stating: “if the girl you’ve taken for a drink...won’t ‘spread for your head’, think about this mathematical statistic: 85 per cent of rape cases go unreported. That seems to be fairly good odds.” They added in way of a disclaimer: “UniLad does not condone rape without saying ‘surprise.’” Much of the backlash towards UniLad has been business as usual. Twitter, the lazy journalist’s best friend, has been aflame with indulgence in UniLadbashing and high-brow student journalists stiffly condemning the whole affair. One student newspaper proclaimed in an Ed-Milibandesque air of tame outrage that “we have to stop tolerating [lad culture]”. Obviously, the article in question was lightyears beyond ill-judged. It’s not funny in any technical sense, it’s lazy, but most of all it makes a joke out of the abhorrent treatment of a crime that in the past has been used systematically as a weapon. Shock-value comedian Frankie Boyle slated the offending party, calling them “Junior Bundys. And not in a good way” on Twitter. If even Frankie Boyle thinks you’re a terrible person, there must be some sort of special hell reserved for you. But placing this self-evidently terrible article in a wider context, preventing this sort of controversy is problematic to say the least. The article was emblematic of the commercialised, casually misogynistic culture espoused by esteemed publications such as Loaded, FHM, and, of course, UniLad. Although all of these claim to be toungue-in-cheek and that any hateful jokes are just a bit of banter, the irony is lost on its target audience. UniLad’s apology for the “Sexual Mathematics” article sparked a discussion thread that spewed hatred and bile, with the commenters spouting old, pathetic jokes. One claimed, “Nobody minds a bit of casual rape banter. It’s all in context.” Actually, it’s not in context any more. The dimensions of “banter” have far surpassed the boundaries of irony and have taken on as a new form of male identity, in an extreme backlash against second-wave feminism. The manic celebration of booze and banter has become a hallmark of the failure of modern British society to adjust to the social changes that came along simultaneously with the advent of the consumer society. But how can we fix that? Saying that we have to stop tolerating it is easy. Changing an entire culture is a ridiculously large feat. There’s clearly a market for that culture, and the recent controversy has done much to advertise UniLad to a far larger, international audience. It’s no use complaining about the websites and glossy magazines that peddle laddishness, because that would only serve to see the rise of other publications to supply the demand. Instead, the demand needs to be killed off. Male identity and sexual ethics may sound painfully boring, but they’re extremely important topics to address if we want to tackle of hypocritically socially conservative culture of binging and women-shaming. Instead of spewing negativity on writing considered “uncivilised”, and thereby moving the debate dangerously close to class-conflict territory, we need to start taking a stand in the social education of people before they become a target deomgraphic of market forces.
For a long time now footballers have had it made. The Premier League has boomed globally; it’s the world’s most-watched sporting league, driven by lucrative TV rights deals, with the last bundle sold to BSkyB for over £1.7billion. It is this financial corpulence which has got the better of normality and distorted the game into its current form. Football is as much about the player’s personalities and the media as it is about kicking and running, although of course that remains its epicentre. Back pages are saturated, for the greater part, with stories talking about people who play football rather than about people playing football. Footballers have developed into celebrities in their own right, and through the media they willingly or unwillingly express themselves.
D.A.R.T.S.
Website of the fortnight:
www.facebook.com/ SheffieldMemes
Anyone who has not yet seen any of these gems must have been living in an industrial strength bubble for the last few weeks. Whilst we like to be insightful and imaginative here at Forge, we thought this week it was only appropriate to flag some of the quality comic material produced by our very own students. From ridiculing our less fortunate neighbours, to depicting that post-Corp hangover, these little pieces of art perfectly sum up what it is to be a U of S student.
‘The FA’s measures have come back and bitten them’ Quite a turn out it’s been; we’ve created pseudoprofessional philosophers, journalists, and fashionistas - Joey Barton, David James and Djibril Cisse, respectively. But simultaneously, with the significant aid of social networking sites, we’ve seen inside the minds and lives of the country’s greatest sporting stars, and unsurprisingly it’s not all nice. This goes beyond the notoriously unpleasant Leeds United team of 2001; the seemingly archetypal professional and ‘nice guy’ Ryan Giggs recently receiving the sharp end of the media for his affair with someone from Big Brother. Realistically, if you make any young man a millionaire and subject
Football can’t just turn its back on bad behaviour. him to the reverence of the responsibility to comply masses he’s likely to grow with common moral codes. an ego the size of a melon. Step forward John Isolate him from Terry. Once captain of his normality by putting him club and country, despite into a bubble of fast cars previously being embroiled and endless indulgences in shameful shenanigans then leave him to his own and increasing pressure devices, and he’s almost on his starting place in the certain to err at some national side, he’s been point and commit some there, he’s done it, he’s misdemeanour. learnt nothing and he’s When this misdemeanour incriminated again. is pounced on by the press, said footballer is brought down to reality with a multi-million pound bump – something not easy to stomach, however well paid they may be. Just because I can understand it doesn’t mean I think it’s OK. The It’s such a shame because intensity of the media gaze John Terry is arguably means that footballers England’s best central must, more than ever, live defender on his day. Who up to being role models. could forget his nosedive For me that is part of against Slovenia at the last their job. Yes, the media is world cup, displaying all unscrupulous and at times the bravery you could ever despicable, but that is part wish for. and parcel of the modern Yet he still has that knack game or, indeed, world. of getting himself mixed up When you earn such in problems which severely incomprehensible amounts damage his reputation as footballers do, the job as both footballer and shouldn’t be easy. And let’s person. But in this case, the face it – they play a game treatment of Terry has been for a living. ridiculous. As they are idolised in Why should somebody such a way, especially accused of a crime under by children, they have a common law get special
‘Football has grown up, now it’s time the players did too’
dispensation because the alleged incident took place on a football pitch? And why does the ‘innocent until proven guilty’ proverb that we live by in common society not apply to those within the football industry. By stripping Terry of his captaincy, the FA may have saved him (and England) from some rather unwanted questions in the run up to Euro 2012, but in doing so they have completely ignored the justice system of this country. John Terry remains innocent until he’s tried, any action should be made after a verdict is reached. Fabio Capello’s resignation last week highlighted the ridiculousness of the whole situation – the FA’s measures have come back and bitten them in the most venomous way. We are in the embarrassing position of being manager-less, four months before a major tournament. So congratulations to the FA for such inadequate mishandling of the situation. Bravo, to the media, you created such a storm pulling the issue from the hands of rationality into a power battle between players, Fabio Capello, the FA and the judicial system. And finally, really well done John Terry, you’ve shown your egotistical and flagrant disregard for others and entirely neglected your position as a national role model. Football has grown up, now it’s time the players did too. The media hype may be ridiculous and unsympathetic, but that’s only half the story. If you earn three, four, five times in a week what your supporters earn in a year, then perhaps your behaviour should be under greater scrutiny. Footballers are only remonstrated for doing things deemed wrong by societal conviction, we all have to conform. All this said Mario Balotelli please keep doing what you are doing – we wouldn’t want you any other way.
Forge Press takes its satirical aim
Forge Press FC update
We here at Forge are a talented bunch. We’re not only hugely gifted student journalists; we also make up one of the most reputable football teams on the intra-mural circuit. So we thought it only fair we brought you an update of our recent successes. Yes, last week saw Forge Press FC record their first win. Once the worst team in the competition, we are now soaring up the table. After our 4-2 victory against Hispanics in the 6 aside competiton, we are now aiming to repeat similar results for the rest of the season. Whilst dreams of a late title charge may be a little on the optimistic side, we are all most excited about improving on our -80 goal difference.
Sleeping on the job: Archaeology Rep, Aaron Kulakiewicz, made a name for himself last week, by nodding off during a Union Council meeting. Apparently the appeal of constitutional reform holds little weight in relation to the usual delights of an archaeology student’s life. Whilst the ‘fresher’ members of the council revisited our constitution for the gazillionth time, dear Aaron thought it the perfect time to catch up on his 40 winks. It’s odd; I thought digging up the same old shit time and time again was just the sort of thing that got archaeologists going. Ah well, he still came out of the meeting in better stead than the chair Sam Mannion, who expressed his rebellion through a midsession belch. Lad.
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Urdu you think you are? Speaking foreign languages can be very useful; Pierre above is acutally from Scunthorpe.
Rebecca Juster Why study languages? This may sound like an encouraging opening line to a university prospectus, but sadly this is a question heard all too often, with emphasis put on the ‘why.’ No surprises that the Daily Mail of all newspapers also agrees. David Thomas’ comment article on January 23 began by sounding simply like an egotistic, autobiographical monologue about how fabulously welleducated he was, but actually there was a bit more to it. He managed to shape an argument around this self-congratulation. Only half way through the article did I realise what his point was. However, I do not wish to make this personal. He is saying is the same as what is said by worrying numbers of people– the classic ‘everyone speaks English’ excuse. English is taught as a second language in schools in many countries worldwide, but this does not mean children in England can sit back while their counterparts abroad do all the
work. Along with it being a matter of courtesy, languages help the individual to appreciate other cultures and societies. You cannot truly integrate into a place without the language. Chances are the waiters in Benidorm will understand you if you ask for a Fosters and some fish and chips in English, but does this really class as experiencing Spanish culture? Because Western culture dominates globally, with the notable influence of America, there are people in this country who expect others to accommodate for them. The reason for travelling should be to appreciate cultural diversity, not to take your own country with you wherever you go. To use an Anglicism, variety is the spice of life. David Thomas argues that you cannot learn every single language in the world. True, but does this justify not bothering? Surely history graduates do not know the entire history of the world, decade by decade? And scientists do not know the answers to everything yet. He would likely attach value to these subjects, so he should not dismiss the value of languages – be it
Image: franklin_hunting/flickr
one, or 10. I said I would not make it personal but the reader is right to question Thomas’ argument. He believes that languages are simply a: ‘genteel indulgence like…learning to play the violin.’ By choosing a pursuit such as an instrument by way of example, he implies that languages should be a reserve of those who can afford it, largely the middle-classes. Thomas’ autobiographical account returns to stab him in the back, highlighting his hypocrisy. He discusses his upbringing, which sounds rather privileged – certainly in an academic sense. He had the benefit of a brilliant education and is now dismissing it, as if to say that his opportunity to learn languages should not be encouraged to the masses of schoolchildren. From a slightly more mundane perspective, languages are needed for certain professions and Thomas admits this himself. If kids are not inspired at school, we could see the numbers of language graduates plummeting even further. So, would I give up French if he thinks there is: ‘no need to learn any foreign tongues?’ Non, merci.
Editorial A word of warning for this year’s Union nominees
So, it’s that time of year again when the concourse becomes a sea of colour, full of fresh enthusiastic faces, eager to achieve and move on. No, it’s not the hoards of prospective students visiting on open days, it’s the candidates for the Students’ Union Officer Elections. The next few days will see the outside of the Union being turned into a collection of weird and wonderful cardboard signs made from all sorts of salvaged boxes. The candidates for the positions were announced today and, as usual, there are some obvious front runners for each position already. The jobs will inevitably be won by a mixture of those who have a large amount of experience of the inner workings of the Union, and those who win because of the popularity of their campaign. About three weeks ago, before I knew of anyone who would be standing for election, I wrote down predictions as to who I thought would win the positions for next year, and put them in a sealed envelope. Come election results night, on March 1, I’ll be opening the envelope to see how well I did. It isn’t very difficult to predict who will win – even without knowing who is standing. Those who attend every event possible, sit on every committee open to them will be the ones celebrating on results night – although I could be proved totally wrong. Maybe a fresh approach, from someone who doesn’t know the inner workings of the Union, would make a strong officer; they would be able to see what can be changed to how the system works. An outside approach may be able to take down some of the unnecessary bureaucracy, paper work and some of the processes within the Students’ Union. It’s going to be a long two weeks of campaigning for the candidates – scrambling for every single vote they can get. A brief warning to the candidates: it isn’t all as rosy as it seems. Having looked at this year’s Officer’s calendars (when constantly trying to track them down for comment on stories) days are blocked out with back to back meetings – they constantly seem to be swamped with more emails than is possible to handle and are often in the office until 11pm. Whatever happens come results night there will be a lot of very tired, very drunk candidates who will become responsible for representing thousands of students.
Matt Burgess - Forge Press Editor matt.burgess@forgetoday.com
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Church won’t altar gay marriage Glenn Hicks Earlier this month, Tim Hopkins, the Director of Scotland’s Equality Network announced that there would be full marriage equality between gay and straight couples in Scotland by the end of 2013 at the latest. The announcement followed a public consultation which received over 50,000 responses, generally concluding that marriage equality was what Scotland wanted. Under the new legislation, same-sex couples will be able to enter civil marriages and receive the exact same rights as their heterosexual counterparts. This is great news for the LGBT community in Scotland, but as an innocent bystander one might wonder what there is to celebrate. Well, civil partnerships are perhaps the greatest victory of the gay rights movement, but if you take a closer look, full equality still does not exist. The main argument for marriage equality is one of semantics – why should a same sex couple be recognised as civil
partners when their straight friends next door are seen as married? Is homosexual love somehow intrinsically lesser or different to heterosexual love that it must be given a separate name? The whole affair sounds awkwardly similar to the slogan of “equal but separate” that was so enthusiastically employed in the sunny old days of segregation. If same sex partnerships are truly equal to opposite sex ones, then call them marriages. Progress to this end is also being made in England and Wales, where a public consultation on marriage equality will launch in March. Mr Cameron has also urged his party to support marriage equality – but the process on both sides of the border is unlikely to pass quietly. Why? Well, the shortcomings of the Civil Partnership Act are not purely semantic; they also involve our dear friend, religion. A conflict arises between a same-sex couple’s right to marry and a church’s right to religious freedom. As it stands, civil partnerships are legally required to be entirely non-religious. However, for reasons beyond my comprehension, some gay people remain faithful to their
gods, and wish to be married in their name. Naturally, this is a bit mad in religions which discourage homosexuality, but some sects such as liberal Judaism wish to perform and bless same-sex marriages. The blanket ban on religious involvement in civil partnerships therefore both infringes on the rights and wants of the couple and the religious freedom on the church which wishes to bless them. The obvious solution is to grant marriage equality where same-sex couples are allowed to celebrate their union as they wish, and willing religious institutions can opt in to perform them. Such a solution has already been suggested in the House of Lords but has since been delayed, and until the matter arises again we’ll hear more of the same nonsensical drivel about churches being forced to perform gay marriages despite this having no grounding in law. Let the religions that want to perform same-sex marriages do so, and we can leave the rest to continue barking on about how having two men on the top of a wedding cake will undoubtedly bring about an early apocalypse.
Tories can’t work it out Oliver Clay Speaking to John Pienaar on 5 Live the Conservative minister for disabled people, Maria Miller, sparked controversy with her claim that “there is no shortage of jobs” citing the roughly 400,000 vacant places in job centres across the country blaming a “lack of appetite” amongst the unemployed for vacant jobs. UK unemployment currently stands at around 2.68 million, with a million of those between the ages of 16 and 24. The figure for the ‘economically inactive’, those not looking/able to work - for example stay-at-home parents, the disabled or carers - is 9.29 million. The mere fact that there are at least 2.68 million job seekers with only 400,000 jobs to go round demonstrates a factual inaccuracy of her statement. The issue is also heightened by regional discrepancies. Hartlepool, one of the worst affected areas in England, currently has 16 jobs seekers pursuing every post, while in Tottenham there are 54 applicants chasing every available job. As every student or graduate
seeking work will know there is no abundance of jobs in this country. The government’s own figures show that the situation is forecast to continue to get worse as cuts bite and a double dip recession becomes an increasingly likely scenario. Yet Ms Miller’s comments are just one of a line of Conservative ministers and commentators attempting to lay the blame for unemployment and poverty upon a Victorian idea of the feckless poor. Ian Duncan Smith in 2010 made the claim that the unemployed in Methyr Tydfil (43 applicants per job) should “get the one hour bus to Cardiff” (nine applicants per job). This dangerous narrative blames the unemployed for their conditions, as well as the disabled, the young and other groups, despite the jobs and opportunities needed simply not existing. At a time of record unemployment levels and cuts, this narrative is designed to turn people against one another and allow the slow dismantling of a social society. We’re too busy blaming each other, or ourselves, for our struggles to examinine the structural economic problems in our country, and around the globe, that the ‘08 Financial Crash threw into the open.
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FORGE PRESS Friday February 17 2012
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Students and the community Do students help out in their communities enough? Or are the myths of students being lazy really true? Words: Nicola Moors Art: Jonathan Robinson
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icture your stereotypical student: are they volunteering? The British media and public have a skewed view of students, and their lives, without realising that a lot of them are actually helping their local communities. Too often are students painted out to be messy, loud and most probably drunk. Last year for example, the generosity of the students at the University of Sheffield helped Raising and Giving (RAG) - a committee ran by students to aid charities in South Yorkshire through events like Bummit and Spiderwalk - raised more than £202,474. As well as this, 1310 students and staff were involved in Sheffield Volunteering, which targets areas of social and economic deprivation though activities organised by students. In fact, Sheffield Volunteering became the first Student’s Union to receive a Duke of York’s Community Initiative Award, which recognises the hard work done for the local community. Unfortunately there are a minority of students who tend to give the rest a bad name – they disrupt residents in the local community through their excessive noise levels, drunken behaviour and litter. Residential areas that are popular with students such as Broomhill and Crookesmoor are prone to high noise levels. The Night Time Noise Service, which is run by the council and South Yorkshire Police, helps local residents to deal with excessive noise caused by residents, alarms and even animals. The service runs seven days a week until the early hours of the morning. Tracy Lovett, Noise Officer at Sheffield City Council, said the high level of noise at night is “the biggest problem caused by students”. She explains: “The concerns that are raised to us are that students living in certain areas deem themselves to be living in a student area rather than in a residential area. “Many students live in houses of multiple occupation often adjoining family accommodation which in itself can cause conflict due to
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Students living in certain areas deem themselves to be living in a student area rather than in a residential area Tracy Lovett, Noise Officer at Sheffield City Council
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FEATURES Tips for a party For students living in residential areas who do want to have latenight parties, there are some steps you can do to prevent upsetting the local residents: Inform the neighbours beforehand when you are having a party Keep the volume down when playing music (or have a silent rave) Close all windows and doors to stop noise spreading outside Try not to play music outdoors even during barbecues Invite the neighbours
noise. There is often also a lifestyle difference with students having social gatherings mid to late evening prior to going out and then causing noise when they/their friends return to the properties in the early hours. “In the main I have to say that once someone is aware that they are causing a problem we don’t usually have to re-visit.” The University is also tackling the noise pollution at night through the introduction of noise management plans at the Endcliffe and Ranmoor student villages along with the ‘Staying Up, Keep It Down’ campaign throughout the University. This campaign, run jointly by the University and the Students’ Union, reminds students to be considerate to neighbours and flatmates by keeping noise levels at a minimum with constant reminders across Student Union publications. The communities councillor for Sheffield City Council, Michael Rooney, says that students are not fully to blame. “I think most people understand that not just our students are loud but that the indigenous population is loud,” he said. “Blaming the loudness at night on students is unfair though I accept that the University is trying to
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A bottle of water has the potential to reduce the risks associated with drunkenness Hannah Parrott, Synergy
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remedy it.” Although it isn’t just University campaigns that are helping the local community – Synergy, a society for Christian students, has several initiatives throughout the campus and local churches, for example Agape. Agape is a group of students who express their faith through love they facilitate clubbers by handing out free bottles of water, even going so far as helping them to the nearest taxi rank if they are too drunk to help themselves. They volunteer three nights a week at the popular student socials – Tuesday Club, Roar, Climax and Space - on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday nights. On a typical week, Agape volunteers will get through 18 crates of water (each one including 24 bottles). This equates to 216 kilos of water being handed out. Hannah Parrott, the executive of Synergy, said: “It has been suggested that a bottle of water has the potential to reduce the risks associated with drunkenness.” The actions of Agape may not seem a lot compared to the huge amount of money raised by RAG, but these actions could have a positive impact on the NHS with fewer students having to go to hospital with dehydration, hypothermia or due to being attacked on their way home. The students involved with the initiative sometimes accompany clubbers on their way home to ensure they return safely. The volunteer work of RAG and Agape may counteract many of the student stereotypes, but why isn’t the rest of the student population involved with the community? It seems that students may be too busy – remember that for most first years at university, it is their first time living away from home and trying to balance a social life, assignments and deadlines along with trying to look after themselves can be stressful to say the least. Students also have the added stress of money – many have to get a part-time job to fund their way through their degree as in a lot of cases loans don’t stretch far enough, although sometimes students do not have the time due to their university workload. One student who thinks that generally, students have enough to worry about in regards to money, exams and their workload is Hannah Campbell, a first-year here at the University of Sheffield. She said: “I do volunteer work at home, helping to run dance classes in a deprived area for kids after school, and I definitely don’t have time to do it at university. “There’s only so much that you can do without it starting to affect your own life and we have to take it easy especially when we have exams and coursework to do.” Charlotte Sidwick, another firstyear, disagrees. She says: “The majority of students, including myself, do not aid their local community as much as they perhaps should, reason being too much partying and fundamentally procrastination. “On the other hand the opportunity to volunteer is never going to disappear – it isn’t like a deadline for an essay in that there’s no urgency to complete it so students put it off.” There are around 50,000 students in Sheffield with around 25,000 at the University of Sheffield alone, so if every student in the city did just an hour’s worth of volunteering from working at their local charity to helping schools, it would make a huge difference. However students are making increasing efforts to help out the local community while they continue their studies, and often, hold down a part-time job as well – the actions of the majority need to be recognised more.
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FORGE PRESS Friday February 17 2012
The Silent Addiction You know the stereotype. Students drink too much, they go out too much, they gamble? Forge Press takes a closer look at an overlooked problem that is bankrupting some students. Words & Art: Rebecca Cooke
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he stakes are high. For students nationwide tuition fees have just risen to nearly £10,000 a year and where jobs are scarce, student finance loans are the lifeblood of many student accounts. Where day-to-day expenses of food, nights out, transport and course books all filter from the same depleted source, some students believe that they have found the solution to their fiscal turmoil. They believe they have found this solution within the lurid, florescent bulbs which glow like beacons of opportunity in every casino. Despite the fact that the odds are stacked - almost unbearably against their consumers, casinos are attracting more and more students to bet their student loans. Essentially they are gambling with tax-payers money. It seems as though every other week fresh stories concerning students drinking too much, like the Bar One Christmas day bus accident or the infamous Phillip Lang story seep from the pores of the student body. But gambling is almost never reported on in the mainstream media. For this reason it has become known as the silent addiction. Nevertheless it should not be ignored or underestimated. Probability is a fickle friend even when it appears to be on your side as one undergraduate found out the hard way last year. It was the 78th minute of the Angola vs Mali game in the Africa Cup of Nations game. Angola were
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Most casino’s target audience is the young male for their notoriously competitive nature
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up 4-0 with just ten minutes left to go a student placed a bet of £4,400 on their almost certain win with a one per cent profit for his audacity. In a remarkable turn of events Mali managed to pull out a 4-4 draw and effectively cost one student his entire student loan. Whilst the fallout from some gambles isn’t always as devastating as that one, they are the symptom of a larger problem which snowballs at breakneck speed. Most casinos target audience is the young post-teenage male, understandably for their notoriously competitive nature and – in popularly perceived student culture – the willingness to push boundaries. It is perhaps for this same reason that the group most vulnerable to developing a gambling addiction is males aged 16-24. Four per cent of those who have gambled in the past year developed a serious gambling problem. Gambling as an industry has found ever more insidious ways of permeating the lives of the vulnerable over the past decade with online bingo, poker and roulette becoming a new phenomenon. It seems as though now more than ever the polemic of the gambling addicted student is becoming more and more common. Everyone appears to have a story about a friend who took the risk and lost out on hundreds, sometimes thousands of pounds for their misadventure. But is there more to the stories than urban myth and second hand chinese whispers? One unlucky US student posted
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Looking at gambling can appear to be a way of helping to deal with other problems Andy McLellan GamCare
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on Psychforums.com her story of misfortune which earned her notoriety as she lost $300 in just over an hour on online poker. Chief Executive of the gambling aware charity helpline GamCare Andy McLellan noted a rise in the number of calls the charity were receiving from students since 2009. There has been a worrying increase in the number of students calling such helplines when they find themselves overwhelmed by debt after gambling irresponsibly. According to official statistics kept by GamCare, almost 60,000 adolescents aged between 12-16 may be classed as having a serious gambling problem at any one time. It is because of this that the charity is seeking to start a campaign which makes gambling addiction and its ramifications a permanent part of the PSHE curriculum in schools. The charity is believed that this would act as a viable method of preventing young people from being allured by the seemingly glamorous landscape of gambling. McLellan explained some of the things which may cause students to resort to or seek thrills from the world of virtual gambling. “You’re away from home; it may well be the first time you’re managing your own money,” he says. “Sometimes it can mean that looking at gambling can appear to be a way of helping to deal with other problems you have encountered.” Another reason the thrill of the addiction consumes almost instantly is yet more scientific than McLellan’s explanation. Compulsive gambling bears a relation with chemicals in the brain, and in particular a hormone called Dopamine; the same hormone which urges people to pursue things which provide pleasure such as food and sex. Dopamine is one of the key hormones which tempt people to gamble and it is produced more when the brain perceives there is an incentive for a reward in an activity – for example a big cash prize for a dangerous bet. However not all gambling is as treacherous, it can sometimes turn a good night into a great one for students. To celebrate the end of exams this year, Management student Chris after a night out at ROAR paid a visit to Grosvenor G casino for some spontaneous gambling. “I went in with £40 and was just playing roulette for a while,” says Chris, “slowly building it up really.” Chris was lucky and walked away with £270 on the night. “Biggest win I’ve ever had by a long way. I don’t go often at all though maybe once every few months,” he says. Cautionary tales of gambling still exist in their bountiful numbers though in varying extremes. One Newcastle University student studying a degree in Maths thought he could beat the odds by mastering the statistics, with severe consequences to his wallet. Within a year he had amassed debts of nearly £7,000 maxing out not only his student overdraft but two other credit cards he applied for as well. Then there is the even more haunting and real threat that gambling is a problem which extends its reach beyond the university career as a recent article in The Guardian charted how it is being used as a method of paying of university debts. While there is no way to know whether the hand you have is lucky or not, it is an addictive game of chance in which the benefits and pitfalls depend entirely on how much you are willing to bet. Would you bet your student loan?
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Plugged in: The age of online universities Forge Press investigates the rise of online degrees being offered by universities across the world. Will it impact traditional study? Words & Art: Jonathan Robinson
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ook back and you might still catch sight of the imposing red brickwork as it slips away into the distance. Look forward and you will see a different horizon, one which is veiled by uncertainty and mixed messages. Unbeknown to many, universities are standing at a crossroads. Whilst these ancient institutions have never been so numerous or sought after, their future is opaque. Enter the digital world. Knowledge is now literally the push of a button away. Every aspect of our lives has been made easier, thanks to the digital age and all its technologies. We can write an academic essay without lifting a book. We can carry out research by filtering through thousands of web pages from the comfort of our own homes. But all this comes at a cost to the perception of what university actually stands for, that is. In a culture where information is passed on so freely, can universities maintain their superior position? Are they still the instigators of thought, or can anybody now spearhead just as exciting discourse? In 1997, the late scholar Peter Drucker boldly stated that universities would not survive the digital age in a Forbes magazine
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Thirty years from now the big university campuses will be relics Peter Drucker, Speaking in 1997
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article. In it, he argued: “Thirty years from now the big university campuses will be relics.” He controversially proposed that the basic function of a university, unchallenged for hundreds of years, would be contested by the availability of integrated communications. For Drucker, the orthodox idea that universities were establishments that stored and disseminated knowledge was redundant. Going to university was no longer the only way for a person to access that knowledge. If information, lectures and teaching resources were all available online, why should students pay fees and invite debt by living away from home? Could students study a university education without stepping foot inside the institution itself? If that was thought-provoking in 1997, it’s even more so today. Most universities failed to embrace the digital age, dismissing Drucker’s warning. They believed their status
– their elitist brands – would be enough to sustain themselves. Others recognised the way education was heading and utilised the internet as means of circulating knowledge and research, and engaging a new breed of student. Some even made their course content available online for public viewing. There was also, of course, the inauguration of the Open University here in Britain, which constructed the notion of distance learning and the idea of people of all ages and backgrounds studying out of leisure. But even that wasn’t enough. What’s important is that all attempts to facilitate the online community stopped start of one thing: completing an actual degree online from an already existing university – a degree taught outside the classroom, but one comparable to sitting in lively, packed lecture theatres five days a week. The most recent development could therefore potentially
“
The professor’s role is evolving from instructor to mentor Sam Scalise, Chief information officer at Sonoma State University
”
revolutionise the idea of what universities stand for in modern society. Three courses available by Stanford University in California have brought us closer to a new age of digital universities. What makes these three courses (machine learning, database design and artificial intelligence) different is that they are; free, multifaceted, open to all, taught entirely online by world leading academics, academically challenging and regularly assessed. Take database design for example. The course is taught to university standards and covers topics including relational algebra and database management. Students are guided through the degree by online video lectures, which introduce course content and the mechanics behind each newly taught concept. The subject matter is challenging, but requires no specific expertise or past qualifications. They can also contact tutors for any advice. And it’s wholly academic – each student must complete about 10 hours a week, completing weekly assignments and regular exams. This is in order to receive a final “statement of accomplishment” from Stanford. Demand for the endeavour was overwhelming; more than 160,000 students signed up to the courses, from over 150 countries. But what is really astonishing is that 23,000 of them stayed on to complete the entire course. There is clearly interest in the notion of free education. As a result of its pioneering success, the University is looking to open up more degrees this way. So could this be an internet revolution? Sam Scalise, a chief information officer at Sonoma State University in California, thinks so. “The professor’s role is evolving from instructor to mentor. Homework, quizzes and projects will have to be designed in such a way as to require genuine thoughtfulness on the part of the student,” says Scalise. You could argue that Stanford is just extending the legacy left by the Open University and co. - with that emphasis being on greater educational integration – and that is partly accurate. But up until now, universities have been reluctant to hand out fullyfledged qualifications for their free online offerings. Surely, it would undermine those students paying thousands for a similar degree? The idea that students can earn a degree that shuns the traditionalist scheme of university education is alien to some, and one which some may think is of lower quality. Of course, not attending higher education in person has its drawbacks – you will miss out socialising with different types of people, attending societies and working as course mates - but in today’s society, certain types of people are too busy to spend three or more years studying in a different environment. The new internet degrees, which Stanford look to have initiated in America, could be ground-breaking to single parents wanting to enhance their career credentials, to people who have wanted to fulfil a lifelong ambition and to people who just want to learn at leisure. 2012 is the halfway point in Drucker’s 30 year prediction. Are we any nearer to the end of university education? Undoubtedly not, universities remain the hive of academic thought, but there is plenty of evidence to suggest the demands of technology are altering the way we learn and providing more choice to would-be students.
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Fashion Food & Drink Health & Fitness Travel Sex & Relationships Technology
FORGE PRESS Friday February 17 2012
This fortnight...
Lectures have started and the sound of the 9am alarm clock is killing us already. Here are our suggestions to tempt you out of bed...
FOUR OF THE BEST
Ways to keep fit in the New Year PARK RUN
YOGA
Review
Held in Endcliffe Park every saturday morning, this 5km fun run is a free way to exercise if you’re willing to get up by 9am. Register by 6pm the Friday before at: www.parkrun.org.uk
TAKE THE STAIRS
Give it a go
Providing everything from beginner’s classes to yoga that complements your specific sport, Sheffield Yoga Centre provides a fun and accessible way to keep fit. For drop-in classes, prices range from about £8 to £10 however there is a 20% student discount.
Work out and raise money for the British Heart Foundation by running up the 20 flights of stairs in The Arts Tower (February 25). It only costs £10 and starts at 10.30am beginning with a mass aerobic warm up. Give It A Go is the perfect way to try new sports, be active and meet new people without having to make any long-term commitments. There’s everything from taekwondo to lacrosse so you’re sure to find something for you. Taylor Ashley
Cubana
Sheffield’s tiny taste of Cuba Laura Davies The minute you step in through the sunshine yellow doors, you will feel instantly transported back to an era of cigars and fancy flamenco dress. Welcome to Sheffield’s tiny taste of Cuba. We chose to visit on a Thursday evening, as an alternative night out. Instead of going out and getting (slightly) trashed, we decided to live it up and go for a sophisticated night of dinner and cocktails. As you walk in through the doors, Cubana’s chilled atmosphere wraps itself around you in a warm Latino hug, and the friendly staff leap to action. The restaurant has a rustic feel, with wooden furniture and colourful walls decorated with hand-painted murals of flamenco dancers. Flickering candles light the room, making for a romantic atmosphere, the perfect atmosphere for a date (boys, take note). It didn’t take long for us girls to choose a round of fresh fruit
mojitoes, while the boys went for bottles of authentic South American lager. What can I say… it was love at first sip. The fresh mint and crushed raspberries were a taste sensation, quite a change from a Corp Red Pint or our usual pre-drink beverage.
It didn’t take long for our glasses to swiftly empty as if by magic, while we browsed the mouth-watering tapas menu and debated which dishes to share. The friendly staff were on hand to give useful advice and recommendations, before whisking our order off to the kitchen with a gracious ‘gracias’. It wasn’t long before our food was placed steaming onto our table, the spicy Cuban aromas wafting upwards and making our mouths water. We spent a deliriously happy half an hour munching on a huge array of scrumptious dishes from calamari with garlic mayonnaise to goats cheese baked in Parma ham and a paprika chicken skewer. Needless to say, our stomachs were left satisfied and the plates practically licked to a shine. Nonetheless, there is always space for dessert. Another order of rum-loaded cocktails and we were ready for round two, which came in the form of a generous slice of rich chocolate
fudge cake and four spoons. Having polished off another plate, we ended the meal with a complimentary round of sambuca. And then the live band began to play. If I thought I was in Cuban heaven before, now I’d reached nirvana. The soothing tone of the live saxophone washed over me, inducing a Cheshire cat like grin which crept across my face. Cubana hosts live music acts most nights of the week, from flamenco guitar players to the sounds of Brazilian bossa nova and Argentinean tango. While this creates the lively vibe, I’d recommend requesting a table a little further from the band if you plan on having any lengthy conversation.
Jiang You (David) Day One
This challenge began when I changed my MSN status (in Chinese obviously) to: “I’m not speaking Chinese for 5 days! Please forgive me.” Mrs Guo, one of my teachers in China, saw my status and began chatting with me in English. We had always chatted in Chinese, previously, for many years. This was an unexpected brilliant start to the challenge. Mrs Guo’s encouragement gave me the initial courage to carry on. However the very next morning I met my first hurdle. I had arranged to teach my friend Sunshine Chinese. We’ve been doing a language exchange class for several months, meeting weekly to practice our speaking. Now I have a confession to make... I half failed my challenge, by speaking English for only half the lesson. I was so relieved when it was over but then on my way home, I met two friends who I hadn’t seen for a long time. We immediately began chatting oh so naturally, in
Student Life
Warning: Book in advance. This popular restaurant is very busy and is normally full every night. Tel: 0114 2760 475
Day Two
I woke up and instantly decided to continue with the challenge. There were two things worth mentioning today. One was a really tricky situation, which actually happened last night. My friend Yang Zhijun asked me on MSN; “Well, you are not speaking Chinese for 5 days. But what if you speak Chinese in your dreams?” I burst into laughter. To be honest, there was absolutely nothing I could do about this. I wish I could speak English in my dreams though. I wondered if I will ever dream in English or speak English in my dreams. But it was
Friends we love to hate Charlotte Green
So if tasty tapas and tonguetingling cocktails are your thing, I’d recommend that you book a table and get down to Cubana on Trippet Lane. Feel free to take me...
Chinese. I didn’t realise I had broken the rule until several hours later. Then I paused and asked myself; is it really weird for me to insist on speaking English with all of my Chinese friends? There was also the question of Chinese culture and etiquette. I was concerned that people from my native country may have thought I was being disrespectful or proud, putting them down by responding to them in English and not in our native language. I was especially worried about my long standing friends and older Chinese acquaintances. So yes. Day one ended up on a massive dilemma; should I continue?
Frenemy: a friend and an enemy together, like two for the price of one. Whether you began as friends or hated each other on sight, sometimes you have to put up with someone else in order to maintain group cohesion. Frenemies enjoy making you feel uncomfortable. Whether it’s a snide remark or derisive laugh, it’s all a power game to them. Girls can be awful; anyone who has seen Mean Girls (and who hasn’t?) knows that. But it’s all too easy to lay all the blame on cliquey girls and ignore the fact that boys are often falling foul as well. Whilst girls may bitch about each other or steal another’s partner, boys are more likely to pull practical pranks and haze fellow sports team members within an inch of their life, sometimes literally.
FORGE PRESS Friday February 17 2012
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Fruit Smoothie
Grilled Grapefruit
Cinnamon Porridge
Hit the shops and grab yourself two bananas, a punnet of strawberries and a carton of yoghurt. Blitz until smooth and voila, one morning breakfast that’s sure to see you through til lunchtime.
All you need is one pink grapefruit and a spoonful of demerara sugar for this treat. Whack it under the grill for two minutes then enjoy served warm. Perfect for the health conscious.
This one is a well-known winter warmer. 40g of porridge oats, 200ml of milk and a good sprinkle of cinnamon make this our favourite breakfast option. Add a banana to tick off one of your five-a-day.
5 day challenge The Dukan Diet Food & Drink
Speaking in a foreign tongue the start of day two which astounded me most. I woke up realizing that in my dreams I hadn’t spoken Chinese. But I hadn’t spoken English either... I had spoken French. I know it sounds unbelievable, but I’m not lying. Perhaps it was because I had learned a little bit of French a week ago. Sadly, the only word I can repeat now is ‘bon jour’. But back to the real world, I would never have made it through the day without my friend LI Wei, who blurted out the moment I saw her, “I know you cannot speak Chinese, I saw your MSN”. My friends have been so encouraging and I was moved by their support. Overall, day two was a success. Well done me.
Day Three
Today is the 3rd day. I answered calls from two of my best friends, in which they spoke Chinese and I spoke English. To my surprise, they didn’t laugh at me and weren’t angry at all. On the contrary, the calls went quite well. What was more, several friends chatted with me on MSN throughout the day. They used Chinese and I managed to respond in English. It was fantastic. I am getting used to this. In addition, my sister, who is in China and can speak a little English, chatted with me online. She was so supportive even though she sometimes had to Google my English sentences and translate them into Chinese to fully understand what I was saying. Such determination to support my efforts on this tricky five day challenge was amazing. There were some moments it was painful to hear her struggle with the translation and I came so close to speaking Chinese to her, but I didn’t. It made me feel postive and certain that I could keep up the challenge for five days, but definitely not forever. Bug report: I spoke Chinese in my dream last night, but I’m powerless over this!
Day Four
The hardest part of today was when I visited my friend Xiupeng Sun. Given that we were roommates for four However, nobody can completely surround themselves with only people made from sugar, spice and all things nice. There will always be people who are annoyingly grating, yet we have to smile on through as if nothing is wrong. The only way to win is to refuse to play the game at all. Keep your head high and don’t let yourself get pulled into it; you’re better than that. By retaliating with maturity, your frenemy will be the one left wishing the ground would swallow them up. But what happens when your friends suddenly turn to the dark side? Its easy to feel confused and upset. Your friends are meant to be the ones that are always there for you, even when the rain starts to fall, as the theme tune goes.
years, it was very funny speaking English to him. He tried many times to persuade me to speak Chinese, but I knew this was just for fun, and I survived the test.
Later I made a call to another friend for a long chat. I began feeling almost natural speaking English, despite my friend responding in Chinese. At the end of the day my friend told me that I have made huge progress since I came to England. I took that as a real compliment. In the evening, two friends were even influenced by my challenge. One spoke English in a phone call, and the other one chatted in English online with me. Oh, and the last thought for the day, I didn’t dream at all last night. Or at least I can’t remember my dreaming.
Day Five
Finally, my five days have come to an end. At the very beginning, I didn’t expect time to go so quickly. But time flies, whether you realise that or not, and you can do nothing to stop it. Looking back over the past week, I have gained much more than I thought possible. I’m not saying that I’ve made colossal progress in my ability of speaking and listening. But the most fantastic point is that in these five days, I have begun to feel natural speaking English and I’ve gained so much confidence. To celebrate my final day, Rose (my English housemate, friend and mentor) cooked me a traditional Bristish meal of steak pie, jacket potatoes, cabbage and gravy. It was the perfect way to end my tricky, but rewarding, five day challenge.
So when they suddenly do a 180 on you and act as if you are nothing to them, emotions are bound to run high. Try not to let it aggravate you, surround yourself with friends who actually deserve the title and realise that it is someone else’s loss if they don’t see how amazing you
“When friends do turn to the dark side, you can be left feeling confused and upset.” are. When speaking to friends and course mates, countless anecdotes of frenemy
situations abound. Whether it’s the girl you grew up with who spread malicious lies, or that guy you considered to be your best mate until he decided you weren’t cool enough anymore, everyone has been there. What makes it worse is when the situation is exacerbated by the other members of your social group taking sides. This happened to me when I was in year seven. One girl in our friendship group decided she didn’t like me anymore, and as she was loud and domineering everyone else in the group retreated from me as well, in order to ‘protect’ themselves. It was a horrible time, but it also showed me who my real friends were, so all in all an important lesson to learn. In the end, I decided that my fake friend and her ‘followers’ weren’t worth it.
Hannah Frost There comes a point in almost every woman’s life in which something snaps and that problem area just has to go. Whether it’s hips, thighs or, God forbid, bingo wings, most of us have something we’re unhappy with. Like this majority of women, I tried my very best, sort of, to keep away from excess over Christmas and the exam period. But unfortunately, a love of doughy baked products does lead to a somewhat doughy physique. So, much to my dismay, the baked goods had to go.
Anyone who has found themselves gleefully shovelling sweet, sticky chocolate fudge cake into their mouth at 1am, under the shameinducing glare of the fridge light, knows exactly how weight gain, and weight loss, works. Having spent, on and off, half my life dieting, it wasn’t like straying into unknown lands. I’d tried Weight Watchers – successfully, I might add – but realized I am far too lazy for calorie counting. Dieting is about moderation, but as an all-or-nothing kind of girl, I arrived at one of the more extreme conclusions: it was time to Dukan. The Dukan Diet, one of the rare few that are actually praised for their health benefits, is based around eating meat, eggs, yoghurt – so long as it’s fat free – and not a lot else. Fun, right? The idea of a low-carb regime sounds easy enough, especially when you consider that the first week can mean up to half a stone of weight loss, and to most people means simply cutting out pasta and bread from their meals. However, Dukan is a bit harsher than that, and so for the next three months of my life I won’t be able to taste real sugar either. Even fruit is banned, and there is no hope for any post-hangover dairy cravings.
Ironically, I also had the last laugh when a year later, the other girls realised how bitchy she was and apologized to me for letting me down.
Technically, there shouldn’t even be a hangover, since booze is banned as well. Trips to the off license now leave me with just Diet Coke, no the rum. A morning coffee means a “no fat, no sugar, no fun” Starbucks, and it’s not unusual to see me whack out an entire cooked chicken for lunch. Based on four stages, in which you essentially cut out anything fun, and then very, very gradually re-introduce the good stuff, the Dukan Diet is very much for fans of strict discipline, and those who find weighing every single morsel that gets past their lips tedious. Of course, it’s absolute hell. But any diet which claims to change your whole way of eating, not just the circumference of your thighs, for life, is going to be. It’s not for everyone, and it’s not going to give you long term weight loss if you don’t stick to it. A stress-induced pizza binge will reflect on
the scales – guilty, officer – and anything more than a sniff of chocolate will show. But if you do stick to it, you become not only the kind of person who sniffs chocolate, but also the kind of lucky, lucky lady who can eat anything they want, six days a week at least, and not gain weight. That’s the promised pay-off to all this protein misery.
That being said, it is also very easy to be on the other side of the coin and accidentally make someone else in your social group feel unwelcome, without even realising it. Make sure to always include everyone in invitations to events and beware that although sarcasm is funny, it can sometimes hurt people’s feelings as well. It is often easy to make someone feel excluded even if that was your very last intention. Even if there is one particular friend that does annoy you more than you thought humanly possible, remember to breathe. Do not let your annoyance cloud your judgment and make you say something hurtful that you’ll later regret. Words can be just as painful as violence, so choose carefully how you deal with your ‘pest’.
Although dealing with frenemies is a horrible experience, it is for the most part one that can be avoided. If someone in your friendship group isn’t treating you with the respect you deserve and the others are letting them get away with it, cut them out of your life. They are not real friends and don’t deserve your time. If you won’t take it from me, there is a wealth of celebrity examples of friendships going sour. Think about Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, who went straight from parading their BFF lifestyle on television to smashing each other’s reputations in gossip coluns. There is only one thing to do if you’ve got a frenemy on your hands. Freeze them out, otherwise you could end up with a Lauren Conrad/Heidi Montag style situation on your hands.
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Friday February 17 2012
FORGE PRESS
Lifestyle & Travel
N
LUM O C X E S
Health
We need to talk about iron
Beth Surgenor
T.M.I. ‘Let’s talk about sex, baby. Let’s talk about you and me. Let’s talk about all the good things, and the bad things that may be.’ The 1991 song by Salt ‘n’ Pepa broke a lot of taboos by suggesting that we should be more open about our sex lives, so we can gain an understanding of the positives and negatives of sex and how to remain safe. It has however, become commonplace for people to talk to everyone about their sex lives, and I do mean EVERYONE. I was on the bus the other day and was sat near a girl who was having a loud conversation with a friend about someone she had hooked up with, and the conversation included a graphic description of what they did that night... and where... and how long for. Sorry, but too much information. In some situations it is nice to have a cheeky gossip with your friends about personal matters. It shows that you feel comfortable enough around them to reveal private insights into your life, and you trust them not to reveal everything that you have just confided in them. But in other situations, you blabbering on about the intricate details of your sex life can make people feel very uncomfortable. It was a public space, I had no idea who this person was (although I later discovered she is a very adventurous person, if you get my drift) and we were sat on a busy bus with people of various ages. Some people are naturally private about their personal life, but there seems to be an element of a ‘bragging culture,’ where certain people feel the need to divulge into every detail of the how, what, who, when, and where’s of their sex life. we really do not need to know. I have some suggestions if you find yourself in the presence of a person who you find uncomfortably open and vocal about their sex life. Suggest that they start using a ‘swear jar,’ but rather than putting money in the jar for the use of profanities, encourage that person to chip in some small change or donate some money to charity whenever they mention any under-the-sheets shenanigans. Or better still, invest in a foghorn or some pepper spray to blast in the face of the perpetrator, before making a swift exit. Keep it in your pants, or keep your mouth shut. Jennifer Whittington
Feeling tired or lethargic? Unusually breathless and dizzy? Difficulty concentrating? Looking paler than normal? It could be that you have low iron levels. According to the National Diet and Nutrition Survey, one in three 19-24 year olds have low iron stores. Yet most people should get all the iron they need through eating a healthy balanced diet. This is not necessarily conducive to the typical student lifestyle of quick, easy meals and late nights but eating enough iron-rich foods is easier, and cheaper, than you may think. Good sources of iron are: • Red meat (the darker the meat, the more iron it has) • Oily fish e.g. mackerel and sardines • Dark green leafy vegetables e.g. broccoli, kale and spring greens • Baked beans • Boiled or poached egg • Wholemeal bread • Fortified breakfast cereals • Dried fruit such as figs, apricots and raisins • Whole grains e.g. brown rice • Dark chocolate Unfortunately tea and coffee contain tannins that make it harder for the body to absorb iron, so cutting down could help boost your iron levels. So why is iron so important? Simply put, iron is essential for
Fashion
A meal as simple as beans on toast could keep your iron levels healthy
the production of healthy red blood cells and to maintain healthy bone marrow. It is used by the body to make haemoglobin, which stores and carries oxygen in red blood cells around the body. Low iron stores mean fewer red blood cells are made and those that are made have decreased amounts of haemoglobin. Without an adequate supply of oxygen, many parts of the body cannot work properly. When the rate of iron loss exceeds the amount absorbed from your diet, the first thing that happens is
Good news - chocolate can boost your iron levels, as long as it’s dark.
that the body uses up its iron stores. If blood iron levels continue to fall, this can then lead to iron-deficiency anaemia, which is when the number of red blood cells and/ or amount of haemoglobin in the red blood cells falls to below normal. Iron-deficiency anaemia is the most severe form of low iron deficiency and is completely treatable, typically involving iron supplements to return iron levels to a healthy level. There are many causes of iron deficiency and anaemia, however unless you are pregnant, it is unlikely that anaemia will be caused just by lack of iron in your diet. The most common cause of anaemia in women is heavy periods, so the recommended amount of iron is higher for women (14.8mg a day compared to 8.7mg for men). Malabsorption, when the body struggles to absorb adequate amounts of iron, is another common cause which can be due to other conditions. If you experience any of the symptoms of low iron levels (excessive tiredness, dizziness, breathlessness, pale complexion) then get yourself down to the Health Service to get checked out. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
My experience During my first year at Uni I burnt the candle at both ends, with lots of late nights out clubbing and all nighters. I have always had problems absorbing iron but, when I was at home, my parents always made sure that I had enough iron in my diet. Settling into my new life and the independence that came with it
meant eating a healthy diet was put on the backburner. I was really tired all the time and getting up in the mornings even for a 12 o’clock lecture was really difficult. People would comment on how extremely pale I was looking and I seemed to be getting ill a lot so I went along to the doctors. I had a blood test to check for iron deficiency and it turned out my iron levels were half of what they should be. A few months of iron tablets, blood tests and check ups later, my iron levels went back up. Now I constantly watch what I eat and make sure I have enough iron rich foods. It can seem like a hassle but as I am naturally on the iron deficient side, there is the risk that I will become anaemic again and it is not an experience I would like to relive anytime soon.
For more information on anaemia visit: www.nhs.uk/conditions/ anaemia-iron-deficiency-/pages/ introduction.aspx
Dress to impress for your interview
Annabel Barton Around this time many final year students are frantically seeking jobs, and many others are looking for some part time work to run alongside their studies. As a result, many of us are currently attending job interviews, and some of you may wonder how to dress to impress for this important occasion. Obviously, you want to make a positive impression so you can get the job. So, comfort is key, especially when it comes to shoes. Girls, if you can walk in a smart pair of heels, then that’s brilliant. But if you don’t want to look rather awkward hobbling into an interview situation if you cannot handle those stilettos (I can relate to this from personal experience), there is
nothing wrong with a smart pair of flats or some more manageable kitten heels. Also make sure you shine up your shoes so they become almost mirror like, it will be instantly noticeable if your shoes are dirty. Make sure they are in good condition, get them reheeled or resoled if necessary to make sure you look smart. Showing you’ve gone to an effort with your appearance in this way will impress. When it comes to clothes, it can depend on the job you have applied for as to what clothes are deemed
appropriate. It’s good to be able to convey your personality through your clothes, but remaining formal with a conventional suit can be the best option. Suit jackets for men and women are ideal for interviews, either as a part of a two or three piece suit They can also be ideal for over a dress or skirt, such as the one in the photograph (left). Adding some colour could make you more memorable to an interviewer, such as a bright shirt underneath a dark suit. It doesn’t have to be a fashion parade
(unless you’re applying for a fashion related job), so don’t feel obliged to go on a big shopping spree. Try not to show off too much flesh with something too low cut or revealing when you are deciding what to wear, you don’t want to give the wrong impression to the interviewer. Play it safe, you want to come across as a reliable employee. Consider the little details by keeping your hair tidy and out of your face and keeping your nails plain. Some interview invites specifically ask for ‘business attire’ to be worn at an interview. For men a suit and shirt such as the one in the photgraph (left) is a safe and classic option, with or without a jacket - there’s no such thing as being too
smart. Remember to iron all your clothes as presentation is essential. If you don’t have an ironing board, hang up your shirt in your bathroom whilst you shower in the morning, and the steam will get rid of the creases. When contemplating the finer details, consider a smart belt and a briefcase to add a sophisticated edge. A tie is also essential for men, plain or if you would prefer a coloured one, try to go for a distinguishable and recognisable colour. Showing an interviwer you can dress appropriately for the occasion will help you to convery that you are exactly the kind of person they want to employ and increases your chances of building a good reputation in your chosen industry. Even if you aren’t successful in one interview, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you won’t have a reputation, and making a good first impression will help ensure that it is a good one.
FORGE PRESS Friday February 17 2011
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Lifestyle & Travel
Lifestyle
A hair-raising affair Some say it’s painful and expensive, others swear by it. Since hot wax hair removal is still a controversial topic, Forge Lifestyle & Travel sent four brave contributors to try it out.
CHEST Being a gentleman on the more glorious side of hairy, I don’t fit into the category of ceaseless grooming and chests as smooth as well-plucked chicken breasts. So, who better to be liberated from the old hairy torso with the help of hot wax and lollipop sticks? The process is relatively quick and surprisingly tolerable. More unpleasant, however, is the ending result. While a hairy man can get away with not having the most spiffingly toned torso, without the hair, I found myself looking essentially like a large, fat baby with much smaller nipples than I had thought. This was upsetting. Back at school, the lads who grew body hair first were gods among mere mortals. So what happened? A hairy chest gives you character and, I like to imagine, makes a man appear more virile in that creepy, ‘oh behave!’ sort of way. For that reason, waxing my chest is not something I’ll be doing again anytime soon. Tom Fletcher
INTIMATE - male I don’t know about you, but my ideal Saturday doesn’t start with me lying on a table, naked from the waist down, with a woman I’ve only known for a few minutes smearing burning, blue wax onto my testes. If you think small talk in the hairdressers is awkward, think again. To say that I was nervous before the first rip would be a gross understatement. If I didn’t feel sick before having to sign what looked like a medical release form that would deny me any right of litigation should a bollock be accidentally removed, I certainly did after. Admittedly, the actual hair-removal process wasn’t as bad as I expected. Yes, it was painful, but after the initial shock, the old adrenaline kicked into overdrive. The rest of the 20 minute session passed quite swimmingly, even if it was punctuated by brief flashes of eyewatering agony. The waxer and I even shared the odd joke. Thankfully, not about my penis. The thing that mystifies me, being as I am now a possessor of a ball bag smoother than buttery silk, is why anyone would do this. Testicles aren’t exactly the paragon of natural beauty, but my balls now bear more than a passing resemblance to the gobbly bit of a turkey’s neck. Not quite what you’d call an improvement. And hygiene isn’t really a reason either. The only other real reason, as my waxer beautifully put it, is that your partner won’t get “dental floss” during fellatio. Lovely, but, somehow, I don’t see that being much of a problem, unless your name is Chewbacca or Sasquatch. I did it because of a drunken bet, but I highly doubt the other hundred odd clients who return month in, month out have the same excuse.
Tom Wardak
LEGS
INTIMATE - female
Having never been waxed before, I went in shaking like a leaf and feeling overwhelming pathetic. I mounted a chair that looked worryingly like a dentist’s and waited for the wax to be applied to my legs. At first it felt smooth and warm against my skin, and I thought that the entire process would be relaxing. Turns out I was wrong. I flinched in pain as the lady, who I hasten to add was practically grinning at my dismay, applied the first strip and ripped it off my skin. Thankfully, the more she continued, the number my legs became. After each section, a soothing moisturiser was massaged onto my legs. All in all, it hurt; but by the end I was left with silky smooth legs- and slightly red pores. The next morning the redness has subsided and my legs were left feeling like Gisele Buendchen’s.
Let’s not beat about the ahem, bush, waxing hurts no matter what. Take that waxing pain ‘downstairs’ and you have pain coupled with the embarrassment of displaying yourself in all your glory to a complete stranger. Paper ‘pants’ aside, the person waxing you will pretty much see everything you have to give. The pain is...interesting. It’s over before you know it, but do not let that take away from the fact that it really does hurt. Taking all of this into consideration, I wouldn’t advise anyone to get their private parts waxed just because their partner may want them to. Exposing yourself to a complete stranger should be something you feel comfortable with. If you’re okay with it great, but if you’re not there is absolutely no reason for you to put yourself through something so painful and potentially embarrassing.
Alisha Rouse
Fay Guest
Travel
My trip to Kenya A lesson in kindness When told that I would be spending a month in Kenya, in a small village without electricity six hours outside of Mombasa, I couldn’t help but worry a little bit. However, as soon as I arrived in Muhaka, many of my worries immediately vanished. The local children jumped into my arms
and searched for attention, and a few of the elders of the village came to give me friendship stones they had carved as a peace offering to their new guest. They did not ask for money or sized up my belongings; instead, they offered a friendly smile and allowed me to feel settled and comfortable in their presence. This feeling of comfort grew with every moment I spent with the locals of Muhaka. During my month in Kenya, I worked for a company called Camps International. By completing the various tasks assigned to me, I was able to give back to the community and thank them for their kindness and generosity. My first job was teaching a secondary school class in the local stone-built school. I was lead into the room by the head teacher, shown what page of work the class was on... and that was it. I had no help, no classroom assistant to show me how to deliver my lesson and I had no preparation to fall back
on. As I felt 35 eyes staring at me in great expectation, I knew the pressure was on. Trying to cover up a mild panic attack, I introduced myself in broken Swahili. Thankfully, the children helped me start off the lesson and I eventually found confidence in my teaching skills - even though I’m sure I still made numerous mistakes. The children in Muhaka have an inspiring dedication to learning and to improving themselves. One girl I spoke to told me how she runs for an hour barefoot to school every day in order to receive an education and one day become a nurse. Think about how many university students (myself included) complain about nine o’clock starts and
more than three hours of lectures in a day. The harsh truth is that most of the children in Muhaka will never make it to university level, and yet many of them show more commitment to studying than we in the Western world do. This made me realize how many opportunities I have received in the past and taken for granted. However, what influenced me the most was the time spent I with the younger children in the newly renovated nursery built by Camps International. These children were only five or six years old, however the amount of responsibility that is placed on them is more than I had at the age of 18. Many of the children care for their younger siblings and also help with
the manual work around the village. Although they may lead a very difficult and challenging life, not once did I hear one of the children complain. Instead they were always smiling, laughing and singing. They craved attention from anyone and being able to give them that attention cost nothing to me and meant the world to them. Seeing their faces light up as I gave them a pair of cheap sunglasses or took a picture of them is a memory that will stay with me for a lifetime. I not only took away with me a new language and some amazing pictures, I also gained a new understanding of the word ‘kindness’ as this was given to me throughout my entire stay in Muhaka. Lois Helan
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FORGE PRESS Friday February 17 2012
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Careers guide 2012 Introduction This guide has been created by Forge Press, with guidance and support from the Careers Service and is intended to help students prepare for life after university and help give advice in some of the most important areas. Going to university is a fantastic experience for most and opens doors for many incredible opportunities, however in recent years there has been a noticeable decrease in graduate prospects and many students fear the time when they have to leave university and enter the wide world of work. A degree is often not enough anymore, so it
Photo: Michael Sauers/Flickr
Q & A with the Careers Service Although some students may have their future career all worked out, many have not decided or have no idea what they want to do. In this question and answer section, we ask advisers at the Careers Service to help answer queries and concerns that these students may have. What if you don’t know what to do? There are many options out there and graduates work in all sorts of different roles after they finish university. It is good to have an idea about what you want to do and if you have no idea then the careers service website can be a good place to start. There are a lot of useful tools that can help you decide what career could be right for you, including ‘Explore your options’ and ‘Careers with my Degree’ features which can help you find jobs that require your degree subject. This can help give you ideas about what you can do in your career. The rest is up to you but looking at options on the Careers Service website is a good start and once you start gathering a few ideas, the prospect of leaving university will become a lot less scary. What else can I do to help me start to think about my future career? There is a lot of useful advice on the Careers Service website which covers writing CVs,
has never been more important to make sure that you are as employable as possible. This guide is not just for final year students, it is designed to be appealing and useful for all students, regardless of year of study, degree programme or aspirations for the future. It is never too early to start thinking about what you want from your degree and what career path you would like to pursue but what seems clear for some people might not be the same for everyone else. Making decisions about your future is not always easy and a lot of students are unsure about what job they would like to do after graduation. covering letters and also interview techniques. As well as this there is information on how to develop your skills with videos and talks on how to do this and ways of gaining valuable work experience. It could be beneficial to go into the Careers Service yourself and ask to speak to an adviser. You can arrange to make an appointment by telephone and all they contact details are available on their website (www.sheffield.ac.uk/ careers/students). Alternatively you can go into the reception and seek information from there, try to speak to someone directly or make an appointment for a later date. What are the main skills that employers are looking for? Employers are usually interested in skills such as the following, but of course it depends on the organisation and job. Problem solving, numeracy and communication skills are very important. Employers are also interested in creativity, flexibility, the ability to be able to work in a team and of course confidence is very appealing. The Skills for Work Certificate and the Sheffield Graduate Award are managed by the Careers Service and gaining one of these awards can help show employers that you have these skills. What does the Careers Service offer to help students find jobs after they have graduated? University of Sheffield graduates can continue to use the Careers Service for up to three years after they have graduated. Graduates who still live in Sheffield are welcome to come into the Careers Service themselves and those graduates who live elsewhere can send emails to us and use the online resources on the website. What are the benefits of doing further study? This depends on what your career aspirations are. If you want an academic career, then gaining a PhD is necessary before you can do so. Postgraduate courses are compulsory to get a job in some professions such as librarianship and social work. For other careers, it is vital
Art: Arroz y Asado/Flickr to access what skills and qualifications are required by employers and make an informed decision as to whether doing a postgraduate course will benefit you. It is also helpful to find out if previous students have benefited from the posdtgraduate course you are thinking of doing.
This guide aims to reassure students that you don’t have to know exactly what you want to do straight away and that the University of Sheffield and the Careers Service offer advice and information that may help you. Some of the obvious skills necessary for increasing employabilaity shall be outlined in this pull-out, as well highlighting some other things you can do; some exciting opportunities and insight into what jobs and schemes are actually out there. Having a good CV is vital, as you have to look impressive on paper before you get chance to sell yourself in an interview and techniques on how to achieve
success in both of these areas shall be discussed in this guide. There are many different options available for graduates and we shall explore these by looking at summer internships and how they could benefit you as well as looking into what graduate schemes are out there and how you can make yourself stand out from the crowd. For those of you who simply do not have a clue what career is right for you, there is a question and answer piece with the Careers Service which may help you in making steps towards deciding. Lianne Williams
Top 10 Graduate Employers Employer
Requirements (degree and UCAS points)
Vacancies
Deadline
PwC
2.1 300
1,250
Year-round
How do I know if a career is right for me?
Deloitte
2.1 300
1,200
Year-round
Find out as much as you can about the career in mind. The Careers Service briefing sheet ‘Researching Types of Work’ explains how you can do this. Talk to as many people as possible who are already working in the career that you are thinking about and ideally try and get work experience shadowing someone.
KPMG
2.1 320
1,000
Year-round
Aldi
2.1
60+
Year-round
NHS
2.2
100
31st December
BBC
2.2
100
31st December
Teach First
2.1 300
1,040
16th April
Where is the best place to start looking for jobs?
Civil Service
2.2
300-400
30th November
Make sure you’ve registered for vacancy email alerts on ‘myVacancies’ (http://shef. prospects.ac.uk). Remember that one website will not have all the jobs, so it is important to look on as many jobsites as possible.
Accenture
2.1 340
500+
Year-round
Ernst & Young
2.1 300
900
Year-round
What can I do to make myself more employable? Being a University of Sheffield graduate does give you an advantage when it comes to attracting the eyes of an employer, however it is not just all about the prestige of the University. It is important to take full advantage of activities available through the students union and the university. Work experience is also vital, so try and gain as much as you can in your chosen career path. What services do you provide to help students prepare for interviews? There are online talks and DVDs on our websites, plus books that cover every aspect from what to prepare for, what questions to expect and what employers to look out for. There are also interactive workshops that allow you to try out answering interview questions.
Useful websites
Still feel stuck on how to prepare for the particular interview you’ve landed? Check out these websites for all the latest tips on interviews in your field: www.knowhownonprofit.org www.interviewtechniques.org.uk www.jobsite.co.uk www.businessballs.com www.mycvandme.com www.direct.gov.uk/en/ Employment/Jobseekers www.sheffield.ac.uk/ careers/students www.milkround.com
FORGE PRESS Friday February 17 2012
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Careers 2012
CV Tips You should use your CV if you want to make a speculative application to an employer, or if a job advertisement asks you to apply ‘in writing.’ There is no perfect template as to what your CV should contain, but experts suggest a basic format Personal details: Full name (if you have a middle name this isn’t necessary to include Address, phone number, e m a i l address. Due to age discrimination rules, you no longer need to include your date of birth. Career history: Starting with your most recent job. Include dates. A personal profile/ skills summary: Sell yourself and tailor your qualities towards the job you are applying for. It is best to use key words and not lengthy
descriptions. Education: Include all of your education qualifications. Work experience: All forms of this are valuable, whether full-time, parttime, temporary or voluntary. Describe the main duties and the abilities you developed. If you have more work experience than qualifications, put your work experience before your qualifications. Achievements: From previous jobs or work experience that are relevant. Interests: If they are relevant to the job. Any extra information: Such as reasons for a career change or reasons for gaps in career history. References: Ideally two or more, including a recent employer. There is no single way of constructing a CV that guarantees success, but there are some basic guidelines which help to strengthen a CV Type it don’t handwrite it. I am not saying this because of the age of technology, which some people think loses a personal touch and shows a lack of effort. I am saying this because I think typing your CV is the
neatest and most professional way to do it. Even if you do not own a computer, borrow a friends or nip to a library. Put your name at the top in bold to make it stand out. You don’t need to write ‘Curriculum Vitae.’ Research: Your CV needs to be targeted for the role you are going for. Mould your own skills and experiences into the job application’s requirements. It is crucial that it is short, usually no more than two sides of A4. Employers lose interest if it’s not concise and completely relevant. Spelling and grammar: Read, read and read again. Check that your research is accurate. I once applied for a part-time sales assistant job at a shop called ‘Silver Editions.’ I assumed it was ‘Silver Additions.’ I didn’t hear back… Some people are anxious about coming across as too ‘big-headed’ in their CV, fearing the reader will think negatively about them. Do not fear this – you should be positive and clearly highlight your strengths and achievements – it is not big-headed in the slightest to do this. Be proud of what you have done and what you can offer. Avoid abbreviations: For example DoE (Duke of Edinburgh). They can come across as lazy or the reader might not understand them. Choose a style and be consistent with it – for example use either bullet points or short paragraphs.
Online Job Applications When applying for a job this way, CVs may be scanned for keywords. This is why it is important to use good vocabulary throughout. Focusing on active verbs such as ‘organised,’ ‘planned’ and ‘initiated’ to describe your achievements, for example, are strong words and will be detected and hopefully make you stand out.
Best websites for CV templates and help www.cv-surgeon.co.uk www.reed.co.uk/CVBuilder www.cvtips.com www.totaljobs.com www.dayjob.com www.cv-service.org
Global Tips The Careers Service has information on making applications for positions in many other countries. CVs can be produced in a different format for job applications outside of the UK. For example, the equivalent of the CV in the US is the “resume”. If you are applying for an overseas job, it is important to remember to include your international dialling code. Olivia Adams
All art: Jonathan Robinson
A good CV is vital to ensure that you stand the best possible chance of securing an interview with a view to obtaining a job. Your CV should persuade the employer that you are worth taking seriously.
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FORGE PRESS Friday February 17 2012
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Careers 2012
Interviews and prospects
Everything you need to know about interviews, graduate schemes and years in industry. Interviews Some interviews can be incredibly daunting, particularly if you find it difficult to articulate yourself in a pressurized situation, or simply worried about how you may come across on a first impression. It may seem incredibly daunting, but there are a bunch of ways you can make the process easier for yourself, and highly increase your chances of employmentafter all, you’ve gotten this far. Basic tips Do your research. Access the company’s website, look at their annual reports and try to learn anything you can about the job specified. The interviewer will expect you to have done this, and by meeting this expectation you leave yourself a lot less likely to get caught out under questioning. Done that? Go further. Search for articles in the media about the company, or that field altogether. Read about trends across that business sector, or about similar companies, as well as recent events that may effect that sector. The more keen and knowledgeable you sound, the more you will stand out.
colloquial language. By doing so, you’ll seem more professional and respectful. Look professional. Wear suitable office wear, ironed and clean, and try and avoid the temptation to have a nervous cigarette on your way to the interview. You don’t want the first thing they remember about you to be the overpowering smell of tobacco. It’s worthwhile bringing an extra shirt with you too, you never know when an oncoming car might splash you with rainwater. Alisha Rouse
A Degree with Employment Experience provides the opportunity for a placement year spent in a professional environment. Particularly useful for degrees not specifically with a year in industry, such as many arts and humanities subjects.
2) Interview for as many jobs as you can - the more experience the better 3) Develop a compelling story about yourself 4) However, don’t take this too far- it’s not the X Factor. 5) Tailor your story to the job and wise up on all that job’s attributes 6) Be prepared 7) Anticipate likely questions 8) Ask questions during the interview
There are three basic types of interviews that you could find yourself facing, so here are some basic tips to help you in those situations. Face-to-face interviews Don’t try to blurt out as much as you can about yourself in less than 60 seconds. Listen to the questions asked to you, and respond appropriately. Your interviewer will know exactly what questions they want to ask to get appropriate responses to define whether your skills, experience and personality are suitable for the job. Your experience in a vet’s surgery or Guides badges in cross-stitch is anything but helpful in an interview for a solicitor. Telephone interviews Charge your phone. Speak clearly, slowly and concisely while utilising all of the advice above. Group interviews This format is particularly difficult if you find yourself nervous speaking in groups, but fear not, the loud, gobby one talking about their funny travelling tales will not impress the panel. Make sure you get your piece said, and distinguish yourself from the group, although many may have similar abilities to you. Remain professional, concise and outline your strengths; without sounding arrogant or aggressive. Placements are usually taken in the penultimate year of study, so most commonly at the end of your second year of studying your degree. Your department has to give approval so it is important that you discuss the option of DEE with your personal tutor.
A placement year increases your employability, develops your personal and professional skills, and could have a financial incentive. You can also further develop your transferable skills, become more commercially aware and potentially secure a place on the graduate career ladder.
During the placement year, the Careers Service keep in constant contact including one visit to your place of work, along with a MOLE module with supporting documents. Upon completion of the year, a 3,000 word report and four 500 word skills analysis reports are submitted by the student and assessed upon a pass or fail basis.
There are other ways of taking a placement year, including taking an official Leave of Absence. However the benefit of choosing the option of DEE is that it is added to your degree title, which automatically looks more impressive to a potential employer upon first glance of a CV than having to explain a yearlong gap in your degree.
In order to pass the year, a minimum of 38 weeks placement has to be obtained. This can be through just one placement, or a combination of more. Often a combination is a good choice if there are several industries that you want to take the opportunity to try out before applying for permanent jobs after graduation.
The Careers Service provide assistance in finding placements, including workshops and advice on how to build CV’s and write appropriate covering letters, along with general information sessions about the year and its assessment.
1) Ensure you have a copy of your CV, cover letter and your interview confirmation with you on the day
9) Focus on commonalities with your interviewer. One mutual interest or colleague could make you memorable
Keep it formal unless invited to do otherwise. Don’t slip into using too
Year in industry
Top last-minute interview tips
Listings of placements can be viewed through your MUSE account and The Careers Service offer drop in sessions every Tuesday and Thursday in term time between 1-2pm where you can discuss your placement options further. Melanie Sisson
Graduate Schemes Graduate training schemes are typically available to, as the name suggests, students who have graduated university. The courses are usually one or two years long. There are a wide variety of graduate schemes that offer different benefits. For students who are unsure of what career they want to pursue, schemes that allow you to work in multiple departments in a company can provide a useful way of finding what career path you wish to choose once you finish your graduate training scheme. For those who do know what field they want to go in to, there is a huge selection of companies that offer specific graduate schemes in fields such as Marketing and Accountancy.
Union, they will be able to provide a lot of information about who offers graduate training schemes. Most graduate training schemes pay a basic wage rate that can vary from £13,000- £18,000 per year. There are a few training schemes that do not pay, but these are usually part-time and expect you to have a standard day job already.
Schemes abroad
How to get into the schemes It is important that before you begin applying to graduate schemes you spend some time considering what type of industry you wish to work in, this will make finding graduate schemes much easier when you begin searching. There are two main methods of finding graduate schemes; the first is to do your own research into companies to find out if they have a graduate scheme available, application forms and information are usually under the jobs section of a site. The second is by visiting the careers office in the Students’
have a requirement based on Ucas points. If you are unsure how A-Levels translate into Ucas points you can check out the handy calculator on www. merlinhelpsstudents.com. It is unlikely that you will be required to have work experience in a similar field, but it can really improve your competitiveness when applying for graduate schemes. You will usually be asked to supply your most recent CV, fill in an application form either online or by post, and attend an interview which may be by phone or in person.
Qualifications needed Depending on your choice of graduate scheme, you may be expected to have completed a degree in a certain discipline. A-Levels still matter as a form of qualification too, and many of the top graduate schemes
Abroad schemes offer students the chance to travel to another country to work. Whilst this is a tempting idea, abroad schemes are very competitive and there are more restrictions to entry than normal graduate and summer schemes. Many multinational companies that offer these schemes require you to be fluent in the language of the country you are applying too. Some companies will also require you to have good knowledge of native culture. However, there are still opportunities for graduates to travel overseas to English speaking countries. And for those interested in teaching abroad there are schemes such as Camp America and a variety of TEFL courses. Hamilton Jones
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FORGE PRESS Friday February 17 2012 www.forgetoday.com
PUZZLES & HUMOUR
Coffee Break overheard
Outside the Henry Stephenson Building: Girl: I hate people, just in general.
in sheffield
In Interval: Guy: Taking the piss out of your girlfriend is fun, it goes in the montage at the end. Girl: What montage? Guy: The one at the end of the relationship. Girl: Relationships don’t have montages. Guy: ALL relationships have montages.
THe REAL NEWS THIS FORTNIGHT: Pop-up Pizza
Marks and Sparks have created Britain’s first toaster pizza. The pizzas will take just four minutes to ‘cook’ (toast), will cost £2 and come in a handy suit to prevent the cheesy goodness from spilling into your toaster. They will contain 190 to 250 calories each and apparently are “a great option for people who want a slice of pizza...but not the temptation of a whole pizza” according to M&S spokeswoman, Claire Hodgson. Ms Hodgson has obviously not spent much time with the student,
or obese, populations within the UK. Toasters can take between two to four pieces of bread, the leap isn’t exactly taxing to make that these snacks will soon become more calorific and fatty than a main meal. Of course, it will probably be a hit and M&S will be hailed as marketing geniuses, but those of us on a diet will forever rue the day that Stuart Rose turned around the retail chain’s fortunes.
The strange news this fortnight: Can of coke or the morning after pill? The Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania has a vending machine that dispenses the morning-after pill, condoms (naturally) and decongestants (obviously). Students can take the emergency contraceptive after parting with a sum to the sound of $25, and apparently it is greatly appreciated as many students feel too embarrassed to get the pill from regular pharmacies. Chelsea Wehking s a i d that she “think(s) it’s great that the school is giving us this option” and despite some religious student groups stating that the vending machine is the equivalent to soliciting murder, 85 per cent of the student body endorse the vending machines
Crossword Puzzle:
Across: 1. 60 year anniversary (7) 4. East African Country (7) 6. Spine-tingling (5) 8. Winter sport (3) 9. Weather type (4) 10. Mine entrance (4) 11. Dazzlingly good, playing card (3) 12. Chief, curve (4) 15. Crafty, wily, cunning, artful (7) 17. Light canoe (5) 18. Canal between Mediterrean and the Red Sea (4) 20. A minute quantity (4) 21. A novelty, distinctive quality (9) 22. Refuse to endorse (4) 23. Small bird, 17th Century English architect (4) 26. Articulate, express audibly (5) 27. Entusiastic, eager, fervid (7) 28. Deprive by deceit, fraudulent business scheme (4) 29. Grassy field, meadow (3) 30. Dr. Zhivago’s mistress (4) 31. Covetousness, green (4)
placement in the student health centre. The vending machine has been in situ for two years, but is now under investigation by the FDA as to whether it is moral to allow such easy accessibility to emergency contraception. Federal law in the US means that the pill is available without a prescription to anyone over the age of 17, so the FDA is only involved in a moral debate. T h e result of the ruling could either open the flood gates to ‘oops vending machines’ across university campuses or force some to lift their chins up and walk the 1.3 miles to the Shippensburg pharmacy.
omg, Have you seen...? Facebook it:
University of Sheffield Memes
A meme is an idea, behaviour or style that spreads from person to person within a culture. This fantastic facebook page allows people to paste increasingly ridiculous and hilarious photos with a caption that frames the University of Sheffield life. There are the obligatory spattering of congenial Hallam hate, but also the classic engineering jokes (engineers mostly laughing at themsleves) and many others. Facebook: University of Sheffield Memes
The real news this fortnight: Skydiving: Falling with style
33. Inspect, leverage (3) 34. Black, a marten (5) 36. Large body of ice (7) 37. Capital of Kenya (7)
Down:
1. Founder of Troy (8) 2. Northern state of the USA (4) 3. Mark, flaw (3) 5. Mohammad __ (3) 7. Decorate, embellish (5) 8. Morphological, arrangement (12) 9. Consecutively (12) 13. Autocratic, dictorial (9) 14. Smaller relation of the giraffe (5) 16. Type of tree (3) 19. Severely simple (5) 22. To wit, namely (3) 24. Second japenese city to receive an atomic bomb (8) 25. A round hill, hence (5) 32. Socialist Party (4) 33. Toy breed of dog (3) 35. A sled, hair style (3)
Many of you will have either read, heard of or been told about Felix Baumgartner’s imminent world record attempt at skydiving from the greatest altitude ever recorded, a mind-boggling 23miles above the Earth’s surface. At these dizzying heights, he will plummet to Earth at speeds faster than the speed of sound (343.2metres/ second at 20 degrees Celsius, approximately falling one mile every five seconds), simultaneously also making him the first man to travel that fast without the aid of a machine. Unlike the traditional suits worn by skydivers Baumgartner has had a special space-suit designed that is both more mobile and tougher than its NASA counterparts. If he tears the suits whilst in the upper echelons of Earth’s atmosphere then the moisture in his body will start to boil and he will quickly lose consciousness. Despite the attempt
being described as “a remarkable effort, fraught with challenges” by the head of aviation medicine for the UK’s RAF, Gp Capt David Gradwell, Baumgartner remains resolutely optimistic, apparently he “like(s) a challenge”. Baumgartner has frequented the news in recent years with various challenges and dives done for both Red Bull and his own enjoyment, including jumping from the top of the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, but this latest endeavour will catapult him into the history books. Calmly, Baumgartner described his action plan to the Daily Telegraph, “We’re going up to 120,000 feet in a pressurised capsule hanging underneath a helium balloon and at the right altitude the balloon will level off. I’m going to step off that capsule, fall down for a couple of minutes and hopefully I’m going to break the speed of sound.” Simple as that, he’ll just step off like he’s getting off the 52 bus.
Coffee Break’s Word of the Fortnight: Screed (n./v.) - A long discourse or essay, especially a diatribe. 2. An informal letter, account, or other piece of writing. (Origin: related to the Old English word for shred. Its alternate sense of a long speech was first recorded in 1789 and may be related to the sense of the word meaning a long lists of names.)
FORGE PRESS Friday February 17 2012 www.forgetoday.com
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PUZZLES & HUMOUR
With Holly Wilkinson More Puzzles:
How to solve a problem like electronic calendars
Sudoku
Easy
Sudoku 2
Anyone with a smart phone understands the pitfalls of the electronic calendar. You feel terribly organised inputting each lecture, tutorial and lab carefully into your blackberry. Each time is checked, checked twice, every date cross-referenced and the reminders set at a reasonable 15 minutes before each event begins. Then you make the mistake, you choose the ‘repeat weekly’ option. You think that’s a huge worry removed, that you’ll never miss a lecture again. Wrong. It happens to even the best of us, with no need to actually remember our timetable the good ol’ brain focuses on more important things to remember (like the fact that you’ve run out beer, or that the guy who sat three seats in on the left hand side of the fifth row in that lecture last
Tuesday was fit – important things). Then that fateful day arrives, after over-sleeping you rush out of the house leaving your precious phone on charge. You reach your first lecture on time. Phew.
The lecture ends, you reach for your phone. No. Nightmare. It’s okay, you can just follow you’re course mates. A plan devised you reach the rest of your
lectures successfully. Who knew you could survive a day without a phone? After swaggering home, buoyed up by a feeling of sticking it to the figurative, technological god, you burst into your room and cradle your phone. Together at last. You notice that little blinking light, “Ooo, I’m popular” you think. Unlocking your phone you open up your notices and there it is: a missed lab/tutor meeting/seminar. Disaster. Don’t do it. By all means make secondary reminders on your phone, but if there is one thing you learn going through university it is that each year the results of missing things become more and more catastrophic. Write your timetable down, keep a small date diary. Memorise important events like you do organic chemistry systems, and then write them down again.
Trending
Hot The University of Sheffield Memes Facebook page.
Recipe: Chicken Thighs and Chorizo Ingredients: • Chicken thighs (2-3 per person) • Chorizo (1 bag of snacking chorizo is enough for 3-4 people) • Red onions (1 per person) • New potatoes (3-4 per person) • Olive oil • Salt and pepper • 1 Garlic bulb (divided into cloves) • Herbs (Rosemary or thyme)
Medium
Sudoku 3
Method: Set your oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Then grease a baking tin and chop the onions and potatoes into quarters. Next divide the garlic bulb into cloves and arrange the chicken in the tin with the potatoes, onions and garlic. Cut the chorizo into small, bite-size pieces and scatter around everything, before drizzling a small amount of oil all over the ingredients. Finally, season the thighs and scatter the herbs on top. Bake until the chicken is cooked and the vegetable roasted
Random Fact of the Week: Turtles can absorb oxygen through the mucus membranes of their rectum (bum). Hard
Puzzle Corner:
Lecture Puzzle: Can you draw this symbol with one contiuous line, making the minimum number of terms? You are allowed to go over the same lines more than once. It can be drawn in 14 strokes, making only 13 turns.
(approximately 40 minutes), occasionally turning the vegetables over to crisp them evenly.
Recipe:
Little known facts about the ingredients: Chorizo is a type of pork sausage that originated from the Iberian peninsula, and the ingredients alter depending on where it comes from. For example, Spanish chorizo uses smoked paprika and white wine, whereas Mexican chorizo uses chilli peppers and vinegar. Chicken thighs are often over-looked next to their more expensive cousin, the breast, but thighs are moist, tender and some say far more flavoursome. Both the ancient Greeks and europeans in the Middle ages believed thyme brought courage to those who wore it, and the Romans used it to purify their rooms.
The Useful news this fortnight: Upside-down climbing, really?
Tom Randell, 32, and Pete Whittaker, 20, have manged to set an innuendo-filled record in the Canyonlands National Park, Utah. They travelled there to scale the Century Crack, a 49m (160ft) long gap between two rock formations. What made their climb even more impressive was not the fact that they had to climb upside down above a rocky gully,
but that they did the whole thing without any pre-placed equipment. They started training for their record attempt over two years ago and even built a replica of the century crack in Randell’s basement, completing 5,300m of horizontal, upside-down climbing, 42,300 pull-ups and bicep curls, along with almost 16 hours of static abdominal holds. Randell, who is in fact from Sheffield, said “All the work is done by our hands and feet. Feet work well because they’re around the same width as the crack whereas, with our hand, we had to stack them together in all sorts of bizarre shapes.”
BBC video footage of a fake rhino being captured in Tokyo’s zoo. The Olympics 2012 or the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations?
Alanis Morissette is going to tour in the UK. David Beckham has launched his new underwear range for H&M (can’t really decide if this is good news or bad news). House M.D. will finish after the current season - goodbye Hugh Laurie.
Cold
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Matchdebating
Debate: Is Capello’s exit good for England, or should we be careful what we wish for?
Bungling FA wrong Change needed to to force Capello out avoid 2010 repeat Matthew Smith
I don’t want to claim to be Mystic Meg – for all sorts of reasons – but I saw Capello’s departure coming. When the administration starts meddling in the job of the manager, you’ve got yourself a ticking time bomb. So now we have a real quandary: a new manager needs to be appointed ahead of Euro 2012, and the decision will be made by the spineless, incompetent buffoons at the FA, who effectively forced out a man who was, against the popular opinion of our blood-thirsty media, a pretty darn decent England manager.
“If we look at cold, hard stats, Capello had a great record” Capello’s departure is bad on two levels – firstly, I liked the man. He picked up the awful mess of the failure to qualify for Euro 2008, and turned it into a near perfect qualification campaign for the World Cup. True, once we got there things weren’t quite so rosy, but I’m inclined to think that Capello was only a small part, rather than the entire crux, of
the issue. Over-inflated egos, individual errors, an inability to follow basic tactical orders and that Frank Lampard ‘goal’ were primary points. Also, since the World Cup, England have been largely decent – the last three home qualifiers were a touch dodgy, but there was never any real risk that England were going to miss out, and in what turned out to be Capello’s final two games in charge, there was genuine inspiration for the future: a sterling defensive display to keep out world champions Spain, and an encouraging blooding of young caps against Sweden. If we look at cold, hard stats, Capello had a great record as England boss, with a 66.7 per cent win record, 28 out of 42. This includes victories over such powerhouses of the world game as Kazakhstan and Andorra, but then again, Sir Alf Ramsay – second with a win percentage of 61.1% – wasn’t in a World Cup final every game. My other point is a question of logistics – who is going to take over? Sure, Harry Redknapp, I hear you cry. The cleanest man in the world of football, but why would he leave the brilliant project he’s building at Spurs? And even if he did, the FA
Select BUCS fixtures
are going to have to pay through the nose for a man Spurs want to keep hold of so badly. Appointing him now would also give him little chance to get to know the players ahead of Poland/ Ukraine, so that would make Stuart Pearce a good choice – but he’s tied up this summer coaching the Olympic team. Shockingly enough, the FA haven’t thought this one through.
Jack Burnett Fabio Capello is a smart man. For this reason, I don’t buy the explanation for his split with England that he and the FA offered – that Capello felt he couldn’t work with an organisation that went over his head in stripping John Terry of the England captaincy. The concept of captaincy in the minds of English fans and media – that of a morally infallible lionheart singlehandedly responsible for guiding/misguiding the team towards success – is one much derided by Capello. He appeared to care as little about who held the sacred armband as he did about how well Micah Richards was playing. The issue was a convenient excuse for both parties: the FA, frustrated by
necessary, and now the FA will go through the motions that come after leaving a loveless relationship: initial optimism and dreams of bounding through flowery meadows with Harry Redknapp and the European Championship FENCING
NETBALL
Men’s firsts at Newcastle firsts
Women’s firsts at Sheffield Hallam firsts
Women’s firsts vs Durham seconds
RUGBY UNION
FOOTBALL
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19
Women’s firsts at York St John’s firsts
BASKETBALL
performances and a rapid decline in Capello’s likeability factor outside and possibly within the squad, and Capello, frustrated by England’s apparently incurable mediocrity. Capello must have known the squad had little chance of surviving Euro 2012 with reputations intact, and that he would be better served leaving before the coming debacle. The 2010 World Cup was truly woeful, and there have been few signs of a marked improvement coming in time for summer. A change was
LACROSSE
TABLE TENNIS
BADMINTON
Women’s firsts vs Leeds firsts
Women’s firsts at Manchester firsts
Women’s firsts vs Sheffield Hallam firsts
Men’s firsts vs Nottingham firsts
TENNIS
Men’s football at Norton.
The team is in desperate need of a new injection of enthusiasm, and maybe, if he can be prised from Spurs, Harry Redknapp is the kind of happy-golucky guy who could propel England to victory against all odds. So long as his appointment doesn’t entail a lifetime midfield berth for Frank Lampard, there’s always a chance. The European Championships have a habit of producing the unlikeliest of winners – think Greece and Denmark. There’s little doubt that, looking purely at squad strength, England should not expect to make it as far as the semi-finals. Given this, we need something different. Hell, maybe Roy Hodgson could even be England’s Otto Rehhagel. But all Capello offered was a predictably limp repeat of 2010.
SQUASH Women’s firsts at Edinburgh seconds
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 22
“We’re better off without Capello”
Women’s firsts vs Birmingham firsts
Men’s firsts vs Durham firsts
Women’s firsts vs Sunderland firsts
trophy, followed by leering at Guus Hiddink through the bottom of a pint glass and then the inevitable sad realisation that even Stuart Pearce is out of your league. Or worse, you marry Roy Hodgson. Maybe, as an England fan, I’m just prone to the odd bout of pessimism. But the point is that, in any case, we’re better off without Capello.
Women’s firsts at Newcastle firsts
Volleyball at Goodwin.
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Success for Steelers in heated derby
Lucky 13: Steelers have now won 13 of 14 games after victory against the Panthers. Photos: Steelers Official
Ice Hockey Elite League Sheffield Steelers Nottingham Panthers
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Matthew Smith The Steelers continued their excellent 2012 with their 13th win from 14 games, of which this one must be the sweetest, a hardfought win over deadly rivals Nottingham Panthers. It was a bad-tempered encounter, which saw a number of players receive lengthy penalties, and Panthers’ Guillaime Lepine get ejected from the ice entirely. The Steelers wore a shocking pink kit in honour of Valentine’s Day, but it was not as shocking as their start – after 90 seconds, player-coach Ryan Finnerty was sin binned for fighting with Brock Wilson, and even as that bout carried on, David Clarke
slammed home Rhett Gordon’s square pass to give the visitors the lead. However, the Steelers were immediately battling back. Chad Huttel skewed a good opening horribly wide when in space, before the Steelers did indeed draw level, Colt King bundling home after Jeff Legue and Mike Ramsay constructed a dangerous move. Sheffield then went on to dominate the rest of the period, with Clark, Huttel and Legue all denied by the inspired Panthers goaltender, Craig Kowalski. Nottingham tightened up at the resumption, with the second period beginning in a far cagier manner than its predecessor. The Steelers fans were celebrating a goal after 27 minutes, however the puck had simply hit the goal frame and bounced away. But then, just as the visitors looked set to take the lead, the hosts struck on 34 minutes. Kowalski spilt a dobber from
Huttel, allowing Birnstill to tuck it away when Hewitt played him in. Stung, the Panthers clawed it back to 2-2, as Steelers failed to clear, permitting Robert Lachowitz to finish. The winner came for the Steelers on 46 minutes, Finnerty showing great skill down the rightwing, before cutting back to Ramsay to slam home a remarkable 51st point of the season – though not quite as remarkable as top scorer Jeff Legue’s 59 points – and awake a seemingly comatose Motorpoint Arena. Sheffield were now utterly dominant, putting together 20plus pass moves and keeping their helpless visitors penned in, to the extent that in the game’s dying embers they sent goaltender Kowalski out into the field. The move was capitalised upon immediately, as Johnny Phillips slammed in the final goal.
Rock bottom Sheffield overpowered by strong York side Women’s Volleyball BUCS University of Sheffield University of York
2 3
Gareth Burrell Sheffield lost by one set in a gruelling match against York, in which they had plenty of opportunities to win, before capitulating in the final set. The result leaves them bottom of Northern 2B, but the
performance they delivered should give confidence to the team, having taken the game to five sets. The first set was extremely close as the players tried to work out their opponents’ tactics. A slight wobble from Sheffield halfway through the set was quickly cut out during a timeout as their captain, Abigail Murray, changed the setup of the team. Kayte, the libero, was instrumental in setting up her teammates, as well as forcing York into crucial errors. On set point to York in the first, Abigail
Morgan scored with a kill but it was too late, as a serving fault handed York the first set. The second set followed a similar pattern, but this time, Sheffield made the most of their endeavour. At 16-21 down in this set, Abigail Murray fired two untimely serve winners to reduce the arrears. A series of errors from either side, as the rallies became more intense, followed. However, this time, York hit the net, with Sheffield levelling at 1-1. The third set was déjà vu for the York ladies, as the scores
remained close; however, they sneaked the set 25-23. Bizarrely, as time was running out on the court for another match to follow, the urgency of the game became more apparent. Charlotte Colman and Kayte were vital in the point scoring for Sheffield; the former, with a brave block at the net mid-way through the set to bring the scores level, and the latter, earning set point with a powerful finish down the centre of the court. Sheffield won the set, taking the game into a decider which would be the first to reach 15
points. Unfortunately, after nearly two hours on court, Sheffield’s performance took a dramatic turn for the worse. By the time the teams changed ends, they found themselves 2-8 down. After a time out, there was a brief revival as they scored five points in a row. Colman’s kill was the finest of them all. However, the damage had been done and two quick points sealed the win for the University of York, who are second in the table.
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Blades go second after winning week
Stuart Hill and Anthony Hart Sheffield United moved into League One’s automatic promotion places after a successful week, beating Wycombe on Saturday and Huddersfield on Tuesday. It took 66 minutes to break the deadlock on Saturday as on-loan Brighton striker Will Hoskins came off the bench to score on his debut. Goals from Ched Evans and Kevin McDonald followed as the Blades moved to within a point of Sheffield Wednesday, with two games in hand. They then leapfrogged their city rivals on Tuesday night with a 1-0 win over Huddersfield, a result which led to the sacking of Terriers’ boss Lee Clark on
Wednesday afternoon. Neill Collins scored his first goal for the club, after just five minutes, to score the only goal of the game. Huddersfield’s best chance cam when a Jordan Rhodes volley hit the post just before half time, but the Scottish star failed to score. “It was a fantastic game,” Blades boss Danny Wilson told the BBC. “We had some terrific football from both sides, we’ve had chances from both sides, we’ve seen some fantastic goalkeeping. And, thankfully, from our point of view, we’ve got the all important goal” Sheffield United’s next game is against Preston North End at Bramall Lane.
Clockwise from left: McDonald competes at Huddersfield, Collins celebrates his winner against the Terriers and Will Hoskins scores the opener against Wycombe Wanderers. Photos: Blades Sports Photography
Uni women on cloud nine
Fencers in France
Women’s Football Firsts BUCS
Fencing L’escrime International
University of Sheffield Leeds Met
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Matthew Smith The University of Sheffield’s women’s first team kept up their promotion pursuit with their biggest win of the season against a hapless Leeds Met Thirds side. There was a certain precedent to this result – Sheffield won 8-1 on their visit to Leeds Met earlier this season, and beat the same side 3-0 in the cup a fortnight earlier – yet with Captain Laura Elias and topscorer Sophie Temple both out injured, this must go down as a quite remarkable triumph. The game started half an hour
late, but the home side were soon making up for lost time – Sarah Bailey played a good ball across the box from the left to Wood, yet she contrived to hit the angle of post and bar from just three yards. Fortunately, Alice Weekes was present to knock home the rebound to open the scoring for Sheffield. After 14 minutes, that lead was doubled, as Rachael Burden was hacked down in the Met box, Chappell powerfully converted the penalty. The game was done and dusted by 24 minutes, when Shona Halpin headed home from a corner. It soon got worse for Leeds Met as by half-time it was five; Bailey received the ball on the left, and her tame shot somehow squirmed past the goalkeeper. Met, to their credit, never gave
up and always looked to create chances, grabbing a deserved consolation early in the second half. It was arguably the goal of the game too, with the ball being precisely struck into the top corner. Stung by conceding, Sheffield retained their five-goal lead after 59 minutes. Burden flicked to Kay who shot high into the net with her right foot. Kay then went on to complete the perfect hat-trick, on 73 minutes she converted a closerange header and with her left foot, made it 8-1, when the poor keeper parried Wood’s drive square into the number 10’s path. The rout was complete on 83 minutes, with Wood deservedly bundling home substitute Harriet Ford’s cross.
Jessica Venn The University of Sheffield’s fencing team competed at the 20th annual Challenge l’Escrime International, held at l’Ecole Polytechnique. It is the second time that a team from Sheffield have reached this international tournament, which is held just outside of Paris. 20 fencers represented Sheffield in the competition which involved six events. The structure of each event was poules followed by direct elimination rounds. The two men’s foil teams performed strongly, helped by the GBR fencers that had been adopted by the club. The first team narrowly
missed out on a medal after finishing fourth, whilst the seconds finished in ninth. Phil Masterman stood out for Sheffield after strong performances despite being relatively new to the sport. The three female foilists also did exceptionally well. After being seeded highly following the poules, Jo Silvester overcame the second seed, eventually finishing fourth. Silvester was defeated by Amy Hyman, another Sheffield fencer. Hyman made the final and in a very tight encounter lost 11-10 to German foilist, Anja Blacha Since the competition, Amy has travelled to Jersey to compete for England at the Junior Commonwealth Games. Anyone interested in fencing should email: fencing@shef.ac.uk. There will also be ‘Give It Go Sessions’ throughout the year.
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Cricketers’ trip to Lord’s ends in disappointment Men’s cricket BUCS National Indoor Cup Will Aitkenhead The University of Sheffield’s men’s cricket first team just missed out on their quest to become national indoor champions as they lost to Newcastle and Exeter at Lord’s. Having watched Newcastle and Exeter tie the first game of the day, Sheffield knew that nothing other than a win against Newcastle would keep their hopes alive. Skipper Chris Murrall lost the toss and Sheffield were invited to bat in the indoor school at the home of cricket. With over 50 supporters having made the long trip down the M1, Sheffield were confident of putting on a winning display. Prolific opening pair Mark Williams and Chris Hooper were not together for long, however, as Hooper edged behind before the score had reached double figures. Chris Murrall came to the crease and was rebuilding well before he was clean bowled and when Ali Haynes went first ball Sheffield were in real trouble at 27/3. Williams and Will Aitkenhead combined to form an excellent partnership, however, making use of the large playing area and running well between the wickets to take the score to 70 with four overs left before Williams had to retire. Aitkenhead was caught for 19 bringing Williams back to the crease and he continued where he had left off with Jordan Calcutt as the pair took Sheffield to 117 off their 12 overs. It looked a few runs short of a good score but Sheffield knew that if they bowled and fielded as they had done all season then they would be in with a shout and they got the perfect start as Hooper struck in the first over to make it 5/1. Newcastle rebuilt well, however, and were cruising
to victory at 86/1 with five overs left as Sheffield were looking in real trouble. As they have done all season though they dug deep and Hooper pulled off an outrageous one handed diving catch to get them back in the game. Murrall then produced a direct hit run out from nowhere and when Williams picked up another it was game on at 91/4. Newcastle’s two retired batsmen were back in but the pressure was now on them as Sheffield sensed an upset. Calcutt obliged by taking another wicket and Newcastle needed seven to win going into the last over with just one wicket left. It wasn’t to be, however, as the Newcastle skipper knocked off the runs with two balls to spare. Heading into the last game knowing they could not reach the final did not stop Sheffield from giving their all in the last game against Exeter. Bowling first this time they managed to restrict Exeter to 121 with an excellent fielding display. The chase didn’t get the best of starts when Hooper and Murrall went early once more but Haynes and Williams then both retired to get Sheffield back on track. Aitkenhead and Calcutt continued the recovery and Sheffield were well placed at 78/2 with four overs left. Two quick wickets turned the game back in Exeter’s favour though and when Haynes and Williams returned to the crease 24 were needed from the final 12 balls. Once again it wasn’t to be as first Williams was run out and then Haynes was caught attempting a big shot and Sheffield finished 10 runs short of victory. It was an incredible effort by a Sheffield side that is seriously under-funded compared to the other universities on show in the final. Captain Murrall was understandably disappointed. He said: “We’ve had tough games all the way through the
tournament – we’ve always been the underdogs. Because we’ve beaten some tough teams in the initial rounds, we thought we could beat anyone.” Having beaten Hallam, Durham, Bradford and Leeds Met to get to Lords it really was an incredible performance from the Sheffield side. Club captain Chiraag Pandya summed up the day, saying: “It has been an unbelievable effort to get this far and it could have been different on the day with a bit
more luck. They’ve done very well, considering some of the top universities have their own special cricket facilities and we’re training in old school halls.” Indeed it could have very different as there really wasn’t much between all three teams in the group and the Sheffield side can be very proud of their performances. The club will hope to take this form into the outdoor season as the first team bid for back-to-back promotions following last year’s success.
Uni put in an impressive performace but fell at the final hurdle.
BUCS bronze for bowlers in Nottingham Tenpin bowling BUCS Championship The University of Sheffield’s tenpin bowling team finished
third at the annual BUCS Tenpin Bowling Championships, their best performance in four years. The competition, held at First Bowl in Nottingham, highlighted
Third place was Uni’s best performance in four years.
the vast improvements the team has made after they finished in 10th last season. The men’s team got off to a flyer, with all six bowlers scoring better than their season average in the three game doubles section. This left the team in second place at the end of day one. Michael Marshall had an average of 230, whilst the women’s team also finished the first day in a very respectable seventh place. On the second day of competition, both teams made a sluggish start in their first three games. However, the afternoon session saw a marked improvement with the ladies taking sixth place to secure three BUCS points. The men’s team had dropped to third by the afternoon and the final games of the day consisted of the five-man team event, the longest three games of the tournament by far. Sheffield’s team again looked
to be losing their way, only getting 699 between the five bowlers in the first game causing them to drop behind Manchester into fourth. The team pulled themselves together though, scoring 920 and 879 in the final two games, taking third place back comfortably and missing out on second place by 30 pins to the University of Warwick. Furthermore, Michael Marshall was honoured with a call up to the BUCS national representative squad with an average of 205 for the weekend and a high game of 267. The men’s team were also represented by Carl Whitfield, Tom Andrews, Josh Smith, Simon Parker and James Edwards. The ladies’ team were represented by Stacey Spencer, Hanka Mandová and Zanna Matthews.
Carl Whitfield
Webb to ref Varsity final Jack Burnett Premier League referee Howard Webb has confirmed that he will referee this year’s Varsity football final at Hillsborough, provided he is not scheduled to officiate at a UEFA Champions League match that week. Forge Press understands that, should he be called up by UEFA, Webb will use his influence to provide Varsity’s showpiece event with another top-flight referee. Webb, who is from Rotherham, took charge of the 2010 FIFA World Cup final and has refereed the past two men’s football firstteam games at Varsity. Don Valley Stadium has meanwhile been confirmed as the venue for the men’s rugby union firsts’ game, and this year’s Varsity will also include boxing, at the Octagon Centre, for the first time. The news comes as Winter Varsity draws to a close at the Ski Village on February 17, with four more points on offer after Hallam took the opening point for ice hockey at the Motorpoint Arena on Saturday. Once the skiing and snowboarding events have concluded, Varsity, which sees Uni take on Hallam in a range of sporting events with points on offer for the winners of most fixtures, will continue from March 21 for one week. The winners will then be crowned, with either Hallam lifting the trophy for the ninth consecutive year or Uni triumphing outright for the first time since 2003. Hallam will retain the trophy if the scores are level. University of Sheffield sports officer Ben Baldwin believes a spate of recent narrow losses for Uni – Hallam edged the tournament 31-30 last year – shows they are getting closer to an elusive victory. He said: “The last few years have been as close as anything. We’ve lost by one point for the last two years, and drew the two before that. That shows the skill is there, and I think it’s now just a case of getting some belief behind it. “All I want is for our guys to go out there, give it their best shot and enjoy it. We only get one shot each year – for the players, Varsity is their FA Cup final.”
Webb refereed the last two finals.
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Uni on Varsity backfoot after ice hockey defeat
Egorov netted first for Hallam in a feisty Varsity encounter (left), which saw Ware and King come to blows (below).
Winter Varsity Ice hockey University of Sheffield Sheffield Hallam
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Matthew Smith For the eighth year in a row, the University of Sheffield’s neighbours and deadly rivals took the bragging rights in the annual fight – literally and figuratively – for first blood at Varsity, winning the opening event 3-1. Hallam led 2-0 going into the final minute when Uni pulled one back to make for a frantic finish, only for Hallam to secure the win with a third. A crowd of over 3,500 witnessed the rip-roaring encounter at the Motorpoint Arena, which perhaps surpassed even last year’s incredible 5-3 comeback victory for Hallam for sheer entertainment. Hallam made much of the early running in a combative opening period, with Ian Clark and captain Chris Bryniarski all going close as Uni looked uncomfortable in defence, a theme that was to run through the entire encounter. Uni attempted to strike back,
and after being on the back foot early were in the ascendancy for much of the opening twenty minutes. Their own captain, Robert Firth, was the driving force as they peppered the Hallam goal, but goaltender Mark Dodd stood firm. In the final two minutes of the period, the fans got to see the game’s first fight, as Bryniarski and Uni’s Andrew Terentjev shed their armour and squared off to the delight of a crowd who provided the game with a truly electric atmosphere. T h e n , seconds before the klaxon, H a l l a m made it 1-0 – Anton Egorov found himself all alone up front, and comfortably rounded Uni keeper David Roxburgh to slot home. Four minutes after the restart, the reigning champions doubled their advantage. Liam Murray stole the puck and squared it to Arthur Ames, who netted. The second goal sparked Uni into life, and they could have scored four or five in the remainder of the period – Ryan Jinn came into his own, slaloming repeatedly through the opposition in a manner that would not be
out of place in the Varsity skiing. Dodd however was inspired, producing reflex saves to deny Jinn and Jack Ware.
Photos: (left) Adam Harley, (right and below) Andrey Vasilyev. His best was yet to come as, heading the wrong way, Dodd somehow managed to save Mike Laskey’s close-range shot. Uni had all the chances, Hallam had all the goals. Hallam looked to have survived the worst of the onslaught, and tried to turn the screw by any means necessary. Brynianski led by example, taking one for the team by picking up his second sin bin of the day for interference. Uni called a 30-second timeout with 10 minutes to go as they attempted to strategise a comeback, and did i n d e e d threaten something v e r y special. With 43 seconds to go, and with Uni throwing caution to the wind and pulling their keeper, Adam Szollosy
netted. He then very nearly added another, but Dodd’s fingertips denied the big man. There was time for another goal, but only to make Hallam’s extended winning streak safe, Bryniarski smashing it past Roxburgh. Time only allowed for one more piece of action on the ice for the baying crowd, when the gloves came off again as Uni’s Ware took on King of Hallam; a fitting end to a truly thrilling Varsity opener. University of Sheffield sports officer Ben Baldwin was disappointed with the result but praised the effort of Uni’s players. He said: “I think we were very unfortunate with the result. We had a lot of the possession, but we just weren’t clinical enough. “You can’t fault the effort of the ice hockey lads though – not just on the night, but throughout the week. They’re up there as one of the best clubs I’ve ever worked with, and I think they have set a great example for the rest of the clubs at Varsity.” Uni and Hallam’s second string sides also took to the ice the following day, with Hallam winning 4-3. Hallam had led 4-1 and held on, despite another strong fightback from Uni. However, there were no Varsity points on offer.