Forge Press - Issue 7

Britain’s Obama?

David Lammy Page 19 The independent student newspaper of the University of Sheffield // www.forgetoday.com

Friday February 20 2009 // Issue 7

Student murdered

By Amy Taylor A University of Sheffield Law student has been shot and killed while on a night out in his home town of Nairobi, Kenya.

James Muiruri, 29, who was due to be awarded his PhD in International Law in the summer, was shot and killed on Saturday, January 24, after a row with a police officer.

Witnesses say the pair were arguing in a bar and were asked to leave the premises.

The officer began following Muiruri as he made his way home in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The student, son of former Kenyan Assistant Minister for Agriculture Patrick Muiruri, was shot a total of five times – twice in the shoulder, once in the chest and twice in the mouth after falling to the ground.

His father described his grief at his son’s brutal murder, calling him “my life and my everything”.

Nairobi police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said that the weapon had been used unlawfully and the officer in question would be taken to court over the incident.

Have your say Comment on this article at Forgetoday.com Send a letter to press.letters@forgetoday.com Text us on 07765363716

Members of Sheffield Students Against Israel’s attack on Gaza stage a ‘die-in’ protest.

Photo: Marek Allen

Sheffield students back Gaza in mock death protest Inside...

See pages 6-7

Professor Nigel White from the School of Law was Muiruri’s supervisor for three years. He paid tribute to his student, calling him “exceptional” and “truly inspirational”.

Describing his achievements, Professor White said: “He was active in student life, having been the founding President of the East Africa Society.

“He also found the time to commit to many other worthwhile ventures such as the Black Students’ Committee, being a resident tutor and mentor to two halls of residence as well as to the young Kenyan community within the University, and legal advisor and supporter of Rachel’s Development Programme, his mother’s orphanage programme in Kenya.”

Muiruri’s short life was an

Fuse.

Comment

News

Independent cinema, magazines and record labels

£21million on ‘functionless eyecandy’?

Which Union Officer spent over £500 in four months?

Indie special

Fuse pages 2-3

Jessop West

Page 14

Officer phone bills

Page 3

PhD student James Muiruri. eventful one. In August 1998, he witnessed the bombings at the United States Embassy in Nairobi while waiting in line to apply for a travel visa.

In an article for the BBC, he described the horrors he experienced that day, calling it ‘seeing hell’.

He also wrote of the ‘strong resolve’ of the human spirit, and his thesis on the development of African regional security stemmed from his desire to ‘find out why these things happen’.

Professor White acknowledged this in his tribute, saying: “I find it hard to accept that someone who had so much optimism and so much to give has been taken away in such tragic circumstances.

“He believed in a just legal order and it’s appalling that his life was taken away so arbitrarily.”

Muiruri’s former colleague Hannah Greaves described him as “a man who was never shy to take the floor and say his piece; who was proud of his achievements, and rightly so.

“He was an incredibly warm, gregarious and generous-spirited guy who managed to drink me under the table and party longer and harder than anyone else.

He was fabulous to talk with, intelligent and interesting. And he gave good hugs.”

His final Facebook note, written four days before his murder, was read at his memorial service.

In it he spoke of his gratitude to his friends and family during his six years as a student in England, as he prepared to leave Sheffield and return home to Nairobi.

His final words to his friends were particularly poignant: “I remain, and will always be, an eternal optimist who aspires to live a complete life.

“I know that although history remains the ultimate judge, there are always ways that one would always wish to be remembered.

“So for the moment, I hope to show that amidst all the partying, crazy times and occasional madness, it is still possible to maintain a sense of purpose and return to your faith and ability to achieve your dreams.”

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FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

NEWS UNIVERSITY

Editor

Ciaran Jones

Deputy Editor Jonathan Caldwell

Managing Editor Rob Ellerington News

NUS reform passed despite disruption by Gaza protestors

Robert Golledge Mark Duell

News deputies Amy Taylor

Charlotte Chelsom-Pill Comment

Kyle Christie Alex Orton

Features

Daniel Baird Kate Dobinson Clare McPartland

Travel

Rachel Ingram

Sport

Jonathan Caldwell Oliver Hughes Paul Garbett

Lifestyle

Bethan Hill Sarah Barns

Fuse

Alistair White Natasha Hoban

Music

Alice Stride Helen Lawson

Screen Jamie Cusworth Natasha Lewis Arts

Hannah Kirby Laura Carlton

Games

Sam Robinson

Letters

Tom Ellis

Copy

Art

Louisa Waite Laura Ashford Donna Goddard Kate Carson Mark Mackay Kate Mitchell

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

Forge Press is part of Forge Media

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

NUS constitutional change was passed despite protesters invading the stage in protest over the situation in Gaza.

By Kyle Christie Delegates passed a series of radical reforms at a second NUS extraordinary conference, despite a stage invasion by pro-Palestine demonstrators.

The meeting, attended by 15 delegates from Sheffield, took place in Wolverhampton Civic Hall on Tuesday, January 20.

As it took place in the middle of the exam period, many delegates who had originally been elected were unable to attend.

Those further down the list were allowed to go in their place.

The conference followed one held in November, at which the reforms were passed.

The proposals are part of a process to reform the NUS that began in 2007.

They were rejected by a narrow margin at the 2008 annual

conference, and must be passed at two consecutive conferences to be enacted.

Last month’s conference was the final attempt to pass the proposals.

Sheffield Union President Dave Hurst, who is against the reforms, said: “The timing to coincide with exams, the undemocratic nature of the conference, and the discussions themselves largely made it a shambles. I am disappointed it went through.”

Just before one of the final votes, approximately 30 delegates occupied the stage and claimed they were protesting about the NUS’s failure to condemn Israel’s actions in Gaza.

The stage invasion was seen by many delegates as an attempt to prevent the proposals being passed.

It is unclear whether any members of the Sheffield

Graduates told not to panic

By Charlotte Chelsom-Pill University of Sheffield students are being encouraged to remain positive after recent statistics showed a drop in graduate employment opportunities.

Recent surveys of graduate recruiters have shown the number of vacancies available for the students graduating this summer is expected to be down for the first time since 2003.

A survey by the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) shows the overall number of vacancies is expected to be down by 5.4 per cent.

In response to the projected decrease in graduate employment, paid internship programmes are being considered by leading graduate employers in preparation

for 2009’s graduates.

Four top firms, including Barclays and Microsoft, may offer three-month internships schemes to some of this year’s 300,000 graduates.

Have your say Comment on this article at Forgetoday.com Send a letter to press.letters@forgetoday.com Text us on 07765363716 The project has been set up to improve participants’ skills and experience, and it may in some cases lead to full-time work for graduates who excel whilst on the placement.

Although the programme has not yet been approved, Paul Fennell, Deputy Director of the University of Sheffield Careers Service, argues that Sheffield graduates remain in a strong position in the employment market.

He said: “The headlines don’t always tell the full story. Given the current climate it is clearly going to be a competitive job market for this year’s graduates, but University of Sheffield students generally do very well in the employment market.

“Students need to look beyond the headlines and remain positive.”

Education Officer Rebecca Watson said: “Nationally, the outlook for graduate employment is very bleak.

“However, Sheffield graduates are in a better position.”

delegation were involved in the protest.

This led to chaotic scenes with the entire conference being sent outside, and many delegates turning their backs or walking out when the protestors were allowed to make a speech.

When a vote on the proposals was finally taken, the conference voted overwhelmingly in favour, partly due to the votes of the protestors not being counted.

Wes Streeting, President of the NUS, said: “This is a turning point in the history of NUS and the result of the tremendous hard work of students’ unions to take hold of their National Union in order to make it a genuinely representative movement for students in further and higher education.

“The student population has changed dramatically in the past decade, but NUS has stood still.

Photo: The Source

Today, that inertia comes to an end.

“It’s the most radical turn NUS has taken for a generation and one that will put students’ interests and students’ needs at the forefront of a dynamic, relevant and effective campaigning organisation.”

Joe Oliver, a delegate from Sheffield, said: “I think a lot of people on conference floor thought that the tragic situation in Gaza is a very important issue but this was entirely the wrong time, place, and means to raise it.

“It was a cynical attempt to block democracy.”

The NUS annual conference will take place in Blackpool between Tuesday, March 31, and Thursday, April 2.

Voting for the delegation from Sheffield will take place alongside the upcoming Sabbatical Officer elections.

Eating concerns

By Leanne Rinne

The number of University of Sheffield students seeking advice on eating disorders has increased by more than 60 per cent over the last three years.

In total 409 students made use of the Eating Disorders Clinic at the University’s Health Service in 2008, compared to 250 in 2005.

To tackle eating disorders, the Union’s Biteback self-help group will be running a series of awareness campaigns in addition to their support group meetings.

The campaign aims to help students understand the complex mix of emotional and physical symptoms that accompany eating disorders.

Biteback hopes that the Eating

Disorders Awareness Week from February 23-28 will reduce the stigma around the illness, and make it easier for sufferers and their friends and family to access the help and support they need for recovery.

Kiri Langmead, a campaign organiser, said: “It is important that people are made aware of eating disorders and their underlying causes.

“In order to help people with eating disorders it is vital that the symptoms and causes are recognised and understood.”

Kathryn Axon, Union Welfare Officer, said: “There is more to eating disorders than anorexia or bulimia. Excessive calorie counting and obsessing about what goes into your body are also cause for concern.”

FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

3

Phone bills revealed despite gag

By Robert Golledge

£180

£140 £120

Fiona Edwards, Womens’ Officer

£100 £80 £60 £40 £20 £0

Year in jail for child porn medic

By Robert Golledge

£160

Monthly phone bills

The monthly phone expenses of the Union Officers have been revealed despite some Sabbatical Officers refusing to release the figures.

The phone bills show that Womens’ Officer Fiona Edwards made 973 external calls from September to December last year, costing £502.97.

Edwards said: “Officers are provided with a telephone in our offices as it is clear that communicating with students, University representatives, NUS officers, and others is vital for us to fully represent students.

“Several months ago the Union Officers voted to implement a policy of ‘capping’ phone bills, and requiring Officers to pay for any calls made above this amount. All Officers have since complied with this requirement.”

In total the whole Officer team spent £699.19 for the months September to December, meaning the remaining seven Sabbaticals spent £196.29 between them.

The Union Officers voted in December to cap monthly phone budgets to £25 per month, with only Edwards voting against the proposal.

After reading about the introduction of the cap in the Union Executive minutes, Forge Press approached the Union Officers for the phone bill figures.

The Officers were divided on the issue and Forge Press were refused the figures.

A request was then made for the figures under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. Students’ unions are exempt from FOI law, but because the Union is on the University phone network a request could be made.

International Officer Sajeev Jeganathan had the second highest bill, totalling £79.56 for the four month period.

Next was Sports Officer Ella White whose total bill was £45.90.

The lowest spender was Union President Dave Hurst, who only made 27 external phone calls from his office phone in four months.

Hurst made no external calls at all in November and December of 2008.

In total the University bill (inclusive of the Union) for the four months was £56,860.17, meaning Edwards’ bill was nearly one per cent of the entire network of nearly 6,000 staff members.

In a statement supported

by Activities Officer Matt Fox,

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Average of other six Officers

Dave Hurst, Union President September

October

November

December

Union Officers were divided over whether to divulge their phone expenses.

Welfare Officer Kathryn Axon, International Officer Sajeev Jeganathan, and Finance Officer Alex Pott, Sports Officer Ella White said: “I am disappointed with the Officer team for making the decision not to release information to Forge Press regarding ‘phone bill gate’, mainly because it makes it appear as though the team has something to hide.

“The crux of this issue I feel lies with the fact that as Officers we are supposed to be open and transparent, a platform that many of the Officers stood upon when running for election.

“By giving no information or comment over an issue that is so contentious, I feel reduces the credibility of our team.

“As an Officer of the Union, I would like for any student to be able to access any information on the financial running of this business that they want to (unless there is a very good reason not to

do so, for example a legal reason) and for us to be held to account about it. I cannot understand in this instance why we are not.”

Rebecca Watson, Education Officer, said: “We put the cap on after it was brought to our attention that the Officer phone bill was getting large.

“As a result we compared the phone bills of the International Officer and Sports Officer as they typically have large bills due to the nature of their work.

“Based on those bills we have imposed a cap of £25.”

Union President Dave Hurst, who did not support releasing the full details, said: “I do not have a problem with transparency.

“I was happy to release the background material and the statistics. My problem was that by naming individuals on the Officer team the figures could be used for political issues.

“There are some Officers who wanted to release the full

details but I felt that by naming individuals it would make a small issue into a big one unnecessarily.

“I feel as a Union, students should be united in tackling bigger issues such as the tuition fee review, student accommodation prices and funding for the library.”

Edwards added: “While I respect this decision, I, along with other members of the Officer team, cannot agree with publishing any Officer’s phone bill, as this would include the telephone numbers of those people they have called.

“This would undermine the confidentiality which students assume applies when contacting Union Officers, and could prevent women who need support from feeling able to confide in me.

“I also believe that focusing on this issue is a distraction for the Students’ Union at a time when we need to get getting on with defending students’ interests.”

A University of Sheffield medical student found with child pornography on his laptop whilst travelling through a Canadian airport has been jailed for a year.

Customs officials found 11 images of child pornography on the laptop of third year international student Sai-Man Tang, 28, at Ottawa International Airport.

Several of the images contained scenes of anal penetration, Ontario Superior Court heard.

Tang, also known as Timothy, was stopped for a random check whilst on his way back to the UK from Boston. The Harvard graduate has since had his University of Sheffield record terminated, shattering his dream of becoming a cardiac surgeon.

The judge, Justice Roydon Kealey, called the case the “most tragic and difficult” he had ever dealt with in his career.

Despite Tang’s high academic achievements, the judge condemned his actions, stating that he must be imprisoned to deter others whose “sexual perversions” directly or indirectly lead to the exploitation and sexual assault of children.

Tang’s family broke down in tears as their son was sentenced to a year in prison followed by a year on probation. He was also added to Canada’s DNA database and Sexual Offenders Register.

Tang was due to start a placement at Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital, in Grimsby, working in a paediatrics ward.

A spokesperson for the University of Sheffield said: “Where concerns about a student’s fitness to practise come to light, the University of Sheffield undertakes a full investigation of the matter.

“Appropriate action is then taken, ranging from providing additional support for the student to immediate suspension or exclusion from the relevant Faculty, depending on the nature of the individual case.

“The University of Sheffield has a responsibility, and in some cases a statutory obligation, to ensure that students are fit to practise in their relevant profession.

“We can confirm that Sai-Man Tang is no longer a student at the University of Sheffield. He was immediately suspended from the University and subsequently his student record was terminated.”

Students to vote on two year Union Officer plans

By Michael Hunter A referendum will be held to decide whether Union Sabbatical Officers should be able to stand for re-election.

Officers could be allowed to serve a second year in office after Union Council members voted narrowly in favour of a referendum at their first meeting of 2009.

A majority of 22 to 17 carried the proposal in the wake of lengthy discussions at Firth Court last week.

Following a heated debate, History Councillor Joe Oliver made an apology to members of the council after accusing “a slimy political group” of supporting the referendum.

Under current Union policy, Officers can only stay in the job for a year.

But that could change if a twothirds majority is passed at the referendum, putting Sheffield Union in line with over 90 per cent of other unions in the country.

It will be the fifth time that this proposal will have been put to University of Sheffield students, having been rejected on all four previous occasions.

Referring to the previous rejections, Oliver said: “Students don’t want it – a small and slimy political group on Council wants it. I don’t think it leads to fair elections as someone has an office to work out of.”

The most recent referendum was held in 2006 but those in

favour believe it is the right time to put the issue to the student population again.

Have your say Comment on this article at Forgetoday.com Send a letter to press.letters@forgetoday.com Text us on 07765363716 Womens’ Officer Fiona Edwards said: “Let’s have the debate out in the open. If someone spends the whole year profiling, they won’t be elected. The students aren’t stupid.”

However, it is feared that

Officers campaigning for reelection will have an unfair advantage over newcomers.

Politics Councillor Edward Pinney said: “There is a massive incumbency advantage. It is much easier to campaign when you are in office.”

These claims were refuted by some councillors, who argued that the opportunity of serving two terms will give Officers a better chance of delivering results.

LGBT Students’ Councillor Adam Hood said: “There must be a reason why MPs do it and councils do it.

“If the electorate think they are not doing a good job they won’t reelect them.”

But Sports Officer Ella White said: “One year is enough time

to get through the points of a manifesto. It is very, very rare for an Officer not to get re-elected.”

White went on to highlight how the pressure of organising this year’s Varsity has been increased for her while her Hallam counterpart, Samantha Gill, campaigns for re-election.

The referendum will be held alongside this year’s Officer elections, with voting open across campus between March 3 and 5. If it is passed, the Officers who are elected this year will be able to stand next year as well.

Nominees will be campaigning around the Union over the next fortnight, while Candidates’ Question Time will be held on February 24 and 25 in The Edge and Interval respectively.

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FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

NEWS UNIVERSITY

Don’t freeze eggs, warns embryo expert

By Polly Hardy A University staff member has warned women about the dangers of putting off children for ‘lifestyle reasons’ and freezing eggs to be used later in life.

Bill Ledger, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, said medical professionals should be careful when performing these procedures on otherwise healthy patients.

Between 2006 and 2007 the number of women freezing their eggs for non-medical reasons doubled.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the British Fertility Society are now due to release a statement outlining the serious moral and medical problems that surround the procedure.

Professor Ledger said: “The image that is portrayed is that a woman in her late 20s or early 30s can establish a relationship 10 or 15 years later and then take the eggs out of the freezer, fertilise them with the partner’s sperm and have the baby. That’s the dream.”

He believes most women who consider this as an option for their future may not realize that the chance of vitrification from a frozen egg is less than six per cent. The average age of British women who have undergone this so far is 37.

He added: “Vitrification involves a very fast freezing technique which improves to some extent the possibility that eggs will survive.

“However the technique is still experimental and the chances of pregnancy from frozen eggs are still low, even with vitrification.”

Over time, a woman’s eggs accumulate an ‘age’ of their own, and older eggs have a greater chance of miscarriage and birth defects. By freezing younger eggs, it is hoped that these can be used later on instead.

The procedure is relatively new, and there are still concerns related to how long an egg can be frozen before it begins to deteriorate, and whether a healthy child can be born at all as a result.

It costs around £5,000 for one course, but last year one London clinic began offering women free surgery and storage in exchange

Professor Bill Ledger has spoken to Forge Press about the recent incident in America where Nadya Suleman, a 33-year-old Californian single mother-ofsix, gave birth to octuplets. She conceived her first six children, as well as the latest eight, through in vitro fertilisation (IVF).

More women are opting to freeze their eggs in the hope that they can have children later in life. for giving half of their healthy eggs to infertile couples.

Professor Ledger added: “Freezing of eggs is a major step forward for women who are about to undergo chemotherapy for cancer treatment.

“However the technique has become more widely used by healthy young women who wish

to defer having children until they are older.

“The risk of doing this is that the frozen eggs then do not survive well enough to help them have children later, and that by deferring pregnancy they become close to menopause and lose the chance of having children naturally. They may well then be

left forever without family.”

Ledger has previously been in the news regarding his claims that one in seven British couples have trouble conceiving naturally.

Late last year, he developed a test which may enable doctors to check the amount of viable eggs a female has left, although this is not yet available.

“The United Kingdom has led the way in formation of Human Fertilisation Embryology Authority as a legally empowered regulator of IVF practice in Britain.

“It is not allowed in law in the UK to transfer more than two embryos in a single IVF cycle, three embryo transfer being allowed occasionally under exceptional circumstances.

“Hence the transfer of six embryos, as happened in America, would be illegal in Britain and could result in imprisonment of the doctor concerned.

“The problem with high order multiples is that the chance of extreme premature birth - and hence handicap is - very high.

“The person involved in the United States would be very fortunate if all her babies survive to grow to healthy adulthood the possibility of one or more of her children having a handicap because of being born premature is much higher than if she had had one or even two babies at a time.

“This is why UK law prohibits such practice in Britain, placing the welfare of the child as the highest priority.”

Gender neutral toilets proposed by LGBT society

By Amy Taylor Gender neutral toilet facilities are the subject of a proposal put to the Union Council by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) representative committee.

No affirmative decision has yet been taken, but if successful, the plan is to refurbish one set of toilets in the Union building in order to provide both male and female services, thus making them unisex.

The suggestion was put to the Union Council last semester.

A spokesperson for the LGBT said that the proposal was intended to prevent members of the LGBT community from having to make declarations that “they feel to be untrue and often repressive.”

The spokesperson said: “For people who identify outside the binary system of gender, or who feel their own gender identity is not adequately represented by one

of the two conventional sexes, the choice between male and female toilets can be a decision they are uncomfortable taking.

“Equally, people who feel that the body they were born with and their assigned gender do not match their true sex can also face hardship.

Have your say Comment on this article at Forgetoday.com Send a letter to press.letters@forgetoday.com Text us on 07765363716 “For these reasons, we feel that provision must be made so that people may feel free to this most basic and necessary of human activities in comfort and in safety.

“The committee is not requesting that all toilets be

gender neutral or unisex – we recognise that there are people who may feel uncomfortable with such an arrangement.

“However, without any provision, this is exactly the sort of discomfort that many LGBT people are forced to undergo on a daily basis.”

Since the proposal was put forward, opinion is divided over whether the revamp is necessary.

LGBT Union Councillor, Adam Hood, who recently resigned as chairman of the committee, disagreed with the plans, calling them “unrepresentative” and “idealistic”.

He said: “While the sentiment and intentions are of creating inclusiveness and promoting diversity, the issue of identifying ‘outside the binary system of gender’ is actually just a form of non-conformism, as gender is a social construct.

“It’s the same as saying ‘I don’t like beer or football, so I can’t be male’ – it’s gender politics, not

A new toilet sign? Art: Marek Allen

identity.

“For anybody having undergone transition from one sex to another, surely the point would be to identify as the opposite sex, so they would want to use a specific sex toilet as part of their sexual identification.”

Finance Officer Alex Pott warned that making existing toilets gender neutral by having both urinals and cubicles in the toilet area would be expensive.

She said: “Currently, when our venues are at capacity, there is the right amount of female cubicles to avoid long queues, and removing this facility may cause other students problems.

“There is currently a proposal to renovate the Bar One toilets, and as part of this there may be a joined sink area, and therefore students who do not associate with a gender may be able to enter both sides of the toilets.”

A decision on the proposals is expected to come before Students’ Union Council next week.

FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

5

Union and University House rebuild budget cut to £5m

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Kick ’Em Off Campus proposal rejected

By Robert Golledge

The Union has had its rebuild budget cut. (Inset) The Learning Hub on the Jessop site is to get £5m.

By Robert Golledge The Union and University rebuild budget has been halved to £5million by the University, who have announced plans to channel the funding to a Learning Hub based on the new Jessop site.

In October the Union announced plans for a £10million rebuild which would see a glass front built, the relocation of The Source into University House, and a transformation of the ground floor (level three) of the building.

The revised plans mean that the new glass entrance will still be built, as will a connection between University House and level four of the Union.

However, The Source and other ground floor services will largely

remain in place.

Full plans are due to be released later this month, detailing in full the effects of the budget cuts.

The cuts are not due to the current economic climate, but come after a decision by the University Executive Board (made up of ViceChancellor Keith Burnett, Pro Vice Chancellors, the University Registrar and Director of Finance) to prioritise the completion of the Jessop site with the installations of the Learning Hub. Alex Pott, Union Finance Officer, said: “Although the Union is disappointed that we will now only receive £5million, we strongly believe that the other £5million being spent on the Learning and Teaching Hub will greatly benefit students.

Photos: Helen Munro & Olivia Lightfoot

“The new Union building will be brilliant. It will create an impressive reception and entrance space.

“The V-C has been very supportive of the Union in giving us our biggest ever funding boost.

“Over the next two to three years we could receive another £5m for phase two of the Union rebuild and relocation of The Source.

“We are really grateful for the University continuing to support the Union and helping it become an outstanding student-led organisation.”

The University originally offered £500,000 towards the Union rebuild but later upped this to £10million.

A University spokesperson said: “First and foremost, the University

has listened to and responded to student demand for improved facilities around campus and felt that the money we have available at present should be spent on improving the student experience in its broader sense.

“This means we are directing funds both towards a significant investment in the Students’ Union building, and to create a new Learning Hub. This is planned to be accommodated in the Edwardian building on the Jessop site and is intended to be operational by the 2011/2012 session. It will provide seminar rooms, IT services and other teaching facilities for all students at the University and particularly those in close proximity to the Jessop development.”

City leader Scriven to limit student HMOs

By Lauren Merryweather The search for student housing in Sheffield could be set to get tougher after a council proposal to limit student residences in the Broomhill and Crookesmoor areas of the city.

Plans to introduce a quota on Houses in Multiple Occupancy (HMOs) aim to control the proportion of students living in the most popular areas surrounding the University.

The scheme has sparked opposition from the University’s Labour Club, who pledge to support the student population of both districts.

Vice-Chair of the Labour Club, Rosie Bell, said: “Understandably, with the two groups of residents,

you will get issues.

“However, the Labour students of Sheffield do not feel that putting a limit on students is the right idea.

“We propose better housing regulation, giving a better indication of how many students are living in each area.

“By restricting student housing in the popular areas, competition for accommodation will be high and students will be forced away from locations convenient to the campus.

“Students will be priced out of the local housing market. Even though the plans are targeted at students, the locals will be badly affected by this too.”

She added: “Students don’t just cause negative impacts, they bring a lot of revenue to the local

economy. If students were barred from certain areas many bars and shops could be in trouble.”

Have your say Comment on this article at Forgetoday.com Send a letter to press.letters@forgetoday.com Text us on 07765363716 The Lib Dem-run Sheffield City Council wouldn’t respond to Labour’s claims, but on the party’s website Councillor Paul Scriven said: “At the moment family homes can be bought up by developers and let out to a group of individuals - usually students -

without any permission so long as they are for less than six people.

“There needs to be controls so that communities don’t just become student areas.”

The University’s Labour Club will be launching a petition against the plans and are preparing campaign days to raise awareness and express their disapproval.

Broomhill’s Lib Dem Councillor Scriven, who voiced the idea, said on the party’s website: “I am aware of the problems that an unbalanced community can cause.

“There can be issues over waste, parking and noise that can cause real tension.”

HMOs are typically properties rented by three or more individual tenants who are also sharing a bathroom and kitchen.

The campaign to ban military recruitment on campus has been temporarily quashed after Students’ Union Council voted against sending the issue for a cross-campus referendum.

In a heated debate last semester, 27 Union Councillors voted against the proposal for a referendum with 10 voting in favour.

Activist group Kick ’Em Off Campus submitted the proposal to ban the military from campus after collecting 50 signatures – the number required to get an issue on the Council agenda.

Union Councillors were asked to vote on whether they thought the issue should go to referendum and not to vote on whether they agreed with the proposal.

But many councillors said they had received an overwhelming response from their departments showing strong resistance to the proposals.

Law Councillor Amanda Hastings told Council that she had received 250 emails on the subject, with only two students supporting the ban on the military.

In favour of a referendum, Mature Students Councillor Gareth Nicholas said: “Students do have a voice and we should let all students have a vote on this issue.

“There are 24,000 students in the University and only about 100 in this room. The only way I can see is for this issue to be taken to referendum. “ Speaking against the referendum and the proposal, Councillor for Mechanical Engineering Clyde D’Silva said: “Council has been put into place to make decisions.

If everything is going to go to referenda what is the point of us being here?

“I have had complete support from my department against the proposal. If Council let this issue go to referendum we will be seen as a laughing stock by the students.”

The proposal would see all military recruiters banned from having a platform around the Union, including recruitment events organised by the Union.

It was acknowledged that if the proposal was passed it could not ban the military from attending events organised by the University.

Speaking after the debate Lt. Tom Francis of the Officer Training Corps (OTC) said: “I am glad that the Students’ Union Council have taken this decision to preserve students the right to make a choice when attending recruitment fairs.

“To suggest that we portray the army as a fun activity and not dangerous experience is absurd.

In the last few years only eight of our student officers have gone on to Sandhurst to train as an army officer.

“If we really were a professional recruitment service we would be sacked considering the large numbers who join us and the low numbers who go into the army.

“If anything the OTC experience discourages, rather than persuades, people from joining the army.”

A KEOC spokesperson said that the group would continue to work towards taking the issue to a referendum.

6

FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

NEWS UNIVERSITY

Union split over controversial ‘die By David Thomas & Mark Duell Students at the University of Sheffield have joined others across the country to campaign against recent events in the Gaza conflict.

Womens’ Officer Fiona Edwards, who is convener of the Union’s End Israeli Occupation policy, headed up a protest last week with the University’s Palestinian Society on the Union Concourse.

The group, calling themselves Sheffield Students Against Israel’s Attack on Gaza, have been petitioning students this week in the Union to sign up to a list of demands they wish to put to the University.

According to Palestinian health officials, the war has caused the deaths of over 1,300 Palestinians and injured more than 5,200 since it began on December 27 last year.

The students’ campaign included promoting understanding and increasing awareness on campus of the recent conflict and on Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

Edwards said: “If Sheffield University is to maintain its international reputation and evidence its commitment to ethical values, it must make public its opposition to the recent Israeli attacks on Gaza which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of civilians.”

Have your say Comment on this article at Forgetoday.com Send a letter to press.letters@forgetoday.com Text us on 07765363716 The protest, which saw students pretend to be dead on a Palestinian flag which was surrounded by tombstones with statistics condemning Israel’s role in the war whilst Edwards spoke on a megaphone, disappointed the Union’s Activities Officer Matt Fox. He said: “It was led by the Palestinian Society and all societies are free to campaign.

“Fiona took a lead on the issue as she is the Officer who oversees the Palestinian policy of the Union.

Personally I disagree with the method of the protest but agree with the issue.

“What has happened in Gaza is horrifying, but to stage people dying on the concourse could upset anyone, not just Jewish members of our Union.”

The Union has a policy which ‘condemns acts of terrorism and aggression on all sides’, and also

supports United Nations Security Council Resolution 242.

The Union believes Israel should withdraw from the occupied territories, allow for the creation of a Palestinian state in its place, and permit the return of Palestinian refugees.

The original policy was passed by a University referendum in March 2004, and an amended version was approved in 2007. It is due for review again in October 2009.

A statement from the University’s Jewish Society said: “Sheffield Jewish Society is concerned by some of the comments and demands being made on behalf of our collective Union.

“The situation in the Middle East is not a simplistic black and white conflict, and by whitewashing the actions of Hamas - including the murder of Palestinians in Gaza as reported by Amnesty International and the indiscriminate eight year campaign of rocket fire onto Southern Israel - the Union will do more to undermine than progress peace in the region.

“The terrible conflict last month affected victims on both sides of the divide and we can work progressively to help all of those victims.

“There must also be a wider question addressed by both the Union and University as to why taking action around this particular international situation is important for our reputation and values, but not other conflict zones.

“As a collective student body we should be promoting genuine humanitarian work and supporting those in difficult conditions; but where then are the calls for scholarships and aid to students in Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Sudan and so many other conflict regions?”

Approximately 150 students attended a public meeting on Tuesday, February 10, titled ‘Justice for Palestine’.

It featured speakers from the National Union of Students (NUS), Stop the War Coalition, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the Islamic Society of Great Britain.

Abdul Gooljar, from the Sheffield Branch of the Islamic Society of Great Britain, said at the meeting: “The media is biased, politicians one-sided and morally bankrupt, their hands full of blood.

“We stand together, people of moral values, and tomorrow they will be saying that the University of Sheffield has led the way. Where is the human conscience? Where is your moral value?”

Edwards, who also spoke at the meeting, added: “As students we should be appalled. The recent stand of the NUS is disgusting and is once again out of touch with students.

Members of Sheffield Students Against Israel’s attack on Gaza stage a mock death scene on a large Palestinian flag “The NUS has an appalling record. It always supports Israel well, the last few times.”

She said that it was a “time to start making demands” of the NUS, before announcing her list to present to the University, which has also been endorsed by students at over 20 other institutions.

Bellavia Ribeiro-Addy, NUS Black Students’ Officer, told listeners: “It’s inspiring to see so many standing in solidarity whilst the NUS is out of touch with the wider student movement. “‘Free Palestine’ is not an antiSemitic statement. We will not be silenced.”

Lindsey German, convenor for Stop The War coalition, added that students were amongst the “vanguard of the Gaza movement”.

She added: “If you’re right and you’re in the minority, you can become a majority.

“Every generation has its cause, and today we have Palestine”.

Edwards said that representatives from the Black Students’ Committee, Palestine Society, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Society, the Islamic Circle, Ethical & Environmental Committee, Amnesty International Society and others are together demanding action from the University.

The group want the University to issue a statement on what they call the “disproportionate actions of the Israeli state on the Palestinian people” and to enter into an “academic partnership” with the Islamic University of Gaza.

They also want a special

programme of five Palestinian scholarships and for the University to waive all fees for students from the occupied territories.

Students at the University of Sheffield are not alone in protesting on this issue.

University of Nottingham security guards forcibly broke up a six day student occupation earlier this month, and students at Sheffield Hallam University staged an occupation in a 10th floor lecture theatre in the Owen Building.

The protesters were removed from a lecture theatre in the University’s Politics department, who had issued a list of the demands in common with those students at the University of Sheffield (see Letter to the ViceChancellor, top right).

E-voting to be used for the first time in polls

By Robert Golledge Electronic voting is to be used in the upcoming elections after a successful trial and backing from Union Council.

Voters will be able to cast their votes in the Officer elections, the NUS Conference delegation, and referenda proposals by using e-voting or paper ballots.

It is hoped that electronic voting will increase voter turnout above the current 10 per cent.

Implementing the electronic

system will cost approximately £3,000 a year.

Last year the elections, including two rounds of Officer elections, cost the Union approximately £13,000. Of this, £9,000 was spent on promotions and £2,500 on ballot design.

This year’s budget is £18,500 for all elections, including Union Council and Officer elections.

Owing to fears of voter intimidation, students will not be able to vote on campus computers that are run by the Corporate

Information and Computing Services (CiCs).

Therefore, voters can choose whether to vote at home via their computers, or by paper ballot around campus and at the Endcliffe Village. Voting will be done on the Union webpage.

Electronic votes will be printed out and counted alongside paper votes, as inputting the paper results into the electronic database is time consuming and susceptible to human error.

Alex Pott, Finance Officer, said:

“The introduction of electronic voting has backing of the Officer team and support from Union Council and we are 99 per cent sure the software will be ready.

“It will be accessible to all students and will therefore, hopefully, increase voter turnout making us a more democratic and open Union.

“The introduction of e-voting will also give those who do not come onto central campus, such as Nursing and Midwifery students, the chance to vote – increasing

participation.”

Fiona Edwards, Womens’ Officer, challenged the original plans for computers around campus to be used in voting.

She said: “By allowing campus computers to be used in voting it means that every computer becomes a ballot box, such a practice would be illegal under election rules.

“Students shouldn’t feel pressurised into voting due to the fact a campaign team can come right up to the computers.”

FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

7

UNIVERSITY NEWS

e -in’ Gaza protest on concourse Letter sent to the Vice Chancellor Professor Keith Burnett by Fiona Edwards, on behalf of ‘Sheffield Students Against Israel’s Attack on Gaza’ Campaign Dear Professor Keith Burnett, I am writing on behalf of Sheffield Students Against Israel’s Attack on Gaza – a group of hundreds of Sheffield University students involved in campaigning against Israel’s invasion of Gaza and the resulting humanitarian crisis.

As you will be aware, Israel’s recent invasion of Gaza has resulted in the deaths of more than 1,400 Palestinians, including 550 children.

The Islamic University of Gaza was bombed, massively disrupting the education of 20,000 students enrolled there.

Across Britain universities have taken steps to support the Palestinian people.

As students of Sheffield we want to see the University play its role in supporting the people of Gaza, including students whose university education has been ruined.

To this end we call upon the University to: 1. Issue a statement condemning the disproportionate actions of the Israeli state on the Palestinian people.

2.

Create a special programme of five Palestinian scholarships and waive all fees for current students of the occupied territories.

3. Enter into an academic partnership with the University of Gaza.

4.

Donate old books, computers and other relevant equipment to the University of Gaza, and pay for the transport of these materials.

5. Publicise the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal on the Sheffield University notice boards, website and via e-mail.

6. Initiate a programme in partnership with students of divestment and ending links with the arms trade.

7. Allow those studying Medicine to carry out their electives in the occupied territories of Palestine.

8. Commemorate the United Nations Palestine Solidarity Day annually on November 29th.

Candidates gear up for election fever outside the Union. The actions have been questioned by Union Officers and the Jewish Society.

Photo: Marek Allen

Union Council vote to ban Greyhound racing trips

By Amy Taylor

Greyhound racing has been removed from the University of Sheffield’s Give It A Go programme on grounds of cruelty to animals.

The proposal to ban the activity was put to the Union Council at a meeting in December by the Ethical and Environmental Committee and the decision was taken immediately.

Promoted as a cultural insight for international students and an enjoyable day out for home students, the visits to the greyhound races have had a place on the Union’s activities calendar for many years.

The place of greyhound racing on the Give It A Go programmes was questioned by members of the Ethical and Environmental Committee after a report by the Greyhound Watch in August 2008 claimed that conditions at Sheffield’s Owlerton Stadium were among the worst in Britain.

A representative for the Ethical and Environmental committee, Jacob Hunt Stewart, said: “Last year [at Owlerton] there were 309 recorded incidences of dogs ‘breaking down’ during a race; 141 of these dogs haven’t raced since and never will.

“Owlerton holds races twice a

Greyhound racing trips have been banned from Give it a Go events. week, so roughly worked out this means that on average about three greyhounds breakdown at a set of races held; about one in every ten individual races.

“The wider industry treats greyhounds abominably; dogs can be killed at birth if they are not deemed up to racing. In addition, upon retirement, typically when the dog is aged two or three, many are put down.

“I do accept that not all of the greyhounds are put down upon retirement; some are found homes by the Retired Greyhound Trust.

Yet the vast majority are put down at this age.”

A spokesperson for the Stadium said that they were “very disappointed”, describing the claims

as “incorrect information produced by anti-greyhound fanatics”.

They said: “Greyhound racing in Britain is a sport enjoyed by over three million people and thousands of greyhounds each year.

“The sport is well run, strictly regulated and the welfare of the dogs is always the main priority of those involved. Greyhounds are identifiable and are trained by licensed trainers whose facilities are regularly inspected.”

“Britain is known as a ‘nation of dog lovers’ and the people involved in greyhound racing are no exception. They are [involved] because they love the breed and get huge satisfaction from seeing their dogs racing and enjoying what they were born to do.”

By Amy Taylor The candidate list of students running for Union Officer positions in 2009 has been published, with the number of candidates up by 14 per cent from last year.

Thirty-three students have nominated themselves for the eight Officer positions, with Welfare the most contested job.

Running for the position of Union President are Paul Tobin, Angharad Evans, Laurie James McCauley and Aqib Jamil.

Finance Officer hopefuls are Martyn Brown, Marcus Hyett, Jacob Hunt Stewart, Christopher James Harvey and Martin Bailey.

The Candidates running for Education Officer are Holly Taylor, Aqeel Adnan and James Williamson.

The six candidates for Welfare are Rachel Clarke, Jamie Wroe, Stephen Knight, Jennifer Hastings, Adam Hood, and Helen Green.

The students hoping to be voted in as Activities Officer are Philip Middleton, Claire Elizabeth Monk and James Quinn-Kumar.

Gunning for the position of International Officer are Vijay Krishnan, Nur Ahmad, Ajay Sharma, Alexander Erdlenbruch and Al-Hussein Abutaleb.

Sports Officer candidates are Sadé Hacking, Katherine Rickard, Joseph Philbin and Stuart Totty.

Candidates for Women’s Officer are Amy Sutherland, Gemma Short and Madelaine Shapland.

Voting will take place from Tuesday, March 3, until Thursday,

March 5, with voting beginning at 9.45am in the Union building each day and closing at 5pm on Thursday.

Voting will take place all around campus, with polling stations located in the Union foyer, the Information Commons, Arts Tower, Jessop building, Sir Frederick Mappin Building, the foyer of Western Bank Library, as well as at The Edge at the Endcliffe Student Village.

For the first time students will be able to vote electronically on the Union homepage from their home computers.

Electronic voting will open at 9.45am on the Tuesday and closes at 5pm on the Thursday.

Two separate Candidates’ Question Time events will be held in order to give the candidates the opportunity to answer questions from voters, and explain their manifestos.

The first will be held in the High Tor room at The Edge on Tuesday, February 24, at 7.30pm.

The second will be in Interval on Wednesday, February 25, at 7.30pm. Drink offers will be available all evening.

In addition to voting for the Union representatives, students will also be able to vote on constitutional changes, including revising the duties of the elected Officers, and on referenda proposals such as allowing Sabbatical Officers to extend their one year terms and stand for re-election.

8

NEWS LOCAL

Muslim assembly storm sees head resign

FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

High-speed trains for Sheffield?

By Martha Kelner A Sheffield primary school headteacher resigned over plans to scrap separate assemblies for Muslim pupils after four complaints from parents.

Julia Robinson left her job at Meersbrook Bank Primary after her proposal to replace a Muslim assembly in favour of a multi-faith meeting was met with discontent.

The weekly assembly was attended by 30 Muslim students and focused on issues arising from the Islam faith and culture, but was open to all pupils at the school.

Assemblies encompassing all faiths, which are commonplace in most primary schools, were held on the other four days.

Ms. Robinson inherited the separate assemblies when she started the job in February last year and took careful advice from the authority on possible alternatives.

Sonia Sharp, Sheffield’s Executive Director of Children’s Services, said: “Julia wanted all of the children, all of the time, to feel they were part of Meersbrook Bank. It wasn’t that she felt the separate meetings were a bad thing - but she wanted more community spirit and felt that the work going on in the gatherings could be brought into a wider arena.

“When she tried to stop them, feeling they did nothing to promote inclusiveness, she was accused of being a racist.”

Following the allegations, Robinson was away from her post as head for most of last year, but had planned a phased return to her duties this term.

However, a small number of parents protested when they heard these plans and Ms. Robinson decided to leave her post, along with school’s Chair of Governors Sarah Browton.

Members of staff at the school have expressed their upset. One insider said: “The feeling is that Julia was doing the right thing and went through all the right routes as to what she was trying to do.”

London to Sheffield journey times are currently two hours seven minutes, but this could be cut if faster rail makes it to Yorkshire.

By Mark Duell Sheffield to London journey times could drop sharply if the Government decides to build a new high-speed railway line through Yorkshire.

Plans were announced last month to build a 200mph link between London and Birmingham, and the Conservatives have pledged to extend this to Manchester and Leeds.

Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon believes it may be possible to split the line at Rugby, with one fork going to Manchester and the other to Leeds via Sheffield.

He said: “Do you go on from Rugby, parallel with the West Coast Mainline which is already operating at speed, past Birmingham [and] Manchester?

Do you go beyond that, possibly paralleling the M6, or do you go across ?

“Rugby is on the old Great Central; that line goes across the

Midlands up through Yorkshire, so you’ve got an opportunity from a place like Rugby to decide.

“Do you do both? How do you get to Scotland? These are the kinds of practical questions that the company will be answering and I think that’s perfectly right it should do so.”

The Government have set up a new company to consider the proposals, which form part of the London Heathrow Airport third runway package.

Mr. Hoon has so far only asked for plans to be drawn up from London to Birmingham, a route that would take just 45 minutes.

But the Conservatives have pledged to continue the line to Manchester and Leeds - a direct route which would miss out Sheffield.

Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have said the Conservative party cannot be trusted to deliver a high quality network following previous

mistakes on railway infrastructure when they were last in power.

However, neither the Labour or Conservative party have as yet included a firm link via Sheffield in their plans for high-speed rail.

Sheffield Attercliffe MP Clive Betts said: “I’d like councils and businesses in South and West Yorkshire to join together on a campaign to persuade the Government that a branch of a new high-speed rail network should serve the Sheffield and Leeds conurbations.

“I think it would be incredibly good for the local economies and give us the best transport connections in the country.”

The fastest East Midlands Trains Sheffield to London services have recently dropped in time to two hours seven minutes, with the cheapest adult fares currently at £13 each way.

But if the high-speed Rugby fork was to go ahead then journey times could be cut to well under

Photo: Helen Munro

90 minutes.

Leeds North West MP Greg Mulholland and David Blunkett, MP for Sheffield Brightside, have both called for a high-speed line to Leeds via Sheffield.

Mr. Mulholland said: “As the economic drivers for their regions, we need to see Leeds and Sheffield as well as Manchester getting direct links to London as a third phase.

“Leeds and Sheffield too often play second fiddle to Manchester in terms of transport investment and high speed rail must not be another example.”

Mr. Blunkett added: “It is crucial that a high speed line from St Pancras [going] east of the Pennines takes in Sheffield, which is, after all, as large a city as Manchester.”

It is likely that any new line would take almost 20 years to be finished, with the Conservatives giving a completion deadline of 2027 for their proposed project.

Gang murderers sentenced to minimum 21 years

By Mikey Smith

Two Sheffield gang members who stabbed a lifelong friend to death in a city centre nightclub will spend at least 21 years each behind bars.

Danny Hockenhull, 24, and Curtis Goring, 27, stabbed 23-year-old father-of-one Brett Blake in Uniq nightclub on Carver Road last June. Blake later bled to death in hospital.

Hockenhull, of Hawkeshead Road, Grimethorpe, knifed Blake in the neck before Goring, of Rolleston Road, Firth Park, stabbed him in the stomach, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

Police say the attack was pre-planned, and was a result of in-fighting in the notorious S3 postcode gang, of which all three men were believed to be members.

During the four-week trial, the court saw CCTV footage showing the three men smuggling weapons into the club, now called Urban Lounge, by sneaking around the metal detector.

Blake’s relatives wept as Judge Justice Beaston told the pair they face life in prison, and that they should serve at least 21 years in prison before being considered for parole.

Speaking outside court, Blake’s mother, Jacqueline Nicholson, spoke of her disbelief that lifelong friends could turn on one another so violently.

She said: “It’s not hate I feel but contempt, and I just don’t know what they were thinking when they pulled out their knives because they not only robbed me of my son and a little girl of her daddy, but they themselves have no lives now either and their mothers have lost their sons.”

The court heard that gang tensions started when Blake was attacked by Barrington ‘Wasman’ Wallis, a new gang member, in 2007.

Blake took offence when Hockenhull and Goring failed to take his side, leading to a series of violent assaults between the two factions.

Detective Superintendent Richard Fewkes, who led the investigation, said: “The murder of Brett Blake was born out of a gang-related dispute.

“Those involved decided that they would turn to extreme violence and the use of weapons to resolve what was a very minor disrespect issue. This was a complete waste of a life.”

Natalje Gordon, Brett’s partner and mother of his three-year-old daughter, said the murderers were “pure evil”.

She said: “At the end of the day

(L-R) Danny Hockenhull and Curtis Goring, who murdered Brett Blake. they were all friends; for them to turn on him like that is evil. They have never shown any remorse for what they have done.”

Carly Lowe, Hockenhull’s girlfriend at the time of the murder, and Jamie Dyer, another friend, were also convicted of assisting an offender and are awaiting sentencing.

Dyer, 24, of Parsons Cross,

ran a car wash with Hockenhull and helped him dispose of his mobile phone and the clothes he was wearing at the time of the murder.

After the murder, while Hockenhull was hiding out at his grandmother’s house, Lowe, 20, of Rotherham, obtained new clothes, a new phone and £3,000 in cash for him.

FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

9

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Union again voted best in the country in Times Higher Education student survey

Photo: Adam Harley

Union Officers Ella White, Alex Pott, Matt Fox, Dave Hurst, Kathryn Axon, Sajeev Jeganathan and Rebecca Watson.

By Kristi Genovese The University of Sheffield’s Union of Students has been named the best students’ union in the country once again, according to the Times Higher Education student survey.

It shares its top place in the table with Loughborough University and was voted the fourth best University overall, having scored highly in all criteria.

More than 12,000 full-time undergraduates took part in the survey that rated student experience.

The Union is recognised not

only for the wide range of events and societies it has to offer to its 24,000 students, but also for its student representation and support network.

The Union has consistently achieved success at the NUS, Club Mirror and Sheffield Business Awards, and is currently NUS Students’ Union of the Year.

Union President Dave Hurst thinks that it is the diversity of choice and the student input that makes the Union so successful.

He said: “There is U Talk Back, the online feedback system which allows all students to comment on any aspect of the Union.”

He would like to see an increase in representational work and aims to instil a campaigning culture that fights for students to improve the Union.

The Union of Students also cares about its education standards with academic advice and departmental societies.

Rebecca Watson, Education Officer, said: “It’s an essential part of being a student – having a body that will represent you, campaign for your rights and support you throughout your time at university.

“A union’s purpose runs deeper than a commercial outlet; it’s to

Have your say Comment on this article at Forgetoday.com Send a letter to press.letters@forgetoday.com Text us on 07765363716 provide students with a voice that is behind them throughout their time in university.”

She says that students come to the University because of the atmosphere and environment, the opportunities and the energy

of the students.

“Sheffield ranks consistently high in the National Student Survey, suggesting its students are satisfied and it is constantly responding to student satisfaction,” she added.

Sheffield Union is one of the few unions to have eight fulltime officers, including an International Students’ Officer, and has 56 Union Council representatives.

The Union also carries out a lot of market research and focus group work throughout the year to make sure the Union caters for all students.

Sheffield RAG plans record-breaking treasure hunt

By Sophie Smith Sheffield RAG, the student run fundraising organisation, is to hold a world record breaking treasure hunt across Europe.

The hunt will begin on June 15 and will cover five different countries and an estimated 1,000 miles over 10 days.

The 250 students taking place, who signed up on a first come first served basis, will form multiple teams in a race across the continent.

The event developed after a smaller treasure hunt was held around Sheffield this year. RAG member Dominic Sztyber said: “We just thought, ‘why don’t we make this event more exciting?’

“It’s an excellent opportunity

RAG and the Burton Street Project.

for people who have maybe thought about doing Bummit and didn’t make the sign-up or really wanted to travel and soak up some alcohol-infused culture but were a bit daunted by the prospect of hitchhiking. It’s also a great way to be introduced to inter-railing across Europe”.

The teams will have to solve cryptic clues along the way. He added: “A member of the RAG committee will be based in each one of the cities dishing out clues.

“I can’t wait to see lots of pasty, sweaty backpackers run towards me begging for their next clue”.

Other participants will join in with a huge celebratory party in a final secret location and toast their success in raising large amounts of money for worthy charities.

Sztyber added: “We hope in the next few years it will get bigger and better.

“I know from experience that trips like Bummit are great for making new friends and hearing some crazy stories.

“We hope this will be just as successful. No one else has done anything like this before.

“According to Guinness World Records, who will make a whole new category for this event, it will be the biggest and longest treasure hunt.”

The money raised will go to local and international charities.

Each participant must raise a minimum sponsorship of £175 and pay an additional £129 to cover costs of the inter-rail pass and organisational fees.

To ensure the safety of those taking part in the event there will be a tracker and a compulsory daily phone-in.

Last week the Burton Street Project, a Hillsborough based community hub that works with local adults with learning difficulties, received a £1,250 donation from Sheffield RAG. The donation will kick start essential maintenance work at the centre.

RAG Chair Marcus Hyett, said: “Putting on large scale, fun, exciting events and giving to charities that support the local community is what RAG is about this year.

“So far we’ve given away over £15,000 and still have our three big events to come this semester.”

10

NEWS UNIVERSITY

Burglars targeting students

FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

Student entrepreneurs shake up Broomhill with Asia-inspired bar

By Victoria Ryves

By Rachel Blundy

Students have been warned to be more vigilant after areas of Sheffield were hit by 30 burglaries in six weeks.

Burglaries have occurred in student houses and University accommodation in the Endcliffe Student Village, Broomhill.

Thirty burglaries from homes have happened in the past six weeks, as well as 35 thefts from cars. Items that have been stolen include laptops, mobile phones and cash.

The Union of Students’ finance officer, Alex Pott, has been the victim of one of these burglaries.

Pott’s home in Broomhill was burgled in the early hours of Saturday, February 7, after Big Night Out at the Union of Students. The intruder came in to Pott’s room whilst she was sleeping and stole a laptop.

She said: “I’d left my bedroom door unlocked as I was waiting for my boyfriend to return from work.

The door opened, and half asleep I assumed it was him rather than a burglar.”

Pott hopes that her experience can be an example for other students, reinforcing the importance of locking all doors and having insurance for belongings.

Welfare Officer Kathryn Axon said: “The key to reducing student burglaries is to simply remember that each time you leave the house to lock the door behind you regardless of whether your housemates are in or not.

“Simple precautions such as this can reduce the chance of a burglary occurring in your house or apartment and reduce the success of opportunist thieves in student areas.

“If you are at all concerned about the security of your home speak to your landlord. When you are house hunting try to pick a registered property which has to comply with certain safety criteria.”

Four enterprise students from the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University have opened a new milkshake bar in Broomhill.

Scott Parsons, Joel Stevenson, Reuben Newell and Matthew Parsons met several years ago whilst working in Ikea.

The entrepreneurs decided to establish the outlet after seeing many successful enterprise projects on their recent travels through Cambodia, Vietnam and Australia.

They founded Shake Club with the help of the First Steps application process, which is run by the University of Sheffield’s Enterprise Zone.

Scott Parsons, a third year Financial Management student from the University of Sheffield, said that launching Shake Club had entailed a lot of hard work to make the vision a reality.

He expressed his particular gratitude to the Enterprise Zone’s Toni Cook, who played a very influential role in helping to achieve financial backing for the venture.

Shake Club is situated in the heart of Broomhill’s shopping area, in touching distance of much of the student population.

Mr. Parsons said: “With the new Endcliffe Student Village having just been built, we will be ideally placed to attract our core student market.”

Three of the partners plan to continue studying for their degrees whilst running their new enterprise.

The young entrepreneurs hold high hopes for the new project. “If this first outlet is successful, we hope to branch out the enterprise, if possible,” said Mr. Parsons.

Shake Club’s menu is certainly aimed at those with an insatiable appetite for sugar.

Co-founder Joel Stevenson, a Sheffield Hallam student, said the menu was designed by writing a long list of popular sweets and then mixing them with full fat milk and ice cream.

He and his colleagues then

Coffee to fuel cars?

By Vic Haley

Coffee beans could be used to fuel cars, save the environment and improve the lives of producers, thanks to research by a University of Sheffield student.

Geography PhD student Annabel Townsend has found that oil can be extracted from waste coffee beans and used to produce biofuel for cars.

Townsend said: “If farmers are able to sell coffee for fuel instead of for the production of low quality beverages then this could make good use of an otherwise wasted by-product, and at the same time provide a potentially sustainable source of biofuel.”

Every year, a significant proportion of coffee harvests cannot be exported because they do not meet the standards demanded by international markets.

This low quality coffee contains more oil than the higher quality crop and so is ideal for use in biodiesel production.

The research could also improve the incomes of small-scale coffee producers in Central America.

Student entrepreneurs Joel Stevenson and Scott Parsons. sampled different flavours and made a shortlist of the different combinations. He revealed that he may have put on a couple of stone

in weight just by trying them.

For those with a more refined palate, Shake Club also offers a fresh fruit option.

Photo: Paul Hollingsworth The bar uses locally sourced milk from a dairy farm. This can be served hot or cold depending on your preference.

Excellent rating for Sheffield’s research

By Jennie Hurwood Research by the University of Sheffield is recognised as internationally excellent and in some cases world leading, according to the 2008 independent Research Assessment Exercise (RAE).

The work carried out by 93 per cent of the University’s academic staff was assessed as being either 4* (world leading) or 3* (internationally excellent) for its originality, significance and rigour.

Every faculty in the University has world leading research, with the faculties of Politics, Information Studies, and Town and Regional Planning coming top in the UK. Eleven other subjects were ranked in the top five nationally.

This places the University in the top 10 of the Russell Group – the association of leading UK

research-intensive universities – and confirms its international reputation for research.

Have your say Comment on this article at Forgetoday.com Send a letter to press.letters@forgetoday.com Text us on 07765363716 The RAE results determine the level of research funding for 200910 that is awarded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

Sheffield’s success means that it will be able to continue recruiting the best research staff and students as well as sustaining outside investment.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Keith Burnett was very pleased because the RAE is a “rigorous benchmark”

in international research.

“Sheffield’s RAE results reflect the University’s international standing in the research community and will further strengthen our reputation for leading-edge research that brings benefit to society at large,” he said.

“I am really pleased with the large number of our academic staff who submitted their excellent research to the RAE. “I would like to take this opportunity to extend my thanks to all staff who have been involved in the RAE process and congratulate them on their success. At Sheffield we carry out world-leading research and the RAE is a rigorous benchmark which reaffirms the University’s significant research profile.”

The RAE results, announced at the end of December, round off a successful year for research at the University after it was awarded five centres for Doctoral Training

(out of the 44 nationwide) by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

The centres are part of a new approach to training PhD students by creating communities of researchers.

The University was also awarded its fourth Queen’s Anniversary Prize for the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre with Boeing.

This success in research adds to the University’s strengths in teaching which were recognised in the most recent National Student Survey when it was ranked third against the Russell Group for “excellent learning experience for students”.

The University was also commended by the Quality Assurance Agency for its good practice in monitoring teaching and learning, student support, high standard of guidance for students and its relationship with the Union of Students.

FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

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UNIVERSITY NEWS

Concerns over £21.2m Jessop West move

By Fiona White Arts and Humanities students have voiced their concerns over the opening of the new Jessop West building based at the £21.2m Jessop site.

The Jessop site was designed to centralise the Arts and Humanities faculty, but students have found they have had to travel all over campus for their lectures and seminars.

As well as attending lectures at their previous home in the Arts Tower, students on Arts and Humanities courses have had to make their way from and to the Crookesmoor building on Conduit Road from other buildings such as the Law department’s Bartolomé House and the new Jessop site.

Ruth Wakefield, a final year French and Spanish undergraduate, has already arrived late to seminars because of the move.

She said: “Before, I had 90 per cent of my lessons in the Arts Tower. Now I have to go from the Arts Tower to the Bartolomé building, the Crookesmoor building and the Richard Roberts building. All this move has done is make getting to classes a nightmare”.

But while students may be frustrated with the move, many of the staff now permanently housed in Jessop West are impressed with the landmark development.

Professor Phil Powrie, Pro Vice Chancellor for the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, said: “Until now the Arts and Humanities departments have been spread over the campus but this new central facility has allowed us to bring our three largest departments closer together.”

But a final-year Germanic Studies student said that areas like The Hubs learning rooms are not the best use of space.

She said: “It just seems silly that such a small building has been built in replacement of the Arts Tower - there can’t be enough classrooms in there.”

Photo: Sam Bennett

The £21.2m new building Jessop West is located across the roundabout from the Information Commons.

Isabel Frazer, a Hispanic Studies finalist, added: “Before it was built I got the impression that there would be more teaching space, but it just seems to be used for offices”.

Ruth Wakefield added: “It might look good, but give me the Arts Tower and all its idiosyncrasies any day.”

The building is environmentally efficient and naturally ventilated, and has features which maximise energy efficiency and make the best use of natural light, including a living roof.

Paul White, Pro Vice Chancellor for Learning and Teaching said: “The University of Sheffield’s

campus stretches from St George’s Square to Crookesmoor and, although every effort is made to minimise disruption to our students, it is sometimes unavoidable for students to have to travel between lectures and seminars.

“The new Jessop development is a great example of how departments in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities have been bought together in a central hub, enabling them to share ideas, expertise and teaching facilities.

“The requirement for teaching space in the Jessop development was assessed in line with utilisation of current facilities

around campus and the potential future development of a University Learning Hub. “The Learning Hub is planned to be accommodated in the Edwardian building on the Jessop site and will be operational by the 2011/2012 session.

“Therefore, the University is confident that teaching facilities in the general location of the Jessop development will be well provided for.

“The University appreciates, however, that there is a current squeeze on facilities while necessary work is carried out around campus.

“The University is deeply

committed to the student experience and to creating an environment that supports student achievement.

Its investment in the Arts Tower redevelopment and the new Learning Hub are just two examples of how it is providing innovative teaching space for the benefit of its students.

“The Faculty of Arts and Humanities is continuing to work closely with colleagues in professional services to keep disruption for its students to a minimum. If students have any worries or concerns they should contact their tutor or departmental secretary.”

Samuels heads for Syria via Luton to volunteer

By Natalie Bowen A University student will swap Sheffield for Syria this year when she joins Global Xchange, an exchange programme run by the British Council and volunteering charity VSO. Natasha Samuels, a 21-yearold Politics and International Relations student at the University of Sheffield, hit Sheffield city centre on Saturday, February 14, to raise cash for her programme.

She will spend three months in Luton from March and three in Syria from June, helping young people contribute to their communities.

Seven other Brits and eight people from Syria are taking part in the project, living and working together in each host country.

Natasha said: “I really want to do some volunteer work and work in another country. I met some of the British people on a training weekend in November, and I’ve added the others on Facebook.

“It’s a mix of people but most of them have graduated or are on a gap year before uni.”

She is not yet certain what she will be doing during the project,

but it will involve working with ethnic minorities in Luton and Syria, possibly by setting up peer education programmes or community work.

Have your say Comment on this article at Forgetoday.com Send a letter to press.letters@forgetoday.com Text us on 07765363716 Natasha heard about VSO while working for fundraising company DialogueDirect two summers ago.

The charity arranges placements for skilled professionals such as doctors and youth workers to volunteer in deprived areas largely in the developing world, but also in the UK. The British Council runs a range of projects to encourage UK citizens to live and work in other countries, improving communication and understanding between cultures.

Global Xchange, the two organisations’ joint programme, enables groups of 18 people aged between 18 and 25 from different

countries to work together on a project both in Britain and another country, spending three months in their own country and three in their colleagues’ country.

It differs from other VSO programmes as applicants do not need to be a qualified professional, and it is not a paid placement like many British Council programmes. However, there is a gruelling application process.

Natasha had to send off her application, attend an assessment day in London where she was interviewed and took part in role plays, have a medical check-up and attend a training weekend – all before finding out if she had been accepted.

“You have to show that you’re quite interested in helping out but it’s open to anyone who has a passion for it,” she said.

“Although it is quite competitive you just have to raise money so it is more worthwhile. Other programmes cost thousands but I only have to raise £600 – everything else is paid for.”

Natasha has already raised some of that money through sponsorship and street-collecting.

People can sponsor her online by visiting: www.justgiving.com/ natashasamuels1.

Student Natasha Samuels is off to Syria soon.

Photo: Jonathan Jackson

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FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

LETTERS

Have your say Star letter: More Yorkshire universities?

Dear Forge, I am writing to you with reference to the ‘More Yorkshire Universities’ article written by Craig Purshouse (page 16, Issue Six of Forge Press).

As a former resident of Doncaster I was both offended and shocked by the narrow-minded view taken within the article.

To describe local areas as ‘undesirable towns’ was an extremely irresponsible and completely ignorant view and questions whether Mr. Purshouse has actually ever visited these areas.

Rotherham and Doncaster in particular are areas which were hit hard by mine closures and from experience I can say that these effects are still being felt within these communities. I feel these facts should have been considered before such

Star letter is sponsored by Your Harley

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

statements were made.

Moreover, Mr. Purshouse’s views show a blatant disregard for the students or Union staff who may be local to those areas.

I understand this may seem trivial, however by attending the University of Sheffield Mr. Purshouse has made a commitment to living in South Yorkshire and therefore I feel compelled to ask: why relocate to a county containing such ‘undesirable’ towns?

Obviously if Mr. Purshouse has indeed explored all these areas and can base his opinion on facts I apologise, however I feel it is much more likely that the comment made was a result of an elitist attitude and blatant ignorance of the facts.

Yours, Laura Grant

Getting back to basics Dear Forge,

I came to university determined to steer clear of student politics, but here I am unable to delay the inevitable any further. I never thought I’d find myself writing in, but I’ve been left feeling exasperated.

There appears to be a trend in contemporary student politics which seems to show no signs of abating.

It is not one confined solely to Sheffield, go anywhere in the UK and you’ll find it in some form.

This trend is the everexpanding boundaries of relevance with regards to issues discussed and debated by our elected representatives.

For example, in one of the most recent officer blogs on the Union website (19 December 2008), Women’s Officer Fiona Edwards writes about our Students’ Union’s stance in the IsraelPalestine conflict, stating that a “...policy was passed at a referendum in 2004 and renewed again in 2007.

It commits our Students’ Union to raising awareness of the consequences of Israel’s occupation...”

Now I am not a cold, heartless bastard; any avoidable human suffering should be avoided at any cost without fail or question.

However, the plight of the Palestinians or indeed any other peoples around the world, bluntly, is really not relevant to someone who considers Heinz-brand baked beans to be a luxury – your everyday student (I would like to make clear at this point that I am neither Pro-Israel nor ProPalestine).

No matter how clichéd it sounds, yes, we live in a democracy and everyone has the right to free speech, but a little common sense every so often wouldn’t go amiss.

If I want to condemn the actions of a transnational company or foreign government, I’ll sign up to a pressure group or join that man camped outside Parliament. I don’t want my Students’ Union to divert time, money and valuable resources to produce a few placards, banners and leaflets which in all honesty, hardly anyone outside of the University and NUS will take much notice of.

Furthermore, I certainly don’t expect our well-paid Union Officers to stand idly by or even encourage it.

Towards the end of 2008, Fiona Edwards called for an end to the University’s links with arms companies among other things. Although this is arguably more of a direct relevance to matters affecting students (though not much, if at all) due to the vested interests of the University, the last time I checked it wasn’t a cause of sexism or discrimination.

Common sense should prevail above all else; the Students’ Union as a representative body should be there to meet and address the real needs and real concerns of students such as student debt and graduate careers (not to say that it currently doesn’t) rather than to run around condemning international affairs and the actions of companies and foreign governments, who have little, if any, impact on Sheffield students.

In her blog, Education Officer Rebecca Watson writes: “Apathy is an extremely difficult hurdle for students’ unions to jump over.

Last year, we had a 10 per cent turn out for election voting. Considering that there are 25,000 students more or less at Sheffield, 10 per cent isn’t a great deal of student democratic engagement.” (September 2008).

Consider this: if our elected ‘representatives’ got back to basics and were to spend more time addressing the needs of Sheffield students and less time pursuing irrelevant political agendas, voter apathy might not be such a prevalent trend in future.

Yours, Anon

Useful university Dear Forge, Although I agree there is a danger that too many universities being created could leave a lot of graduates without suitable jobs (‘More Yorkshire Universities’ by Craig Purshouse, page 16, Issue Six of Forge Press), I do believe that a Doncaster University could do the town a world of good.

It may not be the most glamorous place in the world, but Doncaster is really on the up at the moment after 20 years of deprivation. For too many young people in the town university is just something that ‘posh’ people do in more affluent parts of the country.

A Doncaster University could show young people that it’s OK to have high aspirations and that universities aren’t all elite organisations.

It could also create a lot of new jobs at a time when they are needed most.

What better way to finish the rejuvenation of a much maligned town? Let’s not knock the university before we can see what it can do.

Yours, Lottie Boyle Third Year Journalism Student and ‘Undesirable’ Doncastrian

Thank you note Dear Forge, I’d be grateful if I might use your pages to offer my thanks to the student who very kindly helped me to my feet after I’d fallen and gashed my face (and, as it turned out, broken a hand) at the foot of Parker’s Road a couple of weeks ago.

This Good Samaritan, whose name I was too distracted to ask, also enabled me to have an initial clean-up at his house.

I am most grateful for his thoughtful care.

Write: Forge Press, Union of Students, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TG Email: letters@forgetoday.com Text: 07765363716 Please include your name, course and year of study As it happens, the accident occurred as I was hurrying home from the “Audience with Lee Child” held at Firth Hall, so I’d like to take this opportunity too to congratulate Daniel Baird on his profile of Child in Forge Press Issue Six. I’ve been reading Sheffield student newspapers for over thirty years, and think “Forge Press” has reached new heights of excellence this year -- I hope and trust you win all the prizes.

Yours, John Haffenden Research Professor of English Literature, School of English

Double standards?

Dear Forge, The past issue (Issue Six) of Forge Press discussed the removal of a BNP member from the Union Council, presenting it in a positive light on grounds that the BNP supports racist attitudes, gay-bashing and the objectification of women.

It has not gone unnoticed to me that this issue also featured an article (‘Men are like dresses; keep your sexiest outfit for best’, page 28) on the objectification of men, comparing them to dresses. This sort of thing is known as double standards.

Double standards have been the norm throughout history. They can be spotted everywhere, from murder trials conducted in wartime to elected governments supporting allied dictators.

Shutting out the BNP from any institution only makes opposing interest groups more difficult to hold in check; and, as history has shown us time and time again, even the most innocuous of special interest groups, when uncontrolled, cause devastating harm.

Yours, Andrei Pambuccian MSc Psychology

A load of (recycled) rubbish Dear Forge,

Shortly before the Christmas break, from my fourth floor common room at Endcliffe Village, I observed a porter go through the paper and card recycling bin and throw a fair volume into the normal rubbish.

He would pick a black sack from the recycling and try to tear it open – if he failed he threw the bag into the normal rubbish.

Should he have succeeded in opening the bag he would (normally) leave it in the recycling.

Sadly to say most black sacks do not open after one attempt at ripping them open and therefore most ended up going to landfill rather than being recycled.

I’m sure most of my fellow students at Endcliffe Village use the recycling facilities as much as possible and it would seem pointless if the staff distrust us to recycle properly and rubbish our efforts (bad pun intended!).

I can understand if the local council do not want plastic sacks in the paper and card recycling bin, but please could the staff tell us this rather than just removing all sacks from the paper recycling.

I am more than willing to empty my paper bin into the recycling dumpster as is rather than sealing in a black sack first.

Yours, Benjamin Friedman Chemical Engineering, First Year

Correction The article ‘Kershaw returns to Sheffield for speech’ in Issue Six should have stated that The Exchange is a joint project between the Politics Society and the Union, not the History Society. We apologise for any confusion caused.

Unisex Union toilets - good idea?

Gus Hamilton, Medicine, third year

Stacey Hardstaff, English Literature, first year

Tony Walters, Chemistry, first year

Jennifer Nixon, American Studies, fourth year

“To be honest, unisex toilets are not an issue that I have ever thought about, so it has never bothered me.”

“I think it would be weird going into toilets where there are men. It would be a bit creepy.”

“I suppose it would make some people feel comfortable and others not, so it’s probably best to stick with separate toilets.”

“No, because there would be no privacy for anyone.

It would be uncomfortable, especially at night when people had been drinking.”

FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

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FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

COMMENT

Style over substance makes Jessop flop as academic space

By Amy Taylor It was a week before my exam, and once again my internet was down.

I had trawled every level of the IC in search of a computer, including the top two where only the truly dedicated venture. I needed past papers, and, for that, I needed MOLE. Gone are the days when one could pay a visit to the relevant department and hand over 10 pence for a fresh copy of last year’s exam.

At least for students whose home departments have recently relocated to Jessop West.

In other words, anyone studying History, foreign languages or English in any form; be warned.

The long-awaited building comes with one vital missing requirement: storage space.

Past papers, I was cheerfully informed by the Linguistics department, have been thrown out.

Probably to make space for the dozens of unused computers reserved solely for postgraduate students.

As a French and Linguistics student most of my time is spent going between the Arts Tower and Shearwood Road.

The former requires no explanation.

The latter is a cul-de-sac of converted houses with an overwhelming musty smell.

So it is an understatement to say that I was looking forward to the Jessop move.

It is disappointing, then,

The Jessop West building looks great but has lacks teaching space. to discover what I am losing in order to spend a few hours a week in a more aesthetically pleasing department.

I feel a bit cheated by functionless eye candy for my fees The lifts even have a helpful little voice who tells the passengers when it is overcrowded and might be in danger of breaking it.

The Arts Tower lifts might still be working if they had had a little voice like this.

Once you get used to being

stared at like a goldfish in a bowl, the glass-walled hubs aren’t so bad.

But the issue of space remains. There is a severe lack of teaching rooms.

One member of staff informed me that the Arts Tower refurbishment was never planned to coincide with the Jessop opening, and so Jessop was only ever intended as an office space.

But surely, somewhere along the line, the clash was discovered and classrooms could have been added?

Instead, I have to rush all around the University to reach lectures.

I spend my days dashing between the Hicks Building,

Photos: Olivia Lightfoot

the Richard Roberts Building, up to Bartolomé House, and back to Hicks for a day’s worth of classes.

A recent Open Day saw eager visitors stood huddled in the falling snow, hearing about the building’s efficient natural lighting and ecofriendly heating system.

But what were they actually shown that would convince them that a degree from Sheffield would be better than any other?

I am generally proud to be a student of Sheffield. I am prouder still when I see it hitting top spots in league tables. But after paying my fees I feel a bit cheated by functionless eye candy.

Presidential di-Lama?

By Kirsty McEwen I learnt earlier this week that apparently our Union’s honorary President is the Dalai Lama.

Now I must further confess my ignorance: I didn’t even know that the Union had an honorary President, let alone who it was.

Upon asking some of my friends, I found that they were equally unaware of this position, and the general response to the fact it was the Dalai Lama was “Oh. That’s nice...”

So how and why does such a position exist, and should it be maintained if so many students are ignorant of it?

According to the Union Constitution, the honorary President is nominated by the Union President, and then elected through a vote. Ideally, the nominee should be contacted and express their approval for the nomination, but I’d hazard a guess that didn’t occur in this case.

Interestingly, if the Council approves it, the Union must pay (within reason) for the honorary President to come and visit Sheffield.

This raises questions over whether this is something we can afford or justify in these economically troubling times, especially in light of our current Tibetan President.

The Union Constitution does point out that the honorary President cannot play any part in the governance of the Union, making them into just a figurehead, with the current choice seeming a token nod towards what someone decided w a s an appropriate representation of student idealism.

The honorary President also maintains their position for three years unless a referendum is called to oust them.

This again questions the point of this role.

An icon who might not

even know they hold the role, who cannot play a part in Union politics even if they wanted to, and who is someone that, most likely, students weren’t even aware had been elected to the position.

The Union itself seems rather reticent over the position, with very little information available as to who the honorary President is.

Union Council was on the verge of reconsidering the role but eventually decided to keep it, though it’s unlikely even they know why. I think the idea of having someone to increase political awareness, or to encapsulate values that the Union strives for is a nice one, but how successfully it works is questionable.

Other Students’ Unions take rather different approaches to honorary Presidents; LSE’s honorary Union President is Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the Burmese opposition party, who incidentally we rejected in opposition to our current esteemed spiritual leader.

However, both Leicester University and DeMontfort University have ‘Tony Large It’ as their honorary President, apparently a famous DJ for Leicester’s student nights.

Perhaps we should follow their lead, abandon all pretensions of being politically highbrow and simply elect someone from our own thriving Sheffield club scene - could Tuesday Club spare us a DJ?

There’s nowt wrong with a day at the track

By Alex Orton Dogs like chasing things.

They also like hanging around in packs chasing things. I have seen this in parks, at the beach, and many other places.

The greyhound track has a load of dogs chasing a fake rabbit together, which sounds like a good day out from a canine point of view.

Also if dogs are on a track, they aren’t out and about crapping all over the

pavements I have to walk to University on.

Due to an objection by Jacob Hunt Stewart, of the Ethical and Environmental Committee, the University of Sheffield will no longer run Give It A Go trips to the dog races.

Apparently Greyhound Watch has raised concerns of animals ‘breaking down’ during races.

This doesn’t involve the dogs switching on their hazard

lights and waiting for a tow truck driven by a Chihuahua - they actually get hurt.

Over 140 dogs had career-ending injuries last year, but these are dogs that were looked after to tip-top standards. No one is going to keep an animal that they want to win races tied up in the garden, giving it nothing to eat but the leftovers of their Pot Noodles.

True, many are put down after serious injuries, but the same happens to race horses and there have yet to be calls for the banning of the Equestrian Society.

Secondly, the decision to drop dog racing deprives students of the opportunity to gamble and hang around with people who smell of pipe tobacco.

In the current economic climate we

might as well start taking tips from people with nick names like ‘Jimmy the Hat’ who speak in incomprehensible accents.

Give It A Go should encourage students to go down to the track, buy cheap pints of ale and try to win back the cost of buying text books.

If your bank might go bust tomorrow, taking your money with it, you may as well throw caution, ethics and cash to the wind.

FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

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COMMENT

Sabb Officers should not be able to cling to their posts for two years

Give Union Officers the time to get the job done and use their experience

By Natalie Bowen

By Jo Wendel

Currently, the Sabbatical Officers at the Union of Students can only serve one year in office at Sheffield before moving on.

The proposal to allow them to stand for a second term is due to take place alongside the Officer elections.

The democratic process that underpins the Union is quite clear that students can only stand once for any position.

Every year, University of Sheffield students have an equal chance of election in any position they choose to stand for, because every candidate is fresh.

No one has a previous good or bad term behind them; no one has an immediate advantage over their fellow candidate as they are an incumbent; no one is already associated with the position.

Candidates should have experience of Union processes and certainly some informed policy suggestions, but having previous election experience and a year’s worth of Union politics is an unfair advantage.

Power struggles are not pleasant and the current system helps to prevent them.

Officers should work together, not consider whether a tough but necessary policy would hamper their chances for re-election.

In addition, they should see the everyday students they work with on committees and campaigns as people they can work

Officers fresh out of studenthood can claim empathetic knowledge of those they represent; after all, it wasn’t long since they were working, drinking, partying, campaigning and occasionally studying as well.

An Officer standing for re-

election has been embroiled in a myriad of student issues on a local and national level – but it is too easy to become distanced from real, everyday needs.

Campaigning against removing the cap for tuition fees is worthy stuff, but so is sorting out issues closer to home.

National campaigns are important. But the Union Officers should choose campaigns relevant to their students, and officers standing for re-election have spent at least a year out of university education.

I strongly believe that organisations should not be afraid to change when change is necessary, but not for its own sake. Is it really necessary for Sabbs to run for multiple terms? I think not.

A change in the Students’ Union’s constitution may finally allow students to be re-elected as Sabbatical Officers.

With the current system, many Officers barely have time to settle in before it’s time to go.

The knowledge and experience that Officers gain during their year in office is wasted under a oneterm-only system.

Instead of treasuring the experience and allowing Officers to run again, their knowledge is thrown out the window.

It takes time to spot the problems within an organisation, and even longer to come up with ways of solving them. Longterm progress and greater development cannot be properly followed through if an Officer can only hold his or her post for a year.

Vision 2012 – the new three year plan to modernise the Students’ Union – would be better executed if there is continuity among the ‘visionaries’.

Instead, the Officers who have seen the vision through the consultation stages will have to hand over to new people with far less understanding of the project.

Our Students’ Union is dependant on continuity in its work to keep up with the demands of a growing population.

A multiple term system would hopefully lead the officers and their work to become more public. Currently, the officers are

Rebecca Watson, Education Officer.

But that was my experience. My housemate’s was a complete contrast. He felt there wasn’t a rapport between him and his tutor, and left without feeling the tutor could give him a reference. Yet we both paid the same amount in fees: how is this fair?

As one of my personal objectives for this year, I aim to lobby the University to carry out an intensive review of the personal tutorial system.

Why? Because the variation in

personal tutor support needs to be addressed.

Whilst my own experience of the personal tutorial system was positive, the experience of my housemate is indicative that many students are unsure what their personal tutors are for or find them unsupportive.

I firmly believe that personal tutors are integral to the academic experience; they are your backbone throughout your studies.

In the current economic climate, where employers

Let go of the Union and move on. closely with, not as potential rivals.

Good policies, campaigns and services are continued because a new group of officers agree with the previous lot, not because one Sabb has taken a pet project and continues to push it through.

A year’s worth of Union politics is an unfair advantage

Cartoon: Kate Mitchell

highly visible during their candidacy, but seem to huddle up in their offices once elected.

This would be stopped if one was up for re-election, because they would need to maintain a public presence all year round.

A single-term system causes Officers to be judged more on the quality of their high-profile campaign than their low-profile work.

Our Students’ Union is dependent on continuity in its work An Officer who can re-run is likely to work harder, and be more aware of the longterm effects of projects.

With a longer and more public Sabb Officer role also comes greater accountability.

As the Officers become increasingly well-known among the student population, it will be easier for students to know who is responsible for what.

Some fear a multiple term system would lead to Officers being out of

touch with student matters and reality, but this is a somewhat unfounded argument.

The Union Officers may not technically be students, but living, partying and constantly socialising with students must surely count for something.

The Officers’ main responsibility is the Students’ Union, not your academic course. Their work is about making your spare time as interesting and valuable as possible, and in that respect they are every bit as much students as the rest of us.

Naturally Sabbatical Officers should not cling on for a substantial number of years. But at under £16,199 per annum, a Sabbatical Officer life is not exactly lush living. Most graduate jobs are far more appealing, both financially and careerwise.

Most Officers do a great job, and if they are willing to spend another year serving us, we should at least give them the chance to do so.

Personal tutors are helpful, so don’t forget them

Each issue a member of the Union Officer team reports on their aims, objectives and activities.

I loved my personal tutor.

He was ace – chatty, informative, assertive.

When I asked him for a reference for my Masters application, I was confident that he knew my academic strengths, my extra-curricular activities and what specific areas of Philosophy I wanted to venture into.

are focusing on the skills of an applicant as well as their degree classification, it’s so important that students feel their tutor can give them a detailed reference.

In addition, students should be feeding back to departments what they want from their personal tutors, and are aware of the appropriate avenues of support if the experience is not going well.

Currently, I’m working with the University to review the PDP (Personal

Development Plan) which allows students to record and understand the skills they’ve acquired during their studies. This will hopefully act as a support to Personal Tutors on their students’ strengths and skills.

This term, watch out for the Education Committee’s campaign on Personal Tutors which will give you the opportunity to feedback on your experiences and asking you what you’d like changed.

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FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

COMMENT

Our Union must tread carefullly on Gaza issue

By Kyle Christie Wherever it occurs, strife in the Middle East is bound to arouse strong emotions. As it should.

Many students across the country have felt a need to raise money for humanitarian aid and find out more about the conflict since the recent crisis in Gaza.

Our Union, too, has policy on the issue. Passed by referendum in 2004 and 2007, it states that the Union ‘condemns acts of terrorism and aggression on all sides’ and will ‘inform our members of the background to the situation in the Middle East’.

The original statement failed to condemn the rocket attacks by Hamas Whatever your opinion on the conflict, this policy has been passed by a vote of all students, though nearly as many voted against, or abstained, as voted for it in 2007. However, the Union must be sure to stick stringently to what its members have allowed them to do, and not be tempted to interpret such policy more widely.

They have failed to do this.

When the crisis in the Gaza Strip ignited recently, the Union put up an extensive statement on their website, which has subsequently

been edited.

This original statement failed to condemn the rocket attacks by Hamas; indeed, it did not even mention the name of the terrorist organisation.

No distinction was made between civilian and military casualties on the Palestinian side.

Clearly, this did not meet the requirement that the Union condemns aggression on all sides, nor does the omission of basic facts inform us of the full situation.

In addition, the extensive statement declared that the media ‘have given biased accounts of Israel’s attack.’ Maybe they have, but we never voted to allow the Union to take a position on this.

Yet the statement encourages us to ‘monitor the media’ and make complaints about their coverage. The last time I checked, the Union didn’t exist to analyse the coverage of the mass media on an international issue. It should let students decide for themselves whether the media is giving a fair account of the conflict.

Although this may seem like nitpicking, considering we have no real choice over whether we are members of the Union - and it has the authority to represent us all - we should question whether it should be allowed to be quite so flexible with the policy we have sanctioned them to campaign on.

The Middle East conflict is an incredibly divisive and complex

The Union’s policy on Gaza and the words of its Officers don’t tie up. issue, and one that must be approached with caution. We cannot, and must not, run the risk of such divisions spilling into the diverse student community in our city.

The Union should be concentrating on informing students on the background to the conflict. To do otherwise could run a risk of alienating some of their membership.

This has not been helped by the noisy and unavoidable ‘diein’ demonstration that took place outside the Union, attended by a Sabbatical Officer (note the singular).

The sight of gravestones detailing Israeli atrocities and

of students lying down on a Palestinian flag was certainly noticed by all those who passed in front of the Union. If those taking part wished to draw attention to themselves and their cause, then for that one day they no doubt succeeded.

However, although very detailed leaflets were also handed out, I can’t help but feel that the highly visual protest will be what those who passed the Union that day will have taken away with them.

It’s unclear as to what end the graphic demonstration served.

Did students walk away with a better idea of the conflict and its historical and religious complexities, or with one-sided

day. But the University isn’t open 365 days a year, let alone the Arts Tower, which isn’t open at all at the moment.

To get £100 back for our scrap metal we would need to drink and recycle 17,900 cans a year. That still averages out at 50 cans a day, every day of the year.

Plastic bottles are even less financially rewarding, selling for £40-£100 per tonne. Even at £100 a tonne, the cash from bottles is measly. A plastic water bottle weighs 15 grams, so we have to put in 66,000 bottles to get £100 back.

The lighting on an average vending machine uses 4.8 kilowatt-hours of electricity a day, according to a study by Texas A&M University.

That works out at £245 for a year of electricity to run the reverse vending machine’s lights alone.

Having upset the environmentally conscious by rubbishing their newest plaything I should probably suggest an alternative.

How about just using the numerous un-powered recycling bins dotted around the University?

By Kristi Genovese

Cartoon: Kate Carson accusations shouted from a megaphone ringing in their ears?

Two Sabbatical Officers in fact made their opposition to the protest clear online. It’s obvious there are divisions within the team (perhaps one of the reasons for the subsequent edit to the Union’s statement).

When we see suffering around the world we should feel a need to act. Be it raising money for charity, finding out more about the conflict, or raising public awareness through open debate, there are plenty of ways to constructively make a difference. Neither the Union’s original statement nor the recent demonstration effectively contributed to this.

Green machine not adding up IC - a magic world

By Alex Orton The reverse vending machine in the Arts Tower is a novel way to encourage recycling, dishing out 5p discount tokens in exchange for a can that has been rapidly drained of Dr. Pepper by someone seeking a sugar rush between lectures.

But when the hard facts are examined, the green machine doesn’t quite add up.

An empty Coke can weighs 14 grams, and the machine holds 1,000 cans, so that’s 14 kilograms of cans. That’s not a lot of scrap.

Currently recycling centres pay £400 for a tonne of cans. So 71,500 cans gives one tonne of recyclable aluminium.

So to get a tonne of cans together in a year the machine would have to take 196 cans a

Most of us like to think that we work hard, play hard and wouldn’t like to be known as the geek that never leaves the library. So why is the IC always full of students?

Why is finding an available computer like getting the yolk out of an egg without cracking it? Perhaps these people aren’t working and researching.

Take a closer look and you’ll find people fixated on their laptops, lost in a world of gaming that swallows up hours of study time.

The fantasy universe that is World of Warcraft takes up 62 per cent of the multiplayer online market, and probably that much of the gamers’ lives as well.

Even the glamour of the IC and its pretty colours isn’t enough to distract them away.

“These games are very elaborately designed to ease you in gently, entice you, and keep you there,” says Dr. Maressa Orzack, a clinical psychologist.

“And it’s a cycle: people begin to spend too much time playing and their careers and personal relationships begin to deteriorate,” she continues.

The Chinese government has established time limits for under 18s, logging people off if they exceed three hours online.

In Amsterdam there is a recovery clinic for game addiction (though I doubt we’ll see a quiet room for gamers to calm down in or computers being switched off in the IC anytime soon).

Most significantly, if the IC is full of people saving the elf kingdom there is no room for people wanting to study for their degree.

FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

Editorials Hurst breaks word on Union openness Dave Hurst was elected last year in a whirlwind of pledges and slogans, followed by his belligerent attack on “cliquey” student politics.

One of the key tenets of his campaign was an apparently mendacious oath to ‘open up the Union’s finances and democratic system’ and enable students to ‘see exactly what [their] money is being spent on’.

By attempting to decline a request to reveal how much Union Officers spent on telephone calls, members of the Hurst administration have shown their willingness to thumb their nose at the students they represent.

The statistics in themselves, whilst interesting, are not remarkable or explicitly sensitive.

The attempt to hide them, though, is indicative of a continuation of the clique culture which Hurst vowed to end.

Time and again there are blusterous comments made by our President that our Union needs to “tackle bigger issues”.

How can we do this when the credibility of our Officers is damaged by their reluctance to be transparent?

The time has come for students to ‘see exactly what [their] money is being spent on’ and for Hurst to stop hiding behind hyperbole.

Justice for James The callous murder of James Muiruri is a tragedy for the University of Sheffield.

A popular character, James was involved in many aspects of student life, including his work as a residential mentor.

It is vital that the family of a man who studied justice in East Africa during his life are rewarded with justice after his untimely death.

After the disputed elections at the end of 2007 created political instability in Kenya, law and

order broke down and up to 1,000 people died.

Concerns about the fair administration of justice are therefore well founded, and the fact that a Sheffield student was allegedly executed by a police officer only go to prove this.

Muiruri’s short life should be commemorated, and no doubt his friends and fellow students will cherish their memories of him.

But equally important is the conviction and sentencing of the man who ended James’s life.

Bite back on stigma Amongst the preponderance of awareness campaigns being run by committees this year, Biteback’s Eating Disorders Awareness Week stands out as a real chance to fight the misguided prejudices which surround the issue.

For too long, sufferers of eating disorders have been left to feel unnecessarily ashamed and alone.

Hopefully this campaign will reach out not only to people with misconceptions of the conditions, but also to the sufferers themselves

and make them realise that a support network exists to help them.

In a curious way, seeing an increase in users at the University’s Disorders Clinic is a good thing because it means that people are coming forward and embracing the care that they need to recover, rather than letting the condition (or the latent prejudices of ill-informed people) beat them.

All students should get involved and learn something; sufferers can be abandoned no longer.

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COMMENT

Online voting will bring the ill-informed to polls

By Roz Glynn The University of Sheffield has decided to launch a new innovative electronic voting scheme for this year’s student elections. Students can now vote from the comfort of their own home.

By introducing electronic voting, my life will be a lot easier.

I won’t be forced to dice with death, effectively skiing down my vertical hill of a road, and I can still make my opinions known.

However, electronic voting could be seen as giving the vote to those who can’t be bothered to vote.

If students are really passionate about student politics, they should make the effort to go in person and cast their vote.

There’s also the danger with online voting that those who don’t really care will vote, randomly clicking buttons without properly considering the issues and policies at hand.

I would far rather have fewer people that truly care about the issues at hand voting than see our Union Officers elected by the apathetic masses, taking five seconds off to tick a box on their computer screens.

Electronic voting would also have implications for voter fraud, as there is no guarantee how secure the service will be.

The current plan is for a voting option to be made available in MUSE. But people give their passwords away all the time so mates can pop into their account and forward an email or download a file.

Almost everyone has opened MUSE on someone’s laptop to find their passwords have already been saved by the browser.

The administrative problems of

It’s hard to know the facts sat at home. electronic voting have been well documented at University College London.

Other universities, such as the University of Essex, have had significant fraud problems.

The online voting system will cost around £3,000, which is an extra expense while the conventional paper balloting system is still in place.

Further to this the online votes will not be counted at the click of a button but by printing out the results and going through them by hand.

Cartoon: Kate Mitchell

Electronic voting does have its benefits: more people than ever will vote, and it’ll be so much easier to do so. I can make my opinions on student politics known when lying in bed, or halfway through doing my essay in the early hours.

However, it is likely many who don’t care will vote, and there exists a huge possibility for voter fraud.

While it is great to be pioneering and try new things, I’d rather stick to the tried and tested method, go into my little booth and tick my ballot paper in peace.

Union rebuild provides facilities for all students

By Emily Cresswell The planned £10million that the University allocated to the refurbishment of the Union and University House has been halved, with the second £5million being used to complete work on the Jessop site.

The proposed revamped Source will be lost, and though the proposed link from The Gallery to University House will still be built, no facilities will be moved there from the current Union building. The large glass front to the Union entrance, however, will still go ahead.

With the decreased budget, it becomes even more important that the Union chooses to spend its money on the most important things. But in this case, is that really taking place?

The glass entrance in particular seems slightly pointless. While it

would certainly add to the Union entrance, and would be visually very impressive, it seems less useful than some of the scrapped plans would have been.

The new Source, which would have been relocated to level four, would have been close to the Sabbs’ offices and a new bookable meeting space, in place of the current Gallery area. In all, organising the many activities and societies in the Union would have been much easier.

Likewise, some earlier plans, such as a larger Union shop, would have been highly popular with the entire student body.

Using money which was initially intended for the redevelopment of the Union and University House to build the Jessop Building, which has gone overbudget, seems rather unfair; a site used by all students receives less money, so that this money can be used to construct a building that will be

used by far fewer students.

The link between the Union building and University House, however, would create a lot of potential space which could be used by societies or for events and meetings, even without the offices of the Sabbs being moved there. In addition, The Source - whilst not particularly large in its current location - is very convenient and has enough space for the purposes of the groups that use it.

Whilst the relocation of The Source to level four of the building would be great for the students that use it, the loss of The Gallery as a space for relaxing and casual meetings would also be an issue for the large number of students who see it as a convenient place to study, eat lunch, or spend time between lectures.

We should be grateful for the University providing such funds given the economic climate.

Providing it doesn’t cause absurd

amounts of disruption, the remaining developments to the Union can be seen in a positive light.

18

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FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

19

FEATURES

Britain’s got talent: our answer to Obama

By Kate Dobinson I’m not a willing aficionado of politicians. I’m sure that this may be a party line endorsed and even capitalised upon by politicians looking to distance themselves from the modern political sphere.

The milieu of stagnant recession we currently find ourselves in does question: who would want to be in politics? The title does not expect affection and understanding from the public.

Its term struggles to meet with a sympathetic response to its partnership with disreputable spectacle that is always played upon by the national press.

It was with somewhat sceptical trepidation then, that I anticipated meeting with the recently appointed Minister of State for Higher Education and Property at the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, David Lammy.

The higher education system in particular has always stood amidst a wildly polemical infrastructure of student reaction and opinion.

However, the presupposition that Lammy would possibly ooze out of the same mould as others with such imprudent power was proved false with an immediacy that blew my archetype clean out of the water.

Lammy, I do believe, is the new poster boy for politics: a pin up for posterity. Beaming smile, wide square glasses set on a genuinely personable face. But it is the deep and jolly chortle from the other end of Firth Hall that I encounter long before he strides into view.

Lammy’s credentials lay claim to his education at The University of London and, most impressively, at the Harvard Law School. He was the first black Briton to attend.

He says: “I am someone who has studied abroad and gained a lot from studying abroad and I want to see more British students choosing to study abroad”.

It is clear that he has a zest for the power of learning and is a champion for the basic right to an education. Being elected as a Labour MP for his home town of Tottenham in June 2000 was the subsequent outcome of a compelling personal journey.

Lammy is living proof that the closed doors that exist behind a difficult social background can be unlocked and don’t have to spell the end of a burgeoning professional dream.

The rise to political prominence through adversity is akin to his friend and colleague, Barack Obama. I tell him that the comparison made between him and the President of the United States of America must be flattering. He looks serious for a minute as if he is asked this question over and over again, but then laughs and says: “Well, Obama’s 11 years older than me.

But he’s better looking than me.

“I’m only just getting started,

Vice-Chancellor Keith Burnett, David Lammy, and Labour candidate Paul Blomfield. obviously a lot of us have drawn huge inspiration from Barack Obama, black and white, many young people. I’ve been hugely motivated by what he’s achieved and so have many people which work I work with and a lot of those are very young people.”

If, as likeable and personable a character as his head-shot would suggest then I would form a new hypothesis: that Lammy would be cut out of the same cloth as those who engender revolution and stimulation of ideas, like Obama, in a new era of the ‘human politician’. Britain needs a new aesthetic for leadership.

Obama is 11 years older than me. But he’s better looking than me Lammy agrees: “America is in a place which is very interesting, but so is Britain. We have a lot of great things which are going on here and doing this job: coming to university campuses, being with young people into their late teens, into their early twenties, gives me huge hope and excitement about the kind of country Britain’s going to be in 10 or 15 years time.”

I wondered how Lammy could and would face the difficult task of reassuring a student demographic that their futures will be stable and secure, that their university paradigm will remain fair and beneficial to their needs and that it won’t be subject to negative change.

The patience which is exercised every time a new and supposedly vibrant ideological change is encouraged to become university practice has worn thin for many.

Debt, degree classification, the pressure to increase quantity of undergraduate numbers and not necessarily the quality of education have all strained the reputation for higher education which Lammy is passionate to suggest is “in a good place”.

Despite the problem areas and mistakes made in the university sector he states that the student base “remains a strong and dynamic force.

“Higher education has had serious investment over the last decade from the Government, an increase of 30 per cent, there’s obviously been a debate over fees but that is beginning to feed through and that means a number of things. It means across the country there are new facilities, new buildings, that lecturers and academics are being paid more and they are happier as a consequence.”

International students are encouraged and coaxed from their home countries to come to university in England and a proportion of places are set aside for international students who are required to pay more for their degree than their UK student counterparts. I ask Lammy if international students are accepted by universities at the expense of students already living in the UK.

Photo: Helen Munro

“No, because we’re seeing a year on increase on student numbers at British universities, and we’re going to grow the numbers of students at British universities by 10,000 this next academic year and as you know we’re now at around 34 per cent of young people going to university, and that is a massive growth from the situation in the past. It’s a massive growth from when I went to university when then that figure was much more like 20 per cent.”

Lammy I do believe, is the new poster boy for politics: a pin up for posterity Lammy is passionate that all young people should have the chance to experience higher education. His previous work as Minister of Skills brought him into contact with apprenticeships, work based learning, adult skills and offenders. I still wasn’t convinced about the eager commitment the Government has for boosting numbers. The official target is for 50 per cent of the 18-30 year-old age group to be in higher education by 2010. I wonder if this is a realistic goal.

Lammy thinks that it is an exciting aim and one which will cater for the plethora of academic aptitude and differing ability within a range of platforms.

“Well we’re sitting here in a very academic university. But the truth is, if you look at the breadth of our universities in Britain, they’re

not all academic, not everything that goes on in a university is academic, in a sense.

“I think it’s right to say that even if 50 per cent of young people went to university there are always the 50 per cent who aren’t. In my last job as Skills Minister one of the things that I was occupied with was increasing the amount of apprenticeships available to young people.

“The truth is that Britain has to be a highly-skilled country.

We have to turn our backs on a past that was hierarchal. We assume that more than half the country would be in low-skilled manual work. We still have that in Britain; 5,000,000 people who have literacy levels less than 11 year-olds.

“That’s because of the past, it’s up to this generation to say no to that, to absolutely not accept the fallacy, and it is a fallacy that a significant proportion of young people shouldn’t experience. Let’s be clear on what we’re saying, ‘shouldn’t experience higher education.’ [Lammy leans forward and slams the table with his fist.]

Why not! Of course they should.

“We have universities like this one which have very strong academic traditions in the humanities and the arts particularly, but my feel is that for Britain to be successful it needs that success across a range of platforms and I want to ensure that people have roots through, right through if they’re there and want to take them. That seems to be what my jobs about.

“When I was last in Sheffield, I went to Forge Masters, the steel works. That is a company that has had tough times. I met there a young man who was a young apprentice, on the factory floor, he’d worked his way up, he’d gone on to do a level three apprenticeship that is equivalent to A Level.

“Then he’d gone to Sheffield Hallam university and he’s now the operations director for that company which is internationally renowned, producing some of the steel works behind all sorts of pieces of technology. That’s the sort of story I’m talking about and we need much more of that.”

Lammy certainly promotes his vision for Britain’s future as attainable and his excitement in creating opportunities for all is infectious.

“University, and I think life - and I’m so lucky that this touched my life - is about life long learning. We should all continue to learn and have the opportunity to continue to learn if we want to, so I’m absolutely passionate about this.”

I tell him that I could see him at Number 10 Downing Street one day; does he have aspirations in this direction? “My experience in politics is for every person that is nice about you, there are probably two others who aren’t. You can’t let your head get too big.”

I feel that Britain finally has a figurehead to be proud of.

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FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

FEATURES

An evening with the bobbies Forge Press spends a Saturday night on the beat.

By Robert Golledge “We’ve had intelligence that there will be a shooting tonight.

If you’re shot at, get down on the floor,” said Sam. And whilst that rather ominous statement could have been drawn out of any ’80s American cop drama, they were in fact the first words spoken to me when I spent a Saturday night with members of South Yorkshire Police’s Sheffield City Centre Neighbourhood Team.

A normal Saturday night in the city centre consists of moving on students and locals as they drunkenly disperse from the city’s bars and clubs, I was informed.

But tonight the team were preparing to monitor a location that intelligence had told them was to be the scene of a shooting.

The operation’s aim: to thwart any such attempt.

My initial feeling was of pure self-interested excitement. Would I witness a planned shooting and possible murder? Would I capture the scoop of something similar to the shooting of 15-year-old Jonathan Matondo in Sheffield?

Could this be the monumental moment where I make my mark on student journalism?

No. What was to follow was several hours of driving and walking about the dreary wet streets of Sheffield, moving on large numbers of youths, and speaking to angry students who had been ejected from the city’s nightclubs.

I had a runny nose, my feet were cold, and I was wearing an extra large fluorescent jacket which was not flattering to say the least.

It certainly wasn’t glamorous and it definitely wasn’t headline

material.

Nevertheless it was an insightful and, at times, an entertaining experience.

We started the night in the riot van in which we monitored the areas from West Bar to Ecclesall Road.

The first incident of the night occurred down towards Devonshire Green, where a young boy was found loitering around a parked car down an eerie alleyway.

Two girls approached me and invited me to handcuff them and take them home PC Clive Tyree stopped the van and we got out to speak to the boy who was called Mohammed.

Mohammed was of Somali ethnicity and within minutes we were surrounded by a group of approximately 20 youths.

And whilst they all looked about 14, it was intimidating, despite being with three police officers and another observer. But they were harmless and were asked to move on.

One of the boys elected himself to help translate, as he claimed Mohammed’s English wasn’t the best.

“What is his date of birth?” the self-appointed translator was asked.

And in a moment which was to resemble an episode of Only Fools and Horses, he said to Mohammed: “What’s your date of birth?”

The two boys were swiftly sent on their way as we chuckled about the incident.

In the first hour and a half of driving around in the van I only experienced the blue lights and sirens blazing once. Clichéd I know, but it was a thrilling

experience. For me, travelling at high-speed in a large van across the city with cars dispersing either side of us and not knowing what we were heading to was a mixture of adrenaline and anxiety.

We’d been called to help disperse another group of youths who this time had been accused of throwing stones at people. Their names were taken and they were moved on.

We stopped outside the police’s West Bar station where Clive told me why he enjoyed his job.

“Every day is different. In my previous jobs I got bored really quickly but this job seems to suit me.”

Clive then recalled an incident that happened in the office block that is situated opposite the West Bar station.

“I had only qualified fairly recently at the time and the cleaners in the offices opposite were setting off the burglar alarms on a regular basis. One morning the alarms went off and I went over alone, thinking it would be another false alarm.

“When I got in I saw one of the doors had been smashed open. I saw somebody and gave chase.

We ended up on the roof and it was like one of those Hollywood films. I eventually got him but looking back it was such a stupid thing to do.

“You get moments like that, but on the flip side you also have paperwork and petty crime to deal with.”

It was about 11pm and it was decided to investigate the planned shooting. Using their intelligence we visited a few bars to extract information about the gang who were going to carry out the attack. The gang were wellknown to the bar managers, door personnel and the police.

After gaining more intelligence we then camped outside the

location of the planned shooting.

We parked on a grass central reservation. I stayed in the van while the officers spoke to the door staff. After about half an hour on location it was decided it was too risky for me to be there, so I was transferred to the city centre.

On an average Saturday night the Police in Sheffield are responsible for 27,000 people attending 5,500 venues in the city centre alone.

In the city centre I was shadowing PC Paul Briggs observing the hoards of clubbers entering and leaving one the city’s biggest nightclubs, Embrace.

What soon became apparent was the arrogance of some students; mostly, of course, influenced by alcohol. I’ve never had sympathy for bouncers but they rightly operate a no-nonsense approach to safety, and when an individual or a group infringe on what is acceptable they eject them from the premises as quickly as possible for the benefit of the masses.

Within minutes we were surrounded by a group of approximately 20 youths As I stood with the police outside one club, we had complaints throughout the night by groups claiming that they had been assaulted by bouncers.

As much as the officers tried to explain to the various groups that being ejected from a club by being grabbed, or perhaps pushed, was not assault, the groups wouldn’t accept it.

Eventually the groups got rather mouthy with the officers and could have ended up in the cells themselves if it wasn’t for the officers’ discretion.

One police officer told me: “On the whole students are extremely

well behaved, but my one criticism is that they can never accept when they are in the wrong. They are suddenly an expert on law or have a father who is a Chief Constable. Shouting at police officers who are here to help them will not help their case.”

One act of indecency which really annoys the police is public urination. As we stood opposite the Ballroom entrance to City Hall, one man just walked straight past us and was urinating about 10 feet behind us on a bench.

Paul goes over and speaks to the young man, then tells me: “There is just no excuse for urinating in front of a police officer or on a bench. The thing with public urination is, if a member of the public makes a complaint the offence then becomes exposure, which is actually a sexual offence and can see you placed on the Sex Offenders Register – ruining career prospects for that individual.

“It’s annoying knowing that by doing something so stupid like that, not only is that individual doing something disgusting but they could ruin the rest of their life if someone was to complain.”

In all respects it had been a rather quiet night. It had the high of travelling in the van and being part of an investigation, and the low of watching a girl throw chips at a man twice her size.

As it approached 2am, despite my jeans, woolly hat and the word ‘OBSERVER’ written across my back, a few of the more intoxicated clubbers mistook me for a police officer, which, as I was to find, has its benefits.

Two scantily-clad girls approached me and invited me to handcuff them and take them home.

Apparently, all in a night’s work for a police officer in Sheffield city centre.

FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

21

FEATURES

Cartoon: Mark Mackay

Independent special / Empire of the Sun / Skins / Guitar Hero

Fuse.

Feature Music Games Arts Screen

Independent thinking Feature: Independent publications At the beginning of December I received an email from my sister enquiring as to what I would like for Christmas. She was contemplating getting me a magazine subscription and wanted to know which magazine I would want one for. My reply to this suggestion was as follows: “I don’t think a magazine subscription would be a good idea.

“Most of the stuff I read is either on internet blogs or in free publications. I have often felt that there isn’t a magazine out there that caters for me.

A testing ground where good people come and try out interesting ideas

Fuse

Friday February 20 2009

“The music magazines are either aimed at teenagers (e.g. NME), and are a bit hysterical, or old rockers (Q magazine), who seem a bit confused by the current state of music. Arts and fashion magazines (Dazed & Confused) are a bit pretentious, and as for guy magazines...well they either fall into the tits, tits and football category or are aimed at profligate city wankers. I sometimes pick up GQ only to be reminded of the reason why I don’t buy it more often. It’s spectacularly right wing and the contributors reads like a list of people I would really like to burn (Piers Morgan, Naomi Campbell, Boris Johnson etc).”

I got a pair of shoes instead. They don’t fit and are now on eBay. Perhaps if one of us had heard of Stack I might have got a better present.

Having realized that his friends were unaware of the independent

2

magazines he knew and loved, Steve Watson set up Stack at the end of last year. Stack is a unique independent magazine subscription service whereby customers receive a different magazine each month.

Inspired by the thoughts of a blogger and the business approach of an American t-shirt company, and with a bit of research suggesting there was a decent opportunity available, Watson contacted publishers and editors of independent arts and culture magazines from across the globe about joining the Stack roster.

“All of the magazines I have spoken to about this have all said: ‘What a brilliant idea. Why didn’t anyone think of this before?’”

Watson says of the response he has received.

However, the idea might not appeal to everyone. Stack exists to try and make more people aware of the independent magazines out there; magazines they probably have never heard of and so rely on Watson’s recommendations.

As such, the customer has little capacity to choose what title they will receive each month and they are entrusting Watson with their choice.

But what Watson wants is for “people to enjoy having a surprise every month where they’re going to get something totally new and totally different” and believes that if he allowed customers to choose the titles they wanted, it would be a short step to them not being brave enough to purchase a magazine they have not heard of.

“A big idea of Stack,” says Watson, “is saying: ‘Look, these magazines are all really great examples of independent publishing and they all deserve your

time. They are all worthy of you taking a look at them.’”

Whatever your perspective on the quality of the Stack concept, there can be little doubt that it is representative of something integral and important to independent businesses as a whole: innovation.

Gareth Main, editor of Bearded, one of the titles on Stack that focuses solely on independent music, recognizes this quality in the labels and artists he writes about, as well as the wider world.

“All innovation in any industry, whether it’s publishing or music or whatever, comes from the people that aren’t in the big offices. It always comes from the grass roots.

It always comes from creative people who are doing it for the love of it rather than for the money.”

This sentiment is reiterated by Watson, who perceives independent publishing as an important “testing ground where good people come and try out interesting ideas”.

Blogging gives anyone the chance to “test out their voice” But a new “testing ground” has emerged. It’s no secret that the internet has led to the bypass of status quo and standard protocols on an almighty and ubiquitous scale.

In publishing, it has meant you don’t have to be in print to be heard as blogging gives anyone

the chance to “test out their voice”, as Watson puts it. It also offers an immediate level of interaction with the reader, something print just can not do.

So will the internet ultimately provide a replacement for print journalism? Probably not, as Main explains: “Despite the greatness of the internet, someone always wants something to read on the toilet, on the train, on the bus. So there’s always a demand for magazines, it’s just not going to be as great as it was.”

Watson is also sceptical of the belief that the web will cause print to become extinct: “It’s tempting to get caught up in this thing that magazines in the future have to be online and that if it’s not it’s dead.

Print and online do similar things but quite different things as well…

The really big questions are all about how the two can live together and flourish together”.

But the response will have to be one of integration, perhaps beyond current levels, especially for the independents who are at greater risk. Just running a blog and a lowkey website alongside the magazine might not be enough, but the truth is no one quite knows what the future holds. “This is a big unknown area, something that everybody working in the publishing industry is looking at very hard,” says Watson.

This uncertainty represents a challenge not only to the independents but the major titles as well. However, whereas the independent publishers might approach the challenge with some enthusiasm, seeing it as an opportunity

to experiment and cultivate new creative thinking, the mainstream titles will be more cynical, scared by the reality that they no longer have a cash cow and that it will undoubtedly mean losing money.

They will adapt, but much slower.

Bearded understands this.

They run a website and a blog to supplement the magazine which Main has tried to make stand out as a genuine product. Printed on expensive paper, an emphasis on using illustrations rather than photography where possible and a deliberately spacious layout aimed at guiding the reader’s eye rather than bombarding it all help make Bearded an interesting artefact to hold and look at as well as read.

Pinnacle was the “heartland” of independent record labels “I’m a huge fan of the web and I’m a huge fan of web technology and I’ve written blogs before but my passion really is magazines,” says Main. “I wanted to make it really nice quality because, well, why would you want to pick up something flimsy, almost like a comic?”

By producing Bearded this way, Main utilises the advantages a magazine can have over the internet by making something desirable with true worth. In short, you probably wouldn’t throw it away after reading it.

An avenue for independent publishing mentioned before but not available as an option to Bearded is making

Feature: Film Unit 60th birthday

Film Unit plan celebrated their anniversary in style by organising a reunion of committee members from the last six decades and showing a classic film every day between Tuesday, February 17, and Sunday February 20, including Some Like It Hot, Grease, The Shawshank Redemption and Amelie. On the 17th, which was the cinema’s actual birthday, they screened The Third Man, which stars Orson Welles and was released in 1949, the year they were established.

Not content with simply being a cinema for students, Film Unit has recently diversified by developing schemes aimed at helping the local

community.

Chairperson Daniel Wood explained: “I’ve tried to put a lot more energy into Film Unit doing new things this year.

“We’ve been showing free Saturday matinee films for autistic children and we’ve been working with charities by putting on special showings to raise money for them.”

Wood also believes they have plenty of ideas in the pipeline and see no reason why Film Unit shouldn’t keep growing: “If we can find a suitable location, one of our grander plans for the future is to have outdoor film showings.”

As with all conventional forms of media in the modern world, the growth of the internet, in particular internet piracy, threatens the future of independent cinema, but Wood can see the positive side.

“People can use the internet to research films and find out what’s going on outside of the mainstream but there will always be a desire to see films on a big screen with great quality surround sound.”

With so many cinemas in Britain becoming homogenised as they are taken over by major chains, it would seem as if the remaining quality independent cinemas are becoming more important than ever.

Here in Sheffield, we are lucky to not only have a great student cinema but also the Showroom,

which flies the flag for alternative

films.

As the larger chains somewhat dictate what most people in this country see at the cinema, the independents are invaluable in giving people access to more obscure films that do not get shown at the Odeon or Cineworld for fear that they will not be profitable enough.

Wood said: “It is important that people have access to alternative cinema in the same way it is important that there is access to alternative music.”

The students who run Film Unit do it because of a passion for cinema and a desire to showcase great films, but being involved has gained some of the committee members additional perks, such as invitations to film festivals.

Since they are completely run by volunteers, Film Unit are always happy to hear from students who want to help either as ushers, fire officers, publicity assistants or in a number of other roles.

The schedule for this term’s films is available now around the Union, and with recent greats like Burn After Reading and Waltz with Bashir and older classics like Requiem for a Dream it looks like its going to be another good term for Film Unit. So, here’s to another 60 years.

Jon Hardy

Screen

Alistair White

The students who run Film Unit do it because of a passion for cinema

Arts

but will hit them harder due to their reliance on it.

Recession, internet, lower revenues; the troubles independent publications face in the current climate are numerous and sizeable.

The majority of the predicaments are applicable to the industry as a whole and not just the independents. But as they do not have the financial clout of the mainstream magazines, they will have to rely on their tenacity and dynamic nature to react and adjust to the new demands of the publishing world if they want to survive.

They will though. Watson feels that “print isn’t dying, it’s changing and we just need to work out how we can actually manage that change”, and if a solution will emerge from anywhere it will first be from the independents.

Their existence is not only epitomised by unique style and originality, but desire, determination and sheer bloody-mindedness to simply inform people of their love for something great.

Games

magazine free to customers. This method recognises how the internet allows the distribution of free media and some publications have thrived in this format, Vice and The Stool Pigeon being examples.

Bearded was originally a free magazine and Main continues to try and make everything about it as cheap as possible, including the advertising rates for independent record labels. But now he charges for the magazine, not only because it’s very expensive to put together but also because by giving it away for free Main feels it might “cheapen the brand a bit”.

“If we do give the magazine away for free people might not take it as seriously as if they actually had to pay for it,” is Main’s concern.

Beyond this, there is another major hurdle preventing free publishing becoming an option for new and emerging independent magazines. Watson points out that advertising is “really bottoming out”. A problem that was present prior to the recession and definitely not helped by it, this dilemma is not exclusive to free publications

Music

The cover from the latest issue of Bearded.

Film Unit is nearly old enough to start collecting its pension, but as one of the most successful studentrun cinemas in the country reaches its 60th birthday, it shows no signs of slowing down.

Founded by Tom Marverson, who went on to set up the magazine New Scientist, Film Unit began in 1949 by using a portable projector to show films in the old Graves Hall, which is now Interval Café.

Due to its growing popularity, in 1958 Film Unit was granted a permanent projection suite in Graves Hall and eventually, in the seventies, this was converted into Graves Cinema.

Since 1996, Film Unit has been located in the Union Auditorium – a facility that boasts Dolby DigitalTM surround sound and 380 seats.

It has grown and evolved over the decades into a profitable cinema which currently has a budget of over £30,000 and shows four films a week, including a foreign or art house films that are unlikely to be shown in the bigger cinemas, as well as an old classic you might never otherwise get a chance to see on the silver screen.

By also showing two recent hits that have not yet been released on DVD and charging a very reasonable two pounds a ticket (maximum), the cinema manages to draw in plenty of filmgoers.

Feature

Silver screen at 60

Coping without the indie “heartland” Feature: Distribution of independent music

Although independent labels vary hugely in size and working methods, their greatest distinguishing feature from majors remains their common reliance on outside distributors, without whom they would have great difficulty in getting their releases into high street record shops and

the time that Pinnacle was the “heartland” of independent record labels, acknowledging that its collapse “could not have come at a worse time”.

Indeed, around 400 small labels relying on the Christmas period for sales were left unable to trade. In addition, it is likely that labels won’t receive payment for any sales made through Pinnacle in the latter months of 2008.

Bankruptcies of some of the smaller labels seems inevitable Better-known customers of Pinnacle included the highly influential Rough Trade, whose roster includes The Strokes, Arcade Fire and The Hold Steady, as well as Fierce Panda, who have recently signed promising newer acts like

The Blackout and Hot Puppies.

Rough Trade has been able to switch to a rival distributor named Pias, but a common fear is that any company with a monopoly on distribution will mean a far more impersonal approach to trading with small labels.

Bankruptcies of some of the smaller labels seem inevitable for the year ahead, but despite the increasingly worrying picture the labels themselves are typically optimistic.

An AIM statement released as Pinnacle went into administration read: “It is a unique feature of the independent sector that, in troubled times, competitors can take steps to help each other out.”

Though this is by no means the first time the independent industry has fallen upon hard times, the current situation is undeniably grim; let’s hope that sheer dogged determination can pull it through.

Jeremy Peel

Fuse

Pinnacle was the “heartland” of independent record labels

ultimately to you, Joe Public.

Many small-time labels were unprepared for the eventuality of such an important distributor going under, causing a desperate scramble to reclaim stock from warehouses strewn across the UK. The industry was further affected by the fall of independent distributor Pinnacle Entertainment, a mere eight days after EUK’s announcement.

Pinnacle was formed in the late ’70s, when a DIY ethic in line with punk caused a spike in new independent labels.

The company retained its importance during its existence, with BPI figures showing a 4.3 per cent share in the distribution market as of 2007.

Pinnacle’s loss was a significant enough blow to independent labels for the Association of Independent Music (AIM) to call for an emergency meeting on the day of its closure.

Alison Wenham, chief executive of AIM, told The Independent at

Friday February 20 2009

For the majority of you whom society has deemed too old for pick ’n’ mix, the chances are that you struggled to find anything positive to remember about Woolies following the chain’s demise in early December.

Whilst grandparents could fondly recall halcyon days of queuing outside before the shop had even opened, sixpence at the ready, 21st century whippersnappers were left only with memories of overpriced CDs and sticky white laminated floors.

However, Woolworths’ end has been hugely damaging to one sector you might not have expected – the independent music industry.

On Friday, December 12, EUK – a subsidiary of Woolworth’s purportedly responsible for the distribution of more than a quarter of the UK’s CDs and DVDs to shops

– laid off 700 of its staff after failing to find a buyer.

The knock-on effects of this are at least partly responsible for the recent troubles of Zavvi, the entertainment retailer that has now followed Woolies into administration, but has also caused a much more widespread (and less widely reported) crisis for independent record labels.

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Feature Music Games Arts Screen

The return of the ego as Luke Steele strikes back Introducing: Empire of the Sun Imagine, if you will, suggesting to a record company that they might want to fund your rather elaborate plan to spend a year emulating explorers of old, travelling the world with grand designs of creating a psych-rock-disco film opus.

Then, go really wild and imagine that the label said yes. Somehow Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore pulled off this impressive feat, branding themselves as Empire of the Sun and racking up the air miles in the process.

The pairing is a third marriage of sorts for both musicians. Littlemore was previously in a band with Pip Brown of Ladyhawke fame, before being one half of electro duo Pnau, whereas Steele is famed for his revolving-door policy regarding fellow band members as the leader of under-rated psychedelic lovelies The Sleepy Jackson

(Steele confirms that the band won’t perform again: “I’m going to get paid this year doing this! It’s my band and I’m done now, I want a house the size of Noel Gallagher’s you know?”).

They first worked together on Pnau’s 2007 single ‘With You Forever’, and the pairing endured, with Littlemore perhaps triumphing as the only counterpart to ever successfully reign in Steele’s megalomaniac tendencies.

Appropriating their name from the 1984 J.G. Ballard novel (the same author from which Klaxons borrowed Myths of the Near Future), Steele explains the choice as the pair wanting to cloak themselves in something that was “epic, beautiful...otherworldly.”

As such, the resulting album Walking on a Dream conveniently lends itself to an aesthetic adventure of fancy dress and exotic travel (the album’s cover sees the duo trussed up like Star Wars extras).

Living out the Star Wars fantasies on a label’s budget. Sweet.

Steele denies that the record itself was conceived as a means to a long-distance end - he explains that the entire concept of singles

with story-based videos will eventually be tied together, with narration, into one unit of film.

So far, the grand ventures have

taken Empire of the Sun to China, with plans to “go to Iceland and hang out with the Vikings”, and for filming to take place with the Aborigines in Australia and in South Africa also in the pipeline.

How the whole spectacle will translate onto the live stage is yet unclear. “Ask me in a year’s time,” says Steele. “But I imagine it’ll have more trapezes and costume changes than a P!nk show.”

Citing a multitude of inspirations, including the ambition of ELO and the funk fashions of Prince, as well as “amazing Japanese food”, the record plays as an attempt to pay homage to the likes of George Lucas and Ballard, whilst throwing every global influence possible in for good measure.

It doesn’t always work, but as an exercise in writing woozy pop odysseys with a glossy technicolour disco sheen, Steele’s self-proclaimed ‘genius’ shines.

Helen Lawson

Multi-talents of a digital impresario Q&A: Frankmusik Vincent Frank is a 22-yearold art school dropout and exbeatboxer turned electronic/ power pop musician, also known as Frankmusik.

For people that may have not heard of Frankmusik before, how would you describe your sound and the music you create?

What I always say is ‘Blow-dryer Pop’ – it’s just good electronic music with pop songs wrapped around it.

I’m not trying to establish nostalgia, but I use a lot of old sounding stuff, like Justice and how they use a lot of old equipment but a new sort of twist on it all.

I almost had a fight with Justice in a BBC radio station recently, they walked in whilst I was recording a live session, and we exchanged some heated words.

Personally I found out about

Frankmusik on blogs and getting involved in a load of free downloading. How do you feel about the huge download market of the music industry?

Love it. I use it, it’s all about harnessing it, you know. If the music industry wants to make money they have to find a way of embracing that technology instead of running away from it like they always do. Admittedly they’re losing a load of money, but it’s embracing the technology at hand.

There have been exciting rumours regarding possible collaborations, with Tinchy Stryder for example. What could you tell us about this?

Tinchy Stryder, love the guy to bits; he’s the gentleman of grime. I could throw him the most random obscure backing track and he’d get it straight away. We did this track ‘Yes and No’ together, sort of a remake of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Tell Me Lies’, and he dropped some insane lyrics on top of that.

That was brilliant. The other artist I’m excited about at the moment is Sky Ferreira from L.A. and I’m going to be working with her in a month or so.

The majority of your lyrics, like in ‘3 Little Words’, and demo releases ‘Done Done’ and ‘Vacant Heart’, seem to follow a similar pattern, of love, betrayal and emotion. Would you agree?

Yeah. It’s all about my exgirlfriend. The whole album is about one girl, other than ‘Wonder Woman’ which is about my mummy.

It was a pretty intense relationship and I wrote the majority of songs in a very short period of time and it was just a matter of crafting them and getting them to sound more pop-like.

How do you feel about such defining labels as ‘the male Robyn’, or the ‘British Fall Out Boy’, or ‘Electro’s answer to Mika’? What musician would you place yourself alongside?

The Robyn one is alright - we’ve got the similar sort of haircut.

The Fall Out Boy one is obscure. I always get the Mika one but don’t see myself as similar at all - he’s proper annoying.

I’d probably say a modern day Bowie, experimenting with different sounds whilst looking a little less scary.

You’ve gained quite reputation across the Internet for being a keen remixer.

What’s the favourite you’ve created?

Probably one of the first ones that people probably got their hands on, Furthest Drive Home’s ‘Director’s Cut’, I love remixing emo music because they’ve always got ridiculous vocals.

a

Eddy Key

A beginner’s guide to... Tickets ahoy! of Xiu Xiu or the riotous punk of Sleater-Kinney, KRS have artists for all tastes on their roster… other than MOR. Key Kill Rock Stars moments:

Fuse

Friday February 20 2009

#3: Kill Rock Stars

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What do Nirvana, The Gossip and The Decemberists have in common? The answer I am seeking is that all have had releases on Olympia/Portlandbased independent record label Kill Rock Stars.

Founded in 1991 by serial musician/promoter/manager (you get the idea) Slim Moon, KRS has long been helping the DIY music scene to thrive.

Though initially linked to the Riot Grrrl movement with releases from the likes of Bikini Kill, Bratmobile and Huggy Bear, KRS have since diversified to sign artists from a wide spectrum of genres.

Their ethic is simple. Primarily, they are anti-war. Secondly, talent should be nurtured and encouraged. In their own words, they feel lucky to work with artists who challenge mediocrity in a culture that rewards making

Sleater-Kinney. mediocre music with a quick buck.

This meritocratic attitude actively extends to politics of feminism and acceptance of all sexualities. The latter is exemplified by queercore artists such as Team Dresch; the former

by KRS’s Riot Grrrl history and status as one of very few femalerun indie labels in the US (since 2006).

Be it the spoken-word lyricism of BARR, the experimental indie

Kill Rock Stars KRS’s second release and first ever compilation CD came in August 1991. Songs featured include ‘Beeswax’ by Nirvana (later featured on Nirvana’s own compilation Incesticide).

Sleater Kinney - Dig Me Out April 1997 saw S-K’s first release with KRS, their previous two albums having been released on Chainsaw Records. S-K proved to be one of KRS’s major signings, garnering national media attention.

The Gossip - ‘Standing In The Way of Control’ After numerous releases with KRS, this LP catapults The Gossip into the mainstream in January 2006.

Sam Russell

Competition: Win Rise Against guestlist American melodic hardcore types Rise Against will be visiting Sheffield Academy on Saturday, February 28, and we have two guestlist spots to give away, courtesy of SJM Concerts.

To win both places, you’ll need to tell us the answer to the following absolutely Googledefying question: Which two members of Rise Against have been in the band since its inception?

Enter by emailing your answer and contact details to: press.music@forgetoday.com All entries must be received by 12pm on Tuesday, February 24.

Good luck!

Rise Against play Sheffield soon.

Review: Crystal Stilts Alight of Night

Music Games

The effort put into the Lou Reed look-alike competition was sadly underwhelming this year.

Red ambition Review: Red Light Company - Fine Fascination

Jeremy Peel

Grand theft audio

Joe Christmas

Bold, honest and sturdy Review: Morrissey - Years of Refusal Steven Patrick Morrissey stands firm, chest proudly firing up the skies, jaw seemingly chiselled in stone, clutching a newborn baby with one burly arm.

Whatever you want to read into Mozza’s new album cover, his new performance seems as consistent and epic as his brilliant Vauxhall and I and definitely his finest album since his seven-year hiatus.

Credit must also go to the late Jerry Finn who cooks up a stadiumready rock sound so reminiscent of his input on You Are the Quarry.

Powerfully roaring with noiserock bass lines, colossal drum beats and feisty guitar riffs, Morrissey proves that despite almost hitting half a century, he still has the knack of creating catchy, lyrically imposing songs.

‘Something Squeezing My

Childminder extraordinaire.

Skull’ opens the album with great aplomb, thrashing and rasping and as energetic as his live performances, whilst yielding his usual heartfelt vocals, grasping at your inner sanctum and demanding you pay attention.

‘Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed’ pounds and thrusts with

mawkish sentiment whilst ‘I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris’ flaunts typically anguished lyrics as Morrissey proclaims: “Only stone and steel accept my love.”

‘All You Need Is Me’ pulsates and beams away characteristically pronouncing: “You don’t like me but you love me / Either way you’re wrong”, whilst ‘When I Last Spoke To Carol’ flows in a flamenco-style nostalgia-fuelled recollection of a past love.

The album peaks with ‘It’s Not Your Birthday Anymore’ - a track that would perhaps not seem out of place on Smiths’ classic The Queen is Dead - which may start warm, but the feeling of anger and resentment simmers from underneath.

It is unlikely that if you didn’t like Morrissey before Years of Refusal he will suddenly be your new favourite artist, but current admirers will be strongly appeased by this latest solid offering.

Oliver Hughes

Shiny happy noisy people Review: Howling Bells Radio Wars Those lovable noisy Australians, Howling Bells, come out for a

second serving of clearly recorded aural landscapes. Radio Wars, their sophomore effort, shows them with a more polished sound, courtesy of Radiohead and Air’s recording engineer.

Which might be a problem to some. It’s almost too clear, which

They’ve found clarity, but can’t obey dancefloor etiquette for shit.

detracts from their charming cacophony. This makes some of the songs hard to tell apart from each other, requiring a few spins to let them grow on you. Sure, it’s nice to hear singer Juanita Stein’s voice in a clear, crisp way, but her range is not exploited to the full.

Lyrically, the silly lovey-dovey stuff from ‘It Ain’t You’ gets a good antidote with the earnest lyrics from ‘Nightingale’. They might have picked up a thing or two from their tour-mates Snow Patrol, but they’ve kept their essence.

On the shinier side, the album has great moments (‘Into The Chaos’, ‘Cities Burning Down’) that benefit from the new approach.

It’s also nice to have a nonmorose voice, and to not have a guitar playing the same barred chord progression that seems to infest the indie scene. Not so much of a slump then, just a noisy baby step in the right direction for Howling Bells.

Samuel Valdes Lopez

Fuse

Everyday Demons is not terrible, but neither will it generate much excitement. Opening track ‘Demon Eyes’ tries hard to be exhilarating with its loud guitars and pounding drums, but something is missing.

Disappointingly, it’s a similar story throughout the majority of the album.

Perhaps it’s to do with Cormac Neeson’s vocals, which sound like a substandard attempt at AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson’s singing style.

Possibly it’s because this album essentially sounds the same as their debut Rise. Or maybe it’s due to most of these songs being exceedingly average.

Cut through the dross, however, and you will find a few examples of stirring rock.

‘Why’d You Change Your Mind’ uses the stop/start, quiet/loud formula to great success, whilst ‘Evil Mind’ provides a rousing finish to the album with an riff that is reminiscent of early Kings Of Leon.

However, this is not enough to disguise the tiresome aura of the likes of ‘Too Far Gone’, ‘On And On’, ‘Pride’ and ‘Tonight’.

If you want real rock ’n’ roll, you are better off with masterpieces such as Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite For Destruction, AC/DC’s Back In Black or Queens Of The Stone Age’s Songs For The Deaf.

Compared with such albums, Everyday Demons is tame.

Chances are it will have nothing to do with the survival of rock ’n’ roll.

James Morris

aware and non-conformist words like these - along with the seemly musical moods with which they are supplemented - which not only mark out Hargett from the current contingent but also as one of the best indie/alternative talents to emerge since Jeff Mangum.

Friday February 20 2009

Review: The Answer Everyday Demons

own private traumas.

Take album opener ‘The Dazzled’, which begins with the despondent acceptance of his detrimental lack of drive: “I sit in the window watching my days from a safe distance / Back I brood and forward I dream / For figments of existence.”

It’s the naturally honest, self-

Two years ago, back when The Horrors still believed they had “the future of music” firmly clasped in their rotting claws, a disparate group of musicians and optimists convened in a London flat.

As the nu-rave empire rose and fell, Red Light Company shunned gigs and publicity, instead stockpiling world-eating hooks in preparation for a devastating aural assault.

Thus, as the breakthrough act predictions for 2009 were wheeled out, the band weren’t left to fend off expectant fans with only a couple of demos and a Korg to their name – they were able to unleash this, the triumphant sound of a band successfully riding the hype wave to stardom.

The first thing you’re likely to notice about RLC is that their songs sound unabashedly massive.

Producer Adrian Bushby – a man

with such stadium-smashers as U2 and Foo Fighters to his name – unsurprisingly beefs up the bass and drums to almost AC/DC levels of hugeness.

Opener ‘Words of Spectacular’ in particular is a euphoric stomper of a tune, establishing a suitably addictive chorus before breaking out the crowd vocals for the refrain of “All of this time I’ve been waiting dark nights; what for?”

Fortunately the cock-rock comparisons end there; keyboards are used for atmosphere rather than Bon Jovi style cheese-fests, whilst Richard Frenneaux’s vocals are at once powerful and vulnerable.

What’s more, it takes repeated listens to really appreciate the nuances of the album.

From the ringing piano and dual vocal attack of recent single ‘Arts and Crafts’ to the propellant lead guitar of ‘The Architect’, Fine Fascination manages to be cohesive yet hugely varied, and will almost certainly be known backwards by festival-goers in time for the summer.

number of genres, extending the band’s appeal beyond the realm of cult followings.

Although singer and guitarist Brad Hargett’s vocals are turned way down in the mix, any decipherable lines suggest a man fighting what he knows is a losing battle against both the conventions of society and his

Screen

The notable use of organ melodies, especially in the hypnotic, almost cult-like ‘Verdant Gaze’ recalls legendary first-wave band The Clean whilst ‘Prismatic Room’ turns The Bats’ ‘Land O’ Lakes’ into a swirling piece of sunny graveyard pop.

To their credit though, this record effortlessly weaves between any

Arts

A global recession, headlines, work, deadlines, strikes, environmentalists, peaceprotesters; there’s so much going on in the world, you’d be forgiven for not wanting to get out of bed in the morning.

The saving grace is that out of troubled times there crawls timeless music. By this, I don’t mean a glorified tour guide spouting off about “Cov” or a loutish Morrissey wannabe crooning about “queue[s] at the post office.”

No, sometimes, the most reassuring music taps into the deep well of indifference and disquiet in which many people’s minds are submerged; Alight of Night being a prime example.

Musically, Crystal Stilts feed off the eerie ambience of The Jesus and Mary Chain, the weary delivery of Lou Reed and, most obviously, the dissociative pace of the lo-fi alternative bands on New Zealand’s most influential independent label, Flying Nun.

Feature

Dark, constant and grandiose

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Feature Music Games Arts Screen

Great expectations not met Live: The Twang @ The Foundry 15/02/2009 You’d think that after receiving a widely average response to their first attempt at an album, The Twang might take note of a bit of criticism or might even slightly vary their style.

It seems, however, that they are determined to stick to their laddish ways and are destined to suffer for it.

It’s all polo shirts and swagger tonight as lead singer Phil Etheridge and accompanying vocalist Saunders confidently stride around stage, stopping occasionally to outstretch their arms in a Christ-like manner, giving us mere mortals the chance to bask in their supposed glory.

Saunders’ job in particular seems to be nothing more than singing the occasional chorus, hitting the air with outstretched fingers and dancing around like a bad version of Bez (without the maracas).

Uninspired lyrics and a lack of real diversity between new and old material make the performance drag; it’s only when Etheridge receives a pint to the face that the monotony of it all is broken.

Uninspired lyrics and a lack of real diversity make the performance drag After squaring up to the rogue pint thrower and spitting into the crowd, Etheridge spends the rest of the night sulkily drying his face and apologising with backhanded compliments to whoever threw the pint.

It’s stuff like this that prevents The Twang from being a band more people can really connect with.

The most depressing thing about their whole performance is that there are times when they calm themselves down, become a bit more melodic and allow the atmosphere of their music to

shine through.

It shows signs of real promise, but they then negate it all by reverting back to their arrogant personas where you feel they don’t deserve the praise you thought of giving them.

You can understand why it’s important for bands like The Twang to have presence on stage and there are a lot of people in the crowd tonight that seem to love it, but it just feels as if they haven’t really achieved enough to act in such an egotistical way.

If they could focus more on their music rather than just their delivery of it they might actually be deserving of the hype they have managed to build up over the last few years.

However, if they keep carrying on as they did tonight and can’t learn from their mistakes, they look set to eventually fade into the background as just another band who were defined by who they were - and not by what they could have achieved.

Ross Haymes

The Harley is infamous for its claim of hosting good music and gin, and Urgent Talk’s debut EP launch provided ample opportunity to savour both.

Sheffield’s own Ben Catt, aka Ghosts, was first in, delivering a disappointingly short set: it seemed as though only 10 minutes ad passed before he left.

His understated vocals contributed to an ethereally beautiful, low-key performance which the crowd would have surely fallen in love with were they not so intent on talking over it.

Brontide certainly had no problems in drowning the crowd with their raucous rock. An energetic performance was promised from the beginning, after they restarted the first song with an apology and explained that it needed to be faster.

Photo: Alex Fleetwood On that front, they certainly played with an enthusiasm that made some of the indiest kids in the crowd uncross their arms.

Unlike other instrumental rock bands, Brontide’s sound was both harmonious and heavy.

Urgent Talk took to the stage slightly late to deliver a performance of their distinctive ‘adventure pop’. Unfortunately the crowd were reluctant to dance, move, or do anything that tracks such as ‘Air Conditioning Politics’ demanded.

Warren Myles’ vocals complemented the frenetic music fittingly, especially when combined with those of Roo O’Hare. It would have been great to hear her violin more prominently, as this seems to be Urgent Talk’s unique selling point. Unfortunately, it was almost inaudible for much of the first half of the gig.

Even their amusing cover of Bananarama’s ‘Love in the First Degree’, was ultimately not enough to save the night from being a bit of a disappointment.

Nevertheless, Urgent Talk show some promise for the future of alternative local music.

Lisa Harrison

All that glitters There’s no doubting that The Golden Silvers are cool kids.

As part of the chic Hoxton set, they are known for running their monthly party - the somewhat

Fuse

Friday February 20 2009

Live: Golden Silvers @ Fuzz 12/02/2009

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Photo: Sam Bennett

cheesily monikered ‘Bronze Club’ - whereby they invite their equally cool mates’ bands to play for the fashionable throng.

Tonight they take to the Foundry stage decked out in crushed velvet, big hair and excruciatingly slim fitting trousers.

However, we must let the music do the talking, and having won a place at Glastonbury Festival last year via the organisers’ New Talent competition, expectations for the threesome run pretty high.

It is actually quite surprising to note that while they may be in with the hip crowd, their sound is less that of ‘the now’ and more of a homage to those of the past, most strongly evoking the psychedelia of ’60s pop but also incorporating ’80s and ’90s influences in their own particular brand of indie-disco music.

Think less MGMT, more Beach Boys harmonies meets Prince meets the charm of Blur. This mix is perhaps best characterised by the softly bouncing melody of ‘Please Venus,’ the highlight of the set tonight.

Photo: Adam Dobson

Let’s get messy

Lacking imperative Live: Urgent Talk + Ghosts + Brontide @ The Harley 11/02/2009

Laddish behaviour taints The Twang’s show.

This is the second time this academic year that the band have played Fuzz. They requested a return after enjoying it so much the first time round during the height of Freshers’ Week hysteria.

It is clear that the band like to take the time to get out of their East London bubble.

A broad grin emerges between on frontman Gwilym Gold’s face between each song as he gushes: “This is the third time we’ve been to Sheffield, and every time it’s great.” Everyone seems suitably entertained; small pockets of people break out into bouts of activity while most others contentedly nod in time.

But alas, while the set was enjoyable, the floating love songs soon seemed to melt into one and wash over the crowd at times, not quite doing enough to keep them on their toes.

Unfortunately, as charming as they were, Golden Silvers’ solid performance simply lacked that crucial sparkle to turn a good show into a great one.

Kyle Rice

Live: Shadow Dancer @ DQ 13/02/2009 It is common knowledge that music leads to dancing. Dancing leads to debauchery. It was clear that it was business as usual for many couples (and no doubt some drunken strangers) who had no intention of ruining this tradition.

It was the night before Valentine’s Day, and there was certainly no lack of love within the four walls of DQ as Shadow Dancer took to the stage.

As the clock struck 1am, a fanfare of growling and grinding noises heralded the British electro duo’s arrival, igniting shrieks and yells of enthusiasm from the audience.

Barely taking a moment to breathe, Paul and Al Farrier broke into the jarring, infectious single ‘Poke’, instantly whipping the crowd into a frenzy so strong it even caused the otherwise engaged couples to turn their heads.

The Farriers effortlessly translated the mechanical chaos of noises, jolts and whirrs into a poisonous mixture of vibrations

and bass lines that were completely irresistible to the human ear. They remained focused throughout, churning out rhythm after rhythm, pleasing the masses for the entire duration of their set.

Amidst the smoke, flashes and lasers, the persistent, jerky electronic genius of Shadow Dancer seemed to last a lifetime, hypnotising many into an inescapable whirlwind of mayhem and joy as they danced passionately to what can only be described as a flawless set.

Despite being Friday the 13th, it seemed as if nothing could taint the mood. After winning the crowd over on this, the first night of their album-release tour, Shadow Dancer seamlessly handed over the reigns to French wonderkid Bobmo, who continued to captivate the energised audience by unleashing crowd pleasers such as Proxy’s ‘Raven’ and A-Trak and Laidback Luke’s ‘Shake It Down,’ both to a rapturous reception.

If there ever was a time for immoral acts or questionable behaviour, this was certainly it.

Debauchery? Yes please.

Natasha Parker

Melting the ice Live: The Thermals @ Raynor Lounge 07/02/2009 It may be a bitterly cold winter evening, but Oregon-based band The Thermals certainly know how to warm up their audience.

The packed-out Raynor Lounge practically throbs with excitement to the sweet sound of their addictively melodic hooks.

Opening the set with a bright introduction, they soon tumble into the next tune to a very enthusiastic audience.

Fresh off the road from supporting indie peers The Cribs, the wrath-felt rock-out ‘Here’s Your Future’ shows considerable similarities to their music.

A set full of upbeat, joyful ditties follows its lead, such as the stomping riff of ‘Returning To The Fold’. Other songs such as ‘When I Was Afraid’ showcase

a voice that could easily be mistaken for Killers frontman Brendan Flowers.

Finally, guitarist and vocalist Hutch Harris breaks into the opening chords of their most well-known song, ‘I Let It Go’, and draws to a close the amazing onstage energy maintained for their hour-long set.

There is a great atmosphere tonight and the crowd are extremely receptive to the sublime strumming of gorgeous guitars. To witness a relatively inexperienced band give such a professional performance is a rare and beautiful thing.

The relentless cries of “More!” in response to the lack of encore speak for themselves. Hopefully by the summer there will be no snow for The Thermals to warm up, but after tonight’s performance we can safely say we’ll be craving their company all the same.

Grace Crook

Games Arts Despite the misleading name, Guitar Hero: World Tour offers fun-filled challenges on all instruments. highly touted is the song creation tool. This allows the player to write their own songs (without vocals) and publish them online for other players to download and play.

While it sounds good in theory, creating anything is a hopelessly fiddly and complicated process, and the end result is a midi file that sounds like a ringtone. With some fairly major refinements this could become a real selling point for future games in the series, but

for now it’s stuck being broken and not worth the effort.

The big question here is, is Guitar Hero: World Tour better than the competition? That’s a surprisingly difficult question to fully answer.

While Rock Band 2 enjoys a slightly tighter setlist and a more coherent career mode, World Tour brings better instruments and a lower selling price.

If you’re serious about music games you’ll buy both, and if you

want to casually play with friends then you’ll buy one or the other, and which one you get isn’t all that important. To the veteran, Rock Band 2 is better than World Tour, but World Tour is better than the original Rock Band, so maybe we have to wait until the next Guitar Hero to get the true experience.

Until then, World Tour is a more than adequate stepping stone, and a good game in its own right.

James Cook

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Since the release of Legends of Rock last year, the music game genre has changed almost beyond recognition. Rock Band came out (eventually) and provided the first ‘band’ experience, and in doing so set the benchmark fairly high.

The gameplay was solid, and four player co-op was fun and well executed, but there were two crippling faults; the stupidly high failure rate of the instruments, and the disappointing setlist.

Now Activision have unveiled their take on band gameplay, which hopes to improve on everything Rock Band offers and add some new things to the table. While it mostly delivers, a few flaws stop this being the best of the bunch.

The hype behind World Tour has focused largely on the instruments, in particular the drum kit. The kit is certainly more impressive than that in Rock Band, giving you three pads, two cymbals and the kick pedal to play with. However, with the extra pad comes extra complexity, and inexperienced players should expect to flail around uselessly for the first few attempts at least.

Once you have got used to it though, it is the best kit available and delivers the most realistic

drum experience in gaming. The guitar is also an impressive piece of kit, sporting a stunning new design thanks to the lack of Gibson endorsement in World Tour.

The guitar functionality has been improved over previous versions, with the strum and whammy bars being made significantly larger for easier use, and a new Star Power button being added.

There’s also the touch pad, which is used for guitar slides.

Much like the Rock Band solo buttons, this feels gimmicky which most players will never use, but it’s nice to have anyway. Overall the quality of the instruments justifies their high price.

None of this means anything, however, without a great track list, and here World Tour delivers to almost anybody. Featured artists range from Metallica to Coldplay to Survivor; even Michael Jackson wriggles his way in (sorry).

The range here will be too eclectic for some, but Neversoft deserve great credit for trying to appeal to the widest possible audience. Special mention should be made of Tool, as the game features a set of 3 Tool songs in a special venue featuring scrolling artwork, inspired by the band’s albums. For fans of the band (such as myself), this is a hugely impressive feature, and hopefully future Guitar Hero games can do this for more artists.

One feature which has been

Music

Review: Guitar Hero: World Tour

Feature

Battle of the pixel bands

Rebirth of skateboards Throw into the fire of Mt Doom

Review: Skate 2

James Cook

Let loose the FEARcats Editorial

Fear me. You will buy my game.

Sam Robinson

Fuse

One word that can terrify any living soul - FEARcats. To commemorate the release of FEAR2, advertising agencies felt the best way to promote their game was to let a horde of black cats loose in London.

In this age, where there is meant to be no originality, this comes as a shock. The idea is that the mass of black cats is meant to spook people on Friday the 13th.

Apparently one in five people are

very superstitious on that day.

While the cats are said to be well trained, the only thought that springs to mind is how many of them will end up as a ‘cat sandwich’.

This still is an interesting advertising idea though, more different than the old age concept of having a bunch of smiling people trying to flog the latest game.

Closer to home, on Thursday, March 5, there is Buzz: Clash of the Unis taking place in Bar One. More details on our website.

Sam Robinson

Upon hearing of Pandemic’s cross of Star Wars: Battlefronts gameplay and the Lord of the Rings world, I would have travelled to Mount Doom to get my hands on it. With hindsight, I’d rather throw myself into the fires below.

For those in the dark, Battlefronts was a brilliant concept in which you took the role of a lowly peon in large scale battles taking place in the Star Wars universe. Each unit had different skills, and players were given the option to play as beloved heroes and villains from the series.

Of course, when this was transferred into the Lord of the Rings world there were issues.

You watch the films and you think: ‘Wow I wish I could fight alongside Gimli at Helm’s Deep.’

Fast forward to Conquest and all you hold near and dear are thrown onto the sharp rocks of poor game design.

Even the most epic of battles is made bland. I’ve seen more epic fights outside kebab shops on a Friday night. Seriously. The game, for me, went downhill when it literally forced you to jump over the wall of Helm’s Deep.

Now, from watching the films and the hordes of Uruk-Hai that were clamouring to eat the man flesh of Legolas (no pun intended), it came across as being preposterous. Surely it isn’t asking me to dive headfirst into certain death?

was expecting were two or three solitary Uruk’s standing around and contemplating their own existence. And this continues on throughout the game. Marvel at Sauron, the major threat to Middle Earth, being killed by a one-foot stream. Ponder why Elrond narrates the evil campaign condemning your actions. And shoot yourself over the rageinducing lines being repeated over and over and over again.

Then comes selecting your class. I say selecting, I really mean ‘pick mage’. Warrior and archer classes do what they say on the tin, though they are tedious to play as it boils down to whether you have opposable thumbs.

The scout is your backstabbing friend whose stealth is practically useless, making me believe that they suffer from constant flatulence. The mage, as I mentioned, is the weapon of choice. A class which can heal, kill trolls in seconds and can attack from a distance is, to me, a little overpowered. Okay, way overpowered.

The battlefront style simply doesn’t work and it isn’t helped by this story being retold over and over again. All this seems to be is milking the franchise by adding a couple of shots of stock footage, poor scripting and a lowly five hours gameplay, ultimately breaking my LOTR dreams. Even killing hobbits is boring and I really wanted to burn the hairs off their feet. Avoid at all costs.

Friday February 20 2009

moving the right analogue stick to perform stunts. For the most part, it works extremely well, and becomes easy to use with a bit of practice. Skate 2 improves on the original by doubling the amount of possible tricks, and even lets you play as a female skater.

However, one of the main new features is also the worst part of the game. Players can get off the board, which is fine in theory, as it

Then, when I did, my worst

Review: Lord of the Rings: fears were greeted with, well, nothing. The swarming hordes I Conquest

With the Tony Hawk series recently going downhill, the original Skate established itself as the new king of skating games, offering an original control system, a fresh perspective focused on the board and a vast city to explore freely. Having brought so much to the genre last time, what could EA Black Box do to push the boundaries even further? The answer is: not very much.

Let’s not be too critical, though; all they’re doing is refusing to fix what isn’t broken. Skate 2 is still superb, and every aspect of the game seems to have been polished a bit more than in its predecessor.

It’s just slightly disappointing that so much of the game is exactly the same as it was in Skate.

For those who don’t know, the Skate series is best known for its control system, which does away with Tony Hawk style ‘button + direction’ control in favour of

allows people to create their own ‘spots’ to skate around, but the controls while on foot are dire at best.

This is a clear example of a feature actually making a game worse, as several story missions involve moving things around to perform better stunts, and these missions suffer accordingly.

Speaking of missions, there is a fairly bad story wrapped loosely around the events of Skate 2, but with the whole city and trick list available from the start there’s no real need to play any particular mission set, leaving players free to explore the city as they wish.

The positives far outweigh the negatives here though; the gameplay still feels brilliant, the city is even better than it was in the original and there is enough to do here to keep dedicated players busy for months. While it is very similar to the previous effort, the quality of Skate 2 shines through and reminds players why it is the best skating game around.

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Arts

Games

Razor sharp tale of one man’s tragedy

Photo: Gerald St Ledger

Sweeney Todd’s razor cut many throats.

Review: suTCo Sweeney Todd In a season otherwise filled with the hyperbolic frivolities of the festive period, suTCo brought the sludgefilled streets and filthy passages of the London underworld to life in their superb Christmas production of Sweeney Todd.

The tale of ‘the Demon Barber of Fleet Street’ takes the audience into the rat-filled alleys of 18th century London, where a bitter Todd seeks revenge against the iniquitous ‘justice’ system and the crooked men who oversee it. The narrator tells of how the young barber lost his wife and

daughter when he was sentenced to transportation for a fabricated crime. Returning to his former haunts, Todd joins forces with the inimitable Mrs. Lovett to form a mutually agreeable business arrangement, which satisfies his need for vengeance and her need for pie fillings.

Steven Aspinall excelled as Todd, bringing a strong physical presence to the stage and handling the vocals adeptly throughout the performance.

His portrayal of the barber’s grief and anguish at the loss of his wife and abduction of his daughter made for a sympathetic characterisation: a perfect foil to the self-serving avarice of the figures of authority.

Complementing Aspinall’s surly Todd, Victoria Jolly stole the show with her exuberant performance as Mrs. Lovett. Stunning vocally, she maintained an engaging Cockney drawl throughout, and brought much needed comic relief to the piece. Her overt physicality in her attempts to seduce Todd, with hips swinging and rolling pin in hand, got a great response from the audience.

Whilst there may have been flies on her pies, there were no flies on Mrs. Lovett, a canny businesswoman with few scruples.

Despite her sly manipulation, it was hard not to admire her ingenuity, especially when her lament “times is hard, business is bad” seemed particularly resonant.

Beauty of disappointment

Fuse

Friday February 20 2009

Review: In A Thousand Pieces @ The Lyceum

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There can be little doubt that, contentiously enough, The Paper Birds’ impressionistic rendering of the UK sex slave trade was beautiful.

In A Thousand Pieces was an intricately woven patchwork of personal accounts, public misunderstandings, movement, dialogue and original piano that mapped the incomplete story of a nameless young immigrant’s abduction and imprisonment.

Scenes were repeated and fractured powerfully: they gave a stronger impression of the reality of countless women’s lives than a straightforward story could. The performance was full of questions, anger, horror and sadness, and glimpses of the aesthetic and humorous that were as troubling as they were a relief.

Despite this, any hopes I held for incisive analysis of human trafficking from the show were dashed. Although drawing on verbatim material, In a Thousand Pieces told nothing previously

Also worthy of mention is Sarah Raine as the ‘beggar woman’; the crippled and cackling vagrant who despite her physical deformities was the only voice of truth in the story.

This consummate production brought the London underworld to life Raine’s fantastic physicalisation and eccentric cackle made her one of the most enjoyable cameo roles, along with Mark Chapman’s Senor Pirelli, who excelled as the phoney barber from Seville.

The company’s balletic depictions of rape.

Photo: The Paper Birds

a hazy over-sentimentalisation.

At points the company began to raise interesting queries about the positive potential of stereotypes, which at least imply a modicum of popular awareness. They provided an imaginative piece of physical theatre that had wit, verve and compassion, and might at least begin to provide such a stereotype.

Anne Arthur

Charlotte Rose

Rebecca changed my life Testimonial

unknown about Eastern European women being sold into prostitution.

There were horrifying statistics behind its depictions, we were told post-performance, and The Paper Birds believed the statistics all but erased the personalities of the women they represented.

As if in retaliation their performance rejected all statistics, disappointingly leaving it less a powerful redressing of figures than

His façade of the suave and pretentious Spanish mountebank was instantly switched to reveal an ingenuous Irish impersonator (though sadly he was quickly dispatched with).

Successfully choreographed, the chorus was on the whole effective, although they were overshadowed by the lead roles, and failed to hold some of the longer notes. Having said that, the presence of the live orchestra, who did credit to Stephen Sondheim’s sublime score with a slick, skilful performance, heightened the atmospheric tension and created a seamless aural backdrop.

Similarly slick was the allimportant barber’s chair, without which no production of Sweeney would be complete. I imagine it must have taken a great deal of perseverance to get such a smooth-looking mechanical operation in place, and can only hope that no real injuries were caused in rehearsing with the macabre death seat, tumbling its unfortunate victims toward the smoking furnace of Mrs Lovett’s gruesome pie house.

The production’s use of scenery, staging and lighting were understated, which contrasted well with the bustling scenes of London life. A cityscape depicting the spire of St Paul’s Cathedral amongst the smoking chimneys of industrial 18th century London made a simple yet effective backdrop, conveying the grim lives of the urban underclasses.

In this harsh world of dirt and defilement, one man’s tragedy could seem negligible amidst a tapestry of poverty and privation, of sorrow and suffering. Yet the richness of the characters and the strength of the performances made for a compelling and consummate production.

I’d always heard good things about Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca but had, I admit, scorned to read it - mainly due to the author’s name, which in my mind set off the chick lit alarm.

When, therefore, I took the book on an 8am coach on Boxing Day, I hardly expected it to keep me awake - let alone gripped and enthralled. The novel is lyrically written, and events unfold compellingly in a story where the narration forms a vital part of the gripping plot, along with emotive and haunting characters.

As I’m an English Lit student the quality of language matters to me, and Rebecca combines great literature and exciting entertainment excellently. The book left me very attached to the characters and I finished wanting more; I was amazed at the intensity of emotion portrayed

so accurately and intriguingly, and it inspired me to read other literature from the period, as well as to re-read.

Anna Macnaughton

Of course there is no consistency to your personality, your self’s as fractured as the moral authoritythat once steadied and calmed antiquity but in its fall it seems we’re restless you and me.

God is not your father and sport is not your game, you’d rather not shop or endeavour to look the same, you’re confused bruv, stoned and lame It’s a shame you don’t even long for fame.

Wallpaperback fiction.

mindless detail and then empty with its dragging pull of isolation; an endless cycle. My initial doubts began to blur along with my vision as the monochrome declarations and barcode train tracks merged and buzzed, so tantalisingly close to interpretation and therefore all the further beyond reach.

Intrigue and perplexity in equal measures seems to best describe my state on parting, having seemingly experienced an embodiment of the clash between subjective and objective, the presentation of an alternative reality that scratches out the line between fact and fiction, art and literature.

Victoria Imrie

The image of an artist, a writer of brooding intensity, is what you think you’d like to be ‘it’s just that I’m crippled by daemons and apathy’ is what you say to me, but don’t fool yourself; you are free.

Its more that your preoccupied with hedonistic masturbationserotonin and dopamine elevation, to even glance at a shared reality that offers you salvation, from your chemical induced clawing mutation.

Sartre and Laing inform your vanity, But friend, you’re losing your sanity.

Fuse

covered in a frustrating and irregular mixture of intelligible and unintelligible words, figures and patterns, perhaps the broken stuttering of broken machines and the equally broken speech of everyday life.

The old-style wooden speaker placed alongside the semicircular wooden table with its two candles, an incense holder and a telephone seemed to mock the props that we rely on every day to live, their presence simply seeming to emphasise the room’s screaming aversion to any kind of human habitation or normality.

This was a room with a purpose, a desire to disorientate, to cram with endless and excruciatingly

Photo: Access Space

Friday February 20 2009

Five walls, monochrome wallpaper and a telephone on a table. A surrealist dystopia straight from the pages of a sci-fi novel was not my initial interpretation of Kate Vale and James Wallbank’s literary inspired installation in the oddly shaped foyer of Access Space.

The exhibit takes the form of a room from C.S. Lewis’ That Hideous Strength, the final novel in his sci-fi trilogy and a work fervently praised by George Orwell as evoking “monstrous dreams of power.” Lewis portrays a world under attack from invisible forces, leading to a young college student being imprisoned in a room in order to be brainwashed and stripped of his very humanity.

It is this room that the artists have recreated, mixing original aspects with more contemporary ideas of a space used for interrogation and indoctrination; an ironic portrayal of an obsession with knowledge and control both in the world of fiction and the reality we occupy.

The papered walls were

Poem

Review: Objective Room @ Access Space

Commentary by Owen Cogan

Screen

A Room with an Objective

“I don’t explain how things are done, like in The Real Hustle, for example,” Pete clarifies, “but it’s more illustrative. The message is that mind-reading can be done, and it’s a big metaphor for wider success: as long as your head’s in the right place and you know what you want, you can make waves as long as you’re flexible.

“I don’t lecture people, or let them in on ‘tricks’ because I don’t mystify people like magicians do.

On the other hand, if you give people an idea, it’s then easier to lead them up the garden path!

People don’t look for a cheat or disbelieve you if you help them see they could read minds too.

Arts

Photos: Katherine Anne Hurdley

I love showing cynics things they can’t explain, and watching them melt

Games

Illusionist Peter Antoniou.

Once described by Kerrang!

Radio as “pheno-mentally good”, Peter Antoniou’s thought-thieving show took the Union by storm last term. As he sat opposite me for this interview, sipping pensively on his coffee, he looked tousled (he’d just trekked through five inches of snow to get here). Even so, he emanated an undefined aura of patient attention that, accustomed as I am to the methods of interrogative conversation, I found myself compelled to impart confidences.

It’s just this unstudied, soothing attention that one takes away from Peter’s performances too, but once I catch myself, and ask if it’s a trick, he looks surprised.

First protesting that all he’s doing is listening, Peter explains that tricks aren’t his stock-in-trade.

“If you’re experiencing the world through your five senses,” he says, “what you experience through those senses is real. If I can bend one, I can create a new reality where things you’ve decided are impossible happen. I don’t feel that my shows create illusions like most magicians’ do: I create an alternate reality.” If that’s true, I’m fascinated by his ability to draw people out of themselves. Is mind-reading an extension of that, I ask?

“It’s a lot about sensing people and using intuition. Even when I was young I noticed that my sensitivity was there and started playing around with it – I started using and formulating it because I

“I trust my audiences are intelligent enough otherwise to look for that, and so I’m providing entertainment for cynics as well.

Nothing pleases me more than showing sceptics something they can’t explain, and seeing them melt. In those cases, that’s when I get to see the person, not the scepticism. They often emerge as the biggest fans of illusion.”

His fascination with people is the key to Pete’s popularity, particularly at events for which he’s the ‘Meet & Greet’ entertainment. “Rather than exploiting or intimidating people, my role is connecting them, and facilitating conversations. I think it’s important not to reveal anything too personal or embarrassing.

I hate those tasteless hypnosis shows; it’s horrible watching people being made fools. I’d rather use my skills to allow people to make the most of themselves.”

At the moment Pete is working on new material, exploring how mind-reading abilities have been utilised for purposes from the criminal to the political, the latter of which he illustrates with the US government’s mysterious investment of thousands in extra-sensory espionage. He’s also preparing to film some demonstrations of his work with Forge Media, following interests expressed by national production companies.

“It’s all part of extending this kind of inspiration to people,” he explains. “I think we should definitely all make more of an effort to pay closer attention to one another.

“Talking to people attentively won’t freak them out; just be a good listener. I think people’s fascination with my shows says something about society and how we really don’t listen any more.”

As I think my surprise bears out, Pete believes that “people are amazed when you pay attention to them.”

Interview: Hannah Kirby For more information about Pete and his shows, visit: www.mentalmarvel.com

Music

Peter Antoniou: Illusionist

was genuinely interested in people and what they weren’t telling me.

I started showing friends when I was 12, and then performed shows professionally at 17.”

These shows have gone from strength to strength; Peter has performed at World AIDs Day and Labour Party fundraisers (succeeding, he confides with a grin, “through shameless selfpromotion”) and has been hired

by Southern Comfort and the aforementioned Kerrang! Radio in addition to gracing us with his presence in the Union. Different shows have different aims, Peter tells me, but “trying to get people to question their assumptions about the world” unites them.

“I’m always pushing possibilities; in my shows I try to teach people how to mind-read and build their own confidence, and that’s popular with corporate shows.” That’s quite true; one of the (many) unusual things about Pete’s show last term was that it was informative, a mixture of ‘magic’, history and satirical comedy.

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‘People are amazed when you pay attention to them’

Original Arts

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Just skin deep? that they may have hit the nail on the head, provided all kids have ADHD. The show often tries to deal with ‘teenage issues’, namely sex, drugs, school and a screwed up home life.

In this respect, Series Three has so far been no different to the previous series, as pretty much every one of the above has so far been touched upon.

Feature: Skins Series 3 Returning for its third series is E4’s flagship teenage drama series, Skins. However, in a bold move, all but two of the previous cast have been completely jettisoned, paving the way for a new bunch to fill their shoes.

Will the new characters compare to the likes of Tony, Michelle and Maxxie from the previous two series? Or will the decision to do away with an established cast who proved popular with audiences prove to be a fatal error?

Series Three directors Charles Martin and Simon Massey certainly hope not.

After watching the first few episodes, it seems the new gang are a mixed bag, with some interesting additions and some who may take considerably longer to warm to.

Firstly, and incidentally most irritatingly, is Cook (Jack O’Connell), a loud-mouthed idiot who takes ‘being a dick’ to a ridiculous extreme.

All but two of the previous cast have been completely jettisoned The fact that the first two episodes of the new series focus largely on this reprobate means the creators have taken the undesirable risk of completely alienating the original fan base, as the character displays none of the appeal of previous characters, such as Sid and Chris.

Filling the roles of Cook’s

It seems the writers have gone for the shock factor to win over former fans

Meet the class of 2009: Effy and her eclectic bunch of new friends. best mates are Freddie (Luke Pasqualino) and JJ (Ollie Barbieri), Freddie being the sensible, sensitive one and JJ being the loveable loser (theoretically at least).

Freddie is constantly there to pick up the pieces when Cook’s latest scheme inevitably goes awry, and JJ relies on his awkward magic tricks as a substitute for chat-up lines, often to disastrous effect.

The new female cast members are led by Effy (Kaya Scodelario), the key returning character who has evolved from a silent background character in Series One to established group leader in Series Three.

Effy is easily the most interesting

out of the bunch, despite the fact that she doesn’t say much.

Her sultry, bored-by-everything persona and seemingly jaded outlook on pretty much everything typifies the teenage stereotype.

If the fourth episode is anything to go by, the cracks are already beginning to show, hinting at an interesting series should the focus swing back her way.

Also returning is Pandora (Lisa Blackwell), the nice but dim best friend whose inadvertent potty mouth provides much of the humour, and her comparative innocence suggests an exciting opportunity for character development.

Finishing off the main cast are polar opposite twins Katie

and Emily (Megan and Kathryn Prescott), one of whom provides this year’s gay storyline, token outsider Naomi (Lily Loveless), and Freddie’s elder sister Karen (Klariza Clayton), who dreams of pop stardom.

From a general perspective, the most compelling thing about watching Skins has always been attempting to work out where exactly the show is coming from, and this is perhaps even more significant considering the extremes of the new series.

Is it supposed to be a satire related to adult views of the youth of today, or is it actually how a bunch of middle-aged writers think kids behave?

In some ways, it’s arguable

As a result, it seems the writers have gone for the shock factor to win over the former fans, with Cook’s first day at college being a prime example.

However, the show’s frequent forays into the realm of the completely and utterly ridiculous suggest a more tongue-in-cheek approach.

The portrayal of adults is perhaps a point of higher contention, consisting of several ‘who-the-hellwould-ever-do-that?’ moments.

Again, this is arguably satirical in nature, due to the often perceived teenage attitude that adults are stupid, insensitive and completely out of touch with the modern world. Despite such criticisms, the show remains oddly compelling, if only to see what they’ll do next.

Skins is undeniably entertaining; however whether or not it is actually a clever satire of teenage life or merely an excuse to include gratuitous use of the word “fuck” on television remains to be seen.

Jamie Cusworth

Eastwood’s poignant powerhouse Review: Gran Torino

Fuse

Friday February 20 2009

Not long after the critically acclaimed Changeling, Clint Eastwood has made another film that will add to his shining legacy as a director, producer, and actor in what could well be his last acting role.

If this turns out to be the case, then this is a more than adequate send off.

Gran Torino is a drama about one man’s reluctance to let go of his past and his stale prejudices that separate him from the community.

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Walt Kowalski is a racist, bigoted, beer-drinking war veteran Walt Kowalski (Eastwood) is a racist, bigoted, beer-drinking Korean War veteran, working as an automobile assembly line worker in a Michigan neighbourhood with a high immigrant population.

He has no patience for his family, who he frequently refers to as self-absorbed, especially his two distant sons and his greedy granddaughter.

But he has far less time to accept the rising Hmong population in what he calls his neighbourhood.

That is until some Hmong

people move in next door. At first, Walt despises them, continuing to spew his racist generalisations over the whole family.

To see Eastwood still dealing the damage at his age is incredible His hate grows when the boy, Thao (Bee Vang), is pressured by a gang into stealing Walt’s prized possession – his Gran Torino.

This failed attempt angers the gang. And so, the customary house visit beckons in which Thao and his feisty sister Sue (Ahney Her) get into a scuffle with the gang.

This would normally go unnoticed. But not on Walt’s lawn, as he comes out brandishing a gun to scare the felons away.

It is from here on in that Walt vows to protect his neighbours from the gang, despite continually ignored pleas from the local priest Father Janovich (Christopher Carley) to call the police.

The fact that Walt eventually comes to realise that violence isn’t always the best policy might come across as typical Hollywood cheese to some; however, Eastwood’s subtly powerful performance more than adequately banishes such fears.

Gradually Walt warms to the community, building a strong relationship with Thao, who also

wants to help in taking out the gang.

To see Eastwood still dealing the damage at his age is incredible.

He is still a maverick, with every scowl and rude remark dredging up from a deep, dark place. When he talks, you listen.

He looks hard. He is hard. Cut the racism and you have a pretty cool Granddad.

Praise must be given to the unknown Hmong cast. Ahney Her and Bee Vang are particularly

refreshing young talent that will surely go onto further roles.

It must also be pointed out that Gran Torino is not the story of Dirty Harry with a pension.

The spirit of Harry Callahan still rests within Eastwood because it is inseparably iconic, in the same way that Harrison Ford will always be Indiana Jones at heart, or Sean Connery will be James Bond.

Praise must be given to the unknown Hmong cast Luckily, Walt is not a simple reincarnation. He is a far more complex individual. He is

apparently horrible but is really just an inherently troubled soul – the perfect anti-hero.

The ending is succinct and definite. While this may have attracted criticism, it is arguably a good thing.

I’d more rather see a

certain end than a clichéd, reformed m a i n character who looks as if he or she has just experienced some form of epiphany.

Fortunately, Eastwood’s latest work is above such predictability and benefits enormously as a result.

The Gran Torino was a powerhouse of a car.

And, fittingly, this is most definitely a powerhouse of a film.

Ashley Scrace

Review: Revolutionary Road

Shannon’s performance deserves monumental praise. His character is one who, although damaged, is extremely observant.

He recognises the reasons as to why the Wheelers want to move.

He is the vehicle for the Wheelers’

What we have instead is a relatively by the numbers rags to riches tale which could have been far more interesting had those involved not so obviously been

Top class act Review: The Class Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, French director Laurent Cantet’s The Class forces you to walk out of the cinema with the feeling of having just spent two hours in the most lively, and stimulating class of your life.

Based on the novel by coscreenwriter, lead actor and real life teacher Francois Begaudeau, The Class presents an absorbing journey into the course of a term at a secondary school in Paris, looking at the present and culturally diverse future of France, through the interactions of a teacher and his students.

Francois is a liberal and sympathetic teacher, constantly challenged by the questions and often crass attitudes of his class.

But tensions rise when a slip of his tongue fuels a debate into political correctness, resulting in an act of violence, and the expulsion of one of his pupils.

Each student realistically portrays a character that each of us would have known at school.

We can identify with each and every one of these youngsters, from the misunderstood trouble maker, Souleymane, at the back of the class; the confused Goth in the corner; to the unheard voice of the international student, Wei. Yet no characteristics are ever heightened, they are performed effortlessly and with delicacy.

Similarly, Cantet breaks down the stereotypical lifeless mould that teachers are often placed into, and creates believable characters.

Francois Begaudeau plays the compassionate role of the teacher that everyone admires and respects, while others are shown to be on the edge of a nervous breakdown.

Cantet also offers us an exploration into the secret world of the teachers’ common room, where the more humorous scenes of the film are played out, where teachers discuss who is “nice” and “not nice at all” against a long list.

It is these subtleties of humour, combined with the boisterous energy and realism of the class, that create a refreshing film consistently true to real life.

Melissa Gillespie

Fuse

Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs’ scissors beat Biggie’s paper everytime.

The film does not develop dramatically; it is literally two hours of classroom banter, rendering it tedious at times, yet you still cannot help but like it.

Shot on just three HD cameras that never leave the boundaries of the school, Cantet blurs the lines between documentary and drama, as we are given a fly on the wall perspective, allowing an audience to feel intimately aligned with the action.

All aspects of the class are acutely examined as we witness them giggling, whispering, and

The young cast are predominantly played by nonprofessional actors

Friday February 20 2009

Tensions rise when a slip ignites a debate on political correctness

daydreaming. Their performances are so subtle and remarkably convincing that it gives the film a strong sense of realism.

The authentic vibe of this class must be due to the fact that the young cast are predominantly played by non-professional actors, allowing them to deliver questions and answers naturally.

A film by Biggie’s mother is unlikely to paint him as a potential murderer

Screen

Notorious, the story of Christopher Wallace a.k.a. Biggie Smalls/ the Notorious B.I.G., presents a version of the rapper’s life which some may find a little hard to swallow.

Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the team behind the movie consists of his mother as producer, Sean ‘P Diddy’ Combs as executive producer, and Wallace’s son as the young version of himself. Clearly, we aren’t going to be getting the most objective of biographies.

While Biggie hasn’t exactly been portrayed as an angel, one gets the impression that certain aspects of his life are being deftly swept under the carpet just as the

watching their backs.

Take for instance Sean Combs, portrayed here as an unerring, saintly presence to such an extreme that you’ll be surprised they forgot to add some sort of heavenly glow.

While some of the less attractive aspects of Biggie’s persona are touched upon, take his selling of drugs to a pregnant woman for example, the film just doesn’t feel at all honest.

Perhaps the main saving grace is the suitably super-sized newcomer Jamal Woolard in the lead role, who arguably saves the picture from being an absolute exercise in tedium.

A solid sound track is another plus point if you’re a fan of gangsta rap; if not you might be hard pressed to find much here to love.

Jamie Cusworth

Arts

Review: Notorious

camera swings in their direction.

Take for instance his rivalry with Tupac and the latter’s subsequent drive-by shooting. Sure, a film made

by Biggie’s mother is unlikely to paint him as a potential murderer, but the fact that any whiff of controversy is sharply steered away from unfortunately robs the film of doing the legendary rapper any real justice.

are polarised from the previous collaboration of Winslet and DiCaprio. I do not think I’ve seen a film with more arguments between two main characters. They are miserable, angry, hateful – a couple driven by disappointment, regret and loathing.

Praise must be given to Thomas Newman. The similarities between this score and his work on The Shawshank Redemption are evident, and that is a good thing.

A simple piano lead motif again runs throughout the film, before culminating in an orchestral peak towards the final scenes.

Newman’s scores seem to have a way of tapping into a dark, hidden depth of your imagination. They can find that tense heartstring and give it just a little tug, or at times a mighty yank.

Sam Mendes has once again created a film of beauty. His observant ability to capture the small nuances of light, sound and setting are unparalleled.

There is one scene in which April stands outside smoking, watched – unbeknown to her – by Frank. The light in this scene is haunting. And that is where Mendes shines.

What most of us find hard to describe, he can show.

Mendes has created a chilling and absorbing film of desperation, disappointment and disillusionment that adds another deserved feather to his already crowded cap.

Ashley Scrace

Games

The Laborious L.I.E.

unspoken feelings: a role which is not always beneficial.

Mendes has managed to portray the tension and psychological turmoil of a couple who, blinded by their initial love, have resigned themselves to a life of mundane and tedious actions. If you ever needed a film to make you realise how not to turn out, this is it.

The characters in this film

Music

Based on Richard Yates’ first novel, Revolutionary Road is the bitter tale of a couple who – in the apparently thriving and innocent 1950s – struggle to cope with their collapsed American Dream and battle to survive their unhappiness.

The tension between the two characters is immediately apparant, Sam Mendes carefully illustrates the strain in a tough-towatch argument by the side of a highway.

Frank Wheeler (Leonardo DiCaprio) is, or was, a confident man. Spurred on by a love for life, his ambitions to travel and to “feel things” are restricted greatly by the setting he is currently in.

He works a repetitive job, despises his employers, moans about his workmates over frequent Martinis and seduces his secretary – an act which seems almost out of pure apathy for his life and his marriage.

April Wheeler (Kate Winslet) on the other hand is aware of the cracked marriage. An aspiring yet failed actress, she sees their life now as resignation from adventure. And she is right.

Everyone on the street has the same house, similar family situations and even the same routine (which Mendes depicts beautifully with a pivotal scene of

April taking out the rubbish to find everyone else has done exactly the same).

April dreams up a plan to escape their entrapment and proposes a move to Paris. Frank agrees.

The Wheelers’ decision to move is not greeted entirely with happiness.

The neighbours think it is childish. The local estate agent, Helen Givings (Kathy Bates), will obviously be sad to see them go too.

Yet the Wheelers form a fragile bond with the son of Helen Givings, a mentally damaged mathematician named John (Michael Shannon), w h o appears to understand their strain.

Feature

Mendes on the road to glory

11

Fuse.listings

email: listings@forgetoday.com

Friday February 20 - Thursday march 5 2009

Fri 20

Sat 21

Sun 22

Mon 23

Tue 24

Wed 25

Thur 26

Bellowhead @ Foundry; 7pm; £13.50

King Pleasure & the Biscuit Boys @ Foundry; 7pm; £13 adv The swing band have been on the road for two decades playing every European country as well as the USA and Russia and recording 10 CDs. Support comes from Carmen Ghia And The Hot Rods.

Che: Guerrilla @ Showroom Cinema; 8.45pm, £4.30 Directed by Steven Soderbergh, this is a sequel to last month’s Che. The film tells the story of the final, doomed campaign of Ernesto Che Guevara (portrayed by Benicio Del Toro) in the Bolivian rainforest.

Blood Brothers @ Lyceum; 7.30pm, £14.80 - £28.50

Tuesday Club @ Fusion & Foundry; 10.30pm; £6adv With DJ Marky, The Qemists featuring Jenna G and Stamina MC. Tuesday Club now has an official pre-bar in Interval (9pm-11pm) with drinks offers playing hip-hop, funk, reggae and nu-soul.

Barry Sheffield & Wonk @ DQ; 10pm; £5adv

Pandapop @ The Harley; 9pm; Free A new night at The Harley for every Thursday of the month. On top of a pile of indie there will be free cakes, balloons, mix CDs and maybe pictures of pandas. All in all nothing to lose!

Give It A Go: Computer Gaming Day @ University House Level Four; 9am9pm; £2.50 The SLUGS society are putting on an all day LANgaming party. Play fellow gamers at Dawn of War and others, but bring your own computer or laptop.

Fight Like Apes @ Leadmill; 7pm; £6adv

The band have highprofile fans ranging from the West Coast’s Red Hot Chili Peppers to the West Midlands’ Frank Skinner. There are a total of eleven musicians playing a mix of folk, rock, ska, jazz, soul, and world music.

Suckerpunch @ DQ; 10.30pm; £5otd The launch of a brand new night presented

by The Tuesday Club & Bassfire. With DJs Vandal (Lot 49) Jonny Townsend (Urban Gorilla), Andy H (Tuesday Club) and Mr. Shanks (Bassfire).

The Shawshank Redemption @ SU Auditorium; 7:30pm; £2

The feisty, funny Dublin quartet released their debut, Fight Like Apes And The Mystery Of The Golden Medallion, at the end of January and are now out touring it across the country.

The musical tells a moving tale of twins who, separated at birth, grow up on the opposite sides of the tracks, only to meet again with tragic consequences. The musical has won multiple awards and continues to enjoy standing ovations at every performance.

Album Release: Prodigy - Invaders Must Die; £8.99 One of the most important dance acts ever are back with their fifth studio album.

Amelie @ SU Auditorium; 7:30pm; £1.80 Jean Pierre Jeunet’s film depicts a lively and colourful Paris through the eyes of a shy waitress with a vivid imagination who takes it upon herself to perform kind deeds for others.

The Flowers of Hell @ The Shakespeare; 8pm; 99p adv, £4otd The Flowers of Hell may be described as “a trans-Atlantic space rock orchestra”. Might not be to everyone’s taste but you can’t go wrong with the price of 99p for advance tickets.

Sat 28

Sun 01

Mon 02

ShAFF @ Showroom; various times; £4.30 per film The Sheffield Adventure Film Festival presents a weekend of the best in adventure films. Running until Sunday, March 1.

Shuffle @ Plug; 10.30pm; £5adv Frankly a bargain Saturday with Kissy Sell Out on the bill. Other DJs include LJ Freeman, Hallam Floorfillers, Ollie Hayes, and Tom Lee.

Groundhog Day @ SU Auditorium; 7.30pm; £1.80

SOCO Sounds @ Fusion & Foundry; 11pm; £7adv

Metropolis & Wax: On @ O2 Academy; 11pm; £15 Yes the popular night is finally introduced to Sheffield and it’s going to be big. Featuring Chase & Status ft. Kano, Annie Mac, Benga and more.

You probably couldn’t ask for much more.

Synthetic @ The Raynor Lounge; 9pm; £3.50 The electrocuted offspring of Offbeat, Sythetic plays the best in classic and contempory electro and synthpop. From Foals and Metronomy to Soft Cell and Kraftwerk, it’s all here.

To celebrate their 60th anniversary, Film Unit are showing some of the greatest releases during their existence. Tonight it’s the amazing prison drama The Shawshank Redemption.

Fri 27

Featuring Scratch Perverts, Daddy G (Massive Attack), Cyantific (Hospital), Meat Katie (Lot49), The Apples (eight piece funk band), as well as locals Run Hide Survive (Club Pony) Andy H & Stoaty (Tuesday Club) and MCs Tonn Piper & Walker. Southern Comfort drinks offer on all night.

Na Zdrove @ The Stockroom; 10pm; Free Na Zdrove moves to a new venue and starts off with a Russian pancake party with the best in Balkan beats, gypsy brass, Russian ska, gypsy dub, klezmer and gypsy punk.

Metallica @ Sheffield Arena; 7.30pm; £40 The metal legends will be supported by Machine Head and The Sword.

Rise Against @ O2 Academy; 6.30pm; £14.68

Following high-profile national tours and joining the Vans Warped Tour roster, the band are set for a UK line up.

Directed by Harold Ramis and starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell. A comedy in which character Phil Connors wakes to re-discover Groundhog Day the day after it has already happened. Mindboggling, one might say.

Paul Pashley @ City Hall; 7.30pm; £12.50 The young jazz singer will be accompanied by his band as well as John Reilly and Lewis Nitikman. He has gained much critical acclaim from his live performances. Show promoted by charity Sincere Support.

The Last Laugh Comedy Club @ Raynor Lounge; 7.45pm, £5 Comedy that takes place every Sunday, this week featuring the comedians Jason Cook, Tony Burgess and Sarah Millican.

Probe by Clinton de Menezes @ Persistence Works; 10am-5pm; Free Probe, an indepth exhibition into all aspects of South African history, landscape and mythology, is the first event of the 2009 calendar for Persistence Works.

It’s Alright Ma @ University Drama Studio; 7.30pm; £5

Drop the Lime will be dropping some trouble and bass alongside tomb crew. A brilliant set up, with super cheap drinks.

My Passion @ Corporation; 7pm; £7adv With support from Freefold and Here’s To Tragedy. Ample eyeliner will be required.

Man On Wire @ SU Auditorium; 7.30pm; £1.80 Directed by James Marsh and starring Philippe Petit, this documentary is about the journey from a small French dentists’ waiting room to a tightrope between World Trade Centre. It is told through interviews and reconstructions.

Fuzz Club @ Fusion & Foundry; 10.30pm; £5adv

To celebrate its 10th birthday, Fuzz are getting in the electronica band 65 Days Of Static from South Yorkshire, Kid Acne (DJ Set) and avantrockers Smokers Die Younger. It’s another one of those brilliant Fuzz Club bargains.

Jazz at The Lescar @ The Lescar; 9pm; £3 An evening of live jazz at The Lescar with Ronny Bottomley’s Quintessential 5.

Fruity Loops @ Bungalows and Bears; 8pm; Free Vanhessa and Danny play every Thursday night but the best bit is that they bring a Mega Drive, SNES, an N64, cupcakes, and probably anything generally just cool.

Tue 03

Wed 04

Thur 05

Tokyo Sonata @ Showroom; time tba; £3 Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, won the Certain Regard Jury prize at Cannes last year and is showing as part of the Showroom’s Japan Special’s season.

Elbow @ 02 Academy; 7pm; SOLD OUT Currently enjoying the most successful time of their career following the release of the Nationwide Mercury Prize winning album The Seldom Seen Kid.

Hunger @ SU Auditorium; 7.30pm; £1.80

The Killers @ Sheffield Arena; 7.30pm; £32.50

Beginners Tap Dance (GIAG) @ University Drama Studio, 910pm; £2.50adv Always wanted to make a big impression but never knew in which way to do it? Well now you can tap your way to attention with beginners tap dance.

Who knows, perhaps you’ll unearth a hidden talent!

Paul Etienne Lincoln @ Site Gallery; 6pm; Free Admission Presentation of work in progress and in conversation, the New York-based artist will be undertaking a production residency. The screening of Still Film will be shown on loop throughout the day.

The Las Vegas band, after releasing their third album, Day and Age, have just announced details of a major UK tour for 2009. A maximum of four tickets per person per household for this concert.

Album Releases: Red Light Company - Fine Fascination; £6.99 The 10 track album by the alternative rock band features previous singles ‘With Lights Out’, ‘Meccano’, and ‘Scheme Eugene’. One of the featured tracks, ‘Arts & Crafts’, is set to be their next single.

Showing until February 28, the play is about society in Britain during the revolutionary 1960s and current society. It deals with issues of equal rights, social freedoms, and self-identity.

The X Factor Live 2009 @ Sheffield Arena; 7.30pm; £28.50

Now in its fifth year, The X Factor has proved to be a No.1 entertainment show. Supposedly the number of fans keeps on growing. A rip off which will shamefully sell out.

Directed by Steve McQueen and starring Michael Fassbender and Stuart Graham. The award winning film depict the Irish hunger strikes of 1981 at the Maze Prison. Featuring an uncut seventeen minute scene adding to the film’s brilliance.

Snow Patrol @ Sheffield Arena; 7.30pm; £30 Part of their tour to promote their latest album A Hundred Million Suns. The Celtic alternative rock band are ready to mellow you out.

Tiger Upercuts @ The Bowery; 8pm; Free Every Wednesday at The Bowery playing hip-hop, electronica, indie and whatever else they feel like slamming in on the night. A great way to join the Sheffield music scene.

Il Divo @ Sheffield Arena; 7.30pm; £30

The Italian operatic pop vocal group who are managed by Simon Cowell will be performing after the release of last year’s album The Promise.

Fuzz Club @ Fusion & Foundry; 10.30pm; £4adv The psychedelic garagepop band Ipso Facto, who have recently supported Last of The Shadow Puppets on their 2008 tour, will be braving the Fuzz stage along with indie pop band Hatcham Social.

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FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

23

FEATURES

Debt is a problem for nearly all students, but for Lee Barnes, the temptation of opening multiple accounts has led to insolvency.

Cartoon: Kate Carson

’Til debt do us part

By Paul Garbett Financial debt and cash flow problems are all part of being a student, with nervous ATM balance checks and anxious internet banking log-ons a regular part of university life.

The chance to withdraw endless sums of cash without even thinking about it seems like a dream for most, but for one former student it became the ultimate nightmare.

Through a mixture of chance dealings with banks and pure luck, Lee Barnes, then a Performing Arts student at the University of Central Lancashire, found himself in a position where he could withdraw thousands of pounds a month without even having the money in his account.

But now, aged just 25, he is facing up to potential bankruptcy with debts of over £60,000.

Lee’s story began during his first year at university when he started to run short of money after the traditional Freshers’ Week spending spree. Having soon maxed out his overdraft, Lee had to look elsewhere for cash and discovered that with his UCAS acceptance letter he could quite easily open new student bank accounts, gaining another substantial interest free overdraft with each one.

Whenever Lee was low on funds, he’d simply head down to the High Street and open another student account, putting himself in thousands of pounds in debt.

However, a chance incident at a local convenience store meant that he found an even easier way to withdraw money, without even

having it in his account.

Lee explained to me: “Close to my accommodation there was a Spar shop which I’d use regularly to buy snacks and beer when I was at uni.

“One day, I bought some stuff by card and got some cashback in return, but noticed after checking my balance that I didn’t have enough funds in my account to pay for the purchase.

“When I realised what had happened, I thought I’d try it again and, sure enough, the shop accepted my card and allowed me to buy items from the shop and also gain cashback, even though there was no money in my account”.

Whenever Lee was low on funds, he’d simply open another student account For months, Lee’s card continued to be accepted by the shop, allowing him to withdraw up to £100 cash a day, funding a lavish party lifestyle.

However, as the card transactions eventually became authorised, his account became more overdrawn and ran up massive bank charges, dragging him into nearly £40,000 worth of debt.

By avoiding letters and changing his phone number he naïvely thought he would be able to avoid the debt and carry on using the card, until one day when he faced a problem.

Lee recalled: “I knew something was wrong when I went into the shop to do my usual daily cashback and found that my card had been declined and the staff had been asked by Natwest to obtain it.

“But I knew the staff that well

that they gave the card back to me instead of destroying it. So I went into a nearby pub with my mate and tried to make another purchase but they said it had failed and then cut up my card right there.

“Seeing the card being cut up in front of me was just completely devastating and I’ll always remember that moment as a low point in my life.”

Now aged 25, Lee’s financial antics have cost him dearly. He is £60,000 in debt, and he had to drop out of his course at university and own up to his parents about his financial ruin. He cannot get onto the property ladder or even have a contract mobile phone because his credit rating is so poor.

However, Lee remains positive, and after evaluating his finances he completed his Performing Arts degree and has written an awardwinning play about debt which was performed at last summer’s Edinburgh Festival.

His story has also been made the subject of a BBC3 documentary, How To Rob A Bank, and he has been approached about other television projects.

He said: “I’ve tried to be positive throughout the whole situation and I’m determined to not let the debt beat me up – even though I do care about it and see how it can affect my future.

“Sometimes I feel quite guilty when I hear stories about how people have become depressed and committed suicide over money and I think that really I should be more worried about being so heavily in debt”.

The Samaritans recently warned of a rise in the number of debt-related suicides due to the economic downturn, and the issue should be a concern for the

student population who are so open to debt, particularly when it appears so easy for students to obtain multiple student overdrafts and get further into trouble.

Lee Barnes feels that whilst being naïve himself, a lack of communication and responsibility from the banks allowed him to get so heavily into debt.

The people who are doing this are well aware they are perpetrating fraud He told me: “It’s obvious that banks like to target students and provide them with large overdrafts, but there needs to be more communication to prevent students from being drawn into serious debt, and I believe the banks need to take more responsibility instead of allowing students to get deeper into trouble.”

Lesley McLeod, Chief Executive of Communications at the British Bankers’ Association, disagrees with Lee’s view. She said: “There is no question that the people who are doing this are well aware that they are perpetrating fraud or could be doing so.

“I feel there should be more responsibility on the part of the borrower. They know what they are doing and they are deliberately manipulating the system in order to gain credit they know they cannot repay. They are not being forced into taking credit but are deliberately looking for it.

“The physical system which allows banks to see that you have opened an account somewhere else cannot keep pace with somebody who wilfully wanders from bank to bank opening accounts.”

Lesley McLeod doesn’t feel

that banks have an ethical responsibility to ensure that students are not borrowing outside of their means.

She said: “Taking credit is a commercial arrangement and not a question of morality. If people borrow money, then they have to pay it back. End of story.”

But for many students, taking credit is far from a commercial arrangement and is a fact of life.

Unless you have won the lottery or have a generous relative willing to help you along, it is nearly impossible to avoid getting into debt while taking a degree.

Financial expert Martin Lewis recently told a lecture at the London School of Economics: “Our education system is very good at saddling students with debt - but rotten at educating them out of debt”.

The Samaritans warned of a rise in the number of debt-related suicides The fact that many students are willing to obtain financial credit through such dodgy means highlights the lack of financial education in the UK. It seems that many students are unaware of financial support schemes available within their universities and see interest free overdrafts as money for nothing.

With our nation now in more debt than ever, the importance of educating responsible lending and providing financial guidance has never been higher.

Students, banks and universities must all play their part to provide financial guidance and stop more people like Lee Barnes falling into the financial and psychological troubles of debt.

24

FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

FEATURES

The Israeli West Bank barrier has sparked fierce controversy since its construction was first suggested in 1992.

From Western Bank to the West Bank

By Daniel Baird “While we were in Egypt having our visas renewed we read on the news that two boys had been shot and seriously wounded within the camp.” Jessica and Chris, former students at the University of Sheffield, have been volunteering in Al Fawwar camp in the West Bank throughout the recent crisis in the Middle East.

In their time in the country they have encountered many sides of Palestine and have gained a great understanding of both the conflict and culture in the region. Although the West Bank has not experienced the same hostility and devastation

witnessed in Gaza, the conflict remains visible in this area of Palestine.

Fortunately neither of the boys were added to a casualty list that was growing rapidly at the turn of the year but, sadly, the physical and emotional scars from the incident are only too evident.

“One is only 12 and now paralysed from the waist down, the bullet having passed through his chest and out the other side, damaging his spine in the process.

The other, thankfully, has made a full recovery.”

With a ceasefire announced on Sunday, January 18, following several weeks of Israeli bombardments of the Gaza strip, the Middle East currently finds itself in a relative calm.

The physical and political rebuilding of Gaza and Palestine respectively will be slow and arduous. At a time when Palestinians are urgently calling for unity between the rival factions of Fatah, in the West Bank, and Hamas, in Gaza, it is all too clear how complex the situation in this part of the world really is.

The people here no longer expect help from the rest of the world The fingers will continue to be pointed in both Palestine and, on a larger scale, the Middle East, but in the midst of it the focus must remain upon the devastation and suffering experienced daily.

Jessica has been amazed by her time in Palestine and the incredible hospitality of the people in spite of the hardship. “We have been living in the camp for nearly two and a half months and plan to stay until the beginning of March. Our first impressions were very positive.

“Warmly welcomed by the people we would be working with, we were given a tour along the main road that bisects the camp on both sides, taken to the shops to buy the things we needed for our stay and, typical of Middle Eastern culture, plied with unlimited cups of tea.”

With the prolonged period of hostility in mind, they have found the beauty and moments of peace in Palestine particularly breathtaking. “The camp sits within a valley surrounded

by beautiful hills; indeed, the surrounding landscape is some of the most beautiful we have ever seen. A walk into the hills leads to spectacular views, wonderful night skies and a silence that is rare to find in Britain.

“Some of the people we have met often say that they like to take their Nargeelas (sheesha pipes) into the hills and sit for hours away from the worries of the world.”

The standards of living in the West Bank are currently more comfortable in comparison to Gaza and Jessica and Chris, in a camp near Hebron, have been able to work in a part of Palestine where it is possible to feel hope.

“We teach English to both girls and boys from grades eight to 11, and also hold art, drama and games

FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

25

FEATURES classes for the younger children in the camp.

“We think it’s important that all the children in the camp should benefit from our stay, and as it happens we feel that the playful sessions with the younger children are some of the most positive we have taken.

“The children we teach appear very enthusiastic about the future.

Nearly all have hopes to attend university at home, as well as abroad, and it seems that the general attitude is that ‘life goes on’.”

the entrance of the camp the night before the invasion was an obvious indicator that something was going to happen in the following days.”

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has long been viewed as a disproportionate one, interspersed with exaggerated responses from the IDF. And even in the more peaceful West Bank, Jessica and Chris have witnessed incidents of this nature.

“We woke one morning to the sound of machine gun fire and from our window we could see Israeli soldiers patrolling a nearby roof, guns armed, aimed and at the ready.

“Even though the boys are armed only with stones, the soldiers still fire back with what we have been led to believe is live ammunition.

We also saw one soldier throw what looked like a grenade, but thankfully it exploded while still in flight.”

The manner of the Israeli assault, which began at the end of December, may have achieved its short-term goals to a certain extent but it is has increased the likelihood of further militant activity in the long-term, as Jessica and Chris suggest. “It’s interesting that many people we have spoken to since the invasion have switched allegiance to Hamas and believe they have come out of the situation far stronger than prior to the invasion.

The camp sits within a valley surrounded by beautiful hills Jessica and Chris have observed how the camp has become a microcosm of society; one which has shown a great deal of compassion to those who need the most support in an area which is reasonably stable and has the potential to thrive.

“It is clear that the camp receives a significant amount of money in aid for these resources and over the last couple of days the distribution centre next to the library has received food aid for the poorer families living in the camp.

“Like everywhere in the world, the camp is home to people from all economic scales. Some are quite poor and some appear very well off indeed.

“From our point of view, and having travelled to many different parts of the world, the people here are certainly not desperately poor. Sadly, the same cannot be said of Gaza where a year and a half of siege and the events of the last month have completely destroyed their infrastructure and living standards and created a humanitarian crisis.”

Life in Gaza is markedly different to what Jessica and Chris have experienced in the West Bank following the hostilities at the turn of the year. “Palestine is divided into two parts, the West Bank and Gaza, separated by Israel. We live in the South of the West bank, near to Hebron. It is about 70 kilometres from here to Gaza.

Jess continues: “Most of the West Bank and all of Gaza are surrounded by a monstrous wall.

The first time I saw it, I cried. The wall does not follow internationally agreed borders between Palestine and Israel, but instead cuts into Palestine, separating families, cutting people off from their land, restricting movement and taking natural resources.

“It is notoriously hard to get to the other side of the wall, even to the extent that people have died waiting for medical treatment.

A friend of ours needed to have an operation, but was refused permission to travel to a hospital the other side of the wall, in East Jerusalem, in Palestine.

“He ended up having the operation at a less well equipped hospital. In many places the wall also winds around the Israeli settlements, of which there are many in the West Bank.”

Nedaa Nafez Heleqawy, a Palestinian in close contact with Jessica and Chris, has stressed the significance of recent events when talking to the former students and the extent to which Gaza’s most vulnerable are suffering.

“The Palestinian children are living in a state of uncertainty and fear of the future in relation to what will happen in Gaza, particularly the children currently living without shelter, food, education, water or clothes. These children at times do not have cover to resist the cold, with many living in the alleys and

The Palestinian children are living in a state of uncertainty and fear

(Clockwise from top) Military presence outside the camp, working within the camp’s learning centre, and outside. streets looking for places to eat amongst the waste. Pending some assistance, they also go without play and learning.

“The aggression has denied many children and other students the opportunity to pursue their studies due to the destruction of many schools and universities and the deteriorating economic situation.”

Every generation that experiences these levels of devastation in Palestine will inevitably harbour feelings of injustice and anger is certainly present in the West Bank as well as Gaza.

As Jessica reveals: “On the whole, life in the camp has been fairly trouble free. The most danger we have faced are from the stones

* There are currently 121 recognised Israeli settlements in the West Bank and about 100 unrecognised ones, with almost half a million settlers.

* The daily water consumption of Israelis is 3.5 times that of Palestinians. In 2008, there were 228,000 Palestinians living in villages that were not connected to the water network.

* The separation wall is currently 350km long and cuts deeply into the West Bank rather than following the internationally recognised Green Line. It cuts off 12 per cent of West Bank land.

* The punitive demolition of Palestinian homes by the Israeli authorities came to an end on February 17, 2005.

the children throw from time to time. Even after two months the children can still be a real pain, until they realise how fast I can run after them.

“After the events in Gaza, however, there was obviously a huge change in atmosphere around the place. The increased presence of Israel Defence Forces soldiers at

* As of February 3, 2009, 374 Palestinian minors were in the custody of the Israeli security forces, 50 of which were under 16 years of age.

(Figures provided by B’Tselem - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories)

“What is sad is that there is a growing hatred for all Israeli people; they don’t make a distinction between the people and the government. Even some of the teenage girls we teach say they would kill any Israeli who entered their house. The people here no longer expect help from the rest of the world and that makes them very sad.

“What we have discovered is that most people here want the outside world to know the truth about what’s happening, and are always encouraging us to tell people back home that they are not all terrorists and that Palestine is a beautiful country with beautiful people who just want to live in peace.

“They are also very worried about how their country is portrayed by the Western media and are concerned that we are being fed misinformation and untruths.”

The reality of the conflict in the Middle East is widely publicised in the West, and volunteers like Jessica and Chris are playing a significant role in highlighting the importance of a crisis which is, in many ways, at the epicentre of a far reaching concern. Several generations are living at a time where peace in the Middle East is a distant hope but for those that follow it must be a prime objective.

For Nedaa Nafez Heleqawy, Palestine has to turn its attention to the current internal struggles.

“The conflict between Palestinian factions, especially Hamas and Fatah, has been long but the occupation has led to a survey of all the differences and the need to stand side by side to repel the aggression on Gaza. The Palestinian people must unite for the sole purpose of resisting the occupation.”

Jessica and Chris are clear in their message that this conflict needs constant attention, debate and assistance.

“Now the war on Gaza is largely finished and a ceasefire is declared, many people will stop worrying about the plight of the Palestinian people.

“What they don’t realise is that whilst the war may have stopped, the occupation still continues.”

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FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

LIFESTYLE

Rick Edwards on fancying Miquita and hating Alexa

By Sarah Barns It’s absolutely freezing cold and I have to pretty much skate my way to the Union at midnight to go and meet the guy from T4 who isn’t Steve Jones. You know the one, blonde hair, always paired with Alexa Chung? No? Well let me introduce you to Rick Edwards.

The one that went to Cambridge University and who secretly wants to fuck Miquita Oliver.

Hey Rick, I’ve pretty much had to ski down here to meet you, how was your journey up here?

Yeah it was absolutely fine thanks. I thought it would be as icy as fuck but it was as smooth as fuck which was pleasurable.

Marvellous.

You studied natural sciences at Cambridge University; did you enjoy your student years?

[This seems to trigger lots of laughter] I went to uni with this idiot [Rick points to his friend on his right who is immersed in YouTube]. I didn’t do a lot of studying to be honest, I wasn’t the most academically sound student but we had a good time generally.

I liked doing the comedy club there and going to stupid things to stand and laugh at boys in public school uniforms. That was all right.

So you’ve always been interested in entertaining people?

Yeah I suppose you could say that.

What did you do after you graduated?

I lived in a house with my uni friends and tried to pretend that the whole university experience wasn’t over but we moved to London rather than staying in Cambridge.

Hot or not?

How did you end up getting the job at T4?

I did a local audition for E4 music four years ago when E4 in the mornings was like MTV. I got an audition because I had done

stand-up before and I got myself an agent and lived in London. I just got lucky really.

You presented Freshly Squeezed with Alexa Chung and always seem to be paired up with her on T4, what is she really like?

Oh god she’s horrible, so horrible.

[Rick and his friends have broken into hysterical giggling at this point]. Everyone goes “aaaw, she’s really sweet, so funny and clever” but she’s not she’s stupid. I can’t stand the girl. I hate her.

How would you describe her in one word?

[There’s silence for a while as Rick thinks it over]. I don’t think I could put it in one word, it wouldn’t be acceptable in a student paper. If I could hyphenate it I’d say “quarter-Chinese.” [The room breaks into laughter again and Rick looks bemused]. What? That’s true! Her dad Phil Chung is half Chinese, so that’s a fact.

Is Miquita as horrible as Alexa?

What’s she like?

[Rick starts grinning]. Oh that’s a tricky one. I’m going to say she’s sexy, how do you feel about that?

How do you think Miquita would feel about that?

I bet she’d go mental, but yeah I think so, I had a crush on her ages ago.

Would you rather have sex with Miquita or Alexa?

Miquita all the way. No question.

Me and Alexa are just too... [Rick’s friend jumps in saying if he was Rick’s PR he would be going mental now. Rick seems to be finding the whole conversation hilarious]. Nah its okay I think I’ve said that before haven’t I? Oh God, the headline is going to be ‘Rick Edwards wants to fuck Miquita’.

Does Miquita know how you feel about her?

She couldn’t be less interested, she’s very dismissive.

Moving away from the ladies, what is Steve Jones like in real

Skins The new series is even more unrealistic than the last and every episode is a cringe a minute. To make things even worse, there’s no Nicholas Holt to get us through.

Verdict: Not

life?

He’s very nice. I don’t want to fuck Steve Jones though. Although I do hear he is very good so if I was going to have sex with a man by all means. [His friend starts laughing again and adds: “the headline will now be ‘Rick Edwards wants to fuck Steve Jones, pervert’”].

Moving away from fucking all of the T4 crew, who is the nicest celebrity you’ve ever met?

Hugh Jackman hands down.

He was lovely, what a bloody nice man. He is the only person I’ve ever interviewed and thought ‘I wish I could be friends with you so we could go out.’ Lovely bloke. Actually I’d quite like to be Jackman.

And who’s the worst person you’ve met?

[Rick thinks for quite a long time] I would have to say Shaznay Lewis out of All Saints. She was a horrible woman, really unfriendly and very uncooperative. [Rick’s friend yells: “Right, get his PR on the phone”]. I would hate to work with her, I don’t know maybe she was having a bad day. I’m glad I don’t have to ever see her again.

Were you an All Saints or a Spice Girls fan?

This was the problem. I was very much an All Saints man and she shattered the dream. Actually she turned my dreams into nightmares.

Will you be playing any pop music tonight?

[Rick was DJing at Big Night Out] I’m playing a bit of a mix, bit of hip-hop, a bit of indie, electronic stuff. Actually we have something incredibly special, you know Christian Bale?

He went mental on the set on the new Terminator film, he goes fucking mental, it’s the best thing you’ve ever heard. It’s been turned into a dance track.

And with that we all crowd around You Tube to hear Christian Bale go crazy for three minutes.

It was definitely worth braving the snow for. Sorry, Steve who?

Bowery cocktails There are so many cocktails to choose from you won’t be able to make a decision.

Babyshambles and Yorkshire Tea’ni come highly recommended though.

Verdict: Hot

Cheryl Cole Not only was she fabulous on X Factor but our favourite Girls Aloud member has added another string to her bow and has now graced the cover of fashion bible Vogue.

Verdict: Hot

The brutally honest T4 and Freshly Squeezed presenter Rick Edwards.

’80s fashion Shoulder pads, ripped denim, leggings and mullet hair dos. These fashion disasters should have been left in the fashion wardrobe of shame, not making a comeback.

Verdict: Not

Ryanair The budget airline has flights on offer for as little as 2p to loads of European destinations. Escaping England has never been so cheap or easy.

Verdict: Hot

FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

27

LIFESTYLE

Could you be in danger of a nervous breakdown at 20?

By Keri O’Riordan The mid-life crisis. A long running joke on Top Gear, not to mention a reason cited for wrongdoings such as affairs, buying leather trousers or a motorcycle.

However there is a new trend in society known as the quarter life crisis.

People get to their early twenties and start to freak out.

Now I fear chances are that as soon to be university graduates, we truly are at risk from this phenomenon.

Quarter life crisis, or QLC, is genuinely starting to be recognised by doctors in the medical health profession.

I was quick to dismiss QLC as something self-indulgent.

In our early twenties we are supposed to have the world at our feet.

However after a little research into the cause and symptoms of QLC I started to change my mind.

Characteristics include insecurity about the near future or finding a suitable career as well as present accomplishments.

I started to wonder whether I was suffering a QLC. After living at home for a mere three weeks, the idea of going back to my degree for an indefinite amount of time makes me feel like my throat is about to close up.

I have no idea what to say when my housemates ask affectionately “so what do you want to do when you grow up?”

Even right now I should be revising for an exam but I feel that my effort so far was so below par that I should just write off the whole module.

Apparently a QLC really comes into play when you leave university.

Educated young people leave school and enter the real world only to find it a lot tougher than

they anticipated it would be.

Many find themselves living with roommates rather than being able to support themselves.

Also graduate unemployment is exceptionally high at the moment.

In fact the government has put in place low paying internships for 2010 graduates.

I admit that I imagined when I leave university I would step straight into a dazzling career.

I thought it would be as easy as the step I had made from secondary school to sixth form to university.

I also imagined that along with said career I would find myself in a fabulous flat in London, in an up and coming area by myself.

Along with this people suffering QLC suffer a greying of emotion.

Where in secondary school and university everyone is roughly of the same age and hormones run riot, interactions are highly emotional.

I completely understand this.

Just today I heard myself saying: “I just hate her so much I really struggle not to slap her.”

These interactions when you get into the real world aren’t as emotional.

It’s all very understated which can be a bit of a culture shock.

We can not say for sure what waits for us in the dreaded real world.

Maybe it’s awful and I end up pulling pints forever and the most professional responsibility awarded to me is ordering more pork scratchings.

However if I reside myself to the fact that all I can hope for is a shared flat in Harlow, with rising damp and windows which are sealed shut, then I’ll never be able to achieve anything.

So, let us ignore the big bad world for another term, and next time your heating goes, just pretend like the rest of us, that it’s all going to be OK.

QLC affects people in their early twenties.

Photo: Helen Munro

Getting ahead in the job market

By Bethan Hill With the job market in its current state, students (especially those about to graduate) might be forgiven for feeling pessimistic about their future job prospects.

With this in mind, Lifestyle spoke to Steve Miller, author of Get Off Your Arse & Grab That New Job, the new book that aims to offer helpful advice and tips on topics like interviews and constructing the ideal curriculum vitae to those who are job searching.

What is the current situation for graduates looking for jobs?

The situation is much tougher and graduates are well advised to get some work experience.

Acceptance speeches With the Oscars looming all we have to look forward to is the possibility of Kate Winslet crying again and watching her thank every person on the planet.

Verdict: Not

How long do you think the current economic situation will last for?

Approximately 18 months.

What are the positives for us to hold on to?

The good times will come back

and let’s remember we all have food and water on the table.

Are there any employment sectors that are not cutting back that graduates may want to consider?

Discount retailers.

What are your top three tips for graduates looking for jobs?

The top priority is get some work experience. Work hard and get a good degree classification. Also roll your sleeves up and do some voluntary work.

Where should graduates be looking for jobs?

Keep checking online and make cold calls and check out 2009 graduate opportunities.

What makes a good CV, both in terms of presentation and content?

A CV should be no longer than two pages. Detail your transferable skills and highlight the achievements in your experience.

Make sure you put on the CV any

special achievements.

What makes a great interview?

Someone that communicates well and offers real evidence of competence. Don’t talk about theory because it isn’t the real world. Also get great rapport with the interviewer.

For students planning to graduate in June 2009, how early should they start applying for jobs?

March 2009 – get in quick.

What could new students be doing now to increase their chances of landing their dream job in two or three years time?

They should be seeking out practical experience even if this mean voluntary.

What was your first job?

Butlins Redcoat.

What did you want to be when you were little?

A teacher – thank goodness I didn’t.

Steve Miller’s book is in shops now.

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FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

LIFESTYLE

Love in the time of chlamydia

Start the new term with a detox

By Natalie Bowen

Can there be such a thing as nostrings sex, when the person you are having sex with was someone that you were friends with?

I met with a male friend over Christmas. He told me about how he once had a friend with benefits, but since she got a new boyfriend, they can now barely hold a conversation past the phrase: “So how’s your course going?”

I admit I’ve done it: in a haze of apple VKs I’ve crossed the line, and I woke up feeling awful then confused.

I knew I didn’t have feelings for him, but I wondered if he had for me, or whether it was just alcohol. (Note: if you think it might have just been alcohol, then it was alcohol).

Now we are no longer friends, probably because from that day on I acted like a lunatic.

Whenever he teased me in a friendly way, I couldn’t help but think: “Okay, shut up, you’ve seen me naked.”

We never really talked about it, and I couldn’t work out if that was my decision or not.

I wanted to forget that it ever happened.

However, the hypocrite in me took offence to him wanting to forget it ever happened.

That and I wanted to make it clear we were still friends, nothing more, but it is such a short step between being friendly and flirty.

Now I feel it’s better to just avoid him, I should feel bad that I’ve lost a friend, but the lunatic inside me makes me feel worse.

It’s been a tough start to 2009 for Sheffield students – first the excesses of Christmas and New Year, then the stress of exams and finally the beginning of a new term.

It is easy to slip into bad habits between December and February, with exercise and healthy food going out the window, replaced with junk food bingeing and too much time in the IC. The start of term is no better – your renewed freedom to party until the small hours guilt-free can wreak havoc on your poor abused body.

But it is not too late to repair the damage.

Detoxes are really popular these days, and despite a few dissenting voices, the medical profession

Detox with friends at the gym.

agrees that (used carefully) they are good for your health.

The idea is to purge toxins from your body over a limited period of time.

A detox is similar to an extreme diet in that it requires exercise and lots of water, but because many food groups are banned during detoxing it is not healthy to keep it up for longer than a week.

Although there is often some weight loss, detoxes are most effective if you apply some of their rules to everyday life – not cutting out everything but reducing your intake of certain foods and drinks.

If it encourages you to exercise and be more conscious of what you eat then the detox has worked.

Of course, other benefits can include clearer skin, more energy and motivation and healthier hair – but this depends on whether you continue to follow a sensible routine or go straight back to pizza every night.

Of course, detoxing is not suitable for everyone. The first few days of a detox can seem counterproductive as you might feel headachy or suffer from spots, but this is normal and will clear up.

Some students may find their already active lifestyle is barely impacted by the five steps, whereas people with severe health problems should consult their doctor before radically changing their eating habits.

Celebrities pay thousands of pounds to attend detox clinics where they have the support (and eagle eye) of trained professionals if they lapse from the strict regime.

Students, at least the ones I know, certainly don’t have the cash to swan off to an exclusive clinic for a week, but it is possible to detox on a budget.

Make sure you’re getting your five a day.

So here is Lifestyle’s student detox for the new term...

Step one: Cut out booze and smoking. Yes, it’s difficult, it’s unpopular and it’s sometimes humiliating, but for just one week don’t care what everyone else thinks.

Just order a fruit juice when you go out and if it’s that bad, pretend you have vodka in it.

Step two: Cut out coffee. For some this will be harder than forgoing cigarettes and alcohol, but caffeine is considered just as bad for your body.

Energy and high-sugar drinks like Red Bull and Coke are also a no-no. Think of it as an excuse to finally concoct some smoothies.

Step three: Drink lots of water – we mean lots of water. Everyone knows that humans should drink two litres of it a day, but very few of us manage it.

Well, for one week only, force yourself to down four 500ml bottles every day. Cutting out alcohol, caffeine and sugary drinks will help this, as you won’t have many other options.

Step four: Cut out excess fat.

Now, as students are notoriously broke, there is little point cutting out all your staple foods and filling the cupboard with lentils, but refrain from eating chocolate, cheese and meat for just one week.

Replace them with fish, rice, and (you guessed it) fruit.

Remember, the idea is not to

Photo: Helen Munro

stop eating high-calorie foods, but to eat naturally low fat, unprocessed food instead.

As meat is usually the most expensive item on a shopping list, avoiding it will free up more cash for fruit and veg for your smoothies!

Everyone knows that humans should drink two litres of it a day Step five: Exercise. Every day.

Not just walking onto campus and back, but a physical workout that challenges your body (then again, walking onto campus in Sheffield might cause you to break a sweat).

Take advantage of the Union’s Give it a Go programme to try something new like salsa dancing or rock climbing, or just go to the gym for an hour each day.

The facilities are there, so take advantage.

And there we have it – a very simple, five-step student detox plan.

Cut out alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, fatty and processed foods and drink lots of water and exercise every day for one week.

If it sounds absolutely impossible, why not up the ante – get your friends to sponsor you, and if you manage it donate the money to charity.

www.handbag.com

By Bethan Hill Now, perhaps misleadingly, handbag.com is not the first port of call of you’re searching for the latest ‘it-bag’. It doesn’t actually sell handbags.

It is, however, the go-to website for everything else you could possibly dream of.

What it really specialises in in procrastination. When you’re mid-essay and need a break, give

handbag a try.

Their photo galleries are particularly exciting for those of us who like to look at pretty people wearing pretty things.

They also spark debates about the world of fashion, comparing different styles and celebrities and letting you voice your opinion.

Recently they set up a Mary-Kate v. Ashley fashion battle.

They can also keep you up-todate with new fashion finds. They alert you when hot new items are

hitting the shops, giving you a head start on the less Handbagsavvy.

You can also get some ideas for new hairstyles, beauty tricks and diet tips.

But it’s not just an exercise in expanding your vanity.

If you want to stretch your brain it can do that too, although maybe not to the same extent as your essay could.

Handbag has quizzes with prizes that are actually worth winning.

So even if you get distracted from your essay you might win a few nice products.

Of course, there are more serious aspects too, if that’s what you want, ranging from relationships to mental well-being.

We won’t pretend that Handbag’s going to change to world, because it isn’t. It’s about fashion and celebrities.

But for fans of Lifestyle, it probably couldn’t offer more, so check it out.

FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

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FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

31

TRAVEL

A new leaf in history

By Danielle Appleton Tuesday, January 20, 2009 was arguably one of the most important dates in American history and I was lucky enough to experience it first hand as an American resident. The day marked a new chapter in history, one which signified just how far the most powerful country in the world had come in its acceptance of diversity.

Of course I am talking about the inauguration of President Barack Obama, a day which saw America’s first black President officially welcomed to The White House.

The entire country feels united, no matter what their political standing is Due to the time difference between the East and West coast, Obama’s inauguration began at 8am in Oregon, so alarms were set all across campus to ensure no-one missed the momentous occasion.

The ceremony was being shown in my dormitory’s common room so, still in my pyjamas, I found a seat amongst the crowd of students supporting ‘Barack Obama!’ t-shirts; a staple accessory for any student in America.

The ceremony itself was very impressive, Obama’s speech even more so. There’s no doubt that in years to come schools will be teaching classes about that exact speech.

However, what caused a massive cheer in our common room was the shot of Barack Obama’s brother-in-law, who happens to be our College’s Basketball coach, sporting a bright orange Oregon State University scarf.

Fittingly, the previous day had been the official celebration of Martin Luther King Day. There was no school and, instead, activities were put on all around campus teaching people about his life and promoting racial awareness.

These two days really showed me a side to America that is admirable; they have certainly come a long way since the days of Martin Luther King.

Even though the Republicans lost out, the entire country still feels united, no matter what their political standing is. Let’s hope it lasts.

The view from a hill inlet over Airlie Beach at Whitsunday Islands in Australia.

The ultimate Oz experience

By Caroline Vann Jones Organised bus tours had always sounded like my idea of a nightmare, but as I started panicking about how to organise my impending visit to Australia, I allowed the travel agent to entice me with what seemed like an exciting route down the East Coast where I was “absolutely guaranteed” to meet loads of likeminded travellers.

A month later, as I stood at the pick-up point for the Oz Experience with a middle-aged couple and a monosyllabic boy hugging a guitar, I began to have some doubts.

Unfortunately it was too late and before I knew it we were on our way from Cairns in the North to our first stop, Magnetic Island.

We were promised more people

would join us there and I really hoped this would be the case. I wasn’t sure what was worse; my company on the bus, or the selfproclaimed “crazy” bus driver.

When we arrived in Townsville, the departure point for the island, I grew only more disillusioned. It looked like something out of an old Western movie and everything was shut down with not a single person in sight.

We were taught how to crack a whip and ride a mechanical bull After a short ferry ride, we arrived on Magnetic Island.

The great thing about the Oz Experience is that if you’re not too sure where you want to stay or what you would like to do, they will sort out your accommodation

City spotlight: Dublin

By Rachel Ingram Considering that Dublin is one of the key players in European trade and commerce, it is surprising that more people do not immediately think of it as a tourist destination.

This world city is culturally rich and has a sophisticated ambience. It is packed full of historical and cultural treats, and houses a multitude of world famous museums, theatres and striking architecture.

One of the most famous exhibits is the one-of-a-kind full colour statue of Oscar Wilde in Merrion Square, nicknamed ‘The fag on the crag’ by locals.

The best way to tour the sights and learn about the history of Dublin is on one of the city’s

many multicoloured tour buses.

Ireland is famous for beer, potatoes and leprechauns, and a trip to Dublin is not complete without a taste of a famous Irish potato cake or a trip to the Guinness factory, where visitors are taught to pour a perfect pint and given a certificate acknowledging this skill.

Dublin has a vibrant nightlife and is a popular destination for British stag and hen parties. The Temple Bar area, which plays host to many bars and clubs is the most popular with tourists, despite the extortionate drinks prices.

Dublin is one of the most expensive cities in Europe, therefore not as student friendly as some other European cities unless you have money to burn.

The statue of writer Oscar Wilde.

and activities in all the locations you visit. We stayed in incredible cabins that overlooked the beach, and spent the days visiting nearby deserted beached, sunbathing and kayaking. At night, everyone met at the hostel’s beach side bar for food and drinks.

When I got back on the coach two days later, I was relieved to see that it had definitely filled up. Finally, people were talking to each other and we had a more bearable driver too.

Our next stop was Airlie Beach, which was reminiscent of Newquay. Many Australians take their summer break there which makes for a vibrant atmosphere.

It was also in a perfect location to take a boat trip to the beautiful Whitsunday Islands, or go on a popular (yet potentially disastrous) party boat.

I stayed in Airlie for a week because the weather was so bad and most of the boat trips were cancelled. On the sixth day we toured the islands, which are literally pure white sand and clear water and stopped at several different points to snorkel. .

After Airlie the next stop was Kroombit; a cattle station in the outback, which was in the middle of nowhere. Accommodation is basic to say the least, with bunk beds in freezing brick sheds, but the typical Outback dinner that is prepared for you on arrival more than makes up for it.

Here, we were taught how to crack a whip, ride a mechanical bull and do clay pigeon shooting, all of which I failed miserably at.

Some of the activities like shooting and horse riding came at an extra cost, but there were some pretty challenging walks you could do up to peaks that have great views over the Outback.

Next, I ended up in Rainbow Beach, which is really just a village which people visit

because it is the closest point to Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world. When I was there it was possible to hire 4x4s and drive and camp on the island for a few days. This was such a great way to meet people, but unfortunately it is no longer possible due to concerns about the island’s future welfare.

‘Zorbing’ down a hill in Australia.

You can take bus tours, though, and there are a couple of hostels if you want longer than a day to explore. It is well worth it, even if only to see the infamous Australian dingo.

From then on we went to Mojo’s surf camp, where we surfed and went zorbing - rolling down a hillside in a ball filled with water - before exploring the major cities of Brisbane and Sydney. These cities were really interesting, but it was the smaller places we visited that made the Oz Experience so worthwhile.

Despite my initial reservations, travelling the East Coast by bus is something I couldn’t recommend enough, despite the tedious bus drivers and hidden extra costs. If you want to see Australia through the eyes of a traveller rather than a tourist, the Oz Experience is refreshingly alternative.

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FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

PUZZLES & HUMOUR

Coffee Break CROSSWORD

Across

1. Anteater (8) 8. Common (5) 9. Regions (5) 10. Employed (4) 11. Nearer (6) 13. Sartor (6) 15. Overt (4) 18. Mediterranean fruit (5) 19. Dialect (5) 20. List of technical terms (8)

Down

2. Intense (5) 3. Aromatic herb (4) 4. Capable of being cultivated (6) 5. Retains (5) 6. Epicure (10) 7. Riotous (10) 12. Spanish dance (6) 14. Cake topping (5) 16. Earlier (5) 17. Prejudice (4) Last issue’s crossword solutions: Across: Reciprocal, Laconic, Cot, Sentry, Knee, Cure, Barrel Roc, Trawler, Obligation. Down: Eccentric, Ignore, Rich, Lithe, Plus, Contralto, Vacant, Cargo, Lure, Stag.

Competition: Plug tickets Plug are giving away five tickets for the appearance of BBC Radio One rock and rave maestro Kissy Sell Out on Saturday, February 28, at Plug. With a resident team of Hallam Floor Fillers and LJ Freeman in tow the final Shuffle of the month has a line-up not to be missed.

To enter, email your name, address and telephone number, with the subject line ‘Plug comp’ to: forgepress@forgetoday. com.

OVERHEARD IN SHEFFIELD Sheffield house party First boy: I’m on a bladder donor list, but I’m at the bottom ’cause it’s self-inflicted.

Second boy: Did they prescribe that can of Fosters?

Outside the Old House, Division Street Girl: That girl in there liked you.

Boy: She was giving me the eye a bit, wasn’t she? Will you go back in and get her number for me?

Girl: It would make me feel like Davina on Streetmate, so no.

Outside Archaeology department, West Street Student: Watching Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls has made me want to do a Masters.

Picture of the fortnight

University of Sheffield graduate Ellie Mitra gets to grips with local commerce during her travels in India. See your pictures here. Email press.features@forgetoday.com or send a picture message to 07765363716.

Guide to the Recession

By Angus Hutchison The world is in a mess according to the news; interest rates are being cut, sliced and diced, the Bank of England is liquidising everything and the credit crunch is biting businesses everywhere.

Or so we’re told. But what does the economic jargon mean, if anything at all? (Note: Not really ‘for’ beginners, but ‘by’ a beginner).

FTSE: A discreet form of underthe-table-flirting (e.g. a text message from Gordon Brown to the Chancellor of the Exchequer might read: “Alistair, darling, please stop FTSE in Cabinet meetings. I’m trying to concentrate on saving the world.”

Interest rate: Speed at which audiences lose concentration when listening to Gordon Brown.

Credit crunch: More of a cereal rather than surreal term, in my humble opinion. An Oatso Simple concept, banks lent too many Golden Nuggets to flaky homebuyers. Workers say Cheerio to their jobs.

Hedge Funds: Because money doesn’t grow on trees.

Investment Banker: Rhyming slang.

Gordon Banks: Offers “the best savings rate” for customers.

Iceland: Frozen food, frozen assets.

Icelanders: Dodgy geysers.

Inflation: Blowing things up.

Deflation: Blowing things down (see ‘three little pigs’ and the ‘housing market’).

Housing market: Flat.

Three Little Pigs: Luckily, their money is safe in the Piggy Bank.

Treasury bond: The name’s Brown, Gordon Brown, .007 per cent interest.

Corporation tax: Thursday morning hangover.

The LIBOR: Half-Lion, half Boar, a very dangerous mythical creature.

The Treasury: Wondrous gold, guarded fiercely by the Libor.

Square Mile: The Libor needs three Square Miles a day to keep up its strength. Diet mainly consists of fat cats.

Robert Peston: Feed to the LIBOR (see also ‘investment banker’).

FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

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UK Athletics should give Dwain Chambers another chance

By Paul Garbett While many involved in UK athletics would prefer him to keep quiet and fade away, Dwain Chambers’ performance in Sheffield sent the loudest possible message to the people at the top of the sport.

As a former drugs cheat, Chambers receives no funding from the National Lottery, has no access to elite training centres or even time with top physiotherapists.

He has no sponsorship, and is excluded from lucrative TV grand prix events.

Yet last weekend, he produced the performance of his life to win the

UK Indoor title with the fastest time anywhere in the world this year.

Following his failed attempts at breaking into rugby league and American football, Chambers has turned his life around, from being a media laughing stock to a red hot favourite for gold at next months European Indoor Championships in Turin.

The way UK Athletics have persecuted this man is disgraceful Chambers’ performance at the EIS received praise from even his fiercest critics.

Former sprinter Jason Gardner, an outspoken campaigner against the use of drugs, said: “It’s quite remarkable. This guy has not got any funding and he doesn’t have access to the same benefits in terms of the best physios, the best sports facilities and the best coaching.

Yet Dwain is continuing to deliver the results.”

Perhaps m o r e importantly, Chambers also received a ringing

endorsement from the fans.

While 12 months ago he was the subject of booing, last weekend Chambers received the biggest cheer of the afternoon from the Sheffield crowd. And if the queue of local school children waiting for autographs outside of the locker room is anything to go by, then he has surely been forgiven for his sins.

For those children, Dwain Chambers provides a powerful role model. He is a man who has done wrong, faced the consequences and now, through hard work, has reached the top of his game once again. Yet despite admitting his guilt and showing he can perform at the highest level cleanly, he continues to be given the cold shoulder by the bigwigs at the top of athletics.

UK Athletics may have been keen to label Chambers as a disgrace, but the way they have persecuted this man, who has served his time, is nothing short of disgraceful. Would any other governing body in world sport try to drive out one of its most

Through hard work he has reached the top of his game again talented athletes because he made one massive mistake?

Chambers’ position as the Britain’s number one sprinter over 60 metres is further emphasised by the way his nearest challenger Craig Pickering again folded under the pressure of the big event. While the University of Bath’s star sprinter continues to post promising times, his disqualification in the semi-final at Sheffield for a false start is yet another sad chapter in his short career.

New head of UK Athletics, Charles van Commenee was at the EIS to see Chambers’ lifetime best and he now has a big decision to make. Will he agree to enter talks with Chambers about his future, or will he continue to leave him out in the cold? Maybe a gold medal in Turin will help him decide.

University in discounted tickets deal with Sheffield Wednesday

By David Thomas For University of Sheffield students, the mention of a trip to Hillsborough usually brings back memories of last minute cramming and the tedium of three hour exams.

All that looks set to change after a partnership scheme was announced between Sheffield Wednesday Football Club and the University of Sheffield.

The agreement means that students will be able to watch home games at Hillsborough for £2.50, £5 or £10. Tickets are available from the Students’ Union box office to all NUS cardholders.

The student offer applies to seats in the Kop, traditionally the stand comprising the club’s most vocal fans, and the club will be hoping for a big student turnout in the first game of the promotion, which sees the Owls take on Neil Warnock’s Crystal Palace.

Sheffield Wednesday will hope this offer will draw prospective student fans from the clutches of arch-rivals Sheffield United, who have run a number of successful student deals through the University, including £5 ‘pie and a pint’ inclusive tickets. Whilst United’s offer is limited to just a few games per season, Wednesday have opted to run their promotion for all home games.

The drive to attract new fans comes at the beginning of a period of transition for the club; a new Chairman, the 36-year-old Lee Strafford, is joining in December.

A spokesman for Sheffield Wednesday said that the move was part of an “ongoing review” of the club’s ticketing policy, which aims to see “students being able to afford to come to Hillsborough.”

The Championship club currently sit in 12th place, eight points adrift of the play-offs, after an encouraging win in a pulsating derby against Sheffield United.

On the pitch, the club have

received a large degree of stability under current manager Brain Laws. The new pricing policies at Hillsborough have brought early success, with an attendance of 28,766 against Charlton Athletic, up on average attendances this season of around 18,000.

The Union will also benefit from the agreement, according to the Union Sports Manager Andy Cox: “The University will be taking a commission from ticket sales, which will be invested back into our own sports.”

A Wednesday spoksman concurred: “Hopefully it is the first step in a stronger relationship with the University,” he said.

Sheffield Wednesday’s new strategies fit a trend amongst clubs to attempt to make football cheaper for local fans. The student deal at Sheffield arrives just a week after Sunderland Football Club took the high-profile decision under Chairman Niall Quinn to price season tickets for children at just £19.

COMMENT & NEWS SPORT

BUCS tables Badminton - Northern Conference Men’s 1A W D L P 0 0 9 Leeds Met................................ 9 2 4 Manchester.............................. 10 4 5 2 Leeds....................................... 10 3 5 3 2 10 Sheffield...................................

4 2 3 Liverpool.................................. 9 6 3 UCLan...................................... 10 1

Pts 30 16 11 9 8 6

Badminton - Northern Conference Women’s 1A W D L P 0 Leeds Met 2nd........................ 10 10 0 2 1 Manchester 1st....................... 10 7 4 1 5 10 Newcastle 1st..........................

6 0 Liverpool 1st............................ 10 4 7 1 Sheffield 1st............................ 10 2 9 1 Lancaster 1st........................... 10 0

Pts 30 22 16 12 7 1

Basketball - Northern Conference Men’s 2B W L P 0 7 Durham 1st........................................7 1 4 Sunderland 1st.................................. 5 4 2 Sheffield 1st.......................................6 5 2 7 Huddersfield 1st................................

5 2 Northumbria 2nd...............................7 4 2 Hull 1st...............................................6

Pts 21 15 6 6 6 3

Basketball - Northern Conference Women’s 1A W L P Manchester........................................ 10 10 0 Leeds..................................................9 2 7 Durham.............................................. 10 4 6 Liverpool............................................ 10 4 6 Manchester Met................................ 8 6 2 Sheffield............................................. 9 8 1

Pts 30 18 12 12 9 3

Fencing - Northern Conference Men’s 2B W D P 0 5 Sheffield 1st............................ 5 0 3 Hull 1st..................................... 4 0 1 4 Newcastle 2nd.........................

0 2 Durham 2nd............................ 5 0 2 Leeds 2nd................................ 4 0 1 Bradford 1st............................. 5 0 0 1 Sunderland 1st........................

L 0 1 3 3 2 4 1

Pts 18 12 6 6 6 3 -9

Fencing - Northern Conference Women’s 1B W D L P 0 0 5 Leeds 1st................................. 5 2 0 3 Northumbria 1st...................... 5 2 0 3 York 1st.................................... 5 2 0 3 5 Durham 2nd............................

4 0 1 Sheffield 1st............................ 5 5 0 0 Bradford 1st........................... 5 Football - Northern Conference Men’s 2B W D P 0 4 Leeds Met 2nd........................ 6 0 4 6 Hallam 1st...............................

3 2 Sheffield 1st............................ 5 1 2 Durham 1st.............................. 7 1 1 Teesside 1st............................ 4 1 0 4 York 1st....................................

Netball - Northern Conference Women’s 2B W D P 0 6 Durham 1st.............................. 6 0 4 Leeds 2nd................................ 5 0 4 Durham 2nd............................ 6 0 2 5 Sheffield 1st............................

0 1 Northumbria 2nd..................... 7 0 1 York St John 1st....................... 7

L 0 1 2 3 6 6

Pts 18 12 12 6 3 3

D 1 0 1 1 0 1

L 1 1 2 3 7 7

Pts 15 12 11 5 2 1

Rugby Union - Premier Men’s North B W P Loughborough 2nd.................. 12 9 Nottingham Trent 1st.............. 11 8 Newcastle 2nd......................... 12 6 Worcester 1st.......................... 12 6 Manchester 1st....................... 12 5 Sheffield 1st............................ 11 4 Birmingham 1st....................... 12 4 Hallam 1st............................... 12 3

D 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 0

L 2 3 5 6 5 7 8 9

Pts 28 24 19 18 17 12 12 9

Rugby Union - Premier Women’s North W P 7 Leeds Met................................ 9 6 Edinburgh................................ 8 Loughborough......................... 10 5 4 Northumbria............................ 8 2 Sheffield................................... 8 2 Birmingham............................. 9

D 0 0 0 0 0 0

L 2 2 5 4 6 7

Pts 21 18 15 12 6 6

Squash - Northern Conference Men’s 2B W D P 0 7 Newcastle 1st.......................... 7 0 4 Newcastle 2nd........................ 6 0 5 Sheffield 1st............................ 6 0 3 Durham 2nd............................. 7 0 1 Leeds 2nd................................ 7 0 0 Leeds 3rd................................. 7

L 0 2 1 4 6 7

Pts 21 15 12 9 3 0

Pts 15 9 9 9 3 0

Squash - Northern Conference Women’s 1A W D P Leeds Met................................ 10 10 0 0 Newcastle................................ 10 7 1 Manchester.............................. 10 5 2 Sheffield................................... 10 3 3 Northumbria............................ 10 2 0 Lancaster................................. 10 0

L 0 3 4 5 5 10

Pts 30 21 16 11 9 0

L 2 2 0 4 2 3

Pts 12 12 9 7 4 1

Table Tennis - Northern Conference Women’s 1A W D L P 0 0 4 Sheffield 1st............................ 4 1 0 3 4 Edinburgh 1st..........................

2 0 2 Durham 1st.............................. 4 3 0 1 Newcastle 1st.......................... 4 4 0 0 Durham 2nd............................ 4

Pts 12 9 6 3 0

Football - Northern Conference Women’s 2B W D L P 0 2 4 Sunderland 1st........................ 6 0 1 4 Teesside 1st............................ 5 2 0 3 5 Newcastle 1st..........................

5 1 1 Durham 1st.............................. 7 3 0 1 Sheffield 1st............................ 4 3 0 0 Hallam 2nd.............................. 3

Pts 14 13 9 4 3 0

Table Tennis - Northern Conference Men’s 1A W D L P 0 0 6 Leeds 1st................................. 6 2 0 4 Manchester 1st....................... 6 2 0 3 Sheffield 1st............................ 5 3 0 3 6 York 1st....................................

4 0 2 Northumbria 1st...................... 6 3 0 2 Teesside 1st............................ 5 6 0 0 Northumbria 2nd..................... 6

Pts 18 12 12 9 6 3 0

Golf - Northern Conference 2B P Hull 1st..................................... 5 Hallam 1st............................... 4 Sunderland 1st........................ 4 Newcastle 2nd......................... 4 York 1st.................................... 4 Sheffield 1st............................ 4 Leeds Met 2nd........................ 5

Rugby League - Yorkshire Leeds.......................................

TASC.........................................

Hallam......................................

Sheffield...................................

Bradford...................................

Huddersfield............................

P 9 6 8 7 8 8

W 7 5 5 3 1 0

D 0 1 1 0 2 0 0

L 1 0 1 2 1 3 5

Pts 12 10 7 6 5 3 0

Tennis - Northern Conference Men’s 2B W D P 0 6 Hull 1st..................................... 7 1 5 Sheffield 1st............................ 7 0 3 5 Northumbria 1st......................

1 2 Durham 2nd............................ 6 0 0 York 1st.................................... 5 0 0 Leeds 2nd................................ 4

L 1 1 2 3 5 4

Pts 18 16 9 7 0 0

Hockey - Northern Conference Men’s 1A W D P 1 Hallam...................................... 10 8 0 7 9 Leeds Met................................

1 Manchester.............................. 10 4 3 Sheffield................................... 10 3 2 Newcastle................................ 10 3 1 0 9 Liverpool JMU..........................

L 1 2 5 4 5 8

Pts 25 24 13 12 11 -2

Tennis - Northern Conference Women’s 2B W D P 0 6 Leeds Met 2nd........................ 6 1 3 6 Leeds 2nd...............................

2 2 York 1st.................................... 5 0 2 Sheffield 1st............................ 5 0 2 Leeds Met 3rd......................... 6 1 0 6 Newcastle 2nd.........................

L 0 2 1 3 4 5

Pts 18 10 8 6 6 1

Hockey - Northern Conference Women’s 2B W D P 0 5 Sheffield 1st............................ 5 0 5 Durham 2nd............................ 6 2 1 York 1st.................................... 6 2 1 5 York St John 1st.......................

2 1 Newcastle 2nd......................... 6 0 1 Leeds 2nd................................ 6

L 0 1 3 2 3 5

Pts 15 15 5 5 5 3

Volleyball - Northern Conference Men’s 1A W P Hallam................................................ 10 10 8 10 Leeds Met..........................................

Manchester........................................ 10 5 York.....................................................10 5 0 Liverpool............................................ 9 1 Sheffield............................................. 9

L 0 1 3 2 3 5

Pts 30 24 15 15 3 0

Lacrosse - Northern Conference Men’s 1B W D P 0 7 Sheffield................................... 7 0 5 Leeds Met................................ 7 0 4 6 Northumbria............................

0 3 Leeds....................................... 7 1 2 Newcastle................................ 6 0 2 York.......................................... 5 0 0 6 Durham....................................

1 0 Hull........................................... 4

L 0 2 2 4 3 3 6 3

Pts 21 15 12 9 7 6 -3 -2

Volleyball - Northern Conference Women’s 2B W L P 0 6 Leeds Met 1st....................................6 2 4 Sheffield 2nd..................................... 6 4 2 York 1st.............................................. 6 4 1 5 Hallam 1st.........................................

4 1 Bradford 1st.......................................5

Pts 18 12 6 3 3

W 4 3 2 2 1 1 0

Lacrosse - Northern Conference Women’s 2A W D L P 0 0 4 Durham 3rd............................ 4 1 0 6 7 York 1st....................................

2 0 4 Sheffield 1st............................ 6 3 0 2 Leeds Met 1st.......................... 5 5 0 2 Northumbria 1st...................... 7 4 0 1 5 Hallam 1st...............................

1 0 2 Keele 1st.................................. 3 5 0 0 Hull 1st..................................... 5

Pts 18 18 12 6 6 6 0 -3

Water Polo - Men’s Tier 1B P 3 3 3 3

W 3 2 1 0

D 0 0 0 0

L 0 1 2 3

Pts 6 4 2 0

Water Polo - Women’s Tier 1B P Manchester.............................. 3 Sheffield................................... 3 MMU Cheshire......................... 2 Nottingham.............................. 2

W 3 2 0 0

D 0 0 0 0

L 0 1 2 2

Pts 6 4 0 0

Manchester..............................

Sheffield...................................

Loughborough.........................

Nottingham..............................

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FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

SPORT FEATURE

The end of the road for Allen, the voice of F1

F1’s move to the BBC has signalled the end of James Allen’s spell on the microphone (below). His swan song came at the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix (above).

By Claire Lorenc At the end of last year, Formula One said a sad farewell to ITV and made its way over to the BBC. This change in programming means there is no room for the ITV sports commentator and journalist James Allen.

James entered the ITV commentary box in 2001 and, it’s fair to say that his reception wasn’t all that supportive. “When I was about to take the job in 2001 as a commentator, they actually said to me, ‘this is the most difficult job in motorsport broadcasting,’ and I’d had quite a lot of experience in broadcasting but obviously I’d had very little experience of putting it above to a higher level.

I grew up in a racing family and I was around racing when I was young “Now, clearly if you follow someone like Murray Walker you’ve got the challenge of taking the job on the television that, whatever you do, even if you went round to everyone’s house and gave them all a grand, you’re still going to have lots and lots of people who think you’re a disaster because you’re not him. And you’ve just got to accept it, there is nothing you can do about it, and I certainly never got upset about it. It’s just one of those things.”

Yet, having said that it seems people have changed their tune: “I’ve had an incredible number of emails and messages on my blog saying ‘no, actually, you know what, we’ve been slagging you off for the last seven years but we’re going to really miss you and you’re really fantastic and we feel really bad that we’ve slagged you off so badly.’ I’ve had so many messages like that you wouldn’t believe, have a look on my blog and it’s just absolutely hilarious how many people are changing their view now.”

James has clearly come a long way since in his career and spoke about how it all happened. “My father Bill used to race cars when I was a kid and even before I was born. He drove for Lotus, one of the big teams during the 1960s and 1970s, and was reasonably successful at it.

“When I was born, he was racing a Spa24. So, I grew up in a racing family and I was around racing cars when I was very young and I always loved that.

“When I left university, I went to work for a firm in London that looked after marketing and media relations for a lot of motor sport teams, particularly Williams, doing all the sponsorship deals for Williams and marketing and media. But I always wanted to be on the journalism - particularly the broadcasting - side, and I just made sure I got to know as many people as I could and built relationships.

“I’d been doing a lot of freelancing as a commentator on cable channels and various channels and whatever I could to practice and get more experience.

“Then I was very lucky that I was asked to do a race for the American TV station ESPN. I also spent a couple of years working on a magazine called Autosport, so that’s where I kind of trained as a journalist.

The Italians screaming is great for the sport of Formula One “It’s all about relationships and opportunity and I just went from there.”

As James is an expert in his field, it was only right to quiz him about his favourite features of Formula One, starting with his favourite circuit: “For atmosphere, it’s going to be Monza. The Italians screaming in a unique theatre is great for the sport of Formula One. “But, for sort of living up to the stereotype, Monaco. It’s the way people imagine it. I’m not very fond of the facilities but Spa (Belgium), the la Source turn of the race track is great but I think the best track is Monza”.

In terms of his favourite driver, he said: “Well, it’s never a good idea to have favourites but I suppose I really like Alonso and the way Alonso goes about racing.

He got a bit of bad publicity last year but we don’t know the full story of what happened inside McLaren so I can’t really comment on that.

“But I think he’s fantastic. Ever since he first came along, I always had an eye on him and though he a good driver. I watched Aryton Senna when he was coming through the ranks and he caught my eye and Gilles Villeneuve before that.

“But, Alonso speaks very well, he’s a terrific racing driver and I get on well with quite a few of them but in terms of whom I admire the most, it’s Alonso”.

Is it not Emerson Fittipaldi?

“Erm, no, no. My son is named Emerson, but it’s not specifically after Fittipaldi. He’s a great driver and he comes from a great time but he’s not one of my all time favourite drivers, no.”

Photo (below): sutton_images.com In considering the greatest race James commentated on, the final round of the 2008 season in which Lewis Hamilton won the championship seemed to stand out.

He said: “Well, in terms of the commentating, it has to be the last lap of the Brazilian Grand Prix this year of course. I mean compared to other races, nothing comes close.”

And finally, his favourite British driver?

“Nigel Mansell.

I got to know him quite well when I wrote his autobiography with him in 1995 and he was a fantastic racing driver and meant so much to so many people.”

FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

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Ladies Rugby Club donation helps fund medical research

NEWS SPORT

Dwain’s world in Sheffield

Chambers stormed to victory.

By Paul Garbett

The ladies rugby team get to grips with Theo the Bear outside Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

By Jonathan Caldwell Sheffield Ladies Rugby Club have helped fund medical research at Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

The annual Christmas Raffle held by the University of Sheffield ladies rugby team has raised £234 for the Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

The ladies presented their donation to the hospital on Wednesday, February 4, and used

the opportunity to practise their line-outs with Theo the Bear, the hospital’s mascot.

Team captain Hollie Newbould explained that the club make their contribution to the hospital every year. She said: “We have an annual Christmas raffle, and the money raised is divided 5050 between the club and the Children’s Hospital Charity. This year we raised a total of £468 overall.

“We also try and get as many of

our members as possible to take part in Theo’s 10k run, which happens over the summer.”

Fran Hunt, Fundraising Assistant for the Children’s Hospital Charity, stressed that the ladies’ contribution would go towards vital research projects.

She said: “Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity was set up over 30 years ago with a vision to bring the ‘relief of sickness’. Much of the hope then was that illness would be conquered through research

Photo: Marek Allen done at the hospital.

“Staff working in Sheffield have left a considerable legacy of research successes and we are keen to help them build on this success. 2006/7 saw the charity complete its biggest project to date - funding the completion of a state of the art Clinical Research Facility at the hospital to enable more research to be completed here.

“Now we have a vision to raise £250,000 each year for research.”

Sheffield Handball feeling 2012 effect

By Paul Garbett

Six teams competed at Ponds Forge.

Photo: Helen Munro

Unknown to many in Britain, it’s hard to believe that handball is one of the most popular sports in the world.

The 2007 World Championship final was watched by more than 23million people worldwide, making it seventh in the list of most watched worldwide sporting events, ahead of Wimbledon tennis and US Open golf.

The 2012 Olympics will see Great Britain compete at handball for the first time at Olympic level, and there are signs that the sport is already gaining popularity in the UK. The Sheffield Handball Club, originally founded by students at the University of Sheffield, are reporting an all time high in interest, having launched a women’s squad this season and announced plans to start a second men’s team next year.

Club captain Sylvia Johne said: “With the Olympics coming up, handball is getting more attention in Britain. Our club is progressing all the time; last year

we launched a women’s team and we have plans to run a second men’s squad next year, with the first team hoping to be successful in the league.

“We are a community sport and have players from both universities along with other people from Sheffield, Rotherham and even as far away as Manchester.

“We’re always looking for new players and are also keen to get handball played more in schools.”

Last weekend, the club hosted a Northern League tournament at Ponds Forge, with six teams competing.

Sheffield faced league leaders Liverpool Speke in their first match, and lost 19-16 in a tight game.

However, Sheffield came back to beat Chester’s Deva Handball Club in their second match of the day, gaining valuable league points in their bid to move off the bottom of the Northern Development League.

The club were recently boosted by sponsorship from the University of Sheffield Alumni Foundation.

Disgraced sprinter Dwain Chambers produced a stunning run to win gold at the Aviva UK indoor championships in Sheffield, last weekend.

The former drug cheat ran a personal best of 6.53 seconds in his first round heat before smashing that with a time of 6.51 in the semi-final, equalling the fasted time in the world this year over 60 metres.

Chambers matched that time as he charged to victory in the final, after the fancied University of Bath athlete Craig Pickering was disqualified for a false start in his semi-final.

The Belgrave Harriers athlete, who served a two-year ban for using the anabolic steroid THG, will now represent Great Britain at next month’s European Indoor Championships in Turin and will be a hot favourite for gold.

Chambers said: “I am very pleased with this win. I still have a lot of gas in the tank and was running at about 70 per cent fitness. I just want to run whenever I get the chance and have been really enjoying my athletics.

“It’s great to be accepted and appreciated by the supporters who want to see me do well and win medals for my country. It has been all about hard work and the frustration of last year to motivate myself.”

There were encouraging displays from Great Britain’s Tyrone Edgar and Simeon Williamson who claimed silver and bronze medals, though both could miss out on the European Championships if selectors favour Pickering, who has run the third fasted 60 metre time in Europe this year.

Pickering was disappointed with his display at the English Institute of Sport. He said: “There was a lot of noise in the background and I could hear the starter breathing through the microphone which did not help either.

“If it was me picking the team I would not be in, but I am not a selector so I will have to wait and see.”

On the second day of the championships, former Olympic finalist Donna Fraser rolled back the years to win the women’s 200m and 400m titles in a lifetime best of 82.83 seconds, at the age of 36.

Fraser had pledged to retire after missing out on selection for Team GB’s Beijing Olympic relay team, but she was delighted to win double gold in Sheffield.

She said: “I must really love this sport. I don’t know what possessed me to take on both events this weekend, at my age. I’m just so pleased to get a personal best.”

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FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

SPORT NEWS AND REPORTS

BUCS to be televised

Sheffield into semi-finals after gritty battle with Warwick

By Ross Turner The BUCS Championships are to be televised for the first time as part of Channel 4’s build up to the London Olympic games, giving Sheffield a great opportunity to show off its sporting facilities.

Over 5,500 students will descend upon Sheffield to compete in 24 sports across 14 venues in the biggest student sporting event in the country. Some of the United Kingdom’s leading athletes will be competing.

Lisa Radford, a professionally ranked table tennis player at the University of Sheffield who will be taking part in the championships, said: “I played in the competition last year and it was a great experience to be able to show the talent in sport at University. It encourages people to continue their studies but still be able to express themselves.

“There are so many talented sportsmen and women who will be attending the event and so it’s great that Channel 4 is showing the matches, especially for the University.”

A spokesman for Channel 4 reiterated how important the television coverage is for future British sport, saying: “A number of our Olympians have come through the university system so there is every chance that our coverage of the Championships will capture some of the future faces of London 2012.”

Karen Rothery, Chief Executive of BUCS, said: “The BUCS Championships is the highlight of the sporting calendar for thousands of students, so it’s fitting that Channel 4, renowned for producing innovative sports programming, will be there to capture the passion and the glory of the competition.”

It will be an excellent opportunity for students from Sheffield to compete in their own city. Sports Officer Ella White said: “These type of competitions are usually dominated by the main sports universities like Loughborough and Bath, but we have a good chance in quite a few fields like table tennis, volleyball, running and climbing.”

“The Championships are fantastic because BUCS is a professional body. It has room to develop and has improved a lot since last year and Sheffield has a great chance to improve it even further.

“Most importantly, it will give university sport more of the credit that it is due and encourage universities to put in more money and take student sport more seriously.”

Sheffield won a place in the BUCS semi-finals following a scrappy victory over Warwick.

Mike Armstrong conceded after the game that his side may have underestimated their opponents.

He said: “The game was a lot harder than we thought.

“But we managed to dig out a good result in the end. It was a really gruelling performance.”

Armstrong did claim that the pitch was a hindrance to his team, as the soft ground was not conducive to their normal hightempo play.

“The pitch was a bit of a problem; we played on AstroTurf last week and we found it helped our play. Luckily we’ll be playing

By Jonathan Caldwell Mens’ lacrosse Sheffield 5 Warwick 2 Sheffield progressed to the BUCS Knockout Championships semifinals following a hard-fought victory over a resolute Warwick side.

Having won all seven of their league fixtures in the lead up to the match, the home side were understandably confident.

Despite the victory, co-captain

on it again next week too.”

A confident start from the hosts led to two quick goals in the opening quarter, with Armstrong scoring both.

The difference between the two sides was arguably composure in front of goal. While Sheffield converted just about their only opening in the second period Jason Tunstall scoring a superb solo effort - Warwick were unable to make their chances count.

Tom Leahy appeared to put the game beyond doubt in the penultimate quarter, putting the finishing touches to a superb

Photo: Ben Jackson team move which demonstrated just how dangerous the home side can be on the attack.

When Warwick did pull one goal back in the dying seconds of the period, it seemed nothing more than a consolation.

Sheffield were truly shaken in the final quarter though, as with just minutes to go the visitors scored for a second time.

Warwick pushed hard for a way back into the tie, yet the home side’s nerves were settled when Leahy registered his second, and Sheffield’s fifth, of the game with just five seconds left on the clock.

Goodwin in Scunthorpe United link

By Matt Duncan

The Goodwin Sports Centre.

Photo: Jonathan Jackson

League One football club Scunthorpe United have launched a new Development Centre for young footballers at the Goodwin Sports Centre.

The centre is aimed at giving local boys the chance to receive top quality coaching as well as a chance to secure a place at the club’s Centre of Excellence.

The scheme is open to all boys between seven and 11 with the best being given a permanent place on the Goodwin scheme with the chance to progress to the Centre of Excellence.

Simon Frost, the General Manager of U Sport, described the programme as “a great opportunity for boys from the local community to develop their football skills and gain expert advice from professional coaches.”

According to Frost, students can rest assured that there will be no loss of provision for them as the programme will take place early on Saturday mornings, a time not used for University or Intra Mural fixtures.

The links with Scunthorpe will present opportunities for those amongst the student population who wish to enter the world of football coaching or who want to gain coaching qualifications.

“There will be the chance for potential coaches from the university to get involved,” said Frost.

As well as this there will be added benefits for the University’s own football teams who will get the opportunity to play against the Scunthorpe youth and reserve teams.

Frost said: “The students will be able to utilise the professional skills that Scunthorpe United have to offer.”

However, the main aim of the scheme is to give something back to the community of Sheffield.

“This is for the local community, to give the local kids a chance,” explained Frost.

There are already 28 players from Sheffield in the Scunthorpe United Centre of Excellence and it is hoped that this latest scheme will increase and strengthen the ties between the club and the city of Sheffield.

FORGE PRESS Friday February 20 2009

39

REPORTS SPORT

Sheffield smash Hallam on their way to BUCS Cup semi-finals

By Oliver Hughes Men’s tennis Hallam seconds 0 Uni 10 Sheffield secured a place in the BUCS Cup semi-finals after whitewashing city rivals Hallam seconds by 10 points to nothing, dropping just a single set.

The Uni side were in control from start to finish and eased to an effortless victory away at Abbeydale Sports Club, setting up an away fixture against York Firsts who they have already beaten earlier in the season.

Chris Harrison began the rout after a fine 6-1 6-2 victory against Hallam’s Ed Gee and his doubles partner Conor O’Kane gave Sheffield a firm foothold in the match after overcoming Phil Hazel 6-1 6-1.

Both Harrison and O’Kane then battled to a solid 8-4 triumph in the first doubles pairing of the day against the same opponents in Gee and Hazel, with the away side looking dominant throughout.

Captain Christian Kleeli and teammate Jamie Williams overshadowed their Hallam counterparts Henry Myatt and Matthew Baker in the second doubles pairing by 8-3 and both then battled to assured singles victories.

Williams and Baker went head to head in the third singles match, but the Sheffield player’s ability was just too much for Baker who collapsed to a 6-4 6-3 defeat.

Skipper Kleeli then topped off the victory after coming back from dropping the first set to a compelling 3-6 6-2 6-2 win.

Kleeli was satisfied with his side’s performance, saying: “I was proud of the lads and it was a convincing cup victory.”

Sheffield Firsts are also vying for promotion in the league, sitting just behind Hull Firsts, who they beat in the previous round of the BUCS Cup.

A confident performance from the men’s tennis first team saw Hallam white-washed.

Photo: Helen Munro

Funding Winter Varsity rivals set for showdown Continued from back page

By Pete Ford

“And with this new funding I have a set contract to abide by, so I’ve got to go to the European Championships.”

Wetherill will be heading to Italy in June for the Championships, but faces a predicament as the tournament coincides with the exam period.

“I almost can’t do the two at the same time,” he said of the balance between his degree and table tennis.

“During the January exams my table tennis took a bit of a backseat and building up to the Euros I suppose work will have to take a bit of a backseat.

“It is quite hard to cope with but it just means I’ll have to work hard.”

The former US Open winner hopes to reach an agreement with the University over his quandary, but for now will focus on upcoming tournaments, with hopes to win the Czech Open and Slovakian Open, both in April.

This weekend sees the beginning of the annual Winter Varsity competition, one of the most fiercely contested rivalries in university sport.

Though the snow on the hills has melted, both skiers and snowboarders will be taking to the slopes of Ski Village today hoping to give their university the perfect start to this year’s tournament.

After last year’s unprecedented 20-20 draw in the main Varsity competition, this year’s contest between University of Sheffield and their Hallam rivals promises to be as tense and hard fought as ever.

While Uni have not claimed victory in Varsity since 2003, our fortunes in the winter competition have been quite the reverse.

Unbeaten in five years, Sports Officer Ella White remains confident that our winter athletes can extend that run into a sixth year.

These sentiments have been

echoed by Snowboarding Captain Ben Marshall, who claimed that a strong showing at the recent National Championships has put the team in a good position for this year’s competition.

Marshall named Paul Smart in particular as being a snowboarder to look out for after he landed first place in the National Dryslope competition.

The possibility of a sixth

straight Uni victory is strong; the historically superior Hallam ice hockey team have been hit hard by the upcoming World Student Winter Games in China, with five members of their squad away on duty.

Although two of Uni’s own squad have been called up, confidence remains high that Uni can secure a rare victory at Ice Sheffield.

However it is on the slopes of the Ski Village where the majority of this year’s points will be won.

The snowboarding and skiing

competitions are subdivided into three sections each; slalom, freestyle and big air. Each event is worth one point, with a further point on offer to the winners of the ice hockey.

Both universities will be hoping for a successful start going into the main crux of the competition, which begins in earnest on Sunday, March 15. This year’s competition will include new sports, including Men’s Lacrosse and Women’s Ultimate Frisbee.

This weekends Winter Varsity contest kicks off on 6pm on Friday night at the Ski Village, with the competition promising to remain fiercely contested until late into the night. Tickets are available from the Union for £5, which includes transport up to the Village and back later on at night. After last years 5-2 score line, Ella White jokingly predicted a 7-0 Uni victory, and with their winter squads looking strong and sounding confident, they must be considered favourites going into the competition on Friday.

SPORT Funding boost for 2012

James Allen interview Page 36

BUCS to be televised Page 38

Radford ready for BUCS after easy win

Paralympian David Wetherill.

By Simon Peach Table tennis paralympian David Wetherill’s hopes of a medal at London 2012 have received a major boost after finding out his funding has almost doubled.

The first year Chemistry student reached the quarterfinals of the Beijing Paralympics last summer but had expected his funding to be cut after the table tennis squad failed to win a medal.

However Wetherill, who has a congenital bone condition called Multi Epiphyseal Dysplasia, has received increased backing as he has been deemed one of the players with the best chances of a medal in three years time.

“We all thought our funding would decrease,” said Wetherill of the squad’s performance in China.

“But the funding bodies, like UK Sport, have given us an increase because we’ve got good potential.

“We’ve got young players in the squad who, if they support us, will almost definitely get medals in London.

“They’ve looked on that favourably and they’ve given us quite a bit more money. In fact, it’s almost doubled.”

David is looking to win gold in 2012 and believes it is well within his capabilities.

Without sounding “big-headed or unrealistic”, Wetherill said his performance curve shows he should be looking to win the tournament if he keeps working hard. The UK sporting bodies have backed his belief, and Wetherill, like many other athletes, has seen his funding increased as the London Paralympics looms.

The boost has seen the category six player move from a development level of funding, called TASS (Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme), to the Athlete Personal Allowance (APA), a podium level of support.

“APA is almost like a wage,” said Wetherill.

“It is almost like living expenses to enable me to live like a world class athlete.

“Whereas before I would be paying for things with my own money and claiming the money back, now I’ll have money given straight to me.

“But it is all performance related so I really need to perform now to stay on this higher level of funding.

Continued on page 39

Photo: Sam Bennett

Radford in control as Sheffield make light work of Southampton.

By Ross Turner Women’s table tennis firsts Uni 5 Southampton 0 A comfortable victory for the University of Sheffield women’s table tennis team against a solid Southampton side saw them progress to the semi-finals of the BUCS Championships.

The duo of Lisa Radford and Dominika Kolarova will now be competing in March to try and secure a place in the final, having looked in good form in their match on Wednesday.

Speaking after the match, captain Radford was pleased with how the game went: “I’m happy with the result and I’m looking forward especially to playing in

front of a crowd in Sheffield.

“I know the Southampton players and they are a good side.

Despite the fact that the match finished about as we had expected it was still a hard game, and it is a relief to have won it.”

Despite the good performance, Radford was cautious about their chances of winning the competition.

“Although we have given ourselves a decent opportunity, we’re wary of London Metropolitan University who have a particularly strong team which contains a player that came fourth in the Olympics.

“We are just going to concentrate on the semi-final that is coming up and not look too far ahead.”

Despite getting a bye in the last 16, Sheffield looked good value for their place in the quarterfinals. They got off to a good start

with both Radford and Kolarova beating their opponents without too much difficulty in three games, both players looking dominant.

While the matches were not walkovers, Radford in particular certainly seemed to be outclassing her rival from Southampton.

The doubles match continued Sheffield’s dominance, which is reflected in the 11-3 11-8 11-3 score-line, and ensured their advancement to the next round of the Championships.

While the second set of matches were a tighter affair as the Sheffield two began to take it more easily, Radford still showed her class in coming back from a game in which she was 6-10 down to win 11-10, and such instances will surely only add to the team’s confidence for the next round.

The team’s prospects for the next game look all the more

promising due to the fact that Sheffield will be hosting the BUCS Championships in March.

The opportunity is particularly exciting for the table tennis team because Channel 4, who will be televising the event, have indicated that they are chiefly interested in sports that will be appearing in the London Olympic games.

The University of Sheffield’s womens’ team are hoping to achieve in a sport where they have not traditionally enjoyed great success; their only major accomplishment in recent years has been finishing in third place in the 2006/07 singles BUSA Championships.

The semi-final game will take place on Friday, March 13, at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, with the final on the same day.