Sin Volume 16 Issue 3 by Student Independent News

FREE STUDENT NEWSPAPER | VOL 16, ISSUE 3 | 13 OCT 2014

NEWS

INSIDE

Students call for a reversal in education cuts

Minister for Education and Skills Jan O’Sullivan to “play her part in making sure that education is central to our recovering”. The estimated 6,000 that took part in the rally from the universities and institutes of technology of the country (even the UL Wolf mascot came out in support) then enjoyed music from Dublin’s own Original Rude Boys who concluded the proceedings with a five-song set. NUI Galway Students’ Union Education Officer Phelim Kelly said that the day was a success, stating that it was different to other years because of the support from different groups that showcased what education means to our society. Mr Kelly describes the current situation that students face as “extremely difficult”, as the cost of university is ever-increasing.

He said the government has forgotten what it’s like to be a student and is developing a system that doesn’t meet the needs of students. He hopes this year’s budget will at least remain neutral or capped, without any further rising in the cost of fees, with the 45% decrease in supports last year still fresh in our minds. Mr Kelly says that in a perfect world education should be free for all, but only time will tell if this will ever be an outcome. For now we must deal with the budget and its outcomes. “Education is everything: change, power, freedom of expression, social justice and fundamentally a need and not a want,” he said. But the message was clear from the rally campaign, that the students of our society value education and their rights to it.

SPORT

together to defend their rights. She declared that “education as a public good is worth fighting for”. The youngest speaker, 17-year-old Craig McHugh, who is President of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union (ISSU), gave a powerful speech about the struggles of teenagers for their academic futures due to cutbacks on guidance counsellors. He said that “students deserve the right to have something to work for” at second level. “Education means the future for me, the future for ye and the future for this country, so it’s time we start acting like that.” Finally USI President Laura Harmon addressed the crowd, stating that “we gather and campaign and argue because education matters”, and pledging to ask

ENTERTAINMENT

Students show what Education means to them at the march last week. Photo: Conor McCabe.

FINAL WORD

An estimated 6,000 Irish students, including a large crowd from NUI Galway, took to the streets of Dublin last Wednesday, 8 October, in a rally calling for the protection of student supports and grant schemes ahead of the budget. The aim of the rally, which was organised by the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), was to highlight the value and need for education, which should be accessible to all who wish to avail of it. The afternoon consisted of a peaceful march from Parnell Square to the Dáil, followed by some powerful speeches and displays of musical talents taking place outside the gates of Leinster House. Following the march, the crowd heard from the unique rap/trad talents of ‘TemperMental MissElayneous’ from Finglas as she incorporated her message on the march through the musical style of rapping alongside the traditional Irish soundings of the bodhrán. Once the crowd had settled, speeches on stage commenced. Ronnie Muck of the ‘Defend the University’ charter told the crowd that whatever problems they may have with lecturers “harassing [them] for essays, we are on your side”. Ethel Buckley from SIPTU (the largest trade union in Ireland) then took to the stage and explained how the workers and students of Ireland are more alike than different and should work

LIFESTYLE

By Cathy Lee

FEATURES

‘No ifs, no buts, no education cuts’

Students warned to beware of ‘phantom’ landlords and false accommodation

Students advised to be cautious following burglary increase

Diamond anniversary for a pearl

NUI galway graduate finds formula for happiness

DEBATE: Can collateral damage in the form of civilian deaths ever be justified when eradicating threats like ISIS?

Hong Kong’s ‘Umbrella Revolution’

It’s time to define terror

How to make it as a hipster in NUI Galway

The Bearded Backpacker

#SinBeards: The Path of the Righteous Beard

Tutorial: Ombré Lips

Style Spotter

Review: Gone Girl

Monroe’s brushes up on its Academics

Wallis Bird to play Monroe’s Live

Dean of Letters

Kevin Walsh named new Galway boss

Connacht nab draw from jaws of victory

Racism in football

Nicolas Roche joins Team Sky for 2015 season

‘Big yellow thing’ to be converted into large hadron collider

Diary of the Smokey’s Pigeon

2 NEWS

Sin Vol. 16 Issue 3

Students warned to beware of ‘phantom’ landlords and false accommodation By Mary Kerrigan Following what has been described as a “chronic shortage” of student accommodation, there has been an increase in incidents of accommodation scams. Fake advertisements are being posted online through outlets such as Facebook, Twitter by ‘absentee’ or ‘phantom’ landlords. These ads tell of well-situated, reasonable housing, enticing students into paying deposits without prior viewing. Students arrive finding that not only do their keys not work, but that the venues are already lived in, and their money gone. NUI Galway Students’ Union Welfare Officer Aoife Ní Shúilleabháin recommended the utmost vigilance. It is important that student s consider their options, especially when dealing with a lease. “Always sign a lease. Always make sure you read all of the terms. Make sure you understand all of the terms and take a copy of what it is you are signing onto,” she said. Signing a lease gives the student a better legal grounding in the mater. A

valid lease with reasonable terms is the best protection to be had in matters of accommodation fraud, such as this. “Where possible, sit down and have a conversation with the landlord about it (in person). Don’t be afraid to ask to see the place, never just rely on pictures,” Miss Ní Shúilleabháin continued. The same can be said for the landlord; the student must ensure that the person they are dealing with is legitimate, and not using a false identity. While it is true that not all absentee landlords are suspect, particular caution should be exercised where landlords are only contactable by phone or email. In these cases it is reported that potential tenants often deal with individuals who act on behalf of the landlord. Having a third party involvement in this way makes more ambiguous the deal being made. A distinction may be drawn regarding agencies, as long as the agency in question is accountable for the deal and they too are legitimate. Checking whether both are registered also gives better legal grounding. Bodies

such as the PRTB (Private Residential Tenants Board) are in place to protect potential tenants, in this way. Legitimate landlords will be registered on sites such as these. The NUIG accommodation office is also an invaluable asset to students in checking the validity of their housing deals. This problem has not only been seen in Galway but in cities such as Dublin, and Cork. This scheme has targeted international students and those making a distant commute in particular, because for them prior viewing of venue would have been difficult. As accommodation was such a rare commodity this year, such offers seemed like the Holy Grail for many students – well-situated, reasonably priced and well kept. In the face of that it can be easy to jump into deals, when the pressure of time and other applicants are taken into account. To counter this, it is best to start looking for housing early, and to keep on top of it – not to leave things until the last minute, or taking a “backseat approach” to the matter.

NUI Galway Students’ Union supports BDS campaign against Israel By Cathal Kelly The Palestine Solidarity Society has welcomed the passing of a motion by NUI Galway Students’ Union to play an active role in the Palestinian-led boycott divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against the state of Israel. This campaign shall continue until such time as it ends its occupation of Palestine, and complies with obligations that are set out under international law. The motion, which the Students’ Union voted to actively support, was passed by majority of 1,954 voting in favour of the motion, while 1,054 voted against, during a student referendum that was held on 6 March 2014. This has become the first time in the country that a Students’ Union has voted to support the rights of the Palestinian people. However it joins many other campuses across the world in attempting to boycott Israel for the actions it has taken against Palestine. The move was welcomed on campus by the Palestine Solidarity Society (PSS). However this is not a new phenomenon as ever since 2005 the Palestinian civil society has issued a call in support of the BDS campaign. This call has been pushing for numerous types of boycotts to be taken against Israel, until such time that it complies with international regulations and

NUI Galway holds first citizenship day By Michael Farrell On Wednesday 2 October NUI Galway held its first Citizenship Day in Áras na Mac Léinn, which highlighted the work that different groups on campus do to improve our society. Both Donal Lyons and Mary Hoade, Galway City Mayor and Galway County Mayor respec-

tively, were present and engaged with the students running each of the stands. Rebecca Melvin, NUI Galway Students’ Union Equality Officer, said; “It was my first time hosting an event as NUI Galway's Equality Officer. I could not be any happier with how the day went.” The event aimed to “showcase and promote the various

groups we have on campus that play an active role in society, embrace the values of active citizenship and contribute to the well-being of Irish Society”. “Our aim is also to promote the idea of being an active citizen to students in NUI Galway and promote involvement in different types of voluntary and community activities as well as participation in the democratic process,” Miss Melvin continued. “I also want to thank the amazing societies and organisations who got involved such as GiG Soc, Shoutout, Explore, ALIVE, the Chaplaincy, the Students’ Union, An Mheithael Rothar, Young Fine Gael and SUAS.” Also involved were Greg O’Donoghue from the Union

of Students in Ireland and Mental Health Reform, who gained 857 signatures for their Mental Health Lifesaver petition. The petition is aimed at the government allocating “an additional €50 million, as promised, for the continued development of communitybased mental health services in 2015.” A chocolate fountain at one of the stands proved to be popular with attendees, but only managed to last for a couple of hours due to demand. Rebecca Melvin was happy with how the day went; “Overall it was a great day for all involved and I hope everyone enjoyed it. The feedback has all been so positive and I think the aim of the day was reached.”

agrees with “ending its occupation and colonisation of all Arab lands occupied in June 1967”, according to the Palestine Solidarity Society. It must also agree in “recognising the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel”, along with “respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties” which is laid down under UN law. The call was not just confined to NUI Galway however, as it was endorsed and supported by over 170 political parties, trade unions, organisations and movements within Palestine. These groups have pledged their support to Palestinian refugees, but also all Palestinian citizens situated in the West Bank, Gaza and Israel. According to the Palestine Solidarity Society on campus, the campaign consists of three different forms of action. Firstly, by boycotting Israeli companies and products produced in Israel (which anyone can play an active role in boycotting), this targets Israeli companies. Secondly divestment, which encourages multinational companies to strip Israel of any holdings it has, ensuring such funds as university portfolios and pension funds are not used in the “violation of Palestinian human rights”. By doing this, it helps raise awareness about the policies taken by Israel and encourages

rich and powerful companies to use their economic and other influences to pressure Israel in ending its “systematic denial of Palestinian rights”. Finally the public can encourage both local and International governments in imposing diplomatic and economic sanctions on Israel, which are an essential part of demonstrating the public’s disapproval of their actions. The PSS believes that Israel’s membership of various diplomatic and economic forums provides “both an unmerited veneer of respectability and material support for its crimes”. Although the BDS campaign initially began slowly, it is now beginning to rapidly expand and grow. It has come to the fore in many universities across the UK, Canada, and the USA while many well-known faces such as Professor Stephen Hawking and former Archbishop Desmond Tutu have given strong support to the movement. It is not just on an international level that the movement has spread but locally here in Galway as the town of Kinvara has a town-wide ban on Israeli goods in place. NUI Galway students are encouraged by the society to join the Palestine Solidarity Society, come to the events and share their views. They can also keep up to date with the latest happenings in the situation with the society’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/ NUIGPalSolSoc.

NUI Galway Teaching Heroes honoured by USI Two NUI Galway lecturers were honoured for their teaching services by USI in recent weeks at the Teaching Hero Awards which were held at Dublin Castle on 30 September. Deirdre Curran of the School of Business and Economics and Whitaker Institute, and Mark Lang from the Centre for Astronomy in the School of Physics were two of four Galway lecturers to be honoured. The other two were Galway Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) lecturers Richie Hoare and John Carty. USI President Laura Harmon was on hand with Jan O’Sullivan, minister for Education and Skills, to present the awards and greet

recipients along with guest of honour, former President of Ireland Mary McAleese. In all, 53 Teaching Heroes from 27 higher education institutions throughout Ireland were recognised at a special awards ceremony. USI was proud to partner with the Teaching and Learning Forum for this amazing and ground-breaking event. Speaking after the awards, USI President Laura Harmon said; “It’s a great honour to recognise the people who make learning possible and without whom students’ experience of education could be just good. The recipients of these awards make education an inspiration for many students.”

NEWS 3

October 13 2014

Have you visited sin.ie yet?

It’s all relevant

By Jessica Thompson With so much going on in the world, it’s difficult to find a topic to write an editorial about, especially when the world seems to be changing by the hour. Right now it’s Friday evening and some of the top news stories have been ISIS in Kobane and Turkey’s unwillingness to intervene, the Ebola virus and how it has escaped the clutches of West Africa and made its way to Spain and the USA. Thousands flooded the streets of Hong Kong in a pro-democracy protest, and Roy Keane is in the spotlight following the leak of his book in a Tesco store two days ahead of schedule. But the thing is, by the time this paper leaves my laptop and goes to print before landing in your hands on Tuesday afternoon, none of this will even be news anymore. This issue has been especially difficult to work with because, on our twoweek schedule, the stories that are big news when we’re writing will not be big news when we’re distributing around campus. Most of the time, the stories we cover are still somewhat relevant by the time we go to print, but this issue, many of the stories (namely the ones I mentioned earlier) have been developing hour by hour, day by day. While I was editing the Ebola article, for example, a nurse in Madrid was diagnosed with Ebola. After this information was added, a man died in the US from the virus.

But some stories always remain relevant, like our cover story for example. Education is obviously a big deal for all of us and with 6,000 students marching and chanting through the streets of Dublin, it’s hard to imagine the student community not leaving a lasting impression. There have been various marches and protests during my time with Sin and I have no doubt there are people who have a large selection of t-shirts in a variety of colours, collected over the past few years. I even have some from my UCD days which go as far back as 2008 – yes, I’m that old. But that’s just one of the stories in this issue. We’ve got such a strong team this year that I actually didn’t have enough space to publish everything, so expect more of that great content next issue. What I did manage to publish is a number of well-informed opinion pieces, an engaging debate, and some excellent reviews, not to mention our regular columns, including ‘Market Thyself’, ‘Yellow Brick Road’, and ‘Dean of Letters’. After three issues and a lot of thinking and planning, I’m proud to say I’ve put together what I think could be my best editorial team yet. We strive to have something for everyone in Sin, and I’ve put together a team with such a wide range of interests that catering for everyone is going to be a piece of cake. Eoin has great knowledge of all things current affairs and has come up with some excellent ideas for the politics and opinion section. The other part of the features section – i.e. the student life section – will be run by Áine who has

32 pages once a fortnight simply isn’t enough when it comes to covering all the great stories on campus and entertaining our readers every day. This year, we’ll be ensuring our website is constantly updated with great news stories, opinion pieces, fashion, sport and much more. Visit our website at www.sin.ie or simply scan the QR code. an excellent sense of humour and some hilarious ideas for her section, as does Lisa, who is covering the online features section. I’m especially excited about the entertainment section this year. There are only four pages, but I’ve appointed four editors to it. Why? Because there are so many different types of entertainment. Dean is on Literature, because he’s a very creative person, obsessed with writing – he’s written half of Sin single-handedly for the past three issues. Check out his novella 161 Days of Rain on sin.ie. There’s a new episode uploaded every fortnight. The entertainment pages wouldn’t be the same without Ken, who has filled the film page for as long as I have known Sin. This year I’ve put him in charge of the Film section, and with his expertise, I have no doubt it will thrive. Music is a big form of entertainment and for a while now, Austin has been doing music reviews, which is why I felt he was the perfect fit for the music section. The last part of the entertainment section is Theatre. There’s always so much going on around Galway’s theatres and Tom, with his enthusiasm for all of it, was an excellent choice for this part of the paper.

Editor in Chief: Jessica Thompson editor@sin.ie Layout: Shannon Reeves | contact via Ed. NEWS Ciara Treacy | localnews.sined@gmail.com Chelsea Tabert | nationalnews.sined@gmail.com FEATURES Eoin Molloy | opinion.sined@gmail.com Áine O’Donnell | features.sined@gmail.com LIFESTYLE Jenna Hodgins | fashion.sined@gmail.com

I’ve never been that interested in sport. In fact, to compensate, I’ve put three people on the sports section. Matt, Kieran and Michael have a vast knowledge of all things sport and, starting this issue especially, I really feel that the sports section is getting better.

Other editors that deserve a mention are long-time Sin contributors Jenna Hodgins and Ciara Treacy who have swapped roles from last year. Ciara is now covering campus and local news, while Jenna is planning the lifestyle section – and both are doing an excellent job. Chelsea Tabert also deserves a mention for her excellent work on the national and international news section – it’s not an easy section to edit, especially when stories are constantly developing around the world. Stories will come and go, but one thing that will remain relevant for the rest of the academic year is the editorial team we’ve put together this year. So sit back, flick through the paper and see what excellent stories we have in store for you this week. Don’t forget, you can get in touch with us via editor@sin.ie if you have a story or would like to contribute. Until next time,

Jess @Jess__Thompson

UPCOMING SIN MEETINGS There will be no Sin Meeting on 16 October Meeting as usual on Thursday 23 October All Sin meetings will take place at 6pm in TB305. TB305 can be located on the first floor of Tower 2 (on the Arts Concourse). Meetings are open to everyone and new members are always welcome!

Get in touch with Sin:

Email: Facebook: Twitter:

editor@sin.ie Sin Newspaper NUI Galway @Sin_News

Send us your tweets and we may publish them in future issues of Sin.

4 NEWS

Sin Vol. 16 Issue 3

Resistance to irish water charges in eyre square By Siobhán Mulvey Galway Right2Water campaign held a peaceful protest against the water charges on Wednesday 1 October at 5pm in Eyre Square. Right2Water is looking for the abolition of domestic water charges. The water charges will cost an estimated €176 for the first adult and €103 for each additional member of the household. A large turn-out of protesters gathered in Eyre Square to vocalise

their intolerance for the government’s new charge on water. Protesters placed messages in water bottles which explained their reason for opposing the water charges. The messages from the people of Galway were given to local politicians. A petition was signed by those joining the campaign against the government’s water charge. Speeches were made by Dette McLoughlin and Vicky Donnelly amongst others, who passionately spoke about how the people of Ireland can fight the water charges. The well-attended demonstration lasted an hour in Eyre Square. A revolutionary atmosphere surrounded the speakers and the listening crowd. Signs were carried by protesters with the mantra: ‘We won’t pay.’ “Galway is fighting back,” was the repeated message of the speakers. Dette McLoughlin declared that “We [the Irish people] will fight this at every crossroad.”

The organisation aims to have an active member in every estate and area of Ireland to unite the locals against the actions of our government. The movement urged people not to fill their forms from Irish Water. They say that a result of the water charges, disease and the national death rate will increase. “The water charges will bring more suffering to the Irish people, especially to those most vulnerable”, argued Vicky Donnelly. “Water is a human right, not a service with a government profit.” Nearing the close of the speeches, the large crowd eagerly chanted ‘Can’t pay, won’t pay!’ A national demonstration took place against the water charges on Saturday 11 October at 2pm in the Garden of Remembrance, Parnell Square, Dublin. This demonstration’s aim was to take a national stand against the government on the issue of water charges.

Students advised to be cautious following burglary increase By Claire Stone There has been an increase in the number of burglaries in Galway city since the beginning of 2014. While overall crime rates in the city remain low, the number of burglaries in the city and Salthill areas rose significantly from January through to the end of September. The first nine months of the year saw the rate of burglaries rise 18 per cent, from 310 to 365, in comparison to the same period last year. A dramatic change was seen in Salthill with a rise of over 89 per cent from 64 to 121 reported burglaries. The majority of the burglaries in question fell into the ‘opportunist category’ as thieves preyed on easy targeted homes which are unoccupied or poorly protected. Opportunist Burglars prey on the forgetfulness of homeowners. They do not target specific homes but chance searching for an unlocked door or an open window.

Once inside they will take anything that can easily be carried in pockets or a backpack which makes them difficult for neighbours/passersby to catch. Anything stolen is typically exchanged for cash. “Items we students use a lot, e.g. laptops, iPads, etc. are expensive and quick resale items, which obviously means they can be ‘attractive’ to those with less honourable motives,” warns Declan Higgins, NUI Galway Students’ Union President. “It is vitally important that students take the necessary precautions in relation to their own personal security and the security of their house or apartment. Galway is a very safe city, however, like anywhere, burglaries can happen,” he continues. “We are very fortunate to have an exceptionally close working relationship with Gardaí, so if you require any more information, please drop into ourselves or the on-campus Garda clinics.”

Garda Nora Brady is available to meet with students once a month to discuss any problems/queries students have regarding complaints made against their person, accommodation, Garda warnings issued, theft, personal safety, security, etc. The next campus Garda clinic will be held on Monday 20 October from 1-2pm in the Wellness centre inside the Bailey Allen Hall. The clinic will be open once again on Tuesday 2 December between 1pm and 2pm in the Wellness centre. If unable to attend the clinics students are advised to contact Garda Nora Brady on 091 538079. Garda Brady is there to make sure that students are treated and represented fairly. Students are reminded to always take necessary safety precautions such as: ensuring nothing valuable is visible from a window, setting reminders to check whether the doors are locked and to take care when answering the door.

Diamond anniversary for a pearl By Yvonne Clinton

feel-good factor, with the weekend seeing the last of the ‘Indian summer’ Galway experienced for much of September. A packed programme of events included a musical ‘Celtic Fusion Night’ on Thursday before the formal Opening Night on Friday, which featured a food village with local restaurants. The festival really got down to business on Saturday, with the World Oyster Opening Championship taking place. The international title was taken by Estonia, while Kilcolgan man Stephan Nolan of Jacantas Seafood retained his national title for the second year running. Night time entertainment on Saturday was varied, with a Silent Disco

Ball hosted by the Roisin Dubh at the festival marquee. A Masquerade Mardi Gras Ball was also held that night, which started at the marquee before visiting Lynch’s Café for a starter. Guests then feasted on seafood at the Connacht Tribune’s Printworks before concluding the ball with dessert and dancing in the House Hotel. Sunday was Family Day at the marquee, with Féile na Mara taking centre stage. Food demonstrations were given by both experienced professional chefs and cookery students from GMIT, led by Jacinta Dalton. With such a successful anniversary, the International Oyster Festival can look forward to many more years in Galway.

First galway mosque opened

Killings and burnings of Ahmaddiya mosques in Pakistan have been carried out since the mid-1980s, when Zia-ul-Haq prohibited the group from identifying themselves as Muslims. The building of the Masjid Maryam has come as a relief for the Ahmadiyya group, who have funded the €1.5m project themselves. Imam Noonan said that he felt it was “important to engage with an Irish company as a way of interacting with the community”, so hired an Irish contractor to build the mosque with smooth-cut limestone from Connemara. A high turnout of Ahmadiyya members is expected at the mosque for their upcoming services.

The world’s oldest oyster festival, Galway International Oyster Festival, celebrated its 60th anniversary over the final weekend of September, with the consumption of in excess of 100,000 oysters. The festival has grown exponentially from its humble origins, when the first festival saw just 34 guests in attendance. This year, the festival marquee at the Spanish Arch alone welcomed 4,500 visitors, 70 per cent of which came from out of town. Festival organiser Maria Moynihan Lee was delighted to remark that “there was a great buzz around the city with lots of smiling, happy people about”. The weather played its part in the

By Jack Leahy The first Irish mosque has been opened for the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Galway. The ‘Masjid Maryam’ (Mosque of Mary), which has been built opposite the Ballybrit racecourse, will play host as a house of prayer to the Muslim community 500 strong in Ireland: almost 200 of whom currently live in Galway. The branch of Islam which is benefitting from the building follows non-traditional views and customs. Founded in 1889 by Mirza Ghulam, the Ahmadiyya community believes in

jihad, or struggle, by the “pen rather than the sword”, non-violence, a tolerance for other religions and the separation of religion and the state. About 60 of the Ahmadiyya community are currently in the asylum system in Ireland, as the group is currently facing persecution in some of the members’ home country of Pakistan, who have cut ties between the Ahmaddiya community’s beliefs and their own view of Islam. A member of the Islamic group, Imam Noonan, says that, “theologically, we agree 99 per cent with orthodox Islam, but 1 per cent separates us.”

NEWS 5

October 13 2014

A&L Goodbody calls for ‘Bold Ideas’ from university students and announces 40 graduate jobs How can organisations become better corporate citizens? That is the challenge and question being put to university students as part of corporate law firm A&L Goodbody’s Bold Ideas Student Innovation Award competition which launched in September. At the launch, the Firm also announced its intention to recruit approximately 40 positions over the coming months

as part of its Trainee Recruitment Programme. Now in its third year, Bold Ideas encourages university students of all disciplines to develop new ways for the business community to have a more positive and meaningful impact on society. The theme of this year's competition asks students to develop better ways for businesses to adopt corporate responsibility

(CR) within their organisations. Speaking at the launch of the competition, Berni Hosty, Partner with responsibility for the firm's trainee solicitor programme commented; "Bold Ideas is designed to encourage the enthusiasm and creativity of the next generation of professionals, and give them a platform to identify and express their views on how the world of business should evolve in the future."

She continues; "The world of business has a significant impact on the global economy and society in general – and strategic corporate responsibility is critical to helping organisations meet their shared obligations across both areas. Great CR policies and ideas also help engage employees and makes businesses stronger, and more successful." The first prize winner of the

competition will receive €3,000 in cash and an internship at one of A&L Goodbody’s office locations (Dublin, Belfast, London, New York or San Francisco) including travel and accommodation. The Firm will also make a cash donation on the winner’s behalf to a charity of their choice. Runners up will receive an iPad mini. This year, members of the public will also be invited to vote for their favourite Bold

Ideas submission, by visiting A&L Goodbody's Trainee and Intern Facebook page. The closing date for entries to Bold Ideas is Monday 3 November and the winner will be announced at a special awards ceremony on Thursday 20 November 2014. For more information or to apply simply log on to www.algoodbody.com/ boldideasaward.

‘High hopes’ for music fans as Guinness Amplify takes Galway by storm By Rebecca Fisher Guinness has left music fanatics across Galway in a state of pure bliss following this weekend’s slew of sponsored gigs in pubs citywide. One gig in particular, which is part of the corporation’s new Amplify initiative, had locals flocking to well-established waterhole, An Púcan.

The gig in question was a surprise impromptu performance by Irish chart-toppers Kodaline who announced their presence mere hours before the show. The Dublin based group were joined by British trio London Grammar as well as Sheffieldborn Dan Croll. The intimate gig was made available to a lucky 250 fans who received wristbands on a first come, first served basis.

Guinness Amplify is a new promotional scheme by the corporation following the cancellation of Arthur’s Day. The holiday was criticised for encouraging the excessive consumption of alcohol and resulted in an exceeding amount of calls to the emergency services. In response to backlash over the holiday, Guinness has developed its Amplify scheme,

which sets out to “champion brave new talent”. Along with hundreds of live gigs in informal settings across the country, the brand will be offering workshops and studio time with industry experts to encourage the development of Irish talent in the music scene. They will also be displaying the most promising acts found throughout the project on

Man charged with damaging Trinity gates By Kieran Kilkelly In a late sitting of the Dublin District Court earlier this month, Mr John Farrell, from Fassaugh Avenue, Cabra, was charged with damaging the historic Trinity gates. He is now facing 21 charges which include that of criminal damage, endangerment of life, dangerous driving, hit and run and failing to have or display tax. The incident occurred at

Dawson Street, Nassau Street, Trinity College and College Green in the early hours of 2 April and the total cost of damage allegedly caused by the defendant is in excess of €60,000 with over €43,000 of that being the cost of repair for the door. Mr Farrell, dressed in a striped black-and-white t-shirt and grey trousers, made no reply when the charges were handed down. Accompanied at the hearing

by his barrister, and friends and family who were sitting in the public gallery, the defendant didn’t address the court once. He was granted bail by Judge James Faughnan who said of the charges that they were “substantial” and “serious”. However, a €300 cash lodgement had to be provided before he was remanded. It was also noted that the defendant required medication and it was “imperative he was

released [on the day of the trial]”. The DPP has directed trial on indictment which means it will now be held in the Circuit Court which has tougher sentencing powers. The case was adjourned for eight weeks and Mr Farrell was ordered to appear again on the 26 November where the prosecution are expected to serve him with a book of evidence before sending the case forward for trial.

Catalonia’s future locked in constitutional stand-off By Odhran Donovan On Monday 29 September, Spain’s Constitutional Court declared Catalonia’s decree to hold an independence referendum this coming November as invalid. Citing the Spanish Constitution of 1978, the court ruled the Catalonian initiative as illegal, as referendums regarding sovereignty must be inclusive of all Spanish citizenry. The decision complimented the earlier confidence of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy that the methods of Catalonia’s ruling CDC party were constitutionally dubious.

Rajoy had spoken of the signing of a secessionist decree in Barcelona on 27 September by Catalonian president and CDC leader Artur Mas as “deeply regretful”. “It divides Catalans, alienates them from Europe and the rest of Spain. It seriously harms their Welfare,” Mr. Rajoy continued. However, President Mas was particularly unimpressed with the favouritism he perceived in the hastiness of the Madrid based court’s response; “They broke the speed of sound, they didn’t even wait one day.” Since Mas signed the decree calling for a vote on the Cata-

lonian issue, hundreds have turned out in Barcelona’s Sant Jaume square on a daily basis to show solidarity with the intentions of their regional leaders. Supporters of the referendum have erected a clock in central Barcelona, counting down the seconds to the vote, which had originally been planned for Thursday 9 November. The dispersion of a camp of Catalonian protestors from the facade of the Constitutional Court by the Spanish police on 1 October threatened to turn acrimonious, but the incident passed without injury or casu-

alty as both parties remained predominantly patient with the other. Polls have indicated the Catalonian population to overwhelmingly favour the upholding of the CDC’s scheduled vote, yet opinion on actual independence for the province remain highly polarized. Pro-independence fervour has grown in recent years, with Catalonian’s particularly desiring to break-away from a debt riddled and Madrid-directed Spanish economy. Catalonia accounts for 16.1% of Spain’s total population and yet contributes just over a fifth of Spain’s national GDP.

some of Ireland’s most iconic stages in February 2015. The initiative looks to promote small scale gigs and live music, as well as resurrecting the notion of “a trip to the local”. Kodaline’s renowned gig is one of many star-studded performances which will take place in each province. Bray-born folk rocker Hozier stole the show along with pop

babe Ellie Goulding in a surprise set in Dundalk earlier in September. The illustrious lineup continues to wow with acts such as George Ezra and Duke Dumont rumoured to be making appearances over the next month. Make sure to keep your eyes peeled for Guinness Amplify gigs near you which will be running nationwide throughout October.

NUI galway graduate finds formula for happiness By Kieran Kilkelly It is often said that there is no direct formula for happiness and that it differs from person to person; what might make one smile may have no effect on another person. However, scientists at University College London (UCL) have challenged this and come up with an equation for happiness. Four scientists were involved in calculating the equation, one of which was NUI Galway graduate Professor Ray Dolan who was awarded the NUI Galway Alumni Award in Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences this year. The initial research took place in the basement of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at UCL with a test group of 26 subjects. They played a game that involved risk and reward. Participants gambled and their happiness was rated on a scale of 1-10. It was shown that when £2 was won as opposed to nothing happiness levels were high. Likewise when they broke even instead of losing £2. From this the researchers developed a smartphone app called ‘The Great Brain Experiment’ from that data collected to further establish their findings.

Over 18,000 people from a wide demographic participated in the study and from there the data was collected to draw up the results. It was found that expectation is the key to happiness, that to exceed expectations is to be more content with yourself than if your expectations weren’t met. However the researchers stress that a negative outlook on life in order to be surprised and ultimately, according to the findings, be happy, is a bad approach to have. The equation itself broken down into words reads; Happiness = the baseline average mood + what you can settle for + what you’ll get on average if you gamble + the difference between that and what you actually get. The reason behind the study, lead researcher Robb Rutledge says, is that they “were trying to understand how happiness changes from moment to moment”. However, like with all studies, there are limitations. One such problem being that it doesn’t measure overall life satisfaction, just the way your mood changes. So philosophers and neuroscientists alike can go back to the drawing board to find the ultimate meaning behind happiness.

6 NEWS

Sin Vol. 16 Issue 3

Concerns with HSE as Miss Y Case escalates Peace talks with Northern Ireland By Maurice Brosnan The fallout from the recent Ms Y case has escalated after it was revealed that the Department of Health holds large concerns over the Health Service Executives response to the situation. It has been revealed that in unprecedented action, the department of health intervened and told the HSE to call off pending court action. This case refers to a teenage asylum seeker who is being referred to as Ms Y, who claims she was raped before arriving in Ireland last April. As a result she requested an abortion. Her request was refused as her pregnancy was too far advanced. In turn she refused food and liquid in protest.

On Friday 1 August 2014, the HSE sought legal advice and obtained high court action to hydrate the woman. They also made an application based around the legal position of a termination under the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Act – which was introduced last year. The Department of Health officials had stated serious concerns about the woman’s welfare when they were told of the legal action and intervened to stop the agency from forcibly hydrating her. It has also been disclosed that director general of the HSE, Dr Tony O’Brien was unaware of the court action until he was confronted by the department. This case has not only put additional tension on relations between the Department of Health and the agency, but pres-

UK joins allies in Iraq By Yvonne Clinton September saw the launch of airstrikes against the terrorist Islamic State by a coalition of the US and Arab states, joined by the UK in a limited air offensive. In July 2014, the Iraqi army was forced from Northern Iraq by the smaller, inferior force of the Islamic State (IS). IS then took over large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria, where a civil war has raged for over three years. The Iraqi army, assisted by local Kurdish forces, has struggled to combat IS advances; which have been accompanied by shocking brutality. As of October 2014, two American journalists and another Western civilian have been beheaded by the IS in videos released worldwide. A British aid worker was being held hostage at the time of publication. In the face of a reported 31,000 IS soldiers, the US has led a coalition of Arab states to provide necessary air coverage for forces on the ground in their fight against the IS. In Britain, a large majority of the 481 MPs voted in favour of limited strikes against IS, only in Iraq. This was due to the legality of such strikes at the behest of the Iraqi government. In contrast, strikes against Syrian IS targets would be on a shaky legal footing, due to the civil war and continuous presence of dictator Basher al-Assad. Though this

has not deterred America, British Prime Minister David Cameron is wary. Summer 2013, Cameron embarrassingly lost a commons vote on launching airstrikes on Syria after reports of chemical weapons use by government forces. However, it appears that strikes against Syria are inevitable and necessary. Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith said “I believe that is exactly what we will have to do.” He added that “it is an issue for the Labour Party”, since their help is required in getting such a vote through parliament. Cameron’s only public comment on the issue is that the situation in Syria is “more complicated” because of its “brutal dictator” al-Assad. Early airstrikes by British Tornado jets based in Cyprus were reconnaissance missions - before the first targets were hit on September 30th. British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said that the involvement of the British armed forces in Iraq will most likely be for the “long haul.” Home Secretary Theresa May concurred, warning that a consolidated IS could lead to the creation of “the world’s first truly terrorist state” in Iraq and Syria. IS militants were only an hour from Baghdad in early October, despite airstrikes. Whether or not this can be avoided without foreign military on the ground is yet to be determined.

sure on the recently appointed Health Minister, Leo Varadkar. The baby was eventually delivered after just 25 weeks by caesarean section and currently remains in state care. A statement from the Department of Health claimed they only became aware of the HSE’S “course of action being followed by the HSE legal team at a very late stage” and were “very concerned”. The statement also said that “separate to this report, the Director General has retained senior counsel to review the reasonableness, or otherwise, of the legal approach taken in this case and to identify any learnings there from”. After the HSE appointed panel establish the facts around Ms Y’s care the government will decide if further inquiry is required.

By Dean Buckley New round table peace talks in Northern Ireland are on the horizon following announcements by the Irish and UK governments. Speaking in New York on Sunday 28 September, Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan declared “the time is now right for a new round of crossparty talks to be convened” so the people of Northern Ireland can “seek a way forward on the outstanding issues”. The UK’s Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Theresa Villiers, echoed Mr Flanagan’s comments at the Conservative Party Conference, citing the need to “lift the blockages which are now preventing the devolved executive from delivering the efficient and effective government that the people of Northern

Man jailed for Twitter rape threats Mark Laherty A man was sentenced to 18 weeks in prison after he tweeted and retweeted a series of rape threats and other vulgarities to Stella Creasy, an English Labour MP who supported a campaign to put Jane Austen on Britain’s tenpound note. 33-year-old Peter Nunn, living in Bristol, was found guilty of sending messages that were “grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character”. He was jailed on 29 September. Nunn’s Twitter account has since been switched to private, so the general public cannot see the incriminating messages. Prior to this change, the Guardian reported what they called a “campaign of hatred”, including a retweet reading “You better watch your back, I’m going to rape your arse at 8pm and put the video all over”. ArsTechnica posted a screencap of Nunn sending a message of his own to Creasey using the handle @Protect YS: “Hi, it took Twitter 30 minutes to ban me before. I’m here again to tell you that I’ll rape you tomorrow at 6pm.” In addition to targeting Creasey, Nunn also threatened Caroline Criado-Perez, an advocate for the Austen campaign: “Best way to rape a witch, try and drown her first, then just as she is

gagging for air, that is when you enter.” Perez described Nunn’s actions on her blog, Week Woman: “He dug up my work history. He dug up my relationship and family history. He dug up my family’s work history – including publishing home addresses. “He wrote reams of blogs about me and my every public move. He made numerous videos about me. He set up numerous twitter accounts all of which spoke almost exclusively about me… repeatedly naming me as the head of a ‘witches’ coven’. “He also boasted on twitter in the same account about having bought a gun, and wondered ‘how much death’ this gun could buy him.” ArsTechnica notes Nunn also sent the message: “Caroline Criado Perez you’re hot, can you blame a man for wanting to #rape you #shoutingback #shoutback take it as a compliment not abuse.” Nunn also expressed doubt that he would be punished: “If you can’t threaten to rape a celebrity, what is the point in having them?” Later, he took a more defensive stance and protested that he is a “feminist” whose threats were intended as a satirical free speech exercise. Creasy was relieved by the conviction, which she said conveys that “this is an old crime taking a new form online”.

Ireland want and which they deserve." Continuous disagreements over contentious issues such as flags, parades and the proper manner for dealing with the violence of the past has stalled the Northern Irish Assembly, delaying decisions about how to spend their substantially reduced funding from Westminster. Last year, similar talks chaired by US Special Envoy to Northern Ireland Richard Haass ended without any agreement between the parties. The talks were meant to resolve the very issues now obstructing action at Stormont. Expectations will be high for any involvement by the US to perform better than Mr Haass. After making his announcement in New York, where he was visiting the United Nations to address the problem of religious terrorism, Mr Flanagan joined US Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry to talk about their administration’s role in the upcoming talks. US President Barack Obama

had earlier dispatched former Senator Garry Hart to Northern Ireland in August for meetings with party leaders on the US’s involvement. After their meeting on Tuesday 30 September, Mr Flanagan confirmed that the US would take a central role in the allparty talks, and that both Mr Hart and the newly-appointed US Ambassador to Ireland, Kevin O’Malley, would be the main US participants. Ambassador O’Malley was finally appointed on Thursday 18 September, over a year and a half after his predecessor, Mr Dan Rooney, resigned in order to campaign for Mr Obama in the 2012 president election. The delay was attributed to difficulty finding a suitable replacement, and not a result of any change in the countries’ historic relationship. No date, venue or timetable for the fresh talks has been announced, though it’s understood that all parties aim to begin in October and finish before the New Year.

Chad to make gay sex illegal By Mark Laherty Government ministers in the African State of Chad are on the verge of banning same-gender sexual relations. Section 361 of a draft new code states the punishment for anyone who has sexual intercourse with someone of the same sex is 15 to 20 years in jail and a fine of 50,000500,000 Central African francs (roughly 80-760 euro), according to a document seen by Agence France-Presse. The cabinet stated that this move was designed to “protect the family and to comply with Chadian society”. The measure was adopted on 4 September by the Council of State, but has yet to go before MPs and President Idriss Deby to be ratified. The US-based Robert F Kennedy Centre for Justice and Human Rights called on Deby to strike down the proposed law. “By criminalising homosexuality, Chad’s proposed penal code is an instrument of discrimination, not of justice,” said Kerry Kennedy. “I urge President Deby and the Chadian parliament to reject any attempts to make prejudice the law of the land.” The new penal code also abolishes the death penalty.

Florent Geel, Africa director of the International Federation of Human Rights, said; “This is very good news, which is unfortunately marred by the criminalisation of homosexuality… Criminalising homosexuality seems discriminatory, demagogic, and counter-productive, as it may turn groups against each other.” He said the reform of the penal code had been in preparation “for ten years”, but the question of homosexuality, hitherto considered a crime, “has never really been an issue” in Chad. NUI Galway student and coauditor of GiG Soc Sean Reilly described the situation as “horrendous,” and that it was “certainly something that I will try to increase NUI Galway’s awareness of.” The potential ban is part of a pattern of homophobia growing in Africa. The US-based liberal Political Research Associates (PRA) has accused US Christian evangelical groups of attempting a “cultural colonisation” of Africa. As evidence, they pointed to the offices opened in numerous countries to promote attacks on homosexuality and abortion. Gay sex is illegal in 38 out of 54 African countries. It is punishable by death in Mauritania, Sudan, Northern Nigeria, and Southern Somalia.

NEWS 7

October 13 2014

Doctor treats Ebola patients with anti-HIV medication Hogan knew of €40m consultant By Samantha Kelly Dr Logan gave the drug Lamivu- Diseases and The World Health spending over a year in advance A doctor in rural Liberia who was inundated with Ebola patients has said that he has had good results with a treatment he turned to in desperation: a HIV drug. Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a severe and often fatal illness in humans. After issues containing and treating the disease one man, Dr Gobee Logan, has used anti-HIV medication out of desperation to treat a patient with Ebola – and has reported positive results. Since treatment, fatality rates have fallen from 70% to a mere 7%. Setting aside the ethical concerns of this attempt to find a cure, the results are too significant to dismiss. Dr Logan defended his actions by stating; “Our people are dying and you're talking about studies? It is a matter of doing all that I can do as a doctor to save some people's lives.” He said that he decided to try using lamivudine after reading in a medical journal that HIV and Ebola replicates in the body in similar ways.

dine to 15 Ebola patients in a clinic in Tubmanburg, Liberia, and 13 have survived. He said that he was aware that the medical establishment would remain sceptical until research had been undertaken involving a much larger group of patients, half of whom would be given lamivudine, and the other half a placebo. However, investigations have already started by an American pharmaceutical company based out of Indianapolis - Eli Lilly and Company, which was established in 1876. The corporation is heavily involved in creating medications for a wide spectrum of health conditions and it sells those treatments all over the world. With the current West African outbreak of Ebola making major news headlines in recent weeks, it was of huge importance to see an Eli Lilly invention that could be used to treat Ebola and other major viral infections such as HIV. Other organisations including researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious

Organisation told CNN that they would be willing to carry out follow-up tests, saying that experimental use of two trial Ebola vaccines developed by GlaxoSmithKline and NewLink has begun. “My stomach was hurting; I was feeling weak; I was vomiting,” Ebola patient Elizabeth Kundu, 23, told CNN. “They gave me medicine, and I'm feeling fine. We take it, and we can eat – we're feeling fine in our bodies.” Those patients who survived after taking lamivudine, took the medication during the first five days of infection. The two who died started treatment five and eight days after onset of the illness. Disregarding Dr Logan’s hasty decision on treating patients with lamivudine, he has saved their lives. In addition, this has prompted the research of treatment for Ebola. The new trial vaccine, lamivudine, has decreased the fatality rate in patients from 70% to 7%. Past outbreaks have had death rates varying from 25% to 90% - meaning the trial vaccination has room to even further decrease the fatality rate.

By Tomás M. Creamer According to documents, former Environment Minister Phil Hogan was informed over a year and a half ago that Irish Water had allocated a sum of more than €40 million out of which consultants, among others, would be paid. Despite initially denying any knowledge of the €40 million being spent on consultants, recentlyobtained documents show that Hogan did indeed have knowledge of the funding. The December 2012 document, which was marked as "confidential", was written by a senior official at Mr Hogan's department and it was brought directly to his attention. It included an assessment of progress being made, in late 2012, on the set up of Irish Water, and the Government's broader water reform programme. These documents were signed more than a year before the controversy that arose with the government reforming the old water supply system, giving a new

national water company control of Irish water. Lucinda Creighton, a former Fine Gael Junior Minister and head of the Reform Alliance said that Mr Hogan's claims of ignorance "don't stack up". Meanwhile, Sinn Fein's deputy leader, Mary Lou McDonald, stated that "[Hogan] should come forward an offer a more fulsome explanation. It is important that you have a steady transparent and absolutely credible person [as Ireland’s EU Commissioner,] and frankly I don't believe that Phil Hogan is that person”. After being confronted, Hogan insisted that “There was a robust examination of all the costs associated with the establishment of Irish Water.... [and] the figures were then verified by the regulator and I ultimately approved them. All of the costs were approved and independently verified as necessary for the establishment of the new company”. On Wednesday 1 October, new water charges were introduced for the purpose of water regulation.

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8 OPINION

Sin Vol. 16 Issue 3

THIS WEEK’S DEBATE: The first five days of US-led airstrikes on ISIS-held territories in Iraq and Syria killed a number of civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Can collateral damage in the form of civilian deaths ever be justified when eradicating threats like ISIS?

YES: Civilian casualties are sometimes unavoidable By Michael Bradley Let’s get a few important concepts out of the way. Is the existence of the Islamic State at least partially – perhaps even mostly – a result of western foreign policy in general and US imperialism in particular? Yes, absolutely. Is it unfortunate that innocent civilians are getting caught in the crossfire? Yes, absolutely. Are their deaths nonetheless justified in the name of defeating the Islamic State? You bet your backside they are. Not to be too facetious, but we haven’t invented precision space lasers yet. We don’t have low-orbit kinetic bombardment platforms or those mad heli-carriers from Captain America 2. Even the US military does not have the capacity to precisely target individuals. Collateral damage is inevitable in all military operations ever. I know it’s easy to vilify people who fire a rocket at terrorists and hit civilians, but, frankly, you’re not even imagining how wide a blast radius collateral damage has. Hit a building now, and it may survive the immediate explosion, but it’ll collapse in three weeks and kill everyone inside. Shoot up a medical facility and you kill anyone in need of emergency medical care. Block up a road with rubble and people can’t reach food or healthcare. Crack open a basement hideaway and you also crack open water and sewage pipes. Dust and shrapnel can get in people’s lungs and give them respiratory illnesses. Warheads can fail to trigger and end up lying around for some tiny child to stumble upon. The enemy will retaliate against civilians from allied countries with tit-for-tat revenge killings. There is literally no way to conduct a military operation of this scale without civilian casualties, and equally there is no way to defeat the Islamic State without military operations. And we have to defeat the Islamic State. They are far and away one of the most brutal organisations on the face of the planet. Describing them as Muslim extremists is an insult to Muslim extremists.

That’s not an exaggeration; long before Saudi Arabia or Western Muslims were condemning the Islamic State, clerics aligned with al-Qaeda and other global jihadist groups were decrying their perversion of the principles of Islam. The Islamic State is a genocidal cult who will murder or enslave anyone who doesn’t conform to their very particular interpretation of the Qur’an. And I mean the Qur’an, because Islamic State insurgents are ideologically primitivist and reject all interpretation and scholarship on the nature of Islam since the earliest days of the religion’s formation. I refer you back to their use of slavery – a practice that is considered immoral and illegal by every other major Islamic denomination in the world, even those we in the west might call uncivilised terrorists. The world has actually never been so fundamentally opposed to a threat since bird flu, or Jedward. We’re talking about a group who claim legal authority over every single Muslim in the world, who want to establish a global caliphate under their rule, who want to kill or subjugate everyone who isn’t Muslim, and who also regard most Muslims as not Muslim. The Islamic State already controls a genuinely terrifying amount of territory in Iraq and Syria, and, yes, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but their actual goal is world domination. They are astonishingly well-armed, astoundingly efficient and scarily good at recruiting from around the world. We absolutely need to destroy the Islamic State. They must be erased from our planet as soon as possible, and the only way to do that is through extensive military operations. Innocent people will die. Civilians will die. But more innocents and civilians will die if we let the Islamic State run rampant. Yes, the west bears a huge amount of responsibility for the existence of the Islamic State, as we bear a huge amount of responsibility for most problems in the Middle East, and the world generally. But there’s no use crying over spilled milk. All that’s left to decide is whether we cry over the blood we spill fighting the Islamic State or the blood we spill destroying them. That’s a painful choice, not a hard one.

NO: Civilian casualties are never justified By Eoin Molloy Barack Obama boldly pledged to ‘degrade and destroy’ upstart insurgents, ISIS, through a combination of arming opposition forces and deadly airstrikes. Almost a month after the airstrikes first began, the Islamic State is no weaker. On Wednesday 8 October they pushed into Kobane, a Syrian town on the border with Turkey. The ISIS caliphate continues to widen its borders in spite of the barrage of tomahawk missiles being dropped by US, NATO and Gulf jets. David Schenker, the director of the program on Arab studies at the Washington Institute said that the US-led airstrikes have “not prevented the movement or the offensive of ISIS”. The attack on Kobane proves this. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 31 civilians have been killed by the US-led airstrikes. Modern technology has produced the most accurate ballistic missiles in the history of mankind, yet collateral damage is still inevitable. These missiles have quite a wide blast radius, and sometimes people just get in the way. But does that mean that civilian casualties are justifiable? Certainly not. The airstrikes were actually quite effective in the beginning. They prevented the slaughter of countless Yazidi Christians. However, since then, they have done more harm than anything else. This is partially because the White House has applied a looser policy when it comes to civilian casualties when picking targets in Syria, than they did under Obama’s drone programme in Pakistan and Yemen. Obama has previously said that civilian casualties “will haunt [him] for as long as [he] lives”. This is little comfort for the families who have had to pull the remains of their family members from piles of broken rubble. Worse still are the statements made by the Republican camp. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican advocates for a more comprehensive attack on ISIS. He said that he “heard them talk about civilian casualties but didn’t get all the

details”. When quizzed about civilian casualties he said: “Nothing is perfect.” Clichés will not comfort the grieving families of civilians who have been inadvertently killed by these airstrikes. For Republicans like Mr Kinzinger, dead civilians are no more than a footnote in terms of the wider conflict. It is becoming increasingly obvious that ISIS cannot be destroyed from the air. So why are the airstrikes continuing? One would think that their ineffectiveness combined with the loss of civilian life would be enough to call a halt to the incessant bombing. The people of Syria do not want these airstrikes to continue. In the last few weeks, there have been reports of anti-US protests in Syrian towns and villages. Those in favour of airstrikes on ISIS will speak of the threat they pose. They will speak of the 1500 Iraqi soldiers they slaughtered. There is no denying that ISIS is a threat, but to whom? Definitely not me, nor you. ISIS must be dealt with by local on-theground forces, not a foreign invasion. Let NATO arm the Kurdish peshmerga, the army unit who have proved successful at countering ISIS in Iraq. Let Turkey (who have been hesitant to choose a side until now because of the US bombing) come into the fray and drive IS out of Syria. ISIS fighters believe that if they are killed by a man in a fight, they will go to heaven. However, it is a great shame for an ISIS fighter to be killed by a woman. If this happens, they go to hell. For this reason, one third of the peshmerga is made up of women. They want to send ISIS fighters to hell, and we should stand back and let them. Any fiddling in the geo-politics of other regions will make America seem like foreign invaders, no matter how much they want to be seen as liberating heroes. Airstrikes are a dead end. They just are not feasible. They do not produce results worthy of justifying the inadvertent slaughter of civilians. In fact, no result could possibly warrant the death of more civilians. ISIS fighters have already killed enough guiltless non-combatants. Let us not contribute further to this tally.

OPINION 9

October 13 2014

The Curious

The Sarkozy Spectre By Marcus Mac Dhonnagáin Sarkozy used to stride through the halls of the Palace Elysée with a swagger that would have made spoiled princes blush. He promised that he would act with decorum and respect, but like most French presidents he had a strong playboy streak. On the day he and his newly-married “Carla de Médicis” went to Disneyland Paris, he acted like he was living his own kind of mad fairytale. He thought showing off his luxurious tastes was what his “adoring public” wanted. Perhaps he forgot the reason as to why the former French monarchy lost their heads. Realizing his mistakes, in 2012 he struggled to show people that he had changed. Instead, they had become fixated on someone else: Hollande. They had found their new knight in shining armour; one who convinced them that he was very much banal. Dejected, Sarkozy sullenly slipped away, and was thought to be never seen or heard from again. But the Sarkozy fairytale hadn’t yet come to an end. With his disappearance, the political right in France was scattered. Sarkozy’s own political party, UMP, the bulwark of conservatism in France had begun to degrade under his tutelage. It nearly collapsed with his departure, with faction leaders squaring off with one another as to who would lead it forward. UMP had another problem. In the far-right fringes, Marine Le Pen’s Front National (FN) began to consolidate their victories. They toned down the racist rhetoric, dressed sharply and concocted

a message more palatable for voters. The French soon tired of their banal new president, and soon discovered he was somewhat of a playboy himself. Hollande’s government sullied forth, but found its message of banality had lost its appeal. No one liked their new knight, seeing him instead as a penguin waddling about in a tin suit. Perhaps it was a form of Stockholm syndrome, but they began to fondly remember the ol’ days when Sarkozy was in charge. Whispers began to circulate about how everyone really always liked him. Whispers turned to open proclamations of “This would never have happened if Sarkozy was still in power.” Rumours began of a comeback. The Sarkozy spectre loomed over everyone. Hollande’s popularity continued to fall, with 99% of the French public no longer trusting him to catch them if they fell backwards. Like the French economy, his own government cracked, forcing two reshuffles within months of one another. Voters instead flocked to Marine Le Pen, who continued to build on the FN’s recent success by winning a large share of the vote in the European elections. Meanwhile UMP had recovered slightly, but was still divided. The contest for who would lead the party in the 2017 elections began in earnest, with two challengers announcing their campaigns: Bordeaux Mayor Alain Juppé and Sarkozy’s former Prime Minister François Fillon. Juppé, who is well liked in Bordeaux, at least, is seen as too old. Fillon, while nearly a decade younger, has some baggage as a former Sarkozy man.

Then it finally happened. On Facebook to over a million friends, Sarkozy announced his return. He promised change. His hair was flecked with silver; his eyes slightly duller; his demeanour quieter and less brash. The years in exile had matured him. If selected to be leader he would rename UMP, and bring the French centre right back to prominence. Juppé and Fillon were less than pleased, but continued on with their own presidential campaigns. But Sarkozy’s refuses to leave him be. In the intervening years between his exit and return, he began to be investigated by the law over several accusations of alleged funding fraud. One of the more serious investigations accuses Sarkozy of taking money from Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi – a leader who slaughtered his own people only to have them revolt against him and be torn apart by an angry mob – in his 2007 election campaign Sarkozy was even arrested by police, though was later released. Neither will UMP’s deep divisions suddenly disappear now that Sarkozy is back. Juppé and Fillon will not simply fade into the background, and it’s likely more challengers will emerge from the ranks. Then there’s Marine Le Pen to contend with. While elements of populism and protest votes have always swelled FN’s voting numbers, Le Pen is making strides to ensure she’ll achieve more than her father ever did. If Sarkozy manages to emerge from the free-for-all that will consume his own party, she will be his

European

biggest threat. But his re-emergence in French politics shows that like the fairytales of old, a lot of bizarre things can happen over a short period of time. Although people are likely to remember how he once strutted like an overly brazen peacock, and that he certainly has a lot of questions to answer with regards to his finances, Sarkozy’s return shows that perhaps nothing is impossible for some people. But it also shows the real spectre that haunts France’s political scene: the country’s political left soldiers on, but Hollande’s challengers are drawing up plans and sharpening their daggers. He’s weak, and everyone can smell it. UMP is divided, and the real political fallout from its leadership fight has yet to be seen. Only FN is doing well, and while it’s toned down its bigotry, it will never disappear. Unless France’s economy stops refusing to ameliorate, the run up to 2017 general election is going to be a massive political bloodbath.

The aftermath of the Scottish referendum: Will there be a UK 2.0? By Tomás M. Creamer It was all somehow quite predictable at the end. In a mammoth turnout of 85%, over half of Scots decided to give the Union another try. Considering the scale of the opposition to Independence by nearly all media outlets leading up to the vote, it was to be expected. Support for Independence is still significantly higher than had been predicted earlier this year. The three major British parties: The Conservatives (Tories), Labour, and the Liberal Democrats, resorted to promising the Scots more powers for their national assembly in order to secure victory. Within hours of the result, David Cameron linked the issue of more devolution to Scotland with the ‘West Lothian’ question, which basically asks whether Scottish (and Welsh and Northern Irish) MPs in Westminster should be allowed to vote on internal English matters. English MPs cannot do the same in Scotland, Wales or the North, due to the existence of their respective devolved assemblies. Despite England composing of over 80% of the UK’s population, there have

been cases where a British Government They face a major problem in places such The YES campaign had mobilised what had to rely on Non-English MPs in order as Glasgow, Scotland’s biggest city, and tra- has arguably been the largest grassroots to govern. The most often-suggested ditionally a Labour citadel. All of Glasgow’s movement in living memory in Britain, many solution by many Tories and English com- Westminster seats have for decades been of those involved having previously little mentators has been to restrict the voting held by Labour. But despite Labour fronting interest or engagement in politics. Far from rights of non-English MPs on matters that the ‘No’ campaign during the Independ- been discouraged by the referendum defeat, relate to England alone. ence vote, all of Glasgow’s Westminster it seems that many have decided to continue This question is particularly impor- constituencies voted ‘Yes’, which could spell to pursue the Independence campaign by tant to the Tories, because compared trouble if seriously challenged next year. joining the established Nationalist parties. to Labour, they have little After the resignation of the representation outside of In 10 days since the referendum, the SNP’s charismatic SNP leader, Alex England. At the moment, Salmond, the heir apparent, Labour has 41 Scottish membership has increased from approximately Nicola Sturgeon, has decided MPs and 26 Welsh, while to focus on extracting as 24,000 to over 70,000 at the time of writing, much concessions as posthe Tories only have 9 nonEnglish MPs in total. Due sible from the Westminster making it the third largest party in the Britain. parties in relation to powers to Labour’s relative weakfor the Scottish parliament. ness in England, they might have to rely on those non-English MPs to This has been accompanied in a huge The SNP is now by far the largest Scottish govern if they win the General Election surge in membership of the Pro-Inde- party by membership, leaving it well-placed next year. pendence parties. In 10 days since the to exploit the annoyance of many Scots If their voting rights are restricted, this referendum, the SNP’s membership has over the political squabbling between the could well cripple a future Labour govern- increased from approximately 24,000 to Tory and Labour parties over devolution. ment, because they may have a majority over 70,000 at the time of writing, making Indeed, with many of Labour’s ‘safe’ Scotfor UK-wide issues such as foreign policy, it the third largest party in the Britain. tish seats now been potentially under threat but would be in a minority when it comes Other, smaller pro-nationalist parties, from the energised Nationalists, you could such as the Scottish Greens, have also be forgiven for thinking that it was the SNP, to issues like healthcare in England. This isn’t the only headache facing reported similarly spectacular surges in not Labour, who emerged victorious on the Labour in the wake of the referendum. membership. 18 of September.

10 OPINION When you are not just you By Ka Weng Cheung Every one of us has a different identity. An exchange student from Hong Kong is my new one since September. But the happenings in Hong Kong have given me a chance to review my identities. I’ve been in Ireland for over a month and I’ve always been proud to introduce myself as a Hong Konger, as it’s considered a democratic part of China. But recently, as the ‘Occupy Central’ action became an international headline, I feel ashamed to tell others I am a Hong Konger because of how dirty my home is right now. Most people support what the protesters are doing yet they condemn the government for exploiting the rights of the citizens. I can, on one hand, be proud to say that there are student leaders protecting Hong Kong without any hesitation. On the other hand, it is really a shame what the government and the police have done to the protesters. When I was in Hong Kong I never participated in any of the demonstrations, fighting for democracy. This is truly the first time I’ve felt bad about not participating, because now I don’t have the opportunity to do so. All I can do is to stay awake until early in the morning to get the first-hand updates of the situation. But I can only sit there helplessly and do nothing. As a Hong Konger in Hong Kong, I did not fulfill my responsibilities as a citizen to get involved in demonstrations. But as a Hong Konger in Galway, it is too late. I can literally do nothing. Frankly, my family is indifferent when it comes to political issues. We choose to avoid unnecessary trouble. Yet, when they knew that I was upset about the news, they showed their support by participating in the sit-in. Knowing that my 10-yearold sister is there to support the cause really touched me and I questioned myself again: would I go if I were there in Hong Kong? The answer was obvious. I wanted to get the next flight to go back to my home city.

Sin Vol. 16 Issue 3

Hong Kong’s ‘Umbrella Revolution’ By Tomás M. Creamer

I am ill at ease in my new surroundings. I had hoped that participating in the sit-in would be a valuable experience for my younger sister. But seeing the pepper spray and teargas in use on the news, I regret that my family ever left the house. All I can give them are my best wishes. All I can think of is how the government can do this to a group of students, hurting them physically and spiritually. The moment I saw the cops attacking the students was the moment I collapsed.

Knowing that my 10-year-old sister is there to support the cause really touched me and I questioned myself again: would I go if I were there in Hong Kong? I knew that they are not the ones who made the order. They are just the employees who execute the orders dictated from above. In a situation like this, they are probably not even to blame. And so we wonder: who is the villain? The reaction of both the Hong Kong executive and more importantly, the Chinese government, has been very robust. They denounced the actions of the police as violent. The central Chinese government is unlikely to be too perturbed by the instabilities. The Hong Kong government, on the other hand, would not tolerate the continual of disturbance to the economic development so they will endeavor to evacuate the protesters. I have always been apathetic towards politics, but now I am easily given to fantasy: I dream that we will one day have democracy. I dream that our policemen will protect and serve the people, not central government nor corporate interests. I dream that I can one day be proud of Hong Kong again.

Photos taken for Sin by Lina Skoglund

The recent attacks and crackdowns targeted at the Pro-Democracy protests in Hong Kong may have seemed inevitable for people completely disconnected to the city state of Hong Kong. For most Hong Kongers, the reaction to the use of teargas by police on the protesters was one of shock and disbelief. How did it come down to this, whereby tens of thousands of people in Hong Kong are actively protesting for their democratic rights? Virtually everyone would probably know Hong Kong as one of those international cities (akin to London or New York) which functions as one of those powerhouses of global capitalism, a stark contrast to mainland China as a country ruled by a repressive communist regime. So how do these different realities coexist at present? Hong Kong was once a British colony, and unlike many other British colonies (such as us in Ireland), Hong Kong emerged as relatively well-off by the end of it all. Of course, there are problems that Hong Kong has in terms of inequality and the fact that the British never introduced proper democracy into the city state during its rule. In 1997, Britain handed Hong Kong over to China, but with stringent conditions: Hong Kong was given a special administrative status, which allowed it to retain its own currency, economic and social policy, and even its own immigration policies. Basically, Hong Kong was to remain independent in all but name. However, there were a few catches: the guarantees only last for up to 50 years, which raises questions as to what will become of Hong Kong in the future. But more importantly, Hong Kong does not have the ability to make its own decisions completely independent of Beijing. The chief executive of Hong Kong, along with a proportion of the seats in the city’s legislative council, are not elected by the citizens of Hong Kong, but by restrictive electoral colleges consisting mainly of business people that

have deep ties with mainland China, therefore ensuring that Hong Kong’s government remains friendly with Beijing. Over time, more and more members of the legislative council have been elected by the citizens (although not enough to threaten the majority held by the proBeijing members), and there was a promise that the chief executive would be directly elected by a free and fair process by 2017. However, last month, Beijing, anxious not to loosen its control, decided that the only candidates allowed to run for the position of chief executive would be those vetted by Beijing. This basically rules out the possibility of a prodemocracy candidate been allowed to run for the leadership position in Hong Kong. Occupy Central and various student groups scheduled a demonstration for 22 September to demand full democracy for Hong Kong. Since the police resorted to using teargas and pepper spray on the 26 (the umbrellas, used by protesters to defend themselves, thereafter giving the name to the ‘Umbrella Revolution’), more people ended up coming out onto the streets, and calling for the resignation of the current chief executive, Leung Chun-Ying. However, Leung ChunYing has rejected this call to resign, although he did offer talks with the leaders of the demonstrations, in return for which the organisers dropped their plans to occupy official buildings as a way of escalating their protest. This was before the most recent attack on the demonstrations on 3 October, which resulted in the leaders of the pro-democracy faction pulling out of the talks, citing the lack of police protection. The police responded by blaming the barricades blocking many roads to the site of the demonstrations. At the time of print, it is unclear just how this will be resolved, but what is clear is that many in Hong Kong are not prepared to accept the same level of repression as those in the Chinese mainland. This presents quite a conundrum to a Beijing government desperate to assert its authority.

OPINION 11

October 13 2014

Global response Seth MacFarlane must be stopped to Ebola not only catastrophic – but deteriorating By Mark Laherty

By Chelsea Tabert Many agencies, along with US President Barack Obama, are lashing out at the international response to the Ebola breakout in West Africa, calling it non-existent. There have already been an estimated 3,000 killed, and the deadly virus is showing signs of spreading through the West African regions, according to WHO, the World Health Organization. These numbers excluded deaths of health-care workers and others who have risked their lives for the sake of this outbreak. Although the disease remains concentrated in three countries – Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone – new cases are expected to arise in surrounding countries in the near future if the virus is not properly contained with caution. We see this already as a result of foreign care-workers traveling to aid the ill. There has already been one confirmed Ebola patient in Dallas, Texas, who died of the virus last week, and a secondary case found in Madrid, Spain as of Monday 5 October. WHO has announced that this first outbreak in Europe has a 75% chance of spreading to France by 24 October, and a 50% chance it could hit the UK by that date. Those numbers are based on air traffic remaining at full capacity though. We’re messing with a real lottery here. Should we really be dancing with the devil in an urgent time of need? Thousands have been left for dead and it is clear to see that we are not moving fast enough. We are not doing enough to contain the virus. The fear of infection has compounded the disaster, leading to an almost complete collapse of the health system in these regions. To be fair, many countries and organizations are sending aid to the affected regions, however, we are still a very substantial distance away from where we need to be in terms of

emergency response and medical attention. World leaders are too concerned with their own safety and doing things like closing airlines – and not helping those who truly are in immediate need. The Ebola virus has struck immense fear and panic into the public, causing unrest. The lack of willingness and professionalism to tackle is epidemic is phenomenal. The world has been begging and pleading for months, and all we’ve thrown them is the odd 100 men and women in white suits and food packages. Our lack of willingness has created an even worse situation. We are now on the verge of seeing entire countries collapse; a direct result of our actions these past several months. The current state that West Africa is in is not only catastrophic, but continuously deteriorating as well. These countries are closing their borders, imposing curfews and declaring state of emergencies in order to combat the virus. Meanwhile, Westernized countries are securing their own borders and leaving West Africa to fend for itself. If a full-blown epidemic of Ebola broke out in North America or Europe, similar to the sizes we see in Africa, response teams would be swarming to contain the disease; not sitting back with a hot cup of tea watching thousands die through a television screen. Or would they? Africa deserves the same common courtesy and medical attention that we would supply to our own countries, and it is astounding that we ultimately are denying them of such a right. On that note, this might be the conspiracy theorist in me talking, but think about it – a massive biological virus with a high death rate; sounds like a fantastic means of population control to me. What if it’s not meant to be contained?

An hour-long The Simpsons/ Family Guy crossover episode aired on 28 September. One particular line has a lot of people upset. It starts with the standard Simpsons running gag of Bart prank-calling Moe, this time asking for “Li Ki-Bum”. Stewie, the baby from Family Guy, takes his turn, and delivers this charming crack: “Moe, your sister’s being raped.” This is par for the course for Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, also known for the movies Ted and A Million Ways to Die in the West. The scene appeared in a trailer last July at San Diego Comic-Con. Only later was attention drummed up by complaints from the Parents Television Council. This doesn’t sound like the sort of organisation I would like, but they’re definitely on the right side of history here. They called on MacFarlane, Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons), and the Fox Broadcast Network to remove the rape joke and any others from the special. Unfortunately, it was left in. “Rape is never a laughing matter. Never. Particularly at a time when rape on college

and university campuses appears to be endemic; it is simply indefensible for a broadcaster to use the publicly-owned airwaves to make tasteless and senseless jokes about rape,” said their president Tim Winter. The point I’m about to make may seem crazy, but run with me here: comedy isn’t just about making people laugh. Trevor Griffith’s visionary 1975 play Comedians showed us that comedy can be used either to encourage hate or to shine a harsh light on it. We can either perpetuate what makes us ugly as a species or try to overcome our faults, and if we’re going to undergo the punishing process of self-improvement, we might as well have a laugh while we’re doing it. The play shows some comedians staying true to their roots, others adopting racist and sexist routines to appeal to the talent scout, and concludes its second act with a young man delivering a terrifying, violent, thinly veiled racist rant to a pair of mannequins. Here, we see the future of comedy stripped to its structural bones. This isn’t to say we’re not allowed to talk about serious issues in comedy. We just have

to punch up, not down. Don’t make fun of the victims. As if being raped wasn’t enough, they have to deal with blame and discredit from society. Why not joke about rapists? So few of them even receive a slap on the wrist. Plus, they’re rapists. A prime example of this is MURDER PRANK, a send-up of internet personality Sam Pepper’s recent attempt to present sexual harassment as comedy. Better yet is comedian Wanda Sykes’ routine on the subject; “Ladies, wouldn’t you love this, wouldn’t it be wonderful if our pussies were detachable?” she says. “You get home from work, it’s getting a little dark outside, you’re looking outside like ‘oh, I’d like to go for a jog, but it’s getting too dark- oh! I’ll just leave it at home!’” All well and good. But my few weeks of First Year Philosophy have, of course, made me an expert on free speech. This is a controversial topic from which it is difficult to draw a single answer which you can agree with yourself on, let alone convince anyone else. So here’s what I tentatively propose: I’m not trying to argue that the episode isn’t allowed to make a rape joke. Anyone has the right to make a rape joke.

But, in the same way, anyone has the right to say they find this rape joke unacceptable. They are permitted to not watch the episode on those grounds; I didn’t, plenty of people didn’t, and screw it, neither of the shows has been funny for years. Clearly, Fox didn’t want to cut the rape joke, so they didn’t. Even if they did, they would have done so because they wanted to. There would have been no censorship either way. This is hardly the first time MacFarlane has caused a ruckus. As the host of the 2013 Oscars, he turned the awards ceremony into his own routine of crude sexist comedy. He opened with a musical number called ‘We Saw Your Boobs’, in which he named actresses in the audience and the movies in which their breasts were visible. Comedy! Here, we come back to Griffith’s message in Comedians: it’s what lies behind the joke. The cheery musical number says that it doesn’t matter that these women made art; all that matters is that they took their tops off. Joke’s on you, girls. Nothing lies behind this comedy but hate. Seth MacFarlane is a supervillain and he must be stopped.

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12 OPINION

Sin Vol. 16 Issue 3

The one question you need to ask in an interview

It’s time to define terror By Eoin Molloy

By John Mulry This issue we’re going to jump the gun slightly. In the last issue we discussed how you can go about differentiating yourself from the competition by honing in on exactly what makes you unique, what you can offer a potential employer and why they should choose you over every and any other option available. Today, we’re going to assume that all of that has worked and you’ve landed that all-important interview. Don’t worry I’ll be covering the steps it takes to get the interview in the first place in future issues but before we do I want to give you my secret weapon when it comes to wowing your potential employer even further. W h a t ’s t h i s s e c r e t weapon? It’s a simple but very powerful question. This question will make your inter viewers take notice of you and will show them you have courage, you’re not afraid of dealing with situations, you’re a good communicator, you’re proactive, you don’t intimidate easily, you’re wiling and able to resolve conflict, you’re ambitious, you face problems head on and you might just be the best man/ woman for the job. Not bad from one little question right? Here’s the question you need to be asking at the very end of the interview. When you interviewer(s) ask you at the end “have you any questions for us?” you hot them with this: “Is there anything you’ve heard from me today or anything you’ve seen in my CV that would prevent you from recommending me for this position and if so, can we discuss it and try to resolve it today rather than leave it unmentioned?” This question, if nothing else will leave you head and shoulders above your com-

Market Thyself petition and you will stand out a mile (for all the right reasons) in your interview. It’s a very simple question to ask but like I said it does a number of things: • It outlines your ability to deal with conflict • It showcases your problem solving ability • Your interviewer(s) will respect you more because of it • It will make you stand out Now what happens after you ask the question? Well typically your interviewer(s) will be a little shocked that you asked it. This is a good thing. If they say something along the lines of “No, we can’t see anything that would prevent us” then you know at the very least that you’re a front runner for the position. On the other hand if they say something along the lines of “Well, yes there’s a couple of things that are a concern for us” – don’t panic. Ask them what those concerns are. When they explain what they are, you now know the only obstacles between you and that dream job.

CV. Hear you could explain that you might have been travelling then go into detail on the vast array of skills you picked up while you were away. Alternatively, they might be concerned with lack of experience. Here you could try and ease their concerns by explaining that while you may lack frontline experience, you do have the capacity to learn fast, you have similar experience in (whichever area is relevant) and that every skill is learnable, no one was ever born with sales skills, marketing skills or whatever the target skill their referring to is. For me, this question is absolutely paramount in every interview style situation. You know something else? You can use this style of question in every type of formal situation; especially in presentations, and in situations where someone is going to be making a decision on you based on performance. This question has served me well in the past and has served those I’ve shared it with very well too. So the next time you’ve an interview be sure to add this simple but powerful question to your arsenal. But how do you get the interview in the first place when there’s likely going t o b e hu n d re d s if not thousands applying for the same position you are? That’s exactly what we’ll cover in the next issue. Don’t worry it’s not the boring, same old lame old application and CV tips. Stay tuned.

Now what happens after you ask the question? Well typically your interviewer(s) will be a little shocked that you asked it. This is a good thing. Discuss their concerns and try to overcome them in an honest and open way. For example, one concern might be a gap year on your

revolution, described terror as “nothing more than justice – prompt, severe, inflexible”. Therefore, it is not even clear if there is a definite distinction between state terror and regular old civilian terror. The meaning of the word is constantly changing; there is a certain flexibility to it. Ergo, its meaning is always contextual. One man’s terrorist may be another man’s freedom fighter, and vice versa. Take Operation Cyclone, for example. As part of this covert operation, 20 billion in US funds were smuggled into Afghanistan to help fund the Taliban in their war against the Soviet Union between 1979 and 1989. The US House Intelligence Committee billed the Taliban as freedom fight-

Middle-Eastern complexion. Take the Santa Barbara Apparently, rowdy Irish stushooting earlier this year, dents are now also terrorists. where Elliott Rodger killed Rita Vohra, the landlady six people in a shooting spree before eventually turning the whose apar tment was wrecked by Irish J1 students gun on himself. According in San Francisco, told CBS to the media this was massmurder and the perpetrator News that what happened was a deranged woman-hater. was an ‘act of terrorism’ on her person. Whoa. By any standards, this was an Since 9/11, the word ‘teract of terrorism. rorism’ has rarely been out of Similarly, Christopher the news. Studies have found Dorner, an LA police officer over 100 possible meanings and former US navy reserve for this oft misused word. As officer went on a shooting it is hard to find a precise and spree in early 2013, targetbinding legal definition, the ing police officers and their word has been diluted and families. The attacks left reduced to the point where three police officers dead and another three wounded. pretty much anyone can be Dorner left behind a full labelled a ‘terrorist’ by the media, with potentially danmanifesto outlining his motigerous consequences. vations. The shootings were Defined by the his own vigilante Under this logic, shouldn’t the revenge against what FBI as “the unlawful use of force or he perceived to be Irish J1 students be rotting away corruption, brutalviolence against persons or property to ity and racism in the intimidate or coerce in Guantanamo with other Yemeni force. a government, the His shootings and Afghan ‘terror suspects’? civilian populaclearly had some tion, or any segment element of political thereof in furtherance of polit- ers, nobly struggling against motivation, yet there were not ical or social objectives”, the the evils of Communism. labelled as terrorism. Had he word ‘terrorism’ has become Critics assert that the survived the ensuing standsomewhat of a buzz-word in foundations of al-Qaeda off with LA police, it seems the modern age. were created from this lavish likely that he would have been As it was brought into nest egg of American money. charged with criminal murder our vocabulary through the Needless to say, the US views instead of terrorism. emotive rhetoric of George al-Qaeda as a terrorist organiOn the other end of the W. Bush in the aftermath of sation, begging the question, spectrum, Dzokhar Tsarnev the Twin Towers disaster, it at what point does a freedom was tried under terrorism is unsurprising that the word fighter become a terrorist? legislation. This is in spite of itself has become super- Probably around about the the fact that we have next to charged with emotional and time that said fighters stop no evidence that the Boston political context. fighting to better the interests Bombings were politicallyThe loaded nature of the of the United States. motivated at all. Labelling someone a terTsarnev, interestingly word is dangerous. It has a certain political value. For rorist can have seriously enough, was also charged this reason, news pundits dangerous consequences. with the possession of a like Sean Hannity of Fox News Under section 412 of the ‘weapon of mass destruction’, tend to drop the ‘T’ bomb USA PATRIOT Act, a ‘terror showing again the connection whenever they want to win suspect’ can be detained between terrorism legislation an argument. He recently indefinitely without trial in and the advanced rhetoric of accused Russell Brand of an institution like Guanta- the Bush years. All of this is not to say that being a ‘terrorist sympa- namo Bay thiser’ after the English comic Under this logic, shouldn’t the issue of terrorism is not expressed solidarity for the the Irish J1 students be rotting one that should be side-lined. embattled civilian population away in Guantanamo with However, the over-use of the of Palestine. other Yemeni and Afghan word could have dangerous Terror is far from new. You ‘terror suspects’? Obviously implications down the road. would have to jump back not, but the fact that the word There is a definite need to 200 odd years to find the first has no clear definition could give a definite and lasting official usage of the word. In easily lead to the wrongful international legal definition 1793, the National Conven- detention of an innocent to terrorism. This definition tion in post-revolution France person. will surely be needed to avoid declared that “terror is the The other problem with a purge like McCarthy’s red order of the day”. This period the misuse of the word ‘ter- scare of the 1950s. became known as the ‘Reign rorism’ is that it follows For now, the word remains of Terror’ in France. seemingly racial lines. The a free-for-all for any and all Maximillien Robespierre, media tends to equate acts who wish to evoke an emoterrorist-in-chief of the French of terror only with those of tional response.

STUDENT LIFE 13

October 13 2014

Extreme student savers By Dean Buckley Sure, students are mostly middle-class but also middle-class means almost nothing anymore. Being middle-class means you can buy a new car once every five years, it doesn’t mean you can pay the equivalent of a car on an annual basis just to put your kid through something as basic to their success in life as education. So in that spirit, here are a few suggestions as to how you can save money on a student budget: BECOME A FREEGAN If you haven’t heard of freeganism, boy, are you in for a treat. Freeganism is a lifestyle choice somewhat like veganism except instead of refusing to eat foods produced by animals; freegans refuse to eat food that costs money. All you have to do is grab your bog-snorkelling gear from home, lurk around the back of a restaurant and take a swim in the bins. You never know how good mouldy pizza can taste until you’re kneedeep in rotten vegetables.

SELL YOUR ORGANS Everyone should have an organ donor card, except for the minority of people with very specific ethical or spiritual objections to someone else using their organs after their death. As a student, you don’t have time to wait around until you die, and, anyway, fresher is better. Thanks to the internet, selling your organs for cash has never been easier. Just go on Tinder, look for someone with a profile picture of the dude who rips out people’s hearts in Indiana Jones, match with him and agree to meet in the shady alley of your choice. Don’t worry, he only takes organs that come in pairs or regenerate. You’ll be grand. VISIT A HOLY WELL Our beautiful country is littered with dozens of sacred sites where pools of water blessed by the saints of our illustrious history once prayed before their almighty deity. If you find yourself in financial trouble, all you

Erasmus Diary of an Student By David Molloy Leiden gained its independence on 3 October 1574. A siege of the rebellious city by the Spanish under Francisco de Valdez ultimately failed, resulting in the city’s relief. There was much rejoicing and consumption of hutspot (carrot and onion stew, which is pretty nice). William of Orange granted the city the country’s first university as a mark of Leiden’s sacrifice. So, every year on the 3rd of October, the native Leiden folk (Leideners? Leidenians? LD-Aliens?) celebrate by turning the place into a town-wide funfair and partying. The centre of town, for two days, became a sight that resembled the Volvo Ocean Race with twice the number of spectators squeezed into an area half the size. You could not move two inches without stepping on someone’s foot or accidentally getting beer spilled all over your arm. Upon my arrival, I was told that the 3rd October festival

was the city’s big drinking night of the year, but looking around, if you ignored all the food stalls, Ferris-wheels and mini roller-coasters, it looked like Galway on an average Thursday night. Whether this is a good thing or not is up to you. It was fun to walk around and see all the festivities – bands playing on barges in the canals, trying out Dutch culinary favourites: I tried these really nice golf-ball shaped pancake thingies covered in powdered sugar. There was also raw herring being offered for free, but I have not yet summoned up the courage to try it. Before the year is out I imagine I will sell my soul to the devil in order to work up the gumption. What was most impressive was how quickly it was set up and taken down – by Saturday evening, the day after celebrations wrapped up, all sign of the festivities were gone, and the town was back to its usual quiet, laid-back, clean self. It’s almost enough to make you wonder if any of it ever hap-

need to do is pay a visit to one of these peaceful places. Then steal all the money. People throw coins in holy wells all the time and no one else is using them so you might as well. CAPTURE A LEPRECHAUN If watching Darby O’Gill and the Little People taught me nothing else, it’s that the creatures of Irish myth are sadistic monsters and so are the sick savages who made them up. However, it did teach me something else: I also learned that if you capture a leprechaun, you can make him give you wishes in exchange for his freedom. Everyone knows that there’s nothing a leprechaun loves as much as whiskey so you just need to find your local leprechaun hunting grounds then leave out a shot of whiskey laced with rohypnol. Once he’s snoozing, throw him in a sack of potatoes and hey presto you’ve got your three wishes. Once you’re done making out with George Clooney, wish for money.

pened at all, or if it was all just some weird hallucination. I would like to take this opportunity to once again assure my mam that I am not spending all my time in the Netherlands doing drugs. I swear. In other news, I was buying groceries recently so that I don’t starve and die, which would be really inconvenient because then I’d have to pay my Erasmus grant back. It was here that I ended up getting myself caught up in that great exchange-student tradition: making an utter fool of myself hundreds of miles from home. I was all ready to go with all my wondrous food when I tried to pay with cash and the man at the till looked at me like I had just ripped off my shirt and exclaimed, “Let’s wrestle”. He tersely explained that it was a card-only queue, and knowing that I did not have enough cash in my Dutch account to pay, he printed off a receipt, shut down his till and handed the receipt to the next one over, turned to me and said “JUST PAY HIM!” and then stormed off. I felt like I had ruined his day. So, there’s my advice for any future exchange students going to the mainland: always make sure you know what queue you’re in, and never underestimate their contempt for cash.

Ger Aherne Year of graduation: BA 1975; LLM 2003 Course at NUI Galway: Arts and Masters in Law Current Occupation: Retired Defence Forces Brigadier General; Special Advisor, Edward M. Kennedy Conflict Intervention Institute (NUIM); Chairman, Greene Aviation; Senior Consultant, Transparency International Defence and Security Programme; Business Consultant for Irish commercial companies focused on Africa.

How did attending NUI Galway develop you as a person? It was a central to my becoming amenable to diverse viewpoints. It was the early 1970s and I was a young army officer. The university was a melting pot of differing and alternative thought processes.

What is your fondest memory of NUI Galway? The friendships made and the development of a lifelong connection to Galway and NUIG.

What was the college news paper like when you were in NUI Galway? Did you write for it? I honestly cannot recall there being one, but I am sure there was at the time.

Has NUI Galway changed since you were here? It is now, perhaps, a less intimate place, while retaining, thankfully, a great sense of place.

Did you partake in any societies, sports clubs or volunteering at NUI Galway? I played Gaelic Football, Hurling, Soccer, and one rugby game for the College.

Do you ever miss NUI Galway? Every day, but I continue my connection as a member of the NUIG Alumni Board.

Any juicy stories of your time here? I fell in love on campus most days! What advice would you give to current NUI Galway students? Enjoy it. It is not a rehearsal. If you could go back and do it all again, what would you do differently? Try and win the Sigerson.

14 STUDENT LIFE Mionscéalta na Mic Léinn An Scéim Saor Oideachas? Tá daoine ann a dheir gur cheart go n-íocadh mic léinn a mbealach féin agus iad ag baint tairbhe as an chuid ab fhearr dá saoil, ach freisin, ar an taobh eile den scéal, tá roinnt ann gur fhearr leo an méid is mó daoine óga a chuir tríd an tríú leibhéal faoi airgeadais phoiblí de bharr an maitheas a dhéanann céimí don sochaí.

Le Feidhlim Seoighe Nach mór 50 bliain ó a d’fhógair Donnacha O’Máile an tsaoir oideachas dara leibhéal, agus ní fheadadh a scríobh cén tionchair sóisialta, chomh maith leis an tionchair eacnamaíochta a bhí leis an polasaí seo ar an tír. Beagnach scór bliain ó shin, d’fhógair an rialtais scéim saor oideachas don tríú leibhéal. Go tapaigh, bhí na mílte mic léinn ag freastail ar Ollscoileanna, agus Institiúidí tríú leibhéal ó bhun barr na tíre. Tá infheistíocht ollmhór déanta ag comhlachtaí idirnáisiúnta san tír de bharr an ard oiliúint atá ag na daoine óga, agus d’fhéadfadh a rá gurbh í sin cheann dena chúiseanna gur tharla borradh eacnamaíocht ag tús an fiche haonú haois. Ar an mheán, íocann céimithe ar a laghad 40% níos mó cáin thar a shaoil ná siúd gan céim. Tá seans níos mó ann chomh maith go mbeadh poist ag céimithe, agus is ag cur leis an gcóras sochaí atá adar, in áit é a úsáid. Beidh Buiséid 2015 fógraithe faoin am a bheadh an píosa seo i gcló, agus is cinnte gur buiséid crua, deacair atá le bheith ann. Tá

táillí na hOllscoile chun ardú go dtí €3,000, fad uainn saol na dtáillí saoire. Rud amháin atá faoi chúram an rialtas i láthair na huaire, agus iad ag ullmhú an búiséid, ná deontais na mac léinn. Tá fíor ghá é seo a choinneáil mar atá. Má déantar gearradh siar air, titeadh na mílte mic léinn amach as an gcóras, agus ní thiocfadh cuid acu isteach san gcóras ar chuir ar bith. Tá feachtais á reáchtáil ag Aontas na Mac Léinn i láthair na huaire chun deontais na Mic Léinn a chosaint. Níl muid ach ag iarradh freagra ar an gceist bheag, tábhachtach seo: Cad is brí leis an t-oideachas duit? Céard iad na deiseanna breise atá ar fáil dhuit is tú ag teacht chun na hOllscoile? Tá neart freagraí a thugann Mic Léinn na tíre - Osclaíonn sé a domhain mór duit, tugann sé tuiscint i bhfad níos fearr dhuit ar do thimpeallacht, nílis cén maitheas a dhéanann sé don sochaí agus seans an rud is tábhachtaí ná go gcinntíonn sé go bheidh saol níos déise ag an céimí. Tar a saoil, íocadh an té go bhfuil céim aige, nó aici, ar a laghad 40% níos mó cánach ná an té gan céim. Is léas eacnamaíocht í an oideachas. De réir an tuairisc a sheol AMLÉ, agus an Institiúid Eacnamaíochta Nevin, maidir leis an bealach gur cheart an nár Oideachas a mhaoiniú, is í an tsaoir oideachas an t-aon bealach inbhuanaithe chun go mbaintear amach na spriocanna atá leagtha síos ag an Rialtas.

How to make it as a hipster in NUI Galway By Eoin Molloy Hipster (noun): One who enjoys clothing, music, food and activities outside of the social mainstream. The essence of being a hipster is putting enormous amounts of effort into constructing an apathetic and nonchalant image. That being: trying hard to look like someone who doesn’t try hard. Confused? Then keep on reading… Clothing is of utmost importance to your average college hipster. Year-round scarves are a good idea, as are skinny jeans. Cast off thy Adidas tracksuit because branded clothing is completely off limits. Unless it’s Supreme, obviously. As a hipster, you must make it your duty to construct a wardrobe filled with clothing bought from thrift markets. Hipsters like their clothes to have backstory just like a good comic book villain. Eyewear is also of paramount importance to college hipsters, what with all the lazing

around the library flicking through Tumblr that has to be done. Hipster mores dictate that the better your vision is, the bigger your glasses must be. This is because hipsters love irony. If you have 20/20 vision, simply pop the lenses out and insert glass frames. Hey presto, you’re now a hipster! However, when picking out new hipster attire it is important to steer clear of the false friend that is Converse shoes. Sure, they used to be alternative but now everyone and your mum own a pair. They’re more mainstream than an Adam Sandler movie and must be avoided at all costs. Alternative nutrition must also be consumed if you are to make it to the top levels of hipsterdom. It is advisable to become a vegetarian or a vegan if you are that way inclined. However, if you do wish to eat meat you must do so cynically, acknowledging that vegetarian attempts to save the world are doomed to fail anyway. It is a good idea to buy your food from local markets, if you don’t

Sin Vol. 16 Issue 3

Five things you should know as a Final Year, but don’t: By Hannah Macken WHERE YOUR LECTURES WILL BE: With three

years spent on and around the concourse, one would assume that you would know where the lecture theatre is. Cue, the first week back in college and looking confused in the middle of the concourse. Slyly referring to the map at the doors while pretending to be waiting for friends is a fine art, which is perfected through continued practice. When all else fails, I found that sitting in Smokey’s with tea works well until further research can be carried out.

ricular activities for the past three years in college. There are societies for everything and anything. Joining them all seems to be a great idea. Going to the Socs Fair as an awkward individual with little knowledge of societies can be daunting: the people at the stands seem extremely enthusiastic and there are first years over excited about pizza everywhere. Given the crowds are a deterrent, you can join them online and this limits the folly of split second decision-making. In fairness having ‘Secretary of Society’ on your CV is better than having employers thinking you sat in your pyjamas eating Haribo every night for the entirety of your degree.

HOW TO USE THE LIBRARY: It is time to start

looking up dissertation topics and finding appropriate books - to the library! You can no longer just saunter into the library and wander hopelessly until you happen upon what you need. It seems it’s more exclusive now than Halo nightclub: no ID, no entry. After a perilous fight with the barrier that doesn’t want to let you in, there is then the confusion of many floors and countless computers. You use the computer to look up the book you want and it directs you to the basement for said book… a basement that you didn’t even know existed. A basement that you can’t get into. Henceforth, one heads for the reception desk to get help. It seems the people at the desk don’t know how to access the basement and its books either. Another fight with the electronic gates followed by leaving in exasperation. To Smokey’s for tea; I’ll learn about the library another day.

HOW TO EAT HEALTHILY IN COLLEGE: Going

home to mammy still seems to be the best option when it comes to being fed in any way that resembles a balanced diet. You spent most of first year living on Koka noodles and things haven’t improved much since. The 3kg bag of pasta bought in the first week of September looks significantly smaller and the vegetables you bought with it have long rotted away. Even when it comes to the handiness of pasta there is always the temptation of a take away that is just a click or a phone call away. THAT THERE IS A WHOLE OTHER WORLD BENEATH THE MAIN FLOOR OF THE CONCOURSE: Having never wandered down those

CV for potential employers starts to be an issue when you’ve taken part in no extracur-

wondrous stairs dotted throughout the blue, green, red and yellow corridors? There is so much to discover. Already this year, a computer suite that supposedly has always been down the blue corridor stairs was discovered by unsuspecting final years. This is a magical place with significantly less traffic, first years and general start of year mania.

have space to grow your own that is. Coffee is a hipster’s most important food group. For upcoming hipsters, the general rule of thumb is that one may never order a coffee that is under five syllables in length. Americano: bad. Skinny hazelnut Frappuccino: good. When sweetening said coffee, you may only use brown sugar, never white. Normal milk is also off limits, with the soya, almond or goat variations being infinitely more preferable. Hipsters in NUI Galway will likely insult the coffee outlets on campus so you must do the same if you are to succeed. Repeat after me: Smokey’s is far too crowded, Starbuck’s is too commercial and the Bialann’s coffee is oh-so-basic. Unless you want to get your coffee at Subway (just to be ironic, of course) then you must tread off campus and buy your coffee at local hipster haven, 37 West. Also, to make it as a hipster in NUI Galway, you must be involved in at least three off-beat

societies. Try the Victorian Society even if it is just to steal fashion ideas. You also must frequent silent discos at the Roisin Dubh, while insulting the music they play as being too mainstream. An advanced hipster may only listen to emerging indie bands, abandoning them once they make it big. A devout hipster will only watch films that are either 20 years or more old, preferably in black and white. Films with subtitles or those directed by Wes Anderson are free game as well. Reading VICE news on the regular will help you keep your finger on the pulse of the hipster world. In summation, being a hipster in a college environment takes a lot of time and effort. It is not a vocation that should be entered into lightly. A trainee hipster will have to hone their skills of irony, sarcasm and pessimism, while paying attention to new-fangled trends in music and fashion. Always remember the hipster refrain: ‘I liked ‘X’ before it was cool.’

THAT SOCIETIES MATTER: Writing up your

STUDENT LIFE 15

October 13 2014

A Normal Day

By Hazel Doyle Yesterday was a normal day. I had my breakfast and then struggled to decide what clothes to wear. A normal day. I tried to make it out the door on time, not wanting to be late again. A normal day. I went to my Spanish class and then I had a look in the shops on my way home. A normal day. I went to my local supermarket to buy some bread

and some microwave popcorn. A normal day. There was a man outside the supermarket lying down on the ground. He had a dog beside him. And a can of some non-descript alcohol. A normal day? This man had a flat little tin box in front of him. He was begging but pretty unconscious. He was lying down on the job, you might say. There was another man leaning over him. ‘Sir?’ he called, ‘Sir?’ No response. It was about one o’clock in the day. The height of lunchtime. This man looked over his shoulder. There were people all around. I was looking at him, thinking he was a nice man for trying to revive the poor homeless alcoholic. That’s not something you see every day, that kindness. But then this man reached down and took money from the tin box. He reached

down and took money from the poor unconscious man. The dog looked upset, but it didn’t leave its master. And then he strolled straight on into the supermarket, this thief. He had a shirt on. He had nice shoes. And he took money from a man lying down on the ground, whom society had failed. I was shook. I was disgusted. I wanted to cry out ‘you’re disgusting! You’re a thief! You stole from a homeless man!’ But instead I stood where I was, paralysed, processing the whole thing. Not a normal day. What a horrible day. What a vile man. I don’t normally give money to homeless people who clearly have passed out because they’re after drinking too much non-descript alcohol, but I thought I had to reimburse this poor man for what my fellow human being

had done to him. a supermarket after all. us on the street. I took out two euro and Maybe he took this money What happens to someI placed it in the tin, and I to buy the homeless man a one that they go from being stopped to look at the man’s bottle of water? He still took in a family, from having a chest and to make sure that someone else’s money and job, a place in college, a flat, he was breathing. I didn’t try made a decision with it, so to being flat on the ground and wake him. that’s not right, but at least on a public street in broad I met the thief in the he had intended to help. I daylight? He was a normal shop. He was chatting to gave him the benefit of the man once. Now, for him, a normal someone. I didn’t know doubt. But no; when I went out- day is just hoping it doesn’t where to begin. Was there any sense in talking to this side and passed the poor rain. Hoping nobody will vile human being? be drunk and be Was he ever going I stood where I was, paralysed, cruel to him. Hopto understand ing that he will processing the whole thing. get some food, what he had done, or was his sense of and something to Not a normal day. What a self-entitlement drink. And for this one so great that he would just brush horrible day. What a vile man. homeless man, he off my comments? needed something I couldn’t bring myself homeless man, there was for his dog. He had no house, to speak so I slowed down no bottle of water. There was no possessions, no nothing; and tried to make eye-con- no bread. There was nothing but he still cared about sometact, and on my face was an there, except my two euro. thing other than himself. expression I normally reserve The dog had curled into Not like the man who for thinking about scientolo- its owner, trying to keep him stole his tiny amount of gists eating placentas. warm and protect him. The money. And not like me, who Okay, so this thief man, dog gives more of a shit about couldn’t make a scene and this gadaí, he did go into this poor man than most of stand up for him.

THE SU PAGES POSTGRADUATE OFFICER: CIAN MORAN Hi folks, I'm Cian Moran, your Postgraduate Officer for 2014/2015 and a PhD candidate at the Irish Centre for Human Rights. I completed a law degree and diploma in Irish at NUIG and an LLM from the UK. During my time in NUIG I've been active with An Cumann Staire (History Society) and Labour Youth and have been active with the Reserve Defence Forces. My other interests are books, motorbikes, video games and current affairs. It's my job to represent Postgraduate and help them with any issues so feel free to get in touch anytime and let me know how I can help.

RESPONSIBILITIES

The Postgraduate Officer is responsible for: • Representing postgraduate students to the University and to the Executive Committee • Providing and confidential listening and referral service to postgraduate students • Informing postgraduate students of their entitlements and services available to them • Raise issues of postgraduate students to the relevant University personnel • Encourage participation in all Union events by postgraduate students • Developing Union policy for postgraduate issues • Ensuring the Executive Committee are fully informed of postgraduate issues • The Postgraduate Officer is elected at the part-time elections in March by post-graduate students

PAST CAMPAIGNS HAVE INCLUDED: • A campaign for clearer communication from the University to postgraduate students • Working to create consistent standards for postgraduate students in the University • Lobbying the University to reduce the number of hours of tutoring required by postgraduate students • Developing a postgraduate handbook

CONTACT

Cian Moran Mobile: 087 2922599 su.postgrad@nuigalway.ie

CLUBS' CAPTAIN: DAMIEN GRIFFIN Hi, I am the Clubs Captain for 2014/2015. I am in my final year of a BA in Legal Science, Sociology and Politics. I have been involved in the clubs here since I first came to College in 2012, mainly with the table tennis club in which I served on numerous committee positions. My aims this year is to ensure that our clubs have all the necessary resources to reach their full potential and to encourage participation. If you have any questions regarding the 40+ clubs here, then don’t hesitate to ask me.

RESPONSIBILITIES

The Clubs Captain is responsible for: • Representing the views of clubs to the University and to the Executive Committee • Providing assistance to clubs in their day to day activities • Ensuring the Executive Committee is well informed of club events and issues • Working with the Director of Sport and the Development and participation officer to the ensure provision of resources to clubs • Organise and Chair the clubs forum • Ensure clubs are made aware of all Union policy and events • Provides information on club rights within the University The Clubs Captain is elected the captains of the University clubs in early March. The Union recognizes the Clubs Captain as the chief spokesperson of the clubs

MATURE STUDENTS' OFFICER: MICHELLE MITCHELL I am originally from South Africa where I was involved in voluntary advocacy for children with special needs. When I moved to Ireland I carried this passion with me, and became involved with Lakeview School in 2005 and have continued working with them to the present day. My academic rollercoaster began in 2010/2011 when I started my BA Connect with Children’s’ Studies. While attending to my academic career, I was involved as Treasurer on the Mature Student Society. You could call me a party animal because I’d leave the James Hardiman around 10pm on a good day. This year I was elected Mature Students Officer and look forward to serving the mature students of NUI Galway.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• She shall represent mature students on campus. • She shall promote their full involvement in the academic and social life of the university community. • She shall work with the other Students' Union officers, clubs, societies and the University as a whole to promote the development and integration of mature students at NUI Galway.

CONTACT

Michelle Mitchell Mobile: 089 2226419 su.maturestudents@nuigalway.ie

PAST CAMPAIGNS HAVE INCLUDED: • The establishment of the Sports Awards to honour the work of clubs on campus • Lobbying to have the University sports strategy adopted and funded • Working with the University to ensure club access to the new sports centre

CONTACT

Damien Griffin Mobile: 091 493570 su.clubs@nuigalway.ie

Student Enterprise Awards at NUIG Photograph by Aengus McMahon

NUI Galway Students’ Union support Console and BeLonG To in 2014/15 NUI Galway Students’ Union will be supporting its nominated charities Console and BeLongTo this year. Every year the Students’ Union selects charities that benefit from its fundraising initiatives. Thousands of euros are raised by NUI Galway students through different activities ranging from sports competitions, collections and even a sponsored skydive. Students’ Union President Declan Higgins said; “We are delighted to be supporting two very worthy charities this year. Students in NUI Galway have a very proud tradition of fundraising for charity. We hope to improve on last year’s total of €11,000 raised during the year.” Console is a national organisation supporting people in suicidal crisis and those bereaved by suicide through professional counselling, support and helpline services.

Margaret Tierney, Project Development Manager of Console said; “We are indebted to NUI Galway Students’ Union for choosing Console as one of their charity partners, thereby raising awareness of the work of the Console Suicide Prevention and Bereavement Charity. “We are always there to help when you are going through a difficult time and our free helpline 1800 247 247 operates 24 hours a day 7 days a week.” BeLonG To support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people in Ireland. David Carroll, Executive Director of BeLonG To said; "We're delighted to be one of this year's chosen charities by NUI Galway's Students Union. The support of allies like the students of NUIG is vital to our work to eliminate homophobic & transphobic bullying and support those lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans young people and their families and to build a fairer more equal Ireland".

NUI Galway Students' Union fifth Enterprise Awards calls for entries The NUI Galway Students’ Union Enterprise Awards, a competition to encourage enterprise and innovation among students, has been launched at NUI Galway. Now in its fifth year, the initiative invites students across campus to put forward proposals for a project or business, with a prize of €10,000 investment capital for the overall winner and two runners-up prizes of €5,000 each. The NUI Galway Students’ Union Enterprise Awards aim to unlock the potential of NUI Galway students by providing financial support and expertise for students who wish to start a project in the areas of business and/or social entrepreneurship. The six projects progressing to the second round will receive €500 each to develop their proposal further. They will also participate in a series of workshops in areas such as marketing, IT, legal and financial issues.

The NUI Galway Students’ Union Enterprise Awards are generously supported by NUI Galway and NUI Galway Students’ Union. “The Enterprise Awards are a showcase for the best and brightest student minds on campus and reflect the dynamic, innovative and creative graduates we all wish to see emerging from NUI Galway, now and in the years ahead,” said NUI Galway Students’ Union President Declan Higgins. Last year’s winner Brian Slattery said; “The NUI Galway Students’ Union Enterprise awards is a truly life changing experience. Having zero business knowledge prior to taking part, the skills and knowledge I gained were invaluable to making my vision a reality no matter what the outcome.” The closing date for submissions is 5pm Friday 28th November. More information is available at www. su.nuigalway.ie.

18 LIFESTYLE

Sin Vol. 16 Issue 3

Bearded Backpacker:

By Samantha Kelly I have often wondered why men get attracted to certain type of women or vice versa. Is it just always down to looks or are there certain traits that men want and women want? Apparently, a curvy body, red lips and flushed (or blushed) cheeks are what men are subconsciously attracted to. Whereas, broad shoulders and strength is what women go for. This all comes down to the fertility of a woman and the physical protection of a man. But is this really always the case? It seems like now more and more of our personal preferences are expanding the norm. A friend of mine said she likes the short and chubby guys, whereas, another friend likes the tall slender guys. So, what actually makes us attracted to a certain type of person? In my experience the medium height, darkhaired fella's have caused me nothing but trouble, yet, I have no interest in a short blond stud, just because it’s not my usual go-to kind of guy. Not that I’m saying men are like Starbucks coffee, "a Grande skinny but sweet one please". If you think about it, we all do – to a certain extent – have our usual. I asked one of my guy friends (as impossible as it seems, I actually have guy friends) what type of girl he liked and he said, "Ah Sam you've always been the one for me".

my body is not the image of Michelle Keegan is not to say that there is not a Mr. Right out there for me or for you. A friend of my mother asked me what I don’t want in a b oyfr iend and I started to tell her of my perfect tall, dark and handsome image of prince charming, when she stopped me and questioned me again on what I don’t want rather than what I do want. I asked her why she was fixated on the negatives of a relationship, she continued to say that if my prince charming (as perfect as he is) ever did anything wrong, even something little, how upset would I be? Honestly, I would be devastated; how could my dream man ever decide to do something wrong (beside the fact that were all only human in the end)? So, I think it is high time that we put aside the features of what makes a perfect model boyfriend and instead think about what we do not want in a person first. This may seem a little nasty but I don’t mean judge appearances or characteristics or personality. Personally, I don’t want any dishonesty. If I can find someone who can tell me the truth even when I have my arms crossed and my scary voice on (trust me it is scary) then I have found someone worth the effort. So even if he’s short and has blond hair, if he is the most honest guy going then that is much better than a tall Channing Tatum who breaks your heart daily, but you stay with him because you think he is the image of what you want rather than what you really deserve. We as modern people have come to terms that men and women are not the perfect image of what we imagine in fairy tales, because as disappointing as it is were not all princesses like Kate Middleton and our boyfriends/husbands are not all princes like William. However, we can still have our “type” of fella, just instead of looking for a hunk of perfection roaming the halls, the Mr. Imaginary; lets me honest, we can establish what we don’t want to realise what our perfect type really is.

I think it is high time that we put aside the features of what makes a perfect model boyfriend and instead think about what we do not want in a person first. He's such a sweetie, is he not? Then he answered me, " ah no but really, not skinny, or tall, I like the quiet ones; the ones that don't stand out in a crowd". At the time, I had no idea what he was talking about, but I get it now. The typical portrayal of the perfect man and the perfect women is a load of codswallop! We are all so very different and to say that because I don’t have blond hair and

So you want to go travelling?

By John Brennan

won’t lead to you having to sell a kidney to get home. Figure out a budget that will cover you for your trip and take into consideration things like accommodation, drinking, feeding and keeping yourself occupied for the time you are away. When I went inter-railing and when I went to South East Asia I took entirely different budgets; suss out what kind of trip you’d like to have. Hostels are generally cheaper when you book in advance and by researching the cities you’re heading to, you’ll get an idea of where is worth staying and where the parties are at. The last thing you need is if you were travelling to Galway and finding out your hostel is out past Barna. Might sound silly but have an idea of the geography of the cities you’re heading to. I don’t mean memorize the entire map, but know where the tourist traps are, the clubs are etc. In this regard, websites like www.hostelworld.com and www.tripadvisor.com are invaluable tools to research cities, accommodation and activities. If you trawl through these you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for. I cannot stress enough how important keeping track of your cash is. If you over spend at the start of the trip, you’ll feel it at the end. It happened to me inter-railing where I arrived into the last city with about 64 quid to do me for six days. Might not seem like a big deal but you won’t have money to drink and eat after you pay for a roof over your head. Learn from my mistake.

Every summer Irish university and college students head off in their droves on adventures. Whether you’re trailblazing across Europe, South East Asia or the United States of America on a J1, there are a few universal things you should be aware of and some genuinely sage advice you should take on board. I’ve inter-railed, I’ve been Stateside and I’ve arced my way through South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand. I’m relatively welltravelled and I’ve got a beard which instantly makes me a much more reliable source of information. It’s never too early to start planning your trip, be it in terms of routes, budgets or even awesome activities you want to part-take in. I’ve bungeed, skydived, scuba-dived, white water rafted, elephant-trekked, kayaked, canoed, helicoptered amongst many other things. To do all the things you want obviously comes with financial implications. Simply put, fun ain’t always cheap. Potentially it can be though. Do your research on the places you’re going, shop around for hostels online and familiarize yourself with currencies and exchange rates. You know the people you see on Quay Street paying over the odds for a bag of chips and a pint? You’ll be one of those for the duration of your trip if you don’t do your research. I’ve inter-railed, I’ve been Stateside and I aim to write this as a four part series, this piece will set out the fundamental things to bear I’ve arced my way through South East in mind in your pre-adventureplanning stage. Asia, Australia and New Zealand. I’m Plan your trip properly. Know who’s definitely going with you, relatively well-travelled and I’ve got a discuss what you guys want from your trip and set out a route that beard which instantly makes me a much suits everyone for a duration that is feasible for all the people you more reliable source of information. want to go with. If you’re inter-railing across Europe, know Set a budget that you can manage and try your which countries are in the Euro Zone and best stick to it. which ones aren’t. By knowing these, you’ll Easiest way to simplify this is an old travelknow where you can use your precious euro ling adage. Before you leave lay out all your coins and where you’ll have to use something clothes and all your money. Half the clothing; alien to you. It’ll help you plan the route suited double the amount of money you plan to bring. to your budget. Next I’ll go through Inter-railing. The things For example the Netherlands, Germany, you should bring, the places I’d recommend France, Belgium are generally more expensive and try and set out a sample budget for you than Czech Republic, Poland, Slovenia and wonderful soon-to-be backpackers. Slovakia, but I’ll explore inter-rail in proper After that I’ll discuss South East Asia and detail next week so try to find a balance that it’ll culminate in a piece about world travel.

LIFESTYLE 19

October 13 2014

Ditch the Onesies and welcome the Suitsy By Maria Leahy Consider yourself a bit of a Barney Stinson but haven’t the dosh to constantly suit up? Or perhaps your time as a Corrib Villager lulled you into the illusion that it was somehow socially acceptable to wear your onesie proudly into public situations? Well on whichever side of the fence you fall it would appear that Betabrand (aka the people who brought you the dress pant yoga pants – yes this exists) has an outfit to suit you (shameless pun totally intended). The Suitsy combines all three elements of a basic suit (that’s the shirt, the jacket and the pants) into one, erm, “stylish”

ensemble that zips the entire way from the crotch up to neck. Simple as, lads; step in and you’re ready to step out. The man behind the Suitsy, Jesse Herzog, has already received the backing of over 1,500 people and in the world of online kick-starters like Betabrand that’s enough to get the suit that’s comfortable enough to wear to bed into production. Heading to a grad this October or want to just pretend you are? Why not dress up your Suitsy with a belt and a pair of shoes? To heck why not grow a beard and channel your inner Conor McGregor? Many a hetrosexual girl has been overheard on concourse referring to a

The Path of the Righteous Beard

By John Brennan Next on the campaign to bring masculinity and beards back into the mainstream I’ll be discussing the all important aspects of a shave. It is important to remember that your burgeoning beards are in effect cleavage for your face. It’s primal; it’s awesome. It is storage space attached to your chin and makes you intimidating to boot. The art of shaving the area surrounding your newly cultivated fluff can be problematic for two reasons: 1. As you’ve already read, I’m a firm believer that neck beard in nastier than a pigeon’s

warped, frostbitten toe. Deciding where to draw your line is of huge significance and can have massive beard-related ramifications. 2. Botching this shave can reduce your beard potential to hairy rubble clogging up your sink. It will put you back to your infancy in beard terms, leaving you looking eager to be bullied by bearded manly men like Kimbo Slice. Google him. You can disregard these two facts if you as of yet cannot produce some sort of chin-related follicle endeavour, otherwise keep reading. I suggest you trace an imaginary line along your jaw bone. Your jaw bone is actually only there to

man in a suit as the next best thing to porn. Indeed if one of these girls was to become Taoiseach it is highly likely that

suit-wearing may become compulsory for all Irish males. Yet despite the many benefits of getting suited and booted, critics have warned that advocates of the Suitsy may experience similar bathroom malfunctions to those reported by jumpsuit-wearing women. But what of it? Follow in the footsteps of your forefather Mr. Bernard Stinson and add the tale of your Suitsy-wearing struggles to your very own playbook of knowledge.

give your beard a platform to flourish; if you cite chewing or talking as its predominant function you, my apprentice, are totally mistaken. It’s science. Your jaw bone defines your beard’s shape and also encourages independent thinking, manliness and increased appeal to men and women alike. You’ll meet beard haters, beard enviers, beard aficionados and post-ironic, hipster-‘tached irrelevant fools. These people will try and tear you down and build you back up in their images; they will try to make you stray from the path of the righteous beard. These are classic Delta male tactics, but you’re an aspiring Alpha so take no heed of these people. Compliments will eventually have no effect on you. They will be greeted like statements of fact. Personally, I use molten lava as the primer for my shave; my leathery man skin can handle it. Apply handsome amounts of King of Shaves to your neck and cheeks. Look in the mirror, try and scare yourself. Convince yourself you’re the type of guy who punches his breakfast to death before plucking it’s innards and ruin from your beard. Unleash your inner beard. Once you believe your own hype, you can successfully shave. If you don’t believe your own hype at this stage, go for a run. Bark at some dogs. Get yourself pumped up and try again. Wet the blade with scalding hot water, possibly from a geyser. It gives a cleaner shave, hopefully

removes a layer of epidermis and proves that seismic and tectonic activities are no hindrance to your newfound manliness. You have conquered the physical world in a manner of speaking. Tread carefully about the perimeter of your jaw line with the blade, the neck is of huge importance to accentuate the masculinity growing out of your face. Should you slip you could nick an artery, or worse still, wreck your beard which in this instance will still be in its infancy. Once you’ve removed the bristles and branches growing out of your neck, shave your cheeks. Tidy up the sides of your beard and shape your moustache in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Beard growth is a symbiotic process, in that it improves your vocabulary and makes you look like a distinguished gentleman of obscene intelligence. Effectively, you’ll become the epitome of a loquacious worldly bearded man. Loquacious means well-spoken. You’re welcome. Next week, I’ll deal with ideal scents to accompany your beard, attire to equip you for the world as an actual man. Get ready, things are about to get real. Are you trying to grow a beard? Tweet your beard photos with the #sinbeards hashtag so John can praise or insult your beard. You can follow John at @jbrennan88.

20 LIFESTYLE

Sin Vol. 16 Issue 3

Accessories Accessorise TUTORIAL: Ombré Lips By Samantha Kelly We girls just love to accessorise. Anything that will add a bit of sparkle sure add it on. If it dazzles then it’s a must. However, have you noticed how some girls can make a simple little dress absolutely amazing with a few accessories, whereas, other girls seem to overdo the sparkles and it just looks, well, tacky? The rule to the perfect outfit is: wear three statement pieces and no more – trust me. One of my all-time favourite accessories is those trusty scarves, and we’re in the perfect season for them too. There’s no need to spend a fortune on them, unless you fall in love with one and we all need a few investment pieces in our wardrobe anyway. Nonetheless, Penneys will do the trick. They have so much to choose from, styles to suit the glamourous, rocker, casual, punk, if you can name it, they have it. All the colours and styles you could need to add a little something else to your daily outfit. Additionally, wearing a colourful scarf will excite a dull top; just so black doesn’t have to be so boring during the day. Statement jewellery came in with a bang, and it has impressed most. What is most impressive is that one can wear clashing colours with statement jewellery and clothes and

it absolutely works a trick. So if one wanted to wear a blue and orange necklace with a green dress, why not? You’re just rocking your style. The best way to glam up a little black dress is to add a pop of colour into the look, wearing a bright necklace or bracelet with your dress will style you up to the nines. Bags, bags, bags. Need I say much more? They come in large, small, clutches, satchels, totes, there’s nearly too much to choose from… nearly too much. We girls do love a good old bag. Any colour imaginable to match any outfit imaginable, but if you want to glam up a simple dress, go for a clutch or small purse that has some sort of statement mark, be it colour or jewels. Lastly, but by no means least a need in the world of accessories is a belt. A major favourite of many is the high-waist belt, which highlights the slender part of one’s body. You can get a casual leather look one to hold in a baggy top or a fancier one that can be worn with skirts or high-waisted jeans to add a little sparkle. The most important thing to remember is to wear no more than three statement pieces, such as, bag, scarf and bracelet. Otherwise your outfit will be overdone with all those accessories, accessories, accessories.

By Shannon McHugh The nineties are throwing yet another one of their trends at us and thank goodness it’s not double denim! I’m talking about a trend that has make-up artists split right down the middle – the Ombré lip. For those of you not familiar with the name, the Ombré lip consists of lining your lips with a darker colour than your lipstick in order to get a two-tonal effect. Most beauticians advise you to match your lip liner as close as possible to your lipstick but recently this advice has fallen on deaf ears and people are opting for a more edgy look. All you need to accomplish this look is your preferred lipstick, a darker shade of lip liner (how dark you decide to go is entirely up to you, the darker

the colour, the bolder the result) and a lip brush for blending. 1. Start by applying your lipstick first. This way your lipstick acts as a base and it is much easier to line around your lips. 2. The next step’s difficulty depends on the steadiness of your hand. Some find it easier to line from the outside-in but for those of us that are lucky to have a welldefined cupids bow, I find it easier to outline there first. Don’t forget to open your mouth slightly to get right into the corners of your lips. 3. Once you have your rough outline, continue to add some more shading to the outer corner of your lips. 4. Next, it’s time to blend! Take your lip brush and just gently dab it around your lips so the liner doesn’t seem as harsh. Take the brush to the corners of your lips and blend inwards. 5. Now, tidy it up! Take your lipstick once more and simply blot it in the centre of your lips. If you had trouble staying inside the lines then no harm done, just sneakily run ‘round the edges with your foundation brush. Et voila! Perfectly pouty Ombré lips!

The Saga of the Purple Hair By Dean Buckley I pulled off my t-shirt. She ran her hands through my hair. My dad knocked on the door of the bathroom. “What are ye doing in there?” - “We’re making a surprise.” Nine months later, my hair was still purple. My favourite comedy duo, Rhett and Link, once described the decision of how to style your hair as the “one, most important, course-of-your-life-altering choice” you can make. And to quote Walter White, a man with a lot of experience of dramatic hairstyle choices, “you’re damn right”. So for all you would-be lollipops out there, I shall recount the saga of the purple hair, so you can be fully aware of the realities of living life with dyed hair. First off, a disclaimer. I say that my hair was still purple nine months later. What I actually mean by that is that it was still a shade of purple. But I started off with a purple so dark you could mistake it for black at a distance. By the time I finally got around to shaving off my dyed locks, the colour could be more accurately described as “Ribena” or, in the words of more than a few people on the secondary school debating circuit, “Cheryl Cole”. I guess that joke is a bit more dated, since you don’t know which season of X Factor was on when my hair faded, but I assure you it was funny at the time. I would tell you to be prepared for a cer-

tain type of person to mock your hair colour, but they’re generally kind of crap at it. The dude in my school who decided to take up the issue could think of nothing more creative to insult me with than chuckle under his breath and mutter the word “purple”. This was somewhat akin to saying “cough, cough Caucasian male cough, cough” every time I walked past, I was more insulted by his lack of effort. In fact, I probably would have been more upset by him drawing attention to my societal privilege than my hair colour. On a more practical note, though the smell from your dye job will fade after a couple of hours, prepare for a renewed bombardment of solvents every time you take a shower for the next while. Also, the water will run the colour of your hair for a couple of weeks. Shampoo and conditioner for coloured hair are an absolute must, but limit their use to once a week to refresh the colour. Overuse will grey out your hair and it’ll look mank. Also, just because your hair is coloured doesn’t mean you don’t still need to buy shampoo for your hair type, and not just generic “damaged hair” shampoo or whatever. Finally, if you want to avoid a half-mile of roots, you’ll either want to periodically re-dye or just chop off your locks after a while. Either way, I urge you; do not fall into my trap. Do not become a Ribena Head. You will regret it.

Five tips to prolong the life of your make-up By Sarah Malone Most of us girls can all agree that make-up really can put a damper on our wallets – especially being a student. Despite that, the majority of us still use expensive products as a part of our daily routine. Looking good every day is a hard thing to do – especially when you have to buy the merchandise and then apply it. Does it always have to be so hard? Small techniques and ‘make-up hacks’ can help us save a little money and prolong the products that otherwise would go to waste. Here are five easy tips to prolonging your make-up: 1. Foundation: Combining moisturizer with your foundation is not only a way to prolong the life of it, but also ensures clean overall coverage. 2. Bronzer: If your bronzer or powder has cracked - don’t toss it in the bin. Instead, scoop out the remaining fragments into a zip-lock bag and crush until a fine powder. Then empty the powder back into the original container and sprinkle with an alcohol-based solution. Continue to use

a flat surface to smooth out evenly and leave to dry. 3. Lipstick: Has your lipstick run out? But there is still some left it the tube that your lips can’t get at? You will need a tooth pick, a metal spoon and an empty container. Get all your lipsticks that have run out in a line and scrape those juicy few pieces out. Put them all onto a spoon and heat it up with a blow dryer or over the cooker. Make sure not to let the bits boil. Pour this liquid into the empty container. Now you have a new lipstick and have prolonged spending the money on a new one. 4. Lipstick: If you’re finding that your lipstick simply isn’t lasting throughout the day like you had hoped, blot some powder or foundation onto your lips before applying the lippy - and viola, problem solved. 5. Mascara: If you’re finding your mascara has gone clumpy on you, add a drop of oilbased make-up remover to the tube and mix well. This dissolves the build-up and allows for clump free eyelashes. If you’re having problems with the applicator/ brush you can always remove the brush and exchange it for your preferred.

LIFESTYLE 21

October 13 2014

MISSING: High Heels at SS15 Fashion Week By Lisa Fogarty London and Paris Fashion Weeks have always been a spectacle. Bright colors, big statement outfits and of course, skyscraper stilettos. Spring/Summer 2015 however, has featured very little of these things – especially stilettos. Designers have opted for a fresh and effortless style for the coming season and while many people are mourning the death of the high heel, others are embracing this ‘new normal’ era of fashion. Milan Fashion Week saw the Dolce&Gabbana show finale feature models all dressed the same and wearing black ballerina flats. The queen of glam, Victoria Beckham, who once said “I can’t concentrate in flats”, showcased pointed white and floral flats with chunky heels instead of her usual sky-high stilettos. Most unexpected however, was Burberry as the designers put 70s style color-clash trainers in their collection.

London Fashion Week was also a modest affair. The models didn’t strut down the catwalk, they walked in flats, like normal people. Practicality seemed to be the theme of the week with both shoes and clothes. In fact the only thing resembling a heel during the week was a chunky or block heeled boot. Sandals and dolly-strapped shoes were other styles of flats showcased, especially during New York Fashion Week. DKNY featured platform sandals and color-splashed trainers with high heels making no appearance at all. You may be wondering where have all the stilettos gone and why did designers choose not to include them in their collections for next season? Designer Richard Nicoll at his show during London Fashion Week stated that his collection was about “the notion of slowing down and embracing calm, travel, fitness and a work-life balance in the modern world”.

High heels used to be a woman’s go-to shoe as they gave them the feeling of belonging and of security, not to mention highlighted great legs too. Now they are no longer needed in this way as a result of our fast-paced society. Women live rushed lives and there is no time for sore feet and it seems that top fashion designers have caught on to this. Effortless and easy style is in store for Spring/ Summer 2015 and sky-high heels are out. Comfort was the number one priority in London and Paris for next season. Practical footwear is becoming more important than

looking like you are channeling the old Hollywood glamour days. Cara Delevingne embodied sporty-chic at the Topshop Unique show in London wearing a frilly tennis dress and low-key chunky heeled sandals. Retro color-clash trainers are very much in style at the moment and were the designer favorite for next season too. It seems pretty safe to say that comfort is no longer an enemy of style. Velcro-strapped sandals are stylish now, not just for your fathers in Spain over the summer, but for you too. Easy and effortless killed the high heel for the spring/ summer season 2015.

STYLE SPOTTERS By Áine Leech and Fiona Lynch

Gaby Aghion founder of Chloé dies aged 93 By Amy McDonnell Gaby Aghion, founder of the French fashion house, Chloé passed away peacefully on 27 September 2014 at the age of 93. Her death was confirmed by her son, Philippe. Aghion was born in 1921 in Alexandria, Egypt and later went on to become the founder of one of the most famous of the great French fashion houses, the iconic Chloé brand. In 1945, Aghion and her husband, Raymond relocated from Alexandria to Paris. Shortly after this, Aghion founded the Chloé brand and commenced work in a maid's room above her apartment. A strong independent woman, Aghion, in an interview stated that “one day I told my husband that I didn't want to live off his money” which was almost unheard of for a woman during the time. Her strong will and belief in her decision was successful and indeed it became a pivotal point in shaping the course of fashion history as Aghion was credited for becoming one of the first designers to design a prét a porter or ‘ready to wear’ collection. Fashion at the time, was renowned for its fabulous and breath-taking shows consisting primarily of haute couture collections. These beautifully-designed clothes, created using only the finest of materials and made to measure were a spectacular sight but unavailable to purchase off the rack and furthermore rather unsuitable for day wear. The Chloé brand, led by Aghion became the first fashion house of the time to design beautiful garments from high quality fabrics which were available for easy purchase. It was Aghion, herself who coined the phrase prét a porter for her collection; a term which

is commonly used to this day among the world's top designers. Unlike many of the mundane, strictly formal garments of the time, Chloé's beautiful but simple collections oozed with fluid femininity and were designed with a woman's curvaceous figure in mind. Aghion firmly believed that a woman should be able to “live and work” in one of her dresses. The success of the Chloé brand cannot be denied as the fashion house boasts an impressive history. Karl Lagerfield, currently prominent for his work as the creative direction of Chanel and Fendi was hired by Aghion in the mid-60s to work as a designer following Gaby's decision to remove herself from the eyes of the public. He later became the lead designer for the brand. Gaby Aghion continued to run her company herself up until 1985. Nowadays, Chloé is a key designer brand whose collections each season are eagerly awaited by fashionistas internationally. Their garments are favoured among numerous celebrities today such as Clemence Posey, Emma Stone and Kirsten Dunce and in the past, the iconic Grace Kelly, Jackie Kennedy and Brigitte Bardot. Following the death of her husband in 2009, Gaby Aghion continued to live peacefully. In 2013, she received the Legion of Honour, which is the highest distinction which can be given by France. Aghion, despite her age, attended the ceremony in a wheelchair. She is survived by her son Philippe and two grandchildren. One of these grandchildren, Mikhaela is currently a business analyst within Chloé. The Chloé Spring/Summer 2015 at this year's Paris fashion week was dedicated to the legacy of Gaby Aghion.

Name: Niamh Keating. What am I wearing: Top TOPSHOP, skirt TOPSHOP, boots River Island, necklace online, bag borrowed from sister. Best dressed Celebrity: Alexa Chung Style Inspiration: Alexa Chung also.

Name: Emma Beaty. What I’m wearing: trousers River Island, jumper New Look, watch Ms Selfrige. Worst dressed celeb: Cheryl Cole. Style inspo: Cara Delevigne.

Name: Danny brehony What am I wearing: jumper New Look, trousers TOPSHOP, shoes Penneys. Most overated celebrtity style: Kanye West Style inspo: Window shopping.

Name: Kate O’grady. What am I wearing: jacket public romance, dress topshop, necklace kem bali. Style Inspo: vintage shops Most overated Celeb style: Kim Kardashian.

What’s your style like? Stick the hashtag #SinStyle on the end of your fashion tweets to share your style with other Sin readers.

22 FILM REVIEWS

Sin Vol. 16 Issue 3

Maps to the Stars

Gone Girl

By Ken Glennon

By Jane Kearns

image she ardently pursues the role of her mother in a remake of one of her Oscarnominated efforts. While she seeks art-house credibility, thirteen-yearold Benjie Weiss (Bird) is

insider perspective and Cusack’s bullshit guide f e e l s l i ke e x a c t ly t h e David Cronenberg returns kind of all-too-real cariwith an acid sharp satire about life in the Hollywood cature Cronenberg and Wagner wheel-out for Hills. Penned by Bruce Wagner, Maps to the Stars examination. Confronted is a vicious descent with potential familial tragedy into Greek tragedy Fire and incest loom Weiss sees Oprah played out against large in the story with the coolly-detached appearances, book Tinseltown backtours and fresh revHavana’s mother perishing enue sources. drop. Memorable supJulianne Moore in a blaze and Agatha stars as Havana porting turns from Segrand, a fading Olivia Williams, (Wasikowska) arriving in as Benjie’s mother actress haunted by the ghost of her and advisor and LA scared from a similar, Robert Pattinson abusive mother, a celebrated actress who plays a limohalf-explained incident. (Sarah Gadon). driver involved with Around Havanna, Agatha, the latter Croneneberg and Wagner sucking up to producers in linking this unfortunate build a collection of dam- exchange for a multi-million group. aged goods from her PA dollar deal to reprise his role Barely held together by (Mia Wasikowska as an in a blockbusting babysitting medication Wasikowska enigmatic young woman comedy. gives a forceful portrait of and burn victim), a just the Benjie’s an interesting a damaged woman moving right side of sleazy self-help case in the film, well- through an indifferently guru Dr Stafford Weiss (John played by Evan Bird who toxic environment. Cusack) and his son, a trou- brings out both the spoilt These elements culbled out-of-rehab teen star brat and understandably minate in a nasty film in (Evan Bird). screwed-up aspects of his the best sense, operating Cronenberg’s first fea- character to the fore. somewhere between what ture shot in the US eschews No one does the lat- purports as a genuine r o m a n t i c i z i n g L a - L a ter to greater effect in the depiction of Hollywood land instead bringing an film than Julianne Moore. lifestyle (Wagner claims unflinching, casual gaze to Giving an aggressively numerous lines in the film increasingly unsettling pro- unflattering character are barely removed from ceedings. portrayal, Moore gamely what he heard during his Fire and incest loom mixes, among many others time in Los Angeles) and large in the story with an uncomfortable three- a nightmare. Havana’s mother perish- some, on-screen constiThis observation of that ing in a blaze and Agatha pation, incestual abuse nightmare is never less (Wasikowska) arriving in and fits of mental break- than engaging, with the LA scared from a similar, down. She’s well flanked ability to shock and repulse half-explained incident. by Cusack’s slightly oily in a manner in-keeping with certain of CronenHavana’s career is sliding self-help doctor. and, in a bid to resurrect her Maps has the feel of a berg’s most iconic work.

After its 2012 release Gillian Flynn’s novel Gone Girl became a bestseller and one of the most talked-about and thrilling novels around. Her pulpy tale of a toxic marriage, a missing wife and a suspicious husband created a page-turner now adapted by director David Fincher. Gone Girl tells the love story of Nick and Amy Dunne (Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike), a pair of successful New York writers who have the perfect first meeting, the perfect romance and the perfect life. That is until they are both hit hard by the recession and eventually forced to move to Nick’s Missouri hometown to care for his dying mother.

Nick lacks emotion in front of cameras and appears to have no genuine interest or knowledge of his wife while being questioned, leading him to become the most hated man in America. Meanwhile Amy becomes the beautiful victim at the centre of a media storm. To say much more concerning plot would invoke spoilers. What can be said is the characters make the story genuinely gripping. Affleck is the perfect, handsome, yet sometimes detestable Nick, capable of moving from charming to bumbling in the same scene. He was often criticized in the past for being weak as an actor and an outright hated celebrity during his very public relationship with Jennifer

Nick is listless and Amy is dissatisfied by the time their fifth wedding anniversary comes around. Their entire world changes the morning of their fifth anniversary when Amy disappears and Nick is left answering questions to her parents, the police and the media.

Lopez, which Affleck has admitted using here as inspiration for what is definitely a career best performance. However it is Pike who stands out as the star of the show. Amy is a highly intelligent formidable woman who deftly treads the line between soft femininity and calculated

fury. Pike is incredible as this complicated character, and does an excellent job of bringing Amy to life. The supporting roles are also perfectly cast; Tyler Perry steps in as Nick’s infamous lawyer Tanner Bolt while Neil Patrick Harris uses his usually endearing slick charm to create Amy’s creepy ex-boyfriend Desi. Kim Dickens and Carrie Coon act as the only people who want to believe Nick’s innocence, as detective Boney and Nick’s twin sister Go. As written by Flynn, the script sticks almost exactly to the book with a few minor alterations. She creatively intertwines the state of Nick and Amy’s past and present relationship and maintains the same salacious language and tone from the book, excellently used by both the cast and Fincher. The original novel caused polarizing opinions as to whether the story and characters were believable or not, and many dismissed the ending as a step too far for Flynn. Nonetheless, Fincher and Flynn do a fantastic job of making the film thrilling and over-the-top without venturing into the realms of a soap opera. Of course many are going to dismiss this film as cheap and pulpy especially when compared to Fincher’s past work. But that is exactly what Flynn’s original story was supposed to be about; love, marriage and all the insanity and hysteria that can come with it.

To say the resulting investigation is a bit of a headscratcher is to understateme the sight of a giant spider in the film, slowly making its way across the Los Angeles skyline. I could appreciate the metaphorical spiders a little better if there was something to cling to in Bell or his aggressive double. With his world turned on its head Adam remains a cipher, a figure for the film to build a totalitarian metaphor around. The end result is distant and cold, akin to watching a technician observing a berated rodent in a lab maze. There’s a precision to the

images which evokes order to the point of suffocation. What is deliberate in the pacing eventually feels like an idea elegantly strung out for ninety minutes, bereft of any sense of urgency or impending personal catastrophe. It’s stylish in its own way, never wholly uninteresting; Bell’s doppelgänger’s pregnant wife Sarah Godot is striking, in a small but important role and Isabella Rossellini has a single scene as Adam’s mother. While there are moments which draw out the isolation and disenchantment of

Adam’s existence the overall human element feels starved. If this is the point in depicting the central figure’s isolation then it makes for an idea well executed but leaves the story’s impact muted. Lacking the deftness of Prisoners, this considerably more minimalist production comfortably meanders and plods along to a baffling conclusion. It’s tough work and perhaps it contains a powerful case study in the insidious nature of totalitarian cycles but it eluded me. Enemy is available now on iTunes on demand.

Enemy By Ken Glennon Apparently, there are no spiders prevalent in Nobel Prize Winner José Saramago’s 2002 novel The Double, upon which Dennis Villeneuve’s frustrating film is based. Enemy is a perplexing tale of doppelgängers and giant metaphorical spiders. Deciphering the chaos at the heart of Javier Gullón’s adapted text Enemy moves at a mercilessly static pace whilst showcasing a range of distressed looks from its reliably interesting leading man.

While the opening half hour revels somewhat in its enigma and sense of mystery the plodding pace, detached tone and progressively-inert narrative makes for a challenging and not especially rewarding watch. At its centre Enemy contains another driven obsessive to be added to Jake Gyllenhall’s collection from Zodiac to Prisoners. Here he plays a college professor named Adam Bell who begins the film lecturing a class about totalitarian regimes. From this point we see him retire to a cycle of repetitive

sex (with Mélanie Laurent) in a sterile-looking apartment. Submission of individual behaviour is a theme in Bell’s lectures and he lives, suitably in an indistinct apartment block going about his academic routine with little flair. It is left to a predictably mundane exchange, with a co-worker about movies and a rental recommendation to kick-start the mystery. From the recommended DVD, Bell discovers he has a perfect lookalike in a peripheral cast member, whom he meets after some online and literal stalking.

MUSIC & FILM 23

October 13 2014

Monroe’s brushes up on its Academics By Áine Leech Thanks to Guinness A mp l i f y , mu s i c ve nu e Monroe’s saw the welcome return of Midland’s group The Academic. The band played a stunning gig in the venue almost a year ago to the date, and simply could not wait to get back to Galway. If you didn’t get to the gig, don’t worry, here is all you need to know about Ireland’s most promising indie act. The four-piece band are the latest Mullingar success story, following the fame of Niall Horan, Bressie, and of course who could forget the wonderful Joe Dolan. A cool mix of indie, rock, and a teensy bit of pop, the band’s diverse songs would put anyone in a good mood and with each gig they simply get better and better. And of course ladies, they are not bad on the eyes. Originating in the drummer (Dean Gavin’s) garage, the Mullingar boys began to establish a local fan base through school concerts and local gigs; it wasn’t long before they began to gain fans all over the

country, and with thanks to their YouTube uploads, they quickly started earning attraction across the globe, focusing the limelight on Ireland for all the right reasons. As hype began to increase around Mullingar’s new claim to fame, re c o rd l a b e l s b e c a m e increasingly interested in the four young men. It wasn’t long before The Academic’s name was seen in Ticketmaster booths for venues such as the Academy in Dublin. Thanks to their Mullingar connections, One

Direction’s Niall Horan was one of the first to hear of the band, even before their success, and earned the indie band a worldwide fan-base as he tweeted for everyone to check out the talented four-piece. Finally girls of Dublin were screaming for Mullingar boys who didn’t look like Niall Horan or Bressie. The band consisting of Craig McGibney Fitzgerald (lead vocalist and guitar), Dean Gavin (drummer), and brothers Matthew and Stephen Murtagh (lead guitar and bass),range in age from 18 to 21 and have

decided to take the year out to focus on their music careers. Winners of the RTE 2FM’s band of the week, the Mullingar band are without a doubt, the next big thing. With gigs such as Electric Picnic, Indiependence, Longitude, Benicassim and support for The Pixies in June the band members are having the time of their lives travelling and gigging, not long after bassist Stephen’s leaving cert. With sights set on London, The Academic’s latest gig in Monroe’s, along with performances at various fresher’s weeks across the country, will be the last Irish gig for a while yet. Their mix of upbeat and chill music is not faraway however, as the band updates their fans with regular uploads on YouTube and Soundcloud. Check out a few of their tunes on the internet, such as their first single ‘BearClaws’, and other gig hits like ‘Stakeout’ and ‘Forrest Gump’. You’ll be queuing up to see these guys for their next Irish gig.

FILM REVIEW: Noble By Laura Roddy Directed and written by Stephen Bradley, Noble follows the story of the humanitarian activist, Christina Noble, from childhood to the establishment of her charity organisation, Christina Noble Children’s Foundation, in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. Born in 1944 Dublin, the young Christina Noble confronts many challenges growing up in Catholic Ireland with an alcoholic father and a sick mother. It seems that at every turn she faces much hardship which starts with the death of her mother. However, her determined character, portrayed by the young Gloria Cramer Curtis, shines through and grows in strength as she takes over the maternal position, minding her sib-

lings while her father stays out late at night and arrives home intoxicated. The viewer watches as the life of the young Christina Noble (who is sent to an orphanage, taken from her father and separated from her siblings) is paralleled with that of the street children in Vietnam and understands her motivation behind the foundation of this organisation. The film switches back and forth between 1960s England and the more recent times in Vietnam. Sarah Greene portrays the life of Noble in her earlier adult years; the innocent eighteen year old who leaves the comfort of the orphanage in the west of Ireland has no other choice but to become street-wise as she is victim of a gang rape, faces injustices by the Catholic Church and becomes involved in an

unhappy relationship. Deirdre O’ Kane equally does a brilliant job of portraying the present-day Ms Noble as she struggles to set up an orphanage in Ho Chi Minh for the street children and “defeat the odds”. It was in 1971, while married in England, a time that she has described as “the lowest ebb” of her life she had a dream about Vietnam. O’ Kane explains in the movie; “I don't know why I dreamed about Vietnam … naked Vietnamese children were running down a dirt road fleeing from a napalm bombing. The ground under the children was cracked and coming apart and the children were reaching to me. “One of the girls had a look in her eyes that implored me to pick her up and protect her and take her to safety. Above

the escaping children was a brilliant white light that contained the word 'Vietnam’”. The one negative aspects of the film was that once Sarah Greene hopped on the bus to London the narrative does not return to her life in London with her children. There is a gap here as the next time the viewer sees Noble is in Vietnam as an older woman. What has happened to her good friend Rachael and her life in London? They say that a good film has the power to make you laugh and cry; if that is the case well then this film is definitely powerful. Christina Noble is viewed as an awe-inspiring characters and her movie leads the viewer to question how can a person who has received such little compassion throughout their life care so much about others?

REVIEW: X-Men: Days of Future Past soundtrack by John Ottman Mark Laherty The X-Men franchise has been wandering aimlessly for a few years now. After a trilogy of adventures, the story wonkily expanded with flagrant disregard for chronology. Original director Bryan Singer returned to sort the timeline out by throwing most of it out. The sequel-prequelreboot hybrid became one of the franchise’s greatest popular, critical, and financial successes. The score also received some mainstream approval, fairly or unfairly. Up until this point, the scores for the series showed moments of brilliance but were cripplingly inconsistent; all six preceding movies were scored by different composers. A superhero franchise will always hugely benefit from a bombastic main theme, and X-Men hasn’t had one until now. The whole situation was a concept joke that was probably funnier to the FOX executives. Ottman bucked this trend. Having also written the score for X2 over a decade ago, he delighted long-term fans with The Future – Main Titles, which brings back that movie’s main theme. But this is more down to Singer’s decision to bring Ottman back. Really, this crowd-pleaser is just copied and pasted from the earlier score. Development of melody and orchestration would have given the cue artistic merit beyond being a crowdpleaser; if anything, it would have been even more of a crowd-pleaser. Just look at how excited fans of Doctor Who are over the new theme. Worse yet is Hope (Xavier’s Theme). Where Main Titles is a retread of Ottman’s own material, this is a retread of someone else’s. Anyone who’s heard Time from Hans Zimmer’s score for Inception will immediately recognise strong similarities. Admittedly, following the lead of such a good piece of music results in this being a decent listen taken by itself. But for most score collectors, the only ones to find Ottman

appealing here are the courts. These two tracks can be taken as a loose microcosm of the score. They have an immediate appeal to them, but they badly struggle to come up with their own ideas. During the film, the score is functional, but on the album, it mostly bounces between clichés popularised by the Remote Control studio that has become so popular in the industry. To be fair, this is not an album without its moments: Time’s Up is a decent few minutes of excitement, and Do What You Were Made For has a surprisingly intelligent and moving moment of counterpoint with the main theme alongside that for the character Magneto. Though those cues are worth your time, they don’t buoy the album. Action cues pound through rhythms and blare the bass elements, offering a surge of testosterone but nothing deeper. Dramatic cues wallow in ambient textures rather than particularly developed melodies or themes, a sure sign of a composer who just isn’t emotionally invested in the story they’re supposed to be enhancing. This comes as a disappointment, as Ottman’s score for X2 was one of the franchise’s best, and a case could be made for Superman Returns as one of the best superhero scores of the noughties, which is certainly an achievement given the saturation of the market. The contrast of Days of Future Past is a signifier of the change in his style and of the change of trends in film music. Even if we agree for the sake of argument that Hans Zimmer’s hugely influential work for The Dark Knight Trilogy and Inception are actually all that good, it’s clearly led to a degree of artistic stagnation in the industry. Ottman’s return isn’t the worst example of this. It’s just saddening when the most exciting thing about a blockbuster summer superhero score is a theme that works every bit as well as it did when it first appeared 11 years ago.

24 MUSIC

Sin Vol. 16 Issue 3

N TE THE BEAT Wallis Bird to return to Monroe’s following the release of her fourth album By Jessica Thompson Wallis Bird is wild. She’s unpredictable and contradictory, and according to her website, she is a musical magpie with mature, self-affirming songs which display an unusual emotional breadth. April 2014 saw the release her fourth album, Architect, which promised to be just as wild and exciting as the previous three. A native of Ireland, Wallis Bird has been known to do some damage while rocking out on stage. She has shredded her fingers and broken string after string from the sheer force of playing on stages big and small across Europe.

She throws her entire soul into each performance and displays a level of energy that makes her an unassailable force of nature. Since the release of her debut album Spoons in 2007, Wallis has grown from strength to strength, becoming more and more loved in Ireland and abroad with her mind-blowing, passionate and entertaining live shows. Wallis’ passion for her music is what makes her stand out in the industry, along with her various albums that seem to document her life. From the jazzy Spoons, to the boisterous New Boots, to the slower, reflective Wal-

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lis Bird, Wallis has been on an incredible journey of creativity, and her recent fourth album, Architect, continues the trend. “Comparatively, you’d know it was me, but differing in that I’m growing old disgracefully and my pendulum swings more towards black comedy and filthy sounds,” she said.

during the worst snowstorms in thirty years. And she has also spend some time recording in her own flat in Brixton, South London, against the backdrop of screaming sirens and looting as the London riots threatened to overrun the city. With so much chaos around her, it’s no wonder her performances can transition seamlessly from the whirlwind of passion Wallis has recorded in various different and rage in the defiant anthems that can motivate thousands places that were all deliberately of festival-goers into a rousing sing-along, to the most hushed chosen to impose their unique and fragile ballads that can captivate an audience into a atmospheres into the songs., including spellbound silence. ‘Contradictory’ is one word in the “communist broadcasting to describe Wallis who ensures her music delivers a new, surstation” of the former GDR in Berlin prising sound every time she comes back on the scene. Architect is about rebuilding your life from “My influences are definitely locked in surscratch, according to Wallis, who did exactly prising myself, so I want to step into a broader that while she was recording it. electronica/orchestral style and keep it simple and “I moved to Berlin after feeling relatively dirty, learn new instruments; that kinda thing.” homeless for a long while. There I constructed Wallis is a double Meteor Award winner a new life, and a new self. I danced to rebuild in Ireland, and garnered critical acclaim for my body and my mind, and wrote songs Spoons, New Boots and Wallis Bird. She has reflecting the madness and confidence of tak- been on tour with the likes of Billy Bragg, ing on a project,” she explained. Gabrielle, The Feeling and Rodrigo y Gabriela. Rather than record the album and name it Her third album, Wallis Bird was deliberately afterwards, Wallis began with the title, Architect, self-titled to mark it out as a defining statement and worked around that, to allow her to start on of her career. a different foot and see where it took her. The Wallis’ highly-anticipated fourth album hit album includes heavy bass lines, house music the shelves and online equivalent on 11 April beats, synth and a lot of noise. and was followed, naturally by an Architect The Irish musician has always had an inter- tour, which included a show in Galway at the est in architecture and the architecture of the end of April. body, and she decided early on that this would And now, only months later, Wallis is set be her starting point. to return to Monroe’s for another show that Wallis has written and recorded in various is bound to open the ears of Galway to new, different places that, while geographically sep- exciting sounds. arate, were all deliberately chosen to impose “Galway is a proper music city; listeners and their unique atmospheres into the songs. creators alike. Sessions and gigs are always She has recorded in the “communist broad- plentiful. I like the rugged effect it has over casting station” of the former GDR in Berlin, writings. I dig it,” she said. where the government “broadcasted its propaAnd Galway is bound to ‘dig’ her too. ganda” until the Berlin wall came down. Galway has been blessed with her presence Wallis Bird will perform at Monroe’s Live on as she spent some time in an isolated, ghost- Friday 21 November. Tickets cost €20 or €18 ridden cottage on “a godforsaken cliff edge” online. Doors open 8.30pm. Show time: 9pm.

LITERATURE 25

October 13 2014

Children’s Literature By Dean Buckely

The 17th Graham Greene International Literary festival For children. But also, it moved me, and that’s what I really want to say. There is a compulsive beauty to stories written for children that I don’t think we can afford to ignore as we get older. Sure, have your rebellious teenage phase, we need that too, but when it’s done, come back to those old favourites. You won’t regret it. I certainly didn’t regret buying a brand new copy of The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar by Roald Dahl. That book meant more to me than any other book when I was young, for reasons I’m now only beginning to understand. Partially, it’s just because it was my first exposure to magic realism, a genre I now hold very close to my heart.

How many children’s books have you read in the past year? If the answer is less than one, we have something to talk about. Look, I’m no stranger to the highest echelons of pretension. I mean, I just used the phrase “highest echelons of pretension” in an actual sentence, so you know I’m not lying to you. And since you’re reading a column in the literature section, I’m guessing you like books. Meta, I know. But what books are you reading? The last three books I read Each and every one of us exists in were The Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel Garcíá Marquez, The a state of tension, between so many Book of Evidence by John Banville and The Little Friend by Donna different things, but few are more Tartt. If you’re keeping track, that’s profound than the distance between “won the Nobel Prize in Literature”, “will win the Nobel Prize in Litera- our origins and our destiny. ture” and “should win the Nobel Prize in Literature”. But more, each story articulates something But before I read those, I read a little book incredibly important to me, particularly The called Revolver by Marcus Sedgewick. If you’ve Swan, an utterly mesmerising story about heard of it, hello, it’s nice to meet you, I’m the bullying that helped me through some diffiother one. I don’t know if I’ve ever read a book cult times as a child, and The Boy Who Talked like Revolver before, but I’m certain I won’t to Animals, the tale of a sensitive young boy read one again. with passions and feelings that no one else The story is incredibly tight, all the action really understands. occurs in the vicinity of a small forest cabin, Each and every one of us exists in a state with the events illuminated by flashbacks. of tension, between so many different things, Every character brims with purpose and but few are more profound than the distance all its disparate threads knit together into a between our origins and our destiny. beautiful meditation on pragmatism, faith, We often feel shackled by the inevitability violence, and hope. Revolver is an incredibly of what already happened. After all, if our backgrounds make us who we are and time moving work. never stops, how can we ever become who we want to be? In the words of Nick Cave, we grieve “not what has passed, but all the past yet to come”. Children’s literature lets us return to a time when so much less of ourselves was set in stone. I know that sounds feebly escapist, but it’s more than that. By the time we come to understand how important our childhood were to us, we’re too old to remember them properly. Reading children’s books lets us reach back into that point of view, so we can try and make sense of the rational absurdity of our own existence. And if we can come to terms with our origins, there’s so much less weighing us down as we reach and strive and fly towards our destinies, however low or lofty we imagine them to be. Also, not to undersell it importance at the final hurdle, but children’s literature is just really entertaining. Some of the best writing you never knew you needed is children’s literature. Seriously, make the time to sit down with a Jacqueline Wilson book one of these days. I swear, you won’t be disappointed.

By Martina Gannon The recent Graham Greene International Literary Festival (GGIF) that ran from 24-28 September was directed by Dr Frances McCormack and supported by the Graham Greene Birthplace Trust. Dr McCormack’s ineffable passion for Greene’s works sealed my interest in him through the Modernist seminar she taught at NUI Galway earlier this year. The GGIF is enjoyed annually in beautiful Berkhamsted town, Greene’s birthplace and specifically his former, hauntingly impressive 16th century school. The festival sessions ranged from guided walks in ‘Greene-town’, Greene film showings, lectures from global and local experts, book launches and delicious lunches, dinners and snacks all of which was included in the tickets. I spoke with a wife of one speaker who pursues Greene-related archives all over the US and UK. He had just shared a passionate forty five minute talk to a delighted audience. She commented “well you wouldn’t believe it but most days at home he barely talks, this [she gestured around the festival] really animates him”. What kind of a writer inspires the sort of fervent fascination and research stamina that fuels this man and these festival attendees?

Graham Greene (1904-1991) is strongly regarded as one of the best writers of the twentieth century, with substantial reason. His writing is characterized for its religious-probing tone, thrilling plots and revealing humour. He attended Oxford, married, converted to Catholicism, worked as a journalist, wrote novels, plays, essays, reviews of books and films, screenwrote and worked as an undercover agent with MI6. He achieved this all while travelling extensively to conflict cores worldwide. He wrote well over thirty novels, including genres of: Catholic-themes, thriller, autobiography and travel. His best known works include the novel turned film Brighton Rock (1938). The speakers examined Greene’s works though the lenses of film, psychoanalysis, interviews and many others. Japanese professor Motonori Sato also revealed the surprising links and influences between Greene and Japanese authors. Other attendees included: Greene’s daughter Caroline and extended family members, international and local authors, journalists, researchers, professors and students. However it is unreservedly open to any who are curious. Whether a Greene addict or a Greene inbetween, something to animate you awaits: www. grahamgreenefestival.org.

SPORT 27

October 13 2014

Galway FC in promotion playoff By Michael Farrell It’s been a whirlwind year for newly formed Galway FC and now they have the highlight of a playoff series with Shelbourne at the end of the season. Shels were also the opposition on Friday 3 October, when Tommy Dunne’s men went to Tolka Park in search of the point that would all but ensure their place in the playoffs. The game started in a scrappy fashion with both teams having few chances. Disaster struck for the Galway men in the 31st minute, when Dylan Connolly superbly found the top corner of the goals from 25 yards out. This meant a nervous period for the Maroon Army

through halftime and up until the hour mark, when their side were given a penalty after Brian Gannon was sent off for handling the ball on the goal line. Up stepped Ryan Manning, but he was unable to repeat his heroics from the previous game, when he secured the win over Cobh Ramblers with a last minute penalty, as Shels keeper Nathan Murphy kept his side in front with a good stop. Galway fans were now watching through clasped fingers, as their side spurned a number of good chances, with Padraig Cunningham and Jake Keegan going close. It looked like it wouldn’t be Galway’s night until top scorer Jake Keegan again proved to be the difference. His close

range strike in the 85th minute was his 12th league goal of the season. Keegan has been a fantastic find for Galway FC and with the pace to get in behind defences, while also the creativity to make goals for others, he certainly has the pedigree to be play at a higher level. The American striker has had an interesting journey on the way to Galway, playing in Germany with FC Darmstadt and with Maccabi Haifa in Israel, all after being first picked in the 2013 MLS draft by Philadelphia Union and he will certainly be someone that the club will want to keep for the foreseeable future. It is worth noting that Wexford Youths do still have a slim chance of making it to the playoffs, but they would

need an unlikely eight goal margin of victory at Eamonn Deacy Park for that to occur. While Shelbourne are already in the playoffs, the red cards received by Gannon and also by John Sullivan, who got sent off for a poor tackle near the end of the game, could prove costly to their chances of winning the two-legged tie. Shels also haven’t been on a particularly inspiring run of late, only winning two of their last eight games, so the allimportant playoff momentum may be with the Galway side. It will be a big ask for Tommy Dunne’s men to successfully negotiate both the First Division promotion/ relegation playoff and the promotion/relegation playoff final, but if they can maintain their current form they have

NUIG Rugby Top the League By NUIG PRO NUIG are top of the league after securing a hard-fought 8-5 win over Buccaneers in Dubarry Park. College went into the game off the back of some momentum having won their previous two games. Played in blustery conditions, the match was a scrappy affair throughout with both sides making errors as they sought to impose their respective game plans. Playing against the strong wind in the first half, College started the game brightly, endeavouring at ever y opportunity to play their trademark brand of expansive, running rugby. In contrast, Buccaneers tried to use their greater weight and size in the pack to dominate and gain territory

through direct, pick-and-go play, and mauling off the lineout. After a number of phases of attacking rugby, with Adam Brady, Mel Corbett and inspirational College Captain Jack O’Callaghan, all carrying well into contact and breaching the gain-line, only stern defence from Buccaneers denied College a try. Buccaneers couldn’t hold out however, as the ball made its way to winger James Kennedy who finished in the corner. Fly-half Tony Hall was narrowly wide with the conversion. The home side rallied from the restart and started to get their carrying game going, with their impressive back-row especially prominent in the physical exchanges. College’s standout play-

ers in this period were Roy Stanley at eight and Evan McCormack on the flank; both of whom repeatedly stemmed Buccaneers' pickand-go game from set piece and in the loose. After a period of sustained pressure, Buccaneers had the chance to score with a penalty towards the end of the half but the kick went awry in the wind. College turned around in the second half with the slenderest of leads, but with the strong wind at their backs. They started confidently, making repeated breaks and incursions into the Buccaneers' half. College went close on successive occasions following good phases of play, with Josh Dunne, Cian O’Grady, Billy Delaney, Rob Conneely, Dave O’Mahony and John Kennedy all prom-

inent. Only stern, scramble defence from Buccaneers denied College further tries. College’s next score came after good play from the pack, with player-coach Pete Small to the fore. Buccaneers infringed at the breakdown and Hall slotted the resultant penalty. Buccaneers then had their best phase of the game and were finally rewarded with a try in the corner from their pack. As the final whistle approached, and with O’Mahony and O’Callaghan leading the line, College held on for the win and now look forward to their next fixture: a top of the table clash against old rivals Galwegians in Glenina next Sunday. At the same time as the firsts were in action, the College men's seconds were unlucky to lose to a try in the final play of their first league game away against Oughterard. Featuring many new players, it was great also to see some College stalwarts return to the fray, especially Kieran McMullan who marked his return from injury with a brace of tries. Other notable performers for the seconds were: Captain Jason O'Halloran, Justin Conboy, Sean O'Gorman, Tom Downes and Michael O'Mahony.

a chance. That form has seen a total of 16 points taken from a possible 18 and was kick-started by an away win at First Division Champions Longford Town and followed by wins over Waterford United, Shamrock Rovers B, Finn Harps and Cobh Ramblers. Great credit for the rise of Galway F.C must be given to manager, Tommy Dunne and his assistant manager, Leo Tierney, while not forgetting their backroom team of; Dermot Ryan, Alan Murphy and Emmett Hartigan. Without their experience and quality, it is unlikely that a club formed only 12 months ago could have built a winning team. Galway FC’s rise is also testament to the work that

football people all over the Galway city and county have done. In particular, the efforts of Galway United Supporters Trust, Mervue United, Salthill Devon, and Galway F.A, all of whom have all compromised to give Galway a united team. Most of all, the players deserve this chance to win promotion after a tough first season. Quite a few are Galway natives such as captain Paul Sinnott, Ireland U-19 international Ryan Manning and former Galway United and Salthill Devon player Vinny Faherty. Promotion or not, having one of the country’s soccer strongholds united under one banner means that it probably won’t be too long before we see Galway FC right up at the top level of Irish soccer.

Walsh named new Galway boss By Maurice Brosnan Kevin Walsh has been officially ratified as the new Galway senior football manager. Walsh, who has been given a three year term, replaces Alan Mulholland who led Galway to an All-Ireland quarter final in August, losing out to eventual winners Kerry. Walsh will have Brian Silke of Corofin and Sean Conlon from Barna as his selectors. The Galway County GAA Committee also confirmed the manager would be subject to annual reviews. As a player, Walsh won two All-Ireland medals with Galway in 1998 and 2001 and also three all-stars. His appointment had been expected after the only other candidate in contention, Pete Warren, withdrew from the running to succeed Mulholland. Walsh also has experience in coaching, he has served as a selector for the Connacht interprovincial team numerous times and coached Sligo from 2008 to 2013. With Sligo the Killanin man had reasonable success. In his first two years he oversaw Sligo’s rise from division four of the National Football League to division two, winning both the division three and division four titles on the way. He was also the first Sligo manager to reach two Connacht finals and even beat his native Galway away. However after a Connacht final appearance in 2012,

Walsh’s Sligo had a woeful 2013, losing in the first round of the championship to London. Following defeat to Derry in the qualifiers and then being eliminated from the championship, Walsh resigned. He spent the last year coaching Micheal Breathnach. Walsh now faces a challenge to build on Mulholland’s success last year. Galway football has struggled in recent years, with both managers before Mulholland only serving for a year. The tribesmen haven't won a Connacht title since 2008. They have however won two under-21 All-Irelands in recent years. Walsh’s role must include continuing the development of the players involved in those wins. Some of these who have progressed to senior, include; Shane Walsh, Tom Flynn and Fiontán Ó Curraoin. Another realistic target for Walsh is to obtain promotion to Division one. With the FBD League starting in January this leaves the new Galway boss with limited time to form his squad.

28 SPORT

Sin Vol. 16 Issue 3

Connacht nab draw from jaws of victory By Odhrán Donovan Connacht maintained their unbeaten home record recently in the Sportsground, but squandered a fourteenpoint lead in the final ten minutes to submit to a disappointing draw. A ten-minute scoring spree from the Blues left fans bemoaning the side’s provincial “genetics” as Connacht squandered a win in a crucial fixture with one of their main rivals for Champions Cup qualification. The draw was uncharacteristic of Pat Lam’s side this season, who have begun to engender a winning culture previously unseen in any prior campaign. The home side started solidly, a fortuitous bounce from a Craig Ronaldson grubber finding the gracious hands of Danie Poolman inside the opposition twenty-two. Cardiff opted to illegally stifle Connacht’s momentum at the ensuing ruck and Ronaldson slotted the subsequent penalty for an early three point cushion. A number of defensive interventions from Robbie Henshaw rendered Blues’ raids on the Connacht backline to set-piece conclusions, but both Cory Allen and Alex

Cuthbert enjoyed successful initial ventures into Jack Carty’s channel. Having only won 79 percent of line-outs off their own ball this season, Connacht’s decision to call an early dummy on their struggling set-piece seemed misguided. Winger Dan Fish latched onto Dave Heffernan’s wayward throw and broke the defensive line, only to be cut short of the line by a Niyi Adeolokun tackle. Adeolokun’s ability to issue last-minute denials is quickly becoming a Sportsground staple, but the Nigerian sweeper wasn’t present to ward off fullback Adam Thomas, who dotted down for Cardiff ’s opener in the twentieth minute. Thomas took a rapid and lateral pass off scrum-half Lewis Jones to once again tear open Connacht’s ten-twelve axes, which was proving itself as the most liberal donator to the Blues’ cause. Half an hour in and having already engineered enough metres to power the next Stena Line back to Holyhead, Blues on board, Connacht were awarded with their first scrum penalty. Several attritional phases followed Carty’s penalty touch, with Henshaw concluding the play with a clinical one-armed

reach over the Cardiff line. The visitors continued to leak penalties, but Jack Carty’s eagerness to exercise his back-line proved costly. The inexperienced fly-half’s decision to hastily shovel the ball out to an alarmed Darragh Leader from a penalty led directly to a reversal of the referee’s earlier verdict. Rhys Patchell stepped up to execute the punishment and the sides went in level at the break. Both Carty and Ronaldson remerged revitalised in the second half, scarcely recognizable from their leaky first half incarnations. Carty bossed Patchell in the second half’s initial duel for territory, troubling Dan Fish with a series of aerial scimitars. With Cardiff pinned back concessions in the line-out finally came, Willie Faloon peeling off a maul at Kieran Marmion’s behest before offloading to his imperious scrum-half for Connacht’s second try. The Blues’ sudden tepidness left Connacht’s dominance unchecked, with both Henshaw and George Naoupu winning penalties from seemingly unfavourable collisions. Carty’s boot was unerringly lethal, tucking away his punt from Naoupu’s

penalty deep inside the Cardiff twenty-two. Mick Kearney popped a pass up for an on rushing Nathan White from a successful line-out, the tight-head crashing over in the corner to consolidate a fourteen point lead for his team. Connacht continued to grind out multiple penalties, but following an unexpected Eoin McKeon dummy and chip, captain John Muldoon declined to offer Craig Ronaldson the opportunity to extend the lead to seventeen. Muldoon instead requested the line-out, which had not quite enjoyed the same resur-

rection that Ronaldson-Carty combination had at the break, Cardiff winning the ball on Connacht’s throw twice to deny the province a fourth try. The captain’s mistake coupled with Ronaldson’s departure in the sixty-sixth minute seemed to irk Connacht. Connacht’s defence suddenly seemed worryingly permeable and after Macaulay Cook touched down to narrow the gap to seven the atmosphere in the Sportground took a rather ominous turn. The Blues’ continued to bore through Connacht’s guard with repeated pick and go’s for the closing ten

minutes. A collective groan swept through the stadium as substitute Sam Hobbs made contact with the buffer of Connacht’s goalpost in the dying moments, signalling fans acknowledgement that their team had heart-breakingly capitulated like only Connacht can. Patchell added a simple conversion and Cardiff were level for the first time since half-time. Carty had a late chance of a drop-goal turned away by the frenetic hands of Blues’ chargers, but redemption was not to be as the home side were forced to cash out with a disappointing draw.

Connacht looks to Challenge Cup By Michael Farrell It is hard to know what to expect from European Rugby this season, as both the Heineken cup and the Amlin Challenge cup being rebooted and replaced by the European Champions Cup and Challenge Cup respectively. Some of the finer business aspects and logistics of the competitions still have to be sorted out, but the groups are drawn and it is European rugby as usual for all the teams. Con-

nacht’s Challenge Cup group could well be described as the “group of death” in this competition. Alongside Pat Lam’s men are La Rochelle, Exeter Chiefs and Bayonne all of whom are mid-table or better in their respective leagues. With matches at home to La Rochelle and away to the Chiefs coming up, it is worth having a look at each team’s domestic form. La Rochelle lie 9th in the Top 14, just one place below Bayonne in the standings. Much like Galway, La Rochelle is a small port city with just under 100,000 people. It lies on the west coast of France and their rugby team won promotion to the Top-14 last year after a three year stay in the second division. A couple of players to watch out for are the ageless Fijian, Sireli Bobo on the wing and former Clermont Auvergne centre Gonzalo Canale, who brings 86 international caps for Italy and a wealth of experience to the team. It’s a cliché to say that the French don’t travel well, but even in France, Patrice Collazo’s team haven’t managed an away win so far this season. Taking this into account in is essential for Connacht to start their campaign with a home win against the French side, as travelling to Stade Marcel-Deflandre will not be an easy task. The French side have already taken the scalps of both Castres and Toulouse this season in front of their home fans. If Connacht can win in the Sportsground, they will

be in good stead to face their most difficult game of their campaign away to the Exeter Chiefs. Sitting loftily in fourth place of the Aviva Premiership, Exeter are having a great year so far. Wins against Conor O’Shea’s Harlequins and a gritty three point away victory over Gloucester have propelled them up the table. Amongst Exeter’s squad are former Ulstermen Ian Whitten and Ryan Caldwell, but the real danger is likely to be from the boot of reliable Fly-half Gareth Steenson and from their formidable pack. Even without injured Captain and former Wallaby Dean Mumm, the Chiefs have plenty of experience and with both the in-form Ben White and former England international Thomas “the Tank” Waldrom in the back-row, Exeter will look to play a ten man game at times and try and bully Connacht up front. If John Muldoon and company can gain parity at ruck time and control their set pieces then Connacht’s backline quality should be enough to win them the game. Exeter simply do not have anyone with the quality of Kieran Marmion, Darragh Leader or Robbie Henshaw. The experience gained from playing in the Heineken Cup should really galvanise this Connacht team and considering the excellent start Pat Lam’s men have had to the season, they are well capable of topping this group, especially if they get a result away to Exeter.

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October 13 2014

Racism in football By Jack Leahy The past 30 years have marked sweeping changes in English football. The new Premier League was introduced in 1992, professionalism has taken the game to dizzying heights and England has become a hub for international players to forge careers on the world stage.

game. Such was the case after Manchester United’s 5-3 loss to Leicester City, when Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli (why always him?) decided to have a bit of fun at the expense of the Merseysider’s bitter rivals. Balotelli tweeted the words “Man Utd… LOL” after a collapse in the United defence led to five unan-

This incident has come in a seemingly endless culture of racism which has pervaded football since the beginning of the professional era. The football world, it seems, is one where racism is ingrained in the fan’s minds. The game has been elevated to a level unrecognisable from years gone by, when talks of multi-million transfers were completely unheard of. Even the style of play, which has evolved massively, is now completely incomparable to the football played 40 years ago. Almost every facet of football has been completely modernised. One aspect of the game that seems to have never moved on in step with the rest, however, is racism. Despite countless attempts throughout the years to break its hold on football, the age-old problem simply refuses to go away. Unfortunately, we too often see this blight rear its ugly head in the modern

swered goals by their recently promoted opponents. The response to his tweet was vicious. Balotelli, who has been a victim of racial abuse in the past playing for his country and a number of different clubs, was met with a barrage of deeply offensive responses from enraged United fans. The sheer number of Twitter users who levelled this abuse against him, coupled with the appalling language, sparked widespread outrage both inside and outside the social media website. The Twitter accounts responsible were subsequently shut down and a Merseyside police investigation ensued.

Balotelli had, in the past, expressed his disgust at any form of racism in football, saying that he’d leave the pitch if he were ever subject to abuse during a game again. This incident has come in a seemingly endless culture of racism which has pervaded football since the beginning of the professional era. The football world, it seems, is one where racism is ingrained in the fan’s minds. The chants, boos and shouting directed at black players has, for some supporters, become commonplace and absolutely normal. Regretfully, this is a far-reaching problem, not just contained to the English game. There was recently an outpouring of support on various social media for the Brazilian player, Dani Alves, who had a banana thrown at him during a match. While this behaviour is for most of us utterly incomprehensible, some people see this as simply the culture in which they live and it is going to take a massive overhaul of social ideas among offending football supporters to have any real effect on the abuse. Racism has been highlighted as a major issue by both of the biggest organisations in world football; FIFA and UEFA. Through constant advertising and campaigning during competitions with an enormous world audience, these footballing bodies have

attempted to directly change the attitudes of multitudes of supporters. The ‘Say No to Racism’ campaign is a prime example of this. FIFA used the massive stage offered by the World Cup in order to communicate its message of zero tolerance towards racial abuse in football. Many footballers themselves have lent their voices to the appeal, appearing in TV advertisements and reading statements directly before the kick-off of some international matches, always with the same message: “Kick racism out of the game.” Why, then, does the worrying culture of abuse still exist as displayed by the reaction of a large group of people to Mario Balotelli’s tweet? Many argue that disciplinary measures taken against culprits of verbally attacking other players because

of their race have not been harsh enough. In a case which received much publicity in 2011, John Terry allegedly racially abused Anton Ferdinand, a black English player for Premier League side Queen’s Park Rangers. Terry was tried in a court of law and while it emerged that there was no doubt he did utter offensive remarks towards Ferdinand in relation to his race, he was found not guilty on the grounds that it was not intended as an insult, but rather as a challenge to what Terry believed had been said to him. The FA later handed him a four-match ban after a public outcry, which many people still feel was an unacceptable outcome. It is possible that cases like this, where a player with such a large support base goes almost unpunished

despite being certainly guilty, portrays a blasé attitude by footballing authorities towards racism in the game. This attitude is adopted by fans across the globe, and the problem continues to lie under the surface of football, never quite dispelled from the game. It is clear that until the organisations that hold such huge influence over the culture that exists in football back up their words with meaningful action, the problem will become ever more imbedded into the world of the players and supporters, and we will see a repeat of these incidents year on year. The footballing world has a chance now in the aftermath of Balotelli’s tweet to take real action and start to change the perception of racism in the game. This is a chance that cannot be wasted yet again.

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30 SPORT

Sin Vol. 16 Issue 3

REVIEW: Rally de France Nicolas Roche joins Team By Yvonne Clinton Coming to Rally de France, eleventh round of the World Rally Championship, Volkswagen’s euphoria of a first podium lockout and second manufacturer’s title in Australia looked set to continue. Their driver Sebastien Ogier was on the cusp of claiming a second drivers’ title on home soil.

only nibbled away at his vastly experienced rival. Latvala eked out an eight second advantage at the overnight halt. Northern Ireland’s Kris Meeke, mindful of his last-day blunder in Germany, drove at his own pace. Emerging out of the firststage fight for the lead he found himself in a safe third overall, admitting that he “didn’t have the experience” to take the fight to the VWs in front.

IT WOULD ALL WORK OUT RATHER DIFFERENTLY.

DAY TWO

After throwing away a debut win on tarmac with a late crash on Rally Germany six weeks earlier, VW teammate Jari-Matti Latvala was out to make amends. He gained a knife-edge 0.3 second lead over the charging champion on the first stage. With the top four covered by a mere 0.7 seconds, a real dogfight looked set to emerge. It all went horribly wrong for Ogier on the very next stage. A spin, followed by a transmission fault, would lose him four and a half minutes – and all hopes of victory. To add insult to injury, his co-driver Julien Ingrassia suffered a rare timing mishap and checked them into a control early. The resulting four minute time penalty meant Ogier described the day as “the worst of (his) career”, as he fell as low as 63rd overall. Germany victor Thierry Neuville had a day to forget. A haphazard drive through stage two, compounded by a sick Hyundai, meant he was well down the order. For Latvala and VW stable-mate Andreas Mikkelsen, the battle was only beginning. With Ogier out of the hunt, the lead became a two-way fight. Latvala threw down the gauntlet, and try as he might Mikkelsen

With a morning blast over roads used in the Tour de France, the universal description of the ultra-fast stage was “brave”. And Latvala was the bravest of the brave, blitzing the rest of the field to extend his advantage over Mikkelsen once more. It was a feat he would repeat four times that day to build a commanding lead of almost half a minute by nightfall. Meeke’s drive was a steady one, and he was quick to praise his Citroen, describing it as “perfect”. His third place looked secure at the end of the day, with nearly a minute in hand over fourth. The real mover of Saturday was former F1 star Robert Kubica. After a lacklustre debut season in the WRC, he took to his favourite surface like a duck to water. Well bedded in aboard his Fiesta, he moved from seventh to fifth, leapfrogging his vastly experienced teammate Mikko Hirvonen in the process. Finishing just 0.9 seconds behind tarmac specialist Dani Sordo, the Pole couldn’t but be pleased. A massive moment on Friday besides, his drive had been “nice clean driving”. Fellow protagonist in the fight for fourth, Mads Ostberg, suffered unfortunate problems with an oil leak. The resulting time loss and penalty meant he languished in a lonely seventh. DAY THREE

Meeke’s prediction of “a sting in the tail” with deteriorating weather conditions would prove correct

Sky for 2015 season By Kieran Kilkelly Irish cyclist Nicolas Roche has been one of five cyclists selected to join Team Sky as they look to get back to winning ways in 2015. Nicolas, the son of Tour de France winner, Stephen Roche, has been professional for over nine years and has ridden in 13 Grand Tours. There was much speculation over a move throughout the years and two weeks ago he decided to make the switch after having been with his former team, Saxo-Tinkoff, for the past two years. Roche (30) is a cyclist on the up having claimed victory in the Route du Sud and finished an impressive fifth place in the Tour of Britain this year. He joins Irishman Philip Deignan at Team Sky and for the first time in his career he will be racing with a compatriot professionally. Having raced against each other as teenagers in Ireland Roche is excited to be linking up with him on the professional circuit finally after missing out when he joined the Ag2r team just as Deignan was leaving. Nicolas (30) will be expected to be a domestique to main rider Chris Froome, just as he was with Alberto Contador in his previous team, Saxo-Tinkoff. However, he may also be given more individual roles in certain tours. He said that it was “an important move for [him]” and that he “still feels there is margin for progress” and “is the perfect team for that.” Team Sky is regarded as one of the best in the world and since their formation in 2009 for the resurgent Kubica. A fantastic drive through the morning stages placed him in a strong fourth overall, a career-best result. But a spin into a ditch would end his excellent run, with the Pole retiring on the final stage. For the rest of the field, it was a relaxed Sunday afternoon drive through the Alsace

they have set a standard. Current riders Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de France in 2013 and 2012, respectively, while they were members of Team Sky. Scot, Andrew Fenn, up and coming rider Leopold Konig also join the team along with Lars Petter Nordhaug, who is returning to the team after two years with Wout Poels being the final member added. countryside. The Power Stage, for Ogier, was “the only stage we were waiting for” since his dismal Friday, and he would duly salvage three points for winning it. Mikkelsen and Meeke both equalled their career-best performances in second and third respectively, while Latvala claimed his maiden tarmac victory, almost seven years after his first podium on the black stuff. The jubilant Finn admitted that he’d “been waiting a long time.” His splendid drive, which saw him relinquish the lead for just one stage, means the championship fight will now go on to Rally d’Espana at the end of October.

Photo: Grand Parc - Bordeaux, France, Flicker@xavier33300

FINAL WORD 31

October 13 2014

diary of the SMOKEY’S PIGEON IT’S BEEN ALMOST A MONTH AND A HALF since I’ve been locked out and things are beginning to get strange. I don’t know if it’s just me but the nights are beginning to come in quicker and the sun isn’t as warm. I always thought looking out that it wasn’t so bad, that one day I’d go travelling and see it all, maybe even go as far as Cork. But I don’t want any of that anymore. I don’t

ever want to leave Smokey’s again. That is, if I ever get back in. I met another pigeon called Henry last week and he’s seen things that nobody should ever see. He tells me not to go into town alone at night as groups of students gather to hunt birds. They come out of various buildings, after a long night of hunting, savaging on bird’s legs. Henry has only one leg and he swears he saw someone eating it one night – to the bone! Halloween is approaching and that is, he tells me, where they all dress up and go on a proper bird hunt. This isn’t fun anymore.

I’M GETTING SCARED.

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THE COLLEGE INSIDER ‘Big yellow thing’ to be converted into large hadron collider By Eoin Molloy ON WEDNESDAY 8 OCTOBER the Department of Education and Skills announced plans that it will spearhead funding for a programme that will see NUI Galway’s enigmatic ‘big yellow thing’ converted into a large hadron collider, similar to that at CERN in Switzerland. For those who don’t know, a hadron collider basically accelerates tiny particles into each other. Following impact, scientists are able to analyse any by-products that the collision may have created. This gives us great insight into subatomic particles. The logistics of the operation are unclear as of yet, with the Minister for Education remaining coy about the particular details in Wednesday’s press conference outside of Dáil Eireann. He said that his department, together with NUI Galway’s ‘research partners’ have devised a plan to “harness the unique and spell-binding energy” of the mysterious ‘big yellow thing’ that has dominated NUI Galway’s landscape for years. A spokesperson for NUI Galway told

Sin that she was aware of the difficulties of such a long and arduous task, adding that the end result will more than justify the means. She conceded that the irregular shape of the ‘big yellow thing’ will present an obstacle. She declined to answer when asked how it will be rolled out and hollowed into a typical circular hadron collider. It is thought that the project will employ upwards of 75 people, mostly on the construction side of things as an underground tunnel one kilometre in diameter will need to be created. For NUI Galway’s student population, there is a certain sense of relief. The purpose of the perplexing ‘big yellow thing’ has finally been revealed. Patrick Morrissey, a final-year arts student told Sin that when he was in first year rumours circled around that the “big yellow thing pre-dated Stonehenge”. Mr Morrissey went on to say that he had been certain it was placed on campus by “ancient aliens or the CIA”, he just wasn’t sure which. This latest coup for NUI Galway reinforces its image as the ‘best researchdriven’ university in Ireland.