Gair Rhydd 1070 - 1st February 2016 by Cardiff Student Media

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gair rhydd | freeword Cardiff ’s student weekly Issue 1070 Monday 1st February 2016 Also in this issue

Comment: Should Banksy have to raise social issues? P13>>

Refugees in Cardiff : A home from home?

Politics: Spotlight on the Welsh education system P20>>

• Gair Rhydd investigates what life is like as a refugee in Cardiff • Wristband scheme introduced by private firm to identify asylum seekers labelled “degrading” by commentators • Exclusive interviews with refugees and charity workers

EXCLUSIVE Toby Holloway

ollowing a week where asylum seekers in Cardiff made national news headlines, Gair Rhydd investigated what life is like for the Welsh capital’s refugee population. Last week, a private company in Cardiff was criticised for making refugees wear red wristbands in order to receive food. The wristband scheme was heavily criticised as some people labelled it ‘degrading’ to the refugees, alongside accusations that it stigmatized those wearing them, making them targets for abuse and discrimination. As a result of the news, we visited Oasis Cardiff, a centre in Splott to see what employees and refugees had to say about the matter. The centre offers a range of activities and services for up to 200 people

every day, from clothing and food to English lessons and help with tax returns. Asked whether any of the asylum seekers at Oasis had experienced prejudice because of the wristbands, co-founder and manager of Oasis, Reynette Roberts, said: “Some people feel they have, some people aren’t bothered about them at all. There have always been people shouting abuse as they drive by. There’s not much space outside and they’re more visible so people will give them abuse. It’s a difficult thing”. Speaking generally about the wristbands, she added: “For people who are coming here, anything that makes them stick out or makes them feel vulnerable - makes them feel targeted - is an issue”. This idea has also been suggested by other volunteers. We spoke to the President of STAR (Student Action for Refugees) at Cardiff University,

Natasha Chilambo, who confirmed that during the society’s work she had also encountered instances of discrimination towards refugees: “Locally [refugees] are victim to abuse by some members of the public; on more than one occasion we have been made to respond to people turning up to the drop-in who have been verbally and physically abusive”. However, Chilambo did note that attitudes have changed in recent times: “There has been a big positive shift in the last few months and I think this is attributable to a greater public awareness of the refugee crisis”. This was also emphasised by STAR committee member Anusheh Javaid, who said: “I think that overall the people of Cardiff are greatly hospitable and understanding towards refugees and asylum seekers. They go out of their way to help when they

Pictured:

Scenes from a ‘Solidarity with Refugees’ rally in London in September (Photographer: Ilias Bartolini via Flickr)

Continued on page 4

Science: Why are bananas under threat? P24>>

Taf-Od: Edrych ymlaen at yr Eisteddfod Ryng-gol P32>>

2 EDITORIAL Gair Rhydd Coordinator Elaine Morgan Editor Joseph Atkinson Deputy Editors Carwyn Williams Anna Lewis

the free word Changing perceptions

News Anna Lewis Joanna Beck Toby Holloway Advice Gwen Williams Caragh Medlicott Comment Em Gates Charley Griffiths David Williams Columnist Helena Hanson Politics Carwyn Williams Luke Brett Sam Patterson Science Maria Mellor Lizzie Harrett Societies Aletheia Nutt Taf-Od Rhian Floyd Park Life Vacant Sport Jim Harris James Lloyd Jamie Smith Social Media Editor Jack Boyce Get involved Editorial conferences are each Monday at 5pm. Proofreading takes place from 5pm on Thursdays in the media office during print weeks. Write to the editor editor@gairrhydd.com Tweet us @gairrhydd

At Gair Rhydd we take seriously our responsibility to maintain the highest possible standards. Sometimes, because of deadline pressures, we may make some mistakes. If you believe we have fallen below the standards we seek to uphold, please email editor@gairrhydd. com. You can view our Ethical Policy Statement and Complaints Procedure at cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk/complaints Opinions expressed in editorials are not reflective of Cardiff Student Media, who act as the publisher of Gair Rhydd in legal terms, and should not be considered official communications or the organisation’s stance. Gair Rhydd is a Post Office registered newspaper.

After the red wristband saga, this week’s front page looks at the work done to help refugees, and hopefully gives them a voice Joseph Atkinson

n the media, refugees are very rarely portrayed as individuals; they are grouped together and dealt as a collective, often taking away any aspect of personality and humanity. Each and every one of the thousands of refugees who have arrived in Britain have lives as deep and complicated as you and I, but that is often forgotten when politicians discuss how to handle the influx of asylum seekers and the subsequent media coverage of what has been branded the ‘migrant crisis’. Cardiff was very briefly at the top of the news agenda when it was reported that some refugees had been made to wear red wristbands in order to be able to access food provisions set aside by the Lynx House facility. Comparisons were made to the measures taken by the Nazi regime, which forced Jewish people to wear yellow badges showing the Star of David to mark them. I found such comparisons far-fetched and unreasonable considering the purpose of the wristbands, which were ultimately intended to help. I do however agree with the decision

that was made following public outcry at the measure to assign refugees with ID cards in lieu of the wristbands, but the saga has taken away from one of a number of community efforts that are genuinely meant to be helpful to people in the direst of needs. This week we’ve gone along to visit a centre dedicated to looking after asylum seekers. One of the most striking things to come out of Toby’s visit to the Oasis Cardiff centre was how the staff felt the refugees who used the centre were not accurately portrayed in the media. In fact the visit left Toby so inspired by the work that the volunteers do that he’s volunteered himself to help out there once a week - a fantastic gesture and something that may not have happened otherwise. The attitude of the general public swings according to how the media reports the situation. Reporting on negative consequences of immigration, such as the Cologne attacks over Christmas, will inevitably lead to people fearing refugees and immigration. That is not to say that the media shouldn’t report such events - of course they should - as they bring up genuine concerns, but to tar every sin-

gle asylum seeker with the same brush as a result is irresponsible and should be discouraged. This week saw Denmark pass a controversial new law which has provoked outcry from refugees and human rights activists alike. The legislation allows Danish police to search and strip those wishing to seek asylum in the country of their valuables and cash, and is being used as a deterrent from people migrating to Denmark en masse. Switzerland has adopted similar messages, supposedly in place to cover the costs of housing, feeding and clothing refugees, but there is a sinister undertone to these actions far worse that the red wristband controversy which engulfed the Welsh capital earlier in the week. It is encouraging to see people volunteering their valuable time to help people less fortunate than themselves, and if anyone reading our front page piece feels inspired to do the same, or even if their attitudes are changed towards the human beings who have been put through incredible hardship, them we’ll have done a good job. While there is a valid debate as to the long-term futures of refugees coming over from war-torn Syria and

surrounding areas, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the world should do its utmost to guarantee the safety and continued survival of those in great need. I’ve very proud that we at Gair Rhydd are able to bring to people’s attention the problems that face others and direct them towards to channels in which they can help. Being aware of a problem sometimes isn’t enough when it arrives on your door, and engaging or educating yourself is vital in understanding and sympathising with those who come from a long way away. The fear that some have over the effects of large-scale migration into the country are valid, but turning your back to the world simply isn’t an option, especially in 2016. Lastly, I must add that one of our sport editors, Jason Roberts, has stepped down from his position to focus on uni work and playing for the Cardiff Cobras American Football team. He’s worked hard and offered some fantastic ideas to the sport section that have added so much to Gair Rhydd over the last few months, and I know that everyone on the paper is sad to see him go - thanks Jason!

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY: GAIR RHYDD 832 5/2/2007 Going back to the good old days of 2007, back when I was in my first year of secondary school, undergraduates were still probably celebrating the end of exam doom. Of course on top of that, Cardiff was obviously reeling from the lack of sperm donors available in Wales. In fact, only eight men in the entirety of the country were available at that time, speculated to be the result of legislation that removed anonymity in donations. While there was no proven reason behind this, fear of future eighteen year old offspring randomly turning up was probably the main issue. Robberies and burglaries were rife in Roath, not a shocker that ten years later this is still happening. It seems that where there are students, there are also thieves. Although a record ten houses in just one street is probably much worse than anything committed in Cathays nowadays, it seems probable that modern burglars wouldn’t be diving head first into our stacks of DVDs and CDs left on the night stand. I suppose technology has done us one favour there. Now, as ever, insurance and registering your valuables seem like a good idea, unless you want your new copy of The Devil Wears Prada to be lost forever. In a time where tuition fees were a third of what they are now, undergraduates staged a sit in outside the Vice-Chancellor’s office to

protest any top of fees rising from £3,000 to £6,000. That really worked well guys, thanks for that. With a march that started at the Main Building and worked its way to Dr David Grant’s office, the plan was to get the chair people of Russell Group universities to get in touch with the idea of the student body. The students voted against this bill, and had the backing of the Students’ Union and the NUS in hope of changing the minds of the people in charge of the legislation. Disgrace on the letters page was rife once again, with claim of university café sandwiches being both extortionately priced and not even of a good quality, and attitude of library staff being rude and patronising. One student was said to ‘have had enough’ with the prices, and preferred the food served at their college, while the one library defended her staff as being ‘helpful and pleasant’. I think in the grand scheme of things if the sandwiches are too expensive and the librarys are perhaps a little pernickety, the rest of your degree might just be going ok. Basically I think when these people paid £6,000 less a year than I do, they can afford a £2.50 ham and cheese sandwich and put up with a little passive aggression from library staff. - Em Gates

EDITORIAL 3

Campus in Brief

Jack Boyce

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Welsh patients are more likely to wait longer for a diagnosis and treatment than patients in England according to NHS statistics in England and Wales.

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he Football Association of Wales has allocated more tickets to Welsh fans ahead of the Euro 2016 tournament in France this summer. Originally allocating 17,000 tickets, with 7,000 available for opening game against Slovakia and 5,000 for the latter two games against England and Russia, this has since been upped to 21,177. During a four-week window, FAW gold members applied for a total of 52,160 seats, which included tickets to potential knockout games further into the tournament if Wales make it past the group stages. The incredible demand comes from fans eager to cheer on their national team in their first major international tournament since 1958. Figures taken from the Hospital Episode Statistics from NHS in England and the Patient Episode Database from the NHS in Wales show that Welsh patients are more likely to wait longer for a diagnosis and treatment than patients in England, according to BBC Wales. Worrying statistics have conveyed a significant separation in the wait for hip and cataract operations, with waiting times around two months longer for Welsh patients than their English counterparts. Deputy Health Minister Vaughan Getting said: “We want to have a system that properly runs on waiting for treatment that is acceptable, but importantly the focus has to be on outcomes.” Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies has criticised ministers’ decision to purchase Cardiff Airport from Spanish owners Abertis for £52 million back in 2013 amongst concerns regarding the airport’s performance, calling the acquisition a “stunning failure to safeguard taxpayers’ money”. The main criticism came from the amount of money spent purchasing the airport, after an estimate published in a report by the Wales Audit Office estimated the airport valuation of around £20-30 million. First Minister Carwyn Jones defended the purchase, calling the airport a “vital gateway to Wales”.

National

Google executives and UK tax officials have agreed to appear before the Commons public accounts committee in a bid to discuss the “sweetheart deals” between the two organisations. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and the Internet powerhouse are due to give evidence in a hearing on February 11th, with the UK’s tax deal with Google possibly falling outside of European rules. Talking on BBC Radio 4, European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager stated: “We should be in a union where everyone has a fair chance of making it. If you are in a small innovative company… the bigger ones shouldn’t close the market and disable your opportunity to find customers.” A new “City Deal” will see £250 million worth of investments flow into Aberdeen over the next ten years, with a further £254 million also promised for the surrounding area to invest in key infrastructure projects. During a visit to the region, Prime Minister David Cameron also announced a further £20 million package to prop up the oil and gas industry in the area. Scottish Secretary David Mundall called the deals “historic”, and that the initial investment will kick-start the inflow of “hundreds of millions” of additional funds into the region from the private sector. A new study of GCSE results has revealed that allgirl secondary schools are outperforming their mixedgender counterparts. Research taken out by education website SchoolDash centred around England’s 378 same-sex schools, which includes 217 all-girls schools, has revealed that 75 per cent of pupils at same-sex schools achieve at least five ‘good’ GCSE including English and Maths compared to only 55 per cent at mixed-gender schools. These results come off the back of allegations from Richard Cairns, head of Brighton College, who last month stated that girls at same-sex schools are disadvantaged if they don’t learn to socialise with the opposite sex at school.

International

The president of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, has ordered the opening of the country’s borders to neighbour South Sudan for the first time since 2011. South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2005 after a 22-year civil war, with fighting continuing well into 2012 over the Heglig oilfield. Relations between the two countries are starting to look up, with President al-Bashir telling authorities to “take all measures” to reopen the border, shortly after the decision was made by South Sudan to move its forces a small distance away from the border. Talks are also in place to lower the expenses South Sudan pays to export their oil through Sudan. A shuttle bus has taken to the streets of Netherlands for a first trial into driverless public transport. Titled the WePod, the electric bus’ first foray onto public roads took six passengers back and forth down a 200m stretch of road in the Dutch town of Wageningen. Despite only travelling at a mere 5mph, the WePod’s technical director Jan Willem van der Wiel claimed, “This is a milestone”. The project is set to be expanded upon in the upcoming months, where it will become the main form of public transport along a four mile route in the town of Wageningen. The Canadian government is considering changing a line in the country’s national anthem to include women. Liberal MP Mauril Bélanger first introduced the bill to change the third line of national anthem ‘O Canada’. If passed, the line “True patriot love in thy sons command” will be overhauled as “True patriot love in all of us command”, as a way of recognising Canadian women as well as men. Ten previous attempts have been made to change the anthem since ‘O Canada’ was introduced as the country’s official national anthem in 1980, taking over from ‘God Save The Queen’.

Pictured: Google’s tax deal has been heavily debated in the Commons (Photographer: Jon Russell via Flickr)

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A new study of GCSE results has revealed that all-girl secondary schools are outperforming their mixedgender counterparts.

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4 NEWS

news

Editors: Anna Lewis Joanna Beck Toby Holloway @GairRhyddNews news@gairrhydd.com gairrhydd.com/news

Continued: A home from home

Continued from front page

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For some people it’s just a place to come - they feel like it’s their home and they can come here’. Reynette Roberts

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can, and it’s amazing.” For the society, this year has seen the largest number of volunteers, a fact which has been attributed to a “greater public awareness of the refugee crisis” both on campus and in wider society. Integration is seen as vital in reducing discrimination towards refugees, and some people have accused the national press of exacerbating this issue by reporting a reluctance amongst refugees to integrate into their local communities. One Oasis employee, however, spoke of a group of Sudanese men who wildly celebrated Wales’ 2015 Rugby World Cup victory over England, apparently leaping up and down holding a Welsh flag. He stressed that the desire to be part of the local community is strong among the refugees that he has met. Many of the refugees at the help centre that spoke to Gair Rhydd confirmed this, expressing their fondness of the Welsh capital and also of the acceptance of locals. One man said: “I used to live in Glasgow, and some people were not very nice to refugees. It is much different here, I like it in Cardiff ”. The centre holds many events that

aim to strengthen the relationship of the refugees with the community, regularly teaming up with organisations such as ‘Community First’, a government-funded initiative, and National Theatre Wales. Oasis’ support extends to asylum seekers and refugees who have lived in Cardiff for a number of years, as well as those who have just arrived. Ms. Roberts said: “Things we help with might include updating their CV. They might get letters that they just don’t understand because the English is too complicated, citizenships tests, driving license, insurance and tax returns. Just anything because it can be a bit bewildering - even for a British person”. She added: “For some people it’s just a place to come - they feel like it’s their home and they can come here”. Like many other non-profit organisations of this type, Oasis struggle to secure funding. The centre relies on applying for grants, and according to Ms. Roberts depends upon “grant money or we have people that donate a small amount regularly, so that all mounts up; we don’t have any government funding”. The centre also relies on donations of food, clothing and even kitchen ap-

pliances such as washing machines to support refugees. The co-founder said: “We’re always looking for men’s clothes for people because sometimes all they’ve got is the clothes they stand in. We get through nearly 100 people a week who need clothes”. Since August, the centre has seen a rise in those seeking help, especially among Syrian refugees. However, Oasis also has clients from Eritrea, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and even Mongolia. Facilities at the centre provide free lunch with a cafe area, as well as a variety of English classes including women’s English classes, advanced English classes, and basic classes for people who are just in initial accommodation. Talking to Gair Rhydd, Ms. Roberts continued: “We do sport in the afternoons so we have a volleyball team, we play football, we’ve done cage cricket, we’ve got badminton, table tennis and snooker. We do music, we’ve got art class, and we try and signpost people to other things that are on in Cardiff as well”. She also spoke of the efforts of the charity to educate people about refugees: “We’re also doing an exhibition that’ll go around Wales, so it

will hopefully be for people who don’t know much about refugees”. For students wishing to help, both STAR and Oasis are always grateful for volunteers. Similar to Oasis, STAR also provides English classes for refugees, as well as offering a place to relax and socialise. Run by a national student network, STAR volunteers hold a weekly drop in at the Trinity Centre on Newport Road in addition to creating various campaigns and fundraising activities including the Equal Access campaign. As explained by STAR President in Cardiff, asylum seekers face huge barriers to higher education. As a result the group has run a successful campaign at Cardiff University which has led to the creation of two bursaries provided for students who are asylum seekers. According to Chilambo, there are currently students studying at Cardiff as a direct change in the University’s policy. This campaign is now planned to be used nationally in a hope to make Wales the first Equal Access country. It is clear that organisations such as Oasis and STAR are extremely important to refugees and asylum seekers, and will be increasingly relied on as Europe’s refugee crisis continues.

I used to live in Glasgow, and some people were not very nice to refugees. It is much different here, I like it in Cardiff.

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Pictured: Refugees making lanterns at the OASIS centre in Splott

Students celebrate the life of their flatmate

Anna Lewis

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tudents at Cardiff University have commemorated the life of their flatmate, after a death was confirmed at a halls of residence last week. A University spokesperson confirmed the news on Wednesday January 27th. In a statement the message read: “we can confirm the tragic death of a Cardiff University student at one of

our halls of residence.” The incident is not being treated as suspicious. The spokesperson continued: “Our immediate thoughts and sympathies are with the student’s friends and family at this extremely difficult time. “Anyone affected can access support from our professional student support staff or our Chaplains.” Speaking to Gair Rhydd, three girls

from Talybont Court described their flatmate as “exactly the sort of person you would hope to live with - smiley, caring, honest and unbelievably intelligent.” They continued: “We have no bad memories of him, none except for maybe his infamous Weetabix bowls which he always ‘forgot’ to wash up! The loss of such a wonderful friend is one which we find difficult to put into

words. “We find comfort in knowing how much [he] loved his short time here, and we were the privileged few who got to spend so much time with him. Taken far too soon, his memory will live with us forever.” This is the second death to be reported in a halls of residence this academic year, as a person was confirmed to have died during early September.

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Taken far too soon, his memory will live with us.

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NEWS 5

Plagiarism levels in Cardiff revealed Anna Lewis

FOI shows statistics of those caught cheating

lagiarism levels at Cardiff University have seen a slight increase, according to the results of an Freedom of Information (FOI) request. The statistics have been revealed amidst a larger investigation examining the increase in cheating across UK universities, described by The Independent as a “plagiarism epidemic”. In the academic year 2014-15, 283 cases of academic misconduct in Cardiff were recorded, a slight increase from the 268 case from 2013-14. Of those 283, 199 students were found to be guilty of plagiarism compared to 83 people who allegedly cheated in exams, often by possessing notes or mobile phones. According to the statistics, students

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A spokesperson described the figures as “consistent” with “no significant rises.”

were most commonly awarded a score of zero for the assessment in question and were required to sit a study skills course. The second most popular form of punishment was giving those guilty an ‘informal warning letter’ for those who continued to write after the end of an exam. Other cases saw students lose all marks for the module affected, and the issue of a ‘formal reprimand’. During one case where a dissertation was plagiarised, a recommendation was made to the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Colin Riordan, advising that the student should be disqualified from any further examinations. The latest levels match statistics recorded back in 2012, where 280

people were found to be misbehaving. This includes examples of students guilty of “suspicious behaviour”, “collusion”, and “alleged talking during an examination”. In the latest results, approximately 67 per cent of those caught cheating were undergraduates, whilst 33 per cent were postgraduates from taught programmes and 0.35 per cent from postgraduate research courses. Of those who stated their gender, 54 per cent of students identified as male and 44 per cent identified as female. In a UK-wide investigation, the universities of Kent, Westminster and East London were found to have the most examples of academic misconduct, with the highest number of students found cheating resting at 1,947

Which students are most likely to plagiarise?

Undergraduates: 66% Postgraduates: 34%

Female: 45% Male: 55% Didn’t say: 1%

cases compared to Cardiff ’s total score of 828. Indeed, with only one per cent of the population of Cardiff students found to be guilty of academic misconduct, a spokesperson described the figures as “consistent” and showing “no significant rises”. According to academics, in general the most common types of plagiarism is no longer attributed to copying and pasting from other sources but rather using services described as “bespoke essay-writing” companies. The study also found that non-EU students were more likely found to be guilty of plagiarism, as 35 per of all cases were attributed to international students despite constituting only 12 per cent of the student population.

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Other cases saw students lose all marks for the module affected, and the issue of a “formal reprimand.”

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Most common forms of academic misconduct Plagiarism: 70% Exam misbehaviour: 30%

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Students breathalysed on nights out

Joanna Beck

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Licensed premises are expected to use the breathalyser only as an aid where they would otherwise have refused entry. South Wales Police

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ardiff Students’ Union are breathalysing students upon entry to their club nights as part of a scheme which has been put forward by South Wales Police. The programme, which is being implemented in 19 different venues across the city, attempts to reduce ‘predrinking’ before nights out. Although some have questioned the motivations behind the Students’ Union’s participation in the scheme, a spokesperson assured students that safety is their priority: “Commercial impact, either positive or negative, had no bearing whatsoever on the Students’ Union’s decision to be involved in this trial scheme”. This is in response to suggestions that the scheme is simply an attempt to get students to spend more money on drinks in venues. Lucy Woodman, Editor for The Tab Cardiff, told Wales Online: “The Union is sure to make money off people having to spend more inside rather than drinking before”. However Claire Blakeway, Students’ Union President, dismissed any commercial implications: “This is a citywide initiative to promote responsible drinking that the Students’ Union is co-operating with and we have absolutely no intentions and nor do we think that we will make

any commercial gain from this”. Although club-goers could be refused entrance after taking a breathalyser test, a spokesperson for South Wales Police has said: “Licensed premises are expected to use the breathalyser only as an aid where they would otherwise have refused entry”. It has also been confirmed that the breathalysers are not the same as those used to detect drink-driving. The machines given to venues, which are provided by the local health board, do not give an explicit alcohol level reading and act as more of a “guide” according to South Wales Police. Norwich saw a similar pilot scheme introduced which reportedly resulted in a decrease in violent crime associated with alcohol and police are hoping for a comparable effect in Cardiff. Benni Nicholson-Lepine, Substance Misuse Coordinator for the Safer Vale Partnership and Area Planning Board has discussed the motivations behind the programme. “An overwhelming amount of research has demonstrated the damaging effects of alcohol and binge drinking. Recent health assessments show that, across Cardiff and the Vale, too many individuals are drinking at dangerous levels and we are aware of the

increase in the number of individuals ‘preloading’ and being significantly intoxicated prior to going out for the evening”. A Students’ Union spokesperson reiterated that “legally a licensed venue cannot serve an intoxicated

person or allow them to remain on the premises” and reassured students that their Union “takes measures above and beyond those of other commercial venues to ensure the safety and well-being of its customers”.

Pictured: Queues outside the Students’ Union (Photographer: Craig Miekle)

6 NEWS

Students protest against maintenance cuts Tanya Harrington

Societies join with politicians to fight against last week’s vote

espite heavy rainfall, Cardiff University students gathered at the Students’ Union building last Wednesday to protest the cutting of the student maintenance grant. Currently, grants can reach up to £3,387 per year, but following George Osborne’s budget proposal they are to be replaced by loans of up to £8,200 per year in value. The protest began as an idea from Cardiff Labour Students, but with their President, Jake Fletcher, citing the want to show a more “unified voice”, members of other groups such as the Socialist Students Society, the Green Party Society and the National Union of Students were all welcomed. Talking to Gair Rhydd, Fletcher

stated: “We wanted to make sure when doing this protest that it’s Cardiff speaking,” while he also claimed: “We asked the Tories, but they said no.” Also amongst the attendees were local councillors Chris Weaver and Sam Knight of the Labour party and Elizabeth Clark of the Liberal Democrats. Alongside them was Students’ Union President Claire Blakeway, who stated: “It’s fantastic to see such a great turnout at today’s protest and so many students engaged, and I think this highlights how this is a huge matter that affects students.” Some of the students present included Katie from the Socialist Students Society, who said “I know a lot of people who couldn’t survive at

university without their maintenance grants, and it’s just making it less accessible to people from working class backgrounds”. Cardiff Labour Students member Robert also added: “I’m from England and I know it would have certainly affected my decision in coming here.” Green Party Society member Jamie stressed: “We’re the fifth richest economy in the world, there are mansion tax and inheritance tax cuts and yet simultaneously you see an assault from the right of the more vulnerable in society and poorer students.” Another student, Rowan, said: “If they had cut the grants before I began university, I would probably have chosen to go to a local university that is less prestigious just because it

would save a lot of money, but then my degree would suffer, so it’s very difficult.” During the protest, students stood outside of the Students’ Union building, held banners and signs and offered a petition against the maintenance grant cuts for people to sign. This was accompanied by chants as students voiced their anger, appealing for the government to “save our grants.” Elected officers at the Cardiff University Students’ Union released their own statement about the maintenance grant cuts on January 19th, which stated: “We categorically disagree with this discriminatory treatment of current and possible future students.”

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I know a lot of people who couldn’t survive at university without their maintenance grants. Protester

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Pictured: Students, SU officers and politicians protesting (Photographers: Tanya Harrington and Labour Students)

Anna Lewis

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Many students sent in images of drinking, nudity, and use of illegal substances.

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‘Cardiff-Uni’ snapchat receives national media attention

Snapchat account made by Cardiff students has been condemned by the University due to its explicit nature, with many members contributing nude pictures and videos. The account, which was named ‘Cardiff-uni’, received national media attention last week after gaining over 500 followers. With many students sending in images of drinking, nudity, and use of illegal substances, a spokesperson has described the situation as “deeply concerning”. According to the Mirror, the story also included footage of an unconscious man left in the toilets. The username has since been reported by the University accompanied by requests to close it immediately. By 4pm on Wednesday 28th January, the account was confirmed to have closed. However, as it was established three days prior to this, the ‘Cardiffuni’ Snapchat story already featured hundreds of posts. It is understood that similar accounts are still running, although their names contain no links to Cardiff University.

In addition, the social media app Yikyak has also been subject of criticism after users took to the site to discuss and ‘rate’ the content on Snapchat. Cardiff University has been quick to separate itself from the incident, as a spokesperson stated: “It is important to state that these social media accounts have nothing to do with Cardiff University and we are deeply concerned by the association; the totally inappropriate use of language and the nature of images being shared.” They also warned that if any complaints are received involving a Cardiff University student then an investigation or “disciplinary procedure” will be launched. Talking to Gair Rhydd, one Cardiff University student explained that they were not upset or offended by the Snapchat account but said that the main issue stood with using the name ‘Cardiff-uni’. He also suggested that unlike media descriptions, not all snaps feature nudity and stressed that they are only uploaded with the consent of the user. Addressing its students however,

Cardiff University reminded Gair Rhydd that people “need to be extremely careful and show some common sense about what they say or show online.” Their statement continued: “We would encourage them not to post details or images which they might find embarrassing later or don’t want family members, work colleagues, lecturers or employer/future employer to see.”

Although applicable to all students, this concern is particularly worrying for those studying on healthcare courses such as medicine, with its potential to breach fitness to practice standards. In order to overcome these issues, the University provide guidance on what it described as the “appropriate use of social media.”

Pictured: Snapchat has been the cause of the controversy (Photographer: Maurizio Pesce)

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8 ADVICE

advice

Editors: Gwen Williams Caragh Medlicott @GairRhyddAdv advice@gairrhydd.com gairrhydd.com/advice

Addressing weight from both ends of the scale

Caragh Medlicott and Gwen Williams

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Arguably, the pressure to have the perfect body is felt most prominently by women, but men too are starting to suffer the effects.

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eight and body image are intrinsically linked in our diet-mad society. Perception of one’s own weight is a concern most frequently related to quality of appearance rather than health. The media presents an unobtainable body ideal, which drives capitalist institutions; in the UK alone, the diet industry is worth a whopping two billion pounds. And what is this all centred around? Not being healthy, but losing weight. Most recently, the phenomenon of “diet teas” has arisen, due massively to its promotion on social media and the packaging of products as Instagram-worthy fashion statements. Companies have created various brands of teas which claim to aid weight loss and “detox” the body. These tea kits can cost upwards of £30 for what a lot of people are calling dressed-up laxatives. Despite many health enquiries into the authenticity of these products, celebrity Instagram endorsement has seen more and more young girls getting sucked in. And this is just one of many examples pointing to the toxicity of the dieting market’s products. Health is a word far removed from the minds of the diet industry giants: our insecurity is their profit. The repercussions of diet-culture go beyond just the physical; a society obsessed with achieving the perfect

body inevitably leads to pressure and feelings of inadequacy and this is bad news for our mental health. Self-image and self-esteem are at an all-time low for most young adults. Psychologists have reported new symptoms of this, with large numbers of women partaking in ‘habitual self-body monitoring’, a phrase which describes a behaviour where women self-objectify and view themselves as others would, for example repositioning the angle they hold their body so it looks thinner. This behavioural quirk often leads to increased anxiety and self-loathing. Arguably, the pressure to have the perfect body is felt most prominently by women, but men too are starting to suffer the effects. Eating disorders are one of the more extreme examples of mental health being affected by these societal pressures to have the “right” kind of body. While they are still ten times more common in women, eating disorders in men are on the rise; since 2000, the number of men diagnosed with eating disorders has gone up by 30%. The severity of the problem cannot be understated; diet-culture has become so poisonous, it is affecting people’s emotional well-being. The societal obsession with people’s figures completely ignores all the outside elements which can contribute to someone’s size. Body shape

alone is not an indicator of someone’s health and lifestyle, yet larger people face preconceived ideas about their diet and fitness every day. It enters a paradoxical realm where someone will tut if a big person is eating junk food, yet scoff when they eat a salad. This problem can even stretch as far as fat people having health complaints written off because ‘hey, you should just lose weight’. Is health really such a black and white issue? Making direct and final decisions based on the correlation between weight and health completely ignores any other nuances and complexities. And this is something which works both ways: not all big people carry weight because they eat too much, and not all thin people are skinny because they don’t eat enough. So what if you are underweight? It may be due to a physical illness preventing you from eating or as a result of suffering with severe stress or anxiety. Whatever the cause, it can be just as worrying as being or feeling overweight. Your clothes may look baggy on you and you may be embarrassed to go for food with your friends due to a poor appetite. Trust me, pushing your food around the plate to make it look like you’ve eaten more than you have doesn’t fool anyone. Just like those who feel they are overweight, you begin to have feel-

ings of inadequacy. Ironically, although you are what society perceives to be ‘skinny’, people still feel the need to comment on your size with phrases like ‘you look ill, have you lost weight?’ or ‘you need to fatten up’. Then there are others who try to make you feel insecure by telling you ‘I don’t know why you’re complaining, most people would do anything to be your size.’ You can’t win! Yet because the body ideal depicted in society is unobtainable, people who are on the smaller side also come under pressure to measure up to the inexistent and horrible notion of ‘normal’. In order to destigmatise our perceptions of body image, we need to be careful and selective in the language we use to describe ourselves and towards others. How about ‘you’re looking healthy’ as an oppose to ‘have you lost/ gained weight?’ Remember that language is loaded and what you say can really upset others even if you didn’t mean it in that way. Next time you go out for dinner with your friends, don’t ask if they are having cake afterwards, just order what you like. If you give the impression that you don’t care, it may help others feel the same way. The fact is, ‘skinny’ is just a word and our ideas of ‘beauty’ are corrupted by fakery and photoshop. People are beautiful, pictures are not.

Pictured: Don’t let society weigh you down (Photographer: catd_mitchell via Flickr)

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In order to destigmatise our perceptions of body image, we need to be careful and selective in the language we use to describe ourselves and towards others.

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ADVICE 9

‘Despite being taught in Welsh’ Gwen Williams

Rachel Barter

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If you’re looking at a particular business make sure you research them before applying.

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The benefits of bilingualism

ith Britain becoming more and more culturally diverse, we are surrounded by a wealth of different languages and dialects. Monolingualism is quickly becoming a thing of the past as people need to be able to communicate effectively with one another. There are some who feel threatened by a multilingual society, and view minority languages as inferior. In light of the ‘Despite being taught in Welsh’ uproar where Welsh was portrayed in a newspaper article as a language of the disadvantaged, let’s take a step back to think about what multilingualism means. Being Welsh myself, I was taught entirely in my native tongue until the age of 11 and was given the op-

portunity to choose the language I was educated in at secondary school. I decided to study almost entirely in Welsh until I was 16 and I feel I have had exactly the same, if not more, opportunities than any monolingual student. In fact, having the ability to speak several languages not only benefits yourself but others around you. When applying for jobs, you want to stand out as much as possible and listing the languages that you speak on your CV can help you achieve this. It shows your employer that you are able to interact with customers or colleagues that may not speak English which could help increase business or make your workplace more accessible to others. Studies have suggested that learn-

ing a new language can improve skills such as memory and decision making. Multitasking becomes easier as you learn to code switch between languages during social interactions and being multilingual can help you gain a better grammatical and syntactical understanding of your mother tongue. Some studies have even claimed that it can help keep Alzheimers and dementia at bay. If you go travelling, being able to “speak the lingo” as some would say, makes life a lot easier. You can ask for directions, get what you need from the shop and in all honesty, the locals often welcome our attempts to engage with their language and culture. It just makes the whole experience that much more pleasant.

At Cardiff, we are lucky enough to have the ‘Languages For All’ scheme where students can choose to learn a language for free alongside their university course. There are a multitude of languages that you can pick up at different levels from beginners Japanese to advanced French. The programme gives students the choice of attending weekly classes or studying independently. While it can be harder to learn a new language as an adult than it as a child, if you’re determined enough the benefits really are rich. A society made up of lots of different languages should be stimulating, not alienating! So why not get involved, learn something new and add a another skill to your CV!

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having the ability to speak several languages not only benefits yourself but others around you.

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CVs and personal statements: a guide

t’s never too early to start preparing for life after graduation. Whether it’s for a job after university or summer work, having a good CV is a necessary requirement to becoming employed. But how can you make sure that your CV can land you that job? First of all, don’t overcomplicate. Sure, it might sound good in your essay to throw in a bunch of extravagant and complex words to fill the word count and make you sound well-informed but, on your job application, the line between relevance and drivel is very fine, and employers will notice. Keep it simple (but not too simple) and make sure your possible employer can pick out the relevant skills you are informing them of with ease. A CV or personal statement is rarely more than a page or two in length so remember that every word counts. The personal statement section of your CV should sum up what you have done in the past, the job you

5 things

to think about before graduation day. Like it or not, it’s coming around quickly folks!

1. Get out of your overdraft Scary as it is, you need to start thinking about getting your finances in order. You wont have an interest free overdraft forever. Depending on what your plans are you might need to keep money aside for house deposits, a car, tuition fees etc. Planning ahead is always a good idea;

want in the future and the skills that bridge the two. It should be short and concise, with all relevant pointers on why you are an impressive candidate. This is not the place to use irrelevant quotes or pointers. If you have a passion for something, explain why or how. Assuming that your childhood ambition will be enough to secure you a job puts you at a huge disadvantage. Arrange your past employment history with the most recent first, and explain areas you excelled within this. Employers are looking for relevant and up-to-date experience that make your CV personal to you and make you stand out as a viable employee. Be sure to include any problems you solved, projects you were involved with or areas you went that little bit further, to demonstrate how you will be an asset to their team. Select your achievements based on the job you are applying for. CVs shouldn’t be generic documents, but rather specific to the position and

sector you are applying to. Be aware of what the company or business is looking for in a candidate and make sure these features resonate through your experiences. If you’re looking at a particular business make sure you research them before applying. Many have mission statements with buzz words that will optimize your application. Graduate jobs are, mostly, looking for a specific role to be filled, and won’t necessarily be interested in the three months cat-sitting you did in 2009. Similarly, short-term part-time jobs may not be bowled over by your 4-week internship at that corporate organisation. Cherry-pick relevant experiences that you can relate to aspects of the work you are hoping to get. Lastly, make sure you double check through the document before you send it to ensure no embarrassing grammar or punctuation mistakes that will ruin your chances before it’s even been sent. Good luck!

it means you won’t be strapped for cash when the time comes.

While many people may be returning back home to live with their parents , others may want to stay put, maybe you’ve got better job prospects in Cardiff…or maybe your family just drive you mad. Either way, if this is you, you need to start thinking about where you’re going to live. Have a chat with your friends who might be staying in Cardiff and see fi you can come to an arrangement. Remember to consider where you want to live and where you can afford.

2. The next step of your journey Now you need to consider where you’re going in life: if it’s further education, have you done your research into the cost and started your application? If you’re leaving education have you started looking into jobs for when you leave uni? Make sure you sort the little things, make sure your cover letters, CV’s, personal statements and anything else you need are in order and ready to hand out. Start early so you aren’t at a loose end after graduation.

3. Living arrangements

4. Tying up loose Tying up loose ends- Little things can really help your job application along and increase your employment options. Perhaps you started learning how to drive but haven’t done your test yet? If you started learning a

new language, why not pass some kind of exam so you have another qualification to add to your CV? All these things can be assets when your job-hunting.

5. Planning graduation day You might not want think this far ahead but like it or not it’s coming around quickly. You need to think about who you want to be there as you may need to apply for more tickets. If your family live far away, it might be an idea to make travel and accommodation arrangements well in advance. There’s also the matter of what you’ll be wearing, make sure you look into where you can hire your graduation robes so you aren’t the only one without them on the day.

Pictured Above: Applying for jobs can be a long process (Photographer: Flazingo Photos via Flickr)

10 ADVICE

Living with anxiety

Among other mental health issues, anxiety is often misunderstood, George Watkins sheds some light on his personal experience of what living with anxiety can be like

George Watkins

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Your brain should be your ally, but for people with conditions like mine, you feel it is attacking you all the time.

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’ve struggled with anxiety for about six or seven years now. I started having panic attacks during my GCSE years at school, and before long I developed agoraphobia (a fear of being away from somewhere I feel safe in case I can’t deal with it) and depression (out of frustration at myself for not being like everybody else). I’ve battled with all of these throughout university, and have experienced a journey that’s taken me from awful lows to tremendous highs, as I’ve felt myself get on the path to defeating it once and for all. I came off medication for anxiety a few months ago, after being wrongly prescribed a combination of anti-anxiety and antidepressant medication that could have been life threatening. I understand how it feels to live your life around this demon, and I therefore know how it can rule your life. Many people are confused about what it means to have a problem with anxiety. It’s actually quite straightforward. Anxiety is your body’s way of surviving. We all have a capacity for it and we all will have felt that feeling of butterflies at some point or another, whether before an exam, an interview or something else we’re worrying about. When faced with a potential threat, our body injects our bloodstream with a kick of adrenaline, preparing us to either tackle the threat (fight) or flee to somewhere safer (flight). This becomes a problem when there’s no obvious threat, and your body tells you otherwise, triggering an anxious response to something that isn’t dangerous, such as a spider (arachnophobia). A panic attack is when the level of

anxiety reaches a peak, and your body and mind feel as if they’re ready to explode. Different people get different symptoms caused by the excessive oxygen you have in your brain from breathing too heavily in preparation for the danger. Mine have varied from palpitations, dry throat, feelings of unreality and dissociation, blurred vision, feeling like I’m ready to faint, feeling like I’m going mad to feeling as if the world is caving in on me. In short, they’re awful. They tend to last between a few minutes and about 40 minutes. When you start to experience these regularly, and are unsure what is worrying you, you should start seeking help. So what is it actually like suffering with an anxiety disorder? It’s very hard to explain, because for me it’s normal to have thoughts chirping away at the back of my mind like “Where am I?” and “What am I doing?”, constantly checking if I need to be worried about where I am and what I’m doing. I can’t remember what it felt like before this started. Your brain should be your ally, but for people with conditions like mine, you feel it is attacking you all the time. All of the time. There is no break, because according to your mind, there are threats everywhere. My agoraphobia developed as a result of hiding in my house and not leaving for six months from pure fear, having had a breakdown at school, hence making me nervous of being away from where I previously felt safe. When you walk down Queen Street, you probably are concentrating on the shops and where you want to go next. For me, I have to control myself to make sure I don’t panic,

because it feels like my worst nightmare has come to life. Other sufferers have described agoraphobia as feeling rooted to a spot, which is very accurate. When the panic kicks in, and you realise you aren’t near somewhere safe, like a car or your home, you feel as if everything is closing in on you. Occasionally it gets so bad I am genuinely convinced that it’s game over for good. I have previously collapsed in public from blood pressure dipping from severe anxiety, but this would be different for everyone, and is very rare. Social lives are the most difficult part in my opinion. I sit at the front of lectures. I don’t drink because it brings up feelings that remind me of panic attacks. I have never been to a nightclub. I have to make excuses for not attending bigger social events. I therefore feel as if I don’t have any close friends. I know deep down that I do, but it’s hard to lie in bed at night listening to people going out and not feel different, particularly when you feel that it’s robbed you of years of your life. All of this is because of fear of what might happen. That fear is the trigger for more fear. You then feel physically drained from the constant battle, which makes you worry even more, and a cycle develops. I feel as if I’ve broken this cycle now, but I’m having to make up on lost time, and it’s desperately tough to keep motivated to experience a ‘normal’ social life. So what can you do if you’re struggling? The first step is to talk to someone close to you. I only recently opened up to my flatmates about how I really feel and they were wonder-

fully supportive. They spot when I don’t feel too good and can help me tackle it. There’s usually underlying issues that can cause an anxiety disorder, so it would be worth having a chat to your GP about receiving counselling. Counselling often gets called a waste of time, but I can guarantee that it isn’t. I gave up on it after my councillor suggested I might be autistic because of how sedated my medication made me appear, but after trying again three years later I regret not taking it up earlier, because it could have helped me get much better sooner. I even started a mental health campaign on campus before I admitted that I could do with someone to talk to! It’s basically a glorified chat. You’re sat in a room with a lovely man or woman who listens to you, and talks to you in a friendly way. You can say anything to them without judgement, and without feeling bound like if they were family or friends. Be wary of medication for anxiety; I strongly believe it should be a last resort, when all else has failed, unlike in my situation. Finally, and most importantly, you aren’t going mad. You’re very sane, and you’re not as different as you feel. If you’re interested in helping us make a difference with mental health of all varieties on campus and beyond, get in touch with ‘The Mental Youth’ on Facebook, or look at our website: thementalyouth.org. We need to break the stigma surrounding mental problems and help people realise that we aren’t mad, odd or beyond help. We’re normal people just like them. We just have a few different challenges to tackle.

Pictured: Anxiety can have a big impact on everyday life (Photographer: Christopher Paquette via Flickr)

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So what can you do if you’re struggling? The first step is to talk to someone close to you.

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12 COMMENT

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Editors: Em Gates Charley Griffiths David Williams @GairRhyddCom comment@gairrhydd.com gairrhydd.com/comment

Doping in sport: How far will athletes go for glory?

Dan Heard

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You only have to go on the internet and you can bring up an alphabetical list of all the athletes who have tested positive and been banned for drug use.

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longside the current hype and conversation around the sport of athletics, there is also an increased awareness of the controversial topic of drug use or doping. A case that stands out for me is one from last year, when the former 400m world champion Amantle Montsho was provisionally suspended due to failing the A and B sample in a doping test in the Commonwealth Games 400m final in Glasgow. Shockingly, Welsh athletes aren’t exempt from this, as 400m hurdler Rhys Williams and 800m runner Gareth Warburton both failed doping tests prior to last year’s Commonwealth Games. You only have to search the internet and you can find a whole list of all the athletes who have tested positive and been banned for drug use, a list of which is huge and includes coaches too. The accusations stretch far and wide, and cover some of the most well-known athletes, such as Paula Radcliffe. Only last week she claimed she was “set-up” by MP’s out to damage her reputation after

she was embroiled in a hearing into doping allegations. Mo Farah, who is competing in the World Half Marathon Championships in March here in Cardiff, and sponsored by Cardiff University, has also been accused. Of course, not all positive drug tests mean that the athlete has purposely taken drugs to enhance their performance. There are times when athletes might have to take medication that contains a substance on the World Anti-Doping Agency prohibited list. Or due to the intense training programs and lowered immunity that leads to a common cold. With the complicated banned substance list, it’s not surprising if you don’t realise that the tiny amount of Phenylephrine in decongestants in something as seemingly innocent as Lemsip is even banned. However, the use of performance enhancing drugs to specifically improve physical sporting performance is as old as the history of sport itself and is consistently a feature of human competition. It is becoming increasingly difficult to be able to trust any athlete that runs

even close to a world record now, with speculation coming from all angles as to whether they have only been able to achieve that because they’re on drugs. In a survey conducted in 2014, a mixture of US Olympians and aspiring Olympians who were asked if they would use a banned performance enhancing drug were given two scenarios: 1) “You will not be caught and you will win”, and 2) “You will win every competition you enter for the next five years but will then die from the side effects.” Amazingly, 98 per cent of the athletes said they would use the banned performance enhancing drug in relation to the first option, while an incredible 50 per cent of athletes said they would use the banned performance enhancing drug in the second instance. Half of the athletes would take titles and glory, knowing that what they have done to themselves will kill them within years, not decades. The results show just how strong the ‘win at all’ costs attitude is across sporting individuals, only enhanced by

the social pressures encountered by every athlete across every sport and level. Yet, if found out, much as Lance Armstrong, the most infamous of dopers in recent memory, the consequences for the athlete such as the loss of honour, respect, loyalty, and even income following a positive doping test, is never fully understood and acknowledged by the athlete until they are proven guilty of doping. By which time it is too late. Doping remains a serious issue mainly because it not only threatens the integrity of the sport, but also puts up an athlete’s health at serious risk. The consequences of doping are serious both professionally and and in relation to health. As the survey showed, is not only limited to the top athletes, but it also affects many upcoming and aspiring athletes who are influenced by their actions and look up to them. Sport is for enjoyment and competition, and usually aims to improve; what is the goal to increasing skill and performance by taking drugs?

Pictured: Doping in sport seems to be becoming increasingly common (Photographer: tableatny via

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The consequnces of doping are serious both professionally and in relation to health.

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COMMENT 13

Banksy: More than just an artist Dan Heard

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I find it interesting how news of such an attack by French authorities escaped widespread media attention.

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Em Gates

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It’s the separation of the homeless and asylum seekers from everyday people that is the main issue with poverty in the UK.

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Dan Heard discusses how Banksy’s new work on the French Embassy has been significant in shining light on the terrors of Calais

n possibly the most controversial event to happen at a London-based embassy since Ecuador granted Wiki-leaks founder Julian Assange asylum. A new work by the widelyrenowned, always controversial and still anonymous graffiti artist Banksy appeared last weekend outside the French embassy in London, criticising the alleged use of tear gas against migrants in Calais. The artwork, done in Banksy’s now world-famous bleak, uncompromising style, features the iconic image of the young girl from Les Misérables, but with tears in her eyes as gas from a canister billows towards her. The politicised message refers to the alleged use of tear gas by the French authorities in the ‘Jungle’ migrant camp. Interestingly, in a first for Banksy, the artwork is interactive, as a scannable code appears next to the mural. The artist confirmed on his website he is behind its creation. When viewers hold their phone over the code, it takes them to an online video of police raiding the camps at the beginning of January. The seven-minute clip posted on YouTube shows tear gas, rubber bullets and concussion grenades being used in an overnight raid on the inhabitants of the camp, who run for cover as the siege progresses.

Personally, I find it very interesting how news of such an attack by French authorities escaped widespread media attention. The focus of much of the world’s news has been on Paris since the terrible attacks of last year, yet a story about police gassing immigrants in a camp some 23 miles from the British coast, a camp I saw for myself only last week, fails to make headlines? This isn’t the first time that the ongoing European immigration situation has been the subject of Banksy’s work, with the artwork part of an ongoing series featuring the camp. Sets and rides from his hugely successful “Dismaland” theme park in Westonsuper-Mare were dismantled and sent to the Jungle to be used as shelters, while an image of Apple’s late CEO Steve Jobs appeared on a wall in the camp, highlighting that the technology giant was himself the son of Syrian migrants. In a rare statement to accompany the work, the mysterious artist said shortly after the murals appeared in Calais: “We’re often led to believe migration is a drain on the country’s resources but Steve Jobs was the son of a Syrian migrant. Apple is the world’s most profitable company, it pays over $7 billion (£4.6 billion) a year in taxes

Pictured: More has been going on at the boarders than we knew about, Banksy has made this known (Source: Jurriaan Persyn via Flickr)

- and it only exists because they allowed in a young man from Homs.” The messages Banksy has formerly conveyed through his work have been anti-war, anti-capitalism, anti-fascism and anti-establishment, with anti-oppression now added to that list. He has criticised numerous political parties, the Royal Family, and other powers. He has given away tickets to festivals in exchange for the right to paint on blank murals. He has honoured Princess Diana, the victims of Hurricane Katrina and the Holocaust, as well as defending human and animal rights. He has shed light on the darker side

of the world: child abuse, child labour, greed, hypocrisy, power, alienation, and now, the suffering of so many in a camp miles from our shore. Banksy, though operating from behind a mask of anonymity, has said and done more with his works where countless politicians and official appear to have failed. He remains the champion and condemner of so much of our popular culture and zeitgeist today. The world seems to have accepted moving on from mimesis. But who’s to say that art can’t continue to mimic reality and portray its injustices, much as Banksy’s works do?

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But who’s to say art can’t continue to mimic reality and portray its injustices, much as Banksy’s works do?

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Scrutiny of councils over red wristbands

very evening that I walk home from work I see the same things: a couple sharing a sleeping bag and a few blankets out the back of Debenhams; a young girl sitting outside NatWest pleading with passers by for spare change; a dishevelled man sitting cross legged outside Buffalo reading a book. Sometimes, I see the volunteer van, giving out fresh clean clothes, cups of hot tea, anything to make the cold winter night a little more bearable for those people that unfortunately have nowhere to go. And I literally hate myself that I can’t help. Recently, the private firm Clearsprings Ready Homes came up with an idea on how they might be able to support these people a little better, to target those who were desperately in need of care and attention. This idea was to assign red wristbands to the asylum seekers for easier identification with aid and food. And being honest, everyone lost their collective shit. Don’t get me wrong, I think this is an awful idea. I think it is alienating, and I think it creates a stigma and sense of separation between people who are lucky enough to have a permanent roof over their head and the people who don’t. The wristbands would do one of two things, it would either stir resentment towards these people or it would create a dreadful amount of pity. Either of these things

would be the cherry on top of a pretty crap reality for anyone sleeping rough on the streets. Even refugees have have stated that wearing the band feels similar to a prison tag or a dog collar, meaning that they feel like this band makes them a secondary human to those more fortunate. One man from Cameroon likened the new bands to the expression “When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers”, and this is the most valid thing I’ve heard said about this situation. At the end of the day, stop making things more difficult for asylum seekers, and actually help without making it worse! But I think it’s important to comprehend that the firm that issued the wristbands never set out to cause harm; yes they went the complete wrong way about it, but they were trying to help. They were trying to help people get food, clothes, blankets and showers, help people to feel like humans again, the same way we feel when we wake up in our nice warm beds. Which, unfortunately and ashamedly, is a hell of a lot more than I’ve ever done. So yes, I think that branding people with wristbands isn’t a great step to making people feel more human, it’s actually sort of moving backwards rather than forwards, but they are trying to take some sort of action to help the needy on the streets. It’s the separation of the homeless and asylum seekers from everyday people that is the main issue with

poverty in the UK. Donning someone in a symbolic garment or even worse painting front doors to reflect certain ideological values does echo treatment of a certain group of people in the 1930s and ‘40s, and it is vital that any attempts at helping members of society doesn’t actually hinder any good that can be done. Of course, the idea has now been scrapped, and there has been quite the backlash following the controversy. Once again, I do think it was an unhelpful idea, but is the situation any better now? Are councils all over the

UK going to stop formulating plans to help the needy just in case they say or do the wrong thing and cause a controversy? All I know is that I am writing this article in a well-heated room with a full belly and clean, dry clothes. That’s a basic human right, and it’s what both asylum seekers and the homeless deserve too. I’m not saying I have any solutions at all for this issue, in fact I am stumped, but it’s important that we don’t forget about the people less fortunate than us, the people who quite frankly could just do with a break.

Pictured: The marginalisation of refugees and asylum seekers in Britain is sparking controversial debate (Source: Takver via Flickr)

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Are councils all over the UK going to stop formulating plans to help the needy just incase they say or do the wrong thing and cause a controversy?

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14 COMMENT

Margaret Thatcher Museum

Joe Fletcher

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The planned museum would, consequently, leave much of the nation reeling.

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Is it really a worth investment in the current economic climate?

ecently there has been an upturn of interest in a proposed fifteen million pound museum honouring Margaret Thatcher. The museum, which David Cameron himself gave backing to two years ago (when it first hit the news), has garnered recent interest via a petition against its construction; compiled by the political-activism organisation 38 Degrees. In my view it is clear that a Thatcher-based museum is a terrible idea. Even privately-funded (as is planned), it is a vast amount of money to be spent memorialising a woman who will eternally polarise opinion - ‘polarise’ being a mega understatement. She’s like supercharged marmite: it’s not really a case of love or hate; you either view her as a modern-day heroine who rescued Britain from the murky depths of ruin, or as the Devil incarnate and the source of all evil in the world. She has influenced Britain in so many ways, yes, and a person so intrinsic to contemporary British history is not one who should be ignored. However, we live in a time when many people are feeling the crush of what they consider to be austerity. The planned museum would, consequently, leave much of the nation reeling. There are more fruitful ways of spending 15 million

quid than on a tribute to someone who is despised in so many corners. To build the museum would be a huge disrespect to many Britons. The biggest crime here is that money is simultaneously being siphoned away from other UK museums and art galleries, in line with government spending cuts. Squeezing British culture in this way, whilst promoting a Thatcher museum, makes the latter project look like no more than a £15 million exercise in Conservative propaganda and narcissism. It reflects poorly. Really, really poorly. What are Cameron and his associates trying to achieve? The British political past is a complex, interwoven tapestry. This island has a rich and powerful history of liberalism, trade unionism and working-class culture, which deserves to be remembered as much as anything else. Was Atlee Conservative? Was Bevan? Was David-Lloyd George right-wing? William Gladstone? Gordon Brown? Tony Bla.. hang on. But Thatcher-haters: rest easy (hear me out). Cameron is the ultimate PR-man. He is slicker than an eel in Vaseline (and only a little less slimy). Building a £15 million museum devoted to Thatcher, whether privately funded or not, would be a display of gross-self indulgence even

more wince-inducing than Ed Milibands’ Moses-style ‘stone tablet’ - a giant, £30,000 slab engraved with the Labour Party’s pledges for a “Better Future” (last seen May 2015). There is absolutely no chance of Mr. Cameron, our weasel-like, smoothlyoperating PM, falling into the same comical public relations trap. Mind you, he did endorse a funeral for Thatcher which cost the taxpayer over three million pounds. Maybe lefties such as myself should support the museum then, after all. It would be the ultimate bluff on our part. To build the mu-

seum would be an act of PR buffoonery by the Conservatives; akin to that which derailed Labours’ election chances in 2015. Mr. Cameron, I take back what I said. Thatcher was great. Have you ever seen the working classes suppressed in a way so delightfully brutal and calculated? And Scotland? Scotland can piss off. Lets’ build a museum. No, lets’ build two museums! We can triple the budget and encrust the brickwork with diamonds. The great lady deserves no less. And the public will love it no doubt. Seems like a no-brainer, David.

“

To build the museum would be a huge disrespect to many Britons.

”

Pictured: Cameron has publically backed the Thatcher Museum plans (Source: Maragaret Thatcher Foundation via Flickr)

Time to give back

The Tories plan to make young peope work 30 hours a week for their benefits, but is this fair?

Mared Emlyn Parry

“

This policy will apply for the youth that have been out of work, education, or training for over six months.

”

avid Cameron’s new scheme plans to abolish Jobseekers’ allowance for 18-21 year olds and replace it with “Youth Allowance” which works out the same as Jobseekers’ allowance, at £57.35 per week. The difference is that the young people who fall into this age bracket will have to do some compulsory community work under the ‘Community Work Programme Policy’ which will consist of them giving back to the community through helping the elderly or helping out with different charities. This policy will apply for the youth that have been out of work, education or training for over six months. The aim of the Prime Minister is to get rid of the idea that it’s simply okay for young adults to leave education and to go straight down to the job centre and do nothing with their lives, yet still expecting money to live off. He believes it will abolish long-term youth unemployment, and will give youths the drive and skills needed to enter the world of work. Through the new scheme, around 50,000 (around ten per cent of the UK’s claimants) will be put into

some form of work, and will acquire a better mindset, and will hopefully be encouraged to find a full-time job. If this scheme would be carried out as Cameron says it will, then there won’t be many problems with it, as young people will have to give back or risk losing their welfare. It can be argued though that this scheme may seem unfair for a multitude of reasons; the narrow age group of 1821 can be seen as unfair, as anyone above that age won’t have to work compulsory hours, and could easily lead young people to believe that once they’ve hit the age of 21 they won’t need to work anymore. If this scheme applied to all ages it would be somewhat fairer as it would give everyone the expected ‘skills and drive’ to go out and get a full-time job, and prevent general laziness for all claimants, not just one select group of people. Under the plans of Labour, adults aged 25-orover claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance for two years or more would have a ‘compulsory jobs guarantee’ applied to them, and this would obviously benefit more claimants, as everyone would need to work towards their benefits or risk losing them, which

in my opinion seems to make more sense that Cameron’s scheme. Ultimately though, I’m glad something is planned to make benefit claim-

ants actually have to do some work for their ‘free money’, even if it’s only targeted at the younger adults.

Pictured: Cameron proposes the changes would allow young people to give back (Source: Conservatives via Flickr)

“

The narrow age gap of 1821 can be seen as unfair, as anyone above that age won’t have to work compulsory hours.

”

COMMENT 15

Portia Ladrido

White feminism in The Academy

f you’ve properly been following the ‘Before Sunrise’ trilogy, you’d be quite surprised by the recent news about our favourite French girl word-vomiting a rather derogatory statement her alter-ego Celine would definitely not approve of. During a public panel, Julie Delpy said: “Two years ago, I said something about the Academy being very whitemale, which is the reality, and I was slashed to pieces by the media. It’s funny - women can’t talk. I sometimes wish I were African-American because people don’t bash them afterwards.” This naturally caused uproar not only from African-Americans but also from most people on social media who couldn’t believe that their beloved Indie star actually uttered those words. One Twitter user said: “Does Julie Delpy know you can be both of these things at once? Somebody draw her a Venn diagram so she gets it.” And an-

other put into words what I’m feeling: “I struggle to believe we’re not being Punk’d.” She has since apologised, saying that she didn’t mean to undermine one struggle from the other, and that it was basically just poor sentence construction on her part. While I personally believe that she didn’t mean to offend, in a way, it somehow gives light to how a certain privilege (in this case, being white) can unintentionally detach people from the realities of others. It can also be that she feels so strongly about women’s rights that made her say so, but then how can she forget that there are actually African-American women? It could be that when she said African-American, she was thinking of male hotshots like Morgan Freeman or Denzel Washington. Nevertheless, her statement was done in bad taste and simply selfish. However, it’s very hard to criticise what she has said without taking into

consideration that this might simply be a miscommunication. I am still quite in denial as you all might have noticed I’ve been pulling and pushing on this argument just because I’m having a tough time wrapping my head around the idea that Celine - the romantic, unassuming girl who so lovingly wants to save the environment - would actually utter those words. If I were to play Devil’s advocate, I’d say that even when she might not have meant to say it, she definitely has thought of it. In the interview, she was speaking so fervently about her difficulties as a woman in Hollywood and when you are so passionate about a certain topic, you tend to say things that you might not necessarily want to say in public. When things like this happen, it can get ugly, but the beauty of it is that you see the person as they are (although this is not to reduce Julie Delpy as a human being merely on that

one statement). This whole issue on racism in Hollywood springing up is quite upsetting. Jada Pinkett-Smith, Mark Ruffalo, and Spike Lee among others, have vowed to boycott the Oscar’s for the second consecutive year because all contenders have been white. Although I still believe that this wasn’t done intentionally, this paints an even worse picture since this could mean that in Hollywood, they simply subconsciously choose to ignore diversity. The recent turn of events with Julie Delpy adding to this hullabaloo makes you wonder if we’ve actually come a long way from the civil rights movement or if we just like quoting Martin Luther King every chance we get? Celine, in ‘Before Sunrise’, was walking with Jesse in Vienna’s cobbled streets as she says: “Isn’t everything we do in life a way to be loved a little more?” Sadly, I love her a little less.

“

Jada PinkettSmith, Mark Ruffalo, and Spike Lee have announced to boycott the Oscars for the second consecutive year due to all contenders being white.

”

The death of the High Street

David Williams

“

Why do we always opt to use self service? By using the check out, we are keeping people in jobs.

”

Mared Emlyn Parry

s consumers are we ignorant to the consequences of our shopping habits? Our high streets are dying and increasing numbers of staff are being replaced by machines. Over the last few years the high street has been under significant economic pressure and this has resulted in the closure or down-sizing of many high street stores. A decade ago Queen Street was full of major brands, every shopping unit full. Today there are many empty units and every month we lose a store or see one of our favourite brands down-sized. It appears only the major brands such as River Island, Next, Topshop and Primark are holding on. The high street today is full of shops selling knock off goods, paying little rent, on short-term contracts. Big shopping centres such as St. David’s are admittedly the ‘new high street’, but many brands refuse to invest in such ventures because of the high cost of rent and diversifying shopping habits of consumers. It is good to see that the original shopping arcades in the side streets remain full of smaller independent shops, though the owners of these

shops are still having a tough time; the number of people walking through these arcades has plummeted in recent years. These shops are people’s livelihoods, not big corporate businesses. Most people don’t shop in the arcades simply because they don’t know what is in them. They are actually full of some really quirky shops, perfect for gifts and a fine array of coffee shops and hairdressers. If you haven’t taken a wander through any of the arcades it is well worth a look. Many of us do not approve of the lack of choice on the high street, but are we to blame for this? According to the Centre for Retail Research in 2014 online sales grew by 15.8 per cent, and in 2015 by 16.2 per cent. Every year we can see internet sales are rising. People are shopping online rather than in stores meaning there is less need for brands to be on our high streets; it is not necessarily cost-effective for businesses. Instead of sitting at home and ordering things online, why not get out and buy your goods in-store? By all means browse online and if they don’t have your size in store then utilise the internet. But by shopping in stores

we are supporting our high street and keeping people in jobs. This leads me on to my next frustration. Why do we always opt to use self service? By using the check-out, we are keeping people in jobs. Every time we use self service we risk replacing a cashier by another machine. Half the time it is is quicker to go to the tills rather than using self service anyway. The annoying voice of the self-service machine telling you there’s an unknown item in the bagging area, or you have to wait ten minutes for someone to bring you a carrier bag. What happened to good old customer service? We all know there is an employment problem in the UK, and by relying on machines we are not helping the problem. By all means, this is not to say never ever use self service, because sometimes it is more convenient. But have a little thought for the jobs of the cashiers who have families at home to support. They never know when the day will come, where just like Charlie Bucket’s dad in Willy Wonka, they may lose their job in favour of a machine. In order to save our high street and many jobs, we need to be more mindful of how we shop at what the con-

sequences may be. Next time you’re about to leave the supermarket think twice before you use that self service machine. Next time you want that new top, think twice before you order it online.

This Morning - The Hangover part II

hillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby made a splash in the media last week, having presented This Morning still in the clothes they wore to the National Television Awards the night before, and seemingly still drunk/hungover. Holly revealed that they still hadn’t been home and made the viewers very aware that the stains on her gorgeous white dress were in fact mustard, piccalilli and mint sauce, not anything else, and that they shouldn’t jump to conclusions, whilst Phillip started the show off with “We shouldn’t be here, we shouldn’t be doing this” with the laughter of the crew clear in the back-

ground. The pair are known for their humour, for not holding back their laughter whilst on live TV, and for enjoying the occasional alcoholic beverage and this is something that the public love them for (they won the award at the NTAs for a reason!) However on this particular morning they were in another league; with both of them rolling around in tears, and it was hysterical to watch! Only in the UK would it be okay for two well-known presenters to present national morning TV still bladdered from the night before, and I absolutely love that. The response to their show

has been mostly positive, with many taking to social media to claim how “refreshing” and “hilarious” they were to watch. These kind of events make celebrities such as Holly and Phil a lot more relatable, and it just makes them seem so much more down to earth than they are already, and of course; it’s great entertainment! They both went on to go over the antics of the night before, and how they ended up at Ant McPartlin’s house playing “Pie Face”, which was the reason behind Holly’s stained dress. They also shared a couple of pictures on Instagram, which showed them downing tequila shots, explain-

ing the disgusting hangover which began to hit them over the course of the show, resulting in Phil curling up on the sofa in the foetal position whilst Hollly was left clueless. No strangers to a hangover, this isn’t the first hungover post-NTA show they’ve presented. In 2013 they both presented the show in a similar state, with Holly starting the show by emerging from under a blanket on the studio floor, although she had managed to find a change of clothes that year. Granted, it wasn’t the most professional way to go about presenting the show, but they’re only human!

Pictured: Queen Street (Source: Jon Candy via Flickr)

“

Only in the UK would it be okay for two well known presenters to present national morning TV still bladdered from the night before.

”

16 COMMENT

“

Bradley Walker

Clarkson’s view of the transgender community is ignorant, and his stark comments are hurtful and reductive.

”

Aislinn McDonagh

“

I am not going to argue that volunteers all over the country don’t also do important work...but the RNLI is more than a charity helping the needy. It is a crucial emergancy service.

”

“

Charley Griffiths

It is insulting to assume young people will only read something riddled with exaggerated text speak no one uses.

”

Clarkson accused of transphobia

eremy Clarkson is facing criticism once again, this time due to comments in his Sunday Times column, saying that parents shouldn’t “indulge” their transgender children’s whims. Clarkson’s controversial views have come under fire from the both the press and the public multiple times due to the antagonistic and offensive stance of his remarks. These new comments about the “indulgence” of children were coupled with a slew of transphobic comments stating that the transgender population were “the punchline to a stag night anecdote.” Clarkson’s view of the transgender community is ignorant, and founded on no concrete evidence; but merely his inability to understand or empathise with the transgender population. Clarkson’s stark comments are not just

this community, simply due to an ignorant fool being placed on a pedestal. The struggle of the parents of transgender children must also be recognised, and not branded as simple “indulgence,” by Clarkson. Gender is a mental state, not the body you’re born into. As awareness of this changes, so does the understanding by parents of their children. These comments will spark ignorance amongst people who have little understanding of transgender issues, and directly affect the child’s wellbeing. Celebrity parents such as Angelina Jolie and her son John, previously Shiloh, were in the press last year as they brought the issue of gender dysphoria in children to the limelight. The criticism faced by parents of these children is already great, without ignorant celebrities such as Jeremy Clark-

son spreading falsities about the trans population. In order for change to happen and for progress to be made, harmful views such as Clarkson’s must be addressed and questioned by others. People such as Clarkson are the reason why the transgender population are still fighting for rights, and his views only serve as a way to de-legitimise issues of a population who are still struggling. While the population has made progress, it is up to journalists and celebrities to question the legitimacy of Clarkson’s views and provide alternative views to these. Clarkson may be a columnist, but maybe he should know at least a fraction of information on issues he’s discussing, before putting his name to an article in ‘The Sunday Times’.

“

Clarkson is an ignorant fool being placed on a pedestal... his harmful views must be questioned by others.

”

Why the RNLI should be paid

ast year the RNLI saved 368 lives. They were dispatched over 8,000 times and rescued over 8,700 people, but have modestly only counted “lives saved” as those where death was an imminent certainty without their intervention. The RNLI are undoubtedly a crucial part of our emergency services, have crews on call day and night, and operate in arguable the most dangerous conditions. 37 per cent of their launches in 2014 were in darkness, and over 100 were in gale force winds or above. Their crews literally risk everything to help others, but here is the catch: they are all volunteers, and not one of them is reimbursed for their time. I am not going to argue that volunteers all over the country don’t also do wonderful and important work, and of course the government can’t pay for every volunteer service available. But the RNLI is more than a charity helping the needy; it is a crucial emergency service, particularly for those (like me) who live on the coast. It is, of course, a well-funded charity, and other services operate on a charitable basis, including the air ambulance. The difference is, air ambulance crews are usually salaried individuals on se-

hurtful to the transgender population, but reductive. Transgender celebrity Kelly Maloney has outwardly criticised Clarkson’s views, branding him a “thug without a brain.” Maloney’s comments also reflect the feelings of transgender activist Paris Lees who called out Clarkson and described his comments as “evil”. To a certain extent, I agree. Transgender people, and the parents of Trans children, already face hardship as a result of the lack of acknowledgement of the community. Despite more coverage in recent years due to celebrities such as Laverne Cox, Carmen Carrera and Caitlyn Jenner and mounting evidence showing difference in brain activity; the transgender community is still struggling to receive recognition. Clarkson’s derogatory comments only make it harder for the progression of

condment from the NHS or employed through private companies, which are paid through charitable collections. I would suggest that the RNLI deserves the same format and treatment as the air ambulances. It could continue to be a charity, but its 4,600 volunteers should be duly paid for their commitment, generosity, and service. Paying volunteer service people is not a new idea either. The TA (who, unlike the RNLI are not always on call, get to pick their hours, have a minimum commitment of only 27 days a year, and have rescued zero people lost at sea), has starting pay based on full time soldiers wages, and gives out ‘bounties’ of over £2,000 to its volunteers. Even the officer training corps at universities pays their students for their time. Volunteers and part-timers are a crucial part of the traditional emergency services as well. In the police force the special constabulary, while they aren’t paid, are reasonably compensated for expenses incurred, and St John’s ambulance volunteers are paid the living wage, or more than double to be events first aiders. Most similar to the role and responsibilities of the RNLI are retainer fire-fighters.

These, like the lifeboat crews, are people with ordinary jobs who work at retainer fire-fighter stations and respond to emergencies, particularly in rural areas. They even have similar statistics to RNLI stations, with retainer fire stations and RNLI bases receiving around 800 call outs a year on average. Unlike lifeboat crews, retained fire-fighters are paid not only for their work on call out, but also for the time they must be available on-

call. The RNLI operates search-and-rescue and first aid operations, including 533 seriously ill or injured people per year. Ten per cent of those they help are children. As an island nation we cannot deny the dominance of the sea in our lives, and to not pay volunteer lifeboat crews in the same way as we do others providing part time services is to vastly underestimate their importance, contributions, and value.

Pictured: An RNLI lifeboat (Source: Màrtainn MacDhòmhnaill via Flickr)

BBC dumbing down Shakespeare’s work

he year 2016 will mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. In an embarrassing attempt to celebrate his work, the BBC have started the ‘ShakespeareMe’ campaign to try and get young people interested in his plays and poetry. Here, users are asked to pick an emoji, and are then presented with a famous quote matching the specified feeling, and information about the play and which is comes from. For example, picking the heart eyes emoji would select a quote about love, I would imagine from Romeo and Juliet or similar. As a Literature student, I find it so insulting that they think young people can only be interested in classic literature if they dumb it down or get social media involved. You can imagine some old marketing executives sat round a

conference table, saying “Oh, young people use emojis and hashtags, shall we just shoehorn this in?” Shakespeare deserves so much better than that! The whole point is celebrating classic literature, which doesn’t really work if you take all the classic elements out of it. I am aware that my degree programme may make me biased on this matter, but there hasn’t been any trouble getting people interested in Shakespeare for the past 400 years, I really don’t think this campaign is necessary. This isn’t the first time that Shakespeare’s plays have been awkwardly modernised to be ‘accessible’ to the younger generation. The ‘OMG Shakespeare Series’ (I cringe to even type this) feature sickening titles such as ‘YOLO Juliet’, ‘srsly Hamlet’, ‘A Midsummer Night #nofilter’ and ‘Macbeth

#killing it’. Whether this is satire, I am not sure, but my argument is still the same. Why do people assume teenagers of today will only read something riddled with caricatured and exaggerated text speak? Which by the way, barely anyone uses. A BBC spokesperson justified the ShakespeareMe campaign by saying it will “appeal to an audience who may feel Shakespeare has no relevance to their lives”. The BBC wants to make Shakespeare ‘irresistible to all’. Isn’t it already? Shakespeare is one of the most famous names in the world. I remember being taught Shakespeare in primary school, and there were no problems in getting us interested. It is simply how well it is taught and how they engage students in the classroom that matters, not whether you can

make a tenuous link to social media. If all else fails, just tell kids that Shakespeare basically invented the concept of your mum jokes. “Villian, I have done thy mother”, spoken by Aaron from Titus Andronicus, if anyone is interested. It is not as if Shakespeare’s works aren’t accessible or appealing anyway. His plays are still performed in theatres everywhere. His best quotes are still used in all manner of situations. I could perhaps see the benefits of this campaign in helping you remember said quotes for an exam, but that is as far as I am willing to go in supporting it. If you want to celebrate one of the most well known and influential playwrights in history, get off the internet, and pick up a book or get a theatre ticket.

“

It is not as if Shakespeare isn’t already accessible. His plays are still performed in theatres everywhere.

”

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THE GAIR RHYDD COLUMN 19

21 in the 21st Century

I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling 20... and don’t want to get any older

Helena Hanson

“

Approaching 21, I have just about mastered how to make spaghetti bolognese and can almost paint the nails on my left hand without making too many smudges on my fingers.

”

here are several things that have been playing on my mind since coming to the abrupt realisation that this year, I will turn 21 years old. According to unwritten but common social knowledge, this is a big deal. At 21, Adele wrote and recorded a record-breaking, award-winning number one album. At the same age, Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook, which has earned him approximately $35 billion, and at the same age again, Justin Bieber has 74 million Twitter followers and is rumoured to have over fifteen cars stashed in his garage. Approaching 21, I have just about mastered how to make spaghetti bolognese and can almost paint the nails on my left hand without making too many smudges on my fingers. Despite the extensive and dramatic celebration that is associated with a 21st birthday, it is unclear as to why it is of any significance whatsoever. When I turn 21, I will be able to drink in America. This, it turns out, will probably not be incredibly momentous in the foreseeable future. I doubt I’ll have a desperate thirst for a stiff drink when holidaying in Disney World with my family next summer, and my gap-yah favourite country, Belize, would be more likely to ask for a handful of garden peas than formal identification of age. I will also be able to drive a vehicle abroad. Again, probably not largely significant, as I can’t drive very well in rural North

Wales, never mind a foreign country. That is pretty much the extent of it. The majority of the worthwhile legal freedoms were given to us two years ago, at eighteen. However, when you become 21, our cultural, social expectation is to have a vast celebration. I will be expected to arrange a birthday party of some description, however my past experience with house parties is miserable. I did hold a house party once, after my GCSE exam results. One of my friends threw up on my kitchen floor and another tried to rectify this by sweeping it up with the handheld dustpan and brush, getting each chunk wedged firmly between the bristles. I also threw a ‘flat warming’ party last year in my halls. Whoever suggested that throwing these events are enjoyable are fabricators and have never lived in Talybont Gate. The closest interaction I had with any attending strangers was over hearing one particular male murmur to his mate, “I just can’t decide if the one in the skirt (me) is fit” , to which the mate responded, “oh I thought that at first, but no don’t think so”. Brill. Shortly after, an arm wrestle became so out of hand that the fridge, the actual fridge, went flying, knocking a chunk out of the kitchen wall, and subsequently hurling my last remnant of food, a tin of sweetcorn, across the room, and onto the floor. Consequently, I spent a good half hour salvaging each kernel from the

floor and sadly dropping them back in the tin, copiously mindful that my pasta bake would now probably not taste as nice with bits of floor in it, but confident that this would help to confirm to those who were still considering if I was fit that I am, most probably, not. At some point during the creation of this column I began to desperately google celebrities who are also turning 21 this year. I’m subconsciously urgently hoping to see images of exhausted, drunk celebrities who look like they have neither their life, nor bank balance, in check. I want to be pleasantly surprised and find out that Kerry Katona is also 20, and thus realise I am in fact, perfectly adequate. Alas, Kerry Katona is instead thirty five and the best Google could do to comfort me was suggest 20 year old Kendal Jenner and Gigi Hadid. Shit. I bet they have never had to scoop sweetcorn off the floor back into the tin, I am thinking to myself, sadly. So I will turn 21, and I will become an adult. People will start asking me when I’m going to have a baby (“your body clock is ticking!” they’ll say) and I will start listening to Radio 4 and begin to actually enjoy olives. I will have to get a job, a real person job. Maybe I will stop getting ID’d in WHSmith when I’m trying to buy a glue stick and maybe I will have to stop watching ‘The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh’ before bed. However, perhaps not. I remem-

ber going to sleep on the eve of my thirteenth birthday and being positively certain that tomorrow everything would change. I would wake up in the morning, having undergone a Kevin and Perry-esque transformation overnight, and would have unbearable mood swings, and double D breasts. However, this was not to be. I jumped out of bed on the thirteenth of September on my thirteenth birthday and was astonished to find I was exactly the same. The mood swings eventually made an appearance, although alas, the breasts did not. I have to assume that my 21st birthday can only be too similar. Very diminutive noticeable change, and very little expansion in the breast department, but probably further soured by the fact my friends and family forced me to have a birthday party that I didn’t want, celebrating a birthday that is simply pedestrian. For this reason, I have decided not to turn 21. This wholly unnecessary and taxing affair will be avoided, and my friends will be free from feeling obliged to buy me lavish gifts, and my parents will be let off hiring out some kind of warehouse for £700. Quite simply, it is for the best. That said, if I am forced, against my will, to celebrate this truly irrelevant birthday by having a extravagant celebration, there will be no strangers invited to my party, and no arm wrestling, and absolutely, certainly, definitely, no sweetcorn.

Pictured: Hoping for 21 candles is getting a bit optimistic (Photographer: Will Clayton via Flickr)

“

Maybe I will stop getting ID’d in WHSmith when I’m trying to buy a glue stick and maybe I will have to stop watching ‘The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh’ before bed.

”

20 POLITICS

p politics

Editors: Carwyn Williams Luke Brett Sam Patterson @GairRhyddPol politics@gairrhydd.com gairrhydd.com/politics

Election Spotlight: School’s out

Carwyn Williams

ith less than 100 days before the Assembly elections, Gair Rhydd will be giving you a spotlight on some of the main areas devolved to Cardiff Bay. There’s been a lot of talk about the Welsh education system recently, especially with the #DespiteBeingTaughtInWelsh trend and the English Chief Inspector criticising our system last week. The whole education system in Wales, from Primary schools to universities and adult education, is devolved to the Welsh Assembly, and is therefore the responsibility of the Labour-run Welsh Government. Labour have been in power since 1999, and they’ll find it tough to defend their record if the public find fault with the system. Since 1999, Wales’ system has evolved to become increasingly distinct, SAT tests were scrapped, league tables disposed of and a new playbased foundation phase for 3-7 yearolds. Pupils in Wales have a very different experience than in England, but is it better or worse?

Primary schools are doing pretty well, two-thirds of them are improving well, and the new play-based foundation phase seems to be helping attendance figures. Secondary schools are a mixed bag. Four local authorities have been in educational special measures, with the last one being brought out of special measures last week. Many have criticised Labour’s attitude to education, letting standards slip considerably in the last decade. Education minister Huw Lewis even admitted, “I think there are questions that could be raised around taking our eye off the ball in the mid-2000s, around the basics in education, around literacy and numeracy.” The 2013 PISA tests, an international leaderboard of countries, Wales performed dismally, placed 43rd in maths, 41st in reading, and joint 36th in science, making Wakes the worst performer of the UK countries. In 2007, Wales was 22nd in Science, 29th in Reading and 33rd in maths, a massive turmoil proving something

has gone wrong. Things are looking promising though, the Welsh Government has passed reforms to the system, and the minister said: “I expect to see the impact of our reforms reflected in the next set of results. They’re ambitious and I believe they will have a lasting, sustainable and positive effect on education in Wales.” Ministers urged the public not to take PISA too seriously, and insisted things were changing, but other results further show the deterioration in the system. The percentage of pupils reaching A*-C grades at GCSE used to be much higher in Wales, but was overtaken by England in 2007, and are slow to catch up again. Last week, the Chief Inspector of schools in England, Sir Michael Wilshaw criticised the Welsh Government: “I am of the view that the English education system is moving ahead quickly. “It now really is up to the Welsh Government to look at its own performance to ensure it matches the perfor-

mance of England.” He went on to question the Welsh decision to scrap league tables: “If you take away those accountability measures it drives down standards rather than drives them up.” Despite having scrapped league tables, a new banding scheme has been set up, categorising schools to support the ones starting to fall behind. All is not lost however, head of the Welsh inspectorate Estyn, Meilyr Rowlands, suggested things were improving, and the number of excellent schools are growing. In spite of this, he did warn that there was a growing “polarisation” in the Welsh system, with many schools also performing unsatisfactory. The problem will be at this election, is that any changes introduced over the past few years haven’t been in effect for long enough to show any improvements. It takes up to 16 years for educational changes to show improvement, but Labour will be fighting hard saying their reforms are enough, but only you can decide.

n response to criticism, Labour have said they are committed to driving up standards again. They have started the process of introducing a whole new and radical curricu-

lum by 2021, that will shake up how we look at education. Digital technology will take a whole new role, and pupils will progress through progression steps.

The party have also pledged not to allow any free schools in Wales, unlike in Engalnd, and deliver £2 billion of investement in schools by 2023, to modernise classrooms. Teachers

are also set to get a new deal from a future Labour Government, and are committed to carry on with a Lib Dem policy of the Pupil Deprivation Grant

laid Cymru’s education minister Simon Thomas has continously criticised the Welsh Government on their education policy. He said a Plaid government would cut

back on the red-tape that teachers face, and “good teaching, followed by strong leadership, are the most important factors to raising school standards and improving outcomes.”

Plaid will also scale back on examinations, reducing the confusing range pupils are allowed to sit. They also plan on ensuring every child in Wales is taught in Welsh dur-

ing Foundation Phase and is taught through immersion of second language thereafter. The party also plans to provide an extra year of education, giving schooling from 3 years-old.

ne of the Liberal Democrats’ main success over the last five years is the Pupil Deprivation Grant, a fund to support Wales’ poorest pupils. The party

want to go further, doubling the grant to £2,500 per pupil, as well as extending the scheme to under-5s. The party want to ensure schools adapt their learning experiences to

each child by introducing individual pupil monitoring. On top of this, a big priority for the party is to reduce class sizes, as 59 per cent of infant classes have over 25 pupils. Their

education shadow minister said: “This policy is a key signal that the Welsh Liberal Democrats are on the side of pupils and parents” adding the current system isn’t good enough.

schools. They would also bring proper programming and coding skills into the curriculum. Andrew RT Davies has also announced his support for the best

practices of grammer schools being put into the educationsal system, although without the 11 plus exam. The party also want teachers to get on with their jobs without

beaurocratic red-tape. The party have also said they would fund schools directly, to ensure every school gets the funds it needs, and restore parity between qualifications.

he Tories would put modern foreign language learning at the heart of any Conservative curriculum to reverse the decline of foreign language learning in Welsh

Pictured: A classroom (Photographer: James Clay)

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Wales’ system has evolved to become increasingly distinct, SAT tests were scrapped and league tables disposed of.

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POLITICS 21

EU debate starts referendum campaign Carwyn Jones and Nigel Farage went head-to-head

Jamie McKay

Dan Heard

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The Tory grandee was something of a mastermind behind Thatcher’s election campaign

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Luke Brett

debate between UKIP leader Nigel Farage and First Minister Carwyn Jones kick started the 2016 campaign surrounding the UKs continued membership of the EU. The debate was held at the Millenium Centre (hosted by Cardiff University and the Institute of Welsh Affairs) and dominated not by immigration, even with the Schengen Zone coming under greater scrutiny, but by Welsh jobs and the economy. Farage opened the debate by calling on the audience to take advantage of “this historic opportunity to take back control of our own lives” to much applause. Jones poured scorn on the populist leader, telling the audience that if a politician tells you there’s an easy answer to a complicated question they’re pulling the wool over your eyes. It wasn’t long before the two began trading blows. Farage attacked the First Minister, arguing that he hadn’t done enough to protect Welsh

steelworkers. An issue frequently in the headlines recently as Tata Steel announce that more than 1,000 jobs are to go at their UK plants. South Wales severely hit with 750 jobs expected to be lost in Port Talbot. Farage argued that Britain has been unable to compete with Chinese exports, as politicians in both Wales and Westminster are unwilling to take back powers from Brussels. The First Minister refused to accept these points; listing the number of meetings he had had with Tata Steel. The debate continued along issues of trade as Farage won a resounding cheer as he called for “Britain to get its voice back in the world”. As the debate went on Jones pointed to the tariffs countries outside of the EU had to pay to get their products into the Single Market, using Norwegian Salmon as an example. Farage insisted Norway has a veto over any law that does not suit their interest and that “we’re advocating a British

model”. What is it mean, the First Minister was heard to ask, clearly angered by the UKIP leader’s vague answers. It is Farage without question that came out on top in the first major debate around the EU referendum debate of 2016 (he was discussing his favourite subject after all). Although the First Minister tried to show up Farage he was unable to pin him down on any single point and at times seemed to find it difficult to make himself heard over an audience stirred up by the arguments that have made Farage’s career. The main argument made so far by the Stronger In campaign has been around the dangers of risk.

Within the past few weeks the Wales Stronger In campaign has been keen to draw attention to new projects starting up thanks to funding from the European Parliament and those voices in industry uneasy about the possibility of Brexit. However these are the same arguments Carwyn Jones attempted to make at the Millennium Centre near the beginning of January. The in out Referendum on the UKs membership of the EU is to be held before the end of 2017 although the Prime Minister has suggested that it might occur this summer, leaving the Better In campaign little time to find a pro-EU message that resonates with the British public.

Politicians in both Wales and Westminster are unwilling to take back powers from Brussels.

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Tributes paid to Lord Cecil

ributes were paid last week to Lord Cecil Parkinson, one of Margaret Thatcher’s most loyal lieutenants, following his death at the age of eighty four after a long battle with cancer, his family announced. The Tory grandee was something of a mastermind behind Mrs Thatcher’s general election campaign that delivered her enormous majority in 1983, and later, as a result of his success, held a series of senior posts in her governments. A family spokesman said: “Cecil passed away on January 22 after a long battle with cancer. We shall miss him enormously. As a family, we should like to pay tribute to him as a beloved husband to Ann and brother to Norma, and a supportive and loving father to Mary, Emma and Joanna and grandfather to their children. We also salute his extraordinary commitment

to British public life as a member of parliament, cabinet minister and peer, together with a distinguished career in business.” Prime Minister David Cameron led tributes to the former Cabinet minister, saying he had been “part of an extraordinary political generation”. As a grammar school pupil who went to Cambridge, becoming a chartered accountant and enjoying a successful business career before entering parliament. Lord Parkinson entered the House of Commons after winning a by-election in Enfield West in 1970, and subsequently represented Hertfordshire South and Hertsmere as changes were made to constituency boundaries. He was an individual who appeared to have much in common with Baroness Thatcher. Lord Parkinson, a new biography of Mrs Thatcher

has claimed, was her “favourite” in the cabinet and she wanted to make him foreign secretary after he had been a part of Mrs Thatcher’s war cabinet during the Falklands conflict and for his role in the 1983 campaign. But the revelation that he had fathered a love child with Sara Keays, his former secretary, whom he later abandoned, curtailed his career, ensuring that he never secured one of the great offices of state, despite Thatcher’s apparent wish that he should be her successor. However, they agreed that the secret scandal meant he could not accept any of the most high-profile roles, which instead saw him become Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, but later resigned from the post after his affair was made public. He returned to the cabinet as Energy Secretary in 1987 and remained in the post

until 1990, when he resigned on the day Mrs Thatcher stepped down as Prime Minister, later becoming Lord Parkinson of Carnforth after receiving a life peerage in 1992.

Pictured: Above: Carwyn Jones and Nigel Farage during their debate Left: Lord Cecil (Source: Hulton Archive)

Cameron under fire after “bunch of migrants” comment

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avid Cameron has been heavily criticised after describing refugees as a “bunch of migrants” at Prime Minister’s Questions, with Labour calling on the Prime Minister to apologise. The comment came following Jeremy Corbyn’s visit to a refugee camp near Dunkirk, and The Jungle in Calais, where more than 7,000 people are currently based. Corbyn denounced the conditions he witnessed as “dis-

graceful”. Cameron, on the other hand, blasted Corbyn at the despatch box, saying the Labour leader told the refugees that they could all come to Britain. Chair of Labour’s refugee task force, Yvette Cooper, said that over such a “complex and sensitive” issue, the Prime Minister must be “much more statesmanship-like”. Lib Dem leader, Tim Farron, called upon David Cameron to “welcome in

and provide a home” for 3,000 lone refugee children, something that has been requested by campaigners. However, Mr Cameron rebottled, saying no European country had been “more generous” in supporting refugee camps in the Middle East as the UK. Although, he went on to say that the UK would not be partaking in the EU policy of relocating and resettling migrants, arguing that it was not in the national interest.

Polls suggest though, despite Cameron’s inflammatory rhetoric, that the Prime Minister is in touch with Britain’s on welcoming refugees, with 73 er cent of Briton’s stating that they do not wish for the migrants in Calais to settle in the UK. Therefore, commentators such as Asa Bennett, have suggested the remarks were deliberate – used as a means to make the Prime Minister appear in touch with the views of the electorate.

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Commentators have suggested that the remarks were deliberate

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22 POLITICS

Heathrow protestors sentenced

After a week-long trial, 13 protestors were found guilty of aggravated trespassing

Sophie Broad

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Plane stupid took action to highlight the growing danger of climate change and to bring about a discussion.

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n 13th June 2015 at around 3.30am, direct action pressure group Plane Stupid cut a hole in a fence at Heathrow Airport, making their way on to the north runway and proceeding to chain themselves to railings. This caused major disruption at the airport, the cost of which was described as of an “absolutely astronomical” scale by judge Deborah Wright. 25 flights were cancelled, with many more delayed, affecting thousands of passengers. On 18th January, their trial began.13 protestors, aged from 23-68 years old, faced charges of aggravated trespass and entering a security-restricted area. After a week long trial, on the 25th January they were found guilty. For some years now, there have been discussions about the possibility of expansion at Heathrow or Gatwick airport, the main focus on a third runway being built at Heathrow. In 2009, David Cameron dismissed any possibility of a third runway. However, last year a recommendation by the Airport Commission was made to build a new runway at Heathrow, estimated to cost £17 billion, indicating plans could be underway soon. Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, does not support expanding any London airport, nor does Zac Goldsmith, the Conservative candidate for for this years London Mayoral election. Plane Stupid formed in opposition to potential airport expansion and, among their other aims, to stop short haul flights and aviation advertising. The group were able to use climate change as their defence. They argued that the actions they took were necessary in order to save lives and prevent people dying from air pollution and climate change. Despite the

judge acknowledging the protesters were “principled people”, she stated that a prison sentence would be very likely. Judge Wright did not agree that they were there to endanger lives but “there to make a point.” Heathrow Airport welcomed the verdict, a spokesperson said: “Anyone who breaks the law and interferes with the safe and smooth operation of the airport can expect full prosecution under the law.” In many cities across the UK, including Cardiff, air pollution levels are at a dangerous high.The failure of the UK to reach EU standards led to a Supreme Court ruling in April last year, that the government needed to take stronger action on pollution. This is mainly because it has been directly linked to the deterioration of people’s health. It has been estimated that around 30,000 people die every year in the UK alone from air pollution. Shortly after the Heathrow 13 verdict, Caroline Lucas, Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, commented “where’s the justice for victims of air pollution and climate change?”. At the beginning of the year, in London it took eight days to breach the annual air pollution limit set by the EU. It is expected that air quality will not comply with EU standards until 2020 at the very earliest. It is not possible to say whether the protestors actions will have had any impact on the current plans for Heathrow expansion or more broadly, on the issue of the environment and air pollution, but the verdict indicates this is unlikely. Many hold the view that because the Heathrow 13 are law-breakers they deserve punishment. Yet, if we consider this in its wider context, climate change ap-

pears to be next issue that ordinary people are being forced to challenge and take on themselves. In the past non-violent direct action has been successful in bringing about some of the biggest and most positive changes in society. Is it right to vilify those that break the law if the law seems in favour of exempting responsibility and accountability of those failing to address the problem of air pollution, something that is subsequently damaging the environment and people’s health? Those who are attempting to highlight the dangerous effects of climate change are being condemned and those who are causing and perpetuating the issue are able to act with impunity. Plane Stupid took action to highlight the growing danger of climate change and to bring about a discussion and influence the decisions that will soon be made regarding expand-

ing the airport. For people living in close proximity to the airport the worry about air and sound pollution and the concerns about health and the climate are not subsiding. They are largely being ignored, especially in light of the prospect of a new runway being built. This is not to say these concerns are exclusive to Londoners; it is a UKwide problem. Plane Stupid wanted to bring mainstream attention to the issue and in their minds direct action was the only possible answer. Following the verdict, their statement read: “Climate change and air pollution from Heathrow are killing people now, and the government’s response is to spend millions making the problem bigger. As long as airport expansion is on the agenda, Plane Stupid will be here. We’re in it for the long haul.” Their sentence will be given on the 24th February.

Pictured: Above: Plane Stupid (Source: Plane Stupid) Left: Heathrow Airport. (Photographer: Curt Smith)

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This is not to say these concerns are exclusive to Londoners; it is a UK-wide problem.

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POLITICS 23

Cases of sexual assault and rape have risen in Sweden, global far-right blames refugees Pictured: Stockholm, Sweden’s capital and largest city (photographer: Matthew Peoples)

Tom Morris

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Rape isn’t the only problem in Sweden however, as crime rates in other areas have shot up.

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weden has suffered a rise in sexual assaults, which has coincided with a rise in immigration, which makes a very easy scapegoat for the Swedish right. What may seem like a simple, but awful, case of integration gone wrong may in fact be a lot more complex. Sweden’s laws relating to sexual assault are far more inclusive than our own, and this may be where the cause lies. Every incident is reported separately- so if a woman goes to the police and says that her husband raped her every day for a year, they have to record 365 incidents of assault. New laws introduced in 2008 also decreed that acts such as non-consensual finger penetration counted as rape, this is not the case in Britain. Yet to point this out does not completely eradicate the problem: the fact remains that women were attacked at the We Are Sthlm music festival in, text-speech lovers probably guessed, Stockholm, as well as at other times during the last couple of years. Even Germany, which has suffered similar

Politics

problems in the wake of recent mass immigration, does not have such an extensive history with the subject. Some on the right have put forward various theories as to why the new immigrants might be linked with the wave of assaults, such as Muslim men not caring so much for Swedish women, who are likely to receive support, and to report to incident, as opposed to girls in their home countries who would be shamed by their families in the aftermath. Police in Sweden are hesitant disclose the perpetrators’ races and nationalities, for fear of encouraging “nationalist” elements in Sweden, many have commented that this only exacerbates the issue, and creates a line of rhetoric on the right, that “the government is trying to hide the issue”, and one could sensibly make this accusation. In Sweden, the left is seen as normal and any claims against immigration are seen as supporting the extreme right, much like supporting the BNP in Britain. Prime Minister Stefan Löfven said

Oregon Militia Ammon Bundy, leader of the Oregon militia, was arrested after a shootout with police on a remote highway last Tuesday. A supporter of his, LaVoy Finicum, was killed in the shootout. “Please stand down, go home and hug your families” he said to those remainign at the occupied reserve in a post-arrest statement. “I am asking the federal government to allow the people at the refuge to go home without being prosecuted.” Disneyland’s terror

World

French Police claim to have arrested a man outside a hotel in the Disneyland Paris complex. According to police, he was in possession of two guns inside a suitcase, and a Koran. No further details have been released. The news comes in the context of a France which is on high terror alert since the Paris attacks. Seeing heavily armed police patroling and safeguarding busy areas has become a regular sight since the attacks.

the cover up was a “double betrayal”. The right wing opposition party, the Swedish Democrats, have called the events a “scandal” on behalf of the police and demanded that the police chief resign. However, national police commissioner Dan Eliasson claims that he was unaware of the cover-up and has ensured Swedes that there will be an investigation into the issue. He told reporters that he felt a “very strong anger “ that Sweden’s young women could not attend festivals free from the danger of being assaulted. Swedish daily newspaper “Dagens Nyheter” reported that although an internal police source gave a somewhat understated report on “the problem of young men rubbing themselves up against young girls,” the Stockholm police’s public statement said there had been “relatively few crimes.” Rape isn’t the only problem in Sweden however, as crime rates in other areas have shot up. In August last year a woman and her son were stabbed to death in an Ikea store by

Ivory Coast Atrocities The trial of former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo and his ally Charles Ble Goude is about to begin at the Hague ICC. Gbagbo has been in Holland awaiting trial since 2011. Following his victory in the late 2010 general elections, people under his command attacked around 726 supporters of the opposition and their families, multiple rapes and murders occurred. Paolina Massidda will be representing the victims. Zika Virus The Zika virus is spreading “explosively” across Latin America, says Margret Chan, Secretary General of the World Health Organisation (WHO). It has been detected in over 23 countries, and pregnant women have been warned against travelling to affected areas. The Zika virus has been linked to Microcephaly, a condition which causes babies to be born with small heads, leading to life long developmental problems.

an asylum seeker who wanted revenge for having been denied asylum in the country. In this case the man was a Christian from Eritrea in Africa, this does not fit the narrative of the far-right, that the refugees’ “Islamic values” are to blame. Swedish society appears to have a problem with discussing the events honestly. It is open to interpretation whether the rapes were over-reported or if the races of the attackers were purposely covered up. Whichever way you look at it, it seems that the country has finally let “political correctness” go too far, this is in reference to the Police’s hesitancy to release details as to the race and nationality of perpetrators. This is an issue relevant to Cardiff, with our Students’ Union accused of being “in the red” when it comes to excessive censorship. It may well be up to us, the students, to ensure that organisations such as the NUS do not compromise free speech and sensible, honest discussion about sensitive issues, like the Swedes have.

Iran’s Holocaust Denial Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran released a video on his website on Holocaust Memorial Day doubting the traditional Holocaust narrative. “Noone in European countries dares to speak about the Holocaust, while it is not clear whether the core of this matter is reality or not”, he says over images of Holocaust deniers and anti-semites being arrested. If someone “expresses doubts”, “they stop, arrest, imprison and sue him.”

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The right wing opposition party, the Swedish Democrats, have called the events a “scandal” and demanded that the police chief resign.

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Italy Goes After Google Italy has claimed €227m from Google in unpaid taxes from 2009-2013. Google paid €2.2m in taxes in 2014 in Italy, having made €54.4m in profits in Italy that year. The Italian Communications Authority estimate that the actual profit Google made in that period was ten times that amount. The UK has managed to claim £130m in unpaid taxes from Google. Jeremy Corbyn questioned Cameron over tax policy in PMQs.

24 SCIENCE

science

Editors: Maria Mellor Lizzie Harrett @GairRhyddSci science@gairrhydd.com gairrhydd.com/science

Hangover-free alcohol: too good to be true?

Dan Heard

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Scientists in the country have developed a “suave” liquor made with sweet rice and a type of indigenous ginseng.

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Hannah Elliott

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Cavndish banannas are at risk of infection by a tropical fungus that is rapidly spreading to banana plantations worldwide.

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laims that North Korea have supposedly invented a “hangover-free” form of alcohol have emerged in their own press within the past week, with details emerging of the apparent secret ingredient: scorched rice. Only a few weeks after claims of the testing of an atomic bomb emerged, again from their own sources, news of a hangover free alcoholic drink must surely be taken with another great pinch of salt. The Pyongyang times, the state-run newspaper of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, recently featured widespread claims that something of a “suave” liquor had been developed by combining the somewhat baffling combination of sweet rice and ginseng, according to a source verified by the UK press. The drink is believed to be between 30 and 40 per cent alcohol, which is about as strong as a standard bottle of vodka you could buy here, and has been in development for a number of years. North Korea’s Taedonggang Foodstuff Factory claim the process of scorching the rice removes the bitterness normally associated with liquors of such strength, but doesn’t

leave you with anything even resembling a hangover. The claims however have been swiftly denounced by esteemed medical experts, who have warned that the only effective way of curing a hangover is to drink less. An article published in the British Medical Journal back in 2005 dismissed popular home remedies for alcoholic hangovers, saying there is: “No compelling evidence exists to suggest that any conventional or complementary intervention is effective for preventing or treating alcohol hangover.” Despite the backlash of derision their creation has been confronted with, the author of the article covering the discovery, Jong Hwa Sun, claims the creation is “highly appreciated by experts and lovers as it is suave and causes no hangover.” The substance’s attraction does not stop with it being “hangover-free.” The article brags that the liquor “exudes national flavour” both in its taste and packaging. Recently there have been a whole host of claims emerge from the country, particularly the bolder scientific claims that would undoubtedly eclipse this feat. Last year, the state media reported that the country’s

Pictured: We wish we could order a hangoverfree cocktail right now... (Photographer: Mario Bonifacio)

researchers had developed medical products using ginseng extracts that could cure a variety of diseases, including MERS, SARS, the Ebola virus and even AIDS. Of course earlier this year the state claimed it had successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb for the first time, though the

rest of the world has had a difficult time verifying that claim, which came after detection devices recorded a significant seismic event along the country’s coast. Sceptics will continue to doubt their movements until claims have been sufficiently verified.

Bananas face extinction

A fruit-killing fungus threatens our world supply

ananas are arguably one of the most popular fruits sold across the world – they’re grown and sold internationally, and piled high on the shelves of Tesco and Lidl alike. So how can a fruit that appears to be in abundance possibly be going extinct? Cavendish bananas, the variety of bananas that are currently commercially grown and sold in supermarkets and greengrocers worldwide, are at risk of infection by a tropical fungus that is rapidly spreading to banana plantations worldwide, threatening to drastically deplete their numbers. At the beginning on the 20th century, the Gros Michel banana was your typical shop bought banana, available everywhere and grown by the barrelful in plantations across the world. Compared to today’s Cavendish banana, Gros Michel bananas were shorter, fatter and had a stronger flavour, similar to the foamy banana sweets still sold in shops today, which were based on the Gros Michel flavour. But throughout the 1940’s and 1950’s, a tropical fungal pathogen known as the Panama disease wiped out the majority of Gros Michel banana plantations, forcing

farmers and fruit distributors to look for an alternative variety of banana to grow commercially in order to avoid bankruptcy. At the time, Cavendish bananas were viewed as inferior to the Gros Michel variety as they were less flavourful, however they were resistant to the Panama disease whilst still appearing physically similar to the Gros Michel banana, making them the perfect replacement. Cavendish bananas quickly became the new commercially available banana and have remained so since their first adoption. However, the Cavendish bananas are susceptible to a new strain of the original Panama disease, known as TR4. The problem with the Cavendish bananas is that they are the only variety of banana currently grown commercially, and there is little genetic variation amongst these crops. This means that there is an extremely low chance that one particular crop will contain a gene or mutation that makes them resistant to the TR4 fungus. The disease itself is resistant to fungicides and is therefore likely to infect and kill the vast majority of the Cavendish plantations, seriously

dwindling their population. So is this the end of the banana as we know it? Not entirely. Whilst it’s possible that this new strain of fungus could mark the end of the commercial production of Cavendish bananas, it is unlikely to make them entirely extinct; the Gros Michel banana is still grown in areas across Africa and Central America, but is

far rarer and is no longer grown on such a large scale for export. As for the bananas that you’ll be finding in supermarkets in the future, they’ll simply be whatever variety is found to be immune to TR4 and can be easily mass produced. In short, bananas as a species are here to stay as a student breakfast and snack staple for the foreseeable future.

Pictured: Go bananas for bananas while you still can! (Source: Ian Ransley)

SCIENCE 25

Dreaming of a wet Christmas...

Why we had the rainiest and warmest December on record Lisa Carr

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The wet and warm weather was due to both anthropogenic climate change and elevated natural variations.

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ver the Christmas holidays, Britain was swamped by a wave of bad weather. Record breaking amounts of water flooded out of English rivers as storms Eva and Desmond hit the UK, closely followed by Storm Frank and a number of other anthropomorphised rain events. It was the UK’s hottest and wettest December ever recorded and our riverbanks and measly flood defences could not contain the sheer volume of rain falling. The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology cited ‘extraordinary’ hydrological conditions and north England felt the brunt of the subsequent flooding. Honiston Pass in Cumbria during storm Desmond recorded 31.4 centimeters of rain falling – more rain in 24 hours than had ever been seen before. Rivers breached their banks flooding huge swathes of villages and a large number of Britain’s populations were left in awful circumstances in the lead up to what is meant to be the most wonderful time of the year. With such record-breaking weather events and catastrophic consequences for towns and villages across the UK, many people questioned what the cause was for such anomalous weather events. An Oxford University assessment initiated by the met office highlighted how the UK was in a warm and moist tropical air mass for most of the month of December, with unseasonably high temperatures and anomalous rainfall for most the month. This is due to both anthropogenic climate change and elevated natural variations – a dangerous duo to hit at once. There was a stronger El Nino Southern Oscillation this year. This is a natural oceanic phenomenon whereby warmer ocean water flows in the Pacific Ocean. The effects of this are felt across the globe and this event increased the odds of anomalous temperatures and rainfall. The current this year was the strongest on record. Adam Scaife, head of the Met Office long-range forecasting highlighted that the warmest December on record and projections for a warm 2016 was caused 25 per cent by the unusual El Nino current.

Science questions: Answered Why does blonde hair get darker as you get older? Your hair colour is determined by the amount of pigment called ‘melanin’ you have in your hair. This depends on your genes, however the genes that determine hair colour can change during your life, and can be turned on or off. The amount of melanin increases with age as genes change and blonde-haired kids are brunettes by the time they’re ten years old.

With computer simulations, scientists have been able to calculate that man-made climate change was largely responsible for Storm Desmond’s damaging torrential rains. The flooding event was estimated to be 40 per cent more likely with climate change. Extreme weather events like this will become more regular with manmade climate change as the greenhouse effect leads to a rise in global temperatures and sea levels are set to rise altering the water cycle. More theories have circulated to try and explain how the rivers in this particular instance broke their banks and reached record levels flooding UK towns and cities. A somewhat discredited theory posted by a guest in the Newcastle Journal tried to attribute some of the flooding to lack of dredging of UK rivers. Dredging waterways ceased under EU law in the year 2000 for conservation efforts to prevent habitat disturbance and destruction to protect the spe-

cies residing in the river channels. However, some theorise that the lack of dredging has shrunk the watercourses, reducing the volume of water they are able to hold; subsequently the rivers would overflow more easily causing mass flooding events. Other human factors independent from anthropogenic climate change will also lead to more future flooding events. Changes in land use, such as building houses on flood plains and paving over natural surfaces changes the way surface water is able to run off. Stagnant pools of water can accumulate rapidly and flooding is more likely if rainwater can’t permeate into the ground. These humanled factors are difficult to mitigate, and flood defences can’t always hold off extreme weather events. Extreme weather events due to El Nino and anthropogenic climate change are not limited to the UK alone. In Central America, one of the

most severe droughts on record has left 3.5 million people in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador in desperate conditions and more people have been affected in Peru and Ecuador. Staple crops in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and South Africa have been devastated due to drought also with a food crisis. Questions must now be raised how Britain and the rest of the world can protect themselves from future extreme weather events. Gail Whiteman, the chair of the Pentland centre for sustainability at Lancaster University said to The Guardian: “Extreme weather will increase with global warming and thus climate adaptation measures, like flood defences, need to constantly be updated. What may appear to be sufficient to withstand a 1 in 100-year event can become quickly out of date as the incidence of extreme weather ramps up and becomes more unpredictable.”

Pictured:

The boxing day floods left roads covered in water (Source:

jcw1967 via Flickr)

Why can’t you drink while on antibiotics? How do breathalysers work?

Why do cats land feet first?

With the majority of medications, having a pint or two is fine. However, when a doctor prescribes their patient antibiotics, they usually advise them to not drink while taking them. This is because anti-infection drugs can block the metabolism of alcohol, causing a buildup of acetaldehydes (the chemical to blame for a nasty hangover). This build up worsens the effects of alcohol and you could be vomiting and passing out after just one drink. Alcohol plus antibiotics equals bad news and all in all, it’s best not to take the risk.

Cats will always land on their feet due to a “righting reflex”. They have an incredibly flexible backbone which allows them to twist their body when falling through the air. They also have a very strong sense of balance. Their balance system is found in their inner ear., determing up from down and allowing their backbone to accordingly twist.

Breathalysers measure the level of alcohol in the blood - if you’re over 0.08, you’re over the limit. The amount of alcohol in the blood shows up in breath as it is absorbed by the mouth, throat, stomach and intestines into the bloodstream. In the lungs, some of the alcohol from the blood evaporates, meaning it can be breathed out with carbon dioxide and water. Through a series of chemical reactions, a breathalyser can determine how much alcohol is present: a reading of 0.08 means there is 0.08 grams of alcohol per 100ml of blood.

Tweet us your questions to @gairrhyddsci

26 SCIENCE

Ninth planet on the brink of discovery Maria Mellor

Sorry Pluto, there’s a new kid on the block

t has been ten years now since Pluto was downgraded from being classified as a planet, leaving us with only eight planets in our solar system. The so-called “pluto-killers” Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) believe now that there’s a new contender to take its place: a huge planet beyond Pluto’s orbit. It started out with astronomers seeing several rocks in space behaving oddly. It looked as if they had aligned orbits for no apparent reason, and after doing some calculations scientists believe that the only explanation for it is a huge planet in our solar system around five to ten times the mass of Earth. It’s believed to be incredibly cold and have a very elongated orbit causing it to take 10,000 to

20,000 years to make one trip around the sun. You might wonder why it took astronomers so long to find the planet, nicknamed Planet Nine, but it has simply evaded detection because it is so far away. It supposedly resides beyond the Kuiper Belt, the icy ring of debris where Pluto is found, over 200 times the distance from the sun compared to Earth. Should it be proven to exist it would be the first planet to have been discovered in over 150 years. There is one problem that the Caltech astronomers are having: they can’t actually find the planet in question. Batygin and Brown have published their findings in the Astronomical Journal, saying that they could have kept it quiet and searched

for Planet Nine themselves, but they “really want people to find it as fast as possible.” The pair have set up a website called findplanetnine.com in order to gather amateur astronomers and interested parties in to try and find the mysterious planet. There they post regular updates and tips as to how to help. Interestingly, last Monday Brown posted a blog post titled “Why Planet Nine might not exist (or: what keeps me up at night)”. While he is confident that his findings are correct, he worries that they have been fooled into seeing patterns where none exist. Nevertheless they continue to run computer simulations to further prove their hypothesis and attempt to come closer to finding it. If it is found, then there will be the

trouble of officially naming Planet Nine. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is responsible for naming celestial objects that humans discover out in the universe, however this isn’t just any celestial object. Planet Nine would be the first new planet discovered since Neptune, so naming it would be incredibly important. According to Lars Lindberg Christensen, IAU’s press officer, there is no official precedent for this, as the organisation was actually founded 73 years after the discovery of Neptune. Perhaps the naming rights would go to the Caltech pair who originally made the world aware of the ninth planet’s possible existence. Brown is skeptical, however, stating “I don’t think any one person should get to name it.”

Pictured: The known solar system, surrounded by the Kuiper Belt (Source: Image Editor via Flickr)

“

It is believed to be very cold with an elongated orbit causing it to take 10,000 to 20,000 years to make one trip around the sun.

”

Pakinee Pooprasert

“

Our brains are well equipped to trick us into eating something unpleasant if it has high calorific value.

”

What do you think it should be called? Tweet us @gairrhyddsci

Calories are why we crave sweet food

veryone knows that food contains calories. While calories are often feared for their ‘fat producing’ and weight gaining qualities, and many of us would try to avoid high calorific food, it is important to realise that calories is the main reason why we eat. We eat because we need energy. Without energy, we die. However, what many of us might not realise is that when given a choice between sweetness and calories, we tend to ignore our taste buds and head straight for the calories. Neuroscientists at Yale University published a research just this week to show that the brain is able to effectively count calories, pushing us to select energy-dense foods. In other words, food loaded with calories. This interestingly, turns out to be a separate neural circulate than the one which drives us to select sweet foods. In simple terms, this means that when given a choice between sweetness and calories, we go for the calories. This is because the nutritional impulses and the pleasure impulses are processed in separate regions of the brain. The suppression of a chemical called dopamine in different areas

of the brain when consuming sugary foods or suppressed of food with a high nutritional value allows the organism to prioritise energy seeking quality over sensory quality when choosing a food. Our brains are well equipped to trick us into eating something unpleasant, if it has high calorific value. At the bottom of it all, we want dopamine, not candy. The Yale neuroscientists tested this concept by experimenting on mice using a “lickometer”. The rodents were offered calorie-free sucralose, which is a sweeter that tastes like normal sugar. Whilst they were licking, infusions of either sugar or sucralose were administered to their stomachs. During the experiment, the scientists kept tract of which infusion prompted the most enthusiastic licking. After the experiments, the scientists concluded that they observed increased dopamine release in one area of their brain above the baseline levels during sucralose intake, regardless of which solution was administered through their stomach. However, in another region of the brain dopamine release only increased above baseline levels when sweetener intake was accompanied by intra-gastric infusions

of glucose. What was even more fascinating was that the researchers were also able to get the mice to lick unpleasant solutions by administering direct glucose infusions. The unpleasant tasting food failed to increase dopamine levels in the brain regions associated with sweet taste but was able to boost the levels in the area of the brain as-

sociated with high energy. While a lot of food that is high in sugar tend to also be high in calories, ultimately, calories triumph over sugar. This has many implications, and further research into the neurological aspects of food craving can help us to not only understand the allure of cheeseburgers but to also eat healthier.

Pictured: A sugary snack (Photographer: Dan Tentler)

SCIENCE 27

Why are whales washing up on our shores? Five sperm whales have beached off the English coast

Lizzie Harrett

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The number of larger whales beachin on the British coast in 2014 stood at 60.

”

ver the past week the usually clear views towards the horizon on the East England coast has been disrupted by the colossal silhouettes of five sperm whales, who all tragically beached on the shoreline surrounding Skegness. In the past fortnight 12 whales have beached on the Dutch and German coast, with experts believing that they are all from the same pod. These massive mammals are the largest toothed predator on the planet, with mature males averaging a whopping 16 metres in length. Sperm whales are deep sea animals, who tend to live and hunt at depths of around 3,000 metres. If you want some perspective about how deep this is, if you placed Mount Snowdon on top of itself three times starting 3,000 metres under water, the summit would just reach the surface of the sea. Females and their juveniles reside in the tropics but males often travel within a wider range and can be spotted as far out as near Iceland and the Shetland Isles. Tragedy can strike when sperm whales travel slightly further than expected and end up in the North Sea, the strip of water between the UK and Scandinavia. Whales use sonar to navigate the seas, producing sound waves that reflect off surfaces to form a picture of their surrounding area. However, if they swim into shallow waters the sonar waves produced do not bounce off the sandy beds in the same way they do as they do in the deep sea. The North Sea has a maximum depth of just 200 metres,

meaning any whales lost in the area can quickly become disorientated. Further adding to their plight is the lack of food in the area – the North Sea has low levels of squid, their main food source. As sperm whales source their water from their food they can quickly become dehydrated if they cannot hunt for their dinner, making a bad situation worse. But why do these whales get lost and end up beaching? The number of individual bigger whales beaching on the British coast in 2014 stood at 60. Even more concerning is that the number of whales beaching on the British coast has been rising, with cases rising from one mass beaching per year in the 1940s to the 1980s to six per year from the 1980s to the present day. You may even remember the bottlenose whale who got stranded in Central London in the River Thames in 2006, with people calling the police unsure if they were hallucinating the large mammal swimming through the capital city. There is a lot of debate over whether the impact of humans is causing an increase in beaching. Darlene Ketten is a marine mammal expert and states that it is often hard to determine why whales beach, saying: “I often use the analogy of a car crash, because a lot of things can go wrong but you get the same result. Statistically, we are only able to determine the cause of a stranding in about 50 percent of all cases worldwide.” Might noise pollution be behind the increased beachings? Used to detect enemy submarines, military

sonar systems produce sound waves that measure up to 235 decibels, whereas in comparison an incredibly noisy rock concert produces sound waves of around 150 decibels. Research in 2013 showed that when sonar signals were produced at 200 decibels, beaked whales who were between 3 to 10 kilometres away stopped feeding and fled from the scene which could lead to disorientation. However, this has not been proven with all species of whale. The military may not be the only culprits behind noise pollution changing whale behaviour. While not being linked directly to beachings, researchers from the New England Aquarium have shown that shipping noise causes chronic stress in whales, using the marine traffic standstill post-9/11 to research the effect. However, Andrew Bronlowe from the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme believes that there may be more beachings because of whale population changes: “It’s likely the increase is because there are more whales, because of the embargo on whaling over the past 30 years.” Therefore, it could simply be that the increased number of whale beachings is reflecting the increased whale population. All the sperm whales which have beached in Europe in the last week were males.The larger populations may also mean more competition for males for resources and when trying to mate, causing them to leave their pods and head for the North Sea – with sometimes tragic consequences.

Changes in the temperature of the sea may also force whales to change their habitat areas, leading them into shallower areas. A World Wildlife Federation report that focused on the impact of climate change on cetaceans which found that dolphins off the coast of Scotland have already changed their habitat ranges. The report implies that other cetaceans, including sperm whales, may have already changed their habitat ranges in response to climate change. Beaching can also be a totally natural phenomena. Old age or sickness can cause the whales to beach. Mass beaching can follow due to the social structure of the pod, who operate a safety in numbers policy. Other whales from the pod then can follow the sick or injured whale into shallow water and consequentially accidentally beach themselves. Another common cause of beaching is when whales injure themselves from colliding with shipping vessels and swim into shallow waters due to disorientation caused by injury. Sperm whales have been classed as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. This means they are likely to become endangered unless the circumstances threatening the species’ survival improve. While whales face other threats, including illegal whaling and additional issues caused by climate change, it is imperative that scientists get to the bottom of why these creatures are increasingly washing up on our shores.

Pictured: A sperm whale (Photographer: Richard Herbery)

“

Tragedy can strike when sperm whales can travel slightly further than expected and end up in the North Sea.

”

28 SOCIETIES

societies

Editor: Aletheia Nutt @GairRhyddSoc societies@gairrhydd.com gairrhydd.com/societies

Hannah’s Note:

Hannah Sterritt VP Societies

Try our new Give it a Go sessions!

owdy y’all. I hope the first week back of lectures has gone well for you! We’ve been very busy as ever this week in the world of Societies with a lot of forward planning for the massive amount of work that is involved to start planning Cardiff Fringe Festival and Go Global, starting to look into the end of year balls and all the other day to day things that come with the job.

In other news, several thousand Give it a Go booklets have been distributed around campus with a massive list of the Society, Club and extra events that are running this term. It’s definitely worth having a flick through if you fancy trying something different for the new term. If you’re interested in going to any of the extra events such as the weekend trips as a society, speak to Josh (GiveitaGo@cardiff.ac.uk) about go-

ing as a group. As a final thing, nominations for the main elections close on the 4th February and so this is your last chance to put yourself forward! I’ve had the best six months so far as VP Societies and it’s an amazing opportunity. If you have any questions about the role, just pop up to the 3rd floor of the Students’ Union for a chat or send me an email.

one match in the whole world! Go along to the Main Building to find out more - and sign up to save a life. You can also find out about volunteering with Marrow Society. For further information contact cardiff@ ukmarrow.org. Viriamu Jones Gallery, Main Building, 14:00-17:00. Cardiff PhotoSoc are running a photo hunt with a difference. Forget your fancy cameras, it’s time to take it back to the basics and use disposable film cameras. No experience necessary. During the session you will all be given a camera with a list of themes to photograph. Don’t worry if you’ve never had much experience with photography, just come along, meet some new people and have a laugh! For further information contact PhotoSoc@cardiff.ac.uk. £3.00 admission, Front of the SU, 14:00-16:00.

Monday 1st February The Law Society is offering a great opportunity to develop your public speaking through a small, personable workshop. The session will discuss skills and techniques that can be used to help you improve, and will finish with a chance to practice. This is a great opportunity to prepare for upcoming presentations, interviews, or generally improve confidence. For more information contact lawsociety@cardiff.ac.uk. £1.00 admission, room 1.29 in the Law School, 17:30-18:45. Krishna Conciousness Society is holding a Kirtan taster session. This is a simple and powerful way to meditate; Kirtan seeks to enhance the relaxation of your mind through recitation of an ancient Sanskrit Mantra. Go and join the Krishna Consciousness for a relaxed evening. For further information contact KCSoc@cardiff.ac.uk £1.00 admission, SU Reception, 18:30-21:00. Baking Society invite you to rummage round the back of your kitchen cupboards and dig out those unused herbs and spice jars and get baking. Bake at home and then bring your creation along for a sharing and tasting session. It can be sweet or savoury - let your imagination run wild! Bring your bake,

along with some cutlery and a drink. Eating so much cake is thirsty work. For further information contact BakingSociety@cardiff. ac.uk. £1.00 admission, The Great Hall, 20:00-22:00. Tuesday 2nd February The Law Society are hosting a Law for Non-Law workshop with Bond Dickinson. This workshop is a brilliant opportunity for non-law students to learn more about what a career as a lawyer involves and how they can enter the profession. The event is being run by the Head of Graduate Recruitment at Bond Dickinson, a top national law firm. For further information contact lawsociety@ cardiff.ac.uk. £1.00 admission, room 1.30 in the Law School, 13:00-14:00. Wednesday 3rd February Cardiff Marrow is a student run branch of Anthony Nolan. Throughout the year, they run clinics, signing people onto the bone marrow register via saliva sample. People with leukaemia and other blood cancers often need a bone marrow transplant in order to save their lives. However, 70% of people need an unrelated donor, and as bone marrow is very specific, it is very difficult to find a match. One person may only have

Go along and watch one of the most chilling thrillers released in the last few years. Based on the Gillian Flynn book of the same name, Gone Girl is a psychological thriller focusing on the disappearance of Nick Dunne’s wife on their anniversary. As usual, all that is asked is that you bring yourself, nothing else is required; just remember to sign up online so that we know numbers. Bring any refreshments you would like. Free admission, The Lounge, Third Floor of SU, 20:00-23:00. Thursday 4th February Are you SAD? - Go and learn how to get rid of the sadness from your life with Islamic Society. The Islamic Society welcomes everyone from all backgrounds and beliefs to challenge the rising tide of depression whist exploring spiritual cures of how everyone can support each other and access help if required. For further information contact isoccardiff@gmail.com. Free admission, Maths Building E/0.15, 18:00-20:30. Friday 5th February Are you the next Tarantino, Kubrick or Spielberg? Go along to Film Society’s 48hr Film Challenge where you’ll be placed into teams to plan, shoot and edit your films based on a pre-selected theme all in one weekend. For further information contact Filmsociety@cardiff.ac.uk. £2.00 admission,

The Boardroom, Third floor of the SU, 19:00-21:00. Give ‘Go Air’ a go with Broadway Dance. As the largest dance society, Broadway Dance hold classes in ballet, jazz, tap, irish and street but this time they’re hosting an event for everyone to try something new! Go Air is a trampoline park just outside the city centre (Broadway Dance Society will provide transportation there) where those who attend can flip into foam pits, jump on their trampolines and even play dodgeball. Be sure to wear something comfy and bring a bottle of water. For further information contact broadwaydance@cardiff.ac.uk. £8 admission, SU Reception, 19:30-22:00. Saturday 6th February Malaysian Students Society are going to the Festival of Diversity III, set to be the best Malaysian Night in Cardiff in 2016. Festival of Diversity serves as the platform for promoting Malaysian cultures and traditions as each year there is an overwhelming response from the Welsh community in Cardiff. Featuring the theme of the show “Awang: Kisah Sang Peneroka”, this show will be a tale of adventure, love, family - and how it all intertwines in a young man’s journey of self-discovery. It is a historical home-grown plot brought to life with both traditional and modern songs and choreography - an apt reflection of diverse upbringing. Call +44 7519204651 for tickets. For further information contact cardiffmsoc@googlemail.com. St. David’s Hall, 19:30-22:00. Sunday 7th February If you are interested in learning how to knit, learning new techniques and meeting other people who are enthusiastic about crafting, join Stitch Soc for a great session where they will be sharing their skills, tips, tricks and experience. Whether you are an absolute beginner or have experience in the field, this event has something for you. If you have any knitting needles and yarn, please feel free to bring them, otherwise resources are available to borrow. For further information contact stitchsoc@cardiff.ac.uk. £1.00 admission, Sir Donald Walters’ Boardroom, 13:00-15:00.

SOCIETIES 29

Women’s Equality Party Lara Stace

Help us achieve our objectives!

ven though we’re still pretty new on campus, the Women’s Equality Party Society has big ideas for spring 2016. We just need passionate people who can help us drive change on campus. If you would like to meet the committee to ask a few questions, or make friends with like-minded people, we have a tapas social coming up. Come along to La Tasca on Friday 5 February from 7.30pm. It is free to attend, but we’ll need to book a table so please do let us know you’re coming via Facebook. Simply search for ‘Cardiff Uni WEPSoc’ on Facebook and you’ll be able to find the event as well as other posts from us. We also have a committee meeting on Wednesday 10 February at 5.30pm in the Students’ Union. Members are welcome to come, share their ideas and help plan our activities for the semester – in particular, a special event for International Women’s Day in March. There’ll be snacks and drinks available. A few more weeks down the line and we’ll be holding a film night on Wednesday 24 February. Check our Facebook page for updates on details about where in the Students’ Union we’ll be, but you can expect popcorn and treats! You might have seen us on Friday if you went to the Refreshers Activities Fair. After setting up (and getting through a lot of Velcro for the displays), it was lovely to talk to people about equality in the UK and

how the Women’s Equality Party Society hopes to make changes closer to home. If you haven’t heard of the Women’s Equality Party, we’re a nonpartisan political party that was founded in March 2015. Because we’re non-partisan we welcome people from across the political spectrum, whether you’re centre-, left- or right-leaning. You may have heard that comedian, broadcaster and author, Sandi Toksvig is our co-founder. Alongside Toksvig is Catherine Mayer, a journalist and author. A few months after founding the party, in July, the Women’s Equality Party announced that Sophie Walker would be the party’s leader through its formation phase ahead of a leadership election by members next year. Speaking about why she wanted to take up the position, Walker said: “I realised the other day that I’m having exactly the same conversations with my friends that my mother was having with her friends in the Seventies. I look at my daughters (age 13 and 6) and think I really don’t want them to be the third generation having those conversations.” I think Sophie Walker has struck on a good point there. Do you ever get tired of catcalling in the street? If you choose to start a family, are you concerned that your gender (man or woman) will influence your career and family responsibilities and opportunities? Or does the existence of a gender pay gap in 2016 seem

Pictured: Sophie Walker, Women’s Equality Party

“ bizarre to you? If you’ve answered “yes” to any of the questions above, you might be interested in helping to push towards gender equality in the UK. We have six core objectives which all our campaigns and work revolve around: equal representation, equal pay and opportunity, equal parenting and caregiving, equal education, equal media treatment, and an end

to violence against women. You can read more about each of our objectives on the Women’s Equality Party website: www.womensequality.org.uk. If you’d like to keep up-to-date with the activities of our society, or simply have a steady stream of interesting reading material to distract you from work, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ CardiffUniWEPSoc.

It was lovely to talk to people about equality in the UK and how the Women’s Equality Party Society hopes to make changes closer to home

”

Cardiff Marrow: Appeal to Cardiff students!

Lilly Ryan Harper

ardiff Marrow are the Cardiff University based society who work under Anthony Nolan to sign people up to the bone marrow register in order to provide lifesaving matches for seriously ill patients in need of a transplant. Throughout the year, Cardiff Marrow run clinics, signing people onto the bone marrow register via saliva sample. At the clinics their trained volunteers raise awareness about bone marrow donation, help with the process of collecting information and saliva samples and answer any questions. The mother of the student at the centre of an international campaign to find a rare stem cell donor is urging people to attend a donor drive on Wednesday the 3rd of February in the Cardiff University Main Building (2-5pm) to find a life-saving match for her daughter and help other patients in urgent need of a transplant. 24 year old Lara Casalotti from London was diagnosed with aggressive leukaemia just before Christmas. She urgently needs to find a stem cell donor within the next few weeks to save her life. But her mixed race heritage makes it very hard to find a match. Her parents are Chinese-Thai and Italian. The campaign to find a match for

Lara has gone international and attracted the support of celebrities such as JK Rowling, Mark Wahlberg, Gareth Bale and Stephen Fry. It’s even reached the House of Commons with David Cameron at Prime Minister’s Questions giving his backing to the campaign. A series of events are being staged in universities around the country to recruit more donors, particularly those who are mixed race as there is an acute shortage of such donors. Cardiff University students can sign up on Wednesday 3rd of February in the Viriamu Jones Gallery, Main Building. To sign up, all that’s needed is a saliva sample and the process take will take less than 20 minutes. If you can’t make it, you can order a kit online from Anthony Nolan if your’re 16-30 or from Delete Blood Cancer UK if you’re 18-55. More details about Lara and the match4lara campaign at www. match4lara.com Anthony Nolan website: www.anthonynolan.org Delete Blood Cancer website www.deletebloodcancer.org.uk Or contact Cardiff Marrow directly with any questions - Cardiff@ ukmarrow.org.

Pictured: 24-year-old Lara Casalotti (Photographer: Anthony Nolan)

“

The campaign to find a match for Lara has going international and attracted the support of celebrities such as JK Rowling.

”

30 SOCIETIES

Bethan Jones

Coppafeel: Laundry Hijack

oppaFeel! Cardiff Uni Boob Team is representing the charity CoppaFeel! (http:// w w w.coppafe el.org/our-charity) with an overall goal of increasing the awareness of breast cancer in young people and how checking your breasts can save your life. 7.3% of all Cancer deaths are from breast cancers (Cancer Research UK) and

this can be reduced by earlier detection and faster interventions. The Uni Boob team aims to help stamp out late detection and misdiagnosis of breast cancer ensuring students know the signs and symptoms of breast cancer. The Boob team will encourage all students to check their breasts regularly and have the confidence to seek medical referral if any

changes are detected. Fancy an afternoon of good clean fun? Come along to our Laundry Hijack where we will be giving advice on checking your boobs for signs and symptoms, answering your boobrelated questions and handing out some cheeky free washing capsule samples! Come along to Talybont South

Laundry on Wednesday 10th February at 2pm-4pm. Hope to see you lots of you there for boobs, bras and bubbles! Come along and get involved. For more information feel free to contact the Cardiff CoppaFeel! Society via our Facebook page. https:// www.facebook.com/CoppaFeelCardi ffUniversity/?fref=ts

Cardiff Volunteering:

Ten reasons why you should volunteer!

Rachel Jones

Pictured: Above: A volunteer working with children Below: A volunteer working on an environmental project.

here are many reasons you should volunteer, we’ve come up with ten of the best reasons to volunteer: 1.Meet new people! It doesn’t matter if you’re a first or final year – it’s always good to meet people who have similar views and interests to you, and you can never have too many mates! 2.Build confidence! Volunteering is a lovely way to build your social skills and confidence in leading a group of people, whether they are children, adults or the elderly. You’ll be surprised at how quickly your confidence grows! 3.Transferrable Skills! If you’ve been to a careers talk you’ve probably heard us all harp on about this – but it’s important so hear us out! Volunteering can provide concrete evidence of skills including time management, organisation, communication, problem solving… the list is endless. 4. Experience for your CV! Linked to the above – you need evidence and examples to back up your claims on your CV in a job interview, application – they want proof you can be there on time, not just your word for it! 5.Give back to community! If you’re anything like us you will have fallen head over heels for the beautiful city that is Cardiff. However amazing the city is, they all need some love and volunteering is one way you can give back to this incredible place you call home for 3 years (or more!) 6.Makes you feel good! Links have been made between volunteering and improved mental health, but we don’t need scientific proof to know that nothing beats that feel good feeling of a child seeing a giraffe for the first time, or the joy of a year 8 student who has finally got that maths problem, or an elderly lady’s smile when she receives a Christmas present. Fact. 7.Puppies! Some of our volunteering work involves walking local rescue dogs. What more do you want? 8.Fun! Volunteering is unavoidably fun. 9.Make a difference! Volunteers provide such a valuable service to the community! Your work will not go unnoticed and our partner

schools, care homes and external organisations are constantly so impressed and grateful for the support you provide. 10.Employers love it! Having volunteering experience on your CV could just be the tipping point separating you from another potential candidate. It could also be the other way round – don’t let that happen to you! So you’ve decided to volunteer – get accredited! Volunteering is great fun, a good way to meet new people and a really valuable experience but how does anyone know that you have actually done it? If you are sitting in a job interview or trying to get on a University course or even just wanting something to put in a portfolio to show the hours you have given, how do you show that you have actually volunteered? Millennium Volunteers is a youth volunteering initiative, set up with public funding, aimed at people aged between 14 and 24. It is a way of recognising the volunteering that you have done – the three certificates at 50, 100 and 200 hours all carry both the GwirVol logo and the Welsh Government logo. This means that you can show anyone who wants to know how many hours you did, where you did them and when you did them and the Welsh Government stamp on the bottom shows that it is official. In fact, if you complete 200 hours, you even get the First Minister’s signature printed on the certificate! And there is more … if you are volunteering your first 50 hours in a placement related to sport or physical activity (anything from kayaking to welly-boot throwing) you can receive your 50 hour certificate (the first of the three) as an MV50 Sport certificate or if you are thinking of doing some overseas volunteering then there is MV50 Global ! Interested? There is a little paperwork to do but not only is this straightforward, you can even do it on-line at www. gwirvol.org ! Just pop in to the Cardiff Volunteering office on the 2nd floor of the SU or email us on volunteering@cardiff.ac.uk and one of the team will help you get started .. Go on – what are you waiting for!

Machine Head

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Gabrielle Aplin

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32 TAF-OD

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Eisteddfod Rhyng-gol Caerdydd 2016 Pa brifysgol fydd yn fuddugoliaethus?

Steffan Bryn

obeithio y bydd sawl un o ddarllenwyr Taf-Od yn ymwybodol mai Prifysgol Caerdydd sydd yn cynnal yr Eisteddfod Ryng-golegol eleni, a hynny ddiwedd Chwefror! Ers misoedd lawer bellach, mae criw bychan (ond diwyd) ohonom wedi bod wrthi’n ddyfal yn trefnu ac yn paratoi i lwyfannu’r digwyddiad pwysig hwn inni fel myfyrwyr Cymraeg. Cynhaliwyd yr Eisteddfod Ryng-golegol yma yng Nghaerdydd ddiwethaf yn 2011, a gan mai digwyddiad sydd yn teithio rhwng prifysgolion Bangor, Aberystwyth, Abertawe a’r Drindod Caerfyrddin yw’r Eisteddfod Ryng-gol, 2016 yw cyfle’r brifddinas i ddangos ei doniau ac i roi sioe gwerth chweil i holl golegau Cymru! Nid ar chwarae bach mae mynd ati

i drefnu penwythnos o gystadlu ac adloniant ar gyfer cannoedd o fyfyrwyr Cymraeg. Mae hynny’n arbennig o wir gan nad oes gennym ni yma ym Mhrifysgol Caerdydd – er gwaethaf ein hymdrechion gorau yn y Refferendwm y llynedd – Lywydd llawn-amser dros y Gymraeg i drefnu digwyddiadau ac i gynrychioli myfyrwyr Cymraeg eu hiaith a dysgwyr. Serch hynny, rydym yn ceisio gwneud y gorau o’r sefyllfa ac mae’r ysbryd o gyd-weithio rhwng y gwahanol gynrychiolwyr etholedig wedi bod yn fantais aruthrol. Mae aelodaeth y Pwyllgor Gwaith yn cynnwys swyddogion y Gym Gym 2014/15 a chriw eleni (2015/16), yn ogystal â Chadeirydd Aelwyd y Waun Ddyfal a minnau fel Swyddog y Gymraeg, Undeb y Myfyrwyr. Un peth

cadarnhaol a ddaeth ar gefn y Refferendwm oedd creu aelod staff llawnamser dros y Gymraeg yn Undeb Myfyrwyr Prifysgol Caerdydd. Er bod hyn yn bell o’n gweledigaeth ni o gael cynrychiolydd etholedig yn atebol i ni’r myfyrwyr, penodwyd Siwan Gwyn Jones i swydd Cydlynydd y Gymraeg ac mae’r cyswllt a’r gefnogaeth honno hefyd wedi bod yn amhrisiadwy i ni fel Pwyllgor Gwaith yr Eisteddfod. Mae llawer o waith wedi’i wneud eisoes, ond megis dechrau mae’r cystadlu! Yn sicr, mae angen i bob un ohonom dorchi llewys wrth i’r dyddiad agosáu, er mwyn sicrhau y bydd Eisteddfod Ryng-golegol Caerdydd 2016 yn un llwyddiannus tu hwnt a hefyd er mwyn sicrhau buddugoliaeth gartref i Gaerdydd! Mae’r Rhestr

Testunau ar gael i’w gweld yn Swyddfa Ysgol y Gymraeg, ar lawr uchaf Llyfrgell y Celfyddydau a’r Dyniaethau ac yn ddigidol ar-lein. Maent yn cynnwys cystadlaethau Gwaith Cartref, Chwaraeon a Chystadlaethau Llwyfan; gall pawb, felly, gymryd rhan yn hwyl ac ysbryd yr Eisteddfod mewn rhyw ffordd neu’i gilydd. Mae’ch angen CHI! A allwch chi gymryd cyfrifoldeb dros gynnull criw i gystadlu ar ran Prifysgol Caerdydd yn un o’r cystadlaethau llwyfan? A allwch chi gynnig cymorth ymarferol i’r Pwyllgor Gwaith? Cysylltwch â mi gydag ymholiadau cyffredinol ac i gynnig cymorth ymarferol (swyddogygymraeg@caerdydd. ac.uk) ac â Dylan Williams, Llywydd y Gym Gym ynghylch y cystadlu (llywyddgymgym@outlook.com).

Dyma’r dyddiadau pwysig: Hanner dydd, ddydd Mercher, 10fed Chwefror 2016 – dyddiad cau’r cystadlaethau Gwaith Cartref Brynhawn Gwener, 26ain o Chwefror 2016 – Twrnament Chwaraeon yr Eisteddfod Ryng-golegol 10yb nes 6yh, ddydd Sadwrn, 27ain o Chwefror 2016 – Yr Eisteddfod, Neuadd Fawr Undeb Myfyrwyr Prifysgol Caerdydd Nos Sadwrn, 27ain o Chwefror 2016 – Dawns yr Eisteddfod yng Nghlwb Ifor Bach Am ragor o wybodaeth… Dilynwch gyfrif Twitter yr Eisteddfod: @RhyngGol2016 Ymunwch â’r digwyddiad Facebook ar dudalen Facebook Gymraeg Undeb Myfyrwyr Prifysgol Caerdydd

Yn y llun: Perfformwyr ar lwyfan mewn Eisteddfod (Tarddiad: Rodrigo Miranda, Flickr)

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2016 yw cyfle’r brifddinas i ddangos ei doniau ac i roi sioe gwerth chweil i holl golegau Cymru.

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TAF-OD 33

Rhydian Jenkins

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Does dim dwywaith ein bod yn dod ynghyd adeg Y Chwe Gwlad.

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Dan Heard

Pencampwriaeth Y Chwe Gwlad yn agosáu H eb amheuaeth, cyfnod y Chwe Gwlad yw un o’r prif ddigwyddiadau rhyngwladol sy’n uno pobl yng Nghymru yn flynyddol, gyda strydoedd Caerdydd yn llawn cefnogwyr brwdfrydig mewn crysau cochion. Tu hwnt i’r rygbi ar y cae, mae’r bencampwriaeth yn denu pobl ledled Cymru i dafarnau a strydoedd y brifddinas, ac wrth gwrs i’r stadiwm eiconig, Stadiwm Principality, gan greu awyrgylch hollol unigryw. Mae’r elfen genedlaetholgar hwn yn sicr i’w deimlo dros gyfnod y Chwe Gwlad, gyda’r Cymry i gyd yn cymdeithasu a chanu caneuon angerddol o’u calonnau yn y tafarnau ac ar y strydoedd. Gyda’u sŵn yn adleisio o amgylch y stadiwm, does dim dwywaith ein bod yn dod ynghyd adeg y Chwe Gwlad. Mae’n siwr y bydd cefnogaeth brwdfrydig gan Gymru gyfan eto eleni yn y Bencampwriaeth yn sgil ein llwyddiant yng Nghwpan Rygbi’r Byd y llynedd, er gwaetha’r trechu ingol yn erbyn De Affrica yn y Chwarter Olaf, gyda phawb yn dal gobeithion mawr dros ein cymrodorion coch. Un o uchafbwyntiau’r Chwe Gwlad bob blwyddyn yw gweld bws y tîm cenedlaethol yn gyrru trwy brif stryd Caerdydd i’r stadiwm, a’r llu o gefnogwyr angerddol Cymraeg yn eu crysau cochion a phaent ar hyd eu hwynebau. Ym mloedd pob unigolyn, clywch obaith dros fuddugoliaeth dros ein gwrthwynebwyr. Cawn glywed atsain y cefnogaeth trwy gydol 80 munud y gêm, a’r oriau sy’n dilyn, ta waeth y canlyniad. Yn sgil y bencampwriaeth a’n cef-

nogaeth tragwyddol, pera i ni fel cefnogwyr i deithio tramor i gefnogi’r tîm oddi cartref, boed fel teuluoedd, grŵp o ffrindiau neu cymdeithasau. Wedi llwyddiant y trip i’r Alban y llynedd, bydd cymdeithas Y Gym Gym Prifysgol Caerdydd yn teithio i Ddulyn ar gyfer y gêm rhwng Iwerddon a Chymru. Adlewyrchiad ychwanegol felly o sut mae’r Cymry yn dod at ei gilydd fel un, boed yng Nghaerdydd, ledled Cymru neu gwledydd eraill. Dyma gefnogaeth didor sydd wedi bod am flynyddoedd, ac sydd yn sicr am barhau am flynyddoedd i ddod. Yn bersonol, fel myfyriwr yng Nghaerdydd, cefnogwr tîm Cymru a chwaraewr rygbi fy hun, dyma yw un o’m hoff ddigwyddiadau blynyddol. Mae’r ffaith y gallaf fwynhau gwylio’r gemau a chymdeithasu’n gyfeillgar gyda’m cyd-gefnogwyr ar yr un pryd, yn ei wneud yn brofiad anhygoel imi. Heb amheuaeth, mae’r teimlad o fod yn Gymro ymysg Cymry cefnogol eraill yn un unigryw, gan wneud imi ac eraill deimlo’n falch dros ein hunaniaeth. Mae Pencampwriaeth Y Chwe Gwlad yn sicr hefyd yn annog cefnogwyr ifainc a phlant ein gwlad i fedru edmygu sêr ein tîm megis Sam Warburton, Dan Biggar a Leigh Halfpenny, gan ennill profiad o fod yn rhan o awyrgylch egnïol - profiad bythgofiadwy. Eleni, yn sgil ein perfformiadau gwych yng Nghwpan y Byd, yn ein rhanbarthau yng Nghymru, mae’n debygol iawn y bydd y bencampwriaeth a’r cefnogaeth yr un mor frwdfry-

dig unwaith eto, gyda’r strydoedd yn llawn dop ohonom ni fel cefnogwyr. Gyda’r gêm gyntaf yn erbyn Iwerddon yn nesáu, mae’r cefnogwyr a’r chwaraewyr yn paratoi i’r hyn sy’n

argoeli i fod yn bencampwriaeth llwyddiannus a phleserus, â’r hen ganeuon a chefnogaeth yn barod i atseinio dros Gymru gyfan, fel un, fel gwlad.fel un, fel gwlad.

Yn y llun: Cefnogwyr Cymru yn mwynhau’r awyrgylch (Tarddiad: Flickr)

#DespiteBeingTaughtInWelsh E

A yw dwyieithrwydd yn anfantais?

r fy mod wedi ceisio ymatal rhag rhagfarn yn y darn hwn, nid yw wedi bod yn hawdd, fel y gwelwyd yn y Western Mail (‘papur newydd cenedlaethol Cymru’), mae siaradwyr Cymraeg wedi cael eu sarhau unwaith eto mewn darn a wnaeth gadarnhau addysg yng Nghymru fel anabledd . Siaradodd y darllenydd newyddion, Lucy Owen, â’r chwaraewr rygbi rhyngwladol Jamie Roberts. Trwy gydol y cyfweliad, soniodd Jamie Roberts am fanteision addysg cyfrwng Cymraeg, ac eto penderfynodd y Western Mail a’r wefan Wales Online gyhoeddi bod Lucy Owen yn “mynd i gyfweld â seren rygbi Cymru, Jamie Roberts, sydd, er gwaethaf derbyn ei addysg trwy gyfrwng y Gymraeg hyd oedran 18, bellach yn feddyg gymwysedig ac ar hyn o bryd yn astudio ar gyfer ei Feistr mewn Meddygaeth yng Ngholeg y Frenhines, Caergrawnt.” Efallai petai’n astudio mewn prifysgol Ffrengig er enghraifft, gallech ddadlau’r geiriad “er gwaethaf derbyn ei addysg trwy gyfrwng y Gymraeg”

yn dderbyniol, ond, am i ni gymryd yn ganiataol heddiw bod y rheiny sy’n mynychu addysg cyfrwng Cymraeg yn medru siarad Saesneg hefyd, nid yw hyn yn dderbyniol. Bu’r hashnod #DespiteBeingTaughtInWelsh yn trendio ar draws Caerdydd a’r DU gyfan. Gwnaeth Jamie Roberts hyd yn oed yn Trydaru er mwyn amddiff yn ei hun yn dweud: “Loved my time in Welsh Education. Very proud to be able to siarad Cymraeg! #DespiteBeingTaughtInWelsh”. Wedi hynny, trydarodd y papur yr hyn a welsant fel ymddiheuriad: “Rydym yn ymddiheuro, wrth gwrs, am y poen anfwriadol a achosir gan y defnydd o’r geiriau ‘er gwaethaf ’ yn fersiwn y Western Mail o’r erthygl hon, ac mewn fersiwn ar-lein yn gynt. Mae cyd-destun y darn hwn yn ymwneud â rhinweddau addysg cyfrwng Cymraeg yr ydym yn eu caru ac yn eu hedmygu. Bwriad y gohebydd oedd gwneud y pwynt nad yw addysg Saesneg nes ymlaen mewn bywyd, boed yn orfodol neu’n ddewisiol, yn

creu anfantais ar gyfer disgybl a addysgir trwy gyfrwng y Gymraeg. Rydym yn siomedig bod barn gwahanol wedi’i drosglwyddo.” Ers hynny, mae cerdd wedi’i greu

yn gwneud hwyl am ben y sylwadau a wnaed. Ysgrifennwyd yng Nghymraeg a Saesneg bob am-yn-ail linell, ac yn fy marn i, mae’n lleisio barn y mwyafrif o’r Cymry i’r dim:

“Despite being taught in Welsh, Rwy’n deall be’ ti’n ddweud, And anything that you can do Fe alla i ei wneud. You see the glorious sunshine A minnau’r heulwen braf, You love the summer’s lengthy days A minnau’n caru’r haf. And when the winter brings its storms A’r byd yn crynu i gyd, My thanks I give for all I am Mewn dwy iaith o hyd.” - Dienw

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Bu’r hashnod yn trendio ar draws Caerdydd a’r DU gyfan.

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tickets on sale now cardiffstudents.com/varsity in association with

welshvarsity.com

#teamcardiff

SPORT 35

BUCS Results: Wednesday 27th January Presented by:

H/A

Sport

Cardiff Team

Opposition

Result

W/L/D

Basketball

Womens 1st

University of Winchester 1st

83-39

Badminton

Mens 1st

Oxford University 1st

8-0

Basketball

Mens 1st

University of Bristol 1st

56-57

Basketball

Mens 2nd

University of South Wales 1st

66-52

Fencing

Mens 1st

Swansea University 1st

129-123

Football

Mens 3rd (Medics)

Cardiff Metropolitan 3rd

5-0

Football

Mens 6th

Cardiff Metropolitan 5th

2-2

Hockey

Mens 3rd

Swansea University 2nd

4-1

Hockey

Mens 4th (Medics)

UWE 3rd

11-1

Hockey

Womens 5th

Swansea University 2nd

4-0

Hockey

Womens 6th (Medics)

Swansea University 3rd

8-0

Hockey

Womens 7th

University of Gloucestershire 3rd

8-0

Netball

Womens 2nd

University of Bristol 1st

39-24

Netball

Womens 3rd (Medics)

University of Bristol 2nd

55-22

Netball

Womens 9th (Medics)

Aberystwyth University 2nd

17-22

Squash

Womens 1st

UWE 1st

0-4

Squash

Womens 2nd

University of Gloucestershire 1st

3-1

Table Tennis

Mens 1st

University of Southampton 1st

10-7

Tennis

Womens 1st

Swansea University

4-8

Tennis

Mens 1st

Cardiff Metropolitan 1st

4-8

Tennis

Mens 2nd

Cardiff Metropolitan 2nd

2-10

Volleyball

Womens 1st

University of Gloucestershire1st

3-0

Water Polo

Mens 1st

University of Birmingham 1st

29-9

Water Polo

Womens 1st

University of Birmingham 1st

20-1

Water Polo

Womens 2nd

Imperial College

9-5

Wins

Draws

Losses

36 SPORT SIX NATIONS PREVIEW

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The biggest strength that Wales brings to the Championships comes from a set of forwards that have enjoyed continued success for the national side over the years.

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Wales

valiant effort during the 2015 World Cup will put Wales in good stead ahead of what could prove the most competitive Six Nations Championships yet. Gatland’s side will hope to better last year’s third place having missed out on the title in heart-breaking circumstances on a memorable final day. The biggest strength that Wales brings to the Championships comes from a set of forwards filled with players that have enjoyed continued success for the national side over the years. Alun Wyn Jones and Luke Charteris will almost certainly have the second row locked down, with captain Sam Warburton and Dan Lydiate making up a powerful back row alongside Number 8, Taulupe Faletau. Factor in other regulars like Justin Tipuric and Gethin Jenkins too;

Italy

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No Italian Six Nations clash would be complete without Martin Castrogiovanni or team captain, Sergio Parisse.

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Matches against Ireland and away at France will also prove difficult tests for what is now a young squad still finding its feet under new leadership.

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ince entering the Championships in 2000 to create the “Six Nations” as we know it today, Italy have not enjoyed the best of successes. Last year’s results table saw them finish in fifth place, only in front of the winless Scotland, and this year things could be just as tough. One of the highlights each year is the opportunity to witness the sheer courage and strength of the Sky Blues, but their biggest test will again be converting that in to results. The Italian’s take on a young France side in Paris for their Six Nations opener on 6th February, which many have tipped as a crucial clash in deciding which side might avoid the dreaded wooden spoon. The Italians, still under French

Fixtures and Head Coach Warren Gatland can be very happy with the make-up of his forwards. Wales will be slightly concerned about their depth on the wings, however. George North certainly has the ability to cause a big threat, but his history with concussions is worrisome to say the least. Alex Cuthbert, who had a horrid time at the World Cup and has copped criticism from Welsh fans in recent years, has begun a return to the previous good form that lead Wales’ wing-duo to be the envy of many national teams. The prospect of the inexperienced Hallam Amos in the side, once he returns fully from his injury, also has fans drooling. The biggest absence from the squad is undoubtedly Leigh Halfpenny, who has not yet recovered from ruptur-

ing a knee ligament during the World Cup warm-up match against Italy in September. Dan Biggar, who took over Halfpenny’s kicking duties during the World Cup, will want to continue his extraordinary form that saw him capture the hearts of many Welsh fans. The newly anointed Principality Stadium will welcome Scotland, France and Italy and whilst Wales should expect to secure three home wins, nothing can be taken for granted. Their true tests will come in the games away from home, with Gatland’s side visiting Dublin to play current holders, Ireland, on the opening weekend. On 12th March, they will hope to repeat history, as they travel to Twickenham to take on England for the first time since that historic 28-25 victory in last year’s World Cup.

This is certainly not the best squad Wales have put out at the Six Nations, but it is definitely not the worst. There are still many strong components for Gatland to draw on and he will also look to bring the best out of some younger and more inexperienced players, like scrum-half Aled Davies.

Editors’ Predictions: Jim: 3rd James: 2nd Jamie: 3rd

Dublin February 7th

Scotland

Cardiff February 13th

France

Cardiff February 26th

England London March 12th

Italy

Cardiff March 19th

Fixtures France

by Rachael Hutchings coach, Jacques Brunel, beat Les Blues in 2013 when they finished a record high fouth place, so will hope for a similar start this weekend. This year could be a very important for Italy to finally show some comeuppance and retaliation to the four home nations as well. In doing so though, they will at the very least have to deliver in the Stadio Olympico against England and Scotland. The Italians will end their campaign in difficult style though, as they travel to the Principality Stadium on 19th March to take on Warren Gatland’s Wales side in a reverse of that famous final day clash in Rome last year. Brunel named his 31-man squad last month and an important factor to note from his selection is the inclusion of ten uncapped players and

England

ollowing the complete disaster that was England’s Rugby World Cup campaign, where dreams of a victory on home soil were dashed before they had ever really begun, a mass overhaul began with Stuart Lancaster, his entire coaching staff, and a number of players paying the price for dismal results and performances. Eddie Jones, mastermind of Japan’s stunning win over South Africa during the same tournament, was appointed, becoming the first foreign coach to take charge of England- and will be looking to emulate the success of the likes of Warren Gatland with Wales and Joe Schmitt at Ireland. The biggest call he’s made so far? Undoubtedly, stripping Chris Robshaw of the captaincy and handing

Ireland

by Jack Boyce

the absence of 15 from his World Cup group. With so many young players, Italian fans are sure to hope for further excitement and flair in their attacking play, with the likes of fly-half Carlo Canna, centre Michele Campagnaro, and scrum-half Edoardo Gori, all worthy of keeping an eye on. However, no Italian Six Nations clash would be complete without Martin Castrogiovanni or team captain, Sergio Parisse. The pair have a collective 229 caps for their country and are both entering a staggering fifteenth year on the international scene. Elsewhere in the squad, many of the familiar faces have been retained, including Wasps’ prop Lorenzo Cittadini and Leicester’s Leonardo Ghiraldini, as well as Sale’s

Luke McLean. Although Italy’s squad are slightly more auspicious than in previous years, it simply is too early to tell at this stage how our romantic European friends will fare throughout February and March.

Editors’ Predictions: Jim: 6th James: 6th Jamie: 6th

Paris February 6th

England

Rome February 14th

Scotland

Rome February 27th

Ireland

Dublin March 12th

Wales

Cardiff March 19th

Fixtures Scotland

by Dan Heard

the responsibility to Dylan Hartley: a player with as chequered a past as they come, following numerous bans for various disciplinary offences which have seen him miss nearly 12 months of action in total. Despite naming a young looking 31-man Elite Player Squad, Jones resisted the temptation to blood the in-form duo of Elliot Daly and Maro Itoje to his final 23-man group for Saturday’s opener with Scotland. The pair had been in great form for Wasps and Saracens respectively, and many had tipped them to earn a start in Edinburgh this weekend. Three of the seven uncapped players are in Jones’ final 23 however, including Northampton’s 20-year-old tighthead prop Paul Hill, Harlequins back-rower Jack Clifford and the Bath inside-centre Ollie Devoto.

The trio are likely to start on the bench, with the versatile Owen Farrell and last years Six Nations hero, Jonathan Joseph, the probable centre pairing. James Haskell is in line to start in an experienced back-row alongside former skipper Robshaw, and Billy Vunipola. The likes of Itoje, Daly, Josh Beaumont, Matt Kvesic, Marland Yarde, and others, have all been released back to their clubs, but should still play some part for England in the next seven weeks. After the trip to Murrayfield on Saturday, England visit Rome’s Stadio Olympico to take on Italy before Warren Gatland’s Wales side return to Twickenham for the first since ‘that’ game in the World Cup. Matches against Ireland and away at France will also prove difficult tests for what is now a young squad still finding its

feet under new leadership. With a new coach, and undoubtedly a new desire to prove their many doubters wrong following the World Cup, England will need to start strongly, and sustain that momentum if they are to stand any chance of securing an unlikely Championship victory.

Editors’ Predictions: Jim: 1st James: 3rd Jamie: 2nd

Edinburgh February 6th

Italy

Rome February 14th

Ireland

London February 27th

Wales

London March 12th

France

Paris March 19th

SPORT 37

France

“

Whilst the long-term future of Les Blues might be rosier, we may not see any big pulled up in the next seven weeks.

”

here is a fresh feel around the French camp following an extremely disappointing World Cup and a series of poor Six Nations campaigns, but can ‘Les Blues’ really begin to turn things around after years of underachievement? The Six Nations have not been a happy hunting ground for the French in recent years. The 22-times champions have not won the biggest prize in Europe since 2010 and the once feared powerhouses of international rugby appear now somewhat less powerful. The French are never a team to take for granted though and under a new coach in Guy Novès things are beginning to seem refreshed around the team camp. The 31-man squad, named last month, still looks slightly weaker

“

Whilst the long-term future of Les Blues might be rosier, we may not see any big trees pulled up in the next seven weeks.

”

“

Momentum is big in sport, especially in rugby, and Scotland are certainly carrying the most thrust heading into this tournament.

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’ flower of Scotland! ‘That fought and died for’ seemed to be what spurred Scotland on at the end of 2015. And what a year a difference makes for the Scottish Rugby Team. Last year, Scotland finished stone-cold last in the Six Nations picking up the unwanted wooden spoon and, more worryingly Vern Cotter’s men didn’t pick up a single win. But, onto the World Cup and the Scots won over the hearts of many across the world for their spirited performances and gritty ‘never say die’ attitude. Newly appointed England Head Coach, Eddie Jones, has even said that Scotland are favourites for the Calcutta Cup opener at Murrayfield on February 7th. In a tough World Cup group which included South Africa, Samoa and giant-killers Japan, Scotland progressed,

years. The omission of Toulon’s Mathieu Bastareaud from Novès’ squad took the headlines last month, with the French coach hinting that the sturdy outside centre is no longer a part of his plans. The disappointment of last year’s World Cup, and in particular that humiliating 62-13 defeat to New Zealand in Cardiff, is said to be well behind them, however when they visit the Principality Stadium for the first time since 26th February, no doubt the hosts will be quick to remind them of their horrific evening in the Welsh capital. With new coaches and new players brings new horizons, yet, whilst the long-term future of Les Blues might be rosier, at this point in time- and in the next seven weeks- we may not see any trees pulled up. A crunch

clash with Scotland at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield might determine whether France can claim the 4th place spot which has been theirs in three of the past four years, but matches in Cardiff and against good looking Irish and English outfits could prove too much.

Editors’ Predictions: Jim: 5th James: 5th Jamie: 5th

Paris February 6th

Ireland

Paris February 13th

Wales

Cardiff February 26th

Scotland Edinburgh March 13th

England Paris March 19th

Fixtures Wales

by Jamie Smith

the World Cup. There have been numerous changes to the Ireland squad. Rory Best, captain of Ulster, has taken O’Connell’s place as skipper and Schmidt has called up several players who have never previously featured in the Six Nations. Ultane Dillane, CJ Stander and Josh van der Flier are just a few players to have been selected, and with Ireland’s mounting injury problems, they may have a strong chance of featuring. Props Cian Healy and Mike Ross, who are suffering with respective knee and hamstring problems, will be absent for Ireland’s first two games against Wales and France. Joining the pair on the sidelines for those two fixtures is flanker Chris Henry, who is struggling with a shoulder injury, Meanwhile, Peter O’Mahony is still in

Scotland

Italy

by Jim Harris

than certain others though- that despite boasting some of the biggest names in World Rugby like Wesley Fofana and Louis Picamoles. The group, unlike many before it, strikes a much greater balance between youth and experience, with Novès opting to include no fewer than eight uncapped players this year. Of key significance, though, will be the absences of 80-time and 77time capped Thierry Dusautoir and Frédéric Michalak respectively. The pair’s retirement from international rugby at the end of last year will have left a massive hole in the French changing room. Their influence both on and off of the field will be sorely missed, so French fans will be keeping a keen eye on this year’s group to establish who might be able to step up and fill the void in the coming

Ireland

ollowing yet another World Cup quarter-final capitulation, this time at the hands of Argentina, Ireland will be eager to bounce back and repeat their Six Nations success of 2014 and 2015. The Irish had obliterated Canada and Romania during the group stages of last Autumn’s tournament, before labouring to victories over Italy and France to secure progression through to the last eight of the competition. But, against all odds, they were completely outplayed in a 43-20 demolition by The Pumas inside Cardiff ’s Millennium Stadium. Now, Joe Schmidt’s side must continue the progress they have made over the past two or three years. They will, however, have to do so without former captain Paul O’Connell, who retired from international rugby after

Fixtures

the process of recovering from a knee injury. There is, however, some good news on the injury front. Star kicker, Jonathan Sexton has been declared fit after suffering another head injury in Leinster’s recent European Champions Cup defeat to Wasps. The 30-year-old has accumulated a total of 239 points in Six Nations history, so his presence is obviously highly valued. That is not the only cause for optimism, though. Assessing Ireland’s fixtures, they will be pleased to welcome Wales to Dublin after their solitary defeat in last year’s Six Nations arrived at the Millennium Stadium, eventually proving to cost them their Grand Slam crown. Challenging away trips to France and England follow but Ireland end the competition with home ties

against arguably the weakest teams in the group in Italy and Scotland. If they can win two of their first three games, which is certainly achievable, then they will put themselves in an extremely strong position to win what would be a very impressive third successive Six Nations title.

Editors’ Predictions: Jim: 2nd James: 4th Jamie: 1st

Dublin February 7th

France

Paris February 13th

England

London February 27th

Italy

Dublin March 12th

Scotland Dublin March 19th

Fixtures England

by James Lloyd

very much against the odds. They dismantled a confident Japan side 45-10 playing fast, free flowing rugby and were only just beaten by The Springboks a few days later. In the must win game against a brutal Samoa outfit, the Scots showed tremendous character and resolve to progress to the QuarterFinal. A rampaging Australia side awaited but it became a bridge too far for Cotter’s men as they fell to an agonising 35-34 defeat. The game will be forever marred by referee Craig Jouber who’s poor display consequently cost Scotland a historic semi-final spot. Momentum is big in sport, especially in rugby, and Scotland are certainly carrying the most thrust heading into this tournament. Experienced Kiwi, Cotter, has selected a well-balanced squad, combining both experience and

youthful flair. Greg Laidlaw is blossoming into perhaps the best scrum-half in the northern hemisphere with exciting young prop, Zander Ferguson, looking set to make his Six Nations debut. The creativity of Stuart Hogg and the experience of Sean Lamont will be crucial in carrying the hopes of the Scottish nation. The big question then is: can they really repeat their World Cup heroics? Centres Alex Dunbar and Mark Bennett are both doubts for the opening clash with England, giving Cotter his first real selection headache in the midfield. Fixture wise, it’s not a pretty picture for Scotland. Away fixtures at Wales and Ireland will prove extremely difficult considering the Principality and the Aviva are amongst the toughest stadiums to visit. However, Scotland should be aiming for a big result

in Rome as well as picking up at least one home win against either France or England. Cotter and co. will eye a top three finish, and combined with a settling squad and the addition of defence coach, Richie Gray, Scotland could be real dark horses for the Six Nations crown – watch this space.

Editors’ Predictions: Jim: 4th James: 1st Jamie: 4th

Edinburgh February 6th

Wales

Cardiff February 13th

Italy

Rome February 27th

France

Edinburgh March 13th

Ireland

Dublin March 19th

38 SPORT

Give it a Go: Women’s American Football

James Lloyd

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The British American Football Association (BAFA) has set targets to increase the participation of the women’s game with the ambition of setting up a team in the South Wales area.

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Jim Harris

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Thousands are expected to follow the pros around the 13mile circuit, which visits some of the most beautiful areas of the city.

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Harry Elliott Cardiff Blues Columnist

merican Football is one of the rising sports in the United Kingdom, and indeed, across Europe. The National Football League (NFL), who govern football in the United States of America have even said that the UK can expect to have an NFL franchise based in London within five or six years time. People often associate American Football as being a male dominated sport and it is widely perceived that it is a male-only game. However, at university level it is classed as a mixed sport. The Cardiff Cobras American football team even welcomed its first female player last year, in Fiona Quimbre, who trained and played with the men – with no special allowances. This season has seen more women take up the sport, with Bristol Barracuda recruiting multiple female players for their team. The women’s game is growing at a rapid level, especially in the UK. The Great Britain Women’s American Football team is currently ranked 2nd in Europe having won silver at the Euros. The British American Football Association (BAFA) has set targets to increase the participation of the women’s game with the ambition of setting up a team in the South Wales area. As an initial development they have funded a taster session to increase the awareness of the sport and gather interest in the area- the first step to building a local team. With stu-

dents from an array of academic institutions in the South Wales area, this was a prime target area for try outs. BAFA’s Head of Women’s Football Development and GB Head Coach, Jim Messenger believes that the chance of a women’s team in the area is thrilling, he said: “We are really excited by this opportunity to bring women’s American football to South Wales, a region that has a very strong tradition for sports. Women’s American football has been growing fast over the last three years. It’s undoubtedly a revelation to see just how many women are excited about the chance to play the game.” Messenger outlined the strategy for boosting the interest in the sport, he said: “Our aim is simply to fulfill the demand for thousands of females who probably thought they would never have the opportunity to try the game, be part of a team and potentially even go on to represent Great Britain.” Cardiff Cobras Assistant Head Coach and Special Teams Co-ordinator, Simon Browning, echoed these thoughts, saying: “For the last few years the Cobras have seen a rise in interest from potential female players. This development is a great way to allow women another route into the sport.” The coach, who masterminded the Cobras’ 19-17 win against Swansea at the 2015 Varsity added: “American Football is a sport that thrives on diversity.

The different positions mean that there is a place for everyone on the team”. The open try-outs will be held on Saturday 13th February at Talybont Sports & Social centre and Messenger added: “We are very grateful to our friends in the South Wales American football community for their assistance in staging this event. We hope it is the start of something special and captures the imagination and support of the local

community. I look forward to the event and the day that a women’s team, based in Wales, joins the national women’s league.” No previous experience is required to play the sport, so it’s certainly worth giving it a go, and, who knows, it could be you on the Great Britain American Football team in the near future. Details can be found the Facebook Event by searching BAFA Women’s Football.

Pictured: The Great Britain Women’s American Football Team. (Photographer: BAFA)

2016: A guide to sport in Cardiff

ast year provided Cardiff with the Rugby World Cup, WWE Wrestling, Ashes Test cricket and much more so, with lots to live up to, what sporting highlights does 2016 have in store for the Welsh Capital? After the first month of the year hosted the University Blues Cup, Cardiff City and Cardiff Blues domestic fixtures and saw the Cardiff Devils book their place in a Challenge Cup semi-final, February starts with a bang. Of course, the Six Nations begins, and Cardiff will host three matches inside the Principality Stadium through February and March. Tickets for all three matches against Scotland, France and Italy are on sale now. Also in February, Cardiff hosts the Welsh Open Snooker Championships at the Motorpoint Arena between 15th and 21st. March sees some of the greatest athletes in the world grace the streets

of Cardiff for the IAAF World Half Marathon, with the great Mo Farah and current World Half Champion, Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor, both in action. Thousands are expected to follow the pros around the 13-mile circuit, which visits some of the most beautiful areas of the city, in what will undoubtedly prove to be a fantastic sporting spectacle for Wales and all of the UK. The best darts players in the world will also appear in the Welsh Capital as the PDC Betway Premier League arrives at the Motorpoint Arena on March 31st. Judgement Day in the Pro12 comes to Cardiff again in April, with the Ospreys, Cardiff Blues, Scarlets and Newport Gwent Dragons going head-to-head in one afternoon of top quality rugby. All four teams will be looking to pick up crucial late points in the domestic rugby calendar. May sees the end of Cardiff City’s and

Cardiff Blues’ domestic campaigns, but the start of Glamorgan County Cricket Club’s season. Bute Park’s SWALEC Stadium will host four-day County Championship matches, 50over and 20-over domestic cricket, as well as two international fixtures throughout the summer. The city will also host the Women’s 10k Race Series on the weekend of the 28th and 29th. Into the height of the summer and Cardiff is treated to a host of sporting spectacles. On the 2nd of July, Sri Lanka complete their tour of England with the final One-Day International at the SWALEC Stadium, with big names such as Stuart Broad, Moeen Ali and Joe Root all likely to be in action. The Principality Stadium plays host to the biggest motorsport event of the year on 9th July when the FIM British Speedway Grand Prix returns for a 16th time. August will mark the return of football to the Cardiff City Stadium

as Cardiff City begin their 2016/17 campaign. At the end of the month, Cardiff Blues will also begin their domestic campaign. September starts with another international cricket fixture as England welcome Pakistan to the SWALEC for the final ODI of the summer. Rugby will take the headlines in November as the Autumn Internationals return after two years. Cardiff will play host to some of the biggest and best rugby players the world has to offer when Wales take on Argentina, Australia, South Africa and Japan in front of a sure-sell-out crowd at The Principality Stadium. With December so far away now, few sporting events have been confirmed and finalised.However, horse racing fans can get excited for another Welsh Grand National to close out the year at Cardiff ’s neighbouring Chepstow Racecourse.

The Cardiff Blues may not have made the cut to proceed through the group stages of the European Challenge Cup, the second tier European competition, but they bowed out in style as Rugby Calvisano were dispatched 74-6 in front of nearly 5,500 spectators at the BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park. Ten cap Welsh winger Tom James bagged a hat-trick, more than vindicating his selection in Warren Gatland’s Wales 6 Nations squad, and Cory Allen touched down twice, appearing to be finding his form after a lengthy injury lay off from the World Cup in

September. The 22 year old centre is also named in Gatland’s squad alongside club mates Lloyd Williams, Alex Cuthbert, Kristian Dacey, Josh Turnbull, Gareth Anscombe, Gethin Jenkins and of course Sam Warburton. Names such as Warburton pick themselves, but individual form and the work of Blues Head Coach Danny Wilson are crucial components behind the selection of so many players from the nation’s capital. Much like fellow Blue and opposite winger Tom James, Alex Cuthbert is enjoying a welcome return to form, and the two may well

start together on the wings for Wales. Northampton’s George North is naturally first choice winger when fit but he is suffering with concussions since playing England in the World Cup. One more blow to the head before the tournament and North may well be ruled out. Newport’s Hallam Amos is the other winger in the squad (as Liam Williams is technically a full back), and scored on his return from a shoulder injury, again suffered against England, and the Cardiff University student will be pushing James and Cuthbert for the 11 and 14 jersey.

Away from the imminent 6 Nations, the Blues face the high-flying Edinburgh at Arms Park, and will be hoping for a positive result. Wilson’s men have put together a few decent results to pull themselves away from the bottom of the table, and no longer hold the ignominy of being the lowest placed Welsh region. However 9th of 12 is by no means enough to rest on their laurels, and rest assured Danny Wilson will make that known to the players, who are only a run of victories away from knocking on the door of the top five.

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Cardiff will play host to some of the biggest and best rugby players the world has to offer.

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SPORT 39

Cardiff fall short as Met claim Blues Cup glory

James Lloyd

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In such a short duration tournament, it’s hard to keep the intensity up from the start. Richard Jones

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ardiff Metropolitan secured the double at this year’s Blues WRW Construction Cup, following victories in the men’s and women’s tournament. Cardiff University finished second in the women’s competition, with the men having to settle for third place. The event, hosted at Cardiff Blues’ BT Sport Arms Park, saw the best of student rugby talent in the city go head to head in what proved to be a memorable day for players, coaches and many fans alike. In the women’s tournament, Cardiff Metropolitan triumphed over University of South Wales and Cardiff University in the three-way round-robin format. Cardiff Met won both of their fixtures, starting a comfortable 15-0 scoreline over the University of South Wales before edging out Cardiff University in an extremely closely fought and tight affair. It remained tied at 0-0 for much of the game with some big hits going in from both sides, however, after the Cardiff wing slipped on her own try line, Met pounced and dived over with just seconds remaining to secure the slender 5-0 win. With Met crowned champions, Cardiff University battled with USW for the runners up spot. Cardiff opened their account early with an impressive try set up by a blitzing run from inside their own 22. Carrying a 7-0 lead for the majority of the game, Cardiff struck late on to secure the win after a score in the corner, with the conversion missed for a solid 12-0 win.

Ladies’ rugby coach, Richard Jones, was happy with his players’ performances across both games- he said: “It’s very hard in such a short twenty minute game to assert any dominance. We had one small mistake which made the difference to the first game, a little slip in the corner that cost us the first try and we ended up losing that one.” He added: “In the second game we came out fighting and we won that one with two tries, but in such a short duration tournament it’s hard to keep the intensity up from the start.” Jones felt the experience to play at the Arms Park will help the team push on for the rest of the season, he said: “It’s fantastic for the Ladies’ team to play here [The Arms Park], usually we play on a regular field, to have this atmosphere with a good crowd is a good experience for them and it’ll get them more excited for games coming up. This is a good warm up for us to push us on for the rest of the BUCS season, we have four games left. We are sat at the top of the table at the moment and hopefully we can maintain that.” The men’s format differed with Cardiff Medics making up the final spot in the four-team tournament. Unlike the women’s round-robin format, the men competed in two seperate semi-finals with both winners progressing to the grand final. In the opener, USW edged the Cardiff Medics 11-0 following penalties on each side of half-time and a try in the dying seconds. The game never

really got going with both sides failing to take a hold of the game. In the second semi-final, Cardiff Met beat Cardiff 17-3 in an impressive display in front of a vocal crowd. Cardiff, who opened the scoring with a penalty, competed well in the opening half but did struggle to find their rhythm under the Arms Park lights. Met ran in two first half tries and then scored a further try in the second to book their place in the final against USW. Cardiff would then play fellow university students, the Medics, in the third-place play-off. Having been omitted from the Wales squad for the opening Six Nations game against Scotland earlier in the day, Cardiff Medic Hallam Amos was in attendance to support his fellow classmates. And Amos was able to celebrate soon after the start of the play-off, with the Medics surprisingly opening the scoring following a scintillating break from the winger. After the half-time interval, Cardiff looked to close the deficit but a 30 metre drop goal edged wide. Minutes later, Cardiff were back in it via an impressive move from the scrum-half who showed great vision to cross over for the score. With the extras good, Cardiff led 7-5 with twelve minutes remaining and

The event saw the best of student rugby talent in the city go head to head in what proved to be a memorable day for players, coaches and many fans alike.

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Shaun Davey Cardiff City Columnist

“Consistency”, or lack of it as the case may seem, is a phrase used all too much to describe the Bluebirds’ campaign. Cardiff have only won back-to-back games once in this year’s SkyBet Championship campaign and that was way back in September. After an impressive performance against Wolves at Molineux, the Bluebirds momentum seemed to be on the rise. But the familiarity in Cardiff ’s stuttering season continued as the Russell Slade’s side had to settle for another disappointing home

draw against lowly Rotherham. The blues currently sit in 9th place and are in danger of slipping further into mid-table wilderness, but a good run of form could see them climb right back in to the play-off mixer. However, the sense of optimism at the Cardiff City Stadium for this season is dwindling. The impressive performance away at Wolves led many fans to question why these sort of standards and consistency are not achieved week-in-week out. As the season draws to a close, Slade becomes in danger of becoming a

shadowing stopgap for the next campaign. With his contract expiring in the summer, it looks ever more likely that the former Leyton Orient boss will not be offered a new deal. Even if the Bluebirds can have an excellent end to the season and manage to push for the top six the hope is that a new man will be in charge in order to restore some pride and fight into the players, as well as of course reigniting some of that passion into the fans. One glimmer of hope for the Bluebirds is the return to form of An-

pulled further ahead through a straightforward penalty. In a dominant second half, Cardiff put the game to bed by adding a late try to seal the 15-5 win. Cardiff head coach, Louie Tonkin was content with his teams’ performances despite not making the final, he said: “Obviously we had some bad luck drawing Cardiff Met in the first semi-final. We were hoping to get the semi-finals drawn on BUCS seedings which would have seen us play Met in the final. But, we’ve got to beat them at some point so we had to deal with that.” He added: “We made some silly mistakes in the first game and gave them two tries which I don’t think they worked hard for them, we just gave them to them really without being to exert pressure, so that was disappointing. We then had a quick turnaround, around fifteen minutes to get ready for the Medics. I made some changes, we carried some youngsters, some freshers’ and the Medics came at us all guns blazing and we got caught cold in the first half. We managed to get some first team boys back onto to the field for the second half and we got the win which was crucial really.” Tonkin, who has one eye now on Welsh Varsity, wants his team to push on and make a bright start to 2016, he said: “We gave opportunities to players who are on the fringes of our first team, we have three leagues games left in BUCS. We know what our thirty, thirty five man squad is now and we want as much continuity in our selection now and to finish the season off strong into the BUCS play-offs and more importantly the Varsity match. It’s starting to come quick now, kit orders, arrangements have already started, so we have one eye on that, but our main priority is to secure a home draw in the BUCS play-offs and win the Vase if possible.” In the final, Cardiff Met were crowned Champions after dismantling USW 57-0. Met scored four tries in each half to cap off a dazzling win, making it two from two in both the men’s and the women’s tournaments. thony Pilkington. Boss, Russell Slade has predominantly used him as a winger but a further push up field has given the Republic of Ireland international the opportunity to flourish behind the lone striker. With the club also under a transfer embargo, limiting any incoming deals to the Welsh capital, Pilkington will be key if the Bluebirds hopes of promotion challenge are to be achieved. The 27-year-old scored twice in the draw with Rotherham, although he did unfortunately turn one in to his own net as well in the same game.

Pictured: Above: Cardiff University Ladies Rugby Team warming-up before a clash with Cardiff Met. Below left: USW Men’s in action against Cardiff Medics. (Photographer both: James Lloyd).

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Our main priority is to secure a home draw in the BUCS play-offs and win the Vase if possible. Louie Tonkin

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sport p

Editors: Jim Harris James Lloyd Jamie Smith @GairRhyddSport sport@gairrhydd.com gairrhydd.com/sport

February sport in Cardiff Saturday 6th February

Football: Cardiff City vs. MK Dons Cardiff City Stadium, 15:00.

Saturday 13th February

Rugby Union: Wales vs. Scotland Principality Stadium, 15:00. Warren Gatland’s side take on Scotland in their first home fixture of the Six Nations tournament, and their first game under the newly named Principality Stadium.

Saturday 20th February

Football: Cardiff City vs. Brighton Cardiff City Stadium, 15:00.

Saturday 20th February

Rugby Union: Cardiff Blues vs. Leinster BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park, 15:00.

Sunday 21st February

Snooker: Welsh Open Final Motorpoint Arena

Friday 26th February

Rugby Union: Wales vs. France Principality Stadium, 20:05. In the second of Wales’ three home Six Nations matches, fellow World Cup quarter-finalists, France, visit a sure-to-be sold out Principality Stadium.

Sunday 28th February

Rugby Union: Cardiff Blues vs. Ulster Rugby BTCardiff Arms Park, 14:30.

Six Nations preview: What to expect from the 2016 Championship

Also this week

We assess the big talking points ahead of this year’s Six Nations Championship with Wales, England, Ireland, Scotland, France and Italy all set to do battle again Jim Harris

he harsh chill of winter is slipping further and further behind us, with the first signs of spring now in sight. Of course, spring means just one thing in Cardiff : it’s Six Nations time. The annual tournament, competed throughout February and March between the biggest forces in Northern Hemisphere international rugby, has for years captured the imagination of every Welsh sports fan. This year will be no different, as over 240,000 people will flock to Cardiff ’s Principality Stadium, and millions will tune in on TV, hoping to see Wales claim a record fifth Six Nations crown. Cardiff will be treated to three matches at the 74,000 seater Principality Stadium, with Wales welcoming Scotland, France and Italy all to the capital. Wales have not played since

their World Cup quarter-final exit to Australia in October, but given their victory over England at Twickenham and the superb performances of halfbacks Dan Biggar and Gareth Davies throughout, Gatland’s side have been hotly tipped to lift a first Championship title since 2013. Elsewhere, England have been the talk of the build-up with new coach Eddie Jones dealt with the task of revitalising a squad that was left devastated following an early World Cup exit. Northampton Saints’ Dylan Hartley has been named the new captain, and despite last year’s failings, fans are still confident that results can go their way and that they can claim a memorable win against the odds. Scotland were arguably the best performing northern hemisphere side at the World Cup, but a poor Six Nations record means that many are still unsure what the Scots will offer at this year’s championships. From finishing

bottom of the 2015 standings, without a win, Scotland have much improving to do on last, but now with a more stabilised squad and an ever-improving back-line, there is every chance that Vern Cotter’s men can cause a few upsets this time, starting with England on Saturday. Like Scotland, Ireland are a team in limbo and no-one is quite sure what to expect from them this year. An all-too familiar World Cup quarter-final exit left many doubting the true credentials of this squad, but back-to-back Six Nations titles in 2014 and 2015 means that Joe Schmidt’s men are not to be written off this time, even without the influence of Paul O’Connell for the first time in 14 years. Youthful looking France and Italy squads are sure to also contribute to a Championship’s which will no doubt capture the imagination of entire continent. For in depth previews of all six teams, turn to pages 36 and 37.

Pictured:

Three sellout crowds are expected at Cardiff ’s Principality Stadium throughout the 2016 Six Nations. (Photographer: Marc via Flickr)

Full preview P36-37

Rugby Union: Blues Cup Review P39>>

American Football: Plans to have a South Wales team P38>>