Gair Rhydd 1043 - 9 Feb 2015

gair rhydd

In this week’s issue: Immigration rights activist Carlos Saavedra’s visit to the university, an interview with EFF director Jillian C. York, an introduction to Syriza, and the scale of students’ union food waste

Two students attacked in Cathays

were on their way home from the Students’ Union on the same night

Police make arrests following reports of harassment and physical assault

Two men have been arrested in connection with assaults on the streets of Cathays.

Last week two separate incidents were reported in the early hours of Sunday morning involving Cardiff University students who were walking home alone from the Students’ Union after club night ‘Flux’.

One student was assaulted and another harassed by a man trying to force entry to her house.

In the first incident, a student, who did not wish to be named, was attacked on Brithdir Street while walking home after a shift in Y Plas.

Recalling the event she said: “I was

walking back on my own and I made eye contact with a guy who then started following me.

“I rang my brother and spoke to him on the phone in Welsh as I thought the guy following me wouldn’t understand.

“As I got on to my road the guy attacked me from behind and I screamed extremely loudly but was hit.”

Te student was grabbed and assaulted before managing to escape her attacker and find her brother. Te two of them then walked to her house on Brithdir Street where they rang the police.

A witness had also alerted the authorities and a suspect matching both the witness and the victim’s description was identified shortly after the incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday 1st February.

Te victim commended the efforts of the police, adding: “I went to the station and gave a statement and the police were amazing despite the fact they had been bombarded with cases that night and they had to spill some cases to the Merthyr branch.”

South Wales Police were able to confirm that the man in question, Alex Joni, has since been charged with harassment and assault.

Te 19 year old from the Newport area has been remanded in custody and will appear before Cardiff Magistrates on 19th February.

In a separate incident on 1st February, a female student reported walking from the Students’ Union to Woodville Fishbar where she left her flatmates to walk home.

She said: “As I turned the corner I saw a young man talking to a couple of lads and thought nothing of it until he began following me at an uncomfortably close distance.”

As she approached her front door on May Street the man proceeded to overtake her and turn towards her.

Continued on page 4

Pictured: Cardiff Students’ Union by dark

(Photographer: Greg McChesney)

THE FREE WORD

EDITOR

Michael O’Connell-Davidson

GAIR

RHYDD CO-ORDINATOR

Elaine Morgan

NEWS

Georgia Hamer

Katie Evans

Alexander Norton

Anna Lewis

ADVICE

Kirsty Fardell

COMMENT

Anne Porter

Gareth Evans

Olivier van den Bent-Kelly

COLUMNIST

Jason Roberts

POLITICS

Carwyn Williams

Lauren Boyd

Rhiannon Tapp

SCIENCE

Shanna Hamilton

Meryon Roderick

SOCIETIES

Hannah Sterritt

PARK LIFE

Tim Nagle

TAF-OD

Steffan Bryn Jones

Morgan Owen

SPORT

David Hooson

Rory Benson

Joe Atkinson

PRODUCTION

EDITOR

Sum Sze Tam

DIGITAL EDITORS

Jordan Adams

Gregory McChesney

Want to join the team?

Editorial conferences are each monday at 5PM. Proofreading takes place on Thursdays at 6PM in the media office during print weeks.

Write us a letter letters@gairrhydd.com Tweet us: @gairrhydd Online at: gairrhydd.com

Gair Rhydd and the Students’ Union elections

For the first time in a long time, we’re going to cover the elections of both part and full-time officers. Tis is long, but if you care about local democracy and the media, you should read this

About a fortnight ago, in issue 1041, I used this space to talk about the projects you could get involved in this semester. One of those projects was our impending coverage of the Students’ Union elections, and, now the opening of the polls is just around the corner, it’s time to talk about what our coverage is actually going to involve.

Some background here: covering SU elections is editorially painful and quite complicated. While politicians at all levels of government - even some council members - are media trained, the majority of people running in SU elections aren’t entirely aware of our role and purpose. Fewer still have any experience interacting with us or any other journalists.

This creates an ethical dilemma: it’s quite easy to make people who haven’t been media trained look like complete idiots. So interviews could, quite quickly, go viral in the wrong way amongst the student body. While this wouldn’t be a problem for a professional politician, I can imagine it would be fairly crushing for someone who only recently left home and is running for a position that they’re passionate about. It’s not really our place to facilitate the self-destruction of individuals who are acting in the best interest of the student body, and I don’t think it’s in the best interest of the student body for us to do so.

Certain journalists of a certain mindset might dispute that. And while that’s a discussion I’m happy to have in one of our editorial conferences, that mindset is partially informed by the law governing SU elections. Our strategy is likely to be complicated by the fact that the Students’ Union is both our publisher and the body holding the elections in the first place, and the Students’ Union is legally obliged to make sure the elections are fair.

reason that there is an interest in anything else that goes on at Cardiff University; people care. They care about who’s making the rules, who’s making their experience better, and what might come next year or in the hereafter.

Equally, for democracy to “work”, voters need enough information to actually use their vote wisely. Manifestos (which will be included in the next issue) aren’t enough, and the reasons for that should be obvious. They’re not subject to any serious scrutiny, and are often works of such puffery that it’s hard to separate the achievable from the fictional for those without a deeper understanding of the way the union or the university at large works. In the first place, they’re written by individuals with a vested interest in their own success. They’re going to be works of spin, and I think everybody knows that. Why have we remained silent for so long?

Given that no sabbatical officer I have met believes that the existence of a scrutiny committee is a bad thing, it seems incredibly bizarre to me that we only scrutinise the officer team once they’ve already secured the job and been through months of training. The elections are really the only time the student body can meaningfully decide on who represents them; outside of the Student Senate and passing a referendum, there are no other opportunities. Neither securing a majority at the senate nor calling a referendum is a simple task, and you should take a look at Steffan’s efforts to call a referendum in our news section as a prime example of the latter.

actually - I believe we will achieve that. There’s no way to know for certain whether or not we’ll achieve our goals until the week is over and all content has gone to print or been published on gairrhydd.com. But that’s no excuse not to try.

Our plan, then, is to produce a live-blog for each day of campaigning (which might include “rich media” such as Vines and Instagram content), as well as a Storify of notable tweets. These might come from candidates, but we’d also like to focus on the reflections of the student body.

If people point out something interesting about a particular campaign or manifesto, I don’t believe we’re living up to our name nor our purpose by ignoring that in the name of “fairness”, because there’s nothing fair about indiscriminately ignoring everything negative. If something’s negative, it’s likely to affect someone negatively, and just because they’re not in the spotlight, it doesn’t mean they’re not worth hearing.

We’ll do our best to make sure people know where our reporters are, and where they will be, so campaigners can try and secure coverage without worrying about being caught off guard or missing an opportunity to get the message out there. But we’re going to need as many boots on the ground as possible, both in the CSM nerve centre in the Students’ Union and on the campaign trail with my news team.

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

There is a concern, then, that allowing us to cover the election may prejudice the results, and that’d leave the union in a pretty shitty place. If you’ve been around for election week in the past, you’ll know what a massive effort it is for the candidates; if the election ended up prejudiced to the point where the preferred course of action was to start all over again, it’d be chaos, and I think it’d make a lot of people unhappy.

Still, the BBC are (technically) an entity in the public sector, and many broadcasters have public service obligations written into their broadcasting licenses. Despite this, the broadcasters concerned still offer coverage of the same government that gives them life, and don’t pretend that the general election just doesn’t happen. And I genuinely believe that there is an interest in impartial coverage of Students’ Union elections, for the same

So I have been pushing for some time to cover the elections this year, lobbying every member of staff relevant to afford us the opportunity to give our readership and the voting body the information they need to make an informed decision. As I believe I’ve made clear earlier in this editorial, I have no interest in engaging in practices that would make the week any more of a slog for candidates than it already is; indeed, if a candidate says something stupid (I’m talking racism or something otherwise socially unacceptable) and we report on it, it’s not Gair Rhydd that prejudiced the election, it’s their own big mouth.

I think the reason people have started anonymous blogs and so on in the past is because there is a hole in the market for serious scrutiny during the election period. I welcome more voices in the conversation, and I hope to see similar activity online again this year. But anonymous blogs have no obligation to uphold any standards outside of the law, while we do. I would like for Gair Rhydd to be trusted by candidates and the electorate to be a impartial source of elections coverage, and I believe we can achieve that. No,

With all that in mind, if you’re interested in joining in with our coverage, the time has come for you to express your interest. This is obviously completely unsuitable for candidates, and we will be weeding out bias where we identify it, so if you have a vested interest in the success (or, indeed, failure) of any candidate, please note that we’ll keep you away from reporting on them.

However, if you’re a greenhorn reporter or you’ve got a genuine interest in political journalism, this is a great opportunity to cut your teeth. Equally, me, Sum Sze (the print wunderkind that she is), Jordan and Greg will be working overtime in the nerve centre churning out page designs and blog posts with each major development. If that sounds like something you could help out with, we’d be thrilled if you could join.

To get involved, drop me an email at editor@gairrhydd.com and keep an eye on our Facebook contributors group (you can email me for a link, or search for it - it’s Gair Rhydd 14/15 you’re looking for). If you just want to know what we’re doing or want to chat about it in person, which remains the best way of getting involved anyway, make sure you come to our meetings this Monday (the 9th) and the Monday that follows (the 16th). We’ll be in the media office on the third floor of the Students’ Union at 5PM.

Campus In Brief

Joe Atkinson

Student election season is almost upon Cardiff University as nominations closed last week for potential entrants. Campaigning will begin in the coming weeks, with polls opening on February 23rd. Tis is undoubtedly good news for those of us who enjoy people interrupting the first five minutes of our lectures dressed as dragons.

Tickets for this year’s Varsity in Swansea went on sale across campus as well; the £22.50 package includes access to the showpiece rugby match at the Liberty Stadium, travel to and from Swansea, an official t-shirt and a ticket to the after-party.

Te student senate met to discuss a number of motions, all of which were successfully passed. Among them was a movement to lobby the union’s WH Smith to stop selling sanitary products for profit, as well as one to oppose the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill introduced in November 2014.

An inquest into the February 2014 death of Cardiff University student Ali Bunney has found that he died of hypothermia having attempted to walk nine miles to his home after a night out in his native Cheltenham. Te coroner also ruled that alcohol played its part in his death, providing a stark reminder to students of the risks that drinking can pose if provisions are not taken.

Wednesday February 4th saw World Cancer Day, with Cardiff Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor adding their voices to calls for people to be more wary of their diet and lifestyle in order to significantly reduce the risk of cancer.

Cardiff became the envy of the world on Tursday night as children’s entertainers the Chuckle Brothers took their revived slapstick act to TNT Walkabout. Paul and Barry performed their Tinchy Stryder collaboration ‘To Me, To You (Bruv)’ to ecstatic revellers.

A new £2.8million research centre for Cardiff medical undergraduates was opened by a group of Welsh government ministers. Te centre will support 60-90 medic students each week. Tis of course comes at a time of increased pressure on the NHS,

with the training of new healthcare professionals becoming increasingly vital.

NATIONAL

Boris Johnson carefully navigated the ideological minefield that is the subject of Islamic extremism by saying this sentence: “If you look at all the psychological profiling about bombers, they typically will look at porn. Tey are literally wankers. Severe onanists.”

Far-right German group Pegida is planning to stage its first UK rally in Newcastle later this month. Te movement, that describes itself as ‘anti-Islamisation’, received plenty of publicity in January when its leader stepped down after was photographed with his hair and moustache in the style of Adolf Hitler. Why aye.

An interactive BBC investigation helped establish that Wayne Rooney earns the equivalent of the Prime Minister’s weekly wage in 96 minutes – it would take David Cameron, on £142,500 per year, 105 years to earn as much as Rooney does in a year. Tanks for clarifying that beeb.

With under a hundred days to go until the General Election, the latest poll suggests that man-of-thestudents Nick Clegg is likely to lose his Sheffield seat. Te Lib Dem leader is in serious danger proceeding over his party’s worst election showing in living memory.

Britain became the first country in the world to constitutionally approve ‘three-parent’ babies with a majority of 254 votes in the House of Commons after a heated debate. Te process reduces the risks of inherited diseases through the use of three people’s DNA.

Apparently using emoticons costs a lot more money than we knew, which effectively means that the mobile companies are taxing our happiness, or indeed our ability to express our dismay at social situations using a smiling cartoon poo.

WORLD

One of the three Al-Jazeera journalists jailed in Egypt has been freed to return home to Australia after being incarcerated for over a year. Peter Greste was originally sentenced to seven years in prison on allegations of aiding terrorists and inventing the news.

Te International Monetary Fund provided $100million of debt to the Ebola-struck countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, in the first move of such debt-relief since the outbreak of the disease in West Africa.

A ‘sequel’ to the much-loved A Level English Literature favourite To Kill a Mockingbird was announced last week by author Harper Lee, who released the book in 1960. Te new novel, entitled Go Set a Watchman, will be the 88 year-old Lee’s first released since the classic.

Te fallout to the hack of Sony rumbles on, as cochair of Sony’s movie studio stepped down from her role. Amy Pascal quit after emails sent by her were leaked as a result of the hack, the contents of which she described as “insensitive and inappropriate”.

Te Chief Executive of Twitter Dick Costello announced that his company “sucks” on account of its lack of effort to fight trolling and abuse on the social network. Tis comes after a number of highprofile account deletions on Twitter of victims of such trolling.

Barack Obama risked the wrath of China by praising Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama as a “good friend” and an inspiration to all human beings. China view him as a separatist and have exiled him from Tibet, but that didn’t prevent Obama from hosting him at the White House.

Coca-Cola were tricked into tweeting segments of Hitler’s Mein Kampf in a brilliant response by counter-campaigners Gawker. Te idea was to tweet negative thoughts to Coca-Cola, which would use an algorithm to turn the words into pictures of ‘happy things’. Well done to Gawker.

Pictured: Peter Greste, centre, was freed from jail this week

(Photographer: Guardian)

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Cont’d: Students harassed and assaulted on Cathays streets

When she started to unlock the door he attempted to force entry.

“I had just stepped into my house and was just about to start shutting the door when he put his foot inside my house making it impossible to shut the door. I asked him to move his foot and told him again that he was not coming in.”

Despite her resistance, the man persisted in his attempts to force entry to the house, demanding that the victim remained quiet.

It was only when the victims’ housemates returned that the man eventually fled the scene.

“He shoved the door against me and began to walk away.”

Te student reported the incident to the police and a suspect has since been taken into custody and is currently under investigation for a separate attack on a woman the previous week.

In reference to the incident on Brithdir Street, Student Liaison Officer, Police Constable Mike Neate, said: “Tis was a very distressing experience for the victim.

“We will not tolerate any behaviour such as this and we are grateful to members of the public who provided us with information both at the time and later.

“Swift action by local police officers led to an arrest of a suspect within two hours. He has been remanded in custody and will appear before the Court

later this month.

“Anyone with any information concerning this incident is asked to contact the police on 101 and quote reference 1500036261.”

Looking back on the event, the victim spoke of her how confidence has been “shattered”, adding: “Now I really have to consider the direction in which I walk home and I have to plan exactly how and whom I walk with.”

“I thought Cathays was really safe but this incident just highlights the importance of taking precautions when walking home.”

Tese incidents are not the first of their kind; in recent months students have reported a number of similar incidents in the area.

A third year ENCAP student reported to have been “kerb-crawled” after leaving work at the Students’ Union in the early hours at the end of last semester.

Te student was walking towards her house on Rhymney Street when a man in a car began to follow her.

“He wound down his window and repeatedly offered to drive me home. When I ignored him he became angry.

“After asking him to leave me alone, he drove away but not before stopping half way down the road and reversing as if to follow me again, before eventually driving off.”

Star-studded launch for new MA programme

Industry experts speak exclusively to Gair Rhydd

Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies (JOMEC) hosted a star-studded launch for two new Masters programmes last week.

Te ‘Coding for Social Change’ event, which took place on Friday, 30th January, was held to officially mark the introduction of ‘MA Digital Media and Society’ and ‘MSc Computational Journalism’.

A trio of notable people made keynote speeches from across the media landscape, Te Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger and Jillian C York, the Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

In an interview with Gair Rhydd, York, who is based in Berlin, claimed that digital media degrees that prioritise knowledge over technical skills such as coding will benefit both journalists and their readers.

In particular, she hopes to see more teaching focus on security in the digital age: “Typically coding a website is not something you’re going to do on your own, whereas I think every journalist needs some sort of baseline understanding of how to remain secure and keep

“I was so scared that I hid from the car and ran home by an alternative route.”

Te student reported that the event has left her “apprehensive” about walking home alone at night, adding: “It’s no secret that Cathays has an issue with theft, but, until now, I have never felt threatened whilst walking through the area.”

Following these reports, Student Liaison Officer, Fran Richards, stressed the importance of students looking after friends on a night out.

“Make sure you go home together and don’t walk alone. If you lose your friends then speak to the door staff.”

Richards recommended that students pre-book taxis and make use of ‘Panic Guard’, a mobile app which is able to send text messages to designated numbers with your GPS location should you activate it.

Speaking about the app, Richards added: “It will help students to feel safer if they find themselves walking alone, or getting a taxi alone.”

“Our best advice is to take care of each other. If you have to walk somewhere alone at night, do not use rear lanes or shortcuts, stick to main roads which are better lit and have CCTV cameras on.”

“It is also extremely important that anything suspicious is reported to the

police. If we do not know about these situations then it is difficult to do our job.”

“If you think a situation is ‘not right’ then it is worth reporting.”

Following the incident involving a member of union staff, a Cardiff University Students’ Union spokesperson asserted that they “have always taken staff safety seriously both during and after work, and encourage our employees to walk home in groups wherever possible.”

“Following the incident on Saturday night, relevant departments will be speaking with their student staff about this issue and the provision of transport. A late night transport service did exist around 8 years ago but it came to a natural end as student staff didn’t feel the need to use it.

“Necessary action will be taken based on any feedback received from our current staff.”

For students generally the Students’ Union operates a ‘Safe Taxi Scheme’ to ensure students get home safely at night.

If students do not have the money to get a taxi home they can call Dragon Taxis on 02920 33 33 33 and quote ‘Cardiff University Safe Taxi Scheme’ with their name and student number. Te fare can then be paid at the Students’ Union Finance Office at a later date.

their sources protected.”

York believes that the general understanding of online security is minimal, adding that her own projects - including Surveillance Self-Defence, a website that teaches people of all professions and positions how to protect their data and privacy online - aim to change this.

Te thirty-two year old advises journalists on how best to protect private information, especially in transit. York finds that certain tools like PGP, a data encryption and decryption program, are often difficult for some journalists to effectively install and use.

“I think a tools-based approach can be problematic, because people just assume, ‘oh if I install this, I’ll be fine,’” she said.

Other speakers included Jim Killock, Executive Director of the Open Rights Group, who works more with political figures and decision makers to ensure that digital civil liberties are protected by British law.

From his perspective, the course will produce more academics well-versed in the issues surrounding digital media -

who will in turn be able to produce and articulate more compelling evidence for changes in policy.

“British academics tend to think of themselves as people who need to be dispassionate and not take sides in their work in order to have credibility when talking to government,” Killock told Gair Rhydd.

“My view is that that doesn’t really work, you have to have an opinion.”

For Killock, JOMEC’s two new courses mean that more people are being educated about the relationships of power that exist in the digital medium.

He said: “Surveillance is the abuse of your personal information, privacy is your protection against that abuse, and data protection law is important for similar reasons.

“It’s about how you control your information and are able to have fair relationships with companies so I think studying those issues and understanding their importance can only be good for society.”

Alan Rusbridger, entering his final six months of a twenty-year stint as editor of Te Guardian, reserved his thoughts for

the public debate.

He recounted at length the day government officials ordered the destruction of ‘Te Guardian’s dossier of national security information, warning that “it can’t be for the state to be the final arbiter of what a newspaper can publish”.

One of the highlights of the afternoon was the presentation of one of Rusbridger’s personal ‘mind maps’, a handwritten document addressing all the issues surrounding the publication of the Edward Snowden files.

Amongst the other speakers were Joseph Stashko, the Digital News Development Editor at Te Times and Joanna Geary, Head of UK News Partnerships at Twitter.

Te aforementioned social network was the site of much discussion regarding the conference, with attendees using the hashtag ‘#codingcardiff ’.

Users of the social network variously described the event as “a top day” and “the best event ever”, whilst another noted that the discussions had provided “much to think about”.

Swift action by local police officers led to an arrest of a suspect within 2 hours. Mike Neate, Student Liaison Officer

“ “ It can’t be for the state to be the final arbiter of what a newspaper can publish Alan Rusbridger, The Guardian “ “

Pictured: Jillian York, Alan Rusbridger and Professor Ian Hargreaves

EXCLUSIVE

Alexander Norton

Wasted in the Taf: 25kg of ungorged cheddar

Members of staff criticise the outlet’s huge food wastage

Anumber of current and former staff at Students’ Union bar ‘The Taf’ have accused the outlet of creating huge food wastage on a routine basis.

One worker told Gair Rhydd that they had been ordered to dispose of “25kg cheese, 18kg of sour cream, five litres of salad dressing, two litres of hollandaise sauce, and 288 packets of crisps” prior to Christmas.

They also suggested that the festive period had seen “half a joint of gammon, turkey, beef, as well as enough [roast potatoes] and vegetables to feed fifty” binned.

These allegations were backed up by a second member of staff, who

claimed that Christmas had been “a major f**k up” which had seen an “unbelievable” amount of food overcooked.

But wastage is reportedly not limited to the winter months – with the former source suggesting that “close to that” quantity of food is thrown away “every Sunday”.

This claim is supported by a third member of staff, who worked at the outlet until the start of this academic year – and suggested that “at first, the amount of food wasted was a bit of a shock, but then you just got used to getting rid of it.”

Cooked but uneaten food amounted to “at least five bin bags” of waste over a six hour shift and

“around the end of each week, there would be a large amount of food, uncooked, that would have to be disposed of,” they added.

However, Venues Manager Alastair Cox refuted the claim that The Taf operates inefficiently – suggesting that the reported figures occurred on a one-off basis as a consequence of a fridge failure.

He suggested that the use of elderly refrigeration units occasionally saw food stored above eight degrees centigrade, after which it was disposed of for hygiene reasons.

However, he reckoned that such an event had only occurred “three or four times“ during his thirteen year stint at the organisation.

Ordinarily the outlet orders food supplies on the basis of past sales and future projections, leading to average wastage “of around 2 percent” – compared to average household wastage of approximately 10 percent.

Te original source disagreed strongly with this assessment, insisting that “the majority of staff agree that there’s an obscene amount of wastage.”

“We would support donating to a food bank, but top brass wouldn’t. Too much paperwork.”

A local food centre volunteer told Gair Rhydd: “We fed more than 1,200 people over Christmas. Tey have to expand at the moment, because the demand is increasing.”

Cardi ff Uni opens £2.8m medical educational centre

Cooked but uneaten food amounted to ‘atleast five bin bags’ of waste over a six hour shift “ “

Anna Lewis

Anew £2.8m state-of-the-art medical education centre has been officially opened by the University, in a bid to strengthen relations between the School of Medicine and the Welsh NHS.

Te medical centre, which will support between 60 and 90 undergraduate medicine students each week, is based in the Keir Hardie University Health Park located in Merthyr Tydfil. It will allow students to gain essential experience and knowledge in ‘community-based training’ and specialist mental health and addiction placements.

With the centre’s links to local GP practices, the new venture reflects the aims of the Welsh Government’s work with both the NHS and universities to ensure high quality healthcare in Wales. Funding more than 15,000 health students and trainees in Wales, the government currently

invests £350m in health professional education per year.

Te centre was opened by Welsh Government Ministers Mark Drakeford, responsible for health and social services, and Huw Lewis, Education Minister.

Dean of the School of Medicine, Professor John Bligh said: ‘ Tis teaching centre, right in the heart of South East Wales is a symbol of the growing partnership between Cardiff University and the NHS in Wales.

‘Training medical students and young doctors in the environment where they are going to work is motivating, engaging, and above all, deeply effective in recruiting qualified doctors and healthcare professionals.’

According to the Dean, the feedback from patients, teachers and students involved has been highly positive. It is hoped that the centre will

act as an example for other regions in Wales to follow.

Professor Drakeford also praised the centre as he explained: ‘Education and workforce planning are fundamental to ensuring we have the right people with the right skills in the right places to continue to deliver top class services to Welsh patients.

Huw Lewis added: ‘We believe

that it is important that universities are rooted in the communities they serve. Tis new facility is not only great news for medical students and others who will learn and train here but also for the local area.

‘ Tis centre brings state-of-theart undergraduate healthcare professional education right to the heart of the community in Merthyr Tydfil.’

Pictured: Te Taf

(Photographer: Greg McChesney)

Pictured: Keir Hardie University Health Park

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Student Senate: Going through the motions

Senate

votes for the Union to take a stance on the Counter Terrorism and Security Bill, consolidate Zero Tolerance policy on sexual harassment and remove tax on sanitary products

Alexander Norton

Anna Lewis

The Student Senate met on Tuesday, 3rd February to vote on a number of contentious motions – including the Union’s stance on the upcoming CounterTerrorism and Security Bill and its Zero Tolerance policy on sexual harassment.

The meeting, comprising twentyfive of the forty individuals entitled to vote, was also attended by an unusually large audience in light of the controversial subjects up for discussion.

With daily tabloid ‘The Sun’ having recently refused to end their practice of publishing pictures of naked glamour models, the first motion of the night saw senators vote not to allow the Students’ Union to sell the newspaper, along with the Daily Star or any pornographic publication by unanimous agreement, twenty-five votes to zero.

The motion, submitted by Women’s Officer Laura Carter and Kate Delaney, also emphasised the need to remind Union service providers of the ‘Anti-Lad’ policy in force within the premises and the importance of avoiding the broadcast of music that encourages “sexual violence or misogyny”.

One campaigner, who did not wish for their name to appear in print, told Gair Rhydd that the move was “a consolidation of where we are” but added that “we’re still a long way off of tackling institutional sexism”.

Caret and Kate Delaney, suggested improving the Union and University websites in order to include promotional material promoting and summarising the institution’s Zero Tolerance approach.

The motion also emphasised the need to provide “at least 50%” of Students’ Union staff with full training with regards to the policy, and to update current disciplinary and complaints procedures to fall in line with established standards. It passed by a margin of twenty-four to one.

The third motion of the night, again submitted by Kate Delaney, drew attention to the fact that female sanitary products are currently subject of a 5% tax. Described as an “outdated and unethical” levy, the motion suggested that “women should not have to pay for their period” – summarised by one attendee as “I bleed, I pay”.

It was again unanimously agreed that the Students’ Union sell sanitary products as ‘not-for-profit’ goods in order to render such items more affordable, with the senate also ruling that the Union emphasize their commitment to environmentally sustainable sanitary products by reducing their retail price.

Whilst the measure found favour amongst the voting members, one member of the audience wondered “whether anyone actually comes to the Union to buy their sanitary products”.

means three quarters of the senate must vote for such a poll in the event of an unexpected vacancy. The main draw of the evening was the

Following a National Union of Students survey that revealed that around 60% of students were ‘unaware’ of the policies concerning lad culture within their institution, the second motion proposed an intensification of the Union’s own ‘Zero Tolerance’ approach.

The motion, submitted by Laura

Arguably the main draw of the evening was the ‘Students Not Suspects’ motion submitted by Nadine Dahan, which sought to provoke resistance to the ‘Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill’ currently being debated in parliament.

The bill incorporates the ‘Prevent and Channel Strategy’ proposed

which would see academics obliged to actively police students who they suspect of participating in radical practices and discouraging any thought which might be conducive to such behaviour.

The debate drew audience participation, with Fadhila Ali telling Gair Rhydd that the measure “targeted particular demographics within the university committee” and “was not compatible with the ideal of free speech”.

The motion, which again passed unanimously, resolved to support a Union enquiry into the legality of the bill and to lobby the University to be more transparent over their engagement with such initiatives.

The final motion of the evening also proved the most contentious, with Vidya Brainerd’s effort to see the title of the ‘Disabilities Officer’ to ‘Accessibility Officer’ in order to remove any negative connotations that the former label might hold.

Brainerd claimed that the current title “poses a problem, in that many people do not understand what the word ‘disability’ means. I am guilty of having done the same in the past, which is assuming that all disabled students are in a wheelchair. This is not the case.”

Although it met with some opposition, the motion eventually passed with thirteen ‘Yes’ votes to six ‘No’ votes. There were a further six abstentions.

The senate also considered five items in relation to bye-laws, many of which concerned the structure of the Senate itself.

Most intriguing was the motion to prevent an automatic by-election in the event of an elected officer’s resignation – with the voting members opting to support a motion that

SUMMARY OF MOTIONS

Inquiry into Counter Terrorism and Security Bill Approved

Change to policy on sexist media and advertising Approved

Zero tolerance Union regarding lad culture Approved

Remove tax on sanitary products sold in the SU Approved

Change name of Students with Disabilities Officer Approved

By law review: Item 1Student Council Approved

By law review: Item 2Elections Approved

By law review: Item 3Membership of Senate/ Scrutiny Committee Option 2

By law review: Item 4Replacement of Officers Approved

By law review: Item 5Officier Roles Approved

Pictured: Student Senate meeting

by Home Secretary Theresa May,

Katie Evans

Petition calls for full time Welsh Language O ffi cer

Students will get the chance to vote for a full-time Welsh Language Officer if a petition to call a referendum is successful.

Steffan Bryn Jones, Welsh Language Campaigns Officer, currently a part-time position, launched the petition on Wednesday, February 4th. Tis follows the discovery of a legislative loophole and goes against an earlier vote by the Student Senate in December.

If the petition to hold a referendumn gathers 500 student signatures, then the entire student body will be able to vote on whether or not a Welsh Language Officer should join the ranks of existing full-time officers.

Despite the recommendation from NUS Wales to install a Welsh language Sabbatical Officer, the Senate rejected the referendum proposal, suggesting the motion would be better served at the Annual General Meeting, which recently appointed a full-time Postgraduate Officer.

Referendums in the past have proved unpopular. Back in 2012, a

meagre 0.33 per cent of the student body turned out to vote on whether the Union should march in an NUSled demonstration in London. 86 ‘yes’ votes over 53 ‘no’ votes sealed the referendum’s success.

Since then, a voting threshold was introduced. Referendums now require a minimum voter turnout of 10 per cent of the student population to make the referendum binding.

Another referendum was held in 2013 on whether or not the Students’ Union should remain allied to the NUS. Only five per cent of students voted, voiding the results.

During the Senate meeting, where he initially proposed the motion to hold a student-wide vote, Jones described it as “a matter of fundamental democracy” to hold a referendum.

He added: “People are entitled to take an interest in this. Not expanding the voice to the people because they might not care is a weak argument.”

Among those who rejected the referendum proposal was VP Education, Rhys Jenkins. Jenkins believes

it would be more effective to include Welsh language provisions in the responsibilities of existing full-time officer positions.

Jenkins expressed concern over the practicalities of the role, commenting: ‘[VP Welsh Language] could not sit on all the committees that the VP Education, Welfare, Postgraduate, and President sit on.’

He added: ‘Tis would be [a] highly ineffective use of time and resources. I would rather see the money put towards increasing the services we provide Welsh students [rather than] paying an officer for it.’

A Senator who also rejected the proposal said: “AGM would have been a more appropriate forum to discuss this because it would have enabled an inclusive debate to take place.”

Despite proving an unpopular method in the past, Jones believes a referendum is vital to opening up debate on the issue of Welsh Language provisions across the Union and University.

‘Both the Students’ Union and

Welsh language belong to the entire student body, and it is high time that is realised. Holding a referendum on the issue will allow us to have a proper discussion, and to raise awareness whatever the outcome.

‘It must be remembered that those signing the petition are not necessarily signing to establish the position of VP Welsh language; they are merely allowing the democratic process to take place,’ said Jones, concluding ‘I urge you to sign the petition and let this pressing debate take place.’

Jones cites how Aberystwyth and Bangor Students’ Unions employ full-time Welsh Language Sabbatical Officers, whilst Cardiff University’s SU, located in the heart of Wales’ capital, does not.

With the Union’s elections just around the corner, Jones describes it as ‘worrying’ that the position of Welsh Language Sabbatical Officer remains up in air, especially considering the Union will be host to the Inter-College Eisteddfod next year.

SU criticised for ‘hostile environment for freedom of speech’

Survey condemns recent imposition of three ‘considerable bans’

Both the Students’ Union and the Welsh language belong to the entire student body, and it is high time that is realised “

Anna Lewis C

ardiff University has been slated for creating a ‘hostile environment’ for the freedom of speech of its students, after being placed in the worst category in a free speech university rankings table.

While the University received an amber label in the table’s traffic light rankings, the Student’s Union was put in the red category after being condemned for its actions, imposing three ‘considerable bans’ recently.

The news follows in the wake of statistics revealing that 80% of UK universities and 88% of Russell Group institutions actively impose restrictions on free speech.

According to the ranking system created by current affairs website Spiked, a ‘red’ warning is only imposed after active censoring and banning has taken place, whilst ‘amber’ refers to a ‘chilled free speech through intervention’.

The table cited reasons for the Union’s poor results including the introduction of the ‘Anti-Lad’ policy in 2012, the decision to prevent Student Union outlets from selling The Sun and magazines such as ‘Nuts’, and the decision to stop sexist comedian Dapper Laughs from performing at the venue.

It also referred to the banning of Cardiff University Football Club from their annual Varsity match against Swansea and a two week freeze on training and matches after the a presentation given on a team social explaining how to target girls with low self-esteem.

The ‘amber’ rating for the Uni-

versity was given due to its sexual orientation, religion and belief policies, with a zero-tolerance attitude towards discrimination. However, questions have been raised over validity of the assessment and its negative implications. Student’s Union President Elliot Howells criticised the table, explaining that: ‘I struggle to comprehend how an institution having a policy against sexual harassment and ensuring students and staff have the right to study and work in a dignified environment is a bad thing.’

Howells continued: “I actually think Cardiff University students strike a very healthy balance between providing a safe and accessi-

ble environment for students while not damaging free speech. A perfect example of this is the implementation of our Zero Tolerance policy, which, amongst other things, prevents the Students’ Union giving a platform to certain songs protecting a particular liberation group.”

The President explained that policies with the potential to limit freedom of speech have been prevented from being implemented. This was seen at this year’s AGM, as a motion to define the Union as pro-choice, acting against the beliefs of a number of students and religious societies, failed to be voted in.

‘I would happily defend the policies we have in place to protect our students at their chosen place of

study and I am disappointed that this ‘league table’ is even being acknowledged.’

The criteria for the rankings table has also been disputed by the University, and a spokesperson told Gair Rhydd: ‘We make no apology for introducing measures that prevent jokes that are sexist, racist or about an individual’s sexual orientation and ensure that unwelcome sexual invitations, innuendos and offensive gestures as well as the circulation of abusive, offensive or homophobic materials are not tolerated.’

Despite this, the University emphasized the importance of free speech and ‘academic freedom’: ‘We ensure – wherever possible - that the use of university premises is not denied to any person or group on the basis of their ‘beliefs or views’.

‘Universities are, rightly, places where controversial views can be heard, considered, debated and contested. This is a central element of the purpose of a university, and we respect our duty to secure freedom of speech for academics, students and for visiting speakers on campus.’

Neighbouring university Cardiff Metropolitan also ranked poorly for its freedom of speech restrictions as one of the 47 universities within the UK to be categorized in the red category, including Oxford University and UCL.

The news comes after past decisions made by the Student’s Union to stop the sale of a number of products, including those made by multinational food company Nestle.

“Students don’t engage with opposing views. They ban them” See page 14 for comment’s take on Freedom of speech at university

Steffan

Bryn Jones

Welsh

Language Officer

tweet us @gairrhyddnews

email us news@gairrhydd.com or visit us online at gairrhydd.com/news

Student elections: Candidates announced

The candidates for this year’s Student Elections have been announced, with three out of six elected officers running for the position of SU President.

This year will see the Student Election period reduced from eight to five days

Te candidates across the 16 posts were announced on Friday February 6th. Tis year will see the introduction of a full time VP Postgraduate position, following the success of a motion passed in the last AGM by current part-time Postgraduate Officer Ollie Wannell.

Five candidates have applied for the recently created VP Postgraduate Students. However it was noted that Wannell, despite ensuring the success of the motion, was not one of the students listed.

Te results of the AGM also saw the creation of a LGBT+ Womens

Sam Jenkins

Daniel Tucker

Jade Cox

Sarah Al Sayed

Ahmed Laajam

Grace Piddington

Jack Meldrum

Ellie Utley

Jackie Yip

Bryn Griffiths

Jennifer Owen

Samuel Pritchard

Diana Isajeva

Claire Blakeway

Barney Willis

Danial Alauddin

Will McLoughlin

Olivia (Livi) Gilbert

Felicity Holmes-Mackie

Sophie Timbers

Olivier van den Bent-Kelly

Benjamin Cole

Metthew Jenkins

Beth Innes

Tim Nagle

Jasmine Kew

George Powney

Katey Beggan

Chloe Richards

Hina Sadh

Vidya Brainerd

position for the first time, with one candidate running for the role. Further changes made after voting in the AGM include the abolition of the VP Media and Marketing Position. With only three candidates running for SU President, those campaigning will consist entirely of current Officers. Candidates include Barney Willis, VP Societies and Campaigns, Claire Blakeway, VP Heath Park and Danial Alauddin, VP Welfare.

Current Welsh Language Officer Steffan Jones will also be re-campaigning for a second time as the only candidate running for the position.

Continuing the string of current officers campaigning for a second time, VP Sport Bryn Griffiths has been announced as one three students competing for the role of Student Senate

Chair.

In comparison with last year, the number of students running for VP Welfare has seen a marked increase, with 13 candidates announced compared to a previous eight. Tose listed include current LGBT+ Officer Sam Cook.

A significant rise was also seen in the total figure of candidates running for VP Heath Park, with seven students hoping to win the position compared to one last year.

Following tough competition last year, the number of candidates campaigning for VP Education and VP Societies remain high. VP Education saw an increase from seven to eight students competing, whilst continuing from last year VP Societies will see seven candidates fight for the po-

Ebunoluwa

MJ Melissen

Katie Kelly

Thomas Malo Tollefsen

Lisa Childs

James Clarke

Joe Perrins

Claire Wisener

Hannah Sterritt

Becci Guymer

Nicolas Rothera

James Ledward

Samuel Parsons

Stephanie Pugh

Samuel Cook

Kate Delaney

Myles Stenlake

Thom Davies

Alexander Franklin

Laura Knight

Dominic Dicks

Nadine Dahan

Jessica Davies

Eliza Walwyn-Jones

Daniyal Zafar

Himanshu Kishnani

Jake Smith

Steffan Bryn Jones

Amy Bullard

Leah Hibbs

Rachael Melhuish

Ravina Vijayanandam

sition.

However, other roles have been neglected, with no candidates applying for Mature Student’s Officer.

Tis year will see the Student Elections campaign period reduced from eight to five days, with polls opening on Monday, February 23rd. Candidates will also be provided with colour-coded t-shirts by the Union stating the position that they are running for, in a bid to ensure a more informed voter turn out.

Te closure of nominations marks the beginning of the Student Election period, which includes the hosting of a Candidates Questions time to allow students to put candidates under scrutiny. Extensive coverage of the elections will be found in Gair Rhydd throughout the campaign time frame.

Table: Each of the candidates running for part-time and full-time positions in the main elections.

Disclaimer: candidates are subject to change prior to campaigning. as some of those listed may choose to withdraw.

Anna Lewis

One in three female students are victims of sexual

assault

New figures suggest that sexual assault at Cardiff University could be massively under-reported

EXCLUSIVE

Katie Evans

Alexander Norton

Such a slim mandate... has led the Labour Party to pinpoint the seat as a significant battleground

National statistics reveal one in three female students are victims of sexual assault or unwanted sexual advances. However, Cardiff University reports contrasting figures: two instances of rape and one instance of sexual assault were reported since 2011/2012.

Tree cases of sexual assault were reported by students to Cardiff University in the past three years, a figure at odds with recent national statistics, calling into question the effectiveness of the University’s policies on sexual assault.

Shocking figures recently published by Te Telegraph revealed that a third of women and twelve per cent of men have experienced sexual assault or unwanted sexual advances whilst studying as an undergraduate in the UK.

But a Freedom of Information Act confirmed that no cases of sexual harassment were reported and that no cases of rape or sexual assault were dealt with under formal procedures by Cardiff University in the past three years.

Two allegations of rape were reported by the University’s Security and Portering Services whilst one instance of assault, allegedly of a sexual nature, was reported under the Student Disciplinary Procedure. Neither of the cases resulted in dis-

ciplinary action.

Cardiff University’s figures do not come close to matching Te Telegraph’s national statistics, begging the question: are Cardiff ’s preventative policies really this successful, or is sexual assault among students going unreported?

Either the University’s ‘Zero Tolerance’ and ‘Dignity at Work and Study’ policies are working extremely effectively, or students do not feel comfortable reporting cases of sexual assault to University officials.

Writing in response to Te Telegraph’s figures, Professor Nicole Westmarland of Durham University accused institutions of failing to provide a safe environment where victims of sexual assault feel confident enough to report the crime. She also claimed that universities are ‘simply refusing to see the level of sexual violence that is happening.’

Te Telegraph’s figures were calculated by specialist research group, YouthSight, who interviewed 1,000 students across the UK. Tey discovered that 97 per cent of those who experienced sexual assault did not report the crime to their university and 44 per cent believed their institution would ‘do nothing in response.’

Teir poll also revealed that around half of female students and

a third of male students claimed to know a friend or relative who experienced sexual assault whilst attending university.

Te findings appear to have reignited national concern for sexual responsibility among students, just as the debate on ‘lad’ and rape culture was threatening to exhaust itself, with some academics accusing lad culture of normalising inappropriate sexual behaviour.

An estimated 60,000 to 95,000 people are the victims of rape each year, while full time students have an increased likelihood of sexual assault, according to a Home Office report.

Professor Westmarland described universities’ policies regarding sexual assault as ‘archaic’ and accused casual references on sexual assault made by university sport and social clubs for trivialising the issue:

‘It speaks of a world where 18-yearolds go to college parties and expect to be sexually touched without their consent, where student nightclubs and sporting groups casually refer to sexual violence in their party themes and where university leaders continue to turn their backs on the widespread misogyny and assault that is happening under their noses.’

Te Telegraph’s findings come less than four months after the National

Union of Students launched its pilot ‘I Heart Consent’ scheme across twenty Students’ Unions up and down the country, which aims to educate students on sexual consent.

Te NUS also set-up the Hidden Marks website for student victims of physical and sexual assault, domestic abuse and sexual harassment.

Te website is the result of Te Hidden Marks research report which revealed that one in seven female students had experienced ‘a serious physical or sexual assault during their time as a student.’

Sarah Green, director of the End Violence Against Women coalition, also expressed concern for those students who felt forced to quit university after their experiences of assault and abuse were not ‘adequately’ dealt with.

Commenting on the lack of protection afforded to student victims of sexual assault, Green declared: ‘ Tis cannot be allowed to continue.’

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual assault and/ or harassment and would like support, the University’s Counselling, Health, and Wellbeing Service offer daily drop-in sessions, as well as general advice and guidance. Te service employs a specialist trauma-trained therapist to work with students victims of sexual assault.

Cardiff students ‘Britain’s second most powerful’

Students’ potential to influence general election results very high in Cardiff, according to Guardian analysis

Cardiff University students have been ranked amongst “Britain’s most powerful” in The Guardian’s assessment of academic institutions at the heart of the forthcoming general election.

The constituency of Cardiff North (including the studentpopulated areas of Gabalfa and Heath) was won by Conservative Party candidate Jonathan Evans with a majority of just 194 at the last election.

Such a slim mandate – coupled with the large student population – has led the Labour Party to pinpoint the seat as a significant battleground in their efforts to regain power, with the student vote integral to their hopes.

The precariousness of the Tories’ grip on this constituency, coupled with the prospect of the Liberal Democrat-held Cardiff Central also changing hands, has seen Cardiff students place second in The Guardian’s rankings.

Only students at the University of Warwick (in the constituency of North Warwickshire) are deemed to be more central to the outcome

of the general election.

Last week, Gair Rhydd published the results of a Cardiff University-commissioned YouGov poll which saw both Cardiff North and Cardiff Central falling into Labour hands.

Such a result would be a damning indictment of the coalition government’s popularity amongst the student population, with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats projected to lose any elected presence in the city.

The prevailing situation lends even greater emphasis to the Student Union’s attempt to register students in time for the election, with around 24,000 believed to be unable to vote at present.

Last Thursday saw an “election bus” parked outside the Union –and if you are still unable to cast a vote, registration can be achieved quickly and simply through the Students’ Union website.

The general election is set to take place on 7th May, with comprehensive coverage of local and nation levents available in Gair Rhydd’s Politics section.

Are Cardiff’s preventative policies really this successful, or is sexual assault among students going unreported?

Pictured: SU President Elliot Howells with mascot Derek the Dragon

Kirsty Fardell

Sophie Blackwell

ADVICE

Welcome to our Advice section, where we bring you tips for surviving Cardiff university life email us: advice@gairrhydd.com

Free time? Do something good

Get involved in Student Volunteering Cardiff to enhance your CV and gain valuable experience

There are many reasons why you should get involved in Student Volunteering - as well as being a great way to give something back to the community, it is a great addition to your CV as future employers will get a good impression of your work ethic. With Student Volunteering Cardiff (SVC) based in the Student’s Union with plenty of opportunity, it is easier than ever to get involved.

SVC is a charity run by students on the 2nd floor of the Union. Tey work with a wide spectrum of the community, including the elderly, young, homeless and disabled benefiting from the volunteers’ help, as well as the more vulnerable and disadvantaged members of the community. You’re not left to get on with something on your own - they can provide you with the help, support and guidance you need to kick-start your volunteering career.

You could volunteer with the elderly, young people, homeless or the disabled

One way volunteering can enhance your career prospects is by gaining experience working with children in education. An example of this is the Wednesday club – an after school club for children in two local schools where volunteers provide fun activities to do as well as being able to take them on trips. Tere are also weekend day trips for young people who are classed as carers, so they get the chance to mix with people in a similar situation and get a break from the stresses they have in their lives at home. Tere is also the opportunity to work in a school providing homework clubs for pupils in all areas of the curriculum, as well as supporting pupils who are struggling in a certain subject in the classroom. Tis can give a prospective PGCE student vi-

Students promoting the ‘Weekender’ project at the Volunteering Fayre

What do you think? Have your say: advice@ gairrhydd. com

tal experience needed to get onto a PGCE course, as well as giving you the opportunity to see if a career with children is definitely for you.

Tere are also groups that support people with learning disabilities, such as the Discovery Friendship Group that holds two meetings a month for people with Asperger’s syndrome. Te Home and Away project allows young people with physical and/ or learning disabilities to have fun weekly outings that are organised by volunteers. SVC also works with two care homes, setting up events for the volunteers to get to know the elderly and have regular visits to people that otherwise may not get many visitors.

SVC are running a Volunteering Week this month, which is the busiest time of year for one-off volunteering. Running from Friday 20th-Friday 27th February there are daily events to get involved to get a flavour of what volunteering is about. Events include cleaning up Ogmore beach, dog walking and an afternoon tea event for the elderly. Tere is also an Education Volunteering Fayre on 11th February for those that want to get experience volunteering in education.

If you’re worried about travelling to volunteer, SVC provides several ways of getting around. Te most common way will be using public transport, and some projects are even in walking distance, but there is also the chance to book one of the two cars available to get you to and from the location. If you have your own car you can claim back on travel expenses for petrol by providing receipts, which is also available for public transport journeys. Materials

for activities and outings with groups can also be reimbursed, as well as necessary phone calls, so the cost of committing to a volunteering project will only be your time.

To volunteer you must provide two good character references so that SVC can be sure to find you reliable and suitable. Most projects also require a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check before you start volunteering with forms available from the SVC office who can also help you to complete it correctly.

All volunteers are expected to adhere to a confidentiality agreement. Working with vulnerable people as well as their families and other professionals you will experience their day-to-day concerns and problems, and it is vital that they are able to

trust and confide in you as part of their involvement in a project. Terefore, it is important not to discuss the personal information you will come across outside of the project. Te only time something should be passed on is when there is a legal responsibility or a need to protect the person’s health and welfare.

Volunteering should always be your own choice, and with such a variety of projects there are plenty of reasons to want to get involved. SVC supports worthwhile causes that give something to people who may not otherwise get the help and interaction volunteers provide, so being involved should give something to you as well as others. Register your interest and find out what projects will suit you by visiting www.svcardiff.org

Visit the SVC website at www. svcardiff.org

There is an opportunity to volunteer to work in education to give any potential PGCE student valuable experience “

Pictured: Te Volunteering Fayre stand

Pictured:

Kirsty Fardell

Speak Week runs from 9th -13th February with many events planned for students to voice their concerns

Got ideas on how to improve the university experience?

Speak Week is your chance to voice your concerns and suggest ways to make your academic experience better

Speak Week is running this week until Friday and is your opportunity to share your university experience with the Students’ Union and give feedback that could improve the way things are run. Tere will be a stall in the reception of the Student’s Union to report on what you like and dislike about university, as well as stalls dedicated to hear feedback on the libraries and IT services.

Student Voice run an annual campaign called ‘Have your say’ which gives students the opportunity to write feedback online via the SU website, so it is easier than ever to get your voice heard.

Speak Week kicks off with an event for postgraduate students on Monday 9th February in the SU, giving the chance to talk about any issues they have come across while at Cardiff University, with suggestions on how to improve them. With the Vice President Postgraduate Students’ being elected for the first time this year, it is a chance to contribute ways to shape the role, as well as a good opportunity for anyone running for the position to hear the concerns of postgraduate

students. So whether you are a postgraduate with concerns or someone running for the VP role, it is perfect timing to voice your problems and gain some perspective on how they may be solved.

Te ‘Armchair Politics’ events will be taking part in the Heath Park Campus to hear the concerns of people studying over there. Tese could include issues with Heath park facilities, academic issues, placements or about the General Election. Tey are even giving out free Krispy Kreme’s for the students that take part, so there is no excuse not to get involved. Tere is also free pizza available for anyone who takes part in the Heath quiz on Tuesday evening, which will ask for details about your experience at the Heath.

International students are able to voice their opinion at the ‘International Students’ Roundtable’ event on the evening of Friday 13th February. Feedback on the university experience of international students is very important considering they make up a large proportion of Cardiff students, so any concerns on areas of study as

well as the experience as a whole will really help to boost the overall university experience of international students.

Student Academic Representatives are a great way to voice your concerns throughout your time at university. Tere is a list of academic reps for your subject area on the Student’s Union website and they do shout-outs during lectures once a term, so you can find the relevant person to report your concerns to. Tey will bring any pressing issues to the Student-Staff Panel, which means meeting with lecturers and the rep coordinator to discuss the next step. Ten the issue may be discussed by the Board of Studies, which many of the Academic Reps sit on and ensure that the concern gets heard. A decision is then made and all students who voiced the concern will hear the verdict. Te academic reps are also able to give you advice on services the Students’ Union offer should you need some guidance. Tey have a conference during Speak Week to raise the issues they have heard and hear from guest speakers, so the ongoing work of the reps means that it is never too late

to speak to them and tell them your concerns or provide ideas of ways the university could improve.

Te nominations for the Enriching Student Life Awards also opens today. Tis is an award that recognises staff who are dedicated to contributing to students’ academic achievements as well as the overall student experience. Tere are different categories to nominate staff for, such as helpfulness, quality of feedback, innovative teaching and teaching quality, and the improvement of the overall student experience.

Te areas of the student experience that you feel need changing could be something small in admin, to something as important as module options. As an example, Religious Studies added a module on Judaism that was previously not available as a result of students communicating with their Student Academic Reps. Tis proves that things do get done, so take the opportunity during Speak Week to voice your concerns and make some changes – if you have encountered an issue the chances are someone else has too.

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We do not vote in a vacuum. We vote knowing the odds.

AFOR & AGAINST TACTICAL VOTING

Is it the only way that our electoral system will work?

fter first finding the party that you think most aligns with your values, the second conflict as the polling day approaches is whether to go with your head or your heart: do you go with your principles or do you compromise – do you vote tactically in order to get the best expected results?

Whenever my dad and I sat down to have the voting discussion, he always told me that the importance of voting was that, if you didn’t vote, it was essentially giving a vote for a party you hate. And in the wider public sphere, David Cameron recently told potential UKIP voters that a vote for UKIP was a vote for Labour.

And, as reluctant as I am to agree with David Cameron, in some senses he is right on this. He assumes that UKIP voters are the people that would prefer Conservative to Labour, and by voting UKIP they split the Tory vote. While this leaves a sour taste in my mouth, especially since it acknowledges that our voting system doesn’t serve the voter, it makes sense for the immediate present. Tactical voting is the best option for the individual. We would all like to vote for the party that gets our political gears going and yet voting for them, if they are unlikely to gain many seats in the Commons, may be a vote directly against our own interests in the long run. Should it be like this? No. Is it good for politics? Definitely not. In an ideal world all voters would automatically vote for the party that best represented their views. It would shake up the two-party system currently in place, in which both look pretty very similar and play off each other’s failures. Politicians would actually make more of an attempt to appeal to voters. Tere

are many systems that attempt to allow for confident stick-to-your-principles voting, such as the alternative vote. But, we do not vote in a vacuum. We vote knowing the odds. We vote within a specific system in the UK that does not encourage honest voting, because it is detrimental to the honest voter.

No matter how good a political party is, if they are getting one vote and one vote alone – your vote – you’ve probably thrown a vote straight into the political void. When it comes to medium and large third parties, they end up radically splitting the vote for the more popular candidates. No single party represents your views entirely, either. Every vote and every allegiance is a compromise, hoping for an improvement – taking your wins where you can get them.

Of course, this is a rather soulcrushing attitude to take - that we can’t vote for the parties we most agree with because they do not stand a chance. Perhaps we should vote honestly because that’s what we’d like others to do, too. But I’m suspicious. Vote tactically, and in the meantime look into how the system could be changed to value honest voting. We can’t all vote together in good faith; we need a system that encourages this.

If we did all agree to vote honestly, the power would lie in those who would be happy not to. All it takes is for one side of the political spectrum to band together in the face of defeat, and suddenly the let’s-play-fair system is compromised, and the losers are the ones who played by the rules. Going with my gut is probably a vote against my own interests: an extra vote for a party I do not like.

Iam very much against the idea of tactical voting. Why, in a multiparty democracy, do we insist on voting for a party that we don’t actually want in power?

Our country is blessed (or cursed, depending on your views) with a multitude of political parties. Te Tories, the Greens and UKIP give us a variety of policies – some more tolerable than others. With this plethora of choice we surely can find one party that we identify with - at least somewhat. Despite this choice of parties, many people see our political system as flawed. Russell Brand-esque ideas tell us how voting is a waste of time when none of our political parties are truly representative of us as a nation. We need to ensure that our political parties actually represent us to ensure that tactical voting doesn’t take place. If our parties don’t actually represent us, then why would voting tactically work anyway?

Tis idea of tactical voting should not exist in a democratic system where voting has been given to us as a right. Not all countries worldwide have such a luxury – women still can’t vote in Saudi Arabia (although they will be able to from this year) nor can they vote in the Vatican City. We should vote for what we believe in, rather than as a tactic for getting the most likely victor into power. Voting on what we expect other people’s voting strategies to be does not ensure that our voting system is fair. Tis defeats the objective of the democratic voting system.

Despite the fact that people are voting tactically, which I don’t agree with, at least they are voting. I find the British electoral system bewildering –and my mum works for a local council. She explained the way to vote in the

European Parliament elections to me and gave me information on all of the parties. No wonder people are choosing to vote tactically – chances are they don’t know the policies of all of the parties that they are able to choose from. Voting tactically, therefore, is just an excuse to not understand the policies of an opposing party.

My home constituency is dominated by the Conservatives –some people argue that voting for another party is simply pointless as there is no chance that they will come into power. If we vote tactically then the lesser candidates surely don’t stand a chance. Smaller parties are engulfed by the larger groups. Te interests of local communities and constituencies are also overwhelmed. Politics gets personal when individuals are affected by the political power that rules over them.

Surely, if we vote tactically to ensure that someone gets into power – the lesser of two evils, as it were – we don’t end up with anyone we want in power.

In the last British general election we ended up with a coalition that no-one voted in. Since then – how five years have gone past escapes me – they have irritated students, angered the poor and discriminated against underrepresented groups in their white, male and privately educated arrangement.

As a nation we should simplify our electoral systems and make sure that our parties are actually electable.

Ensuring that political parties are representative of all social groups will make people realised the potential that different political groups have for them. Voting tactically isn’t the way forward. Let’s use our democracy to its full potential and vote for what we believe in.

If our parties don’t actually represent us, then why would voting tactically work anyway?

FOR: Callum McAllister AGAINST: Anne Porter

Pictured: Where tactical votes come to a head.

Source: Atache, Flickr

COMMENT

Ban this Article

Today’s students don’t engage with opposing views - they ban them

Iwas unsurprised to read that Cardiff University has been named as one of the worst universities in the country for the suppression of free speech. It is category ‘Red’ according to independent body ‘Spiked’, which examines the policies and actions of universities and students’ unions and then ranks them on a traffic-light system. ‘Red’ is defined as a university ‘that is hostile to free speech and free expression. It mandates explicit restrictions on speech, including, but not limited to, bans on specific ideologies, political affiliations, beliefs, books, speakers or words.’

Many students only value free speech when the speech is agreeable, and only deplore bias when the persuasion is not “

Tis may sound extreme, however for those acquainted with Union policy, it should come as no surprise. You may well know that you cannot purchase a copy of Te Sun, or indeed any ‘lads’ mags’ in our Students’ Union. Now, although a union where 5/6 elected officers are male clearly has its own gender equality issues to contend with, this is a ban that I could defend in principle. As is the ban against advertising sports such as horse racing, greyhound racing, game shooting, and so on. I could also defend the ban against playing certain songs on our radio station, or the extremely well publicised ban against ‘Dapper Laughs’ performing here. In fact, I fully agree with the feeling behind all of these. However, it is not the sentiment behind these bans that are the problem—it’s the fact that they exist at all.

To begin with, banning things simply does not work. If you ban something,

you brush it under the proverbial carpet. Yes, you may find temporary relief, but the issue does not vanish, awareness is not increased, and its root problems are not solved. To ban what you dislike is to display the short-sighted arrogance of a dictator. To assume that your ideology is shared by all and then shape an institution accordingly is, undeniably, fascistic. It merely pushes the ‘thing’ that has been banned to the fringes, underground, and thus temporarily away from the critical gaze.

Consequently, the student fetish with banning the disagreeable has achieved very little. I’d like to suggest that those calling for a ‘thing’ to be banned ask themselves this simple question. What will the ‘prohibition’ do to address the root problem? In most cases of student-implemented bans, the answer is nothing at all.

More commonly then, it is a matter of the few students who are in a position of power imposing their own fauxliberal dogma on a majority. I say ‘faux’ liberal because there is nothing liberal in the notion of banning what you dislike. In fact, it is the height of illiberalism. Let me propose, then, that our Student Senate consisted solely of right-wingers who banned Te Guardian. Or solely of staunch libertarians who repealed all drinking regulations. In both instances it is not the beliefs themselves that are at fault, but the fact that these beliefs are being imposed on all.

And this is no exaggeration. Tis problem extends beyond bans and onto fully fledged belief systems and

ideologies. For example, at last year’s AGM meeting, there was a lengthy debate about a controversial motion aiming to make our Students’ Union ‘pro-choice’. Now, to me at least, the utter absurdity of that sentence is striking. Why must an SU which serves all students form an official stance on this? Te greatest irony can be found in the motion’s ninth requirement, which states that ‘any information about abortion or contraception…presented in Union or University buildings must be unbiased’. Tis is an astounding claim within a motion aiming to create an openly biased union.

Tis is a perfect example of the wider problem. Many students only value free speech when the speech is agreeable, and only deplore bias when the persuasion is not. Look no further than the ‘No Platform’ and ‘Anti-Ukip policies of the NUS for examples of this. I’m sure the contradictory nature of opposing ‘fascist views’ by denying a platform for them is not lost on you.

For too long has student politics been dominated by this reprehensible mindset. It is a mindset that is inherently intolerant, close-minded, and seemingly allergic to any kind of discussion of difficult or controversial topics. In fact, the prevalence of this mindset in so many students’ unions, not just ours, is hugely patronising. For example, banning the likes of Te Sun and Blurred Lines under a feminist pretence directly implies that young women should be sheltered and protected from these forms of

misogyny. I, as someone who identifies as a feminist, believe that female students are both intelligent and strong enough to directly engage with these problems and do not require this futile shielding. Tis argument applies to all bans; do we really need this political mollycoddling? You may well say that you simply don’t want these things at your university—and therein lies problem number two.

Tis campaign of bans, boycotts, and motions against all that conflicts with the mainstream liberal mantra is turning universities into ideological bubbles that do not reflect reality. A university should prepare and develop its students for the ever-looming darkness of the real world. A world that is indescribably cruel, unjust and unbearably offensive. Tere are page-3 gogglers on every train, Ukip supporters in every office and religious fanatics in every town. And this is, whatever you may believe, the way it should be. In our lives we will encounter people or things that we disagree with and should be equipped with the ability to engage in rational debate with them. Universities should be a place where we practice these skills to the full but, as things stand, they are fostering a mentality whereby problems and issues are superficially resolved with bans rather than real debate and discourse.

After all, if there’s anywhere where discussion should be encouraged without fear of reprisal, it should be in a university. Currently, this is not the case.

What do you think? Have your say: letters@ gairrhydd.com

Gareth Evans

Pictured: Students vote at this year’s AGM

Installing software is now as simple as pressing the grotesquely labeled ‘GET’ button

Computer literacy: Too little, too late

Growing up, we were forced to deal with the grey, soulless misery of Windows 95 and its equally depressing younger brother, Windows 2000. However, these pixelated landscapes of despair did teach us important lessons: 1. Life is bleak and 2. How to actually use a computer. Tanks to the constant blue screens of death, random crashes and the trauma of installing the simplest of programs, we were effectively forced to become the IT support guys of our own homes. Even the least technically minded of us understands computer directories, folder hierarchies and file extensions because when we were young, there was no alternative.

Today, we live in a world where the sight of a baby using an iPad has become so common it’s clichéd. I have a cousin, young enough that he can’t yet speak, who possesses the rudimentary technical skills to know that if he presses the big red YouTube button on the home screen, at some point in the near future “Te Interrogation Song” from Te Muppets 2 is going to start playing. He knows if he presses the camera, he gets to spend the next three minutes reveling in his own beauty. It’s impressive. A child, who can’t even say his own name, can use technology to achieve his goals, regardless of how simple or

annoying they might be.

Tat’s because installing software is now as simple as pressing the grotesquely labeled ‘GET’ button, while a user may have no idea about what processes are happening behind the slowly filling up progress wheel.

Tey may be completely oblivious to the fact that thousands of lines of code are being downloaded from some server somewhere along with countless resource files and libraries.

Tey might not have any idea what any of those things are – and it wouldn’t be their fault. Apple, for example, keeps all that stuff hidden from its users behind a wall of friendly icons and emojis.

Last September the government implemented changes in the national curriculum that would see ICT bumped in favour of a more Computer Science based course. Tese computing classes would start as early as Key Stage 1 and introduce concepts of logic and programming in lieu of word processing and spreadsheet skills that had previously been a staple of ICT.

Tis, however, is nothing new. When I was in primary school we had a small programmable robot named Roamer. Roamer would start at point A, and as a group we would have to design an algorithm that would see

Roamer safely arriving at point B. It’s only now, as a Computer Science student, that I realise what the point in that exercise was. Clearly in an attempt not to overcomplicate, the word “algorithm” was never used whenever Roamer came to visit. Indeed I doubt any of us were even paying attention to what was being said because we were just too excited to play with the shiny new robot.

Te plans hope that by the time pupils are in secondary school, they will be using two or more programming languages, “at least one of which is textual”, suggesting that the reality of what kids will be using is some sort of graphical user interface to implement simple flowcharts. Tis

is still a fantastic exercise in logic and reasoning, but it’s not that different from what ICT was already teaching.

Tis begs the question, with the potential damage done to the next generation’s practical ability to use technology at a low level, accredited to the over simplification of user interfaces, will the slight change in the curriculum be a sufficient remedy? It seems to me, at least, that unless kids walk out of school fluent in Python and Java, they may well be the least computer literate generation since our parents’, particularly in their understanding of computer architecture. Perhaps our days as the in-house IT support guys may not be as numbered as we might have hoped.

Blood money: the tampon tax

With varying Student’s Unions deciding to remove tax from sanitary products, has it come soon enough, or are women still paying an excess to have periods?

Sharvaani

Recently a number of Student’s Unions across the UK have started campaigns against the so-called ‘tampon tax’. It stems from the idea of treating tampons and sanitary towels as ‘luxury goods’ and taxing them as such. I see this approach as fundamentally flawed for several different reasons.

Every woman requires access to basic sanitation

Economically, this approach makes you question the differences between luxury goods and basic necessity goods, such as salt and sugar which are indispensable for human survival and hence must not have taxation imposed. Isabel Sundberg, a Media MBA student at Cardiff University, rightly argued that sanitary products are an “essential”. Be it a school girl, a college graduate, a new mother or a woman at the menopausal stage, every age group of women needs basic sanitation.

Moreover, the unfairness of the matter is amplified by the fact that men’s products are not taxed - such as razors (and they could always grow a beard if worst came to worst). When free contraception is provided, it often comes in the form of male condoms. Cardiff University student, Aditi Krishnan, said: “Tese are necessities not ‘luxuries’. Condoms I

still understand being non-taxable but men’s razors I definitely don’t!”.

Tis certainly speaks a great deal about the UK government’s attitude towards women, as it placed a VAT (Value Added Tax) of 5 per cent on tampons in 2001, reduced from 17 per cent in 1973. Stina Lundal, an MBA student, went even further, arguing that: “We should get it for free or discounted. I agree with free condoms as that is a way of preventing STDs and unwanted pregnancies.” While some students feel strongly in favour of the cause, some feel that it does not greatly affect their pocket.

Goldsmiths University students recently started the petition “Stop period tax. Period” against George Osborne, to bring down taxation to per cent. President of SUARTS, University of Arts London, started a protest against the taxation of tampons by providing free tampons to students all year round. Tey are not alone, either. Students at the University of East Anglia successfully campaigned to stop their Students’ Union selling sanitary products with this tax. After the latest Student Senate meeting, Cardiff University have followed suit.

Tese petitions and protests are trying to combat the ugly picture that reflects the UK government’s attitude towards menstruation, portraying it as a taboo in the male-dominant society. All members of the EU must consent to the exemption of taxation over tampons. Kerry McCarthy, Labour MP for Bristol East, stated that: “Sadly it seems unlikely that the UK would be able to secure unanimous agreement [from the EU’s member states], particularly as relations with other EU members are not good at the moment.”

Even though the parliament is nonchalant about this issue, they must at the very least provide an explanation regarding the treatment of tampons as luxury goods. Is it because they have a higher production cost? Is it because the purpose of a condom dwarfs that of a tampon? Will reduction in production cost minimise the quality of tampons and if so, would that hamper women’s health in any way?

We need answers to these questions. Despite all the setbacks and discouragement received from varied members of parliament, the students are determined to further their cause and it is hoped that these can make a difference to womankind.

Pictured: Te Tampax mother nature advertising campaign

Source: Tampax

Jordan Adams Pictured: Te age of dialup, floppy disks and Internet Explorer

Source: Columbia University

Rents starting from£230 per person per month

17 JASON ROBERTS VS THE WORLD

what is love hurt me what is love hurt me

Virtual reality

Social media is replacing reality TV, and I couldn’t be happier

At the risk of sounding like a typical #millennial, it is absolutely beyond me how people lived without the Internet. Te reach of the web has infiltrated pretty much every facet of modern life, mostly for the better. I can now go on a car journey without getting lost because I have interactive maps that even a 5 year old could read. If my car breaks down on said journey, I can look up how to fix it. And once my car is moving again, I can regale my social media followers with an unapologetically exaggerated tale of my technical brilliance.

There’s no room for subtlety or context on the Internet; communication is almost becoming a binary in which we talk in black and white terms

Well, not quite. You see, I have an uneasy relationship with social media, which has inevitably meant that in the last few years I’ve grown more and more distant from it. Part of this is down to getting Timehop, an app that regurgitates old statuses and tweets, and as a result makes me cringe at some of the scalding hot takes I once issued unto my 200-or-so Twitter followers as a 16 year-old firebrand. But more than this, it’s become clear to me that people turn into an amplified version of themselves over social media. Tere’s no room for subtlety or context on the Internet; communication is almost becoming a binary in which we talk in black and white terms. I mean, it’s hard to articulate an opinion in 140 characters without simplifying whatever it is you’re opining.

Tere’s also the issue of privacy. Facebook is far and away the worst in this regard. Tey can access your

messages, your current location, and sell all of your personal data to selected trusted third-party overlords. Te worst thing about Facebook though, is that my life would become so difficult to organise without it. Practices would be missed, parties would be forgotten, and you’d never be able to remember the name of that one guy at that one place. Facebook then, is a totally necessary evil.

But here’s the real reason why I’m still under the collective thumbs of Zuckerberg et al. Yes Facebook is evil. Yes, Facebook makes my life easier. But really, the real reason I keep both my Facebook and Twitter profiles alive is because it’s a platform for the best form of entertainment in the world. I’m not talking Farmville or whatever bullshit game you were invited to play by someone you haven’t spoken to since Year 9. I’m talking going onto that person’s profile, and straight up laughing at the ridiculous forms of self-expression that now surround us in our virtual lives.

Back in the December issue of Quench, Gareth Evans penned a diatribe against the evils of reality TV; pointing out that nowadays it’s actually the furthest thing from reality. You might not be rich, beautiful or an unrepentant asshole, but you can watch an heiress to a chemical weapons factor be all that and more for an hour every week. Instead, if we want a glimpse at modern reality, we’ll just scroll down our Facebook timelines or Twitter feeds and gawk at the fact that someone we used to go to pri-

mary school with just had their third child at 19 years old. SHOCKING.

But once you start to move beyond your friends and into friends of friends, or even total strangers, now that’s when the real fun begins. Venture into the comment sections on almost any popular page, you’ll find people cursing out people they’ve never met before on the basis of a usually minor difference of opinion. Te Internet tends to turn otherwise perfectly sane and normal human beings into absolute psychopaths, and I just can’t get enough of it.

It’s simply beautiful. Te bad grammar, the broken logic, THE ENTIRE PARAGRAPHS WRITTEN IN ALL CAPS. Te thing that I look forward to most is the absolutely unhinged total meltdown. Tis isn’t referring to the person whose life is basically one long subtweet (“can’t be dealing with all the fake people around nowadays” *fist emoji* etc, etc.) No, this is referring to the person who airs absolutely everything. It could be about anything (although most in my experience have dealt with some form of infidelity) but when they start tagging other people as a method of calling them out, grab the popcorn. Take a seat, cancel all appointments, if you’re important enough to have appointments. Tese don’t come around often, and when they do they’re often swiftly deleted soon after. Shots will be fired, names will be taken, and rash accusations against people’s mothers will be made.

Tis is so much better than that

episode of Made in Chelsea when Tempura didn’t invite Galadriel to her Landmines for Orphans charity ball because Tempura had secretly been sleeping with Lord Pissbury, or WHATEVER. It’s better because these are real goddamn people, and these explosions of beautiful rage have filled the void that reality TV used to occupy, before it became focused around turning its subjects into celebrities. And this is why social media is better than just your standard Internet troll comment section, because you can put an actual face to the lunacy. With all the opinions and meltdowns out there on the Internet, it’s easy to forget that there are actual people behind the keyboards that wrote them. Sometimes that’s quite sobering, other times it’s really, REALLY funny. Just like reality TV. Let’s not pretend that reality TV is dead, because (some might say unfortunately) that just isn’t true. It just needs a different name, because to continuously refer to it as “reality” when approximately 0.0000001% of the population can relate to not being served the right sort of caviar for breakfast, is perhaps a tad disingenuous. It’s time to realise that social media is now how our realities are best (and more importantly, most hilariously) represented within the media. It’s still, undoubtedly, a form of escapism. It just means that instead of looking at reality TV stars and wishing, “I wish I was them…” we look at our smartphones and begin to appreciate that our lives could be a lot worse.

Te standard of discussion on social media

If we want a glimpse at modern reality, we’ll just scroll down our Facebook timelines or Twitter feeds and gawk at the fact that someone we used to go to primary school with just had their third child at 19 years old

Jason Roberts

Pictured:

Carwyn Williams

The Changing Politics of the EU

Growth of eurosceptic parties across Western Europe putting austerity measures at risk

Politics in Europe is changing, and it’s changing quickly. Te question is if it’s changing for the better. Last month, Syriza won the Greek election, becoming the first radical left wing antiausterity party in the European Union. However as we look ahead, it’s likely it won’t be the only one for much longer. Since the economic downturn many countries have been hit hard, Greece certainly the hardest, with a continuing seven year recession and a 25 per cent unemployment rate.

In Britain, the current unemployment rate stands at 5.8 per cent, proving the Greek economy is in a much worse state than ours. But could their new Prime Minister change Europe, currently destined for austerity?

confidence of voters by the time of the election. Spanish voters are also angry at the ‘German led austerity’ regime along with Greece and want change. With an election due to be held in December, it is likely that change will come and Spain will follow the same path as the Greeks, with Podemos becoming a close ally to Syriza at the EU leaders table.

Remember Eurosceptic parties won around a quarter of the seats available in the European Parliament last year

Let’s look at Spain; new left-wing party Podemos, which translates to “we can” in English, has surged ahead in Spanish polls with 28.2 per cent, despite having only been set up last year. On the announcement of the Greek election, Podemos’ General Secretary Pablo Iglesias described the forthcoming Syriza win as a start of power for the citizendriven response to austerity and that “2015 will be the year of change in Spain and Europe.” Surprisingly, Spain’s economy is faring much better than the Greek economy, with an economic growth of 1.6 percent predicted for this year, despite an unemployment rate still lingering around 23 per cent. Despite this, Podemos has captured voters for several reasons. Spain has been through a tough recession, as well as suffering corruption in its politics, with almost 2,000 politicians currently being investigated for corruption and it seems the Spanish public have had enough. Tese corruption cases stretch right across Spain, from corrupt boundary changes at a local level to party funding at a national level, as well as politicians swiftly becoming top officials at part-owned public bodies after leaving politics. In reaction to the rise of Podemos perhaps, last month a new bill was passed in Spain’s lower house to crack down on corruption, but it is unsure if this will be enough to regain the

In Spain and Greece the political left is dominating, but the picture is different in France, with the far-right group Front National making significant progress in polls. A poll last September showed that their leader, Marine Le Pen, could be voted as the next president in elections in 2017, proving their party is growing swiftly. In a by-election last week, the party topped the poll with 34 percent of the vote, the first poll since the Charlie Hebdo attacks, after which the party campaigned on an “Islamic threat” to the French Identity. Current President François Hollande will need to work hard to attempt to curb the far right from too much influence in politics, as his approval rating dropped to a new low of 12 percent in November, according to a YouGov poll.

While in other European countries the change does not seem to have as much influence, growth in radical and Eurosceptic parties is certainly on the rise. Even here in the UK right-leaning political party UKIP are on the rise, currently averaging 15 percent.

It seems obvious then that the European Union’s joint austerity measure to save the economy is at risk, and voters in some countries will simply not accept the terms that their government have agreed to.

Angela Merkel, seen by many as the driving force behind European austerity, is being widely criticized with many speculating that her plan has not worked and must be changed to put Europe on a better path. Even in Germany, the former German foreign minister Joshka Fischer wrote “Greece’s election has already produced an unambiguous defeat for Merkel and her austerity-based strategy for sustaining the euro.” Despite this,

in Germany, her approval ratings stay very high, at levels that David Cameron would love to have, at an amazing 74 per cent.

Last week however, Merkel emphasized that banks and creditors have already made substantial cuts to Greece’s debt, and ruled any further cuts out, despite wanting Greece to stay in the EU. Te incoming Greek finance minister has however ignored this and having already started to roll back austerity measures and is “not prepared to carry on pretending and trying to enforce an unenforceable programme.”

Te Eurozone and the European Union therefore are faced with a dilemma:

concede to Greece’s new government and restrict austerity, which will be difficult for Merkel, or risk facing a ‘Grexit’, a Greek exit from the European Union where it could potentially default on its debts. President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker warned Greece that they cannot hold the rest of Europe to ransom, and Brussels will not change all of its rules to solve Athens’ crisis. Te next few months will be vital for the future of the EU as all eyes turn to Spain to see if the left-wing party can join Syriza at negotiating a better deal for their respective countries without the forced austerity agenda that has been forced upon them.

Syriza: who they are, and why they’re significant

Theodoros Lekkakos

It has been a couple of weeks since the Greek elections took place and the new Syriza party is settling in. Having been formally launched in 2004, Syriza is a newly formed political party representing left wing politics. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Syriza (in Greek stands for: Synaspismos Rizospastikhs Aristeras) which means ‘coalition of the radical left’, combining ideologies of 13 groups (some of them are the social democrats, along with the Democratic Socialists, the left-wing populists, as well as eurocommunists and also the eurosceptic groups). Te leader of the party Alexis Tsipras is the young-

est Prime Minister in modern Greek history, being only forty years old. Syriza had rapidly become popular since the recession started and especially so since 2012, when deep austerity cuts continued to have a egative effect on the Greek economy. In the first election of 2012, the party achieved 52 seats out of 300 and in the second election achieved 71 seats in the Greek Parliament. Te party are at their peak gaining 149 seats in the Greek Parliament last month. Because of the fact that the party is a coalition of groups and ideologies, the beliefs that it represents are not clear. Following a speech by

the party’s leader in the Greek city, Tessaloniki, some basic ideas and key concepts were highlighted, such as writing off the bank debt of people who can’t afford it, a job creation program, increasing taxation to the rich and also providing food, electricity and heating to houses that cannot afford it. In the weeks since the election, it is clear that the idea of the need for change that was expressed in the recent Greek elections has started to affect the rest of Europe’s political parties. Alexis Tsipras has stated in his post-electoral speech that: “Our victory is also a victory for the other countries of the Euro-

zone and the fight against austerity.” Starting to get in touch with other governments the Greek Prime Minister, along with the new Minister of Finance Mr Varoufakis, have travelled Europe to find support by discussing austerity reform with other political leaders. An important meeting has been held last Monday with British Chancellor George Osborne. During the meeting they discussed the possible future of Greek economy and have reached an agreement of ideas making the Greek Minister of Finance optimistic that the current financial problems Greece is facing could be resolved.

The party is a coalition of groups and ideologies “ In Spain and Greece the political left is dominating, but the picture is different in France

”

Pictured: Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias (Credit: Remy Steinegger)

Below: German Chancellor and the face of austerity

Angela Merkel

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Hong Kong democracy: Round two?

Thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators, many of them students, marched through Hong Kong’s streets in the first major rally since the mass protests which engulfed the city last year. Chants of “no fake universal suffrage. I want genuine universal suffrage,” filled the air as the demonstrators held aloft the now-infamous yellow umbrellas, which became a symbol of the earlier protests as the activists wielded them as a defence against police using pepper spray. Tese were the first protests to have taken place since the three month long demonstrations ended in December last year. Te protests last week appeared peaceful, mainly due to the fact that smaller crowds than previous marches were drawn. Te original protests began last September in response to the Chi-

nese government’s August ruling that candidates for election to the city’s highest office would need approval from a committee of largely pro-Beijing members, most notably the 2017 election for Hong Kong Chief Executive. Te final election plan must be approved by a two-thirds majority in the city’s Legislative Council before submitting to authorities in Beijing. But pro-democracy legislators, who hold 40% of the seats, have said they would veto the screening proposal.

Rally organizers from the Civil Human Rights Front had expected up to 50,000 people would take part, but estimated about 13,000 marched.

Police said they estimated the march drew 8,800 at its peak, with 6,600 leaving from the walk’s starting point in the city’s Victoria Park.

Te so-called “Occupy protests”,

A week in the Senedd

First Minister’s Questions

which paralyzed major roads for months and at their peak featured violent clashes between protesters and police. But it’s unclear where this movement, which drew over 100,000 protesters at its peak, goes from here, without a clear leader or strategy to achieve its aims. As Hong Kong works through the process of how its next leader will be elected, the government has asked for feedback during a fraught two month period of public consultations. Hong Kong’s leaders, including current Chief Executive CY Leung, have made it clear that there are limits to the measures that can be taken, as reform must be within the framework outlined by Beijing. This will see Hong Kong’s next leader directly elected for the first time, but notes at the same time that the candidates for the ballot will be

with Carwyn Williams

Nick Ramsey opened proceedings this week with a discussion regarding the M4 relief road and other possible improvements calling on the First Minister to re-open the consultation process on tackling the Newport pinch point. Carwyn Jones quoted a Twitter debate he saw as a response, that there was disagreement within the Conservatives over the matter, as well as in other key policy areas.

Leader of the opposition Andrew RT Davies quoted an ex-Labour councillor this week, who compared the First Minister to the leader of a cult or mafian. Mr Jones rejected this accusation of discord in the party and pointed out that the conservatives post disparaging tweets about other members. It seems Mr Jones is concentrat-

ing too much on Conservative problems rather than confronting his own party’s problems. Mr Davies went on to talk about local councils, and what the Welsh Government’s plan was, for six or twelve councils. Mr Jones declined to answer this as it would have been discourteous to another party leader he is in discussions with. Te minister went on to attack the Conservatives party’s record on education but it seems as if the minister is concentrating too much on a comparison with England’s situation than answering questions on his own policies.

Leanne Wood was next to grill the minister, and brought up her health policy of recruiting an extra 1,000 doctors. Mr Jones remarked that her policy was ‘impossible’ although her intention wass fine. He accused Ms. Wood

of not thinking the policy through, also attacking Plaid’s sugar tax while questioning how Plaid would recruit these doctors. Leanne Wood emphasized that Plaid Cymru had a short term recruitment plan and a long term training plan and was concerned that the First Minister did not know how many extra doctors the Welsh NHS needs, with Mr Jones responding stating ‘it is not my policy to recruit a thousand doctors’ for Wales.

Lib Dems’ Kirsty Williams discussed governmental structure with the minister, adding that the Welsh Governments plan to limit councillors terms limits who people can and want to vote for, therefore taking power away from the people. Te First Minister responded stating that he can’t change the electoral system and the Liberal Democrats should try and win under the current system rather than trying to change it for their advantage.

Newly devolved business rates will not change Minister for the Economy Edwina Hart last week announced that the newly devolved business rates to Wales in April will not change during the first year, reporting that the Business Rates Panel is recommending reform in the medium term, rather than in the short term. Members from every other party seemed disappointed by the announcement, calling for a timetable for more radical change for the rates.

screened by a nominating committee. Since the handover from the UK in 1997, Hong Kong has been governed as a Special Administrative Region of China under the concept of “one country, two systems”, a system which is now being seriously undermined. In a statement released on the government’s official website, it implored all sectors of the community to “adopt an accommodating, rational and pragmatic approach, as well as an inclusive attitude to express views, to forge consensus so that 5 million eligible voters can elect a Chief Executive by universal suffrage through ‘one person, one vote’ in 2017.” The many protestors, however, aim to remind the Hong Kong government that the reform proposal currently on the table simply doesn’t go far enough.

Te minister also announced small business rates relief will be extended.

Lib Dems minimum nurse pledge

Spending by the NHS on agency nurses increased by 80% last year, costing £23 million prompting calls for reform, with ministers saying they were “taking action to recruit and retrain nurses.” Te Liberal Democrats introduced a bill last year to set minimum nursing levels on hospital wards that could ‘revolutionise health care’ in Wales according to their leader.

No to Fracking

Te Welsh Government back Plaid Cymru’s proposition to get ministers to do all they can to prevent fracking for shale gas in Wales. It seems the government’s position is to prevent fracking until it is proven to be safe. Tis power however is currently not devolved, so the Welsh Government will need to work closely with the UK’s environmental minister to reach a solution in the future.

Carwyn Jones gets Language Bill warning

A joint letter by opposition parties has called on the Welsh Government to improve on the Welsh Language standards bill. Tey are requesting that public bodies should do more to ensure a Welsh service is available and for Welsh language standards to be a factor when giving contracts to private companies.

Pictured: One night of many from last year’s prodemocracy protests

It’s unclear where this movement, which drew over 100,000 protesters at its peak, goes from here, without a clear leader or strategy

Dan Heard

tweet us @GairRhyddPol mail us politics@gairrhydd.com or visit us online at gairrhydd.com/politics

Cardiff UKIP candidate Ethan Wilkinson: the Gair Rhydd interview

Interview by Rhiannon Tapp

Tell me about your political career so far.

a lot younger. I’m 24 and a current university student. I’m married and have a child. So all of these different things allow me to identify with quite a lot of people. I’ve also set up my own company and speak three languages. I feel that I’m part of that new generation of young voters: voters who want change. Who better to make change than the person who desires that change? So I feel that one of the attributes I have which most politicians lack is honesty. I really want to be honest in everything that I say and do.

Why do you think UKIP policies in particular represent Cardiff North?

spending, so how would any of this benefit Wales?

UKIP want to see a massive change to spending and these difficulties were highlighted by the Scottish referendum. UKIP hasn’t come out with any specific policies on the Barnett Formula but they want to look at alternative solutions and ultimately they believe the UK is better together. They want to strengthen through devolution the powers that are available and look specifically at the spending.

other people. UKIP is a party which recognises that people can make decisions for themselves and they want to roll back the nanny state and let people make those decisions for themselves rather than the government saying ‘you have to do this’.

UKIP have said they will scrap the department for energy and climate change and scrap green subsidies. Is UKIP denying the existence of climate change?

“UKIP

is the only party which I feel allows you to exercise your rights

”

“

I feel that I’m part of that new generation of young voters, voters that want change

”

It’s been quite redundant until now. I was a long term supporter of the Conservative party. Until very recently I had started an internship with Alun Cairns who is the MP for the Vale of Glamorgan. I have been a supporter of UKIP for quite a long time, I just didn’t realise that I associated so many policies with the new manifesto that they brought out. I realised they were the party that represented the majority of the views that I have. So I joined the party at the end of the December, I’ve done the assessment centre and I’ve just been selected last week as the parliamentary candidate for Cardiff North.

Why do you think you’d be a successful MP for Cardiff North?

I’m very different to the other candidates. Cardiff North is a very interesting constituency: it’s the most marginal seat in Wales. The incumbent Conservative MP won by 134 votes and now all of the candidates are brand new so it’s an exciting race. I’m the only candidate who is

Something that has come up quite a lot on the doorstep is that people feel like they’ve been let down by the local leaders, the Labour led council and the Conservative MP. UKIP is the only party that is offering a change- that we would have more money if we left the EU. There have been cuts some of which were very necessary by the government, but the average person doesn’t feel like their lives have been made better, they just think cuts have been made to essential services like libraries. They don’t feel like their wages are going up and everything is going down. UKIP policies are going to help people feel the difference.

You mentioned we would have more money if we left the EU. Wales takes a lot of funding from the EU so how would Wales manage without that?

It’s important to remember where that funding comes from. So at the moment we pay £10 billion a year, which is roughly £65 million a day. And that money is reallocated back, so it’s money we’re putting in anyway. We would have that £10 million pounds a year and we want to cut the foreign aid budget by £9 million pounds a year, so that’s an extra £19 million pounds a year.

Despite having that money, UKIP wants to reduce Barnett Formula

Farage has said recently that he will scrap tuition fees for STEM students. What degree are you doing and do you think it’s fair to disparage against other degrees?

I am studying Italian and Spanish. I’ve done modules in politics and I’m currently in my fourth year. The reason UKIP has come out with this policy is because they’ve looked at where we have the skill gaps in the jobs the economy is looking for and identified that we have a shortage of doctors and nurses and within this digital era we have a lack of people with IT skills which the economy is looking for. So in these jobs we do have to recruit abroad and then there are people here who are unemployed and have to look abroad. So UKIP as an incentive is saying that subject to academic performance, the fees will be wavered so that we can fill that skills gap.

What do you think about Douglas Carswell’s remarks that UKIP needs to be taken seriously as an internationalist, multicultural party?

I’m not too sure what you’re referring to exactly but I know that as a party UKIP does appeal to a broad range of people. There are many claims that UKIP is racist but as a young voter, someone who has lived abroad and lives in a multicultural city, I don’t think that is a fair assumption or evaluation of the party. The party’s policies really appeal to a wide range of people from different faiths, colours and backgrounds. It’s important to remember that in the European Elections, that UKIP came first and gained 20 per cent of the vote.

There are certain policies in UKIP which many people feel are backwards looking and cause concern: bringing back smoking in pubs and legalising firearms. Do you think any of these policies are relevant to Cardiff?

Thinking about Cardiff specifically and on a personal level, I’m not sure. I’m not a smoker. With that, pubs would be required to have a separate room for smokers, which would be well ventilated. It’s not imposing the rights of other onto

UKIP is the only party saying we need to have a very diverse energy market. Looking at the UK we have communities with different resources. In communities in which fracking would be of the most benefit then we will have fracking there and subsidies for the people; the same with places that would use traditional oil. We should have a very diverse market and utilise the resources available.

As a Mormon, where does the line lie between your religious beliefs and UKIP’s libertarian outlook?

Religious freedoms is something I’m very passionate about. I think there’s the issue that people shouldn’t infringe on each other’s rights. There is something called moral agency whereby people can make their own decisions about what the right thing to do is. UKIP is the only party which I feel allows you to exercise your rights.

Would your religious beliefs affect your political views?

The Mormon Church supports all basic rights. The marriage issue is difficult because obviously the Church believes in traditional marriage and doesn’t think the government has the authority to say.

So on gay marriage for example; would you follow the line of the Church?

Personally, I believe in traditional marriage.

Do you have anything to add or say about yourself?

I really believe that UKIP is the party that is best representing the views people have. I think it’s important to recognise that UKIP recognises there has been some silly people in the past. However, the media is very biased and other parties have people saying very silly things too. I can say from personal experience, that UKIP is attracting some high calibre candidates. I’ve been surprised by the intensive process I’ve had to go through to get here. I’ve had a four hour interrogation about policy, public speaking, media role-plays. UKIP are taking this seriously now. The important thing is UKIP’s official policies and these are policies which people actually believe in.

The important thing is UKIP’s official policies, and these are policies which people actually believe in

Pictured: UKIP placards

Isabella Lyons

Bert and Ernie cause anti gay backlash

As the rest of the world appears to be moving forward in accepting homosexuality the UK has taken one massive leap back. Tis week Mr Givan, a member of the DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) proposed changes to Northern Ireland’s Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations. Te Conscience Clause Amendment Bill aims to “protect those with deeply held religious beliefs”.

Northern Ireland has long been faced with criticisms of underlying homosexual discrimination

The changes come after a baker refused to bake a cake with the characters Bert and Ernie saying “support gay marriage”. An equalities quango threatened legal action if the bakery did not apologise. The new bill would allow people to refuse goods and services to gay people because of their religious beliefs. Amnesty International oppose the bill stating that it legalises discrimination. There was a large turn out for demonstration against the bill outside Belfast city hall last Saturday. 19,000 people have signed a petition against the bill.

Northern Ireland has long been faced with criticisms of underlying

homosexual discrimination. Te publication of the ‘Sexual Orientation Strategy’ that promises to tackle the tensions for homosexual individuals and their families has been delayed.

Many officials have demanded the report’s imminent release after the DUP’s most recent announcement.

Apparently motivated by religious sincerity, Mr Givan’s new draft will do nothing but drive a moral and cultural wedge between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. Tis is a decision that could have drastic effects on the future of the United Kingdom.

Currently the DUP is the fourth largest party in the House of Commons. In the case of a hung parliament it is likely that cameron would pander to the extreme right wing views of the DUP.

Te timing is morally insensitive, as February marks LGBT history month which celebrates the achievements of LGBT people and the progress of the LGBT movement.

A party that proclaims its Britishness is failing to uphold the quintessential British traits of equality and

respect. Te traits that Cameron and May famously coined and ceaselessly drum as “core British values”.

Yes, the United Kingdom will al-

ways be home to a wide range of different opinions (and incomprehensible accents), but no, it should not accommodate discrimination.

Chile to end outright abortion ban

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has just announced plans to end the total ban on abortions that has been in place in Chile since 1989. Abortion in the country is currently punishable by up to five years in jail, but the new plans would legalise abortion for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy in cases where the mother’s life is at risk, if the foetus won’t survive or in cases of rape. The plans would also allow abortions up to 18 weeks in pregnancy in cases of adolescents under 14 years old, as the President says it may take longer for them to recognise signs of pregnancy.

Bachelet went on national television to announce the plans, explaining that the current laws risk

the lives of thousands every year. She said, “facts have shown that the absolute criminalisation has not stopped the practice”. The World Health Organisation estimate that in 2008, around 3 million unsafe abortions took place in Latin America, many of which will have resulted in health complications and around 700 of which resulted in death. Polls show that most Chileans are against general legalisation of abortion which is unsurprising given the influence of the Catholic Church in Chile, but they do show that most favour the legalisation of abortion on Bachelet’s terms.

In South and Central America, a continent that is mostly Roman Catholic, abortion law is highly

restrictive. There are similar total bans on abortion in El Salvador, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic and abortion is only allowed in specific circumstances in most South and Central American countries, with the exception of Guyana, Uruguay and Cuba, where it is legal on request.

This change of law is particularly significant given the high teen pregnancy rates in Latin America: the World Health Organisation estimates that 18 per cent of births in Latin America take place during adolescence. WHO also report that adolescents are ‘more seriously affected by complications’ in unsafe abortions than those who are older, and that the risk of maternal death

in Latin America is four times higher for those under 16 years old.

Whilst this law is certainly progress, rights are still extremely limited in Chile and in Latin America more generally. Even where it isn’t totally banned, there are often only specific exceptions to criminal sanctions on abortion and even then there is ‘severely limited access because of lack of proper regulation and political will’ according to the Human Rights Watch. A change in law allowing abortion in certain circumstances does not mean that there will be safe and regulated practitioners to provide abortion, and so reproductive rights in Latin America continue to be extremely lacking.

Polls show that most Chileans are against general legalisation of abortion

Pictured: A Mass on the outskirts of Santiago

Emma Tranter

Pictured: President Michelle Bachelet (Credit: Juan Manuel Herrera)

Speak Week is your chance to tell us your opinions & ideas, big or small, to make your University better

So make sure you:

- Find and talk to your schools Academic Rep - Look on our website for events running in Speak Week

- Tell us what you would do if you ran the University

Lauren Boyd

TCarlos Saavedra and the Dreamers

Changing the immigration narrative

he Latin American activist Carlos Saavedra was not aware of what it means to be an undocumented immigrant in the US until he was 13 years old and his mother was unable to visit his dying grandfather. Saavedra’s family left Peru and came to the US on a tourist visa when he was 12. Saavedra later realised he would not be able to go to college because he would be charged international fees.

Saavedra became involved in immigrant rights when he was 16; in 2004 a bill almost passed in Massachusetts to charge instate tuition fees to undocumented migrants but it was vetoed by Mitt Romney.

ganisation aimed to get some members into university, confront deportation and provide emotional support to immigrants.

Saavedra promised his 10-year-old brother that things would be better by the time he finished school. His lack of progress frustrated him when he had to tell his brother, who was keen to go to China on the scholarship he had been awarded, that he would not able to go: if he left he could never come back.

Republicans are not just against us, they’re crazy

Carlos Saavedra

Saavedra came to Cardiff to tell the story of how he went from this initial defeat to persuading Obama to introduce Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (DACA) which gives £1.4 million undocumented migrants who came to the US before the age of 16 the right to work, allowing them to get a job with healthcare.

After finishing school in 2004 Saavedra was dejected by the failure of the Massachusetts bill and was unhappy in his job as an assistant waiter but was, of course, unable to go to college. However his father encouraged him to get back into campaigning and he cofounded the Student Immigrant Movement of Massachusetts in 2005. Te or-

ISaavedra became the national coordinator for United We Dream, which is now the largest immigrant led youth network. United We Dream’s make innovative and impressive use of direct action when campaigning for immigrant rights. In 2010 activists embarked on the Trail of Dreams: a 1500 mile walk from Miami to Washington which took five months. Activists also went on hunger strikes in five different states. United We Dream activists know that to change the narrative about immigrants must change.

Activists bravely “came out” as “dreamers”: undocumented immigrants so they could tell their stories. Tere are approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US; they are unable to drive or volunteer because they can’t pass a background check or get a job with health care. 400,000 people are deported from the

US every year but the country relies on undocumented immigrants: 70% of agricultural workers are undocumented. United We Dream staged a blood drive for undocumented immigrants to show that immigrants contribute to society.

Republicans rarely support immigrant rights and some Democrats were afraid to support the DREAM act, which would have given permanent residency to immigrants who came to the US as minors, in case it made them unpopular with the electorate. Saavedra says the Republicans are “not just against us, they’re crazy”.

United We Dream knew they could only make headway with the Demo-

crats. Tey needed attention to pressure Obama into introducing DACA. An 18-year-old girl who was going to be deported led the disruption of Obama’s talk to a Latino organisation even though he is as Saavedra said “kind of the president”. It seemed like a crazy idea but it worked. Tere are 23.7 million Latino voters and 71% of them voted for Obama after he brought in DACA.

Saavedra was invited to talk at Cardiff University by Hope Not Hate (formerly Stop the BNP). Hope Not Hate intend to emulate Saavedra’s techniques to change the narrative on immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

No longer in the dark on North Korea

n his memoirs entitled Dear Leader, North Korean defector and author Jang Jin-sung implores the western world to look not only at the physical human rights abuses of death camps and beatings, but also at the daily injustices and human rights abuses that occur on a daily basis under the Kim dictatorship. As a totalitarian state ruled over by ‘Supreme Leader’ Kim Jong-Un, Te People’s Democratic Republic of Korea brutally represses freedom of expression to the point of non-existence and any dissent is instantly crushed.

Te country remains as one of the most secretive in history; it took a commission of enquiry into North Korea by the United Nations Human Rights Council in March 2013 to reveal the

daily brutalities of Kim Jong Un, illuminated further by the coincident publication in English of Jang’s memoirs.

It’s hard to conceive that such a violent, abominable country is permitted to exist in the 21st Century, yet it continues to perpetrate these atrocities without retribution. Te ‘justice system’ of North Korea exists exclusively to mercilessly eliminate dissension and to reinforce the megalomaniacal patriotism of Kim Jong Un, his father, and their predecessor Kim Il-sung. Reasons for imprisonment can vary from lack of sufficient vigour in your veneration towards the ‘Supreme Leader’ to merely leaving lights on during the evening.

Te reasons for the lack of reporting or international sanction on these unfathomable miseries are quite trou-

bling. Aside from large-scale demonstrations like the Arab Spring and the Umbrella Revolution of Hong Kong, non-western news rarely takes prominence in our media, belying the severity & often dire situation of the farabroad. Far more worrying however, is the worrisome treatment that we as Westerners grant North Korea, trivialising this bloodthirsty dictatorship as nothing more than a nuclear-impotent comedic punching bag á la Franco’s and Rogen’s Te Interview

For those who have the infinite misfortune to be involved in the punitive measures of North Korean government, the body of their incarceration takes place in so-called detention centres. Tese centres are a far cry from the penitentiaries of Western society, taking instead the form of brutal concentration camps. Starvation and rape are almost routine; those who fall pregnant undergo forced abortions and those who fall ill often have to dig their own graves. One of the gravest ‘crimes’ a citizen can commit is to make contact with South Koreans. Even the most trivial associations almost immediately lead to execution, and cases have been known where ‘guilt by association’ can spread through family members, leading to a extermination of up to three generations of a family.

Tensions between North and South Korea are nothing if not well-documented. Both states were established within a month of each other in 1948, and have since had a history constitut-

ed almost entirely of violent confrontations and military demonstrations, most recently seen in North Korea’s threats of Nuclear WMD’s since their unilateral withdrawal from the Treaty of the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in 2003.

Despite their simultaneous formation after Japanese withdrawal in 1945, the economic and social differences between North and South Korean are harrowing examples of North Korea’s repressive state. As of April 2013, the GDP per capita income (PPP) is $32,400 for South Korea, with North Korea at a meagre $1, 800. Te infant mortality rate of North Korea at 26.21 is at nearly 7 times that of South Korea at 4.08, and for those that survive infancy, the average life expectancy of a North Korean male is 69, a full decade less than their South Korean counterparts at 79.

Tese statistics, much as the same with any of our knowledge about North Korea, are inexact. Tis country hides behind a wall of silence, punctuated only by the garish fanfares of propaganda and the occasional brave escapees like Jang Jin-sung. Rather than be an excuse for ignorance, this should motivate both ourselves and our leaders to learn more about North Korea. Te more of North Korea we expose, the greater the chances are that we can bring the Kim dictatorship before the International Criminal Court and put an end to nearly half a century of brutality.

North Koreans are 3-8 cms shorter than South Koreans due to food shortages

Pictured: Activists for the DREAM Act

(Source: Flickr/ SEIU)

Pictured: North Korea at night

Greg McChesney

Rhiannon Tapp

Arnott

SCIENCE

Over one million in UK may be misdiagnosed with asthma

Errors in asthma diagnoses may mean that over a million Britons have been living under the false impression that they have the condition.

Recent studies suggest that out of the 4.1 million in Britain who are being treated for asthma, up to 30% have shown no clear evidence of the condition. Tis may be due to the lack of a universal test, with the diagnosis of one clinician being enough for a treatment programme to begin.

Tese results emerge as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published a draft guideline to improve asthma diagnosis. Te aim of NICE is to establish the most accurate and cost effective method to diagnose patients. Tere is a need in the field to narrow down the most efficient treatment; at the moment there are a multitude of options available, including spirometry and peak flow to measure airflow obstruction, as well the use of bronchodilators to measure reversibility.

NICE’s guidelines identified

spirometry as the most efficient means of diagnosing asthma. Spirometry involves assessing how much air a person can inhale, exhale, and how fast they can exhale. Te guidelines also make clear that it is important to make the diagnosis in a clinical test environment, in order to obtain the highest degree of accuracy.

Professor Mark Baker, the director of clinical practice at NICE, argued that the diagnosis of asthma has been ‘a significant problem’. However, he claimed that appropriate treatment and monitoring can help people ‘to successfully control their symptoms and be spared from serious harm.’

NICE is a widely respected public body that provides advice on medical issues. Teir guidelines on asthma are part of their clinical outlook, which involves assessing the best treatments for a range of diseases. Te outlook of the organisation is taken into account by the NHS, and consequently their plans for treatments are often implemented nationally.

tweet us @GairRhyddSci mail us science@gairrhydd.com or visit us online at gairrhydd.com/science

Sadly, there is no cure for asthma which affects the bronchi, the airways which take oxygen to the lungs. Sufferers are affected by a range of symptoms, including coughing, wheezing and easily becoming out of breath.

Tere are a number of things which can be done to minimise its affect on people. Each person should have their own treatment plan, which involves medication and avoiding the allergens which trigger reactions. Te main treatment for those with the

condition is an inhaler, which delivers medication direct to the lungs.

Te revelations about the potential misdiagnosis of asthma are of interest to a large number of people. However, despite the potential alarm, it is worth remembering that the majority of asthma diagnoses are correct. Even so, a unified plan for diagnosing the condition, as recommended by NICE, would be a positive step in identifying and treating asthma.

Scientists discover link between depression and binge watching Netflix

An inhaler, the most common treatment for asthma

Maria Mellor

The digital age is a time like no other with technology and it’s uses becoming increasingly popular in everyday life. No doubt everyone uses the internet in some form or another for any one of the multitude of its purposes, but in recent years the realm of television has made a leap online. It started with catch-up television, with recent shows available on BBC iPlayer or 4od for example, but this has grown incredibly to give life to services such as Amazon Prime and Netflix.

“

” ... 71% said they intended to watch just an episode or two only to end up watching much more.

Anyone who subscribes to these mediums will know how easy it is, after watching one episode of a television show to simply click ‘next episode’, and before you know it, you’ve watched a whole series and it’s way past your bedtime. Netflix allows anyone to binge-watch masses of television and movies anytime, anywhere provided you have a suitable device and an internet connection.

In 2013, a study by research group ‘MarketCast’ found that 71% of participants said they intended to watch just an episode or two only to end up watching much more. As limitations become non-existent, it’s increasingly feasible that one may spend hours or even days in a world of fiction. With this, concerns about the negative effects of binge-watching have been raised.

A recent study conducted by the University of Texas at Austin has found that the more lonely and depressed you are, the more likely you are to watch masses of Netflix on end. Researchers viewed over threehundred 18 to 29 year olds, finding that those who reported feelings of loneliness and depression also, when questioned, said that they had trouble resisting to click ‘next episode’. It’s these emotional qualities that have been linked to trouble with self-regulation, and indeed make one more likely to binge in other areas too, such as when eating, drinking and using social-media.

Binge-watching is a fairly new phenomenon, having come along with new ways of consuming television, so there has not been a great deal of previous research into the negative aspects. Yoon Hi Sung, a leading researcher in this study has warned against the dangers that accompany it, stating that ‘physical fatigue and problems such as obesity and other health problems are related to bingewatching’.

However, there are also positive aspects to be considered. Netflix is incredibly popular among students for reasons other than loneliness and depression, as you may watch what you want, when you want. With the downsides of binge-watching televi-

sion, there also comes the element of entertainment and escapism: perhaps a welcome distraction from the stress of exams and deadlines.

With new ‘House of Cards’ episodes on the horizon, if trends continue, it’s unlikely that binge-watching habits will cease. Reports show that in Europe, on average viewers of the previous series watched five episodes within the first weekend of

its release, and an estimated 634,000 people in the USA alone watched all 13 episodes in under 3 days.

Te research in the University of Texas in Austin’s study will be presented at the International Communication Association Conference in Puerto Rico this May, where further steps into the phenomenon of bingewatching will be discussed and explored.

“

” ... up to 30% have shown no clear evidence of the condition

Michael

Pictured:

Michael Arnott

Why is astronomy important?

As one of the most widely debated subjects in recent years, space exploration is considered by some to be a waste of time, and more than that, a waste of money. The UK government spend, on average, about £60 million a year on space exploration and the question is - is it worthwhile?

The urge to understand is in our nature, and we struggle to sit back and ignore what we don’t know

The main reason why we strive to leave the Earth and search our interplanetary neighbourhood is not just because we believe it will benefit our understanding, but because we want to.

The urge to understand is in our nature, and we struggle to sit back and ignore what we don’t know. If we have a way of knowing, we use that advantage and find out for ourselves.

Examining our history, exploration has been a gradual build-up of events, from observing space from the Earth’s surface, to constructing satellites, stepping on the Moon and finally exploring further afield.

The original incentive was that if we understood more about the greater Universe, we might learn more about ourselves. In hindsight,

this has been very successful. Not only have we discovered the origin of our existence through experimentation, we’ve been able to geographically map space and even been able to predict future events.

In the last century, the human race has progressed faster than ever before, mainly down to science. One important aspect is astronomy, which is the study of everything that happens outside our atmosphere. Without this knowledge, we may never have learnt the properties of our Sun, and what damages it may do in the near future. When there comes a time that our descendants’ existence is in question, astronomy may just save their life.

A wise person once said that things only work through trial and error. Space exploration, albeit expensive, requires a lot of trials before they can get something right. But when the experiment is finally successful, sometimes we can get something invaluable out of it. ESA’s Philae, despite being a very hit-and-miss voyage, worked first time. Scientists are hopeful that the data Philae has ex-

tracted from the surface will provide them with answers to our own existence. This is following the theory that an asteroid was the spark of life in our history when it crashed on the surface of the Earth.

It may be expensive, and it may cause considerable controversy over government funds, but in the long term, understanding things now will only save us a lot of trouble in the future.

We have a chance to answer some of those fundamental questions of our race, such as “why are we here?”

Just by escaping from our oxygenrich world, we have a chance to make our decisions in the Universe, and what better way than to see it for ourselves?

Imagining the world we’d live in if we hadn’t explored it is quite a difficult concept to think about. But here’s a list to help: a world without live television, meteorology, navigation, environmental science, clean energy, modern medicine, robotics, advanced materials, laptops and camera phones. In a nutshell: the world would’ve been a bleak place.

Student Science: How to cure your hangover

You awaken to the immediate and pressing sensation of having just been hit by a freight train. As your mind attempts to understand all of the signals coming from various places in your body you notice a headache, dry mouth and throat, aching muscles and clammy skin.

Ten you hit upon nausea and dash to the toilet, just praying you make it there quickly enough to avoid having to explain to your housemates why you decided to redecorate the hallway an interesting shade of vomit.

... if you manage to tip your blood alcohol content over 0.1 percent ... then you’ll be getting a visit from the hangover fairies the following day

It becomes quickly apparent that due to last night’s antics you’re riding the hangover train straight to hell, but what’s going on inside your body and is there anything you can do about it?

Studies have shown that if you manage to tip your blood alcohol content over 0.1 percent, which can be achieved by drinking a mere 3 pints of lager, then you’ll be getting a visit from the hangover fairies the following day. Considering most students would consider this a very light night out, its no surprise that many people’s Sunday mornings involve an extended trip to the toilet.

One often cited reason for hangovers is low blood sugar but it turns out that this almost certainly isn’t the case. Low blood sugar can bring about hangover like symptoms, but if it was low blood sugar that caused hangovers then a decent dose of glucose and fructose should fi x a hangover and it simply doesn’t.

Dehydration is another commonly posited reason for hangovers but this also doesn’t seem to contribute.

Alcohol does dehydrate you though by suppressing vasopressin, which is an anti-diuretic hormone. Tat’s why one or two drinks always seem to lead to peeing seventeen times an hour.

Dehydration generally affects the body by lowering levels of electrolytes but people who are severely hungover don’t seem to have electrolyte levels that differ from healthy, non bingedrinking people. Tis suggests that dehydration runs alongside the hangover rather than being a root cause. However, a team of researchers in Korea may have unwittingly become the saviours of students everywhere by hitting upon the cause of hangovers. Teir theory is that a hangover is essentially an inflammatory response because hangovers are accompanied by a raised level of cytokines which are chemical messengers from the immune system that often accompany inflammation.

If this theory is correct then the remedy for a hangover is simple. Take a few ibuprofen or paracetamol, which are effective anti-inflammatory drugs before you go to asleep, and your hangover should be massively reduced. Tis should mean that all other effects of a big night out are then easy to mediate with a medicinal viewing of the entire “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and a whole bottle of orange juice.

But there’s even better news. David

Nutt who is very rapidly becoming Gair Rhydd Science’s spirit animal has made several press releases about a chemical he is developing that he has christened “Synthohol”. It’s a synthetic chemical that has almost exactly the same effects as Ethanol on the brain but with one crucial difference: there is an antidote pill, which immediately sobers you up and prevents any kind of hangover.

Nutt claims to have tested Synthohol on himself and went from being “relaxed and sleepily inebriated” to completely clear minded in about 5 minutes after taking the antidote.

Tanks to Nutt and other pioneers in this field, we may one day all be able to get bladdered, gazeboed, ratted, trollied, and steambombed with no fear of a morning after. Now that’s Nobel prize material.

Pictured: Tat last tequila slammer was a bad idea, wasn’t it?

(Source: Gizmodo. com)

Pictured: Te Rosetta satellite that launched the Philae lander in November 2014

Meryon Roderick

Shanna Hamilton

Mitochondrial donation techniques

The science, the cause and the criticism

It’s been hard to miss the hype surrounding “three-parent babies” over the last few weeks. Tere has been uproar in the Church of England, prominent biologists have highlighted serious concerns, and many MPs seem torn over what some see as “designer babies”. While a controversial subject, after serious consideration of the scientific evidence, MPs voted overwhelmingly in favour to give the genetic technique the go ahead. Te UK will be the first country to create babies with the DNA from three parents.

While symptoms can be diverse, the disease is often progressive, debilitating and sometimes fatal

Tese techniques are far from new, with a history going back 25 years. Although in the last three years a scientific review, three ethical reviews and a public consultation have taken place, members of the public seem very much in the dark, with misinformation and sensationalist headlines abundant. But what exactly are mitochondria, what is the disease and what are “three-parent babies”?

Mitochondria are often described as the “batteries” of our cells, although this may be an over-simplification. Te structures are tiny, thousandths of millimetres long, and convert energy from our food into the chemical energy currency of our body, ATP. In each cell of our body there can be thousands of mitochondria; taking into account the billions of cells in the body, the numbers are too large to comprehend.

Mitochondria began billions of years ago as individual bacteria living freely, before being engulfed by other life forms. Tis form of evolution offered mutual benefits for both parties – the life form gets the ATP for energy, and the mitochondria get food. In each cell, the mitochondria are separate from the nucleus – the brain of the cell that contains 23,000 genes. Te nucleus contains the DNA we inherited from our mother and father, and the genes of this DNA code for most of what makes us. Tis includes your height, facial features and many other characteristics.

Mitochondria are found in the

jelly-like substance that surrounds the nucleus, also known as the cytoplasm. Tey have their own separate set of genes inherited solely from the mother, 37 in total, representing just a tiny 0.2 per cent of our genes. However, because of the huge role in providing the energy we need to survive, any abnormality in the mitochondria can cause severe and sometimes fatal disease.

Disorders of the mitochondria have been described as “a cruel class of inherited disease”. While symptoms can be diverse, the disease is often progressive, debilitating and sometimes fatal. It can cause miscarriage, stillbirth and death in very young children, or severe symptoms that appear later in life.

Some of these symptoms include muscle weakness, memory loss, seizures, developmental delays and diabetes. Te list goes on. Organs such as the heart or eyes can fail one by one, or all at the same time. Mitochondrial disease is clearly horrific, and there are currently no treatments available.

Women who carry abnormal mitochondrial DNA are at risk of passing this on. Tey can opt to use donor eggs, so have children who are not genetically related to them, but this is a decision that many are not able to make. 125 babies are born in the UK every year with mitochondrial disease.

Scientists at the University of Newcastle have been working to find genetic techniques that would be more ideal than these options, and last Tuesday, MPs voted to change current laws. To prevent mitochondrial disease being passed to a child, scientists will now be legally allowed to create an embryo with the genetic material from two parents, as well as a third, a donor mother.

Neurologist Professor Doug Turnbull has led the work, directing a centre for mitochondrial research set up to investigate the safety of these techniques in humans. “I wouldn’t be driven to do this work if I didn’t see the consequences of mitochondrial

disease on families and knowing that there is no cure for these conditions at the moment, nor is there any cure immediately around the corner.”

By completely replacing the mother’s faulty mitochondria in an embryo with a healthy donor’s, Turnbull and his colleagues can eliminate the risk of developing disease. Tis inclusion of a third persons DNA, just 0.054 per cent of the total DNA in the body, has led to the vulgar headline “threeparent babies”. Turnbull said: “It’s very misleading because it assumes you’re getting character from these genes. Te makeup of our mitochondria has nothing to do with our characteristics. What makes you you and me me is not our mitochondria.”

Tere are two techniques to alter the mitochondrial DNA of an embryo. Te techniques, explained in the diagrams below, are both very similar in that they remove faulty DNA, using either a donor’s embryo or their mitochondria.

Te prospect of being able to have healthy children has received huge support, not only from the families who currently suffer, but from prominent scientists and members of parliament.

Professor Dagan Wells, an Associate Professor at the University of Oxford, said: “Disorders involving defective mitochondria can have catastrophic consequences for the affected individuals, sometimes causing death during infancy... Now, after years of careful research, we are finally at a point where a cure for mitochondrial disorders may be within reach.”

Even Prime Minister David Cameron weighed in on the subject: “ Tis is something that I think from all the research and evidence it is not playing God with nature, this is much more like a kidney donation or lung donation rather than some sort of fundamental change that is being made.”

Much like the use of embryonic stem cells, or even IVF treatments before they became the norm, criticism of mitochondrial donation tech-

niques has been strong. Aside from the ethical opposition put forward by religious bodies such as the Roman Catholic Church, some scientists have been equally nervous about the vote passing.

Dr Paul Knoepfler, an American stem cell scientist and blogger, has posted several entries on ipscell.com highlighting his concerns: “ Tere are numerous serious risks associated with this technology. Tese include most notably the possibility that developmentally disabled or deceased babies will be produced.” It is worth noting that mitochondrial donation is not currently allowed in the US. Other concerns include the fact that mitochondria do more than produce energy. Dr Trevor Stammers, of St Mary’s University, said, “We do not yet know the interaction between the mitochondria and nuclear DNA. To say that is the same as changing a battery is facile. It’s an extremely complex thing.”

However, the Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Dame Sally Davies, counters this point. “It is important to remember that mitochondrial DNA represents less than 0.054 per cent of the total DNA, and is not part of the nuclear DNA, which determines our personal characteristics and traits such as personality, hair and eye colour. It is only right we introduce this life-saving treatment as soon as we can so we can give hope to hundreds of UK families.”

Since the vote has passed to allow mitochondrial donation, doctors will have to apply for licence and approval from the Human Fertilisation Authority to use the techniques. Each application will be assessed on a case-by-case basis; each patient will need approval before any techniques are applied. Te ban on altering nuclear DNA remains in place; there will be no way to select for traits or develop “designer babies”. Te only designer babies will be those who are prevented from suffering cruel and debilitating symptoms of mitochondrial disease.

This is something I think from all the research and evidence it is not playing God with nature “

Pictured: Te two genetic techniques for mitochondrial donation. (Based on Nuffield Bioethics illustrations) It’s very misleading to assume you’re getting character from these genes. The makeup of our mitochondria has nothing to do with our characteristics

Barney’s Note

Hello all! February is here and with it the election season! The candidates will soon be announced and I encourage you all to be patient during election week – the candidates may be annoying

What’s On

Monday 9th February

CoppaFeel Society Boob Week

Look out for people wearing giant boobs! Tis week we will be spreading our BOOB LOVE on campus to tell you all the signs and symptoms of breast cancer, and get you all to check your boobs to know what normal feels like!

9th February - 15th February

Student Enterprise Ignite

5th February 9.30am - 22nd February

5pm Cardiff University Conference Centre

LGBT+ History Month: Bi Poster Competition

3rd - 17th February

Student Advice Drop In 9th February noon - 2pm Meeting Rooms close to the IV Lounge, Heath Park Campus

Student Minds

Supporting the Supporters: Part 1 6pm - 8pm Room 3A, Students’ Union

People and Planet Fossil Free- Make Cardiff University

but they only do it out of love! The students running for election will be out during the last week of term and be sure to take a look at their policies and not just their (no doubt impressive) costumes!

Divest From the Fossil Fuel industry! 7pm - 9pm Wallace Lecture Teatre

Tuesday 10th February

Midwifery Society

Introduction to Complementary Terapies in Midwifery Practice 8.45am - 3.30pm Dental Lecture Teatre, University Hospital of Wales

Wednesday 11th February

Bright Futures Cardiff PWC Event 10am - 4pm

MedSoc Halfway Ball 2015

7.30pm - 1am Mercure Cardiff Holland House Hotel, Newport Road

LGBT+ Society Geek Chic Night @ Retros! 8pm - 3am

Meeting outside Next in town before heading to Retros

Tursday 12th February

Wales in Westminster Lecture: Owen Smith MP for Pontypridd

If you ran the University, what would you do? Speak Week is the Students’ Union’s annual Student Voice campaign. It’s your chance to tell us all about your University experience so far and what you would do to improve it. We’ll have a stall in the Students’ Union Reception for you to tell us what you like and don’t like about the University.

What’s On for Speak Week:

Free Brass Band concert

Come and watch Cardiff University Brass Band’s FREE concert on Friday 13th February at 6pm in the School of Music. Te band will perform their set for the upcoming competition UniBrass, the highlight of the band’s performing year! Te concert will contain exciting music with the theme of outerspace, including a composition by Cardiff University School of Music’s

Elan Higueras and the winning piece of the competition we held for composers over the summer. Te band have worked very hard to rehearse the pieces to a fantastic standard. Since the inaugural event in 2011 the band has competed in the National University Brass Band Championships of Great Britain: UniBrass, and has achieved the placings of 3rd, 5th, 4th and most recently 5th in Febru-

tweet us @gairrhyddsoc email us societies@gairrhydd.com or visit us online at gairrhydd.com/societies/

In other news, we have over 8100 unique members following a very successful Refreshers’ Fair during the last week of January. Well done to the committees and congratulations to all the new society members – you have joined a lovely family! If anyone is having trouble getting in touch with their new societies, drop me an email on VPSocieties@cardiff. ac.uk and I will point you in the right

5pm - 7pm

Birt Acres Lecture Teatre, Bute Building

Student Enterprise Pitch and Present 6pm - 8pm

4J, Students’ Union

Student Minds Eating Disorder Support Group 6.15pm - 7.15pm 4F, Students’ Union

Expression Fitness 7pm - 8pm 4A/B, Students’ Union

Heath RAG: Sexpression talk and Global Health Bake sale 7pm - 8pm

Small Chemistry Lecture Teatre, Main Building

UN Event - Ban Schoolyard Recruitment 7pm Temple of Peace CF10 3AP

Global Health Student Network HIV... A Global Health Success? 7pm - 9pm

Friday 13th February

Belly Dancing Society - Hafla! 7.30pm - 11pm Te Heath Sports and Social Club,

direction.

On the horizon, Go Global, Fringe and the Societies Ball await. These huge events promise to rock everyone’s collective socks so keep your eyes peeled – tickets go on sale in under a month and they will go fast! Not much else to say from me – have a look at the rest of the societies section and see what wonderful things our societies are doing!

LGBT+ History Month: Aromantic and Romantic Orientation Stall 10am - 3pm Te Launch Box, Next to the Great Hall.

Postgraduate Students’ Roundtable 9th February 6pm - 8pm Board Room, Tird Floor, Students’ Union

Heath Park Armchair Politics 10th February 11am - 2:30pmCochrane Building, Heath Park Campus

Te Heath Big Speak and Eat Quiz 10th February 7pm - 9pm IV Lounge

ary 2014. In 2013 the band’s Musical Director Martin Humphries also won the ‘Best Student Conductor Award’; a fantastic achievement. We wish to continue this fantastic streak of results with our outer-space themed programme this year. Each year we have also claimed the unofficial title of “Welsh champions”, beating Bangor University.

Te competition will take place at Warwick University the weekend after this concert and the band will compete against the brass bands of 16 other universities. Te competition

Women’s Association Reclaim the Night Wales 6pm - 9pm Cardiff City Centre

Saturday 14th February

BRAWL All Day Roleplaying and Wargaming 9am - 10pm 4B/C/D, Students’ Union

Expression Move It! 9am - 7pm

Comedy Society & Act One Comedy Night 7pm - 10pm CF10, Students’ Union

Sunday 15th February

Erasmus Society Bristol Trip 9am - 6pm

Malaysian Students Society Festival of Diversity XII: Ratu Kelantan 2pm - 5.30pm St. David’s Hall, Te Hayes, Cardiff

Jazz Society Scott Bradlee & Postmodern Jukebox 6pm - 11.55pm Anson Rooms, Bristol

Student Rep Conference 12th February 6pm - 8pm Y Plas

International Students’ Roundtable 13th February 5pm - 7pm Room 4J, Fourth Floor, Students’ Union

For a full list of events and more info http://www.cardiffstudents.com/ your-voice/speak-week/

has always been incredibly successful and is very popular with university brass bands all over the country.

Have an event you want covered?

Email: societies@ gairrhydd. com

Sarah Harris Pictured: Brass Bands’ UniBrass 2014 performance

Emily Broad

Act One get their flirt on

Act One get their flirt on with Cardiff Comedy Society this February 14th to bring you a night of hilarious stand up, sketches, musical acts and more. In addition to our fantastic student comedians we will be showcasing our superb headline act Tom Lucy (who according to Harry Hill is an “outstanding young comic and one to watch” - just saying.)

At just £3 a ticket and with all proceeds going to the mental health charity MIND there is absolutely no reason

why you, your friends, your boyfriend, girlfriend, your crush, your Tinder date, your mum, your daddy… (this is getting weird) shouldn’t come along…

So follow Cupid’s arrow down to CF10 in the Students’ Union from 7.00pm this Valentines day. It will beat sitting alone and wallowing in your self-pity and a tub of Ben and Jerry’s that has gone salty from the alkaline of your tears like last year. (It tasted of pain and feelings). See you there!

Welcome from Hindu Society

Hello from Cardiff University NHSF Hindu Society. As you all know, Cardiff is lucky enough to have many amazing faith societies, but up until now there hasn’t been one for the oldest religion in the world – Hinduism. As you may have seen from our stall at Refreshers Fair, we’re passionate to fix this! Tis is a fantastic opportunity for all to make new friends, discuss and debate the Hindu faith, celebrate festi-

All events must be signed up for in advance. To sign up and for more information, go to cardiffstudents. com/giveitago. Unless specified, events are free and no special equipment is needed.

Try a Sport

Give it a Go Jiu Jitsu

6pm 9th February

Talybont Dojo

Be Creative

Give it a Go Manga Library

6pm 9th February

Te Lounge, 3rd Floor of the Union

Give it a Go Sci-Fi

6.45pm 9th February

Meet outside Students’ Union

Give it a Go Creative Writing

6.45pm 10th February

Meet outside the Students’ Union

vals together, and maybe even learn something you didn’t know about Hinduism along the way. In addition, we’d love to get you involved in some interesting new sports like kabbadi and kho, helping the wider community through sewa (volunteer work), and even participating at a national level with other universities in zonal activities and the National Sport Competition through our affiliation with the National Hindu Students

Forum (UK).

We’ll be running fortnightly meetings to get started soon, so stay posted by following us on Facebook (NHSF Cardiff University Hindu Society) or Twitter (@CardiffHinduSoc). Tere are still opportunities to be on the committee as we have just started, and any suggestions for activities and collaboration will be welcomed, so make sure you come along and get stuck in. Hopefully we’ll see you soon!

“ Up until now there hasn’t been a society for the oldest religion in the world ”

Give it a Go Anime Screening 7pm 13th February

Large Shandon Lecture Teatre, Main Building

Music, Dance & Performance

Give it a Go Slash Hip Hop 7pm 9th February

CF10, Students’ Union

Give it a Go Dance Sport

Salsa 6pm

Latin & Ballroom 7.30pm Technique Class 9pm 10th February

Great Hall, Students’ Union

Uni-Brass Concert 6pm 13th February

School of Music, Concert Hall

Learn a Language

Give it a Go Conversation Class: Italian 1.30pm 11th February

Boardroom, Tird Floor, Students’ Union

Get some Skills

Keeping your Finances Safe 5.30pm 10th February

CSEV, Students’ Union

Negotiation Skills

5.30pm 12th February

Room 4I, Students’ Union

Commercial Awareness 1pm 13th February

Room 4I, Students’ Union

Heath Park

Give it a Go Healthcare Basketball 2pm 14th February

Heath Sports Hall

Give it a Go Medics Hockey 4pm 15th February

Talybont Astro Turf

Tought, Culture & Faith

Give it a Go MUN 6pm 10th February

Room 4H, Students’ Union

Give it a Go Debating 7pm 12th February

Cafe in Bute Building

Cardiff Global Health

HIV... A Global Health Success? 7pm 12th February

Welfare & Volunteering

Give it a Go Feed the Homeless 3pm 11th February

Beneath the Queen Street Railway Bridge –Newport Rd.

LGBT+ Geek Chic Night - Retros 8pm 11th February

Meeting outside Next, Queen St.

Rakhee Dhorajiwala

All of the new societies shared a similar view that starting a new society was not as difficult as they anticipated

One term on: the new societies story

At the beginning of last term, six new societies were featured in this section with a profile of the aims for their new societies. One term on, here’s how a few of them are doing.

Bollywood Dance society have had a great term, aiming last year to run weekly classes teaching a niche style of contemporary Bollywood dancing to up and coming film songs. Welcoming people of all abilities, they aimed to create an enjoyable and friendly environment. Alongside learning the routines, they aimed to hold themed socials every two weeks. Te response to their sessions has been better than expected, this term teaching a mash up of three songs for the beginners and the advanced classes. Te advanced class also had the opportunity to perform their routine at Asian Society’s Diwali and Eid Ball. After this, all members performed at the Dental Brigade charity event and also the Dance Winter Showcase which was held in the SU’s Great Hall in December. Bollywood Dance Society’s President, Neha Modha, says: “I couldn’t be more proud of the girls for picking up the routines so well and the enthusiasm that they have shown last term. Performing together has been helped by getting to know each other through socials as well as meals that have been organised. I am looking forward to this terms’ routines and teaching them to the members to be able to perform at future events.”

Tis term they are going to increase the difficulty level of the beginners sessions and have Go Global and Cardiff Fringe to look forward to with possible collaborations with other societies. In addition, they have been in contact with an external Cardiff company, potentially building the confidence of members by discussing performances at numerous external events which will allow the society to branch out of university.

Te Effective Altruists represent a

HFor more information visit https:// www.facebook. com/fruitvegcoopcardiffuni

growing social movement that aims to apply evidence and reason to work out the most effective ways to improve the world, believing that so many people want to do good, and so they aim to discover the methods that translate these best intentions into the best outcomes. In their first term they managed to get 36 official members for their society, donated £500 to the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative (SCI), a charity that treats children suffering from parasitic worms. As it costs roughly 50 pence to treat a child with Schistosomiasis, they are thrilled to know our donation will help over 1,000 children. In addition, a few of their members signed the Giving What We Can pledge. Tis is an amazing act, as it means they have pledged to give at least 10% of their lifetime pre-tax income to the most effective causes. (Te student pledge is only 1% of spending money, until they start earning, after which it rises to 10% minimum).

In this term they plan to: further increase the number of members, hold a short talk at the medical school’s student celebration event, ‘Surgam’ on 5th February, host another ‘Giving Game’ (where voters select which of 2 charities receives a cash prize and are encouraged to consider cost-effectiveness), discuss future charity selection with Cardiff RAG, with regard to cost-effectiveness and collaborate with Cardiff Rotary Club, who support aid for neglected tropical diseases. Tey are incredibly pleased

with a successful first term, with their president, Freddie Searight stating: “It’s great to meet Cardiff students who are passionate about improving the world and want to learn more about Effective Altruism”. Tey found the first term important not just for a new society, but for existing ones too as generating as much interest as possible early on is key to attracting new members.

Te Cardiff University Red Cross Group last term concentrated on telling people a bit more about the Red Cross itself and the areas they can volunteer in. Currently as a society, they have: 16 people in the process of applying to be Event First Aiders, five now active Fire and Emergency Service Volunteers, three people in training to go into schools and teach children first aid/humanitarian education, five applying to become Community Based First Aiders and two people who are applying to work in Red Cross Retail shops. Tese numbers are very promising and for this semester the society will be trying to be more ‘active’. If they were starting again as a new society, they would try and be more active from the beginning, not focusing so much on getting people signed up and trained but concentrating on the skills and the fun side of the Red Cross more. Terefore this semester will feature fun, interesting and useful sessions at least twice a month. Tey also have new opportunities for those who don’t have much time to commit: a ‘fundraising team’ of people

who are going to be organising some huge events, and a group of people working to make a ‘Social Action Project’ – a community project of any type that the group decides on, which is supported and funded by the Red Cross. Tis term they have already had their first fundraiser at the Refreshers Fayre, raising enough money to buy two latrine sets, giving one family in Bangladesh the materials needed to build a latrine.

Te response from all of the new societies has been very promising and motivational. Tey all shared a similar view that starting a new society was not as difficult as they anticipated. Tis was due to the support of the Students Union’s staff and the dedication and enthusiasm of other committee members to the society. Tese new societies also shared their aim to bring a new skills to the Union, channelling their passions into these new societies and sharing this with other students. If you would like any more information on these societies, look for them on Facebook. Alternatively if you have felt inspired to start your own new society, all you need to do is find 20 potential members, the minimum amount of people required for a society, and fill in a form at cardiffstudents. com/activities/societies/start/

Fruit & Veg Co-op set to returnip

eard of the fruit and veg coop? No surprises if not, with too few volunteers we’ve been unable to run this year. But with your help, that could change.

Te fruit and veg co-op is a purely student led service and had previously been running for 5 years supplying students and staff with a scrumscious selection of quality, cheap fresh fruit and veg. Every Tuesday, from 10am2pm in the Students’ Union, we would set up a stall with all of the week’s orders. With a choice of fruit, stir fry, vegetable or salad at only £3.50 per bag, you will be unlikely to find this kind of deal anywhere else.

All of our produce comes from local wholesalers and the Co-op also makes a small profit on each bag of fruit or veg sold. At the end of the year, a decision is made to do something good with the money – for

example last year we donated £275 to the Philippines Typhoon Appeal. All of our produce comes from local wholesalers and the Co-op also makes a small profit on each bag of fruit or veg sold. At the end of the year, a decision is made to do something good with the money – such as donating it to a local community project. All of our produce comes from local wholesalers and the Coop also makes a small profit on each bag of fruit or veg sold. At the end of the year, a decision is made to do something good with the money – such as donating it to a local community project. However, we now need more volunteers. From as little as 1 hour per week you can help set this amazing service back up again. And if you’re looking for a more inclusive role, you can get involved in the running of the

service itself and become a committee member. All of which looks great of your CV. It’s a very casual role and also very social!

For more information on

volunteering search Cardiff

University Fruit and Veg Co-op

Volunteers on Facebook or visit our general Facebook page where we will post updates.

Pictured: Sexy vegetables

Source: Flickr

William BakerMorrison

Pictured: Above: Red Cross Society session preparation Left: Bollywood Dance and Effective Altruism Logos

Hannah Sterritt

TAF-OD

Gair Golygyddol

Steffan Bryn Jones

Morgan Owen

Croeso nol i bob un ohonoch! Mae gennym rifyn amrywiol ar eich cyfer ar gyfer Wythnos 3 y tymor.

DEISEB

Byddwch yn ymwybodol o fy ymdrechion fel Swyddog y Gymraeg i sicrhau trafodaeth ar gael swyddog sabothol, llawn amser dros y Gymraeg a Chymreictod yn yr Undeb. Rwyf o’r farn y byddai’r ennillion yn enfawr o’n safbwynt ni fel myfyrwyr Cymraeg Prifysgol Caerdydd, a hefyd i’r di-Gymraeg fel ei gilydd. Mae hi’n hen bryd.

Gwrthododd Senedd y Myfyrwyr gynnig ddiwedd y tymor diwethaf i allugoi cynnal refferendwm ar y mater. Felly, bu’n rhaid cyflwyno deiseb i’r perwyl hwnnw. Am y tro cyntaf erioed o dan drefn gyfansoddiadol yr Undeb, maent wedi creu deiseb ddigidol ar wefan yr Undeb a fyddai, petai’n llwyddo i ddenu 500 o lofnodion, yn esgor ar refferendwm. Da chi, ewch ati i arwyddo’r ddeiseb hon – bydd yn cymryd 30 eiliad o’ch hamser ar y mwyaf. Ewch i wefan yr Undeb a dilyn yr erthygl newyddion yn y fan yno, neu ewch yn syth

Merthyr

at y ddeiseb drwy fynd i cardiffstudents.com/ welsh-language-petition. Bydd rhaid mewngofnodi i’w harwyddo gan mai myfyrwyr yn unig a all wneud hynny. Mae’r ddeiseb yn fyw am fis. Bydd angen inni gyd dorchi llewys ac annog ffrindiau i’w harwyddo ac ennyn cefnogaeth rheiny nad ydynt yn siarad Cymraeg, os ydym i lwyddo.

ESLAS

Tra bo angen herio’r drefn annigonol fel y mae ar hyn o bryd o ran cynrychiolaeth myfyrwyr Cymraeg, rhaid hefyd yw ennill cymaint ag y gallwn oddi mewn iddi. Brywsion oddi ar y bwrdd efallai, ond yn y pen-draw gallwn wthio newid. Yn wir, am y tro cyntaf eleni, mae’r Undeb wedi creu gwobr benodol ar gyfer y Gymraeg yn ei gwobrau ‘Enriching Student Life Awards’ blynyddol. Mae’r wobr ‘Pencampwr Addysg Gymraeg’ ar gyfer unrhywun ym Mhrifysgol Caerdydd sydd yn deilwng, yn eich tyb chi, o’u gwobrwyo o safbwynt addysg Gymraeg. Gallai’r unigolyn fod yn ddarlithydd yn Ysgol y Gymraeg sy’n ysbrydoli neu yn mynd y tu hwn i’r gofyn; gallai fod

Tudful Fydd

Yn Cadw’r Mur

Bydd Cymreictod cynhwysol Merthyr yn trechu pob anoddefgarwch

Tan yn weddol ddiweddar roedd mwyafrif o boblogaeth Merthyr Tudful yn medru’r Gymraeg. Mwyafrif bychan, bid sicr, ond yn ôl Cyfrifiad 1911, siaradai 50.9% o’r boblogaeth yr heniaith. Mi fydd y wybodaeth hon yn peri cryn syndod i nifer am i Ferthyr fod yn gyfystyr â diwydiannaeth Seisnig yn rhinwedd ei hanes fel canolbwynt diwydiant haearn a dur Cymru, ac ar un adeg, y byd. Yn wir, am gyfnod, hi oedd tref fwyaf poblog y wlad, cyn ei goddiweddyd gan Gaerdydd yn yr 1880au. Er i bobl o’r byd benbaladr heidio i’r dref er mwyn ceisio gwaith, ni chollodd ei Chymreictod tan ar ôl i fflamau’r ff wrneisiau ddiffodd. Ceid yn y dref strydoedd o Wyddelod ynghyd ag eglwysi Catholig i ddiwallu eu hanghenion ysbrydol; ceid Sbaenwyr ac Eidalwyr lu, ac mae eu holion i’w canfod hyd heddiw mewn enwau strydoedd megis Alfonso Street yn Nowlais Top; saif yr hen synagog ar Heol Bryntirion yng nghanol y dref. Ym merw cyd-gyfarfod yr holl bobloedd hyn, roedd Merthyr yn dref Gymraeg ar ei hanterth. Cyfrifiad 1891 oedd y cyntaf i holi ynghylch gallu yn y Gymraeg, a phryd hynny, siaradai 68.4% o boblogaeth Merthyr yr iaith frodorol.

Pwrpas dwyn y ffeithiau hyn i olau dydd drachefn yw i ddangos, ar yr un llaw, y gall y Gymraeg ff ynnu mewn cyd-destun amlddiwylliannol, ac ar y llaw arall, i bwysleisio nad yw Cymreictod y Cymoedd yn freuddwyd genedlaetholgar.

Y rheswm i mi synied o ddifri am hyn o beth nawr yw i dwf ymddangosiadol UKIP ym Merthyr fudlosgi yng nghefn fy nghof, a chydag etholiad yn nesáu, meginwyd y pryder hwn nes i’r marwor ddod yn oddaith.

Mae llawer o frochi o hyd ynghylch cyflwyno’r iaith Gymraeg i’r llefydd hynny y mae’n ‘estron’ iddynt, fel, yn ôl rhai, y Cymoedd. Ond gobeithio i’r dystiolaeth a gyflwynais yma wrthbrofi hynny. Mae’n rhan go fawr o’n hetifeddiaeth— hyd yn oed ym Merthyr, lle nad yw’r iaith wedi bod yn hyglyw ar ei strydoedd ers peth amser. Efallai taw dim ond 8.9% o’r boblogaeth sy’n ei siarad ym Merthyr bellach yn ôl Cyfrifiad 2011, ond serch hynny, gall yr iaith ein huno yn wyneb anoddefgarwch cynyddol. Roedd agor swyddfa etholiadol UKIP ym Merthyr eleni yn dipyn o sioc, felly. Mewn tref o bobl sydd yn ddisgynyddion i fewnfudwyr, ynfydrwydd llwyr fyddai coleddu senoffobia’r blaid honno. Daeth nifer

yn ddarlithyd y Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol sydd angen eu cydnabod neu yn aelod o staff gweinyddol a staff cefnogi myfyrwyr o ran addysg Gymraeg. Rydym wedi ceisio cadw’r wobr mor agored â phosib, felly mae croeso hefyd ichi enwebu eich cyd-fyfyrwyr sydd yn Gynrychiolwyr Cwrs ac sydd hefyd yn gwneud eu rhan o ran y Gymraeg yn y Brifysgol. Er fod gwobr Gymraeg benodol wedi’i chreu, mae angen i chi barhau i enwebu pwy bynnag y dymunwch ar gyfer y gwobrau eraill yn ogystal. Gallwch enwebu yr un unigolion ar gyfer Pencampwr Addysg Gymraeg ac ar gyfer rhai o’r gwobrau eraill yn ogystal. Dyma flwyddyn gyntaf y wobr arbennig hon, felly enwebwch!

TUDALEN FACEBOOK

CYFRANNWYR

TAF-OD

Os ydych am gyfrannu i Taf-Od, mae tudalen Facebook o’r enw ‘Cyfrannwyr Taf-Od’ wedi’i chreu. Ymunwch â honno i wneud cyfraniad gwerthfawr.

ynghyd ym Merthyr, ond bu’r Gymraeg yn fyw, ac nid oedd y mewnlifiad o bobl wahanol yn ergyd i’n hiaith, sef yr hyn sydd, i lawer, yn sylfaen ein hunaniaeth Gymreig. Yn wir, mae Merthyr a’r cymoedd cyfagos â’r canran uchaf o bobl yng Nghymru sydd yn ystyried eu hunain yn Gymreig, yn hytrach na Phrydeinig. Dechreuodd yr iaith ddiflannu pell ar ôl i Ferthyr ddod yn dawddlestr y cenhedloedd. Ar y sail hon y gall y Gymraeg ddych-

welyd i gadarnhau’r ymdeimlad o undod Cymreig. Does dim rheswm felly i drigolion Merthyr ildio i anoddefgarwch, ac fel ynghynt, gall hunaniaeth Gymreig gynhwysol ff ynnu ym Merthyr law yn llaw â’r iaith. Er i ni ym Merthyr darddu o amryw lefydd yn y pen draw, parhawn o hyd i gydfyw’n heddychlon gyda’n hunaniaeth Gymreig unigryw a chadarn— a balchder yn ein hiaith.

Am y tro cyntaf erioed o dan drefn gyfansoddiadol yr Undeb, maent wedi creu deiseb ddigidol ar wefan yr Undeb

Llun: Merthyr Tudful

Gall hunaniaeth Gymreig gynhwysol ffynnu ym Merthyr law yn llaw â’r iaith

Morgan Owen

Helyntion bythol y Dwyrain Canol?

Bob dydd bron, clywn am drychinebau’r Dwyrain Canol. Boed gan grwpiau terfysgol amrywiol neu’r Wladwriaeth Islamaidd, (ISIS) ar y newyddion. Clywn yn ddyddiol am y trychinebau a ddigwydd yn yno. Trychinebau megis llofruddiaethau torfol, ymosod ar leiafrifoedd ethnig a’u diarddel o’r ardal, y pethau erchyll sy’n digwydd i fenywod a phlant sydd ddim yn dilyn Islam, yn ogystal â’r clipiau a anfonwyd i’r we o ddienyddio carcharorion, neu, fel y digwyddodd yr wythnos hon, llosgi peilot o’r Iorddonen yn fyw. Does dim rhaid dweud, , mae’n amlwg bod yr hyn sy’n digwydd yn y Dwyrain Canol yn hunllefus o erchyll.

Ond, od yw gweld mudiad (ISIS) ar y newyddion bob dydd, mwy neu lai, nad oedd yn bodoli tair mlynedd yn ôl. Mudiad sydd heddiw yn rheoli darnau enfawr o Syria ac Irac, ac yn bygwth yr Iorddonen a Lebanon gan dargedu Palestina. Cred Unol Daleithiau America fod tua 31,000 o filwyr gan ISIS bellach. Pe bai hynny’n wir, mae dros ddwbl y nifer o filwyr gan ISIS nag o bobl sy’n byw yn Aberystwyth. Beia pobl George W Bush neu Barack Obama, cyn arlywydd ac arlywydd presennol yr Unol Daleith-

iau. Ond ni ddechreuodd broblemau’r Dwyrain Canol 11 mlynedd yn ôl. Yn hytrach bron canrif ynghynt. Felly pwy sydd ar fai am y tensiynau a welir yn y Dwyrain Canol?

Un o’r prif gyfranwyr at y tensiynau a welir yn y Dwyrain Canol yw Prydain a Ffrainc. Ond, nid Prydain David Cameron a Ffrainc François Hollande. Ond Prydain a Ffrainc bron canrif yn ôl yn dilyn diwedd y Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf, a benderfynodd beth i’w wneud â’r Dwyrain Canol ar ôl i’r Ymerodraeth Otoman ddiflannu ar ôl iddynt golli yn y Rhyfel Mawr. Penderfynodd y gwledydd hyn rannu’r Dwyrain Canol yn ôl pa ran o’r ardal hon yr hoffent gael yn eu hymerodraethau. Ni chymerasant unrhyw ddiddordeb mewn gwahaniaethau daearyddol, cenedlaethol, ethnig, diwylliannol na chwaeth crefyddol. Ni wybu Sykes na Picot, gweinidogion tramor y gwledydd a nodir uchod, ddim am y Dwyrain Canol. O ganlyniad arweiniodd hyn at ffiniau gwael amharhaol. Ffiniau amhosib eu gweithredu a’u cadw oherwydd nad oeddent yn deg ar y bobl tu fewn y ffiniau. Ni ellir rhoi ffiniau ar wlad os nad yw’r bobl yn cytuno â hwy, â’r bobl y mae’r hawl i benderfynu i ba wlad ac

ardal y maent yn uniaethu â nhw. Yn syth ar ôl y trafodaethau ym Mharis yn 1919, bu gwrthdaro, yn y 1920au, hefyd yn y 1930au a’r 40au. Mae gwrthdaro yna nawr hyd yn oed, wrth i ni agosáu at ganrif ers diwedd y Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf. Oherwydd nad oedd y ffiniau hyn yn deg dechreuodd y bobl wrthryfela: dyna’r cyfan yw ISIS. Gwrthwynebiad i’r drefn annheg a orfodwyd arnynt o ganlyniad i anwybodaeth llwyr y Cynghreiriad wrth rannu, yn hunanol, y Dwyrain Canol rhyngddynt. Ni ddylid anghofio am rôl Unol Daleithiau America wrth arwain at yr hyn sy’n digwydd yn y Dwyrain Canol, gan arwain at densiynau yn y rhan honno o’r byd. Er yn amlwg y gellir sôn am y ddau Bush a’u rolau nhw, yn Irac, er enghraifft. Ond hoff wn fynd yn ôl mewn hanes i edrych ar ganlyniadau diwedd yr Ail Ryfel Byd. Yn dilyn y driniaeth erchyll a gafodd yr Iddewon yn ystod yr Shoah gan y Natsïaid, dychwelodd yr Iddewon, â bendith yr Unol Daleithiau, i Israel, Gwlad yr Addewid. Ond bu’r boblogaeth bron yn gwbl Fwslemaidd. Er bu mwyafrif y boblogaeth yno yn Arabaidd, yr Iddewon gymerodd dros yr ardal. Gwrthodwyd cydnabod Israel gan wledydd

megis Irac, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia a mwy. Un o oblygiadau dyfodiad yr Iddewon oedd dileu Palestina: nid tan y ddiweddar y cydnabuwyd Palestina gan wledydd eraill. Llynedd y cydnabuwyd hi gan y Brifysgol! Un o brif amcanion ISIS yw i ryddhau Palestina, felly gwelir sut yr arweiniodd ymddygiad yr UDA gan roi Iddewon yn ôl yn y Israel at densiynau rhwng y bobl yna. Bu’r Arabiaid yn byw yn Israel am dros fil o flynyddoedd. Gwyddwn fod llawer o jargon yn yr erthygl. Os ydych wedi aros tan y diwedd rwy’n dra diolchgar. I grynhoi, gobeithio’ch bod yn deall nawr darddiadau’r anhrefn yn y Dwyrain Canol. Uchod gwelwn i Brydain a Ffrainc arwain at anhrefn gan rannu ardaloedd y Dwyrain Canol a chreu gwledydd yn seiliedig ar anwybodaeth llwyr o ddaearyddiaeth a chymdeithas yr Arabaidd. Ychwanegodd yr Unol Daleithiau at yr anhrefn gan anfon poblogaeth dramor i Israel. Byddwch yn ofalus gyfeillion wrth roi’r bai’n unionsyth i radicaliaid Mwslimiaid, cofiwch mae gormes yw prif gatalydd eithafiaeth. Nid oes angen gadael Ewrop i weld hyn wrth sylwi gwreiddiau’r Natsiaid.

Ni ellir rhoi ffiniau ar wlad os nad yw’r bobl yn cytuno â hwy, â’r bobl y mae’r hawl i benderfynu i ba wlad ac ardal y maent yn uniaethu â nhw

Dewi Alter

Claire Blakeway

PARK LIFE

tweet us @HeathparkCSU email us nagletj@cardiff.ac.uk

Quidditch comes to Heath Park

Following on from the success of Medics Varsity the Students’ Union will be hosting the first ever Heath Park Games which will be held as part of Heath RAG.

On Saturday 21st February teams can enter to take part in seven-aside netball or five-a-side football at Talybont sports hall and, by entering a team to take part in either the football or netball you will be eligible to play in the quidditch tournament for free.

As well as the football, netball and quidditch there will be a variety of traditional games for teams to compete in such as tug-of-war, sack races and an egg and spoon race. Again, by entering a team to the football or

netball you can compete in these events for free. Te events are open to all healthcare students and teams do not need to be affiliated to a sports club, so just grab your mates and sign up at http://www.cardiffstudents.com/ents/event/4808.

To enter a team for football or netball costs £30 or, should you just want to play quidditch this costs £20 a team. All proceeds from the day will go to the Heath RAG charities. Tis year the charities which are benefitting from Heath RAG are St Jerome’s, SKIP, Anthony Nolan and the official Cardiff RAG charities which include: War Child, Help for Heroes, World Child Cancer and Place2be.

Is the Cardiff Award suitable for healthcare students?

The Cardiff Award is an employability course offered by the university each year as an optional course which is open to all students. Te aim of the award is to allow students to develop and provide evidence of their employability skills such as teamwork, presentation, commercial awareness and numeracy to name a few. Te award is sponsored by businesses such as Ernst & Young and IBM and offers students opportunities to network with employers such as these throughout the year.

Healthcare students may look at the award programme and not think that it is something which is aimed at them. Looking at the students enrolled on this year’s award only fourout of almost 500 are healthcare students, two students from Healthcare Sciences and two from Medicine are completing the award. Last year three healthcare students completed the award and the year before there was one.

Last year three healthcare students completed the award, and the year before there was one “ “

Kath Foot, the award manager understands the reasons why this may be noting that ‘healthcare students have very busy academic timetables and work placements’ and therefore may struggle to attend sessions which are run as part of the award. She notes that as those on health care courses have lots of work placements as part of the course many healthcare students already ‘feel they have strong employability skills’ but she does believe that completing the award will make any student more employable.

With regards to the award sponsors there is an admission that ‘the sponsors can be off-putting for some

LGBT+ history month comes to the Heath

students’ but, as a fee is charged for sponsorship it can be difficult to attract sponsors from a wide range of sectors.

Tings are changing however. Te award team have been working with Claire Blakeway, VP Heath Park to make the award more attractive to healthcare students. Tere have been discussions with the NHS with a view to being able to offer mock interviews to students. Tis year, Tenovus have offered public health work experience and there have been discussions to increase this in the future.

Te award itself is flexible. Students are able to use activities they may already be involved in to demonstrate their skills. Tese activities, such as being on the committee of a society, volunteering, getting involved with the Students’ Union or student media all count towards the award and, as such are easy to slot around timetable and placement commitments.

In future, Foot would like to be able to run award sessions at the Heath and grow the award further but in the meantime would encourage any student who may want to develop their skills to speak with the careers advisor based at the Heath or seek to do a course with the Skills Development Service.

If you have suggestions about how the award may be made more applicable to healthcare students then use Speak Week as an opportunity to make suggestions. Twhe Students’ Union will be in the IV lounge on 10th February. You could also contact Kath directly, the award manager by email as the award is student led and responds and adapts based on student feedback.

On 3rd February as part of LGBT+ history month the Students’ Union LGBT+ officer, Sam Cook came to TDS to talk to healthcare students about LGBT+ issues and how they could impact us as health professionals. As healthcare students, and in our future careers we will encounter people with a diverse range of sexualities and gender identities that we should be sensitive towards, understand and be able to offer support to those who have be experiencing health problems as a result.

My knowledge of LGBT+ issues is limited and while I knew what the L, G, B and T stood for I didn’t really know why there was a +, which, according to Cook is a question that is often asked. People can identify with one, two or more genders, sexuality can be fluid, changing over time, people may not have romantic feelings towards those they are in a relationship with or be in a romantic relationship while not feeling sexual attraction.

People who identify with a sexuality other than heterosexuality can suffer abuse and stigma from others in society. In turn, this can lead to men-

tal health problems, drug or alcohol issues and eating disorders or other body image problems. As a health professional I need to understand enough about these issues so that I can be genuinely supportive and nonjudgmental. It is all too easy to appear supportive while being unsure inside. Tis talk by Sam has increased my awareness considerably.

Te university and the Students’ Union do a lot to support students and staff who are part of the LGBT+ community. At the Students’ Union Senate meeting last week, an amendment was brought to the motion about sanitary products being sold in the SU at not-for-profit by Cook to install sanitary bins in the male toilets to accommodate any transgender men who may use the Union. Tis was then expanded to compel the Union to lobby the university to do the same. A relatively small change, that most people wouldn’t notice but may remove a huge anxiety from someone.

If you have any concerns or questions and feel that Sam may be able to help you can contact him on facebook, twitter or by email lgbtofficer@ Cardiff.ac.uk

As a health professional I need to understand enough about these issues so that I can be genuinely supportive and nonjudgmental “

Pictured: Quidditch, but in real life

Tim Nagle

Tim Nagle

Pictured: Te pride flag

February

KERRANG! Tour 2015

13/02/15, £16.50 ADV

Enter Shikari

17/02/15 - SOLD OUT

Chelsea Grin

17/02/15, £10 ADV

The Jesus And Mary

Chain

27/02/15, £25 ADV

Treatment presents...

Ten Walls Live 27/02/15, £18.50

March

Stiff Little Fingers

08/03/15, £18.50 ADV

The Stranglers

10/03/15, £23 ADV

Sleaford Mods

10/03/15, £10 ADV

Halestorm

13/03/15, £15 ADV

Four Year Strong 24/03/15, £14 ADV

April

Lower Than Atlantis 09/04/15, £12 ADV

Limehouse Lizzy vs Livewire AC/DC 17/04/15, £20 ADV

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BUCS results: Wednesday 4th February

Presented by:

H

H

H Football

Cardiff compete in cross-country Champs

On Friday 30th January a 25-strong team of Cardiff University Athletics Club athletes clambered aboard a coach to make the dawdling journey through the rush-hour traffic to Brighton, the setting of this year’s BUCS CrossCountry Championships.

After a nervous night’s sleep in a ‘luxury’ Travelodge, the team awoke to a snow-dusted Brighton; however, in true cross-country spirit, a persistent drizzle soon melted this away.

On arrival at the course in the University of Sussex grounds, there were more than a few gasps at the leg-deadening hills which would soon have to be negotiated. Undeterred the team set up base, proudly erecting their new gazebo and flag.

With home for the next few hours established, the mandatory walk of the course commenced. This “mountain hike” confirmed that this race was going to be a million worlds apart from the pancakeflat course of the Welsh University

Championships, which the team had competed in two weeks previously in Bute Park.

The first event of the day was the Men’s A Race, who had the privilege of running on a course that was yet to be completely decimated by hundreds of pounding feet. This was probably fair enough as they did have to complete four laps and twelve kilometres of this gruelling course.

The Cardiff team was led home by two freshers, Gaunt (142nd) and Freek van Arkel (199th), both having very good runs over such testing terrain.

Next home was Club President Rhys Annett (209th), demonstrating a fine return to form after a frustrating period of injuries. The last member of the scoring team home was Hugh Saunders (226th), who finished well over the last lap to fend off fellow CUAC athlete David Copper (247th). It would be very wrong at this point not to mention the extremely dogged performance of crosscountry captain Elliott Hardee, who

after having not run for four weeks due to injury, battled though obvious pain to conquer one of the toughest cross-country courses the team had ever taken part in.

Next up were the women, who were competing over 6.4 kilometres of freshly churned up mud. Beforehand there had been very high hopes for the women’s team, and despite missing a few key members through illness and injury, they did not disappoint; first home was club Alaw Beynon-Thomas who ran a superb race to finish 27th, her bestever result in the Championships.

Arguably the best run of the day however was by the second CUAC runner home Megan McBrien, a fresher who managed 54th place. With only the first three to score in the women’s event, all the CUAC supports were desperately squinting in search of the next red and black vest. They didn’t have to wait long, with Jemima Osborn demonstrating her 800 metre background in a very fast finish to come home in 123rd.

This put the team in a superb

twelfth place out of the 53 competing universities, but more importantly four places ahead of local rivals Cardiff Met. Despite only three runners needing to score for the team, there were a further seven CUAC finishers who all gave very good accounts of themselves.

After over 800 runners had run, slipped and stumbled around the previous races, there was not an inch of grass left on the course by the time the final event of the day arrived. With no BUCS points available for the men’s B Race, the atmosphere was far more relaxed in nature, with many-a-chant being flung between rival universities. Eight CUAC athletes joined in the party, and were rather amazingly led home by former sprinter and club social sec Matt Bull.

The rest of the team also finished well despite several struggling with injuries and missed training.

With the races concluded, it was time to get back to the hotel for some much needed TLC and compulsory “rehydration”.

Dan Nash

Sport’s Pitch: US sports all about the show

After last weekend’s spectacular Super Bowl XLIX, Sport Editor Joe Atkinson discusses the drawbacks of the American format

The Super Bowl continued on its yearly trend of happening last weekend, and at a really inconvenient time, urgh. Tis didn’t stop many of the UK’s NFL fans staying up late to watch this allAmerican event in which the New England Patriots beat the Seattle Seahawks 28-24, in what by all accounts was a jolly good game.

Now I don’t really get the Super Bowl. Or American Football. Or any American sport in general for that matter, and I intend to get that point across in this half-article-half-rant that is usually reserved for someone to make an actual ‘sport pitch’ about important matters in the world of sport – last week we had a fantastic article about LGBT+ representation in professional sport for example. But not this week - oh no.

“ I personally like watching the sport, not the companies trying to flog their latest flimsy product or burger that will ultimately lead my blood to become pure cholesterol

First on my perpetual list of dislikes of American football are the scenes of jubilant celebration that go with just about any kind of score – the fanfare that accompanies a touchdown, a slam dunk or a home run is ridiculously crazy and makes me kind of angry. A batsman in cricket will spend hours, maybe even days reaching a century, a feat of incredible technical and mental ability, and in celebration will simply point his bat at the crowd as if he’s acknowledging his mother among the spectators. A baseball ‘hitter’ meanwhile will in the space of a few seconds hit a ball really far, and run around like his Euromillions ticket has come up (or his ’Mega Millions’ ticket, WHATEVER).

Tis is apparent in most American sports. Te guy who scores the touchdown for the *American city name + American thing name*s will callously attempt to puncture the ball by smashing it as hard as he can against the poor defenceless turf, and

will then proceed to do an aggressive dance and bump chests with his ecstatic teammates, who mob him and attempt to crush his internal organs with some sort of all-team pile-on - some thanks that is.

In comparison basketball players are pretty cool in their celebration, insomuch that they don’t typically do them - all credit to them for that. However, the pandemonium that ensues when a dunk is indeed slammed on account of the coaching staff and substitute players are all sides of the court is surely intrusion and is just way over-the-top in every conceivable way.

Te fact that American sports are built around the demands of advertisers is another gripe of mine. I personally like watching the sport, not the companies trying to flog their latest flimsy product or burger that will ultimately lead my blood to become pure cholesterol. Yet studies have shown that more people watch the ads during the Super Bowl than actually watch the sport. Tis is the sort of world that we live in now.

Other studies have demonstrated that in a game of American Football, during a three-hour broadcast the ball will be in play for eleven minutes of that time. Eleven - that’s 660 seconds, the same time it took Katy Perry to blast through her many ‘classic’ Americana pop anthems during the coveted half-time show.

Te rest of the time is dedicated to commercial breaks and replays where you can see beautiful, epic, slow motion panoramic shots of the many commercials scattered around the arena.

Te crux of my argument is this: Americans sports are ultimately not about the sport – they’re about all of the paraphernalia that go with

the box-office main event. Sure, the athletes are incredible examples of peak physical performance and they are undeniably incredibly talented, but the way that events such as the Super Bowl are organised doesn’t best serve them in showcasing those talents. Instead we get an orgy of adverts, pop divas and mindless pundits endlessly looping instant replays of apparently amazing plays.

In addition: the fans seem too happy for their own good, the teams have annoying names, every coach is the same fat man with the same fat moustache, the mascots are plainly ridiculous, the referees remind me of Footlocker employees, and I don’t

like Footlocker very much. All of these things are contributing factors to my clear, immense, and perfectly reasoned dislike of the Super Bowl, and almost all of them apply to all other American sports as well; from basketball to baseball.

Tis is probably all completely inaccurate and unfair, and many of the large and imposing members of the Cardiff Cobras American Football Club will probably seek me out and destroy me, but this is just how I see it. If American sports relapsed and focused on the actual sport, my views may change, but for now, all the Super Bowl achieves for me is the evacuation of my super bowels.

Pictured: Above: Katy Perry during Super Bowl XLIX’s halftime show Below: Patriots players taking a selfie with the Vince Lombardi trophy

Joe Atkinson

SPORT

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Interview: Cardiff University Kayaking Club

James Lloyd

As a kayaking club, what do you do?

We focus on three main areas throughout the year; the highlights are the trips we run, getting out on the local rivers, travelling all over the UK, visiting the best locations available and trying to give everyone of different abilities the chance to paddle. In Cardiff there’s not much available so we have to work with what we’ve got; twice a week we run pool sessions - it’s a nice, safe environment to teach the harder skills; stuff like rolling, and things that are associated with getting wet. For the competition side we compete in canoe polo. A lot of other universities play it as well so that’s a good way to put a competitive element into the sport. For those who aren’t so keen on paddling white water it gives them something else to focus on.

In order to get to the highest level you have to spend three to four hours a day on the water [...] at uni it’s impossible to get the transport or find the time to do it

Steffan Thomas

How does the canoe polo work?

Canoe polo is where you have teams of five and a pitch about the size of half a football field. At each end there is a 1m by 1.5m goalmouth that are 2m off the surface of the water and the aim of the game is to get the ball into the opposition’s goal. Tere isn’t really a lot to it - it’s stupidly violent, it’s very quick and there are rolling subs due to the constant sprinting back and forth.

What’s your role as president?

Basically it’s my role to make sure the club runs. We have a committee so I delegate and do stuff myself like making sure trips are booked,

Te Cardiff Blues look set to be reinvigorated mid-way through the season, with European rugby chiefs announcing a rule change which states if a side that finishes in the lower reaches of the Pro 12 win’s the European Challenge Cup, then they will be jettisoned into a play-off with an Aviva Premiership side.

Te winner of this play-off will face a two-legged affair with a Top 14 outfit for a place in next seasons Rugby Champions Cup.

With the Blues struggling in the Pro 12 this unexpected change in

planned and make sure everything runs according to plan. We have had some tricky situations this year as our secretary got kicked out of uni so we had to find people to step up and fill in for that. At the moment there’s a group of four of us doing the work which is quite a high workload. We are trying to cater for 110 members and whilst for most clubs transport is pretty straightforward, for us we have a huge safety element and the logistics of getting people and kit around is a nightmare. On top of that we run a few large events - we run trips to the Alps, week long trips around the UK. Tose are the most stressful timesas well as the canoe polo tournament we run every summer - it’s the second largest one in the country after BUCS, involving about thirty teams from around the country, so we have to be on our best behaviour and appearance. I’m in the middle of planning that at the moment.

Have you always been involved in Kayaking? Has that been your main sport?

When I joined I had done shooting and kayaking and I started kayaking when I was 13. I did it on-and-off every summer until I had some work experience when I was 15, where I spent so much time on the water and my skills improved massively and as a reward for our help the manager gave us an instructor course for free - I did that and it became my main sport. When I came to uni I had been paddling for a good three or four years, so that’s why I joined the kayaking club. I paddled first year, loved it, and we had a short number of people running for committee this year so I decided to step in and give it a go.

Do you compete at Varsity?

qualification criteria has given some hope that they may be playing in Europe’s elite club and provincial competition next season.

Te Blues have struggled to come to terms with new director of rugby Mark Hammett this season with their league form being extremely poor, however there is enough quality within the capital city side’s ranks to produce three strong performances in the Challenge Cup.

Te visit to Rodney Parade to face local rivals the Dragon’s in the quarter final is now a must win game in the

Yes we do compete at varsity, but at the moment we’re in a difficult situation as we changed pools this year and as a result have nowhere to train. We spent most of September trying to find somewhere we could train and eventually found somewhere. However they don’t have suitable goals hanging 2m in the air, so at the moment we have just about sorted that out. However because we’re hurling balls around, lights get damaged so the next challenge is getting a pool fixed up to a good standard - we need to fit light cages before we can train. We don’t really have a plan for Swansea, and we’ll have to see what their facilities are like. Last year they fielded their A team and we had our B team out, which was full of freshers and we walked all over them, so this year we’ll put the A team out.

Have you had anyone play professionally or to a high standard?

We have several members who play for the Cardiff Canoe Polo team. Nobody I know competes at national or international level, but we do have some older members and I know one chap who did represent Great Britain at Kayak Freestyle - at the moment they are considering making that an Olympic sport. Right now they have a World Championship for it which, after slalom is the most competitive type of white-water competition. Other than that we have a couple of members who slalom who participate in Cardiff and Wales, slightly on a smaller scale. In order to get to the highest level you have to spend three or four hours a day on the water, even in the middle of winter. You have to be up for training and for us guys at uni it’s impossible to get the transport or find the time to do it.

context of their season.

Back in New Zealand, Blues head honcho Mark Hammett built a reputation as being a coach who took no prisoners and who wasn’t scared to upset the established applecart.

One senior player who seemingly hasn’t taken to Hammett is Welsh international winger Alex Cuthbert, who has turned down a dual contract to remain in Cardiff Tere have been suggestions in some quarters that the Lions test winger does not approve of the Hammer’s training regime, with the Gloucester-born

How can the sport become more accessible? Is that possible?

At the moment, as a complete beginner it is incredibly accessible; we build up our trips in difficulty throughout the year and even halfway through the year we could have complete beginners at the pool and we’ll train them up to a level where they can join in with everyone else. At a national level though it is really down to your ability and independence - unless cars with roof racks could be given out for everyone for training there isn’t a lot they can do. Te main thing with kayaking is practice and experience

Do you have socials?

We do have socials. Tey’re organised by our social secs - we tend to hold them every other week and so far we have had some positive comments from freshers saying that the main reason they are still staying with the club is because the socials have been good. We try and theme them all with the usual ABC socials, toga socialswe’re having one this weekend called the charity social where you have to buy a ten pound outfit from the charity shop so that should be fun.

Do you have any characters in your team?

We had our North Wales trip last semester which predictably got a little alcoholic. I think we had a total tally of 21 chunders which was pretty crazy. Tere are a couple of mentionable names - Dom Ford threw up three times, we played ‘dangercan’ - we had Anthony Baker who managed to throw up on the minibus and somehow it went all over his face. We also have Rhiannon Tapp - she also managed to throw up three times, and we have some decent freshers who have good potential.

man subsequently being linked with a number of Aviva Premiership clubs.

In an ideal world one senses that the Blues would like to keep hold of Cuthbert, as he is one of Europe’s deadliest finishers after all. However, if the player is unhappy at the region it is probably best if both parties went in separate ways.

Te Blues are in a position of strength in this situation as Cuthbert has a year left to run on his current contract, with any move requiring the Blues to receive a transfer sum for the player.

As a complete beginner it is incredibly accessible; we build up our trips in difficulty throughout the year

Franklin Neathercoat is the President of Cardiff University’s kayaking club. He took time out of his schedule to chat to James Lloyd about everything from canoe polo to playing dangercan on socials.

Pictured: Canoe polo at last year’s Varsity

Pressure mounts on Slade

and January, a crucial period of the footballing calendar that is often under heavy observation from fans and media alike due to its congested scheduling and capability to showcase the true mental and physical ability of squads. With Cardiff only able to manage one win throughout that period, pressure has mounted on Slade’s shoulders, and many anxious fans have once again called for a shake-up at the club which could lead to the former Leyton Orient boss falling out of the managerial job only a few months after he was hired.

Te discourse among fans and in the media sphere is that the club has gone backwards, but there are a few factors that these groups have not deliberated; the Championship is infamously difficult to escape from through promotion, as at the start of the season each club is given a clean slate to work with and are not tied to the position they finished in the previous season. Tis often means that there are several surprises in terms of which clubs finish highest or lowest.

A general thought that occurs at the start of each Championship season is

that the teams that have been relegated from the Premier League will have the most talent and therefore the highest chance of getting promoted again and the teams that have been promoted from League 1 are the most likely candidates for relegation. However, over the last ten years, of the 33 teams that were relegated, only seven of these were able to accomplish what is almost seen as a necessity of securing an instant return to the Premier League.

Despite the consensus that these teams are safe bets to go straight back up, there is a case to say this is not justified - just over 20% of those clubs have managed that feat. Newcastle United in 2009-10 and West Ham in 2011-12 are both examples of relegated clubs that were able to hang onto the majority of squads deemed very strong at Championship level and were able to go straight back up to the top flight. In comparison Cardiff do not have the same resources as these clubs, and Slade has put emphasis on the need for the exodus of the highly paid players at Cardiff City, as the wage bill is unsustainable for the level

at which they are competing. Taking all this into account, it may seem unreasonable for the fans to expect instant ascension back up the ladder, but the fact that the team is currently not even in the top half of the table is definitely something for supporters to be uneasy about. In the last ten years, over 70% of relegated clubs have been able to secure a position in the top half of the Championship in their first season back at the level. Tis sort of statistic is certain to make City fans anxious, and while the club isn’t far off the top half, anything less than this would certainly represent a major step back for the club.

So while this season hasn’t been as much of a disaster as the media and fans have portrayed it to have been, there is definite cause for concern in light of the recent terrible run of form and position in the league. If Slade is able to endure this difficult period and get Cardiff back into a respectable position in the top half of the table, next season may be a more realistic target for the club to set its sights back on the Premier League.

Deadline day: Doyle heads trio of signings

Dan Heard

Transfer deadline day proved to be an eventful one for Cardiff City, though perhaps not as exhilarating as recent transfer windows have been for the Bluebirds. Tere was a real pressure on manager Russell Slade to deliver some standout signings and address the criticism surrounding his dealings during January. Te under-fire City boss, who controversially dropped topscorer Kenwyne Jones for Alex Revell

for the defeat to Derby, was thought to be keen to add to his strikeforce before, as well as pursuing his enquiries for wingers last week and get deals across the line. By the 11pm deadline, two strikers were through the door of the Cardiff City Stadium.

Irishman Eoin Doyle had been linked with the Bluebirds earlier in the window, with a £750,000 bid tabled. Tere had been interest from Championship rivals Derby as well

as new MLS franchise New York City. Te 26 year-old, League One’s top scorer with 25 goals this season, travelled to South Wales for a medical and personal terms, and although they left it late, confirmation came of a three-and-a-half year deal with seven minutes to spare.

Tis was closely followed by deals for two youngsters from Everton, Mathew Kennedy and Connor McAleny signing. Midfielder Kennedy, who spent time on loan with Hibernian this season, joins on a three-year deal, with striker McAleny signing on loan until the end of the season. Tough the players who arrived were not the calibre of recent window signings, such as Steven Caulker or Gary Medel, the fact that that Slade was allowed to spend more than a million pounds on a signing is a first in itself.

Te move for Doyle came with suggestions that the club would listen to offers for Jones, and cancel the contract of fellow forward Nicky Maynard. Rumours on social media suggested out-of-favour frontman Maynard, signed on deadline day in 2012, would become the latest Bluebird to have his contract

Consistency is key in the Championship, especially in the final stretch of games leading up to May. Tis is when champions, runners up and those all-important playoff places are decided, as well as the relegation zone being filled.

In recent weeks, the only consistency surrounding Cardiff City has been the consistent slide towards having the dreaded red “R” by their names. While this could not have been foreseen even in the worstcase scenario at the beginning of this campaign, it is now becoming more

of a reality than a possibility. It isn’t exactly hard to see why.

On the pitch, City are without a win in four league games, the club’s worst run since 2008. Tey were dumped out of the FA Cup after throwing away a lead against Reading, and are playing football that makes even the dourest style look appealing. To call it “kick and rush” would be insulting to kick and rush.

All of this has been made even harder by Russell Slade’s bizarre decision to offload 12 players - many of whom were signed at the start

of the season. For John Brayford, a £2million pound signing, Cardiff did at least break even - but his replacement Lee Peltier doesn’t look a significant improvement.

Adam Le Fondre, one of the finest impact players at Championship level, will now be hoping to make an impact at Bolton, a team below Cardiff only on goal difference. When it gets to the point where a club allowing a striker to join their relegation rivals is the sanest thing the club has done in a while, it is time to take stock of what is going on.

cancelled. However, Cardiff were keen to distance themselves from such claims and the window closed with no move forthcoming and no real whispers of offers for the side’s top scorer, while Maynard is staying until the summer at least.

One of the more unexpected rumours of the day was speculation surrounding winger Craig Noone. Norwich made a shock £2m bid for Noone with a deal believed at one stage to have been agreed and the winger open to joining the Canaries.

However, Cardiff opted to stick to an original higher valuation of the 27 year-old, asking for almost double, meaning the deal collapsed with only a few hours remaining. To have lost Noone, one of Cardiff ’s better players in the Premier League campaign would have been a blow, especially as he signed a contact extension recently.

Ultimately, this window would always have been one of rebuilding for Cardiff, as no doubt the summer window will. Striker Doyle, much like Slade, is unproven at Championship level. City fans will be hoping his deft touch doesn’t desert him when it is most needed. Continued from back page

Le Fondre’s replacement, Alex Revell, couldn’t impact water if he fell out of a boat, while fellow new signing Scott Malone, so impressive against Fulham at the start of the month, contributed only once in the recent defeat to Derby - by assisting them, turning a shot into his own net. Supporters won’t be holding their collective breath for an upturn in fortunes any time soon, and without an significant improvement in fortunes, Cardiff could find themselves back in red very soonthe red of relegation.

The fact that Slade was allowed to spend more than a million pounds on a signing is a first in itself.

Dan Heard

Pictured: Above: Cardiff City manager Russell Slade (Photgraph: Taliesin Coombes) Bottom left: New City signing Eoin Doyle

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Cardiff City heading towards trouble

After a disappointing season so far, we assess whether so much pressure should be placed on clubs to bounce back

The 2014-15 campaign has been a painful one for Cardiff City fans so far. Having had high hopes at the start of the season under former manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and with a strong squad of supposedly Premier League-quality players, many tipped the club to go straight back up. However that hasn’t transpired and a period of substantial change has ensued, leaving the club languishing in

mid-table.

After a poor run of form at the start of the season, Solskjaer left City after amassing only eight points out of a possible 21, form which was not tolerated at a club looking to challenge in the upper echelons of the Championship. Tese hopes were revived as the highly regarded Russell Slade was appointed manager at the start of October. Slade arrived

at the club with a reputation as a boss who would be able to steady the ship despite only ever managing clubs in the lower leagues, but there was the belief that he had the ability to give Cardiff the right mentality to push on from their poor start and fight to get themselves back up to the top half of the league table.

Tis vision of Slade as the heroic figure that Cardiff needed to get

back into the Premier League initially seemed to align exactly as the fans had hoped it would, with the club securing wins and many crucial points during his honeymoon period in October and November against strong opposition that included clubs with serious ambitions of promotion, such as Ipswich and Watford.

Yet, this form deteriorated as the club entered the months of December

Jack Boyce

Photgraph: Taliesin Coombes