gair rhydd - Issue 860

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ISSUE 860 FEBRUARY 11 2008 CARDIFF’S STUDENT WEEKLY free word - EST. 1972

SPORT/features/LISTINGS/tv/OPINION/jobs&money/TAF-OD PHOTO: Ed Salter

NO NEWS IS BAD NEWS n Cardiff journalism students hit out at their department n Enrolment was ‘a shambles’ Lee Macaulay Investigations Editor 2nd year BA Journalism, Film and Media students have told gair rhydd of frustration in their lectures and confusion about their seminars after administrative errors and a lack of forward planning by Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies (JOMEC).

The problems began when, due to staff departures and the sudden death of lecturer James Thomas, three 2nd year modules were cancelled by JOMEC after pre-enrolment in 2007. Students were then reassured by the school that replacement modules would be ready for spring semester.

However, students were then told that only two new modules would be run in spring and that they would be both media-based as opposed to the cancelled journalism study-based modules. An anonymous JOMEC student told gair rhydd: “They aren’t offering me any Journalism modules but they claim to be one of the best Journalism departments in the country.”

Students were also frustrated with a number of administrative problems. JOMEC e-mailed students in December with the news that all modules had spaces. But when students came to re-enrol last

week many left disappointed: “The [administration] staff are very unhelpful. I was the first one in the queue but the module on War, Politics and Propaganda was full, which I understand. I asked if there was a waiting list but she just said no.”

Another problem occurred when JOMEC advertised a spring semester module to run in the autumn in error, which then had to be withdrawn.

Other students were also less than happy: “It’s absolutely appalling. Cardiff University is a complete let down. It doesn’t care about its students.”

“Pretty bad. It’s such a shambles.”

“It’s pathetic. I’ve already made a complaint.”

In response, Chair of BA Journalism, Film and Media Undergraduate Board of Studies, Gill Branston told gair rhydd: “BA staff have agreed to re-run an autumn semester module; to open a third year Photography module to Year 2, and to take extra students on a popular History centred module.”

“A few of us have worked hard on this all week and are offering more module choices to Year 2 as a result. I hope they can bear with us as we try to fill the spaces left by James’ death and Miranda’s departure.”

Read JOMEC’s full response on page 4

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this week in gair rhydd: Features on arranged

Opinion considers the effect of the Beijing Olympics on

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Chinese citizens and their country

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Spicy Goodbye Kate Duffield Reporter Wales will be saying goodbye to the Spice Girls this summer as a date on the girls’ farewell tour looks set to be confirmed.

The comeback quintet has pledged to perform in Wales as part of a series of farewell concerts taking place across the UK. After recently launching a global reunion tour, Geri, Victoria, Mel B, Mel C and Emma are looking to spice up the stage together for the last time this summer.

Spice officials are not yet releasing details of the exact location of the Wales concert, but rumours have abounded that Cardiff’s Millenium Stadium, with capacity for 74,000 fans, is an ideal venue.

But despite extending the UK leg of their reunion tour, the girls have cancelled concert dates in Argentina, Australia, South Africa and China altogether, claiming family reasons amidst rumours that the two Mels have fallen out.

Cardiff student experience given the thumbs-up Cardiff University is voted 16th in the country for quality of student experience at The Times Education Awards

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Sheafson storm to victory in heat one of Battle of the Bands Cath Duddridge LMS Correspondent Last Thursday saw the first heat of the Live Music Societies’ Battle of the Bands competition, held in Talybont Social. Four bands took to the stage, however only two bands could go through to the next round, and after much deliberation by the judges and audience Sheafson and Everyone must win were voted as winner and second place respectively.

Commiserations to Portraits and Echolounge who missed out on a coveted semi final slot despite quality performances.

After the performances, LMS exec Rob Nurden had this to say: “This was an awesome start to the competition, one of the strongest heats in since I’ve been involved in Battle of the Bands – the turnout was fantastic as well” Sheafson, who claimed first place after a blistering performance, were extremley happy with their win and also stated that they were happy to involved with such a well organised event.

Dylan Edwards, who attended the event said that he had a great night, even though he ‘hoped that Echolounge would have progressed to the semis’ however, he is looking forward to seeing Everyone must win play again, after their happy and energetic set which ended in free Haribo for the crowd.

Heat 2 Date: Thursday 14th Feb Location: Talybont Social Time: 7.30pm Price: Free

Success at sea for Cardiff graduate Christofer Lloyd Reporter

Sian Owens Reporter This year’s Times Higher Education Awards saw Cardiff being ranked 16th for providing the Best Student Experience out of all UK universities.

The winner was Loughborough University for the second year running.

Although the award for Student

Experience has only featured in the ceremony for the last three years, it has gained particular interest and is now seen as one of the most prestigious awards.

The results were decided through specially commissioned research in which 22,500 students were asked to rate their university according to 21 different categories.

Categories included quality of staff and lectures, the convenience of

facilities, extra-curricular activities and community atmosphere.

Cardiff University was not the only Welsh university that featured in the top 20, with Aberystwyth being placed sixth, Bangor in 10th place and Swansea ranked 13th.

The results are considered to be impressive as students studying at Welsh universities only account for six percent of UK university students.

Cardiff graduate Jo Davies has rowed her way into the record books, as part of the fastest women’s four to complete the transatlantic row from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Antigua.

Davies rowed to victory with Americans Emily Kohl and Sara Kessans and New Zealander Tara Remington.

‘Unfinished Business’ broke the previous record by 16 days, taking 51 days, 16 hours and 31 minutes to cover the 3,000 mile stretch of ocean.

The team departed on December 3 2007 and arrived in Antigua on January 23, having spent the festive season at sea in their 30ft boat.

The team had previously attempted to cross the Atlantic in 2005, but failed to finish as each member had to be rescued.

Davies, who graduated in Marine Geography from Cardiff’s School of Earth, Ocean and Planetary Sciences, fell during a storm and injured her back.

Emily and Sara spent 16 hours clinging to their boat after it capsized and Tara’s boat was attacked by a shark and sank.

Jo said: “There were highs and lows…extreme weather, sharks and at times, sheer exhaustion but we’ve got some fantastic memories.

She concluded: “We’re delighted to have finished.”

‘Unfinished Business’, now ‘Finished Business’, supports The Meningitis Trust and has raised over £2,000 to date.

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Continued from front page

JOMEC’s response JOMEC Cardiff University The Bute Building King Edward VII Avenue Cardiff CF10 3NB, UK February 5 2008 Dear gair rhydd, There are problems with the BA (Journalism Film and Media) Year 2 options this semester which we have been doing our very best to overcome.

James Thomas’s sudden death in late August was a tragic loss in many ways, and did pose huge problems for replacing, so close to semester, his BA teaching, administration and dissertation supervision. After a lot of work, before both semesters, we found two good part time staff who are providing 3 new modules, while other staff members divided up the extra supervision and admin among ourselves. Meantime I have argued hard for full replacement of missing modules on the BA. BA staff have agreed to re-run an autumn semester module; to open a third year Photography module to Year 2, and to take extra students on a popular History centred module.

We had hoped to have two new lecturers in place this semester but there was simply not time for them to begin with us now (people have to give notice). However they will be starting on the BA next academic year, and offering some new modules, which include critical study of Journalism. Even so, it’s worth pointing out that the degree is not a pure Journalism scheme. And that there will always be some imbalances in module subject matter between semesters and even years.

We hope to prioritise entry to any new modules next year for students who have had less choice than we’d have liked in Yr 2 this time.

Politics and the Media (temporarily removed due to tutor’s maternity leave) may also be dedicated in this way.

To answer your other points, yes, administrative problems have also occurred.

1) The BA Administrator did indeed make an error, for which she has apologised, in saying that the Media Health and Science module would run this semester.

However we are now able to re-run it, as a replacement choice.

2) The message which she sent on Dec 7th referred to places on modules as at Dec 7th and was correct at that time. It also listed the missing modules taught by Miranda and James.

Numbers only settle down after students have ‘sampled’ modules. If there is space on their new choices they can then switch from their existing ones. We try to cap modules at 50 in fairness to both lecturers and students, which means not everyone gets all their first choices.

We could solve this by greatly reducing student choice of course.

I’m not aware of any formal complaint procedure being set in motion, though there have been informal complaints to some staff.

A few of us have worked hard on this all week and are offering more module choices to Year 2 as a result. I hope they can bear with us as we try to fill the spaces left by James’ death and Miranda’s departure.

All best wishes, Gill Branston Chair, BA (JFM) Undergraduate Board of Studies

Graduate jobs galore Gemma Batstone Reporter A recent report suggests that the number of graduate job vacancies is on the rise.

The winter poll from the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) of 217 big firms indicates that graduate vacancies will be 16.4% higher than last year.

The level of graduate jobs has been rising steadily over the last five years but this is the highest figure to be reached in the current decade.

However, graduate starting salaries are not following suit, with an increase this year of just 2.1% to an average of £24,000.

But AGR Chief Executive, Carl Gilleard, claims that employers are having trouble recruiting UK

candidates with the right skills and qualifications.

Firms are increasingly recruiting from overseas and the study by the Trendence Research Institute concluded that “a quarter of employers praised the strong work ethic and desire to succeed of overseas graduates.”

Gilleard argued that the fact that businesses are prepared to go overseas to find a workforce suggests “recruiters are becoming increasingly discerning and will not lower their standards.”

This year it is expected that more than two thirds of employers will have problems recruiting the right people.

Gilleard continued: “Both employers and graduates may have to amend their expectations.”

A Great Briton for Cardiff Oliver Lewis Reporter Cardiff Professor and Nobel Prize winner Sir Martin Evans has been declared a ‘Great Briton’.

Evans, Professor of Mammalian Genetics and winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize for Medicine, has been awarded the Great Briton Award for his research on embryonic stem cells.

The annual award celebrates those who have made a significant contribution to British life during the year.

There are seven categories such as The Arts, Sport and, in Evans’ case, Science and Innovation.

The two other finalists in the Science and Innovation category were Neuroscientist Professor Colin Blakemore and Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government, Sir David King.

Evans said of his award win: “I’m delighted…and am

glad that the research and work done by all scientists across Britain is widely recognised for its importance, significance and achievements.”

The finalists were nominated by the British public and the winners chosen by panels of judges.

Other winners included author J.K. Rowling, iPod designer Steven Ive and civil liberties campaigner Shami Chakrabarti CBE.

Ceri Isfryn Reporter A disabled pensioner’s garden was subject to extensive vandalism in the early hours of the morning one night last week.

Mrs Taylor, of 81 Colum Road, said the vandalism “caused tremendous damage” to her garden, having contacted gair rhydd to report the incident.

Taylor, 62, believes it was students who caused the damaged, having caught a glimpse of them as they vandalised her garden.

She said: “I’m devastated. I was crying all morning when I found out what had happened. Would they do this to

their mother’s garden?”

Mrs Taylor, described how she heard noises outside her house at 4am, but dismissed it as usual late night revellers, which she has become accustomed to, after having lived on the same street for several years.

She woke to a ruined garden on Sunday morning to discover a 9-foot plant that she’d been growing for 10 years snapped in half and evidence of urine on her porch.

The shaken pensioner, who takes “great pride” in her garden, has until now had a good relationship with her student neighbours.

She commented: “If they knock on my door to borrow a tin opener or a hoover even, I’m always prepared to help. I

know students have to have a bit of fun, but this was dreadful behaviour.”

If cameras were placed on Colum Road, Mrs Taylor believes the problem would be alleviated.

At present cameras stop after Park Place and Mrs Taylor thinks this encourages students to “go on the rampage” once they reach her road on their way home.

The police have been informed of Mrs Taylor’s claims, although no one was available to discuss the matter further.

Mrs Taylor concluded: “This has changed my relationship with students but I can’t point a finger at one person.”

PHOTO: Cormac West

Vandals hamper community relations

gairrhydd

FEBRUARY.11.2008

Consumer choice: the Union

Shop calls on students to express their views

“I use the shop and find it very useful.

But most of the time it tends to be closed when I need something”

Amanda Nicholls Second year English Literature

“I’ve only been to the shop twice this year.

I came to buy some of the Cardiff University clothing”

Fabiano Castro MA Architectural and Environmental design

PHOTOS: Ed Salter

Student securit-e

Lisa Evans asks Cardiff students why they use the Union Shop “It’s pretty good.

I come here a fair bit to buy their food and they have a good drinks selection”

Lauren Housego First year English Literature Corinne Rhoades News Editor Students in Cardiff are at risk of becoming targets of identity fraud, the University’s Information Services department (INSRV) has found.

According to INSRV, social networking sites with a high student usage, such as Facebook, are not being treated carefully enough, especially when it comes to keeping personal details secure.

A rise in ‘cybercrime’ led to INSRV’s Sensibilit-e campaign last week.

Students visited INSRV staff outside the IT shop in the Students’ Union to find out whether they were at risk of identity theft when using the internet.

Details such as date of birth and

“I’ve only been here three weeks, but it’s in a good location.

I come here to buy lunch and snacks.

It’s quite cheap”

Muzna Aljuma First year English exchange student

PHOTOS: Christofer Lloyd

Your Union: your words

PHOTO: Ed Salter

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The Students’ Union Shop is canvassing students’ opinions on its output in a bid to improve services.

The shop stocks products such as Fairtrade clothing, food, newspapers and magazines, which are offered at a subsidised price for students.

Since products such as stationary have been redistributed to the IT shop, the Union Shop has been able to stock more clothing, which is said to be a favourite among customers.

Dave Woods, the shop manager, said: “We’re constantly reviewing what’s selling and would like to encourage feedback so we can serve students better.”

To leave your comments, e-mail Dave Woods at ssudw2@groupwise. cf.ac.uk.

05

address provide fraudsters with enough information to steal a student’s identity.

Chris King, Senior Engineer and Security at INSRV, chose a member of INSRV staff at random before finding them on Facebook, Friends Reunited and among Google search results.

From his investigation he was able to find their address, education history and employment history – enough details to create a close replica of their CV. Chris said: “A common attitude is, ‘this will never happen to me,’ but information is the key to money.”

The INSRV website, www.cardiff. ac.uk/insrv/help/safe, gives further information on how to remain protected online, as well as advice being offered in the IT shop from 2-3 o’clock each afternoon.

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Capital funding for greener universities

A Government initiative will provide funding to universities across the UK in a bid to make them more environmentally friendly Portia Nicholson Reporter £2.4bn in capital funding is being made available as part of the Government’s initiative to encourage universities to become more environmentally friendly, the Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE) has announced.

The funds, being provided over the next three years, are for use within teaching, research and infrastructure, with £290m going towards sustainable building projects.

Steve Egan, Deputy Chief Executive of HEFCE, said: “These allocations are good news for universities and colleges, as they will enable them to invest in their buildings and equipment in a sustainable way over the longer term.

“They can now plan with greater confidence and strategically invest in their infrastructure to enhance the quality of learning and teaching for students and support world class research.”

Cardiff University Students’ Union has already taken on the green initiative and this week has launched the Go Green campaign throughout the Union, to raise awareness about environmental issues and to give students energy saving tips and ideas.

However, Students Union President, Jonny Cox, explained that the Go Green week is

very much a Union event.

This year’s Environmental and Ethical Officer, John Cowie, is currently putting pressure on the University to employ a full-time Environmental Manager.

A message from the Advice Centre Further to the article ‘Housing Clampdown’ in issue 859 of gair rhydd, students who wish to send in details on the licensing of their properties can do so by dropping the details into a small cardboard ‘house’.

The ‘house’ can be found in the Advice Centre on the third floor of the Students’ Union.

Postcards are available from the Advice Centre which students can use to write the details onto before posting in the ‘house’.

A message from the Financial Contingency Fund

In response to the article ‘Study Subsidy’ in issue 859 of gair rhydd, the Financial Contingency Fund (FCF) would like to clarify who is eligible to apply for a grant.

The fund is available to any student who lives in the UK and is studying at Cardiff University.

Painstaking design Criticism floods in to Kent University’s School of Architecture after they ask students to design a torture device as part of their degree Rachelle Simons Reporter The School of Architecture at the University of Kent is embroiled in a debate over the ethical implications of an assignment that asked students to design a torture device.

Twelve first year masters students have been asked to design an “original” and fully operational torture device to develop an understanding of ergonomics.

Although the culmination of the project will be designing a new headquarters for Amnesty International, one of the students has lodged a complaint on the grounds that the brief was illustrated with a photograph of Nazi torture devices which made them

feel “uncomfortable”.

Professor Gray, Head of the department, has responded that this student “has been given the opportunity to address the project from a different angle” and acknowledged that the project is “slightly shocking”, but will not be changed.

Two former Presidents of the Royal Institute of British Architects have criticised the project on the grounds that architecture should enhance the lives of the people that use buildings, while torture has no positive uses.

Peter Hyett, of the Treatment Centre for Torture Victims in London, said that torture is a “monstrously complicated” issue that “amateurs” shouldn’t dabble in.

Decline in postgraduate students studying science Gemma Lavender Reporter A declining number of students are undertaking postgraduate degrees in Physics, Chemistry, Engineering and Technology related subjects, recent research has revealed.

With students failing to see these degrees as favourable options, the Royal Society speculates that the UK’s position as a leader in higher education could be under threat, with expectations of our country becoming less competitive in a global economy that places premiums on skills and innovation.

Research has shown that doctoral degrees in science have plummeted from representing 65% to 57% of all UK student PhDs over the last 10 years.

This is in stark comparison with a 79% growth in doctoral degrees overall.

The news may come as a blow to the

Government, who are keen to increase enthusiasts by sparking an interest in science.

The population of students snubbing Physical and Mathematical Sciences has left an obvious statistical decline, with postgraduates instead favouring doctorates in Psychology, Biology and Sports Sciences.

A Cardiff University Physics student said: “Some people decide an undergraduate degree in a difficult field, like Physics, is adequate for them.

I think it often also boils down to PhD costs if finding funding bodies proves difficult.”

Universities and the Government may be faced with “overseas students turning to other countries, thus leaving financial gaps for UK universities”, according to warnings from the Royal Society’s Science Academy research.

They have urged for fee reductions and national funding from the beginning of degrees through to PhD completion.

gairrhydd FEBRUARY.11.2008

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WORLD NEWS

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High Sexpectations

World News in brief

Italian doctors claim high heel wearers enjoy better sex lives

Fencing with the fishes

Navodita Pande Reporter Wearing high heels could boost people’s sex lives, a recent study has discovered.

Dr Maria Cerruto, an Italian urologist, conducted a study of 66 women under the age of 50.

She found that the posture of those who wore a two-inch heel was as good as those who wore flat heels.

High heels were also shown to have strengthened pelvic muscles.

Dr Cerruto said: “Women often have difficulty in carrying out the right exercises for the pelvic zone and wearing heels could be the solution.

“Like many women I like highheeled shoes and it’s good to know they have potential health benefits,” she added.

Pelvic floor muscles are an important part of a female body.

They are thought to play an important role in sexual performance and satisfaction, and also provide vital support to the pelvic organs including

China suffers in the wake of snow storm devastation

the b ladd er, b o w e l s and uterus.

However, Gill Brook, a women’s health physiotherapist in Bradford, said that the findings are not sufficient proof that high heels were a good thing.

Usually pelvic floor muscles

Ruth Smith Reporter

weaken as women age, or after pregnancy.

Brook said: “For women who like a slightly higher heel, these are reassuring findings – although we haven’t yet done away with the need for regular exercises to maintain what is such an important part of the female body.”

Tattoo therapy

International student Cheng Shi considers the destruction caused back home by the worst snow storms China has seen in 50 years China has been tackling the most serious snow storms seen by the country in 50 years.

Southern and western parts of China have suffered greatly in the storms over recent weeks.

Twenty provinces, including directly-controlled municipalities, out of the 34 in total were affected, amongst which Hunan, Hubei, Anhui, Guizhou, Guangxi, and Jiangsu suffered the heaviest loss.

According to information from China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs (CMCA), released up to February 2, the extreme weather had killed 62 people due to houses collapsing, serious falls, and drowning.

They had also destroyed 223,000 houses, as well as leaving 862,000 damaged.

The Chinese Government has provided temporary living places for around 175,000 people.

These include those made homeless by the disaster, and others stranded in railway stations, bus stations or airports who were unable to go back home for the Chinese New Year.

The population affected by the disaster is estimated to exceed 100 million.

Known for its warm weather throughout the year, provinces and cities in southern and western parts of China have not encountered such snow storms in half a century.

The unexpected weather has greatly influenced the transportation, telecommunications and electricity generation of China.

With damaged cables and heavy snow blocking rail and road connections, land transportation in many provinces has been severely restricted, leaving a large number of passengers stranded in railway or bus stations.

At least 11 airports in China were also closed due to the weather.

Some provinces have suffered from a lack of electricity due to coal shortages and also snow damage to facilities.

The Chinese government has previously provided approximately £30 million to deal with the storms.

Senior government officials have visited different provinces to organise the alleviation work.

About 547,000 cotton-padded clothes and quilts have been sent to the relevant provinces.

Charities such as China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, China Charity Federation and China Red Cross Foundation have also taken action to donate money and clothes to people suffering from the disaster.

170,000 passengers were stranded in Guangzhou railway station on January 28.

Samantha Shillabeer News Editor Tattoos could be the most efficient way of delivering vaccines into the body, claims recent research.

A group of German scientists found that in experiments using mice, tattoos were effective in provoking a response from the body’s immune system.

The research, published in the journal Genetic Vaccines and Therapy, revealed that tattooing a vaccine produced 16 times more antibodies than an injection into muscle tissue.

It is now thought that they could be the ideal way of delivering therapeutic vaccines in humans, including some for cancers, as well as playing an important role in the

routine vaccination of animals.

Dr Martin Mueller, of the German Cancer Research Centre, Heidelberg, explained the benefits of tattooing.

Pointing to its wound and inflammation effects, he said: “The greater damage to the body caused by the tattoo needle may explain the better immune response.”

Tattoos also cover a greater area of the skin than injections, so the vaccine affects more cells.

Mueller added: “Vaccination with naked DNA has been hampered by its low efficiency.

“Delivery of DNA via tattooing could be a way for more widespread commercial application of DNA vaccines.”

However, the scientists say that the tattoo needles could not be used for preventative vaccines in children, such as the one for measles, as the pain would be too much for them.

Tattoos have been part of human culture and history for thousands of years.

The practice became widely available just over 100 years ago with the invention of the electric tattoo machine in the United States.

The rapidly vibrating tattoo needle is still in use today.

To celebrate the Chinese New Year an aquarium in Qingdao City is hosting an underwater Olympics.

The event is set to include sports, such as fencing, shooting, cycling and gymnastics, which will be adapted because of the underwater conditions.

All of the competitors must be qualified divers, and the games will last for around two weeks until the end of the Chinese Spring Festival around February 12.

Smurfed to it

Hundreds of Croatians painted themselves blue, as Smurfs, in a world record-breaking bid only to find out that they were too late.

395 volunteers dressed up as Smurfs in the town of Komin to try and beat what they believed to be the current record of 290 Smurfs in one place, in America.

However, on contacting Guinness officials, they discovered that an English group of people from Warwick University had already completed the task with 451 Smurfs last July.

Roses are red - and blue

Some Japanese scientists claim to have genetically produced blue roses.

The scientists who work for the Japanese whisky firm Yamazaki are growing test batches of the flower in America.

Spokesman Atsuhito Osaka said they plan to begin marketing the flowers in 2009.

The scientists transplanted the gene in pansies which makes them blue into the rose.

The feat took 14 years to develop.

gairrhydd

FEBRUARY.11.2007

EDITORIAL & OPINION

OPINION@gairrhydd.COM

freewords Est. 1972

Troubles in JOMEC JOMEC is one of the most highly regarded schools for journalism in the UK, and it was regretful this week to speak with students contemplating dropping out of their course.

Expectations of students enrolled on the BA Journalism, Film and Media course are high because of the course and school’s esteemed reputation. The frustrations lay particularly with those students wishing to pursue journalism modules who felt the media and cultural study-based modules offered in place to them were inadequate replacements.

With popular jibes against media-related courses as ‘Mickey Mouse’ degrees, it was felt by some students that the lack of journalism modules watered down the high quality and standards that the BA course is renowned for.

Students are sympathetic towards the unprecedented and sad loss of lecturer James Thomas last summer, and the consequence implications this has had on their course. The response that JOMEC made to gair rhydd is clear in stating that time was the enemy in their attempts to recruit a new member of staff in time for the beginning of term.

Of course, it is not always possible for contingency plans to be made in case of unexpected occurrences, but the key element to handle such situations is good communication. Students can accept the facts, but when these facts are not communicated to them clearly, frustrations are inevitable.

Quench gets sexy It has been in the pipeline since October, and for the last eight weeks everyone in the Quench office has been researching, interviewing, writing, editing and designing the 64-page special SEX edition of Quench.

Initially the idea was met with smutty responses, but the overwhelming factor that we wanted to push was for something ‘a bit different’.

There are plenty of magazines out their telling you how to do it and how often you should be doing it, but by utilising all the regular sections, giving them a twist and adding a student edge, Quench has gone one step ahead of all its rivals.

If you’ve never read Quench before, you’re in for a treat with plenty of compelling content including interviews with a co-ordinator at the GUM clinic, an in depth feature on one-night stands and a look at the future of sex in the internet age.

Enjoy!

Editor Amy Harrison Deputy Editor Ben Bryant Co-ordinator Elaine Morgan News William Taylor Abigail Whittaker Samantha Shillabeer Corinne Rhoades Investigations Lee Macaulay

09

Charity’s disparity

Sarah Shearman considers the difference between a charity’s good work and its methods - such as Queen Street’s ‘chuggers’

L

abour MP Paul Flynn recently attacked Shelter Cymru for its apparent failure to acknowledge the progress made regarding homelessness in Wales. Not only do his comments undermine the work that this charity does but voices, and perhaps fuels, an increasing amount of public disillusionment towards charities in the UK. The Newport West MP, rather characteristically, outlandishly accused the charity of not celebrating the decreased amount of housing problems. These comments, on his internet blog, were seemingly sparked by an invitation Shelter Cymru sent to him and other Welsh MPs to a conference to discuss strategies for improving housing problems. Flynn dismissed it, labeling this opportunity for constructive discussion as a “sob-in.”

Aside from the fact that Shelter Cymru does acknowledge the recent homeless statistics – their website has links to research and reports – Flynn seems to miss the point of the charity, or perhaps charity in general. Although improvements have been made in regards to these issues, homelessness and housing problems still exist and solving them is the mission of Shelter Cymru.

To accuse the charity of “bloatedempire building” for wanting to carry on its commitment to its aims seems absurd; if anything it is commendable that the charity is accelerating its action after these recent achievements.

Flynn seems to miss the point of charity in general For all of Paul Flynn’s unsubstantiated ranting, he has, however, struck a chord. This raises many questions about charities losing public favour. By this I by no means suggest that we, as a society, are less charitable, as this is certainly not the case. However, it does seem that the overzealous marketing campaigns of charities is beginning to erode people’s good nature and attitudes towards donating money. Indeed, it is worth mentioning that The Mill Word expressed such views last year in the article ‘Tact of Charity’.

This piece highlighted an irritation felt towards charity ‘chuggers’, suggesting more effective ways of helping, such as organising fundraising events or volunteering.

I do not think The Mill Word is alone in such views. Yet it seems as though more and more street-fundraisers are

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grooming our high streets and pressuring people into giving money, which may give their charities a bad name.

Street-fundraising is the most effective way for a charity to raise money: Charity Facts reveals that for every pound spent on face-to-face sales services, £5 is raised for the charity. Furthermore, statistics reveal that, on average, donors commit to paying a direct debit (or perhaps forget to cancel it) for at least six years.

A friend of mine lasted only three days as a street-fundraiser after failing to meet the three-sales-a-day quota for People and Planet. He was happy to talk to people in the street about the charity and what it did, but felt uncomfortable trying to get people’s bank details.

Considering there have been so many reports of bogus-campaigners and identity fraud in the media, it is a difficult task and requires a huge amount of skill and arguably manipulation.

Coupled with the chuggers’ high

James Temperton Jenny WIlliams Emma Thomas Problem Page Ted Handsome Television TV Guy TV Mariam TV Tim TV Sarah Lonely Hearts Queenie Five Minute Fun Narelle

Picture Editor Ed Salter Online Editor Paul Springett Sub Editor Graeme Porteous Proof Readers Aisling Tempany Andy Rennison Jo Plummer Lee Macaulay Contributors Kate Duffield, Christofer Lloyd,

wage (usually starting at £8 an hour), the lengths they go to make sales renders them highly irritating to the general public. This irritation, or resentment even, is further fuelled by a bombardment of adverts on television and flyers which often appear sanctimonious in tone to guilt-trip individuals into giving more.

Such marketing campaigns, whilst aiming to raise the profile of a charity,

More and more street-fundraisers are giving charities a bad name may be responsible for denting them.

True, they are successful in reaping in the cash, but in the long term they may well do more harm than good if they fall out of favour with the public, as Flynn’s comments suggest. FurtherSian Owens, Gemma Batstone, Oliver Lewis, Ceri Isfryn, Poria Nicholson, Rachelle Simons, Gemma Lavender, Navodita Pande, Ruth Smith, Cheng Shi, Sarah Shearman, Jon-Paul Phillips, Liam Lord, Piers Horner, Licie Apampa, Annie Buckle, Sam Tap-

more, dumbing down a charity’s aims by getting a high-profile celebrity to make a simple statement (for example, Oxfam condensing the immensely complex work it does to fight poverty into “Bollocks to Poverty”) or paying a fundraiser to tell you a joke to entice you in and hand over your bank details may eventually diminish the charity’s established credibility.

I think the most effective way to avoid this is to appeal to people’s intelligence and sentiment. As well as providing more statistics on how the money is spent, get the street campaigners to talk about the charity and what it does, rather than trying to make a sale. Generating, or regenerating, a wide base of support and respectability for a charity would surely mean that the donations would follow. Maybe this is being too idealistic, but isn’t that essentially why charities are created?

penden, Emma Thomas, Priya Rajyaguru, Laura Hinson, Gareth Ludkin, Llyr Gwyn Lewis, Karen Mosley, Emily Woodrow, Hannah Mitchel, Rhona Morris, Naomi Johnson, Lauren Grew, Neil Fairbrother, Henry Williams, Henry Gates, Gethin

Thomas, Dave Green, Cormac West, Ed Salter Address University Union, Park Place, Cardiff, CF10 3QN Web www.gairrhydd.com Email info@gairrhydd.com Advertising 02920 781 474 Location 4th Floor Students’ Union

10 gairrhydd

FEBRUARY.11.2008

OPINION

OPINION@gairrhydd.COM

A Brit of success

Jon-Paul Phillips asks why our musicians can’t crack the US

A

part from her crack consumption, beehive hairstyle and self-destructive behaviour, there is something remarkable about Amy Winehouse. In the past few years it has been rare to see a British music act enjoy considerable success across the Atlantic, but with six Grammy nominations and one and a half million copies of her latest album sold in the US, Amy Winehouse certainly is. She belongs, however, to a sparsely populated pack. Despite superstardom status across the rest of the globe, our homegrown big guns have failed to seduce America.

Since the so-called ‘British Invasion’ of the 60s, 70s and 80s, conquering the United States has proved to be increasingly tricky. Number one singles aren’t a definitive measure of popularity, but 62 songs from the 1980s reaching the top of the Billboard Chart were sung by UK artists. Compare this to a measly 11 since 1990 and the trend is crystal clear. In fact, before James Blunt hit the top spot last year, it was 10 years since any other British musician achieved the same feat – when Elton John’s Candle In The Wind spent 14 weeks at the top.

When The Beatles racked up 20 chart toppers in the 1960s they were the first in a long line of British talent waiting in the wings to woo Uncle Sam. And in the majority of cases Uncle Sam

was indeed charmed. Perhaps now, 40 years later, the novelty has worn off and America has grown tired of foreign occupation of the airwaves. Record-

breaking sell-out stadium tours from The Rolling Stones, The Police and other leading names of yesteryear indicate that established British performers

are still welcomed, but the reception is slightly frostier for the younger troop.

The obvious explanation for this would be that our nations no longer

Gordon Lawrence’s article on sexual ethics sparked some debate on www.gairrhydd.com. Liam Lord of Cardiff Atheist and Agnostic Society has his say

I

ssue 858’s opinion piece ‘Sexual Health’ was inaccurate, irrational and homophobic, and its author, Gordon Lawrence, dishonest. The article tried to use rational argument alongside appeals to emotion to persuade readers to its way of thinking. Here we want to show how each of his claims is wrong.

Starting off, his attacks on contraceptive methods are inaccurate and propagandistic. He promotes two methods of contraception of which he approves – natural family planning and abstinence (“This would involve a period of getting to know the other at a deep level without having sex”, after which people should “[make] a public commitment” – i.e. marriage).

We might ask why a public ceremony is necessary for something that is a private act between individuals.

People will have casual sex anyway; contraception ensures it’s safe Research and common sense show up both of these methods. Abstinence-only education has a failure rate of 26-86%, and was damned in two Congress reports (see especially

http://oversight.house.gov/ Documents/20041201102153-50247. pdf).

As pointed out on the gair rhydd website, where Gordon’s argument was thoroughly debunked, research shows condom use to be far more effective than natural family planning (Trussell et al – Contraceptive Technology, 18th edition (2000)).

It was also stated that condoms encourage “complacency and an unhealthy addiction to sex” as well as “casual uncommitted sex”, assuming that the latter is bad. These statements are not backed up by any evidence and are patently absurd: adultery and casual sex exist in all environments as sexual desire is a natural human urge.

People will have casual sex anyway, and contraception only ensures that it will be done safely. If someone can’t find a partner willing to have sex with them, giving them a condom won’t help. Saying, “Hey baby, I’ve got a condom” won’t make anyone find you attractive, though Gordon is welcome to try this new chat-up line in Solus.

Practised responsibly, casual sex is a fine activity: relaxing, stress-relieving and good exercise. If people lack the emotional maturity to handle casual sex, then they shouldn’t partake. Good communication and personal responsibility are essential; a ban is not.

Further errors follow: firstly, readers

are frequently told what sex is “supposed to be for”; what it’s “about”; what it “should” be. Who is Gordon to say what sex is like or should be?

On what grounds other than hypocrisy can he tell us that sex is “all about the individual”? Also, what’s wrong with enjoying the pleasurable side of sex?

We eat for pleasure, even if it has little nutritious value, just as we have sex for pleasure – ours and our partner’s/ partners’ – even if there’s no chance of conceiving. The author himself even admits his intention to have sex for pleasure once married.

Who is Gordon to say what sex is like or should be?

The next problem runs consistently through the article: the statement that casual sex/contraception isn’t natural, and thus bad. Firstly, casual sex is very natural: it is found in most species.

Monogamy is rare and in our species’ case a recent, and certainly not universal, social construct. Secondly, well, so what? Cancer, tsunamis and wasps are natural, but they aren’t any good for us.

So how should we make up our minds?

By looking at the evidence: at what things, natural or unnatural, do.

Contraception gives us freedom

over our lives, protection from disease or unwanted pregnancy, but most importantly stops women being slaves to their biology, which in turn alleviates poverty.

The article concludes that though its views “are highly idealistic, I don’t think this means they are invalid.” Of course not. They are invalid because they aren’t based on reason or evidence and, in addition, are offensive on three counts.

One: they are normative, as discussed above.

Two: they are homophobic. Not for the mentioning of sodomy in the byline, as Gordon never wrote that, but for saying, “Natural sex is the process by which man and woman come together.” (Is that what he meant by highly idealistic?) While correct, this excludes homosexual sex. Gordon wrote online that anal/oral sex doesn’t count. This selective definition is misleading and he should have clarified his meaning. He later wrote that “this article does not set out to deal with the issue of homosexuality, which is a difficult and emotional issue to address.”

With respect, homosexuality is not a “difficult and emotional” issue unless you’re a prejudiced bigot. Homosexuality is a harmless personal characteristic, as is intelligence, height or (in some cases) blind backwards prejudice.

Three: largely because the

share the same musical tastes. With the emergence of modern genres such as R&B and rap, which now smother the US charts, is there now no room for what we have to offer?

But America still likes pop, doesn’t it? And indie? Rock? And everything else that still sells in this country. So surely it can’t be as clear-cut as this. But it does seem that those who have managed the breakthrough – Coldplay and Radiohead to name a couple – propose some sort of new style or sound. So if you don’t have something original, then don’t pack too much luggage because the chances are your stay across the pond will be short-lived.

Ultimately, does it really matter?

Probably not. If Chip and Hank don’t take to the Arctic Monkeys’ latest record then life will not change as we know it, but there is something fascinating about success in America when it comes to all things show-business. In the same way for actors who don’t hit the high notes in Tinseltown, musicians will never quite be bracketed in the upper echelons of greatness unless the Yanks give them the thumbs up.

It seems that the American music market is now almost entirely selfsufficient, so unless British artists offer something different or can better their US counterparts then they have little chance of succeeding in a country which once appeared so easy to crack. normally unconnected views expressed are Catholic doctrine, and also as natural family planning, which Gordon is at pains to promote, is the method specifically approved by the Catholic Church, many suspect Gordon to have a hidden agenda. Trying to slip religion through the back door, ala Intelligent Design (see Kitzmiller et al vs. Dover Area School District), is dishonest, and if Gordon’s motivations are religious, he should have said so.

Homosexuality is a harmless personal characteristic His only response online was ambiguous, saying he wrote “not just because of faith”, which can mean either faith was part of his reasoning or it wasn’t. When asked for clarification, he did not respond. His online profile is more honest, stating his religion as Christian-Catholic. If he really based his opinions on reason, then he will, in the light of evidence and logic refuting his position, change his mind. If, however, he takes his opinions from the Vatican, he will no doubt stubbornly retain his views.

As many opined, having these views is fine; we find them offensive and have proved them to be inaccurate and misleading, but if Gordon wants to hold them, that’s his right.

However, if you do hold these views, it would be now dishonest to call them rational and we recommend thinking about the implications of continuing to hold views that you know to be irrational.

gairrhydd FEBRUARY.11.2008

11

OPINION

OPINION@gairrhydd.COM

Locked up for the Games

As Beijing polishes its surfaces for the upcoming Olympics, Piers Horner examines the human abuses being swept under the carpet nreported World is one of those programmes I often want to watch but rarely remember to. For anyone not familiar with it, it is a foreign affairs series in which journalists make a special report on stories in many different countries around the world.

Recently, I happened to catch one of these episodes. This edition was based on human rights abuses in Beijing in the lead-up to this year’s Olympics. The situation in China is well-known: in order to ready Beijing for the Olympics, many buildings have been cleared for new construction projects. About 1.5 million are thought to have been have been forcibly evicted, often without proper compensation for their loss.

Protesting evictees and their supporters have been met with harsh treatment from the Chinese authorities, with numerous claims of torture, illegal detention and other human rights abuses.

Residents may also have been subjected to violence and intimidation from the building companies themselves.

Evidence for this was being shown when I joined the programme: a room of frightened looking people telling the correspondent about abuse and torture they had received.

too far removed from their immediate responsibilities for local officials in Wales to do anything more about it; our own government officials are probably too concerned about the UK’s ‘relationship’ with China to raise much official protest beyond (relatively) low-level diplomatic discussion (economics tying the hands of human rights defence); the Chinese embassy is, at the end of the day, a representative of the Chinese government, and while they may make concerns over these matters known to officials, if the Chinese government is unwilling to do anything about it, then they don’t have any authority to force them.

U

In order to ready Beijing for the Olympics, about 1.5 million people have been forcibly evicted Next was a lady who had been resisting the demolition of her home with her husband until he passed away. A group of protesters were trying to gather at the house for the funeral, but a large police presence prevented them, despite the invitation of the widow herself. The police even physically prevented the widow from leaving her house when she tried to come out to meet with the journalists.

The image of the lady being pushed back into her house was both sad and, it seemed to me, degrading for the woman – that she was having to meekly

There are similar situations all over the world that deserve our attention. Does that make it alright for us to do nothing?

comply with people who were preventing her from doing something she had a fundamental right to do.

The key item in the documentary was footage of a ‘black prison’ – modified buildings where protesters are being held illegally without trial. Their existence is denied by the Chinese authorities. The building that the journalists went to, however, used to be a hotel and had clearly been adapted to detain people. The front courtyard was blocked off by a high metal gate, and the conditions appeared to be crowded and very basic.

At first the journalists had some success in talking to the people being held inside, who came out of the building to the gate and told of their treatment. In the brief amount of time the journalists were able to talk to them, there was evidence of people having been beaten.

When the guards appeared, the jour-

nalists were pushed into a room and a struggle appeared to take place. The presenter claimed that they were violently mishandled, then arrested by the police, and were only released when they duped the authorities that they had destroyed the film of the prison.

There was evidence of people having been beaten I’ve heard of human rights abuses in China and other countries, but somehow seeing this footage affected me in a way I haven’t felt for some time.

The desperation of these people being illegally held was simply disgraceful.

Women; old people; disabled people, or people with mental illness who had to be carried outside by other ‘inmates’

ILLUSTRATION: Kevin Lewis in order for them to be filmed – all being held without trial and in appalling conditions.

My immediate reaction was that others should be made aware of these things. But what can we do? And how many people really try to make a difference? I do not pretend I have any moral high-ground on this issue because of my ‘action’: this article has probably only been written because I started it soon after seeing the program, while I could still remember the feeling of outrage at the treatment of these people.

One more day, and maybe I would have forgotten it in the midst of everything else I ‘have to do’. As it is, I hope to send this article (plus a covering letter expounding further on my views) to representatives of the local county council; the Chinese embassy; government officials, and Chinese officials.

What will this achieve? China is

So what is the point? Am I wasting effort on the vain hope that something will change? Or is there something fundamentally important in the effort to help someone else? Occasionally things do get done as a result of public effort, but most of the time there is very little change.

And what will you, having read this article, do about it? Will you decide there is nothing meaningful you can achieve, and leave it at that? Or do we have a human obligation to do something? There are many, similar situations all over the world that also deserve our attention – it’s almost impossible to give each one the attention it deserves. So does that make it alright for us to do nothing? I do not mean to be accusative here – I’m not angry with anyone in particular, just disappointed that this is the way our world should be organised.

Because while the rest of the world does nothing, ordinary Chinese civilians continue to have their fundamental human rights denied in a manner that should be unacceptable in any age.

Cardiff, Disability and me

Ted Shiress believes having a disability shouldn’t define you “Hi, pleased to meet you, I have one leg”. was procrastinating on Facestalk, as bored students with disabilities officers do (hint, hint), and I received a friend request and a message. It was from a random person in Australia wanting to be my friend because he only had one leg.

This reminded me that I now have over ten “random cripples” on my Facebook account. I apologise for the

I

terminology but that is how it seems sometimes, just like these people want to be united through the internet. Most of these people do not communicate with me, they just want me to add them.

Again, this goes back to the subject of identity, which I seem to raise quite frequently. I seem to get the notion that many people with disabilities seem almost to enjoy fronting their disability, as it were – making it their key identity.

Perhaps I am guilty of this too, I

was recently told by a good friend I seem to make too much of an issue of my disability – for instance, justifying why I appear drunk in someone else’s facebook photo.

Perhaps even this column is an example of this; however, I would argue I am not letting the world know I have a disability for the sake of it, I am doing it to raise awareness of disability as a phenomenon – plus to give people a laugh!

I recently blocked an MSN contact for similar behaviour. I don’t know how

I first started talking to him, but this is a man in his early thirties OBSESSED with his own disability.

I could not even talk to him about anything else. He told me he went to a “normal” school just to be different. My initial thought to that was one of confusion, I thought you went to school to get a good education and make friends??

Sometimes he would start to interest me by telling me about the nightclub he owned and I was starting to think how great it is to have a fully accessible club.

He then told me about what a great

turn out he has been having recently, so I was about to ask where this club was. It was then I realised the format of this club’s address, it contains dots and slashes. Exactly, it is virtual.

Now, I am not condemning the internet for helping people who find it hard to go out, but this can go too far. However, it upsets me to see people who are this engrossed in their disability and don’t feel they can fit into society.

12 gairrhydd

FEBRUARY.11.2008

OPINION

OPINION@gairrhydd.COM

An overqualified generation

Qualifications equivalent to A-levels can now be obtained from working at McDonald’s. Lucie Apampa disagrees entirely

D

oes anyone remember those bleak summer months only last year when we had an almost Churchillian Prime Minister invoking the Dunkirk spirit, in the wake of overwhelming flood destruction and that averted Glasgow terror attack?

A time when we pulled together as a nation headed up by the sturdiest and most reliable of figures, much less flashier, yet more substantial than his predecessor – the one, the only, Gordon Brown.

After all the palaver of Brown’s 2007, one might expect that he would make amends by living up to his reputation of being a dependable politician, through staunch decisions and solid policy-making. Something to signify the much denigrated ‘vision’ that he pertained to all those months ago.

But alas, it would appear that Brown actually did choose to press that big red self-destruct button back when he announced that the much-hyped early election was to be a spectacular nonevent.

Gordon, a man generally valued for his traditional yet reliable ways has brought in educational change that I can only assume is intended to show that he is ‘moving with the times’.

Yes, I am of course talking about ‘Mcqualifications’.

Was I alone in wondering if April

Fool’s Day had come around early this year, upon hearing that employees would now be able to gain A-level equivalent qualifications whilst working at that bastion of education that is Maccy D’s? And that furthermore, the credits accrued on these courses would be valid as part of University applications?

McDonalds is not the only company enjoying a new-found awarding body status – Flybe and Network Rail have also earned the privilege to give their employees qualifications, and many more could follow. I don’t dispute the idea that it is good to give employees a sense of worth within their jobs, especially if they are flipping burgers for a living, but (and maybe I’m being a little old-fashioned here) I had been under the impression that employees always had something to work towards, and that this was called a promotion.

Call me elitist, call me behind-the-times, but as far as I am concerned an A-level is a qualification that you earn at school or college. This doesn’t even have to be purely academic; with plenty of vocational courses

out there, we’re not only talking about Maths and Physics here.

I realise that some people don’t have the capabilities – academic, economic or otherwise – to complete ‘classic’ A’ levels, but creating a system in which anyone can gain a supposedly educational qualification, doing almost anything, will o n l y

work to devalue these awards.

How many decent Universities are really likely to accept a qualification in

‘Basic shift manager’s course’ as part of a UCAS application? Already, some university admissions tutors have stated that they would not accept students on the basis of these new diplomas.

Advocates of the new qualifications have commended their ability to give employees – and particularly those from poorer backgrounds – the possibility of achieving something beyond a promotion or a pay rise within their careers. Surely that is what already established training schemes have been developed for.

If this is about giving more people the chance of a better education then it would seem to me that the Government is putting its energy into the wrong area.

In fact, they should be doing more to combat the recently highlighted selective policies of the new academies that were supposed to give less privileged children the chance of a better education.

There are of course types of education that can only be garnered from experiences outside of the National Curriculum’s borders, and in many cases ‘life lessons’ will prove far more valuable than a degree, but the fact remains that you cannot do an A-level in being

A recipe for disaster

‘streetwise’.

Being able to competently manage a restaurant or control a flight crew is a worthy skill, and one that translates beyond the specific environments of a restaurant or plane, but so is being able to do DIY or sell something worthless on Ebay, and these skills are not accepted as relevant qualifications in a UCAS form.

There are many people working in vocational jobs who could not go to university or attain better GCSE and A-level grades because they simply did not possess the necessary capabilities.

We should not assume that all such workers are unhappy in their careers or that they ‘missed out’ on certain opportunities because they lacked the academic valour. And we certainly should not try to make up for their presumed misfortune by offering them courses that should have no place on the national curriculum.

Everyone is not equal, and different people excel in different areas. No matter how ‘fair’ we may try to be by bringing in qualifications that everyone can do to the same level, or by changing rules so that there is more than one winner, we will never create a society of equals. If Gordon Brown really wants more people to have the opportunity to excel in further education, then he needs to look at the grassroots level, not at the tops of trees.

Annie Buckle is cynical of cookery lessons to be taught in schools

T

he ‘woefully inadequate’ efforts made by the Government on tackling obesity are forever growing. From this September, every 11 to 14-year-old in the 85% of schools currently offering food technology classes will be taught practical cookery. The remaining 15% of secondaries will be expected to teach the compulsory classes by 2011.

Children will have to participate in a one-hour lesson each week for a whole term, in the bid to teach nutritional lessons that put a stop to obesity. Many may think this is an excellent idea, banked with support from TV chef Jamie Oliver and parents that relieve themselves of the pressure to cook meals that must be green, lean and tasty because now, their children can do it.

But realistically, will one hour a week of cooking for the younger generation educate them out of the dangers of obesity or is this just a severe case of wishful thinking? Labour’s Secretary of State for Children, says, “it must be a thing of the past that young people especially boys - can leave secondary school never having had a basic cooking lesson.” He added: “Simple cooking is a fundamental skill that every young person should master - it is at the heart of tackling obesity and will enable future generations to understand food, diet and nutrition; and put together healthy meals for their entire lives.”

It seems this is yet another example

of a government that is out of touch with reality with a plan that is quite simply, too little too late. Admittedly, learning how to cook is important because it can change young people’s lives in a number of ways. Yet when I cast memories back to food tech at school, those gruelling lessons in how to make the perfect puff pastry or the most impressive apple crumble are long forgotten.

The main reason for this is because just as cooking needs time, so does teaching it. Similar to the new compulsory lessons now, one hour of cooking at school was just a great excuse to doss and gossip whilst eating as much as possible before turning a tasteful shade of green.

Practical cookery in an hour is impossible, it limits the number of dishes taught and becomes rushed, so already the Government’s plans are flawed - a

two-hour lesson a week would certainly be more useful if the plan intends longevity in Britain’s educational scheme.

Obesity is a serious epidemic and experts now believe one million children will be obese in a decade. Schools Secretary Ed Balls wants to see 800 cookery teachers trained to help tackle this problem, claiming, “it’s not going to be just the technology of food, it will be how you can use simple ingredients, simple recipes, so that children and young people can be prepared for adult life”.

Cooking at school was just a great excuse to doss and gossip whilst eating

He is promising to give schools £2.5m a year to help children from poor homes to pay for ingredients. But critics have expressed concern about the practicalities of the idea, suggesting that the training of food technology teachers has been neglected for so long that it would be difficult to see the strategy through.

Not only that but concerns about how schools will get all the resources needed seems well founded. Cookers, microwaves and all of the utensils will cost money. There’s also the expectation that the children will bring the ingredients in to school and for some that could be difficult and make parents feel inadequate compared to others if they can provide all the ingredients necessary. Parents are also worried that the more academic subjects, such as Maths and Science, will be neglected for a subject that really won’t make a lasting

difference.

Another major criticism the Government faces is its hypocrisy in its plans to install metal detectors in schools to catch children carrying knives, when surely children will now have better access than ever to sharp and dangerous equipment in the kitchen.

Not only this, but the chair of the School Food Trust Prue Leith has been promoting the new cooking lessons, foreseeing vegetarian curries and fish stew spilling forth from hundreds of school kitchens. Predictably, they haven’t even rebuilt the kitchens promised by Tony Blair in response to Jamie Oliver’s school dinners campaign years ago.

In fact, it was only a few months back that that Ms Leith was criticising the Government’s city academies programme for building brand-new, £25 million schools whose kitchens boasted deep-fat fryers but nowhere for children to chop fresh vegetables.

What we never hear is that out of the 3,500 British schools said to be undergoing a remodelling scheme boasting pristine new kitchens for children to enjoy cooking, only one has seen positive changes.

Clearly, this is just another weak government initiative that will cost a fortune and in agreement with the majority of parents out there, letting your children take time out from academic studies on the whim of a new labour minister is a true recipe for disaster.

gairrhydd

FEBRUARY.11.2008

13

OPINION

RASPUTIN@gairrhydd.COM

R A S P U T I N Vocation,

Searching for the pun of insight in the strained metaphor of life

Vocation, Vocation

T

here’s something vaguely terrifying about your final year.

For some, it’s the idea of absolute independence looming. Yes, you’re living on your own, budgeting yourself and cooking yourself (not in a German cannibal way), but there’s always that nagging feeling of being handfed. You’re still learning, and in most cases, not working full-time. This inspires irritation in some and comfort in others, so similarly, the idea of entering The Real World – which you thought you’d done upon coming to university – inspires either relief or terror.

Getting a job isn’t a scary prospect though. Not getting one is.

Which is why you’ll all be happy to hear that vacancies for graduate jobs are up by 16.4%. Hurrah! That’s that worry over then. I’ll be off. …Sadly not (on both counts). As with almost anything reported in the news that’s more serious than a cat winning at bingo or a pensioner getting stuck up a tree – i.e. more serious than The South Wales Echo – there’s bad news to temper the good. Every silver lining has a cloud, and while you’ve been walking along looking at them, you’ve probably stepped in some dog turd.

The brilliant news that graduate vacancies are on the rise, and at top employers too, is unfortunately not without the grounding revelation that there aren’t enough well-qualified graduates to fill them (this is all taken from a Trendence survey of the Association of Graduate Recruiters, by the way). In other words, after years of study and, in many disciplines, hands-on experience, too many university leavers simply aren’t good enough at what they do.

Vacancies for graduate jobs are up by 16.4% That might sound a little harsh, but don’t take issue with me; take issue with 22.4% of the 217 big firms surveyed (so, presumably, 48.608 of them). Ignoring the apparent anomaly – it’s either that or a firm trying to atone for its indecisiveness by being incredibly specific about just how indecisive it is – nearly one in four companies

“bemoan[ed] a lack of UK candidates with the right qualifications”. 16.3% (35.371 companies) cannot find enough British graduates “with the right skills”.

Oh, and graduates are “demanding”, “self-centred”, and “greedy”. So, careerists then.

The reliability of this opinion-based rather than statistical survey could be questioned: the stigmatic student stereotype of having letters after one’s name but knowing sod all about the real world is entertained by many a potential employer. Nevertheless, young people leaving university under-qualified is a real problem; if the number of university attendees is going to dramatically increase, it would be nice to know that both they and the rest of society are going to get something out of it.

No doubt universities will be blamed for being inadequate and students will be accused of slacking off. But the real issue here may be vocation.

There aren’t enough wellqualified graduates to fill them Even at 21, many students simply don’t know what they want to do for a living. This isn’t a fault in itself – just something they need to address before they find themselves stuck doing something they certainly don’t want to do for a living. Some people see university as a sort of waiting room: somewhere to hang around reading for a bit until ambition calls. Basically, three years’ study for a random degree that they hope will come in handy later on.

Of course, anyone sufficiently qualified to study at university is perfectly entitled to do so, and I wouldn’t suggest a ban on people who don’t have a life timetable laying out at what age they’ll get what job, when they’ll get married, when they’ll have kids and to which local schools they’ll send little Alexis and Guy Jnr. But students should at least try to get an idea of what they want to do.

But wait: why would an eye for vocation help students to be more qualified when they graduate? Because, hopefully, they’d have a better idea of how to prepare, where to apply and perhaps even get work experience in that line of

Integrity?

A GRADUATES: Under threat from unemployment and flying mortar boards employment. It’s not guaranteed to produce 100% highly-qualified graduates, but it’s a start.

You don’t want to be over-specialised, obviously. The biggest problem with the much-derided ‘McQualification’ diplomas is that they’re unlikely to be accepted by many institutions other than McDonald’s itself, and certainly not Burger King. But Philosophy students might want to philosophise on what comes next – when they pass on from higher education into the afterlife of employment (a strained metaphor worthy of religious leafleteers, that). I want to make it absolutely clear that that is not a dig at anyone except aggressive dogmatists with a passion for allegory.

Some courses require more thinking about careers, that’s all. And I say that as an English Literature student.

Perhaps some degrees could be more vocational University is a time to think about what you want to do with/for the rest of your life. Actually, secondary school is a time to think about that, but if you’re still undecided then university is really the time. Fortunately, Cardiff University has an excellent careers’ service.

But maybe that’s not enough.

I’m not talking about Cardiff here, but university as a whole. Students should research careers themselves, naturally, but there is a lot to be said for a bit of encouragement and guidance

beyond the occasional e-mail. The London Group is paid by London universities to advise their medical students on subjects such as location and work/ life balance, and biosciences students at Cardiff have tutorials on specialised CVs and the like. Why can’t this be more widespread?

Humanities subjects really need it too. With taught hours rarely extending beyond ten hours a week, even those with part-time jobs could spare a couple of extra tutorials each term advising on career issues. They’d certainly be more appropriate than first-year lectures on spelling and grammar. Call me a snob, but there’s something not quite right about hearing a chorus of “Ahhh”s from university English Literature students when a lecturer explains the grammatical problem with this sentence: “You have an English A-Level, why do I have to teach you this?”

Perhaps some degrees could be generally more vocational: one could study not just English Literature or Cultural Criticism, but their use in society (that’s not meant to be ironic). Books and theory, wonderful though they are, can only get you so far.

Or maybe we just need to work harder. I’ve mentioned the employment difficulties of humanities graduates unsure about their future, but unemployment is a threat to all graduates and one solution is simply to knuckle down and get an excellent degree and extra-curricular vocational experience.

And that’s what I plan to do now. I just have this game of Championship Manager to finish first.

h, the pub quiz: cheap, fun and a chance for the nerdy to look cool. There’s nothing quite like it for inciting camaraderie, honour, backbiting and downright abuse, all in one group of people huddled round a table.

One moment, glory and respect; another, shame and vilification, as your hard-earned halo slips after the revelation that Brad Pitt, whom you swore has never been up for an Oscar, was nominated for Twelve Monkeys. Bugger.

I love pub quizzes – even more so when they’re rubbish. I remember, “Which is the only continent to consist of one country?” This is tricky, we thought. Not sure there is one. Maybe it’s a trick question, and the answer is Antarctica or something.

The answer: Australia.

Uh...huh.

Knowing pointless trivia can have strange effects on people. Tragedy that I am, I feel a rush of pride from finding I’m the only person in the (largely empty) pub who knows that Sinead O’Connor’s no.1 smash Nothing Compares 2 U was originally written by Prince.

But that’s not quite as tragic, or at least not as annoying, as pub quiz cheats. If you are reading this in full knowledge that you are one of those people who whips his WAP out, or starts texting mere acquaintances asking what the capital of Colombia is (Bogotá), you are a wanker.

You’re not just a disgrace to the pub quiz tradition; you’re an absolute loser. Did you think it would make you popular? Did you think it would make you ‘cool’? Cheating is neither big nor clever, and doing it in a lighthearted social environment is just pathetic. And just so you know, when you walk up to collect your prize, everyone is wishing death on you.

Now get out of my sight.

14 gairrhydd

FEBRUARY.11.2008

LETTERS

LETTERS@gairrhydd.COM

letters @gairrhydd .com Welcome and croeso to gair rhydd’s letters page, the place for students to have their say about the things they care about. So, if you have an opinion on any topic we would love to hear from you. Contact us at letters@gairrhydd.com or voice your opinions on specific articles online at gairrhydd.com

In response to “Catholic Controversy” Dear gair rhydd, I read with interest Mark Ansell’s letter, “Catholic Controversy”, and was astonished at what I read. His ‘defence’ of faith left much to be desired.

Firstly, he said that it is “more rational” to believe that there’s “more to life” than “what is around us”. That’s not rationality, that’s pure wishful thinking. Mark may desperately want there to be something after death, but that doesn’t make such a belief in any way rational.

He then went on to suggest that we could live fulfilling lives with a more positive faith that focuses on caring and compassion. But why faith? If, as he claimed, secularism has caused so many problems that we face today, why must faith be the answer? The NHS has been mired with many a scandal over the years. Does that mean that all modern medicine is corrupt and that we should throw out the doctors and bring in the (caring, compassionate) voodoo priests? Of course not.

Sure, people may be disillusioned with money and possessions, and mate-

rialism in general. But don’t assume that just because we live in a secular society, secularism itself must be the prob lem. It needn’t be: it can be the solution. No faith required.

last paragraph: ‘peopledisillusioned’.

I would like an apology in the next edition of gairr rhydd in the letters page.

Mark Ansell

Edward Mason. gair rhydd responds: Dear Letters Editor, Thanks for printing my letter in the paper. I would however like to complain about the changes that have been made to the original.

Firstly you have made a very bad grammatical error (in the edited version of the letter) in the first line. It reads ‘I am writing in concerning the article...’ (which is not what I wrote in my original letter: “Oh dear, what a dreadful article ‘Catholic Controversy’ (19.11.07) by Laura Hinson is.”)

Secondly at the start of the fourth paragraph the edit you have made misrepresents my point. You have put “it could be ignorant to suggest...” when I put ‘It’s so ignorant to suggest’.

You can see that this subtle difference makes a big difference to the sentence’s meaning.

Lastly there is a typo (which is again, not in the letter I emailed you) in the

Sorry.

Dry by Inflation Dear gair rhydd I am outraged! Senghenydd Court laundry charges (dryers) have increased by 100% over the Christmas break.

Before Christmas it cost 50p for 20 minutes drying time Now it costs 50p for 10 minutes.

For students who are trying to manage on a budget this is completely unacceptable. I will have to start drying my clothes in my room.

This price hike comes on top of the recent doubling in interest charged on student loans.

At my previous university, 40p bought 45 minutes drying time. So Senghenydd Court seems crazy.

Letter of the week Thou Shalt not Kill Dear gair rhydd I wish to respond to the article “Thou Shalt not Kill” (issue 856).

Catholicism is built up on the principle of love. By love I mean doing what is in the best interests of the people around us selflessly. Love is not easy, and indeed can be immensely challenging.

The Catholic Church is against abortion in all circumstances. The logic behind this is simple.

Almost all would agree that life does not start when the baby leaves the womb. There is no discrete point in time during the pre-natal process where life becomes present other than at conception. Therefore the baby is alive at the point of conception and any attempt to abort the baby after that point is effectively ending a life.

The act of abortion is not an act love. It is not an act of love to the child it seeks to destroy. It is not an act of love to the woman whose mental health is often left in tatters.

Abortion is not a solution to rape.

When a women is raped her emotional health is left in tatters and it Perhaps this is what happens when essential facilities are contracted out to the private sector. If this is the case and the University has lost control of pricing it needs to get out of the contract fast - or students will be the ones who suffer. The University should put its students - not the freemarket - first.

Harry Kretchmer

is difficult to find closure. Abortion can further worsen a women’s mental health and makes it more difficult to find closure, carrying the child to birth where he or she is placed for adoption will cause short term distress, however in the longer term makes it easier to find closure and peace.

The Catholic Church would argue that action needs to be taken to ensure that rape does not happen (especially in the third world where soldiers use it as a weapon), and that there is no need for abortion in any circumstances.

I think this means tougher sentencing for rape, working for the abolition of poverty, working to ensure that those children who are born to mothers who feel unable to bring them up can be adopted by others, more support for parents, and so forth.

We need to work harder for social justice at home and abroad. Catholic Leaders and Catholics are generally people of goodwill who are driven by high ideals and who are concerned about people’s well-being in this world.

Gordon Lawrence

Have your say at

www. gairrhydd .com

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FEBRUARY.11.2008

15

FEATURES

FEATURES@gairrhydd.COM

Police Perceptions

‘ello ‘ello ‘ello. What’s all this then? etc etc. South Wales Police Student Initiative Co-ordinator Sam Tappenden wants to demystify the idea of the stereotypical British bobby for students Sam Tappenden Police Special Constable

N

ot many students are granted the extraordinary privilege of working for the police during their youthful time at university.

Since the long summer holidays I have been working on a scheme which I hoped would strengthen the ties between student communities and the long-term residents and police service in Cardiff. So far, the scheme has met a variety of challenges and I’m glad to say, successes. Compared to previous years, Cathays has recently seen a marked drop in student burglaries, university security services have “noticed a quiet year”, and long term residents are happier to see an “extra bobby or two out on the beat”.

So why am I writing in here? Why am I seemingly so dedicated to the police cause? Critics will see this piece as an apology for the police service and will undoubtedly question my motives as well as my professional and moral capacities. The real reason I am writing this article is because I believe I have an exclusive perspective: I’m looking at things from both angles. For the last two years I have worked voluntarily on a part time basis for South Wales Police, in three different police stations. So far in my short career I have accumulated a range of opinions that I wish to share: I want to give you food for thought. I hope to breathe a breath of fresh air into a controversial political arena, I hope to leave you considering my opinions, and I hope to shed an objective light on an organization which is prescribed the difficult task of protecting the public, only to face ferocious opposition from a multitude of angles every single step of the way.

What are the common perceptions of the police? What do we think when we see a police officer? Why is being a Police Officer so difficult? How are the police constantly under attack? What are the people who work for the police really like?

Unfortunately, perceptions of British Police Officers are often shaped around what we see in the media: Hollywood action films, media accusations, and the stereotypical “evenin’ all” trivialities.

The police are often associated with laziness, racism, and corruption – not to mention the fear that crime is rapidly rising. In my experience, and in the evidence I have seen, all of this is utter rubbish. Firstly, the American police are extremely different to the British police. In reality across the UK crime is actually decreasing and, Contrary to popular opinion, the police service is a very culturally diverse organization. As we all know, statistics can be manipulated. Here is a different angle on crime statistics: the crime we hear about is reported crime. If reported crime is going

up, does that mean crime itself is going up, or does that mean the police are doing a better job in detecting crime?

Finally, I have never come across corruption at any level.

When I’m on duty and people walk past – they often don’t know where to look – why is an organization which is vested with such an honorable task so distant from the people it seeks to protect? The majority of the time, something very interesting happens when a member of the public walks past a police officer. The apparently timid person looks at the floor, looks straight past the officer or quietly mumbles a “hello”.

Why? Is it because we look intimidating? Personally I think the reason for this is much deeper. Ironically, the police officer may not say hello back because they are so exhaustedly wary of how the public negatively views them.

I think this is a big problem, one which as a society we need to remedy. Don’t be afraid to say hello, not only is it our job to communicate with you, the public, but our desire as human beings is to interact and help others. As cheesey as it sounds, police officers are people too, living in the same society as you do.

Unfortunately, perceptions of British Police Officers are often shaped around what we see in the media: Hollywood action films, media accusations, and the stereotypical “evenin’ all” trivialities.

In the past few years the police have gone back to the drawing board a couple of times themselves: one of the biggest mistakes the police made was introducing police cars in the 1960s.

All of a sudden, you needed a fraction of your police officers on the streets. In one big swoop, the police turned to a reactionary force, glaring at the disenchanted people they were once amongst through a dirty car window. Community contact was lost, along with faith in the police. Now, with the introduction of Neighbourhood Policing Teams, the police authorities hope to get back into the heart of communities.

Being a modern police officer is so difficult precisely because of this community breakdown. The reality is that police officers have a massive desire to help people. The modern police service now has to deal with modern

crimes: Internet crime, financial fraud, drug crime, gun crime – the list goes on. This coupled with limited resources inevitably allows for a more limited police force, and an even greater emphasis away from the streets. The problem is the police are essentially prevented from doing their job by an array of obstacles – these obstacles are on the street, in the office, and in the court room. On numerous occasions I’ve witnessed the frustration on faces because cases have been thrown out by the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) on obscure technicalities. Nobody knows as well as a Police Officer how much better it would be if there were more police on the streets. One recent conversation I overheard: “You haven’t finished your paperwork?” “I’m going out to do what I’m paid to do.” The police consistently battle internal and external demons. Of course, a high degree of accuracy and impartiality is required, but the bureaucratic tendencies and copious amounts of paperwork have gotten completely out of control.

The police are the most professionally, politically, and socially sandwiched organization in society - the unique nature of ‘the job’ in itself entails unique

circumstances. Being a police officer isn’t a job, it’s a lifestyle: Long hours, difficult challenges and social exclusion. Despite being responsible for preventing crime, the police are often seen as the face of the government – any quarrels with the government are more than likely to be transplanted onto the police, and, like any other job, the police are now susceptible to demanding targets. Considering these good

As cheesey as it sounds, police officers are people too, living in the same society as you do. intentions, should we be surprised by the frustration of the police? Inundated by repetitive paperwork, negatively viewed, rejected by their sister agencies, subjected to strict physical and moral codes of practice, and socially excluded. That is why being a police

officer is so difficult.

Here in Cathays we’re lucky to be surrounded by a team of dedicated and hardworking police officers. In all honesty, I doubt I could do the job full time. The initiative I have introduced is a testimony to the desire of the police to get back in touch with the community to make a real difference. The fear of crime needs to be tackled as much as crime itself. The scheme is a reflection of my personal desire to help the local community, public and police alike. My reasons for the initiative are not wholly unselfish, but through the new initiative and this article, I hope to break down traditional barriers and brush away dusty old views you may hold. May I take this opportunity to thank the dedication and commitment of the student volunteers helping me on this project – without your support this would not be possible. If anyone would like to volunteer and help out, do not hesitate to contact me – I’m on Facebook, as is the initiative’s group. Search for ‘South Wales Police Student Initiative’.

And remember, if you see a police officer in the street, say hello. We’d love to hear from you.

16 gairrhydd

FEBRUARY.11.2008

FEATURES

FEATURES@gairrhydd.COM

FOR BETTER,

Forced marriage...honour killings....bride suicide. All haunting terms Thomas asks if the problems are news phenomenon or history repea

“

It is estimated12 people are victims of so-called honour killings each year in the UK

“

Despite the evident desperation of victims of honour based violence and forced marriages, the government remains unwilling to take action

“

“

Forcing someone into marriage can lead to prosecution for kidnap, false imprisonment or rape

“

Imran’s behaviour his parents sent him to Pakistan, once again on holiday, this time to visit the area where he was born.

This part of Imran’s story is disturbingly violating. He was kidnapped and kept in an isolated mosque with shackles chained to his feet. Imran believes he was trapped their for two weeks, allegedly in a pool of his own excrement, until he finally escaped back to the UK with help from a friend.

On his return his parents explained that his planned torture was “rehabilitation” for his behaviour and denial of his religion and culture.

The pressure to marry climaxed when an ill relative called Imran to their death bed to insist that their death was his fault for refusing marriage.

As a result of what Imran calls “emotional blackmail”, he married his cousin in Pakistan. The marriage lasted a month. When he left he was given an ultimatum to stay and honour his wife or be disowned by his family. He left.

During the following difficult years Imran found help from a Derby based support group, Karma Nirvana who help victims of forced marriages and related problems.

Imran’s story highlights a big problem within support, it neglects men.

There are currently 165 women’s refuges in the UK, but none specifically offering shelter to men.

The British High Commission in Pakistan has now recognised that the issue of boys and men being forced into marriage is a serious problem. Spokesman Theepan Selparatnum said: “Sixty per cent of our case load is forced marriage work and between 10 to 15% of that are male”.

Earlier this year the Government proposed plans to offer financial support for a help group specifically dedicated to male victims. Foreign Office minister Meg Munn said authorities must talk to those affected to “listen to their experiences” and “learn directly from them”.

She said: “Generally people expect men to be able to look after themselves, to manage situations, so men subjected to domestic violence, men subjected to forced marriage are likely to find it much, much more difficult.”

The masculine ideal of being invincible or immune to the affects of family problems is a falisy which Imran Rehman feels he is fighting against. He believes that it is harder for men to seek help than women because men are not allowed to be open about their feelings.

He said: “Before, when I was alone, I used to feel like I was the only man who was going through it”.

Imran now works with Karma Nirvana to offer support for 36 male victims of forced marriage or honour-related violence, he hopes he will be able to help them rebuild their confidence and protect them from the threat of their

“

A

rranged marriage is a cultural norm. This statement seems alien for many Westerners whose culture supports a system of autonomous marriage, but for many other societies the statement is a very prominent truth. Unfortunately it seems that Britain is witnessing the corruption and demise of the centuries old tradition.

In a painfully clichéd case of East meets West, British culture has made a hostile environment for an Eastern practise. About 300 forced marriages are reported to the authorities every year - most often involving members of the South Asian communities.

However, it seems that the voices of young British Asians are speaking loudly against their ancestrial culture.

Raised and educated in a culture where freedom of choice is promoted as a basic principle of human rights, yet drawn to the reward of their parents admiration for obeying tradition, many struggle to find a balance.

As a result, more Asian parents are hitting the headlines of the British press, in desperation. Apparently willing to do whatever necessary to consolidate an arranged marriage, to do justice to their family’s honour and respect the only cultural way which feels natural to them. It seems the pressure of forces of being pulled between two cultures is having fateful impact on both parents and children. Honour killings and suicide making frequently unashamed appearances as the consequences.

Dr. Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, of the Muslim Parliament of Great Britain is concerned for the safety of young people who refuse a forced marriage.

“We have even heard of bounty hunters chasing people,” he said. “It exists, all these things, so I think people do need solid support.”

It is estimated that about 12 people are victims of so-called honour killings each year in the UK, and many other people are victims of other serious offences. However, these figures can only reflect a minimal proportion of the true problem. Many victims fail to report their experiences for fear of further violence or exclusion from their family.

Imran Rehman, a British Muslim man, has come forward to tell his story in the hope of protecting the uncounted number of vulnerable Muslim men.

Imran was taken to Pakistan on holiday to visit relatives. Whilst there his parents celebrated his engagement party. He was 10 years old, the girl he was betrothed to was his first cousin.

Five years later, when Imran was told of his planned family marriage, he was studying for his GCSEs. Imran rebelled against the feeling of being controlled by his parents and his culture.

He was expelled from three schools for his behaviour. In an attempt to control

families.

Imran’s work is a vital lifeline for victims in Derbyshire, yet the situation needs a nationwide network solution. Until government proposals are passed and funding found, this will not exist.

A campaign launched by Cleveland Police to help the victims of so-called honour-based violence has launched Choice a confidential help line. It is unique as it will be manned 24 hours a day by police volunteers. It is the first of its kind in the country, Detective Superintendent Tony Hutchinson hopes other forces will follow the example of the North-East.

Mr Hutchinson said: “We have not had a so-called honour-based killing in this area but there have been incidents of female suicide in the Asian community and of course, as is so often in cases like this, the unanswered question is what drove them to the suicide”. The common message from support groups like Choice is that people need an independent advisor to turn to anonymously for advice.

“Victims are often ostracised by their family and friends so the help line offers them somewhere to turn.”

In the same capacity that recent media attention has raised the profile of Asian men as victims of family based violence, the desperation of young women cannot be ignored. Arranged marriage is commonly used as a means of uniting British-based families with their relatives in their native country.

In this pattern many British-born men go back to South Asia searching for a traditional wife. “traditional” typically means a woman who has not been educated in Western culture and therefore less likely to object to subordination.

Meena Patel, of the West Londonbased Southall Black Sisters, who provide help and support to black and Asian women, said: “When they go abroad they are looking for a wife that will be passive and submissive to their demands - someone who is not going to make too many demands on them and who is not too liberated.”

Many of such the relationships are successful, as expected of a practise

gairrhydd

FEBRUARY.11.2008

17

FEATURES

FEATURES@gairrhydd.COM

, FOR WORSE

s in Britain’s discourse of trouble. Emma ating istelf in a clash of cultures?

which has upheld religion and culture through centuries. But Meena Patel witnesses the alternative ending; many marriages are violent. She says: “When they bring them here they may subject them to domestic violence and use violence to control their lives.”

One anonymous victim describes her feelings of being trapped. Forced marriage can be an unhappy institution of oppression, yet he idea of facing the shame of leaving is almost inconcealable. “My husband hit me with a chair.

He was violent. I wanted to commit suicide. I couldn’t go back to India because I would be an outcast.”

Despite the evident desperation of victims of honour-based violence and forced marriages, the Governmentremains unwilling to take action. It is believed that the cultural factors are too complex to be controlled. However some ministers are fighting to break the viscous circle of abuse.

The Home Office recently decided a specific law to ban forced marriages in the UK is not needed.

Ministers used members of the

Asian community for, focus groups to decide how such a law could be implemented. Essentially the law would criminalise the act of forcing someone into marriage.

However, most participants thought the disadvantages of a new law would outweigh the advantages. It was estimated that the practise would be almost impossible to police and difficult to direct punishment. There was a also a fear that the law could possibly drive the practice of forced marriages underground, in turn making the situation even more dangerous for victims.

T h e Southall Black Sisters group says v i c t i m s will not report their parents for fear of criminal-

ising them.

Pragna Patel, chair of the group, believes that existing laws are sufficient: “We don’t see the need for the criminalisation of forced marriage, which is yet another way of stereotyping and criminalising entire communities at a time when there is heightened racism in this country.”

In response to fears that the Asian community is being attacked and marginalised , the Government has made it clear that it is not attacking the idea of arranged marriages - when both bride and groom give their consent. The Government recognises that the practise is held in high regard by Islam and holds a place in south Asian history and culture Ministers have said that they recognise the problem is not exclusively South Asian, but affects members of other ethnic minority groups in the UK. In response to the law’s rejection, the Home Office is set to propose three recommendations hoped to stop the practise.

It is hoped that improved training for those who work in this field will help support workers to “engage more with communities”. It also called for an increase in the work done with statutory agencies in sharing best practice and implementing guidelines. The third recommendation was to ensure that existing legislation was fully implemented, including making better use of civil remedies and the family courts.

It appears that such proposals may be futile and powerless to help victims.

However Ministers seem reluctant to accept failure. Home Office minister Baroness Scotland expresses her concern for the problem: “Forced marriage is an abuse of human rights and a form of domestic violence which cannot be justified on religious or cultural grounds.” She promises a stricter implementation of the current legislation, at present, anyone found guilty of forcing someone into marriage can be prosecuted for kidnap, false imprisonment or rape. Baroness Scotland insists: “In the future, we will continue to provide information and assistance both to potential victims and to concerned professionals who are confronted by this abuse.”

Christofer Lloyd, 2nd year English and Communications student reveals his family’s story

A

rranged marriages. You may expect that it is solely a Middle Eastern and Asian tradition, where Muslim or Hindi families thousands of miles away in Saudi Arabia, or India bully their offspring into marrying a desirable partner they’ve chosen. However, arranged marriages are much more prevalent than this, even in the 21st Century, happening across the globe along with honour killings and marriage-related suicides.

Back in the early 1970s my mother’s parents attempted to arrange a marriage for her, after she had expressed a desire to go to university, breaking the expected cultural norm for a woman, that of training for a traditional manual job, such as hairdressing or dressmaking, marrying young and having many children. However, she wasn’t living in a remote part of Asia but Haringey in London, as part of a Greek Orthodox Christian family from Cyprus.

Having gone against her parents’ wishes by wanting to continue her studies, they decided to arrange a marriage for her whilst she was 16, which would have prohibited her from going to university, as they “could not understand why I would want to study further” and had previously clashed over why she wanted to do A-Levels. After returning from school one day my mother’s parents told her that they were going to have visitors around and that she should put on a skirt or dress. “As I would always change into jeans after school, I was suspicious” she says, guessing what they were up to. “I told them that I wasn’t interested, and that either the visitors could come and I wouldn’t be there, or they could cancel. They cancelled.”

A decade later my mother married a Welshman and a further 20 years on is divorced, whilst her three sisters who married Greek-Cypriots are still married…just a coincidence?

If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article you can find help and support.

The National Domestic Violence Helpline (run by Women’s Aid and Refuge) can be contacted on 0808 2000 247) Forced Marriage Website: http://www.forcedmarriage. nhs.uk/ Muslim Youth Helpline, Helpline: 0808 808 2008, Fax: 0870 774 3519, Email: help@myh.org.uk Website: http://www.myh.org.uk/

Turn over for Navodita Pande’s account on the issues of arranged marriages in Asia >>>

18 gairrhydd

FEBRUARY.11.2008

FEATURES

FEATURES@gairrhydd.COM

gair rhydd’s Navodita Pande tackles the reasons why arranged marriages are still so prominent in Asian cultures

F

orced marriages are not new to the Asian diasporic community with a number of cases coming up where couples have been forced into marriages by their families. Imran Rehman, a strong contender for such refuge groups, is one such person who talks about his experiences of forced marriage and how it had a dramatic impact on his life.

Forced marriages have often led to honour killings and violence and abuse. In March 2004, Shafilea Ahmad, a teenage girl who feared a marriage was being arranged by her parents was unlawfully killed. Cumbria Police have confirmed that her death continues to be a ‘live’ murder inquiry, and will never be closed until ‘those responsible are brought to justice’.

In yet another incident, the father and uncle of Banaz Mahmoud, killed for rejecting an arranged marriage, were found guilty of her murder in June 2007 by the Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service at Old Bailey.

It is observed almost 10,000 women who come to the UK every year to be with their British-born husbands face abuse and violence at the hands of their husbands who were forced into marriage. Each year, approximately 600 women try to escape from such marriages that have turned violent.

Many of these women see suicide as the only way out of their dilemma.

However, support groups in the UK like Southall Black Sisters and EACH offer counselling and psychiatric help to such distraught women and now such need is felt for men as well.

The UK Police have taken up such matters seriously in the past where West Midlands Police in England arranged a seminar called Asian Marriage Systems inviting speakers from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the University of Central England and the Indian Police Service in March 2003.

Superintendent Peter Goodman

It is observed almost 10,000 women who come to the UK face abuse and violence said here, “While most marriages are a time of celebration, some vulnerable people have been forced into a relationship with consent. We are aware there is still a vast under-reporting of the issue, for a whole range of reasons.”

At the same seminar, Constable Harvinder Singh Rai commented, “A marriage should be entered into with the free and full consent of both parties. But evidence shows that on occasions young people find themselves being forced into marriage by their families when they go abroad. Forced

marriages are totally unacceptable in any religion – all agree they should not be supported or promoted.”

Forced marriages are possibly an exaggeration of the age-old culture of arranged marriages prevalent in India and Pakistan. Arranged marriages are common in Asia with parents playing the key role in arranging the meeting between prospective partners. As opposed to forced marriages, arranged marriages work perfectly in a closed cultural set up where both the man and wife understand the implications of getting into a relationship that has been arranged by parents.

Aneela Rahman, the host of the BBC Two series on ‘arranged marriages’ claims her 15-year old successful marriage is proof that arranged marriages do work and that ‘compatibility’ is crucial. The series, Arrange Me A Marriage, assists friends and families find potential suitors for its participants.

With such series being run successfully on popular television channels, there is evidence enough that arranged marriages are not completely antiquated and outdated. A culture of the past, its unsuccessful functioning could rather be seen in the larger cultural view of ‘globalization’.

As Asians living on a foreign land, youngsters are exposed to a new culture where they become more conscious and aware of their individual rights at a very young age, unlike in

their home country. Arranged marriages are, therefore, often shunned by more liberal Asian youth.

Forced marriages and ‘honour killings’ are forced attempts by traditionally oriented parents to bring their UK born children to their own cultural

milieu. Nevertheless, its criminal intent and violation of individual human rights cannot be dismissed.

‘Generation gap’ is something all parents must understand. The sooner, the better.

UK born children to their own cultural milieu. Nevertheless, its criminal intent and violation of individual human rights cannot be dismissed.

‘Generation gap’ is something all parents must understand. The sooner, the better.

Not yet registered with Jobshop?

If you would like to recieve free regular updates about great part-time job opportunities within the University, Students’ Union and outside, please come and see us. You can find us on the ground floor of the Students’ Union and we are open between 10am4pm Monday- Friday

gairrhydd

FEBRUARY.11.2008 JOBS@gairrhydd.COM

Graduate

C

atherine Little, 24, graduated with a Law degree in 2005. She now works as a solicitor in Northumberland.

What is your full job title?

I’m a solicitor for Nicholson Portnell solicitors.

Where are you based?

I am based in Hexham, near Newcastle.

Did you complete any further study after university?

I would have had to carry out a legal practice course but the degree I completed meant that I was exempt from the LPC. I had to do a two year training contract which included a professional skills course to ensure that you are confident in all the skills you need to be a solicitor.

What does your job involve, e.g. what are your day to day responsibilities?

Every day is completely different.

I practice mainly in crime, family law and civil litigation.

Around 40% of my time is spent out at court and the rest of the time is spent in the office working and seeing clients.

How did you apply for your job?

Briefly describe any interview/assessment process that you when through.

The job was advertised on my university’s website. I rang up the firm and asked about the position but they told me that the dealine for applications had already passed.

However, it was my ideal job and right on my doorstep so I applied anyway by sending in a CV and covering letter.

I was interviewed over an “informal lunch” which was pretty scary, and was offered the job from that.

What is the best/worst thing about your job?

The best thing about the job is meeting new people, and being able to help people in difficult situations.

I can’t think of any bad aspects!

What advice would you give to students thinking of entering a similar field?

I would advise people to get as much experience as you can. Go into solicitors offices, get yourself into the magistrates court or go and shadow a barrister.

Not only does this help you focus on the aspect of law that you want to go into, but it will impress when you are interviewed for jobs at a later stage.

Do you know anyone anyone who has graduated recently?

If you think they wouldn’t mind answering a few questions for Graduate get in touch at jobs@ gairrhydd.com.

19

JOBS & MONEY

Match Maker

It might be tempting to take the first job that comes along, but HR director Karen Mosley tells us why its important to consider your needs as well.

H

aving secured your qualifications, you face a tough challenge when trying to find a company and career opportunity that is right for you.

However, too many graduates accept poor packages because they are not prepared to question the employer’s processes or the offer that is on the table.

If someone tried to sell you a pint that was grossly over-priced, you would question it. If you are making a decision that could affect your future career prospects, is that not an even stronger case to question?

So how do you go about identifying a company that is good to its staff. First, you must do the ground work.

Do you know what the average pay is for your profession? How quickly can you climb the career ladder? Is your chosen vocation facing a skills shortage? This allows you to determine your bargaining power.

The best place to find information like this is in professional magazines, national newspapers and the internet.

Once you are satisfied that the offer is reasonable, based on the above criteria, it is time to explore the company further. Here is a useful checklist...

Are individual personal development plans created? Are there performance reviews annual and what format do they take?

It is also important to know what boundaries there will be to your role, and how creative you are allowed to be with this.

How does the company share success?

After a hard years graft, you’ll want to know what’s happening to the money you’ve brought in for the company. Is there a profit sharing scheme? How are bonuses awarded?

If you’ve done well, the liklihood is you’ll want to celebrate, so check how this happens too.

Recognition Look for any awards for approaches to staff treatment such as Best Company Awards, Recognition Awards by their profession etc. Some of these are based on independent surveys of employees rather than the company blowing its own trumpet

How does the company position itself?

What are the company values?

Do they appeal to you? Consider the company’s vision for the future and its established reputation.

Company location can be important both personally and professionally, so take the time to find this out.

well off others.

How does the company communicate with its staff and keep them up to date?

Investigate whether the company has an intranet or internal newsletter.

Are there regular staff/team meetings?

It is important to know what level of face-to-face communication exists, especially if you are sociable and bounce

Does the company encourage team working?

This is particularly important if the company has a number of sites; how do they communicate between their offices/divisions? A flat or hierarchical business structure will speak volumes about whether the company takes a more traditional or progressive approach.

Go into the company’s office and see what impression you get when you watch people working together. This will speak volumes too.

Do they have a staff away day or a good social calendar?

Does the company support staff development?

Always check the details of any training programme(s) that is offered.

In your quest to find out all this information, never be afraid to ask questions. In fact, as an employer, I prefer it if people do.

It shows they are interested to know more about the company and are keen to understand whether they will fit in.

It is important that you take the time to really consider whether the company offers you what you want and need.

Taking whatever you find may lead to a miserable experience for you and an unproductive one for the employer.

You won’t always have the freedom to be very fussy but make sure that you make compromises willingly based on knowledge not ignorance.

And always remember that during your working life. reward comes in many forms. It is important to strike a balance between financial incentives, career opportunities and working for

Bursary Blunders Continue Emily Woodrow Jobs & Money Contributor

T

HOUSANDS of students from low income homes are failing to claim bursaries they are entitled to because they are not aware of the money that is available to them.

According to the Office of Fair Access (Offa) at least 12,000 English students who come from homes with an income of less than £25,000 are missing out on £1,000 grants which are being left unspoken for.

Last week gair rhydd highlighted

how students who failed to tick the data sharing box on their bursary application forms could not receive their grants.

These problems have now been amended, but many of the traditional universities are still failing reach out to students from poor and disabled communities.

It is believed that up to 20% of eligible students failed to claim last year resulting in universities under spending by around £19m.

Many institutions over the past year have made efforts to make students aware of the grants available by improving their bursaries awareness campaigns. However, Offa director Martin

Harris believes a number of institutions “could have been more pro-active.’’

David Baker, chair of the higher education colleges body GuildHE, said: “Universities need to build relationships much earlier, reaching out to schools in disadvantaged areas and providing prospective students with better information about their higher education choices.’’

Here in Wales the Welsh Assembly Government has this year introduced the Welsh Bursary Scheme.

This provides a means-tested, mandatory non-repayable bursary of at least £305 a year for students from lowerincome families who choose to study at

a Welsh institution regardless of where they live in the UK. Jo Plummer, Cardiff’s education welfare officer said: “By letting Universities know that this issue is not going unnoticed hopefully we will have a better chance of improving the current system. At Cardiff, the University’s Support Centre emails all students eligible for bursaries that they are aware of, making sure they know that they can claim them.”

For more information on whether you are entitled to a higher education bursary visit http://unimoney.direct. gov.uk/ or for at Welsh Universities, www.direct.gov.uk.

20 gairrhydd

FEBRUARY.11.2008

POLITICS Student Identity Laura Hinson Political Correspondent

O

k so what do all these people have in common?

People on housing benefits, people getting child benefits, people wanting to become RAF pilots or Royal Marines, people in hospital and people learning to drive?

The answer is that they have all had their personal details lost through government incompetence. And something else, with the introduction of ID cards looming, just how much do you trust the government to keep your identity safe and how will this contentious scheme affect the average student?

The introduction of ID cards is highly controversial and generally misunderstood. The Home Office claims that the purpose of these cards is to help protect people from identity fraud and theft, tackle illegal working and immigration abuse and disrupt the use of false and multiple identities by criminals and those involved in terrorist activity.

However, the large majority of people feel that the ID card is a violation of civil liberties and contributes to the ‘big brother’ surveillance society we live in, where our every move is traced. The human rights group Privacy International actually rates Britain as an “endemic surveillance society,” along with China and Russia.

What is most worrying to us as students is the news that the government are planning to make teenagers take up identity cards first, almost as guinea pigs for the scheme, in order to open bank accounts or qualify for student loans.

This plan was found in leaked confidential Home Office report and has led to accusations that ministers are planning to blackmail young people into taking part in the failing scheme.

The documents claimed that from 2010 all students over the age of 16 would have to fork out £100 for an identity card in order to open a student account.

It is frustrating that Labour appears to be willing to spend £5.3 billion on the scheme, publicly criticised by both the Conservatives and Lib Dems, yet are unable to discuss it openly with the people it will most affect.

Coughing up £100 just to get your student loan seems hypocritical and the fact you may get £1000 fine if you fail to inform them of an address change is ludicrous. This will affect a huge amount of people who are already under a great deal of financial pressure.

Shadow immigration minister, Damian Green, said: “The government is clearly trying to introduce the cards by stealth. This is straightforward blackmail and a desperate attempt to bolster a failing policy.”

The fact that the Government had also been involved in a series of embarrassments concerning data leaks has put more pressure on the project and removed even more people’s faith in the scheme.

What we need to investigate and what the Government needs to do is prove the positive benefits of these cards instead of making us feel even more vulnerable.

POLITICS@gairrhydd.COM

The Fall of Rome

Gareth Ludkin looks at how modern Italian political turmoil undermines their ancient nation that forged many of Europe’s democracies

T

he state of Italian Politics today is a messy affair and is in need of a serious change in tact. A proposed general election this April may see a positive change, but will it happen?

Once again, as democratic politics continually seem to do, voters have been alienated and ignored while political back biting and inter-party squabbling has taken centre stage, leading to scenes reserved for the theatre rather than parliament.

61 governments have tried and failed since World War II to grab the bull by the horns and tackle the state of Italian politics head on, but with controversy and corruption hanging in the air, the Government’s severely in need of electoral and economic reform and needs a strong new leader.

Romano Prodi, ex-prime minister, and latest victim in this political charade was forced to resign after a vote of no confidence within his coalition party, left him out in the cold despite support from key political figures.

Credited with economic reforms during the mid 90s, Prodi regained power in 2006. However during the last two years the Italian people have had to endure political and economic stagnation while Prodi has done little to reverse economic nose-diving.

With Prodi’s resignation Italian President, Giorgio Napolitano, has to decide whether a general election or caretaker government should be enforced. Simple enough you may think

but things are never that simple.

Prodi’s government ultimately failed due to the perils of proportional representation by holding together an already shaky coalition of many political factions.

Each with their own views and ideas, it is clearly not a conducive environment for change. With each faction fighting for parliamentary seats rather than policies it was a question of when, not if, this coalition would fail.

Prodi’s arch rival, Silvio Berlusconi

The opposition spontaneously cracked opened bottles of champagne and ate expensive food

is more than just a politician. He is in fact Italy’s richest man with a rapidly increasing business and media empire.

Previous spells as PM could arguably have been more beneficial for his business interests than the Italian people.

Controversy has also been raised over his blanket media coverage, unashamedly biased toward himself. With almost a monopoly of TV coverage, both private and public, Berlusconi is a businessman before politician and his bid for Prime Minister seems little more than another rung on his egotistic ladder.

The Italian public who will be left in the cold once again, with this democratic system once again descending in to charade.

The scenes after Prodi’s recent resignation are little short of disgraceful and do little to instil a sense of warmth towards Berlusconi’s spiteful, vindictive

POLITICAL BATTLEGROUND?

and obnoxious party. The centre right party spontaneously cracked opened bottles of champagne and chomped on expensive food as if they were in a party after Prodi made his announcement that he would be resigning.

This mocking and disrespectful display of childish spitefulness was capped by Berlusconi’s exclamation “To the ballet boxes!” a sly egotistical comment, which along with the champagne and food did not go down well with the rest of parliament.

Snide comments were accompanied by spitting and physical assault on Prodi after his announcement, which lead an ally of his to faint at the abhorrent distasteful acts Italian politics surely cannot ignore. This symbolism of Italian politics horizontal, on its knees and in need of medical assistance is utterly shambolic.

Berlusconi who is riding high on current opinion polls, mainly due to his blanket media coverage is obviously opposed to the suggestion that a caretaker government should be introduced until electoral reforms, can be made, stopping the threat of various political parties and coalitions making up parliament and stopping the tiny parties having disproportionate influence A clean slate is required by all if Italy’s tainted and frankly confusing politics are to be improved, perhaps a fresh face is also needed to replace those who have been mixed up for 20 years or more in the corrupt, congealing and incorrigible government.

Project Devolution on Hold Oliver Lewis Political Correspondent

I

ncreased transfer of political power to Cardiff Bay could be in danger after Paul Murphy was re- appointed as Welsh Secretary.

He has returned to the position of Secretary of State for Wales, along with his stance on the contentious topic of Welsh devolution which has now come into view. While his appointment to the position has received praise, others have questioned the possibility of further devolution occurring under his leadership.

He told reporters after taking the position that “it is too early to talk about a possible referendum on a lawmaking parliament for Wales.”

Mr Murphy has been seen as taking a more cautious and apprehensive tact towards the issue of devolution than his predecessor Peter Hain.

Paul Murphy held the position between 1999 and 2002, his past experience as Secretary of State for Wales and Northern Ireland made him the most experienced candidate for the position.

“Having done the job before and been in politics for 40 years I know quite a lot of people and the sort of challenges for the future,” Mr Murphy

told reports.

He admits he had never been an enthusiast for devolution, and opposed the coalition between Labour and Plaid Cymru to form the assembly government last year.

The issue of devolution is currently being discussed in the form of an ongoing convention. The convention, headed by diplomat Sir Emyr Jones Parry, will assess if there is public support for a vote on a Scottish-style parliament for Wales. He stated in late November that he’d like to begin to work as soon as possible and hoped to have the report ready by 2009 at the latest.

Mr Murphy was quick to reiterate his stance on a possible referendum on Welsh devolution after taking the posi-

tion of Secretary of State for Wales, stating, “At the moment, my guess is, it’s too early. We need to see how the present arrangements are working.”

Subject to the convention’s report, the latest date for a referendum would be the 5th of May 2011, as agreed upon by the One Wales coalition agreement between the Wales Labour Party and Plaid Cymru Mr Murphy has stated that he “did not expect a referendum before the general election, due in 2009 or 2010”, but added there was “still time after an election” A “yes” vote on the referendum would almost guarantee a Welsh Parliament, similar to the Scottish Parliament, formed after its devolution in 1999. A

WILL THE SENNEDD GAIN LARGER POWERS?

Welsh Parliament would have greater control over domestic policies and issues concerning Wales, such as health, agriculture and justice.

Those supporting devolution in Wales have suggested that many in people see a disconnection between the Welsh Assembly and Westminster.

There have also been concerns that many issues concerning Wales have been ignored or simply forgotten in the vast halls of Westminster.

Paul Murphy’s appointment has risen some concerns with the Welsh Liberal Democrats, most notably the Party Leader, Mike German, who believes that his critical attitude towards devolution will affect the process.

“The problem is he comes with a little bit of baggage here about his attitude towards devolution and the transfer of powers,” Mr German elaborated.

Lord Dafydd Elis, the Presiding Officer of the Assembly replied to Mr German’s comments as “total fantasy” and re-stated his support for Paul Murphy Mr Murphy said that he would work to ensure a close connection between the Assembly and Westminster. “My job is to ensure that...we get decent services, that the relationship between Cardiff and Westminster is constantly improving.

gairrhydd

FEBUARY.11.2008

21

SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT

SCIENCE@gairrhydd.COM

Mammal, man or mineral?

Sophie Cole introduces the notion of ‘science’ and the importance that we, as students, must attach to it

I

t is easy, as students, to fail to acknowledge the significance of scientific developments.

None can deny that, living the lifestyle ‘we’-as students-do, that often nothing past today, and, this evening for that matter, has much impact upon how we, and others around us, not only live, but exist.

This is something that correlates to much of this section’s content.

Nonetheless, with recent scientific progress - the advance of hybrid cells; the focus of this article - being pushed into the public domain, it is time to address such, and realise the importance of particular developments, not just for us-personally- today, but for our friends, family and, maybe even, one day; our children.

Undeniably, science can be viewed as an evil within society, as it often is construed to interrupt the natural form that ‘life’ takes; religious groups typically condemn, and, ironically, demonise the stand of ‘science’ as ‘God’.

This was especially evident when recently, the Catholic Church claimed that a new bill currently before the UK Parliament would allow scientists to create embryos that are half human, half animal: ‘cybrids’.

In conjunction with these assertions Catholic superiors, at the Bishop’s

It is time to realise the importance of scientific developments, not just for us, now, but for our future

MERGING: Bone marrow stem cells fuse with liver cells in mice to produce a hybrid cell

Conference of England and Wales, sent a letter to parishes which stated that the bill raised key concerns of which the leading fear was about hybrid embryos: “for example, from the egg of a woman and sperm from an animal. To do this would be a radical violation of human

Priya Rajyaguru on the actuality and the moral consequence of hybrid cells

W

ith advances in genetic medicine as never before, it’s an exciting time for scientists involved in such research.

Most people are well aware of the ever controversial ‘Embryonic stem cell debate’, where stem cells (a type of cell with the potential to develop into any body cell) are extracted from labcreated embryos.

Theoretically, it would be possible to use these stem cells to generate healthy tissue to replace those damaged by trauma, or compromised by disease, ultimately helping those suffering with incurable Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.

On the one hand, what right do scientists have to manipulate the very basis of humanity?

Now scientists have been given the go-ahead to create human-animal embryos. The hybrid embryos will be created by mixing human cells with animal eggs. Controversially, the ‘cytoplasmic’ embryos produced will only be 99.9% human. Around 0.1% of the DNA will be from the animal.

The hybrid technique involves removing almost all the DNA from a cow or rabbit egg and then inserting the genes from a human cell. After a few days the developing embryo produces stem cells, which can be harvested by

scientists. Current legislation requires scientists to destroy the embryos when they are less than 14 days old, and they are unable to implant them into a womb.

This move is particularly welcomed by some research groups due to its effect on embryonic stem cell availability. Until now, many of the eggs available were often snatched by women requiring fertility treatment. As a result research groups only received 3 to 4 good quality human eggs a month. This new licensing however, means an egg shortage is very unlikely as up to 200 cow eggs could be obtained from the slaughter house.

Inevitably, this decision will infuriate religious groups who claim scientists are playing God. On the one hand, what right do scientists have to manipulate the very basis of humanity in this way? In school we are taught the boundaries between humans and other species, so the deliberate blurring of such a distinction does seem a little wrong, targeting the very essence of what makes us human.

Many people feel the move represents a terrible setback for human dignity. Dr Helen Watts of the Catholic Linacre Centre for Healthcare Ethics stated,” Not only are we creating this embryo for destructive experiments, but we are further demeaning it by giving it a non-human parent.”

Conversely, scientists argue that the decision offers the chance to make stem-cell technologies available to everybody. It also leads to the creation of treatments for currently incurable diseases such as Motor Neurone Dis-

ease which will benefit so many of the population.

A survey by the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority found that people supported the hybrid embryos when given a reason for the experiments A survey carried out by the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA) found that people supported the hybrid embryos when given a reason for the experiments. A majority of those asked -61%- gave their backing if the hybrids would help understand some diseases.

It’s clear that the issue of hybrid embryos is extremely controversial, but with new advances and increases in general public popularity it’s most definitely one that’s here to stay.

Controversy between religious groups and scientists has always been rife over advances in genetic technology and recent developments in embryonic stem cell research are particularly contentious.

dignity.”

Scientists responded angrily, Chris Shaw of King’s College London said that these implications were “a radical violation of the truth.” He explained that experiments currently planned called for implanting an adult human cell into an animal egg, from which all the animal DNA is removed. The resulting embryo contains only human genes, and should produce embryonic stem cells genetically matching the donor.

In reality, the bill does create rules for embryos created by fusing human and animal sperm or eggs, as well as for ‘cybrids’. However, none of these may be implanted in a woman, created without a license, or kept longer than 14 days or the first signs of formation of a central nervous system.

Understandably, in regards to Catholic theology, to believe that ‘cybrids’ a) exist and b) are a mixture of human and non-human, is to identify an incompatibility with the Christian faith,

as such would fail to respect common humanity.

However, as is insisted, Stephen Minger, head of the stem cell lab at KCL; one of the two UK labs that has applied to conduct these experiments, ‘cybrids’ are “devoid of an animal genetic identity.”

One must consider this inaccurate information when forming an opinion on hybrid cells, and scientific developments in general. This article does not aim to condemn the reactions of the Catholic Church, or patronise student’s, potential lack of awareness to the significance of these progressions Instead its purpose is to demonstrate the possibly damage of viewing science through a negative discourse. As the attitudes of a selection of Catholic Bishops show, instead of preserving the human race, they, in fact, risk jeopardizing its continuation.

Christofer Lloyd explains the possible implications scientific advances may have

S

cientists argue stem cell research could provide cures for currently incurable diseases such as Motor Neurone Disease, Cancer, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s... which could save millions of lives, whilst religious groups claim such intervention is playing God. Having had an Uncle who died from cancer last week, 2 friends with parents victims of cancer and 4 relatives who have died from degenerative disease Motor Neurone Disease (MND) over the last 30 years, I believe that anything that could alleviate the symptoms, or even cure such diseases is crucial to our future.

I wholeheartedly feel that stem cell research is thoroughly justifiable, regardless of whether embryos have to be modified, or if 0.1% of DNA comes from an animal. As long as this technology is properly researched, aiming to help improve our quality of life as a species and not maliciously mistreated, it is a necessary progression of science.

I have witnessed an Aunt deteriorate from primary stages of MND to death.

Initially she lost conscious muscular control of her hands, meaning anything from opening doors to getting dressed became impossible, to an inability to walk or move as her legs, unable to support her weight, which left her wheelchair bound.

Following this, she became unable

to speak, with eye movements, head nods and a letter board her only means of communication, deteriorating to blinking, excruciatingly spelling words letter by letter, ensued by great difficulty swallowing and serious breathing problems. All the while her mental faculties continued unimpeded, imprisoning her mind in her body as only the connectors (motor neurones) between brain and muscles cease to work. Dayby-day, her condition deteriorated…

I wholeheartedly feel that stem cell research is justifiable Science exists to increase quality of life, to end profound suffering from diseases and if stem cells can become healthy motor neurone cells then there is potential to cure MND and other diseases. Valuing an embryo with negligible sentience over millions of disease sufferers past, present and future is ridiculous.

I sincerely believe that research now is an investment into future generations’ health. Penicillin, commercial drugs, chemotherapy: None of these came about without scientific experimentation and taking calculated risks, but without pushing scientific boundaries we would still be living in caves.

22 gairrhydd CHWEFROR.11.2008

TAF-OD

TAFOD@gairrhydd.COM

Caerdydd yn Dathlu’r Gymraeg

Efallai bod y Cymry’n cwyno’n ormodol weithiau, felly braf ein gweld yn dathlu am unwaith

Llyr Gwyn Lewis Gohebydd

dydd Sadwrn, Chwefror 23, bydd dathliad go arbennig yn digwydd yng Nghaerdydd, a bydd Cell Prifysgol Caerdydd, sydd newydd gael ei ffurfio, yn chwarae rhan go arbennig ynddo.

Sefydlwyd Mudiadau Dathlu’r Gymraeg ddechrau haf 2007, ac mae 12 o sefydliadau a chymdeithasau wedi eu hymrwymo i’r ymgyrch. Yn eu plith mae Urdd Gobaith Cymru, UCAC, UMCA, UMCB ac eraill. Fel cangen o Gymdeithas yr Iaith, mae Cell Prifysgol Caerdydd yn rhan o’r mudiad, a’i nod yw dathlu’r datblygiadau cyffrous diweddar yn yr ymgyrch dros hawliau i’r Gymraeg, ynghyd â gwthio am ragor o ddeddfwriaeth i ddiogelu’r iaith a sicrhau ei ffyniant.

Dyna fydd yn digwydd yn ystod y diwrnod hwn ym Mae Caerdydd, yn union o flaen y Cynulliad. Fe fydd yna gerddoriaeth a stondinau, gyda chyfle i

D

ddathlu’r hyn y mae’r pleidiau gwleidyddol, ac yn enwedig y llywodraeth newydd, yn ei wneud i hybu’r iaith.

Mae Rhodri Glyn Thomas, Gweinidog Treftadaeth Llywodraeth Cynulliad Cymru wedi datgan ei fwriad i lunio Gorchymyn Cymhwysedd Deddfwriaethol er mwyn cael pwerau deddfu dros y Gymraeg. Yn sicr, fe fydd yn ddiwrnod o ddathlu.

Ond mae’n ddiwrnod i gofio hefyd bod llawer eto i’w wneud...

Ond mae’n ddiwrnod i gofio hefyd bod llawer eto i’w wneud. Y perygl yw y bydd rhai gwleidyddion yn ofn mentro ac yn dewis bodloni ar ddeddf iaith wan. Rhaid dal ati a gweithio gyda’n gilydd i sicrhau pwerau deddfu eang a mesur iaith gref. I’r perwyl hwn, fe fydd nifer o siaradwyr yn cymryd rhan

Y Senedd: O flaen adeilad y Cynulliad ym Mae Caerdydd, bydd y diwrnod o ddathlu’n digwydd yn ystod y diwrnod, er mwyn egluro beth yn union sydd angen ei wneud, ac i roi pwysau ar y gwleidyddion i gyflawni eu haddewidion. Ymhlith y siaradwyr fe fydd Owen John Thomas, Hywel James, Gwenno Teifi,

Bethan Williams a Siwan Tomos. Yn ogystal â’r siaradwyr hyn, a’r dathlu ynghyd â cherddoriaeth drwy’r dydd, fe fydd cyfle i lofnodi mur Cefnogaeth i Ddeddf Iaith.

Os ydych chi’n teimlo’n gryf dros

ddyfodol yr iaith, felly, neu eisiau dathlu’r hyn sydd eisoes wedi’i gyflawni, neu’n syml am ddod i ddysgu mwy am yr ymgyrch, dewch draw i’r Bae o flaen adeilad y Senedd o 11am ymlaen ddydd Sadwrn, Chwefror 23.

Mae Hen Wlad Fy Mamau Y Côr Carioci yn Canu’n Koko Gorillaz Yn Annwyl i Mi Gwilym Dwyfor Golygydd Taf-Od edi i Aelwyd y Waun Ddyfal brofi blwyddyn gyntaf hynod lwyddianus yn 2007, yn cynnwys uchafbwyntiau fel ennill yn yr W ˆ yl Gerdd dant a serennu ar Dechrau Canu, Dechrau canmol, roedd hi’n braf cael ail-afael yn y gweithgareddau yn 2008 gyda noson gymdeithasol.

Cynhaliwyd noson garioci yr aelwyd yn Koko Gorillaz (Social gynt) ar noson olaf mis Ionawr. Er bod pawb yn mwynhau’r ymarferion a’r cystadlu, roedd y noson hon yn gyfle i bawb gael canu a mwynhau mewn awyrgylch mwy anffurfiol yn ogystal a dangos eu talentau fel unigolion ar y meic!

Cafwyd ambell broblem dechnegol ar ddechrau’r noson wrth geisio cael y system garioci yn barod cyn i’r cantorion cîn gyrraedd! Roedd cael digon o signal ar y rhyngrwyd er mwyn defnyddio’r wefan garioci yn broblem, ond yn debyg i ymarferion yr aelwyd: wedi ychydig o banig, daeth popeth at eu gilydd yn y diwedd!

Roedd llawr uchaf y sefydliad i gyd wedi ei neilltuo ar gyfer yr aelwyd, ac roedd y lleoliad yn un digon hwylus ar wahân i’r problemau ‘tinternetaidd’.

Mynedid at far yw un o ffactorau pwysicaf unrhyw noson garioci a roedd yr ystafell breifat yn sicrhau hynny.

Mwynhaodd y gynulleidfa bob perfformiad, ond daeth tri unigolyn

W

i’r brig. Owain ‘Elvis’ Jones oedd yn drydydd gyda ‘A Little Less Conversation’. Cafwyd y perfformiad gorau rhwng Caerdydd a Chicago o ‘All that Jazz’ gan Elliw Mai yn ail. Ond dehongliad bythgofiadwy Ifan Rees o ‘Johnny B. Goode’ oedd perfformiad gorau’r noson.

Wrth i’r noson dynnu at ei therfyn heidiodd pawb fel llewod i’r llwyfan...

Wrth i’r noson dynnu at ei therfyn heidiodd pawb fel llewod i’r llwyfan ar gyfer un gân olaf, ‘The Circle of Life’.

Prin fod angen meicroffon ar gyfer y gân yma achos mwy o ‘sing along’ traddodiadol oedd hi na pherfformiad carioci. Dyma ddiweddglo gwych i’r digwyddiad a phrawf o lwyddiant y noson a mwynhad pawb yn bresennol.

Dychwelyd at y gwaith caled fydd hi o hyn allan gyda’r calendr yn edrych yn orlawn. Bydd Eisteddfod yr Urdd yma cyn i rhywun ‘allu dweud ‘coch, gwyn a gwyrdd’. Efallai bod ymddangosiad teledu arall ar y gorwel hefyd, felly bydd yr aelodau’n arwyddo’i llofnod yn y stryd cyn hir! Cawn weld am hynny, ond os fydd 2008 rhywbeth yn debyg i 2007 bydd pawb hapus.

Ffion James Golygydd Taf-Od iwrnod gêm rygbi - Grêt.

Diwrnod gêm rygbi twrnament y Chwe Gwlad - Gwych.

Diwrnod gêm rygbi rhwng Cymru a Lloegr - Hyd yn oed gwell. Diwrnod gêm rygbi pan mae Cymru’n llorio’r Saeson - Amhrisiadwy!

Fel yn hysbys i bawb, dyma a gafwyd brynhawn Sadwrn, Chwefror yr 2il. Diwrnod i’w gofio. Fel y gwyddoch, pan mae gemau rygbi’n cael eu chwarae adref, yma yng Nghaerdydd, mae tafarndai’r brifddinas yn llawn, heb hyd yn oed le i symud bodyn troed.

Ond, doedd Cymru ddim yn chwarae adref y penwythnos penodol hwn, ond roedd y tafarndai yn orlawn yr un fath, am un rheswm pendant - roedd Cymru’n chwarae’r hen elyn.

Felly i lawr i’r dre’ yr aeth pawb yn gyffro i gyd. Ond wrth gerdded gyda chriw o ferched, sylwais un peth penodol. Yn ddiweddar rydw i wedi sylwi fod gan ferched lawer iawn mwy o ddiddordeb mewn gwylio gemau rygbi ar y teledu, neu yn fyw. Ond pam?

Efallai mai twf yn y nifer o chwaraewyr sy’n defnyddio Fake Tan a Moisturiser sydd? Neu a oes mwy o sylw yn cael ei roi ar goesau cyhyrog diffiniedig y chwaraewyr ifanc, golygus? Mae’n debyg mai’r busnes ‘coesau neis’ ydi’r peth gora yn fy nhyb i…sgen i’m llawer o’m byd i ddeud wrth hogyn (golygus neu beidio) sy’n edrych ar o ôl ei groen

D

yn well na fi.

Ond dwi hefyd yn gwybod am ambell i ferch sy’n defnyddio diwrnod gêm rygbi fel un esgus bach arall am fynd allan i ddiota trwy’r dydd. Pam lai? I fod yn onest, mae ‘na ambell i fachgen dwi’n ei adnabod sy’n credu’n gryf nad ydy merched hyd yn oed yn deall rheolau gêm rygbi. Fy ymateb i - ‘So What?’ A hyd yn oed os nad ydi merched yn deall y rheolau, mi allwn ni fynd allan yn ein crysau rygbi ac edrych yn ddel a chefnogi yn union yr un fath a’r bechgyn…os nad yn well!

Welais i erioed yr un bachgen yn colli deigryn dros y ffaith fod Mike Phillips

newydd sgorio cais.

Dwi’n ymddiheuro am y ddelwedd ystrydebol yn y pargraff dwythaf, ond mi rydw i hefyd yn gwybod fod yna dwf yn y nifer o ferched sy’n chwarae rygbi wedi bod yn y blynyddoedd diwethaf, a bod merched wirioneddol yn mwynhau chwarae’r gêm ac felly rhaid cofio i beidio â pheintio pob merch â’r un brwsh!

Felly y tro nesaf i chi fechgyn weld criw o ferched yn y dafarn yn glafoerio dros Gavin Henson, cofiwiwch nad ydy pob merch fel hyn o bell ffordd - a chofiwch am yr hen ddywediad synhwyrol, ‘never judge a book by it’s cover’.

Y Cymry: Chwaraewyr Cymru’n dathlu’r fuddugoliaeth

OCTOBER.22.2007 FEATURES@gairrhydd.COM

gairrhydd

14

FEATURES

Just finishing your degree? Would you like to teach?

PGCE Secondary Information Morning Wednesday 27th February 2008.

If you would like to attend, please register by contacting Kelly Harsant on 01792 482105, or email kelly.harsant@sihe.ac.uk Please note: this is a repeat event of the Information Morning held in November 2007.

The Swansea School of Education has vacancies for a wide range of one-year Post Graduate Certificate in Education courses, at Primary and Secondary levels, commencing September 2008.

This exciting new School of Education is the largest provider of post graduate education and training in Wales and works in partnership with training schools from Carmarthen in the west to Newport in the east and into the Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Cardiff valleys.

SUBJECTS OFFERED AT SECONDARY LEVEL ARE:

* For these shortage subjects you receive a Training Grant of £7,200 and a Teaching Grant of £2,500.+

English

Biology**

For all other non-shortage subjects, you receive a Training Grant of £4,200.+

History

Chemistry**

For all Primary PGCE courses, you receive a Training Grant of £2,200.

Geography

Physics**

Welsh*

Science 11-16**

Successful completion of the course gives you a PGCE Certificate plus Qualified Teacher Status.

Modern Foreign Languages*

Mathematics**

Business Studies

ICT*

Art

Design and Technology*

For further information contact Kelly Harsant, Email: kelly.harsant@sihe.ac.uk Tel: 01792 482105

** For these shortage subjects you receive a Training Grant of £7,200 and a Teaching Grant of £5,000.+

+ Please note: These figures are subject to review for 2008 entry.

Freephone 0800 731 0884

gairrhydd FEBRUARY.11.2008 TELEVISION@gairrhydd.COM

HOT

.

New Hair: Telly is a big fan of looking good to feel good. Haircuts are lovely! Nothing is more sexual than a good haircut.

!TELLY!

t’s often hard to find a TV show that exudes sex appeal , oozes seduction and emanates sensuality. I have come to find that the ones that do indeed prove successful in this field, are the ones that don’t overtly try to make the show sexy.

When trying to pinpoint a specific programme of such, Nigella Lawson’s cookery programme ‘Nigella Bites’ springs to mind.

Now in relation to the topic, she has the curves and experience that men lust after, the charisma and well-spoken manner women envy, and the cookery skills to put any Gordon Ramsay to shame.

She has men drooling over their TV screens nationwide, with a flick of her hair and a swish of her spatula. Never before have I felt the urge to pick up a wooden spoon, sling on an apron and start baking a cake, having seen the reactions her culinary skills evoke in her male audience...for I too desire to be a sizzling seductress in the kitchen like Nigella!

I

gair rhydd’s small withered hand

However, whilst you can’t always guarantee a cook who is as easy on the eye as Lawson in the cookery shows, eye candy never falls short in the soaps. Hollyoaks, famed for its good looking cast in past years, always offers a few scrummy treats, in the form of both actors and actresses, all year round.

Stuart Manning (Russ), Ricky Whittle (Calvin...

Carmel, you lucky cow!) and Kevin Sacre (Jake) are to name but a few of the d ele c t a ble hunks in the

old ‘Oaks! And is it taking it too far to notice something in MIke Barnes a la Zoe Carpenter, or is that just sick and wrong?!

But still I save the best for last, for by far the best looking guy in Hollyoaks is, unanimously, Chris Fountain, and because of this I thank ‘Dancing on Ice’ for ever squeezing that mirage of a body into lycra! And here I introduce yet another less explicitly sexy programme, because not only do the girls have a few rather yummy distractions from the skating performances themselves (we hail you Chris and Gareth Gates), but the male viewers at home do too... yes, Holly Willoughby I’m talking about

SPORT Hurrah!

The rugby’s back!

England have proven that hey are resolutely SHIT. Yeah?

Hear that you smug wankers?

You lost. You also lost the World Cup so you have nothing going for you. You must be all feeling so bitter right now, and the epitome of English bitterness is the world’s biggest arse, Jeremy Guscott. Less a man, more a comedy version of Mr Darcy, only without any of the charm and

a liberal injection of bile. Never one to give anyone but the English even the tiniest bit of praise, his comments before the England v Wales match were so laughably one-sided that even Stalin was heard to question his credentials. Jeremy Guscott, you are a prick o f the highest order and I hope you get AIDS.

FUDGE TUNNEL

you and your highly publicised low cut frocks! This is ‘supposed’ to be a family show guys! But before you get on the blower to ITV with a formal complaint, spare a thought for those of us who have nothing better to do on a Sunday night, but to ogle the extremely beautiful sights that the ice rink has to offer!

Now to mark Quench’s sex issue this week, Channel 4 has rather appropriately decided to screen

SOAPS This week we are going to shift focus from the oh so amazing Easternders to the slightly less amazing but still quite good Hollyoaks.

Jake and Nancy are still fannying about pretending to be a couple and even though Nancy begins to see the crazy in

25

TELLY

NOT

Glandular Fever: This horrible virus has afflicted one of our esteemed Telly team, and quite frankly its not very nice.

the film ‘Women Talking Dirty’ this Sunday. Whilst the title screams of utmost filth, the tale fails to satisfy such expectations completely. It trails the story of two women, played by Helena Bonham Carter and Gina McKee, and their unfortunate choice of men, with a few sexy scenes and relatively tame ‘dirty talk’ thrown into the mix. It’s a cert for all you TV readers, who are sitting reading this and have got rather hot and flustered in response to such a topic of discussion. Phew!

Jake. She goes ahead and marries the physco. Yeah, she’s a genius. Sasha who has the best hair in the world, all big and strong. has started taking heroin.

Last week it was a line of coke and this week it’s heroin. A bit of a leap don’t you think? Those crazy ass kids, what will they do next.

Emmerdale on the other hand has a rare moment of genius when Nicola decides to kill Donald with a poisoned cheesecake.

Read that sentence back to yourself... amazing isn’t it? Eastenders as always is not one to be beaten as Stacey quests out Bradley and asks him on a date for valentines. It’s all rather cute and special so Eastenders wins yay!

FILM BLUE STREAK, FIVE, MONDAY ))) Martin Lawrence stars as an ex-con posing as a cop to retrieve a stolen diamond.

Predictably he turns out to be an excellent cop and all kinds of crime based hilarity ensues, while not exactly high-brow Blue Streak is funny nonetheless.

ANACONDA, FIVE, THURSDAY ) The dream team of Jennifer Lopez and Ice Cube bring us an horrifically poor monster movie.

Before Snakes on a Plane there was Anaconda; the tale of a giant snake devouring a documentary film crew. This is one clichéd film, complete with uncaring golf-playing Englishman, and so should be worth a few giggles.

HOT SHOTS! PART DEUX, ITV1, SUNDAY )))) This is how a parody should be done. Two of the minds behind Naked Gun and Airplane! create a beautiful send up of mindless action based films like Rambo, it’s hard to believe these are the writers behind the dire Scary Movie 4.

26 gairrhydd

FEBRUARY.11.2008

TELLY

TELEVISION@gairrhydd.COM

MONDAY X-Ray BBC1 7.30pm

Too Young to Retire BBC2 11.20pm

BBC 1

BBC 2

To Catch a Love Rat: My Crazy Media Life Tonight C4 11.00am ITV1 12.50am ITV 1

6:00am Breakfast 9:15am Animal 24/7 10:00am Homes Under the Hammer 11:00am To Buy or Not to Buy 11:30am Cash in the Attic 12:15pm Bargain Hunt

6:00amKids TV 11:20am The Future is Wild 11:45am The People Watchers 12:30pm Working Lunch

6:00am GMTV Newshour 6:58am GMTV Today 8:35am LK Today 9:25am The Jeremy Kyle Show 10:30am This Morning 11:10am ITV News 11:15am ITV Wales News and Weather 11:20am This Morning 12:30pm Loose Women

1:00pm BBC News; Weather 1:30pm Wales Today; Weather 1:40pm Regional News and Weather 1:45pm Doctors 2:15pm All Saints 3:00pm BBC News and Weather 3:05pm Lazytown 3:30pm Arthur 3:45pm Skunk Fu 4:05pm The Revenge Files of Alistair Fury 4:35pm M.I. High 5:05pm Newsround 5:15pm The Weakest Link 6:00pm BBC News and Weather 6:30pm Wales Today; Weather 7:00pm The One Show 7:30pm X-Ray 8:00pm EastEnders 8:30pm Panorama 9:00pm Life in Cold Blood

1:00pm Open Gardens 1:30pm Sun, Sea and Bargain Spotting 2:15pm Don’t Get Done, Get Dom 3:00pm Escape to the Country 3:45pm Flog It! 4:30pm Ready Steady Cook

1:30pm ITV Lunchtime News and Weather 2:00pm Dickinson’s Real Deal 2:30pm The Alan Titchmarsh Show 3:30pm The Royal Today 4:00pm Doc Martin

5:15pm Britain’s Dream Homes

5:00pm Goldenballs

6:00pm Eggheads 6:30pm Ben Fogle’s Extreme Dreams 7:00pm The Twenties in Colour: The Wonderful World of Albert Kahn 7:30pm Mastermind 8:00pm University Challenge 8:30pm Masterchef 9:00pm Paradise or Bust

10:00pm BBC News; Regional News; Weather 10:25pm Wales Today; Weather 10:35pm Damages 11:20pm Q & A 1:30am Weatherview 1:35am Sign Zone:Evicted Update 2:35am Sign Zone:Wonderland: The Madness of Dancing Daniel 3:15am Sign Zone:Extreme Pilgrim 4:15am Joins BBC News 24

10:00pm Funny Business 10:30pm Newsnight

11:20pm Too Young to Retire 11:50pm Rugby Union 12:50am Joins BBC News 24 2:00am Real Chinese 1-10 4:30am China Close Up 1-6

11th February Sylvia Path’s Birthday

Channel 4

The Hotel Inspector five 11.30am Five

6:05am Making It 6:10am The Hoobs 6:35am The Hoobs 7:00am Freshly Squeezed 7:30am Everybody Loves Raymond 8:00am Just Shoot Me 8:30am Frasier 9:00am T4 Movie Special 9:30am The Deadly Knowledge Show 10:00am Advertising Uncut 10:30am 21st Century Bard 11:00am My Crazy Media Life 11:30am TV Is Dead?

12:00pm News at Noon 12:30pm A Place in Italy 1:00pm British Made 1:10pm Freedom Radio 2:55pm Come Dine with Me 3:25pm Countdown 4:15pm Deal or No Deal 5:00pm Richard and Judy

6:00am Kids TV 9:00am The Wright Stuff 10:30am Trisha Goddard 11:30am The Hotel Inspector 12:30pm five news 12:45pm Law and Order

6:00pm Wales Tonight 6:30pm ITV Evening News and Weather 7:00pm Emmerdale 7:30pm Coronation Street 8:00pm Wales This Week 8:30pm Coronation Street

6:00pm The Simpsons 6:30pm Hollyoaks 7:00pm Channel 4 News 7:55pm 3 Minute Wonder: Raw Cuts 8:00pm Dispatches: The Children Left Behind

6:00pm Home and Away 6:30pm Animal Rescue Squad 7:00pm five news 7:30pm How Do They Do It? 8:00pm Fifth Gear

9:00pm The Palace

9:00pm City of Vice

9:00pm End Game

10:00pm News at Ten and Weather 10:35pm Van Helsing

10:00pm Without a Trace

10:55pm Fortress 2 12:35am NASCAR: The Sprint Cup 1:35am USPGA Golf 2:25am Golf: The Sunshine Tour 3:15am Race and Rally UK 3:35am Motorsport Mundial 4:00am Football Italiano Special 4:20am French Football Championnat 5:10am Neighbours 5:35am House Doctor

12:50am To Catch a Love Rat: Tonight 1:15am Colin’s Wales 1:45am Nightwatch with Steve Scott: Crime 2:40am Loose Women 3:30am Make Me Perfect 4:15am ITV Nightscreen 5:30am ITV Early Morning News

11:00pm Without a Trace 12:00am Sex Change Hospital 1:00am 4 Music:O2 Wireless Festival 2007 2:00am World Cup Skiing 4:00am Rat-a-Tat-Tat 5:55am Rat-a-Tat-Tat

1:45pm Neighbours 2:15pm Home and Away 2:45pm Danielle Steel’s The Ring

5:30pm Neighbours

PICK OF THE DAY Van Helsing, Ch4, 10.35pm The title gives a lot away, for this film is based on the notorious and fictional monster hunter, Van Helsing, who has been appointed to track down Count Dracula and kill him. Based on the highly acclaimed novel ‘Dracula’ by Bram Stoker, conventional ‘gothic’ characters such as the werewolf and Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are included for scary effect. Directed by Stephen Sommers and with a cast to rival many a Hollywood blockbuster, this film is definitely worth a watch. Ok, it may appeal more to the younger generation who get frightened that bit easier, but I’d give it a go nonetheless!

02920 229977

20% student discount on all pizzas and starters 62 Crwys Road, Cardiff, CF24 4NN

Le

gairrhydd

FEBRUARY.11.2008

TELLY

TELEVISION@gairrhydd.COM

TUESDAY Best of Friends BBC1 4.10pm

My Favourite Brunette BBC2 11.00am

BBC 1

Harry Hill’s TV Burp ITV1 10.35pm

BBC 2

ITV

6:00am Breakfast 9:15am Animal 24:7 10:00am Homes Under the Hammer 11:00am To Buy or Not to Buy 11:30am Cash in the Attic 12:15pm Bargain Hunt

6:00amKids TV 10:30am Beat the Boss 11:00am My Favorite Brunette 12:25pm Coast: Blackwater 12:30pm Working Lunch

6:00am GMTV Newshour 6:58am GMTV Today 8:35am LK Today 9:25am The Jeremy Kyle Show 10:30am This Morning 11:10am ITV News 11:15am ITV Wales News and Weather 11:20am This Morning 12:30pm Loose Women

1:00pm BBC News; Weather 1:30pm Wales Today; Weather 1:40pm Regional News and Weather 1:45pm Doctors 2:15pm Diagnosis Murder 3:00pm BBC News and Weather 3:05pm Mister Maker 3:25pm Take a Bow 3:30pm Shaun the Sheep 3:35pm Prank Patrol 4:05pm Thumb Wrestling 4:10pm Best of Friends 4:35pm Blue Peter 5:00pm Newsround 5:15pm The Weakest Link 6:00pm BBC News and Weather 6:30pm Wales Today; Weather 7:00pm The One Show 7:30pm EastEnders 8:00pm Holby City 9:00pm Mistresses 10:00pm BBC News; Regional News; Weather 10:25pm Wales Today; Weather 10:35pm Week In, Week Out 11:05pm Lenny Henry.Tv 11:35pm Film 2008 with Jonathan Ross 12:05am Buster 1:40am Weatherview 1:45am Sign Zone:Louis Theroux: Behind Bars 2:45am Sign Zone:Ben’s Zoo 3:45am Sign Zone:Wanted Down Under 4:30am Joins BBC News 24

1:00pm Snooker: Welsh Open 2008

1:30pm ITV Lunchtime News and Weather 2:00pm Dickinson’s Real Deal 2:30pm The Alan Titchmarsh Show 3:30pm The Royal Today 4:00pm Doc Martin

5:15pm Britain’s Dream Homes 6:00pm Eggheads

5:00pm Goldenballs 6:00pm Wales Tonight

6:30pm Ben Fogle’s Extreme Dreams 7:00pm Around the World in 80 Gardens 8:00pm An Island Parish 8:30pm Masterchef

6:30pm ITV Evening News and Weather 7:00pm Emmerdale: Fair Game 8:00pm Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

9:00pm Horizon 9:50pm Coast

10:00pm Mock the Week...Again 10:30pm Newsnight

11:20pm Snooker: Welsh Open 2008 12:20am Paradise or Bust 1:20am Joins BBC News 24 2:00am Science in Action 4:00am Science in Action

12th February Darwin Day

The Gift Horse C4 1.05pm Channel 4

Five 6:00am Kids TV 9:00am The Wright Stuff 10:30am Trisha Goddard 11:30am The Hotel Inspector 12:30pm five news 12:45pm Law and Order

9:00pm Ladette to Lady

9:00pm Medicine Men Go Wild

9:00pm CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

10:00pm News at Ten and Weather

10:00pm Shameless 11:05pm Who Killed the Playboy Earl?

12:10am PartyPoker.com Late Night Poker Ace 1:05am World Cup Skiing 3:05am Barcelona World Race 2007/2008 3:30am KOTV 4:00am Puzzle Maths 5:00am Puzzle Maths 5:15am Real Science 5:40am Making It

10:00pm CSI: Miami

10:35pm Harry Hill’s TV Burp 11:05pm Great Pubs of Wales 11:35pm Police, Camera, Action!

12:05am Nightwatch with Steve Scott: Crime 1:50am Loose Women 2:40am The Jeremy Kyle Show 3:35am ITV Nightscreen 5:30am ITV Early Morning News

Neighbours, five, 1.45pm Yes, you did read that right TV readers...long-running daily soap ‘Neighbours’ has been moved to Channel 5! Why has this life-changing and potentially destroying change come about I hear you cry?! Could it be the storylines not making the grade, or the characters changing every time we tune in? Well, infact it’s something to do with the BBC refusing to bid any longer for the show. But don’t fret Erinsborough fanatics because in a twist of fate, the show most desperately needed, Channel 5 has kindly given up a slot right next to fellow aussie soap, ‘Home and Away’...let the battle commence!

62 Crwys Road, Cardiff, CF24 4NN

Law and Order five 7.30pm

6:00am The Cubeez 6:10am The Hoobs 6:35am The Hoobs 7:00am Freshly Squeezed 7:30am Everybody Loves Raymond 8:00am Just Shoot Me 8:30am Frasier 9:00am Will and Grace 9:30am The Deadly Knowledge Show 10:00am Advertising Uncut 10:30am 21st Century Bard 11:00am My Crazy Media Life 11:30am TV Is Dead?

12:00pm News at Noon 12:30pm A Place in Italy 1:00pm Throwaway 1:05pm The Gift Horse 2:55pm Come Dine with Me 3:25pm Countdown 4:15pm Deal or No Deal 5:00pm Richard and Judy 6:00pm The Simpsons 6:30pm Hollyoaks 7:00pm Channel 4 News 7:55pm 3 Minute Wonder: Raw Cuts 8:00pm Supersize vs Superskinny

PICK OF THE DAY

Every second pizza half price

27

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1:45pm Neighbours 2:15pm Home and Away 2:45pm Superfire

5:30pm Neighbours 6:00pm Home and Away

6:30pm Animal Rescue Squad 7:00pm five news 7:30pm Extraordinary Animals 8:00pm Nature Shock

11:00pm Law and Order: Criminal Intent 12:00am The FBI Files 1:00am NBA Basketball 3:40am Football Italiano 5:10am Neighbours 5:35am House Doctor

28 gairrhydd

FEBRUARY.11.2008

TELLY

WEDNESDAY Sky Cops BBC1 8.00pm

Torchwood BBC2 9.00am

BBC 1

BBC 2

The Bill: Driven to Kill ITV1 8.00pm

TELEVISION@gairrhydd.COM

13th February Robbie Williams’ Birthday

My Crazy Media Life C4 11.00am

ITV 1

Channel 4

The Hotel Inspector five 11.30am

Five

6:00am Breakfast 9:15am Animal 24:7 10:00am Homes Under the Hammer 11:00am To Buy or Not to Buy 11:30am Cash in the Attic 12:15pm Bargain Hunt

6:00am CBBC 10:30am Beat the Boss 11:00am The Moon-Spinners 12:55pm Coast

6:00am GMTV Newshour 6:58am GMTV Today 8:35am LK Today 9:25am The Jeremy Kyle Show 10:30am This Morning 11:10am ITV News 11:20am This Morning 12:30pm Loose Women

6:00am Kids TV 7:30am Everybody Loves Raymond 8:30am Frasier 9:30am The Deadly Knowledge Show 10:00am Advertising Uncut 10:30am 21st Century Bard 11:00am My Crazy Media Life 11:30am TV Is Dead?

12:00pm News at Noon 12:30pm A Place in Italy

6:00am Kids TV 9:00am The Wright Stuff 10:30am Trisha Goddard 11:30am The Hotel Inspector 12:30pm five news 12:45pm Law and Order

1:00pm BBC News; Weather 1:45pm Doctors 2:15pm Diagnosis Murder 3:00pm BBC News and Weather 3:05pm Mister Maker 3:25pm Take a Bow 3:30pm CBBC

1:00pm See Hear 1:30pm Working Lunch 2:00pm Snooker: Welsh Open 2008

1:30pm ITV Lunchtime News and Weather 2:00pm Dickinson’s Real Deal 2:30pm The Alan Titchmarsh Show 3:30pm The Royal Today 4:00pm Doc Martin

1:00pm Danger Within 2:55pm Come Dine with Me 3:25pm Countdown 4:15pm Deal or No Deal

1:45pm Neighbours 2:15pm Home and Away 2:45pm And Never Let Her Go

5:00pm Newsround 5:15pm The Weakest Link

5:15pm Britain’s Dream Homes

5:00pm Goldenballs

5:00pm Richard and Judy

5:30pm Neighbours

6:00pm BBC News and Weather 6:30pm Wales Today; Weather 7:00pm The One Show 7:30pm The Big Welsh Challenge 8:00pm Sky Cops

6:00pm Eggheads 6:30pm Ben Fogle’s Extreme Dreams 7:00pm Rick Stein’s Food Heroes: Another Helping 7:30pm Wainwright’s Walks 8:00pm Bill Oddie’s Wild Side 8:30pm Masterchef 9:00pm Torchwood 9:50pm Wonderland: The End of the World Bus Tour

6:00pm Wales Tonight 6:30pm ITV Evening News and Weather 7:00pm Emmerdale 7:30pm Coronation Street 8:00pm The Bill: Driven to Kill

6:00pm The Simpsons 6:30pm Hollyoaks 7:00pm Channel 4 News 7:55pm 3 Minute Wonder: Raw Cuts: ID 8:00pm Relocation, Relocation

6:00pm Home and Away 6:30pm five news 6:45pm UEFA Cup Football

9:00pm Honest

9:00pm Grand Designs

9:05pm 50 Most Shocking Moments in Comedy

10:00pm BBC News; Regional News; Weather 10:35pm The National Lottery Draws 10:45pm Missionary Position

10:30pm Newsnight

10:00pm News at Ten and Weather 10:35pm The Ferret

10:00pm Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA

11:15pm All of Me 12:45am Weatherview 12:50am Sign Zone:Antiques Roadshow 1:50am Sign Zone:Too Young to Retire 2:20am Sign Zone:Natural World 3:10am Sign Zone:Wanted Down Under

11:20pm Snooker: Welsh Open 2008 12:20am Desi DNA 12:50am Indian School 1:20am Joins BBC News 24 2:00am Science in Action 4:00am Science in Action

11:05pm Ghost Story 11:35pm Free Ride 12:05am Nightwatch with Steve Scott 1:50am Loose Women 2:40am The Jeremy Kyle Show 3:35am ITV Nightscreen 5:30am ITV Early Morning News

11:05pm Shameless 12:10am Modern Toss 12:40am Love Trap 1:40am O2 Wireless Festival 2007 2:40am Making Waves 2:50am Unreported World 3:20am Inside Hamas

9:00pm Attila the Hun

11:55pm PartyPoker.net Poker Den: The Big Game II 1:30am NHL Ice Hockey 4:20am Supercross 5:10am Neighbours 5:35am House Doctor

PICK OF THE DAY Neighbours, five, 5.30pm Confirming the fact that you now have to tune in to five to get your daily fix of this Aussie soap. The BBC didn’t value it highly enough so were left for a better offer; something we can all relate to. I have to confess though, that I very rarely watch Neighbours anymore; it seems that everytime I try to tune in the scene is about a family I don’t recognise or care about so I switch off. I will try watching on five and if I see Karl or Harold I know I’ll be sticking around!

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gairrhydd

FEBRUARY.11.2008

TELLY

TELEVISION@gairrhydd.COM

THURSDAY The French Connection BBC1 11.35pm

Eggheads BBC2 5.00pm

BBC 1

BBC 2

14th February Valentines Day

Great Welsh Roads ITV1 7.30pm

Baby Bible Bashers C4 9.00pm

ITV 1

Channel 4

Home and Away five 6.00pm

Five

6:00am Breakfast 9:15am Animal 24:7 10:00am Homes Under the Hammer 11:00am To Buy or Not to Buy 11:30am Cash in the Attic 12:15pm Bargain Hunt

6:00am CBBC 10:30am Beat the Boss 11:00am Seven Little Foys 12:30pm Working Lunch

6:00am GMTV 8:35am LK Today 9:25am The Jeremy Kyle Show 10:30am This Morning 11:10am ITV News 11:20am This Morning 12:30pm Loose Women

6:05am Kids TV 7:30am Everybody Loves Raymond 8:30am Frasier 9:30am The Deadly Knowledge Show 10:00am Advertising Uncut 10:30am 21st Century Bard 11:00am My Crazy Media Life 11:30am TV Is Dead?

12:00pm News at Noon 12:30pm A Place in Italy

6:00am Kids TV 9:00am The Wright Stuff 10:30am Trisha Goddard 11:30am The Hotel Inspector 12:30pm five news 12:45pm Law and Order

1:00pm BBC News; Weather 1:45pm Doctors 2:15pm Diagnosis Murder 3:00pm BBC News and Weather 3:05pm CBBC

1:00pm Snooker: Welsh Open 2008

1:30pm ITV Lunchtime News and Weather 2:00pm Dickinson’s Real Deal 2:30pm The Alan Titchmarsh Show 3:30pm The Royal Today 4:00pm Doc Martin

1:00pm Small Railway Journeys 1:15pm Paths of Glory 2:55pm Come Dine with Me 3:25pm Countdown 4:15pm Deal or No Deal

1:45pm Neighbours 2:15pm Home and Away 2:45pm Objective, Burma!

5:00pm Newsround 5:15pm The Weakest Link

5:15pm Britain’s Dream Homes

5:00pm Goldenballs

5:00pm Richard and Judy

5:30pm Neighbours

6:00pm BBC News and Weather 7:00pm The One Show 7:30pm EastEnders 8:00pm Waterloo Road

6:00pm Eggheads 6:30pm Ben Fogle’s Extreme Dreams 7:00pm Torchwood 7:50pm Torchwood: Declassified 8:00pm Masterchef

6:00pm Wales Tonight 6:30pm ITV Evening News and Weather 7:00pm Emmerdale 7:30pm Great Welsh Roads 8:00pm The Bill: Payback

6:00pm The Simpsons 6:30pm Hollyoaks 7:00pm Channel 4 News 7:55pm 3 Minute Wonder: Raw Cuts

6:00pm Home and Away 6:30pm Animal Rescue Squad 7:00pm five news 7:30pm UEFA Cup Football

9:00pm Ashes to Ashes

9:00pm Never Mind the Buzzcocks 9:30pm Little Miss Jocelyn

9:00pm Trial and Retribution

8:00pm Jamie at Home 9:00pm Baby Bible Bashers

10:00pm BBC News; Regional News; 10:25pm Wales Today; Weather 10:30pm Regional News Programmes 10:35pm Question Time

10:00pm Sport Wales 10:30pm Newsnight

10:00pm News at Ten and Weather 10:35pm Your Channel

10:00pm Big Bang Theory 10:35pm Skins

10:10pm Anaconda

11:35pm The French Connection 1:15am Skiing Weather 1:20am Sign Zone:Panorama 1:50am Sign Zone:A Passion for Plants 2:20am Sign Zone:Lark Rise to Candleford 3:20am Sign Zone:Wanted Down Under

11:20pm Snooker: Welsh Open 2008 12:20am Never Better 12:50am Joins BBC News 24 2:00am Science in Action 4:00am The Human Body

11:05pm Sharp End 11:35pm Free Ride 12:05am Nightwatch with Steve Scott: Crime 1:50am Loose Women 2:40am The Jeremy Kyle Show 3:35am ITV Nightscreen

11:40pm The Sopranos 12:45am Autopsy: Emergency Room 1:45am O2 Wireless Festival 2007 2:45am Making Waves 2:55am Triathlon 3:20am Trans World Sport 4:10am Grudge Match

11:45pm 30 Rock 12:15am Quiz Call 4:00am Dutch Football 5:10am Neighbours 5:35am House Doctor

PICK OF THE DAY 30 Rock, five, 11.45pm Hidden late at night on five is a truly hilarious comedy Moving Wallpaper can only ever dream of being. No other show could have Al Gore playing a version of himself who can tell when a whale is in distress out at sea. Kevin the page is a particular highlight; a Christian country bumpkin constantly wowed by the glitz and glamour of showbiz. Girls, this is a show with a female creator; girl power! Guys, the receptionist is hot!

Every second pizza half price 62 Crwys Road, Cardiff, CF24 4NN

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30 gairrhydd

FEBRUARY.11.2008

TELLY

TELEVISION@gairrhydd.COM

FRIDAY Cash in the Attic BBC1 11.30am

15th February Total Defense Day

The Choir: Boys Doc Martin Don’t Sing ITV1 4.00pm BBC2 9.00pm

BBC 1

BBC 2

My Crazy Life C4 11.00am

ITV 1

6:00am Breakfast 9:15am Animal 24:7 10:00am Homes Under the Hammer 11:00am To Buy or Not to Buy 11:30am Cash in the Attic 12:15pm Bargain Hunt 1:00pm BBC News; Weather

6:00am CBeebies: 10:30am Beat the Boss 11:00am Son of Paleface 12:30pm Working Lunch

6:00am GMTV Newshour 6:58am GMTV Today 8:35am Entertainment Today 9:25am The Jeremy Kyle Show 10:30am This Morning 11:10am ITV News 11:15am ITV Wales News and Weather 11:20am This Morning 12:30pm Loose Women

1:30pm Wales Today; Weather 1:40pm Regional News and Weather 1:45pm Doctors 2:15pm Diagnosis Murder 3:00pm BBC News and Weather 3:05pm CBBC

1:30pm Snooker: Welsh Open 2008

5:15pm The Weakest Link

Law and Order five 12.45pm

Channel 4

Five 6:00am Kids TV 9:00am The Wright Stuff 10:30am Trisha Goddard 11:30am The Hotel Inspector 12:30pm five news 12:45pm Law and Order

1:30pm ITV Lunchtime News and Weather 2:00pm Dickinson’s Real Deal 2:30pm The Alan Titchmarsh Show 3:30pm The Royal Today 4:00pm Doc Martin

6:00am Kids TV 7:00am Freshly Squeezed 7:30am Everybody Loves Raymond 8:00am Just Shoot Me 8:30am Frasier 9:00am Will and Grace 9:30am The Deadly Knowledge Show 10:00am Advertising Uncut 10:30am Freshly Squeezed 11:00am My Crazy Life 11:30am TV Is Dead?

12:00pm News at Noon 12:30pm A Place in Italy 12:55pm Conspiracy of Hearts 2:55pm Come Dine with Me 3:25pm Countdown 4:15pm Deal or No Deal

5:15pm Britain’s Dream Homes 5:55pm Party Conference Broadcast

5:00pm Goldenballs

5:00pm Richard and Judy

5:30pm Neighbours

6:00pm BBC News and Weather 6:30pm Wales Today; Weather 7:00pm The One Show 7:30pm The Green Green Grass 7:57pm BBC News and Regional News 8:00pm EastEnders 8:30pm A Question of Sport 9:00pm New Tricks

6:00pm Eggheads 6:30pm Ben Fogle’s Extreme Dreams 7:00pm Scrum V Live

6:00pm Wales Tonight 6:30pm ITV Evening News and Weather 7:00pm Emmerdale 7:30pm Coronation Street 8:00pm To Catch a Love Rat: Tonight 8:30pm Coronation Street

6:00pm The Simpsons 6:30pm Hollyoaks 7:00pm Channel 4 News 7:35pm Unreported World 8:00pm A Place in the Sun: Home or Away

6:00pm Home and Away 6:30pm Animal Rescue Squad 7:00pm five news 7:30pm Massive Speed 8:00pm Ice Road Truckers

9:00pm The Choir: Boys Don’t Sing

9:00pm Rude Tube

9:00pm NCIS

10:00pm BBC News; Regional News; Weather 10:25pm Wales Today; Weather 10:35pm Friday Night with Jonathan Ross

10:00pm QI 10:30pm Newsnight

9:00pm Moving Wallpaper 9:30pm Echo Beach 10:00pm Al Murray’s Happy Hour

10:00pm Alan Carr’s Celebrity Ding Dong

10:00pm Law and Order: Special Victims Unit

11:35pm National Lottery Euromillions Draw 11:40pm Damages 12:25am Amityville II: the Possession 2:00am Weatherview 2:05am Sign Zone:Timewatch 2:55am Sign Zone:Horizon 3:45am Joins BBC News 24

11:00pm Newsnight Review 11:35pm Snooker: Welsh Open 2008 12:35am Later...with Jools Holland 1:35am Room 101 2:05am Phantasm III - Lord of the Dead

11:00pm The Late News and Weather 11:40pm Honest 12:40am Heist 1:25am Nightwatch with Steve Scott: Emergency 3:10am Tom Jones 5:20am ITV Nightscreen 5:30am ITV Early Morning News

10:50pm The Law of the Playground 11:25pm Big Bang Theory 11:50pm TV Heaven, Telly Hell 12:25am 4 Music:The Shockwaves Album Chart Show 12:55am 4 Music:JD Set Presents Vincent Vincent and the Villains 1:10am 4 Music:Beat Stevie

11:00pm Law and Order: Criminal Intent 12:00am Quiz Call 5:10am Neighbours 5:35am House Doctor

1:45pm Neighbours 2:15pm Home and Away 2:45pm Danielle Steel’s Zoya

PICK OF THE DAY Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, BBC1, 10.35pm This is good well sort of... well not at all, but this is what is on so take it on the chin and we shall never speak of it again. This week there are some more boring dusty people trying to revive their comatose careers while Jonny boy puts on the old lisp and makes about five people giggle. Sylvester Stallone is on plugging some Rambo shit. His face is well freakish, it looks like it has been stirred with a hot ladle.

02920 229977

20% student discount on all pizzas and starters 62 Crwys Road, Cardiff, CF24 4NN

gairrhydd

FEBRUARY.11.2008

TELLY

TELEVISION@gairrhydd.COM

SATURDAY Casualty BBC1 9.55pm

Culture Show BBC2 9.00pm

BBC 1

Dancing on Ice ITV1 9.25am

BBC 2

ITV 1

31

16th February Kyoto Protocol Day

Jamie at Home C4 5.00pm

Paint Your Wagon five 1.35pm

Channel 4

Five

6:00am Breakfast 10:00am Saturday Kitchen 11:30am To Be Announced 12:00pm BBC News; Weather 12:10pm Football Focus

6:00am CBBC 11:45am Sportsround 12:00pm The Sky at Night 12:20pm To Be Announced

6:00am CITV 9:25am Planet’s Funniest Animals 9:55am Dancing on Ice 11:25am Dancing on Ice: The Skate Off 11:55am Coronation Street Omnibus

6:00am The Cubeez 6:10am The Hoobs 7:00am Goalissimo!

8:00am The Morning Line 8:50am T4:One Tree Hill 9:50am T4:Freshly Squeezed 10:20am T4:Friends 10:55am T4:The Hills 11:25am T4:Friends 11:55am T4:Vanity Lair

6:00am Kids TV 10:00am Football Italiano Highlights 10:30am Fifth Gear 11:30am Ice Road Truckers 12:30pm To Be Announced

1:50pm Six Nations Rugby 4:45pm Wales on Saturday 4:55pm Six Nations Rugby

1:00pm Film 2008 with Jonathan Ross 1:30pm To Be Announced 2:00pm Tennis: Davis Cup 2008 4:50pm Final Score

2:20pm ITV News and Weather 2:35pm Primeval 3:35pm The Living Daylights

1:00pm T4:Age of Love 2:00pm Channel 4 Racing from Newbury and Warwick 4:10pm Deal or No Deal

1:35pm Paint Your Wagon 4:25pm The Neverending Story III: Escape from Fantasia

5:45pm BBC News; Regional News; Weather

5:20pm Sound 5:50pm What the Papers Say

5:00pm ITV Wales News and Weather 5:35pm The Living Daylights (cont)

5:00pm Jamie at Home 5:45pm River Cottage: Gone Fishing

6:05pm To Be Announced 7:15pm The One and Only 8:15pm The National Lottery: In It to Win It

6:00pm The Natural World 6:50pm Culture Show 7:40pm To Be Announced 8:10pm To Be Announced

6:35pm All New You’ve Been Framed!

7:05pm Harry Hill’s TV Burp 7:35pm Primeval 8:35pm Dancing on Ice: Make Me a Star

6:30pm Channel 4 News 7:15pm Grand Designs 8:00pm ER

6:00pm Only You 7:55pm five news and sport 8:15pm NCIS

9:05pm Casualty 9:55pm The One and Only 10:20pm BBC News; Weather 10:40pm Match of the Day

9:00pm Have I Got News for You 9:30pm To Be Announced 10:00pm To Be Announced

9:05pm Duel

9:15pm I, Robot

9:10pm CSI: NY

12:00am Friday Night with Jonathan Ross 1:00am Film To Be Announced 2:50am Weatherview 2:55am Joins BBC News 24

11:20pm To Be Announced 12:50am Film To Be Announced 2:35am Culture Show 3:25am Film To Be Announced

11:05pm ITV News and Weather 11:20pm Scary Movie 12:55am Nightwatch with Steve Scott: Mystery 1:50am Nightwatch With Steve Scott 2:39am ITV News Headlines 2:40am Mystery, Alaska 4:40am ITV Nightscreen

10:05pm Thank God You’re Here

10:10pm Law and Order

11:00pm Wife Swap 12:05am City of Vice 1:05am Before Night Falls 3:20am To Be Announced 4:25am Salvage Squad 5:25am Countdown

PICK OF THE DAY To Be Announced, BBC2, 11.20pm I’m excited. Whatever the big guys, the head honcho, the smoky cheddar, the maruding lion of the tribe of Juda decides to put in it’s going to be uber cool and fascinating. Seeing as whatever it is will be occuring so late in the eve, it will probably be a bit sexy as well. I know this because the BBC is tres cool and I know this because I am a media student yeah?

Every second pizza half price 62 Crwys Road, Cardiff, CF24 4NN

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11:10pm True CSI 12:10am Quiz Call 5:10am Wildlife SOS 5:35am Wildlife SOS

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FEBRUARY.11.2008

33

FIVE MINUTE FUN

FMF@gairrhydd.COM

found on facebook Housemate done something stupid?

1. Log on to the book of face 2. Join the group ‘Found on Facebook’ 3. Upload embarrassing photos 4. Pick up gair rhydd on Monday and laugh

Words can be forwards, backwards, up, down, diagonal... kit weights crosstrainer fitness exercise healthy membership subscription rowing cycling calories distance

aerobics pilates dance body awareness trainers towel sweat water shake gym treadmill

Send more oddities!

competition wordsearch

Sudok leaves u fo page 2 r

Exercise your mind...

WINonal ers ng p A aini tr sion ses

Then exercise your body at

Put your entries in the competitio

n box outside gair rhydd

Every week gair rhydd will be giving away a gym package to one lucky entrant who correctly completes the competition wordsearch, courtesy of Dave’s Gym.

Every winner will receive a free personal training session with one of our qualified instructors. This can be a gym workout, weight-training, boxing or Thai Boxing session. You will also receive a personalised gym programme and a free guest pass so you can come back for another workout or try one of our studio classes: choose from HipHop, Khai Bo, Bodypump and many more. This prize is worth approximately £35!

Conditions: Use of any of our facilities is subject to our terms and conditions and at the user’s own risk. An appointment must be made for the session. Prize must be claimed within four weeks of notification. It is not exchangeable for cash and is not transferable to any other party. Dave’s Gym: Tel: 029 2046 0232 E.mail: enquiries@daves-gym. co.uk Web: www.daves-gym.co.uk

NAME....

EMAIL....

How to enter: Simply complete the wordsearch opposite and drop it into the crossword competition box outside the gair rhydd office on the 4th floor of the Students’ Union. The first correct entrant to be plucked from the box every week will win the Dave’s Gym package.

34 gairrhydd

FEBRUARY.11.2008

LISTINGS

LISTINGS@gairrhydd.COM

This Week: We tell jokes to fill some space, lots of theatre & arts, pro

MUSIC

COMEDY

MONDAY MONDAY LAST GANG @ BARFLY - Wakefield based band making upbeat indieNot much on this week in the way of comedy, so Listings makes their rock with a youthful, anthemic feel. 7.30pm. £5. own. What do you call a sheep with no legs? A cloud.

LAURA VEIRS+ YOUR HEART BREAKS @ THE POINT - Laura Veirs is TUESDAY one of the more original country singer/songwriters to emerge from the COMEDY CLUB @ SU - Alex Horne and Tom Deacon face the masses US in recent years. 7.30pm. £10. at this Tuesday’s Comedy Club. Hopefully, doing a much TUESDAY better job than us.

TONIGHT IS GOODBYE @ BARFLY - “Bittersweet WEDNESDAY melodies, bouncy energy and big choruses Knock Knock. Who’s there? Ivan. Ivan packed with poetry” says Kerrang. 7.30pm. who? Ivan infectious disease. £5.

There was a man who entered a local paWEDNESDAY per’s pun contest. He sent in ten different MARC ALMOND @ ST. DAVID’S HALL - Former puns, in the hope that at least one of the Softcell front man brings all that is good and 80s puns would win. Unfortunately, no pun in to Cardiff. Oh yes. Contact venue for details. ten did.

GRAMMATICS @ BARFLY - Experimental Leeds THURSDAY based art-poppers. 7.30pm. £5.

Patient: Doctor, I can’t feel my legs!

THURSDAY Doctor: I know, we had to cut your arms F*** BUTTONS+ALEXANDER TUCKER @ BARoff.

FLY - Does anyone else find it amusing that a FRIDAY band called “F*** Buttons” are playing on ValenTHE DRONES COMEDY CLUB: CLINT EDtines Day? No? Well, awesome band anyway.

WARDS. DAN THOMAS @ CHAPTERS ART PAPIER TIGRE+SPACE IN THE 50S+LIGHTS TO CENTRE. 8.30pm. £3 all tickets.

LEAD US @ CLWB IFOR BACH - Lights To Lead NICK REVELL, MARKUS BIRDMANN, TONY Us are a band stemmed from our fine university.

GERRARD @ JONGLEURS - Markus Bird7.30pm. £5. mann: Dry, witty, confused little boy.

THE BAD ROBOTS @ BARFLY - Camden based Nick Revell: One of the original alternative band invade Cardiff. Something nice to woo your comedians of the early 1980s, Nick was lover to. 7.30pm. £5 w/flyer. nominated for the Perrier award in 1987. He FRIDAY was the resident compere at The Comedy DEVON SPROULE+PAUL CURRERI+THOM Store for 10 years. In 1992 he retired from STONE @ THE POINT - Devon Sproule is a fanthe comedy circuit, but now he’s back with tastic folk-pop songwriter with an interest in the twin aims of bringing down the George Markus Birdmann - Playing Jongleurs on Friday, jazz. 7.30pm. £10/11 adv.

Bush administration, and paying his monthly hopefully showing more of his face.

SATURDAY mortgage bill. You know the drill, 8pm till PALLADIUM+ALPHABEAT @ CLWB IFOR BACH late in Risa. Tenner all tickets.

Palladium are four supernaturally talented musiSATURDAY cians who look like they got lost in a fancy dress NICK REVELL, MARKUS BIRDMANN, TONY cupboard. 7pm. £7.

GERRARD @ JONGLEURS. 8pm. £10.

SUNDAY SUNDAY MIRRORVIEW @ BARFLY - Hollyoaks omnibus should have finished I back a horse at 10 to 1 the other day. It came in at Half past 4. by now... So eliminate boredom with live music. 7.30pm. £5.

We’re here all week.

The Hoosiers Great Hall, SU ◆

12/02/08 ◆ SOLD OUT.

Listings Editor Josie Allchin Recommends

I

was wondering recently, why do I always feel compelled to write about something that I like, or would actually want to go to in the confines of this (newly adorned) grey box? Why am I so always affected by the subconscious constraints of convention, hmm? Well, enough of this blind conformity! Lets be different, lets make a stand! Stuff convention and all its sensible...ness. Ahem.

So, in my new found sense of rebellious liberation I looked for an event that I really wouldn’t want to go to (goodness me, all of this unruly behaviour is making me feel quite dizzy), something that would really bore me. Something that rather than going to, I’d prefer to spend my evening washing cutlery instead. And lo and behold, The Hoosiers are rolling up into town.

Now I don’t have anything personal against The Hoosiers themselves (I’m sure they’re lovely, albeit with slightly dubious facial

THEATRE

MONDAY TREASURE ISLAND: THE BIRMIN THEATRE - When young Jim Ha in The Admiral Benbow Inn, he Seized with excitement, Trelawn the island. Jim faces the most da his life! 7pm. £16 - £7.

ROMANZA: HOLIDAY ON ICE @ CIA skaters from all over the world wh in their vibrant visual displays, com the grace and flair of dance. 7.30 TUESDAY TREASURE ISLAND: THE BIRMIN THEATRE ROMANZA: HOLIDAY ON ICE @ CIA WEDNESDAY TREASURE ISLAND: THE BIRMIN THEATRE. Matinee 2pm.

ROMANZA: HOLIDAY ON ICE @ CIA THURSDAY LOVE AND OTHER POSSIBILITIES ings from and discussion of three

by Cardiff-based Sarah Broughto Love & Other Possibilities by Lew RUSSIAN ROMANTICS: CARDIF 7.30pm. £17 - £5.

TREASURE ISLAND: THE BIRMIN THEATRE. Matinee 2pm.

ROMANZA: HOLIDAY ON ICE @ CIA FRIDAY DANCE ROADS 2008 @ CHAPT gramme of contemporary dance tinctive new choreographers acro DISCOVERING DUTILLEUX FESTIV WALES. Contact venue for ticket d TREASURE ISLAND: THE BIRMIN THEATRE. Matinee 2pm.

SATURDAY TREASURE ISLAND: THE BIRMIN THEATRE. Matinee 2pm.

SUNDAY DISCOVERING DUTILLEUX FESTI OF WALES

hair), and I’m not one of these people who have a personal ven-detta against all that is mainstream and indie, just because they’re mainstream and indie. But I mean, “indie” – what does that even mean anymore? The reason I’d rather count the hairs on my head instead of spending money on a ticket to see this band is because, well, they sound like every other Tom, Dick and Harry to grace the radio waves with their “lighter-than-air pop laced with indie-folk influences” (ents24.com). Scouting For Girls?

The Courteeners? The Wombats? The Pigeon Detectives? One Night Only? Who the hell are these bands?

And what are they, apart from all sounding the same?

Boring, that’s what! Same old, of-recent run-of-the-mill, bla bla bla music that all merges to make one big brown drudge of noise in my ears.

But I guess if you’re still reading this, then I should probably get the following out of the way – The Hoosiers scored their first chart hit, Worried About Ray in July 2007, when it reached no. 5 in the UK charts.

Their second hit-single, Goodbye Mr. A (not “Good Plan Mr. A”, “Goodbye Mr. Rain” or slurred mixture of the two when you’re trying to sing along to it), got to no. 4 in October, and their debut album, The Trick To Life was released to general all-round approval and massive record sales. Which actually, must say something. And so does the fact that this gig has The (W)hoosiers? sold out. But I don’t care. Enjoy!

Students’ Union, Park Place, 02920 387421 www.cardiffstudents.com ◆ Med Club, Neuadd Meirionydd, Heath Park 02920 744948 ◆ Clwb Ifor Bach (The Wels 02920 399939 www.clubmetropolitan.com ◆ Dempseys, Castle Street 02920 252024 ◆ Iotas, 7 Mill Lane 02920 225592 ◆ Incognito, Park Place 02920 412 www.cafejazzcardiff.com ◆ The Riverbank Hotel, Despenser Street www.riverbankjazz.co.uk ◆ St. David’s Hall, The Hayes 02920 878444 www.stdavidshallcardif uk ◆ The New Theatre, Park Place 02920 878889 www.newtheatrecardiff.co.uk ◆ The Sherman Theatre, Senghennydd Road 02920 646900 www.shermanthea Stadium Can’t miss it. www.millenniumstadium.com ◆ The Point, Cardiff Bay, 029 2046 0873 www.thepointcardiffbay.com ◆ Tommy’s Bar, Howard Gardens (off

gairrhydd

FEBRUARY.11.2008

35

LISTINGS

LISTINGS@gairrhydd.COM

obably due to the fact it’s ‘Valentines Day’ and that’s what ‘people’ do.

E & ARTS

NGHAM STAGE COMPANY @ NEW awkins discovers a treasure map hands it over to Squire Trelawney. ney sets sail with Jim in search of angerous and exciting adventure of

A - A sixty strong company of top class ho take ice dance to new dimensions mbining energy and athleticism with 0pm. £25 - £10.

NGHAM STAGE COMPANY @ NEW

A

NGHAM STAGE COMPANY @ NEW

A. Matinee 2pm.

S @ CHAPTER ARTS CENTRE - Reade new titles: Other Useful Numbers on, Out With It by Aled Islwyn and wis Davies. 8pm. £5 all tickets.

FF PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA.

NGHAM STAGE COMPANY @ NEW

A. Matinee 2pm. Until Sunday.

TER ARTS CENTRE - A unique probringing together innovative & disoss two nights. 8pm. £8 - £6.

VAL: BBC NATIONAL ORCHESTRA OF details.

NGHAM STAGE COMPANY @ NEW

NGHAM STAGE COMPANY @ NEW

IVAL: BBC NATIONAL ORCHESTRA

GOING OUT MONDAY FUN FACTORY @ SOLUS, SU - Cardiff’s own alternative music night.

This week the Students’ Union is at it again - it’s GO GREEN Week.

Also features DJing by Oddsoc and bands put on by LMS. 10pm - 2am.

Free entry with NUS. £3 otherwise.

MONDAY

VODKA JUNGLE @ VODKA REVOLUTION - The new alternative to Oceana as the ‘Jungle’ takes over at Cardiff’s New Chic Bar with upstairs club.

9pm - 2am. Admission: £3.

VODKA ISLAND @ TIGER TIGER - A classier option, popular with the singletons among us.

TUESDAY

DIGITAL @ OCEANA - After a weekend of being saturated with chav’s and meat heads enjoy a more relaxed atmos at Oceana. 10pm - 3am. £3.

TUESDAY BEST BEHAVIOUR @ JUMPIN JACKS - otherwise known as ‘naked tuesday’ due to regular stripping competitions.

Unfortunately, those that do strip are the those that get drunk enough to suppress their crippling sense of low self-esteem, and there are good reasons for this low self-esteem.. 9pm - 3am. £2 before 11, £3 after.

LIQUID - Crap.

WEDNESDAY RUBBER DUCK @ SOLUS, SU - Dressed up clubbing for jocks and pretend jocks. 10pm - 2am. £3.

IT’S YOUR EDUCATION @ OCEANA - Easily the busiest place on a Wednesday. 10pm - 3am. £3.

THURSDAY BOUNCE @ WALKABOUT - A sweaty cramped affair but bloody good fun...if you get drunk enough to forget where you are. I like it. 10pm - 3am. Price varies.

FRIDAY FAT FRIDAY/ ACCESS ALL AREAS @ SOLUS, SU - bit of this and a bit of that. Basically a poor man’s Come Play. 10pm - 2am. £3 BUFFALO - not too bad on a Friday.

SATURDAY COME PLAY @ SOLUS, SU - Saturday night mayhem, Union style.

10pm - 2am. £3.50.

BIG NIGHTS IN OCEANA, TIGER TIGER, LIFE, WALKABOUT, AQUA, BUFFALO - If you fancy a night off from the Play.

SUNDAY Give yourself a rest. I’d imagine you deserve it, probably.

Oh F*** I’m 40!: Richard Herring St David’s Hall ◆ 13/02/08 ◆ 8.00pm ◆ £9

Listings Editor Dan Jones Recommends

N

SOCIETIES

ow that Josie has calmed down, I can begin. Although I must say, she does have a point - well done Jose, fuck the system! Personally, I hate The Hoosiers too, but mainly because, I can’t grow a beard. Anyway, this bloke is clearly distressed about turning 40, so Richard Herring has returned to the stage after a year to make public his grievances about reaching this ripe old age.

Herring claims to have always been interested in comedy, with early influences including Monty Python and Rik Mayall, he even performed as a young lad, doing sketches for his fellow pupils in ‘underground’ gigs after school hours whilst in sixth form.

Whilst studying in Oxford he met fellow comic Stuart Lee and they basically fell in love (not in a gay way, probably). Together, along with other aspiring comedians, they created a small comic troupe called the Seven Raymond’s (but there was only six and, get this, none of them were called Raymond!!), and he also performed at the Edinburgh Fringe with the

“SWITCH ON SWITCH OFF” - Head over to the first floor of the Union for advice from the Energy Saving Trust. Cheaper bills for all! Also on today - “Dr. Bike” will be on the Union Steps... I’m assuming to give advice to all those who cycle.

RECYCLING DAY - The council’s “Recycling Trailer” will be outside the Union, and watch out for Green Police on the beat throughout the day.

WEDNESDAY LITTER PICK - Help tidy up the streets of our beloved Cathays by joining today’s litter pick. Meet in the TV lounge at 2pm.

CARDIFF UNI MARROW CLINIC - Student branch of the Anthony Nolan Trust are holding a sign up clinic for all those interested in being a bone marrow donor. All welcome. Upstairs at the Talybont Social.

THURSDAY ETHICAL CONSUMERISM DAY - Visit the Fairtrade and Ethical Consumerism stall, 1st floor of the Union.

FRIDAY It’s those Green Police again! They’ll be out and about in the union advising you on how you can be more environmentally and ethically aware.

SATURDAY FUN RUN, BUTE PARK - Meet at 11am on the Union steps to show your support for going green. Sign up via the facebook event page.

SUNDAY It’s time to take a break, but not from being green.

Oi! Listings needs YOU...

Does your club or society have future events that need publicising?

If the answer is “yes”, then the lovely people at Listings can help.

Simply email us the details of your event, and we’ll dedicate this column to letting the world know about it. LISTINGS@gairrhydd.COM

Oxford Revue. However, they got heckled off stage by a load of other comedians once, and Keith Allen sabotaged one of their live shows and dismissed them as private school tossers. An unfounded claim.

Herring consequently pooed himself and vowed never to return to comedy. But he did.

With Lee he wrote material for Armando Iannucci, and rumour has it that the duo came up with the initial concept of Alan Partridge.

Since ending his informal ‘partnership’ with Lee, Herring has penned material for Al Murray’s sit-com Time Gentlemen Please and has also contributed to scripts for Little Britain. However, since then his TV work hasn’t been quite as credible. In 2005 he hosted a pokerbased chat show on Sky channel 843, just after Heaven and Earth, With Jade Goody.

On his return to Cardiff Herring provides a classic style of standup which is effective and very funny. The star of BBC2’s Fist of Fun, Radio 2’s That Was Then This Is Now and international hit Talking Cock in his 22nd Edinburgh Fringe show. Herring reflects on solitude, Onanism, why you must sometimes walk alone and whether fantasies are best left unfulfilled. This is no ‘red-Herring’, he’s is genuinely good. Excellent.

sh Club), 11 Womanby Street 02920 232199 www.clwb.net ◆ Barfly, Kingsway, Tickets: 08709070999 www.barflyclub.com/cardiff ◆ Metros, Bakers Row 2190 ◆ Liquid, St. Mary Street 02920645464 ◆ The Philharmonic, 76-77 St. Mary Street 02920 230678 ◆ Café Jazz, 21 St. Mary Street 02920 387026 ff.co.uk ◆ Chapter Arts Centre, Market Road, Canton 02920 304400 www.chapter.org ◆ Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay 0870 0402000 www.wmc.org. atre.co.uk ◆ The Glee Club, Mermaid Quay 0870 2415093 www.glee.co.uk ◆ Cardiff International Arena, Mary Ann Street 02920 224488 ◆ The Millennium Newport Road) 02920 416192 ◆

gairrhydd

FEBRUARY.11.2008

37

XPRESS RADIO

XPRESS@gairrhydd.COM

the guide the guide the guide the guide monday

tuesday

wednesday thursday

friday

9am-11am Just the two of us with Alexis and Emma 11am-1pmThe Wade and Morrissey Takeover 1pm-3pmThe Great Al and Steve 3pm-5pm Rach in the Afternoon 5pm-6pm Faces For Radio 6pm-7.30pm Spotlight 730pm-9pm The Bronze 9pm-11pm Trash De Luxe 12.30am-2am On the Decks 2am Xpress Jukebox

9am-11am Sarah and Phil 11am-1pm Shaz and Hannah are the Angry Mob 1pm-2.30pmOld School with Caz and Lou 2.30pm-4pm The Stark and Moo Show 4pm-6pm For Your Ears Only with Rich and Gwil 6pm-7.30pm Chrome Cronin’ 7.30pm-9pm Glitches and Prose 9pm-10.30pm Urban Science 10.30pm-12am One Buk $how 12am-1am Road Trip 1am Xpress Jukebox

9am-11am Chit Chat with Carly 11am-1pm A Cup of Tea and a Biscuit with Lucy 1pm-3pmThe Weekly with Mike Thomas 3pm-5pm TNT 5pm-5.15pm Kate and Paul do the Sports show 5.15pm-6pm Back of the Net 6pm-7.30pm Methu Dawnsio 7.30pm-9.30pm The Exhibition 9.30pm-11pm Housemasters 11pm-12.30am Funktionality vs. Comato 2am - Xpress Jukebox

9am-11am The Kat and Ash Show 11am-1pm The Grapevine with Hannah and Soph 1pm-2.30pmThe Oli and Stefano 2.30pm-4pm Hits and Giggles with Claire and Louise 4pm-5.30pm Loud Noises 5.30pm-6pm Xpress Debate 6pm-7.30pm Jordi and Alec 7.30pm-9pm Transmission 9pm-10.30pm Signals over the Air 10.30pm-12am Thrift Store Show 12am-1am Thursday Night Lights 1am Xpress Jukebox

9am-11am We Love Fridays with Char 11am-1pm Suz and Nic’s Pic and Mix 1pm-2.30pm Ciao Bella with Amy Aiello 2.30pm-4pm 3 Men in a Room 4pm-6pm Girls on Top with Han and Jess 6pm-7.30pm Girls, Interrupted 7.30pm-9pm The Takeover 9pm-11pm Weekend Warmup 11pm-2am Live from AAA 2am Xpress Jukebox

as Benjamin John Power and Andrew Hung are here to bring you electro-goodness that’ll warm you from the inside.

With melodic keyboard solos layered over a base of distortion, their tunes are climactic to say the least and the tension they produce is almost unbearable. Signed to ATP Records, creators of the highly popular ATP festivals, Fuck Buttons will be making an appearance at the Pitchfork ATP in May of this year.

Supporting tonight, is fellow ATP artist Alexander Tucker. Born in Kent, Tucker creates music

that’s related to, but definitely different to that of the ’Buttons. Just as melodic, Tucker eases off the distortion and adds instead, harmonised vocals and a somewhat eerie atmosphere.

He provides the perfect introduction to what Fuck Buttons will offer later in the evening and will ease the hesitant attendee into what should prove to be a memorable night. ATP DJs take to the stage to round off the night, and having signed bands like Fuck Buttons and Alexander Tucker as well as the amazing Deerhoof, you’ll be left in good hands.

saturday

sunday

10.30am-11am Saturday Morning Speech: Upbeat Quiz 11am-12pm Saturday Morning Speech: Soapbox 12pm-2pm The Jack and Tom Delusion 2pm-4pm Jazz Society 4pm-5pm Classical Show 5pm-6pm [Insert Pun here} 6pm-8pm Radio Fun, Yeah?

8pm-10pm Saturday Night Therapy 10pm-12am A DnB Spectrum 12am JJ’s Lounge

10am-12pm Living for the Weekend with Matt and Carrian 12pm-2pm Get Roasted with Flic and Lucie 2pm-2.30pm eXposure 2.30pm-3.30pm Rock Solubalization 3.30pm-5pm Root Blue 5pm-7pm Xposed 7pm-8.30pm Dig Le Muzika 8.30pm-10pm The Classroom 10pm-12am Starfish and Coffee 12am Xpress Jukebox

gig of the week clwb ifor bach fuck buttons/alexander tucker/ATP DJs 8pm £6.50 Clwb hosts an evening of musical euphoria tonight with hotly tipped Fuck Buttons taking centre stage. If the name wasn’t enough to draw you in immediately, the Bristol based duo, also known

mainstream show of the week: for you ears only

xpress radio chart

Join Rich and Gwil every Tuesday at 4pm for your weekly hit of what has been described as, by world famous radio boffins, the most ecclectical show to hit the airwaves.

(Well…. maybe in a couple of years…)

Listen in for Celebrity Face-off: A battle of the titans as Rich and Gwil take each other on in a bid to identify the celebrity voice.

Another favourite feature is Papparazzi Pippa, where producer Pip updates Cardiff on all the latest and greatest celebrity gossip.

2. Los Campesinos – Broken Heart Beats Sound Like

1. Foals – Cassius Break Beats 3. These New Puritans – Elvis 4. The Teenagers – Love No 5. Johnny Foreigner – Some Party Scenes 6. The Futureheads – The Beginning of the Twist 7. The Kills – Cheap and Cheerful 8. Guillemots – Get Over It 9. Late of the Pier – The Bears Are Coming

specialist show of the week: roadtrip Roadtrip is presented by me, Lucy Dickens, and is the only show that will allow you to travel the world with just your radio! Each week we go travelling to a different place, and I endeavour to find the most diverse range of musical gems that I can from wherever we are. Roadtrip is a radio show that you cannot afford to miss, packed with awesome, crazy music, silly little facts and legendary b and battles, as well as me.

10. M.I.A – Paper Planes

tues: 4pm til 6pm

as judged by the xpress radio music team

wed: 11.30pm til 12.30am

38 gairrhydd

FEBRUARY.11.2008

PROBLEM PAGE

From the Desk of

TEd

PROBLEMPAGE@gairrhydd.COM

e m so

d n Ha

He’s a ruddy good lad.

Ted Handsome’s People I Would Rather Have As President of The USA An Occasional Series

Not a single one of the reprobates that are whoring themselves out to the American public as potential future Presidents, are fit to lick my expensive Gucci loafers. I’m pretty sure that I’m not only blacker than Barack Obama, but that I’m a better woman than Hillary Clinton and that my time in a Korean POW camp was much more difficult that John McCain’s. Therefore I have decided to compile my own list of presidential candidates, any of whom would make a brilliant leader of the free world

No. 1 - Hulk Hogan

‘I am a real American/I fight for the rights of every man.’ With these words, The greatest patriot to have ever lived, enters the ring of combat. With his oily muscles and crazy, crazy eyes, Do you really think that he’s going to take any shit from Islamic terrorists? No, he’ll chokeslam their ass through a table. A sure bet for the Republican candidate.

No. 2 - Snoop Dogg

Imagine if you will, a world in which the most powerful man in the world spoke entirely in rhyme and referred to everyone as his ‘cousin’.

Admittedly, we would have to paint the White house purple, and the Christian Right would be so apoplectic with rage that they may well shit their collective spleens out of their arse. Also a great deal more stylish than any of the other candidates, although may have problems recalling the names of any of the world leaders.

No. 3 - Paris Hilton

Hey guys, let’s all forget about all this terrorism and global warming, let’s just go get high and bang some dudes. Welcome to the political world of Paris Hilton. A simpler world, dominated by the simple pleasures of the colour pink, casual drug abuse and videotaping yourself having sex. What a delightful world that world must be. However, for us normal folks, we have to live in a drab and dank one, filled with worries such as having a job, worries which do not affect such a goddess as Paris. Global Warming? That’s hot.

A letter about organised fun Dear Ted, As your typical, run-of-the-mill student, I of course enjoy making a lot of noise and disrupting things.

Therefore, a pub crawl in which I can imbibe my own metric bodyweight in alcopops, and end up rutting with a pig in knickers on the sticky solus dancefloor is right up my street. In addition to this, I do enjoy a good bit of vandalism, and so the chance to draw crudely rendered penii and sexually agressive platitudes across the chest of a girl who really should know better. I was, therefore, wondering whether you had any tips on enforced fun and how to remove any semblance

of fun from the idea of binge drinking?

Yours, Sgt. Tim Pederast Splott Dear Tim There are very few things that I loathe more than a student pub crawl. Oh wait! Let me rephrase that; there are very few things that I loathe more than a golf themed student pub crawl. Seeing a gaggle of half-witted land management idiots brawing and bellowing, while simultaneously dressed like exactly the kind of idiots that would be banned from any self-respecting golf course.

Indeed, I am currently lobbying the Stoneleigh Deer Park Golf Club to ban any imbecile that insists on turning the collar of their Lacoste polo shirt up, and also to ban anyone wearing one of those awful sleeveless tanktops, the stupid bumhats. Again, I have realised that I have resolutely failed to offer any constructive advice, but let’s face it, these letters tend to only be a vehicle for my erratic and polarised views. I’m not even sure that a Sgt. Tim Pederast even exists.

Yours, Ted

A letter (from) America Dear Ted, ALRIGHT! USA! USA! USA! HEY YOU LIMEY FUCK, I HEAR YOU BEEN TALKING TRASH ABOUT GOD’S FAVORITE COUNTRY! YOU GUYS WOULD BE TALKING GERMAN OR FRENCH OR WHATEVER IF WE HADN’T COME AND BEATEN OSAMA BIN LADEN IN WORLD WAR 1. SO BEFORE YOU GO SHOOTING YOUR GODDAMN MOUTH OFF MAYBE YOU SHOULD STOP TO THANK US FOR INVENTING ENGLISH. GO GIANTS! Yours, Chuck Skidmark, Shitstab, USA Chuck,

It is de rigeur for snooty Europeans to attack Americans for being uncultured hicks who’s sole contribution to culture is the invention of the Big Mac. I, however, rise above such parochial concerns and embrace the Americas. I see our friends from over the Atlantic as wayward cousins. Wayward cousins, with a gun fixation and somewhat of a predication toward racism. And who are a bit thick. That said, America has given us some of the greatest things in the whole world. The Ramones, Charles Bukowski, Bill Hicks, Public Enemy and Robert De Niro. Admittedly they also gave us Foo Fighters, Eddie Murphy and Ricky Lake.

So, a relatively mixed cultural bag

as it were. Unfortunately, our irate American chum has failed to offer us a problem in his poorly spelled missive, and so my ace problem solving skills once again go unused.

So, in order to make up for my lack of advice, here is a picture of some kittens.

Yours, Ted

Dear fair reader, This week, I have mainly been pontificating upon the subject of baseball caps. I for one cannot understand this obsession the youth of this country have with these awful appurtenances. I very much doubt that anybody genuinely wears one of these bloody hats for the love of the ‘sport’. I was dragged to a match as part of one of my many transatlantic trips, and I can honestly say that without several Purple Hearts and small mountain of MDMA I can promise you that I would have taken my own life out of boredom. Clearly these youths are not wearing these hats out of necessity as there are about 12 minutes of sunshine a year in this country. Therefore, the only reason I can come up with for this strange trend is that all teenagers are morons. TH xxx

gairrhydd

FEBRUARY.11.2008

39

GRAB!

COMPETITIONS@gairrhydd.COM

WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN!

Access: James Righton of

The Klaxons

J

ames Righton, co-vocalist and keyboardist of London ‘nu-rave’ band The Klaxons will be DJing in Access All Areas on Friday 22nd February.

After studying Politics and History at our very own Cardiff University he went onto become part of The Klaxons. The doors will be 9pm - 3am in Solus at the Students’ Union and tickets will be the usual price. This is amazingly cheap considering it is only £3 from the box office or £3.50 on the door and you will get the chance to listen to the miracle sounds of a modern day top musician. Tickets will be sold from the cloakroom of AAA on the 8 and 15 Feb as pre sales and will then be on general sale from the box office on Monday 18 Feb (if there are any left).

AAA also presents Mani of the Stone Roses and Primal Scream on the 7 March.

Watch this space for a chance to win tickets for this gig. With all these cutting edge DJs and acts lined up for this term, AAA is definitely becoming the hottest night out for students every Friday.

To be in with a chance of winning a pair of tickets to see James Righton at Access All Areas simply answer the question below and email your name and address to the email address above: What does the word ‘klaxon’ mean in Greek? a) to bounce b) to shriek c) to read

Been Infected?

B

ack with a new edgier and faster album than every before, Sum 41 will be rocking the Students’ Union on the 23 February.

Their new album, Underclass Hero, was released last year and went down a storm in the US and UK. Their first single release from this album was Underclass Hero, followed by Walking Disaster. Sum 41 have played alongside notorious artists such as Ja Rule and Tenacious D. Rather than focusing on metal in this album they have concentrated more on a punk edge.

We have a pair of tickets to give away, all you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is to answer the question below and email your name and address to the email address above: Who is the wife of Sum 41’s lead vocalist Deryck Whibley? a) Avril Lavigne b) Sandi Thom c) Kate Nash

WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN! WIN!

40 gairrhydd

FEBRUARY.11.2008

SPORT

SPORT@gairrhydd.COM

The IMG Roundup

CARBS breeze by SOCSI Hannah Mitchell IMG Reporter CARBS A 17 - 8 SOCSI A

Economics A 29 - 5 Pharmacy A ECONOMICS dominated a fascinating match against a stoic Pharmacy team this Wednesday.

Scoring 14 goals in the first 15 minutes alone, Economics A lived up to their reputation as a ruthlessly effective side.

The game started with a brilliant passage of play from the Pharmacists, whose excellent passes and clever foot-

work led to an early lead.

It promised to be an exciting and evenly matched game as Pharmacy, the team at the bottom of the Premiership, bravely squared up to their opponents and refused to be intimidated by reputation. The first half reflected this determination as both teams fought their way to the goal posts at an exhilarating pace.

Towards the end of the first half, however, the Economics team began to demonstrate their prowess, intricately weaving the ball through the Pharmacy defence, quickly obliterating the scien-

L

Diff

Pts

CARBS A

4

3

1

0

17

10

2

Economics A

3

3

0

0

65

9

3

Law A

3

3

0

0

15

9

4

Economics B

4

2

0

2

11

6

5

Cardiff Uni IMG A

3

1

1

1

-4

4

6

CARBS B

4

1

0

3

0

3

7

SOCSI A

4

1

0

3

-18

3

8

Cardiff Uni IMG B

3

1

0

2

-18

3

9

Dentistry

3

1

0

2

-34

3

Cardiff Uni IMG B

3

0

0

3

-34

0

P

W

Division One

IMG NETBALL

NETBALL: Reach for the stars CARBS will hope to maintain their unbeaten record against a very strong Law A side next Wednesday. Meanwhile, SOCSI will take on a Cardiff

IMG B team that will desperately want to improve their Premiership league position.

Pharmacy’s day numbered by Economics Rhona Morris IMG Reporter

D

1

10

PHOTO: DAVE GREEN

CARBS PRODUCED a thrilling second half display to overcome a talented SOCSI side by nine goals.

The IMG Netball Premiership has so far continued in the same fashion as last season, with both CARBS and SOCSI emerging as strong league contenders.

However, both teams made a rather sluggish start in the cold conditions and descending darkness.

As the teams warmed up and settled into a rhythm, the score-line finally came to life, with goals being scored almost equally at each end.

CARBS, though, seemed to become frustrated by SOCSI’s resistance, and made a number of silly mistakes as a result. SOCSI failed to capitalize on these, however, and the game continued to be an end-to-end affair.

Both teams had to battle with difficult playing conditions throughout the game, which were described well by

one member of CARBS, who said “the ball was slippery like a fish!”

CARBS eventually gained some composure and managed to finish the half just one goal ahead.

The half-time motivational talk appeared to work wonders for the CARBS side. They returned to the match with a fiercely determined fighting spirit and quickly went ahead by several goals.

SOCSI attempted to pull it back and their shooters hardly missed an attempt despite futile shouts of ‘rebound!’ from the opposition.

As CARBS gained momentum and increased the goal difference they gained in confidence. They went on to win 17-8, although both teams were playing good netball up to the whistle.

There were several supporters at the game and this provided an atmosphere that is often lacking in IMG. These supporters seemed particularly taken with the CARBS Captain Natasha, describing her as “ripped”! Perhaps this may be an incentive for more supporters to come along to IMG matches and to back their teams.

Premiership

IMG NETBALL

tists’ hope of a victory.

The supremely effective goal scoring partnership of Economics’ Carla Sharrock and Katy Sharland produced some amazing results, showing no desire to economize on their lead as they opened the gap to 14-4 at half time.

After a few half-time substitutions Pharmacy seemed to come back with renewed fortitude and proved to have some considerable potential in their attacking threat.

They soon scored another goal, with their Goal Attack proving that sometimes quality is more memorable than

quantity, in a display of talent which she should be proud of. Unfortunately for the scientists, opportunities for the goal scorers were sparse due to the impeccable nature of the Economics defence.

The strength of the Pharmacy attack was not mirrored by their defence, which at times seemed as solid as the American stock market, allowing the Economics attack to take advantage and steal a further 15 goals before the end of the game.

It was clear that throughout the match, the Economists strength lay in their

P

W

D

L

Diff

Pts

1

MEDICS A

4

3

0

1

27

9

2

Engin Locomotive

3

3

0

0

27

9

3

English A

3

3

0

0

19

9

4

Christian Union

3

3

0

0

13

9

5

Law B

3

2

0

1

30

6

6

SOCSI B

3

1

0

2

3

3

7

GymGym

4

1

0

3

-29

3

8

Engin Numatics

3

0

0

3

-12

0

9

SAWSA A

3

0

0

3

-27

0

10

English B

3

0

0

3

-51

0

Division Two

IMG NETBALL P

W

D

L

Diff

Pts

1

J-Unit

4

3

1

0

24

10

2

Medics B

3

3

0

0

31

9

3

Psychology

3

2

1

0

26

7

4

Cardiff IWC A

2

2

0

0

9

6

5

Pharmacy B

2

1

0

1

-10

3

6

Biology

3

0

2

1

-3

2

7

Engin Automotive

3

0

0

3

-18

0

8

Optometry

2

0

0

2

-20

0

9

Cardiff IWC B

4

0

0

4

-39

0

10

N. Journos

/

/

/

/

/

/

teamwork as they battled the tiredness which had appeared to consume and halt the progress of the Pharmacists.

An Economics spokesperson wanted to congratulate the Pharmacy team on their efforts in the game, saying that ‘it was a clean match. The Pharmacy team engaged in fair play and made some great attacks at times’.

Clearly then, both teams can walk away with pride, knowing that they engaged in a challenge fairly and learnt some valuable lessons.

IMG SNAPS: Chemsoc of the season?

team chant?

Where do you go for

To build on our one win and

Plenty of originals, like

a team social?

finish in the top half.

“Chemsoc ‘til I die!”

The Royal George, followed by any establishment

Who’s your key player?

Best team talk?

where we can write off

Alex Dribble - the centre half

Just lots of swearing.

our Thursday lectures.

and occasionally pops up to

Which team gives

If your team was an ani-

score some scuffed goals,

the best banter?

mal, what would it be?

before performing his trademark

We all live in one big house

A mongoose, the filthi-

Shefki Kuqi celebration.

with the CARBS players

est of all the rodents.

has been solid this season CHEMSOC: Locals at the George

What are your main

been a top division side.

achievements so far?

We won Division One three

What are your expec-

years ago. Ever since, we have

tations for the rest

which provides excellent

Do you have a

banter on and off the pitch.

PUT YOUR TEAM IN THE SPOTLIGHT... E-mail us at sport@gairrhydd.com

gairrhydd

FEBRUARY.11.2008

41

SPORT

SPORT@gairrhydd.COM

THE WORD ON...

...the Big 4’s dominant rule over British football Pete Dean Sports Editor

O

ne of the great joys of sport is its unpredictability. Teams entering competitions always have a chance, however slight, of winning. How we marvelled when an unheralded Greek team won Euro 2004, brushing aside the technically superior French, Czech Republic and Portuguese squads.

Liverpool’s Champions’ League triumph in 2005 was all the sweeter because they were underdogs throughout the knock-out stages of the competition. Can we, however, delight in the unpredictability of the English Premiership when the same ‘big four’ teams top the table every year?

Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool are the only teams consistently challenging in England’s best league and in the domestic and European cups.

The oldest and most dramatic sport of them all is starting to become all too predictable.

In the past 12 seasons only three clubs have won the Premier League title. Chelsea have won the league twice, Arsenal have won it three times and Manchester United’s dominance of English football in the mid-nineties has allowed them to amass seven Premier League trophies. Liverpool must also be considered amongst this elite group: not only do they regularly finish in the top four positions but they are also one of the few teams that have a realistic chance of defeating the other top clubs on a consistent basis. Having won the Champions League in 2005 and reaching the final two years later, Liverpool are a force to be reckoned with domestically and in Europe.

And the dominance of this elite group of teams shows little sign of abating. Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea are already unstoppable at the top of the table.

Realistically, the only team that can catch them is Liverpool. Rafa’s army are currently a point behind their Merseyside rivals, Everton, but with a game in hand and a stronger squad, they look likely to make that fourth position their own.

The problem with this stagnancy at the top of the Premiership is that there is less for the other teams to play for.

Unless the likes of Tottenham Hotspurs or Aston Villa get investors on the same scale as Ambramovich they are only going to be competing for a UEFA Cup spot. The issue is self-perpetuating because the top four teams get into the Champions League and profit from the revenue that they can gain in television rights. This money allows them to invest in developing the club and buying better players.

Arsenal have recently moved into the plush Emirates Stadium that will yield high revenue from fans willing to pay good money to see the likes of Cesc Fabregas and Alexander Hleb. Equally, Liverpool will profit from their new stadium in Stanley Park. All of the ‘big four’ clubs are marketed shrewdly and attain a high degree of merchandise sales at home and abroad. All of this means more money for richer clubs and a widening gap between the rich and the not-so-rich British teams.

World-class foreign talent such as Fernando Torres and Carlos Tevez is in-

credibly exciting for a spectator of the Premiership but they will always be attracted to the ‘big four’ teams that can guarantee them Champions League football and afford their astronomical wage demands. Only teams that can more-or-less guarantee a top four Premiership position have the financial security and the status to attract the best foreign players.

Teams that cannot guarantee such a position must gamble if they are to compete. The plight of Leeds United is testament to the dangers of this wager. Former chairman Peter Risdale will always be criticized for investing substantially in his squad at the beginning of the decade because his team were crippled with debt when they were relegated in 2004. However, the club were only showing ambition- an ambition that can be a risky business for teams outside the top four.

Everton have shown that it is possible to break into the ‘big four’ but with substantially less finances they were unable to bring together a squad large enough to compete on both domestic and European fronts.

Indeed, the year after achieving fourth position the overstretched Toffees only just avoided relegation.

Even in La Liga, the Spanish premier division that is traditionally dominated

by Barcelona and Real Madrid, there is greater fluidity in the table. In the last

seven years, four different teams have won the title. Barcelona or Real will probably win this year but the league has been consistently exciting over the last few years because Villarreal, Deportivo de La Coruna, Real Sociedad and Valencia have broken into the top two positions. The Premier League is often talked about – by fans and pundits alike – as the best league in the world but La Liga and Serie A offer more excitement for a fan of a team that is not phenomenally wealthy.

La Liga and Serie A offer more excitement for any fan This stagnancy at the top of the Premiership can also be compared with the amount of potential challengers for the title in earlier years. Seven teams won the old First Division between 1970 and 1980. This was a period in which each of the top four positions could frequently change. A less predictable league allows the fans of every team to feel that they have a genuine chance to challenge for the title each year. Contrast this with the plight of teams like Fulham and Wigan in the 2007/8 Premiership League whose primary concern year-on-year is to avoid relegation.

English football has, nevertheless, always had teams that dominate the

top league places. In the 1980s, Liverpool won the old First Division seven times. Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal are big clubs that have always been a force to be reckoned with. However, even in the 1980s there wasn’t the same predictability about the top of the league that we have now. Liverpool may have been imperious at the top of the league but comparatively smaller teams could still finish high up in the league Watford and Southampton are two such clubs that finished runners up in 1983 and 1984 respectively.

Matches between the ‘big four’ are highly anticipated encounters but there is a sense that this hype takes the focus away from the rest of the league.

Sky’s promotion of a Super Weekend of matches between these clubs before Christmas took an element of the interest away from the traditional Christmas fixtures.

The top four Premiership teams undoubtedly bring extraordinarily talented players to our stadiums and television screens. To have the likes of Tomas Rosicky and Christiano Ronaldo gracing our top teams might be considered an equal trade off for a stagnant and predictable league. Nonetheless, one cannot help but feel nostalgic when thinking of the sporting past - a past in which every fan has the chance of seeing their club attaining real success and in which even Derby County could be champions of England.

42 gairrhydd

FEBRUARY.11.2008

SPORT

SPORT@gairrhydd.COM

Here Comes The Fun Run Scott D’Arcy Sports Editor

THIS YEAR’S instalment of the AU Fun Run is a chance for students, whether they play sport for an AU club or are casual gym users, to vote with their feet.

After the success of last year’s Fun Run, AU President, Ben Turner, hopes that the momentum can be maintained so that the university will pledge further

investment: “Facilities are the critical factor in enabling students to participate in physical activity and therefore reap the benefits of exercise”.

The Invest in Sport campaign has seen greater investment in sport by the university over the past year, with new rubber crumb all-weather pitches about to be installed at Talybont and new clubs being added to an already diverse list. However, there is still more to be done and the campaign will not cease until the sporting facilities

reflect the international reputation of the University.

The AU and its members still feel that the University needs to provide greater strategic direction regarding sport and physical activity and want to maintain the momentum of the previous year to ensure that further commitment is made to improving the sporting infrastructure. The last substantial investment of this kind was almost 20 years ago and in 2007 the Times Good University Guide ranked Cardiff last

Last year, 400 bottles of water were drunk by Fun Run participants

out of six listed Welsh universities with regard to sports facilities.

The short-term goals of the Invest in Sport campaign are to acquire further investment for purpose-built tennis courts to be built at Talybont simultaneously with the rubber crumb pitches.

The AU wants to see a reflection of the commitment they have towards developing sport at all levels, whether it be in IMG or BUSA. By taking part in the Fun Run students can show their support for the AU and bring recogni-

tion to the fact that sporting facilities need improvement.

The Fun Run will take place on Saturday 16 February and participants should meet on the Union steps at 11am. The run is approximately 5km around Bute Park. It is open to all and free to enter and for the first 250 there will be a free Invest in Sport t-shirts; all you need to do is to turn up.

For more information search for the Invest in Sport group on Facebook and join the related Fun Run event.

The 5k Women’s World Record is 14.16.63, set by Meseret Defar in 2007

Ethiopian runner Kenenisa Bekele holds the current Men’s World Record over 5,000m @ 12.37.35 Over the 3 mile course, you will make around 150 steps per minute

Female runners can expect to use around 150 calories

The calories you will burn is the equivalent of having 2 Tesco’s Finest shortbread biscuits

Eat a banana before the Fun Run: they replenish necessary carbohydrates, glycogen and body fluids burned during exercise Male entrants will burn about 200 calories in the 5k run

gairrhydd

FEBRUARY.11.2008

SPORT

SPORT@gairrhydd.COM Naomi Johnson Fencing Reporter CARDIFF’S FENCERS were part of the country’s contingent of student fencers flock en masse to Nottingham University for the BUSA Individual Championships.

Over 600 fencers took part, setting a high standard with fierce competition for the top spots. Hayley Porter and Morwenna Perrott fought their way through the Women’s Epee rankings while Andy McLeod, Peter Russell, Gareth Crowther, Luis Santos, Chris Markall and Tom Goble showed off their nifty blade work in the Men’s Foil. With strong fights all round the day was deemed a great success. This was particularly well highlighted by Club President, Mcleod, achieving a ranking of 16th by the end of the day.

Day two saw the Men’s Sabre and the Women’s Foil get underway. It was a day of fantastic fencing, eventually

culminating in Markall reaching the final of the Sabre and Perrott advancing as far as the semi-final stage of the Women’s Foil. With every wellexecuted hit and tactical move from their fencers, the remaining members of the team were cheering their fencers on raucously from the sidelines through both nail-biting matches.

However despite both fighting exceptionally, neither were able to prevail against their opponents. Markall missed out on the top spot in a pointfor-point match against Francesco Egro from Bristol, while Perrott lost in closely fought bout against Lydia Johnson; the Captain of local rivals Swansea. The excellent results of 2nd and 3rd respectively topped off a very successful weekend for all the Cardiff Uni fencers. It was a result that will no doubt spur them on to dominate the tableau at the forthcoming Welsh Student Championships, which take place later this term.

Markell misses out

FENCING: Boo-Yar

Pukka BUKC

Swim when you’re winning TRAMPOLINING: Mentalists

Cardiff bounce on Lauren Grew Trampolining Reporter

CARDIFF TRAMPOLINING CLUB impressed at the BUSA Southern Regional Qualifiers in Bristol, with a remarkable 11 members of the Cardiff squad progressing to the finals in Manchester.

This feat is all the more impressive given that the event is the largest of the three regional qualifiers and was keenly contested, with the Cardiff team facing stiff competition from the Universities of Exeter, Southampton, Bath and the hosts Bristol themselves.

The day began with the first of four flights for Novice Ladies. Unlike previous years, this category was no longer capped at ten entrants per club and consequently there was a record number of competitors - 107 in total.

With only the top ten going through to the finals in Manchester it was going to be a nervous wait for those on first. Nevertheless, Cardiff succeeded

KARTING: Fun

CARDIFF UNIVERSITY Motorsports club competed impressively in the British University Karting Championship (BUKC), held at Whilton Mill Kart track recently.

The event was a highly competitive affair, with over 50 universities competed over nine gruelling rounds. There was early optimism for the Cardiff Club with the A-team looking to build on its championship finish of 22nd last year, and the B-team seeking to blood in new talent for future seasons.

The morning round is made up of six individual races that are short sprint races lasting 25 minutes. These started well with President David Rocke bringing it home in 11th from a low grid start in tricky conditions.

However, the morning belonged to B-team driver Sam Potter, who finished 4th in his first BUKC race, ahead of Chris Lipscomb in 6th. This is the best finish the club has had for a number of years in the individual race. The final positions for Round One saw the Ateam finished 15th with the B-team an impressive 18th.

The afternoon team races did not quite go to plan. These races consist of two drivers competing in the same team over an hour race, with a mandatory two pit stops required. Poor weather and engine problems hampered any chances of a good finished; however, there were signs of encouragement to be had.

The next round is at Buckmore Park, Kent, where a podium finish will be the aim for the Cardiff Motorsports Club.

in securing four of the ten qualification spots courtesy of Eva Murray, Jess Phipps, Laura Price and Sally Wood.

In a closely matched Novice Mens category James Bell also qualified.

These successes were later matched

by Marianna York-Smith, Kim Atkins and Kathryn Williams who all placed in the top ten in the Intermediate ladies category, where the standard was especially high this year. The afternoon saw the Intermediate Men take to the beds with Craiger Solomons achieving first place and ensuring his spot in the final.

The day was concluded with the Advanced Ladies category with some elaborate voluntary routines on show and the benchmark for qualification was high. Two impressive performances from both Liz Hills and Naomi Ellis saw them finish in the top ten.

Captain Liz Hills commented: “The weekend was a great success. Everyone performed well and team spirit was evident throughout the day, making it an enjoyable event”.

Snooker Seconds second best in Final Neil Fairbrother Snooker Reporter

Henry Williams Motorsport Reporter

43

CARDIFF UNIVERSITY SNOOKER Club took two teams to the Midlands University Snooker Championships in Coventry, hosted

by Warwick University, to face teams from Nottingham, Imperial College London, Warwick and York.

The Firsts competed in a league of a very high standard, which contained some of the best student snooker players in the UK. They performed admirably in defeat, losing each game a close 6 - 4. Particularly impressive performances came from Captain Rupert Taylor and Dev Chadha, the latter only losing one frame in the team event against some very tough opponents.

The second team competed in a round-robin group of three which was the prelude to the final of the reserve event; the winner of each of two groups would compete for the reserve team prize. They were drawn in a group with Warwick 3rds and York 3s, giving them a great chance of making the final.

In their first match, Cardiff pulled off a dominant 7 - 3 win over York, and needed only to draw with Warwick to make the final after the

Warwick side had beaten York 6 - 4.

Cardiff suffered an early setback in the decider, going 4 - 0 down. However, Richard Jones, Dan Peacey and Captain Neil Fairbrother all managed to pull off 2 - 0 wins to win the game for Cardiff and put them through to the final.

In the final, Cardiff came up against Warwick Seconds, who have only failed to retain the reserve title once (in 2003). Cardiff started better than they had against the Warwick 3rds, going 2 - 1 up through Bikram Banerjee and Fairbrother, with frames later being added for Cardiff by Matthew Cheng and Peacey, before the Warwick team pulled back into a 5 - 4 lead. The final frame was a very close black ball game, with Warwick just edging Cardiff 6-4 for the title.

In the reserve individual knockout competition, Jones of Cardiff 2s managed to reach the semi-final, eventually going out 2 - 1 in a close game to the eventual winner of the competition. He also made the highest break in the reserve team with a 30 break in the team game against York.

The Snooker Club are now looking forward to the BUSA championship finals weekend in March, and hoping to build on what was a positive weekend of snooker in Coventry.

Henry Gates Waterpolo Reporter

WATERPOLO: Horse drowners

IT’S ALL GOING swimmingly for Cardiff University’s water polo teams in this year’s BUSA competition.

The Men’s squad travelled to Bristol to take on Bath, Southampton and Bristol in the first round of this year’s competition. Under the captaincy of Dave Hinder, the men’s team comfortably beat two of their three opponents.

Bristol put out a strong side with their star Joel Thomas scoring four of the home side’s eight goals that won them the match. Despite the defeat, Dan Laxton put five shots passed the Bristol ‘keeper.

A struggling Southampton put four goals past Cardiff ‘keeper Tom Nelson, but that was nothing compared to the 11 goals that were powered home by the ruthless Cardiff side. Skilful goals were recorded by Chris Keen, Harry Gates, Ray Gilbert and another from Laxton.

Cardiff similarly trashed Bath 12 – 4 displying strength, speed and composure, leaving the Men feeling extremely confident about the rest of the competition.

The Women’s team graced Cardiff’s brand new international pool as they comfortably won the day’s competition.

Goals from Jennifer Myo contributed to an 11 – 0 victory over Southampton and an 8 – 0 victory over Bath.

The final match saw a 4 – 3 victory to Cardiff over old rivals UWIC. This match was a lot closer than the rest but as ever the Ladies showed no signs of letting up under the captaincy of Emma Colley, as they blended calculated experience with a talented array of youth, which proved to be a competition winning formula. The women’s team now progress to the semi-finals as clear favourites.

Club President Jack Broadfoot commented: “Obviously we are happy with progressing safely through the first round. We have an excellent record in the BUSA competition and provided we train hard over the next few weeks there’s no reason why both teams shouldn’t be amongst the medals again come March”.

Both teams compete at the highest level in the BUSA hierarchy, and after reaching third and second place respectively last year, with the club feeling extremely eager to bring back gold medals in what should prove to be an enthralling and captivating competition.

Sport 14 gairrhydd

gairrhydd

FEATURES

OCTOBER.22.2007

INSIDE: The Fun Run returns to Cardiff’s streets, FEATURES@gairrhydd.COM and the consequences of the big 4’s dominance

DFGH

Cardiff Mens Firsts 16 v 10 Bristol Mens Firsts

CARDIFF WIN BATTLE OF BRISTOL Cardiff finally gain that elusive victory as Varsity looms Whilst Captain Aled Mason hails “a great squad effort” Gethin Thomas Rugby Reporter THIS SEASON has undoubtedly been one of transition for Cardiff University Men’s Rugby First team.

Losing three quarters of last years first and second teams, including inspirational leaders and quality players like Matt Hopper, Jon Hill and Geoff Hobbs has been difficult for the squad. These players were not just great university players but competed at Welsh and English Premiership level.

At Bristol on Wednesday, the Freshers - Jack Perkins, Rob Jones, Joe

Caunt, Hugh Thomas, Myles Hopper and Iain McClure - all played a huge part in the victory. The reintroduction of Dave Lewis at scrum-half and his partnership with Perkins at fly-half was also a major contributory factor in the performance but the accolade for man-of-the-match was highly deserved by Michael Winter who put in an outstanding performance.

Week-in-week-out Cardiff talk about leaving nothing on the pitch, giving everything you have for 80 minutes and on Wednesday Winter epitomised this concept.

Captain and loose-head prop Aled Mason also added that it was the ‘best performance of the season’ for

the team. He was keen to praise the support that the team received: “There were a lot of boys cheering us on from the touchline, it was a great squad effort.”

“The best peformance of the season” Despite this winning performance and the fact that there are two further games left against UWIC at home and Exeter away Cardiff University Rugby

-GAIR RHYDD AND QUENCH MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED BY UNIVERSITY UNION CARDIFF, PARK PLACE, CARDIFF CF10 3QN

Club 1st XV will be almost certainly be relegated to the BUSA Premiership B league at the end of this season.

It’s not all doom and gloom however, as the Men’s club future looks rosy as a highly promising Freshers’ team have won all their matches bar two against respective opposition first fifteens.

The players to watch out for next season are Freshers’ captain Ashleigh Morey, second rows Mirt Sujuvic and David Moore, No.8 Chris ‘Beefy’ Allen and the highly promising prop Ian Thomas.

Talented backs include Nathan Flye, Jack Perkins, Steffan Evans and Nick Turner.

Cardiff have spent most of the

season looking for a balanced first team, never selecting the same squad twice and it is only now that the team looks settled. For next season Cardiff will retain first team squad members Aled Mason, Aaron Fowler, Andrew Cassidy, Joe Caunt, Tom Penry-Ellis, Hugh Thomas, Mike Winter, Mat Strong, Rob Jones, Jack Perkins, Harri Wynn-Morgan, Tom Cooper, Myles Hopper, John Gait, Ollie Jenkins and Mike Schrofer.

Along with the Freshers of this season and a new crop of talent coming through next year, Cardiff Mens’ First Team stand in a strong position to get back into the Premier A league.

REGISTERED AS A NEWSPAPER AT THE POST OFFICE GAIR RHYDD RESERVES THE RIGHT TO EDIT ALL CONTRIBUTIONS THE VIEWS EXPRESSED ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THE PUBLISHERS THE GAIR RHYDD IS WRITTEN, DESIGNED, TYPESET AND OUTPUT BY STUDENTS OF CARDIFF UNIVERSITY n ANDY WILLIAMS ADDS ANOTHER ‘HIT’ TO HIS BEST OF COLLECTION: GR EDIOTR'S RIGHT EYE n BARRY MASON IN 'I'M BIGGER AND BETTER THAN BIG PHIL' SHOCK CLAIM n HITCHINS REVEALS ALL TO ALL WHO CARE: PRETTY MUCH JUST AMY nDEAN AND D’ARCY CONSUME DAIQUIRI’S NIGHTLY SUPPLY OF CHILLI ON ONE HELLA SPICY BURRITO nRUMOUR: QUENCH ARE ALSO GOOD AT BAILING ON SOCIALS nNEWS, FEATURES AND HEWISH GET COSY IN MEXICO nSOPPY BOLLOCKS PAWLEY CAN’T HANDLE HIS ALCOHOL nBARCELONA! nTHE GENE GENIE RETURNS!

32 gairrhydd FEBRUARY.11.2008

TELLY

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SUNDAY Lifeline BBC1 4:50pm

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17th February Michael Bay’s birthday

Smirnoff Experience The Man in the Iron C4 12.35am Mask five 6.30pm

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6:00am Breakfast 7:50am Match of the Day 9:00am The Andrew Marr Show 10:00am The Big Questions 11:00am Countryfile 12:00pm The Politics Show 12:35pm The Politics Show 12:55pm The Politics Show

6:00am CBBC 10:00am Something for the Weekend 11:30am Animal Park 12:00pm To Be Announced

6:00am The Sunday Programme 7:25am Spider-Man 7:50am CITV 10:00am Championship Goals 11:00am Soccer Sunday 11:40am Great Welsh Roads 12:10pm Barry Island 12:50pm ITV News and Weather

6:10am The Hoobs 6:35am Trans World Sport 7:30am Barcelona World Race 7:55am World Cup Skiing 8:50am T4:The OC 9:50am T4:Hollyoaks Omnibus 12:25pm T4:Vanity Lair

6:00am Kids TV 10:45am Desert Giants: Austin Stevens’ Adventures 11:50am The Grass Harp

1:00pm Cash in the Attic 1:45pm Match of the Day Live 4:05pm Diagnosis Murder 4:50pm Lifeline

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1:00pm ITV Wales News and Weather 1:05pm Midsomer Murders 3:10pm Agatha Christie’s Poirot

1:30pm T4:The Hills 2:00pm T4:Friends 2:35pm T4:Smallville: Superman the Early Years 3:35pm T4:The Simpsons 4:05pm T4:The Simpsons 4:40pm Terror in Frostbite Canyon

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5:00pm Songs of Praise 5:35pm BBC News and Regional News

5:05pm Zulu Dawn 5:15pm Scrum V

5:45pm Time Team

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6:00pm Ski Sunday 7:00pm Snooker: Welsh Open 2008

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6:45pm Channel 4 News 7:00pm Our Big Fairtrade Adventure 8:00pm Wife Swap

6:15pm five news and sport 6:30pm The Man in the Iron Mask

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10:00pm George Melly’s Last Stand 11:00pm Storyville

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12:45am Weatherview 12:50am Sign Zone:Around the World in 80 Gardens 1:50am Sign Zone:Holby City 2:50am Sign Zone:Watchdog 3:20am Sign Zone:Wanted Down Under 4:05am Joins BBC News 24

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PICK OF THE DAY The Man in the Iron Mask, five, 6.30pm Hot off his Titanic success beloved Leonardo DiCaprio plays duel roles in this period piece.

Leo fans rejoice as although he plays the title role he also spends plenty of time out of the mask doing some acting and being generally pretty. Seemingly hundreds of great actors fill the supporting roles including John Malkovich and the always impressive Hugh Laurie. Plenty of wigs, swords and frilly cuffs will keep you amused if the eye candy isn’t enough for you.

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