gair rhydd - Issue 897

Sport gairrhydd

INSIDE: IMG netball reaches its conclusion, Sport Comment and The Word On Formula One's latest controversy

JOY RIDING

Nathan Hughes Sports Reporter

STUDENT RIDERS from across the UK travel to compete in the annual Mountain Bike BUCS – a one-off championship race for downhill, cross country and 4x.

This year the event visited the somewhat unlikely venue of the UK

Bike Park in Dorset. Some feared it would not live up to the standards set

by Wales and Scotland in previous years, but it was well-organised and competitive event.

The course was extremely short at around one and a half minutes long, but held just enough awkward corners plastered with tree roots to entertain.

One particularly harsh corner and a road gap jump into a rock garden

meant the crowd were treated to some massive spills and the riders introduced to a good deal of foliage.

The downhill event saw 15 committed riders representing Cardiff University Mountain Bike Team (CUMT), however, the squad was lacking some of the big names crucial to its success in previous years, in which they have won three championship titles.

Thankfully, the young guns managed to get the job done. Downhill captain, Will Laws, rode extremely well to place eighth among the sponsored riders in a field of 300.

Ricky Chester and George May also rode well, both securing top 25 places to help Cardiff to fifth among all competing Universities. Top spot in the end was taken by Liverpool University, but nevertheless it was an

all round success for CUMT with all riders finishing within the top 60.

Saturday night was host to some wickedly fast 4x racing under floodlights, before the cross-country event of the Sunday. With 6 laps of a tumultuous course to negotiate, the challenge was never going to be easy but the Cardiff team put on another great performance to finish respectably in the middle of the field.

GAIR RHYDD AND QUENCH MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED BY UNIVERSITY UNION CARDIFF, PARK PLACE, CARDIFF CF10 3QN n REGISTERED AS A NEWSPAPER AT THE POST OFFICE n GAIR RHYDD RESERVES THE RIGHT TO EDIT ALL CONTRIBUTIONS n THE VIEWS EXPRESSED ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THE PUBLISHERS nGAIR RHYDD IS WRITTEN, DESIGNED, TYPESET AND OUTPUT BY STUDENTS OF CARDIFF UNIVERSITYn "IT WOULD BE LIKE GETTING LAID IN A NUNNERY"n RICH TOO BIG TIME FOR GAIR RHYDD nAPPARENTLY WE ARE HOLDING HIM BACKn BRYANT: "KISSING A GRANDMA IS NOT DISSIMILAR TO PUTTING YOUR LIPS ON MY COLD POTATO"n BARLOW: "I LIKE THIN ONES"n JACK NEVEIN PIMPS OUT JOSH PETTIT FOR MONDAY NIGHT BEASTINGnALI: "YOU DO ME. I'D TAKE ANYTHING"nTEAM SPORT ARE CHAMPION BEASTERS.nJOSLIN ELOPES TO D'ARCY'SnLIZ WRAY:HIDE AND SEEK CHAMPION KENYANS nBARLOW PECKS WOOD nBIMBOS

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ISSUE 897 MAY 18 2009

CARNIVAL RIOT: WHEN FESTIVALS GET OUT OF CONTROL Features, Page 20

BLACKOUT! Power cut disrupts Great Hall exam News, page 5

BAD TIMES

Cramped exam timetables leave students stressed, frustrated and exhausted as assessments get underway Emma Barlow News Editor Stressed students have criticised Cardiff University for compiling extremely demanding exam timetables.

Many students have complained that their timetables are far too compact and are being compiled without any consideration given to the dates of coursework deadlines.

Nick Yates, Education and Wel-

fare Officer, explained to gair rhydd how timetables are put together: “The University make up timetables by feeding information into a computer programme that adheres to Senate regulations on minimum spacing between exams, and then it churns out a timetable. However, it pays no attention to coursework deadlines.”

With such an apparent disregard for coursework deadlines, students are being put under tremendous pressure to complete coursework while revising for important end of year exams.

A spokesperson for the University said: “The exam timetable(s) for the main University examination periods are produced centrally by the University, with input provided by all Schools.

“The timetable is constructed to meet the scheduling guidelines of the University, which are contained within the University Assessment regulations.”

However, it seems as if third year students are being especially affected by hectic schedules as their exam period finishes earlier in order to get all

internal and external marking completed in time for graduation in July.

Final year Engineering student Matthew McQuibban feels that having his coursework deadlines so close together, and near the exam period, has had negative affects already.

He said: “My dissertation was very demanding, sitting at a computer took it out of me and I felt that I was so sleep deprived that by the end I couldn’t write any of it up well enough to convey how hard I’d worked over the year. It was a real low point in my life and I heavily

relied on support from family and friends.

“I missed a load of lectures because I was spending all my time writing my dissertation and now I’m screwed for exams.”

Matthew had another assessed group project to complete for last week, and said: “It would have been nice to start revising. I feel they should have spread the coursework deadlines out a lot better.”

Continued on page 4

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gairrhydd | NEWS@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY DECEMBER 3 2008

Table manners

Guardian and Independent university league tables yield mixed results for Cardiff University Sarah Powell News Editor The Guardian and The Independent have published their University league tables for 2010, revealing mixed results for Cardiff University's performance.

The Independent's tables suggest that Cardiff has moved up in the rankings, while The Guardian's figures show an 11 place slide since last year.

Both tables place Cardiff beneath most of the other Russell Group Universities, such as Warwick, Bristol and Manchester.

The major difference between the two tables is that The Independent's table takes into account a research assessment, while The Guardian's does not.

The ranking method used for The Guardian weights the student-staff ratio (17%) above the categories of teaching quality, which is weighted at 10% and assessment feedback, weighted at 5%.

Under the teaching and assessment categories, the number shown is the percentage of final year students who are satisfied or very satisfied.

Despite the overall low ranking in The Guardian's table, the results show that 86% of students overall are satisfied with teaching, whilst 53% are satisfied with feedback.

Cardiff was awarded with a Guardian score of 64.3 out of 100, which is derived from score given in the other seven categories. The Independent gave it a similar score of 645 out of 1000.

Alongside the general university

rankings, there is a full list of subject rankings.

Figures here show that Cardiff is performing excellently in some areas, ranked in The Guardian's top 20 for Architecture, Dentistry, Civil Engineering, Pharmacy and Psychology.

A pertinent area of disappointment, however, arises from Cardiff’s ranking for Medicine.

The Independent's table shows that Cardiff Medicine students still have the lowest student satisfaction rating in the country. However, Cardiff's research rating appears to have improved its overall score, placing Cardiff at 21 out of 31 institutions overall.

The Guardian's rankings, which do not take into account research, placed Cardiff at 29 out of 30 positions.

In these rankings Cardiff had the lowest percentage of satisfied students in the feedback category (19%), and the second lowest percentage for the number of students satisfied with teaching (76%) In response to the results, Tom Wright, President of MedSoc, said: “It's extremely disappointing that Cardiff has come so low in the rankings.

“However, both student feedback and overall satisfaction have been addressed in a big way by the staff this year, and I think it's important to realise that it's going to take a while before statistics accurately reflect this.”

Despite the results, Tom was very positive about the Cardiff experience, telling gair rhydd: “I think I can speak for almost all of my friends and colleagues when I say I wouldn't want to study Medicine anywhere else. I love Cardiff, and I personally feel like I am getting a good education.”

02 Nmedical EWS

Guardian league tables and summarised results:

University

Guardian Ranking Ranking Ranking 2008 2009 2010 score 2010

Oxford

100

1

1

1

Cambridge

97

2

2

2

Bristol

68.1

14

31

29

Not'ham Trent 64.8

58

41

42

Cardiff

64.3

22

33

44

Plymouth

61.1

35

48

51

UWIC

56

76

77

65

Independent league tables and summarised results:

Ind'dent score 2010

Ranking Ranking Ranking 2008 2009 2010

1000

2

1

1

Cambridge

947

1

2

2

Bristol

734

7

16

16

Not'ham Trent 592

56

52

46

Cardiff

645

27

37

36

Plymouth

468

57

70

75

UWIC

498

74

65

65

University Oxford

Oliver Bazin 5.

LOW EXPECTATIONS - Christofer Lloyd

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Natioan gs nadl Student Su rvey reve mes rankin students to als Cardiff places in Ti be the least Medicine ty slides 34 Sarah Powe de rsi wi satisfied in ive ll rld Un News Edito ing s wo nd tie r fu Cardiff rsi the UK ty ive rsi un ive un 100 UK top of of t re ou tu s fu drop over te ba de k ar Rankings sp

tion and manag ement The most notabl of the course.

Results publis Union their e areas in mainta in in which indica , said that the results are able tohed the National Medicine students at be Surve Stude willnt a “true Cardiff expres tion of how the dissatisfactio y (NSS) this ng stitutions Ongoi sed said: reveal that ns: past year, includi “There is a needstudents feel”. He nicatio ng problems with cur-month sation, wheren are in the course organi current positio Medicine ion the table in the commustudents Cardi - ment n, exami Higher Educat for more only 27% agreed ff Unive Times g at “The sity spokesperson Cambridge and Oxford. rsity expre the growin that the the in certain areas to help invest- investment in nations and a lack of ss the least course was well organi satisfaction Cambridge A Cardiff Univer said: tables reflect quality of the studen improve proble sed, and in with their titors, assessment results. They universities of joint sec- rent league the compe The the down ion. of cours ms that have t facilities are all major and our nts of e out where feedback catego Nick Bulloc course.” h allofstude plagued the ish higher educat universities, only 17 played success in league tables is al- and Oxford both enjoyed benstrengt k, a who campu Medic only 9% felt ions United US ine in the institut ng "While top 100 Kingd along with Yale particu that feedback ries cine student, agreedsecond year Medi- versity s since the merger betwe Heath w -breaki the larly year Of two om.

Barlo detaile ground last UK, investour of the d and useful Emma t, was teachi and en Unilevels ond place of Wales Colleg The are from higher annua enough. ng is variab : “The quality of and much l fell ways pleasan teaching and but have now fallen into fourth Ivy efit from in the new list e of Medicine In addition, News Editor le. Of course Cardiff Unive 64% of Medicsurvey showed that only US h, innovative compa are 2007 after Cardiff the are in lots researc rison there rsity than of leaving which ine studen subjec good lecture in 2004. with ts, all of ment.” largely A particular sity of Leeds t respon at Cardiff Unive tically fewer rs, but in many g has third respectively, dents dents ts showed that Medic other cases it is the the top two source of dissati and the Univer high-quality studen uate fundin sity has drama rsity agreed Inadeq are far more im- League universities to take down statement ‘Over sfacCardiff Univer 133 in 34 places 80th to 104th. withthethe satisfi at Cardiff were among ine stu- stand out, and uninspiring ones that tion is the amount ed worldwide, the Islide for all, of examination number 99 to the least dents it is these few that Medicine inter- respect ed students in am satisfi been univers the blamed si- went from slipped from quality of many ed is British are based on ." students are that stu- Heled the UK. reflect upon no spots. top 200 univer who is the direc- league Studen , which my course’, compa with The rankings put through. in surveys.” ics from portant Times Higher ranking is in d Lewis a nation Dr Wendy Piatt, the list of the according to the red to Englis ts of Pharmacy, Ross al averagnced. l Group, an "The Univer e of 89%. with 6,354 academ experie Politics, medic Goslin, another second said: “Medical , a second year medic, h and Philos havesurvey l of the Russel ties The ties in the world tion - QS World views students at Cardif ophy and on other factors way a reflection on Cardiff , feels that year versity ance. tor genera made up of leading UK Educa the administrativ 2,339 universities t ratio various aspect requires students to rate few of those who were were just a organi f Unihave te levels of perform Times Higher Carorganisation staff-to-studen e other institu more exams than those gs. ities including the range from s of university life which with percentages ranginmost satisfied, reason sation on the course may not sity's absolu table is simply suggestincluding the does univers at h and tions, Times University Rankin ion, be ed researc the the for and this may three the contri g from 93% the results quality upwards. ed in have The league each institut and uedg on page said she welcom ions of buted to the learnin Contin of Cardiff ’s He said: “Some . last found in The list was publish world competitors resources to availability diff University, poor results have institut Nick Yates, NSS.” British ion Supplement re- take into account some such as and ing that other the of of in ce organi our the Educat assess the in-cou presen sa- Welfa ment results they added. , Higher conre Officer for Education and on weren’t publis rse has evoked mixed c, notable achievements an indepen- risen faster," table reveals that 22 of strong s the top of the list but has time Cardiff Studen inThursday and hed The league it received in ts’ demor which left students feeling Continued on page sides of the Atlanti in the top towardabout whether Britain’s top alised.” four actions on both the newly-released the praise last week and Sir Martin the 29 British universities down cerns review Nobel Prize for 200 in the world have moved with many fearing bad news for UK dent s award of the information spells l and highlights Evans' last October. ne genera universities in in Brit- Medici under-funding the problem of

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Cardiff Unive NEWS 03 rsity's rese Cardiff Un arch rating ive some indivi rsity's research qu de ality appe dual subje cr eases ars to have ct areas it de is

Eleanor Josli News Edito n r

cre g internatio ased recent years, bu nal research t in university

still a leadin

The results of assessment the 2008 research exercise (RA (RAE that the 2008 rank quality of ) show 2001 rank University’s Institution Cardiff order since 2001 research has fallen order Total numb , which may er of amount of affect the 1 5 staff submitted University public funding the Institute of will rece Cancer Reresearch. ive for search 97 The Times Highe 2 1 r Education azine has publis magUniversity of Camb RAE, a recoghed the results of the ridge 3 2,040 =12 research quali nised indicator of London Scho throughout Britaity for institutions and Tropical ol of Hygiene 210 Medicine Cardiff Unive n, and the table ranks =4 rsity’s resear 4 at 22nd, comp ch London Scho ared to eighth quality ol in 2001.

Defending ics and Politi of Econom- 490 cal Science lower rankin Cardiff University’s =4 g, 3 University has a spokesperson for the University of Oxford nificant differ said: “There are sig6 sig 2,246 2 national “leag ences in the various Card Imperial Colle iff ge London on the metho ue tables”, depending came University's School 7 1,225 of Medi d of second in the 7 “One publis ranking.

RAE individual cine, on the Heat University Colle h Park Camp 8 subject rating ge London on average hed league table, based than Cardiff University us, s.

1,793 did. scores achie This could n/a ved in the assessment, quality as we imply that University of places Cardi the lower have Manc 9 actua ff joint 22nd ranking may actually in the UK. heste lly held our r 1, 824 However, the represent a own.” lower qualit 6 power’ leagu y of research ‘research The University University of e at present, 10 Warwick of Cambridge into account table, which also takes compared to the quality the University and 966 of resear the total numb 2001, which 18 submitted to cannot be blame ch in over a thous of Oxford each had er University of The top ten the Assessmen of staff high volum and more staff d on the York the University e ranking instit t, places assessed Excellenc 654 assessment. of staff submitted for than Cardiff University in 15th place utions in e, based on .”

The Times Highe and gained second and the research the Times Higher Educ fourth place Professor Mike r Education ation Table assessment ments that respe while comctivel Owen of Imperial ‘Cardiff appea y, exercise. , director of the Cardiff sacrificed its rs to have Neurosciences University Colle College London, beaten only by Cambridge. qualit defends this Centre, ge Lond Professor ting a high volum y rating by submitimplication it by highlight- University of Manchesteron and the and said: Owen praised this result respectively, demo ing the merge nstrating how “We are very This may help e of staff. r of Cardiff mitted more also subCardiff is one come second pleased to research fundi when it comes to its with the former University University sixth, seven staff and were ranke and it reflec universities of the leading research d national Medicine in th and eighth College of ng allocation ts for the the interMarch.’ profe recog ly. relation respectivession tipped in results: genetic resear nition we have for to be in extremely high “By combining to the 2001 Despite this, As dema ch gradu well into nd ates the as result for mental disorin 2009. this, previous ject ders, s of these two ranking institu five of the top eight ratings of the the individual sub- RAE. which were entered The University institutions merge tions and unive into the qualit RAE in the ” submitted highe rsities so it r, the research ranking was pre- Higher Educa y of research also has a high r volumes tion show that Times is misleading As well as this, 15th, Unive in the of staff post-m to say Allied Healt Cardiff is rsity is one Cardiff Unive h Professions subjects of also erger has dropp the University resear and Studies, ch universities of the leading Civil ranked third for resear rsity Town and Coun ed in resear try Planning, ch Neuroscienc ch in and Engineering, for Psychiatry, Business Mana with e and Clinical Psychology, College London and Imperial Sociology, gement Studies, Law, University rankin Psychology, Swansea Studi European g first and second and es and Communications, Cultural Media Studi es.

Internationa Pro students m l ade Medfessor receives Gold to al for medic fee Survey res l at home ine ults sh

at Cardiff are

Christofer Lloyd Investigations

ow intern very satisfi ationals ed

port services including the Union, living Stude costs and accom nts’ tion price and modaThe quality.

Inter natio nal Of the 3,540 Barometer Stud ent EU and Intern research proje stude discovered ct has peoplnts sent the questionna ational that ire, 841 e responded dents at Card international stustu (acco 24%) untin iff g for , with the greate are among most satisfied the Chine se, Indian and st response from ty’s Students' with their universirsi Malay dents which Union in the represents the sian stuThese result UK. from online s have been compiled est international stude three largnt groups at surve registered 2007/ ys emailed to all Cardiff.

Of the 93 2008 intern students in institutions ational May UK universities 2008, in which 93 Cardiff was rated 4 th for surveyed, student satisfaction with participated, ing 16 Russe their includ Stude ll Group unive with 94% satisf nts' Union, rsities.

This survey (compared to ied or very satisfied ing experience considered the learnthe al avera 82%) and came nation , life in Cardi learn ff, sup2 nd in the ge of sup Group.

Russell

UNIVERSITY CHALLENGED: gair rhydd's coverage of the University's performance in recent months

Emma Jone s News Edito r

vious inves tigations of other scientists.

Nobel Prize Winner and Sir Martin, Profe University Cardiff ssor of Professor Sir Martin Genetics at Cardiff UniveMammalian Evans has again for his been honoured yet “I am highly honoured rsity, said: to medicine. valuable contribution exalted company of the to join the 30 previous recipients since Sir Martin the medal’s inception Medal by the was awarded his Gold in 1920.”

President of Sir Martin, Society of Medi The who cine, Professor Royal 2007 Nobel Prize was awarded the Williamson, Robin for Medi at mony for Mem a special awards cere- the first scientist to identi cine, was onic stem cells, bers of the Coun fy the Royal which can be embrycil of for Society of a wide variet adapted Medicine in London. y of medical es. purposThis commendat His discoveries Society of Medi ion from the Royal are now applie cine is award three years ed every medic d in virtually all areas being by the Socie of bioine – from basic ty’s to scientists resear who have made Council developme nt of new therap ch to the contribution valuable s towards the ies.

Previ ous Art and progress of Gold Meda Scien l winners Preventive Medi ce of Medicine, include fellow Nobel Prize by original discocine or Surgery either Sir Alexander Fleming winners and Sir tical application veries or by the prac- Howard Florey for their work development of the result of modern antibi in the s of preotics.

NEWS 1 EDITORIAL & OPINION 9 COLUMNIST 13 POLITICS 14 LETTERS 16 FEATURES 19 SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT 23 JOBS & MONEY 24 FIVE MINUTE FUN 25 LISTINGS 26 SPORT 28

NEWS 03

gairrhydd | NEWS@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY DECEMBER 3 2008

Students criticise plans to relocate Aberdare Hall library Planned move will bring male students within grounds of all-girl halls of residence Emma Jones News Editor Plans to relocate the Aberdare library have been met with criticism from some of the residents there.

The University is in negotiations to move the music library into the space where the Aberdare library currently is.

The residents at Aberdare Hall essentially have 24-hour access to their library, which houses a range of books that have been donated to the girls over the years, including many rare books and first editions.

But the music students’ library is very small and apparently inadequate for the size of the course.

If the plans were to go ahead, they would see the Aberdare library books relocated into the main library and the music library moved to the refurbished Aberdare space.

Angharad May, a first year Law student and Aberdare resident, said: “Most people are quite negative about the plans. It’s nice to have our own library here.

“Some people rely on these books for their courses and like having the old books here – it’s part of the uniqueness.

“The other issue is the space.

During exam time it can get really busy.”

Since Aberdare is an all girls halls of residence, there have been concerns about male students being able to enter the grounds.

Angharad said: “This might bother some people but it doesn’t really bother me.”

But Chew Hui Ann, a second year law student, wasn’t keen on the plans.

“It’s supposed to be a private all girls hall. With boys coming through we won’t be able to walk around in our pyjamas like we usually do,” she said.

“It’s usually so peaceful here.

There will be too many people here and it won’t be as peaceful as it usually is.”

Aberdare Hall has already been hit by a huge reduction in student facilities: last summer, two open access common rooms were lost, and the

ABERDARE HALL: An oasis of calm University are now looking to take another common room to convert into bedrooms.

The University has said it is will-

ing to invest in the remaining common room but the students feel it is too small to accommodate their needs.

Residents have also been annoyed

by a number of loud functions hosted in the hall below their bedrooms, which have prevented them from sleeping.

0% interest on student loans Chris Lloyd Reporter The government has made the decision to charge a 0% rate of interest on student loans from September 2009, which will affect more than 2.5 million students.

In response to the change, NUS President Wes Streeting said: “We are pleased that the government has listened to NUS’ concerns about how badly graduates are being affected by the current economic crisis.”

Streeting added, “In the context of a recession, this is the best deal students and graduates could have expected. NUS will continue to monitor the rate of interest on student loans, and make sure the government is aware of students’ concerns”.

When the Retail Prices Index (RPI) dropped to -0.4% in April, it was hoped that students would effectively have less to pay back on their loans.

The Student Loans Company (SLC) claimed that this decision resulted from the fact that student loans are already significantly subsidised and that it would be hard to justify the extra expense to taxpayers of students’ loan balance in 2009/10 being immediately reduced.

The interest rate of 0% for the 09/10 academic year means that borrowers’ monthly bills will not change, but graduates will be able to pay off their loans faster than if they had to pay additional interest too.

The interest rate for loans taken out since 1998 is 0% despite interest rates dropping to -0.4%, as a result of the Secretary of State being able to legislate to charge no interest, independent of actual inflation rates.

The Student Loans Company said that students will continue to pay 9% of their income above £15,000, but without the extra interest the total amount students will now have to pay back is lower.

This new interest rate will affect everyone who has a student loan taken out since September 1998 and also students applying for maintenance and tuition fee loans in 08/09 and 09/10 academic years.

Loans received before 1998 however, will feature an interest rate of -0.4% and are linked solely to the RPI, with mortgage style, fixed term payments.

The rate of -0.4% means that, at least for academic year 09/10, the value of students’ debt will reduce.

NUS President Streeting adds: “We repeat our call for the government to look carefully at the issue of the rate used to calculate interest on student loans in the forthcoming wider review of higher education funding and student support.”

04 NEWS

gairrhydd | NEWS@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY MAY 18 2009

Exam schedule stress A Welsh leak continued from front page Catrin Phillips, a final year Environmental Geoscience student, also believes that her grades are likely to be affected by her busy exam timetable: “I have eight exams in 17 days, which sounds fair but in reality leaves little time for revision, especially as I have four exams in four consecutive days. “These exams are really important, as it’s School policy not to have exams in January. “Most third year modules are optional, therefore some students may have a good timetable and some have a bad one so it’s essentially luck of the draw but this does make it seem like we are being unfairly penalised for taking the modules we want to.�

Space is the biggest issue for the University when they consider timetabling examinations.

Nick said: “Like everything on campus, space is not unlimited so exams have to work around the space that is available.�

Rachel Clayton, final year Business and Accounting student, has all of her three-hour final exams within two weeks. “All of my exams begin at 9am and

are three hours long, meaning I have very little time in between to look at my notes. It is a huge pressure and has made the whole thing even more stressful than it already is. “I feel it definitely does put me at a disadvantage to people who have had two weeks to revise for one exam.�

When it comes to providing a solution to these busy and compact exam timetables, Rachel thinks a provisional timetable should be drawn up so that “anything difficult should be able to be fixed.�

However, a University spokesperson said that there have been limited examples of unsatisfactory timetabling: “This year there were two students whose timetable could not be constructed to meet scheduling guidelines and these students were contacted to explain the situation. “In addition, details were provided to the relevant Examination Board in order that this could be taken into account.�

Despite this, students are still feeling the pressure and it is not just third year students either.

Daniella Graham, a second year History and Politics student, described her exam timetable as “stupid�. “I have four exams between June 5 and June 11. Although I have a long

time to prepare for the exams, it’s hard to revise completely for all my exams at once and I am not looking forward to having four exams in seven days,�

Daniella said.

Maths students also have a busy timetable but are not surprised.

Aimee Steen, in her third year, said: “It’s been the same for the past couple of years. Exams are always clumped together, despite the exam period being longer in the summer. We have complained to the student-staff panel in the past but it doesn’t improve. “I have one week where I have exams on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. “It was worse in January - some people in my School had four or five in one week. It would be better for this exam period to be longer to allow for them to be spread out a little more, even if it meant losing a week or so of the summer holidays!�

Any student who feels this affects them should get in touch with Education and Welfare Officer Nick Yates.

He said: “Their best bet really is to contact me as I am meeting with the head of exam planning soon to discuss what more could be done - the more examples I have the better.�

Nick can be emailed at yatesn@ cardiff.ac.uk

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Labour-Plaid plans to scrap Welsh students' top-up fees exemption Robin Morgan Reporter Secret emails regarding LabourPlaid plans to introduce top-up fees for Welsh students have been discovered by an Assembly member.

Jenny Randerson AM, the Welsh Liberal Democrats Shadow Education Minister, has uncovered government emails suggesting foul play over plans for top-up fees.

The coalition government’s plans would seek to scrap Welsh students’ exemption from top-up fees, costing each student thousands of pounds.

It is thought that the timing of the announcement had been calculated to coincide with Plaid Cymru’s recent party conference.

Ms. Randerson requested the emails to be released under the Freedom of Information Act, which have led to claims that the Leader of the House, Carwyn Jones AM, may have

misled the Assembly.

In May, Mr. Jones told members that a decision to delay the announcement until the following day was made at 12.30pm that day, but the uncovered emails show the decision was made at least a week earlier.

Ms. Randerson said: “As we attempt to block the Labour-Plaid Government’s betrayal of students in our debate on Wednesday, these emails show just where the Government’s priorities lie. Decisions like this should not be made on the timing of Plaid Cymru’s conference...[but] on the basis of what is best for Welsh students.�

Jenny Randerson AM

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NEWS 05

gairrhydd | NEWS@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY MAY 18 2009

Students left in the dark

Exam disruption as power cut plunges Great Hall into darkness Emma Barlow News Editor A power cut in the Students’ Union left students trying to complete their examination papers in the dark last week.

The blackout, on Monday May 11 happened during a busy 9am exam in the Great Hall.

Subsequently, this revealed a lack of preparation and showed that there was no protocol in place for when something goes wrong.

Stephanie Canniford, a second-year Psychology student, explained how those overseeing the exam struggled to maintain order: “At first the senior invigilator was panicking and got all the other invigilators together to talk

SHUTTING UP SHOP: Services were forced to close in the blackout academic schools. about it.”

“It was very confusing,” StephaStudents were told to carry on if they could but, if they could not, to sit nie said. “We weren’t aware that we in silence. The invigilators explained might be given extra time at the end that the time they were losing would and so for all we knew we still only be taken into account by their separate had the three hours so most people

Computer science students told: 'You will not be disadvantaged' Eleanor Joslin News Editor

gair rhydd

the fair and appropriate creativewords steps as out‘Simply lined below not very good at to ensure teaching’ MY TAXI our students DRIV ER are present- DID THIS ed with the TO ME best possible resolution.

He continued: “All students who took the module this year will have the opportunity to undertake a coursework assessment this summer.”

He added that these “arrangements also apply to students who were eligible to resit [the module] in January 2009”, as many of last year’s secondyear students that failed the initial exam had to resit in January.

One Computer Science student, who did not wish to be named, remarked that they were pleased with Dr Whitaker’s proposal. He said: “It looks like they’re trying to sort it out and get good results.”

Another third-year student, who also wished to remain anonymous, told gair rhydd: “I hope Roger Whitaker is taking an active role in this because it does affect my degree.”

The student added: “To be honest, that lecturer shouldn’t be lecturing.

He knows his stuff but he obviously can’t communicate it to the students, which is a problem.”

The other student agreed with this, saying: “We deserve teachers who can teach, not researchers who can’t teach.”

Dr Whitaker’s emails do not mention the lecturer in question or any measurements that will be taken to improve the teaching of the module.

FREE

CARDIFF'S STUDENT WEEKLY

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FREE INSIDE!

EXCLUSIVE:

Volume V of the anthology of creative writing by students at Cardiff University

LIBERAL DEMOCRATS LEADER NICK CLEGG TALKS TO GAIR RHYDD >> page 14

Jamie Thunder Sub Editor

PHOTO: BEN BRYANT

After Computer Science students accused a lecturer’s poor teaching style for contributing to their failure in his exam, the Head of School has now revealed his plans for resolving the problem.

Three weeks ago, a number of second-year Computer Science students revealed to gair rhydd that only one in eight students had passed a crucial modular exam, blaming the inadequate teaching methods of their lecturer for the mass failure.

Dr Roger Whitaker, the recently appointed Head of Computer Science, has since proposed certain measures so that these students will not be ‘disadvantaged’.

He sent an email to the School’s third-year students. which admitted that “This year, student achievement was considerably lower than that in 2007/8, in part due to issues concerning the examination.”

The email continued: “The Examining Board process applied in June takes account of the relative difficulty between modules. Statistical measures are applied to determine which modules have been more challenging […] This process is routinely applied to ensure that nobody is disadvantaged based on variations between modules.” gair rhydd also obtained a second email from Whitaker, which outlined a proposal for students to undertake additional coursework that would replace students’ low module results from the exam.

Whitaker wrote: “We are mindful of pressure on our students at this time, and we the School have taken

ISSUE 894 APRIL 27 2009

A Cardiff student is on crutches after being run over by a taxi driver yards from his home in Roath.

Paul Stollery, a second-year business student, had to have two pins in his ankle after the incident, which occurred in the early hours of Friday April 3rd. The driver also took his mobile phone.

After a night in Walkabout, Paul took a taxi alone from Greyfriars Road to his house on Shirley Road, a journey that usually costs around £7.

But when he got out of the taxi he was shocked to be confronted with a £20 charge.

“I refused to pay,” said Paul, who admits he wasn’t sure whether the meter was running. “And as you can imagine things got a bit heated.

“I had my phone in my hand and the driver grabbed it, and as he drove off he ran over my ankle.”

By chance he was found by a friend soon after, and Paul used his friend’s phone to call the police and an ambulance from the roadside.

However, police dismissed his claims because the taxi driver, who is an independent driver registered with the council, had called them first.

“I’d had quite a bit to drink and I’d been reported for ‘fare-dodging’, so they just thought I was another drunk student causing trouble,” explained Paul. “He had also accused me of being aggressive, which I wasn’t.”

Continued on page 3

Computer Science lecturer accused of poor teaching methods Just 1 in 8 students pass second-year module Students told to ‘live with it’ by staff panel

Eleanor Joslin

not assessed fairly and that the proNews Editor fessor taught the module inadequately.

A second-year Computer Science Many complaints have been student, who wishes to remain anonmade about the lecturing style of ymous, told gair rhydd: “The lectures a Cardiff University Professor of consisted of the lecturer walking in Computer Science, with students and spending the entire time writing blaming the lecturer for their high his blackboard lecture notes up word failure rate in the module. for word on the whiteboard with no The Professor and leading reextra explanation, and he was oblivisearcher teaches a second-year modous to students who wanted to ask ule, which only ten out of 80 students questions.” passed. Many feel that the exam did not represent course content, it was Continued on page 5

POLITICAL

PREDICTIONS

2009

tried to continue writing despite it being dark.”

The only emergency lighting consisted of a strip in the centre of the Great Hall but those who were positioned at the sides of the hall were left in total darkness.

“Then a lot of people started to move their desks into the few areas of light around the room so they could see, which caused about ten minutes of further disruption.

“After writing in the dark for 30 minutes the invigilators suddenly told everyone to stop writing, with no explanation other than that they were trying to find out the next course of action,which they surely should have done half an hour before?”

Stephanie does not think her mark

will be affected as she could see her paper thanks to her decision to take along a pen with a light built into it: “It wasn't a massive deal for me. It would be nice to get an extra few marks obviously but I think that the fact that they gave us an extra 45 minutes will be the only compensation we get.

“It was pretty distracting and I should imagine some students may feel it will have affected their performance.”

A University spokesperson said: "The relevant Schools have been notified of that disruption and the circumstances and action taken in the examination venues affected. We have also notified the relevant Examination Boards in order that they may take into account these circumstances."

06 NEWS

gairrhydd | NEWS@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY MAY 18 2009

McDonalds Vice-Chancellor urges caution over strikes All-staff email warns that University income will not to offer 'McPhDs' match its projected expenditure for the year Emma McFarnon Reporter McDonald’s is hoping to offer its staff doctorates, or ‘McPhDs,’ in a bid to attract more university graduates to join the company.

The fast food chain has long sought to challenge the perception that it only creates low-level, poorly-paid ‘McJobs.’

David Fairhurst, the chain’s Chief People Officer, said last week: “One day I’d love to see us doing a PhD”, and he claimed that the firm was already “a university in its own right.”

He did caution that the company wanted to perfect its current training regime before creating a post-graduate qualification.

The company already runs courses offering A-level equivalent qualifications and has made significant investments in employee training. It now runs some of the most respected in-house programmes on the high street.

McDonalds has been inundated with job applications in recent months, receiving up to 1,500 CVs a day. Many are from university graduates struggling to find work during the economic downturn.

Sarah Powell News Editor

Cardiff University’s ViceChancellor has issued a statement to all university staff urging caution over the recent threat of pay strikes by the University and Colleges Union (UCU).

The statement is a response to the news that the UCU have issued its members with ballot papers, calling for industrial action over pay disputes and threatened job losses.

In national pay negotiations the UCU asked for an 8% pay rise, which has been denounced by many universities due to the current financial climate.

In his statement, Dr. Grant explained the reason for disputes over pay increases, blaming the reduction in Cardiff University’s grant from the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales which will not cover a pay rise.

“Projected income for the coming year will not keep pace with projected expenditure. Savings have to be made

to budgets and we each have a part to play in that,” he said.

“It is my fear that the UCU head office may not have the fullest understanding of the reality in universities regarding finances and what is affordable when financial cuts are looming.”

Dr. Grant condemned the UCU’s decision to take industrial action, and encouraged all members of the Cardiff University community to “take these issues extremely seriously”.

In his statement, Dr. Grant made it clear that industrial action falling short of a strike will not be tolerated,

saying that those engaging in such action will not be paid.

In response to the issue, Dr. Grant said: “It is essential for the unions and the employers association to work at negotiating the best possible settlement achievable in these recessionary times and the extraordinary financial circumstances in which we find ourselves.”

He added that consultation and active involvement with the trade unions has been offered to encourage discussion and resolve of the issue, but that “the UCU has refused to be a party to such discussions.”

In a closing statement, Dr. Grant highlighted the importance of cohesion amongst the staff: “I hope I can continue to count on the support of Cardiff University staff as we work together to plan beyond the immediate economic challenges and look forward to a sustainable and vibrant academic future.”

“I am sure you will share with me the desire to do everything possible to ensure that Cardiff University continues to operate in a sustainable manner offering excellent service to our students and vibrant research culture.”

You can make me whole again Kerry Katona to assist Cardiff University with largest bipolar disorder study Emma Barlow News Editor Kerry Katona has volunteered to take part in the world’s largest study into bipolar disorder at Cardiff University.

The former Atomic Kitten star and I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here winner has had a long struggle with bipolar disorder, often in the public eye.

She is not the first celebrity to take part in the study, Stephen Fry came to Cardiff University’s School of Medicine in 2006 to discuss his condition and also contributed to the research study.

Professor Nick Craddock from the School of Medicine runs the research project, which required Katona to donate a blood sample.

Professor Craddock said: “Kerry had a real interest in learning more about bipolar and about the work we are doing here. We were very grateful to her - as we are to all our volunteers – for contributing to our search for the causes of this important and serious illness.”

“There’s still a lot we don’t know about bipolar but I hope we were able to provide Kerry with some of the answers she was looking for.”

Working with colleagues at the University of Birmingham, the team is aiming to recruit 6,000 bipolar sufferers to the study.

Professor Craddock also conducted an interview with Kerry about her moods and asked her to talk about her past.

The visit will be shown on her forthcoming MTV series ‘Kerry Katona: What’s the Problem?’

The study aims to improve understanding of this severe mood disorder, in the hope this will lead to improved treatment and a better quality of life for suffers.

The Cardiff team is still looking for bipolar sufferers to come forward to help with the research.

Further information about the study, and how to take part, can be found at www.bdrn.org or www.cardiff. ac.uk/medic/subsites/bipolar/ studies

NEWS 07

gairrhydd | NEWS@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY MAY 18 2009

UNION WATCH

Eleanor Joslin rounds up the week in student media

Security attacks Still missing girl in club queue YORKSHIRE NOUSE

MANCHESTER STUDENT DIRECT

A security guard allegedly directed physical and verbal abuse at female students following the University BOP, a notorious fancy dress student-halls event.

Alexandra Preston-Morley, a student from Owen’s Park, claimed that the head doorman of the BOP had “physically manhandled” her and six other female students by “grabbing our arms in a rough manner” after he had accused them of pushing into the queue.

The students compiled a letter of complaint detailing the “rough…inappropriate” and “humiliating” behaviour that they had received from the security guard on April 24.

The letter said: “We were not the only people on the night who suffered at the hands of the BOP security and we are aware that several complaints were submitted on the night and throughout the course of the past academic year regarding issues relating to the BOP security staff.”

In response, a University spokesperson reassured the students: “Swift action has been taken to address the issue and an urgent meeting was organised with the security firm responsible for the event. At this meeting, the standards of conduct and professionalism expected by the University were reiterated to the company.

“Over the coming weeks security

operations at the BOP will be closely monitored to ensure everyone has a safe and enjoyable experience.”

The University’s own security staff patrols the campus and events but at this particular event security was hired through the National Security Network.

They said: “We are still fully investigating the incident. We are liaising with Owen's Park staff and the BOP and hope this continues.”

Since the incident, Alexandra has

said that she has not received any further inappropriate treatment from security staff at the following BOPs and the head doorman involved declined to work at the last event.

Manchester University’s BOPs have a notorious reputation, with overt fancy dress themes, loud music and many pranks, such as setting off the fire alarms, although Student Direct says that this is “widely acknowledged as part of life at Owen's Park."

Tuition fee rebellion Bristol students fight Uni over fees

BRISTOL EPIGRAM Students at Bristol University have launched Britain’s first tuition fee rebellion, over claims the institution has made cutbacks in teaching despite a rise in annual fees in 2006.

Over 600 students have signed a

petition saying that teaching standards have deteriorated, and in a sevenpage complaint to the university, wrote: “Since 2006 the University has charged more and delivered less.”

The petition, created by two Finance and Economics students, Robert Denham and Roderick McKinley, analyses the University’s finances.

It describes how the institution has benefited from increased income, even though essays are being marked

by undergraduates instead of lecturers and teaching hours have been reduced.

The rebellion may be copied by students at other universities which will make it harder for institutions to justify a further increase in fees.

A spokesman for the University denied that students were receiving less teaching and that increased tuition fees were intended to lead to improved teaching.

Two Asian men may have been involved in the disappearance of Yorkshire University chef, Claudia Lawrence, who has not been seen for nearly two months.

The 35-year-old chef failed to show up to work, at the University’s Goodricke’s Roger Kirk Centre, on March 19 and it has since been reported that two men were looking through the windows of her house and even tried to open her front door only a few days beforehand.

Detective Superintendent Ray Galloway, who is leading the investigation, said: “We have a situation of a lady passing by Claudia’s home address in very slow moving traffic who has actually seen two men at Claudia’s front door. We would very much like to speak to these two people.”

Both men are Asian and are thought to be in their 20s or 30s and around 5ft, 6 -7 inches tall.

Earlier this month, Claudia’s father, Peter Lawrence, appealed directly to “whoever is responsible for taking her”: “It is now 50 days that Claudia has been away from us. The longer it goes on, the worse it gets for myself, the family and her friends – the strain is intolerable and the sorrow unbearable.

“I want to make yet another appeal to whoever is responsible for taking her away from her life in York to come forward so that she can be reunited with all of us who love her dearly. You know who you are. Search your conscience. We want Claudia back.”

In an interview with Nouse,

Claudia Lawrence

Lawrence said: “When there’s no information out there, not knowing is the hardest bit. It just makes you feel dreadful. There’s a little bit of me missing somewhere.”

As well as this sighting, police are looking for a man and a woman who were seen together on Melrosegate Bridge at the estimated time that Claudia would have been walking towards the University to start work that morning.

A passing cyclist brought this couple to the attention of the police, who have described it as “a significant sighting, at the right time in the right location.”

Despite this, the amount of information that has been forthcoming from the public has been minimal and Lawrence has condemned the lack of public response to the sighting of this couple as “absolutely incredible.”

So far, the investigation has made very little progress despite it being the largest one conducted by North Yorkshire Police since the hunt for multiple killer Mark Hobson in 2004, and in spite of the £10,000 reward that Crimestoppers has offered.

08 WORLD NEWS Also in the news...

Emma Jones News Editor

Eur-a winner!

A Spanish woman who won a record 126 million euros (113 million pounds) on the Euro Millions lottery only learned of her good luck days after the win as she had been confined to bed with the flu.

Still sick, the woman from Mallorca found out about the win, which was announced on Friday, when she returned to work on the Monday through fear of losing her job.

She beat odds of 76 million to one to win the equivalent of four times David Beckham’s yearly salary.

Flu-free guarantee Hotels in Mexico are offering free holidays to anyone who catches swine flu there for the next three years.

The incentive aims to reduce the impact that swine flu has had on the Mexican tourist industry. It has already caused mass cancellations of bookings to the area.

The ‘flu-free guarantee’ entitles anyone presenting flu symptoms eight days after returning from their trip three years of free holidays.

Not so immaculate conception

A man in India has avoiding washing for 35 years in the hope that his next child will be a boy.

Kailash “Kalau” Singh, who has fathered seven daughters, has a ‘fire bath’ every evening, which involves standing on one leg beside a bonfire, smoking marijuana and saying prayers to Lord Shiva.

Kalau, aged 63, was once told by a seer that if he did not take a bath he would be blessed with a male child.

Indians generally prefer sons as daughters are seen to be a burden as they have to be found husbands.

gairrhydd | NEWS@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY MAY 18 2009

Pets on a plane 'Pawsengers' to get personal treatment on flights Sarah Powell News Editor An airline which caters exclusively for pets is set to launch in July, promising to provide domestic animals with the ultimate luxury in air travel.

Pet Airways aims to provide a safe and comfortable solution for the transport of pets, and was created as a solution to the difficulties encountered when using commercial airlines to move pets.

Flights will cost 149 dollars each way on a modified aircraft which will have room for 50 cats and dogs to be transported in kennels stacked on custom made shelves.

There will also be two pilots and a pet attendant on each plane, who will cater for the safety and comfort of the pets.

The founder, Alysa Binder, said: “Pet attendants make sure that the pets are comfortable and secure in their pet carrier.”

The pets, affectionately called pawsengers, will be checked every 15 minutes during the flight to ensure safety.

The flight will follow strict security

procedures and the check-in of animals is encouraged to occur two hours before take off, just like commercial flights.

Check-in can be done as early as 72 hours before departure and pets will have the opportunity to board in a PAWS Lodge until the flight.

A spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Authority explained that the pet airline met FAA safety standards.

She also said that the most important precaution to take is to ensure the unnecessary shift of weight and to take care that the animals are properly restrained.

Currently, around 76 million cats and dogs are estimated to travel each year in America, although not all animals may have a pleasant flying experience.

Animal rights experts say that many animals suffer extreme trauma during air travel, with some being injured during the flights.

However, Pet Airways maintains that they aim to avoid this unpleasantness, focusing completely on the welfare of the animals.

The first flight will depart on July 14 from a small airport outside New York.

Pointing the finger Meat's off the menu Daniella Graham Reporter A union leader in Serbia has chopped off his own finger and eaten it in a protest over

wages.

Zoran Bulatovic, a union leader at the Raska Holding textile factory in Novi Pazar, southwest Serbia, used a hacksaw to cut off the little finger on his left hand and then ate it to show how desperate he and other workers are.

Regarding the protest, Bulatovic said: “We, the workers, have nothing to eat, we have to seek some sort of alternative food and I gave them an example. It hurt like hell.”

He was one of a number of textiles workers who had been on hunger strike to draw attention to their plight.

Bulatovic resorted to such desper-

ate measures with the aim of preventing his deputy, a single mother of three, from carrying out her own threat to cut off her finger.

Raska Holding was a major textile producer in the late 1980s but has sufferred since the collapse of the former country of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

During a decade of wars and sanctions, mismanagement and a loss of markets has led to massive job cuts with the number of workers employed by the company plummeting from 4,000 in its heyday to just 100.

Some factory employees have not actually been paid in years and are only able to collect social benefits such as free medical care.

Bulatovic has since claimed that he will cut off his arm and send it to the government and that his comrades on strike will not back down from their demands.

The workers want the company’s debt swapped for state-held equity and a welfare programme for those nearing retirement.

Bulatovic has stated that they will postpone planned self-mutilations for now, at least until unions have held talks with government officials.

Sarah Powell News Editor The Belgian city of Ghent is set to become the first city in the world to become vegetarian for at least one day every week.

The new policy involves a regular weekly meatless day, where civil servants and elected councillors will eat vegetarian meals, hoping to encourage the public to do the same.

A new veggie-day will be incorporated into schools in September to help school children realise the importance of the environment.

The policy hopes to highlight the impact of livestock on the environment and it is no coincidence that the weekly veggie-day has been declared after figures from the UN show that livestock is responsible for nearly one-fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Ghent's vegetarian policy will help to cut the city's environmental footprint and officials also say that it will help to tackle obesity.

As part of the new plan, 90,000 veggie street maps are being printed to help people find the best vegetarian eateries in the city.

OPINION 09

gairrhydd | OPINION@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY MAY 18 2009

freewords EDITORIAL

Est. 1972

Failed Timetables The exam period is a difficult time for all students. However, this year, it appears that for a minority of students the exam period will be more stressful than ever.

Limited venues and the sheer volume of examinations that the University must manage mean that it is very difficult to come up with a timetable that suits everyone.

The majority of students, however, should have no difficulties whatsoever with meeting their deadlines.

English Literature students, for example, are typically the envy of the campus at this time of year, having enjoyed a relatively comfortable span of exams and coursework deadlines coupled with a very early finish.

However, for a few students, the looming exam dates are anything but comfortable. Having five three hour exams in the space of seven days a fate that some third-year Business and Accounting students face - is surely too stressful to be considered acceptable.

It is not to say that students are incapable of succeeding in these assessments. It is simply that they shouldn't have to. By forcing students to complete such a high volume of critical assessments in such a short space of time, the University is placing them under enormous pressure.

There is more at stake here than just a few sleepless nights. The mental health of students who undergo extended periods of intensive study and assessment is vulnerable in these conditions.

Months of hard work can be jeopardised through sheer burnout from a string of examinations. The exam period should not be an endurance test, and students have a right to adequate recovery periods between exams.

A set of declared minimum standards and a timetable that works cannot be too much to ask.

Awards success gair rhydd would like to congratulate the winners of this years' Society Awards and Athletic Union Awards.

Both events were an enormous success, and special mentions must be given to Tracey Bishop and the Ents department for their efforts.

A full list of winners will appear in next week's edition.

Editor Ben Bryant Deputy Editor Hazel Plush Co-ordinator Elaine Morgan Subeditor Jamie Thunder News Emma Barlow Emma Jones Sarah Powell Sian Symons Eleanor Joslin

An unprofitable truth

Despite the impact of the recession, climate change cannot take a back seat, argues Jonathan Evans

I

f there is one phrase that strikes fear into the heart of those who we have elected to serve ‘our’ interests, it's climate change. Saying this, the current recession and its devastating impact is coming close to taking this un-coveted trophy, not just for its immediate importance but also for the hurried and contradictory responses to a grave problem.

However, there is one fundamental difference. Although swathes of people have been made unemployed, mortgages have defaulted and our pockets have incessantly been squeezed, the world’s economy will eventually recover. With climate change we do not get second chances. We do not get the chance to make many more mistakes.

At the climate change march in London last December thousands of people, including hundreds of students, turned out to protest against the inactions of our government and the international community.

With climate change we do not get second chances Caroline Lucas, the leader of the Green Party, said that despite it being heartening to see so many people driven to protesting at the failure of government action she hopes for the day when demonstrations like these are a distant memory.

Many will rightly say that our government and the international community is taking a 'stand' on global warming and climate change, and is taking the lead on this issue. Governments publish regular updates on commitments to renewable energy and take part in debates, but produce little that will make any meaningful effect.

It is of course an age-old truism that politicians and governments always look at the ticking of the electoral clock, painfully aware that appropriate measures sacrificing ourselves for unborn generations may get them chucked out at the ballot box at the next election.

A major 2007 IPCC report said that

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average temperatures could rise by a shocking 6 degrees if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise at current rates. This is enough to make life simply unliveable for a vast amount of people and immerse cities such as New York and London under water from melting sea ice and rising levels of seawater.

This group of 2,500 climate experts from over 80 different countries has recently revealed that groundbreaking new research suggests the IPCC may have underestimated the sheer scale of the problem.

This new research, not released in full until June, has been enough for the group to conclude that “the climate system is already moving beyond the patterns of natural variability within which our society and economy have developed and thrived”.

Despite the mood of defeatism and pessimism, some see light at the end of a blackened tunnel. For example, conference organiser Professor Katherine Richardson has “great faith in humans and their ability to regulate their relationship with this planet".

A change in culture towards thinking about our future generations needs to happen - one which currently calls for a level of economic growth that Taf-od Dafydd Loughran Poster Lowri Howells Picture Editor Natalia Popova Online Editors Graeme Porteous Tom Barnett Proof Readers Neil Fairbrother Laurel Burn Lucy Morgan Daniella Graham

THE KILLING FIELDS: Dependency on fossil fuels will cost us makes so-called 'sustainable develop- kind in common for future generament' a joke. Business, transport and tions and ourselves? In light of all this aviation lobbies and housing need to should not our common goal us be move faster than they already are. a war-like effort to save us from the While the science is clear, some consequences of a warming planet? sections of our media continually More than this though, we need to strive to deny it, the views of an ever keep a faith similar to what Professor smaller band of climate sceptics is Richardson keeps in the innate human presented as ‘truth’ rather than infor- ability to somehow come out clean on mation on the scientific consensus. the other side.

The financial crisis brought on by the credit crunch has destroyed the free-market orthodoxy that has driven policy for a generation. From this rubble there is an opportunity to build a new political and social philosophy that has the principles of environmental sustainability at its centre.

As recently as 2007 the Daily Mail It might be a big statement to make published a headline stating that cli- but not one has ever been so impormate change and a warming planet tant in its ability to go towards solving was ‘perfectly natural’ according to 'the greatest threat to mankind': not a experts. What it forgot to tell us was nuclear armed Iran, not global terrorthat these experts were funded by ism – our gravest threat is irreversible the industries that make it their job climate change. This is a threat that to quash all evidence of a warming could have more far-reaching consequences than the blood-soaked centuplanet due to ‘our actions’.

Not even the scientific consensus ry that ended less than a decade ago.

World leaders meet again in Coand expert opinion on show recently in Copenhagen can conclusively tell penhagen this December. How about us how much longer our living earth Cardiff students, for one year only, hitchhike to Copenhagen instead of can cope with the abuse to deal it.

Surely it is our duty to save man- Morocco. It’s kind of important.

Global warming, not terrorism, is the greatest threat to mankind today

Contributors Christofer Lloyd Robin Morgan Emma McFarnon Jonathan Evans Oliver Franklin Emily Bater Darryl Light Navodita Pande Katherine Haylock Daniella Graham Chelsea Haughton Tom Victor Charlotte Hill

Sarah Taylor Nathan Hughes Address Cardiff University Students' Union, Park Place, Cardiff, CF10 3QN Web www.gairrhydd.com Email info@gairrhydd.com Advertising 02920 781 474

Location 4th Floor Cardiff University Students’ Union Park Place Cardiff CF10 3QN News Desk 07908 551922

10 OPINION

Canuck in Cardiff

Corey Shefman talks elections

Since the results of our student union elections were announced last month, there has been controversy over who may have broken what rules and whether the elections were fair. It is unfortunate that so many people ignore student politics, brushing it aside as a waste of time and money.

However, our student union elections have an incredible impact on student life at uni. Our union is even more important for international students and other minority student groups; they represent our needs and concerns and, at the end of the day, make sure that our university experience is as good as it can possibly be.

Given all that, in my mind it’s incredibly important that our sabbatical officers actually represent us, the students. This year’s elections were run as fair and honestly as they could have been, given the embarrassing lack of regulations. Essentially, it was a free for all, but given the current rules, it was nonetheless fair.

Going forward, Ed Carey (the President-elect) and the rest of next year’s Sabbatical team needs to put their own electoral considerations aside and do what’s best for all students, especially the most vulnerable: international students, postgraduate students and mature students (though realistically, all students benefit from a strong sabbatical team that can challenge the administration).

First of all, only Cardiff University students should be allowed to engage in any campaign activities. That means handing out flyers, wearing campaign shirts, hosting campaign parties and so on. No outside companies, organizations or individuals should in any way be able to aid a campaign – that includes providing materials for free, or donating money to a candidate.

On that same theme, candidates should be barred from giving away freebies to voters. Whether it be sweets, event tickets, or food, I was disgusted by what amounted to basically outright bribery in these elections.

Finally, the running of the elections needs to be taken out of the hands of the Executive. An independent agency of the Union should be set up and funded with an annual grant from the Union.

They should be totally independent, answerable only to Student Council or AGM, and from the first day of term until the last results are announced, they should be working, separate from the Union, to ensure that our elected officers truly represent the students.

Our student union can only fight for us if they have a clear and democratic mandate to do so. When Sabbatical officers are elected under a cloud of doubt – however deserved or not – it only reduces their own effectiveness and their ability to advocate for our needs and issues with the administration.

gairrhydd | OPINION@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY MAY 18 2009

Here comes the gravy train

As the receipts pile up, Christofer Lloyd tackles the MP's expense extravangaza

B

ritish politics is a catastrophic, shambolic joke. It features the most mendacious maniacs in the business, including a certain Mr Blair, who devoutly stated in the 2001 Labour Manifesto “we will not introduce 'top-up' fees and have legislated to prevent them.”

But furthermore, the current flock of spineless, atavistic, narcissistic imbeciles in Parliament seem to think themselves immune from the laws they inflict upon everyone else. And MPs bend their already generous allowances to subsidise any whim they might have, covering everything from state-subsidised porn to tampons claimed for by male MPs. And fictional second homes.

Paedophiles in primary schools?

Welcome to Britain.

Simultaneously, the police club to death anyone who isn’t actually committing crime, whilst Social Services give 93-time paedophiles jobs in primary schools. Welcome to Britain.

Furthermore, you can be sure that if you’re 12 femtoseconds late renewing your council tax, the police will smash down your door and set fire to your wife and kids before arresting

you under “Section 49F of The Terrorism Act”. But, if the 93 year old next door is mugged, a morose police officer will arrive 327 days later and make her pay £16,417,983.22 in damages for scratching the mugger with her stick.

Back to expenses and the sulky Scot, who’s been entrusted with running Britain, has proven himself incapable of even submitting expenses, claiming twice for the same plumbing work. Meanwhile, money-seeking missile Hazel Blears attempted to evade £45,000’s worth of Capital Gains Tax…now would she have reimbursed this if the papers hadn’t found out? Of course not.

Furthermore, croquet bulimic Prescott was awarded £312 to fit mock Tudor beams to his house, which were obviously crucial for him to continue to serve his constituents…whilst other Labour claims included £600 for hanging baskets and pot plants, and £268 for Christmas decorations. No wonder Brits have no faith in politicians.

Over in the Conservatory, one MP claimed over £380 for horse shit. No doubt the receipt specified “rocking horse”. Meanwhile Francis Maude claimed £35,000 mortgage payments for a flat near another London property of his, whilst another claimed for dog food.

However, it’s not as if shadow ministers even do anything…nobody

working in any other environment needs another fat, balding candidate who didn’t get the job, heckling them across the office. It’s just juvenile and er, delinquent. And a waste of public money...

Worst of all, however, these twofaced spineless state-traitors and their

MPs attempted to exempt them from the freedom of information act party-wide counterparts attempted to exclude their expenses from the Freedom of Information act, actively deceiving the public. When did these cash cows sell their souls to the devil for a peerage here and state handouts there? Honourable members my arse.

These soulless shells wouldn’t know honour if it poked them in the eye.

You just know that the £7936 trillion that the government is now borrowing is not going into the economy… it’s just funding MPs’ allowances so they can afford private life insurance for their third wife’s second cousin’s next door neighbour’s godfather’s hairdresser’s coy-carp.

It’s a scary world we’re living in when we need an external body to monitor our “government”. Not only have Mr Orwell’s predictions of a surveillance world in 1984 materialised,

but our “leaders” are the ones committing crime and getting off Scot-free.

Including His Scottishness, who came to power without any public vote… which, I was under the impression, was the whole point of democracy.

Though Hard Labour argues that people elect the party not the leader, the whole palaver is bare-faced deceit. In honest employment you can’t abdicate your position and hand it to anyone you choose, so why’s politics any different?

I mean, I might momentarily consider voting Conservative as a desperate ploy to evict Gordon Gekko from Number 10, but with Cameron Diazepam leading the blues, I’d rather hack off all my limbs and have Satan himself feed my torso into a flamespitting, acid-doused wood chipper.

Gone are the days when politicians strove to improve society…now all they want is to inflate their bank balances. These vacuous parliamentarians argue that their expenses claims “follow the rules”, but conveniently ignore the fact that the rules are ridiculous, created by MPs for MPs and that they consciously rape their allowances for every penny.

Likewise, the second home allowance is ludicrous. No other institution throws money at employees for sec-

No other institution throws money at employees ond homes and if people need to work in London, they commute, or stay in hotels. Failing that, they organise teleconferences. Now why can’t the government do this? MPs already have 60-inch plasma screens bought on expenses, so linking these to teleconference feeds would be easy.

As for Boris Johnson, London’s resident Tory toff, how this moronic mannequin ever came to power is beyond me. BJ appears severely cognitively impaired, with no comprehension of fulfilling promises and inexplicably has a thick layer of Dulux dog plastered to his scalp. Additionally, bendy-buses are still strewn across London, just as you knew they’d be 18 months ago. Obviously the Conservatory party is just as inept as Hard Labour.

Luckily for the British public, the next round of Government Idol is coming up, giving us another chance to elect the party we most want to ignore us and break their every promise…with the current five main parties though, the prospect of any of them “winning” is suicidally horrific. I suggest emigrating. I hear there are lots of jobs going in Poland.

WESTMINISTER: Shrouded in controversy

OPINION 11

gairrhydd | OPINION@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY MAY 18 2009

Pope-ing your nose in Oliver Franklin thinks the Pope's tour could make things worse

T

he Pope, Benedict XVI, is on a much-publicised tour of the Middle East this week, visiting leaders and holy sites in his first visit to Arab countries in his short time as leader of the Catholic Church.

It is a controversial visit, not only due to his holiness’s controversial background; as a member of the Hitler Youth as a teenager, Benedict has made several controversial statements that have angered the Muslim world in the past.

In 2006, Benedict quoted a medieval religious text in a public address that labeled the Prophet Muhammad’s teachings as “evil and inhuman”. Having since apologised for the incident, he remains a controversial figure, particularly in the Middle East, this year readmitting an excommunicated bishop, Richard Williamson, a Holocaust denier who asserts that the Auschwitz gas chambers never existed.

Clearly the Pope has some apologies to be made while on his tour of the region, but he remains adamant that the Catholic Church can ‘help bring peace to the Middle East’.

Help bring peace to the Middle East? Leave it to the head of the Catholic Church to make such ridiculous claims. The last time the Catholic Church had an active attempt at sta-

bilizing the Middle East was, er, the crusades. Oh dear.

What gives his pointed-hat-edness the right to assume any say in the region? Even in Israel, the supposed country of the birth of Jesus Christ, now only has a 2% Christian population.

The Pope has caused a lot of controversy in the past With the controversy that he has caused in the past, it is very difficult to believe that his activity in the Middle East can do anything but exacerbate a situation that finally in recent weeks is showing signs of improvement, with President Obama’s release of his plans for peace in the Middle East.

On Wednesday, his holiness asserted that Palestine deserves its own state - an undoubted fact and finally a positive message coming from the Vatican, but hardly something that is going to help relations between the two countries or improve the image of the Catholic Church in the Middle East.

It is undisputable that the Pope has

an enormous amount of political influence over the Catholic Church and is a well-respected figure in the Western World and as such, can bring attention to issues in the region. However, claims that the Catholic Church has any role to play in the contemporary Middle East are ludicrous – he will only exacerbate tensions that he himself should have no role in.

The attention and political power that he commands is, to be frank, a farce. His trip to the Middle East, as I have mentioned, is grabbing headlines all over the world. Should it? No. Listening to the misguided and incendiary comments of such a biased and divisive figure can only make the situation worse. With the corrupt power of religious extremism casting a shadow over the region in the current climate, any activity by the pontiff can do little but fan the flames.

After all, this is the Catholic Church whose hard-line stance against birth control remains one of the key factors in the spread of sexually transmitted diseases in the developing world.

Beliefs aside, the simple fact remains that the Vatican’s war against condoms is one of the single most damaging pieces of ideological manipulation the world has ever seen.

This is the Catholic Church that, over the last 2,000 years, has been in-

strumental in some of the most bloody wars in history, used by tyrants to justify oppressive regimes. Benedict recently has argued for Pope Pius XII to be made a saint – the Pope of the second World War that was highly criticized for doing nothing to prevent or admonish the Nazi regime and their atrocities during the Holocaust.

Religion, no matter what your views, has no place in politics. Tony Blair has publicly admitted that on deciding whether or not to send troops to Iraq, he prayed to God. Look how that turned out.

Peace in the Middle East is finally starting to look possible

With Barack Obama now as President of the United States and operations in Iraq coming to a close, a new age of international relations is emerging. Peace is the Middle East is starting to look like a real possibility in the real future. The last thing we need then, is a meddling religious zealot interfering in affairs in which he does not deserve a say.

A titanic load

Emily Bater looks at celebrities' right to privacy

T

he news that Kate Winslet is suing the Daily Mail over an article questioning her apparent lack of exercise isn’t surprising – a day doesn’t seem to go by without a star suing a tabloid or magazine for some unsubstantiated claim regarding what they ate for breakfast yesterday, where they get their roots done or how they live their spectacularly uninteresting, banal existences.

Winslet herself has already been embroiled in litigation with Grazia magazine, and accepted an undisclosed sum (meaning a lot) out of court for claims she visited a diet doctor. This is all based on Winslet attempting to protect herself as a “role model” and maintain her professional reputation, which seems fair enough for a talented, hard working actress.

After all, the woman did just win an Oscar, and stars in one of my favourite films (no, not Titanic, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind).

Good actress she may be, but is she really a role model? Just because she

doesn’t weigh six stone and looks like she could snap at the sign of a slight breeze, doesn’t mean Winslet is the Patron Saint of Normal Women – she is merely an exception to the rule in La La Land.

As for allowing Winslet privacy, this seems to me a perfectly reasonable request from a woman who is an actress. Aren’t actors supposed to maintain a sort of mystique, an air of mystery so that whenever they act we can believe them implicitly in that role? This is why Lindsay Lohan can’t get a job, she is apparently too busy splitting up with her girlfriend and gathering considerable column inches to pursue the reason she is famous in the first place.

There are certain celebrities however who court the public eye – Katie and Peter Andre for example, who when splitting up this week asked the media to “respect their privacy” – but what privacy? After umpteen reality TV shows and documentaries, boob jobs and trashy spreads in equally trashy magazines, where is this pri-

vacy? These two Kates may both be in the public eye, but they couldn’t be further apart. They are arguably both role models, but to very different women.

Winslet doesn't help her cause by talking about her 'difficult' youth However, Winslet doesn’t help her cause by talking about her 'difficult' teenage years, when she was the fat girl bullied at school, or part of a working class family having to share a bedroom with her sister. This merely invites bloodthirsty journos like those at the Daily Mail to comment on her.

In an article published on the 2nd May, Alison Boshoff wrote, “She was picked on and bullied, mentally and physically, and even locked in a cupboard - or so she says.”

It is the last part of that sentence

which screams “she’s an actress – don’t feel sorry for her! Don’t believe her! She’s probably lying!” And then when it turns out Winslet overcame a difficult period, and was lucky enough to attend a private theatre school, we are all supposed to think she’s a moaning millionaire and should be made to feel ashamed of her achievements after apparent adversity.

All this tastes sourly of bitterness, where the achievements of one should be lampooned by the disapproval of many underachievers. It seems to me

a typically British affliction that doing well is to be sniffed at and ignored, swept under the carpet like a sordid affair never to be mentioned. Shouldn’t we feel proud of her as a British woman for her success – just like we are proud of Keira Knightly, Dame Helen Mirren and Dame Judi Dench?

All these women maintain dignity and privacy while still remaining in the private eye. Shouldn’t Kate Winslet - a.k.a. Rose, Clem, Hannah, Iris, Sarah, Sylvia - be allowed to do the same?

gairrhydd | OPINION@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY MAY 18 2009

12 OPINION

An easy pill to swallow?

Darryl Light tackles the issue of the morning after pill

mergency contraception is an issue which often polarises opinion. Some believe it’s a woman’s right to choose, while others think it’s denying the right of life.

So there was bound to be some controversy when the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice announced in March that pregnancy advisory services would be allowed to advertise on TV and radio for the first time.

This meant for the first time advertising could be shown for the emergency contraceptive pill (ECP), also known as the morning after pill.

The pharmaceutical company Bayer Schering Pharma was the first to take advantage by producing an advert for its ECP Levonelle One Step.

Their new advert has been shown on ITV, Channel 4 and Sky after the 9pm watershed (one of the conditions of the new adverts). A spokesman for sexual healthcare service Marie Stopes International, said: ‘Such adverts will educate women about what to do in this situation.’

This has been met with offense by

E

some religious and pro-life groups.

Dominica Roberts, of the ProLife Alliance, yesterday insisted she was ‘outraged’. She said: ‘It will have little impact on the numbers of unplanned pregnancies and abortions. Young girls will be particularly susceptible to this campaign and it is foolish to imagine they do not watch TV after the 9pm watershed.’

Britain has the highest teen pregancy rate in Europe While I agree that most young girls will be watching after the watershed, surely it is these girls that we should be educating on the availability of ECP’s. It is often quoted that Britain has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in Western Europe, and these pregnancies which are often unplanned, run a higher risk of complications in pregnancy and childbirth.

So surely an educational advert il-

lustrating how to obtain the pill, and the ethical decisions behind it, would be a good thing?

Bayer has responded to this criticism. ‘We believe TV advertising plays an important role in informing women about Levonelle One Step and how it can be obtained.’ However, after seeing the advert (It’s on YouTube, just search “levonelle”), I think this advert doesn’t do a particularly good job of demonstrating how to get an ECP. The advert is done in a cartoon style, and shows a woman waking up after experiencing a contraception mishap, before heading to the pharmacy to request Levonelle One Step.

Unfortunately, the issue isn’t treated in a serious manner as emergency conception should be. Having been with an ex-girlfriend to purchase an ECP before, I know the process of obtaining one is often embarrassing as the pharmacist must ask several intimate questions before issuing the pill to make sure the medicine is suitable.

It can also cause side effects such as fatigue and abdominal pain, along with feelings of guilt. I think an ad-

vert involving emergency contraception should be done in a much more serious, hard hitting way, to illustrate that an ECP should be taken as a last

resort, in an emergency.

I believe advertising for contraception should be mostly aimed at preventing pregnancy (By advertising the availability of free condoms at family planning clinics which also guard against STD’s, or approaching a doctor about the birth-control pill). But I think it is important to let women of all ages know that they can obtain the ECP if they do need it, as condoms can break which is no fault of the people involved.

Unfortunately Bayer have not produced a very informative advert, but

is it

their r e sponsibility? Surely the NHS should now be producing TV adverts informing men and women on the various methods of contraception?

I’ll admit there is already a lot of information on contraception around, but by using an informative advert on TV maybe more unplanned pregnancies could be avoided. Play safe!

COLUMNIST 13

gairrhydd | OPINION@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY MAY 18 2009

Cash for controversy C

hequebook journalism, it’s fair to say, has a bad name.

It conjures up images of grubby men handing over grubby wads of cash to equally grubby men in exchange for grubby titbits about grubby people’s grubby lives.

All rather grubby, then. And it’s one of the charges levelled against the Daily Telegraph for its publication of MPs’ expenses. A charge levelled by none other than Sir Stuart Bell, the Labour MP for Middlesbrough and a member of the House of Commons Commission, which is the overall supervisory body of the House of Commons Administration. Maybe he’s a bit worried.

Sir Stuart’s objection – and indeed almost all of the objections surrounding the Telegraph’s coverage – centres on the suggestion that someone was paid for providing the expenses information. The Independent has put this figure at £150,000; the Telegraph has so far declined to comment on how it obtained the receipts.

The Telegraph's stories are in the public interest It seems rather likely that money did change hands, then, and a fair bit.

But, seeing as the MPs’ expenses list was due to be published anyway in July, is there really any public interest justification in releasing (slowly, might I add, so that the Telegraph’s circulation will stay higher for longer) the claims for expenses?

In a word: yes. In another: absolutely. And it all has to do with something

with his brother because the cleaner cleaned both their houses, for example, isn’t really the massive revelation a front-page lead of a daily national newspaper usually suggests. Quite why a man who earns £194,000 a year (less than our VC!) needs to pay £6,500 out of someone else’s pocket, mind, is another matter.

Most agree the way MPs use the system is wrong

BRIBED AND GROOMED: Does payment corrupt journalism? called ‘flipping’. This takes a little bit (and only a little bit) of concentration to understand, so bear with me.

Imagine I’m an MP. I have two houses: a constituency house, and a Westminster house for when I’m at Parliament. I designate my constituency house as my second home so I can claim my second home allowance (or Additional Costs Allowance/ACA), which lets me claim up to £23,083 for that house.

Then, a bit later, I change my mind and ‘flip’ my designated second house, so it is now my Westminster house. I then claim £23,083 for that house.

If I sell one of my houses, I can just tell the Inland Revenue it’s my first home, and so avoid paying the extra tax (Capital Gains Tax) I’d have to were it my second home. It’s completely possible to tell the Inland

Revenue that, say, my constituency house is my main home, but to have that same house as my second home for claiming my ACA. If you followed that, well done – you could be an MP. I think most people agree that such technically legal uses of the system are unfair; MPs should not claim ACA for both their properties, and they should pay CGT like the rest of us with two houses.

The reason this is so important in a defence of the Telegraph’s revelations is that two months ago MPs voted to exempt their home addresses from Freedom of Information requests, meaning that in the July release of the expenses we wouldn’t be able to check these things.

Some of the Telegraph’s reporting has been unfair: Gordon Brown sharing a cleaning bill for a cleaner

Something else everyone seems to agree on is that the system’s unfair – a chorus of MPs have stood up to say how it needs reform. There are a few of things wrong with that: firstly, the MPs themselves have the power to change the expenses system, but they haven’t bothered to do it. Secondly, and most importantly, is that even if the system is unfair that’s okay provided MPs act fairly. And they haven’t. By whining about how the system isn’t right they’re also admitting that their own actions aren’t right.

And thirdly, would any of them have stood up and protested about the second home allowance system had the edited version of the receipts come out as planned in July? I doubt it.

Maybe this is chequebook journalism. Maybe the Telegraph did pay someone £150,000 for an illicit – even illegal – copy of a CD with the expenses on them. But it’s chequebook journalism that is firmly in the public interest, and that exposes abuses of taxpayers’ money by elected officials that would otherwise have been kept quiet. And surely that is what journalism is about.

It’s all over the front page T he seemingly inevitable shift from actual newspapers that you can hold in your hands and use as toilet paper to onlineonly multimedia content is generally seen as a bad thing.

It’ll (probably) mean a loss of a lot of jobs, and there are doubts as to whether it’ll be nearly as economically viable as even the current “malfunctioning” business model.

But there’s at least one way in which an online-only media would have an advantage: space. It’s not that

there’d be more of it, allowing for longer stories and more in-depth analysis. No, it’s that there would be no set amount of space to fill.

Newspapers work under the curious assumption that every day a roughly equal number of Important Events happen, and that they can be covered with the same amount of newsprint every day. This is just weird, and wrong – of course no two days are equal in number and weight of events.

But it’s this ‘space to fill’ idea that leads to dodgy stories being reported,

or with genuine stories – as I’ve had happen to me recently – being padded out with self-congratulatory guff from the press release to make up the word count. In gair rhydd a few weeks ago we received a complaint over a story about the ‘Duffydil’ (a flower named after the Welsh singer) because someone felt it ‘wasn’t real news’. They were probably right, but when you’ve got space to fill hours before the deadline, well, it becomes very tempting.

At the moment no British media organisation is exempt from this. Not

even the BBC; they might not have a print product, but they need stories to flesh out radio and TV broadcasts, and still regurgitate a lot of the rubbish others do on their website.

Irrelevant surveys, preliminary tentative scientific results hailed as breakthroughs, and verbatim press releases all contribute to a lazy press.

I don’t think that online-only outlets would be immune to this nasty tendency, but at least they wouldn’t have the excuse of “we had to fill space”.

And that would be a start.

Is it

just me... ...or are stats actually rather interesting?

S

ome, as my corruption of the saying goes, are born into maths. Some achieve maths. And some have maths thrust upon them. I am definitely one of the latter.

I never understood all that sine and cosine malarkey, and achieved my maths GCSE grade largely by knowing what to do but not why.

However, I’ve always had a soft spot for statistics and the things you can do with them.

For example, according to the University’s own annual reviews, their mean profit for the last five years is £9.08million. That’s enough to fund 2,887 undergraduate years and have a bit of spare change to top up the VC’s salary (which presumably covers writing self-congratulatory letters in to gair rhydd that don’t address the issues). Last year, the University’s profit was £13.6million, or 4,324 undergraduate years.

That’s reasonably interesting, but let me swing it round to my current pet project: humanities at the Lifelong Learning Centre (LEARN), which could be completely cut. The consultation document supporting the proposed cuts estimates that if it continues as at present, LEARN will lose up to £230,000 a year once the hourly-paid staff are treated fairly.

Sorry, I mean once they’re assimilated into the National Framework Agreement. £230,000 is a touch over 2.5% of £9.08million, the University’s mean annual profit (not expenditure, profit: money it has to play with). But of last year’s profit of £13.6million, it’s just 1.7%. That’s not very much at all.

The University can easily afford to subsidise LEARN at its current levels, but its staff aren’t even proposing that. The rationalisation they suggest would mean that the University would need to give up even less of its precious profit to keep it going, and given that in the last annual review (available online) it professed “a longstanding commitment to lifelong learning”, it probably should.

University Council votes on Monday 18th on the proposals to end humanities teaching and Welsh at LEARN. I hope they’ve looked at the statistics.

14 POLITICS

gairrhydd | POLITICS@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY MAY 18 2009

Time to withdraw... for the economy's sake Lord Lawson has suggested that its time to pull out of Afghanistan as a way to cut government spending. Navodita Pande investigates

L

ord Lawson has suggested withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan as a measure to reduce government spending.

He commented that the Afghan mission was extremely costly and “wholly unsuccessful”, going on to say that in the future the government needs to reduce its expenditure and such “unpopular” steps must be taken for the benefit of the nation.

An additional 700 soldiers are supposed to go to Afghanistan later, raising the total number of troops there to 9000.

“I do think that we need to take a very hard look at our commitment in Afghanistan which, in my view, although the motives were good is wholly unsuccessful and indeed counter-productive. You need to make a case for staying and I think that has not been made.”

This announcement is crucial as it comes in the wake of constant firing in Afghanistan, which has killed hundreds of civilians in the past few weeks. The latest attack by Pakistan to take over a portion of north-west Afghanistan has further led to increased firing and an increasingly large number of injured civilians. Pakistan stepped up its campaign against the Taliban following the occupation of their north-west territory.

It is said that Britain’s aid budget for Pakistan is going to be larger than that for Afghanistan. President Zardari’s visit to London to meet Prime Minister Gordon Brown is likely to increase the funding for Pakistan.

However, Afghanistan continues to languish in a battle which has seen increased expenditure and even greater

it in their attack against the Hamas in Gaza in January. UN human rights investigators have also seen ‘extensive’ burn wounds on victims and have raised questions about how the injuries were caused, said a UN official who asked not to be identified talking about internal deliberations. The official said that the UN has reached no conclusions about whether any chemical weapons may have been used.

Lord Lawson’s statement comes at a time when more US and British troops are going to be sent to Afghanistan. The Conservative leadership is committed to keeping UK troops in Afghanistan but insists that the mission needs to be more focused on countering terrorism.

Lord Lawson, however, said that ‘bold and resolute’ steps must be taken by the government and added that ‘evDEFIANT: As the Taliban spread into Pakistan is now really the time to pull out? loss of civilian life. Human rights groups have constantly brought to notice the ever increasing number of casualties on the battlefield.

Lately, Afghanistan’s top human

The Afghan mission was extremely costly and "wholly unsuccessful" rights group said it is investigating whether white phosphorus was used in a US-Taliban battle in which scores of people were killed.

Doctors treating villagers wounded

in the fighting found ‘unusual’ burns on their bodies. The villagers were wounded in the battle last Monday in the Farah province. Allegations that white phosphorus could have been used threatens to deepen the controversy over what Afghan officials say was probably the worst fight leading to civilian deaths since the 2001 US ousting of the Taliban.

The incident in Farah called for an end to air strikes by Hamid Karzai.

However, President Barack Obama’s national security adviser said on Sunday that the United States would not end air strikes.

Along with Afghan and US investigations into the battle, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission has been looking into concerns

that white phosphorus may have been used in the fights. Nader Nedery, a commissioner in the leading human rights organization said, ‘our teams have met with patients. They are investigating the cause of the injuries and the use of white phosphorus”.

White phosphorus is a white inflammable material that can cause painful chemical burns. It is used to mark targets, create smoke screens or as a weapon, and can be delivered by shells, flares or hand grenades, according to GlobalSecurity.org. Human rights groups denounce its use even though it is not banned by any international treaty.

The US military used white phosphorus in their battle in Fallujah in Iraq in 2004 and Israel’s military used

Afghanistan continues to languish as expenditure and the loss of life go through the roof erybody would like huge expenditure and low taxation but unfortunately you can’t have it.’

Lawson’s statement at a time when the world economy is in dire straits is a logical step but maybe a tough one for the government as it strongly falls against the national agenda of fighting terrorism. Moreover, public confidence in a government decision may fall if the troops are withdrawn.

POLITICS 15

gairrhydd | POLITICS@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY MAY 18 2009

Obama's Af-Pak plan

Katherine Haylock takes a detailed look at the 'Af-Pak' in considering what it actually means and what potential it really carries Every person I have asked about the Af-Pak is literally dumbfounded. What is really going on? Forget opinion…let’s report the facts.

Upon asking some friends about the Af-Pak, I was greeted with bewildered faces. The common response: What is it? This got me thinking…the pros and cons have been evaluated, but do any of us really know the raw facts?

Consequently, what is the Af-Pak and what does it hope to achieve?

The Af-Pak is regarded as an important diplomatic landmark, which signals the beginning of President Obama’s foreign policy. Aimed at Afghanistan and Pakistan, it hopes to cut down militancy and stabilise Taliban activity. Richard Holbrooke is the administration's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan having been popularly commended after he orchestrated a peace agreement among the warring factions in Bosnia. This resulted in the Dayton Peace Accords, 1995.

Obama declared the Pakistani government "fragile" in a recent report The objectives are thus briefly outlined as follows: (1) Implement policies that acknowledge regional dimensions of Pakistan's security challenges and that Afghanistan, India and Pakistan are inter-linked. (2) Organize integrated international support to as-

sist Pakistan. (3) Broaden and intensify the strategic relationship between the US and Pakistan. (4) Approach Pakistan's military establishment in ways that support good governance and economic development.

Fundamentally, the Af-Pak denotes US foreign policy’s desire to combat militant ambitions and stabilise Pakistani and Afghan government practice.

So now we know what it is, why has it been implemented? Increased Taliban activity in Afghanistan in the closing months of 2008 led to an additional deployment of 3,000 US troops to Afghanistan. Obama later announced on 17 February 2009 that he was sending a further 17, 000 troops to Afghanistan to limit the free exchange of paramilitaries between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Af-Pak is a prevention tactic: employed to stifle Taliban activities before they rocket sky-high.

However, the Af-Pak proposal has encountered both problems and limitations which question its longevity.

A defiant and pugnacious upland people have already voiced their wrath: the US Congress. The offer of American aid to Pakistan came under fire from the Congress which believes that it looks too much like a ‘blank cheque’. Consequently, ‘conditionality’ has been requested, linking the flow of dollars to Pakistani co-operation on everything from fighting the Taliban to securing nuclear weapons.

However, Mr. Holbrooke said that the administration did not believe in conditionality, after he came under fire from critics such as Robert Wex-

ler who wanted guarantees about the spending of US funds. Mr. Holbrooke, who has adopted a relatively diplomatic stance in response, accepts that benchmarks are required to measure

Is the Af-Pak yet another redundant cause in the fight against terrorism?

Pakistan's performance. Many Pakistani officials are said to find the approach patronising. The conflicting attitudes render the proposal problematic: even without the added disap-

proval of Pakistan.

Obama declared the Pakistani government "fragile" in a recent report.

Subsequently, Pakistan has voiced public anger about US air strikes in the tribal areas and regards US pressure to confront the militants militarily as ‘unwarranted’. Washington's new director of national intelligence, Denis Blair, warns that "Afghanistan's and Pakistan’s weak and corrupt governments are failing to halt the spread of Taliban control", and says that "public support for the Taliban and local warlords" is increasing. These are but a few of the difficulties which have been encountered.

The Af-Pak is hence characterised by an age old myth: political dif-

ference. Such division and speculation over the strategy spell trouble for Obama. Essentially, the proposals seem liable. However, as more and more troops are drafted into Afghanistan, political ambition becomes the more personal question of life or death.

Despite these actions, militancy has increased near the Afghan and Pakistan border. This prompts the question: do these countries actually want help? If not, is the Af-Pak yet another redundant cause in the fight against terrorism? And if so, is it merely a different bureaucratic tactic set to fail?

The facts say yes.

SOLUTION: Obama, Hamid Karzai and Asif Ali Zardai discuss Af-Pak

The political rollercoaster

Do not despair at the state of British politics urges Gareth Ludkin.

Take in the bigger picture and enjoy the ride

T

he MP expenses scandal has whipped the media into an almost unbearable frenzy of excitement in the past two weeks. It's right that the MP expenses scandal has been exposed, but now we should get off our high horse and consider the bigger picture; the policies that really matter, what’s going on in Afghanistan, what Gordon Brown’s huge promises of support for Pakistan mean and how we are tackling poverty in our own country.

Newspaper pages have been filled with in-depth, detailed coverage of who spent what, where and how. It has become a pick and mix selection of MPs for the media to hound and criticise. This I believe is right and

just, especially for those MPs’ who have really gone out of their way to twist the system.

Lets not lose our heads over this scandal However, we must recognise how the media have also gone out of their way to blow this issue out of proportion. To open the pages of the The Daily Telegraph, or any newspaper in fact, you would think that every politician was fiddling the system. But the truth is that only a few have actually bent the rules to their advantage.

Covering the story in such a way that

seemingly challenges or condemns all politicians as if they were hardened criminals is wrong. They are not the first or the last to twist expenses and for the vast majority of MPs, the ones in our local communities, the thought of twisting expenses hasn’t even crossed their mind.

Yes it’s our public money and yes they should be held to account, but we should not consider that our politics is in a state of crisis or that Westminster is in disrepute or the political system is in dire need of reform. Can’t we keep a level head, even if the media can’t?

Yes the MP expenses system is in a crisis, but moves have now been made to change the expenses plan, we must remember this and consider the bigger

picture. We should stop in our search for the most guilty or laudable MP and think about the policies of our country that will take us through to the next general election and beyond.

Condemning all politicians as criminals who should face the chop is completely irresponsible. Sure there are those who have twisted their expenses, but let’s not kid ourselves in thinking that they are the first or the last. Businessmen, bankers and financiers around the world have been eeking out all they can get for years.

Of course it is different with MPs as it is our money they are spending, but a review is now in place which will see an independent audit that analyses the expenses claims of the past 4 years.

Suggesting that this should happen

now rather than in the summer will not change a thing. Change cannot happen overnight and we should not expect it to. Whether it happens now or in the summer, the important thing to remember is that the government are changing the system and they will change it for the better, the latest coverage has at least assured this.

Let’s not lose our heads over this scandal. This is simply another ride on the shaky British political rollercoaster that we seemingly love to hate.

What we really need to emerge from the dust is not only a better and fairer MP expenses scheme but real policies, promises we can believe in and an end to the political PR games David Cameron has so richly engaged in.

16 LETTERS

gairrhydd | LETTERS@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY MAY 18 2009

letters@gairrhydd.com

Dreaming The Dream Dear gair rhydd, I am a part-time tutor at the Lifelong Learning Department. In recent months I have become both angry and disillusioned when I have read of the extortionate pay increases of university vice-chancellors and the cavalier way in which departments have been axed in universities throughout Britain. Also, I recently read that President Barack Obama has refused the public funding accorded by Congress to every new president for the refurbishment of the private presidential apartments at the White House.

He apparently said that in these times of severe economic difficulty he felt duty bound to pay for such out of his own personal income.

This prompted me to write - with apologies to Dr. Martin Luther King I have a dream... ...that a Vice- Chancellor of Cardiff University declared that in such time of economic hardship he could not, with a clear conscience, accept a 12% pay increase taking his own salary to £235,000 a year. It is true that it is his role to oversee a multi-million pound enterprise, but he had come to realise that without the support of so many hard-working people on far lower incomes, he would, in practice, achieve very little. ...that this same Vice-Chancellor would vigorously oppose any

proposal to eradicate the humanities in the Department of Lifelong Learning. He understood the paramount importance of retaining such in any civilised society. He acknowledged their role in promoting intellectual, even mental, health in society, and how the qualifications they provided could enable people to return to the workforce. Moreover, he could never contemplate swelling the ranks of the unemployed with his own academic and administrative staff - he appreciated and valued their work far too much. ...that henceforth he would never accept a salary which would be greater than that of the British Prime Minister or the Foreign Secretary, and would urge his fellow ViceChancellors at other universities (including one whose salary exceeds £580,000 per year) to follow his lead and example.

How such a man would be respected, admired, and honoured by his peers and the wider community...

BUT THIS IS A MERE DREAM. Hilary Fifer

EU Must Vote Dear gair rhydd, I would like to draw your attention to the complete lack of publicity regarding the upcoming European Elections. I hope in the run up to the elections the writers of gair rhydd will give

some coverage to the European Parliament elections, rather than focussing on stories such as 'squatters in sheds' which do provide light entertainment but are nowhere near as important as exercising our democratic privileges.

Considering this is a ‘top’ university, we have an embarrassingly low turn out at student elections so it would be nice to see an effort being made to encourage students to take an interest in politics which although many don't seem to realise, does actually affect them. Let students know where, when and how to vote on the 4th June 2009.

Emma Biddle

Thank You Nightline Dear gair rhydd,

IT'S NEVER TOO LATE.

NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY. ALL STUDENTS WELCOME.

I attended the Society Awards on Saturday. I would firstly like to congratulate the organisers for a brilliant event, but I was disappointed to find that the Award for the ‘Most Charitable Society’ was judged on the amounts of money raised. Both the SVC and RAG have done a fantastic job and fully deserve their awards but I think the criteria is unnecessarily narrow.

Nightline has raised no money for charity this year. Zero. But by the end of this academic year our volunteers, all full time students, will have voluntarily contributed 6,500 hours to the service. If this were paid at minimum wage, it would have cost in excess of £37,000. These hours were mainly put in by a team of around forty people, with 12 hour shifts running every night during term time.

More importantly however, I can say with 95% certainty that we have saved lives this year.

Achievements have been made in Nightline which I am incredibly proud of. Never before have we had such a well trained, committed group of volunteers and the potential for the future has never been brighter. The strength and determination of the volunteers never ceases to astound me. If the Union and the University won’t thank this tremendous group of people then I will. Thank you Nightline.

Nightline Co-ordinator 08/09

Presidential Spirit Dear gair rhydd, So I was reading Boy Thunder's article last week and it got me thinking. It seems to me that since the election and gair rhydd's subsequent coverage, the debate around the nature of the election has taken place in a

cosy little corner between two sides with very similar stances: just different opinions regarding who's to blame. The way I see it, those defending Ed acknowledge that the use of external promoters is ethically questionable, and seek only to defend Ed's innocence in that no official rules were broken. Those opposed regard Ed as having employed dirty tactics and 'should have known better', and 'going against the spirit of the elections'.

But hold the phone, why is everyone accepting that employing the use of an external promoter is against this supposed 'spirit of the elections'? Could it not be argued that rather than standing around street corners dressed as a dinosaur and handing out little dinosaur shaped flyers, a candidate who had the initiative to go to an external promoter to look for an advantage shows the type of desirable dynamic qualities that a president should possess? For me, Ed Carey and those other candidates who won, won because of their use of external promoters, but rightfully so!

If there is any ‘spirit’ to the elections, it should be one that encourages candidates to express their creativity and display their credentials as characters that can win over people to help them.

Jack Somervell

Lifelong Learning Dear gair rhydd, How could the Welsh Assembly Government with a clear conscience possibly approve cutting the teaching of Welsh, of all subjects, plus the Humanities at Cardiff Centre for Lifelong Learning?

Surely that would ride a coach and horses through their pledge to make the country more bilingual and to culturally enrich people, making us more enlightened and as aware of our Welsh heritage as responsible, active contributors with a heightened quality of life like that enjoyed by many of our neighbours within the European community.

On the WAG website it says: “We envisage wide participation in the full range of arts, cultural and sporting activities. Our aim is that high-quality cultural experiences are available to all people, irrespective of where they live or their background. We will celebrate and conserve Wales’s outstanding heritage, of ordinary people and well-known artists, alike.”

Thousands of “ordinary people” like me have benefited from classes at the Lifelong Learning Centre and a move to scrap all classes would deprive us of an opportunity to learn and develop as intelligent beings.

This is particularly worrying for mature unemployed people who look

to the classes as a way of helping them to develop skills to make them more marketable in today’s frighteningly competitive job market.

The classes also fulfil a vital function as a way of maintaining mature people’s intellectual focus by disciplining themselves with regular study, thereby proving their worth to society, despite an apparent lack of meaningful interest by employers (particularly towards those of advancing years), and by regularly submitting work of a high standard to rigorous deadlines.

Many people are introduced to the demands of student life at the Lifelong Learning Centre and there they get the opportunity to learn new key transferable skills of researching using academic journals and the internet.

They grow and develop as new avenues and possibilities open up to them. Teaching and administrative staff at LLC have witnessed complete transformations in people’s lives from them perceiving themselves to be in the gutter to them seeing themselves soaring to the stars as a result of them taking up a class in their spare time.

Indeed, it was Oscar Wilde who wrote: “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

Slashing classes in Humanities and Welsh would be a retrograde step for Wales and its cultural life, denying thousands more people the chance to aim upwards.

It would send out a clear message from the Welsh Assembly Government to the whole of Europe that we in Wales are happy in the gutter with nothing to aim for which would take us up out of our currently straitened circumstances.

Lifelong Learning Dear gair rhydd, In response to the letter (11th May) from the Vice-Chancellor regarding the closure of Humanities at LEARN, I am concerned by his lack of attention to the main issues in hand.

He speaks of the University's fantastic Humanities provision but he does not once refer specifically to the problems facing the continuation of Humanities at LEARN itself.

He states that “it is not intended for the Centre of Lifelong Learning to close” but this is obvious. He does not seem to have taken into account that we are not protesting about the closure of LEARN, rather the end of Humanities provision at the centre.

His response clearly brings to the fore his complete misinterpretation of these contentious issues.

The Vice Chancellor needs to stop with his media spiel and actually credit us with some intelligent solutions.

LETTERS 17

gairrhydd | LETTERS@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY MAY 18 2009

the Comments from the week’s news, opinion, features and sport at www.gairrhydd.com Presidential Debate chugs on tediously Dom Stone ------Firstly, I would like to reiterate a point made here by Eddy, and try and dismiss the belief that the spirit of the election was negative. I personally had only met a couple of other candidates before, but during the process managed to speak to the majority of them and they were all polite, kind hearted and supportive of each other. I think everyone who ran would agree that whoever won would have been a great addition to the Student Union for the next academic year.

Secondly, it has just come to my attention that Ed Carey is an Arsenal Fan. Thumbs up from me.

Finally, thank you to Ben Bryant and Ed Carey for including this in gair ryhdd. I too hope it dispells any lingering concerns anyone has and draws a line under the matter.

Bring on next year!

Badar Chaudhary ------We need NO justification from you Eddy. Have enough faith in you and your principles! It's always said that if you can dream it you can achieve it. Let's dream to make our union the #1 students' union in the UK again, next year!

Rosie Knowles ------Eddy, it’s interesting to hear your statement, but there are a few things which I feel the need to respond to.

First of all, could you clear up once and for all what you did say, if it was not ‘I couldn’t have done it without Rough Hill?’

Second, underhandedness and being noticed are not mutually exclusive.

More importantly, I think you need to distinguish that the actual physical action of stamping was not the target of the ‘underhanded’ comment, that is a very clear and visible action, but more

the way in which the situation arose.

Third, Boy Thunder’s ‘utopian’ election. Is this an insinuation to suggest that a fair election (which I think was Boy Thunder's point) is some kind of unachievable and naive fantasy? I hope not, it doesn’t say much for your faith in the system.

Fourth, as for only allowing flyering and lecture shouts and suggesting this would hinder the spreading of the candidates’ ‘message’ through more of the student body, do you think that your stamps gave most of the affected any more of your message than your slogan? Hardly a comprehensive account of your policy spread to the masses.

On one of your points I agree, it is fairness of process which should be highlighted. However, you give the impression that the rules in place were acceptable – surely by the confusion and controversy caused you might consider the possibility that this is not the case? The fact that many off-thecuff decisions had to be made for which no rules existed already suggest otherwise. I hope you take seriously your pledge to review the guidelines

forum

to make things clearer for future elections. Either way, you must see that the rules need to be clear for all involved.

To be honest I fail to see how you will come out of this unblemished. If you change the rules to get rid of loopholes (as Boy Thunder succinctly put it) in the rules and not allowing nightclub involvement then you are surely criticising your own campaign? And yet if you condone the behaviour then I think you will alienate a large proportion of the student body by clearly going against their opinion. Democracy is hard, I hope you have the mettle.

Lastly, your point on Wednesday nights. A shoo-in expected? No maybe not, but an itchy back who has done their share of scratching? Very possibly. And to think that achieving something (let’s say for example, Rough Hill securing Wednesday nights) has nothing at all to do with ‘who you know’, surely the President isn’t that naïve?

Best of luck, personally I think you might need it.

Eddy -------

Hi Rosie, I’ll gladly respond to these comments. Any break from revision is welcome. I’ll drop you a facebook message in the next couple of days.

All the best.

Rosie Knowles ------Eddy, I wrote this response for the benefit of the wider student body, not just myself. I think it would be equally as useful for you to respond here. I’m sure I’m not the only person who is intrigued to hear your take on the questions I have raised.

Eddy -------

Ok Rosie, Well I’ll allow you the decision to publish. I’m happy to respond to you in person but I didn’t write this piece to spend a week answering and defending myself to anyone who chooses to write in. For one thing, I don’t have the time to commit myself to that.

FEATURES 19

gairrhydd | FEATURES@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY MAY 18 2009

Virtual insanity

In the name of research, Robin Morgan enters the virtual world of Second Life and gets violated by people from the internet

I

t's got to the point where I really will do anything for a distraction. After countless days of self-loathing and attempts to get motivated for revision, I am back in the arms of the scorpionwoman that is procrastination. I am now on Second Life.

Somewhere in cyberspace, a persona of me - imaginatively named Peter Sorrowman (they gave me the surname, honest) - is wandering around this virtual world. All in the name of this article and my constant desire for something other than exams in my life.

As I log on, it tells me that Second Life will be turning six years old this year.

That’s older than Facebook. It displays how popular the service is, and how possibly addictive or reassuring this escapism is.

H o w ever, it is not particularly easy to get the hang of. I spent about 20 minutes trying to change my appearance (hmm. I guess it is like real life), but to no avail. I still looked like Mark-bloodyOwen circa Take That break up.

You firstly wander around a guest land, filled with houses and helpful clicky things and... other new people. One person started a conversation, and consequently scared the living shit out of me.

I’m a charming person. I opened the conversation well, the classic Fresher’s Week questions of Name/ Hometown/Occupation. But before I’d hit this trinity of friendliness, she (I’m pretty sure it was a she...) shouted, I repeat SHOUTED the following phrase: “I love you.”

Far be it from me to insult a lady’s opinion, I said thank you. But then, in Old Greg-style, she asked if

I loved her back. A few quick clicks later and I’ve closed the program and feel violated.

This seems to be the problem with any internet exchange, virtual or not.

There are some absolute freaks in the world, and the majority of them have broadband and are hellbent on making

There are some absolutely freaks in the world, and the majority have broadband

people feel very, very uncomfortable.

Yet I digress. After all, this whole ‘experiment’ was simply for research. In Second Life,

there is a currency called ‘Linden’ with which you can buy houses, pay prostitutes... I don’t know. Honestly, I didn’t get far enough into the process for that.

I left guest land and was teleported (the creators clearly knew their target market by using sci-fi lexis) into realvirtual-world. There was a group of scantily-clad women dancing to Crank That by the modern-day-Shakespeare, Soulja Boy. I shit you not. Again, with the personal violation.

Transactions using ‘Linden’ have been up 65% since last year, suggesting that more people are turning to virtual sites such as Second Life to escape from their real-life problems.

Of course, this is just speculation. I’m sure the recession hasn’t forced people into wireless-internet-enabled caves to live out a hermit’s existence.

And virtual life ain’t no walk in the park, sucker.

(Not sure why I decided to write that in true blaxploitation-style.)

In November of last year, the story came out that the couple of Amy Taylor and David Pollard were set to divorce after that BASTARD was caught cheating on Miss Taylor. With another woman. A virtual one. Who’s not real. Taylor's character was a club DJ; his had a helicopter in their driveway.

Needless to say the couple had a clichéd relationship.

Boy meets girl (in online chatroom); girl likes boy (who’s in an online chatroom); girl moves from London to Newquay to live with boy (who she met in an online chatroom); they live happily ever after. Until this onlinfideilty (that’s the best I could come up with...) occurred.

Pollard was found with a series of women and a prostitute, and Taylor filed for divorce in real life. It is a worrying trend for British charity Relate, who claim they are coming across an increasing number of people whose real-life relationships were falling apart because of what was happening

INTRODUCING PETER SORROWMAN: Living the dream in their parallel, unreal worlds.

Clearly it’s not such a paradise. In my sole hour using the site, one person simply ignored my hello when they obviously heard me. The prick.

But the stigma surrounding the site is its biggest obstacle in many ways.

People will generally think that a virtual life is solely used by those who are not happy with their actual lives.

To some extent it may be true. But it is very much like any computer game. Anyone who has played The Sims knows how addictive it was... until you got bored and burnt the house down but blocked the door so he couldn’t get out and eventually burned to death. Aherm.

Don’t be so quick to mock these people. Perhaps when the world ends, all those with an account will have passed some divine test and will go straight to their virtual heaven, whilst everyone else suffers the abyss. Per-

haps.

More realistically, however, it has given individuals a chance to escape the real world – which, as we all know from constant scare-mongering headlines and love-to-hate figures, can be pretty shit.

Regardless of what I thought, people do use this service in alarming numbers. The creators, Linden Lab, claim that 15 million people have registered with the site. However, they do recognise that only 10% of members still use the service 3 months down the line.

But still, that’s 1.5 million people.

All with the ability to create what they look like, determine their profession, and – in the case of David Pollard – have sex with prostitutes whilst your Cobra helicopter gunship sits in your driveway outside. And THAT, my friends, is what we call “living the dream.”

20 FEATURES

gairrhydd | FEATURES@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY MAY 18 2009

Fear and loathing Festivals are a great highlight to the summer and, for most, are are occurring at gatherings throughout the country, Daniella

A

t this time of year, most of us start thinking about what we will be doing after the dreaded exam season ends.

While some people will be going on holiday this summer or getting a job, many of you will be off to one of the many festivals across the UK and Europe. Blazing sunshine, all your favourite bands, drinking with your friends - it sounds like a recipe for a good time.

For most people going to a festival is a great experience and the highlight of the year. However, for a minority of people the festival experience can turn sour, putting their lives in jeopardy.

Take last year’s T in the Park festival, for example. Since the Scottish festival’s first outing in 1994, it has managed to establish itself as one of the highlights in the British festival circuit. The festival attracts the big names in music, and last year boasted Rage Against the Machine, The Verve, and R.E.M. as headliners. However, last year’s festival was marred by two incidents, including the event’s first death when a man was found dead in his tent. In a separate incident, a man was stabbed 11 times by two men after he tried to prevent them harassing a female friend, and only narrowly escaped death.

Last year’s festival season was also tainted by another festival death. 20year-old Katie Jones, attending her

Music festivals create extra risks for drug takers and binge drinkers first music festival, died of a drug overdose after taking ecstasy at the Kendal Calling festival in Cumbria.

The festival found itself at the centre of controversy after it was revealed that one of the bands playing at the festival, Deathretro, had written in the festival booklet: “Don’t just get pissed, take a load of drugs and miss the bands. Do all three.”

While Kendal Calling’s press officer had stressed that comments by bands did not reflect the festival’s stance on drugs, band member Ben Robinson was actually one of the festival’s organisers.

Drug overdoses at festivals are nothing new, with the world-renowned Glastonbury Festival experiencing three deaths in its history. A man was found dead at Glastonbury in 1994, in a year which also saw a shooting incident at the festival. In 2004 a man died of an overdose, and in 2007 a man

died of a drug-related heart attack.

Heavy drinking can also be lifethreatening. In 2002 a 19year-old man was found dead in his tent at Leeds festival after a night of heavy drinking.

While taking drugs and excessive drinking both pose a huge health threat anywhere, music festivals create extra risks for drug takers and binge drinkers.

With most festivals taking place at the height of summer the chances of dehydration are greatly increased. This, com-

Drug driving has the same penalties and risks as drink 2002: bined with the additional problems of an unfamiliar environment and large crowds, mean that festivals are really not the place to experiment.

Fatalities are still thankfully rare at festivals, thanks largely to the number of welfare staff posted around campsites ensuring that people suffering from drug and alcohol overdoses receive immediate medical treatment.

But overdoses are not the only health concern at festivals. At last year’s V Festival, 671 people received medical treatment, 23 of whom needed hospital treatment. As well as drugs and alcohol overdoses, incidents included people who had injured themselves after falling in the slippery conditions, people who had received injuries in fighting and one man who had suffered a fracture to his lower jaw as he danced near the main stage.

In 2005, riots during the final night of the Reading and Leeds festivals caused an array of injuries, and at Leeds 25 members of security staff received significant injuries after being attacked, including broken bones.

During the riots out-of-control fires raged across the campsites at both venues, with some of the attacks on security staff occurring when they tried to prevent revellers throwing aerosols on to bonfires. While the subsequent year’s ‘Love not Riots’ campaign was largely effective in preventing a repeat of previous violence, the tradition of destructive behaviour on

e met with ival riots wer The Leeds fest

the f i n a l night of the festival has continued to pose a problem for organisers.

The riots at Reading and Leeds, aside from violence against staff, were particularly dangerous due to the mass fires throughout the campsite. Fires have posed a particular safety concern at music festivals, with the trend to throw gas canisters on to campfires a contributing factor to a high number of fire-related injuries throughout the

lice

armed riot po

years.

Any visitor to the Reading and Leeds festivals will have at some point been shocked into silence as images of people scarred for life at previous festivals were plastered over the big screens, and this year the festival’s organisers have made the decision to ban gas canisters from the campsite.

In Ireland, last year’s Oxegen festival saw one woman taken to hospital for treatment after a friend accidentally burnt her with a makeshift blow torch, singeing her hair and badly burning her hand.

Even if you survive the festival it-

self unscathed, there is still the journey home to consider. Drink and drug driving is a real issue at festivals, since at most festivals the campsite must be vacated relatively early the day after the festival ends. As it takes an hour for just one unit of alcohol to leave the body, many people are still under the influence when they begin the drive home.

While the facts concerning drink driving are well publicised, the risks of drug driving are less widely known and thus many younger drivers feel taking drugs is a safer option if they are driving home. Drug driving car-

21 FEATURES

gairrhydd | FEATURES@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY MAY 18 2009

in Lost Vagueness

fun and music in the sunshine. But as violence and even deaths Graham reports on the darker side of festivals Stay safe this summer with these top tips: Keep hydrated Sunshine and jumping around in a mosh pit are a recipe for disaster if you don’t drink enough water. This is especially important if you are also drinking or taking drugs.

Don’t forget to eat With loads of bands to see and the cost of food astronomical at festivals it’s tempting to skip meals, but this isn’t a great idea if you are drinking.

Look after your drink.

Drink spiking still happens at festivals, so don’t be tempted to accept drinks from people you don’t know.

Stick with your friends

ries the same legal penalties as drink driving and is equally dangerous, with different drugs affecting driving ability in different ways.

Festivals provide an amazing experience. All festivals have their own unique atmosphere, but often share a common feeling of being detached from reality. While this is one of the attractions of festivals, it is easy to get caught up in the festival atmosphere and pay less attention to your own personal safety than you would normally.

Avoid becoming one of this year's horror stories by making sure you look

Make sure you know where all your friends are, especially if you are drinking or taking drugs. If you split up, arrange a time and a place to meet up later. aft e r yourself a n d look o u t for your friends.

Then you can get on with having an amazing time.

Don’t drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol

FESTIVALS: All fun and games until somebody loses a limb

As it takes one hour for one unit of alcohol to leave your body, if you have had 6 pints you won’t be safe to drive until 12 hours after you stop drinking.

gairrhydd | SCIENCE@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY MAY 18 2009

SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT 23

Can't get no sleep As students we often complain of feeling tired: this time of year more so than any other what with insane revision and draining exams, which is often purely due to sleep deprivation.

Occasionally however there may be a more sinister cause for such fatigue. Typical symptoms experienced include daytime sleepiness and a lack of energy, loss of motivation, poor concentration, and difficulty making decisions as well as feelings of depression.

Often tiredness is due to a combination of causes. Nine in 100 people with tiredness will suffer with a physical disease. Around 75 in 100 people will have an emotional cause.

Being tired may mean you avoid physical activity. However, as you become more unfit you will be even more tired when you try to do something. When you are chronically tired this can become a vicious cycle.

Being overweight or underweight can cause tiredness. If you are overweight your body has to work harder than normal to do everyday activities.

If you are underweight you have less muscle strength, and you may feel tired more quickly.

Medical conditions such as anaemia can also leave an individual feeling tired. Anaemia is a condition in which the blood fails to supply the body's tissues with sufficient amounts of oxygen.

This is due either to a lack of red blood cells, or to each cell containing too little of the oxygen-carrying pigment haemoglobin.

Blood cells are created by the bone marrow, and normally are destroyed after about four months of life.

Anaemia results when the balance of this mechanism is disturbed.

Either the bone marrow produces too few blood cells, or the cells are destroyed or lost at too fast a rate.

There are several causes of anaemia. They include: Defective bone marrow, a shortage of iron, the main ingredient of haemoglobin, a shortage of the vitamins B12 or folic acid both needed to produce red blood cells, a loss of blood through heavy menstruation or internal bleeding which may be caused by disease and infections such as malaria.

By far the most common form of the condition is caused by iron deficiency.

Lack of iron prevents the bone marrow from making sufficient haemoglobin for the red cells.

The cells produced are small and pale and have a reduced oxygen-carrying capacity.

The problem can be down to a lack of iron in the diet. Good sources of iron include fruit, wholemeal bread, beans, and lean meat.

PHOTO: BEN BRYANT

The exam period is a time for energy drinks, all-nighters and piles of work. It's no wonder we're all so tired, says Chelsea Haughton

NO SLEEP 'TIL DEADLINE: All nighters can quickly take their toll It may also be that the gut is unable to effectively absorb iron from the diet. This may be due to coeliac disease, a disorder that impairs digestion.

Emotional causes of tiredness include stress and worry However, the main cause of irondeficiency anaemia is loss of iron at a greater rate than normal as a result of abnormally heavy or persistent bleeding.

In some cases this may be caused by disease.

The diseases most commonly responsible for persistent bleeding are those associated with the digestive tract, such as gastritis, peptic ulcer, stomach cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, haemorrhoids, and bowel tumours.

Prolonged treatment with aspirin and similar non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can also cause gastrointestinal bleeding.

Other physical causes include sleep problems, such as insomnia and sleep apnoea (abnormal breathing while asleep), which can also stop you get-

ting a good night's sleep. This is particularly problematic in those who are overweight. Pregnancy is another common reason for severe tiredness.

Emotional causes however include stress and worry which are tiring emotions. Facing a stressful situation can be draining, especially when you can't see a solution to your problems. Feeling that you have no control over a situation may make you frustrated, irritable and tired.

Tiredness can also be triggered by stressful situations. This may include a recent bereavement, financial circumstances, moving house, family issues or work problems.

Mental health problems such as depression or anxiety can make you feel more tired. They can also prevent you from sleeping properly.

The treatment for tiredness generally depends upon the main causative factors. However improving your sleep routine may prove to be of great benefit. These include going to bed and getting up at the same time every day, not taking naps in the day, develop pre-sleep rituals which will act as a cue to your body that it's time to sleep - such as having a warm bath or reading for a few minutes, ensure that your bedroom is quiet, dark and comfortable, and that it's neither too hot nor too cold and avoid eating heavy meals

in the evening.

Introducing physical activity into your routine may also be of benefit.

Aim to do 30 minutes of moderateintensity physical activity on at least five days a week. If you exhaust yourself for some reason, don't give up. Do small amounts of exercise again the next day and gradually increase the amount. It is also important to avoid exercising three hours before bed, as exercise can invigorate you.

So what should you do if you are feeling chronically tired with no relief of such symptoms? A visit to your GP may well be worthwhile, you may not think they can help but you may be surprised.

Sweet dreaming Have you ever found yourself falling asleep in lectures when you haven’t even been out the night before? You may have had what you thought was a decent night’s sleep yet you still find yourself unable to keep your eyes open.

New research has found that there may be a natural cause to your drowsiness. Researchers at Oxford University believe that there may be a hormonal reason behind why young people feel the need to sleep more than other age groups.

Professor Russell Foster, the chairman of circadian neuroscience at Oxford has conducted tests and found that people between the ages of 10 and 20 need around 9 hours sleep per night due to their body clocks being ‘programmed’ two hours later than that of people beyond that stage.

Many parents have previously accused teenagers of being lazy or wanting to avoid going to school or college, yet Professor Foster suggests that there may be a solution to this problem. He argues that schools should start an hour later, instead of as early as 8 o’clock as students’ brains have been proven to be more alert in the afternoons, with more effective receptiveness to learning. Professor Foster also recommends that lessons deemed most demanding are timetabled in the afternoon, when concentration is at its peak.

Dr Paul Kelley, head teacher of Monkseaton Community High in North Tyneside supports the view that schools should not begin as early, and feels that ideally lessons should commence at 11am. Quoted in the Daily Telegraph, Dr Kelley said “teenagers aren’t lazy. We’re depriving them of the sleep they need through purely biological factors beyond their control". Kelley’s school has been revolutionary in its tactics for improving students’ grades; through splitting lessons into concentrated twenty minutes periods with exercise in-between, marks have soared.

Although academics have posed a later start to schools, they do not propose that teenagers should stay in bed later than they usually would. Professor Foster states “You need to count back nine hours from the alarm clock going off and you need to make sure you are wound down and ready for bed”.

He advises to not play video games or watch television, as these have been proven to disturb sleep patterns.

A study published in the journal of the Japanese Society of Sleep Research theorises that TV viewing affects young people’s sleeping patterns far more than it does adults. Watching TV before sleeping can affect the amount of time it takes to drift off and the quality of the sleep that you do get.

The reason behind teen’s slower body clocks is much debated over, but some suggestions for the cause include body changes, emotional differences and social issues such as socialising late.

Once you’re past the crucial stage when your body clock shifts back at around the age of 20, sleep becomes lighter again, but the experts still suggest that a person needs 8-9 hours of sleep a night to fully function and allow the body to recuperate whilst you sleep.

24 JOBS & MONEY

gairrhydd | JOBS@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY MAY 18 2009

No longer a winning formula The credit crunch is even affecting the richest of the rich. Tom Victor explains Formula 1's proposed budget cuts

T

he recession seems to be everywhere, doesn’t it? One minute it’s closing down some of your favourite pic ‘n’ mix chains, the next it’s plunging the world economy into chaos. Pretty inconsiderate, huh?

At least it’s an equal opportunities harbinger of doom, affecting rich and poor alike. You see, the credit crunch has taken time out from pissing in our Tesco value cornflakes to wreak havoc on those fat cats at Formula 1.

The next time the likes of Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley tuck into their moist, delicious foie gras, they might just feel a bit of a crunch. That’s right, a credit crunch.

I’m not talking about Bernie’s divorce settlement, which forced him to pay billions to the only woman tall enough to reach his ivory tower. I’m talking about the proposed budget cap which has threatened to level the Formula 1 playing field.

It seems as though - far from the suggestions of altruism which have been doing the rounds - the proposed cap has been mooted primarily due to concerns about the future of the sport.

Self-interest from Formula 1 bosses? Surely not! Well, apparently so.

The recession has already claimed its first victim within Formula 1, with the Honda team dropping out of the sport, while Renault boss Flavio Briatore has introduced wage cuts for his team.

Could we be seeing an end to the jet-setting lifestyles and celebrity status enjoyed by the Lewis Hamiltons and Jenson Buttons of this world?

Well, in a word, no.

Take a guess at how much the teams are being limited to. Too low, try again. No, still too low, what were you thinking? There you go, £40 million.

Yeah, I guess that’s fair enough, isn’t it? I mean, after all, they need to spend a lot on hospitality. Their rich clients and guests don’t just pamper themselves.

And don’t forget marketing. They need to spend a fair amount on that, I mean, who’s heard the name Ferrari outside Italy?

Hang on a minute, marketing and hospitality aren’t included in the budget? Well, at least this will mean the overpaid drivers will lose a bit of their easy-earned cash. What’s that? Drivers’ salaries aren’t included either?

Surely the cost of actually building the cars is included. Well, almost.

Engine costs are excluded, at least for the 2010 season. Is anything actually included in this budget cap aside from smoking truffles and bathing in champagne (I assume that’s what they do with their money)?

Still, at least the cap will be enforced stringently, with harsh fixed penalties for any team who exceeds their measly £40 million allowance.

CHAMPAGNE ON ICE? Will Formula 1's proposed budget cuts end Ferrari's involvement?

Oh no, wrong again. There are apparently no ‘fixed’ penalties for going over budget, and according to the F1 website ‘The Cost Commission will judge the degree of misdemeanour and advise the FIA, who will determine any penalty.’

Right, so let me get this straight.

The FIA (Formula 1’s governing body) is introducing a budget cap of £40 million, which doesn’t include engines, drivers salaries, marketing or hospitality, which will be enforced arbitrarily, and which may not hand out

penalties for disobedience. Did I miss anything?

Oh, just the one small point. Teams can opt out of the cap. Was there any point?

Still, despite what seems at face value a pointless measure, teams have

already started throwing their toys out of the pram.

The highest-profile announcement by far has come from Ferrari, mainstays of the sport, who have threatened to leave Formula 1 and race in other series if Ecclestone and Max Mosley’s plans come to fruition.

Meanwhile, the Red Bull, Renault and Toyota teams have also expressed concerns about the new proposals.

So, if it’s so unpopular, why do the F1 bosses want to introduce this cap?

I’ll give you a clue. It’s two words, and it rhymes with edit lunch.

According to one FIA spokesman, the proposal constitutes ‘a temporary measure in a transition period in which the sport needed to balance the need for short-term economic viability against long-term environmental sustainability.’

Wow, Formula 1 and ‘economic viability’ mentioned in the same sentence. And there were you and I thinking the sport was all about exchanging ridiculous sums of money for an impressive amount of prestige in a twenty-first century updating of ‘my dad’s bigger than your dad’ playground posturing.

Maybe the credit crunch has had a greater effect than we thought.

FIVE MINUTE FUN 25

gairrhydd | FMF@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY MAY 18 2009

found on facebook Housemate done something stupid?

Quick Crossword Across

Down

8. Formed for a particular purpose (2,3) 9. Increases the value of (7) 10. Nationality of Chelsea manager Avram Grant (7) 11. Sooty's friend Soo, perhaps?

(5) 12. Inclines (9) 14. First name of TV host and comedian Mr Dennis (3) 15. Rihanna hit (inits) (3) 16. Breathe new life into (9) 19. Dim (5) 21. Result (7) 23. Wide-sleeved robes with sashes (7) 24. Aspect (5)

1. ___ grace, redeeming quality (6) 2. Air currents enabling gliders to gain height (8) 3. God's Little ___, Erskine Caldwell novel set in Georgia USA (4) 4. ___ Schnabel, director of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (6) 5. Person putting forward a motion (8) 6. ___ Barstow, A Kind of Loving author (4) 7. People from east of Europe (6) 13. Nuisance (8) 14. Remain in hiding (3,5) 15. Animals that emit foul smells (6) 17. Dialect of Liverpool (6) 18. Sway (6) 20. Harry ___, sour character from The Third Man (4) 22. Rubber mouthpiece on a baby's bottle (4)

Send more oddities!

sudoku.

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

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26 LISTINGS The Listings Top Five... ...entertainment blogs!

A Sat at your computer revising for hours on end is not a very appealing thought.

Make the most of your procrastination time by having a look at the following five entertainment blogs: 1. Perez Hilton.com With a pseudonym saluting to the Hollywood ‘it’ girl, Perez Hilton dishes the dirt on all things controversial across the pond. His blogs have made him a household name amongst the Californian elite, with popstar Fergie allegedly singing about the blogger and his criticism of her in single ‘Pedestal’.

2. Cinematical.com For the film buffs amongst you, Cinematical offers the very latest in movie gossip. Plot spoilers, release dates and set secrets provide content for just some of the blogs to grace the site daily.

3. Xposureuncut.com To keep you updated on all the latest in celebville, check out Xposureuncut. Xposureuncut embraces the blog for what it is and is able to deliver us surfers with the most recently unearthed scandals and stories in the UK and the USA. 4. Popdirt.com A site devoted to the music scene, delivering up-to-date blogs in genres such as rap, rock and r’n’b.

5. Tvsquad.com

gairrhydd | LISTINGS@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY MAY 18 2009

Monday 18th May

QUENCH: CASIO KIDS + SILVER GOSPEL RUNNERS + HYENA+ SAD SONGS FOR DIRTY LOVERS @ BUFFALO BAR A quadruple offering of live music to quench your musical thirst tonight...my oh my, aren’t we just a tad spoilt!

8pm, free 'FIGHT BATTLE FOR ME' ALBUM LAUNCH: PAGAN WANDERER LU + MEWGATZ + STAIRS TO KOREA + THEM SQUIRRELS + GRAF @ DEMPSEYS Lose yourself in electro heaven. Tonight's dizzying array features an amalgam of modern technology, home-made instruments and modified 80s casios. Think Bright Eyes meets Aphex Twim for a taster.

8 - 11pm, £4 BUDDY WHITTINGTON @ THE GLOBE A stalwart in the Texan band Blues Breakers, Buddy takes centre stage on his own tonight, playing the best in rocking blues.

7.30pm, £12 10 FEET LIVE @ 10 FEET TALL The finest local, new and upcoming bands, featuring Fables tonight. Get down there to support the local talent!

8.30pm, free DIGITAL @ OCEANA Go for a swim in the ocean for guaranteed drunken dancing...and maybe a half-time, in-house hot dog.

9pm - 3am, £3.50 nus FUN FACTORY @ THE UNION There's only one place to celebrate if you're lucky enough to have finished your exams already. Make the most of the free fun at the factory!

10pm - 2am, free

Tuesday 19th May

THE INSPECTOR CALLS @ THE NEW THEATRE A mysterious inspector grills a bunch of suspicious wealthy aristocrats around the dinner table. A whodunnit to get your brain ticking.

7.30pm, (2.30pm matinees wed, thurs, cat). £25.50 - £7 ROYAL VARIETY PRESENTS...TOKEN YANK COMEDY SKETCH FOLLOWED BY LEWIS LARKE @ 10 FEET TALL Comedy takes the stage at tonight's Royal Variety show in a back-to-back rip roaring sketch show that will leave your sides aching, especially with some credit crunching offers on cocktails.

10pm - 3am HAMMERTIME!: RESIDENT DJS @ BARFLY 'Touch this' with MC Hammer tonight and mmm bop your way through the rest of the week. No doubt about it, 90s night is the place to be if you're up for a boogie!

10.30pm, £3 - 2 CHIC BEAT @ VODKA REVOLUTION Whether you're after a classy mojito or a sickly array of multicoloured, multiflavoured shots, Revs is the place to go. Rumour has it they do a cocktail that actually tastes like a bakewell tart in a glass.

9pm - 2am, £4

Wednesday 20th May

HERE & NOW 2009: THE VERY BEST OF THE 80S: RICK ASTLEY + KIM WILDE + HOWARD JONES + KID CREOLE + THE COCONUTS + ALTERED IMAGES + BOOTHER BEYOND + HAZEL O'CONNOR @ C.I.A An overdose of the 80s tonight. You can be forgiven if you don't recognise any of the headliners though - the tour's main, starstudded headliner, Boy George, is a poignant absence due to his current sentencing. No fear if you're an 80s afficionado, he's replaced by the one-hit-wonder Rick Astley.

7.30pm, £36.50 WHITE WOMEN & SONG: GRETCHEN PETERS + SUSIE BOGGUS + MATRICA BERGE @ THE GLOBE Her songs have sold millions worldwide, covered by artists from pop, country, blues and folk, yet tonight you are treated to the original in a rare performance by Gretchen Peters herself as she takes to the stage to showcase her intelligent and introspective writings.

7.30pm, £15 LOOSE + PEPPERMINT PATTI PRESENT: MARNIE STERN + JOY OF SEX @ BUFFALO BAR Marnie Stern's expert transformation of the most complicated guitar acrobatics into a beautiful and concise 3 minute pop song is an artform. Tonight she is joined by the post-punk, Cardiffian trio, the Joy of Sex. 8pm - 11pm, £8 LISTEN UP!: RESIDENT DJS @ CLWB IFOR BACH The place to go if you're feeling indecisive.

Indie, new releases, motown and funk spread across 3 floors so you can pick 'n' mix your way through the night.

10pm, £3 - 2 SAM, NAMITE & FARMER PRESENT: HOT BUTTER @ FUNKY BUDDHA LOUNGE Chomp through a £5 burger and a beer, guzzle down some 2 for 1 cocktails and get down to some badass funky sounds.

8pm, free

Soap lovers, drama enthusiasts and reality fanatics take note- this is the blog spot where you can find anything and everything concerned with TV.

Students’ Union, Park Place, 02920 387421 www.cardiffstudents.com ◆ Med Club, Neuadd Meirionydd, Heath Park 02920 744948 ◆ Clwb Ifor Bach ros, Bakers Row 02920 399939 www.clubmetropolitan.com ◆ Dempseys, Castle Street 02920 252024 ◆ Move, 7 Mill Lane 02920 225592 ◆ Jazz, 21 St. Mary Street 02920 387026 www.cafejazzcardiff.com ◆ The Riverbank Hotel, Despenser Street www.riverbankjazz.co.uk ◆ St. David’s Hall, Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay 0870 0402000 www.wmc.org.uk ◆ The New Theatre, Park Place 02920 878889 www.newtheatrecardiff.co.uk ◆ The Cardiff International Arena, Mary Ann Street 02920 224488 ◆ The Millennium Stadium Can’t miss it. www.millenniumstadium.com ◆ Tiger Tiger

LISTINGS 27

gairrhydd | LISTINGS@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY MAY 18 2009

Thursday 21st May

BETHAN ELFYN’S D.I.S.C.O BISCUITS @ BUFFALO BAR A new Thursday club night to work your salivary glands into overdrive. Ms Elfyn of BBC Radio 1 hits the charity shops the week before, to find the best records to keep you going all night long.

8pm – 3am, free DRAMA TRIPLE BILL – HEAVENLY LOVE: MASSIVE WATER + BUBBLE WRITING + PAS DEUX @ CHAPTER ARTS CENTRE Delving into the world of the spiritual and inner-self, this production attempts to unravel and explore the themes of love and the notion of the realm beyond.

8pm, £10/£6 (runs until Sat 23rd May) RHYDIAN ROBERTS + LOUISE SETARA @ CIA Wales’ much loved operatic star, Rhydian, who was robbed of his X Factor crown, returns to his homeland along with soul sensation Louise Setara. A concert guaranteed to blow you out of this water.

7.30pm, £40/£22.50 in advance LEE JONES @ CAFÉ JAZZ, SANDRINGHAM HOTEL For a different sort of night out, head to the Sandringham Hotel this evening, where jazz guitarist and festival regular Lee Jones will be gracing us with his presence.

7.30pm, £5 BEN’S BROTHER @ THE GLOBE Rod Stewart sound-alike Jamie Hartman takes to the stage along with his fourstrong band to show you some of their classic songwriting and sensational melodies.

7.30pm, £12.50

Friday

22nd May THE BEST IN LIVE STAND-UP COMEDY + LATE BAR AND DISCO @ GLEE CLUB Take a break from your hectic examination timetable and procrastinate to your heart's content, with a few giggles at Glee Club.

7.45pm, £12.50 / £7 nus KID BRITISH @ CLWB IFOR BACH Old school ska and dancehall, with a smattering of reggae, a twist of Indie and a peppering of electro pop provides the ingredients for Kid British’s distinctively whisked sound.

7pm, £7 UK GUNS ‘N ROSES @ CLUB SEVEN Six-piece Guns ’n Roses tribute band rock out at Club Seven to the classics that have won them their audiences and legion of fans.

8pm, £12 ALESSI’S ARK @ BARFLY 19 year old London singer/songwriter haunts you with her hushed fairytale melodies and lullaby-sounding style.

7.30pm, £5 LUSH @ SOLUS, SU The one place where you won't sense the doom and gloom of looming exams. Ply yourself with plenty alcoholic bevvies and get your groove on as you wile away your troubles.

9pm - 2am, £3

Saturday 23rd May

ME AND YOU CLUB @ 10 FEET TALL The one event you want to traipse into the city centre on a Saturday night for! Expect feel good anthems, access all areas and DJ Mike TV all damn night long!

8pm – 4am, free before 10pm, £5 thereafter LOOSE: WOOD PIGEON @ CLWB IFOR BACH A fantastic opportunity to de-stress safe in the hands of popular student haunt, Welsh club. Woodpigeon combines soothing romantic music with a bright pop sound, enough to calm any anxious student with looming exams.

7.00pm, £6 SETH LAKEMAN @ ST. DAVID’S HALL 2005 Mercury music prize nominee Seth Lakeman brings his folk and roots sound to the capital, where his dynamic musical style will be made apparent.

7.30pm, £16 PICK N’ MIX @ BUFFALO BAR The sweet shop of club nights, with a mouthwatering array of dancefloor anthems to tickle your fancy. All brought to you by the likes of DJs Tommy B, Killer Tom, Kaptin and many more.

8pm – 4am, free before 11pm, £3/£4 thereafter JOHN BARROWMAN @ CIA Yes he doth sing! Funnyman and Torchwood star, John Barrowman displays his musical talents at the International Arena tonight.

Expect Broadway hits and cheesetasic tunes aplenty as Barrowman brings his campness to the capital.

6.30pm, £35/£27.50

Sunday 24th May

F*CK LONDON + CASSETTE QUALITY @ BUFFALO BAR Who said the weekend ends here? Join Buffalo in a two fingered salute to everything that brushes you up the wrong way – the perfect form of relief after a god-awful exam!

8pm – 3am, free 10 FOOT CWTCH @ 10 FEET TALL Cwtch Music present a chance for everyone to get musically involved. Volunteer for the open mic session and earn booze! Sit back and enjoy the up and coming artists!

Throw underwear at the band! Cwtch Music tirelessly sources the very finest musicians for your perusal and amusement. Sundays have never been so sexy.... All held together by your charismatic host Rowan Ligget.

8.30pm – 3am, £3 MY LATEST NOVEL @ CLWB IFOR BACH This Scottish five-piece will leave you breathless as they perform some of their best material, which has been described as both ‘magical’ and ‘melodic’.

7.30pm, £7 LEON JACKSON + SAME DIFFERENCE @ CIA 2007 X Factor champ Leon Jackson is joined by fellow finalists, Same Difference, for a concert brimming with mega-watt smiles, cheesy tunes and thousands of eager teenyboppers.

7.30pm, contact venue for prices APERTURE @ CLWB IFOR BACH Live music, hand-delivered by the Brookes Brothers; expect drum, bass and jungle beats in conjunction.

10.30pm – 4am, £6/£8

(The Welsh Club), 11 Womanby Street 02920 232199 www.clwb.net ◆ Barfly, Kingsway, Tickets: 08709070999 www.barflyclub.com/cardiff ◆ MetIncognito, Park Place 02920 412190 ◆ Liquid, St. Mary Street 02920645464 ◆ The Philharmonic, 76-77 St. Mary Street 02920 230678 ◆ Café The Hayes 02920 878444 www.stdavidshallcardiff.co.uk ◆ Chapter Arts Centre, Market Road, Canton 02920 304400 www.chapter.org ◆ Wales Sherman Theatre, Senghennydd Road 02920 646900 www.shermantheatre.co.uk ◆ The Glee Club, Mermaid Quay 0870 2415093 www.glee.co.uk ◆ Greyfriar's Road 02920 391944 www.tigertiger.co.uk ◆ Tommy’s Bar, Howard Gardens (off Newport Road) 02920 416192 ◆

SPORT 29

gairrhydd | SPORT@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY MAY 18 2009

THE WORD ON... ...the latest in Formula One's war of the press releases Scott D'Arcy Sport Editor IT HAS been a tumultuous Formula 1 season to say the least. Brawn GP have risen from the remnants of Honda to lead both the Drivers' and Constructors' championship while last year's champion, Lewis Hamilton, has been struggling with his new McLaren car and with the truth. Then there was that bitter row about the diffuser.

Even for Formula 1, which has not been short of controversy and drama over the past few years, it is almost farcical. The latest argument revolves around FIA President Max Mosley's proposal for a £40m budget cap, set to be introduced next season.

First Toyota reacted to the proposed rule changes, closely followed

by Ferrari, Renault and Red Bull in threatening not to enter the team next season if the FIA pursued a course of action that Toyota boss John Howett claimed could “make a huge number of people redundant”.

While this is a potential conse-

quence of the proposals it is important to clarify that the budget cap will be voluntary, although teams that do opt in will have significant technical freedom. The fear is though that this will create a two-tier championship and an uneven playing field.

Are Ferrari simply throwing their weight around?

It is interesting to note though that Brawn GP are believed to be under the £40m budget. It appears that technical nouse has proved far more valuable than a big chequebook and for some fans of the sport the fact that Brawn are top of the championship will bring a sense of satisfaction.

That bigger teams like Ferrari and McLaren are struggling technically would have been unthinkable even last season as their dominance seemed

to be unwavering. Over this current debate McLaren have kept unusually quiet, whereas Ferrari have been typically vocal. But are they simply throwing their weight around because they are, for once, not getting it all their own way?

Well, in a sense, yes.

Ferrari are well aware that the FIA know that they cannot afford to lose them. And that Ferrari have flexed their considerable muscles will no doubt force Mosley to reconsider. But in another sense, Ferrari, and indeed the other MOSLEY: "I'll show you the door" teams who have spoken out Ecclestone maintained an open diaagainst the proposals, are justified in their objections. And they are logue with the teams then the very serious possibility that several teams serious.

The constant tinkering with the could follow Honda out the door rules are bound to cause confusion would perhaps not even exist.

Instead, they have ignored FOTA's and are not conducive to either high quality sport or entertainment. A two- own proposed budgetary scheme and tier system with different technical put the whole sport under threat. With regulations would be impractical and the deadline for 2010 registration set unfair. Piero Ferrari, son of founder for the end of this month and no pubEnzo Ferrari, summed it lic indication of a resolution it is not using a sporting analogy: inconceivable that Red Bull, Renault, “do you say to Catania, Toyota and Ferrari will not line up in 'you can play with 12 Melbourne next March. players' and to Inter 'you must play with nine'?”

Mosley's intentions are supposed to be geared towards redressing the balance so as to put all teams on a level footing financially. But he has only to look at the current standings to see that such whole scale change is unnecessary It goes without saying that that and that a big budget is would be disastrous for what could be not the key to success.

Ultimately though, considered the pinnacle of motorthis row has come about sport. And while none of the teams because of an abject lack will want to leave F1 there are other of communication options. Ferrari, for example, have between the FIA and the already had success in Le Mans and teams' association GT racing and their following is dedithe exit?" FOTA. Had Mosley and cated enough to follow them into any

Technical nouse has proved more valuable than a big chequebook

FERRARI: "Which way is

category they choose to focus on should they abandon Formula 1.

Also, the idea of a break away championship has been mooted, although it is unclear how this would operate and Renault boss Flavio Briatore denied that this was a realistic possibility: “We, Ferrari and the others have no intention of breaking with FIA.” But he was also adamant that Mosley should not take such a major role in any rule changes: “The teams are Formula 1, the international federation should simply be the referee.

We should write the rules, not have them imposed on us by Max without speaking to anyone.”

It seems that Mosley and Ecclestone have far more to lose and should perhaps take this latest controversy to be a clear sign that tinkering will no longer be tolerated. While the teams have had their differences in the past, there appears to be a united front against the FIA. Once again then, as with the attempt to introduce the new points system before the start of this season, the future of the sport will be decided by a pitched battle between the FIA and FOTA and once more it is likely that the FIA will have to back down and give in to at least some of the demands of the teams.

30 SPORT

gairrhydd | SPORT@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY MAY 18 2009

SPORT COMMENT

Cricket's testing times Alasdair Robertson Sports Editor

A WAR is raging in the world of cricket. A war so large that threatens to blow the game in two. At the heart of this conflict is style, tradition and most importantly money.

Since the inception of the Twenty20 form of the game several years ago there have not been two men opposing one another that represent so accurately the template for each conflicting format of the sport as has been the case recently in the test series’ between England and the West Indies.

In the test match corner is Andrew Strauss, elegant, composed and patient in his stroke play, so accustomed and tailored to the 5-day game. Yet his opponent, in the Twenty20 corner, is Chris Gayle, a brash, lazy yet wildly aggressive batsman that swaggers to the crease, looking to live fast and die young, in a scoring sense at least.

Indeed, the contrast has not gone unnoticed by the two men themselves and neither has been shy in publicly denouncing the other and their respective views on the sport. Gayle created a media storm by returning from Indian Premier League only days before captaining his country at Lords.

Strauss claimed this was disrespectful

to the test match format, a debate that has raged amongst the more vivacious members of the England side that have recently flocked to South Africa in exchange for the inordinate financial rewards on offer. The new England coach, Andy Flower, claimed before the first test that it was not ideal preparation for the likes of Pietersen and Flintoff to be playing a different format of the game so close to a test series. His fears proved justified, as Flintoff got injured and has missed the current two match series.

Gayle however, sees things remarkably differently. In a recent interview with The Guardian, the Windies’ skipper claimed, “To be honest with you, there’s a possibility I might give it up – I will be giving it up, shortly.” Nor does he want his captaincy for much longer and his apathy towards test match cricket is clear for all to see. He even went as far as to say “I wouldn’t be so sad” when discussing the possibility of the 5-day format dying out.

Here then is the real story. Not the rift between two national captains or the state of West Indies cricket, but the possible death of the test match.

After all, Gayle’s views are not the exception. Others have put the shorter format first as it becomes more financially rewarding and there are even specialist limited overs players now

FORMER F1 world championship runner-up Rubens Barrichello has threatened to quit the sport over a row with his team Brawn GP. The veteran Brazilian is concerned

BRAWN GP: Trouble in paradise?

that the team is giving favourable treatment to his team-mate, current championship leader Jenson Button.

This is not the first time that suggestions of favouritism have annoyed Barrichello. When he was at Ferrari in the early 2000s, also under the stew-

team-mate feuds

1.

Senna and Prost dominated Formula 1 in the late 1980's but were the bitterest of rivals. Senna famously crashed into Prost at Suzuka to deny him the world championship.

OVER AND OUT: Gayle bemoans test cricket developing; the hotly tipped Middlesex batsman Eoin Morgan for instance.

Crowds are obviously entertained by such antics as performed by Morgan, who has a number of unorthodox shots in his repertoire and as lifestyles become more hectic the Twenty20 game undoubtedly provides a ‘quick fix’ of entertainment.

Yet if Gayle thinks this is the future of the sport he is undoubtedly mistaken. He may be too mentally fragile to compose a structured and composed century most of the time but

there is no doubt that that is where the most talented cricketers demonstrate their class. Neither will the shortened format provide the ultimate form of entertainment that test cricket is capable of. Never will a slog over midwicket be as awe-inspiring as a beautifully timed cover drive and never will a Twenty20 match be as downright incredible as the Ashes was in 2005. Test cricket is the ultimate arena for the ultimate star and must never be compromised for a slog-fest that takes only three hours to conclude.

Brain over Brawn Tom Victor Sports Writer

TOP FIVE...

ardship of Brawn GP’s technical director Ross Brawn, he was at the centre of a ‘team orders’ row, which eventually caused him to leave the Italian team.

After not being allowed to compete with then team-mate Michael Schumacher, Barrichello’s reaction is understandable. While the casual Formula 1 viewer looks at the exotic lifestyles and enviable pay packets of those involved, its status as a competitive sport is often overlooked.

Amidst the yachts, mansions and Swiss bank accounts, people sometimes forget the pride that F1 drivers take in crossing the finishing line first.

So what could be worse for a driver than having a competitive car, capable of winning several races if not the championship itself, but being told they’re ‘not allowed’ to race against their team-mate. It’s like playing upfront for a football team alongside the manager’s son, and being told to pass to him instead of shooting at goal.

It’s bad enough having this situation affect you once, let alone a second time, so it’s hardly surprising to see Barrichello issue this ultimatum to Ross Brawn and the rest of the man-

agement.

Still, it’s hard to see Brawn failing to appease ‘Rubinho’, even if in their minds they see him as their number 2 driver: they will not want a repeat of the farce at McLaren two seasons ago, when animosity between Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton over supposed preferential treatment towards the Englishman allowed Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen to sneak through unnoticed and steal the world title in the last race of the season.

While the constructor’s championship is perhaps equally valuable to the teams at the top of the sport, the prestige gained by producing a world champion can never be underestimated. It is therefore not surprising that Ross Brawn has come out and announced that ‘We’ve been completely honest with the drivers. They know the situation and their engineers know that - there’s no favouritism.’

With a bit of luck, this will mark an end to the dispute, allowing Button and Barrichello to continue their impressive start to the season and return the focus to the impressive achievements of Brawn GP in their debut season in Formula 1.

2.

It can safely be said that Dabo and Barton hated one another.

Baton did this to his team-mate in training and subsequently went to prison for another assault.

3.

Dyer and Bowyer famously attacked one another midway through a game against Aston Villa. Both were later transferred, ironically to the same club, West Ham.

4.

Lewsey floored his team-mate in training with a swift right hook but the two later made up with a boxing celebration (above) after Lewsey's try.

5.

The moody Spaniard couldn't deal with the British rookie stealing his thunder at McLaren and quickly departed the following season.

SPORT 31

gairrhydd | SPORT@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY MAY 18 2009

IMG ROUNDUP

Law crowned court queens Charlotte Hill & Sarah Taylor Sports Writers

WHAT a year it has been for the two Cardiff Law Netball squads after both law teams secured their places in the premiership division of the IMG league and Law A finished as winners of both the league and the IMG cup.

After the graduation of several key players last summer, the squads were faced with the challenge of finding new players and forming new teams that would be able to pose a genuine threat to the competition and to follow on from the success of previous years. Following the successful recruitment of new players and some solid training sessions throughout the autumn term, both Law A and Law B were able to qualify for the premiership division of the league, where they would face strong opposition from teams such as Cardiff A and Economics A. Law A sailed through the league undefeated, finishing with a goal difference of 98, 88 more than the team in second place.

Law B, being the only ‘B’ team in the premiership, finished a respectable fifth, demonstrating that they certainly deserved their place in this group.

After a fantastic set of results throughout the duration of the league, the squad were eager to repeat their success in the Cardiff IMG Cup. Both teams reached the semi-finals, only to find themselves pitted against one another; Law A beating Law B 19-1, enabling them to go through to the final and face some strong opposition in the form of the Cardiff A team. However, after a well-fought match Law A, with much delight, came out on top as winners of both the IMG league and the cup tournament.

Off court, the squad has had some fantastic s o c i a l s , dressing up as circus acts and ringleaders to initiate their n e w players, enjoying a spot of pub golf, donning their sailors and pirates outfits with the CARBS football lads and coming out in force to support their university in Varsity. The girls were also lucky enough to take part in the annual Burges Salmon cup, hosted this year by Cardiff University itself in which the squad, together with the law football team, regained their title, beating teams from Bristol, Exeter and Warwick.

It is fair to say that this has been the most successful year so far for Cardiff Law Netball.

With the ups and downs that IMG has faced, the squad’s success is the perfect example that the need to continue to accept IMG as a fundamental aspect of Cardiff’s athletic union is still very much alive. It has given the players the opportunity to improve their skills on court and to form strong friendships off court. Let’s hope that the success of the tournament can be maintained and that the future of IMG can remain certain.

LAW A: Queens of the court dominate the Cardiff University IMG championship for the second year running

Law A Squad: Sarah Taylor, C harlotte Hill, Sarah-Jayne W reford, Alanna Tregear, Jen Corbett, Katie Grace, Catherin e Price.