gair rhydd - Issue 914 by Cardiff Student Media

gair rhydd

FREE

CARDIFF'S STUDENT WEEKLY

freeword - EST. 1972

ISSUE 914 FEBRUARY 08 2010

Features

Student depression: What it is, how it feels, and what you can do about it if it affects you >> pages 16-17

Politics

! " # $ % &$ $ ! " # $ ! ! %! & ! " '(! ( %) * %& ! ! # ! ! $ # ! + ! • ! " # $ % % & ' ' " ( '& ' ) ' " # # * # & ( ' ' " # ' ) ') • Five students wrongly passed or failed final year Jamie Thunder News Editor

A report into the data errors that allowed five final-year students from the School of Medicine to be wrongly passed or failed last summer has strongly criticised the School’s handling of assessments. The investigation panel, led by Professor David Miers from Cardiff Law School, concluded that there had been ‘serious failings in the governance and management of data processing’ that required ‘urgent corrective action’ if similar mistakes are to be avoided this year. The School of Medicine has already announced a number of changes following the incidents last summer. Over a third – 137 – of the roughly 350 students who graduated last year

from the MBBCh course had errors in their assessment data relating to an exam on the Knowledge and Understanding module. As a result, four students were incorrectly told they had passed the year, while one was wrongly told they had failed. Three other students later had their degree classifications raised. This led to four students being allowed to start work in hospitals without having reached the required standard. They are now re-taking their final year. As well as these mistakes, 70 fourth-year students taking the child health OSCE exam were given the wrong results. One was initially told they had failed the year, but was later allowed to progress. The errors were all introduced in the administration stage when the assessment data was copied into spreadsheets, and are not in any way related to the quality of teaching in the

School. In the Knowledge and Understanding exam, a block of results in the wrong order were copied into the spreadsheet, meaning the results and candidate numbers did not match up. In the child health OSCE exam, the results from 2007/08's students were mistakenly copied and awarded to last year’s students. The 70-report highlighted the lack of checking of the data before results were given out as having contributed to the errors. Professor Paul Morgan, Dean of Medicine at the University, apologised to the students affected and said that the School of Medicine was doing all it could to prevent a repeat of the incident. Speaking to gair rhydd last week, he said: “The key thing for us is making sure the database for capturing assessments and where the errors occurred is sorted out. That’s something we’ve worked very hard on and we’re

very confident we can deliver. “Students can have confidence that their marks will be correctly handled. We now have as tight a ship as it is possible to have. “I’m very happy with the changes that have been made, and I think we’re in a much better place than we were a year ago.” However he admitted that the mistakes were likely to have an impact on the results of next year's National Student Survey, which asks final-years to rate various aspects of their course. Last year only 68% of Medicine students were satisfied with the course – the third-lowest in the UK – and just 46% felt their assessment arrangements and marking had been fair. “It’s bound to have an effect, but hopefully it won’t be as negative as it otherwise might be if we weren’t so clearly dealing with it,” he said. continued on page 2

A General Election preview special, including an interview with the head of poll company YouGov >> pages 20-21

Sport

Profile of miserable Murray and a look at his future chances >> page 34

rhydd | NEWS@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY FEBRUARY 08 2010

EDITOR Emma Jones DEPUTY EDITOR Simon Lucey CO-ORDINATOR Elaine Morgan SUB EDITOR Sarah Powell NEWS Ceri Isfryn Gareth Ludkin Emma McFarnon Jamie Thunder FEATURES Daniella Graham Robin Morgan OPINION Oli Franklin Paul POLITICS Damian Fantato COLUMNISTS Tim Hart Oli Franklin LISTINGS Steve Beynon Ed Bovingdon TAF-OD Nia Gwawr Williams Branwen Mathias Cadi Mai SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT Amy Hall Priya Raj JOBS & MONEY Katie Greenway SPORT Jon Evans James Hinks Adam Horne Lucy Morgan Robbie Wells CONTRIBUTORS Max Barett Elizabeth Blockley Charlotte Bufton Alex Byswater Tomos Clarke Joe Davies James Dunn Alex Evans Gabi Ford Rachel Henson Nathan Hughes Rebecca Ingram Ayushman Singh Jamwal Melissa Parry Chris Tarquini Aled Thomas Richard Thomas Abdul Azim-Ahmed

Got a story? Contact us

NEWSDESK 07908 551922 NEWS@GAIRRHYDD.COM gair rhydd has been Cardiff University's independent student newspaper since 1972

Students' call for investment in sport Great success for Fun Run and Dodgeball tournament as the Athletic Union promote the value of sport Gareth Ludkin News Editor Students once again demonstrated their support for the Athletic Union’s Invest In Sport campaign at this year’s annual fun run on January 30. 150 participants donned their running shoes to tackle the 5km course round Bute Park with the aim of raising awareness across campus to Cardiff University’s deficient sports provisions, which have been regularly criticised for being out of date and too small for the needs of Cardiff University’s sports clubs and students. The Invest In Sport campaign has run for many years now, and the call for more investment in sport remains an important drive for the Athletic Union. This year’s Invest In Sport Campaign could signal the beginning of real change, as after many years of continued pressure, a sports strategy is in the process of being drawn up, It is hoped that the University will ratify the strategy before the end of the year, and Athletic Union President, Olly Birrell, hopes that the Invest In Sport campaign will now provide a supporting role for the strategy, to ensure that elements of the sports strategy, when ratified by the University, are carried through, and that pressure for investment is maintained. On the afternoon of the fun run, the Athletic Union also held the first ever dodgeball tournament in the Talybont sports hall. The event raised money for Sports Relief, and saw around 100 partici-

! " #$ %

!"#

Continued from front page “We have been working very hard to improve the NSS results and to really engage the students and to show that we’re doing things for them. Then something like this comes along and you think all the work might have been in vain. “But,” added Professor Morgan, who took up the post last April, “we’ve been very transparent in what we’ve been doing, and I hope they’ll be able to see this in the light of our actions as well as the incident.” The measures already introduced by the School of Medicine include moving the two final-year written exams forward six weeks to May to allow for more time to process the data. Last year staff had only around three to four days to process data for all final-year students. Two new positions have also been created with responsibility for as-

PHOTO: Natalia Popova

! r gr

pants take part in various fancy dress team kits. Ninjas, zombies and even a team of Ben Stiller’s turned up to compete for the prestigious title. Team ‘Cock and Balls’ won themselves free Summer Ball tickets for their hard fought victory in the final. The entire day demonstrated the extent of support for sport at Cardiff University that reflects a strong desire and real passion for improved sports provisions at Cardiff University.

$ %

"& ' $" !$ % & "& $ & $ % $!$ (

sessments and the handling of their data. An Assessment Data Manager will oversee the capture, storage, and reporting of assessment data, while an academic Psychometrician will ‘analys[e] assessment data and ensur[e] that examinations and other assessment activities in the School are fair and robust’. A monitoring group set up by the University will report to the University’s Awards and Progress Committee and the Academic Quality and Assurance Committee on the progress of the implementation of the recommendations. The General Medical Council will also be informed of developments. Healthcare Student Integration Officer Jack Navein said: “I think every med student’s heart went out to the four students involved - it must have been a horrible experience. “We all feel the medical school have been incredibly open throughout

the process and having worked very closely with them on the measures put in place, I’m extremely confident that we will not see a repeat of such incidents in future.” In a statement, a University spokesperson said: “The investigation panel, which included external membership, has made a series of recommendations designed to ensure absolute confidence in the handling and publication of results data by the School of Medicine. “The recommendations have been fully accepted by the University and the School and a detailed planning process for the required action is now being progressed as a matter of urgency.” The spokesperson added that the actions arising from the recommendations will be implemented in full before the end of the academic year. A General Medical Council spokesperson said that the University

had “significant progress to make to improve the way that student assessment data is managed in the School of Medicine”. “We have requested a detailed action plan from Cardiff University and we will need to be assured that, through robust implementation of the plan, there will be no repetition of these errors which had extremely serious consequences for the students involved,” they said. Academic Affairs Officer Michaela Neild said: “The Union is obviously concerned with the academic welfare of medical students and the reputation of their degrees. As a member of University Council, both the President and I have copies of the report and have been following the progress of the review panel. “The evidence given by students to the group has been highly commended and crucial to the report.”

NEWS 1 EDITORIAL & OPINION 10 COLUMNIST 14 FEATURES 16 POLITICS 20 LETTERS 23 TAF-OD 24 SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT 25 JOBS & MONEY 27 FIVE MINUTE FUN 29 SPORT 32

NEWS 03

gair ydd | NEWS@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY FEBRUARY 08 2010

Students say they'll pay more for job-specific degree schemes Emma McFarnon News Editor A government-commissioned survey has concluded that University students would be willing to pay higher tuition fees for degree courses that prepare them to enter the highest-earning jobs. ! " # research, carried out by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES), interviewed 81 students, and found that the majority would be “sold on the idea”. Such a system exists in Australia, where students can pay twice as much for a degree in law, accountancy, economics and nursing. The research found that students from the poorest homes were particularly supportive of the idea, although students from east London, Nottinghamshire, and south Y! ! were far less willing to accept the idea of

the most prestigious universities, such as Oxford and Cambridge, charging higher fees than other institutions. Thomas Usher, a research fellow at IES and one of the authors of the study, said: “Across the board, but particularly among students from non-traditional backgrounds, there was a willingness to pay differential fees for different subjects. But when asked whether they would be prepared to pay higher fees for a particular kind ! ! " university, the majority were reflectively against this.” The research will feed into an independent review of tuition fees which is being led by Lord Browne of Madingley, the former head of BP. The study's findings were announced as the first public hearing for Browne's review was held. Universities used the opportunity to argue for higher tuition fees. Universities UK, the umbrella group for vice-chancellors, said the

extra £1.3bn income they had received from top-up fees, introduced in 2006, had mainly been used to hire more staff and address a long-term fall in lecturers' salaries. This poll of 58 university leaders showed that a quarter of the fee income had gone on bursaries for the poorest students, while some had helped improve the student-staff ratio. Universities said the income had been desperately needed because the number of students had risen from 1.86m to 1.92m between 2005 and 2008. Universities UK said: “A common message is that the additional investment from fees has made a real difference to the financial sustainability of universities, allowing them to invest for the long term, reverse backlogs in maintenance, improve environmental performance, and go some way towards meeting rising student expectations.” However, student leaders have

branded the scheme “elitist”, and said it would limit career opportunities for the poor. Wes Streeting, NUS President, said: “We believe allowing different institutions to charge different fees risks providing an elite system for the few that can afford it and a second-class experience for the many who cannot. “Such fee differentials could see poorer students priced out of more prestigious universities and therefore consigned to the bargain basement. It is clear that earnings profiles for different subjects vary significantly, but it is also clear that earnings profiles vary significantly within certain subject areas. “Any individual financial contribution should be based on genuine earnings after graduation and not hypothetical course prices based on unreliable and misleading estimates of earning power which amount to guess work.”

Election dates announced The deadline for applications for this year's Students' Union elections will be midday on February 26. Students interested in running for any of the positions can download nomination packs from cardiffstudents.com, or can pick one up from Jemma Mallorie on the 3rd floor of the Students' Union. The packs will be available from 9am on February 22. Design week is March 1, and campaigning will start on the week commencing March 8. Students will be able to vote between March 8 and March 14.

Summer Ball sale success The biggest summer ball ticket sale ever took place last Tuesday. By the time that gair rhydd goes to print, the Union should have sold over 3,000 tickets. If tickets sell out as quickly as expected, the Union hopes to increase the size of the site. The Union expects Cardiff to have regained its title as the biggest summer ball in the UK for one university, only topped by Leeds Universities (consisting of 4 Universities) who host 8,000-9,000 people.

! ! ! ! ! ! ! paying higher fees for degree disciplines promising them a future in the highest-paid jobs.... Naked calendar goes on sale

The AU's Naked Calendar is now on sale for £5. It features team memberes from a variety of sports, including volleyball, American football, kitesurfing, and hockey. The calendars are available from the AU office on the third floor and the Union shop, and all proceeds will go to Sport Relief.

Annie Miles, 2nd-year Politics student, said:

Siobhan Newman, 3rd-year Journalism, media and film student, said:

James Fooks, 2nd-year Spanish and Italian student, said:

Emily Wickens, 3rd-year Social Science student, said:

It's Christian Mission week

“This study is ridiculous! How can they argue a study of 81 students reflects the general opinion of the whole student population in the UK? I completely disagree with its findings, and would in no way be prepared to pay more for a degree which would apparently guarantee you a job at the end. It completely conflicts with the governments’ rhetoric that university should be open to more 'financially challenged' individuals. University life would go back to being purely for the rich and upper class! Of course if we all had a bottomless pot of money we would pay whatever it takes to do the degree of our choice, but applicants should continue to be judged on their academic and all-round ability rather than their bank balance!”

“In my opinion it wouldn't be right for students to have to pay higher fees for courses that are 'believed' to guarantee a successful job in the future. It raises more questions as to how we can then measure the courses? Who decides which courses are sure to guarantee the highest-earning jobs? I don’t believe there is any certainty of getting the highest-earning jobs with any courses. I believe this is extremely elitist, and would exclude individuals that cannot pay. Yes, we have loans, but surely you shouldn’t have to be in more debt when you finish University because someone has decided that your degree ‘might’ secure you a high paid job. What happens if you can’t get a high paid job? Tough luck?"

“I'd be happy to pay more for a better taught degree with a guaranteed job. Our society is currently sending so many people to university and with drop-out rates at their highest ever (mentioned somewhere in this week's gair rhydd), such a system would make people think seriously about taking on a degree such as law or engineering it would be the dedicated few doing the course rather than having a ton of people scraping the 40% barrel. I don't think it's an elitist idea - the people who are serious, passionate and determined will pay the extra money for the course, and these people will be the best people for the jobs - it's not snobby, merely commonsense in order to get the best people doing the course.”

“I think that the idea to charge different amounts for degree schemes is ridiculous. It would lead to decisions regarding life choices and future occupations being made on the basis of the cost of degree schemes rather than interest and passion in certain fields. It is almost embarrassing that this has been suggested. To put a price tag on different degree schemes and to commodify education even further is shameful. The middle classes are already the main consumers of Higher Education, and this proposal would segregate the population even more. We would simply be paying for greater inequality in our society. Saying that, if we had to pay more then I would because my future is important to me."

Cardiff University Christian Union is holding events throughout this week. Every day apart from Wednesday there will be a talk in Buffers by the Kitchen on the second floor of the Students' Union at 1.15pm, covering topics such as science and religion, and whether there's a God in Haiti given the recent earthquake. There will also be a variety of evening events through the week at 7.30pm, including a jazz cafe in CF10 on Monday, an international night in Milgi's on Tuesday, and a LoveFilm event in the Bioscience cafe on Friday. All students are welcome to any of the events, religious or not, and they're all free. For more information visit www.cardiffcu.org or phone 07532002482.

gairrhydd | NEWS@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY FEBRUARY 08 2010

Hollywood comes to Cardiff Nathan Hughes Reporter A brand new film, which is being filmed in Bridgend, is set to put Wales on the map. hand did you touch me with baronnn!?â&#x20AC;? screams a furious axe-wielding Paul Giamatti, his eyes bulging with rage, his feet digging the soaking Welsh mud. A defiant Brian Cox cries out beneath him through the pouring rain, â&#x20AC;&#x153;NO SURRENDERRR!â&#x20AC;? All while, a rabble of murderous paid soldiers congregate around them, grinning and sniggering to themselves at the prospect of another gruesome display of brutality. Among them are a lucky few Cardiff students and graduates who were chosen as supporting artists, aka â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;extrasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, for the movie, being shot just 20 miles outside Cardiff. Richard Attenboroughâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Dragon Studiosâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, more commonly referred to as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Valleywoodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, are playing host, helping create the largest independent movie production ever to come out of Wales. The limos have been rushing back and forth from Cardiff Bay, shut-

tling big names like Sir Derek Jacobi (Gladiator), Jason Flemyng (Lock Stock) and James Purefoy (Resident Evil) to and from a tremendous replica of Rochester Castle, built in a disused open cast mine near Bridgend. A public casting for the film was held back in October at the Mercure Hotel in Cardiff, after a small advert

in the Echo called for applicants; rebels hold the Kingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mercenary he wishes to bring â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Hollywood to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;particularly those with long hair and force in deadlock outside the crenu- Walesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. This is a noble gesture, since lated walls of the castle, in favour of the Valleywood studios have remained beardsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Cardiff students and alumni were bringing power back to the people of untouched since their construction naturally quick to put themselves for- England. So why did producer Rick back in 2001. Whatever his reasoning, one thing ward, having a perfect match for the Benattar (Shoot Em Up) choose the sunny shores of South Wales to shoot is for certain, Ironclad looks set to imdescription. Cardiffâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s finest were cast as mer- this medieval war epic, especially if press, with the cream of the crop of cenary soldiers from Denmark and it is set across the border? Well, the top flight actors, a searing storyline equipped with studded leather battle answer is surely for the rolling hills, and enough blood to make the Taff the gear,, N Norse he helmets ge e aaand or oft ccourse r ndls our m s stunning e beaches and the grim s and e run red. Ironclad is set for release later this we are deadly aan aarray ofn de r aaxes, r sswords a xe aand w y grimy nd dl weather or s , y so accustomed ds year. maces. m a c e to. s . Furthermore, Benatar claims that Jamie McIver is a Cardiff bioscigraduate who was ellucky eence gr nc of 2009 w a w dua uc ho a s ky t e Hem eenough ttonough be cchosen o fforhos tthe fi orllm. he H e .e n playoa ga garrison gua guard got tto pl a ((defender yr de r i r sf d eon nde r under probably of tthe ccastle he unde a ssiege),s pr i et l geoba e r ) , bl y his om more cclean ccut tthankshatto hi nks s laappearor ut e- ppe a e n a r aance. nc e . He ssaid aabout his H a hi e bout eexperiences i dxpeiin s n r i e nc e s movie tthe fillm: he ""Being m iinBtthe m n he :iis aane eexs ovi n i x- ng e perience I w will ne neverr fforget... Chargpe gei i orC l eg-ve l nc ha t ... r er with months iing aaround ng w r a ssword oundfforwi 2 m ort h or ont d hs probably best iis pr s tthe be hejjob obayou obccould aasks oul st kbl d y Although we di didl ha have ttto llie ffor.. A or w e iin hough o tthe di n he eve mud pl playing de dead more m ud m a tthan aha yiffew a or e d ng wn e ttimes."i m e s ." The sstory ttellstheofe tthe T or llongest hel onge ssiege l yis e ge s t British history,,r iimmediately iin B n hi im s t aafterti fm or s t h e e y r di a t e l y Magna Carta by a a nggnar tthe ssigning he of i tthegni M he C t a IRONCLAD: King JJohn iin 1215. band of br brave K ohn i n Ang ba nd a ve One of scenes being filmed on set near Bridgend

vĂ&#x2022;Â?Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;vĂ&#x2022;Ă&#x20AC;Â&#x2DC;Â&#x2C6;Ă&#x192;Â&#x2026;i`Ă&#x160;Â&#x2026;Â&#x2C6;}Â&#x2026;Ă&#x160;ÂľĂ&#x2022;>Â?Â&#x2C6;Ă&#x152;Ă&#x17E; Ă&#x192;Ă&#x152;Ă&#x2022;`iÂ&#x2DC;Ă&#x152;Ă&#x160;>VVÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;Â&#x201C;Â&#x153;`>Ă&#x152;Â&#x2C6;Â&#x153;Â&#x2DC;

-Ă&#x2022;Â&#x201C;Â&#x201C;iĂ&#x20AC;Ă&#x160;Ă&#x160; VVÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;Â&#x201C;Â&#x153;`>Ă&#x152;Â&#x2C6;Â&#x153;Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x160; >Ă&#x203A;>Â&#x2C6;Â?>LÂ?iĂ&#x160;Ă&#x152;Â&#x2026;Ă&#x20AC;Â&#x153;Ă&#x2022;}Â&#x2026;Â&#x153;Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x152;Ă&#x160; Ă&#x2022;Â?Ă&#x17E;]Ă&#x160; Ă&#x2022;}Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x192;Ă&#x152;Ă&#x160;E -iÂŤĂ&#x152;iÂ&#x201C;LiĂ&#x20AC;

ooms include your own private en-suite bathroom Available in 3,4 & 5 bedroom flats with a television & Sky package included in each flat and broadband available in every bedroom

Â&#x153;Ă&#x20AC;Ă&#x160;Â&#x201C;Â&#x153;Ă&#x20AC;iĂ&#x160;Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;vÂ&#x153;Ă&#x20AC;Â&#x201C;>Ă&#x152;Â&#x2C6;Â&#x153;Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x160;VÂ&#x153;Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x152;>VĂ&#x152;Ă&#x160;Ă&#x152;Â&#x2026;iĂ&#x160;6Â&#x2C6;VĂ&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x20AC;Â&#x2C6;>Ă&#x160; >Â?Â?Ă&#x160; >Â&#x2DC;>}iÂ&#x201C;iÂ&#x2DC;Ă&#x152;Ă&#x160;"vwViĂ&#x160;Â&#x153;Â&#x2DC;\

Ă¤Ă&#x201C;Â&#x2122;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤Ă&#x160;Ă&#x17D;xÂ&#x2122;Ă&#x160;xĂ¤Ă¤Ă&#x160; V>Ă&#x20AC;`Â&#x2C6;vvJĂ&#x203A;Â&#x2C6;VĂ&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x20AC;Â&#x2C6;>Â&#x2026;>Â?Â?Â°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;Ă&#x160; v>Ă?\Ă&#x160;Ă¤Ă&#x201C;Â&#x2122;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤Ă&#x160;Ă&#x17D;xÂ&#x2122;Ă&#x160;xĂ¤Ă&#x2021;Ă&#x160;

Victoria Hall, Blackweir Terrace, Cardiff, CF10 3EY

Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°Ă&#x203A;Â&#x2C6;VĂ&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x20AC;Â&#x2C6;>Â&#x2026;>Â?Â?Â°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;

welcome to your

vĂ&#x2022;Ă&#x152;Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x20AC;i

Ă&#x160;

NEWS 05

gair dd NEWS@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY FEBRUARY 08 2010

Student Loan Company job cuts anger students Student leaders fear cuts will cause further disruption to loan payments Rebecca Ingram Reporter

SUSPENDED: Applicants from Asia temporarily unable to apply

Student visas suspended Ayushman Singh Jamwal Reporter Student visa applications from three Asian countries have been temporarily suspended due to speculations of fraud in the application process. The UK border agency has suspended applications from northern India, Nepal and Bangladesh, after a surge in applications prompted alarm about fraud. Concerns were raised last year when a media investigation revealed that thousands of foreign nationals were residing in the UK under the false cover of bogus universities in the cities of London, Manchester and Bradford. In reaction, the Home Office

announced that it would hold a review of student visa applications under the joint supervision of itself and the Department of Business, to consider raising the minimum requirements for foreign students to attain a visa. While the suspension is in the interests of genuine students, the time frame is uncertain. Deadlines for the new academic year are fast approaching, leading many to fear the fate of their applications and higher education plans. Coupled with the news of massive cuts by the Labour government to university funding, this suspension may result in UK universities losing many British and overseas students to competitors in the United States and Canada.

English universities face funding cuts Melissa Parry Reporter English Universities will receive £215 million less for teaching in the academic year 2010/11. This decision follows the news that the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) will be given £7.291 billion to allocate to higher education, a cut of £518 million compared to this year. £4.7 billion of this will be spent on teaching in the academic year, although the HEFCE will receive £5.027 billion from the government in the financial year as a result of the overlap of years. The President of the National Union of Students, Wes Streeting, views the cuts as "an extraordinary act of self-

harm by the government", affecting the future economy and the quality of degree courses. The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) will not publish details of their grant until March; however, cuts may also be expected in Wales. The proposed agenda for less funding, and the axing of less popular courses, has caused widespread conflict. The National Chair of the University and College Union Wales criticises the government for seeing universities as an, ‘easy target’, instead believing that the Government should be ‘investing in education' rather than cutting funds. These cuts will have a devastating effect on staff and students alike; undermining the education system, one of the few areas left in which Britain still excels.

Student leaders have reacted angrily to news that the Student Loans Company (SLC) is to cut 150 jobs at its Glasgow and Darlington offices. SLC says the job cuts follow the completion of work to move loan and grant applications online. The bulk of redundancies will be in IT. The SLC, which employs 1,894 staff across four sites, struggled to

complete payments of loans and grants to new students last year for the start of the 2009-10 academic year. Students reported widespread processing problems and paperwork going missing, and more than 100,000 students were forced to depend on hardship funds from their university, or turn to their families for financial support. The company denies that reducing staff levels will have any impact on SLC's ability to get applications processed and funds paid on time. It also says staff numbers involved in customer service will not be affected.

But Aaron Porter, National Union of Students Vice-President, says he is still concerned. “We are seeking cast-iron guarantees from SLC that the chaos of last year is not repeated,” he says. Becky Leeman, 18, a law student at Hull University, has only just received her student loan after months of delays and lost paperwork at SLC. “I would have thought that it was more important than ever to get things right and have enough helpful and knowledgeable staff on hand - not to cut numbers.”

06 NEWS

gairrhydd | NEWS@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY FEBRUARY 08 2010

! "## ed with love Gareth Ludkin News Editor

A unique Valentine’s event is attempting to combine litter with love at the first ever ‘Litter Love’ litter picking event. It may sound bonkers, but on Friday February 12, Student Liason Officer, Kieran McCann, and Cardiff’s Tidy Towns project, have teamed up to organise a litter picking event with a twist. In an attempt to keep Cathays' streets clean and tidy, while providing the possibility for love, students are being encouraged to get stuck in with a fun and sociable litter pick. Singletons and couples are encouraged to attend this original take on speed dating. Partners will be matched according to carbon footprint, before being given two minutes to impress while picking litter to your heart's content. While it may not be your standard Valentine's event, it certainly provides

the opportunity to meet new people and help clean up the Cathays streets. Councillor Judith Woodman, Deputy Leader, Communities, Housing and Social Justice said: “I hope people will enjoy this fun event whilst benefiting the local community. “This initiative will help reduce litter on our streets as well as encouraging people to think about climate change.” Indeg Jones, Cardiff Tidy Towns Officer for Keep Wales Tidy, said: “Litter on our streets is a serious problem but by bringing an element of fun and possibly romance to the equation people might be more encouraged to get out there and join in. “A speed dating litter pick is a first for Keep Wales Tidy and we are hoping the whole event will be littered with love.” For further details or to register your place, contact:(029) 2053 7061/07786 517805

Thousands to miss out on uni places Charlotte Bufton Reporter The university think tank Million+ has announced that there will be up to 3,000 - 4,000 fewer full time-undergraduate places available for 2010-11. ! " # $ % is because of the government’s withdrawal of an extra 10,000 places that they provided last year. The government was forced to provide the extra places for the 2009-2010 academic year due to a surge of applications, but Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has described the move as a “one off” which will not be offered again this year. The move has drawn sharp criticism from a number of people, including Million+. The think tank’s chairman, Les Ebdon described the move as “completely counter-intuitive” and declared that there could be “no excuse” for the government limiting opportunities. The government has already announced a £135 million cut in the

The Ladies Rugby team and the Wales URCU team at the event

money available to fund extra loans and grants in its pre-budget report. Business Secretary Lord Mandelson also announced £180 million ‘efficiency savings’ have also been announced, which is to be increased to £600million by 2013. President of vice-chancellors’ group Universities UK, Professor Steve Smith said; “Last year about 160,000 students who applied didn’t end up going to university. This year we already know that there are about another 75,000 applying for university.” This could mean that as many as 200,000 applicants could miss out on undergraduate university places. Although Universities UK represents higher education institutions across the UK, the funding cuts only apply in England. The Russell Group has reacted to the cuts, claiming that spending cuts could hurt “gold standard” universities beyond repair. However the Higher Education Minister David Lammy dismissed the fears as “scaremongering.”

The tough get going Ceri Isfryn News Editor Three groups of Cardiff University students have successfully completed the notoriously difficult Tough Guy course. The course, which was held in Perton, near Wolverhampton, involves a six-mile run, before a two-mile assault course, running up and down a steep hill ten times, and swimming through water with ice shards in it. The assault course involved crawling under barbed wire and electric fences. The participants braved snow and temperatures of -2.5 degrees celcius to take part in the event, which claims to be the world’s “most dangerous

the girls for doing so well, especially seeing as we saw loads of grown men crying because of the cold along the way.” The team raised £2000, which they have chosen to share between the Karen Keefer Foundation which helps cancer patients and the Urafiki foundation which supports health, educational and social projects across Africa. Six students from the School of Medicine also completed the course, including third year Ifan Lloyd Lewis. "We did it for the challenge and to see whether it was possible with a hangover. Although it was really cold, it was a lot of fun!" he said.

50% rise in poorer teens attending universities Gabi Ford Reporter

GRADUATION: Not gonna happen

taste of mental and physical pain, fear and endurance”. Aaron Corp, a fourth year Medic who took part with other members of the Wales University Royal Naval Unit, described the event as “one of the most disorientating things I’ve ever done”. “By the end of the course I couldn’t feel a thing below my belly button. If I had to sum up the event, I think I’d say it was bloody freezing!” Of the 7,000 participants, 4,500 finished. 1,000 of the starting participants were women and amongst these were 15 former and current members of the Cardiff University Ladies Rugby Team. Third year Physics student, Emily Baird said, “I am so proud of all

A report from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) shows teenagers from Britain’s poorest homes today are 50 percent more likely to attend University than 15 years ago. Over the last five years, participation rates have increased by 30 percent. This is thought to be a result of increased government funding under Labour. HEFCE states that by providing tuition fees they are encouraging

students who are disadvantaged. Yet this progress has been put into doubt by recent reports which shows Britain as an unequal nation. Professor John Hill from the London School of Economics published a report which showed that 4 percent of children who received free school meals went on to study at university, compared to 33 percent of other children. Although it appears promising that one in five teenagers from poorer backgrounds attend university today compared to one in eight in the mid 1990s, the figures are still worrying when considering that over half (57

percent) of children from Britain’s richest homes attend university. HEFCE’s study also shows 40 percent of women attend University compared to 32 percent of men. Professor Steve Smith, President of Universities UK claims that whilst progress has been made in widening social moility, "there is more that can be done". Likewise, the HEFCE Director for Education and Participation, John Selby, agrees the differences between the most and least advantaged students and the difference between the proportion of male and female students is ‘very large’.

NEWS 07

gairrhydd | NEWS@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY FEBRUARY 08 2010

You'll never guess what...

Bird-brain

Bestiality isn't best Emma McFarnon News Editor

New Zealand's Prime Minister has given the country’s most famous parrot a job in his government. The parrot, named Sirocco, became famous for trying to mate with the head of Mark Carwardine, the wildlife presenter, during the shooting of a series with Stephen Fry. Sirocco has been given a top job as the world’s first spokes-bird for conservation. Prime Minister, John Key, said Sirocco would focus attention on the plight of endangered species.

How to bee dead A Polish bee keeper woke up in a coffin this week, after a doctor mistook him for dead. Badly-stung Jozef Guzy had been pronounced dead after a suspected heart attack. He was cold, had stopped breathing and had no heart beat. However, Jozef miraculously awoke to find himself in complete darkness. Undertaker, Darius Charon, said: “He was shouting and banging on the lid and made enough noise to raise the dead!" Jozef added: “That undertaker saved my life. The first thing I did when I got out of hospital was take him round a nice jar of honey.”

Wasabin goin' on? Japanese scientists have invented a smoke alarm for deaf people that smells of wasabi. The device sprays out a synthesised version of the sushi condiment, which smells like a pungent, spicy horseradish. In tests, the odour woke volunteers up in two-and-ahalf minutes. Assistant Professor Makoto Imai, from the Shiga University of Medical Science, who helped develop the alarm, says it may save lives among the hard of hearing.

Dutch filmmakers who specialise in bestiality videos are concerned about their sales, after lawmakers approved a ban on having sex with animals. Until last week, sex with animals was not illegal in the Netherlands, as long as it could be proven that the animals were not injured. The new law bans humans from having sex with animals, including in private situations where the animals are not injured, and prohibits the production or distribution of animal pornography. Anyone breaking the law now risks being sent to jail for up to six months. Given the illicit nature of the product, precise figures on animal pornog-

raphy video sales are difficult to find, but the Dutch newspaper, Algemeen Dagblad, in a 2007 survey, found that distributors in the Netherlands were responsible for some 80 percent of bestiality videos worldwide. The bill was introduced in April 2007 and passed in the lower house in July 2008, but took time to make its way through the upper house to final approval. By passing the ban, the Netherlands joins the ranks of 80 countries where animal pornography is explicitly forbidden. Harm Evert Waalkens, the MP who proposed the law, told the Associated Press: “The Netherlands has been a magnet for perversities, and we want to stop that.” He added that pornographers had lobbied fiercely against a ban.

ANIMAL LOVIN': Netherlands bans sex with animals

Up in smoke

BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH: Indonesian cigarette company sued

Tomos Clarke Reporter An Indonesian man has been awarded compensation from a tobacco company after a cigarette exploded between his lips whilst he was smoking. 31-year-old Adil Susanto, from Bekasi near Jakarta, was riding his motorcycle on his way into work when his third cigarette of the day exploded, blowing out six of his teeth. He required 51 stitches to repair the damage to his face. Susanto accepted an out of court settlement of 5 million rupiah (£335) in addition to his medical costs from the Indonesian tobacco giant, PT Nojorono Tobacco. The Jakarta Post reported that Mr Suranto has smoked since he was in school. “It had been always fine,” he said. “The incident was all so unexpected.” It has been speculated that high levels of methanol could have caused the explosion. The volatile chemical is found in all cigarettes but normally in levels far to low to have such dramatic effects. Iwan Sulistyoa, a spokesman for

Clas Mild cigarettes, the brand Mr Susanto was smoking at the time of the incident, was baffled and denied that their product contained any explosive material: “We do not put any strange materials in the cigarettes, so we think that this is a weird case", he said. “We are communicating with the police and still waiting on the forensic laboratory tests”. Police have so far been unable to ascertain the cause of the explosion. Mr Sursanto’s crash helmet, cigarette lighter and the remains of the cigarette itself are all under investigation. This type of incident occurred once before in Indonesia; two years ago a man sued a different tobacco company after his cigarette caught fire, but failed in the courts. Indonesia has one of the highest smoking rates in the world, with some 60 percent of adult men being regular smokers, despite a recent fatwa issued by the nation’s highest Islamic body, the Ulema Council, prohibiting smoking in public places. Mr Suranto claims the incident has given him a new outlook on life, and he has decided to quit smoking.

I'm going for a walk, I may be some time Rachel Henson Reporter A lost tourist has been rescued from a German ice sheet after being spotted on a webcam. The man, who has not been named, became disorientated after walking out onto pack ice in St Peter-Ording, Germany. He is said to have ventured out to photograph the vivid sunset over the frozen landscape. After several hours in freezing conditions, the man was seen by a lady watching the sunset on a webcam in the town of Westerwald, southern Germany. The tourist signalled S.O.S. in Morse code using a pocket torch. The lady observed the flashes online and contacted the police to initiate a rescue. Police in St Peter-Ording located the man’s signals and guided him to

safety by flashing squad car headlights. A local tourism authority installed the webcam in order to advertise the destination. Air temperatures in northern Germany were below zero degrees at the time of the rescue, and police spokeswoman, Kristin Stielow, said the man was ‘lucky to be alive’. In colder temperatures the sea and mudflats freeze over and the coastline can become indistinguishable under deep snow. The man has since been lectured on the dangers of trekking on the ice, and warned that he could have frozen to death. The local tourism board said images from the webcam were regularly deleted and the flashes from the man’s camera had not been saved before the story came to light. SKATING ON THIN ICE: Webcam watcher saves stranded tourist

34 SPORT - WORD ON

c ! " # $ MONTGOMERIE: Renound for his on-course tantrums, Monty is known to verbally ! " # " # " ! the nearest person to him if he's !

MARTIN JOHNSON: Blunt talking, cauliflower ears and rugby. Some would describe him as manly. I would say he has one of the grumpiest demeanors I have ever seen in a human being.

ALEX FERGUSON: Perhaps the grand daddy of moody gits. Fergie has been delivering his hairdryer treatment to players, referees, reporters, fans and just about anyone else you can think of for the last 20 years.

PAULA RADCLIFFE: Continually seems to be crying and in agonising pain whilst running. Then again I suppose I would cry if I had to go to the toilet whilst on live TV.

GEOFFREY BOYCOTT: The man never seems to be happy unless a batsmen is playing a safety shot. I find cricket hard enough to watch even without his monotone voice.

gairrhydd | NEWS@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY OCTOBER 26 2009

No spin.

Straight talking from KPMG. Graduate Programmes All degree disciplines When it comes to what we do, there’s no need for spin. We offer audit, tax and advisory services to everyone from oil companies to music gurus. And when you join us, you’ll do the same. Simple really. For more straight talking, visit www.kpmg.co.uk/careers

NEWS 05

10 OPINION

gairrhydd | OPINION@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY FEBRUARY 08 2010

This won't hurt a bit...

Why fees should be raised – and why HE funding cuts might not be a disaster Jamie Thunder News Editor

Talk to most people with a passing interest in university funding and they’ll tell you two things: tuition fees are going up, and government expenditure is coming down. The former is bad news for students, while the latter is ominous for universities. Basically, higher education is in trouble. This is certainly the easy story to tell: the furious students protesting outside Parliament; the university heads desperately trying to save their once-glorious institutions; everyone angry at the government. But is it fair? Let’s start with government spending on higher education. HEFCE – the funding body for English universities – is allocated money over the financial year, but it allocates money to universities over academic years. That’s why the recent headlines about HEFCE allocating £200 million less for teaching next year don’t match with what HEFCE was allocated; which only had about £50 million less for teaching.

Back in the financial year 2000/01, HEFCE received just under £5.2 billion to allocate. In 2005/06, the year before the current top-up fees were introduced, it was just under £6.2 billion. Next year it will be just under £7.3 billion.

Next year's government grant is still the second highest in history That’s quite a hefty increase, so what about these terrible cuts? Well, altogether, HEFCE will have £518 million less to dish out over the next academic year than it did this year, and there’ll be £51 million less for teaching. But it’s not really a £518 million cut. You see, this year HEFCE had £250 million in money for buildings that had been planned for next year brought forward. So this year’s grant was inflated by £250 million, and next year’s has been decreased by the same amount. Take that into account, and the difference is only £18 million. That’s not so shocking.

Yes, the money for teaching is going down by £51 million (although it’s still about £50 million more than two years ago), and there’s not much money for new buildings. The government’s also asked for £600 million in ‘efficiency savings’ by 2012/13. But next year’s grant is still the second-highest ever. And when you consider that the £1 billion increase in HEFCE’s budget between 2005/06 and next year didn’t include tuition fee income, you start to wonder what all the fuss is about. Ah yes, tuition fees. According to Universities UK, they give about £1.2 billion a year in extra funding compared to 2005/06. Not bad, even with the cuts, and Lord Browne’s review is currently considering whether to raise them from their current level of £3,225. Not that the NUS is having any of that. They’ve been shamelessly, irresponsibly scaremongering about ‘record levels of student debt’, terrifying any new students who happen to come across their rantings. They’re right, of course – this year’s graduates will have racked up more in student loans than any before. But they’re missing a vital part of the story.

Student debt is not like credit card debt. You don’t have to pay it off no matter what. If you earn under £15,000 a year you don’t pay anything, and if you earn over that it’s only 9% of your income a year (in contrast, National Insurance contributions are 11%). I’d certainly like the repayment rate to be a bit more progressive – those earning less pay back a lower proportion of their earnings) – but it’s really not bad at all.

If the tuition cap is raised, it won't mean students are crippled with debt As an alternative, the NUS is proposing a graduate tax. This, they reckon, would fund universities without any need for government spending, but there are a couple of problems with it. Firstly, students who go to university and enter highly-paid jobs would end up paying for their education several times over, while universities would get nothing for educating someone who gets a degree then becomes a housewife/husband. That

doesn’t really seem fair. And if the money universities got was dependent on how well their graduates were paid they might be tempted to cut courses that don’t produce highly-paid graduates, whereas at the moment there’s no reason for them to do this. If the tuition fee cap is raised, it won’t mean students will be crippled by debt. The main argument against raising them is that this could lead to genuinely variable fees, but as long as in practice all the universities are charging the same there’s not really a problem. If different institutions started charging different amounts there’d be an incentive for students from poorer backgrounds to go to cheaper universities, and that’d risk undoing a lot of the good work that’s so far been done on widening access. Of course, universities could do with a little more money, and it’d be nice if students didn’t need to take out loans to finance their education. But the spending cuts announced are not going to cripple our higher education institutions, and students aren’t going to suddenly be deprived of their education. So maybe everyone should just calm down.

OPINION 11

gairrhydd | OPINION@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY FEBRUARY 08 2010

One small step backwards Cancelling the moon programme? What a waste of space... Alex Evans Opinion Writer Space. It’s pretty big, you know. For aeons, man has gazed into the stars and wondered, aghast at the sheer scale of it all. The most ancient civilisations on Earth pondered the many questions that still plague us today: is there life out there? Are we about to be struck by a comet/enslaved by aliens/plunged into a black hole? We kind of need to know. It’s this thirst for knowledge that drives us as a species. Man has always strived to better himself, to know everything that can be known, and then learn how to know the rest. It is, in a nutshell, what separates us from the animal kingdom. From the deepest questions of the universe to the fat content of that kebab scoffed at 2am, we want answers. Which is why Obama’s new budget proposals are such a tragedy. Yes, he put forward many well-thought-out ideas on how to reinvigorate the ailing US economy and create jobs, but ultimately, it came at the expense of space exploration. Obama cancelled the ‘Constellation’ program, which

aimed to return man to the moon by 2020, in order to trim a few pennies for essentials like jobs, public funds and blowing up other countries (note: that last one may not be true). Yes, the Constellation program has already cost a staggering $9 billion which America can ill-afford, and no doubt the cash freed up will help ease the pressure on a nation choking on its own debts. Obama is in a difficult position. It can’t be easy to juggle so many key spending areas in times of recession. But the space programs are not just fat to be trimmed, they are as intrinsic to America as a nation as they are to the development of our species. Imagine if someone told Stephenson: very sorry, but your revolutionary new railway network which will connect the whole country in a way previously unimaginable is a bit pricey. These are milestone developments in the course of human history, and as a species we need to keep pushing new boundaries of exploration and knowledge, for that has long been what has defined us. Now, we are in danger of becoming obsessive bean-counting, fat-cat

Get the flag, we're off home

fools. Nothing is about discovery or scientific advancement any more; it’s all to do with the bottom line. Giant conglomerates issue profit warnings if their takings are a few pence short of the billions they thought they’d snatched. Concorde was canned because the seat sales would flat-line after its crash – never mind that it was a glorious aeronautical achievement. This commercial culture has spread to even the government, an institution supposedly working in the interests of the public, rather than the money in their wallets. Obama plans to privatise the movement of astronauts to and from the space station, saving another few billion for the American administration. Richard Branson will no doubt be laughing – he can double the price of Virgin space flights if you can get an astronaut’s autograph on board. Sadly, it seems like this is where we are headed. In the future, we’ll only invent with the intent to sell. Cancer is still being researched because whoever finds the real cure can hawk it at some eye-watering mark-up and meet an astronaut on the next tour to the space station. But furthering human knowledge for no benefit other than to learn? Returning man to the moon to set up a base? Sending man to Mars?

Out the Conservative closet At university, it is generally considered unfashionable to be a conservative and trendy to be a lefty, but why the stigma? Elizabeth Blockley Opinion Writer Upon announcing my support of David Cameron and the Conservative Party at any social gathering, you would be forgiven for assuming I had just declared something truly horrific. Perhaps something like, "In my spare time I like to torture puppies whilst contemplating ways to revive the Nazi Party in the modern world". Admitting to being a Conservative student is tantamount to publicising your support of euthanasia, but only because granny is starting to become a real burden.

Admitting to being a Conservative is tantamount to supporting euthanasia Young Conservatives must adapt to either concealing their political views or preparing for the onslaught of abuse that inevitably comes with such a con-

fession. I would undoubtedly be met with more support if I announced that I was converting to Mormonism and moving to Alabama to become someone’s fifth wife. Herein lies the difference: people don’t tend to verbally attack someone they have just met based on religious beliefs or other aspects of their personal lives. If you have any social skills whatsoever you don’t tend to meet people and mid-way through conversation yell something like, "You drive a SKODA?! But they’re crap, why would you do that?" Yet for some reason unfathomable to me, someone I met five minutes ago finds it acceptable to assail my political beliefs in exactly this way. The most frustrating aspect of these social interactions is the complete lack of logic with which they are conducted. It seems that all rationality goes out of the window when someone proclaims that "David Cameron hates poor people!" No, he had a privileged upbringing. This does not automatically equate to hating poor people. There also seems to be a considerable anger towards Cameron’s education at Eton and subsequently Ox-

ford. Like it or not, this is probably the best education available in Britain and I don’t feel we should be electing a Prime Minister who only scraped through their GCSEs with five Cs just for the sake of political correctness.

The Conservatives are a centrally grounded party with many policies akin to Labour’s Contrary to popular belief, a vote for the Conservative Party in 2010 is not a vote for the destruction of the welfare state and denying the less well-off in society equal opportunity. The Conservatives are now a very centrally grounded party with many policies akin to Labour’s. According to David Cameron himself, Gordon Brown has actually poached a few so they can’t be all bad. For instance, a proposal to deny unemployment benefits to someone who has actively refused a job isn’t the act of an evil right-wing state: it’s common sense. Cameron is the man who spawned the phrase "Hug a hoodie"

for goodness sake; he is not a right-wing tyrant. If it were up to me we wouldn’t hug them, we’d sterilise them. But that’s why I won’t be going into politics. A frequent refrain in response to my conservatism is that "we’re young and students, we’re supposed to be liberal". hilst I don’t actually agree that being a student makes you automatically left-wing, I do agree that liberalism and acceptance are positive qualities. We should at least be liberal enough to allow people to express perfectly reasonable political views without the social stigma that is attached to voting Conservative. Therefore, I am proud to be out of the Conservative closet. Team Cameron, yah.

COUNTING SKILLS: Vital for future Prime Ministers

12 OPINION

gairrhydd | OPINION@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY FEBRUARY 08 2010

I can say what I want, John John Terry's infidelity is less worrying than his attempt to gag the press Alex Byswater Opinion Writer

England Football Captain and Chelsea star John Terry has been at the centre of a media storm this past week after a court injunction, that banned the media from broadcasting details about his alleged affair, was lifted. The process has raised questions not only over Terry’s future as Captain of club and country, but also as to whether there should have even been a court injunction in the first place. Terry has been married to Toni Poole since 2007. They had twins in 2006. But media speculation has spread recently about an alleged affair with Vanessa Perroncel, a French model and girlfriend of former team mate Wayne Bridge. As a result, and in order to keep his personal life under wraps, Terry took out a court order which prevented the media from reporting on his affair with Miss Perroncel and the various details that went with it. However, during the last week, the court injunction was lifted by Mr Justice Tugendhat as he said there was “nothing left to be protected.” This

has caused huge speculation throughout the British press as alleged details of the affair have spread widely. This has led to rumours of Terry’s wife divorcing him and of Miss Perroncel being forced to undergo an abortion. Should celebrities be allowed to keep their private lives under wraps? Or should their dirty little secrets be exposed to you and I?

John Terry's celebrity status does not excuse him from such behaviour The injunction taken out by Terry is first and foremost a restraint on the freedom of speech and the right of the media to publish their stories. Admittedly, many stories published by the tabloid press are exaggerated beyond recognition. However, surely a paper has the right

to publish stories with sufficient and reliable information to back up their claims? The fact that Terry earns £170,000 a week does not make him any different to you or I. He must face the facts and the consequences of his terrible actions. Terry’s celebrity status does not excuse him from such behaviour and such gagging orders on the press merely seem to imply that his actions are deemed acceptable. The situation is clearly a sensitive one, with the potential to undermine team spirit within the England dressing room. However, such circumstances do not mean that the freedom of speech within this country should be undermined. With Terry’s actions being made public, there has been increasing demand for him to stand down as Eng-

land Captain. Critics argue that such a prominent position must be upheld with dignity, and that any captain should be an apt role model considering the importance of the position. Clearly, Terry has been guilty of some bad behaviour, but this does not, or should not,

affect his performance on the pitch. As a result, Terry should continue as Captain and lead England forward to the World Cup in South Africa this summer.

Whatever the story, the citizens of this country have the right to find out the details In the modern democracy we now live in, a free and liberal media should not be entrenched by legal proceedings limiting the reporting of events. Whatever the story, the citizens of this country have the right to find out the details of specific events. Clearly Terry is in the wrong and must pay for whatever punishment comes his way, be it the loss of certain sponsorship details, chanting at matches, or the loss of the England captaincy. Terry should not be allowed to hide his actions behind a court order. Tiger Woods didn’t get away with it, and neither should he.

He's not laughing, he's not laughing, he's not laughing any more

Mind your own for God's sake Pope Benedict's criticism of The Equality Bill is neither right nor valid Rachel Henson Opinion Writer The Equality Bill includes a clause set to ensure that religious organisations are not able to discriminate between potential employees on the grounds of a person’s sex or sexual orientation - legislation that Pope Benedict XVI believes “violates natural law”. It’s not just the pope who’s got himself in a flap about it; Bishops of the Church of England are also expressing concern, although the bill also intends to ban discrimination on religious grounds, so it’s not all bad news for the clergy. Freedom is a powerful thing, allowing opinions to be voiced without restraints imposed by others. It’s only right that we have religious freedom, freedom of expression and freedom from discrimination on ‘any ground such as race, sex, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion’. The Human Rights Act says so. From that, I assume that no one freedom from discrimination outranks another. If religious freedom impinges on someone’s employment prospects it contravenes their right to freedom from

discrimination. I’m far from being on a high horse about this; I’m more saddling a slightly dishevelled, confused looking pony. My religious knowledge has its holes, so I don’t claim to have all the answers. After all, I’m not the Pope, and nor could I be, as a woman. Besides, I’m not a ‘hat person’ anyway.

I'm not the Pope nor could I be, as a woman. I'm not a hat person anyway The proposed changes to the UK equality legislation take such religious constraints into account. It won’t prevent religious groups from discriminating when appointing people to religious positions. People who don’t ‘fit in’ with a particular religious ethos won’t be eligible for priesthood within that religion, but they also won’t be refused consideration for non-religious positions such as clerical staff or cleaning posts. I would have thought that this could make a nice compromise, but it still doesn’t quite conform to the tick-box society the Vatican wants to mould us

into. If social equality violates natural law then perhaps, for once, I’d actually prefer something synthetic. It’s no use asking certain religions to ‘move with the times’, and why should we? With Christianity as the lime-lit example, there are plenty of denominations which have taken a step back and re-assessed how to proceed into the twenty-first century. There are plenty of religious groups that focus on morals rather than rules. There are plenty of groups that uphold their religious beliefs without excluding people. There will, of course, always be groups whose religious beliefs simply can’t coincide with certain practices or ways of life, but is it too much to ask merely to co-exist? I think it’s rather likely that, by the time the Pope visits the UK in September, he’ll be more in favour of the bill than he’ll let on. Those in power will have to listen fairly to his potentially controversial statements, protected from religious discrimination by equality legislation. At a time of all-time lows in Church attendance, peaks in atheism and general media unease of all things papal, it seems that the Pope has bigger fish to fry. Pope Benedict XVI: A sober, solemn man, 'till he gets on the lager...

NEWS 05

gairrhydd | NEWS@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY OCTOBER 26 2009

:PVS OFX -PDBM www.thenorthstarcardiff.com

2 for 1, Monday to Friday between 12pm and 6pm (only on main meals, excluding the daily specials. T&C apply)

8IZ ZPV NJHIU FOKPZ FBUJOH IFSF

2 x Fresh Homemade Burgers & Chunky Chips = ÂŁ5.90

only { each! 2 x Margarita Pizzas = ÂŁ5.45

only { each! 2 x Spaghetti Carbonara = ÂŁ6.90

only { each!

5",& "8": Enjoy our great dishes in the comfort of your own bed! See our full take away menu online www.thenorthstarcardiff.com

only { each

Just call us now and come pick up your food when itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ready!

All our food is freshly prepared and cooked to order, using locally sourced ingredients. If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in a hurry you can pre-order your food by calling us on 02920 621736

Tel 02920 621736

2 x Lasagna = ÂŁ6.75

131 North Road. Maindy. CARDIFF. CF14 3AE Email. info@thenorthstarcardiff.com Tel. 02920 621736

14 COLUMNIST

gairrhydd | OPINION@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY FEBRUARY 08 2010

Who to vote for when they’re all dreadful? S

o, it seems that the General Election will be on Thursday May 6 (confidently predicted on this very page in issue 902, not bragging or anything). At these times there always seems to be a question that everyone is asking. Last time round people wondered “Why would anyone bother voting for Michael Howard the vampire? We've already got the New Labour bloodsuckers, after all". And the one that many people are asking this year is, "Which of these putrid piles of excrement will be marginally less revolting than the other?" Perhaps that's how the campaign and ballot papers should be phrased; it could well increase turnout or at the very least get more of a debate going. This question explains why the

Tories aren’t the poll favourites and fail to set themselves apart from their loathed, quarreling, useless opponents. The thing that we all see but the politicians fail to is that they’re not even competently horrendous. For example, Cameron said they would cut tax, then said they wouldn’t, then decided now, as it’s a Monday, they would. They change their minds more often than Katie Price changes husband but they say we should vote Conservative because at least they "aspired" to cut tax. Inspirational leadership right there. The only thing stopping their original promise, they say, is the economic conditions. I'm the same with my commitment to buy Manchester United. It would add to my debt burden and prove economically unsound so I won’t buy it right now, but it remains

an aspiration and that's the main thing. For God’s sake, people must be realising by now that he doesn't seem to stand for anything, except outrage for reasons he can't decide. A typical Cameron speech goes, "I am fed up of this government, aren’t you? I mean, have you seen him, that what’s-his-name. You know what they should do? Well they should fix the economy for a start then of course they should get rid of that ridiculous Fox Hunting ban. Now, call me oldfashioned but that is simple common sense. And as a Conservative, that is something I want to put right." He must be suffering from an internal dilemma, though, as the Tories have gone along with all of Labour's most disastrous ideas, from the Iraq War, to letting the bankers take con-

trol of the economy. But while cutting tax and attacking public spending is popular with long term Conservatives, most people don't approve of it, so he trumps normal politicians by making promises, then breaking them before the election's even started. So then you think you might resign yourself to voting Labour, only to think of Blair or Mandelson on the yacht and you realise that's impossible. And there must be millions of people doing this, thinking "Well I can't vote for them so I'll opt for the others", until they remember the others and think the same back again, like if you were captured by a sadistic tribe that gave you the choice of being mauled by a cheetah or buggered by a mountain goat. The obvious option is not to vote

but that isn't overly appealing either, given the almighty battles that took place for the right to do so. So the problem of who to vote for has become one of those enigmas, like the puzzle of where the universe ends, that you can only think about for two minutes at a time or you start going fuzzy in the head. This means each party damages itself every time they get publicity as they remind people how appalling they are. If the parties catch on to this then we'll see a five minute film of Gordon Brown telling us why we should vote Labour, and then a voice will say, "That was a Party Political Broadcast on behalf of the Conservative Party."

Tim Well Spent: CH: a melting pot of emotion

new decade, a new dawn but some things just never change. Tony Blair’s insistence that his decision to invade Iraq is justified, John Terry is in the papers for the wrong reasons and Jedward just don’t seem to go away. It is very much a case of déjà vu as is the fact I’m still ill. If any of you read the Christmas issue you may recall me lamenting about migraines and how I wanted a new body. That has not changed either but since then I have bizarrely developed a hatred for two letters of the alphabet. They are C and H. On face value and individually they are innocent but combine

them and they become a formidable duo that has caused constant torment in my life. At this point you may think my medication has got the better of me and I have lost the plot but trust me, this is a sound argument. Since November, my doctor’s surgery has become my home from home as every possibility for my illness has been explored. One is diet and apparently chocolate and cheese can cause migraines for people are prone to them. Now this is a sorry blow for a self-confessed chocoholic and someone who is partial to a nice piece of cheddar. Just the thought of giving up the New York Deli’s amazing choco-

late cake brings a tear to my eye. I feel cheated (You see there it is again!). This revelation was what sparked my deep disdain for CH (don’t worry, Chris Halpin, not you) as I realised it is just so much more than chocolate and cheese. There is Chelsea FC, chemistry, Channel 5, Christians (I’ll just make it clear I have issues with all religions). Nobody is really a fan of Chlamydia either are they? Also, the word chortle just annoys me and screaming children are the bane of my life, there must be one in every carriage of every train I’ve ever been on. Of course there are some exceptions to the rule. Christmas, for example. And just in case my friends are

getting agitated, the names Chris and Charlotte bring nothing but joy. The one that scares me the most though is change. In six months time, I will have finished my postgraduate diploma in broadcast journalism and will be looking for a job. The same is the case for my fellow 93 journalists as we will no longer safely reside within the four walls of the Bute Building. This was brought to the forefront of my mind the other day when I had two emails telling me about the same job vacancy. Give it a few months and there will be dozens of vacancy notifications in my inbox (gulp). I don’t want to stop being a student, not really. It is a cheerful and charm-

ing life that has flown by as so often happens when you’re having fun. Four years have been and gone and I feel a little short changed (it’s there again!) I’m not ready to leave, Cardiff is great, the friendships made, the fun that’s had; nine months here is not enough. Alas we broadcasters will be splitting up and going in to many different jobs. Whether it’s television or radio, commercial or BBC, it doesn’t really matter. At least there is some solace in the thought we have a fighting chance and maybe even a choice.

NEWS 05

gairrhydd | NEWS@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY OCTOBER 26 2009

Opening Month Student Offer

50% OFF LOUNGE MENU with your NUS card. valid only in February. not valid in conjunction with any other offer.

Monday to Saturday 12pm until 5pm Bison Burger & Chips £6.95 - ONLY £3.47 with your NUS 6oz Rump Steak £5.95 - ONLY £2.97 with your NUS Bangers & Mash £5.95 - ONLY £2.97 with your NUS Beer Battered Fish & Chips £5.95 - ONLY £2.97 with your NUS WYE

2 wyeverne road Cardiff CF24 4BH

VER

2 Wyeverne Road. Cardiff. CF24 4BH Tel. 02920 231669 Email. info@vulcanlounge.com

OAD RHYMNEY ST

SALISBURY ROAD

Meat Platter to Share £7.95 - ONLY £3.97 with your NUS

NE R

COBURN ROAD

CRWYS ROAD

MISKIN ST

LOWTHER ROAD

CITY CENTRE

www.vulcanlounge.com

gairrhydd | FEATURES@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY FEBRUARY 08 2010

16 FEATURES

Depression: a stud

Depression is an illness which can affect anyone, reg takes a look at the problem of student depression, an Daniella Graham Features Editor

My name is Daniella. I'm a section editor for gair rhydd, I'm the president of a society with over 200 members, I have lots of great friends and I am doing well in my degree. I also tried to kill myself in my first year at university. Depression is an illness which can affect anyone; male or female, young or old, student or non-student. In Wales today, there are over 250,000 people suffering from depression. Amongst the student population, it is impossible to tell how many people are suffering from depression, but it is clearly an issue; whilst depression is not necessarily believed to be more prevalent amongst students than their non-student peers, depression is the most common issue for which university counsellors are consulted. Of 747 students receiving counselling at Cardiff University’s Student Support Service in 2008-2009, 362 were suffering from depression. The factors involved in the development of depression are complicated, and often involve a combination of biological, psychological and social factors. Whilst depression is often attributed to a chemical imbalance in the brain, it is not fully understood what causes this imbalance – sometimes depression can be linked to an event or trigger such as bereavement or a relationship breakdown, but sometimes depression can have no obvious cause.

Financial issues have been shown to correlate with depression in students For students, the stress of moving away from home to a new environment can be contributing factor, with pre-existing vulnerability combining with new stresses to trigger depression. In particular, financial problems have been shown to correlate with depression in students. For me, a struggle with depression pre-dated university. For various reasons I had been deeply unhappy for several years, and had first cut myself at around 14-years-old. Despite having a good circle of friends I felt extremely disconnected from everyone else, and would take out this frustration on myself. I refused to acknowledge this as a problem since I still

performed well at school, and my cuts rarely scarred. Whilst I knew I wasn’t happy, I looked forward going to university. I believed moving out of home and immersing myself in university life would enable to finally shrug off the deep dissatisfaction with myself that had plagued me for so long. However, university did not provide the miracle cure I had been hoping for. I enjoyed my course and had made some great new friends, but I still felt deeply unhappy. I continued to ignore the problem and instead focused on getting drunk; something which was easy to do as a fresher. My boyfriend could see my drinking was about more than being a funloving fresher and becoming an issue, but discussing it just caused arguments. He provided an easy outlet for my frustration and I centred my problems on him – eventually the constant arguments proved too much and we broke up shortly before Christmas. Now unable to blame someone else for my unhappiness, things soon spiralled and I begun cutting myself again and drinking more heavily than ever. Eventually I accepted that I was depressed and couldn’t cope on my own anymore, so plucked up the courage to go to the doctors, who prescribed antidepressants and sent me to the Student Support Centre for counselling. Neither helped. I found the counselling counter-productive, forcing me to

discuss painful issues without giving me any help to address or overcome them, and I dreaded the sessions. The anti-depressants, after several months, still had absolutely no effect. The fact that I had finally acknowledged that I had depression and was receiving help yet still felt worse than ever filled me with despair – I was doing all I could to get better but just felt increasingly worse. I was physically exhausted all of the time, yet I could barely get up in the morning and consequently missed many of my lectures. After another trip to the doctors I was prescribed sleeping tablets, but I still couldn’t sleep, even when I took double the recommended dosage, so I gave up.

I stopped caring about everything, and would drink in search of oblivion I stopped caring about everything. On nights out I would get excessively drunk in search of oblivion, and often looked forward to getting back home where I could hurt myself. I felt totally disconnected from everyone, as if I wasn’t really there. My flatmate was very supportive, but I still felt completely alone. I couldn’t tell my family, especially after seeing my parents’

reaction to my sister’s depression. Eventually I realised that I no longer wanted to live. It was a gradual realisation – I cared less and less about the future, and found the thought of dying comforting. Every time I went to bed I prayed I wouldn’t wake up the next day. Eventually I admitted to my ex-boyfriend that I was suicidal, but promised that I wouldn’t act on it. I had meant it – I knew what a selfish act suicide would be, and thought I couldn’t do that to my family and friends. In the mean time my work had suffered a lot, as even when I could motivate myself I found it impossible to concentrate on anything. At one point I considered dropping out of university, but realised this was not a real solution. Luckily I had an amazing personal tutor who helped organise extensions on essays, and her support was invaluable. As end of year exams approached, she suggested I was in no fit state to take my exams and advised me instead to take them during the retake period in the summer. I refused, seeing this as failing, and decided to just get through them. I managed to get through exams, but my lack of interest in life still haunted me – I’d stopped looking when I crossed roads because I didn’t care anymore. One night I was out with friends celebrating my flatmate’s birthday and something snapped, so I abruptly left without telling anyone

and went back to my halls. On the way home I called my ex-boyfriend, but after a fairly incoherent conversation, I hung up. When I got back to my halls, I started drinking again. I locked my door, finished a bottle of wine and started writing a suicide note as I downed vodka, paracetamol and sleeping tablets. The next thing I remember I was hooked up to a drip in hospital. Apparently my ex-boyfriend had called me back, I had told him what I had done and he had made me give the phone to my flatmate. An ambulance had been called and I was taken to Llandough Hospital, which had its own poisons unit. Everyone in the poisons unit had also overdosed, and I actually found it comforting to be surrounded by people who understood how I felt. My family had come up to Cardiff, but as soon as they left for the night and I was left alone to contemplate my actions my only regret was that I hadn’t taken enough tablets to die. When I was about to be discharged, a doctor spoke to me and explained that I had been in a coma for a short period of time after overdosing, and that the main reason I had survived was because I had drunk so much alcohol that I had thrown up most of the tablets.

The fact I was now receiving help yet felt worse than ever filled me with despair My parents had talked to me in hospital, but afterwards they never mentioned my depression or my suicide attempt again. My depression did improve thanks to the support of friends and other family members, and I realised I had recovered when I could actually start thinking about the future with optimism. After returning to university for second year, I immersed myself in university life and have enjoyed every minute of it. I still have low periods and depressive moods, during which I worry that the level of depression I experienced in first year will return, but so far depressive episodes have been thankfully brief. I acknowledge my low moods instead of trying to ignore them, and find this, along with keeping myself busy, has really helped me. For students suffering from depres-

FEATURES 17

gairrhydd | FEATURES@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY FEBRUARY 08 2010

dent experience

gardless of age, gender... or student status. Features nd some of the support options currently available.

The next thing I remember I was hooked up to a drip in hospital “In a bid to reach high risk groups known to under-use professional services, the charity decided to fund the development of a student-focused self-help website for depression. The key idea with the site is that it does not just offer an ‘expert’ perspective on depression – it was developed in collaboration with students who had themselves been affected by depression, and continues to benefit from student input via the ‘blogring’ on the site.” The ‘blogring’ consists of a group of students suffering from depression who are keeping a blog for an academic year. The blog documents their strategies for overcoming their depression and supporting each other. “The aim is to show that depression is experienced differently by different people, and that there are many effective strategies for challenging and overcoming depression.” In Cardiff, Nightline is a valuable source of support for students. A branch of the National Nightline Association, Cardiff Nightline provides support and assistance to students by

their peers. Sally Wood, Nightline Co-ordinator, says: “Nightline is there for any student to talk over any issues they are having with depression or any other problems. Calls regarding depression are relatively common and our volunteers are provided with expert training to help them deal with these specifically. Students suffering with mental health issues may feel more confident to use a phoneline rather than seek direct help and as we make no efforts to ever trace a call, Nightline is a popular choice.” “Cardiff Nightline is available to students across all four institutions in Cardiff and is staffed solely by student volunteers. A call to Cardiff Nightline is the cost of a local landline call and you may ring to speak to someone anytime between 8pm and 8am during term time on 02920 870555. By the end of the academic year we also hope to launch online listening, which will work in a similar way to an MSN or Facebook chat conversation.” The charity Journeys supports a network of around 25 self-help groups across Wales. Some are quite informal, with people meeting up to socialise and support each other, and others are more formal with a programme of events, guest speakers and time set aside each meeting to discuss specific topics or try self-help activities. Helen Robinson of Journeys says that “the groups provide a valuable resource to people affected by depression.” “They help people combat the symptoms of depression that, if left unchecked, perpetuate the illness. They do this through the sharing of information and experiences, learning new skills and by providing motivation to people to get out of the house and to interact with other people.”

PHOTO: Daniella Graham

sion there are a lot of support options available, but many people, particularly young men, do not access any form of help. Denise Meyer is the project leader for the Students Against Depression website, funded by depression-focused charity the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust.

“The groups help to combat the self-imposed isolation and withdrawal that is so common in depression, provide a routine – sometimes a reason to get out of bed – and they help people to feel like they are not alone in their experiences.” “Being with a group of people who have some kind of shared understanding of where you’re at and not having to explain yourself or make excuses is also hugely important, as it may be the only environment in which a person feels they can be honest in, or be free just to be themselves. People also get emotional support from other group members; some people may not have anyone to talk to or may not want to ‘burden’ their family and friends.” “Giving support to others is a central part of the experience too, as it raises self-esteem and self-worth. And, the bottom line is that it’s good for people’s wellbeing to be around other people – just someone smiling at you can make a massive difference to the way you are feeling.” Over time, people who attend the groups report that through them they have developed a support network and, more importantly, made friends who help them to get well and to stay well into the future.”

There are a lot of support options available for students suffering with depression Denise from Students Against Depression stresses the importance of talking about depression to overcome the problem. When asked for her advice to people suffering from depression, she said: “I would hope that they would find the website helpful, but the most important thing for anyone to do is to speak to someone and get support with how they are feeling.” “Depression thrives on isolation and can spiral downward very easily when a person feels alone with their feelings. There are many small things that can be done to make a big difference to depression, and there are effective ways in which people can be helped – nearly all universities have counselling services where there are experienced people who can help.” However you choose to deal with depression, it is important to know that there are options out there and you are not alone.

STUDENT PROFILE Britt Hallingberg is a final year Psychology student who has started her own self-help group to support people with depression. What made you want to start a self-help group for students suffering from depression? Besides learning about depression through my degree, like most people I have been in contact with friends and family who have suffered bouts of depression. University is a great experience, but some students find the university lifestyle can be too much, not to mention that life doesn’t always go according to plan! Not having beneficial forms of social support or structure to tackle simple problems adds to our stress and inability to cope on our own. There are wonderful counselling services available, but it may also be comforting to meet others that are in a similar position and it can prevent feelings of loneliness. Importantly, a group of fellow students can share experiences and ideas and help each other. I believe it is vital that students who are just starting to feel depressed or have been for sometime are able to understand that they are not alone and many forms of help exist. What have you had to do to set up the group? I got in touch with Journeys and started attending self-help group meetings in Adamstown. I have been on a ‘depression busting course’ and workshops with other self-help group leaders where I have learnt valuable advice on running the group. Besides attending courses, I have had to make contact with the counselling services and the Students' Union and have kept in close contact with Journeys. What do you hope people will take away from the group? I hope more than anything that students can come to the group and feel like they are in a safe, accepting environment where they can meet and talk with others. There will also be meetings where information will be provided about promoting healthy behaviour and tackling stress by guest speakers. I hope that information provided at the meetings help students find ways that fit them to cope and alleviate negative feelings. Students don’t have to be suffering from clinical depression; they can be going through a rough patch or wanting to understand depression to help someone else they may know. How can people get involved with your group? They can start by coming to our kick-off meeting on February 16, 6pm in the Gareth Edwards room, 4th floor of the Students' Union. It will be primarily to explore the expectations and wishes of those attending, and to discuss what the group can provide. Students are welcome to come and go to these meetings as they please and after knowing what students wish to discuss more in-depth there will be a more detailed schedule made. If anyone has any questions they are also welcome to send me an email at hallingbergbe@cardiff.ac.uk

18 FEATURES

gairrhydd | FEATURES@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY FEBRUARY 08 2010

Are you paying attention? Are we all missing out on life-changing opportunities because we are too busy listening to our iPods? Features investigates... Richard Thomas Features Writer The weather hasn’t been so good. Recently I saw a chap with a beanie hat, fashionably knotted scarf, cutting edge hoodie and a shoulder bag. Board shorts and flip flops made up the bottom half. Seemingly every climate was being catered for, apart from the one he was actually living in; it was raining. He was texting too – faster than Tiger Woods on Valentine’s Day. This though, is about what was in his ears. Siberian Surfer Man would not entertain fluff or unsightly hair. He was a subscriber to little electronic buds of sound – an iPod child of the musical millennium.

continually listening to music can be dangerous. Michigan State University reports that iPod use may possibly inhibit heart pacemaker function. It also reports that continual consumption of loud music can impair hearing, but that is nothing new. Sceptics would observe that everything is dangerous, even crossing the road – ironically this is one of the most dangerous plugged-in activities, and there are many instances of enthusiastic pedestrians paying too much

Earls Court triumph in 1975; talking to me will interrupt Jimmy Page midriff and would be like switching off the national grid.” This could always be the grumpy complaining of the previous generation, but give it some thought. Talking to strangers on buses has long been associated with those who are borderline bonkers and it is often ill-advised. Those wired for sound may be just enjoying a few minutes of self-indulgent entertainment between responsi-

One website gives a ten point structure for chatting to people on buses, and offers sample conversation formats which start with questions like “how has your day been?”, “I haven’t seen you on this bus before....”, and “isn’t this the most marvellous weather?” Realistically, using these could ensure white-coated supervisors and a straitjacket at the next stop. The last two decent chats I’ve had myself on a bus started with the lines “Bugger me, I didn’t think we were

One student got a girl's number – he might have missed his chance with his headphones in This is not a rant, since I have an iPod and am extremely attached to it. As an adornment, it is a handy tool for downtime with unlimited potential to entertain and amaze. Since Apple launched their mobile music player in 2001, common consensus is that they have taken about 75% of the mobile music player market. Worldwide sales over the last three years exceed 150 million – in other words, enough to provide every human being in the UK with at least two each. Whatever your opinions on capitalism and consumerism, here is a marketing feat of breathtaking magnitude. Progress continues unabated: their phone has already become iconic, their electronic reader will no doubt join it and we are collectively seduced by retail sales points which are no longer shops but pristine emporiums of life-enhancing technological advancement. Even the crustiest cynic must concede that the ability to cram thousands of CD’s worth of music, videos and web surfing potential into something about the size as a packet of fags is pretty nifty. Where there is pleasure, however, there must be pain – even champagne can give you a headache (apparently). As we collectively embrace music and technology continually on tap, we could also reflect on life before the year MP3 AD when Emperor iPodus took to the throne. The first popular hypothesis is that

brary) got a girl’s phone number after a conversation in the IT room. It may not be true love, but it’s a start – and they may have missed their chance if music had distracted them. There are surely countless tales from all over the world of the chance meetings that sparked eventual relationships. There is the old tale of someone who once helped a familiar looking man in a queue in airport newsagents when he dropped his shopping on the floor. He was the only person without music, alert enough and socially available to pick up the sweets and magazines scattered over the floor, and to get involved in the good-natured conversation as he helped the butter-fingered stranger to the seating area where his “friends” were waiting for him. If he had been plugged into earphones like everyone else and hadn’t helped, Adam Clayton of U2 would have had to crawl around the floor and himself and Bono would never have wished him all the best for Christmas. It’s absolutely true.

I started chatting to a man in a waiting room. He ended up offering me a job

JAZZHANDS: The ultimate iPod accessory attention to the hits of Dizzee Rascal and not enough to approaching buses. This should be kept in context; iPods are not inherently dangerous. The sharpest of knives need claim no fingers if used with care. The second popular hypothesis however, is more abstract and subjective – it suggests an increasingly antisocial society, and offers plenty of subjective evidence in support. Earphones may be small and discreet but they give out big signals on buses and in waiting rooms – “DO NOT APPROACH ME. DO NOT APPROACH ME AND DEFINITELY DO NOT TALK TO ME”. Perhaps those with less subtle, full ear headphones are just making sure that the message can’t be misconstrued – “Please don’t disturb me, I am recreating the experience of sitting in the front row of Led Zeppelin’s

bilities at home and work, if so they are fully entitled to some 'me' time. If not though, are they ignoring potential opportunities sitting beside them?

Earphones may be small but give out the big signal that you don't want to be talked to There are plenty of cheery souls who enjoy initiating impromptu conversations with no other agenda than to pass some time, music free. There are even websites to help adventurous travellers who aren’t plugged into to Jay-Z or Tinchy Styder.

going to get through that gap” and “I think that bloke who just got off was completely bollocksed.” If those sitting next to me had been plugged into iPods, they would have missed these rich observations and the light-hearted chit-chat that followed. Throwing yourself off the deepend of impromptu social conversation with an unknown participant is known as “social skydiving”. Not as dangerous as it sounds. After all, there is always the default option of earphones should it transpire that the person you have just engaged in good natured discussion is, actually, the “nutter on the bus”. There are also practical benefits of not immersing yourself in the hits of the Black Eyed Peas or Pixie Lott and excluding your surroundings. One fellow student (who I got to know when we were both sans earphones in the li-

My own view of talking to strangers is coloured by an experience many years pre-MP3 AD. A man I started chatting to in a waiting room, incredibly, for some reason, found me intriguing enough to piece together what he knew about me to track me down and offer me a job. I accepted. In retrospect, I suppose he could equally have been a serial killer. He wasn’t, and now as an iPod listener, hopefully such chances won’t elude me in future. Perhaps neither hypothesis is accurate, and we should synthesise our own. When plugged in we are consuming some creative product, and there can’t be anything too bad about that, irrespective of individual taste. iPods are like vodka – safe if used responsibly but leaving without one once in a while is definitely advisable. We can be a generation who can make small talk with strangers and still have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the lyrics of Lady GaGa and Chipmunk. The message to Siberian Surfer Man is that it may be worth leaving an earplug out to see what else is on offer – a rock star in trouble, a telephone number for a job, a date, or even a weather forecast.

FEATURES 19

gairrhydd | FEATURES@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY FEBRUARY 08 2010

The Muslim perspective

The majority of student lifestyles are drunken and debauched. Of course, not everyone follows these archetypal routines... Abdul-Azim Ahmed Features Writer A few years ago, when I had first joined the Islamic Society in Cardiff University, we held an event aimed at raising awareness about Islam on campus. This was aptly titled Islam Awareness Week – an appropriate name even if it does make Islam sound like a national health issue. Instead of lecturing the attendees to death (insert your own jihad related joke), we decided to record a short video entitled “A Day in the Life of a Muslim Student”. It went down quite well; we didn’t take ourselves too seriously but tried to get across the Muslim student experience, as well as a few notes about Islam at the same time. I decided that perhaps this would be an appropriate way to write about the Muslim student experience, but on a week long scale:

unday – Wake up, do nothing. Although Muslims don’t hold Sunday to be a day of rest theologically, practically speaking, it does work out quite well.

onday is when the university week begins, and with it begins the ancient sources of wisdom and knowledge – the university lecture. The pursuit of knowledge for a Muslim is itself a sincere form of worship: the Prophet Muhammed taught that “seeking knowledge is a duty upon every male and female”, and that “one should seek knowledge, even to China.” I suppose Wales is as remote as China in some ways…

Thus seeking knowledge and studying is, and always has been, considered part of the very essence of Islam – regardless of which topic is being studied. It’s perhaps not so surprising then that the very first university in the world was founded in 859 CE, in Muslim Morocco.

Muslims may not get into the spirit of The Lash There has been a trend recently to consider religion and science as two distinct, separate and often opposing fields. Perhaps this is true in some cases, but not for a Muslim. Many Muslim theologians were also scientists, producing books on science and religion during their lifetime that deeply influenced the development of the world. Consider al-Zahrawi, whose medical encyclopaedia from the 11th century has only been recently outdone, or Ibn Hazm, who in the tenth century calculated the circumference of the globe to surprising accuracy, while at the same time producing works of theology that are still referenced today. The gist of all this is that university, whilst seemingly secular, can be a deeply spiritual journey for a Muslim student.

uesday evenings bring the weekly study circle held by the Islamic Society on campus. Strange to imagine that after a day of lectures, some students willingly commit to attending another lecture, but it happens. The Islamic Society caters

for the religious and spiritual side of life while studying. Muslims, being alchohol-free, may not quite manage to get into the spirit of the drunken fun of Freshers' Week or going to The Lash. Therefore, providing a social alternative that doesn’t involve alcohol is one of key aims of the Society. Over the years I’ve come to realise that there is quite a large proportion of students from different backgrounds who would prefer not to drink, and so the Islamic Society's social activities (meals, paintballing, rock climbing etc) are more religiously diverse than people would imagine. The Islamic Society is very active, and shapes a huge part of the university life of those involved. October includes, as always, Freshers' Week, which means meeting new students, lots of dinners out, social trips and showing the newbies around campus. November brings Charity Week, a week-long campaign to raise money for children around the world and here in Wales. This term will see Islam Awareness Week, quite a few inter-faith events, a regional Islamic Society football competition, and the usual scholars who are invited down to the University on behalf of the Islamic Society. It is great to be part of a society so big and so busy, and with a huge amount of diversity. You can meet international students from across the world, as well as Brits from cities only a few hours away. University wouldn’t be the same if it wasn’t for the chance to meet people both utterly different yet remarkably similar to yourself – and on that fact, Cardiff can pride itself as being a very rich University full of unique students.

Are student and religious lifestyles easily compatible?

ednesday afternoons being lecture-free is not only a stroke of genius, but a deeply compassionate act for all students. It brings a joyful mid-week break to the intense schedule of studying, lectures, and watching Smallville. For me, it means the one day of the week where I don’t need to be concerned about trying to find time to fit prayers in between lectures. In fact, the problem is not so much time but space. Cardiff University still struggles to provide the same facilities to faith groups as other Russell Group universities.

Cardiff University can pride itself on its rich diversity

come across a ‘terrorist Muslim’. The statement ‘the majority of Muslims are friendly, fun, law-abiding citizens’ drives me insane, as that still leaves room for a significant minority. I have never met a terrorist or anyone planning an act of terrorism. In fact, in Wales, the most recent arrest under the Terrorism Act has been a white, male, non-Muslim, far-right extremist. If you are one of those individuals who looks at bearded Muslims with suspicion, or imagines that a lady wearing a face veil is oppressed/suppressed/repressed/compressed, etc… then stop reading the Daily Mail, walk over to your nearest Muslim have a conversation. Rant over.

On a personal level, for me prayer is the epitome of humanity. By that I mean, a human being is most human when he is in conversation with the Divine. Those few moments of prayer a day that I have are more precious than gold. Prayer is satiation. It’s to quench a basic human desire that nothing else can fill. It is simply a feeling of contentment, of being truly human, that allows all else to fit into place. It sweetens the most bitter of moments life has to offer, and brings meaning to the happier ones. The issue of prayer rooms has raised some controversy – I’m sure some will argue that the University shouldn’t provide a room for me to ‘talk to my imaginary friend’. But I am also sure that I am not the only individual on campus that acknowledges, and is in search of, spirituality. I don’t here refer to just Muslims, but students of different beliefs and none, who are all aware that a human being is more than biology and chemistry, and its purpose in life is more than just to continue the species.

riday is a special day in the week for Muslims. It is a sacred day with a congregation prayer just after noon. Think Sunday, think church – similar thing, different day. It’s a very community-focused day. Hundreds of Muslims gather in mosques for a short sermon followed by a short prayer. Mosques struggle to cater for the capacity (if anyone has ever been behind the Students' Union on a Friday afternoon, you’ll know what I mean). Community shapes the Muslim identity. To paraphrase a teaching of one of the closest companions of the Prophet Muhammad, “everyone you meet is either your kin in religion or your equal in humanity”. Like all Abrahamic faiths, Islam stresses the importance of care for your neighbours – the Prophet Muhammed taught that the best of people are those who are best to their neighbours. In a modern world sometimes you can intimately know people who live thousands of miles away through Facebook, but not know your next-doorneighbour’s first name. Friday, among other things, is a day to remind the community that they are just that – a community!

hursday begins with T. Terrorism also begins with T. Thus I shall take Thursday to be the day I discuss the whole ‘T’ word issue (a tenuous link, but this whole week idea is turning out harder than I imagined). It’s a bizarre experience reading the newspapers; it can also make me very paranoid. Whether it’s the Daily Mail or Telegraph, after reading a few articles on the topic of terrorism I feel oddly concerned that I’m being watched. After all, I’m a young Muslim bearded male with deep connection to his religion. According to many media outlets – that pretty much constitutes enough evidence for a conviction. I want to emphasise a single fact at this point. I have spent my whole life attending mosques, I have met Muslims across Britain, I have been active in my Islamic Society for years – and never once, have I ever, ever, ever

aturday – the end of the week, and with it the end of my few words. I’d like to close by just saying a few words to sum up this article. A very important verse within the Quran addresses all of mankind: “O people! Behold, we have created you from a male and a female and have made you into nations and tribes to that you might come to know one another.” (49:13) University is a short period of your life, but during it, you will get a chance to meet people from almost all nations and tribes. The point is that these differences allow us to embark on a journey of discovery. So don’t let your knowledge of any topic be limited simply to a book, or a newspaper (even gair rhydd) – make the most of Cardiff University by ensuring you’ve learnt all you can from everyone you meet.

20 POLITICS SPECIAL

gairrhydd | POLITICS@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY FEBRUARY 08 2010

ELECTION2010

He knows what you're thinking

Chris Tarquini has a chat with Peter Kellner, the President of YouGov about the next election and they way that you will vote

eter Kellner is a former political analyst for the BBC’s Newsnight as well as a journalist with The Independent and The Sunday Times. He is currently President of YouGov, which is particularly well known for its market-research arm, providing polls on the current political climate. He weighs in on the state of the parties and becoming a journalist.

The Numbers Game Recent voter polling has shown the Conservatives leading with numbers in the high thirties to low forties, with Labour around thirty per cent and the Liberal Democrats just below twenty. This is a trend Kellner believes is stable and will probably continue, describing the failed Labour coup in the context of the news cycle, "what happens in the news seems terribly important at the time but its importance fades".

"Personality should be a big part of elections" "Occasionally you have something that has a lasting impact, like the Iraq war but most of the time they cause a little shock and awe for a day or two and then are completely forgotten". Furthermore, despite Labour’s dismal showing in the polls, he believes it could be a lot worse given the situation: "People have fallen out of love with Labour, but they haven’t fallen in love with the Conservatives. Normally in the past when a Government's and a

Prime Minister's ratings have been so low the opposition have had a twenty point lead, well they’re not, they’re in a ten point lead". However he does point out that elections can surprise everyone in some instances, citing the German 2002 and the Spanish 2006 elections.

Personality Politics Is the so called ‘Americanisation’ of our politics a bad thing for Britain? Kellner believes that’s not necessarily the case. "Personality politics will play an important part [in the election] and it should play an important part. I think it’s perfectly reasonable to make a judgement about the personal qualities of people who are hoping to become Prime Minister". In terms of the one thing that could turn the election in a certain direction, he places the emphasis on the upcoming televised debates between party leaders. "The event that potentially could be a game changer is the debates, particularly the first one as I suspect it will have the biggest audience. If any of the party leaders drops a real clanger in any of the debates that may get picked up by the news bulletins, that will be noticed by people that haven’t even watched the debates. The one with the most to gain is Nick Clegg because the problem for the Liberal Democrats is getting noticed. For him to be up there on an equal footing on a widely watched television program with Brown and Cameron will be a great advantage".

Winning on the issues

When asked who it is who is ‘winning on the issues’, Kellner challenges the premise of the question. He claims that rather than ideologically driven ideas in the voters minds such as more or less private involvement in the NHS it comes down to the issue of competence: "What matters for most voters is a health service that treats them promptly and efficiently when they need it. You can imagine the same applies to economy, taxation, crime, education, immigration, Europe." This is what Kellner describes as the "valence issue". "The people who decide elections in particular are people who take a valence, i.e. not taking a positional view of politics, which is why I challenge the premise of your question. What matters is who wins the valence war in this election. In the 1980s Thatcher won the valence war against Michael Foot and then Neil Kinnock. In 1997 Blair won the valence war with John Major and in the coming election the valence issues are competence, honesty and are they on my side? Are they authentic? It’s those kind of judgements that voters make about their leaders that determines who wins elections".

there. Labour needs to get across a narrative of what it's achieved, for example Sure Start, the minimum wage, NHS direct, free museums, shorter hospital waiting lists".

"The journalism business model is shot to pieces" In contrast Kellner argues the Liberal Democrats need to continue their "twin-track approach of sending out different messages in different parts

of the country" which he believes will leave them with a similar share of the vote to the one they achieved in 2005. If you're interested in becoming a journalist then "choose something else" is the response: "the business model of journalism is shot to pieces. It’ll survive but it’s like going into acting, some do incredibly well and are incredibly well paid, but many people do other things like serving in restaurants or hotels while they wait for the call. Unless it’s the only thing you want to do in your life, I’d seriously suggest having a second thought".

"What matters most for voters is the health service" "The Conservatives have got to do more to decontaminate the Tory brand. Some people feel they are still the party of sleaze and incompetence from the 1990s. It’s less of a feeling than it has been in the past but it’s still

VOTING: Should you do it?

Brown votes for change Damian Fantato has look at reforms

VOTING: You'd better do it

he Prime Minister has announced this week that should his party win the next election he will scrap the "first past the post" system. Brown has said that his government will hold a referendum on whether to adopt an "alternative vote" system. MPs will vote on the issue of whether there should be a referendum next week. The Alternative Vote (AV) system would mean that voters would have to rank candidates in order of preference. Any candidate that receives 50% or more in the first round would be automatically elected. If this doesn't happen then the candidate with the fewest

votes is eliminated and their second choice votes are allocated between the remaining candidates. This process continues until there is a clear winner. The system that Britain currently has involves voters simply choosing their preferred candidate and the candidate with the most votes is elected. Critics of the "first past the post" system claim that the number of seats that a party wins does not reflect the share of the vote that the party recieves. In 2005 Labour won the general election by getting only 35% of votes cast. Under AV this would not happen, however it is not proportional representation (PR). Under this system parties could still form a government with less that

50% of first choice votes. If MPs vote for a referendum – which is not necessarily a foregone conclusion since many Labour MPs fear that the party would suffer – then the government, should it be elected, will be forced by law to call a referendum on the issue. This is what makes these reform attempts different from previous ones. Before winning the 1997 general election, Tony Blair claimed he wanted reform, but once he won these proposals mysteriously disappeared. The question remains, however, as to why these proposals are appearing now. Is this Labour's last ditch attempt to win a fourth term in office?

POLITICS SPECIAL 21

gairrhydd | POLITICS@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY FEBRUARY 08 2010

Electile dysfunction

nybody see that Newsnight interview a few weeks back with Simon Cowell? Apparently he's planning a new series: Britain's Got Politics. The show would consist of political debate. The audience would then vote on the issue at hand. One of the more memorable features of this show is the red phone that would allow Gordon Brown to phone up and have a bit of a natter. This may seem like a good development, but it could have some worrying consequences. Our politicians are gradually turning themselves into soap characters. ITV announced this week that Piers Morgan would interview Gordon Brown before the election. Why Piers Morgan? Why not Jeremy Paxman? Presumably because Paxman might ask him some tough questions. I imagine Piers will probably be extremely eager to find out what Gordon's favourite colour is. If Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan have their way then politics will be further reduced to a simple pan-

NICK GRIFFIN: Feeling eggstatic

tomime. Admittedly politicians don't help themselves here. The problem is that when people don't take things seriously they use their vote badly. Just look at last year's X-Factor. For Jedward, read Nick Griffin. Politics is complicated. As a country we've got to get used to it. There's a lot of different stuff going on out there. And a lot of people who don't like on another for different and complicated reasons. Case in point: the BNP. People who vote for it aren't evil, nor are they necessarily particularly ignorant. They probably have very diffferent and complicated reasons for voting for a far-right party. Don't get me wrong. I'm not against televised political debate. I'm sure that the people of Britain are capable of grasping the problems that face us. In fact I think it should take place all year round, but let's be careful, but there's no need to patronise people by creating "heroes" and "villains", by oversimplifying everything. It can't just be me who is alienated by this gradual slide into showbiz.

Parties buy votes

James Dunn examines the effect that the economy could have on your vote

n Monday, the Conservative party confirmed that their aim to entirely undermine Labour’s spending proposals for 2010-11 is falling apart. As it stands, the Treasury stands £80bn in the red. The victor of this summer’s general election seems to be shaping up to whoever can provide the most suitable, and radical, spending cuts to the economy. The Tory lead in the polls rose when they first announced their plans to eliminate our national debt through a variety of different methods. At that time, the lead was nine percentage points – 40 compared to Labour’s 31. Since the revelations that David Cameron and George Osborne can only cut the deficit by £1.5bn, the lead has begun to recede to 38-31. Yet this £1.5bn is an area of huge contention in the corridors of Westminster. The Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Philip Hammond, plans to limit those on child tax credits to those earning only under £50,000 per annum. Labour retaliated swiftly. Lord

Mandelson, the party’s seeming tsar of comebacks and last minute attempts to save Britain, has lauded the fact that this will amount to no more than a £700m saving. As well as this, the legislation required would take a phenomenal amount of time to be ratified by Parliament. But the Conservatives seem to be occupying a controlling seat in financial matters. Cameron can almost sit back, lounging idly by his fire, pipe in hand and slippered feet resting nonchalantly on pouffe. Brown has had to be forthwith in his admission that the bill for spending will increase by £31bn in the event he can secure the Premiership for another term. All Cameron has to do at the minute is chip in with his ideas to cut back on spending, in any way that amounts to less than the government. Surprisingly, events do not seem to be unfolding quite as they should be. According to a poll by The Independent, 82% of voters feel that the Conservatives should be clearer about their plans for cuts. Aside from the £1.5bn saving planned – which

will only save £700m – other plans to eliminate this grandiose debt appear to be the same as this mysterious £80bn; floating around, but no-one is entirely sure what they are. Into this spectrum of ambiguity – the scale starts at one for `Confusion` and ends at 10 for `Really? You can still talk and walk simultaneously without getting confused by your own sentence?` – the Liberal Democrats have the potential for making an untimely surge. Vince Cable, the Lib Dem Treasury spokesman, is the current idol of economics programmes and news bulletins on the matter. It seems, if all else fails, that Vince will be the saviour of humanity and usurp Mandelson in some battle of epic proportions. With the general election approaching with alarming rapidity, it seems that Cameron is throwing away the easiest margin for victory any opposition has enjoyed in modern times. 82% of voters send Mr Cameron this message: what are you going to do? What can you do?

Has Britain finally got no class? Chris Tarquini asks whether class still matters in modern Britain

TRAMPS: Should they be our kings?

arallels between 1997 and 2010 are commonplace in the current political climate, however recent polling data suggests that the upcoming General Election could be a decidedly different affair. Unlike the Labour tsunami that swept Tony Blair into power over a decade ago, today’s opposition finds itself unable to shed an image that has it struggling to capture the middle ground. Rather than the ‘New Labour, New Danger’ image portrayed by the Conservatives towards Labour in 1997, the Tories now find themselves trying to mirror Blair’s ‘Third Way’ politics and prevent the image of the ‘Tory Toff’ from making a comeback in the minds of the British public. Despite a desperately unpopular Prime Minister in Gordon Brown, the Conservatives are in danger of being merely the largest party at Westminster post-election, without any kind of workable parliamentary majority. Despite electoral boundaries placing the Conservatives at a distinct disadvantage, a hung Parliament (where no

one party has a majority) would be a disaster for the Tories. The image of Tories as toffs was recently provoked by Gordon Brown’s recet claim that one of the Conservative's policies looked like it had been ‘dreamt up on the playing fields of Eton’, which was a not-so-subtle jibe at the so called ‘Notting Hill set’ who lead the Conservative party, in particular David Cameron and George Osbourne. Furthermore a recent Channel 4 mockumentary about Boris Johnson and Cameron’s time in the exclusive Bullingdon Club whilst studying at Oxford University has come to start a narrative of touch public schoolboys that the party want to avoid. With Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan recently appearing on the right-wing American cable channel FOX News to protest against the NHS and former Chancellor Nigel Lawson debating the science of climate change on Question Time, the Conservatives have a fringe element that furthers their image of not being in tune with the British people at large. This is an argument Labour have been happy to utilise to their advantage, with Peter

Mandelson recently describing David Cameron as a ‘TV personality, much like Des O’Connor or Terry Wogan’. The 2010 election will not be decided upon who wins the arguments on the issues or who is the most popular leader, but what the arguments are themselves. The previously optimistic approach that Labour took to campaigning has, in recent parliamentary debates and bi-elections, been replaced by negative tactics that appeal to basic class prejudice in society. Although it’s unfortunate, it works. With an electorate furious at banker bonuses and so called ‘Fat Cat’ traders in New York and London, any taint of snobbery could lose not only the so-called ‘working class’ but also ‘Middle England’, the key to victory. It seems that unlike the wave of hope that came with Blair in 1997, the Conservatives are seen as the lesser of two evils: more of a protest vote than a party that has energised Britain. If the Conservatives want a sweeping mandate for change in what looks increasingly like a May General Election, they not only have to win on the issues, but also the image.

22 SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT

gairrhydd | SCIENCE@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY OCTOBER 23 2009

LETTERS 23

gairrhydd | LETTERS@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY FEBRUARY 08 2010

the Comments from the week’s news, opinion, features and sport at www.gairrhydd.com This shi*t just got serious Curly Joe I agree with much of what you are saying man, especially about stepping out of the shackles of education, it does seem we are built to be in education for too long doesn’t it? I dont like the way we look down in general on people who don’t go to university, me included and getting a job and finding our own feet will be an interesting and enlivening prospect. However, I see why so few people want to and not just for the fear of responsiblity. I will admit this is partly what I am thinking but crucially I feel so pressured to find something specific in a job that I just don’t want to yet. Some people know what they want to do and I’m glad for them life is simpler but put simply, I feel unsure about a career and whether a career is worth having. Without sounding pretentious I will quote into the wild and say I believe ‘careers are a twentieth century invention’. I hate the idea of doing the same thing for the rest of my life. Especially been as I don’t even feel brilliantly drawn to one thing or another. And I’m prepared to accept i can’t expect to do what I want at any point in my life but a Career seems all to arbritrary right now. It’s a difficult situation and not one I want to criticise people for fearing. Losing so much of the vitality and interestingness of university of course isn’t sure to happen outside of lecture times once we have our standard 2:1’s but the outside world seems so lacking in ambition. I don’t want to get a job and become a number and clock off for 40 years. Fine it’s the reality, but just because it is the reality doesn’t mean its what i should or can desire. I am lazy and scared of growing up. I will admit that. but

scarier is that after June or July I will be subjected to judging looks from people who are annoyed I don’t know what to do. And then in 15 years time i will do the same. Why should I know what to do yet? Is it because its of genuine value or its because its the shitty way the world works. Because if its the latter, I dont think we should criticise people for wanting to carry on studying because quite frankly its more interesting and being interesting is more important than growing up.

To ban or not to ban? Adam Troth This is a good article on the whole. However, like many others, it misses or refuses to acknowledge two very key points. Firstly, that we do not presently exist in a society where people have the absolute right to wear whatever they please all the time, and that the burkha is the only form of clothing being picked out for special treatment. As Yasmin Alibai-Brown (someone who I generally despise but hit the nail on the head on this occasion) pointed out in her Independent article of recent, woman who wish to wear the burkha are the extreme opposite of nudists who would like to walk down Oxford Street letting it all hang out. They are two sides of the same coin, and equally out of place in our society. Secondly, the crucial fact that covering ones face in public is not appropriate. I am not singling out the burkha here (and nor does the French proposal)-it applies to any item of clothing which covers the face. Motorcycle helmets, IRA-style balaclavas, you name it. I may wear a woolly hat with a hood over it in winter, but I am of course prepared to remove it when I come inside or if someone stops me asking for directions. Wearers of the burkha stub-

bornly refuse to follow established cultural norms of our society. Even in an environment without a formal uniform or dress code, such as the university, there are still certain things which are not acceptable. For instance, in a small-scale discussion such a meeting with a tutor or a seminar, it would be completely inappropriate for me to wear the aforementioned helmet or balaclava, as it prevents the other participant(s) from seeing my facial expressions, such a key part of any face-to-face conversation. If I go into a lecture in the altogether, I am likely to be asked to leave (unless it’s Student Union Election season). If I enter the Union building clad in a Hannibal Lecter mask, I will be firmly informed by Security to take it off or leave. It is not so much a question of offence as it is a combination of security and good manners. Why can the defenders of the burkha not see this? Note that I have not mentioned any opposition to the hijab or other such veils, because they are no different to the headscarves my Nan sometimes wears in winter. They do not cover the face or in any way impair having a normal conversation. The burkha unfortunately does, and that is why it should not be accepted in public. Jamie Well said Adam. The proposal in France is not to ban it because it’s a religious symbol, or because it’s a symbol of repression, but because it covers your entire face. As Adam says, it’s not a proposal to specifically ban the burkha, but to ban the wearing in certain places of a class of item, of which the burkha is one. Rhys I find it odd how you mention Orwell at the start, a man who

forum

fought against all formed of theocracy, I can’t see how he would support the burka, a symbol of women’s oppression, which can only be supported with a very fundamentalist reading of the Koran. The burka is disgusting because of the reasons which women are made to wear it, is to completely removed her from society and strip her from any scene of self determination, and to be the property of someone. I would say that people forcing other to wear a piece of clothing is a violations of a persons freedom from religion. Even in this country It would be quite easy to find a person who wears a burka out of fear of reprisal for not doing so. And I think that any women who does wear a bukra completely of her own free will is insulting all the women who are beat, raped and killed for not doing so. I am in favor of the proposal in France, simply so people can be identified, as in this case the needs of society to function outweighs a persons right to cover their face in certain places, But I'm still not sure myself on a complete ban, as much as I want to stop people from wearing it I'm having a hard time trying to justify a ban because there are those who do wear it freely and they have a right to do so.

Why exactly is Obama so unpopular? Luz Great article! It is so refreshing to see people put things in perspective in an intelligent manner when the chorus is wining because the rescuer is actually saying it is a 50/50 proposition. We all need to participate. It requires growing up and asking the hard questions that times of reform

require. Beautiful. Thanks so much! Richard I thought this was an excellent article! You did a great job of synthesising and breaking down a very complex topic. This notion of associating Obama’s policies with radical leftism, and conjuring up images of the excessives of authoritarian socialism, is so absurd – but, sadly, I know so many Americans who buy into it. I haven’t read anyone take it apart piece by piece as comprehensively as you have; well done. =) Your article does tend to lean heavily on on Obama’s side though (opinion piece, I know!), and I think you could have explained (briefly) some of the more legitimate arguments against Obama’s campaign imagery and effectiveness of his policies. For instance he claims to be somewhat non-political (frames his policies with the distinction that they are not left/right but simply commonsense), to support cross-party politics – yet, as his campaign demonstrated, he’s still in the game of shrewd politics (and very good at it). I think this partly explains why he has become unpopular with some conservative democrats and non-aligned voters, who see his promises failing to deliver – in the rising unemployment rates (10%) and huge budget deficit, for example. Yes, it’s only been a year, and yes, these problems were inherited from the Bush White House, but his rhetoric (during the campaign and since) doesn’t live up to reality… at least not yet. With that said, it’s difficult to fit the whole picture into one article, and this issue does have two other pieces on his first year in office. Obama also strongly challenged this idea during his Q & A with Republicans last week; it’s a pity the documentary/ your article came after.

Away on a placement? Heading abroad?

Stay in touch with

www.gairrhydd.com NEWS, LIVE DEBATE, FEATURES, SPORT, QUENCH, EXCLUSIVE CONTENT AND MORE

24 TAF-OD

gairrhydd | TAFOD@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY FEBRUARY 08 2010

Gwledd y Gym Gym Cyfnewid y bêl hirgron am bêl fawreddog arall am un noson Aled Thomas

Taf-od Writer Diwrnod Santes Dwynwen. Pa ffordd well i ddathlu’r diwrnod rhamantus hwn na chael criw oddeutu 230 ynghyd i Stadiwm Mileniwm Cymru i fwynhau Dawns Fawreddog y Gym Gym. Cymdeithas i fyfyrwyr Cymraeg Caerdydd yw’r Gym Gym, ac rydym yn trefnu gwahanol weithgareddau yn amrywio o grols gwahanol o amgylch y ddinas, i dripiau megis y Ddawns Ryngolegol yn Aberystwyth a’r Eisteddfod Ryngolegol a drefnir yn flynyddol. Erbyn hyn mae dros 250 o fyfyrwyr yn rhan o’r Gymdeithas ac mae’r niferoedd yn dal i gynyddu o siaradwyr Cymraeg rhugl i ddysgwyr. Mae’r Ddawns a gynhaliwyd yn Stadiwm y Mileniwm nos Lun diwethaf yn un o’r prif ddigwyddiadau yng nghalendr y Gym Gym, â phawb wedi bod yn aros yn eiddgar i wisgo i fyny ers dechrau’r tymor, a doedd dim

siomi! Roedd pawb wedi gwisgo yn hynod o drawiadol wrth iddynt gyrraedd drwy ddrysau’r Millenium Suite yn y Stadiwm. Nid y Chwaraewyr oedd yn partio nos Lun, ond ni fel aelodau o Gymdeithas Gymraeg, Prifysgol Caerdydd. rth i’r gwesteion gyrraedd cafwyd amrywiaeth o adloniant yn cynnwys band Jazz, a drefnwyd gan Steffan Watkins. Buom yn ffodus iawn o gael ffotograffydd o Gymdeithas Lluniau'r Brifysgol yn bresennol i dynnu lluniau o’r gwesteion (mae’r lluniau i’w gweld ar ein tudalen Facebook!), ac roedd digon o hud a lledrith i’w gael gyda'r dewin wrth iddo ddiddanu pawb gyda’i driciau rhyfeddol. Wedi i bawb gael gwydriad o win, gweinwyd y wledd o’m blaenau. Pryd bwyd rhagorol a fwynhawyd gan bawb. Cafwyd seremoni wobrwyo lwyddiannus iawn, gydag ambell i sioc ac ambell un yn meddwl ei bod wedi gallu cadw’n dawel am ambell i beth…

ond mae gan y Gym Gym lygaid ym mhob man! Mae’r enillwyr yn cynnwys: Gareth Pennant fel 'Hync y flwyddyn', Cynon Gwilym am wobr 'Bêb y flwyddyn', er ei fod wedi cael ei gynnwys ym mhob categori! Cipiodd Sion ‘Nutella’ Ifan y wobr 'K.O. y flwyddyn', yn ogystal â rhannu’r wobr 'Cymryd drosodd y byd’ gyda Hanna Hopwood! Chwaer Hanna sef Miriam Hopwood aeth a’r wobr 'Gwahanwyd wrth y groth’, gan fod sawl person wedi’i gweld hi’n debyg i Bianca oddi ar ‘Eastenders’! Ond dwi’n si r nad oedd Cadi Mai ddim yn disgwyl ennill y wobr ‘Crimewatch’, wrth i’w stori gael ei rhannu gyda gweddill y Gym Gym! Gan fod y ddawns wedi cael ei chynnal yn y Stadiwm eleni, doedd dim syndod o glywed fod ambell i westai wedi bod yn crwydro o amgylch yr adeilad a’r safle hynod. Fe fu ambell un yn ffodus o ddarganfod ei hun ar y cae, tra bod ambell i un arall wedi crwydro i stafelloedd newid y chwaraewyr! Gwell peidio â

dweud mwy! Fe fu’n noson lwyddiannus iawn, ar ôl gwaith caled o drefnu. Diolch i

bawb am eu cefnogaeth a daliwch ati i gefnogi gwaith y Gym Gym.

Dawns Fawreddog y Gym Gym

BROADEN YOUR MIND. AND YOUR HORIZONS. AGORWCH EICH MEDDWL. A’CH GORWELION.

Just finishing your degree? Would you like to teach at primary or secondary level? Why not study for a PGCE and gain qualified teacher status? Train in Wales and you could earn whilst studying

PGCE Secondary Information Morning

Art & Design | Business Studies | History

Tuesday, 2nd March 2010 The Swansea School of Education If you would like to attend, please register by contacting Laura Aston on 01792 481202/ 01792 482105 or email laura.aston@smu.ac.uk

For these subjects above you will receive a Training Grant of £9,000. A Teaching Grant can also be applied for, after successfully completing the induction year. For those teaching Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics a Teaching Grant of £5,000 is available. For those teaching ICT, Design & Technology and Welsh a Teaching Grant of £2,500 is available.

Primary | Primary – Welsh Medium For all Primary PGCE courses, you receive a Training Grant of £4,000

Newydd ar gyfer mis Medi 2010 - Rhaglen TAR Cynradd Cyfrwng Cymraeg. Am fwy o wybodaeth, cysylltwch â Laura Aston ar 01792 481202/01792 482105 neu e-bost laura.aston@smu.ac.uk IT’S THE DESTINATION

www.smu.ac.uk

gairrhydd | SCIENCE@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY FEBRUARY 08 2010

SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT 25

Deadly protein's positive uses Prion protein is responsible for rare but fatal illnesses like CJD, but it may have positive uses too Priya Raj Science Editor Prion disease describes a group of progressive conditions that affect the brain and nervous system of humans and animals. In people these disorders impair brain function, causing memory changes, personality changes and problems with movement that worsen over time. The signs and symptoms of prion disease typically begin in adulthood, and the course of these disorders ranges from a few months to several years. It is important to note however that these disorders are very rare. They affect about one person per million worldwide each year. Familial prion diseases of humans include classic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker syndrome, and fatal insomnia. These conditions form a spectrum of diseases with overlapping signs and symptoms. One type of prion disease that has received widespread media coverage over the years occurring in humans, is variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), acquired by eating beef products obtained from affected cattle. (In cows, this form of prion disease is known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, BSE, or more commonly "mad cow" disease). CJD typically affects people over 40-years-old. It occurs worldwide although incidence is higher among Northern African Jews. vCJD is most common in the United Kingdom. In the early 1980s, because of relaxed regulations for processing animal by-products, tissue from sheep infected with Scrapie, a prion disease, was introduced into cattle feed. Thousands of cattle developed bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease. Some people who ate meat from affected cattle developed vCJD. Because the incubation period in BSE is long, a connection between BSE and contaminated feed was not recognized in the UK until BSE had become an epidemic, which was controlled by massive slaughter of cattle. In the UK, the annual number of cases of vCJD between 2000 and 2002 ranged from 17 to 28. Although vCJD has been restricted to the UK and Europe thus far, BSE has been reported in North American cattle. About 70% of patients present with memory loss and confusion, which eventually occur in all patients. 15 to 20% present with in coordination and ataxia, which often develop early in the disease. Myoclonus provoked by noise or other sensory stimuli (startle myoclonus) often develops in the middle to late stages of disease. Although dementia, ataxia, and myoclonus are most characteristic, other neurologic abnormalities (e.g., hal-

lucinations, seizures, neuropathy and movement disorders) can occur. Ocular disturbances (e.g. visual field defects, diplopia, dim or blurred vision) are common. Death typically occurs after six to 12 months, commonly due to pneumonia. Another example of an acquired prion disease is Kuru, which was identified in the South Fore tribe in Papua New Guinea. The disease is now almost nonexistent and is believed to have existed for only a short time before it was first described in 1957. The Fore were isolated both from Western civilization and from other natives by very mountainous terrain, and Kuru has not been described in any other location.

in the PRNP gene; however only a small percentage of cases run in families. Most cases are sporadic, which means they occur in people without any known risk factors or gene mutations. Rarely, prion diseases can be transmitted by exposure to prion-contaminated tissues or other biological materials from affected individuals. The PRNP gene provides instructions for making a protein called a prion protein (PrP). Normally, this protein seems to be involved in transporting copper into cells. It may also play a role in protecting brain cells and helping them communicate. In the alpha-helical configuration, PrP usually is sensitive to protease degradation and is termed PrP-sen. Disease results

tion in the PRNP gene. Although such people most likely do not have an affected parent, they can pass the genetic change to their children. The sporadic, iatrogenic, and acquired forms of prion disease, including Kuru and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, are not inherited. Recent research suggests experiments on mice may help scientists understand the workings of the prion protein. Last week, Swiss researchers stated there is evidence that prions play a vital role in the maintenance of the sheath surrounding our nerves. They say it is possible that an absence of prions causes diseases of the peripheral nervous system. One expert said there was growing evidence that the prion had a number of important roles in the body.

Prions have a role in protecting brain cells and helping them to function.

A prion protein close up Kuru was spread by the endocannibalistic funeral practices of the Fore. Family members were ritualistically cooked and eaten following their death, with the closest female relatives and children usually consuming the brain, which was the most infectious organ. The women scooped the brain tissue out with their bare hands and did not subsequently wash them for weeks. During this time they were handling, caring for, and possibly infecting their young children. The effects on the Fore were devastating, wiping out whole villages at the height of the disease.

There is evidence that prions play a vital role in the maintenance of our nerves Generally it is thought that mutations in the PRNP gene cause prion disease. Familial forms of prion disease are caused by inherited mutations

when the PrP is reconfigured into the beta-sheet configuration, which is resistant to protease degradation. This configuration is termed PrP-res. The PrP-res proteins are resistant not only to protease degradation but also to radiation, heat, and most other processes that destroy proteins. Neither the transmissible agent nor the disease-producing agent contains any DNA or RNA. Because they are naturally occurring proteins, immunologic response to the infection is absent. This abnormal protein accumulates in the brain forming clumps that damage or destroys nerve cells. The loss of these cells creates microscopic sponge-like holes in the brain, which leads to the signs and symptoms of prion disease. Familial forms of prion disease are inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern, which means one copy of the altered gene in each cell is sufficient to cause the disorder. In most cases, an affected person inherits the altered gene from one affected parent. In some people, familial forms of prion disease are caused by a new muta-

The study from scientists at the University Hospital in Zurich, looked at mice bred with fewer prion proteins. While these mice are known to be resistant to prion diseases equivalent to vCJD in humans, they showed a number of abnormalities, including a degeneration, later in life, of the peripheral nerve cells, and the protective myelin sheath which surrounds them. Peripheral nerves are those which link the limbs and organs to the central nervous system - the spinal cord and brain. Looking more closely, researchers examined the effects of removing the prion protein in both the nerve cells themselves, and the Schwann cells surrounding them, which are responsible for making the myelin sheath. While removing protein from the Schwann cells had no effect, taking it from the neurons led to a breakdown of the myelin and degeneration of the nerve cells. They said that the knowledge that prion protein played some role in the healthy upkeep of nerve cells could offer a new avenue of research into diseases affecting humans. However, scientists caution that it is too early to pick out a particular peripheral nerve condition which might correspond to the mouse experiments. As well as the latest research in the journal Nature Neuroscience, other studies have indicated prions may protect us from Alzheimer's disease or even play a role in our sense of smell. Ultimately Prion diseases provide a hugely fascinating threat to human health yet there is increasing evidence of a contrary possibly positive function in certain instances, although much more research is required.

News in brief Newsbites Ginger dinosaur The most primitive feathered dinosaur known to man had a ginger Mohican. Sinosauropteryx lived 125 million years ago and Palaeontologists from China and the United Kingdom discovered its colour while studying the feathers of another related dinosaur, Confuciusornis, with an electron microscope. They found the feathers to contain melanosomes which contain the pigment melanin which dictates the colour of fur, hair and feathers. The scientists discovered spherical melanosomes in the fossilised feathers, which in other animals are known to produce a red or ginger colour. Sinosauropteryx also had a Mohican-style ‘feather-cut’ and a stripy tail. Monkeys cut the crap Monkeys keep their conversations short and sweet. A study in Taiwan has shown that Formosan Macaques follow a language rule only previously documented in humans. The Law of Brevity states that short words are used more often than long words, which is also the case in the macaques. The macaques have a vocal repertoire of 35 different calls of varying duration and pitch. The researchers noted that calls used in everyday chit-chat were the shortest noises and that longer screams were used very rarely. In the English language words that we use most regularly, such as ‘a’ and ‘the’ are also the shortest. Climate kaffuffle Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Dr Rajendra Pachouri has refused to resign from his post following a mistake about Himalayan glaciers in a key climate report. As reported in the gair rhydd last week, the recent assessment report stated that Himalayan glaciers could disappear by the year 2035, a date disputed by many experts. Glaciologists have predicted several dates, none as early as 2035. Dr Pachouri will continue to produce the next report, stating: “I am not going to stand down, I am going to stand up.” Paint combats climate change A new paint has been developed which could absorb harmful CO2 emissions. Dr Rachel Armstrong, of University College London, developed the ‘smart paint’ by dissolving salts and esters – chemical compounds found in all physical entities – in oil droplets. Exactly how effective it is at removing CO2 from the atmosphere is yet to be tested, but it could help the UK to reach its carbon reduction targets for 2020 – a 34% in greenhouse gas emissions.

22 SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT

gairrhydd | SCIENCE@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY OCTOBER 23 2009

27 JOBS & MONEY

gairrhydd | JOBS@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY FEBRUARY 08 2010

Fifteen things you should know about graduate recruitment and careers Katie Greenway Jobs & Money Editor

that psychology graduates went into same time. 9. One in five student interns conaccountancy, chemistry graduates went into sales. You have lots of op- vert to full-time employees â&#x20AC;&#x201C; donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t tions â&#x20AC;&#x201C; see the Careers Service web- under estimate the value of work exAt a time when most of you are site for further details: www.cf.ac.uk/ perience. 10. If you are offered a place on a worrying about your graduate carsv/students/careersadvice/whatdegraduate scheme, it is possible with prospects, Jobs & Money brings gree/index.html. 5. Be aware that some employ- some larger employers to defer for a you the ultimate guide to finding ers will look closely at your grades year giving you the chance to go trava job. 1. We are in a recession and gradu- throughout your degree â&#x20AC;&#x201C; do as well as elling with a job to come back to â&#x20AC;&#x201C; be ate vacancies are down by 25% BUT you can from your first year onwards. sure to research your options and plan 6. Some graduate recruitersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; clos- ahead. 75% of graduate vacancies are still 11. Prospects, Monster and Milkout there â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a wide range of opportuni- ing dates for graduate jobs are preChristmas but others will advertise round are not the only places that ties still exist, so go for them! 2. There are currently 48 applica- jobs all year round â&#x20AC;&#x201C; make sure you advertise graduate vacancies. Be spetions for every graduate job (up from know the deadlines for your chosen cific in the resources you use for your job search â&#x20AC;&#x201C; for jobs in health look at 30 in 2008) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; make sure the quality career or employer. 7. You havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t missed the boat if www.jobs.nhs.uk, for jobs in purchasof your applications is high and that you tailor them for the organisation to you take a year out, but you need to ing look at www.cips.org. Prospects do something in that year that will occupational profiles give details of which you are applying. 3. Most large multi-national gradu- enhance your CV and make you more where vacancies are advertised for ate recruiters, regardless of the indus- employable â&#x20AC;&#x201C; develop your employ- over 400 different careers: visit www. try they operate in, recruit from all ability skills and get work experience prospects.ac.uk, then click "Explore degree disciplines for a wide range of in an area relevant to you future ca- types of jobs". 12. Hundreds of employers target jobs â&#x20AC;&#x201C; donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel that your degree lim- reer. 8. Students undertaking a sandwich Cardiff University with jobs theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d its your options and look more widely at what jobs different organisations year/summer internship with a gradu- like to fill with Cardiff students and ate recruiter can expect to earn an graduates â&#x20AC;&#x201C; donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t miss the opportuniare offering. average of ÂŁ300 per week â&#x20AC;&#x201C; make the ties to meet these employers and to 4. You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to have a business degree to go into business â&#x20AC;&#x201C; last most of the opportunities out there, find out more about these jobs through yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s destinations statistics showed gain experience and earn money at the fayres and events.

GRADUATE JOBS: Go out and get one 13. Employers stress that poor ments, workshops and events â&#x20AC;&#x201C; donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t spelling and punctuation will elimi- miss out on the free information and nate you at application stage â&#x20AC;&#x201C; take support available to you. These are just a few pieces of intime and care over your applications and attend an application form work- formation that may be new to you. To find out more call into the Careers shop. 14. A good performance at inter- Service at 5 Corbett Road or log onto: views and assessment centres is es- www.cardiff.ac.uk/carsv. Alternatively, the Careers Serviceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sential to get the job you want â&#x20AC;&#x201C; to enhance your performance, access main office is based at 5 Corbett Road, free help and advice from Careers and Cardiff (just down from the Music employers: www.cardiff.ac.uk/carsv/ Building and Aberdare Hall) and is open Monday to Friday. The Service newsandevents 15. Thousands of students used the is free to use and open to Cardiffâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Careers Service last year for careers students, graduates and postgraduates information, one-to-one appoint- from all years and degree disciplines.

$ 8

!! " # $ % & '() * & !+ # , - &&

$ . /

! " " # $ ! %& ' $ ( ) * + $$ , ! -" . ! " " / ) 0 1 2 ! - "

/ + 31 3 & 10 % 3 " - # , / 4 ! - "

!0 !! !+ $ !1 !2 !3 !. !/ +" + +1 $ ! $ + $ " $ $

. $ / ! " " ! " - $ ! %& + 3 $ / 4 ! ! - " 5 6 7 0 2 ! - " . ! " " 0 4 # 5 ) ) ! - " ' # ( # !0 # % 3 6 ) $ / ! " " ! - " # 8 95 ! - , / 4 ! " # + $ ! %& 0 $ : $ ! %& .* 5 3# 9 ' ) ( ) 3 # ; + 3 : # . ! - " 5 6 7 0 2 ! " " / ) 0 1 2 ! - " ! " "

/ $ !0 $

$ ! %& , 4 ! $ ( ) * + $$ , ! " " # , / 4 ! - " 0 4 # 5 ) ) ! - "

!. $

( ) + : :" :"

( $ # 4 # # ! + ! $ 4 ) < 444 55 6 , 4 4 & * - -7

22 SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT

gairrhydd | SCIENCE@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY OCTOBER 23 2009

FIVE MINUTE FUN 29 EASY

crossword.

sudoku.

gairrhydd | FMF@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY FEBRUARY 08 2010

Mystic Smeg

Aries, March 21 – April 20 Last week was pretty special for you. Birthday, anniversary, wedding, orgy... it could’ve been any of them. This week: assault. Taurus, April 21 – May 21 “Moving on up, nothing can stop me, yeah”. No. You’ll be hit by a bus. Gemini, May 22 – June 21 Wasn’t there a terrible group called Gemini a little while ago? Were you in it?! No way! That’s amazing. Reform, maybe? Cancer, June 22 – July 22 Shit is properly gonna hit the fan this week. Read next week’s edition for the full scoop!

MEDIUM

HARD

Across

Down

8. "S.O.S.!" (4) 9. Grossly unconventional (10) 10. Detestable (6) 11. Pecuniary (8) 12. Decorative case (4) 13. Worsen (10) 17. Weaving machine (4) 18. Bay window (5) 19. Fourth sign of the zodiac (4) 20. Hostility (10) 22. Basilica area (4) 23. Celebration (8) 27. Sexual attacker (6) 28. Assembly hall (10) 29. Double-reed woodwind (4)

1. Willful (10) 2. A short pithy instructive saying (8) 3. Rambunctious (10) 4. Detail (4) 5. Area of cut grass (4) 6. One who modifies written material (6) 7. Russian emperor (4) 14. Exculpation (5) 15. Same backwards as forwards (10) 16. Semiconductor (10) 19. Title-holder (8) 21. An authoritative rule of conduct or procedure (6) 24. Astringent (4) 25. A chess piece (4)

Leo, July 23 - August 23 Nothing to worry about this month. Keep being awesome, everyone appreciates it. Unless you’re on the cusp of July – try being less of a numpty? Virgo, August 24 – September 22 You’ll have a health scare this week. That annoying little thing on your right hand side will become more irritating. Break up with her. Libra, September 23 – October 23 Travel chaos. You’ve had a mare and spent about £600 on tickets to Paris for Valentine's Day! Oh God. What if this leads you to bankruptcy? Probably best just to take her to Milton Keynes and say the plane crashed.

Scorpio, October 24 – November 22 Basingstoke? More like Amazingstoke. Go there. You’ll meet your wife. Or husband. Or best friend. Or a man. Or a dog. Or none of them. Sagittarius, November 23 – December 21

Venus is, ironically, going through a bit of a hippy phase and not shaving her legs. Don’t follow her example. What if you want to put out?! No-one’s going to want to touch those Brillo pads you call thighs. Jesus. Capricorn, December 22 – January 20

The guests on the Jeremy Kyle show on Thursday will be strangely familiar to you. That’s because they are you. She’s going to fail the lie-detector, by

the way. Aquarius, January 21 – February 18

You bloody idiot. You’ve only gone and bloody done it this time haven’t you. God. You didn’t lock your bedroom door and now I’ve gone and walked in on you. That was so awkward. I don’t get why you need to choke yourself during anyway... Pisces, February 19 – March 20 Housemate problems? Is there just one of you who’s not fitting in, and seems completely unaware about it? Not washing up? Playing loud music? Shitting on the floor? If you’re not having these problems, it’s because you’re the problem. Sort it aaaaat.

22 SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT

gairrhydd | SCIENCE@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY OCTOBER 23 2009

gairrhydd | FMF@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY SEPTEMBER 28 2009

FIVE MINUTE FUN 27

32 SPORT- WARM UP Previews in brief Premier League Aston Villa vs Man United

Wednesday evening pits two of the leagues form teams against one another in a promising showdown at Villa Park. The match will allow both sets of managers the opportunity to witness their teams battle it out in a match that is a carbon copy of this months Carling Cup final. The match will act as more than just a warm up for the final though, as both sides are keen to grab the three points. United are desperate to maintain their push for the title while Villa are eager to sustain their charge on the top four after an impressive season. In previous seasons this match would make any United fan lick their lips with the thought of a victory. But the result earlier this season at Old Trafford will make United think twice about the prospect of an easy win. Villa were the victors that day with a 1-0 victory and will be looking to recreate the magic of that win. The match could be hugely important to both sides as a win could prove priceless to their seasons.

FERGIE: Looking for revenge

RBS Six Nations Wales vs Scotland

The Millenium Stadium plays host to Andy Robinson's Scotland team on Saturday in the early afternoon kickoff. After an impressive autumn campaign for the Scots, which saw them beat Australia, they will be looking to continue their promising form in South Wales. Although there were few Scotland players in last years British Lions squad, Scottish club sides finally seem to be performing and this has transfered to the national team. Gatland's side on the other hand have been hit with a few injuries to key players and it is always a mystery as to which Wales team will turn up. Wales won the tournament two years ago but endured a miserable time last year and enjoyed little success in the autumn. The celtic battle should be a good match with both sides prefering to utilise their talented backs. Expect a high scoring game with the ball being kept in open play.

gairrhydd | SPORT@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY FEBRUARY 08 2010

Adam Horne previews Nathan Cleverly's European title shot as the Cardiff University student takes on Antonio Brancalion On February 13, Cardiff University’s Nathan Cleverly will take to the ring in a bid to win the vacant European light-heavyweight title at Wembley Arena. The fight, originally scheduled for January 29 was postponed due to his opponent, Antonio Brancalion, and his promotional team claiming they could not stage the event. Originally set for Brancalion’s hometown, Rovigo in Italy, the fight will now take place in London, a factor that may prove a massive boost to Cleverly. Build up to this fight has only been intensified by the Italian postponing the bout and there appears to be an increased amount of tension between the two fighters, with Cleverly determined to make Brancalion pay for making him wait for his shot at a European title. He told The Sun: "I sacrificed my Christmas for this joker. "But I'm mad at Brancalion and I'm going to teach him a lesson if he finally has enough bottle to face me. "I'll give him a beating when I finally get my hands on him." Strong words from Cleverly who is looking to become only the seventh Welshman ever to hold the British, Commonwealth and European crowns. Should he achieve that on February 13, he will join the likes of Jim Driscoll, Freddie Welsh, Eddie Thomas, Dai Dower, Johnny Owen and Colin Jones.

haps be inexperienced. Brancalion has the added advantage of already winning a European title. He lost it in his last fight, in June, against Germany's Juergen Braehmer, the only stoppage loss of his career. He will be eager to regain his European title on Friday and will no doubt be the toughest test Cleverly has faced so far in his career. In his 13 year professional career Brancalion boasts 32 wins (eight by knockout), seven defeats and only two draws. It’s a solid record and his experience will prove to be his best advantage over Cleverly. On the other hand, his first stoppage loss of his career in his previous fight may signal that the Italian is becoming vulnerable in his old age. He will struggle against the youthfulness and energy Cleverly possesses and will not harbor the same speed or stamina. If he is to win this fight he will need to fight a smart fight, stay on the front foot and bully the Welshman all over the ring. If he is put on the back foot, I fear he will struggle, and ultimately fall under Cleverly’s physical dominance. Cleverly currently lies 3rd in the IBF light-heavyweight rankings, and rightly so. He has 18 wins to his name (eight by knockout), and the last five

I sacrificed my Christmas for this joker. I'm going to teach him a lesson Only one of those, Freddie Welsh, have gone on to win a world title, which is a feat Cleverly hopes to emulate after completing his maths degree this year at Cardiff. He is determined to win the European belt before taking up the challenge of a world title and Friday’s clash will go some way to determining whether he has what it takes to become a world beater. At 22 years of age he’s still a very young fighter and compared to 33 year old Brancalion he will per-

BRANCALION: Career on the line

CLEVERLY: Hitting the heights have been ended by impressive stoppages that have convinced many in the boxing world that he has what it takes to become a great boxer. The Welshman is a hard hitter, and has a height advantage over Brancalion at 6’ 3.5” while the Italian stands at 6’ 1”. He holds every advantage over the Rovigo born veteran except for experience, and since the changing of venues from Brancalion’s hometown to London, he now has the added advantage of fighting in the UK. He would have faced a much harder task had he been forced to fight in the Italian’s hometown. He has been in scintillating form in his last few fights, looking almost perfect against Danny McIntosh and Courtney Fry, and he will be brimming with confidence. Brancalion on the other hand will still be licking his wounds after his shocking stoppage loss to Braehmer. Then again, he will know that his career is on the line and will do whatever it takes to ensure he doesn’t suffer consecutive losses. Cleverly’s dad believes his son has what it takes to beat his experienced opponent. He told the South Wales Echo: “If he is on top form, the fight shouldn’t last very long. Brancalion doesn’t like fighting on the back foot so if Nathan takes the fight to him I can see him winning inside six rounds.

“The Italian is a bit of a bully boy. If he gets on top early Nathan could have a problem, so it’s important he stamps his authority on the fight from the first bell.”

Brancalion will be licking his wounds and knows his career is on the line Brancalion of course is lucky that he has no need to juggle a professional boxing career with a demanding university education. Cleverly has been forced to put training at the back of his mind in recent weeks as he took his penultimate set of exams at Cardiff, which he hopes will see him gain a maths degree at the end of this academic year. Cleverly quite clearly has the brains and the brawn, and his younger age, bigger reach and determination will be too much for an ageing opponent who appears to be over the hill and heading towards retirement. Brancalion will not go down easily, and he will be fighting for his career, but he will not cope with Cleverly’s fitness and hard hitting technique. I can see the Welshman winning this within 8 rounds.

Brancalion vs Cleverly: The Editors' predictions James Hinks: Well people that know me know I am a keen boxer and know all about the game. So with my informed judgement I back Cleverly. He's young, fresh and keen to take the European light-heavyweight title. Brancalion is far more experienced but that attribute comes with complacency. Cleverly goes into the fight as the underdog and everyone loves an underdog, especially when they knock down those above them. Brancalion won't go down easily, but Cleverly should just about overcome the biggest challenge of his career to date.

Robbie Wells: I'm not the biggest boxing fan. But going on the facts, there's a rookie going up against a one-time European title holder, and despite his age, the nouse and experience that Brancalion has should see him overcome the youthful exuberance of Cleverly. It may be the only advantage that Brancalion holds over the young Welshman, but it should not be overlooked. The worst thing that Cleverly can do is to underestimate his opponent as simply 'over the hill'.

Jon Evans: Brancalion suffered a defeat in his last fight whereas Cleverly has been racking up the victories of late. The Italian has a decent record and vast experience. Although the fact that the venue of the fight shifted away from his hometown may prove costly. Cleverly is a hugely talented fighter with brains to boot. He has youth on his side and if he fulfills his massive potential then he may become one of Britain's greats. We the backing of the home fans I fancy Cleverly to take the title with a knockout.

Lucy Morgan: Despite his vast inexperience compared to Brancalion, I think that if Cleverley can take charge from the start then he will be in with a good shot of taking the belt. Cleverly will also have an advantage in that the fight is taking place in the UK and will not have to face Brancalion in his hometown of Rovigo. Cleverly certainly comes out on top when it comes to form, having won his last five fights by knockout. Brancalion on the other hand lost his last fight through stoppage - the first in his career.

FEATURES - SPORT 33

gairrhydd | SPORT@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY FEBRUARY 08 2010

Adam Horne Sports Editor

“I think the racing will once again be closer this year than last. A simple change to a better engine can make a huge difference [so] watch out for tiny gaps on the time sheets between the 1st and 15th pilot. The nerves of the pilot will be what counts.” There is no scheduled UK race this year as there is most years. Paul’s homeland has lost out to various other places around the world, a saddening thought for him, but sadder still for his loyal fans. “Not having a UK race is sad for all of the loyal UK based fans but it PHOTO: AP IMAGES

Allow me to introduce you to the exhilarating world of Red Bull Air Racing. For those of you unfamiliar with the sport, watch it, because you’re in for a treat. The new season kicks off in Abu Dhabi on March 26 and will continue all the way through to the final race in Lisbon on September 4. Format is simple; pilots must navigate their way through the tricky course in the quick-

est time possible to rack up maximum points without touching any of the pylon gates on the way. Simple no? No. Not with 12G’s tearing your neck muscles at every turn, not at speeds of up to 230mph and not when you have some of the worlds most spectacular landscapes distracting you around the race course. I managed to catch up with British racer and Current World Champion Paul Bonhomme to find out how he’s feeling ahead of the new season and if he believes anyone is capable of stealing his crown come September 4.

PICTURESQUE: Distractions a plenty

means for me less workload as the home races are always the toughest for any race pilot. “I’m pleased to be going back to Abu Dhabi, Perth and Rio (great setup in Perth, the hotel is about 100 yds from the hangar!) and of course Windsor, Ontario, where they know how to have fun in a big way. New York will be huge as it will be such an iconic race location. Back into Europe we have the delights of Germany, Hungary and Portugal again. I think we might see a Championship Winner before the final race of the year too.” With a couple of new racers in the Hangar Paul’s Championship could be under new threat, but he was quick to reinforce the difficulties involved in Acrobatic racing and hopes new racers Adilson Kindlemann, 36, from Brazil and Czech pilot Martin Sonka, 31 don’t get to grips with their planes too quickly “Good luck to them. It is a steep learning curve especially when you consider the commitments around the Air Race other than the flying. I wish them all the best but hopefully not too much luck in the speed department!” Of course, anyone wanting to steal the trophy from Paul’s grasp will have to wade through the other awards in his trophy cabinet first. In April, Paul will be awarded with the Royal Aero Club’s 2009 Britannia trophy, awarded to an individual who shows outstanding achievement in aviation. “I’m sure they’re giving it to the wrong bloke… are they sure they mean me? Seriously though, I’m totally delighted by the award of the Britannia Trophy and will look forward to the award ceremony immensely.”

PHOTO: SVEN HOFFMAN

Chocks away for world champion Paul Bonhomme as he gears up for the 2010 Red Bull Air Race season

BONHOMME: Gearing up

An amazing feat for a man who started off as a commercial pilot flying Boeing 737’s for Welsh Airline Air Cymru. He has shown great skill and determination at all levels of flying and will hope to emulate his success this season. After watching the UK race in London next year I can assure those interested that you’re missing out if you don’t get involved. Make sure you follow Paul’s progress when the season kicks off on March 26 and find out more about Paul’s achievements at www.teambonhomme.com or follow his exploits on facebook group ‘TEAM BONHOMME’. Alternatively find out more regarding this year’s Championship at www.redbullairrace.com because come March 26, we’re in for a treat.

Be a good sport for charity James Hinks Sports Editor This March promises to be jammed packed with sporting events as Cardiff University experiences the first ever 'Right to Play' month. 'Right to Play' is a sport-based charity that hopes to increase funds and publicity with the help of BUCS and the student body. 'Right to Play' aim to make March their month and therefore raise awareness about their efforts to help disadvantaged children around the world enjoy and learn from sport. The month long fundraising gives students the opportunity to enjoy the sporting events or the chance to try and organise a fundraising event themselves. Like sport, the month will be competitive, with all the Universities across the UK battling to raise the most money for the sport-based charity. During March every University across the UK hopes to raise £1000.

However, the University that raises the most will be crowned University Of The Year and offered the chance to display the special 'Right to Play' Gold Badge on their University sports

kits from next year. The Charity ‘Right to Play’ is an organisation that helps the world’s most disadvantaged children across the world via sport participation. Volunteers for the charity teach locals, from some of the poorest areas around the world, how to coach sport. This allows their communities the chance to regularly play sport, which is an experience we take for granted. The use of local coaches ensures that communities take ownership of projects and that the projects are sustainable over the long term. The regular participation in sport for children helps encourage their physical, mental and social development and also brings their community together. ‘Right to Play’ also uses sport and play to educate communities around key health issues to support national health objectives, in particular HIV and AIDS prevention and awareness and vaccination campaigns. The participation in sport can also be used to comfort and rehabilitate

OPPORTUNITY: Right to play gives all a chance to participate in sport child soldiers or children that have lived through war. For over 15 years ‘Right to Play’ has helped children in 23 of the poorest countries around the world to experience a safe and fun environment away from the horrors of everyday life and also to teach them important life skills. Because of 'Right to Play' children who are born hugely disadvantaged and have so many hardships throughout their life are given

the change to play. March is all about raising awareness for the cause so get involved. With ‘Right to Play’ even £2 can make a difference. That’s less than the price of a pint. If you want to donate you can do online now at www.justgiving.com/Right-To-Play-Month or Text ‘PLAY’ and Cardiff University to 81400 (Only throughout March).

34 SPORT - WORD ON

gairrhydd | SPORT@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY FEBRUARY 08 2010

Jon Evans gives The Word On Britain's favourite misery guts... Andy Murray The last Brit to win one of tennis’ four Grand Slams was Virginia Wade in 1977, some 33 long years ago. Yet last month’s Australian Open was the second time in recent years that Andy Murray has made a major final. In the post match interviews the all conquering Roger Federer said it was only a matter of time before 22year-old Murray would win a Grand Slam. Federer has always been a gracious winner but I felt that he wasn’t just being polite. There was truth in his words. Whether it is this year or in five years time, Murray will be the first male British tennis player to win a prestigious Grand Slam tournament since Fred Perry in 1936. When you look at Murray’s family it is no surprise that he ended up becoming a sportsman. His grandfather enjoyed some success as a professional footballer in Scotland and his older brother Jamie is a regular on the tennis doubles circuit. Considering the amount of time and money needed to develop a young tennis career, Murray comes from a humble background. Born in Glasgow, he later attended Dunblane Primary School and was actually in the school when the infamous massacre occurred in 1996. He is understandably reluctant to speak about the events that day but said he found the incident very hard to understand at such a young age. At the age of 15 he made the difficult decision of moving to Barcelona, moving away from his family in order

HENMAN: Close but no cigar

Top Five

Miserable SPORT STARS

1. COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Renound for his on-course tantrums, Monty is known to verbally berate the nearest person to him if he's having a bad day at the office.

2. MARTIN JOHNSON: Blunt talking, cauliflower ears and rugby. Some would describe him as manly. I would say he has one of the grumpiest demeanors I have ever seen in a human being.

MURRAY: Slightly more fierce than 'Tiger' Tim to improve his tennis. This huge risk resulted in him leaving school with no qualifications but seemingly paid off when his tennis matured and improved rapidly. In 2005 he climbed a staggering 343 places in the world rankings to 64 and became the youngest Briton to ever play in the Davis Cup. The next year he finished 17th in the world and is now number three after a brief period at number two last year. In this short period of time he has reached two Grand Slam finals and won four Masters titles. Over this period the face of British tennis has changed. ‘Tiger’ Tim Henman has been replaced by Andy Murray and ‘Henman Hill’ has now been dubbed ‘Murray Mound’. The transition was seamless. Britain has found a new player to rest all its tennis hopes on, although the lanky Scot with the scruffy hair and bad facial stubble is a mile away from clean cut Tim. Henman reached six Grand Slam semi-finals in his career, but never managed to go that step further, yet we still loved him. He was reserved, a true English gent and an interviewers dream. Although not the most charismatic of stars, he was always willing to appear on television (remember those Persil adverts) with his smile

and clean cut appearance. He was professional but never the best; never ruthless enough but he always gave it his all. A true Brit, one we loved to watch loose.

The fickle British public are reluctant to embrace Murray Murray is a different sort of professional; he has an attitude which suggests that he doesn’t care about how people feel towards him, because he’s playing the sport he loves. A few years back he came under stinging criticism for saying that he would ‘support whoever was playing England’ in the world cup. It ended up that the comments were a joke taken out of context. Nevertheless people have continually suggested that Murray is moody and incredibly hard to warm to. There is a great contradiction within the British public. Henman was a good player but he was ‘the nice guy’. There was always that sympathy towards Tim, the feeling of ‘he’s done his best’, hence his regular spot in the commentary box of Wimbledon next

to Becker and McEnroe (players who actually won Grand Slams.) Murray on the other hand is seemingly unfazed by media attention. Yes he’ll do the pre and post match interviews but he won’t go out of his way to talk to anyone to make you like him. He is the opposite of Tim. He isn’t always clean shaven and his hair is messy. When he wins a vital point his roar will make sure you know what it means to him. The fickle British public are reluctant to embrace Murray even though he is the best British player we’ve seen for many years. We backed ‘nice guy’ Tim but as soon as we get a determined athlete like Murray we are wary of him. We should embrace Andy, support him and respect his professional attitude. He plays sport to win, not to smile at the cameras or feature in adverts. Murray recently broke up with his girlfriend of four years who said she wasn’t getting enough out of their relationship. It was rumoured that he plays Call of Duty for seven hours every day which put too much strain on the relationship! If he puts that sort of time into his tennis then I’m sure the Grand Slams will come in abundance.

4. PAULA RADCLIFFE: Continually seems to be crying and in agonising pain whilst running. Then again I suppose I would cry if I had to go to the toilet whilst on live TV.

GEOFFREY BOYCOTT: The man never seems to be happy unless a batsmen is playing a safety shot. I find cricket hard enough to watch even without his monotone voice.

IMG - SPORT 35

gairrhydd | SPORT@GAIRRHYDD.COM MONDAY FEBRUARY 08 2010

Opsoc are poor test for eye of the Tigers Max Barrett Sports Writer Samba Tigers 6 - 1 Opsoc As phase one drew to a close, the fate of both of these sides was more or less decided, with Tigers needing a drastic defeat to block their passage to the premiership. Pontcanna was its usual swampy self, and it was clear from the offset that playing some decent football would be a challenge.

This said, both sides started positively with half chances falling at either end. But it was the Tigers that broke the deadlock when an Opsoc defender kicked the ball against one of his team mates allowing Max Barrett to run onto the loose ball and round the keeper, slotting it into an empty net. The momentum stayed with the Tigers as chance after chance went begging, Pepin Edgely and Kevin Goodwin with the best of them. Opsoc began to come back into it though and had some decent chances of their

own, but a scrappy goal bundled over the line by Torik Holmes gave Tigers a 2-0 lead. Opsoc did grab one back before the break when Tiger’s goalkeeper Chris Jones struck the ball into the body of the opposing centre forward and couldn’t prevent it rolling over the line. Tigers started the second half the strongest and were soon 3-1 to the good when Elliot Connolly slipped a through ball to Barrett who stroked it home to bag his second goal. It was soon 4-1 as a Holmes cross was flicked in by the head of an Opsoc defender.

The tide turned, however, and Opsoc piled on some pressure with some great shots and intricate football. Nonetheless. the Tiger’s replacement keeper, midfielder and man of the match, Pete Gardner, matched them with some world-class saves. From there the Tigers were fairly comfortable and shortly made it 5-1 when Holmes showed more desire than the defender and volleyed home from an Adam Hobson cross. Connolly rounded off the half by netting another Hobson assist to make it 6-1.

IMG NETBALL STANDINGS IMG NETBALL

PREMIERSHIP W

Diff

Pts

Economics A

Psychology A

-3

CARBS A

CARBS B

CARDIFF A

Engin Loco

LAW A

Pharmacy A

IMG NETBALL

DIVISION 1 P

Diff

Pts

DENTISTRY

+19

BIOSCIENCE

SOCSI A

-7

CARDIFF B

-19

Cardiff Jets A

English A

LAW B

SAWSA

IMG NETBALL

DIVISION 2 P

Diff

Pts

PYSCHOLOGY B

+41

GYM GYM

SOCSI B

EARTHSOC

MEDICS A

Pharmacy B

-19

MEDICS B

-9

English B

--26

IMG NETBALL

DIVISION 3 P

Diff

Pts

ENGIN AUTO

JOMEC

Economics B

Navy Netball

Politics

Christian Union

-2

History

-10

Cardiff Jets B

-0

UPCOMING FIXTURES PREMIERSHIP Economic A

PHOTO: Max Barrett

CARBS B

LAST GAME: Samba Tigers finish on a high

Law A top their league undefeated Joe Davies Sports Writer Law A 3 - 0 Law B Having already qualified for promotion to the premiership, Group B winners Law A – who are undefeated in the IMG league this season – set about putting a painful friendly match defeat at the hands of Law B earlier in the season behind them, to comfortably beat their arch rivals on a bitterly cold Sunday afternoon at the Heath. Law B will quite justifiably argue, however, that the score line does not reflect the true competitiveness of the game, in which numerous chances for the losing side were missed, particularly from set pieces. Within the opening five minutes,

Ryan Jones missed a great chance to steal an early lead for Law B, striking the ball well over the bar from a free kick. Law B impressively stole possession on the 18 minute mark after a Law A free kick, taken by Aled James, was met with a succession of headers leading to a huge onslaught, but it ultimately came to nothing. Minutes later, some patient buildup play by Law B, which looked promising for the lower-league side, ended in James Regan caught offside. Having listened to captain Rob Goodwin’s pre-match talk of being composed in front of the goal and not “asking for the ball after it’s gone”, it was Law A who posed the biggest threat in the first half with excellent link up play right from the off between Nick Matthew and Ryan Hughes in defence, feeding good balls through to Chris Wootton down the left flank and Aled James in centre midfield, who

made some opportunistic intercepts. James Molland will have rued missing an open goal in the 22nd minute as Law B became increasingly robust in their defence, with Ed Green making some vital headers in defence and Lestyn Scourfield brilliantly heading away a shot on target, after some exemplary link-up play by Wootton and Molland. Despite the efforts of Ed Stroud and Dave Lewis, who continually harassed the Law A defence, it was the group B table-toppers who took the initiative with a goal courtesy of Alex Croker in the 40th minute. Three minutes later, the on-fire Croker headed in his second goal of the game – and the season – after a fine cross from Hughes. A slightly late challenge in the air by Ed Green on Croker, who injured himself on landing and subsequently decided to sit out the rest of the game, resulted in Law A defending their 2-0

lead for the remaining 35 minutes with ten men. Law B continued to prove a steely opposition with Green and Matthew Crothers defending ferociously while Gareth Jones continued to make some opportunistic intercepts and clear away well from Law A’s set pieces. Oli Riley sealed off the win for Law A, taking advantage of a poor Law B goal kick to score his team’s third of the game. “I’m pleased to get my name on the scoresheet for the first time this season”, double goal-scorer Alex Croker told gair rhydd afterwards. “It’s always nice to beat the B’s. Now we have qualified for the premiership undefeated. It was a great team effort today,” he added.

Pharmacy A

Psycho A

V V V V

Cardiff A

V V V V

Bioscience

V V V V

SOCSI B

V V V V

Economic B

LAW A Engin Loco Carbs A

DIVISION 1 SAWSA Law B English A Jets A

Cardiff B Socsi A Dentistry

DIVISION 2 Psycho B Earthsoc Pharmacy B Medics B

Gym gym English B Medics A

DIVISION 3 History JOMEC Navy Netball Christian. U

Jets B Engin Auto Politics

Sport gairrhydd

PHOTO: ROBERT KURMIS

INSIDE: The IMG Round-Up Returns, The Word On... Andy Murray's Misery and Nathan Cleverly's European Title Shot

Best in the West Gareth Ludkin Sports Writer

Cardiff Volleyball Men’s First Team 1st in Western Region Cardiff University Volleyball Club have once again topped League One of the BUCS Western region after a clinical run of wins which saw Cardiff rise to the top of the table early on in the season. Having lost only two sets throughout the competition so far, Cardiff University Mens’ First Team can look

forward to a final 16 knockout competition with great expectations, and the chance of taking on some of the country's most impressive University teams. Winning the next round would see them through to the final eight, providing Cardiff with the opportunity to make it even further. Demonstrating their tenacious attitude and determined skills, Cardiff lost only their final game against Bath in an otherwise faultless series of matches. Cardiff confidently beat Bournemouth last weekend in a 2-0 win (25-19 and 25-22).

Sam Jones delivered a tight defence with a series of clear passes, while Salman Matar, who is in great shape in this second semester, finished the match with a clinical jumping ace serve. Cardiff were disappointed not to have finished the season without losing a set, going down 2-1 against Bath, but were pleased with their first place finish in the competition. Throughout the season, stand out performances have been made by Alex Ward with some aggressive attacking at the net and strong blocks, and Robert Kurmis with his explosive jump and attack.

Star player Dimitris Challoumas remains a key pin in the Cardiff team. Throughout the season he has brought extra verve to the team with some dominant attacking spikes that can change the course of a game. Captain Stephane Planel, who has led the Cardiff team with determined and competitive leadership throughout the season, was disappointed after the Bath game, but remained confident looking forward: “Bath played very well this time and we'll hopefully play them again at a later stage of the competition.” Previous wins have cemented Cardiff as the team to beat in the Western

region. Having lost only one game this season in both the local Cardiff league and in BUCS, Cardiff can now take their form and confidence into the Student Cup Finals next weekend in Norwich. Cardiff hope to play to their full potential at the Student Cup, particularly as they are up against Bath once again, and also Leeds Met, who were last years' winners and who remain a tough team to beat. However, making a mark at the Student Cup would prove that Cardiff deserve to be considered a real threat as one of the best university volleyball teams in the country.

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 nTHE VIEWS EXPRESSED ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THE PUBLISHERS nGAIR RHYDD IS WRITTEN, DESIGNED, TYPESET AND OUTPUT BY STUDENTS OF CARDIFF UNIVERSITYn nBUNCE: I DON'T KNOW WHETHER TO GIVE JAMES HINKS A KISS nDAMIAN: ALL GIRLS THINK I'M GAYn SARAH: YOU (PAUL) AND ROBIN CAN DOUBLE TEAM ME nOLI: JUST COME CLOSER TO ME AND PUT YOUR HEAD DOWNnTHUNDER: LIKE STEVIE WONDER, BUT NOT BLACK nPAUL: I'M WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO STICK IT IN ME nSARAH: GOOD AT TAKING n I'M NOT POSH BUT MY FRIEND'S BRITISH CROQUET CHAMP