gair rhydd - Issue 940

gair rhydd Monday January 31 2011 | freeword – Est. 1972 | Issue 940

PHOTO: JAKE YORATH

Under pressure Stressed students are exhausted by cramped exam timetabling Hannah Pendleton News Editor A gair rhydd investigation into exam scheduling has shown that Cardiff University is imposing hectic exam timetables upon students.

As the autumn semester’s examination period draws to a close, exhausted students have argued that demanding exam schedules, arduous days of revision, stress and sleepless nights could potentially affect their academic performance.

Two of the worst affected groups of students are from the School of Mathematics and the School of Chemistry. Many students from

these schools have complained of compact timetables which often feature lengthy examinations on consecutive days.

An anonymous student from the School of Mathematics had six two hour examinations in two weeks.

The student told gair rhydd of the stress that this was causing her: “I had exams on January 17, 19, 20, 24, 25 and 28. Having so many important exams over such a small space of time is incredibly stressful and tiring.

“Even though I’m revising for at least eight hours a day, both in the day, through the evening and into the night, I feel like I am only aiming to pass the exams and I am not

going to be reaching my full potential in any of the exams I take.

“I think the fact that Maths students have to take 12 modules a year is where the problem stems from, as I have heard of no other degrees with so many modules a year, and hence such hectic exam timetables.

Even with the best timetabling possible, six exams over two weeks is still far too much pressure for any student.”

The School of Mathematics admitted that scheduling maths exams has proved a recurrent hurdle due to the modular degree programme and they described it as a “perennial problem”.

In January, Maths students have

12 final year papers (of which most students will sit six) to schedule over a period of 11 available days.

This year, the School of Mathematics are not aware of any Maths student being required to sit two exams on the same day, although in some previous years this has happened.

The Academic and University Affairs Officer, Sarah Ingram has commented on the gruelling schedules faced by students on modular degree programmes: “Every year students struggle with the amount of exams and the proximity to each other with which they occur. I have no doubt that having a lot of exams within days of each other does negatively affect students’ perfor-

mance, however, it is the Schools that offer the most choice in modules that then cannot timetable their exams in a suitable way for every student.”

Two years ago a gair rhydd investigation revealed that students from Engineering, Geoscience and Business and Accounting were being placed under increasing pressure due to demanding exam timetables.

Despite the Education and Welfare Officer investigating the issue at the time, it appears that students are still facing similarly cramped exam timetabling.

Continued on page 3

02News

gr EDITOR Sarah Powell

CO-ORDINATOR Elaine Morgan DEPUTY EDITOR Dom Kehat SUB-EDITORS Anna Redbond Isabelle Roberts Hannah van den Bergh NEWS Morgan Applegarth Miranda Atty Pippa Lewis Ben Price Hannah Pendleton FEATURES Zoe Bridger Laura Brunt OPINION Holly Howe Chris Williams POLITICS James Dunn Oliver Smith COLUMNIST Greg Rees SOCIETIES Bianca London SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT Tom Clarke Jack Parker SPORT Alex Bywater Lucy Morgan Alex Winter CONTRIBUTORS Laura Amey Catriona Camacho Zania Diwan Laura Dunn Fred Fitzgerald Millie Flint Anna Hickman Alice Huges Sophie Keeling Patience Lewis Daniel Shiloh Jonathon Sims Hannah Van Den Bergh Izzy Voss Caleb Woodbridge

Monday January 31 2011 • gair rhydd • news@gairrhydd.com

Get Refreshed. Get Involved.

Morgan Applegarth News Editor This week Cardiff Students’ Union is hosting its Refreshers Week, designed to give students the chance to “relive the first week of University.”

Throughout the week, various events have been organised to encourage students to get more involved with the Union, aid them on health and diet issues and bring out their creative talent.

“Refreshers Week has been organised to give our students another opportunity to get involved and see all that the Students’ Union has to offer,” said Finance and Commercial Officer Darryl Light.

The week begins with the Refresh Your Diet day, with students able to attend a Festival of Food, Jungle Café and the Student Ready, Steady, Cook competition.

Tuesday will give students the opportunity to focus on their future careers, with a Refresh Your Future

Fayre and networking workshop, while Wednesday seeks to encourage students to get involved with societies at the Activities Fayre.

'It's another opportunity for students to get involved' Thursday will focus on students’ health and well being, with yoga and pilates classes amongst the

highlights, as well as anti-smoking and drink awareness workshops.

The week will come to a close with the Refresh Your Creativity day, designed to bring out students’ innovative and imaginative sides at events such as the DJ Taster Session and Art Session.

“We aim to facilitate our students’ New Year’s resolutions, such as eating healthier, sorting out their future career or taking up a new hobby,” said Darryl.

S.U. crack down on drugs Eight arrested as police raid popular student event at the Union Morgan Applegarth News Editor Cardiff Students’ Union and South Wales Police have sent a strong message to anyone seeking to bring drugs into the Students’ Union, following a passive drugs dogs operation that took place at the end of last year.

The operation, that had been three months in the planning, was carried out at the Bedlam event held in the Great Hall on Saturday December 4.

“We chose Bedlam based on previous experience and because it qualifies as a ‘high risk’ event,” revealed Chief Executive of Cardiff Students’ Union Jason Dunlop.

He continued: “A ‘high risk’ event is determined by the number of people attending, which in this case is between 800 to 1,000.”

Twelve police officers were on overt operation within the building, as well as an unspecified number of undercover officers throughout the venue.

Undercover officers were used to make sure that nobody waiting to enter the event, and who were in possession, ‘dropped’ their drugs if informed about the search. They were also placed within the Great Hall to seek out any drug use.

'Drugs involved were cocaine and MDMA' Furthermore, police offers were ‘dotted around’ the location for intelligence purposes.

Cathays Neighbourhood Beat Manager PC Steph Samuel said: “The overwhelming majority of people attending the event were

not students and the operation was done with the full support and cooperation of the Students’ Union.”

In total, 40 people were stopped and searched for drugs. Two were given official warnings for possession of cannabis, and ejected from the venue, while eight people were arrested on the night.

Of those arrested, two were apprehended for possession with intent to supply and six for possession of drugs. The drugs involved were cocaine and MDMA. All of those found with drugs on their person received a lifetime ban from the venue.

Officers arrived one hour prior to the doors opening at 9.30pm in order to search the venue and staff, and to set-up, ready to search anyone believed to be in possession of drugs.

Upon entering, attendees first went through a metal detector in

the reception area of the Students’ Union. They then made their way downstairs to the Great Hall where they were greeted by security, police officers and a drugs dog.

“The passive dogs are trained to indicate on the smallest amount of a particular drug,” said PC Samuel, continuing: “If the dog smells drugs then it will sit down next to the person” “We find the dogs very successful,” commented one officer, who wished to remain anonymous. If ‘tagged’ by the dog, the person in question was taken to the Union’s ground floor were they were stripsearched by two officers. “[It was] a successful joint venture by the police and University, aimed at sending a very clear message that we are working together to combat the use and supply of drugs,” concluded PC Samuel.

Your Thoughts: Drug use at Students' Union events

PROOFREADERS Catriona Camacho

CLARIFICATION In issue 938 "Students speak out over housing hell" in which we made reference to a 'tenant' of DJ Skinner Property Services.

Mr. Skinner has asked us to point out, and we accept, that his business is that of a letting agency and not of property landlord, therefore the agency does not have 'tenants'. We wish to apologise for the error. gair rhydd confirms that it has never received any complaints about DJ Skinner Property Services.

Luke Kellet First year

Richard Inman Third year

Ellie Collinson First Year

Dom Patterson Third year

I’ve seen drug use at quite a few Union events and I don’t agree with it. I don’t believe a spontaeneous raid on a specific event is unfair because drugs are an illegal substance anyway.

From my experience, I think the Union is generally a pretty clean place. On the whole I don’t think Cardiff itself is all that bad compared to nights out in other UK cities. However, it’s not a huge surprise that this event was targeted in particular.

I haven’t experienced any drug use at the Union since I’ve been in Cardiff. Those who were caught out at this event are to blame and it was not unfair for the police to single out this event. The drugs reputation of this particular night is the problem.

Clearly there were good intentions behind the drugs operation, and it was a success. However, I believe blatant stereotyping has gone on with the choosing of this event. I accept the need for high security but I believe this damages the atmosphere at times.

News03

Monday January 31 2011 • gair rhydd • news@gairrhydd.com

Students feel timetable pressures freewords EDITORIAL est.1972 Miranda Atty News Editor

Photo: JAKE YORATH

I can’t help but sympathise with students facing immense pressure from cramped and relentless examination timetables.

The exam period is always extremely stressful, but the added pressures faced by students from the schools of Chemistry and Mathematics is likely to affect their exam performance.

For many students with these hectic timetables, it is no longer a case of revising in order to perform to the best of their ability, but simply to pass a multitude of exams in a short space of time.

I can’t begin to imagine having to take six two hour examinations in two weeks.

As an English Literature student I do not face the same exam burden, in fact, in this, my final year, my modules are assessed entirely by coursework.

For this reason I can’t help but question this huge contrast in procedure for different subjects.

How can an English Literature student potentially have no exams at all while a Chemistry student may have less than 24 hours between consecutive exams?

Not only this, but the added pressure of class tests during the exam period seems to me to be unnecessary.

Surely it would be more beneficial to spread tests and examinations, in order to give students a fairer chance to revise to the best of their ability.

The problem lies in the fact that the University’s online system, which compiles the exami-

Continued from front Another third year Mathematics student has had three exams in one week, a week’s break and then another three exams in the following week.

He commented: "I would rather have the semester extended a week longer to spread exams out more.

It isn't fair to expect students, no matter what year they're in, to have to do so much work for exams that aren't reasonably spaced out; it's hard to prepare for them when they're so close together.”

The School of Mathematics told gair rhydd: “Our students have always indicated a preference for two sets of exams: one set in January and the other in May. In January the exam period only lasts two weeks. In May the examination period it is longer, so the examination timetable then is usually less ‘bunched’.

“The School is aware of eight fi-

nal year students who have five exams on the first five days of the Autumn Semester Examination period. Students with such an examination timetable as extreme as this will be drawn to the attention of the Examining Board as having Extenuating Circumstances in relation to their assessment.”

Cramped timetables also have a big impact on Chemistry students, who face increasing pressure with the addition of graded class tests.

Lewis Bowman, a second year Chemistry student has had important class tests in between exams which produced a week with 1-2 hour exams or class tests everyday.

He said: “The tests so far have been 7.5% or 10% of the module, they didn't even tell us they were going to go towards our final grade until last week. The class tests aren't in exam halls, they just take place in lecture theatres, so there's no reason they couldn't

have done the class tests before Christmas or after the exams. Why they feel the need to put these class tests at a time when some people have three exams to study for I don't know.”

Third year Chemistry student, Louise Hazell, was also affected by the compressed timetable.

She said: “I had four exams, three of which were on consecutive days. With less than 24 hours between these it was very difficult to come out of the exam and refocus on the next topic. I was very stressed in this time and I believe it definitely affected my performance.”

A spokesperson from the School of Chemistry has responded: "The School of Chemistry recognises that the exam periods are extremely stressful for students.

"All the academic staff set aside time to answer queries both

in person and by e-mail, and the Director of Undergraduate Studies is always available should any student wish to discuss particular concerns, such as extenuating circumstances, anxiety or problems with the exam timetable.

In response to the criticism from students, a University spokesperson has explained how the exam timetable are compiled: "We use electronic software to produce the examination timetables, this takes into account: students individual module selections as recorded on SIMS, any preferences requested

by Schools and the University Senate guidelines regarding the scheduling of examinations.

"The software produces an exam timetable for the whole University which best meets all these requirements using the examination venues which are available."

Sarah Ingram told gair rhydd that the University is aware of this issue and are re-assessing the

nation timetables, often has up to 12 modules to take into account.

Inevitably therefore, some examinations are going to take place over a compressed period of time.

Despite the School of Mathematics admitting that hectic timetables are a ‘perennial problem’ as a result of the wide range of module choices, nothing appears to have been done since the issue was first raised two years ago.

Then, just as now, students complained that scheduling conflicts affect their performance, and could, ultimately, lead to individuals leaving University with degree classifications significantly lower than their true capabilities.

One possible way of resolving this issue is to extend the examination period by a week and shorten either the January or the Easter holiday accordingly.

This proposed modification also carries its own controversies.

For those students who are happy with their timetable, or who, like me, are assessed through coursework, cutting short the holiday period is likely to be an unpopular move.

Sarah Ingram, the current Academic and University Affairs Officer, has revealed that the issue of cramped timetabling is being re-assessed by the University.

Ultimately however, I wonder how much will, and indeed, can, realistically be done.

The University is faced with a difficult choice: either they restrict the module choice available or continue to pile the pressure on their students, and I’m not sure that either will be popular.

examination structure. She said: “The University is currently developing a University-wide policy on assessment and over-assessment, asking Schools to measure whether or not they over-examine their students. We must choose: would we rather have a wide range of modules, so that we can choose those that suit our interest, though end up sometimes under-performing or overworking ourselves, or would we prefer to have a very limited choice of modules, not enjoy the study as much, but then have a spaced out exam timetable.”

Anyone who wishes to contribute views on this matter can email Sarah Ingram at academicofficer@cardiff.ac.uk.

If you are affected by the issues raised in this article or have any comments, visit www. gairrhydd.com.

04News Students' Union hit back at government plans

Monday January 31 2011 • gair rhydd • news@gairrhydd.com

Cardiff Students' Union has submitted a response to recent proposals put forward by the UK Border Agency which seek to reduce the number of migrants in the UK by cutting the number of international students Morgan Applegarth News Editor Cardiff University Students’ Union (CUSU) has responded to government plans set to reduce the number of migrants in the UK through the education system.

Societies, Events and Activities Officer, Cosimo Montagu, has put together a Submission to the Home Affairs Select Committee, on behalf of the Students' Union, in reply to the UK Border Agency’s (UKBA) Student Immigration System paper.

The purpose of the Submission is to highlight the importance of international students to Cardiff University, and put forward international students' opinions on proposals that could affect them.

The proposed UKBA plans seek to cut down the number of international students who annually attend UK universities, in a bid to reduce the number of migrants in the UK. Back in December of last year, the UKBA published a list of pro-

posals that intend to reduce annual net migration by targeting the student population, which represents the largest proportion of net migration from outside Europe.

Notable proposals from the paper include the introduction of tougher entry criteria for international students, ensuring that international students return overseas after their studies and limiting their rights to work during term time.

In her foreword to the paper, Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities, Theresa May, states: "It is clear that the government's aim to reduce net migration will not be achieved without careful consideration and action on the non-economic routes including students."

In response, CUSU has collated key information that shows how important international students are to Cardiff University.

Currently, Cardiff University represents a total of over 3,400 fulltime international students.

The Submission notes how "it is estimated that upwards of £40million will be raised from internation-

al students in 2010/11" - an increase from the 2008/09 figures in which international students are said to have brought in over £29million to the University.

In addition, the Submission states how, in 2009, international students contributed £2.4million to the local economy - a figure that could decrease if international students are restricted to only work on university on campus during term time, as the UKBA paper proposes.

Currently, Cardiff University has over 2,200 international students studying on postgraduate courses, a number that is in danger of decline if the proposals are passed.

The UKBA are seeking to make it a requirement that international students must return home and reapply for a visa if they wish to undertake a Masters course or PhD. In the Submission, a Malaysian undergraduate student notes how the proposed change could hinder their chance to further pursue their studies: "It may not be possible to get a visa in time for the next course."

The UKBA paper also seeks to

gair rhydd gets the views from a Cardiff University spokesperson on the proposed changes to the Student Immigration System.

How will the changes to the Student Immigration System affect Cardiff University if implemented?

At this stage it is difficult to know what the impact of any changes to the UKBA regulations will be on the University and we will need to await the outcome of the consultation and subsequent proposals.

How important are internatioanl students to Cardiff University?

International students play a key role in helping the University build international links and clamp down on students who are accompanied by their dependants.

As current law stands, students studying in the UK for more than six months can be accompanied by their dependants, however, the government wish to extend this to more than 12 months.

partnerships. A cap on numbers will restrict the University’s ability to recruit among the world’s most talented students and it will undermine the growing global reputation of Wales.

Do international students pose any potential costs for the University?

Any additional costs which may apply to some international students, such as administering and providing English Lanaguage support, are met by the international student fees or by additional fees for specialist courses.

In response, the CUSU Submission recommends that the government do not raise the time needed to bring dependants into the UK. Furthermore, it appeals for the visa extension period to take into consideration the application process for postgraduate courses.

gair rhydd breaks down some of the key proposals outlined by the UKBA

No visa extension in the UK for new courses Currently, all international students are able to work up to a maxmimum of 20hours per week, for any employer. However, the new proposals would restrict students to only be able to work on campus during the week in term time.

The UKBA are considering making it a requirement for international students to have to leave the UK after study, and re-apply for another course from overseas. Meaning, if you complete a course in June and wish to carry out a Masters or PhD in September, you would have to return home and apply for a new visa.

Restricting rights to work during term time

No visas for students not showing progression

Students wanting to remain in the UK to further their studies after their degree programme will have to show clear evidence of academic progression. You will not be able to apply for a visa if the course you are moving on to is not at a higher level than that which precedes it.

Mental Wealth dish out free hugs to cure student blues

Nathaniel Smith Contributor

As part of the Smile High Club UK campaign, the Mental Wealth Society invaded the streets of Cardiff on Monday January 24 in order to produce some smiles on the faces of the public.

The Athletic Union Dragon, Xpressosaurus, Nigel the Nightline Bear and the RAG Gingerbread man put their differences aside to team up and deliver hugs and entertainment to all those in need of some cheer.

The Humanities Building and Lidl in particular, were subject to an injection of unexpected joyfulness.

The primary motive behind this campaign was to tackle the apparent most depressing day of the year, commonly known as ‘Blue Monday’.

'Blue Monday' is allegedly the most depressing day of the year, arriving at a period in which we have

become too familiar with overcast skies, are being snowed under by debt, have lost the Christmas buzz, and are busy reflecting on another collection of failed New Year's resolutions.

The mathematical formula, developed by a Cardiff University Lecturer, originally used to derive the precise date is somewhat dubious, yet the day has taken on significance over the years and is now used as an opportunity by many to extract some much-needed smiles from the population.

Armed only with a collection of smile cards, placards and a lot of love, the team succeeded in both spreading good feeling, and helping students to cross at those tricky Park Place traffic lights.

Only the very determined were able to resist a smile at the sight of the friendly monsters, and thus much unanticipated, yet muchneeded merriment embraced Cardiff.

Above: Free hugs from Mental Wealth

News05

Monday January 31 2010 • gair rhydd • news@gairrhydd.com

Police appeal for sex attack witnesses

Cycle route shake-up

Jonathan Stevens Reporter

Joanna Cawley Reporter

Police are urging students to come forward if they have any information regarding a sexual attack,which occurred on November 9 2010.

The attack took place near the junction of Thesiger and Fitzroy Streets, Cathays, in the early hours of the morning. Detective Inspector Tudor Thomas commented: “A nearby resident heard screams coming from outside his house and went to the young woman’s assistance causing the suspect to run off

in the direction of Crwys Road.”

The attack left no physical damage to the woman. However, Detective Thomas said that the victim was left “extremely distressed.”

CCTV images of the suspect have been released on the South Wales Police website and asked that anyone who recognises the man in question come forth. As Cathays is a largely student area, the police believe there may be students who know more information. DI Thomas stated: “I believe the student population of Cardiff can help detect this offence."

The attack comes a few months

after a seperate assault in Cathays Terrace, on Sunday September 26th last year. The police do not believe that the two crimes are connected in any way.

Despite these recent sexual offences, the Home Office released new figures this week which revealed that the area had the second lowest number of sexual offences in England and Wales in the 12-month period leading up to September 2010, compared to the same period the year before.

However, police urge people to take care when walking outside late at night.

Cardiff Council has proposed new plans to shake-up the city’s cycling routes.

Intended to make cycling more accessible and popular, the plans have been designed around a citywide consultation, which sought views from residents in Cardiff.

Following extensive research undertaken by the council, it emerged that on average, roughly one hundred road accidents involving cyclists occur per year. Despite the fact that none have been reported as fatal, the council aims to increase safety for cyclists by improving cycling routes, therefore encouraging more people to choose cycling as their preferred method of travel.

A spokesperson from the council

Above: The man wanted in connection with the Cathays sex attack

said: "Good provisions for cyclists will help to increase their safety and decrease the chances of collisions with other vehicles."

Evidence suggests that the more people who take up cycling, the less casualties there are."

The scheme also plans to improve road safety by creating a 20mph zone in Cathays, stretching from Senghenydd Road to Crwys Road and also covering the area from Colum Road to Salisbury Road.

There has been a mixed reaction from residents towards this proposal, however Cardiff Council are convinced about the benefits of the new cycling scheme.

Routes for cyclists are to be implemented on some of the city’s busiest roads including Newport Road and the Gabalfa Interchange, which could cause tensions amongst motorists.

Above: Cardiff's cycle route set to improve

Library opening hours extended University Library Service responds to student demand Pippa Lewis News Editor Cardiff University has responded to an article entitled, ‘Cuts to library resources’, in a previous issue of gair rhydd (issue 939).

The article emphasised that the information resources budget has not been cut. However, the budget has not risen in line with inflation for publications, which has in turn affected spending power.

A University spokesperson told gair rhydd: “The University is committed to providing the best possible resources for its students and is addressing the issue with the creation of the new Academic Information Resources Advisory Forum. This will have input from academics and students from across the University and will make recommendations to the Academic Strategy Committee on future funding levels for publications spending.”

Furthermore, due to unprecedented demand for library, IT and quiet study spaces the University Library Service will be piloting extended opening hours in selected libraries during the spring semester.

The pilot will extend the opening hours of the Arts and Social Studies, Law, Trevithick, Aberconway

and Bute Libraries.

The Arts and Social Studies, Law, and Trevithick Libraries will remain open until midnight on Monday-Thursday.

In addition all five libraries will be open longer on a Sunday with the Arts and Social Studies, Law, Trevithick and Bute libraries opening from 12pm until 9.30pm and Aberconway library from 10am to 9.30pm. The Trevithick Library will also be open until 2am, MondayThursday, during the exam period University and Academic Affairs Officer, Sarah Ingram, told gair rhydd: "Extended opening hours is something that almost all students ask about in regard to libraries and we are lucky that there has been some extra funding to pilot these hours until the end of the academic year. It has been as a result of Libraries' hard work and student consultation groups that this area has been prioritised.

“Please go and use the libraries for these hours. If we do not use them when we have the chance, then there will be no possibility to extend the service after the pilot.

This is something that students have wanted for a long time and was one of my main manifesto points due to the amount of student interest in this area."

World News06

Pussycat prosecutor Fakebook Dentist distraction Catriona Camacho Reporter A cat in Boston accidently summoned for jury duty has, despite protests from its owners, been told it ‘must attend’.

Guy and Anna Esposito put the cat, named Tabby Sal, down on their census form in the pets’ section because they consider him to be a member of the family.

The couple protested the clear mix up – citing the cat’s inability to understand English - but were told that the cat must still appear on March 23 because apparently

jurors are not expected to speak the language ‘perfectly’.

It is unclear exactly what Tabby Sal is going to say when asked if the defendant is guilty or not guilty.

However, the cat is, according to his owners, a fan of crime shows, and so at least ought to have a good sense of right and wrong.

Catriona Camacho Reporter

Laura Amey Reporter

Kate Middleton – of Kingsway, Northamptonshire, has had her account suspended from social networking site Facebook for sharing her name with the royal bride-tobe.

Ms. Middleton was accused of registering under a fake name, yet her boyfriend, Jonathan Ross, has been accused of no such crime. The couple – neither of whom changed their name by deed poll – are used to jibes about this, though Ms. Middleton is annoyed by the inconvenience.

A visit to the dentist can be a traumatic experience, but at one German practice things are looking up.

Dr Marie-Catherine Klarkowski has bought tight-fitting, cleavageenhancing outfits for herself and her ten nurses to distract patients from their pain.

The success of the strategy is so far unconfirmed, but staff at Munich’s ‘Relax & Smile’ practice reportedly prefer the new uniform and have seen their patient intake

rise by a third.

Dr. Klarkowski, who was inspired by barmaids’ dresses at Oktoberfest said: “Some patients’ mouths are already wide open on entering the practice.”

Tried and texted Sat-not Travelling toys Miranda Atty News Editor A woman who fell into a fountain at the Berkshire Mall shopping centre in Massachusetts because she was texting, has threatened to sue after a video of her mishap went viral.

A security guard, who has since lost his job, recorded the woman tripping over a wall and falling into the fountain and circulated the footage online.

The video has been extremely popular on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

The woman, Cathy Cruz Marrero, said of the incident: "I didn't get an apology, what I got was 'at

least nobody knows it was you'. But I knew it was me."

She appeared on Good Morning America where she said that someone should have helped her instead of making her a national laughing stock.

Her lawyer is investigating whether legal action can be taken.

Miranda Atty News Editor

Pippa Lewis News Editor

Two British pensioners spent the night in hospital after driving into a church in Germany because their SatNav told them to.

The couple’s satellite navigation system directed them to turn off a road and plough into the side of a church.

Despite the lack of road, the couple obeyed their GPS when it caused them to hit a village church.

The couple suffered minor injures, but their car was written off and the crash caused up to £21, 500 of damage to the church, including to its foundations.

Japanese tourists have been beating the credit crunch by sending their favourite toys on summer holidays instead of themselves.

Worried that their finances wont stretch to a summer holiday, people have taken to sending their favourite toys on holiday to Europe for a six-day, all-inclusive package tour for the small price of £60.

Barcelona Toy Travel spokesman Daniel Bacho said: ‘A lot of people from Japan - and to a lesser extent China - would love to come to Europe but just can't afford it.

'So they are opting for the next

best thing and sending their stuffed toys instead.'

In return, the toys send them pictures and a CD with further group photos taken as they visit beaches, monuments, mountains and galleries. Stuffed toys also send postcards to their owners and get a Facebook profile created to record what they do each day.

Opinion 07

Throwing money at the problem Anna Hickman Opinion Writer UK Chancellor George Osborne has recently announced that the Foreign Aid budget will be ring-fenced this year, even among outrage at the fact plenty of other areas are facing slashes.

Our own precious education has been at the receiving end of cutbacks, retirement ages will rise, train fairs will increase and even our flood defences will be cut by a shocking 15%. That’s right, they’ve slashed spending on flood defence.

And yet spending on Foreign Aid has been protected? The cheek.

Surely, parliament could have protected another area in their spending review. You know, one a bit closer to home. One that everyone agrees needs improvement, one that will benefit decent, hardworking Brits and their pensions. One that won’t cause so much controversy, maybe?

Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to be working till I’m eighty, let alone drown of all things, yet the outcry this decision has caused doesn’t quite add up to me. It has been called ‘disgusting,’ and ‘disastrous.’ Really now, isn’t that a bit of an overreaction? I would call rape disgusting and an earthquake disastrous, not providing humanitarian relief. Yet issues with Foreign Aid clearly need addressing if people are ever going to stop comparing the act of charity with some sort of catastrophe.

The most popular argument against Foreign Aid is that the money is going straight into the hands of some obscure, corrupt government, and used to buy Rolls Royces rather than build schools

and wells. But let’s just stop and think about it for a moment. Do you really think that Chancellor Osborne sits at his desk, fountain pen in one hand, cheque book in the other, and writes out cheques to the Haitian government, or Somalian or Nigerian government for a few million pounds every year? Yeah sure, and he encloses a note saying ‘Here you go pal, enjoy! Love George.'

Maybe this is reminiscent of 30 years ago, when aid was given to the top of the pile, but nowadays the handling of the aid is such that it is passed straight into the hands of the NGOs, who then use it to work at the bottom. Yes, that’s right, the Non-Governmental Organisations. Unless you’ve missed a trick here, they operate independently of the government to escape the aforementioned corruption. Now here we go, I can here another excuse. Big name NGOs are bandied about with an array of complaints about administration fees; this is a shallow excuse though, if you think about it.

Many people cling to the belief that NGOs and charities should be run by selfless, altruistic people with no monetary needs whatsoever, when in actual fact, they are just like you and me, and turning down a decent salary earned by trying to do a good thing is not something many people would do.

Then there is the claim that Foreign Aid falls into the wrong hands anyway. Following the Hutu massacre of the Tutsis in April and June of ‘94, as much as 60% of the 1.5 billion dollars of aid distributed was stolen by Hutu militias, providing fuel for a fire that would have burned itself out in time. The NGOs in charge of the distribution

Above: UK Chancellor George Osborne were labelled as tools for repression and mass murder. We, the unwitting donors, were labelled the ‘victims’.

This twisted representation has served only to pervert the actions of NGOs further.

Surely though, it should show that there is not an issue with Foreign Aid, but the way it is delivered.

All it would have taken to prevent this problem is better protection for the convoys distributing aid.

But no, following this, there were calls to scrap the system of Foreign Aid. Since when did problems with something call for it to be abolished completely? If we truly followed this theory, we wouldn’t even have a

government. Or the NHS. Or a Justice System or...you get my point?

It would even benefit the coalition to save money elsewhere, because the decision to protect the Foreign Aid budget is such a ‘disgusting’ one and hugely unpopular with the public. Defending the decision, David Cameron declared we can’t give up on the poor countries just because we are having a difficult time at home, and (for once) I agree with him. And kudos to the coalition for not caving in to public pressure, and doing what is morally correct. After all, if we’re going to talk in terms of ‘savings,’ how about we talk in terms of lives

instead of money.

Foreign Aid is a work in progress. Improvements are being made constantly. Last week, for example, President Obama declared that the US Foreign Aid Policy would be undergoing a revamp to focus on development over dependence, and would be looking to tackle poor governance. It is a relatively recent policy and was never going to spring into existence, fully fledged and functioning perfectly.

The term ‘throwing money at the problem’ is used frequently to describe providing aid. Funny that, because I would call it ‘giving water to a kid dying of thirst’.

Credentials of a New Year Millie Flint Opinion Writer It could be likened to waking up on that Sunday morning; the silence of the alarm clock, the infinity of the day perfectly ironed out in front of me. I indulge in these moments of the morning when the day is mine to own. Imagine if the beginnings of another year would be so simple like that of a Sunday.

Yet tentatively, I accept that January cannot be as idealised as I would hope for. The initial bliss of the New Year discovered in the first fresh weeks of January, I find to soon become consumed in the blight of another year of expectation. Sometimes I am suspicious this is the forfeit I must pay for having begun the first of the first with a head spinning like those wheels

on the bus ... round and round. January represents all that the God Janus bought to the dance floor: ‘god of gates; doors and doorways; beginnings; endings and time.’ January is a fragile time; it’s the time when I attempt at place my life in perspective. I think it is fair to say pandemonium strikes socially.

Janus incurs the ruling out of the past and enforces new beginnings.

Unless I am missing something we should courteously follow his ideas. In relation to this New Year I have had to drop 2010 at the chime of midnight on the thirty first of the twelfth and grab 2011 as fast as possible, before it runs away from me. Where would it run to? Ah into time, to soon find itself filed with all the previous years. Listen to the exhalation of the breaths as people realise that year of events can be

forgiven and a new opportunity is released. I am fraught with anxieties of another year. This burden is increased by the pier pressurising magazine I have found myself reading. Where, in all its earnest, it reads to me that this year could be the best that I have come by yet. The serenity of that Sunday morning feeling is immediately destroyed.

The magazine rudely suggests that the previous year has not been the best for me. I am frustrated at the undermining of my life the magazine has indirectly proposed.

It suggests hypothetically I can resurrect the failures of the previous years by changing my lifestyle this year.

It essentially guides me through the changes I should make in every aspect of my life. I should not be

wearing a body con skirt and Ugg’s, but a Chloe maxi and Raffia wedges. The Christmas flab should be immediately addressed with Boxercise and Yogalates, and or any other sport I can find that appears to have been rechristened with another. The article even refers to my horoscope as though this is proof that unless I grip the year with a new take I will lose my job; friendships will experience shake ups and there is the potential of health deterioration unless I commit to a healthy diet and regular exercise.

I am feeling ever so slightly threatened by my horoscope.

I grant this threat is not personal.

But I can’t help feeling shot down before the year has even begun in its full. My ideology of a New Year has been tainted with things I feel I should now do. Or else. Room

for me in my year seems to have been made microscopically small if I really want this year to be the best yet. It simply won’t be if I purposely aim for that. I intend to live my year like the last and how I will live the next one too.

I’m not saying I won’t change a few things and introduce a few quirks to my life and throw out some baggage of previous years. I just don’t intend on making an issue out of the New Year. I’ll only have to do the same next year. Call me a New Years scrooge, an obstinate citizen who wants to be abnormal from this yearly calendar event, but don’t ask me to make a New Year’s Resolution. As a friend rightly said a resolution can be made at any time to yourself. Happy New Year.

Opinion08

Monday January 31 2011 • gair rhydd • opinion@gairrhydd.com

Royally Unfair?

Sophie Keeling Opinion Writer You may have heard that Prince William is marrying Kate Middleton.

Hard to miss, what with the acres of press coverage, commemorative plates and talk of a public holiday.

But what makes William so important? After all, apart from the socalled celebrities who have emerged from Big Brother, no one cares about the nuptials of people when neither of them has done anything of note.

And even if they have, the most it warrants is a mawkish spread in Hello, as opposed to changing the public calendar. So why should this very ordinary couple be so important simply because he has been labelled Royal?

Although many may say that the Royal Family has little relevance in contemporary culture, the wedding has certainly brought their influence into focus, showing how anything related to them is seen as national importance. But while this celebrity culture is fairly common as we are also expected to care about Paris Hilton, Politicians’ wives and any rock stars’ offspring, with the Royal family it goes that step further. As opposed to being just tabloid fodder, there seems to be the idea that we mere mortals are inferior to the Royal Family and the Queen in particular. However little power she may wield in terms of legislature, the very act of being expected to bow to her, of expressing subservience and inferiority, carries weight. And even if individuals may not feel inferior to her, the culture surrounding the monarchy means that this sycophantic servility is expected of us.

That would be all well and good if we could be certain that The Queen and William when he takes her place, is somehow possessing of some extra wonder which eludes their subjects. But it’s a lucky dip.

As opposed to assessing this holder of power to see if they are worthy, it is simply given at birth, meaning that there may well be someone in this position who simply is no better than their subjects. It’s iffy to choose someone to hob-nob with dignitaries in such an arbitrary manner. The Queen admittedly seems to do a reasonable job, but the system has no way to screen against an incompetent heir. And there may well be others who would be even better, but don’t get the chance simply because they weren’t born into the right family. We seem to claim we are a meritocratic society, in which the benefits and positions are awarded to the most able, meaning society is run better.

However, in this most prominent of examples, this noble principle is being ignored.

Well, it’s not completely arbitrary – we have that delightful system in

place where the first born male gets the top job. Sexual discrimination is branded illegal if it is part of the selection for any other job, other than the obvious, like member of the men’s relay team, or wet-nurse. And yet in choosing a figurehead for our country, sexual discrimination is still in place. Surely these out-dated traditions should be scrapped now that they directly contradict our laws? Yes, this procedure is tradition. But just because it’s traditional, it doesn’t make it good.

Politicians, who are also figureheads and national decision-makers, are voted in; we have a say however small. Yet, the individual with ultimate control, such as to dissolve parliament, is totally unelected.

Admittedly, powers in this sense are limited by the fact that if the monarch did something completely against the grain there would be a little bit of a kerfuffle. Their main role seems to be a kind of ambassador, and admittedly ambassadors aren’t subject to a general election, but they are selected: at least some members of the country have agreed their appointment. Here however, our national representa-

tive and head of state is not just unelected, but completely randomly appointed. So much for democracy.

Usually at this point someone will bring out the old chestnut of: the Royal family’s good for tourism. Admittedly lots of tourists like to gawp at them, and a royal wedding will increase that – a big ceremony to entertain the visitors. But why should we choose our system of government and head of state, something emblematic of a country, just because tourists like it? If we replaced the current Queen with Mr Blobby who would live in a giant bouncy castle surrounded by pinksuited guards, we’d probably get a lot of people wanting to have a look.

But it would be silly, just like having a randomly appointed, unelected head of state, and we shouldn’t be seeking to turn our country, with its legislature, in to some sort of amusement park. Even if the Royal family were henceforth stripped of importance, it doesn’t even mean we couldn’t find alternatives: an elected monarch for example would still draw in the crowds, and tourists will still want to see Buckingham palace, even if the monarch

doesn’t live there.

So forgive me if I don’t gush about a Royal wedding, because frankly, if it wasn’t for this system, at odds with our supposedly meritocratic and democratic country, no one would have heard of them, or care. Even if William, when king, will have little real political freedom, in a position of figurehead, hobnobbing with other heads of state, he will be representing our country, and could very easily put his foot in it. Just because we label them ‘Royal’ it doesn’t mean they are automatically right for the job, or even that they want it – Harry’s little Nazi stunt showed how unfair the selection is – unfair on the people to be represented by an idiot, and unfair on him to be expected to represent us when he hasn’t signed up for the responsibility. Although the royal wedding will be nice and jolly, it also represents an affront to our values of choice, sexual equality, democracy and meritocracy. No amount of commemorative tea towels will hide that.

A search for Democracy?

Chris Williams Opinion Editor Tunisia has just been put on the map! After years of sitting on the fringes of Africa, Tunisia has previously been the silent sidekick to the world class superhero of ridiculous: Colonel Gadaffi’s Libya. Yet this time, they’ve not just hit the headlines, they’ve taken the headlines down an alley and beaten them to a bloody pulp.

A state of emergency is enforced within the country and there’s little economic activity, while schools, government offices and most shops remain closed.

In fact, in 48 hours they've had three presidents, a legitimate one, an illegitimate one and an interim one - most people in Britain can’t handle the fact that we have one leader, let alone three.

Further to this, the police are yet to be able to handle the situation - reports suggests gangs are looting and the streets aren’t safe.

The country has descended into absolute, unrivaled anarchy: a problem which any democracy can experience and every democracy should be worried about. Equally, in a strange way it shows an enlightening statement about the need for government and about the necessity to have controlled institutions like the government to maintain stability of a country.

On the other hand, what a sour note, who ever realised that humans can descend into sheer violence and destructive behaviour, just because the government’s no longer there.

The unrest which sparked the initial violence and anger among citizens was an unemployed man's cry for help. Burning himself in anger at the unjust system in which he lived, people caught the uprising bug, with violence spreading across the country. The entire argument comes down to the cost of food and the increase in unemployment: and the fear now is, it may spread. In fact, anti-government protests have been going on in Egypt too - a cause for concern to the countries nearby.

What saddens me is the fact that they live in dictatorships and are genuinely unhappy with their situation, yet they do something about it. They rise up and join together to ensure that the government knows that they’re angry and knows that they’re frustrated by their living situation.

If the end is a better government and a better way of life for their peoples, then I think people power should be harnessed and realised.

Opinion09

Monday January 31 2011 • gair rhydd • opinion@gairrhydd.com

The problem with charitable giving Holly Howe Opinion Editor It was announced last week that Devon County Council have proposed a 100% cut of its funding for domestic violence support services. This is a shocking proposition; Devon Domestic Advice and Abuse have already pointed out that it is not only jobs, but lives that will be lost due to these cuts. These vital services rely on government money, out of their £380,000 income last year, with the majority (£328,000) came from the council with only £22,000 coming from donations.

Although it is clearly outrageous for such cuts to be proposed to these essential services, we must also ask: why are there not more donations? Martin Brookes of New Philanthropy Capital has pointed out that the Donkey Sanctuary has an income of £20million while the top three domestic violence charities combined only have an income of £17million. Now while I do not advocate the maltreatment of donkeys, or any animal in fact, does the stark difference in income suggest that the charitable public have their priorities mixed up?

With a wealth of charities in the UK, it is hard to know where our money should go. There are currently around 189,000 charities registered in the UK, each vying for public donations to keep from bankruptcy. There appears to be an arbitrary hierarchy of good causes in which issues such as domestic violence and mental health are deemed less important than donkeys. The more taboo an issue is, the less people are willing to donate to the cause.

Or is it simply that these issues are forgotten about? Often, a huge part of a charities income goes towards advertising. If a charity is well known enough it will be the first port of call when deciding which charity the school’s monthy cake sale profits will go to. Awareness campaigns have seen breast cancer charities strengthen over the past few years, and charities for prostate cancer have quickly followed suit.

It could be said that U2 frontman Bono is prioritising awareness a little too much, with his anti-poverty foundation ONE giving only 1.2% (£118,000) of the charity’s donations to good causes. In comparison, £5.1 million went towards paying salaries.

While some charities don’t have the budget for extensive advertising, charity appeals such as Children in Need and Red Nose Day create the awareness and family friendly appearance that more sensitive issues do not have. Devon Domestic Abuse and Advice were given £25,000 by Children in Need last year.

It is difficult to suggest that some causes are more important than others, but it seems that some crucial issues are being ignored or simply forgotten. Research into human empathy has recently uncovered a strange phenomenon. In a study conducted by Nordgren and McDonnell, it was discovered that crimes appear less serious when there are more victims. Although illogical, it is easy to see how this can happen. When reading about a crime, or even a natural disaster, the image of say, a 21 year old woman, immediately conjures an image of a person and a personality. In comparison, the suggestion

of, for example, 61 people, becomes removed; we simply can’t imagine the lives of all 61 people, so it becomes a number and not a group of human beings.

Charities utilise these reactions by showing us ‘real life stories’.

On television appeals, we are told the story of a child with malaria followed by the suggestion that ‘£5 will buy one mosquito net’. There needs to be a connection in order for us to want to donate, but often, a charity does not have the funds to create one.

There is no direct correlation between people affected by an issue and money donated. Although the Pakistan floods last year were reported to have affected more people than the 2004 Asian tsunami, it was declared that the aid committed was far less than for a natural disaster of its scale. One of the reasons cited for the poor response was the lack of celebrity involvement. It is undeniable that celebrities have an impact on our awareness of certain causes. Clooney champions Sudan, Jolie has Cambodia, and Pitt campaigns for New Orleans. The demand for smear tests went up considerably after Jade Goody’s diagnoses of cervical cancer.

I cannot begrudge anyone for donating to their chosen charity, whether for a small animal rehoming centre or bowel cancer awareness, but we need to make the decision to donate more wisely than we have done. Like any other business, it is easy to be seduced by advertising and celebrity endorsement, but some charities, like Devon Domestic Abuse and Advice, are more in need of these donations than ever.

And are more important than donkey sanctuaries. There, I said it.

Above and Below: The two sides to charitable giving

Nick Clegg's daddy issues Izzy Voss Opinion Writer Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg recently announced plans to dustoff and resume Harriet Harman’s paternity leave proposals. Providing that leave be shared equally between mothers and fathers will allow an equal approach to parenting. Clegg described the current situation, in which fathers are allowed just two weeks paid leave, as ‘Edwardian’ and claimed that it was patronising to women and marginalised men. As of April 2011, dads will be entitled to take any paid leave not used by mums and will, supposedly, be allowed as much as 10 months paid leave by 2015.

Clegg made it clear in his speech at think-tank Demos that these proposals were aimed at helping ‘Alarm Clock Britain’ i.e. those who work hard, avoid debt and try to do the best for their families. This seems

to be a somewhat transparent attempt by Clegg to try and restore some of the Liberal Democrat’s credibility after having conceded to Conservative initiatives which directly contradict their original manifesto – most notably the recent decision to raise tuition fees.

Such decisions demonstrate how they have not only failed to keep to promises which they made before the May 2010 election, but have actually supported measures which directly betray the values of their voters.

It would seem that the British media’s persistent mockery of Clegg’s submissive attitude towards Cameron’s demands, as well as questions regarding the democratic value of their relationship, have begun to unsettle the Liberal Democrat leader, and prompted him to take action which will be welcomed by backbenchers, party members and voters alike. There have been sever-

al reports in recent months that the backlash against the tuition fees row from disgruntled backbenchers posed a considerable threat to the stability of the coalition.

However, while Mr Clegg’s intentions for introducing new paternity leave conditions may be questionable, they no doubt represent a step forward for British society. The metaphorical ‘glass ceiling’ which is statistically evident in the workplace is in part due to the way women are currently expected to put careers on hold to have children.

This has led to many women having to choose between maintaining their careers or starting a family, which has in turn produced a trend of women having children increasingly late in life.

The proposed new rules for equal leave would allow new parents to share time off and even alternate month to month whether mum or dad stayed at home, preventing

women being coerced into such decisions.

This does, however, pose the question of how willing men are to shoulder some of the burden of childbirth. Nature has biologically let men off the hook in terms of childbirth and while a small number of men have chosen to put careers on hold to assume the modern role of stay-at-home dad, most have also been had an easy ride when it comes to making professional sacrifices in the course of childrearing. It may well be that while government policy has evolved and modernised beyond ‘Edwardian’ standards in terms of equal responsibilities, there are many men who are perhaps not as prepared for these changes. While it may be considered an old-fashioned view of parenting, a lot of men will not miss being able to merrily skip to work five days a week, leaving a sleep-deprived mother at home

to appease screaming infants and prise crayons out of determined toddlers’ teeth. No longer will they be able to publicly protest the injustice of the lack of support for new fathers while secretly breathing a sigh of relief that they are not being asked to surrender their briefcases, uniforms or tools in place of a bottle and a bag of Pampers.

Althoughß Nick Clegg’s pledges to allow families the luxury of choice through more flexible leave allowances may have stemmed from a Liberal Democrat identity crisis and criticism of his lack of backbone, they do signal a positive change. Gaining real improvements in terms of gender equality involves changing perceptions of the roles of men and women, which is exactly what these allowances could do for Britain.

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Columnist 12

What price breakfast?

A

h, The Breakfast Club. I fucking love that film. Good cast, great dialogue, brilliant soundtrack.

And, yes, Ally Sheedy looks waaaay better before her makeover, trust.

Yet there’s a reason why it wouldn’t get more than a nine out of ten from me. Well, there are two reasons actually, but only one’s integral to my argument. And it is this.

The five Saturday morning delinquents only end up bosom buddies after they go a-toking on Bender’s prize stash. Now you may not have seen the film. And if you have, you may be furrowing your brow and thinking, ‘He’s talking bollocks!

That’s not why they were friends, right?’ Well, think again. Before that round of Dutch-passing, they all basically hate each other’s guts (except for Claire and Bender, who are on target for the ‘hot beef injection’ right from the start anyway). After it, despite a few more altercations, they’re all closer than it would ever have seemed possible. Ergo, the alternate message from John Hughes’ finest flick seems to be: if you take drugs, you make friends.

So, it got me thinking. Why do we need drugs (I’m thinking mainly booze here) to be friends? Because we do. Maybe not all the time, granted. But think of your first weeks in Uni. How many of your friends (real, or added on Facebook then forgotten about) became your friends through mutual consumption of alcohol, whether a friendly three pints or a drunken orgy of initiation? I’d imagine it’s a fair percentage.

Of course, we gain friends through drinking, yet we usually keep them because of who they are. Yet I bet everybody can name at least one person (coursemate, flatmate or otherwise), nominally a friend, who is only tolerable after a good few shots. And some people are so much nicer to each other when they’re half in the bag.

Now I’m not a vices-of-drink moralist, or a teetotaller. I’ve had some fucking brilliant nights out in Cardiff, over the course of which shitloads of cheap spirits, ciders and

BREAKFAST CLUBBERS: no ganja, no talkin' beers have been consumed by yours truly. And I’ve made many friends on nights out, either from halls when we were all still unsure of each other, or by just meeting new people when in drink. Hell, as long as I can still source mixer doubles for a quid-fifty or thereabouts, I’m staying firmly off the wagon.

Yet, equally, some of the best times I’ve had with friends have been sober. I don’t need to be pissedup to talk about anything and everything until six in the morning.

Yet some people clearly do need to drink to socialise. Why? The most obvious argument is that drinking helps people loosen up and be more friendly, more amenable to new people. This is largely true (yet it’s also true that drinking makes some people love a good scrap). Drink certainly reduces shyness, too, so it’s good for wallflowers making a name for themselves.

Yet that still doesn’t satisfy the argument, because if we the people only like each other enough to be-

come friends when we’re pissed, then that must mean we dislike each other the rest of the time. No? Maybe not…

I enjoy drinking, but not usually for itself. It’s the social side of heavy drinking I enjoy, and it’s probably the same with most people. Yet I only drink as much on a regular basis because everybody does: it’s shite being sober when your friends are all seven sheets to the wind. I wouldn’t feel the need to drink as heavily sometimes if I knew I could have a better-than-good time being more sober, and I know I’m not the only one who thinks like that.

It’s not exactly peer pressure, because, at university age, we’re usually old enough to stand up and make an informed choice, and some do stay teetotal; getting pissed is just the done thing. If the done thing in terms of letting-your-hairdown hedonism was playing bridge, I’m sure local shops would report record sales of playing cards (as their sales of Fosters hit the floor).

The proposed alternatives for Britain’s hardcore drinking are things like ‘café culture’, whereby we all don berets and nip down for a coffee and a fey bit of live music, like ‘twas Greenwich Village in the early Sixties. Or a baguette and a glass (singular) of house red, like Rome on a summer’s day. Doesn’t sound too bad I suppose. But it ain’t gonna take off here. The weather’s too cold to ape Europe, Britain is not as internationally cool as New York, and we fucking love drinking.

We always have done. It’s probably not confined to Britain and the ‘West’, but I don’t know anywhere else well enough to comment. A hundred years ago, five hundred, more, people still loved a tipple, and used the booze to get closer: how many millions of babies have been conceived thanks to one glass too many?

It’s only the mass media who are able to make it seem a bigger deal now. They’re able to paint twenty-

first century Cardiff as internationally insalubrious because of its drinking habits. Yet like knife crime, paedophilia, and adultery, boozing has always gone on, and was probably as bad if not worse in the past: Gin Lane was three hundred years ago, after all.

So. There aren’t any answers for change. A lot of people need drink and other drugs to be friends, and that’s going to go on regardless of government, taxes, economy and the media. It’s just a bit of a shame, that’s all.

And, damn it, it is rather enjoyable to get steaming from time to time.

Incidentally, the other reason The Breakfast Club scores lower for me is because, even after their new, drug-aided friendliness, the cool kids pair off with each other and geeky Brian ends up doing all the written work. It’s enough to bring out the early-era Morrissey in all of us.

Politics Tunisia destabilised in political turmoil Wikileaks: Two Months In Page 15 >>

Jonathan Sims Politics Writer Tunisia is recovering following a month of political protesting which has constituted the most dramatic wave of social unrest in the country for three decades. President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has been forced to step down after 23 years in power and dramatically fled the country due to concerns for his safety.

With a rising death toll and various industrial strike-action halting progress, it is difficult to see where the country will gain much-needed stability in the coming months.

Considering that in recent years Tunisia has been seen as a relatively wealthy and stable country in comparison to its North African neighbours, the situation has come as somewhat of a surprise to global governments and media. The protests, which begun last month, are believed to have started due to people’s concerns surrounding issues of food inflation, corruption, freedom of speech, unemployment and poor living conditions in the lead up to planned forthcoming

13

elections. The events initially went largely unnoticed by the world’s media, however, images began to appear on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter on the 18th December 2010 that showed police attempting to disperse youths who had attacked shop windows and cars. The actions of one protestor, Mohamed Bouazizi, who set himself alight after having his fruit and vegetable cart confiscated by police, swiftly developed the situation into headline news, with news station Al-Jazeera labelling the events as “suicidal protests of despair by Tunisia’s youth” and further characterising them as “a lethal combination of poverty, unemployment and political repression: three characteristics of most Arab societies”.

The protests continued to develop throughout late December and early January with various independent trade union activists holding rallißes that eventually reached the country’s capital Tunis. Protests over unemployment and the high cost of living on the 3rd January in Thola turned particularly violent with police being forced to resort to

tear gas to control a crowd of 250 students. One tear gas canister reportedly landed in a local mosque and the protestors are believed to have retaliated by attacking the office of the Constitutional Democratic Rally, the country’s former governing party. Soon after these events on the January 6, an estimated 95% of the country’s 8000 lawyers went on strike, with the chairman of the national bar association defending the actions as “a clear message that we do not accept unjustified attacks on lawyers”. The unfolding anarchy that was rapidly spreading across the country resulted in President Ben Ali dissolving his government on the January 14 and at the same time, declaring a national state of emergency.

Citizens were banned from gathering in groups of more than three people, risking arrest if this law is broken and even the threat of being shot if they attempt to run away.

Ben Ali also decided to flee the country on this same day, eventually landing in Saudi Arabia, after France decided to reject a request for the plane to land within its ter-

ritory. Saudi Arabia defended their decision to let the plane land within its borders, citing reasons as “in support of the security and stability of their country” and that it was strictly “not out of sympathy” for Ben Ali who has often spoken out against the presence of Islamists in Tunisia. As a condition of Ben Ali’s asylum within the country, the Saudi Arabian government has demanded that he remain “out of politics”. Following Ben Ali’s resignation, Tunisia’s Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi briefly took over as acting president before handing power over to parliamentary speaker Fouad Mebazaa who has been given 60 days to organise parliamentary elections.

Upon gaining power, Mebazaa announced that it was his belief that it would be in the country’s best interest to form a National Unity government, incorporating representatives from a number of political parties. To the outrage of many Tunisians, the newly formed government included 12 members of Ben Ali’s RCD party at its first sitting on the January 20 and this

resulted in thousands of anti-RCD protestors arranging further rallies outside RCD headquarters, calling for the party to be disbanded. The Tunisian General Labour Union’s ministers resigned from the government after just one day because of the presence of the RCD members.

The fear now in terms of global politics, is that the chaos in Tunisia is in danger of spreading to the other North African states, creating a regional instability that leaders will be keen to avoid. Protests within Algeria, Jordan, Egypt and Yemen have already begun to occur over the past month in opposition to various issues such as food price rises and the fall of the Egyptian stock market index.

As of yet, major world leaders have shown little sign of support or intervention into the events within Tunisia, although some kind of aid may be needed within the coming weeks to ensure that a degree of stability can be brought to the region.

Is David Miliband the king of the jungle?

Alice Huges Politics Writer Sour grapes, it is known, do not tend to make good wine, although we may soon find out whether or not they make good TV. I am of course referring to David Miliband’s potential foray into the televisual sphere in the wake of his very public defeat to his younger brother in the Labour leadership election in September.

In a move that has been viewed as both inevitable and petulant in equal measures, Miliband has since quit frontline politics in order to keep his brother’s leadership ‘as free as possible from distraction’, promising to serve the party ‘to his utmost’ from the backbenches. Fastforward four months and it seems that he is not yet ready to leave the limelight. It has emerged that earlier in the New Year Miliband approached the BBC with a number

of programme ideas with a view to forging a part-time career in television, news onto which the media has poured much scorn and ridicule.

Indeed, it is a gift to satirists and political commentators. Those of you familiar with Alan Partridge will no doubt be conjuring up images of Miliband Senior at lunch with the BBC Director General desperately touting his ‘idea for a programme’.

Yet although David Miliband’s contribution to the small screen, if it ever comes to fruition, should be a far cry from Monkey Tennis, it seems an odd move for a politician who still has much to achieve in Westminster and age on his side with which to do it. A move such as this would seem to represent a sort of semi-retirement from public service. Making programmes for the BBC, although lucrative, is no substitute for a long and successful career in the Commons for one of the most ambitious politicians of his generation.

The news has drawn comparisons with another victim of a failed leadership bid – Michael Portillo, who can currently be seen on BBC2 fronting a documentary on railways. Since his defeat in the Conservative leadership contest to Iain Duncan Smith in 2001, television has proved a successful venture for him.

Yet Portillo and Miliband are not the only politicians, past or present, to be using television as a source of income. Diane Abbott, although she has now abandoned the role in order to concentrate on her ministerial duties, was once a regular on politics show This Week. And this phenomenon is not restricted to the political arena.

Former Lib-Dem MP Lembit Opik has most recently been seen doing his best to demolish any chance he ever had of being re-elected with an ill-fated campaign to become ‘King of the Jungle’ in ITV’s I’m a Celebrity. And who could forget George

Galloway’s vomit-inducing impersonation of a cat on Big Brother?

Finally, I can’t have been the only person to have felt nauseous at the sight of Vince Cable dancing the foxtrot on Strictly Come Dancing, just days after the tuition fees vote was passed through Parliament.

TV is fast becoming a repository for ex-politicians and a springboard for the vanity of our current ones, and although it may be amusing at times, it is tarnishing the credibility of our elected representatives.

Moreover, David Miliband’s move into television opens up a wider debate on an important issue – whether or not MPs should be allowed to hold other posts. Since when did being an MP become a part-time job?

It wasn’t so long ago that our politicians were moaning about how they fully deserved their high wage (£65k plus expenses) due to the role requiring such time and dedication.

The truth is that most MPs do work very hard for their constituents,

but those using televised media to further their career risk devaluing the profession in the eyes of the public. With all the brouhaha over David Miliband’s ‘next move’, it isn’t so widely reported that his South Shields constituency is one of the most deprived in the country, with one of the highest unemployment rates. At a time when governmental cuts are going to be affecting those in the north of England much harder than their southern counterparts, it is even more imperative that Miliband should be a voice for the people who elected him to be just that.

As the Labour party rebuilds itself, it needs someone as talented as Miliband to provide it with all he has to offer. It seems it is time for Miliband, once a political force to be reckoned with, to re-evaluate his priorities for the good of his party, not himself.

14Politics

Monday January 31 2011 • gair rhydd • politics@gairrhydd.com.com

Ballots not bullets; respect not retaliation

Laura Dunn Politics Writer Like many, I was deeply saddened to hear about the attempted assassination of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in her district of Tucson, Arizona on January 8. Acutely aware of Rep. Gifford's good work whilst I interned in the House of Representatives, it is hard to comprehend that a leading female politician could be targeted in such a violent way when speaking to her constituents.

Giffords is considered to be a rising political star, serving her third Congressional term as a Democrat in a Republican district, winning 54% of the vote in 2006. In 2008’s bumper election year, Giffords maintained her seat in a district that voted 46% in favour of John McCain for President. Giffords is a Representative of moderate views; admired for her diplomacy, placing her firmly in the mainstream arena of American politics.

The heated political arena with partisan debate between left and right has significantly changed the culture of American politics.

The 2010 midterm election wiped out the Democratic majority in the House, and Congresswoman Giffords was one of only 12 Blue Dogs remaining in Republican districts.

She was also the only female Democratic member to be re-elected in a conservative district. Her success at the ballot box was, and continues to be, substantial evidence for the future of pro-choice Democratic women, many of whom voted for controversial legislation including healthcare reform and the cap and trade bill.

Much of the debate has centered on political discourse surrounding the shooting, and the blame attributed to the right-wing media. Sarah Palin’s use of crosshairs on a dis-

trict target map, one of which was placed on Giffords’ constituency is just one example of the violent discourse that has infected the American political landscape. Congresswoman Giffords herself responded to Palin’s discourse on MSNBC in March 2010, reiterating that there are consequences when using extreme political rhetoric. These words have a new poignancy in light of the tragedy that claimed the lives of six individuals and injured 14 others. The map in question has since been removed from Palin’s website, a move which Democratic activist, Christine Pelosi believes is “implicit acknowledgement of her inappropriateness.”

While the political debate between right and left will continue, it is apparent that the tragedy will have consequences for members of Congress and their safety. Threats against elected officials have proliferated in the recent year, notably linked to legislative changes like healthcare reform. Democratic Whip James Clyburn received racist faxes, the windows of Congresswoman Giffords Tucson office were shot, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi received threatening phone calls, one of which she answered personally. The discourse surrounding the healthcare town hall meetings in 2009 were, as Pelosi then predicted, a clear sign of the escalating toxicity that would continue if political civility did not return.

In the years following the September 11th attacks, security on Capitol Hill rose to unprecedented levels. Numbers of Capitol Police have increased, alongside further checks on vehicles, an exterior venue for incoming mail and additional training for emergency situations.

The attack on Congresswoman Giffords has resulted in many members asking for full-time patrols, bulletproof glass or the possibility

of moving their district offices to federal or courthouse complexes, providing extra levels of safety for their staff. Members are worried by the attack on democracy, with Congresswoman Maxine Waters rightly addressing that members can be killed just outside the Capitol walking to work.

Former member Martin Frost believes that campaign committees may have trouble recruiting candidates in wake of the shooting, maintaining that, “Representatives cannot do their jobs if they are unable to have public conversations in informal settings.” While in light of the shooting changes do seem necessary; they would make interaction with constituents extremely difficult. One Democratic representative believes that compromising access will compromise democracy, with Rep. Debbie WassermanSchultz maintaining that a balance needs to be created.

Members of Congress have received briefings from the FBI and Capitol Police, who have advised direct contacts to be made between local police and law enforcement. A security guidebook made available to all members recommends the installation of panic buttons, antibomb devices in car tailpipes and the positioning of furniture to protect from attackers. Some lawmakers believe these actions are too aggressive and unnecessary, with others calling for colleagues not to be ‘cavalier’ when it comes to security. Yet, are these measures enough to protect against gun attacks and terrorism? The increase of constituency meetings and a 5% decrease in Congressional funding by the Republican leadership leaves federal authorities with little ability to provide extra security. Consequently, this will result in restrictions for constituents hoping to visit their Representative in Washington,

with the opportunity of meeting their member and watching political debate from the House Gallery in jeopardy.

It seems unreal that some members of Congress are proposing legislation that, if passed, would allow Representatives to carry guns inside the Capitol, and even on to the House floor. Rep. Louie Gohmert, a Republican representative from Texas, believes that the presence of a gun in the very heart of America’s democracy would protect members from attacking each other.

While there is no doubt that partisan attacks will continue, a physical act of violence between members (last seen in 1856) is unlikely to occur. It is rhetoric such as this, as well as the announcement that two members will use their 'carry to conceal licence' to bring their gun to Congress that proves unhelpful in the bid to progress from gun violence. On the other side of the debate, many members of the Democratic Party are proposing gun restriction legislation. This includes Rep. Gary Ackerman who plans to introduce a bill to tighten the rules on private gun sales, and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy who wishes to ban high-capacity magazines like the weapon used in the Tucson shooting.

The election of Barack Obama in 2008 created ripples of fear in advocacy organizations like the National Rifle Association, who believed that Big Government and Obama’s stance on gun control would take away their weapons. 31,224 people die from gun violence in America each year, demonstrating that gun limitation needs to be seriously addressed by all sectors of society.

The blame game between news outlets is likely to continue for the foreseeable future, the toxicity of partisan debate attracting large audiences and further coverage. Is

Sarah Palin morally responsible for the murder of innocent Arizonans?

Has the Tea Party taken their flirtation with violent rhetoric too far?

Will political civility ever return to the United States? This question is not mine to answer, even if I do hold distinct views on how we have reached this crossroad in American political history. The tragedy brings greater issues to the forefront of national debate, notably how to improve the treatment of the mentally ill.

President Obama’s State of the Union address on January 25th will reveal if the tragedy has humbled lawmakers through repeated calls for civility. In a historic move, members of both parties will sit with each other, marking short-term progress of the pursuit for common ground.

As this article goes to press, Gabrielle Giffords has moved to a rehabilitation centre in Houston.

Despite the gravity of the situation she is able to breathe without the assistance of a ventilator, open both eyes, lift her limbs and recognize friends and family. This remarkable progress, a little over two weeks after a bullet passed through the left side of her brain is inspiring to us all, and her continued determination may prove the prediction of her recovery by her husband, Capt.

Mark Kelly to be true.

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords represents what is hopeful about American politics, with new possibilities for female politicians and the opportunity to break barriers in a politically polarized state.

As journalist Eleanor Clift remarked the day after the shooting, “It is terrible irony that Gabrielle’s husband can go into a space capsule and return home safely, but his wife’s safety can’t be assured outside a Safeway supermarket.”

Politics15

Monday January 31 2011 • gair rhydd • politics@gairrhydd.com

Wikileaks: The story two months later

Caleb Woodbridge looks at the revelations that emerged from the leaking of confidential US Embassy cables by Wikileaks and highlights the real lessons of “Cablegate”, the vulnerability of freedom and privacy in the digital age.

The Story So Far...

Since November 28, almost 3000 of the 250,000 cables have been published by newspapers including The Guardian and New York Times, and released on the Internet by Wikileaks. What have we learned so far, and what are the implications for the future?

Supporters of publishing the leaks argue that there is a clear public interest in releasing the information. For example, the cables revealing Afghan contempt for the British failure to impose security and connect with ordinary Afghans are arguably of direct concern to the British public.

Cables revealed US diplomats were ordered to spy on United Nations leaders, including obtaining their credit card numbers, passwords and biometric data. Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN, denied that American diplomats were engaged in spying. Ban Kimoon, the UN Secretary-General, warned that such actions would breach international law.

The leaks have also made clear just how isolated North Korea is.

Cables revealed that support is growing among the Chinese government for a reunified Korea, and that China sees Pyongyang as a “spoiled child”. Iran was also revealed to be isolated from its Middle Eastern neighbours, such as Saudi Arabia.

However, critics argue that these revelations simply confirm what is already known, and that the leaks make diplomacy harder and also

endanger lives. Morgan Tsvangari, the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe and long-standing opponent of Robert Mugabe, is now under investigation for possible conspiracy or treason charges, after details of his talks with Washington were released.

Bradley Manning, the 23 yearold army private believed to have leaked the cables, is currently in a Marine Corps jail in Quantico, Virginia. His lawyer has accused the military of using punitive measures against Manning. Manning, already held in maximum custody, has been placed on suicide watch against the recommendations of the jail’s psychiatrist.

Julian Assange, who runs Wikileaks, faces extradition to Sweden on charges of consensual but unprotected sex, which fall under Sweden’s strict rape laws. He claims that the reopening of the charges is politically motivated.

There have also been revelations about how the embassy cables came to be published. In a bizarre twist, Assange threatened to sue The Guardian for printing the leaked cables without his go-ahead after a member of Wikileaks leaked the cables to a freedom of information activist.

The reactions to the leaks have been as big a story as the leaks themselves. Wikileaks soon found itself fighting to stay online. It was firstly targeted by distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks. Amazon.com dropped it from its servers, which it claims it did before the US

Government contacted it. Visa and MasterCard have stopped processing donations to Wikileaks.

“Anonymous”, a group of hackers, retaliated with their own cyber attacks on websites identified as “enemies” of Wikileaks, including Visa and MasterCard, but stopped after realising that preventing customers from making payments was likely to alienate public support.

Wikileaks moved its pages to European servers, and many mirror sites, replicating the Wikileaks site, were created across the Internet.

Assange distributed an encrypted “insurance file” containing the most explosive information, and has warned that he has arranged for the key to be released if anything happens to him.

Columbia University’s Office of Careers Services circulated an email on November 30 to students in the School of International and Public Affairs, warning them against accessing or posting about Wikileaks online for fear of damaging their careers. The School is known for cultivating future diplomats, and said discussing the leaked cables “would call into question your ability to deal with confidential information”.

On January 7, Twitter contacted a number of its users, including Julian Assange, Bradley Manning, and Icelandic MP Brigitta Jonsdottir, informing them that the US Government had served them an information order. Information demanded included addresses, phone numbers, activity logs, payment

details, and the names and identifies of everyone following them on Twitter.

Twitter challenged the original secret order, which may have been unconstitutional, and ensured that the relevant people were informed, giving them the opportunity to bring a legal challenge to the action. Wikileaks tweeted, “Note that we can assume Google & Facebook also have secret US government subpoenas (sic). They make no comment. Did they fold?

Threat to Internet Freedom?

Whatever the rights and wrongs of leaking the cables in the first place, everyone who cares about democracy and freedom of speech should be deeply concerned by the reactions to Wikileaks.

Targeting the services that host Wikileaks, such as Amazon, is the electronic equivalent of taking out the presses for the newspapers that have released the cables. If the same tactics were applied to traditional news media, there would be an outcry, but because Wikileaks is small and web-based, it is vulnerable.

The US reaction to Wikileaks undermines its claims to support freedom and transparency. It isn’t at all clear that Wikileaks have broken any laws, and if America can just go after websites it doesn’t like, why should China listen to anything it says about Internet freedom?

But to see the situation as a simple conflict between closed governments versus the open Internet is to

romanticise it. The web also makes it increasingly easy for governments to monitor political groups and movements, and to track down individuals involved.

In an age where every tweet, blog post and status update leaves a permanent electronic trail, and where the services we use every day are willing to hand that information over to governments on demand, we need to think carefully how we can safeguard privacy and political debate.

It isn’t just direct government censorship or surveillance that we should be concerned about. If service providers are unwilling to host material unwelcome to governments, then that will have a chilling effect on Internet freedom of speech. If the public live in fear of accessing or discussing controversial material in case it damages their career, then that will be deadly to democracy.

The problem is not going to go away. This was the latest in a string of leaks, also including Iraq and Afghanistan war logs. On January 23, The Guardian published leaked records of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. We need to work out how to preserve freedom and privacy in the Wikileaks age.

We face a world in which it is increasingly impossible to keep a secret. What happens when not only can governments no longer keep secrets from us, but also we can no longer keep secrets from our government?

Features18

Your Space.

We want to hear your stories. Just drop us a line on features@gairrhydd. com. This week Zenia Diwan writes about her work with Dr. Daniel Meadows, a Cardiff University lecturer and photographer.

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he struggle to get a rewarding work experience on your CV is never ending. This summer I was eager to change this because of the bug of competition and recession finally bit me.

This summer, something unexpected happened to me.

The opportunity of working on a photographic project landed on my doorstep when my lecturer announced that he needed an assistant for his research project that in-

Photography: It's all about the composition. vestigated his archive dating back to the 1970s.

Dr. Daniel Meadows is a lecturer of Photography and participatory media at Cardiff University.

He is an imminent photographer of the 1970s, who was at the forefront of independent photography movement in Britain.

I was hired as an intern of CUROP which is the Cardiff Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme that funds students to work with the staff in their areas of study.

After opting for my lecturer’s module which critically examined the history of social documentary photography, I was not alien to the field. However working on this project changed my perspective on documentary photography completely.

Within the internship I had to work in a dark room built inside an outhouse.

Being a student, the idea was countered with a sudden feeling of lethargy. As an assistant I had to sit on a tall stool, sort old files, remove negatives of from old withering

bags, and put them in fresh ones for purposes of preserving.

Little did I know that this room would actually inspire me to explore the genre of photography that is linked to realism.

The archive was a collection of photographs, audio recordings and videos of the different people Mr. Meadows met in the 1970s.

I felt like I was living in the 70s, surrounded by photos of people in bell-bottom jeans and stripped shirts. Even if the bell-bottoms seemed like a farfetched idea, the striped shirts tempted me to embark on a retro shopping spree.

Day by day, my curiosity increased and I realised that most of us pose for photographs in order to look our best; a lot of people would hardly agree to be photographed on those days at work when late nights and coffee has taken its toll on our faces.

But that is the life of the workforce; a life that we as students will adhere to once employed. Actually, that is what this genre is all about!

The aim is to capture the essence of life...

Dr. Meadows took pictures of carpenters, shop owners, tattoo artists, famers and so on doing what they do; he documented an aspect of their lives which carries a general idea of the workforce.

I was most intrigued by the fact that he wanted things to be ordinary, just the way they are.

I was told by Mr. Meadows that his primary interest was always photographing British people.

Citing a reason for this he stated, “I was made aware very early on how class-divided British society is. I was bursting with curiosity. I needed to know about adventure in other people's lives.”

So he embarked on a journey with the bus! He bought a reg. JRR 404, Double Decker that was called the ‘Free Photographic Omnibus’.

He lived in that bus, visited different towns in the country and photographed people.

That is what I call the true spirit of adventure.

He told me stories of the different people he met and how they lived their lives.

It is captivating to learn that each person has a distinctive story of their own to share. The photographs of war, mishaps or everyday life that flood newspapers daily all come under the category of documentary.

The job of a documentary photographeris to take a photograph that is objective and rightly depicts the scene in front of the camera.

Susan Sontag, an American writer

once said, “Photographed images do not seem to be statements about the world so much as pieces of it”.

Even though a photograph is a production of a photographer’s perception, it brings to the eyes of the viewer something that happened, or something that is happening.

This genre, in fact, forms the basis of photojournalism. It is not a realisation that is instant, but a photograph is a document. It is a piece of evidence that shows us a thing of the past.

Photography actually came into practise in the 19th century because of a desire for naturalistic depiction of an event, place or person.

But an important thing to note is that documentary photography is an umbrella term that encompasses genres such as war, travel and social documenting.

Social documentary in particular focuses on humans and their conditions of living. Fundamentals of this genre lie in history, and have modified overtime.

German photographer August Sanders (1876-1964), was a noted documentary photographer in the early 20th Century.

Living in the period between the two World Wars, his style was to put people into categories.

He photographed the farmer and his life, the chef in the kitchen, the rich man in his formal attire.

In the 1930s and 1940s a lot of his work was apprehended by the Nazis, but whatever is left is a remarkable record of the lives of ordinary people in the early 1900s.

There was an obsession with the ordinary, a fact that is perplexing because today, we live in a world dominated by celebrity culture.

We want to see photographs of famous people snapped while eating, shopping or partying but isn’t our ordinary life important?

While on a stroll in the garden, we witness children playing with their parents, we see friends chatting away... these are common scenes of everyday life, but a camera gives them the identity. It is an identity of the common; of what we all do.

Henri Cartier Bresson, the founder of the highly renowned Magnum Photo Agency said, “For me the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which, in visual terms, questions and decides simultaneously in order to “give a meaning” to the world."

A picture is in itself a story, you’re own story and the camera documents it for you.

Features19

gair rhydd • Monday January 31 2010 • features@gairrhydd.com

Seeking Asylum

For Shrouk El-Attar gaining asylum could mean the difference between meeting her ambitions and fearing persecution. Daniel Shiloh tells us her story.

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his summer a milestone ruling has been passed: no longer will lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender individuals, fleeing from persecution in their home countries, be told to return home and behave more discreetly.

Until recently, many such cases have been rejected if those appealing for refugee status were not under immediate threat and could avoid persecution by hiding their sexual orientation.

However, this change offers little solace to those coming from countries where homosexuality is not forbidden by law, but who nevertheless experience stigmatisation and persecution by the people around them and, at times, by police forces.

All too often these people simply fall between the cracks in the asylum system when individual circumstance is not taken into account. Shrouk El-Attar is such a person, having fled Egypt on multiple grounds.

Though Egypt has no laws against homosexuality, there have been many instances of police 'crackdowns' on homosexuals.

These people find themselves arrested on such spurious grounds as indecency or debauchery, or for crimes as harmless as registering for a gay dating website.

Some of those arrested found themselves detained on false charges and subjected to humiliating medical procedures. Human rights groups in Egypt have been able to do almost nothing about this, with the authorities failing to intervene

with these blatant abuses of power.

I interviewed Shrouk about her life and campaign to find out more about this issue.

Q: What led you to claim asylum in the UK? A: My mother, siblings, and I have always suffered from domestic abuse from a sadistic father and things would get worse as I grew up.

When we came to the UK in 2007 for a visit following a series of events, my mother decided to claim asylum based on domestic violence a few days after our arrival. That claim was turned down by the Home Office and we were denied asylum.

I was scared and I was approaching 18. I knew I could never go back to Egypt for many reasons; my abusive father, my extended family, my sexuality, my rejection of Islam, and the way I am generally, the way I live my life - I would never be accepted in Egypt.

So I spoke to a solicitor to discuss the possibilities of claiming asylum on my own rights on the basis of orientation and apostasy. It was a very hard decision to make because at the time I wasn't 'out' to my mother and I knew that she would never approve of it and that it would ruin our relationship forever.

Q: What was your life like in Egypt ?

A: I came from a wealthy but conservative family. My mother was a TV presenter, my dad is a business man and a few members of my family are high ranking politicians. Like almost any Egyptian family, sexism goes a long way. A lot of things that my brother or my male relatives were allowed to do, I

wasn't. And of course, life as a gay person was impossible.

Q: How does life in the UK compare?

A: Well, I can express my self much more freely here, dress how ever I want, look the way I want, express my beliefs freely. It's a whole world of difference!

I spent the most important years of my life growing up here. I made friends that I wouldn't want to lose for the world. There are people here that I consider as family who accept me the way I am, when my 'actual' family don't. I mean, I have a life here.

Q: When did you first realise you were gay?

A: It was at a very young age, around nine. But to actually understand it took me a few more years.

I was about fifteen or sixteen when I accepted it. At first I thought that this is normal, this is the way people are meant to feel around women.

But you grow up and understand what you are, then absolutely despise yourself and try so hard to be 'normal'. But I don't think you can change who you are.

Q: What was it like growing up as an LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) individual in a conservative culture?

A: It was horrible! You grow up hating yourself because you are brain washed by society into thinking that you are the worst of sinners, making you feel like it would be less of a sin if you killed yourself rather than being gay.

I mean, in grade school they teach you about how God punished

and killed 'kawm-loot' because they were homosexuals. They force you into believing that if you're not a certain way you will go to hell and die with sinners. What is being taught as religious study at schools since you are a kid in Egypt is just abuse!

Q: What is your family life like now you're in the UK? A: I have almost no contact at all with my extended family in Egypt.

My mother and siblings here do not approve of my sexuality, apostasy, or westernisation. I was forced to leave the house when I 'came out' to them. I remember that day. It was hell.

Q: What was the response from people around you?

A: When I came out to my family here in the UK I was forced to leave the house, we had no communication what so ever for over a month.

Gradually things started to be okayish but they would always avoid the subject and act like it doesn't exist.

I still visit from time to time now though. When I came out to my friends most of them were very supportive, and some even told me that they always knew. I always get on-line abuse from people who are 'ashamed that I am Egyptian' or that I’m of Muslim decent, but my friends are the most important thing to me in my life and they accept me the way I am. As long as I am with my friends here, I will be happy.

Q: How did the Home Office responsd to your request?

A: Well the Home Office refused my case obviously, so I appealed

Above: Egypt - facing the reality? to court. Some of the judges comments were that he thinks that gay people in Egypt are treated the same as heterosexuals and that being openly gay in Egypt does not rise to a serious persecution, when there are examples of state crack downs on homosexuals. I was also told that I should have a more 'casual' dress sense that might be tolerated in other Muslim countries.

The fact that I left Islam was not talked about much. These are just a few of the comments.

Q: What could people do to support your campaign?

A: Join our Facebook group 'Save the Shrouk', sign and share our petition (link on group's page), send e-mails and letters to Home Secretary, just trying to build a big support base really. It would be very important if someone can write a credible statement about dangers of gay life -particularly lesbian life - in Egypt if they have never been there or experienced it.

If allowed asylum status, Shrouk would now have been studying at university, having excelled at her A-levels and finished them much earlier than most. Asylum could mean the difference between meeting her ambitions and fearing persecution, having already received death threats.

This case is one of many, and with each successful application we can move towards a fairer asylum system. In the past, petitioning and letter writing had been able to prevent the deportation of refused asylum seekers and any contribution is valuable.

Features 20

Your Space.

This week Hannah Van Den Bergh discusses her experience with Bright Network, the first fully social careers network for students, graduates and young professionals.

L

ike a recurring nightmare I see myself unemployed, riddled in debt and a worthy contestant of the Jeremy Kyle show when I envisage the ether of my future.

The best years of my life; the ones in which I’d planned to afford Louboutins rather than continue to drool over them in magazine pages plucked from my grasp.

And then I wake up to Nick Clegg’s grimace and see that it’s an ever-increasing possibility.

That’s when I found Bright Network. And so, like an embroiled internet romance, the catastrophe of user-friendly typeface, studentfuelled marketing and the soft patter of call operators talking my language cornered me.

A doey-eyed teen love I hadn’t felt since I’d held hands with Matt Grady in fifth grade. Call it fate if you will.

Bright Network is an internetbased careers network that strips you down and sets you in front of potential employers from all fields.

It practically spoon-feeds you! It

organises the one-off events that will set you apart from every other carbon-copy graduate who thinks signing their covering letter with their potential employee’s free pen is enough.

And whisper me my favourite words… it’s free.

So when I was handpicked and cordially invited to attend a once in a lifetime legal event, after a lovely informal chat about my career prospects, I was practically pulling my suit out of the wardrobe.

On arrival I was greeted by the friendly faces of Bright staff and given extra information from the employers that were attending.

We started with a talk from Gwyn Day, who gave us information on conducting ourselves in an interview, and focusing on soft skills.

Then we had a discussion with a student who had been offered three, (yes three!) training contracts from ‘silver circle’ legal firms, who gave us tips on getting through the application form.

And lastly we received an informal chat from James Uffindel, the man himself, on the set-up of the

day and other Bright events we might consider attending.

And then, like Elle Woods before she was tragically ditched by her one-and-only, we didn’t know what to feel. We shuffled around, and the girl next to me mumbled something about talking like a lawyer.

It's good to know I have some help with organising my future Squashed in next to Oxford and Cambridge graduates in their shinier (more expensive) suits, I was scared.

And why? Well a career in law is brutal enough without 100 people fighting for that one training scheme placement (and you think

I’m kidding!)

With two hours to network with trainees and partners who were possible employers, we squeezed information out of them, networking till we could network no more.

Everyone seemed so honest, genuinely telling us the pros and cons about business life, from the hours to seeing clients in the papers.

As if each and every one of us had received that last golden ticket, we worked our legal interest like we’d only be fed once we’d convinced them.

I hopped from Allen & Overy to Hogan Lovells without a crack in my paintwork, stopping at the likes of DWS and Slaughter and May on the way to have a quick chat about tax.

And just to put the proverbial cherry on the legal cake I had stumbled upon Ashurst and found out about mergers and acquisitions.

Herbert Smith invited me to talk about secondments and Pinsent Masons alluded to the training contracts they offer. Lock me up because I’m criminally on form.

With hours of uninterrupted net-

working I left with a smile I couldn’t wipe from my face; the type of smile that leaves people looking at you funny on the tube.

With a re-fuelled enthusiasm and a sense of self-belief, which may have been something to do with the free jelly babies from Slaughter and May and the copious amounts of coffee it was all too rude to refuse (though I’m unconvinced), the Bright Network event has helped me pave my way to applications to the legal world.

It really was a fantastic opportunity that opened my eyes to the competition ahead of me in the Legal career. Bright Network continues to help me, offering me information of events and opportunities they are hosting for students for free all over the country.

And so I’m left throwing my mind to the hazy future that writes itself in my head behind closed eyes.

With the stress of essays and exams and the endless pile of reading that awaits me, it is good to know I have some help with organising my future, which, I have no doubt will be Bright.

Science 22 The cost of biodiversity loss

Fred Fitzgerald Science Correspondent Throughout our very brief existence on this planet, the human race has consistently exploited the environment. At first, with only primitive technology, the damage caused was usually superficial, and nature had a very good chance of recovering. As we have developed more and more complex tools, this damage has become more and more severe, with habitats and countless species of animals, plants and fungi completely wiped out. Only a handful of people cared, or even noticed what was being lost, and were often ignored for a perceived lack of proper evidence. At the beginning of the ‘90s and the 2000s, the main environmental issue was climate change. In the past few years, biodiversity has become the new buzzword and more importantly, that we probably should try to preserve it.

At the beginning of 2010, UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, announced: "Biological diversity underpins ecosystem functioning... its continued loss, therefore, has major implications for current and future human well-being”. Shortly after, 2010 was named the year of biodiversity. But why should we care, or try to maintain biodiversity?

There is a general feeling among business-minded poeple of “why do we need to preserve biodiversity, when we can exploit it for financial gain?”, an understandable view, as a diverse variety of plants and wildlife could be considered as purely

aesthetic - a rainforest teeming with life, while pleasing to know it exists, does not play an obvious part in many peoples’ everyday routine.

The loss of a single species, such as the Black Rhino or the Mountain Gorilla, will not lead to a global economic meltdown, yet all living creatures are intricately linked, and the loss of one will have significant knock-on effects on a multitude of others. The loss of entire ecosystems is an entirely different problem, and will have far reaching consequences.

The most extensively studied example of habitat destruction is that of the rainforests, particularly in the Amazon. Tropical Rainforests cover approximately 970 million hectares of the Earth, half of what existed before foresters cleared away vast swathes of trees for timber. Between 1991 and 2000, the total area of forest lost in the Amazon rose from 415,000 to 587,000 km2, with most of the lost forest becoming pasture for cattle.

If the rate of disappearance continues the rainforests could completely disappear by 2050, along with a staggering amount of living organisms. It has been estimated that 137 plant, animal and insect species are lost every single day due to rainforest deforestation – around 50,000 species annually, and these are only the species that are known – only around 10% of the plant and animal species have been catalogued, with this figure unlikely to rise.

It is not just rainforests which have an importance - the annual economic value of the 63 million hectares of wetland worldwide is said to total

Above: The variety of life. Worth billions, or simply priceless?

$3.4bn, and anti-cancer agents from marine organisms alone are valued at up to $1bn a year.

The collapse of the Newfoundland cod fishery in the 1990s is said to have cost $2bn and tens of thousands of jobs, while mangrove degradation in Pakistan caused tens of millions of dollars of damage to the fishing, farming and timber industries.

Losing particular species will have huge economic implications. In 2000, the total U.S. crop value that was wholly dependent on honey bee pollination was estimated to exceed $15 billion. While sources of alternative pollination are now being sought, it is unlikely that it will be able to meet the vast demands for crop foods in the U.S. The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (Teeb) project has begun to calculate the global economic cost of biodiversity reduction. The initial findings are staggering - the loss of biodiversity through deforestation alone will cost the global economy up to $4.5trn (£2.8trn) each year. The services provided by tropical forests, such as the locking of carbon dioxide and the production of freshwater, are essential. Also, the market value for natural forest products is expected to grow from the current value of $5billion to $15billion by 2020.

Progress on protecting the rainforests is slow, as any legislation which would reduce profits and protect biodiversity is met by resistance. The estimated economic value of intact natural forests for recreation, production of fish and wildlife, and other benefits,

“

Deforestation alone will cost the global economy up to $4.5trn each year

is one-third to three times as much as their value for timber alone, according to the World Resources Institute.

Yet influential logging corporations are reluctant to sign agreements which will lead to reduced profits.

The attempts to preserve biodiversity are now occurring on a global scale, with the implications of inactivity finally being realised. In Australia, the government has recently passed an act to preserve the grassland and woodland of the state of New South Wales. The primary goal is preventing farmers from clearing the vegetation on their land. However, the farmers cannot afford to stop clearing their land; if all the vegetation was protected, the reduction in land value would be around 14.3%, leading to a cost of at least $148.5m for the area.

One report has estimated the cost of building and maintaining a more comprehensive network of global protected areas – increasing it from the current 12.5%-14% to 15% of all land and from 1% to 30% of the seas – would be $45bn a year, while the benefits of preserving the species richness within these zones would be worth $4-5tn a year.

Protecting biodiversity will involve huge costs, yet the cost of not protecting it will be greater, both financially and ecologically. Every country now has a level of eco-debt, whereby they are using up resources faster than they can be replenished. It’s time now to stop borrowing on credit, and to begin repaying our eco-loans.

Taf-od

23

Adolygiad o albym newydd Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog – Dyddiau Du, Dyddiau Gwyn Osian Gruffydd Taf-Od I’r rhai fydd yn disgwyl rhywbeth tebyg i albym gyntaf Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog – Dawns y Trychfilod – mi fydd hon yn sioc. Mae’r Cowbois wedi aeddfedu yn y dair blynedd ddiwethaf, ac mae hynny i’w glywed yn y geiriau a’r gerddoriaeth – efo gitâr, lleisiau ychwanegol, a pedal steel yn arbennig, yn ychwanegu ar y s_n. Nid caneuon am bryfed a moch sydd yma y tro hwn – mae’r

geiriau sy’n ymddangos ar glawr y CD yn arwydd digon clir o hynny – ond yn hytrach naw o ganeuon dyfn a dwys, yn drwm dan ddylanwad canu gwlad, gwerin ac Americana.

Mae’r albym yn cychwyn ar nodyn digalon iawn – Y Ffenast: cerddoriaeth syml a geiriau pwerus a thorcalonnus yn adleisio Leonard Cohen a’r Felice Brothers. Mae hon yn gosod y naws ar gyfer y rhan fwyaf o’r caneuon eraill. Yn wir, mae hi’n dipyn o ryddhad cyrraedd rhai o’r caneuon ysgafnach – Dyd-

dia Du Dyddia Gwyn, O! Nansi ac, i raddau, Celwydd Gola’ Ydi Cariad.

Er y byddai rhai yn dadlau fod dylanwad canu gwlad canol y ffordd yn rhy gryf ar y rhain ( O! Nansi yn arbennig), dwi’n teimlo fod y caneuon yma yn hanfodol i’r albym.

Hebddynt, mi allai’r caneuon trwm orlethu’r gwrandawr, a thynnu sylw oddi ar safon y casgliad.

Fodd bynnag, dydw i ddim yn trio awgrymu fod tristwch yr albym yn wendid – i’r gwrthwyneb. Fel sydd yn wir mewn gymaint o achosion, y

caneuon tristaf a dwysaf ydi’r rhai gorau. Mae ‘Gan fy Mod i’ (fersiwn o gân Nia Morgan) yn un o ganeuon y flwyddyn – yn dechrau’n dawel a myfyriol cyn adeiladu i uchafbwynt trydanol. Cân arall sydd ddim yn wreiddiol ydi’r fersiwn o‘Ffarwel i Langyfelach Lon’, ac am fersiwn ydi hi. Wyth munud o drac fyddai ddim yn swnio allan o le ar albym Neil Young o’r 70au. Hen gân, ond mae’r Cowbois yn llwyddo i wneud iddi swnio’n gwbl berthnasol heddiw. Wrth i gitârs honno gilio, mae’r

albym yn gorffen ar nodyn mymryn yn fwy hamddenol, ond yr un mor ingol – ‘Llgada’ Gleision’.

Os ydach chi’n disgwyl cerddoriaeth i ddawnsio iddi, yna efallai na fydd hon at eich dant i ddechrau (ewch i weld Cowbois yn chwarae’n fyw yn lle!), ond rhowch gyfle iddi – gwrandwch arni eilwaith, a thrydydd gwaith, ac mi welwch bod hon yn gampwaith sydd ymysg y pethau gorau i gael ei ryddhau eleni.

Achub adfail er mwyn hybu creadigrwydd Mae artistiaid lleol wedi mynd ati i achub adeilad eiconig, y Warwick Hall...

Cynan Dafydd Llwyd Taf-Od Mae criw o artistiaid lleol wedi achub stiwdio recordio 10 mlwydd oed a oedd ar fin cau ac am ei drawsnewid i mewn i hwb creadigol newydd dinas Caerdydd.

Roedd tîm rheoli stiwdio recordio Warwick Hall sydd yn ardal Y Waun yng Nghaerdydd am ymadael â’r adeilad cyn i drio artist lleol benderfynu adfywio’r hen adeilad a’i drawsnewid i mewn i ffatri Warhol-aidd.

Yn llawn o ddodrefn o’r pumdegau mae Cardiff Music Studios yn cuddio oddi ar Heol yr Eglwys Newydd ac ar fin agor wedi misoedd o dwrio drwy hen religau cerddorol y gorffennol y gadawyd gan hen berchnogion a deiliaid.

Cyd-weithiodd y ffotograffydd John Pountney o’r Rhath a Kevin Jackson er mwyn achub yr adeilad.

Roeddent hwy yn byw yn rhan o’r

adeilad pan ddaethpwyd i’r amlwg nad oedd rheolwyr yr adeilad yn medru cadw’r busnes rhag boddi.

Mae’r ddau uchod ynghyd â John Davies sy’n dechnegydd sain yn awyddus iawn i atgyfodi’r adeilad i’w orffennol gogoneddus ble gwelwyd sawl top hit yn cael ei recordio yno. Bu’n ganolfan i’r Stereophonics, Manic Street Preachers, Los Campesinos a Franz Ferdinand.

Mae’r perchnogion newydd yn llawn cyffro ond yn realistig wrth weld yr her sydd o’i blaenau.

Yn y gorffennol bu’r adeilad yn neuadd ddawns ac mae’r perchnogion newydd yn awyddus i greu awyrgylch gartrefol i fandiau ac i bobl nad sy’n gerddorion yn ogystal. Mi fydd gigs hefyd yn cael ei gynnal yno yn y dyfodol.

Megis dechrau yw hanes Cardiff Music Studios, ond mewn dinas sy’n llawn bandiau Saesneg a Chymraeg rwy’n gweld priodas hyfryd iawn rhwng y perchnogion a’r bandiau rheiny.

Want to write?

We're always looking for contributors so come to our meetings every Monday at 5pm on the fourth floor of the Students' Union

25

Societies

YUVA commemorate children's day Bianca London Societies Editor Cardiff University’s Youth of India society lent a helping hand to a Cardiff Day Care centre to commemorate Universal Children's Day. The society distributed sweets to children at the Cardiff University Day Care centre on Park Place, and at the Bambeans children’s centre in Canton, to commemorate Universal Children’s day, On the November 20 1959, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, recommending that all member

nations introduce an annual day promoting the welfare of children. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was signed and has been ratified by 192 countries. The date is recognised as Universal children’s day, but many countries have separate days and different ways of celebrating children as the nation’s future.

In Mexico, Egypt and South Korea, children have parties, receive presents and go on day-long excursions.

In Japan, houses are decorated with traditional Heian period dolls, plum blossoms, and children are treated to food festivals. In Nigeria, secondary and primary school children represent their schools in march pasts for state

officials.

In India, Children’s day is celebrated on the birthday of Jawaharlal Nehru, one of the architects of the Indian independence movement and the first Prime Minister of India. He worked passionately throughout his life for the welfare of children and was affectionately referred to as Chacha Nehru (Uncle Nehru) by the youth of India.

During his tenure, he set up thousands of schools and multi-discipline colleges, and enacted laws for the free and compulsory primary education of Indian children. He also wrote many children’s books, the most notable of which is Glimpses of World History, a collection of letters he wrote to his

daughter from 1930-1933, which recounts the history of the world.

On his birthday, children dress up as mini Nehrus with his trademark white dress and red rose, and schools all over the country distribute sweets and hold music and dance functions.

The Youth of India society transferred a little bit of that festivity to the two children’s centres in Cardiff.

“Children’s day is quite a celebratory day in India where kids enjoy the extra attention and remember Chacha Nehru’s contribution to the country”, said Eshan Hemrajani, President of the Youth of India society.

He said that, “as we are living in such a cosmopolitan city like Cardiff

and the ethos behind Children’s day is global in scope, we saw it best to commemorate it around Universal children’s day.”

“We met around a hundred children at both the centres and saw their faces light up as we distributed chocolates and shared some incoherent banter” said Eshan.

Maria Davies, deputy manager at the Cardiff University Day care centre said, “We really appreciate the Youth of India society for commemorating Universal children’s day at the day care centre. The children enjoyed their company and especially the sweets they distributed” she said.

Monday Jan 31 Women’s Literature Society: Catch Up Meeting -Nelson Mandela Room, SU, 6pm

Pole Dance: Inter-University Competition -1pm, Location TBC

Tuesday Feb 1 One Mission: Fail -SU, 10pm

Wednesday Feb 2 Electrical and Electronic Engineers Society: Meeting -Electronics Lab, 1.30pm

TRF: Weekly Meeting

-Nelson Mandela Room, 6pm

Asian Society: Bollywood Dance Classes Above: SLASH hip-hop society

SLASH smash dance workshop Bianca London Societies Editor SLASH hip-hop dance society recently hosted a sell-out workshop with notorious guest choreographers and rave reviews.

The society held the two-day workshop at Vitality Gym, Cardiff and welcomed choreographers from all over the country, some famed for dancing for the X Factor and Dance 2XS as well as for Cheryl Cole, Girls Aloud, Pink and Alexandra Burke.

Famous guest choreographers included Bly Richards, a dance tutor who coaches at the prestigious Pineapple Dance

Studios in London and Nader Musharbash, a professional dancer who has trained dancers from the planned Michael Jackson ‘This Is It’ tour.

Attendees were given master classes in a variety of dance styles fusing together house, hiphop, latin and jazz. Azrul Aminudin, a choreographer from Manchester Sunshine Studious, was extremely impressed with the high level of attendance, crediting the increased popularity of hip-hop to television shows. “It’s definitely getting more popular,” he said “I think it’s down to recent movies and dance TV shows. People

want to get involved.” Chinonso Nwoguh, committee member, spoke on behalf of SLASH, ‘We are really proud of the event, especially as we worked really hard. It took months to organise and we would like to share our success with others and make SLASH a more widelyrecognised society within the student body.’

To get involved in one of Cardiff ’s most popular and successful societies, SLASH run sessions for beginners on Mondays between 6.15-7.15pm and Improvers’ classes on Sundays between 3-4.15pm both at Vitality Gym, Park Place.

-Rona Griffiths Room, SU, 6pm

Thursday Feb 3 Erasmus: Weekly Meeting -Woodville Pub, 9pm

Read International: READing Festival -Cardiff Arts Institute, 8pm

Friday Feb 4 Spanish and Italian Society: End of Exams Party -Meet at Vulcan 9pm, followed by Glam at 10pm

Saturday Feb 5 Bell Ringing Society: Rumney Barn Dance -7.30pm, Location online

Malaysian Society: Chinese New Year Buffet -,Oriental Garden, Red Dragon Centre, 12.30pm

To feature an event or article email societies @gairrhydd.com

If you would like to join a Society, or see a full list of opportunities, visit: http://groups.cardiffstudents.com/societies/home

sudoku.

Puzzles 26 EASY

HARD

Found on Facebook:

crossword.

Across

Down

6. Aluminum foil (7) 7. German submarine (5) 9. Fragrance (4) 10. Orgy (10) 11. An elementary particle with negative charge (8) 13. Boundary between 2 nations (6) 15. Meal in a shell (4) 17. Arcade coin (5) 18. A type of edible bean (4) 19. Invented the lightbulb (6) 20. A persistent false psychotic belief (8) 23. Unquestionably (10) 26. Winged (4) 27. Artist's workstand (5) 28. Salacious (7)

1. Lacking social graces (10) 2. Anagram of "Resold" (6) 3. Smooth-tongued (4) 4. Neither urban nor rural (8) 5. Kid (4) 6. Like some currents (5) 8. In a concise manner (7) 12. Nude (5) 14. Opposition (10) 16. A moderately slow tempo (7) 17. Touchable (8) 21. Provide a detailed plan or design (6) 22. Female internal reproductive organ (5) 24. Consequence (4) 25. Drill (4)

Check out these sexual predators

Has your housemate done something stupid? Pissed you off ? Got drunk and made a complete arse out of themselves?

Upload a photo to our facebook group: Found on Facebook, and it might just appear on this page.

Letters 28 Comments from the week’s news, opinion, features and sport at www.gairrhydd.com

Occupation guidelines issued Ed ---

Everyone who took part in the occupation (inside, at the very least, which is after all what the new guidelines cover) – whatever their political allegiance, or lack thereof – was perfectly respectful in manner and were engaging in a perfectly peaceful protest.

So where does your over-generalised, thoughtlessly vindictive, grudge against socialists (or the SWP specifically; whatever) come from, anyway?

Jonathon ---

My “grudge” against the SWP specifically is their rejection of democratic means. Also watching the first occupation being run by Jonny Jonnes a paid officer of the socialist workers’ party. I have democratic socialist friends. I tried to visit the second occupation, but was unable

a word is even suitable for such events – jointly by Greens, Socialists, SWP and politically unaffiliated people. disproportionate and unacceptable, and that those involved have not been hold to account. I daresay Jonathan will echo these points, although you can hardly blame him for not mentioning it initially.

Jonathon --“The Council did however decide that inline with the current constitution and Student’s Union registered charity status that it could not support any party-affiliated action and outside interference from external political bodies will be discouraged however this will be interpreted at the time at the discretion of the Elected Officers.” Jonny Jonnes the nation co-ordinator of the SWP, for instance was not a student of Cardiff university and never has been.for the votes of students naive enough to believe them.

Ed---

Ed ---

So…how does any “rejection of democratic means” lead to them having “their plans scuppered” by these new guidelines? Oh, that’s right – it doesn’t. Dictionary definition of thoughtless, over-generalised grudge.

It’s unfortunate that the university rejected democratic means (in blocking free movement) during the most recent occupation. If you had been able to visit, you would have seen it being “led” – if such

So that’s Jonny Jones’s “plans” which have been scuppered, if anything – not the SWP as a whole.

The least you can do is get the target of your ire right.

Students speak out over housing hell

students and not treating them with the same respect and consideration they offer other clients.

I have had nightmarish letting experiences, mainly regarding getting deposits back.

Ed --Students. I must warn you about South Wales Lettings. As an ex student I used to be messed around by landlords and I’ve had my fair experience. These guys are a whole new kettle of fish though. The boss, Zulf, is the main problem.

After signing a contract, supplying deposit, first month’s rent, proof of work we went to collect our keys. We collected our keys the day we were moving, having already organized our old tenancy to end.

He kept us waiting in the office for 3 hours. When I kept asking why we couldn’t just have our keys he ended up shouting and screaming at us. He increased the price and forced us to sign a new contract as we would otherwise be homeless.

Since then he has been trying to insist on monthly inspections which would break the law allowing a tenant quiet enjoyment of the property. He has also claimed that he is allowed access to our property without our permission. This also is massively illegal. I have never dealt with such a rude person, and I would highly suggest you do not rent with this company. Good luck with your house hunts.

Sarah --Cardiff's Silent Protest I think there is much to be said for landlords taking advantage of

Edmund Schluessel ---

work, which side are they on?

As a member of the executive of Cardiff University Socialist Students, I should clarify a few things.

Socialist Students is a student society, affiliated to the Socialist Party, although the majority of Socialist Students members are not Party members. We believe fundamental social change is the only way to liberate humanity, across gender, ethnicity, religion, orientation or other barriers. We initially called the November 24th demonstration and then entered into a broad partnership with many other people through Action Against Cuts – Cardiff, a non-partisan umbrella group as the movement developed.

The Socialist Workers Party is a separate party. They and we agree on most subjects (and disagree loudly on some). We are both socialist-with-a-lowercase-s organisations, in the tradition of Marx and Trotsky.

We don’t have the backing of multi-millionaires the way the Liberal Democrats or Tories do. If either of those parties wanted to appear en masse at demonstrations or even help arrange them, they’re perfectly capable of doing so.

So the question isn’t “why are the socialists always at these events?” Fighting to end inequality and bring about political and economic freedom is in our blood.

The question is: why aren’t the Lib Dems turning up? Why aren’t the Tories? In this fight between the many who work and do not own and the few who own and do not

Non socialist protester--Edmund, no-one’s denying socialists the right to turn up to protests, or asking why they’re always there.

The question is why so many socialists feel the need to hijack these events – from hawking the Socialist and Socialist Worker newspapers (the former of which I’ve seen you do), to having Socialist Party stalls outside the Occupation and during the Carnival Against the Cuts, just to name some of the more recent events.

The thing is, there are Lib Dems and Tories at these protests who disagree with the proposed raise in fees and the proposed cuts to public services (including Higher Education), as well as representatives from many other parties. But the actions of socialists serve only to detract from this fact, and make the PR of such legitimate protests so much worse… no longer does it look like an umbrella campaign against the cuts. It looks far too much like a socialist front, which discourages a great deal of non-socialists from joining such protests in the first place. Well done.

Now I know that’s not true, as well as you do. But that’s the image that’s put across, and it damages us as a whole.

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29

Sport

Tight Six Nations looks too close to call Lucy Morgan looks ahead to the highlight of the Northern Hemisphere's rugby calender, starting with the explosive clash between Wales and England on Friday night.

T

his weekend sees the start of the first big rugby tournament of an exciting and busy year for the sport – culminating in the World Cup in New Zealand in September. With no Southern tours scheduled this year, the Six Nations will be the last major opportunity for the Northern Hemisphere teams to finalise preparations for the World Cup and there is no doubt that each and every one of them will be looking to prove themselves in this crucial year.

France deservedly claimed the Six Nations trophy last year - recording a dominant Grand Slam triumph. However, they go into the tournament off the back of a disappointing Autumn Series, conceding 16 tries in five tests. What’s more, their 59-16 defeat to Australia in Paris goes down as the heaviest ever suffered by Les Bleus on home turf.

In the domestic game however, France are extremely strong with four French sides making the Heineken Cup quarter finals. If they can draw on this success and put it together to form a coherent national side they have the ability to do well in the tournament. The unpredictability of the French, however, means nothing is certain.

Their first game against Scotland in Paris should allow them to get off to a confident start. Scotland haven’t won the tournament since 1999 and their record in the opening round of games is nothing short of abysmal – losing ten of eleven since the championship was expanded to became the Six Nations in 2000.

However, Coach Andy Robinson is urging his side to pull out their ‘A’ game for their opening match in Paris: “The start of every Six Nations tournament is always huge but the game in France really is massive for us. In terms of making an impact in the Championship a win in Paris would be priceless”, he said.

Scotland have however, only lost once in their last seven tests and they may well prove to be the dark horse of the championship.

Ireland seem to have been struggling of late despite riding high onGrand Slam success just two years ago. With an ageing squad and an ever-growing injury list; players such as Tommy Bowe, Shane Horgan and Rob Kearney are all set to miss the start of the tournament – Ireland certainly don't look Championship favourites this year.

Their opener however, is against Italy which should allow them to get their campaign off to a positive start.

The Italians, once again, are unlikley to make much of an impact on the tournament. The Azzurri certainly show promise but, as of yet,they are unable to meet the skill level of their oponents despite their physicality; especially at the breakdown. Their contributuon will, however, grow with time as their club sides continue to compete in the Magners League.

England, on the other hand, go into the tournament as the bookiesfavourites and their Friday night opener against Wales this weekend

Above: The Captains of the Six Nations meet the media before the tournament kicks off this Friday.

“

Wales will be desperate to break their run of seven matches without a win

looks set to be one of the most exciting matches of the tournament.

England seem to be peaking at just the right time for a World Cup and Martin Johnson’s side have showed continued improvement over the past few seasons. They played some awe-inspiring running rugby in their 35-18 victory over Australia in November and with youngsters such as Ben Youngs making a significant impact over the Autumn, England have the potential to do really well.

The loss of athletic forwards Courtney Lawes and Tom Croft will hit England hard though and limit the mobility of their forward pack. Welsh Coach Warren Gatland has already sighted this as an area where Wales can gain the upper hand as well as questioning the character of England's Northampton hooker Dylan Hartley.

Their opening match opponents Wales, will be desperate to break their run of seven matches without a win and will look on their match against the old enemy as ‘make-or

break’ in terms of their success in the championship.

With a number of key players – such as Mike Phillips and Jamie Roberts back from injury, Wales are certainly looking a stronger side than the one that turned out at the Millennium Stadium in the Autumn. Winger Shane Williams also returns from injury and having recently revealed that this will be his last season on the International stage, he will be hoping to inspire his side to success this year.

The Friday night kick-off time also promises an incredible atmosphere in the stadium for what should be a cracking match. Wales will however, need more than just individual brilliance to do well and with only two home games this championship they will need to show significant improvement if they are to come out on top this season.

Whatever the outcome, the Six Nations looks once again to be a spectacle of fantastic rugby and a tournament that most definitely shouldn’t be missed.

Sport30

Monday January 31 2011 • gair rhydd • sport@gairrhydd.com

Victorious Down Under

gair rhydd sport look back on England's triumphant Ashes Series Alex Bywater Sports Editor

In an Ashes Series where records tumbled, England completed a thoroughly deserved 3-1 win over Australia, winning a series down under for the first time in 24 years.

England's domination of the series has not been the greatest surprise. What has caught the attention of the cricketing world has been the impressively decisive manner of the wins; all achieved by an innings.

If the Ashes had been a boxing match, Australia Coach Tim Nielsen would have had to throw in the towel. Save England's abberation in Perth, it was disastrous for the

hosts.

Australia were dire. Except at the WACA where the enigma that is Mitchell Johnson managed to locate the strip.

But nothing should be taken away from this England side. For three and a half matches they were truly brilliant. They possess everything that is required to turn themselves into the best side in the world. Some of the individual performances by England’s squad defy belief.

Man of the Series Alastair Cook scored more than 700 runs, averaging over a hundred for the series.

England’s batting throughout left Australia’s bowling in ruins.

England passed 500 four times and reached 600 twice with nine centuries scored by English bats-

Above: England celebrate retaining the urn at Sydney

men. For those who have grown up in an era where Messrs McGrath and Warne regularly skittled the English this was incredible stuff.

England looked capable of putting runs on the board all the way down the order with every batsman in the top seven, except the now retired Paul Collingwood, scoring a century.

As Nasser Hussain repeatedly banged into Sky Sports viewers, “bowlers win you matches” and England’s attack stepped up to the plate with aplomb.

James Anderson led the attack brilliantly and ended the series with a magnificent 24 wickets in conditions which were not expected to help him much.

England ridiculed talk that they would find wickets hard to come by with the Kookaburra ball, as Anderson and the rest of the attack mastered new ball movement first up and reverse swing later.

Bowling Coach David Saker’s influence here has been acknowledged as vital. England’s strength in depth in the bowling department provides huge amounts of confidence. A lesser side would have struggled to replace a bowler of Stuart Broad’s calibre but Tim Bresnan and Chris Tremlett came into the side and performed magnificently.

England now have a squad of bowlers with varying attributes that can be used effectively in different regions of the world.

Take Bresnan as an example. It was not long ago that commenta-

tors said he couldn’t move it off the straight in England, let alone down under, but his reverse swing, donstrated in his second innings spell at the MCG, was simply fantastic.

England’s heartbeat Graeme Swann had another tremendous series, tying up one end when conditions were not in his favour and bowling his side to victory in Adelaide.

Fielding Coach Richard Halsall has also turned England into a brilliant fielding unit.

Looking to the near future, England are currently taking on Australia in seven ODI’s before turning their attention to the World Cup. In terms of the longer form of the game, England will be eyeing home and away series against India - the current number one Test team - as a real test of their ambitions to become the world’s number one.

Under the guidance of Andy Flower, England will be rightly confident of reaching the pinnacle of the world game. The down to earth nature of the squad, shorn of the potential egos that were evident in 2005, look focused and are all of the right age to improve still further.

As England rightly celebrated in Sydney, Strauss remained phlegmatic; looking to the future as the number one Test side in the world, something his side has a great chance of achieving.

Army find their tune as England produce cricket to sing about Alex Winter Sports Editor We'll take the urn home, we'll take the urn ho-o-ome.

With Strauss our captain, we'll take the urn home...

Those adapted lyrics to The Beach Boys' Sloop John B became the calling card for the Barmy Army this Winter. The tune reverberating around the at times vast emptiness of Australian grounds. Music to one's ears.

For so long punished by dreadful performances, those travelling England fans finally got what they deserved - the chance to turn the tables and rub Aussie faces in their team's demolition.

Some boorish observers once complained of the droning nuisance that were the Barmy Army - a reputation not helped by the booing of Ricky Ponting in the 2009 series.

But away from home the Army's true colours are proudly on show: a loyal, passionate following from real cricket fans.

The commissioner of the Pittsburgh Steelers tried to declare this

season that their fans were the best in the world - they don't fit on the same scale as the Barmy Army.

Combining whit, humour, an brilliance in lyric writing and a canny ability to adopt popular tunes, the Barmy Harmonies provide a perfect background to a day's Test cricket.

Graham Swann's wickets in the Adelaide Test would have been greeted by a brief cheer and polite applause were it not for the Army's version of Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart (Swann, Swann will tear you apart...)

They can keep you entertained for days, and whistling the tunes for months: you'll never sing Don't Look Back in Anger in the same way again when the Justin Langer adaptation has graced your ears.

Half the time it was a good job the Barmy Army turned up. Australians barely registered an interest in the final days of the Brisbane and Melbourne Test matches - leaving the Barmies to fill the hollow stadiums with their melodies.

The Melbourne Test was the pinnacle for the Army - alone in the vast MCG as 24 years of hurt was laid to rest. British accents sailed around

the empty ground: a cauldron transformed into a chamber pot.

The passionate support of the Barmy Army extends further than just the England cricket team. Several charity matches were staged on the Ashes tour and they sported pink t-shirts in support of the McGrath Foundation in Sydney.

The Barmy Army has mushroomed since one fan in 1994 walked in front of the Australian fans signing "We came here with

backpacks on and you with ball and chain". The barracking of the "Ausssie convicts" still remains but was overshadowed this Winter by songs celebrating England's success - the first time the Army have been able to saviour a success.

And saviour it they did. The final Test in Sydney was played out to a party atmosphere as England completed another demolition: every moment immortalised into song by the Army.

Top Five ashes moments

1.

Victory in Sydney: What else? Despite retaining the urn at the iconic MCG, England wanted to win the series outright. Centuries from Cook, Bell and Prior left England in a dominant position and the bowlers took England to victory.

2.

Following on in Brisbane, England looked in all sorts of trouble. If an early lbw shout against Andrew Strauss from Ben Hilfenhaus had been upheld we might have been talking about something different.

3.

Australia were going well trying to save the Adelaide Test. Kevin Pietersen's unlikely dismissal of Michael Clarke in the last over of day four opened the door for England to romp to victory on the final morning.

4.

What is there to say about Cook's series? 766 runs at 127.66. His huge appetite for runs layed the platform for England's mammoth totals. His 235 not out was the pick of his knocks and saved the first Test.

5.

Above: England fans enjoyed their most enjoyable trip down under

Many thought England would struggle with the Kookaburra ball but James Anderson led the defiance. 4-44 on day one at Melbourne helped England retain the urn.

Sport31 Mountaineering drama in Get yourself some air: go Kitesurfing Monday January 31 2011 • gair rhydd • sport@gairrhydd.com

the Scottish Highlands !

Jessica Christley Mountaineering Cardiff University Mountaineering Club's winter climbing trip to Scotland was a dramatic affair over the New Year.

Excited by the weather conditions that had the rest of the general population moaning and groaning - ice, snow, and freezing temperatures - not even early mornings and the 12 hour minibus journey could stem our enthusiasm.

Unfortunately for one of the most eager chaps on the trip, the first day, and his first route, would be his only of the trip.

After battling the long walk through Coire an t-Sneachda (a type of landform) in poor weather, he suffered a heavy fall when attaching a nine metre virtical ice pitch with his two climbing partners.

One missed footing and his trip was over.

Into action went the improvised self-rescue rope stretcher and sling techniques.

After being lowered 100 metres to the bottom of the crag, it became apparent that despite his first hopes, he would not be hobbling the three and a half miles back to the carpark.

The tricky weather conditions and lack of man power meant we could not recover him by ourselves.

It was soon clear that our remote location and difficult weather conditions meant the safest and best course of action was to alert 999 and mountain rescue to our difficulties.

But the climbing community is not one to sit around to wait and do nothing.

Fellow climbers don't walk on by and soon with the kind help of seven other climbers, suspending their fun for the day, and a stretcher on ski's - which we had been given permission to use from a Mountain Rescue emergency box close-by - we soon had our casualty safely stowed and began dragging him out.

We bumped into the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue team only 400 metres from the carpark, where our injured member was taken away by ambulance.

Our casualty had broken his talus - a tricky bone in the ankle.

He spent two nights in Inverness General Hospital and will spend much of the winter climbing season in plaster and on crutches - a great shame and we all hope he makes a speedy recovery.

Fortunately the rest of the trip was rather less dramatic. Hogmanay was a very enjoyable event: skiing fun with wild Scotsman.

And we did manage a few successful climbing routes too.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY - 2011 Wednesday February 2 IMG presents Dodgeball - The Great Hall, 6pm Thursday February 17 Annual General Meeting - The Great Hall, 6.30pm Minimum four member from each club and society Saturday Februray 26 Medics Varsity - football, netball, squash and dodgeball Wednesday March 2 AU’s Got Talent - The Lash Wednesday March 16 - Tuesday March 22 Union Elections - you could become next year’s AU President Wednesday March 30 Varsity - Millennium Stadium. Tickets: www.welshvarsity.com Monday April 4 - Friday April 15 AU Clubs Budget Application Fortnight Friday May 13 AU Awards - The Great Hall

Tom Wilkinson Kitesurfing "I'm laid out on the hot white sand of an Indian beach, the afternoon sun and virgin air for a blanket. A metre or ten below, the crashing of powder blue waves is promising an instant cool-off and then the rush of being born, tumbling, back onto the sand."

I'm not short of rushes in Goa: there's a motorbike, past the dunes, that I learned to ride yesterday, tearing up the coast road past the local trucks and rickshaws. Somehow, though, I'm feeling bored. My problem with paradise is that I've felt the Avenger's speed and nature's inexhaustable power before, at the same time. I've flown too. If I had my kitesurf gear, paradise would be better.

I started kitesurfing in my second year at Cardiff and I've taken it slowly but I've got friends who threw themselves in from freshers week and have been at the beach every weekend since.

Whatever the dosage, the hit is the same: hooking yourself onto the wind itself, cutting through the sea, launching yourself into the sky...exhilarating.

Cardiff University Kitesurf Club was one of the first in the country,

and for some years it's been the biggest. Its quiver, of the kites and boards that would usually stop us impoverished students from getting involved, let me learn to ride over a few months for a fraction of what most people pay for a weekend's taster.

Despite being at the mercy of the weather men, that learning process was no chore either: you start out learning to fly the kites on some of South Wales' beautiful beaches, skating out long S-shapes in the sand with your feet and getting used to having all of the sea winds' power in your hands. Then comes 'body dragging', probably the clos-

est thing you can feel to being a dolphin: without a board the kite carries you, surging in out and over the waves, and you learn to use your body to direct yourself through the water.

Finally, you learn to board start, whipping the kite into the wind - the

same way you will later when you're pulling massive jumps - to boost you and your board into the water's surface, before gliding off accross it, weightless.

Intense and new as all these sensations are, they don't compare to riding a kiteboard. Surfers and wakeboarders get told where, and how fast to go by break and boats; windsurfers have to make do with what wind there is two metres above the surface, broken and made turbulent by the waves.

A kite lets you tap raw, clean, wind, up to twenty five metres over the swell, and it let's you choose which direction that wind carries you and how fast you go.

Despite having such speed available, that's not what it's all about:.

Kites work like wings, and you can choose just how much they lift you, you're not tied to the water's surface.

Youtube "Kitesurfer jumps pier", or just "kiteloop", and you'll see just how little you're tied. Once airborn, you don't need your board under you anymore, so why not put it above you, or behind you, or take it off your feet for a second; when even jumping starts feeling pedestrian, there's a circus of tricks out there to keep an edge on your riding, and that adrenaline-iron taste in your mouth. The payoff from learning to kite will last as long as your nerve.

Of course, as a big unisex sports club, CUKC doesn't always have to travel to a beach for its fun. Actually, some members only do the social stuff: two years ago, twenty five of the fifty of us that went on our yearly trip to the Egyptian coast, were just there to lounge by day and party by night. I can understand the appeal.

I dig the beach life when there's no wind, especially when I'm spending it with the kind of people kitesurfing always seems to attract.

So if I've not convinced you to get involved yet, come and meet us at the refreshers' fair, and I'm sure our socialable friendly members will.

Cardiff Ladies' Rugby are having a successful season so far and are looking strong going into the second half of the campaign - they have won through to the next stage of the BUCS' Cup competition after overcoming the University of Durham in a tense 10-nil away victory.

Twenty-two members of the club completed the Tough Guy Challenge on January 30 - raising money for the 4 HAWK charities that includes Help for Heroes.

Sport

Ashes Review << Inside

Cardiff Netball secure derby win Patience Lewis Netball Cardiff I 59 – 38 Bristol I Wednesday January 26 saw Cardiff University Netball first team take on rivals Bristol in a vital Premier Division match.

In an eagerly anticipated game which did not disappoint, Cardiff needed to win by 14 goals or more to stay out of the relegation zone.

After a few demoralising losses last semester, Cardiff responded with a vengeance to prove why they were in the Premier Division, recording a 59-38 win.

Knowing there was a lot riding on the game, and with all the hard work they had put into training, Cardiff were not going to let this game slip. After an inspiring talk from Coach Bev Powell, Cardiff

knew they had it in them to bring home a win.

Despite some nerves, the first quarter saw Cardiff go out hard, winning it 16-12. Cardiff duo Emma Thomas and Rachel Keable linked up well in the attacking circle, with Thomas particularly impressing, netting eight out of her nine shots.

As Bristol’s concentration started to lapse, Cardiff were able to capitalise on their errors gaining a four goal lead.

Cardiff ’s impressive defence all the way down the court was a defining feature of the second quarter.

Not only were the circle defence making turnovers and challenging for loose balls, but there were turnovers all the way down the court with all the players contesting passes. This is where Cardiff really began to pull away, turning over 11 balls and netting 17 goals against

Bristol's seven. At this point, Cardiff had extended their lead to 3319, giving them the elusive 14 goal

Six Nations Preview << Inside lead they needed.

Cardiff are renowned for dropping their game in the third quarter, allowing the opposition to creep back into the match. Therefore, there were no changes to the team, keeping to the formation that seemed to be working.

The attack worked particularly hard, with Lara Heywood and Steph May placing some sublime balls into the circle for the ever impressive Thomas and Keable to convert

into goals. Although tiredness was beginning to show, the whole team; attack especially, worked hard to retain the ball and supply ball to the shooting circle. Relentless pressure

by Captain Amy Cooper at Wing Defence allowed the attack to capitalise and turn pressure into goals.

However, Cardiff lost this quarter by 11-12, making the score 44-31, meaning the pressure was on going into the final quarter to keep the lead.

Ellie Hughes was introduced at Wing Attack for the last quarter, helping to bring the ball down court brilliantly and feed the attack.

Cardiff sealed the win in the final quarter with a huge team effort all the way to the final whistle, winning by 21 goals, leaving the final score at 59-38. Cardiff's defensive prowess and equally vigilant attack, meant the team kept fighting

till the end.

As the vocal support from Captain and Coach increased, so did Cardiff ’s lead. It was a fantastic end to the season and a well deserved win.

Coach Powell paid tribute to the phenomenal team effort saying “going into that game, I knew every player would have to be totally committed to get the result we needed.

"We didn’t just need to win, we needed to win by a healthy margin.

To win by 21 goals was a fantastic achievement and their performance was outstanding. A worthy reward for a group of players that have worked so hard all season.”

After their win, Cardiff finished fourth in the Premier South Division and now look ahead to the first round of the cup with high hopes to produce a similar performance.

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